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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29158-8.txt b/29158-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..776c673 --- /dev/null +++ b/29158-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7417 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 18, 2009 [EBook #29158] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, SEPT 1885 *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + +_SEPTEMBER, 1885._ + +Copyright, 1885, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. + + + + +ON THIS SIDE. + + +IX. + +Among the inhabitants of the United States there are none that stand so +firmly on the national legs as the Virginians,--though it would be more +correct to contract this statement somewhat, substituting "State" for +"national," since it has never been the habit of Virginians to make +themselves more than very incidentally responsible for thirty-eight +States and ten Territories occupied by persons of mixed race, numerous +religions, objectionable politics, and no safe views about so much as +the proper way to make mint-juleps. When Sir Robert presented himself +one day at the door of a fine old house belonging to the golden age of +ante-bellum prosperity in Caroline County, he was received by two of the +most English Englishmen to be found on this planet, in the persons of +Mr. Edmund and Mr. Gregory Aglonby, brothers, bachelors, and joint-heirs +of the property he had come to look at. These gentlemen received him +with a dignity and antique courtesy irresistibly suggestive of bag-wigs, +short swords, and aristocratic institutions generally, a courtesy +largely mingled with restrained severity and unspoken suspicion until +his identity had been fully established by the letters of introduction +he had brought, his position defined, and his mission in Caroline +clearly set forth. An Englishman out of England was a fact to be +accounted for, not imprudently accepted without due inquiry; but, this +done, the law and traditions of hospitality began to alleviate the +situation and temper justice with mercy. The lady of the house was sent +for, and proved to be a wonderfully pretty old lady, who might have just +got out of a sedan-chair, whose manner was even finer and statelier than +that of her brothers (diminutive as she was in point of mere inches), +and who executed a tremendous courtesy when Sir Robert was presented. +"An English gentleman travelling in this country for pleasure, and +desirous of seeing 'Heart's Content,' Anne Buller," explained the elder +brother. Miss Aglonby's face, which had worn a look of mild interest +during the first part of this speech, clouded perceptibly at its close. +She murmured some mechanical speech of welcome in an almost inaudible +voice, and sat down in a rigid and uncompromising fashion, while her +heart contracted painfully. A gentleman to look at the place: there had +been several such in the last year, who had come, and seen, and objected +to the price, and ridden away again; but perhaps this one might not ride +away, and the uneasy thought tormented her throughout the conversation +that followed. The brothers, meanwhile, had quite accepted Sir Robert, +and had insisted, with a calm, authoritative air, on sending for his +"travelling impedimenta," which had been deposited at the hotel in a +neighboring town, and had expressed a lofty hope that he would do them +the honor to consider himself their guest. + +"The _res angusta domi_ will not permit us to entertain you in a manner +befitting your rank and in consonance with our wishes," said Mr. Edmund +Aglonby, in his representative capacity as head of the family, "but, +that consideration waived, I need not say that we shall esteem it an +honor and a pleasure to have you domesticated beneath this roof as long +as you find any satisfaction in remaining." + +"It was not my idea, certainly, to intrude upon you here, but rather to +treat with your solicitor in this matter; but if you find it more +agreeable to set him aside, which between gentlemen is usually +altogether more satisfactory, and will, in addition, allow me to become +your guest for a few days, I can only say that I shall be delighted to +accept your kind hospitality," replied Sir Robert. + +"Brother Gregory, will you see that our guest's effects are at once +transferred to his room here?" said Mr. Aglonby, half turning in his +chair and giving a graceful wave with one of his long, shapely hands +toward the door, after which he bowed with dignified grace to Sir +Robert, and said, "Your decision gives us great satisfaction, sir." Mr. +Gregory Aglonby confirmed this statement in Johnsonian periods before he +left, and tiny Miss Aglonby expressed herself as became a lady who had +been receiving guests in that very room for fifty years with stiff but +genuine courtesy. The atmosphere was so familiar to Sir Robert that he +could scarcely believe himself to be in an American household. Could +this be the American type of his dreams? Was there ever a country in +which the scenes shifted so completely with a few hours or days of +travel? "If this goes on, America will mean everything, anything, to +me," he thought. "When I hear of a Frenchman, or German, or Italian, I +have some idea of what I shall find; but it is not so here at all. This +Mr. Aglonby is quite evidently a gentleman, and a high-bred one; but so +was Porter in Boston, and Colonel De Witt, and those Baltimore fellows; +yet how different they all are! These men remind me more of my +grandfather and my great-uncles than any Englishman of the present day. +Perhaps they are English. I'll ask. Who would ever suppose them to be +countrymen of Ketchum's?" + +After dinner,--and you may be sure the dinner was a good one, for Miss +Aglonby was one of a generation of women whose knowledge of housewifely +arts was such that, shut up in a lighthouse or wrecked on a desert +island, they would have made shift to get a nice meal somehow, even if +they could not have served it, as she did, off old china and graced it +with old silver,--after dinner, then, a long and pleasant evening set +in, with no thought or talk of business-matters. Sir Robert was charmed +with his new acquaintances, and not less by the matter than by the +manner of their conversation. Did they talk of travels, Mr. Aglonby +"liked to read books of adventure," but had never been out of the State +of Virginia, and had no wish to go anywhere. He deplored his fate in +being compelled at his age to leave it permanently and take up his +residence in Florida, where his physician was sending him. He talked of +"Mr. Pope" and "Mr. Addison," quoted Milton and the Latin classics, and +had chanced upon "a modern work lately, by a writer named Thackeray," +"Henry Esmond," which had pleased him extremely. On hearing this, Sir +Robert took occasion to ask him whether he liked any of the writings of +this and that New-England author of the day, about whom he had been +hearing a great deal since his arrival in the country, and Mr. Aglonby +replied, with perfect truth, that he had "never heard of them," though +he added that Irving and Cooper, the latest additions to his library, +were, in his opinion, "writers of merit." In politics Mr. Aglonby +declared himself the champion of a defunct party,--the "old-line +Whigs,"--and explained "the levelling, agrarian tendencies of Tom +Jefferson" and the result of his policy, which had been "to eliminate +the gentleman from politics." Mr. Gregory Aglonby spoke with regretful +emotion of that period of the history of Virginia in which her local +magistrates had managed county affairs in such a way as to secure her +"safety, honor, and welfare," when universal suffrage had not "cursed +the country with ignorance and incompetence, legally established at +present, indeed, but sure to be supplemented by a property or +educational test eventually." In religion they were what "the Aglonbys +had always been,--attached adherents of the Episcopal Church in this +country, as of the Establishment in England." Quite early in the evening +Sir Robert had propounded his question as to their nationality. "Are you +an American?" he had asked the elder of the two gentlemen, and both had +replied, "We are Virginians," in accents that were eloquent of love and +pride. + +"Upon my word, if I were asked what your nationality was, I should say +that you were English," remarked Sir Robert, feeling that he was making +what they must see was a handsome concession. But he was not talking to +a Sam Bates now. Mr. Edmund Aglonby regarded him with a reserved air, as +if he had said something rather flippant. + +Mr. Gregory said gravely, "You doubtless mean it kindly, but we would +prefer to be thought what we are,--Virginians. Not that we are ashamed +of our parent stock, but Anne Buller here is the seventh of the name +born in this country, and it is only natural that we should be +completely identified with it. Unworthy as we are to represent it, we +are Virginians." That anybody could be _more_ than a Virginian had never +crossed Mr. Aglonby's mind; but it should be said, in defence of what +many regard as an exaggerated State pride, that to such, men to be +_less_ than a Virginian (that is, an embodiment of the virtues +represented to them by the title) is equally impossible. + +Whist was now proposed, and played by the light of two candles in +old-fashioned candlesticks, that towered high enough to allow mild +yellow rays to illuminate a vast expanse of bald head belonging to Mr. +Gregory, and made the dark sheen of the polished mahogany table dimly +visible beneath. An oil-lamp on the high mantel-shelf enabled Sir Robert +to get a ghostly impression of the large, bare room in which they were +sitting,--the high ceilings, the black-looking floors fading away into +grewsome corners, the spindle-legged furniture that had no idea of +accommodating itself to a lolling, mannerless generation, and loomed up +in some occasional piece in a threatening sort of way,--solid, massive, +dignified furniture, conscious of its obligations to society and ready +to fulfil them to the very end, however little a frivolous and +degenerate world might be worthy of such accessories. More than once in +the pauses of the game Sir Robert's eyes wandered to the pictures, of +which there were a number, all portraits, two being half discernible,--a +young matron in ruby velvet and pearls, with hair dressed in a pyramid, +a coach-and-six in court-plaster stuck on a snowy forehead, and eyes +that would have laughed anybody into a good humor; and, opposite, a +gentleman of the pursiest, puffiest, most prosperous description, the +husband of the young matron, and so evidently high-tempered, dull, and +obstinate, that he must have brought many a tear into the laughing eyes. + +"A handsome woman, that," he said, after one of these moments of +inattention, "and a good picture." + +"It is an ancestress of ours on the distaff side,--Lady Philippa +Vane,--and is accounted a Lely.--Brother Gregory, if you will have the +kindness to cut the cards we can proceed with our game.--The other is +her husband and cousin, a man of rank and large property but incurably +vicious propensities, to whom we are rather fond of attributing certain +follies and weaknesses in his descendants, and who we could wish had +laid to heart the maxim, '_Nobilitatis virtus non stemma character_.' +They were of the Vanes of Huddlesford," said Mr. Aglonby. + +"Ah," said Sir Robert, "you suppose yourself to have some connection +with the Huddlesford Vanes?" + +Mr. Aglonby's white tufted brows arched themselves in surprise above his +dark eyes at the question, and there was a little more dignified reserve +than before in his voice and manner as he said, "Descent and alliance +are not matters of _supposition_ in Virginia, but of record.--Anne +Buller, I beg your forgiveness for having inadvertently revoked. My +memory is really growing too treacherous to permit of my long enjoying +this diversion, however great the horrors of an old age without cards +may be." + +The deferential courtesy paid to Miss Aglonby by her brothers was the +most remarkable feature of the game to Sir Robert, and, when it was +over, the first thought of both was to place a chair for her in the +corner she generally occupied. They were not in haste,--it was +impossible to associate the idea of hurry or flurry with either of +them,--but somehow there was a little collision between them in doing +this, followed by formal bows and elaborate mutual apologies, which were +broken in upon by Miss Aglonby's low voice, saying, "Brother Edmund, I +feared that you had slipped again.--He sustained a grave injury in that +way last winter" (this to Sir Robert), "and I am always afraid that the +disastrous experience may be repeated.--Brother Gregory, I thank you. I +am entirely comfortable, and I beg that you will be seated now. Perhaps +our guest will do us the favor to resume the very instructive and +entertaining discourse with which he was beguiling us earlier in the +evening." + +Thus adjured, Sir Robert proceeded to instruct and entertain, with such +success that all three of his companions were charmed, though they gave +no frivolous evidences of it, such as laughing heartily, interrupting +him to interject phrases or opinions into the "discourse," or replying +in an animated strain. They listened with intelligent seriousness to +what he had to say, weighed it apparently, replied to it with gravity, +responded to some jest with a smile; but, although they were not people +to approve of crackling thorns under a pot, or any form of folly, they +were, in their way, appreciative of the culture, humor, and insight he +showed. Mr. Aglonby begged to be favored with his "observations" on +America, and added that "the dispassionate reflections of an intelligent +foreigner should be esteemed of the utmost value by all judicious +patriots and enlightened political economists, calling attention, as +they often did, to evils and dangers whose existence had not been +previously suspected." Mr. Gregory Aglonby wished to hear more of his +travels among "that God-forsaken people the French." Miss Aglonby was +eager to know more of the England of "Bracebridge Hall." + +When bedtime came at last ("the proper season for repose," dear old Anne +Buller called it, when she rose to "retire"), another courtesy was +executed in front of Sir Robert by the châtelaine of "Heart's Content," +who said, "How truly it has been remarked that we owe some of our +keenest pleasures in life to strangers! You must permit me to thank you +again for your improving and pleasing conversation, which I shall often +recall, and always with lively satisfaction. May your slumbers be +refreshing and your awakening devoid of all pain! I wish you a very good +night, sir." With this Miss Aglonby took up one of the top-heavy +candlesticks, and glided, like the shade she was and ghost of a past +period, up the stairs. + +While Mr. Gregory was looking to bolts and bars, Sir Robert strayed +about the room with his hands behind him, looking at the pictures, +followed by Mr. Aglonby, who made no extensive comment on them, but gave +a word of explanation occasionally when his guest halted longer than +usual before a canvas, such as, "The First Edmund, who came here in +1654;" "Edmund the Second;" "Edmund the Third, in his Oxford cap and +gown;" "Gregory Aglonby, a colonel in the Revolutionary forces;" +"Red-haired Edmund, as we call him, because the others are all dark;" +"Colonel Everard Buller Aglonby, who represented this county in the +House of Burgesses for thirty years, and his wife, who was a Calvert,--a +great-aunt, a woman of extraordinary piety, who reduced herself from a +condition of affluence to comparative poverty by the manumission of her +three hundred slaves." + +When he had shaken hands with his host at the door of his bedroom (which +was emphatically the room of a bed, a huge, be-stepped, pillared, +testered contrivance that waited at one end of the large apartment to +murder sleep), Sir Robert fell to winding his watch with what looked +like interest, but all his thoughts were with the Aglonbys. + +"English gentlefolks of the eighteenth century preserved in Virginian +amber. What a curious survival! 'Gentlemen of a period of manners, +morals.' Remarkably interesting! Delightful types of a society as +extinct as the dodo," he was saying to himself. "There is but one mould +for the gentleman; but nature changes its shape with every century, I +suppose,--though I sometimes think she has gone out of the business +altogether in utter disgust. We have got a lot of plutocrats that are +tailors' blocks, and nobles that talk like stable-boys and act like +blackguards, and both fancy themselves gentlemen; but when I contrast +them with the men of my father's day even--And this dainty, charming old +bit of Chelsea-ware, Anne Buller! Her brothers treat her as though she +were a reigning princess. I wonder what she would say if she could see, +as I did the other day, a group of Nuneham girls calling each other by +their last names and smoking cigarettes with a half-dozen Cambridge men, +who chaffed them and treated them exactly as though they were so many +boys in petticoats. Well, well, the world moves, I know, and I am an +old fogy; but I shall not make myself hoarse shouting 'Huzza' until I +find out whether we are going to the devil or not. I hope I am not +getting as cynical as old Caradoc, who declares that he can always tell +a countess from an actress nowadays by the superior modesty and +refinement of--the actress." + +In the next few days Sir Robert carefully inspected the rambling, +substantial old house, which, to Miss Aglonby's chagrin, he pronounced +"quite modern;" though he smiled when she informed him that "Heart's +Content" had been "refurnished quite recently,--in '48." He also went +over the land, only about four hundred acres, put the most searching +questions as to its practical value and uses, filled a tin box with the +earth, meaning to have it analyzed by "a respectable chemist," and went +into details generally with much energy. Nor had he anything to complain +of in the way of unfair dealing in Mr. Gregory Aglonby, who accompanied +him and gave him the fullest and frankest particulars about the +property, which he pointed out was going to rack and ruin, or rather had +gone there. Every broken gate and stony field was dear to his heart, and +it was a melancholy pilgrimage to him; but had not Mr. Aglonby said to +him that morning, "Brother Gregory, the place must go,--there is no help +for it,--and this gentleman seems likely to become a purchaser. Will you +see that the disadvantages of the property are set before him clearly, +especially such as a stranger would certainly overlook? I cannot +entertain a proposition of any kind looking to its ultimate purchase +until I know that this has been done, anxious as I am to have this +matter definitely concluded. I had thought to die here. But it has been +otherwise ordered by an overruling and all-wise Providence." + +It did not escape Sir Robert that he was not likely to be overreached in +his bargain, however much he might repent of it; and when Mr. Gregory +pointed across the road and said, "The 'Little England' farm lies over +there, but produces less and less every year. The land is exhausted," +Sir Robert thought, "The fellow is either quixotic or doesn't wish to +sell. I rather think the first: there has certainly been no shuffling +and pretending." Aloud he said, "The soil can't be exhausted. It is +virgin still compared to that of England, and all that it needs is +careful cultivation. It seems to me that what Virginia needs is +immigration." + +Mr. Gregory looked displeased. It was as though Sir Robert had +criticised Anne Buller's dress. "On the contrary, we wish to keep +Virginia for Virginians," he said slowly. "We have no desire to see it +overrun by a horde of Irish and Dutch, and heaven knows what besides. +The proper place for that kind of people is the West and Northwest. If +we could get _the right class_ of English emigrants, that would be +another matter. But it is scarcely likely that they will come here in +any considerable number, now that the poor old commonwealth offers so +little remunerative return to the most honorable enterprise." + +When Sir Robert had quite made up his mind that he would like to possess +the place, he telegraphed imperatively for Mr. Heathcote, who joined him +most reluctantly. Together they walked all over the county, saw a great +many people, and, having bought two hundred acres that marched with, +and, indeed, had formerly been a part of, the Aglonby estate, Sir Robert +made a liberal offer for Heart's Content, expressed his thanks for the +kind and honorable treatment he had received there, and, his terms being +accepted, paid the purchase-money, and begged that the family would suit +their own convenience entirely in giving it up. This settled, he went +his way to the Natural Bridge, which he considered should rank second +only to Niagara in this country in point of interest, and then went on +to Lexington, to visit General Lee's tomb, and from there to see +Stonewall Jackson's grave, which, to his intense astonishment and +indignation, he found half covered with visiting-cards,--the exquisite +tribute of the sentimental tourist to the stern soldier. He could do +nothing until he had cleared the last bit of pasteboard (with "Miss +Mollie Bangs, Jonesville," printed on it) away from the mound. This he +did energetically with his umbrella, after which he sat down quietly to +think of his favorite hero, who seemed to be "resting under the shade of +the trees over the river" rather than there, and fell to repeating +"Stonewall Jackson's Way,"--a very favorite lyric, which he knew by +heart. "'Appealing from his native sod In _forma pauperis_ to God,' +ought to be his epitaph. I think he would like that," he said. "I am +glad England can claim such a son, however indirectly. Fancy 'Miss +Mollie Bangs' leaving a card--and such a card--on old Blue-Light! A +decent one might do for Beau Brummel's grave, but Jackson's--!" + +Mr. Heathcote was with him, and, after one careless glance, had strolled +up and down, absorbed in his own thoughts, which were not of war or +death. He only half listened to his uncle's praise of the great soldier, +and presently said, _à propos_ of nothing that had happened that day, +"Uncle, what would you say if I should ask you to let me live at +'Heart's Content'?" + +"Eh? What's that?" asked Sir Robert, forgetting in his surprise to blow +out the lighted match he had just applied to the offending cards. "You +live in America? What idea have you got in your head, my boy?" + +Mr. Heathcote could not tell his uncle that Edith had said that she +would never marry an Englishman, never! but that if she ever did, she +should insist upon his living in America, for to go away from mamma and +papa and the boys and everybody she cared for was a thing she could not +and would not do, not if she adored the man that demanded such a +sacrifice of her. What he did say was that he was tired of his aimless +life in London, and liked his uncle too well to look forward with any +pleasure to succeeding him, and that he should like to have a small +property to manage without aid of bailiff, steward, agent, or factotum +of any kind. "I could go over whenever I liked, or you needed me, and +you could come to me to see that I wasn't making ducks and drakes of the +property," he said. "And it is an experiment, I grant; but you have +always been awfully generous and kind to me, and I have something laid +by that would cover the possible losses my inexperience might cause, for +the first year at least. I am sure I can learn the trade, and am willing +to pay for my apprenticeship, if you will only let me try my hand at +farming." + +"The boy is thinking of marrying," was Sir Robert's mental comment; but +he only said that he had bought the place with a very different idea, +but that he would think the matter over. + +"You must remember that it will not be child's play," he said. "And if +you should grow attached to it and wish to stay, you will be practically +giving up your own country, you know. But America is hardly a foreign +country. It is the representative institutions, moral ideas, social +atmosphere, and mental habits that make a people, not the mere physical +features of the country, and in character the Americans are, as Mr. +Aglonby would say, 'Englishmen once removed'--across the Atlantic. You +might be quite happy and content among them. Just so." + +"Oh, yes, I am sure I shall. You are quite in the right in what you say +of them," Mr. Heathcote eagerly replied. + +And Sir Robert, who had purposely laid this trap for him, thought to +himself, "The boy is certainly in love. I must find out all about it, +unless he has the grace to tell me himself." + +Much as she liked Niagara, Miss Noel was not sorry, after long delay, to +get a letter from Sir Robert, asking her to join him in Chicago, and +telling her of a delightful visit he had made to Richmond, where he had +been received "with particular kindness" and had met a great number of +agreeable people, most of them Virginians of the modern type and +scarcely so interesting, in a way, as the Aglonby family, who, as he saw +from other individuals, were survivals of a generation rapidly +disappearing, to be found only occasionally here and there now,--"a +class of aristocrats long a curious anomaly in a republican state, +hardly to be matched in Europe to-day outside of Austria, and never to +be reproduced." + +It did not take Parsons long to do the necessary packing; but Miss Noel +consumed a whole day in putting up her carefully-labelled "specimens of +the flora of New York;" and Ethel had to settle with Mr. Bates, who +would doubtless rather have been rejected by an English-woman than +accepted by any American, and was not denied that luxury. + +From Chicago the reunited forces went off almost immediately to Salt +Lake City, having only three days to give to a little hurried +sight-seeing in the "marvellous Sphinx city," as they called it in their +letters home. + +At Salt Lake Mrs. Sykes was awaiting their arrival, and betrayed a +radiant satisfaction at the first glance. + +"You can't think how busy I have been and what a lot I have +accomplished," she related exultantly. "I have found a whole village of +Thompsons with a _p_, and went and boarded there, and have got up a book +that Bentley will give me a hundred pounds for. And I have done a lot of +sketches to illustrate it, and, so far from being out of pocket, shall +have made by my American tour. It has been the greatest fun imaginable, +poking about in their houses and dishing them up afterward. And, only +fency, I've got a lock of Brigham Young's hair, _well authenticated_. I +palmed myself off on a person that I met as being a very great admirer +of his, and she gave me it. When I get home I'm going to have a ring +made of it, like the one Lady Bottsford has got made of King John of +Abyssinia's wool, which has been so talked of. People have taken to +noticing my rings very much ever since I had that tooth of darling +Bobo's polished and mounted in brilliants; and this will be +unique,--there will not be another like it in all England. I told the +person of whom I got it what I meant to do with it, and she said that I +must revere him deeply; and, do you know, I quite forgot my part that I +was playing, and said that I didn't care a fig for the old sinner, but +that it was a great curiosity. And she was so engry, quite fiawrious, +and wanted it back; but of course she didn't get it. When do we leave +this?" + +They left as soon as Sir Robert had satisfied himself on certain points, +and Miss Noel bad been sufficiently shocked by a service in the +Tabernacle, and Mr. Heathcote had indulged in a bath in the lake, which +he persisted in taking, and in the course of which he went through any +number of antics in addition to his usual feats, in themselves +remarkable, for he was a vigorous and powerful swimmer. The +ex-Devonshire Elder (whom Mrs. Sykes had seen more than once slinking +about the streets, she said, but who had not come near her) was pleased +to be very polite to Sir Robert, or would have been if he had been +allowed; but, not wishing to conduct a Salt Lake campaign _à la_ Sykes, +Sir Robert was content to see the place in his own way, got a phial of +water from the lake, which Miss Noel said reminded her of Sodom and +Gomorrah and was "very suited to the odious place," looked at and into +such things as could be seen in a short stay, and made temperate, +careful records of the same in his note-book. + +The next point of interest to the party was "'Frisco and the Yosemite," +toward which they pushed as fast as steam could take them, Sir Robert +and Miss Noel being vividly interested in many things _en route_, Ethel +and Mr. Heathcote pleased by a few, Mrs. Sykes grumbling ceaselessly +about the length, monotony, bareness, aridity, stupidity, and general +hideousness of the journey. The only thing that really amused her was a +quarrel that she got up with a lady who sat near her. The acquaintance +promised to be friendly enough for a while, for the lady was an amiable +soul,--the wife of "a dry-goods merchant in Topeka," she told Mrs. +Sykes. The latter was pleased to ask her a great many questions and to +patronize her quite extensively in default of other amusement, so that +all went well at first. But the second stage of Mrs. Sykes's friendship +was not apt to be so pleasant as the first, and accordingly she much +astonished her neighbor one morning by saying to her curtly, "Why don't +you speak English?" + +"Why, I do. I talk it all the time, don't I?" replied the lady. + +"No, you don't. Just look here. I have made a list of the things you +say. They are not English at all. I don't know what you mean, often." + +"Do you mean to say that you never heard anybody talk like me?" asked +the lady indignantly, as she fumbled in her bag for her glasses. + +"Oh, I didn't say that. I've heard _some_ of the words among our +lodging-house-keepers; but you have invented others, and your +pronunciation is abominable. You should really mend it, if you can," +replied Mrs. Sykes, with decision. + +The list which had been so civilly put in the Topekan lady's hands was a +long one, and ran as follows: "Chawcolate, pawk, hawrid, cawd, squrl, +stoopid, winder, lemmy, gimmy, years (for ears), 'cute, edgercation, +conchienchous," etc., etc. + +The fingers that held it trembled with rage long before it was finished, +for the Topekan lady had wealth and social aspiration, if not +"edgercation;" and when Mrs. Sykes broke in with, "Well, what do you say +to that?" she had a good deal to say, and said it very forcibly, in such +English as she could command, after which she swelled in speechless +anger opposite for the remainder of their journey. + +"There it is again. If I say the least thing to these Americans they fly +out like that," complained Mrs. Sykes to Miss Noel. + +But for sheer ill humor nothing could have surpassed her conduct when +they had "done" San Francisco, which she declared to be "a dull, dirty, +windy place, with a harbor of which entirely too much is +made,--ridiculously over-praised, in fact," and got under way for the +Yosemite. The roads, the rough vehicle, the country, could not be +sufficiently abused. However, when the spot was reached, she relented, +as she had done at Niagara, and, looking up at the giant trees, +graciously conceded that they also were "quite up to the mark." + +It was a pleasant spectacle to see Sir Roberts enthusiasm. Such gazing +and neck-craning and measuring and speculating! Such critical inspection +of bark, leaves, soil, lichens! Such questioning of the guides! Such +keen delight, wonder, remeasuring, recraning, theories, calculations, +endless contemplation! The enjoyment of the others was as nothing, +compared to his,--for if there was a thing that he loved it was a fine +tree, and had he not some of the best timber in England, which he knew +as some generals have known their soldiers and some shepherds their +sheep? "Stupendous! Prodigious! Wonderful!" burst from his lips as he +walked slowly around them and rode between them as in a dream, perfectly +entranced. He could scarcely be dragged away, and at last was only moved +by the thought that there was so much that he "must positively see" in +the surrounding country which was waiting to be considered volcanically, +botanically, geologically, and otherwise. It was one of his vexations +that nature, art, science, history, commerce, were so long, and time and +a voraciously intelligent but mortal and limited baronet so fleeting. He +would have liked to spend several months on the Pacific coast, looking +into a thousand things with unflagging zeal and interest. It was really +afflicting to turn his back upon the early Spanish settlers, the Jesuit +missions, the grape and olive production, mining interests, earthquake +statistics, the Chinese problem, annual rainfall on the great plateau, +study of the Sierra Nevada range, and last, most alluring of all, that +of the Santa Barbara Islands, described by a companion of Drake as +densely populated by a white race with light hair and ruddy cheeks. When +Sir Robert thought of that people and of all the bliss of investigation, +he almost decided to make a winter of it in California and solve that +mystery or perish. But he had still much to accomplish, and he had fixed +the day for sailing before leaving England. So back the party came to +St. Louis, where they found a mountain of mail-matter from the four +quarters of the globe. There were five voluminous epistles from Mrs. +Vane to Miss Noel, and others from that household; a simple domestic +chronicle from Mabel, describing her daily round and stating her fears +and anxieties about "Boy," who was getting "sadly wilful and unruly," +and, like a youthful Ajax, had lately "defied husband;" and one of Mr. +Ketchum's characteristic epistles: + + "I send you a letter of introduction to my friend Fry in New + Orleans (to whom my double-and-twisted), since you will go + there. He will put you through all right. But I warn you that + you will be nobody and won't be able to hold up your head there + at all. No one can after an epidemic, unless he has lost half + of his relations and had the other half given up by the doctors + and prepared for burial. This reminds me that Brown's + scapegrace of a brother has turned up here with a handsome + Mexican wife and a million, and has deodorized his reputation + by giving large sums to the yellow-fever sufferers, while I am + thinking of colonizing all the mothers-in-law of these United + there before another season opens, unless business improves. + Fairfield has a Benedicts' Club now, and I chose the motto for + it, 'Here the women cease from troubling and the wicked are at + rest:' so when you want a little peace and comfort you will + know where to come. My wife will have nothing less than her + love sent you; but I am all the same your friend, J. K." + +Having seen a certificate that New Orleans was entirely free from fever, +"signed by all the medical men of eminence in the city," Sir Robert was +determined not to be frightened out of his visit there altogether. But +it was only November, and he did not wish to run any foolish risks, and +the ladies were very nervous on this score. He was still undecided what +course to take, when he one day picked up a paper and read an account of +the Indian Territory that interested him beyond measure. In an hour he +had got out his maps and time-tables and arranged to "put in a week" at +Tahlequah, the Falls of St. Anthony, and the Mammoth Cave. As none of +the party cared for the first except himself, he went there alone, and +felt fully repaid for the effort. Great was his joy at finding "a purely +Indian legislative body" and assisting at their deliberations, his +lorgnon glued now to one chief and now to another. And then to talk to +them, to get their "views," to sketch them, to have a copy of their +constitution and laws and a newspaper in their own tongue and characters +in which an affinity to the Egyptian, Arabic, Chinese, or any other +might perhaps be traced! And then how full his letters to his friends in +England were of his "visit to a Choctaw gentleman's plantation,--a most +deeply interesting, well-educated man;" "the first-fruits of the new +civilization;" "the opinion of a Seminole person on the Indian policy of +the American government;" "the beauty of a young Chickasaw female" whom +he had seen at one of the schools, and "the extraordinary progress made +by some of the other scholars, showing that there is absolutely no limit +to the intellectual development of the once-despised savage;" "the +crystal clearness of the beautiful rivers, the lovely, fertile plains, +framed by the Mozark Mountains, the balmy, delightful climate, and the +brutality and wicked greed of an American of the lower class," who had +told him that "the country was a million times too good for redskins, +who ought all to be exterminated, as 'Indians was p'ison wherever +found.'" And then, while the glow of this interest still flushed his +mind, he took up the Mississippi River, which was a career in itself and +beckoned him on to fresh conquests. He went up to the Falls of St. +Anthony, which, after Niagara and the Yosemite, was accounted "tame and +overrated" by Mrs. Sykes, but over which he pondered deeply. Before he +left there the river had got a strong hold on his imagination that grew +ever greater and greater. He spent all his time on the boat studying it. +He talked to the pilot about it,--or rather made the pilot talk, and +listened with all his ears; he took up the methods now practised for +preventing the banks from caving in and forcing the Great Father to lie +in the bed he has made, instead of driving honest folk out of theirs by +scurvy turns and bends that break up thousands of homes. He drew +diagrams of the pile-driving and wattling and willow mattrasses in the +diary, with the improvements he thought advisable, and some very +scientific suggestions by which the river could be made to checkmate +itself, like an automaton chess-player. He hung over the guards +continually, observing all that was to be observed, and recorded the +same under separate headings, such as "currents," "velocity," +"flood-rises," with statistics without end showing that the +carrying-trade of the great water highway would amount in 1950 to +something so colossal that there is no room for it here, while a future +for the cities that stud its banks was predicted that would satisfy +their most ambitious citizens. + +His heart was not in Louisville nor in the Mammoth Cave, though he went +over the first religiously and examined the latter carefully, collected +specimens, and even thrilled faintly over an eyeless fish, which aroused +considerable enthusiasm in Mr. Heathcote. He was not really himself +until he was again on the river, doing a little dredging and sounding on +his own account. At Cairo he expanded almost as much as his subject, and +for a long while afterward was never weary of tracing the blue and +yellow currents that fuse so reluctantly and imperfectly that out in the +Gulf of Mexico, it is said, one comes upon patches of the Missouri of +the most jaundiced, angry hue. + +The sombre majesty of the stream was quite lost upon Mrs. Sykes, who saw +in it only "an ugly, wicked-looking river, with a lot of dirty-white +villages along its mud banks." Her attention was given to the passengers +and the clerk,--especially the latter. "A clerk that talks to the ladies +in the cabin about literature and the dramar! Only fency!" she said to +Miss Noel. "And such comical blackies, that the ladies call 'aunty,' and +that call me 'honey' and 'child.' As like as not you'll see a snag +coming up through the bottom of the boat presently, and you had better +try one of the life-preservers on and see how it works; though, after +all, we may be blown up instead. Of course we are racing. I am sure of +it." + +"Dear, dear! How _very_ dreadful! How did you discover that? It should +really be made known. I shall speak to the captain. I really can't +consent to being _raced_ with," replied Miss Noel, who did not make +sufficient allowance for Mrs. Sykes's love of the sensational. "Robert +must call a meeting and protest, or something." + +She went to look for Sir Robert, whom she found walking about on deck. +He had been reading all the afternoon, and his mind was full of La +Salle, and De Soto, and poor Evangeline, so cruelly near to Gabriel and +happiness once, only to drift away from both forever. So large was his +grasp of any subject that the imaginative phases of a situation appealed +to him as powerfully as the practical, and he was not the man to take +the Mississippi without its associations, any more than he would have +done the Hudson or the Sierras without Irving and Bret Harte. So now he +was pacing backward and forward under the stars, thinking of these +things, and in no mood for bearding the captain in his cabin; and, +having calmed Miss Noel's fears, he stayed on deck until very late, +enjoying his cigar and surroundings. + +When they got low enough down to come upon levees and see that the river +was actually higher than the land, the questions of inundation, +protection, blue-clay banks, dikes, sluices, crevasses, water-gates, +sediment, currents, swept in upon Sir Robert, and he was still working +at them when they reached New Orleans. Fresh interests and employments +now awaited him, in which he was soon absorbed, head over ears. Like +olives, New Orleans has a flavor of its own, so decided that it is +impossible to be indifferent to it: one must either be very fond of it +or dislike it heartily. It was soon evident that Sir Robert belonged to +the first class and Mrs. Sykes to the second. Its brilliant blue skies, +and sunshine, and warmth, the lovely flowers, the good opera and better +restaurants, the infectious gayety of the people, as light about the +heart as the heels, with enough Gallic quicksilver in their veins to +give them a genius for being and looking happy, and, lastly, the warmth +of his reception, and a hospitality as refined as limitless, delighted +this most amiable of baronets. He had brought good letters, and was +admitted to that inner Creole circle which few strangers see, and in +which he found among the elders, as he said to Miss Noel, "the +atmosphere of the Faubourg Saint-Germain,--a dignity like that of the +period to which the Aglonbys belonged, with more grace and +_savoir-faire_. And such wonderfully pretty girls, my dear Augusta, +with eyes like sloes and skins like the petals of their own +magnolia-blossoms. And I observe a sort of patriarchal tribal state of +affairs among them,--grandparents, children, grandchildren, all living +together in great numbers and perfect amity, apparently." Among the +Americans of the city Sir Robert found much to interest him, and he went +to visit their "sugar-estates," took down in black and white the +astounding number of oranges that one tree is capable of producing, held +conversations with many gentlemen about the emancipated slaves, and with +many emancipated slaves about their late masters and present condition. +And then was there not cotton, the machinery employed on rice-, sugar-, +and cotton-plantations to "go, into"? to say nothing of the swamp-flora, +the possible introduction of olives into Louisiana, and Voodooism to +trace back to the Vaudois sorcerers of the fourteenth century and +connect with the serpent-worship of some parts of Italy, where he had +himself seen the peasants make their yearly procession with snakes +wrapped about their necks, waists, and wrists? And was there not, too, +serious business to be done? How could he secure and forward to England +a few things that he must have, such as a gar alligator, a pair of +mocking-birds, a Floridian flamingo, a ruby humming-bird, "a Texan +horned frog, with a distinctly-developed tail, crustaceous, probably +antediluvian, and credibly reported to live upon air," not to mention +other treasures, and collections previously made, which must be shipped +before he left? All this he finally accomplished, and was so pleased by +his success that not even a letter from his Kalsing "solicitor," saying +that his suit against the "Eagle" had been brought to trial and he had +been awarded fifty cents damages, could greatly cloud the content he +felt. + +Mrs. Sykes, meanwhile, was looking at everything through her own bit of +yellow glass or London fog, and seeing only what her prepossessions +would let her see through a medium that distorted and magnified every +object. As the spittoons at the Capitol had seemed to her far bigger and +more striking than the dome, so now the gutters of New Orleans made an +immense impression upon her and affected her most painfully, although +the Mississippi failed to impress her at all. The climate she found +odious, the people spoke neither pure French nor good English, and many +a fault besides she found, chiefly with what she politely termed "the +Creowls," whom she was never tired of ridiculing as lazy, ignorant, +effeminate, and morbidly conceited. She was not an ideal companion when +they made an expedition into the lovely pastoral Tèche country, the +Acadia of exiled Acadians and Eden of Louisiana, but her lack of +enthusiasm did not damp the ardor of Sir Robert. Miss Noel thought it a +beautiful country, but added that it looked "sadly damp, and as if it +might be malarious," and insisted on "dear Ethel's" taking ten grains +of quinine daily during their stay and wearing a potato in her +pocket,--precautionary measures adopted by herself, and known to have +nipped jungle-fever in the bud repeatedly in India, so she said. It +seemed to Sir Robert's heated fancy that even Ethel praised this ideal +spot but tepidly, and when she had started out of a revery three times +with an "I beg pardon" while he was reading "Evangeline" to her under +the shade of one of those noble oaks "from whose branches garlands of +Spanish moss floated," fit monuments of the sorrowful maiden of +ever-green memory, he put down the book impatiently, saying, "It is only +the old that are young nowadays; I am boring you,"--a speech that made +her blush guiltily, since she did not care to explain where her thoughts +had wandered. He was not bored. The bayous were a fascinating novelty to +him, the trees and fields and glades were eloquent to him, the simple +French peasants who belong to the seventeenth century and by some +miracle lead its idyllic life in the nineteenth interested him, and he +could see Basil, Gabriel, and Father Félicien at every step. + +The next week found them on a steamer bound for Havana and New York, +followed by friendly faces and good claret to the last, leaving three +baskets of champagne and about a ton of flowers out of account. For an +account of Havana, Matanzas, Spanish atrocities, Cuban exports, coolie +slavery, and the like topics, the reader is respectfully referred to the +book since published by Sir Robert,--"Eight Months in the United States, +Cuba, and Canada,"--a work pronounced in critical quarters "the best +book of travels in America ever published in England" (high praise, +surely), though it attracted less general attention than a very spicy, +entertaining volume by Mrs. Arundel Sykes, called "A Britisher among the +Yankees," (to quote from another English journal) said to contain "a not +very flattering picture of the life, society, and institutions of the +Great Republic, which must be a true one, since it is so universally +resented by the American press. People will cry out when they are hit, +as every one knows." + +On arriving in New York our party went at once to Mr. Brown's, that +gentleman being established there for the winter and having urged them +to stay with him. Their idea was to sail for home almost immediately, as +soon as Sir Robert had seen his friend General Bludyer, with whom he had +some business and who was bringing out his two sons to establish them in +America. But an unexpected delay occurred. On the day after their +arrival, Mr. Heathcote ran up to his aunt's room to bid her good-by +before taking himself off to Baltimore,--he had made a full confession +to Sir Robert, and received much advice and counsel, together with a +qualified approval of his plans and hopes,--and he found Miss Noel still +in bed, although it was mid-day and she not the least punctual and +energetic of her sex. In reply to his playful reproaches she replied +that she was "feeling very, very queer," and he cheerfully assured her +that she "had best stop in bed a day or two and all would be well," +after which he told her that he was not going back to England with the +party, and, with a further remark to the effect that she "was looking +awfully seedy," discovered that he was late for his train, was again +pleasantly sure that she would "be all right soon," and hurried off to +the station, well pleased to think that he should see Edith in a few +hours. It is not always possible, however, for a woman to fulfil the +optimistic predictions of her careless male relatives, and in a few +hours Miss Noel was feeling really ill. "Who is your doctor, my dear?" +she asked of Bijou, who had herself arranged and carried up a little +tray of delicacies with which to tempt her. "How very sweet of you to +trouble! Why did you not let Parsons do that? Do you know I am +making myself quite wretched lest I should be sickening with +something,--something serious? I must have a doctor at once. Would you +kindly send for one, or, rather, tell Parsons where to go? I can't rest +until I get the opinion of a medical man." + +"Now, don't you worry about _that_," said Bijou, bestowing an embrace +upon her and then perching herself on the foot of the bed. "You are not +going to be ill; and if you are, why, you are with friends who will take +the best sort of care of you, that's all. I'll nurse you; and popper +says I am just a natural-born nurse, if there ever was one. You can see +the doctor if you want to, but most likely you will be a great deal +better to-morrow." + +"But, my dear, suppose I should be worse? It would be too dreadful! I +can't be ill in your house, you know," said Miss Noel disconsolately. + +"Why, why not?" queried Bijou, in surprise. + +"Why not? Can you ask why? Think of all the trouble I should be putting +you to, the house upset, and the servants giving warning very likely, +and all that. Oh, no! I hope and trust it is nothing; but if it should +be serious I could not dream of putting you out like that," replied Miss +Noel, with emphasis. + +"Why, do you mean to say that anybody would care for _that_, or think of +the _trouble_, with a friend lying sick in their house? I never heard of +such a thing," exclaimed Bijou, expressing the liveliest emotions of +astonishment and contempt in face and voice. "Of course we don't want +you to get sick, for your own sake; but if you do we'll do everything in +this world to make you comfortable and cure you. And the house won't be +upset at all; and we don't care a snap what the servants think. You must +put that perfectly ridiculous idea right out of your head, and turn over +and try to go to sleep." + +When the doctor came he looked grave even for a doctor, and felt it his +duty to tell Miss Noel that she might have yellow fever. It was always +to be had for the catching in Cuba, and her symptoms were suspicious, +though he could not, of course, be positive. Here was a sensation. It +was curious to see the effect this declaration had on the different +members of the household. Sir Robert, after turning pale and saying "God +bless my soul! you don't mean it," to the doctor, rallied from the shock +as soon as he had left the house, and refused to believe anything of the +kind, talked about "the art conjectural," and did all he could to +impress this view on Miss Noel, who promptly gave herself up as lost, +told him that she had made her will "before leaving town for the North" +the year before, asked that her body might be "taken back to dear old +England," if this could be done without risk to others, and begged that +she might be "sent straight away to the hospital" and no one allowed to +come in contact with her meanwhile. Bijou, Ethel, and Parsons stoutly +refused to be hustled out of her room, declaring that they had already +been exposed to the danger, if danger there was, and protested that they +were ready to nurse her through anything. Mr. Brown, coming home to +dinner, was horrified as by some impiety to hear it proposed that Miss +Noel should go to a hospital. "Admitting, for the sake of argument," +said this ever-judicial host, "that the doctor is right, what follows? +Why, that Miss Noel will require great care, and, humanly speaking, will +incur additional risk in leaving my house. I cannot dream of allowing +it. My married daughter has taken her children to see their grandmother; +there are only Bijou and myself to be considered, and neither of us has +any fear of the disease, or, indeed, any great belief in the reality of +the danger. I cannot think of letting a guest, and that guest a stranger +here, go to a public place of the kind and commit herself to hired +nurses. Oh, no! That is out of the question." + +"I never heard of such a thing,--never. It would be perfectly shameful!" +protested Bijou afresh. And so Sir Robert was overruled, and, much +touched by this view of the matter, tried to express thanks on behalf of +Miss Noel, bungled out a few short phrases, very different from his +usually fluent utterances, shook Mr. Brown's hand heartily, sat down +with a very red face, and then started up and dismissed the carriage, +which, pending this decision, had been waiting at the door. + +It chanced that Mrs. Sykes had been out for some hours that day, and had +then come back and gone into the library, where she spent some time in +writing to the friends who had entertained her in Central New York. She +had just finished putting up the morning paper for them containing a +full and carefully-marked account of the defalcation and disappearance +of a bank-president in Delaware in whom she recognized the brother of +her former hostess, when Ethel looked in at the door and said, "Oh, you +are here," and, coming forward, gave her the dreadful news. It was well +that this final mark of her gratitude and graceful interest was complete +down to the very postage-stamp, for after this Mrs. Sykes had no time +for delicate attentions. + +"Stand off! good heavens! Don't come near me. Get away!" she shrieked, +and for once every particle of color left her face. The next moment she +rushed up-stairs to her room, put on her bonnet and cloak in a flash, +and, without farewells of any kind, or thought of so much as her darling +Bobo, left the house immediately. She went first, and that as fast as +her feet could carry her, to the nearest druggist's, where she invested +lavishly in disinfectants and hung innumerable camphor-bags about her +person. From there she went to the nearest hotel, from which she wrote +to the Browns, giving instructions about her luggage, which she said +must be packed by Parsons and sent over to England, to be unpacked at +Liverpool, for fear of infection, by "a person" whom she would engage. +She then took the first steamer leaving New York, and when she got on +board gave vent to a perfectly sincere and devout exclamation, "Thank +heaven, I have done with America!" From Liverpool she wrote back a +lively account of the passage, and expressed the deepest interest in +"dear Miss Noel," about whom she had been "quite wretched," but who she +"hoped was doing nicely by this time and would make a good recovery." +She also hoped, and even more earnestly, that "dearest Bobo was not +being neglected in the general hubbub, and given his biscuits without +their being properly soaked first, and his chicken in great pieces, not +carefully minced," and begged that every care should be taken of him, +imploring that everybody would remember that "_hot_ milk invariably made +the poor dear ill." She also sent Bijou a small and particularly hideous +pin-cushion, which she said had been made for the Ashantee Bazaar by the +Grand Duchess of Aufstadt. + +The defection of Mrs. Sykes was not greatly deplored by anybody, but it +was deeply resented by Parsons, who it is to be feared was not as +devoted to Bobo as his mistress expected. + +"I'm not one to run away,--not if it was lions and tigers,--like +_some_," she remarked; "but if hever I get back to the hold country I'll +go down on my bended knees, if it's in the very cab at Liverpool, and +thank 'eaven I'm at 'ome again; which I 'ope I may live to see it." + +Happily, Miss Noel did not have yellow fever. Unhappily, she had _a_ +fever, if not the dreaded one, and was ill for several weeks,--so ill +that it seemed at one time as though she had done with travelling-days. +Anxious weeks these for Ethel and Sir Robert and Mr. Heathcote, trying +ones for Bijou, who had at last found "a rational occupation." For it +was she who, with Parsons's help, nursed Miss Noel faithfully, tenderly, +efficiently, Ethel being a most willing coadjutress, but sadly out of +place in a sick-room. The skill, the self-reliance, and the +unselfishness that Bijou showed surprised even those who knew her best, +and quite endeared her to Sir Robert. + +"That girl is one in a thousand," he said to Ethel more than once; "and +I was such a wiseacre that I thought her a useless, spoiled creature who +would never be anything but a domestic fetich. I shall ask her pardon, +when I get the chance, for having so shamefully underrated and +misjudged her. Could there be a kinder family? If Augusta had been a +near and dear relative they could scarcely have shown more solicitude. +Every luxury, every kindness that the most thoughtful affection could +have suggested has been lavished on her. Everything has been +subordinated to the one object,--her recovery,--and all their ordinary +pursuits, amusements, occupations, cheerfully laid aside, apparently as +a mere matter of course. At least, they disclaim the idea of sacrifice; +and in all that they have done there has been nothing perfunctory. If +they have merely been performing what they considered a duty, I must say +that they have had the grace and innate good breeding to make it appear +that it was a pleasure. Just so." + +Miss Noel had been down-stairs on the sofa for three days, having been +officially pronounced convalescent, when who should walk in upon her but +the Ketchums,--Mabel serene and smiling, and Job in a state of evident +satisfaction and radiant good humor. + +"Well, now, this is something like. Up and dressed, and looking +first-rate for an invalid," he called out from the door, and then, +advancing, took one of her thin hands with much gentleness, and said, +"Getting well, ain't you? That's right. I am so glad. Creepin' through +mercy, eh? as Father Root used to say." + +Mabel slipped into a seat near Miss Noel, and, after some inquiries +about Sir Robert, Ethel, and the Browns, told her what concern they had +felt about her illness. "Husband telegraphed constantly to know how you +were going on; but the replies were often most unsatisfactory; and it is +so very nice to see you up again. You will soon be about, and the +sea-voyage will set you up wonderfully. That puts me in mind of--Tell +her, husband; show her." + +Thus stimulated, Mr. Ketchum drew out an enormous pocket-book, stuffed +full of papers, and attacked it rather than looked through it, drew out +a handful of letters, bills, memorandums, tore up several, crushed +others back into his case, walked swiftly into the hall, and came back +triumphantly with his over-coat on his arm and a sheet of foolscap in +his hand. + +"Dear, dear, husband, you should not mess about like this," said Mabel, +"littering up the carpet." + +She would have picked up the bits of paper, but he interfered. "Here! +I'll do that, Daisy; sit down. Daisy's occupation in the next world, +Miss Noel, is going to be sweeping all the dirty clouds out of the sky, +and polishing up the harps and crowns, and telling the small angels not +to leave the ivory gates ajar, for fear of draughts, and to be sure and +put their buckets and spades away tidily when they have done digging in +the golden sands, and not to get over-heated and fall ill, because they +can't die and have got nowhere to go. Now, look at this" (getting up +from his knees and holding up the foolscap, which was covered with +drawings of some mechanical contrivance): "I got thinking about you one +day and your illness, and that you ought to stay on deck all you could, +and to have the right kind of chair, and suddenly this idea hit me right +on the head, and I got out my pencil and started in on it. And here it +is. This is only the rough draught, you understand." + +With growing enthusiasm he explained all the details, while Mabel looked +intently and respectfully at the paper he held, and interjected admiring +comments: "Isn't it a most wonderful thing? and wasn't it clever of +husband to think of it?--but, then, he is always thinking of things. +Husband has got such a surprising talent for invention, and grasps an +idea at once." + +"Oh, no, I haven't. I think I could have found out the way to my mouth +as soon as any other baby, that's all. But this is a lucky hit. I am +going to have it patented. It's a first-rate thing. This is the way you +lash it to the mast when you want to; and when you want to move about +you let down the rollers and fasten them with this hook, and go where +you please. Twenty-seven changes of position. Why, you can read, eat, +sleep, ride, get married, run for Congress, die, and be buried in that +chair, if you want to!" he said, by way of final recommendation. + +"Thank you, but I don't wish to die. I would rather live," said Miss +Noel, laughing cheerfully for the first time since her illness. "And did +you really design it for me? How very kind! I must really try to get it +worked out, if you think it will answer, as of course you do." + +"Oh, don't you bother your head about that," he replied. "I worked it +all out one night, and set a smart carpenter at it the next morning +before breakfast. And it's a perfect success. And I've got it down at +the hotel, ready for you. I'm coming up here to put you in it and take +you down to the steamer myself." + +Sir Robert and Mr. Heathcote now came in (the latter having returned +from Baltimore an affianced man), and Ethel and Bijou followed, and +everybody was delighted to see everybody else; and they had so much to +talk about that Sir Robert almost forgot that he was engaged to preside +over a children's dinner-party at the house of an intimate friend of the +De Witts. He hurried off, though; and never had he "looked into" ten +more charming little faces than brightened on his arrival. The way in +which he radiated good humor, intelligence, benevolence, told stories +and jokes that kept the little company shouting with laughter, and +finally rose and got off an impromptu piece of doggerel with exactly ten +verses, and each child's name and some peculiarity brought out in a way +to convulse even mammas and the maids, was as indescribable as +delightful. I am not sure that he did not enjoy it more than any of the +grand entertainments that he had been asked to; and as for the children, +they remember it to this day, although they are on the verge of +young-ladyhood and at college now and have very serious demands made on +their memories. + +After a pleasant little interval of reunion and various diversions, the +day came at last for our English people to leave the country. What they +felt about this necessity was well expressed for them by Sir Robert in +the last letter that he wrote before going on the steamer. + +"I am glad to turn my face toward the old land, which must always seem +to me the best of all lands," he said; "but I take with me the +pleasantest memories of the new. It has been a constant surprise and +pleasure to me to find how like they are to each other in all +essentials, greatly as they often seem to differ on the surface. I have +had a most interesting and delightful tour. Such opportunities of +observation as have come in my way, and such authentic information as I +have been able to lay hold of, I have tried to make the most of; but in +so short a time I could not do more than glean in a field that offers a +rich harvest to more fortunate travellers. From the moment of landing +until now I have been made the recipient of a hospitality too generous +and too flattering to be appropriated to myself in my individual +capacity. I must either set it down to the good will which Americans +feel toward England when not irritated and repelled by the insolent and +overbearing among us,--who have done more to make a breach between the +two peoples than you would fancy, and inflicted wounds that all the +ambassadors and public-dinner fine speeches cannot heal,--or to that +true politeness which Americans observe in the most casual relations, +and the immense, apparently inexhaustible kindness which it is their +habit to show to strangers. I find in them a certain spontaneity and +affectionateness that has quite won my heart." + +To the credit of Mr. Ketchum be it said that if Miss Noel had been made +of cobwebs she could have been safely transported in his invention to +the steamer. This feat was comfortably achieved, at all events, and Mr. +Ketchum, having superintended it, left Miss Noel in the chair on deck; +and there were kisses and embraces between the ladies, a hurried rush to +the wharf, and the steamer moved out, with Miss Noel crying softly, and +saying, "Dear, dear Bijou! Dear America! How good they have been to me!" +and Ethel and Sir Robert hanging over the side; and ashore the Browns, +the doctor, Mr. Heathcote, the De Witts, and Mr. Ketchum and Mabel +looking earnestly at them and waving their adieux. + +"You'll find a couple of barrels of pecans at your place. I forgot to +tell you. Good-by! good-by! Call again!" shouted Mr. Ketchum. And then, +turning to his wife, he said, "Don't you wish you were going home, too?" + +Mabel stopped to straighten little Jared Ponsonby's hat and settle his +curls, somewhat disordered by the wind from the river. Then she turned a +face full of sweet content toward her husband; her simple and serious +look met his twinkling, bantering one for a moment. "No, dearest," she +said, as she took his arm and walked away. "You know that I don't. You +are my home." + + * * * * * + +The Ketchums went back to Fairfield, and spent the two years that +followed very happily and quite uneventfully in that simple round of +duties and pleasures which the foolish find so dull and the wise would +not exchange for any other. And not the least agreeable feature of this +life was what was known as "the English letters," although this really +included books, music, photographs, sketches, and a great variety of +things, from the J. pens that came for Mrs. Vane and the larding-needles +that housewifely Mabel had coveted that she might "set a proper fowl +before husband," up to packages of a disgraceful size and bulk addressed +to Mr. Ketchum in Sir Robert's hand. Sir Robert was a regular and +delightful correspondent; Miss Noel and Ethel were equally kind about +writing; Mrs. Sykes sent a very characteristic epistle or two to the +family after her return, and then let "silence like a poultice" come to +heal the blows she had inflicted. + +"What do you hear from that idiotic young Ramsay?" "How is Ramsay +opening the American oyster?" "What of poor Mr. Ramsay?" "Is Mr. Ramsay +coming back to England?" were questions often asked by these +correspondents; and Mr. Ketchum was able to give some account of that +fascinating fortune-seeker. + +Mr. Ramsay wrote to him occasionally, which was the more flattering +because he repeatedly said in these productions that he "hated doing a +letter most tremendously," and very truly remarked that "the worst of it +is that you've got to be thinking what to say, which is an awful bore, +and ten to one the pen is bad, and spelling takes a lot out of you if +you are not used to looking up the words." Whether, "not being a +literary chap," he would have written to Mr. Ketchum at all had not the +Ketchum and Brown properties marched and the two families been good +friends is one of those nice questions which it is hard to decide. His +letters were headed "Out in the Bush" at first, and were full of the +adventures and amusements that his novel surroundings afforded him. Then +came more sober epistles from "The Ranch," with a good deal in them +about "these dirty brutes of Mexicans and ignorant cowboys," the long, +dull days, the doubts that had begun to agitate him as to the +possibility of getting the millions that had seemed almost within his +grasp in London out of "old Brown's farm." Finally, after a long +silence, Job got a letter one day, written in pencil, that betrayed the +deepest depression and most utter disgust. He had "come an awful cropper +from a mustang," and been laid up for three months; his money was all +gone; he could get nothing to do. "I tried to get a clerkship in a +'country store' before I got my fall," he explained, "though if I have +got to that I had better go back to England, where those fellows get a +half-holiday on Saturdays and lots of bank holidays, and are in +civilization at least. Perhaps if the governor saw me with a quill +behind my ear, or riding down to the city on top of a 'bus, smoking a +pipe, he'd do something for me for the honor of the family. But he's in +a beastly humor now, and wouldn't send me a fiver to save my life. He +says that I'm not worth my salt anywhere, and that he washes his hands +of me. And Bill has taken to patronizing me so tremendously that I'd +starve rather than ask his help. So I must just stick it out here, I +suppose, unless you meant what you said when we parted, and will help me +to get back home, where I have friends, a brother-in-law especially, an +awfully good sort of fellow, that would stick to a fellow through thick +and thin, no matter what other fellows said of him. There's a lot of +'fellows' in this last sentence, but I never was a clever fellow--I had +better stop. I am getting worse mixed up than ever." + +Mr. Ketchum's reply to this was a short, cordial, hearty note, enclosing +a check for five hundred dollars, telling Mr. Ramsay to draw upon him +for more if he needed it, bidding him keep "a stiff upper lip," and +advising him to stop at Fairfield _en route_ to England and see if there +wasn't some better way out of his difficulties. About two weeks after +this Mr. Ramsay walked into Mr. Ketchum's office and almost wrung his +hand off, "Awfully kind of you," "awfully glad to see you," "awfully +good news to tell you," was poured out as in one breath by the bronzed, +thin, but still beautiful Englishman, whose illness had given a last and +quite irresistible charm of spirituality to his handsome face. + +"Sit down, man, and tell us all about it," said Mr. Ketchum, when he had +given him an embrace half real, half theatrical. "Delighted to see +_you_, if it comes to that." + +"Here's that check you sent me," said Mr. Ramsay, going straight to his +point, as usual. "I never got it cashed, because I got by the very same +post good news from England. My great-aunt Maxwell is dead at Bath and +has left me all her money, twenty thousand pounds. Isn't it the luckiest +fluke that ever was? But all the same it is a kindness that I shan't +forget. You are an awfully good sort to have done it. Most fellows would +have seen me in Halifax first, you know. And if ever you want a friend +you'll know where to find him, that's all. Only fancy all this money +falling in when I hadn't a penny and was in perfect despair! Such luck! +And such a fluke, as I have said. You see, it was all to have been +Bill's. He has always been my aunt's favorite, though at first it was to +have been divided between us; only when I was a little chap I blew off +the tail of her parrot with a bunch of fire-crackers. Haw! haw! haw! I +was never allowed there afterward, and she hated the very name of me. +She and Bill have hit it off together so well that he never had the +least fear of me stepping in. But on last Valentine's Day it seems that +she got an awfully cocky, cheeky valentine of an old maid putting on a +wig and painting her face, and it had the Stoke-Pogis post-mark, and she +took it into her head that Bill had sent it, flew into a most awful +rage, and sent for her solicitor and changed her will. And then, most +fortunate thing, she died that night, and couldn't make another." + +"Well, you are a doting nephew, upon my word," said Job. + +"It is no use of me being a hypocrite and going about looking cut up and +pretending that I am sorry when I am not," replied Mr. Ramsay. "I +haven't seen her for years, and she was nasty to me even when I was a +child, and she was a regular old cat, and no good to herself or anybody +else. I don't see why I should pull a long face and turn crocodile +because she made me her heir to spite Bill, though it comes in most +beautifully for me. I don't mean to keep it all, though I could swell it +considerably if I did. It would be a dirty thing to do, for Bill has +been brought up to expect it and didn't send the valentine at all. I +shall go halves with him; that seems fair all round." Mr. Ketchum agreed +with him, and Mr. Ramsay went on to make further confidences, in which +it appeared that he still cared for Miss Brown, and had "thought an +awful lot about her," and now rejoiced to find himself in a position to +address her if she was still free. Tom Price, coming in, could scarcely +announce that the buggy was at the door for goggling at Mr. Ramsay. The +two men drove rapidly out to Fairfield, talking all the way, and Mr. +Ramsay stared very hard at the Brown mansion and grounds, and got a +pretty welcome from Mabel that warmed his heart not a little. What he +said to Bijou in an interview that evening of four hours is no business +of ours. + +It began after quite formal greetings with, "Do you know that you are +looking most awfully well, Miss Brown?" on his part. + +"You didn't dream that I cared for you, did you?" said Bijou toward its +close, anxious to reassure herself upon a point that had made the last +two years a bitterness to her. + +"Oh, yes, I did. I twigged that long ago," replied he. "That is why I +cut my stick so suddenly. I couldn't support a wife then, and I wasn't +goin' to be thought a fortune-hunter, you know." It must have been that +he was forgiven the sentimental blunder that is worse than a crime,--a +want of frankness,--or how else could they have been married in six +weeks and sailed for England? Mr. Alfred Brown, being in California, did +not witness this ceremony, but Mr. Ketchum did, and "a large and +fashionable company of the _élite_ of Kalsing" (_vide_ the local paper). +And did not Mr. Ketchum give the groom a pair of trotting-horses that +afterward attracted much attention in Hyde Park? and did not Mr. Brown +present the bride with a considerable fortune on her wedding-day, which +her husband insisted should be set apart for her exclusive use and +control? + +"Haven't you got any other name than Bijou?" he said to her. "That is a +most absurd name. Bijou Ramsay. What will my people say?" + +"I was baptized Ellen," said she, "but I have never been called that." + +"Ellen? A nice, sensible name. I shall call you that," he replied, and +kept his word. + +And so the immigrant, who thought he had left England forever, went +home in a little while and is living there now in inglorious ease and +somewhat enervating luxury, while Mr. Heathcote, who thought that he was +coming out for a short visit and couldn't possibly live out of England, +is already more than half an American, a successful, practical farmer, +and, it may be added, a happy man. "Heart's Content" has been +renaissanced, papered, tiled, _portièred_, utterly transformed, and is +thought quite a show-place now and much admired; but there are some +persons who liked it better when it was only an old-fashioned Virginian +home, before their mahogany majesties the old furniture, and those +courtly commoners Anne Buller and her brothers, had been swept away with +all the other cumbering antiquities. + +Sir Robert is now looking into the military, monastic, and baronial +architecture of the mediæval period on the Continent, and goes next year +to Japan to begin the exhaustive researches which are to culminate in +his next book, the "Lives of the Mikados." + + F. C. BAYLOR. + +[THE END.] + + + + +THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS. + + +I am about to do a very unpopular thing,--namely, to write realistically +about the dog and to protest mildly against the extravagant and +sentimental way of writing about him which has become so fashionable and +which threatens to make him a veritable fetich. The intolerance of his +worshippers has already attained a height of dogmatism (the pun is +hardly a conscious one) which is truly theologic. I have been made +aware, when expressing dissent or a low measure of faith, of an +ill-concealed scorn, such as curls the lip of a Boston liberal or lights +the eye of a "Hard-Shell" or a Covenanter when any one ventures to +differ from him. + +The theory is gravely advanced of a dog heaven,--not confined to the +poor Indian, whose paradise consists of happy hunting-grounds, where, of +course, he will need his faithful hound to keep him company. The main +argument of white men is generally found to be the superiority of canine +virtue over the human. Whether the word "cynic" originates from a +similar source I will not undertake to say; but I have more than half a +suspicion that such talk proceeds rather from a prejudice against men +than a genuine enthusiasm for dogs. This was doubtless the feeling of +the Frenchman who said, "_Plus je connais l'homme, plus je préfère le +chien._" As to any argument drawn from the need of compensation +elsewhere for privation endured on earth, however it might hold +concerning the ancient dog, there is no foundation for the claim now; +for verily the modern dog hath his portion in this life,--and a double +one, too. + +I am impelled by no fanatical zeal, and have no creed or cult of my own +to vindicate. I am influenced only by a noble love of truth and a +sublime sense of duty in arraying myself with the despised +minority,--perhaps I may say by a sense of fair play for the "under +dog." I do not ask the _kynolatrist_ to "call off his dogs" altogether: +I merely ask him to allow those who do not share his enthusiasm to pass +by on the other side without his setting the dogs upon them. I would +recall to the sentimentalist who goes on repeating his stock phrases +and, perhaps, like Mr. Winkle, pretending an enthusiasm which he does +not feel, the wholesome advice of Dr. Johnson, "Sir, free your mind of +cant." Canon Farrar tells of a gentleman who was seated in the +smoking-room of an English hotel when a dog entered. He became violently +agitated, so that a waiter had to bend over and whisper to him, "It's a +real dog." The poor fellow was subject to a form of delirium tremens +which caused him to see imaginary dogs. I fear the disease is epidemic +and is on the increase. I would kindly recall the public mind to the +real dog. At least, I would suggest that the other side be heard; for +those who have had most to say on the subject seem to me to exhibit a +one-sided habit of mind, analogous to the manner of running observable +in their favorites. + +It is difficult to trace the origin of this new theology, the apotheosis +of the Dog. It is certainly altogether un-Biblical. The whole tenor of +Scripture is decidedly uncomplimentary to the species. It is even +proclaimed as a new commandment, "Beware of dogs." They are everywhere +presented as the symbol of all that is unclean, noisy, greedy, and +dangerous. The nearest to a compliment I can find is the saying that "a +living dog is better than a dead lion." The only good deed recorded of +them is that of licking the wounds of poor Lazarus. When Hazael would +express in the strongest terms his incapability of the most shocking +conduct, he asks, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" +Job seems to have felt that he could say nothing more scathing of +certain persons who derided him than that "their fathers I would have +disdained to set with the dogs of my flock." Instead of a dog heaven, we +are told that one of the bright distinctions and blessed securities of +the New Jerusalem will be that "without are dogs." + +Nor would it seem to be a religion of nature. I find little, if any, +more respect shown to the species in mythology,--the nearest to an +apotheosis being the assignment of the janitorship of hell to a dog with +three heads. Egyptian mythology found it convenient to have a dog-headed +man--Anubis--as the attendant of Isis and Osiris. The _cynocephali_ +whom the Egyptians venerated were more properly baboons: so that their +dog heaven, one might say, was only such on its face. + +Language is the amber which preserves the thought of man. We need not +dig far into the etymological strata to be impressed by the unenviable +place which the dog has made for himself in the tradition and experience +of our race. The name itself, and still more its variations, such as +cur, hound, puppy, and whelp, are anything but complimentary when +applied to mankind; and its derivatives, such as "dogged" and +"doggerel," are not of dignified suggestion. And, mark you, these +associations with the names do not seem to "let go," any more than the +dog itself from his bone. + +The dog slipped into literature at a very early date after the Fall, but +slunk about with his tail between his legs, as it were, and was kicked +and cursed with entire unanimity. It is difficult to say just when his +dogship began to stand up on his hind legs in literature. He has little +or no classical standing. The dog of Ulysses is, I believe, a solitary +instance. Shakespeare's "view" comes out in Lear's climacteric +execration of his "dog-hearted daughters." Sir Henry Holland once lost a +bet of a guinea owing to his failure to find a dog kindly spoken of by +Shakespeare. Milton for the most part sublimely passes them by, except +to embellish his "portress at hell's gate" with a canine appendix. +Goethe's aversion to them is well known. Old Dr. Watts is an authority +on moral traits, and the best word he has for them is that "dogs delight +to bark and bite, for 'tis their nature to." + +Let it not be supposed that I altogether endorse this apparent +conspiracy of the ages to give the dog a bad name,--always supposing +that he did not himself furnish the bad name to literature. I am not +impervious to advanced thought, and I like to see fair play. When a dog +is down, and everybody is down on him, he ought to be let up. It is no +wonder that a reaction set in, as will always be the case in extremes, +and, as usual, to the opposite extreme. English literature experienced +about the beginning of this century an invasion of shepherd kings, such +as Walter Scott, Christopher North, the Ettrick Shepherd, and the like, +who brought with them a great gust of outdoor air, and with it a +renaissance of the dog. But the great apostle of the new movement was +the late Dr. John Brown, of Edinburgh, whose famous "Rab and his +Friends" has inoculated the reading public with something which might be +called a species of _rabies_. This charming writer reminds me of certain +gentle inhabitants of the asylum, who have so identified themselves in +imagination with dogs that they greet you with a bark. + +We owe a debt of gratitude to these amiable enthusiasts for their +demurrers to the one-sided verdict of history and for their discoveries +of exceptional dogs and of exceptional traits in the canine character. +For are we not bidden, "if there be _any_ virtue, and if there be any +praise," to "think on these things"? + +We do think of them, and we are grateful. We do not, to be sure, find +ourselves starting off incontinently to the dog-fancier's in order to +present our wife with a poodle or to transform our quiet premises into a +howling wilderness, but we think better of the world as a place to live +in, and we have a higher sense of the charity and patience of human +nature. Nevertheless, while yielding to none in my tender feeling for +dear Dr. Brown and his gentle fellow-kynophilists, I am not prepared to +obey the new commandment which this new canine gospel inculcates, "Love +me, love my dog." + +Probably my personal acquaintance with the species has been unfortunate, +but I have not happened to meet with these superhuman creatures. I once +tried, in my extreme childhood, to make a pet of a Newfoundland pup of +high degree; but the little brute sickened and killed himself one day by +eating a mess of the foulest refuse. In the village where I lived there +was a crabbed little hump-backed tailor, whose house and shop were on a +corner, and with him lived a vicious yellow bull-dog. It was a question +which was the most unpopular and the most obnoxious _bête noire_ with +the villagers. We boys took a fearful delight in stealthily approaching +the little tailor's back door in the evening, and then, with a sudden +shout, taking to our heels around the corner, whereat the yellow fiend +would burst out after us, with "Bunky" close behind. + +The only other dog in our village of which I have any recollection was a +great animal, facetiously known as a watch-dog, whose mission it was to +lie in wait behind the house of the man he owned, and, as soon as he +heard a step upon the gravel walk or the tinkle of the door-bell, to +dart out upon the intruder with a howl and a spring. The result was that +one day my father, the most quiet and respectable of men, in attempting +to pay a friendly visit, was set upon, knocked down, throttled, and, but +for timely rescue, would probably have fallen a victim to the habits of +this hospitable mansion. And from that day he left his friends to their +preference of companions. My own experiences of the premises were such +that I followed for once the paternal example, in giving them a wide +berth. + +My social footsteps have always been guided by a knowledge of the +kennel, as well as of the house. Even as the pastor of a human flock, I +confess that I have many a time stood at men's gates balancing the +question of duty or safety before I girded up a martyr spirit and +resolved to enter. Not that I loved the sheep and lambs less, but that I +hated their growling, leaping, four-footed favorites more. + +It is not a mere question of wisdom or of taste, this prevalence and +idolatry of dogs. If it were only an amiable weakness, and a matter +affecting the person indulging it, some such form of image-worship as +the rage for bric-à-brac and old china, I should not take the trouble to +enter my protest. But hath not a dog teeth? Hath not a dog great, dirty +paws, a venomous and fiery tongue, and a throat which is the organ of +all discords? Hath he not feet which can carry his unpleasantnesses +into other people's presence, perhaps deposit them on your lap, or cause +you to stumble and be offended and made weak by standing in your way? An +ideal dog, a china dog, a dog behind a picture-frame, the dog of +literature, are not without their æsthetic side,--are certainly things +to be let alone. But the realistic, vigorously vital, intrusively +affectionate, or faithfully suspicious dog can no more be "let alone" +than could Mr. Jefferson Davis and his rebellious States once upon a +time, for the simple reason that he will not let us alone. It is as +curious an exhibition of human nature to note the surprise which always +seizes the owner when one of these "faithful" creatures bites any of his +friends and neighbors as is the proverbial incapacity of the householder +to admit the existence of malaria on his premises. A little friend of +mine who can hardly toddle, while visiting with his parents, was +recently sprung upon by a great house-dog and bitten seriously in the +cheek. And the philosophical explanation, which ought to have been +highly satisfactory, was, "The dog dislikes children, but has never been +known to hurt grown people"! + +I have alluded to the testimony of Scripture concerning dogs. Herein, at +least, Science is in accord with Revelation. It tells us that there is +nothing in the osteology of this family (_Canidæ_) to distinguish the +domestic dog from the wolf or fox or jackal. His "brain-cavity is +small," his strong point being "his powerful muscles of mastication." +His "sense of taste is dull and coarse." He is "not as cleanly in his +habits as the cat." He is "not courageous in proportion to his +strength." Let me illustrate this last point by what I saw this +afternoon. A dog about as large and strong as a young lion was barking +vigorously behind a low fence at a cat, who sat serenely on the other +side, meeting his Bombastes Furioso plunges at the intervening pickets +with a contemptuous hiss and an occasional buffet with her claw upon his +muzzle. I have yet to see a dog that dares attack my goat of a year +old, except when he is harnessed to his wagon. They are not, however, +afraid of sheep. And they are much more clear in their minds about +attacking children than strong men with clubs. A man is safe before them +in proportion as he is not in fear. They know a coward at once, with all +a coward's instinct. + +Another little peculiarity of this family in all its branches is the +hydrophobia, an accomplishment which they are very generous in +imparting, and which is to be taken into account in estimating their +usefulness. + +Cuvier, however, puts forward the ingenious claim--worthy of the Buckle +and Taine type of scientific speculators, who are never so happy as when +they think they have accounted for the world without the hypothesis of a +God, and who naturally catch at an opportunity of reading that name +backward (or the name Dog backward, whichever you like)--that "the dog +was necessary to the establishment of human society." This startling +dogma of the new kynolatry is a good illustration of the way in which +this class of theorists persist in putting the cart before the horse. +The truth is that man was necessary to the establishment of canine +society. Except as human skill and patience subdued, trained, and +developed the dog, the latter was incapable of rising, and was one of +man's most dangerous foes,--the fox robbing his hen-roosts and +grape-vines, the wolf eating him and his children, and the jackal and +hyena picking his bones and rifling his grave. The same ridiculous claim +of being the corner-stone of human society has been made by some +wiseacre in behalf of the goat. The plain truth is that only one animal +can justly lay claim to such a distinction. At the threshold of human +society and civilization lies the slimy figure of the snake, who +persuaded man to purchase knowledge at the cost of innocence, a lesson +which has been learned by heart and been worked out in all the "history +of civilization," for verily "the trail of the serpent is over it +still." + +Few persons realize the comparative un-worth of the dog. There is even a +hazy notion in most minds that he is to be classed with the horse, the +cow, the sheep, and the gentle swine, that he is entitled to lift up his +voice with the morn-saluting cock, or to roam with the mouse-disturbing +cat, or with that patient pair, the harnessed billy- and the lactiferous +nanny-goat.[A] Hence an enormous revenue is required for his support. +For example, we are told that "the dogs in Iowa eat enough annually to +feed a hundred thousand workmen, and cost the State nine million +dollars, or double the education of all its children." I should like to +know how many of these costly and pampered creatures earn their salt. +They toil not, they spin not, they contribute neither food nor wool nor +"power." There are extreme cases where they have proved serviceable for +defence and special purposes. The Laplanders are forced to make shift +with them in default of better draught-animals. There was a time when +the dogs of St. Bernard were a great convenience to the philanthropic +monks,--who, by the way, never received one-hundredth part of the credit +which has been lavished by the sentimentalists upon their half-automaton +assistants. The slave-hunters have found the race still more serviceable +for their ends. On great moors and lonely mountains and in the +exigencies of frontier-life, the shepherd, the hunter, and the pioneer +have turned them to account. + +Far be it from me to disparage their assistance in these exceptional +instances and in others which might be named. The dog, like the bull or +the frogs of Egypt, is good in his place. But it does not follow that we +should have a bull in every door-yard, nor that it was an advantage to +the land of Egypt to be covered with frogs in-doors and out. The notion +that a dog is needful for defence in settled, civilized communities is +on a par with the delusion that a man is safer for carrying a loaded +pistol, more harm being done to honest people, and even to those of them +who resort to fire-arms, than to their enemies. One needs only to +consider the dogs of one's own neighborhood and compare the number of +burglars they have routed with the number of children or innocent +passers-by they have scared or bitten. My experience convinces me that +more houses and hen roosts are robbed where there are dogs than where +there are none. And it is easily explained. People who have a blind +trust in watch-dogs cease to watch for themselves. Moreover, the false +alarms of the dog are so numerous, and his barking so indiscriminating +of the difference between friend and foe, and even between real and +imaginary persons, that his owner soon ceases to take note of them. For +who is going to get up every time the dog barks in the night? The dog +is, of course, one of the conditions to be provided for in the burglar's +plan. But when he has silenced, overpowered, or eluded the watch, he has +turned the defence over to his own side, and proceeds with a special +sense of security. + +At all events, I do not find that dogs are chiefly kept by those who +most need to be defended, but rather by the strong and by persons living +in closely-settled neighborhoods. Nor do I find that people affect dogs +at all in the ratio or for the sake of the protection, but for the +amusement which they afford, as something to be taken care of as pets +rather than to take care of them. + +The watch-dog is an admirable protection from one's friends. What a +boon he is to the misanthrope! What an isolation reigns about the home, +especially in the evening, where a real savage beast stands guard, +roaming in the shadows or clanking his chain beside the path! The +ingenious Mr. Quilp turned this fact to fine account, as he escorted +Sampson Brass to the door of his counting-house on a dark night: + +"Be careful how you go, my dear friend. There's a dog in the lane. He +bit a man last night, and a woman the night before, and last Tuesday he +killed a child; but that was in play. Don't go too near him." + +"Which side of the road is he, sir?" asked Brass, in great dismay. + +"He lives on the right hand," said Quilp, "but sometimes he hides on the +left, ready for a spring. He's uncertain in that respect. Mind you take +care of yourself. I'll never forgive you if you don't." + +An exceedingly social institution, the watch-dog, and a delightful +attraction to one's visitors and would-be callers. A _watch_-dog indeed; +for is he not the one thing to be on the watch for, now that the day of +spring-guns and man-traps is past? + +It is all very well for Byron to rhapsodize about "the watch-dog's +honest bark," and to think it "sweet" when it "bays deep-mouthed welcome +as we draw near home;" but when one has got inside of that home and gone +to bed, and wants to sleep off his fatigue, it is not always so sweet to +have some neighbor's watch-dog keeping up a dishonest bark at everything +and nothing half through the night. As to the moral quality of the +noise, the only honest bark is that of the mosquito, who is too sincere +either to attack you without warning or to give a false alarm. I have +thrown my share of boot-jacks and other missiles at the nightly cat, and +with some small measure of success; but what boot-jack will reach the +howling mastiff domiciled several doors off, and whose owner says in +effect, "Boot me, boot my dog," or the converse? And what an "aid to +reflection," which Coleridge never conceived of, is that wretched +little whelp that explodes under my study window at the critical moment +of intellectual inspiration, like a pack of animated fire-crackers! Who +shall pretend to set off the occasional service which the canine voice +has rendered to man against the long and varied agonies which it has +inflicted on our race? Emerson has a fine touch of nature, which will go +to many a heart, when he enumerates among the recollected experiences of +childhood "the fear of dogs." Goethe's aversion to dogs, already alluded +to, seems to have been based chiefly upon their noisiness at night. +Charles Reade had a habit of hitting the nail on the head, and never +showed it more pithily than when he answered "Ouida's" application for a +name for her new pet poodle: "Call it Tonic, for it is sure to be a +mixture of bark, steal, and whine." + +As to poodles and pugs, it is difficult for the masculine "man of +letters" to write. Fortunately, no member of my family has thus far +evinced any symptom of the poodle mania, so akin to the singular malady +which reduced poor Titania to the abject adoration of ass-headed Bottom. +Therefore any repugnance (this is purely an _ex post facto_ pun) on my +part cannot be attributed to jealousy. I feel that I cannot be too +thankful not to be numbered among the unhappy husbands indicated by the +following recent incident: + +"Hello, old man!" said a gentleman to a friend, "what's that you've got +under your coat?" + +"That," was the sad reply, as he brought it forth, "is my wife's little +pug dog." + +"What are you going to do with him? Take him somewhere and drown him?" + +"I wish I might," earnestly responded the gentleman, fetching a sigh. +"No, I am not going to drown him. My wife is having a new spring suit +made to harmonize with Beauty, as she is pleased to call the disgusting +little brute, and I am on my way to a dry-goods store to match him for +half a yard more of material." + +Ladies will pay as much as ten dollars a week for the board of a poodle +in summer. And here is a specimen order at the inn wherein his puppyship +is taking his ease: + +"Room No. 122.--To the clerk of ---- Hotel: Please send to my room, for +the use of my little pet 'Watch,' a choice porter-house steak, cooked +rare, and two chicken-wings, and charge to account of Mrs. ----." + +But it is not always practicable to take our "dumb companions" with us +in our travels. Accordingly, the following advertisement is said to have +been recently inserted in the papers: + +"Wanted, by a lady, a careful man to look after the house and be company +for her dog during her absence in Europe." + +I myself lately witnessed a suggestive scene in a drawing-room car at +the Grand Central Dépôt. A portly old gentleman of opulent appearance +was stepping aboard with his daughter (or wife?), a fine specimen of +Amazonian beauty, accompanied by a third member of the family, a yellow +and dirty-looking little pug with its hair in its eyes. But, alas! the +latter was arrested at the platform, according to rule, and was being +conveyed to the baggage-car. I have no power to picture the blazing +indignation of his devoted mistress, or the eloquent storm with which +she assailed the officials, or the undignified haste and distress of +mind into which the old gentleman was thrown in his part of negotiator +between the contending parties. The lady was inconsolable and +inexorable. She would not go without her beloved. She would _never_ +subject him to the discomfort and indignity of the baggage-car. She +would "rather ride in the common car" herself. How the case was settled +I did not see. She left the hateful drawing-room car with her packages +and her papa(?). Whether she abandoned her tour, or went into the +baggage-car to share the shame and sorrow of her poodle, or whether a +compromise was effected in favor of the "common car," I never +ascertained, I trust she was not the lady of Baltimore who last summer +went insane and tried to kill herself on account of the death of her pet +dog. + +And this leads me to make a point in favor of dogs, at least so far as +their claim to being "so human" is concerned. There has been supposed to +be nothing more distinctive of human nature than its propensity to +suicide, arising from its capacity, as it rises in civilization and +enlightenment, of finding out that life is not worth living. But a +number of well-authenticated cases have come to my observation which +show that the dog is rapidly learning this supreme accomplishment. A dog +at Warwick, New York, whose master had neglected him for a new-comer, +became morose and sulky, took to watching the railway-trains with great +interest, and one day threw himself under a passing car and was crushed +to death. Another, in Marseilles, whose owner had avoided him from fear +of hydrophobia, and which had been driven from the door of a friend of +his master, ran straight for the river and plunged in, never to rise +till he was dead. A Newfoundland dog on the relief-ship Bear, and two or +three of the Esquimaux dogs belonging to the relief expedition, drowned +themselves deliberately, after showing great depression for several +days. Dr. Lauder Lindsay, in his "Mind in the Lower Animals," tells of a +Newfoundland that, being refused an accustomed outing with the children +and being playfully whipped with a handkerchief, took it so deeply to +heart that he went and drowned himself by resolutely holding his head +under water in a shallow ditch. + +But, seriously, it is a nice psychological question whether there is +something human about dogs, or something canine about men. At any rate, +it may well be asked whether it is really the dog-nature which attracts +us, and not rather a somewhat of the human in the brute. For when we see +the dog in the man we are repelled. + +The above is undoubtedly the most honorable, if not the most obvious, +reason why the dog has succeeded in winning the companionship, and even +the affection, of so large a portion of mankind. Another reason lies in +the fact that, as a dog, he has been wonderfully improved. There is no +denying that he comes of a bad stock. As already intimated, his "family" +includes, besides himself, the wolf, the fox, and the jackal, with the +hyena as a sort of step-brother. But he has proved himself "the flower +of the family," and, like all flowers, he has been "cultivated" and +developed, differentiated in species, till a grand bench-show will +display all the varieties, from little fluff balls, "small enough to put +in your waistcoat-pocket," to the splendid deerhound, valued at ten +thousand dollars, with his "silver-gray hair, muscular flanks, and calm, +resolute eyes." I shall never forget coming suddenly, in the streets of +Montgomery, Alabama, upon one of the veritable bloodhounds which were +employed once upon a time in tracking fugitive slaves. His dimensions +were beyond all my previous conceptions of the canine race. He impressed +me rather as an institution than an animal. And as he stood across my +path in a statuesque repose, with his red tongue and massive jaws, and a +slumbering fire in his eye, I conceived a new idea and even admiration +of "brute force." + +The intelligence of the dog has also been developed, notwithstanding the +smallness of his brain and his natural inferiority in this respect to +many other animals, until he has almost rivalled the feats of the +learned pig and the industrious fleas. His moral character must be +admitted to have shown itself capable of great development, despite the +recent effort of writers like Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson to prove that +he develops chiefly the worst and meanest traits of human nature. His +capacity for hero-worship and his patience under ill usage from the one +who has mastered him are conspicuous. He has a sublime indifference to +that master's moral character, however, being as subservient to Bill +Sykes or Daniel Quilp as to Leatherstocking or Dr. John Brown himself. +This fidelity to me does not imply that he may not be highly +treacherous to others, just as his protective value to me is in +proportion to his savage and perilous possibilities to the not-me. +Therefore I ought not to insist that my lovers must love my dog also. I +should rather estimate their steadfast affection for me all the more on +his account. + +It is argued by the dog-haters that we must not judge the whole vast and +varied race of _Canidæ_ from a few exceptional individuals and +highly-cultivated breeds. But it may be retorted that neither are all +men Shakespeares and St. Augustines. The credit is so much the greater +to those of the species which have overcome the disadvantages of a low +and repulsive origin. None the less, however, will a strict veracity of +mind and speech be careful not to generalize too sweepingly from a few +particulars, and also not to make too indiscriminate and imperious a +demand upon other people's enthusiasm. Especially will it be unwise for +the friends of the dog to persist in their attempt to exalt him by +depreciating man, inasmuch as man is the party to be won over to their +way of thinking. Man has, unfortunately, been endowed by his Creator +with a notion of his superiority even to the hound and the terrier, and +naturally winces at the comparison, and is in danger of being thrown to +the other extreme. I myself am able to present these considerations thus +dispassionately as a friend of humanity rather than a foe to caninity; +but all are not favored with a judicial spirit. + +I suspect, in fact, that this inclining of our race to these brute +servitors is largely due to the same cause which promotes the love of +"horse-flesh." Man must assert his dominion over the brutes. He wants +some tangible evidence, always beside him and running at his heels, of +his superiority to something. It is a great upholder of his +self-respect. It is so consoling, amid our conscious defeats and +snubbings by a proud and unmanageable world, to have at hand a +fellow-creature, strong enough to tear us in pieces, who will grovel at +our feet, and quail before our eye, and let us laugh at him while he +makes a fool of himself at our bidding. Even the most successful and +superior men find herein a grateful outlet for their surplus +masterfulness. + +But I prefer to ascribe the tender and enthusiastic feeling which men +have for their dogs not so much to the merits of the latter as to an +overflowing and supererogatory goodness in the former. The human runs +readily into the humane. Man is, after all, a loving animal, and is +disposed to lavish his affection upon all who come into the right +relation and moral angle with himself. He loves to be munificent as well +as magnificent, and to be the patron of somebody or something. He has no +little magnanimity toward such as put themselves in an abject dependence +upon his honor and justice. He is ready to see all good in those who +come not in competition with himself. He has a fund of generous +enthusiasm which finds too little occupation in the world, and is glad +to find or create an object for it near at hand. So that his dog, +unconsciously to himself, is seen rather in the reflection of his own +light. He clothes him with those amiable qualities which superabound in +his own heart, and attributes to him a fidelity which is really far more +remarkable on his own side. + +Dogs are remarkable for their dreaming capacity. A dog never seems to +sleep but he dreams, and very likely is quite unable to distinguish his +waking and sleeping impressions. And is it not altogether probable that +those who have much to do with them catch the infection, so that they +view the canine race through a dream-like medium and as slumbering dogs +are haunted by imaginary flies? + +But I fear lest I shall be suspected of having caught at least one +quality of my subject and of following up this scent at a wearisome +length. And yet I have not begun to exhaust my theme, and have hardly +given a glimpse of its many lights and shades. Inasmuch as there is an +excessive tendency just now to show the lights only, it may have been +noticed that I have rather emphasized the shades. Perhaps I shall not +have written in vain if I have succeeded in moderating the present +_kynomania_, surpassing in virulence even the æsthetic craze. The dog is +having his day now,--that is clear. I presume it is the order of nature, +and that we must expect a season in human history when the dog-star will +rage. But it may not be unseasonable to recommend a slight muzzle to the +dog-bitten, especially of the literary _gens_. + + F. N. ZABRISKIE. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] By a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Maine, the judges +standing six to one, it was decided that dogs are not to be classed with +domestic animals. The learned Court affirms "that they retain in great +measure their vicious habits, furnish no support to the family, add +nothing in a legal sense to the wealth of the community, and are not +inventoried as property of a debtor or dead man's estate, or as liable +to taxation except under a special provision of the statute; that when +kept it is for pleasure, or, if any usefulness is obtained from them, it +is founded upon the ferocity natural to them, by which they are made to +serve as a watch or for hunting; and that while because of his +attachment to his master, from which arises a well-founded expectation +of his return when lost, the law gives the owner the right of +reclamation, the owner in all other respects has only that qualified +property in them which he may have in wild animals generally." + + + + +RENA'S WARNING. + + +"If anything be anything," said Frederick Brent, "the Pennsylvania +mountains are what Oscar Wilde called them." + +"Oh, you miserable agnostic!" exclaimed his friend Professor +Helfenstein. "Can you not, in the face of this so beautiful landscape, +get rid of your eternal subjunctive mood? _If_, indeed!" + +The two men had stopped at a high point on the road they had been +traversing, and were looking across a fair and fertile valley, flooded +by the summer-morning sunlight, to the mountains on its western rim. + +A slight smile showed Brent's pleasure in arousing his companion's +indignation. + +"Well," said he, "my ideas of natural beauty and those of the æsthetic +Wilde may be entirely false; or the whole scene may be an optical +illusion; or--_Rosenduft und Maienblumen_, observe me this lovely +maiden!" + +"If anything be anything? You can be positive enough where a pretty girl +is concerned. She _is_ pretty, though, and as _deutsch_ as her ancestors +were a century or two ago, when they left the Rhineland and crossed the +sea. A pure blonde German type. Tacitus would have included her among +the Non-Suevi." + +Their attention had been drawn from the scenery by the approach of a +young woman and a little boy. The former was above the medium height, +and was about twenty years old, but the infantile mould of her features +and the innocent look in her large blue eyes gave strangers a +bewildering impression that she was somewhere in the neighborhood of +five. She was charmingly pretty in her way, and her wide-brimmed hat of +dark straw set off to full advantage the pale golden hue of her braided +hair and the delicate purity of her complexion. + +Brent could not resist the temptation to accost this mild and grave +young beauty. Stepping forward as she was passing, he lifted his hat, +and said, "Will you be good enough to tell me the way to the nearest +encampment of Indians?" + +"Indians?" she repeated, with a timid wonder in the tones of her soft +voice. + +"Yes. We are Europeans, travelling in this country, and we should like +to find some Indians who will help us to hunt buffaloes. Are there many +buffaloes near here? We haven't seen any sitting on the branches of the +trees as we came along." + +"I don't think buffaloes _could_ get up in the trees," said the girl in +a meekly explanatory manner. + +"Why, you don't mean to say that the buffaloes in this country can't +climb, do you?" + +"I never saw a buffalo; but I don't _think_ they can." + +She looked despairingly at her small brother, who, having not yet +reached the age of six years, was unable to afford any help in deciding +a question in zoology. + +"This is very interesting," said Brent, turning toward his companion. +"It seems that American buffaloes are forced to spend all their time on +the ground." + +"_Narrheit!_" growled the professor, beginning to walk away. + +"Well, I'm very much obliged to you," said Brent. "Good-morning." + +Then he followed his friend, who was already descending a hill in the +road. + +"Sister Rena, what did that man want still?" asked the little boy. + +"I don't know, love," said his sister faintly. Her ideas were in a +hopeless state of confusion, and she was troubled by a fear that a lack +of intelligence had made her seem disobliging. + +When Brent overtook the professor, the latter said, "All Englishmen are +ridiculous; and you are a good specimen of the race. Why should you stop +on the public highway and talk nothingness to a harmless girl?" + +"All Germans are prejudiced; and Professor Helfenstein is a true +_Deutscher_," answered Brent. "My remarks to the young Non-Sueve no +doubt interested her deeply, and I fancy she will reflect on them, as +Piers Plowman says,-- + + With inwit and outwit, + Imagynyng and studie." + +They were both good walkers, and, though the heat became somewhat +oppressive at noon, they did not halt until they had reached the village +where they intended to pass the night. In this place Helfenstein heard +the Pennsylvania-German dialect spoken to his heart's content. After +dinner he sat on the porch of the inn for several hours, talking to a +number of the indigenes and making copious notes. + +When Brent returned from a visit to one of the village stores, he found +him looking over the result of his investigations. + +"Will the 'Allgemeine Zeitung' have the benefit of your researches?" +asked the Englishman. + +"Most like. The people at home love to have tidings of shoots from the +old German lingual stock. The dialect of this locality is a truly +noteworthy one." + +"I heard it spoken just now by the young blossom we met on the road this +morning." + +"Does she live here?" + +"No. She had driven in to the village to make some purchases. Her father +is one Reinfelter, who tills the soil of his ancestral demesne over +there near the mountains." + +"From whom did you learn these facts?" + +"From the tradesman with whom she had been talking." + +"Will agnosticism let you be absolutely sure his statements are true?" + +"No; and even less sure that they are untrue. It seems to me that a vast +amount of credulity is needed for positive unbelief. Do atheists ever +have doubts about anything?" + +"We don't sit still and say, '_Quien sabe?_' like you agnostics. When +nobody shall believe or disbelieve, who will _act_?" + +"I give it up." + +With a look of profound disgust, the professor pocketed his note-book +and went to seek refreshment in the shape of beer. + +Notwithstanding the difference in their ways of thinking, these two men +had something in common which furnished a strong bond of union between +them. Helfenstein sometimes said to himself, "Well, if he _is_ a +pitiable doubter, he at least doubts in earnest. This makes him better +than the miserable tric-trac men who are always ready to agree that +black is white, or deny that two and two make four, when it suits their +convenience or interest." + +And, in fact, though Brent often paraded his agnosticism merely to draw +forth the professor's scornful comments, he really had a humble and +hopeless consciousness that if truth be visible to any human mind it was +hidden from his. The possession of an ample fortune and the lack of +family ties and active interests in life had fostered his tendency +toward introspection till it became morbid. Now, at the age of thirty, +he had no positive beliefs or aims, and felt the despairing +self-contempt which inspired Hamlet's cry, "What should such fellows as +I do, crawling between earth and heaven?" + +Before retiring, the travellers agreed to spend the next day in making +an excursion on foot to the neighboring mountains. But when the hour for +starting arrived, Brent had not risen, and the professor, who allowed +nothing to interfere with his plans if he could help it, set out alone. + +A little before sunset he returned, full of enthusiasm over the scenery, +and highly pleased with the people in the farm-houses where he had +stopped. + +"They are a good, honest, _kreuzbraves Volk_," he said. "They have kept +the old German home-feeling all unchanged. There is a certain Bärnthaler +over there at the foot of the mountains who is worthy to be a native of +the Fatherland,--a noble-looking fellow, with the lion-front of a young +Marcomannic chief." + +"The Marcomanni were a Suevic race, were they not?" + +"Yes; I should have known his ancestors were dark-haired Swabians even +if he had not told me so. He is something of a scholar, I should say, +and he seems as true a gentleman as ever lived. What a shame it is that +his good South-German name should have been corrupted into Barndollar!" + +"I heard this Barndollar's praises sounded about three hours ago." + +"By whom?" + +"By the father of Miss Reinfelter, the mild-eyed blonde who had her +doubts about the ability of buffaloes to climb trees. He was here this +afternoon, and we became intimate in five minutes. He told me his +ancestors came from the neighborhood of Heidelberg; and when he heard I +was there last summer his expansive face was illumined with joy. He +answered my questions about the old German settlers intelligently +enough; but he said nobody could tell me as much about such matters as +'Melker Barndollar,' of whom he spoke with 'bated breath. He also +invited me to visit him." + +"Shall you accept his invitation?" + +"I have fully made up my mind to go; but that doesn't make it certain +that I shall." + +"Should you go if he possessed not a pretty daughter?" + +"Probably not." + +The next morning Brent rode over to the Reinfelter farm. The farm-house +interested him at the first view. It was a quaint old stone building, +with four gables and a slated roof, from the projecting windows in which +the mountain-line could be seen stretching away to the southwest and +growing more and more indistinct until their faint outlines were lost on +the far horizon. Ivy concealed more than half the gray stones from +sight, and fragrant pink roses were blooming against the southern wall, +while thick bushes of flowering jessamine grew on both sides of the +front door. + +The visitor received a welcome which made him feel as if he had reached +his own home. He had grown so weary of wandering aimlessly around the +world, and had become so disgusted with conventional forms and +ceremonies, that the peaceful home-like and simple, kindly manners of +these unsophisticated people gave him an agreeable sense of rest and +freedom from restraint. + +He allowed himself to be prevailed on to stay until late in the +afternoon; and before his visit ended he circumspectly inquired whether +they would receive him as a boarder. The promptness and pleasure with +which both the farmer and his wife agreed to his proposal showed him +that his fear of giving offence had been entirely groundless. + +When he returned to the inn, the professor informed him that on the +succeeding day he was going on to the next county. + +"I shall stay in this neighborhood some time longer," said Brent. + +"So? What is the especial attraction? The young woman over there where +the mountains stand?" + +"Perhaps; but my own motives are about the last things I should attempt +to analyze." + +"Well, I expect to come back this way in three months, and, if I find +you here and ready to depart, we can return to New York together." + +"Like nearly all other imaginable things, what you state is not +impossible." + +Helfenstein went on his way the next morning, and Brent began his +sojourn at the farm-house on the same day. + +The burdens of Rena Reinfelter's life immediately became very much more +numerous. The Englishman found an unfailing satisfaction in bewildering +and horrifying her, and tried systematically to find out whether there +was really any limit to her patience and gentleness. He induced her to +go with him to the mountains near at hand, and took every opportunity to +place himself in positions where he was in imminent danger of falling +some hundreds of feet and being dashed to pieces on the rocks. Her +dearly-beloved cat was suddenly lost to sight, and when it reappeared, +uttering meek appeals for sympathy and help, its personal adornments +were as striking as they were varied. He proved to her conclusively that +all cats are utterly incapable of affection, and that their characters +are vicious and treacherous to the last degree. His favorite method, +however, was to begin by asking her some trivial question and then +involve her in a net-work of apparent self-contradictions, which filled +her conscientious soul with anguish and dismay at her own +untruthfulness. Sometimes he felt a little ashamed of these amusements, +and determined to forego them; but the temptation was too great for his +powers of resistance, and he soon began transgressing again. + +One morning Rena received a visit from her most intimate friend, Elsa +Barndollar, who was only fifteen years old, but, having spent the +preceding season at a city boarding-school, considered herself a grown +woman with an unusually wide experience. Although passionately devoted +to Rena, she was as fond of teasing her as Brent himself. Yet as soon as +the latter began indulging himself with that diversion, she became +highly indignant, and scornfully betook herself to the garden. + +When Rena had followed her thither, she gave vent to her wrath without +restraint. + +"That's the most hateful man I ever saw!" she exclaimed. + +"Oh, no, Elsa!" said Rena deprecatingly. + +"Yes, he is. He's perfectly horrid! What does he mean by teasing you as +if you were a little white kitten, or a green and yellow parrot, or some +other ridiculous thing? I suppose he thinks country-people are all +idiots. I never _did_ see the use of Englishmen, anyhow." + +"Oh, he only does it for fun. He's always polite to father and mother, +and little Casper thinks he's the nicest man he ever saw." + +"Oh, yes! If he's good to your relations you don't care how he treats +you. It's a shame, and he ought to be told so, too." + +Rena tried to pacify her young friend, but the attempt was not +successful. The latter made her visit a very short one, and when she +reached home her anger and jealousy found expression in very vigorous +terms. + +Her brother visited the Reinfelters a short time afterward. His interest +in the Englishman was evidently very strong, but if he shared his +sister's feelings toward him they did not prevent his treating him with +perfect courtesy. + +"Helfenstein is right," thought Brent, as the young farmer rode away. +"He's as handsome a fellow as I ever saw. I wonder whether he's Sister +Rena's lover so bold." + +But although Melchior Barndollar was far superior to the Reinfelters in +culture and in knowledge of the world, he did not interest Brent as much +as they did. The positiveness of their beliefs was a special source of +wonder to him. From the father, who had no doubt about the existence of +ghosts, to the little boy, who firmly believed in the reality of +_Belsnickel_,--hides, horns, and all,--they were the most frankly +credulous people he had ever known. But the superstition and +anthropomorphism mingled with their faith did not make him think it +less enviable. He would have been glad to believe anything as firmly as +they did the traditions which had come down to them from their +ancestors, unchallenged by doubt and unchanged by time. + +One evening, after Rena had, as usual, sat beside her little brother's +bed until he was sound asleep, she joined her parents and Brent, who +were sitting in the garden behind the house. + +The full moon was high above the mountains, and the whole landscape was +almost as distinct as it had been before the sun went down. A +whippoorwill's notes, mellowed by distance, resounded from the farthest +part of the orchard, and a tinkling chorus arose from the leaves and +blades of grass, where the myriads of nocturnal musicians were +disporting themselves after the heat and glare of the day. But the +sounds made by these performers were so regular and monotonous that they +seemed merely a part of the calm summer night. + +Suddenly another sound came down from the lower part of the mountains. +It began with a deep, long-drawn, hollow cry, between a howl and a moan, +and then broke into a wild, piercing shriek. + +The farmer started to his feet, and stood gazing in the direction from +which the cry had come. + +"It's only a stray dog howling," said Brent. + +Reinfelter turned toward his wife, and the moonlight showed that his +face was white with terror. + +"_De warnoong!_" he said, in a low voice. "_D'r geishter-shray foon de +bairga!_" + +The woman covered her face with her hands, and began trembling and +sobbing. Rena put her arms around her mother's neck and tried to comfort +her, as if _she_ had been the mother instead of the child. + +The sound broke out again, and this time it was louder and more distinct +than before. As the melancholy echoes died away, Rena rose, and, taking +her mother's hand in hers, led her toward the house. + +When they had gone, Brent said, "What do you think that sound is?" + +"It's the warning still," said Reinfelter. "It's the warning of death." + +"What is it made by?" + +"A ghost. It goes up there in the mount'ins an' calls, an' the one it +calls is soon in the graveyard already. It's called the mother, or Rena, +or me, this night." + +"Maybe I was the one it meant." + +"No; it only calls the Reinfelters still. It's been so ever since the +Injun massacree, a long time ago." + +"Did that happen here?" + +"Yes. My great-grandfather an' his oldest son was up in the mount'ins, +and his wife was a-comin' back from there by herself once. Just as she +got where she could see her little children a-playin' in the yard, three +Injuns jumped out o' the woods that was nigh to the house then, an' run +into the yard an' killed the children right before her eyes. The men up +there heard her scream, an' they run down, an' found her a-layin' there +where she fell, an' they thought she was dead already. She come to +herself ag'in, but after that she just sort o' pined away, an' in less +than two months she died. It's her ghost that goes up there an' calls us +still." + +"Did you ever hear the call before?" + +"No; I never heard it myself. But the night my little girl died, nine +years ago, she rose up in bed once, an' she says, 'Who is that a-cryin' +up there in the mount'ins?' We couldn't hear nothin' still, but we knew +what _she_ had heard, an' after that we didn't have no more hope." + +Brent did not think of the banshee as a positive reality, but he would +not have denied that its existence was possible, and he felt that it +would be useless for him to try to shake the farmer's faith in the +tradition which had such a strong hold on his mind. + +After a brief silence, he said he would take a short walk before going +to bed. Leaving the garden, he strolled toward the mountains, which rose +like a vast wall above the foot-hills at their base. + +As he drew near the rising ground which marked the verge of the valley, +the strange sound once more fell on his ear, and he walked in the +direction from which it came. Passing through a grove of chestnut-trees, +he reached an elevated open space, where the moonlight shone on the +almost level surface of large gray rocks. Near the middle of this clear +space he saw a black, shaggy object moving slowly about, with its +lowered head turned away from him. He stepped forward to get a closer +view of this creature, and as he did so it turned its head and looked at +him. The next instant it bounded away and disappeared among the nearest +trees. + +"Just as I thought," said Brent to himself. "It _was_ a dog, and a +villanous-looking cur, too. Exactly the sort of brute to howl and shriek +at the moon on a night like this." + +But, as he sauntered back to the house, various doubts entered his mind. +He reflected that he had seen the animal only for an instant, by +moonlight and at some distance, and that he could not be sure it was +really a dog. Neither could he be confident it had uttered the +mysterious cry, for while it was within his sight it had made no sound +of any kind. "Perhaps it went up there for the same reason I did,--to +find out what was going on," he thought. + +As usual, he ended by informing himself that he was under no +responsibility to settle the question, and that, as far as he was +concerned, it would probably remain unsettled. + +The next morning he found the farmer and his wife very much depressed, +but he had no hope of being able to convince them that they had heard +nothing supernatural, and thought it best to avoid the subject. He +passed the day in calling on some of the neighbors who had asked him to +visit them, and returned to the farm-house just before nightfall. + +He found Rena standing at the door, and, while talking to her, he +mentioned his moonlight walk. + +"I saw what I took to be a stray dog up there," he said. "Perhaps it +made the sound we heard." + +"Was it a black dog, with rough, curly hair?" asked Rena. + +"I think it was; but I couldn't see it very well. Do you know whose it +is?" + +"No; but this morning when I came out of the dairy a dog that looked +like that was standing in the path, a little way off, and I was thinking +it might have been the same one." + +As she looked away again, Brent said, "I didn't tell your father and +mother about the dog I saw, because I thought it would be well for them +to forget the whole matter as soon as possible." + +"Thank you," said Rena, turning her face and looking at him gratefully. + +He had lost the desire to tease her, and treated her as he had never +done before. Thinking of this, not long afterward, he wondered whether a +presentiment of what was coming had caused the change, or whether it +merely arose from a consciousness of the gloom which had already settled +on the household. + +During his call on the Barndollars that morning, he had partly overcome +Elsa's unfavorable impression of him by treating her, to some extent, +"like a grown-up woman" and showing by his manner that he was not +unconscious of the handsome young brunette's personal attractions. On +her next visit, a little more than two weeks later, she noticed that he +had entirely given up the objectionable teasings; and this removed the +last obstacle in the way of her considering him extremely "nice." She +had mentally admitted, even at the first view, that he possessed the +degree of good looks and stylishness rigorously exacted from the male +sex by the canons of boarding school taste, and she now candidly +acknowledged to herself that his being an Englishman was, strictly +speaking, not his own fault. + +When she was ready to go, she made her adieux with an agreeable sense of +having been both entertaining and instructive. She forgot to take leave +of her friend the aged and decrepit mastiff, which was sitting just +inside the hall; but he called attention to his presence by three raps +of his tail on the floor. Elsa laughed, and went through the form of +shaking his huge paw,--an attention which he acknowledged by a prolonged +caudal tattoo. + +"Oh, Rena!" said Elsa, stopping on the topmost step, "I forgot to tell +you what happened to our Scotch shepherd-dog, Macbeth. You know Melker +and I made friends with him the first day, but we were the only ones +he'd be intimate with. Well, about two weeks ago an ugly old black dog +came prowling around the house, and when Mac went up to it it bit him +and then ran away to the mountains. Soon after that, we heard that a +black dog with the hydrophobia had been killed up there, and Derrick and +Jake said they believed it was the same one. Melker was in Philadelphia, +and before he came home Mac went mad. Derrick shot at him out of the +barn, and scared him so much that he ran off down the road, and we +haven't heard anything about him since." + +Rena was bending over one of the jessamine-bushes, and seemed to be +absorbed in removing some dead leaves. + +"Did your dog come this way, Elsa?" asked Mrs. Reinfelter nervously. + +"No, indeed," replied Elsa. "He ran up the road to the village. Good-by, +Kuno. I won't forget you again." + +Brent followed her down the steps to assist her in mounting, but she +sprang into the saddle without waiting for his help, and rode away at a +brisk canter. + +The farmer and his wife conferred together anxiously about the two mad +dogs, while their little son stood near them, listening intently to all +they said. Unnoticed by them, Rena walked across the yard and passed +around the corner of the house in the direction of the garden. + +Something in her manner caught Brent's attention, and in a little while +he followed her. He found her sitting in the garden; and, though she +tried to keep her face turned away from him, its death like pallor did +not escape his sight. He sat down at her side and asked her to tell him +what had happened. The sympathy in his voice went straight to her heart +and won her whole confidence. + +"The warning was for me," she answered, "I'm not afraid to die; but +father and mother and my little brother--" + +She did not sob or make any sound, but great tears welled from her eyes, +and she was unable to go on. + +When she could speak again, she told him that on the day after the +warning, when she found a black, shaggy-haired dog standing near the +dairy door, she put out her hand, intending to stroke its head, but it +caught her hand with its teeth, and left a wound from which the blood +fell in large drops. The dog ran away in the direction of the Barndollar +farm, and she bound up her hand and managed to keep the wound from being +noticed while it was healing, for she was anxious to avoid increasing +the anxiety her parents already felt. Only a slight scar now remained; +but Elsa's account of the mad dogs left no doubt in her mind that she +was in imminent danger of a frightful death. + +Brent had once witnessed a sight which rose before his eyes many times +afterward and would not be blotted from his memory. It all came back to +him now once more,--the agonized, horribly glaring eyes, the clinched +hands and quivering throat, and the convulsive sobbing and gasping which +would not cease tearing the wasted frame until death should bring the +only possible help. It made him sick at heart to think that the gentle +unselfish girl who was even then forgetting herself in her care for +others would be seized by those paroxysms of frightful madness. + +He knew that many people who are bitten by mad dogs escape hydrophobia +entirely, but he could not doubt that when the teeth have entered the +bare flesh, and strong remedies are not instantly applied, there is very +little ground for hope. + +"Was your hand entirely uncovered?" he asked. + +"Yes; I never wear gloves." + +With a desperate impulse to do something, he said, "I'll go to +Philadelphia and bring a physician. We can be here to-morrow." + +"I'm afraid it's too late for that now," said Rena. "It would only +frighten father and mother. I want to keep them from knowing it as long +as I can." + +"I won't bring anybody back with me if you are unwilling; but I must go +and find out what I can do to help you." + +"Do you think anything can be done to keep me from hurting anybody +else?" + +"I'm sure of that. I'll find out the best way to do it." + +"Oh, thank you. You're so good to me!" + +The earnestness of her gratitude made him think with sorrow and shame of +the time when his chief pleasure had been to make her unhappy. He could +hardly believe he had really been as selfish and heartless as he +appeared in the picture rising before him now out of the unchangeable +past. His dormant human interest was awakening, and his soul was +beginning to resist the tyranny of his mind. + +He was so impatient to begin his journey that he proposed setting off +immediately and riding to the nearest railroad-station. But Rena was +afraid this would alarm her parents: so he agreed to wait until the next +morning and take the stage in the village. + +That night Rena stayed longer than usual in the room with her little +brother after he had sunk into peaceful slumber in the midst of his +small confidences and grave interrogations. + +Soon after she came down, her mother said, "Rena, sing us one of the +nice German songs Mr. Brent learned you once. Sing the one about the +lady that set up on the high rock an' combed her hair with a golden +comb. What did they call her still? 'De Lower Liar'?" + +As Rena turned toward Brent and the lamplight fell on her face, he was +sure that if she tried to sing her voice would tell what she was trying +to keep unknown. + +"I don't think 'Die Lorelei' is a very lively song, Mrs. Reinfelter," +said he. "Maybe I can find some prettier ones in Philadelphia to-morrow, +if I have time. I must be sure to bring Casper something. What do you +think he would like best?" + +This question introduced a topic which banished all others; and when +Brent looked at Rena again he saw he had come to the rescue in good +time. He was glad to think he could at least do this, and he determined +to be on the watch for such opportunities. + +The result of his consultations the next day gave him very little ground +for hope. All he could depend on doing was to save Rena from suffering +and prevent what she feared most by making her insensible as soon as the +madness showed signs of taking an active form. + +When he had gotten what was needed for this purpose and had been fully +advised as to his course of action, he went back with a heavy heart to +the farm among the mountains. + +At the first opportunity he repeated to Rena all he had learned in the +city, and told her what he proposed doing. The prospect that was so +dispiriting to him removed her greatest care; but her eager thanks +humiliated him as he felt his utter helplessness in the hands of fate. A +sudden fear that she might hurt him before he could make her unconscious +brought back her anxiety; but he reassured her by promising to be +constantly on his guard and take every possible means to insure his own +safety. + +Watching her closely as the days went by, he saw the full extent of her +calm and steadfast courage. She made no effort to hide from him her +grief at the prospect of separation from those she loved so dearly; but +of anguish or terror on her own account there was never any sign. He did +not doubt that this came from her perfect faith and trust in a higher +power, and, though he could not share her feeling, it comforted him to +know that she had such a strong support as she drew near to death. + +Near the close of the fifth day after his return he and Rena were +standing together at the gate in front of the house. Deep shadows were +advancing up the sides of the mountains, but their summits were still +bright with the evening glow. Both of them watched the narrowing line +of light without speaking. Their minds were full of the same thoughts, +and there was a sympathetic communion between them which did not need to +be expressed in words. + +Hearing footsteps on the road, they looked around, and saw Melchior +Barndollar coming toward them. A large and very handsome dog of the +Scotch shepherd breed was running along before him, and when he stopped +at the gate it came back and stood near him, with its intelligent brown +eyes fixed on his face. + +"You have got another collie, I see," said Brent. + +"No; this is the only one I've ever owned," replied Barndollar. + +He had been surprised at the Englishman's remark, and he was entirely +unable to account for the effect of his answer on both the others. They +turned quickly toward each other with a look of eager interest, mingled +with something else which he could not understand. + +"I thought your collie went mad," said Brent. + +"Oh, you heard that report, then?" + +"Yes. The last time your sister was here she mentioned it. Was there +nothing in it?" + +"It wasn't even founded on an apparent fact," said the young farmer, +smiling and looking down at the dog, which immediately began wagging its +tail so forcibly that at least one-third of its body partook of the +motion. "The men on my mother's farm have regaled themselves so often +with stories about mad dogs that they have become their pet horror. When +I came home I found that their fire from behind intrenchments had driven +poor Mac off the place; though if he had been better acquainted with +their marksmanship he would probably have gone to sleep while they were +shooting at him. I went out to hunt for him, and found him at a house +near the village, as free from hydrophobia as I am. To make sure, I +traced the dog that bit him back to its owner's hut in the mountains, +and found it there, sneaking around the lot and looking as vicious and +mean-spirited as ever. Its master said the dog that was shot came from +the other side of the mountains, and was worth a dozen such curs as +his." + +Rena stepped into the road and began stroking the dog's head and neck. +As she did so, her father came out of the house, and, seeing Barndollar +at the gate, he came down to speak to him. + +While the two farmers were talking, Brent walked away to a grove of oaks +near the road and a short distance below the gate. Standing among the +trees as the twilight came on, he thought over the episode which had +just come to a close, and wondered at its effect on him. Instead of +pondering over the uncertainties of the case until it lost all reality +to him, he had been too much concerned to think of probabilities at all. +Sensibility had overcome his agnosticism, and he had forgotten that it +was possible to doubt. He knew he had not acted philosophically; but he +felt that philosophy, compared with sympathy and self-forgetfulness, is +of very slight account. + + * * * * * + +Professor Helfenstein returned to the little Pennsylvania village at the +time he had indicated, which was about the middle of October. The +innkeeper told him his friend had not yet left the farm-house, and the +next morning he set out on foot to visit him there. + +The mountain-woods, all arrayed in their autumn foliage, were glowing +with rich, warm color. Silvery cloud-banks heightened the deep blue of +the sky, and their slowly-floating shadows intensified the brightness of +the sunlight. "_Ueberall Sonnenschein!_" said the nature-loving German. +"_Ach, 's ist ein wunderschönes Land!_" + +Brent saw him enter the yard, and came to the door to meet him. The +family had dispersed soon after breakfast, and, as there was no one in +the house for him to see, Helfenstein declined going in, but stood on +the door-step, describing his journeyings in the West. + +"Well," said he at last, "are you ready to start with me for New York +to-morrow morning, and for Liverpool next Monday?" + +"My starting for any place out of sight of these mountains," answered +Brent, "depends chiefly on the views of a certain young woman. At +present the indications are that no such pilgrimage will ever begin." + +"_Alle Wetter!_ Are you married?" + +"No; but I expect to be in two weeks." + +"Is it the maiden who dwells in this house?" + +"The very same." + +For a few moments the professor gazed in silence at the prospective +bride-groom. Besides feeling a personal interest in the case, he +considered it a good subject for psychic investigation. + +"My good friend," he said, with judicial calmness, "why do you wish to +espouse Miss Reinfelter?" + +Brent knew this question was not meant to be offensive, but was +propounded in a spirit of critical analysis. He was about to answer it +with a pretence of deep gravity, when Casper came around the corner of +the house and asked him where "Sister Rena" was. + +"She has gone to the village," replied Brent. + +As the boy turned away, his disappointment was so evident that Brent +said, "Do you want her to do anything for you, Casper?" + +"No, sir," said Casper dejectedly. "I just _want_ her." + +Brent smiled, and turned to the professor again. + +"I couldn't find a better answer to your question if I thought for a +week," he said. "I just _want_ her." + + W. W. CRANE. + + + + +MUSTER-DAY IN NEW ENGLAND. + + +Arms and the men we sing,--not those panoplied and helmeted according to +Virgil, nor those of our own day, armed with repeating rifles and +drum-majored into popular favor, but rather the heroes of the flint-lock +and the priming-wire in the New England of two or three generations ago, +the sturdy train-bands that have left scarce one John Gilpin to tell the +tale of their valor. + +"Train-bands are the trustiest and most proper strength of a free +people," wrote Milton, and the colonists of Massachusetts Bay were of a +like opinion, from Miles Standish down to the humbler men of prowess. By +the law of 1666, all males in the colony were required to attend +"military exercises and service." Companies were exercised six days +yearly, prayer being offered by the captain at the beginning and at the +end of every "training." A regimental training was ordered once in three +years. Every company of foot was composed two-thirds of "musketeers" and +one-third of "pikemen," the pike of Connecticut being two feet shorter +than the rod-pike of England. Some of the lighter muskets were fired +with a simple match, but the greater number were supported by "rests," +forked at the top and stuck into the ground. They were fired by +"match-locks," the "cock" being that part which held the burning match +aloft before it was applied to the powder in the pan. Hence "to go off +half cocked" originally meant that the burning fuse dropped into the +powder pan before it was wanted. Single charges of powder were carried +by the musketeers in wooden, tin, or copper boxes, and twelve of these +boxes, fitted to a belt and slung over the left shoulder, made the +"bandolier," which jingled like a band of sleigh-bells if the boxes were +metallic. The belt also secured the "primer with priming-powder," the +"bullet-bag," the "priming-wire," and the "match-cord." The soldier +being thus a slave to his weapon, we are not surprised to note that his +manual of arms was the following, from Elton's "Postures of the Musket:" + + Stand to your arms. + Take up your bandoliers. + Put on your bandoliers. + Take up your match. + Take up your rest. + Put the string of your rest about + your left wrist. + Take up your musket. + Rest your musket. + Poise your musket. + Shoulder your musket. + Unshoulder your musket and poise. + Join your rest to the outside of your musket. + Open your pan. + Clear your pan. + Prime your pan. + Shut your pan. + Cast off your loose corns. + Blow off your loose corns, and bring + about your musket to the left side. + Trail your rest. + Balance your musket in your left hand. + Find out your charge. + Open your charge. + Charge with powder. + Draw forth your scouring-stick. + Turn and shorten him to an inch. + Charge with bullet. + Put your scouring-stick into your musket. + Ram home your charge. + Withdraw your scouring-stick. + Turn and shorten him to a handful. + Return your scouring-stick. + Bring forward your musket and rest. + Poise your musket and recover your rest. + Join your rest to the outside of your musket. + Draw forth your match. + Blow your coal. + Cock your match. + Guard your pan. + Blow the ashes from your coal. + Open your pan. + Present upon your rest. + Give fire breast-high. + Dismount your musket, joining the rest to the outside of your musket. + Uncock and return your match. + Clear your pan. + Poise your musket. + Rest your musket. + Take your musket off the rest and set + the butt end to the ground. + Lay down your musket. + Lay down your match. + Take your rest into your right hand, + clearing the string from your left wrist. + Lay down your rest. + Take off your bandoliers. + Lay down your bandoliers. + Here endeth the postures of the musket. + +The "Postures of the Pike" gave these orders: "Handle, raise, charge, +order, advance, shoulder, port, comport, check, trail, and lay +down,"--the words "your pikes" being given with every order. + +Elton's "Instructions to a Company of Horsemen" were as follows: + + Horse,--_i.e._, mount your horse. + Uncap your pistol-case. + Draw your pistol. + Order your pistol. + Span your pistol. + Prime your pistol. + Shut your pan. + Cast your pistol. + Gage your flasque. + Lode your pistol. + Draw your rammer. + Lode with bullet and ram home. + Return your rammer. + Pull down the cock. + Recover your pistol. + Present and give fire. + Return your pistol. + +Our fathers might have gone on in this lumbering way for many years if +they had seen nothing worth imitating in the red men. The Indians of +King Philip's War brought out their "snap-hances," or flint-locks, and +the colonists were not slow to see the improvement. Experimentally at +first, and afterward by a law of Massachusetts, the old pikes and heavy +match-lock rifles were replaced with lighter muskets bearing the flint. +The soldier ceased to be a slave to his weapon. Tactics were +revolutionized; and the newly-developed military spirit was met by "The +Complete Soldier," compiled from Elton, Bariff, and other authorities, +and published by Nicholas Boone, of Boston, in 1701. This, the first +military book in the British colonies, directed the soldiers to appear +"with their hair, or periwigs, tied up in bags, and their hats briskly +cocked." We hear also for the first time of the "powder-horn" and the +"cartouch-box." The "bagnets" that are mentioned were of little use +against the Indians, and they were scarcely known in America until the +wars with France. But with the appearance of the bayonet came also the +revival of the fife, which had been discarded in England in the time of +Shakespeare. The military experiences gained in the French wars were of +immense benefit when the Continentals and the volunteers formed +themselves in line for the American Revolution. And yet the _esprit de +corps_ was contemptible; for every movement contemplated and every order +given by a superior officer had to be discussed, approved, or +disapproved by the inferior officers and by the humblest privates. It +was years before the army ceased to be a great debating-society with a +sharp rivalry as to which regiment should have the handsomest silk +banner. But Steuben--the great drill-master--brought order out of the +turmoil with his "Regulations for the Discipline of the Troops of the +United States," although the evolutions in the field did not go much +beyond the old-time marching that clings to the Hartford Phalanx of +to-day. An Englishman who lived in Massachusetts during the Revolution +had this to say: "The females are fond of dress and love to rule. The +men are fond of the military art. But in Connecticut the men are less +so, while the women stay at home and spin." + +The Revolution being over, the several States of the new republic +enacted military laws of their own. In New York every able-bodied male +between eighteen and forty-five was required to meet with his company +four times in each year "for training and discipline,"--once by brigade, +once by regiment, and twice by company,--for such length of time as the +governor might direct. Similar laws were in force in the New-England +States, and upon them was based the United States law of 1792 which +sought to establish a uniform militia throughout the country. The +attempt was a failure, because the President is commander-in-chief of +the militia only when it is in the actual service of the United States. +The several States, therefore, kept up their ununiformed militia until +it became a laughing-stock,--an army with broom-sticks, to evade serving +in which but fifty cents a year was required,--and then the present +uniformed militia arose from the ruins. Our present inquiry concerns the +militia of New England during the fifty years from 1790 to 1840. In +those days the "military duty" consisted of two "company trainings" of +half a day each in May and October, and one "general training" or +"regimental muster" of one day in October. While no uniforms were +required at the trainings, except to distinguish the officers, yet there +were usually enough public-spirited people in every town to furnish +uniforms to the crack company. The other company, the tatterdemalions of +the town, was called "the flood-wood." The regiment consisted of one +company each of artillery, grenadiers, light infantry, and riflemen from +adjoining towns,--the cavalry being recruited wherever a farm-house +could be found which was able to stand the shock of war. Then came the +flood-wood companies, outnumbering the uniformed companies almost two to +one. + +The cavalry--it was before the days of Hackett and Poinsett and +McClellan saddles and Solingen sabres--appeared to treasure up the +memory of "Light-Horse Harry Lee" and Major Winston of the Legionary +Cavalry that helped Mad Anthony Wayne against the Indians of the West. +They had not heard of the valor of the elder Hampton or the daring rides +of Major Davies, of Kentucky. "Tone's Tactics" was unknown to them. And +yet they were admired in their black suits faced and corded with red +(the militia repudiated the colors of the regular army), and they were a +terror with their cutlasses and holsters for the brace of huge +horse-pistols that they were required to carry. The uniform of the +artillery and grenadiers differed little from that of the cavalry. The +latter were topped off with helmets of red leather. Upon the hats of the +flood-wood, tin or sheet-iron plates showed the name of the +company,--the L. I. standing for "Light Infantry,"--just as you know the +porter of your hotel by his badge. The riflemen wore gray spencers and +gray pantaloons. Their hats were stiff black beavers, for the comfort of +a soft felt hat had not yet been discovered. Most gorgeous of all were +the men of the infantry, in their white pantaloons and blue coats, the +latter covered by cross-belts of white, to which priming-wires, brushes, +and extra flints were chained. A cap of black leather, sprung outward at +the top, carried a black feather tipped with red. The musicians, when +there were any, followed the uniform of the company which they attended, +with some slight differences, like turned-over plates and tasselled +ends, to show that they were non-combatants. Altogether, as one looked +at the "fuss and feathers," the broad lapels, and the bob-tailed coats, +he might well recall Thoreau's description of the manner in which the +salt cod are spread out on the fish-flakes to dry: "They were everywhere +lying on their backs, their collar-bones standing out like the lapels of +a man-o'-war-man's jacket.... If you should wrap a large salt fish +around a small boy, he would have a coat of such fashion as I have seen +many a one wear at muster." Or, if we wish to go back still further, we +might exclaim, with Falstaff, "You would think that I had a hundred and +fifty tattered prodigals, lately come from swine-keeping, from eating +draff and husks.... No eye hath seen such scarecrows." + +We are at the training "in the fall of the year,"--a far more important +occasion than that in the spring, because the annual "muster" is only a +week or ten days ahead. It is a private show. The uniformed infantry and +the flood-wood have met at Walton Centre, but they, and all the +spectators too, are from "our town," with its various outlying +settlements. Let the other towns boast, let Stormont show her +grenadiers, Leicester her riflemen, and Acton her artillery, but when +"muster-day" comes look out for Walton and her infantry. The law +requires every soldier to have a musket or rifle,--flint-lock of +course,--a bayonet, a priming-wire and brush, a knapsack, a +cartridge-box, and two spare flints. The lack of any one of these may +lead to a fine. The regular order of the manual is, open pan, tear +cartridge, prime, shut pan, ram down cartridge, ready, aim, fire. But +cartridges are not often to be had, and flasks must be used, with a +pause in the manual to allow the measuring of a charge. The lack of +cartridges leads also to the carrying of powder in bulk in the +pantaloons pocket, so that the soldier may move quickly when the order +is given to "load and fire as fast as possible." Still more quick in his +movements will the soldier be when, led on by the excitement of the +hour, he becomes careless of his pocket-magazine and allows it to +explode, with a great wreckage of hair, whiskers, and eyebrows, though +no one was ever known to lose his life thereby. + +But the "evolutions" of the fall training-day make up its greatest +worth. It is not enough that squads of "our company" advance, fire, and +fall back, the drummer drumming his loudest all the while. It is mere +boy's play to march in single and double files or in platoons. We are to +meet the companies from the other towns at the muster, and they must be +forced to admit our superiority in spite of themselves, or else our town +will not come out ahead. Now, if there is any one manoeuvre on which +the Walton infantry prides itself, the "lock-step and sit-down" is that +one. The company is marched about in single file until a circle is +formed, care being taken that the captain shall be in the inside and the +musicians on the outside. Gradually drawing toward the centre, the +circle contracts to slow music, until the whole company is in lock-step, +like a gang of convicts. At the word of command, each man seats himself +in the lap of the man behind him, and the whole company is in the +attitude of frogs as they are ready to leap. The captain, raised aloft +in the middle by some convenient mackerel-keg, draws his sword, and the +tableau lasts while the music sounds the "three cheers." + +Another "evolution," such as Darwin never dreamed of, is begun by facing +the company to the front in a single rank. The left hand of each man +resting on his next neighbor's right shoulder, space is taken until all +the men are an arm's length apart. At a given signal they all face to +the right. The captain, "with drawn sword," followed by the music, the +drum beating vigorously, runs at double-quick time in and out of the +spaces, like a very undignified performance of the Virginia Reel. As +each man is passed, he joins the rapidly-increasing file, until the +whole line expends its snake-like activity and marches off in "common +time" on a straight course, like this: + +[Illustration] + +Both of these "evolutions" are calculated to inspire the enemy with +terror, but the latter especially so. On beholding it, the enemy cannot +help giving applause, and in applauding he must necessarily drop his +arms. The Walton Light Infantry, equal to any emergency, may now show +their superior discipline by capturing the enemy before he can recover +from his surprise and admiration. Even the very boys on a training-day +seek to terrorize the enemy with broom-sticks and tin pans, until they +become a nuisance to the older folk and are sent off to some field to +play base-ball after the old method, the "Massachusetts game," which +allows the "plunking" of a batter when he is not on his base. But the +boys will claim their share of the extra cards of gingerbread that have +been laid in at the stores, and they will be on hand to see the +half-day's sport of training-day end before early tea-time with the +flashing of powder and the departure of the "sojers" for their homes. + +A very different affair is the "muster-day" of the early fall, before +the cold days and nights have come to stay. The several adjoining towns, +that furnish each its own company or its quota of cavalry, take care of +the "regiment," by rotation, at such a time as this. No matter how +centrally located the town may be, the grenadiers must come a long way +over the hills from Stormont, and the riflemen must leave Acton soon +after midnight in order to obey the signal of the seven-o'clock gun, +which demands the presence of every company on the "parade-ground:" it +goes by the name of "the common" every other day in the year. The night +marches or rides are orderly, the more so in anticipation of what is to +follow. The sun rises upon a gala-day for the men and youth: the boys +had their time at the training. Now the crowd is greater, and there is +no room for the boys, except those who live in the town where the muster +is held. The field, at a respectful distance from the regimental +line, is covered with auctioneers' stands, peddlers' wagons, +refreshment-booths of rough boards, and planked platforms for dancing to +the music of the violin. It is the picture of a college town on +"commencement-day," magnified to ten times the proportions. As you +stand,--no seats are allowed,--you can partake of sweet cider, lemonade, +apples, gingerbread, and pies and buns of all kinds. If you call for it, +you can have New-England rum, or its more popular substitute, +"black-strap," one-half rum and the other half molasses. Awaiting the +inspection, soldiers on leave of absence mingle with the commoners, +partake of the refreshments, including the black-strap, and nod their +plumes or rattle their swords while they dance the "double shuffle" or +"cut a double pigeon-wing" on the platforms, to the great wonder of the +crowd. + +When the regiment gathers itself together it is a sight to behold. There +are perhaps five hundred men, all told, in two ranks. A part of them +rejoice in gayly-colored uniforms, but the majority are "the +flood-wood," dressed in sheep's gray and blue jeans and armed with +rifles, muskets, and fowling-pieces of every pattern. This motley band +"toe the mark,"--a small trench that has been cut in the turf to save +their reputation for alignment. Then they break into platoons, and are +inspected, man by man, by the adjutant and his aides. The inspection +being over about eleven o'clock, the colonel appears, all glorious in +brass buttons, epaulets as large as tin plates, and a cocked hat of +great proportions. Once more the regiment forms in double ranks, with +presented arms. The colonel and his "staff" ride slowly down the line, +turn back, and take their stand for review. The music, just as it came +from every town contributing to the regiment, has been "pooled" and +placed in the charge of a leader. It is a strange medley of snare-, +kettle-, and bass drums, of fifes, clarionets, and piccolos, with an +occasional "Kent bugle"--the predecessor of the cornet--or some other +instrument of brass. It is poor music at the best, and it cannot go far +beyond marking time for the marching. But is it not better than the +simple drum and fife of a common training-day? The "full brass band," we +must recollect, is too expensive a luxury except for the most +extraordinary occasions, and even then we run the risk of hearing +"Highland Mary" repeated all day long, so scant is the _répertoire_. The +regiment, headed by the cavalry and the music, passes the colonel and +his staff. The music wheels out of the line, gives "three cheers," and +remains at the colonel's side till the regiment has returned to its +place. A hollow square is formed, in imitation of the great Napoleon at +Waterloo, and the colonel addresses his "brother-officers and +fellow-soldiers" in a few fitting words, and retires from the field. + +And now comes dinner,--a most important feature of muster-day. No one +has had a bite since his breakfast at home by candle-light,--unless he +has patronized the refreshment-booths. Even then he will not allow his +appetite for the noonday meal to become impaired. By previous +arrangement, each company dines by itself, or it joins forces with some +friendly company and hires the services of a caterer. The hotel of the +village cannot begin to accommodate the public, whether martial or +civilian, and temporary sheds cover long lines of tables on which the +feast is spread. It is a jolly company, and the scrambling for the +viands and the vintages, if there are any, is done in a good-natured +way. As the repast draws to a close and dessert is in order, the caterer +appears at the end of one of the tables in shirt-sleeves that are more +than wet with perspiration. Under his arm he holds a pile of plateless +pies, just as the newsboy on the train secures a pile of magazines. The +caterer marches down the length of the table with the half-inquiring, +half-defiant announcement, "Pies, gentlemen! pies, gentlemen!" At every +step he reaches for a pie, gives it a dexterous twirl between his thumb +and finger, and sends it spinning to the recipient with a skill and +accuracy of aim which would have done credit to the disk-thrower of the +ancient Romans. + +The "noon gun," fired after dinner, calls the regiment back to the +parade-ground. The real work of the day is over; and now come +recreation and amusement. The remarkable "evolutions" of the several +companies are shown, each town striving to outdo the others. Of course +the Walton Light Infantry will excel all the rest; but it may be no easy +matter to make every one think as we do. The newest evolution--that of +the snake on training-day--certainly "brings down the house," even if it +fails to carry an admission of its superiority. When this friendly +rivalry is over, the sham fight proceeds. A rough structure of boards +and boughs has been prepared to represent a fort, and one of the +companies is imprisoned therein, with little air or light, and with no +means of defence except to discharge their guns upward. The advancing +regiment fires by platoons, which wheel outward and retire to the rear +to load. The artillery fires blank charges from a neighboring hill. The +sweltering soldiers within the fort are only too glad to capitulate and +let some other company take their place; the new company, in turn, to +capitulate and march out with the honors of war. Meanwhile, the +cavalry--whose horses are more used to the plough than to the din of +battle--has retired to a distance, and indulges in a sham fight on its +own account. And yet, in spite of all this preparation and in spite of +the pains that have been taken to show the fancy movements of the +soldiers, you will seldom see a company that is really well drilled in +the most simple movements; for drill-masters are unknown. + +The sham fight goes on till toward sunset, when the regiment is +dismissed at the signal of the evening gun. And now comes the hurry to +reach home. Such reckless driving, such wild racing over the hills and +along the rough roads and ledges, and such a desire to "take off +somebody's wheel," you never saw, unless you have been to a muster-day +before. This is a part of the fun; and if you do not take it as the +correct thing, and enjoy it too, you might as well have stayed away from +the muster altogether. + + FREDERIC G. MATHER. + + + + +THE STORY OF A STORY. + + +I. + +THE HEROINE. + +A horse-car, for all it is so common a sight, is not without its +picturesque side. To stand on a long bridge at night, while the lights +twinkle in the perspective, and watch one of these animated servants, +with its colored globular eye, come scrambling toward you, is to see a +clumsy, good-natured Caliban of this mechanical age. One of these days, +when the horse-car is superseded by some electric skipping wicker-basket +or what not, the Austin Dobson of the time will doubtless expend his +light sympathy of verse on the pathetic old abandoned conveyance. + +Such picturesqueness, however, is rather for one who seeks, than a view +which thrusts itself upon the merely casual observer. At any rate, +another Austin,--Austin Buckingham,--who was engaged one winter evening +at the end of a long bridge in idealizing horse-cars, hit upon this way +of looking at the one he was waiting for, out of sheer desperation of +intellect. He was a young _littérateur_ who was out of work. He was not, +like other workmen in similar straits, going from one shop to another +looking for a job. Not at all. He recognized the situation. He had only +to write a clever story and he could quickly dispose of it. He had +written a good many stories in his short day. Now he wished to write +another. The pity of it was that he had no story to tell,--absolutely +nothing. He had been through his note-books, but they gave him no help; +he had kept his ears open for some suggestive little incident, but the +whole world seemed suddenly given over to the dreariest commonplace. He +had walked out this evening, slowly revolving in his mind the various +odds and ends which came upon demand of his rag-picking memory, and yet +nothing of value had turned up. He was tired, and determined to take a +horse-car for the rest of the way. + +It was while he stood watching for the one which took him nearest to his +door, that he made the slight reflection with which this story opens. +"Could I make a horse-car the hero of my story?" he asked himself, with +a petulant tone, as he thought how dismally dull he was. The jingling +car came up, and he jumped upon the rear platform, wedged his way +through the men and boys who crowded the steps and platform, and so +pushed into the interior. He found half a dozen men in various attitudes +of neglect, but all hanging abjectly by the loops which a considerate +company had provided for its patrons. For his part, he preferred to +brace himself against the forward door, which gave him a position where +he could watch his fellow-prisoners. + +His eye fell at once on a girl for whom he always looked. He did not +know her name, but, as the saying goes, he knew her face very well. She +lived on the same street where he had his lodging, so that when they met +in a horse-car they always got out together. From the regularity with +which she came out in a certain car, Buckingham had sagely concluded +that she was one of the multitude of girls who earned their living, for +whom as a class he had great respect, though he did not happen to know +any single member. He liked to look at her. She was shy and discreet in +bearing; she usually entertained herself with a book, which permitted +him larger liberty of eye; and she dressed with a neatness which had an +individuality: she evidently expressed herself in her clothes. That is +not all. She was undeniably pretty. + +Now, our young friend had seen her in his horse-car a great many times, +but never under the conditions which existed at this time. People rarely +exclaim to themselves except in novels, but Buckingham did deliberately +shout to himself, "Why, this--this is my heroine! I have only to find a +hero and a plot. I know this girl very well. I am sure I can make a +story about her. Give me a hero, give me a plot, and there is my story!" + + +II. + +MISS MARTINDALE. + +When the horse-car stopped at the foot of Grove Street, Austin +Buckingham and the prospective heroine of his story got out so nearly at +the same time that when they reached the sidewalk they were side by +side. Beneath the gas-light stood a tallish man who was looking up to +read the name of the street upon the lamp. The light thus fell on his +face and brought it into distinctness; especially it disclosed a scar +upon his cheek. He caught sight now of these two people, and at once +addressed Buckingham: + +"Can you tell me whereabouts Mr. Martindale lives?" + +Buckingham hesitated, not because he knew and did not wish to tell, but +because he did not know, but wished to, if possible, out of courtesy. He +was trying to remember. The answer, however, came a moment after from +the girl, who had checked her walk upon hearing the name. + +"I am going directly there," she said, and the two walked off together, +the young man lifting his broad-brimmed felt hat in acknowledgment of +her civility. He lifted it by seizing the crown in a bunch. It is +difficult to lift a soft hat gracefully. Buckingham followed the pair, +and when he had reached his own door-way he continued to follow them +with his eyes until they were lost at a bend in the street. Then he +entered the house where he lodged, and sat down in his study. He was +greatly pleased with this little turn in affairs. + +"That is one step further in my story," he said to himself, for there +was no one else to say it to. "So she is Miss Martindale, and this young +man with a scar has come to see her father on business. He will stay to +tea. The father will--what will the father do or say? I must look out +the name in the directory, so as to get some solid basis of fact about +the father,--something to avoid, of course, when I arrange him in the +story. If he is a stone-cutter I must make him a house- and +sign-painter. I must disguise him so that his most intimate friend will +not detect him." + +Austin Buckingham was in the most agreeable humor as he proceeded to +prepare his solitary tea, for he was a bachelor and yet he detested +restaurants and boarding-houses. His dinner he needed to buy, and eat +where he bought it, but his breakfast and tea he provided in the room +which served as study and dining-room. He did not wash his dishes, it +may be remarked, with the exception of a Kaga cup which was too precious +to be intrusted to his landlady. + +He had set aside his tea-things, and, with a paper and pencil, was +proceeding to sketch a plot for his story, with Miss Martindale for the +heroine and the young man with a scar for a hero, when there was a knock +at the door, and the servant came in, bearing a card. It contained the +name of Henry Dale Wilding, a correspondent whom he had never met, but +who had begun with asking for his autograph, and had now ended, it +seems, with calling in person. + +"Show him up," said the story-teller; and Mr. Wilding, who was two steps +behind the servant, instantly presented himself. His face was certainly +familiar. Ah! it was the scar upon the face which made the recognition +easy. + + +III. + +MR. WILDING. + +"This is very pleasant," said Buckingham cordially, as he bade the young +man lay aside his coat and take a seat by the fire. While his guest was +obeying him, the host said in an aside,--only the aside was inaudible, +contrary to the custom of asides,--"He does not recognize me. I will +draw him out." + +"I was in town this evening,--in fact, in this very street," said Mr. +Wilding,--"and I could not resist the temptation to call on you." + +"I am very glad you didn't," said Buckingham heartily. "It is evident +you were led into it. Have you many friends in town?" + +"Not very many. I know one or two men in college. I thought at one time +of coming here to college myself. I gave that up, however, and now I am +thinking of taking a special course, perhaps in English. Indeed, that is +one reason why I came to town to-day." + +"Well, the college is hospitable enough. It is a great hotel, with +accommodations for regular boarders, but with reduced tickets for the +_table-d'hôte_, and a restaurant for any one who happens in, where one +may dine _à la carte_." + +"I have not had a classical education," said the young man. + +"Very well: you can make a special point of that. Very few of our later +writers have had a classical education. Scholarship is no longer a part +of general culture. It is a profession by itself. It is scientific, not +literary." + +"But you had a classical education, Mr. Buckingham?" + +"Yes, I had once. I don't deny that I am glad I had; but I am forced to +conceal it nowadays." + +"And you still read the classics," he went on, with a respectful glance +at a Greek book lying open on the table. Buckingham hastily closed the +book. + +"Yes, when no one is looking. But tell me about your plans. Shall you +room in the college buildings?" + +"I have come so late in the year that I cannot get any satisfactory +rooms." + +"Why not try getting a room somewhere in this neighborhood? There are +students, I think, who live on this street. I am afraid there are no +vacant rooms in this house, or I would introduce you to my landlady." + +"I am not sure but I shall. In fact, I have been looking at a room +farther up the street this evening." + +"Indeed! What house did you find it in?" + +"I found two or three houses that had rooms to let for students. They +were not boarding-houses. I don't care to board." + +"Mr. Wilding, my opinion of you rises with each sentiment you express. +First you think of studying English in a scholarly fashion; then you +detest boarding. I am sure we shall be friends. I shall invite you to +take tea with me,--not to-night, for I have already had my tea, but when +you are settled in your room." + +"Thank you; I accept with pleasure. I am glad you did not insist on my +taking tea with you to-night, for I have just come from tea." + +"Oh! I remember you said you had friends in town." + +"Yes; I have some cousins of an indefinite degree. They live on this +street, and they will make it pleasant for me. But they know very little +about the college, and I ventured to call to ask your advice about this +matter of a special course. Would you try for a degree?" + +Mr. Buckingham had nothing to do with the college; he was not even a +graduate of this particular one; but he dearly loved to give advice. He +took down the college catalogue, and talked with great animation for +some time to his young friend, who confided to him that his ambition was +to be an author, and that he had already written several sketches of +character. + +"Excellent," said Buckingham to himself. "You shall be my hero; only you +will write short poems. Then nobody will detect your likeness." + +Wilding stayed an hour, and then made ready to leave. + +"If you are going to take the car, you are just in time," said his host, +as they shook hands by the door of his room. + +"I am going first to my cousin's," said the young man. + +"Oh, are you? Wait a moment. I should like a little airing. I will walk +along with you." And Buckingham, with a sudden admiration for his prompt +seizure of the hour, put on his hat and coat. + + +IV. + +THE PLAY MYSTERY. + +Two young women were sitting over their worsted-work in the house +numbered 17 Grove Street. + +"Twenty-five, twenty-six," said the elder. "Lillie, if I were you, I +would always carry one of his books with me in the horse-car, prepared +to open and read it whenever he chanced to hang by the straps over me. +He would be sure to try to read it upside down, and--" + +"Nonsense, Julia! you speak exactly as if I were running after him." + +"Not running, my dear, but waiting for him. Confess it; don't you make +up stories about this Mr. Buckingham? don't you call him Austin all by +yourself?" + +"Julia, you are shameless! I have a great mind to roll up my work and go +up-stairs." + +"Oh, no, Lillie. Stay here; for Henry will surely be back soon, and we +shall learn exactly how the lion looked in his den. What a singularly +good piece of fortune it was that Henry should have met you both!" + +"Julia! you don't suppose that cousin of yours has been telling! You +don't suppose he has mentioned me to Mr. Buckingham!" + +"It is impossible to say. You get two men talking together, and you may +be sure they forget all their promises of secrecy. Now, I shouldn't +wonder if Henry were at this very moment--" + +"You are simply--" + +"Hark! There's Henry now." + +For the door opened, and Mr. Wilding entered, the remains of a smile +upon his face. + +"I really should like to know, Julia," he said, "what you two ladies +have been talking about. We could almost hear. We certainly could see." + +"We, Henry? Pray, who is we?" + +"Why, Mr. Buckingham and I. You have certainly a most hospitable fashion +of leaving your shades up. He walked out with me after I had called on +him, and he seemed to have a good deal to say after we came to the door. +There is an excellent view of the interior from the door; and Miss Vila +and you were certainly animated." + +"This is really dreadful! Lillie, do you suppose he saw us talk?" + +"I don't know. I feel as if he heard every word.--Mr. Wilding, I hope +you didn't repeat any of the foolish speeches your cousin made at the +tea-table?" + +"I was discreetness itself, Miss Vila." + +"But why didn't you invite him in, Henry?" asked his cousin. + +"Upon my word, this is reasonable! First I am made to promise solemnly +that I won't disclose Miss Vila's name, and then I am asked why I didn't +bring him in and introduce him. He wanted to come in, I know." + +"He wanted to!" + +"Yes; he tried to worm out of me who my cousin was, and he walked up +here on purpose to find out where you lived." + +"How lucky there is no name on the door!" exclaimed the cousin. + +"But he heard me ask for your husband's house,--did he not, Miss Vila? +And why on earth you should make such a mystery of it all I can't see." + +"Do draw the shade, Julia. It makes me nervous. I feel as if he were +looking in now." + +"Nonsense, Lillie! he's a gentleman." + +"But why do you make such a mystery of it all?" persisted the young man. + +"There is no mystery," said Miss Vila stiffly. And, gathering up her +work, she went up-stairs. + +"It's only play mystery, Henry," said his cousin, when they were alone. +"You see, Lillie Vila has been coming out in the horse-car with him +every night for a long time; and she has seen him watching her. Of +course she has seen him, but he has not seen that she has seen him. Men +are so stupid. And she knows that he has tried in vain to find out who +she is. He saw her once go into the library. She was dreadfully afraid +he would come in and see her working behind the screen; but he evidently +fancied she went in to get a book. Then he is always managing to stand +or sit near her, and he peeks at her book when she is reading. He is +just dying, I know, to find out who she is." + + +V. + +THE REAL MYSTERY. + +Mr. Austin Buckingham found on his table, when he returned from his walk +with Henry Wilding, a scrap of paper. It had nothing on it but the words +"The Mystery." This was the heading which he had made for his story. He +had been interrupted by his caller just as he had written the words. He +had not the remotest notion when he set them down what the mystery was +which he meant to reveal. The title now seemed like a prophecy to him. +Instead, however, of jotting down an outline of his story, he took out +his note-book and wrote busily: + +"I wish I knew just what I saw this evening. I had walked out with Henry +Wilding, who called, and who was going, he said, to his cousin's. Now, I +will not conceal from my faithful journal that I was moved by a desire +to know just who his cousin was and where he or she lived; for by a most +fortunate chance I have found out that my maiden without a name lives, +or probably lives, at a Mr. Martindale's, on this street. I tried to +draw Wilding out without betraying my own interest, but he was very +obtuse, and even seemed to be ashamed of his cousin. At any rate, he +parried my questions, and of course I could not push my curiosity. +However, I got the better of him, and walked out with him when he left. +As luck would have it again, the shades were drawn at the house where he +stopped, and the bright light within made the scene perfectly distinct. +I talked on the door-step about I know not what, half hoping that +Wilding would invite me in, but really absorbed in watching two ladies +who sat by a table. One was my fair unknown, the other a lady whom I +have occasionally seen, and whom I take to be Wilding's cousin,--though +this is all guess-work. Whether she is or not, she is evidently a very +unpleasant sort of body, for, whatever she said, the other was plainly +exceedingly vexed and mortified. She covered her face with her hands. At +one time she made a movement as if to leave. She looked earnest and +troubled. I could vow she was about to burst into tears. Her face was +very expressive. No one who shows such sudden changes can help being a +person of rare sensibility. I am almost out of conceit of making her the +heroine of my story, though, to be sure, I am not likely to interfere +with her personal rights, so long as I do not know either her name or +her history. + +"To come back to the pantomime which I saw through the window. It was +probably by no means so mysterious in reality as it appeared to me. Yet +what could it have been? or, rather, how can I appropriate it for my +purposes? I have it! The very situation of looking through a window +shall serve as the critical point in my story, only it shall be the hero +of my story, and not an idle spectator like myself, who does the +looking. The young poet, Wilding in disguise, only walks out at night. +He is a shy fellow, who even in public holds his hat, as it were, before +his face. He keeps by himself in his garret, brooding over his poems, +and seeing no one, until he almost loses the power of ordinary +association with other people. When night comes, he walks, sometimes +through the night. But his loneliness has generated a desire for +companionship which he can satisfy only by ghostly intercourse. So, +instead of knowing people, he imagines them, and falls in love with his +imaginations. He observes that one house looking toward the sea always +keeps its curtains drawn. He falls into the way of stealing by every +night to catch a glimpse of a fireside. There he sees a fair girl,--and +I may as well draw her portrait like that of my unknown friend,--with +eyes that are downcast but when raised suddenly grow large and lustrous, +with hands that fold themselves when disengaged, with hair that peeps +shyly over the forehead, and with a figure that seems always to be +listening. She becomes the world to him. He has renounced all common +association with men and women, and he peoples the world which he has +thus brushed out with shapes caught from this one girl. The very silence +which separates them makes him more quick in his imagination to invest +her with the grace which her distant presence never denies." + +"Bah! what superfine nonsense I am writing!" exclaimed Buckingham, +pushing his note-book aside, but continuing to sit before his fire in +revery. + + +VI. + +THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE TAPESTRY. + +Mr. Henry Wilding suited himself easily to a room in a house which stood +just beyond his cousin's. He wanted little to make him at home; for he +had only pitched his tent in this university town, and had no thought of +settling in it. His wish was to get what he came for and to go again as +little encumbered with baggage as he had come. Something of this sort he +had been saying, not long after his established routine had begun, in a +letter to the lady to whom he had the good fortune to be engaged. "I +never could feel settled so far from you," he went on gallantly; "and I +want only so much home at hand as will keep me from daily discontent. So +it is exceedingly convenient to have my cousin Julia next door. I feel +as one might who lived over a grocery-shop: there would be no fear of +starving, at all events. When my supply of family feeling runs low, I +drop in upon Julia and lay in enough to last a few days. Her friend, who +makes a home with her, of whom I wrote in my last, does not greatly +interest me. She says very little; but I am willing to grant that she is +uncommonly pretty. I don't know why I say this in such grudging fashion. +If some one else be fair to me, what care I how fair this 't other one +be? Julia admires her greatly; but I suspect she is one of the kind whom +one needs to marry ever to get at. Julia is as much married to her as +one woman can be to another; and that explains why she sees so much in +her. She sometimes reports scraps of conversations which she has held +with this Miss Lillie Vila. Unless Julia makes up both sides of the +conversation, her friend certainly is intelligent, and, I am afraid, +witty. I say this last because it piques me that I have never extracted +any witty remark from her. + +"As for John, he is imperturbably good-natured. His profession keeps him +away a good deal; but when he is at home he seems to do nothing but read +a book by the fireside and chuckle to himself. Julia and Miss Vila both +admire him greatly; but I suspect it is necessary to reconstruct him out +of imaginary material before one can get to think very highly of him. +Women do this naturally. I can always make myself humble by thinking +that you do it with me. + +"Buckingham is decidedly more interesting. I have not seen him since the +evening I called upon him; but as I recall him, his air, his +conversation, and the shell of a room which he has been forming about +him, I constantly find something new to enjoy. He has a good deal of +insight. I am not uncomfortable when I remember how steadily he looked +at me; for he is not cynical. Indeed, I should say that he had managed +to preserve an unusual amount of sentiment,--more than is generally +found in one at his time of life. I am convinced that he ought to marry; +and if he ever does, I am sure that he will give up writing stories. He +is just one of those men who will find such satisfaction in domestic +life as to become indifferent to imaginative experiences. I notice that +in his stories he always seems to be groping about for some agreeable +domestic conclusion. His room shows it. It looks as if a woman had been +in it, but had left before she had put the final touch to it. She ought +to come back." + + +VII. + +MR. BUCKINGHAM MAKES A MOVE. + +A week after Henry Wilding had called on Austin Buckingham, that +gentleman tried to return his call. It must be confessed that his motive +was not so much a commendable desire to get even socially with his new +acquaintance, nor to give him good advice, as it was to get a nearer +view of the heroine of his story. Candor compels me to say that every +evening for the week past Buckingham had taken an airing, and always in +the same direction. He had always found the shade drawn at No. 17, and +often he had caught a glimpse, as he sauntered past, of the figure which +he now knew so well. It is true that he had never again seen Miss Vila +in so dramatic a character as upon the first evening when he had +discovered her _en famille;_ but he had seen her, not as one sees a +portrait, which always looks in the same direction. In the horse-car she +had been such a portrait to him,--the "Portrait of a Lady Reading." +Behind the window of Mr. Martindale's house she had been a figure in a +_tableau vivant_, often animated, always disclosing some new grace of +attitude, some new charm of manner. He faintly told himself that these +views enabled him to form a more distinct impression of the character of +his heroine: whenever he should have his plot ready, his heroine would +in the various situations instantly appear to him with the vividness and +richness of reality. + +He bethought himself that it was high time to see a little more of his +hero; and so he persuaded himself that in going to call upon him he was +engaged in a strictly professional occupation. If by any chance he +should hear the rustle of the heroine's dress, why, that could not +possibly injure any impressions which he might receive of his hero's +individuality. These two people had become important factors in his +story. He had not yet succeeded in sketching his plot. He felt it all +the more necessary that they should sketch it for him. He was sure that +he should readily catch at any hint which they might drop. He would +therefore go into the society of his hero--and heroine. + +For, somehow or other, whenever he essayed to call up the image of his +hero and make it yield some distinct personality, the heroine would +gently come to the fore. It was like going to a party and finding the +eye glancing off from every black-coated figure to the richly-draped +presence which made the party different from a town-meeting. + +He was so much under the influence of all this reflex sentiment that he +dressed himself with care before he went out, and so presented himself +at the door of Mr. Martindale's house. It did not occur to him that +Wilding lived anywhere else. He had taken it for granted that the young +man was still at his cousin's. So when the door was opened for him he +asked if Mr. Wilding were in, at the same time presenting his card. It +chanced that the maid-servant had that day entered Mr. Martindale's +service,--not a very rare chance in any household,--and, never having +heard Mr. Wilding's name, indeed, not now hearing it, but hearing +instead the name Miss Vila, cordially welcomed the distinguished-looking +visitor, and marched before him into the little parlor, where she +presented the card, on a salver which she had snatched on the way, to +Miss Vila, who was sitting with Mrs. Martindale. The two ladies were +playing backgammon. + + +VIII. + +THE INTERRUPTED GAME. + +"For me!" exclaimed Miss Vila, in a dismayed undertone. "Julia!" + +Mrs. Martindale glanced at the card. She rose at once, just as Mr. +Buckingham entered the room with a little hesitation in his step. As the +two ladies held the backgammon-board in their laps, one effect of the +sudden movement was to send the men rolling in every direction about the +room. It was weeks before one of the men--a black one--was found. + +Mr. Buckingham saw his card in Miss Vila's hands. He addressed himself +to her: + +"Possibly your servant misunderstood me. I asked for Mr. Wilding." + +"She is a new servant," said Mrs. Martindale, and then added, with +alacrity, as she seized the accident by its nearest horn, "her mistake +was probably one of the ear. She thought you asked for Miss Vila." Mrs. +Martindale had it in her to wave her hand toward the young lady, as if +showing off wax-works, and to explain, "This is Miss Vila," but Mr. +Buckingham was quick enough not to need the line upon line. + +"I must beg Miss Vila's pardon. There certainly is a likeness in the +names, if you spell it with a _we_." + +"I will speak to Mr. Wilding," said Mrs. Martindale, jerking an eyeful +of mysterious intelligence at Miss Vila and whisking out of the room. + +"I hope you were just about to be beaten, Miss Vila," said Buckingham, +"for I see I have spoiled the game." + +"It is nothing," said she. + +She had said nothing, but she had said it with a singularly musical +voice, and, after all, it is not the significant words but the +significant tones which touch one. + +"No. It is nothing," he repeated. "A game may always be interrupted, +because it is not the conclusion but the playing which gives it any +value. I suspect it is like the stories we read,--somebody comes in, and +we lay the book down before we come to the end. It is no great matter if +we never take it up again. We got our pleasure, not from knowing how +things turned out, but from knowing things." He blushed a little as he +said this. In fact, his own inchoate story came to his mind. Besides, +Miss Vila had his card. Since she read so constantly, it was odds but +she knew of him. He blushed a little more as this thought crossed his +mind. + +"Do you think so?" she asked, and her downcast eyes were suddenly +up-turned in full, the look which he had often patiently watched for as +he had seen her in the horse-car. "I find the end necessary. If I stop +half-way I think I have done the story-teller an injustice. I have not +given him the chance to tell me all he intended to tell me. He lets out +the secret of his characters by degrees. He could justly say to me, 'You +do not know the heroine; you have not seen her in that scene which is +going to test her.'" + +"You are quite right," said Buckingham, "if you really think you are +under any obligation to the story-teller." + +"Why, of course I am," she exclaimed, with wide-open surprise. Then she +blushed in turn,--first a little color of half-indignant rebuke, then a +warm hue as she thought of her unnecessary earnestness, then a deep +crimson as there rushed over her the sudden recollection of the hours +she had spent in Buckingham's company, and the silent admiration which +she had bestowed from the shelter of ignorance upon this gentleman who +now sat composedly before her. It was by an effort of self-control that +she did not spring from her seat and leave the room. The effort blanched +her face. It was as she sat thus, her eyes cast down, her lips set, her +countenance pale, that Mrs. Martindale returned. + + +IX. + +THE UNNECESSARY HERO. + +"My cousin will be here presently," she said, as she entered the room. +And then her eye fell on Miss Vila and glanced quickly at Mr. +Buckingham, who was nervously fingering his stick. "Meanwhile," she +added, with a mischievous look, "I will ask you to remain with us, as +Mr. Wilding will be obliged to see you here. Lillie, you have the +gentleman's card. It seems awkward to wait for the formality of Henry's +introduction. Will you have the kindness to make us acquainted?" + +Miss Vila gravely performed the ceremony. + +"Your cousin is fortunate in finding friends in town, Mrs. Martindale," +said Buckingham; "for a collegian coming here freshly, especially one in +a special course, is apt to be slow in breaking through the hedge which +divides the college from the town." + +"Yes, he is quite fortunate," said his cousin. "I exercise an influence +over him. You know we exercise an influence over students, don't you?" + +Buckingham laughed. + +"I supposed that was what the town was for." + +"When they are away from home and parents and all those refining +influences, we serve as substitutes. Henry is away, not so much from his +parents, who are dead, as from the lady to whom he is engaged. That is +why I feel bound to exercise an influence over him." Mrs. Martindale +made this explanation with a serious air, but Buckingham, whose eye +never stayed far from Miss Vila, detected that young lady casting a +reproachful, not to say indignant, glance at the speaker. Miss Vila, +indeed, made a motion as if to leave, but, with another quick blush, as +if she had betrayed a secret thought, settled again into her chair. To +tell the secret, she had a sudden misgiving that her reckless friend +might take it into her head to make ingenuous revelations concerning +her. + +"I hope he finds his work agreeable," said Buckingham; not that he cared +a straw, but by way of keeping up his end of the conversation. + +"Oh, I have no doubt he does, or he would come to see us oftener. I +mean," she explained hurriedly, "he would stay in his room less." + +"He certainly takes his time now in coming down," thought the visitor. +There was, however, a movement in the passage, and Mrs. Martindale +darted out. She came back immediately, looking somewhat embarrassed. + +"I am sorry," she faltered, "but I find I am mistaken. He is not in." + +"I am afraid you are not exerting enough influence, Mrs. Martindale," +said Buckingham pleasantly, but somewhat perplexed in his mind at the +length of time it had taken to make this discovery, and at the +hallucination which had seemed to possess his cousin's mind when she +announced him as about to appear. As for Miss Vila, she persistently +refused to look up. She scarcely looked up, indeed, when Mr. Buckingham +bowed himself out, though he looked eagerly at her, in hopes once more +of catching the full light of her eyes. + +She did look up, however, when the door closed behind the visitor, and +she looked straight at Mrs. Martindale. That lady answered her look +with one tear and a good many words: + +"Well, Lillie, if you knew how I felt at getting into such a scrape, you +wouldn't look at me as if you were an Avenging Conscience, or a Nemesis, +or any of those horrid furies. No; and you wouldn't look speechlessly +sorrowful, either. Of course I ought to have told him at once that Henry +did not live here, and I ought to have sent him next door instead of +sending Kate, and I ought not to have pretended that he was coming the +next moment; but of course I thought he was at home, and then when he +came I could have laughed it off; but he didn't come, and I was too +frightened to laugh it off. Oh, yes, I am a criminal of the deepest dye; +but he's introduced, Lillie, and you've introduced him to me, and we're +all--we're all introduced." + + +X. + +THE REAL HERO. + +When a pile of wood has been laid upon smouldering embers, a thin curl +of smoke crawls lazily up the chimney, another follows with like +indolence, and it looks after a while as if the wood would not burn at +all. Suddenly a little whiff of air enters the pile, when, presto! up +blazes the fire, and soon there is a famous glow. + +It was somewhat thus with Mr. Austin Buckingham. He had been toying with +the fancy of his story, and especially of this maiden to whom his eyes +had become so wonted, and had allowed himself to look at her in so many +lights, that she had gradually come to be always before him. The figure +of the hero had as gradually disappeared: it was only by an effort that +he could revive it. Suddenly he had sat a long quarter of an hour with +the girl, he had heard her voice, he had seen her smile, he had felt the +graciousness of her near presence when he was not merely at hand, but +the direct object of her thought. What a world of difference there was +between sitting by her side in a crowded horse-car and sitting even +half a room-breadth's away, when they two were the only ones in the +room! + +By all this experience, as much perhaps by what had gone before as by +what had followed suddenly after, Buckingham now stood revealed to +himself. He was ablaze with this new, tingling, searching ardor. When he +had entered the room and shut the door, he saw lying upon his table his +note-book, open as he had left it. He had been amusing himself, just +before he went out, with further suggestions for his story. He dipped +his pen into the ink and drew a bold, straight line across the page. He +stood looking at the leaf,--idle fancy above the line, a blank below it. + +A knock at the door, and Henry Wilding entered. Buckingham greeted him +with a sudden excess of fervor which puzzled the young man. + +"I was sorry to miss finding you," he began, and then checked himself. +"Not so very sorry either, since fortune made me acquainted with--your +cousin--and with Miss Vila," he added, after an embarrassed pause. + +"I don't understand," said Wilding. "Have I missed a call from you?" + +"Yes. I just came from your house. Your cousin at first thought you were +at home. Now I think of it, she--" + +"But I don't live at my cousin's," said Wilding. + +"Where do you live, then?" + +"Next door to her house." + +"Oh! then she sent out for you. That explains it." And so Mr. +Buckingham, intent on his own affairs, brushed away the duplicity of the +fair hostess. "But I was very glad to hear a piece of news about you +from her. Let me congratulate you. I did not know you were engaged." And +he shook Wilding's hand warmly. He was not so generous at the moment as +he appeared. In reality, he was shaking his own hand in anticipation. +Wilding responded with a good-natured laugh. + +"I have sometimes wondered, Mr. Buckingham," he said, "how you, who +write stories of love and marriage, should remain unmarried." + +"Let us put it the other way. How can I who am unmarried write such +stories? In truth, I have a dim sense that persons like you, who know +the matter by experience, must laugh inwardly at my innocent attempts at +realistic treatment." + +"Why not, then, have the experience first?" said Wilding lightly. + +"God forbid!" said Buckingham, with a somewhat unintelligible +seriousness. "If I were ever in love, it seems to me I should stop +writing love-stories." + +Now, this was just what happened, for a time at least. To any one so +dead in love as Buckingham was at this time, all circumstances are +favorable. It needs but a given moment, and the hero is on hand ready to +seize it. The next night he could not ride out from the city; he must +walk. When he got beyond the bridge, he wondered that he saw no +horse-cars coming toward him. He remembered that he had seen none for +some time, but now he noticed a long line of them standing before him, +pointed outward. He heard the puff of a steam fire-engine, and saw that +travel by rail was stopped by a fire. The hose crossed the track, and +the incoming horse-cars were in a long line beyond it. He looked at the +cars which he had over-taken. Midway in the line stood the one he had +been accustomed to take. He caught sight of a familiar head bent over a +book. He stepped into the car and stood before Miss Vila. He bent +forward, and she looked up as he spoke: + +"The cars are stopped by a fire. We may be delayed a long while. Why not +walk home from here? It is a fine night." + +He spoke somewhat hurriedly. He did not know how appealingly he looked. +She did, however, and she closed her book and followed him. + +The story, then, never was written, even though the heroine had been +found. Everything else had disappeared,--the hero, the mystery, the +plot. Nothing was left but the heroine and--love. + + HORACE E. SCUDDER. + + + + +SHADOWS ALL. + + + Shadows all! + From the birth-robe to the pall, + In this travesty of life, + Hollow calm and fruitless strife, + Whatsoe'er the actors seem, + They are posturing in a dream; + Fates may rise, and fates may fall, + Shadows are we, shadows all! + + From what sphere + Float these phantoms flickering here? + From what mystic circle cast + In the dim æonian Past? + Many voices make reply, + But they only rise to die + Down the midnight mystery, + While earth's mocking echoes call, + Shadows, shadows, shadows all! + + PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE. + + + + +ROSES OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY. + + +It always seemed to me, as a child, that the birds put their hearts more +wholly into their songs in that special little corner of Paradise on the +Hudson River than they did anywhere else. Not that it was really so very +little a corner, being small only in comparison with an entire Paradise, +composed of many such bits, that lines the shore of the beautiful +Hudson. + +It was so great a delight to the child who knew little of country +pleasures to be called away from some task or commonplace "every-day" +pastime and to be told that there was an invitation to spend an +afternoon, or perhaps several days, at Professor Morse's place, "Locust +Grove." + +There would be the drive, leaning back in the barouche (with a feeling +of easy importance lent by the consciousness of wondrous delights to +come) and looking up with a species of admiring awe at the herculean +form of the French coachman, who seemed to be concealing romantically +brigandish recollections behind his fiery black eyes and wide-spreading, +ferocious moustache. Along the dusty "South Road" we would go, under the +green lights and shadows of the maple-trees, over the two miles which +stretch between Poughkeepsie town and "Locust Grove,"--past "Eastman's +Park," with its smart decorations, past the small, unambitious houses, +draped with many-hued, old-fashioned roses, that straggled along the +dividing-line between the narrow restrictions of town and the fragrant +wideness of the country, where the air was cool with the breath of the +river, and the breezes brought suggestions of freshly-cut grass, just +blown locust-blossoms, and the thousand sweet, indefinable scents of the +woods. + +On approaching the boundaries of "the Grove," the perfume of the +locust-flowers assumed due prominence, as the name of the place implies +they should, while their white clusters drooped from the heavily-loaded +branches till they fairly touched the high posts of the gate. And then +would come the drive up the dim avenue, flecked with patches of sunshine +that lay like fallen gold pieces in the dusk shadow, while if one +glanced upward or on either side one saw nothing save the arching +trees,--pines and locusts, and maples no less stately,--until a space +was reached where the grove was less dense and the view widened to a +stretch of velvet grass whitened with daisies lying soft on the tops of +the blades in a way to make one fancy a summer fall of snow. At the turn +of the avenue one caught a glimpse of the house, with its vine-wreathed +tower, generous piazzas, and hospitable _porte-cochère_, and in the +background, beyond the lawn, the river, with the blue hills on the +opposite shore veiled by a light, lace like haze, just enough of a haze +to lend mystery to the distance. + +The loud clattering of the horses' shoes on the stone pavement under the +_porte-cochère_, which informed the occupants of the house that visitors +had come, seemed always to tell the youngest, most insignificant, yet +happiest of those visitors that the anticipated hour of many delights +had actually arrived. And of these delights there were to the heart of +the child a thousand and one such as could scarcely be realized or even +dreamed of at the home in town. There were the broad, shady piazzas to +be walked over with dainty footfalls, lest the grown people should be +disturbed. There was the mystic retreat within the circle of a group of +low-branching pines, the secret of which one penetrated by stepping down +from the front piazza at a certain place and there insinuating one's +self into a small opening, which only the initiated could discover, +among the trees. Here one had a little fragrant sanctum all one's own, +carpeted with pine needles, green and brown, and arched over by ceiling +and walls of thick branches, from out of which peeped startled robins, +who soon, finding that no harm was meant them, went on with their song. +Then there was the garden, fragrant and brilliant, which one might +explore when one had promised Thomas, the presiding genius, that one +would not touch his cherished sweets, for it "went to his heart" to see +a single blossom torn from its parent stem. And there were the +grape-houses, for which the place was famous far and near,--hot, and +odorous of moist soil and growing vines, among which white and purple +clusters hung temptingly heavy and low. + +One especial pleasure was to walk along the gravelled path that skirted +the smooth, level stretch of lawn at the back of the house, and thus to +reach the brow of the hill overlooking the "farm" and the river. There +were seats on the edge of this bluff, and a large spring-board on which +one might ride and jump to one's heart's content. By following this path +still farther, and to the left, one soon deserted the well-kept lawn and +found one's self on a narrow, winding walk overhanging a deep, wooded +ravine, in the depths of which a little brook ran curving about among +the ferns and daisies; and presently, far out of sight of the house, in +shade so dense as to lend a certain pleasing enchantment, one came upon +a rustic summer-house, with odd, three-cornered-seats, and a table +surrounding the tree-trunk that supported the centre of the roof. + +There were manifold other out-of-door enjoyments, such as visiting the +pigeon-house, and, as a rare favor, rioting in the scented hay in the +loft over the barn, visiting the gardener's wife (whose home was in that +part of the old Livingston mansion which its master and time had allowed +to stand), and being permitted to draw water from the ancient well, +about which hung so many stories of generations past. How exciting it +was, and with what delicious awe one listened, when the little lady who +was a fairy grandmamma instead of a fairy godmother in the household +told a certain story regarding this well! It was a story before the time +of her own birth, when two of her older sisters were very tiny girls. +One day, when the mother was busy in superintending some homely task +(such as the manufacturing of the "cream cheese," perhaps, for which she +was noted), the baby of two years toddled in and began to lisp over and +over the same broken words, "Tatie in 'ell, Tatie in 'ell." She had +repeated them many times, with increasing insistence, before the busy +mother realized that they possessed a meaning. "Tatie in 'ell, Tatie in +'ell," the little one said, pulling at her mother's gown, half crying as +she spoke; and then it dawned upon the latter that her baby had +something serious to tell. She yielded to the little importunate hands +upon her dress, and followed the child out of doors to the well and +there looked down. "Katie" was indeed in the well, as the lisping tongue +had tried to say, and, gazing into the darkness below, the mother could +see the frightened, pitiful little face turned up to her, while two +small hands convulsively grasped the edge of the great bucket. The +husband and father was away from home, all the men employed about the +place were working at a distance, and there was no time to lose: those +frail hands must soon relax their hold, and the child was sorely +terrified and begging to be saved. As the mother hesitated, in an agony +of doubt, out from the house came a stout, elderly serving-woman, who +had lived in the family for many years, and who was especially devoted +to little Kate. She had heard her mistress's cry, and, running to look +into the well, without even waiting to explain, she set about the +execution of a hazardous and original plan of rescue. Climbing over the +curb, she began to descend by striding the well and planting her feet +upon the rough, protruding stones of which the sides were formed. Not +one woman in a thousand could or would have done such a thing; but this +one was tall and strong, and brave as a lion with the might of her love +for little Kate. She saved the child, who had suffered no graver injury +than a thorough drenching and a fright which served as a warning for +herself and the children of her own and several generations to come. + +Interesting as was this story and others told of the past, and +delightful as it was to play under the great trees, roaming at one's own +sweet will all about "the Grove," better than everything else was it to +be admitted into the "sanctum sanctorum" of the place,--Professor +Morse's study,--where the master sat among his books and treasures, his +kindly, clear-featured face and bright brown eyes, framed in by silver +hair and beard, shining out from the curtained dimness of the room. +There were many objects fascinating even to a child in that study, which +opened out of the family library with its store of books. The library +was very good, but the study was still better. There, under a glass +case, was the first telegraph-instrument that had ever been made. One or +two of Professor Morse's early paintings hung upon the wall, and +sometimes he would display a few sketches to the older members of the +party, who were naturally regardless of the fact that there was "a chiel +amang 'em, takin' notes." The crowning treat offered within the +study-walls, however, was to have the marvels of the Professor's immense +and powerful microscope displayed before our wondering gaze. There we +became acquainted with the rainbow-tinted plumes of the fly's wing and +the jewels that lie hidden from ordinary ken in the pollen and petals of +the simplest blossoms. And the master of it all, to whom the marvels +were as familiar as the common objects themselves, seemed to derive a +genuine pleasure from that which he bestowed upon his guests. + +When Professor Morse purchased Locust Grove, before his second marriage, +he was not aware that it had belonged to the family of the lady who was +soon to become his wife. Indeed, it was not until some friend remarked, +"How delightful for you to take your bride to the old ancestral place +owned by her kindred for so many generations!" that he knew the home +would possess any associations, save those to be formed in the future, +for his _fiancée_. But no doubt at the beginning of their life there +Locust Grove was thus rendered doubly dear to both. The old Livingston +mansion was at that time standing, much nearer to the entrance-gates +than the more modern residence inhabited by the owner's family; and the +quaint well, with the stone curb, the water of which was so remarkable +for its purity that travellers came from a distance to ask the privilege +of drinking, formed an object of interest at least, if not of actual +beauty, before the old vine-grown porch. Gradually the house fell into +decay, and the greater portion was torn down, leaving but five or six +rooms, with their odd, hooded windows and strangely-fashioned fireplaces +and mantels, the porch, with its broad, shallow seats, and the +green-painted, "divided" front doors, to tell the tale of what once had +been the home of so much hospitality and happiness. + +So all remained painted with unfading colors on the canvas of my memory, +each object as I had known and loved it when a child. And then the child +went far away and grew to womanhood, having looked on many places and +"things of beauty," but, while forgetting much that belonged to the old +days, never forgot Locust Grove. The scent of the new locust-blossoms, +the songs of the birds, and the beauty of the lights and shadows dancing +on the river were as vivid in recollection as they had been in +actuality; and after a severe and tedious illness it seemed that no +tonic could prove so effectual as a visit to that dear old place, not +seen for years, and which I had loved so well. + +There is generally experienced a vague yet bitter disappointment in +returning to a spot hallowed by associations after an absence of any +appreciable length of time. It is wellnigh impossible for the reality to +equal what has through the filtering of fancy become scarcely more than +a remembered dream. + + Nothing can be as it has been; + Better, so call it, only--not the same. + +And yet Locust Grove in 1884 looked almost as unchanged as though it had +shared the slumbers of the "Sleeping Beauty" since 1871. Only, a certain +potent charm had fled with the presence of the departed master. It was +now but his pictured eyes and silver hair that lit up the dimness of the +room that had been sacred to him. The books and papers covering the desk +belonged to a later and more careless generation. The microscope stood +unused under its glass case, the sketches were lovingly laid away out of +sight, and altogether a subtile change could be detected in the +atmosphere. There were things, however, about the house which perhaps +had always been there, and yet which I looked upon now with a new and +keener appreciation. The picture of Professor Morse when a child of five +or six years, standing by his father, who is clad in the quaint robes +which then distinguished a Congregationalist divine, seemed to me one +that might interest others besides myself. Also the portrait of his +mother, with pearls in her puffed and powdered hair, and her beautiful +bare arms holding the older child, Sidney (a baby in oddly-fashioned +long robes), was charming to look at because of its intrinsic beauty as +well as the associations attached to it. And the life-size painting of +General Washington's mother,--said to be the only one of the kind in +existence,--which looked down from its broad frame over the dining-room +mantel, possessed a special fascination for me. One felt rather +insignificant with that scornful smile and those languid eyes brooding +over one as one sat engaged in the discussion of soup; and it was +impossible to keep from imagining that the stiff and stately dame in her +mathematically correct white and green draperies was drawing invidious +comparisons between the way one did one's hair and the way in which she +had considered it proper to arrange her abundant pale-brown locks. + +About the place itself were more changes than at first would strike the +eye. The old Livingston homestead had been razed to the ground, and +smooth, emerald grass thrived upon its site, while the chief gardener, +Thomas, had been promoted to a new æsthetic cottage of the latest +approved colors and style. Even the famous well was no more; for a small +and inconspicuous pump had been put in its stead, to save unwary +children from instituting a too curious search for the "truth" popularly +supposed to lie within its depths. The graperies were gone, and in their +stead nourished rose-houses,--visiting the interior of which seemed +fairly to transport one into the famous "Vale of Cashmere." Roses of all +colors and all descriptions here found an ideal home, and with their +beauty served the purses of their two young masters, who superintended +their culture. It was in the early summer that I saw the place again +after my long absence, and the rose-houses of course could not be seen +at their best, as they can in winter. There are four large houses, +opening into a long, narrow frame building, at one end of which is the +office where the young gentlemen managers transact their business. Here +all was--and still is, no doubt--immaculately neat, the walls adorned +with colored prints and paintings of flowers, an array of books, papers, +and ledgers carefully arranged in their exact places on the desk, and +everything kept free from dust, swept and garnished. In the long, bare +room from which the office opens are stored gardening-tools, +watering-cans of all shapes and descriptions (some of which to an +untutored eye present a striking resemblance to coffee-pots such as the +Brobdingnag giants might have used), baskets for packing the roses, with +all their paraphernalia, earthen pots for plants great and small, and +many other utensils such as those unlearned in gardening lore would +consider uncouth in the extreme. On one side of the room stands the big +table upon which the baskets are set, and above this are ranged numerous +rows of shelves. Four doors open into the rose-houses, and at the east +end is the one devoted exclusively to the culture of Jacqueminots,--the +"Jack"-house it is irreverently, if not slangily, styled. Here the glass +roof stands open all the summer long, for the breezes to blow and the +soft rains to fall upon the petted plants; and here the sunshine holds +high revel, bronzing the intricate tracery of stem and branch and +turning half the leaves to shining emeralds. + +It was in the "Jack"-house that I one morning found Thomas Devoy, the +gardener, at work with his great oddly-shaped shears or scissors, and +detained him long enough to make a little sketch of him among his +flowers; and while I worked with pencils and paper he told me divers +anecdotes of the twenty-eight years he had spent in Professor Morse's +service. "I entered service in the old country when I was very young," +he said; "and even as a little boy I was fond of gardening. One time, +when I was a child, I was going through some splendid greenhouses with +the head-gardener who took care of them. There was one very rare plant +of which he was exceedingly proud, and I begged him for a tiny slip to +take home with me. But he refused; and so, in passing by, I quietly +broke off one little leaf. Some time afterward I was able to show him a +plant as fine as his own which I had raised from that one leaf, and then +I told him its story." + +All the fine, large Jacqueminots in the "Jack"-house were raised from +one parent plant with cuttings made about four years or so before, the +gardener told me, while I, gazing in amazement at their high-reaching +branches, thought, with "Topsy," it was something to boast of that they +had "jest growed." + +In the winter the rose-houses become things of beauty and a joy forever, +seeming to have imprisoned the very heart of summer within their walls, +while outside--shut away from the warmth and glowing tints of red and +pink, yellow and lustrous rosy pearl--lie the snow and the ice, and +through the bare branches of the trees the wind whistles drearily. + +But in the summer the aspect of the rose-houses is very different. All +then is preparation and making over for the coming autumn and winter. +Some of the houses are planted with tiny cuttings just lifting little +tender sprays above the warm, moist soil. Men are at work here and there +with hammers and nails, repairing any slight damage that may have been +done in previous months. Hose-pipes coil over the floors, and one must +walk by them daintily. In other houses one would exclaim with pleasure +at finding one's self in a wilderness of roses, pink, yellow, and white, +only to be told, rather contemptuously, "_That_ is nothing. There are no +roses here now. You must wait till winter if you want something worth +seeing. We have roses as large as tea-saucers then, and any quantity of +them." + +Outside the buildings, and fairly surrounding them, are large square +beds of hybrid roses of many varieties, each sort planted in separate +rows by itself. There are beds of cuttings also, and one long, narrow +bed of red hybrids running the entire length of the greenhouse. +"Catherine Mermet," "La Reine," "Adam," "Paul Neyron," the exquisite "La +France," "John Hopper," the "Duke of Connaught," "Niphetos," and "Perle +des Jardins" are here in profusion, with others of every shade and tint, +too numerous almost to count, and the perfume arising from beds and +hot-houses is intoxicating in its strength and sweetness. Some bushes +are merely set in earthen pots out of doors; and these are supposed to +be in a dormant state, undergoing the process of "drying off," or +"hardening," receiving very little water, and are to be so kept until +September, when they will be repotted and "started" for growing,--thus +illustrating the truth of the saying that there is a blessing for those +who only stand and wait. But one could not help pitying them, when one +thought how their more fortunate companions with their uncramped roots +were exploring underground passages and enjoying all the freedom and +moisture of the rich soil. + +"During the fall and winter we are very busy in a different way," said +Thomas Devoy, as he displayed his treasures. And then he told me how +every day in the later months all hands are occupied in tending, +cutting, and packing the roses which are daily expressed to a certain +New York florist. The beautiful half-blown buds are carefully cut, with +long, leafy stems, and laid in the great market-baskets standing on the +table ready to receive them. Row after row and layer after layer are +laid in, sprinkled until leaves and petals sparkle with a diamond dew. +Only buds at a certain stage of unfolding are used, and the most +exquisite roses with their petals opening one pink or pearly crease too +far are discarded as unfit to send away. Tissue-paper covers the flowers +as they lie ready in their baskets, then oiled paper is placed on top, +and finally a thin red oilcloth is fastened over all. + +Thus from two to four hundred roses of almost every variety are daily +put upon the New York train and expressed to the florist, at whose +establishment they arrive, after a few hours, as fresh, dewy, and +fragrant as when they left their parent plants. + +And yet, with all these that are sent away, the home is not forgotten. +Gorgeous blooms in exquisite foreign vases adorn table, cabinet-shelf, +and mantel in every inhabited room in the house, where, among relics of +the old time, the roses of yesterday and to-day meet in a rivalry so +lovely that one is at a loss in deciding the merits of their separate +claims. The roses of to-day are freshest, and it may even be fairest; +yet there is a little poem which asks,-- + + What's the rose that I hold to the rose that is dead? + +And thus, to one who has known and loved the place in days gone by, when +what has become a mere association and memory now made its very life and +soul, there is something in the suggestion of that verse which at least +lets itself be readily understood. + + ALICE KING HAMILTON. + + + + +A HOOSIER IDYL. + + +It was a part of the Great West which in the past fifty or seventy-five +years has been transformed from unbroken forests, the home of the red +Indian and the deer, to a thickly-settled farming-country, dotted with +comfortable homes and traversed by railways and wagon-roads. Here and +there in retired districts the log cabins of the pioneers remained, and +wherever one looked an horizon of woods met his eye; but the numerous +towns and villages gave evidence of a higher and ever-increasing degree +of civilization. + +It was a land of rich soil and lush natural growth, without rocks or +hills or swiftly-running streams, a region of corn- and wheat-fields and +orchards, of clover-pastures and melon-patches. + +The human _physique_ showed good development and abundant nourishment, +but the dwellers along the sluggish creeks sometimes had a tinge of +yellow beneath the sunburn of their faces. Caste distinctions, pride of +station, were unknown here; all the people, whether their possessions +were great or small, drew their nurture from the soil, and greeted each +other with a friendly "Howdy?" when they met, conscious of perfect +equality. It was much better to be poor in a place like this than in a +great city,--to have at least physical abundance if one could not have +other advantages. Elvira Hill was not conscious of being poor, though +just now she was anxious to get a country school to teach. All her life +had been spent amid these familiar scenes, her condition in life was +neither worse nor better than that of her acquaintances, and it never +occurred to her to be discontented with her lot and rebel against fate. +She had been brought up on a farm, had known what it was to go after the +cows of an evening, to drive them to the barn-lot bars and milk them, to +catch a horse in the pasture and saddle and ride it, to hunt hens' nests +in the hay-mow, to churn, and wash dishes, and get vegetables from the +garden, and pick the raspberries and blackberries that ripened in the +fence corners along the fields and woods. But just now she was living +with her grandmother in a little brown house in the cluster of houses +called Hill's Station. There were two stores, a post-office, a +blacksmith's shop, and a mill; the mail-trains stopped here, and a daily +hack carried passengers northward two miles and a half to a larger +village, Sassafrasville, where there was an excellent academy. The +national pike ran through Hill's Station, and there was a great deal of +travel on this road,--local travel of various kinds, peddlers' wagons +which stopped in every town, and long rows of white-covered movers' +wagons going West to Illinois or Iowa or Kansas. What wonder, then, that +with all these advantages the people of Hill's Station thought +themselves centrally located, and watched with complaisant interest the +passing trains, the daily hack, and the teams going along the pike? That +they were pleasantly located there was no doubt. Tall beech- and +sugar-maple-trees, part of the original forest, stood singly here and +there and cast pleasant islands of shade upon the expanse of sunshine, +and from the fields which bordered the road came the scent of +clover-blooms. + +Elvira Hill had gone to the little country schools, sometimes to the one +a mile west of town, sometimes to the one a mile east, and for the past +three years had attended the Sassafrasville Academy: so that now, at +seventeen, she was considered to have a good education, and expected to +follow the example of many of the young people of that section and go to +teaching. She talked it over with her grandmother, and decided that she +had better try a subscription school in the country first; then, if she +succeeded in giving satisfaction, she would apply in the winter for the +position of assistant in the Hill's Station school. + +Her grandmother, placid and fair, with a cap of sheer white muslin +resting on her yet brown hair, and a pair of gold-bowed spectacles +pushed up on her forehead above her kindly blue eyes, was considered a +handsome old woman, and showed few traces of the life of toil through +which she had passed. She read a great deal in a New Testament with +large print, and often sat a long time in thought, with it open on her +knees. Another work which she frequently perused was Mrs. Ellet's "Women +of the Revolution," in two volumes, containing steel engravings of +stately dames in laced bodices and powdered hair. + +Elvira borrowed a horse of one of the neighbors, put her grandmother's +much-worn red plush side saddle upon it, and started out in search of a +school. She rode east and she rode north; but in the first district they +had a teacher already engaged, and in the second they had concluded they +wouldn't have any school that summer. Did they know of any other school +where a teacher was wanted? she inquired. No, they couldn't say they +did; but she might hear of one by inquiring further, the honest district +trustees said. So she rode homeward again, in no wise discouraged, and +asked the postmaster to inquire of the farmers who came in from other +neighborhoods in regard to this matter. + +He promised that he would, and a week later called her in as she was +passing, and said, "There was a man here yesterday from Buck Creek +district who said they wanted a teacher in their school this summer. You +might try there. His name is Sapp, and he lives right by the +school-house. You go two miles and a half south till you come to a mud +road, then two miles and a half east till you come to a pike. You can't +miss the place." + +Elvira thanked him, and a little while later, when her accommodating +neighbor was not using his horse, she borrowed it again and rode forth +on her quest. It had been raining, the mud road was muddy, and clouds +still hung in the sky; but the country through which she passed was a +rich, fresh green, and the fruit-orchards were in bloom. From solitary +farm-houses big dogs and little dogs issued forth to bark at the sound +of her horse's feet, and bareheaded children at this signal ran out to +the gate to see who was passing. + +The school-house of Buck Creek district, a neat wooden building, painted +white, stood in a grassy acre lot, bordered on two sides by thick woods, +on the other two by the roads which crossed here. In the corner +diagonally across from it stood a snug cabin, with a garden around it, a +well-sweep in the rear, and a log stable not far distant. She alighted +in front of it, and was proceeding to hitch her horse, when the door +opened, and a man stepped out, greeting her with a friendly "Howdy?" + +She responded, and asked if Mr. Sapp lived here. + +"My name is Sapp," he said, and, tying her horse, invited her in. + +There she found the rest of the family,--the mother, a grown daughter, +and two half-grown sons: they seemed friendly, but a little shy, and +stood in the background while she transacted her business. + +"Yes," Mr. Sapp said, in answer to her question, "they wanted a +three-months' school, but had no teacher engaged. Had she ever taught +before?" + +No, she had had no experience in teaching; but she had attended the +Sassafrasville Academy several terms, and was qualified to teach the +common branches,--arithmetic, grammar, and geography, reading, writing, +and spelling. + +Well, he would bring her application before the other two trustees, and +guessed they would elect her: there was no other applicant. Now, about +the terms: three dollars a scholar for the term of twelve weeks was the +usual rate. If she would draw up a subscription-paper, he would take it +round himself and get as many names as he could; thought he could get +twelve scholars signed, and knew that more would be sent. The children +had to be kept at home in busy times, and the farmers didn't like to +bind themselves to pay the full amount for all that they would send. He +himself would sign one and send two. Charley could go all the time; but +Jack would have to help about mowing and reaping and threshing, and +couldn't attend regularly. + +So Elvira drew up the paper according to his dictation, and, leaving it +with him, rode home in the dusk of the evening, feeling happy over her +prospects. + +Her grandmother had supper ready in the little kitchen; and it tasted so +good, the salt-rising bread and butter and hash, the little tea-cakes, +and the preserved pears. While the grandmother drank her cup of tea, +Elvira told her the incidents of the afternoon; and the night closed +around them as they sat secure and content in their humble home. + +The great world was full of great problems which wearied and perplexed +men's brains and seemed wellnigh unsolvable, but she had solved her own +little problem in her own little way, and was at peace. + +In a few days Mr. Sapp called with the subscription-paper. He had got +sixteen scholars signed,--more than he expected. That was a good +prospect for a summer school. They wanted her to begin on the following +Monday; which she promised to do. Then she asked him if she could board +at his house a week or two, until she could make some arrangements to +ride from home. Yes, she could; he guessed a dollar and a half a week +for board would be about the fair thing. + +So, early Monday morning she bade her grandmother good-by, and, with her +books under her arm, set forth to walk to Buck Creek district. The +school-house door was locked when she got there, but a few timid +country-children were sitting on the door-steps or on the fence, with +their school-books and dinner-buckets. Mr. Sapp came over and unlocked +the door; then, as it was half-past eight, Elvira rang the little bell +which she found on the teacher's desk, and school began. After taking +down the children's names and ages and assigning desks to them, she +heard them read in their first, second, or third readers, and questioned +them about the progress they had made in other branches. Other children +came in from time to time, until there were twenty-two present. And when +Mr. Sapp went home at "little recess," as the intermission of fifteen +minutes in the middle of the forenoon was called, he told her that her +school opened very well. "Big recess" was the intermission from twelve +o'clock till half-past one. In that time the children ate their dinners +and then scattered to play in the large grassy yard or in the shade of +the adjoining woods. Elvira won their hearts by going out and playing +prisoners' base and two or three other games with them. When she rang +the bell again, the children said, "It's books now," meaning the time +allotted to study and recitation, came in red and panting, and, with the +energy generated by violent exercise, got out their books and turned to +their lessons as if they meant to learn everything there. But as their +blood cooled their efforts relaxed, and they were soon looking idly +around the school-room for some source of entertainment. When Elvira +called up a class to recite, the children at their seats looked and +listened with absorbed interest, till reminded by their teacher that +they had lessons of their own to learn. There was another "little +recess" in the afternoon; then, at half-past four, school closed, or +"broke," as the children called it, and they rushed forth with their +empty dinner-buckets in hand, laughing and shouting and chasing each +other as they started home. Some of the little girls waited to say +good-by to the school-ma'am and to kiss her, and one of them said, in a +shamefaced way, "I like you real well." + +When all had gone, Elvira sprinkled and swept the floor and put her own +desk in order. Then, locking the door, she went over to Sapp's cabin, +which was to be her home for a while. + +Mrs. Sapp rose up from the quilt she was quilting, and, greeting Elvira +cordially, invited her to lay off her things--meaning her hat and +cloak--and take a chair. Mary was in the kitchen, a small shed-room +attached to the cabin, getting supper. Elvira looked around her. The +hewn logs which formed the walls were well chinked in the cracks, and +neatly whitewashed. A home-made rag carpet covered the floor. Two beds +stood foot to foot in the back part of the room, and a third in the +corner by the fireplace. On the wall, over the beds, hung various +articles of clothing,--a dozen calico dresses, several pairs of +pantaloons, and coats, turned wrong side out. In the corner, between the +window and the fireplace, stood a bureau, covered with a white muslin +cloth, the borders ornamented with open-work made by drawing out the +horizontal threads in narrow strips and knotting the others together in +various patterns. Over the mantel hung an almanac, and two +highly-colored pictures representing a brunette beauty and a blonde, +named Caroline and Matilda. Mrs. Sapp, meantime, was giving a +biographical account of the school-children and their parents,--saying +how Mrs. Brown was bound her two little girls should get some schooling, +if she had to pay for it herself out of money she got by selling eggs +and butter, and how the Sanders children didn't have any clothes in the +world besides those they wore to school, except some old ragged ones, +and how they had to change them at night as soon as they got home. + +"I saw 'Tildy White at school to-day," she continued, "but I guess she +won't get to come much. Her step-mother keeps her at home and makes her +work, while her _own_ children can go all the time. The three Mays +children were there too, but you needn't care whether they come regular +or not: Mr. Mays is mighty poor pay, and I suppose you won't ever get +your dues from him; but maybe Mr. Sapp can collect it off of him some +way. And Bert Mowrer was there: he's a sassy boy. His folks don't make +him mind at home at all, and 'most every teacher has trouble with him. +Mr. Redding, the teacher we had last winter, licked him with a beech +gad, and he behaved hisself after that. And there's Maggie Loper; her +mother needs her at home real bad, but she'll get to come all summer. +She's the only girl, and there are six grown boys; and the family set a +heap o' store by Maggie." + +This stream of talk was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Sapp and the +two boys; and soon after Mary called them all to supper. There was +hardly space to pass between the stove and the table in the kitchen, and +several splint-bottomed chairs had to be brought from the front room; +but at last all were seated, and, after Mr. Sapp said grace, +conversation began in a loud and cheerful tone. The plate of hot +biscuits was first passed to Elvira, then the platter of fried ham, then +the butter, the young radishes and onions, and later the blue bowl +containing stewed dried apples. Mrs. Sapp poured out the hot coffee, +saying, "Our folks want coffee three times a day, and want it pretty +strong." The sugar-bowl, containing brown sugar, was passed around, that +each one might sweeten his coffee according to his taste; then the +cream-pitcher, full of rich cream. Mr. Sapp drank three cups of coffee, +and ate in proportion, and frequently passed the meat and bread to +Elvira, hospitably urging her to eat more. + +After supper, Mrs. Sapp invited Elvira to come out and see her little +chickens. She had sixty, all hatched within the last two or three weeks, +and another hen would come off next week with a brood. "I've got some +young turkeys, too," she said, "but they hain't done very well this +spring, because it was so rainy. Two died, and I have to look after the +others to keep 'em out of the wet grass." Then they looked at the +garden, and Mrs. Sapp remarked that the boys must stick the peas right +off, went on to the milk-house,--a log shanty beyond the well,--and +finally came back to the sitting-room, where, as there was yet an hour +of daylight, Mrs. Sapp sat down to the quilting-frame. Elvira borrowed a +thimble and assisted her, having only to ply her needle and listen. The +stream of talk ran on the subject of quilts, the various patterns in +which they were pieced and quilted, the Rising Sun, the Lion's Paw, and +the Star of Bethlehem being Mrs. Sapp's favorites. From the pile resting +on a chair between the two beds at the back of the cabin, quilts +representing these patterns were brought and unfolded for Elvira to +admire; and each one had reminiscences connected with it which she must +hear. One was pieced when Jack was a baby, one was Mary's work and +property, and another was quilted in one day by the neighbor women on +the occasion of a quilting-bee, which Mrs. Sapp proceeded to describe in +all its particulars. + +As darkness settled down, the other members of the family came in from +their various chores, and, as the evenings were yet cool, a fire was +made in the fireplace. Then, seating himself by one of the jambs, Mr. +Sapp opened the spelling-book, and, calling Charley into the middle of +the floor, pronounced one row of words after another for him to spell, +until several pages had been gone over and not a single word missed, +greatly to the pride and admiration of the father. But by nine o'clock +the fire got low, and the family began to yawn. It was time to go to +bed, and, without saying good-night, the different members retired to +their allotted quarters,--Mr. and Mrs. Sapp to the bed by the fireplace, +Jack and Charley to one bed in the back part of the room, and Mary and +the school-ma'am to the other. + +Thus, with few variations, the days passed until the first week of +school had gone. Elvira became better acquainted with her pupils, with +the Sapp family, and, through them, with the news and gossip of the +neighborhood. One evening she found Mary, who was a young woman grown +and older than herself, standing outside the back door, crying bitterly, +while her mother stood by, talking to her with the air of one who could +be liberal in some views and yield many points, but who felt that a firm +stand must be made somewhere. On explanation, it appeared that Mary +wanted to go to the nearest station on the railroad and ride to the next +station east, a distance of thirteen miles, for the purpose of making a +visit; but Mrs. Sapp was not willing that she should do so, giving as +her objection that there was so much danger in riding on the cars, +adding that if Mary would wait till corn-planting was over, her father +would take her through in a wagon. She had never been on the cars +herself, and could not give her consent for one of her family to enter +upon such risks. So Mary, with much disappointment, had to give up her +proposed visit for the time. + +When Friday evening came, Elvira walked home to Hill's Station, feeling +that she had made a good beginning in her new work, and related to her +grandmother all the incidents of the week. On Saturday she went about +among the neighbors, who were most of them farmers, to see if she could +hire a horse for the summer. All the good horses, however, were in +constant use, and could not be spared by their owners. At last, one +farmer said that he had a horse which wasn't worth much at its best, and +just now had a sore head, so that he had put it out to pasture for the +summer on a farm several miles distant. She could have it to use, and be +welcome, if she would provide pasturage for it and give it now and then +a few ears of corn. Elvira accepted the offer gratefully, and he +promised to have it at Hill's Station for her by another Saturday. She +boarded at Sapp's another week, and after that rode from home every +morning and back every night. Her steed did not seem to have an arch or +curve in its whole body, but to be made up of straight lines and angles. +It reminded her of the corn-stalk horses she used to make when a little +girl. Its favorite gait was a slow walk, with its head in a drooping +dejected attitude, and sometimes it came to an entire stand-still, as if +it had reached its journey's end. When she was about to meet some one, +or heard wheels coming behind her, she tried to urge it into a spirited +trot, and to rein it in so that its neck would have some slight +appearance of a curve; but it only threw its nose into the air, +presenting a longer straight line than before, and, after trotting a +little way, it came to a sudden pause about the time the people passed +or met her. More than once she heard them laugh and felt her face burn. +If she had not known better days, she had at least known better horses, +and was aware that her steed presented a sorry appearance. The only time +it displayed any life was in the morning, when she came to catch and +saddle it. Then it trotted repeatedly around the pasture-lot, +occasionally sticking its head over the top rails, as if it had a notion +to jump the fence and run away. During the day it fed on the grass in +the school-house yard, and every day at noon she took it over to Sapp's, +drew water from their well, and gave it as many bucketfuls as it would +drink. Elvira carried her dinner, consisting generally of bread and +butter, cold meat, and pie, in a little basket hung on the horn of the +saddle, and sometimes, when she had been trotting, found on reaching +school that part of it had fallen out on the way. + +The road over which she passed every morning and evening grew familiar +to her, even to the individual trees, the mossy old stumps, the +fence-corners over-grown with wild vines. The life of the farm-houses, +as daily presented to her, furnished perpetual entertainment. She came +to know every member of every family by sight, and to associate certain +traits of character with them. Some two-story white houses stood back +from the road in the retirement of fruit- and shade-trees, and seemed +reserved and dignified; other smaller houses were only a few steps +removed, and had their wood-piles on the side of the road. One little +new cabin in the corner of a strip of woods especially interested +Elvira. It was the home of a lately-married pair, young folks full of +energy and ambition. The husband chopped down trees, ploughed, or +ditched his land, as if he were working for a wager, and the wife was +equally active and industrious. Her bright tin milk-pans were out +sunning early every morning, her churning and ironing were done in the +cool part of the forenoons, her front yard was always neatly swept, and +the borders were bright with balsams, petunias, and other flowers. + +Then the world of nature unfolded every day something fresh to the +solitary rider,--the blue depths of summer sky in which great masses of +dazzling white clouds were heaped, the thick beech woods, where it was +always cool and pleasant, the swamps, with their spicy fragrance, their +variety of growth, and their slow-running streams of clear brown water. +The blossoming blue-flags of May gave way in June to the fragrant wild +roses, and these were followed in July and August by ripe raspberries +and blackberries, which grew plentifully along the fence-corners and +could be had for the picking. + +Toward the latter part of the term, Elvira was frequently invited by her +pupils to go home with them on Friday night and spend Saturday at their +house, now one girl, now another, saying, "Miss Hill, mother said ask +you to come home with us to-night." And when she went, she found that +the farmer's wife had prepared something extra for supper in expectation +of her coming,--fried chicken, and honey, and other home luxuries,--and +seemed glad of the little break in the monotony of farm-life which the +school-ma'am's visit afforded. The faded family photographs and old +daguerreotypes were brought out for her entertainment, and she was told +that "This is Aunt Lizzie Barnwell: she lives in Grant County, and this +is her husband, and these are her children. This is Grandpa and Grandma +Brown, and this is grandma's brother, ma's uncle. For a long time he +thought that was a cancer on his nose, but it turned out to be only a +wart. And this is Mr. and Mrs. Holmes: they used to live neighbors to +us, but now they have moved to Kansas. And this is Johnnie and Sarah and +Nelson Holmes. Nelson used to be real mean: he pulled our hair at +school, and threw clods of dirt at us when we were coming home of +nights, and we always thought he stole our watermelons, and we were glad +when he moved away; but we liked Sarah and Johnnie." And so on through +the list of relatives and acquaintances. On these visits Elvira +generally slept on a high feather bed in the best room, or in a little +bedroom opening from the parlor,--for not all the homes were as humble +as Sapp's,--and the oldest daughter of the family slept with her. On +Saturday forenoon she often went berry-picking with the children, +crossing the corn-fields in the hot sun, climbing fences, and so gaining +the thickets or woods where the blackberry-vines grew wild, with gallons +of ripe berries ready for nimble finders. "Look out for snakes!" the +children used to call to each other when deep in the bushes, but they +never saw anything more than a harmless garter-snake, or perhaps a +water-snake in the swamp. Saturday afternoons she sat and talked with +the farmer's wife, assisting in the sewing or quilting or whatever work +of this kind was on hand; and when she rode home in the cool of the +evening it was always with some little delicacy in her basket for her +grandmother,--a glass tumbler of honey, a cake, some pickles or +preserves, or a quart bottle of maple syrup, which her hostess had given +her at parting. + +Near the end of the term, Maggie Loper invited Elvira to go home with +her Friday night and spend Saturday. "Mother says for you to come. We're +going to thrash, Saturday, and we'll have a big dinner and lots of fun." +She meant that they were to thresh wheat, and it was the stir and +excitement of this event which she called fun. Elvira accepted the +invitation, and went home with Maggie at the time appointed. She felt at +home among these farm festivals, and enjoyed them, the work included, +for she had as yet acted only as assistant, and had not felt the +responsibility of "cookin' for thrashers" which weighs so heavily on +housewives. It is not alone the fact that they must provide dinner and +supper for fifteen or twenty hungry men, but the knowledge that their +viands will be compared, favorably or unfavorably, with those of other +women in the neighborhood. So they exert themselves to provide a +variety, and load their tables with rich food, insomuch that "goin' with +the thrashers" means to farm-workers in this section a round of +sumptuous living. The Loper family rose Saturday morning while the east +was red, and did the milking and despatched breakfast earlier than +usual. The threshers were coming at eight o'clock, and they hoped to get +the engine and threshing-machine in order and be well under way at nine. +Two neighbor women came over to help Mrs. Loper, and Elvira assisted +Maggie in all her tasks. Together they cleaned and scraped a tub half +full of potatoes, plucked the feathers of two fat hens, gathered a lot +of beets and summer squashes, and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes into +dishes of vinegar, adding pepper and salt; they brought eggs from the +barn, rousing a protesting cackle among the hens by scaring some of them +off their nests, and milk and butter from the spring-house. + +In the mean time Mrs. Loper and her two assistants, warm and red, but +sustained by the importance of the occasion, were at work in the +kitchen, beating eggs and stirring sugar and butter together for cakes, +making pies, and roasting, baking, boiling, and stewing. When their +other tasks were done, Maggie and Elvira were deputed to set the table. +Two long tables were placed end to end in the shade of some maple-trees +which stood near the house, and covered with white cloths, then the +plates, knives and forks, and drinking-glasses were placed in order. The +Loper supply of dishes was not sufficient, but there were two large +basketfuls which had been borrowed from neighbors for the occasion, and, +by having recourse to these, the tables were furnished. Chairs were +brought from kitchen and parlor and every room in the house, but even +then two were lacking. "Never mind," said Maggie: "Joe and Will can sit +on nail-kegs," referring to two of her brothers. + +The men and machinery and wagons had come early in the day, the engine +drawn by two oxen, the threshing-machine by four horses. The oxen swayed +hither and thither as they were driven through the gates and into the +barn-lot, and the driver cracked his whip and cried, "You Buck! You +Berry! Gee! Haw! Whoa!" till one was ready to wonder that the bewildered +animals did anything right. At last the engine was in the desired +position, and the oxen were released from their yoke, to stand with +panting sides in the shade of the barn. Then the threshing-machine was +stationed in its place, and the broad band put on which connected it +with the engine. In the mean time, those whose duty it was to haul water +from the creek had brought three or four barrelfuls to the boiler, fire +had been built in the engine, and the engineer "got up steam." Two +wagons were off to the field, where the wheat still stood in shocks, and +as soon as they returned, piled high with yellow sheaves, the work began +in earnest. Two men--cutters and feeders, as they were called--received +the sheaves tossed to them from the wagons, cut the withes of straw +which bound them, and pushed them evenly into the thresher. Farmer Loper +himself and one of his sons stood at the place where the grain ran out, +and as fast as one bushel-measure was filled another one was set in its +place and the wheat poured into a sack. When a sack was full it was tied +up and set back out of the way. Other laborers stood at the back part of +the thresher, where the straw came out, and, with pitch-forks in hand, +tossed it about until the foundation for a stack was formed. Then they +stood on the stack, rising higher as it rose, trampling the straw and +pitching it into place. The chaff and dust flew upon them until their +faces, their hat-brims, and the shoulders of their colored shirts were +covered, and the perspiration streamed from every pore. No wonder that +the wives and mothers of these farmers dreaded the wash-days after a +week of threshing. There was noise and excitement enough in connection +with the dust and work,--the puffing of the engine, the whir and shake +and rattle of the threshing-machine, and the raised voices of the men +calling to each other or giving orders. The engineer and the feeders and +cutters were conceded to have the most responsible positions, but the +duties of the other workers were also important. There must be water for +the boiler, and the wheat must be brought from the field fast enough to +keep a constant supply on hand, the straw must be stacked well, and the +grain accurately measured. At exactly twelve o'clock the engineer blew a +long loud whistle, the band was thrown off, the wheels of the thresher +ceased to revolve, and the work came to a stand-still. Comments were +exchanged on the progress made during the forenoon and the quality of +the wheat, then the tired horses were unharnessed and fed, and Farmer +Loper led the way toward the house. Here on a bench by the well were all +the wash-pans and wash-bowls the house afforded, and clean towels hung +on the roller and on nails outside the door. The men washed their hands +and faces, and, by the aid of a small looking-glass hung by the towels, +and a comb attached to a string, combed their hair. To the women it was +the most exciting moment of the day. They were dishing up the dinner and +putting the finishing-touches to the table. Finally all was ready. Mrs. +Loper spoke to her husband, and he said, "Come, men, dinner's ready," +and led the way to the table. He took the chair at one end, his oldest +son that at the other, and the others ranged themselves at will between. + +Mrs. Loper poured out coffee in the kitchen, the neighbor women carried +the cups and saucers, Maggie waited on the table, passing the bread +around first, and Elvira stood with a bunch of peacock's feathers in her +hand and kept off the flies. A boiled ham was at the head of the table, +a pair of roast fowls at the foot; between stood a long row of +vegetables,--potatoes, string-beans, squash, beets, and others,--and +near the large tureens were smaller dishes,--cold-slaw, tomatoes, +cucumbers, pickles and preserves of various kinds. A large cake stood on +a glass cake-stand in the middle of the table, flanked on one side by a +deep glass dish full of canned peaches, on the other by a similar one of +floating island, while all the available remaining space was occupied by +pies,--apple-pies, custard, berry-pies, cream-pies. To have a variety of +pies on a festal occasion was the ambition of every housewife, seven +different kinds of pies and three kinds of cake being not uncommon. If a +map of the region where pie prevails is ever drawn up and printed, this +section of the country will be shaded unusually dark. To have company to +dinner and not set pie before them would be considered a breach of an +ancient and well-grounded custom: the best of puddings or other forms of +dessert would be regarded only as an evasion. Pie was not out of place +at supper; and the instance of one family comes to mind where steamed +mince-pie for breakfast was eaten, and considered both appropriate and +delicious. + +At Farmer Loper's harvest-table sweet milk and fresh buttermilk were +among the drinks, but most of the men preferred coffee, and drank it hot +out of the saucers. Some sets of dishes included tiny cup-plates, in +which to set the coffee-cups that they might not stain the table-cloth; +but Mrs. Loper had none, and the men scraped their cups on the edge of +the saucers before placing them on the clean white cloth. One man drank +six cups of coffee, then said he guessed he wouldn't take any more, +adding, "It's best to be moderate." At this all the men burst into a +roar of laughter, except one, who grew red in the face and ate his +dinner in silence. It seemed that while hauling that day one of his +horses had balked, and in his anger he had lifted one foot to kick it, +but missed it, lost his balance, and fell. He arose from the fall +somewhat ashamed, and remarked, "It's best to be moderate." This +incident had amused the others very much, and any allusion to it caused +laughter. + +The women waited on the table, not in the sense of changing plates and +bringing fresh courses, for all the dinner was before them, but +replenishing cups and glasses when they were empty, refilling the +vegetable-tureens and bread-plates, cutting the pies and cake and +passing them around, and serving out the canned peaches and the custard +in small dishes. They were also careful to see that the pickles and +preserves were passed to every one. + +With most of the men present Elvira was acquainted: they were the +patrons of her school, and found time in the midst of eating and general +conversation to ask how Johnnie was a-comin' on in his spellin', or if +Annie was gettin' along well in her 'rithmetic, adding, "I'll be wantin' +her to calkilate interest for me by and by." Bert Mowrer's father +inquired about his boy, then added cheerfully, "If he don't behave, lick +him,--lick him: that's what I tell every teacher." + +Farmer Loper and the engineer fell to discussing how many bushels of +wheat to the acre the neighboring farms had produced, and how many this +would probably produce, with various comments on the weather and the +soil. A little farther down the table a young farmer was telling of the +speed made by his brown mare Kitty,--how she passed every team on the +road, and that he wouldn't take a hundred and fifty dollars for her; and +farther still, two or three were discussing the affairs of an absent +neighbor,--how he had bought the Caldwell place, but, not being able to +pay for it, had given a mortgage, and hadn't managed the farm very well, +had let the interest run behind, they had heard, so there was a prospect +of his losing it. + +"I guess he won't have to give it up," said one: "the woman that raised +his wife has got plenty of money, and if he can't make it, she'll pay +for the place and let them live on it. She's helped them several times +already. If he wasn't so lazy and shiftless he might have everything in +good shape." + +But a conversation which was going on at the lower end of the table +interested Elvira most of all. It was about birds, including some of +her favorites of the woods and fields which she had noticed a great deal +in her solitary rides that summer. The principal speaker was a young +farmer whom she had never seen before. He seemed to be acquainted with +the names and habits of all the birds which lived in that section, +besides many which merely passed through it on their way northward every +spring and southward every fall. + +"I have kept a record of the time of each arrival," he said, "and notes +of rare birds. The bluebird came first, and the humming-bird last. And I +discovered two birds that were new to me. One is a Northern bunting. A +flock stayed one day in our orchard on their way northward to their +summer home, and I succeeded in killing and stuffing a pair. The +feathers of the male were a beautiful pink-red. The other strange bird +seemed to come with the scarlet tanager, and is much like a pee-wee in +shape and size, with feathers of a greenish yellow." + +"When do you find time to learn so much about birds?" asked George +Loper, who knew only a few of the more common ones,--blackbirds, crows, +jays, hawks, and robins,--and had no eyes for the variety of feathered +life around him. + +"I keep my eyes open as I work and as I go along the road," answered +young Farmer Worth; "then I look up their names and read something about +them in a book on birds which I have. You've no idea how much enjoyment +there is in it. I have quite a collection of birds which I have stuffed, +and more than a hundred different kinds of eggs, besides my cabinet of +mineral specimens. I nailed two ladders together, and climbed thirty +feet above these and got a crow's nest; and this spring we found a +hawk's nest in a high tree. We tied a stout twine to a small stone, +which we threw over the forks of the tree, and with this drew a large +rope over. Then I sat in the noose of the rope, and three boys pulled me +up sixty feet to the nest. It was rather scary, I can tell you, and I +was glad to get down to the ground again; but I got the hawk's nest." + +Then Elvira asked him if he could tell her the name of the bird with a +yellow head, but otherwise black plumage, which she had noticed not long +before in a flock of common blackbirds; and they were soon in an +animated conversation on the subject of birds in general. Elvira had +noticed many that summer which she could describe, but whose names she +did not know. + +Soon the men began to leave the table, for it was not the custom to wait +till all had done eating, but for each one to go when he was ready. +George Loper went away grumbling that he couldn't see any use in +learning about birds: all he wanted was for the crows and blackbirds to +keep away from the corn when it was first planted. But Elvira and young +Worth talked ten minutes longer, finding more and more that they were +interested in the same subjects. Then the women began to clear away the +plates and cups and knives, and Elvira turned to assist them, while her +new acquaintance joined his companions, who were resting in the shade of +the trees. There he encountered some good-natured chaff from the younger +members, who began by asking him if he was struck with the school-ma'am. +The responsibility of the threshers' dinner being over, Mrs. Loper and +her assistants sat down to the table, to eat their own dinner at ease, +and exchange remarks with each other, complimenting or criticising their +cooking. + +"This chicken-stuffin' is real good," said one of the neighbors to Mrs. +Loper. + +"Well, I don't know," said Mrs. Loper, tasting some of it on the end of +her knife: "'pears to me I put a leetle too much sage in it. But the +gravy you made, Mirandy, that couldn't be better. Didn't you see how the +men kept askin' for it to be passed? And they've et up all the summer +squash and all the cream-pie. Taste some of these plum preserves, Mis' +Brown, and don't let me forget to send some to your little girls: I +remember how well they like 'em. This cake is real light and good, but I +was afraid it would fall. This float would 'a' been better if I'd had a +little lemon flavor to put in it. But I guess, on the whole, the dinner +went off middlin' well." Then, seeing Elvira and Maggie sitting on the +opposite side of the table, some deeper thoughts were stirred in her +motherly heart, and she began to talk of the daughter she had lost years +before: "If Lucy had lived, she'd 'a' been seventeen this spring,--just +your age; and you remind me of her sometimes. She always had such red +cheeks, and was never sick a day till she was taken down with the +diphtheria." + +For a while the affairs of the present were forgotten, as the old and +never-wholly-healed wound was opened afresh and she dwelt upon her +bereavement; but soon the round of work must be taken up, the dishes +must be washed, the victuals set away, and supper for the threshers must +be planned and prepared. It was best so. "Time, the healer, and work, +the consoler," enable us to bear many things which in the first keen +freshness of grief seem unbearable. + +The threshers thought they would be done by six o'clock, so they decided +not to stop for supper at five, as was the custom, but wait for their +evening meal till the work of the day was completed. Elvira started home +before this time, and good Mrs. Loper not only filled her own little +basket, but made her take a larger one packed with remains of the feast. + +There were three weeks more of her school, and during that time she saw +young Farmer Worth several times. Twice she met him in the road, and +once he stopped at the school-house to bring her Wilson's book on birds, +which he had promised to lend her. But the day before school closed he +came and helped Jack Sapp and some other boys make a platform in the +woods, on which the children could speak their declamations and sing +their songs, and on the afternoon of the last day of school was present +in the crowd of parents, brothers, sisters, and friends assembled on +that important and, to the children, most exciting occasion. There were +declamations from the third and fourth readers,--"How big was Alexander, +Pa?" and "He never smiled again," and "Lord Ullin's Daughter,"--and +Maggie Loper held the audience spell-bound by an entirely new one, which +Elvira had selected and copied for her out of a book of poems,--"The +Dream of Eugene Aram." Then there were songs, and dialogues, and two +compositions, one on "Rats" and one on "Planting Corn," which had been +produced by their respective authors after much wear of brain fibre and +much blotting of writing-paper. Last of all, Elvira read one of +Longfellow's poems, after which she said that the exercises of the +school were over, but that remarks from visitors would be gladly +received. Then one of the trustees arose, and said that education was a +great blessing, that he hoped the children of the present day would +appreciate their advantages and grow up to be useful men and women, +adding that all the schooling he had received was three winter terms in +a log school-house, one entire end of which was occupied by the +fireplace, and which had no glass windows, the light being admitted +through holes cut in the logs and covered with greased foolscap-paper. +No other remarks being offered, the audience was dismissed, and the +children began in an excited hurry to collect their possessions, and bid +their teacher good-by as if for a life-long parting. Some of them even +shed tears, and this occasioned the cynical remark from a by-stander, +"Them Mays children needn't to take on so: the school-ma'am will have to +call at their house often enough before she gits her money." + +Soon the spot was deserted, and the squirrels came down from the trees +to retake possession of their old haunts, to scamper across the +platform, to sniff at the fallen rose-petals of the bouquets, and to +nibble the crumbs of cake and bread dropped from the lunch-baskets. + +The next outing for the people of Buck Creek neighborhood was the +county fair, which occurred in September. They went in spring-wagons, in +farm-wagons, in buggies, and on horseback, starting early in the +morning, and taking an ample supply of provisions for themselves as well +as feed for their horses. + +The sunshine poured down hot upon them, and there was much dust, but +they were happy. There were crowds of people from all the surrounding +country; there were displays of vegetables, fruit, honey, butter, in +tents and sheds,--in short, all the products of a farming region; there +were cakes, loaves of bread, glasses of jelly, and jars of pickles and +preserves, made by farmers' wives; and in the department allotted to +needle-work there were quilts of various patterns and various claims to +public notice: one had three thousand five hundred and forty-four pieces +in it, and was made by a great-granddaughter of Daniel Boone, the +pioneer; another was pieced by an old lady of eighty-one without the aid +of glasses. Among the live-stock were fat cattle and prancing +three-year-old colts, with red or blue ribbons fastened to their manes, +indicating that they had received the first or second prize, and fat +hogs; there were various breeds of poultry in coops, and before each +stall or pen or coop stood a group of spectators, admiring, commenting, +or asking questions of the owner; there were agricultural machines and +implements, and patent pumps for stock-yards, and improved cross-cut +saws, each strongly recommended to the public by a glib-tongued agent. +Then there were stands for the sale of ice-cream, lemonade, and peanuts +and candy; and no rural beau felt that he had done the polite thing +unless he took his girl up to the counter and treated her. When he had +strolled all over the ground with her, and perhaps taken her into one or +two side-shows, where there were negro minstrels or the Wild Australian +Children, he went and sat in a buggy with her, and they talked, and +waited for the horse-race, or balloon-ascension, or wire-walking, which +was the especial attraction of the afternoon. + +"Why, who's that with Tom Worth?" asked one Buck Creek belle of her +escort as they were thus sitting together. "I didn't know that he was +goin' with anybody?" + +"I didn't, either," was the response; then, after a little pause, "I'll +swan, it's Miss Hill, the school-ma'am. Who'd 'a' thought they would be +here together? I didn't know they were acquainted." + +And this remark was echoed by other Buck Creek people as they saw the +couple walking together. But there is a law of affinity by which people +are drawn together as lovers or as friends, which is like some of the +hidden forces of nature: we cannot see their operation, we can only see +their results. Some one has made the paradoxical remark that we are +acquainted with our friends before we ever see them; meaning that our +tastes for the same pursuits or subjects, traits of character that +harmonize, views that coincide, have been ripening apart, and, when at +last we meet, that is sufficient; it does not require a long +acquaintanceship to reveal one to the other. + +Young Farmer Worth was now in the habit of frequently calling to see +Elvira Hill, and of taking her out riding in his buggy, that being an +approved form of courtship in this section. They talked of their +favorite books and studies, their ambitions for the future as regarded +mental culture, and their individual plans. + +Elvira had applied for the position of assistant in the Hill's Station +school, and had been engaged as first assistant instead of second, which +was better than she had hoped. She would have to hear some advanced +classes from the principal's room, and this would require her to study, +which would be a source of improvement. + +Young Farmer Worth, whose father had died three years before, had bought +the home farm, and was now working to pay his older brothers and sisters +for their shares in it and to comfortably support his mother in her +declining years. + +"There are eighty acres in it, well improved, and with good buildings," +he said one day, while unfolding his plans to Elvira, "and I think I can +make a good home of it, and a happy one, where I can feel independent, +and no one's servant, as I could not at any other business. Farming is a +profession, and I intend to work with my head as well as my hands, to +read and study on the subject, to take the best agricultural papers, and +keep up with the times. My fondness for ornithology and mineralogy can +be indulged in connection with my work on the farm and without in any +wise interfering with it." + +In the winter he came occasionally to take her to lectures at +Sassafrasville or another neighboring town, and they always found food +for thought in what they heard, and pleasure in discussing it afterward. + +The gossips said, "There's a match;" but it was not until spring that +they were engaged. Then he took her to see his mother, and showed her +the old home, the farm, and the improvements he was making. The old lady +received Elvira with mingled dignity and cordiality, but, finding her +interested in all she heard and saw, warmed toward her more and more, +and told much of her own life, unfolding the store of memories on which +her thoughts chiefly dwelt nowadays, talking of her husband, the +children she had lost, and bringing forth their pictures, opening closed +rooms, and showing dishes, linen, and other household goods which dated +back to her own girlhood and early married life. + +Elvira felt an attachment for Mrs. Worth which deepened when, in the +ensuing autumn, her dear grandmother died after a brief illness, and +she experienced the loneliness of bereavement and homelessness. The +little brown house in Hill's Station was sold, and Elvira went to board +with one of the neighbors: she was still teaching in the village school. + +When June came round again, with its beauty of earth and sky, it brought +her wedding-day. A very quiet wedding it was; but the home-coming, or +the "in-fare," to use a good old-fashioned word, was the occasion of +much joy and merry-making. It seemed as if all the Buck Creek +neighborhood had assembled to welcome the bride. Two of the farmers' +wives had been at the Worth homestead all the preceding day, and many of +them brought cakes with them. + +In the centre of the table stood a roast pig, with an apple in its +mouth, and around it were a great abundance of the substantial viands +and delicacies usually provided on such occasions. There were also many +presents for the bride from her old friends, not costly or fine, but in +keeping with their manner of living. Mrs. Loper brought a sheep-skin for +a mat, the wool combed out smoothly and colored crimson, Maggie a white +crocheted tidy as big as a cart-wheel, Mrs. Sapp a wooden butter-stamp, +Mary Sapp a picture-frame made of pasteboard, with beech-nuts glued +together thickly upon it and varnished. + +So, amid good wishes and rejoicing, the young married pair entered upon +their new life together, contented, yet energetic, and happy in the fact +that their own lives afforded fulness and enjoyment, and that in their +own efforts lay the fulfilment of their ambitions. + + LOUISE COFFIN JONES. + + + + +INTO THY HANDS. + + + Into thy hands, my Father, I commit + All, all my spirit's care, + The sorest burden this dim life can bear, + The sweetest hope wherewith its paths are lit! + Into thy hands, that hold so closely knit + What our blind, aching heart + Calls joy or grief,--we know them not apart! + Into the hands whence leap + The hurling tempest, and the gentle breath + Kissing the babe to sleep, + The flaming bolt that smites with instant death + The giant oak, and the refreshing shower + Whose balmy drops make glad the tender flower. + + What though, even as lent jewels passing bright, + That crowned me happy king + For one sweet revel of one night in spring, + I must surrender in the morning light, + That cold and gray breaks on my tearful sight, + Youth, hope, and joy, and love, + And--oh, all other gems, all price, above!-- + The deathless certainty + Of the deep life beyond this pallid sun, + That golden shore and sea + Which to my youthful feet seemed wellnigh won, + So fair, so close, so clear, methought I heard + The trees' soft whisper and faint song of bird; + + What though this fair dream, too, fled long ago, + And on my straining eyes + There break no more visions of mellow skies + 'Neath which dear friends, called dead, move on in low + Sweet converse through wide, happy fields aglow + With heavenly flower and star,-- + What though, like some poor pilgrim who from far + Sees, through a slender rift + In the dark rocks that hem his toilsome way, + The clouds an instant lift + From countries bathed in everlasting day, + I stand and stretch my yearning arms in vain + Toward the blest light, too swiftly lost again? + + Into thy hands, my Father, I commit + This dearest, last hope too, + Old as the world, and yet forever new,-- + The hope wherewith our dimmest paths are lit, + With life itself indissolubly knit! + That too is well, I know, + In thy eternal keeping. Ah! and so + Let my poor soul dismiss + Each fear and doubt, hush every anxious cry, + Forget all thought save this, + Some time,--oh, dream of joy that cannot die!-- + In those beloved hands, a priceless store, + All our lost jewels shall be found once more! + + STUART STERNE. + + + + +A CHAPTER OF MYSTERY. + + +Science, as a rule, has avoided the subject of Spiritualism. Its results +are too much unlike the hard, visible, tangible facts of scientific +research to attract those accustomed to positive investigations. And its +methods and conditions are usually of a character to set a scientist +beside himself with impatience. Crucial tests do not seem acceptable to +spirits in general. They decline to be placed on the microscopic slide +or to show their ghostly forms in the glare of the electric light, and +prefer to haunt the society of those who do not pester them with too +exacting _conditions_. Thus they have been mainly given over to a class +of somewhat credulous and, in some instances, not well-balanced mortals, +whose statements have very little weight with the general public, and +whose strong powers of digesting the marvellous have originated a +plentiful crop of fraud and trickery sufficient to throw discredit on +the whole business. + +It cannot be said, however, that all the adherents of Spiritualism are +of this character, or that science has completely failed to investigate +it. It has won over many persons of good sense and sound logic, +including several prominent scientists, to a belief in the truth of its +claims. Were its adherents all cranks or credulous believers, and its +phenomena only such common sleight-of-hand performances as suffice to +convince the open-mouthed swallowers of conjurers' tricks, it would be +idle to give it any attention. But phenomena sufficiently striking to +convert such men as Hare, Crooks, Wallace, Zöllner, and the like are +certainly worthy of some attention, and cannot be at once dismissed as +results of skilful prestidigitation. + +In fact, it is evident to those who have taken the trouble to +investigate the question seriously, and who do not dismiss it with an _a +priori_ decision, that in addition to the fraudulent mediums who make it +their business to trick the public, and are ready to produce a new +marvel for every new dollar, and to call "spirits from the vasty deep" +of the unseen universe in form and shape to suit every customer, there +are some private and strictly honest mediums, and many phenomena which +no theory of conjuring will explain. To what they are due is another +question, in regard to which no hypothesis is here offered. It may be +said here, however, that the work of the Psychic Research Society has +demonstrated rather conclusively that certain hitherto unknown and +unsuspected powers and laws of nature do exist, and that man's five +senses are not the only means by which he gains a knowledge of what is +going on in other minds than his own. The facts of thought-transference, +of mesmeric control, of apparitions of the living, and the like, as +critically tested by the members of this society, seem to indicate +clearly that mind can affect, influence, and control mind through some +other channel than that of the senses, usually over short distances, but +in case of strong mental concentration over long distances. That some +psychic medium, some ethereal atmosphere, infiltrates our grosser +atmosphere, and is capable of conveying waves of thought as the +luminiferous ether conveys waves of light, is the theory advanced in +explanation of these phenomena. Spiritualists had long before advanced a +like theory in explanation of their phenomena, claiming that disembodied +as well as living minds have the power of influencing and controlling +other minds, through the agency of such a psychic atmosphere, and also +of acting upon and moving physical substances through a like agency. As +to the probability of all this, no opinion is here offered. + +It is our purpose simply to select some of the more striking instances +of spiritualistic phenomena, as recorded by scientific observers. Those +placed on record by the numerous unscientific and unknown investigators +are not the kind of material to present to the general public. +Statements of an unusual character need to be thoroughly substantiated +before they can be accepted, and the remarkable phenomena adduced as +spiritual demand evidence of the most unquestionable character. There is +always the feeling that the observer may have been deceived by some +shrewd trickery, or have credulously accepted what others would have +readily seen through, or that the senses may have been under some form +of mesmeric control. Instances of such phenomena, therefore, need to be +attested by the names of persons of well-known honesty, judgment, and +discrimination, and attended with an exact statement of the tests +applied, before they can be accepted as thoroughly trustworthy accounts. +Some instances of this character may be here given. + +The phenomena known under the general name of spirit-manifestations vary +greatly in different instances. In some cases they take the form of +strange dreams, in which some warning or information concerning coming +events is given that afterward proves true. In others they occur as +seeming apparitions of persons recently or long dead. In others, as in +the case of haunted houses, there are noises of great variety, moving of +objects, opening and shutting of doors, appearances of unknown forms, +and all the phenomena which might be produced by an invisible inhabitant +of the house who was able to become visible under certain circumstances. +More ordinary manifestations are rapping sounds and lifting of heavy +bodies, writing either with or without apparent human agency, and mental +communication of facts unknown to or forgotten by the persons present. +Other phases are those presented by professional mediums,--the tying and +untying of ropes, playing on musical instruments, the production of +luminous phenomena, slate-writing under tables, and the like. +Performances of this character are usually done in the dark, and the +fraud which may be present is therefore not easily detected. It is +impossible to apply tests under such circumstances, and nothing can be +accepted as positive that cannot be tested. Performances similarly +surprising are constantly offered by professional conjurers, and nothing +claiming the high origin of spiritual phenomena can be received in +evidence where trickery is possible or has not been rendered impossible +by the employment of adequate tests. + +To the same class belong the cabinet performances and the so-called +materialization of spirit forms, which have been the favorite cards of +professional mediums of late years. So far as yet offered in public, +they may be dismissed in the mass as pure trickery. The fact that +stage-performers of sleight-of-hand tricks can repeat the cabinet +phenomena in every detail, and that the materialized spirit showmen have +been caught in numerous instances in the very act of fraud, throws utter +discredit on the business. No repetition by new mediums of other forms +of the exposed tricks carries any weight. In fact, in a matter of such +importance nothing can be accepted as settled until it has been +subjected to the strictest scientific tests and every possible +opportunity for deceit or trickery eliminated. We are not ready to +believe that the spirits of our departed friends are able and willing to +talk with or show themselves to us, or create disturbances in the +arrangement of our furniture, unless we are absolutely positive that our +eyes, ears, and nerves are not being cleverly fooled by some skilled and +unscrupulous show-man, or that we are not self-deceived by some +temporary vagary of our brains or senses. + +In addition to the purely physical phenomena are others of a more or +less mental character. One interesting phase of the latter is that of +planchette-writing, which attracted so much attention a few years ago. +The planchette, a heart-shaped board moving easily on casters, and with +a pencil supporting it at one extremity, moves with great readiness when +touched by mediumistic fingers, and is responsible for acres of +communications purporting to come from the world of spirits, and +conveying the greatest variety of information, alike as to the thoughts +and deeds of particular spirits and the general conditions of +disembodied spiritual existence. In other instances the planchette is +dispensed with, and the writing done by a pencil held in the hand of the +medium, or occasionally, as some persons positively declare, by a pencil +that is held in no mortal hand. In still other cases the medium, either +awake or entranced, gives the communication by word of mouth. And this +is asserted to be the case not only in respect to brief messages, but in +long addresses, which are given every Sunday in our principal cities +before large audiences, and in the writing of books of considerable +length, but not, as a rule, of any great profundity or literary value. +To all these claims, however, we can simply record the verdict "not +proven." When a man writes or says anything we want more than his mere +assertion to prove that it does not come from his own mind. And, even if +we are satisfied that he is not consciously deceiving, the possibility +remains that he is affected by some unconscious mental action. We shall +certainly not accept his declaration that spirits of the dead are +talking through him unless he gives information that could not possibly +have been in his own mind, and could not have been received by +thought-transference from the mind of any other person present +or in _rapport_ with him at a distance. The discoveries in +thought-transference open possibilities of mental influence between +living persons which aid to explain many hitherto incomprehensible +phenomena. + +Clairvoyant and clairaudiant mediums fall into the same category. They +profess to see forms which no one else can see, and to hear voices which +no one else can hear, and describe these forms, or repeat the words of +these voices, often with the effect of recalling the appearance or +character of deceased persons whom they could not possibly have known. +Yet the fact remains that the persons who recognize these descriptions +as accurate must have known the parties described, and it becomes +possible that the mental impression of the medium may have been received +by thought-transference from them. We do not assert that it has been so +received. We assert nothing. In fact, phenomena are claimed to occur +which it is difficult or impossible to explain on any such theory, or on +any other theory yet promulgated. Among these is the conveyance of +matter through matter, as of an object from the interior to the exterior +of a corked and sealed bottle, of other objects from a distance into +locked rooms, of writing by a sliver of pencil in the interior of a +double slate firmly screwed together, of the placing of close-fitting +steel rings in one solid piece around human necks, and their subsequent +removal, of writing and speaking in languages unknown to some or all of +the persons present, and a considerable variety of similar performances, +declared to have occurred under strict test-conditions. Yet if we cannot +explain we retain the right to doubt, and such statements cannot be +received as facts except on the strongest substantiation. + +The phenomena whose main forms we have here given, but whose actual +variety we cannot attempt to give, are offered on the testimony of a +great variety of persons, many of whom are plainly too credulous for +their evidence to be of any value whatever, while others, who seem to +have exercised great caution and cool judgment, are unknown to the +general public, and therefore not likely to be accepted as witnesses in +such a critical case. Others, again, who are well known and highly +respected, have invalidated their testimony by clearly letting +themselves be deceived. Such was the case with Robert Dale Owen, one of +the main historians of spiritual phenomena, who permitted himself to be +pitifully humbugged in Philadelphia by the somewhat famous spirit of +Katie King, whose spirit face was afterward discovered on the sturdy +shoulders of a very decidedly incarnate young lady. This was one of the +first instances of that throng of materialized frauds with which this +country has ever since been well supplied. + +But there have been numerous investigators of spiritualism who cannot be +placed in any such category, many of them men of high standing in the +scientific world, whose word is still taken as positive evidence in +support of very surprising scientific statements, since they are known +to examine and test phenomena with the closest and most accurate +scrutiny. This class of observers is particularly abundant in the London +scientific world, and includes in its list such noted names as Alfred +Russel Wallace, the celebrated naturalist, Dr. William Crooks, whose +discoveries in chemistry and physics have been of a remarkable +character, and Dr. Huggins, the equally celebrated astronomer. In +America the most noted scientific observer was the late Dr. Hare, of +Philadelphia, a chemist of world-wide fame. Of those who, if not +professed scientists, have been otherwise of high standing, Professor +Wallace names, in a recent communication to the "Times," Dr. Robert +Chambers, Dr. Elliotson, and Professor William Gregory, of Edinburgh, +Dr. Gully, a scientific physician of Malvern, and Judge Edmonds, one of +the best known American lawyers. Names of similar reputation in the +scientific and professional world might be adduced from Germany and +France, prominent among them the late Professor Zöllner, of Leipsic, a +well-known astronomer; but the above-given will suffice as evidence that +the investigation of spiritualism has not been confined to the unknown, +unlearned, and credulous, but has been pursued by men of the very +highest standing for probity, learning, sound judgment, and critical +discrimination. + +The results reached by these men are therefore of great weight, and go +far to fix the status of the phenomena examined. We may say here that +several of them have become acknowledged converts to the spiritual +theory. More generally, however, they have declined to express positive +opinions as to the cause of these phenomena, while positively testifying +that they are not the result of trickery, but that they indicate the +existence of some power or energy in nature which is able to suspend or +overcome the operation of nature's ordinary forces. Only two prominent +scientists, who have made any pretence to examine these phenomena, have +declared that they are _in toto_ the result of fraud. These two are +Professor Faraday and Dr. Carpenter. But the investigations made by +these noted personages were too trivial to render their decision of any +value. Faraday briefly examined the phenomena of table-tipping, and +decided that it was due to involuntary muscular movement. Dr. Carpenter +reasserted the same, years after this explanation had been shown to be +entirely inadequate, and declared that the mental phenomena were due +only to _unconscious cerebration_, or the action of memories and ideas +long since stored in the mind, when the consciousness is otherwise +engaged and the person is unaware of the activity of his mental stores. +This theory, we may also say, is utterly inadequate to explain all the +phenomena, and only applies by a strained interpretation to the +instances which Dr. Carpenter gives in illustration. + +One of the most striking of these instances we may here append. A +student relates that a professor had said to his class in mathematics, +of which this student was a member, "'A question of great difficulty has +been referred to me by a banker, a very complicated question of +accounts, which they themselves have not been able to bring to a +satisfactory issue, and they have asked my assistance. I have been +trying, and I cannot resolve it. I have covered whole sheets of paper +with calculations and have not been able to make it out. Will you try?' +He gave it as a sort of problem to his class, and said he would be +extremely obliged to any one who would bring him the solution on a +certain day. This gentleman tried it over and over again. He covered +many slates with figures, but could not succeed in resolving it. He was +a little put on his mettle, and very much desired to attain the +solution. But he went to bed on the night before the solution, if +attained, was to be given in, without having succeeded. In the morning, +when he went to his desk, he found the whole problem worked out in his +own hand. He was perfectly sure that it was his own hand. And this was a +curious part of it, that the result was attained by a process very much +shorter than any he had tried. He had covered three or four sheets of +paper in his attempts, and this was all worked out on one page, and +correctly worked, as the result proved. He inquired of the woman who +attended to his room, and she said that she was certain no one had +entered it during the night. It was perfectly clear that this had been +worked out by himself." + +Instances of this kind are certainly very curious, and seem to show that +the mind, when set in any train of thought by intense concentration, may +pursue it after consciousness has been withdrawn. And the result +indicates that the mind acts with innate logic when not disturbed by +distracting considerations, and can be trusted to do more correct work +when thus set going and left to run of itself than when consciously held +to its work. Yet an examination of every recorded instance of this kind +strongly indicates that no such unconscious mental action ever takes +place except when the consciousness has been earnestly directed to the +subject in advance, that no marked instances of this activity ever occur +except in the unconsciousness of sleep or trance, and that it ceases +when the mental excitement that started it has gradually subsided. There +is not an instance on record to show that the mind ever originates +unconscious action, or that any of its remote stores or powers ever +spring into activity without being aroused by sensation or conscious +thought. Thus the doctrine of _unconscious cerebration_ has been carried +much further than the facts warrant. It need hardly be said that it is +utterly inapplicable as a theory to many of the facts adduced by the +Society for Psychic Research. + +In the year 1869 the London Dialectical Society, an association of +cultured liberals, embracing many well-known personages, appointed a +committee to examine "the asserted phenomena of Spiritualism." The +committee divided itself into six sub-committees, each of which +submitted a report, and according to a general report, published in +1871, "these reports substantially corroborated each other." We may +therefore quote the more interesting points from the report of one of +the sub-committees: + +"All of these meetings were held at the private residences of members of +the committee, purposely to preclude the possibility of prearranged +mechanism or contrivance. The furniture of the room in which the +experiments were conducted was on every occasion its accustomed +furniture. The tables were in all cases heavy dining-tables, and +required a strong effort to move them. The smallest of them was five +feet nine inches long and four feet wide, and the largest nine feet +three inches long and four and a half feet wide, and of proportionate +weight. The rooms, tables, and furniture generally were repeatedly +subjected to careful examination, before, during, and after the +experiments, to ascertain that no concealed machinery, instrument, or +other contrivance existed, by means of which the sounds or movements +hereinafter mentioned could be caused. The experiments were conducted in +the light of gas, except on the few occasions specially noted in the +minutes. + +"Of the members of your sub-committee about four-fifths entered upon the +investigation wholly sceptical as to the reality of the alleged +phenomena, firmly believing them to be the result either of _imposture_, +or of _delusion_, or of _involuntary muscular action_. It was only by +irresistible evidence, under conditions that precluded the possibility +of either of these solutions, and after trials and tests many times +repeated, that the most sceptical of your sub-committee were slowly and +reluctantly convinced that the phenomena exhibited in the course of +their protracted inquiry were _veritable facts_. The result of their +long-continued and carefully-conducted experiments, after trial by every +delicate test they could devise, has been to establish _conclusively_,-- + +"First. That under certain _bodily_ and _mental_ conditions of one or +more of the persons present a force is exhibited sufficient to set in +motion heavy substances, without the employment of any muscular force, +and without contact or material connection of any kind between such +substances and the body of any person present. + +"Second. That this force can cause sounds to proceed, distinctly audible +to all present, from solid substances not in contact with nor having any +visible or material connection with the body of any person present, and +which sounds are proved to proceed from such substances by the +vibrations which are distinctly felt when they are touched. + +"Third. That this force is frequently directed by intelligence." + +Of the many experiments described in this report we will quote here but +one: + +"On one occasion, when eleven members of your sub-committee had been +sitting around one of the dining-tables above described for forty +minutes, and various sounds and motions had occurred, they, by way of +test, turned the backs of their chairs to the table, at about nine +inches from it. They all then knelt upon their chairs, placing their +arms upon the backs thereof. In this position their feet were of course +turned away from the table, and by no possibility could be placed under +it or touch the floor. The hands of each person were extended over the +table, at about four inches from the surface. Contact, therefore, with +any part of the table could not take place without detection. In less +than a minute the table, untouched, moved four times,--at first about +four inches to one side, then about twelve to the other side, and then, +in like manner, four and six inches respectively." + +The committee further remarks that after this experiment "the table was +carefully examined, turned upside down, and taken to pieces, but nothing +was discovered to account for the phenomenon. Delusion was out of the +question. The movements were in various directions, and were witnessed +simultaneously by all present. They were matters of _measurement_, and +not of opinion or fancy. Your sub-committee have not collectively +obtained any evidence as to the nature and source of this force, but +simply as to the _fact of its existence_." + +Mr. Sergeant Cox, a member of this sub-committee and a prominent member +of the English bar, relates that he experimented elsewhere in the same +manner as that above described, and with similar results, a heavy +dining-table being employed. Afterward, when all the party stood in a +circle round the table, holding hands, at first two and then three feet +distant, the table lurched four times, once more than two feet and with +great force, and moved to such an extent as to become completely turned +round. After the party had broken up, and were standing in groups about +the room, the table, which was about two feet from its original +position, swung violently back to its proper place and set itself +exactly square with the room, with such force as literally to knock down +a lady who was standing in the way putting on her shawl for departure. + +Mr. Cox, after a close examination of these phenomena, offered a theory +in explanation somewhat differing from that already mentioned. He +believes that they are due to the action of some psychic force, +originating in the nervous system and analogous in character to magnetic +attraction. He relates several instances of heavy bodies moving toward +the mediums, as if attracted, and remarks, "In another experiment in my +own lighted drawing-room, as the psychic [the medium] was entering the +room with myself, _no other person being there_, an easy-chair of great +weight that was standing fourteen feet from us was suddenly lifted from +the floor and drawn to him with great rapidity, precisely as a heavy +magnet will attract a mass of iron." + +Another phase of these phenomena, as observed by the committee, was the +sudden and considerable change of weight in the table, it becoming light +or heavy as desired. To prove this scientifically, a weighing-machine +was attached, and the change of weight clearly proved. "One instance +will suffice. Weighed by the machine, the normal weight of a table +raised from the floor eighteen inches on one side was eight pounds. +Desired to be light, the index fell to five pounds; desired to be heavy, +it advanced to eighty-two pounds. And these changes were instantaneous +and repeated many times." + +The most remarkable evidence adduced by scientific observers is that +presented by Professor Crooks. He is a chemist of high reputation, the +editor of the "Chemical News" and for many years of the "Quarterly +Journal of Science," the discoverer of the metallic element thallium, +and of recent years noted for his remarkable discoveries in the +conditions of matter in highly-exhausted vacuum-tubes. In 1870 he +undertook the investigation of Spiritualism, with the full expectation +of exposing it as a compound of trickery on the one side and of +credulity and self-deception on the other. In January, 1874, he +published, in the "Quarterly Journal of Science," a brief compend of the +notes of his investigations during the four years preceding. Some of the +phenomena here recorded are so extraordinary that they would not be +worthy an instant's attention but for the attestation of a witness of +such standing, and one accustomed to the employment of the severest +scientific tests. + +The phenomena recorded, as he declares, with few exceptions, all took +place in his own house and in full light, at times appointed by himself, +"and under conditions that absolutely precluded the employment of the +very simplest instrumental aid." In all cases only private friends were +present besides the medium. The mediums employed were the noted D. D. +Home and Miss Kate Fox, of Rochester-rappings notoriety. Of the simpler +phenomena observed were the movement of heavy bodies with contact, but +without mechanism or exertion, percussive and other sounds, etc. He +remarks,-- + +"I have had these sounds proceeding from the floor, walls, etc., when +the medium's hands and feet were held, when she was standing on a chair, +when she was suspended in a swing from the ceiling, when she was +enclosed in a wire cage, and when she had fallen fainting on a sofa. I +have had them on a glass harmonicon. I have felt them on my own shoulder +and under my own hands. I have heard them on a sheet of paper held +between the fingers by a piece of thread passed through one corner. I +have tested them in every way that I could devise; and there has been no +escape from the conviction that they were true objective occurrences, +not produced by trickery or mechanical means." Intelligence is +manifested by these sounds, "sometimes of such a character as to lead to +the belief that it does not emanate from any person present." + +He records numerous instances of the movement of heavy bodies when not +touched: "My own chair has been twisted partly round while my feet were +off the floor. A chair was seen by all present to move slowly up to the +table from a far corner when all were watching it; on another occasion +an arm-chair moved to where we were sitting, and then moved slowly back +again (a distance of about three feet) at my request." + +"On five separate occasions a heavy dining-table rose between a few +inches and one and a half feet off the floor, under special +circumstances which rendered trickery impossible.... On another occasion +the table rose from the floor, not only when no person was touching it, +but under conditions which I had prearranged so as to assure +unquestionable proof of the fact." + +As to the power of overcoming gravity, he tested it by the use of a +weighing-machine specially constructed and very delicate in its +operation, being so arranged that its extremity could not possibly move +downward without external pressure. Yet it did so move downward when the +medium's fingers were held over it without touching it. This experiment +was conducted in a way that renders it absolutely certain that some +force beyond those visible to the persons present was in operation. + +He also describes the lifting of human bodies without visible external +aid: "On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, +rise several inches from the ground.... At another time two children, on +separate occasions, rose from the floor with their chairs, in full +daylight, under (to me) most satisfactory conditions; for I was kneeling +and keeping close watch upon the feet of the chair, and observing that +no one might touch them." + +Among other strange manifestations, he positively declares that his +library-bell was brought into a room in which he was sitting with the +medium, with locked doors, both he and his children having seen and +handled the bell a short time before in the library. Also a piece of +China grass was taken from a vase on the table, and before his eyes +seemed to pass through the substance of the table. Observation showed +that there was a crack in the table through which it had apparently +passed. But this crack was much narrower than the diameter of the grass, +yet the latter showed no signs of abrasion or change of shape. + +As to the intelligence manifested by this strange power he gives the +following instance. A lady was writing with a planchette. "I asked, 'Can +you see the contents of this room?' 'Yes,' wrote the planchette. 'Can +you see to read this newspaper?' said I, putting my finger on a copy of +the 'Times' which was on the table behind me, but without looking at it. +'Yes,' was the reply of the planchette. 'Well,' I said, 'if you can see +that, write the word that is now covered by my finger, and I will +believe you.' The planchette commenced to move. Slowly and with great +difficulty the word 'however' was written out. I turned round, and saw +that the word 'however' was covered by the tip of my finger. I had +purposely avoided looking at the newspaper when I tried this experiment, +and it was impossible for the lady, had she tried, to have seen any of +the printed words, for she was sitting at one table, and the paper was +on another table behind, my body intervening." + +The most remarkable phenomena attested by Professor Crooks, however, are +those classed as luminous appearances, and particularly as luminous +hands. Some of the most striking of those may be here quoted: + +"Under the strictest test-conditions I have seen a self-luminous body, +the size and nearly the shape of a turkey's egg, float noiselessly about +the room, at one time higher than any one present could reach standing +on tiptoe, and then gently descend to the floor. It was visible more +than ten minutes, and before it faded away struck the table three times +with a sound like that of a hard, solid body. During this time the +medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy-chair." + +"I have had an alphabetic communication given by luminous flashes +occurring before me in the air while my hand was moving about among +them. I was sitting next to the medium, Miss Fox, the only other persons +present being my wife and a lady relative, and I was holding the +medium's two hands in one of mine, while her feet were resting on my +feet. Paper was on the table before us, and my disengaged hand was +holding a pencil. A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the +room, and, after hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil +from my hand, rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, +and then rose up above our heads, gradually fading into darkness." + +"In the night I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a +side-table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady; and on +some occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to +the form of a hand and carry small objects about." + +These hands he claims to have frequently seen, sometimes in darkness, +sometimes in light. On one occasion "a beautifully-formed small hand +rose up from an opening in a dining-table and gave me a flower; it +appeared and then disappeared three times at intervals: this occurred in +the light, in my own room, while I was holding the medium's hands and +feet." + +The hand often seemed to form from a luminous cloud. "It is not always a +mere form, but sometimes appears perfectly life-like and graceful, the +fingers moving, the flesh appearing as human as that of any in the room. +At the wrist or arm it becomes hazy and fades off into a luminous +cloud.... I have retained one of these hands in my own, firmly resolved +not to let it escape. There was no struggle or effort made to get loose, +but it gradually seemed to resolve itself into vapor, and faded in that +manner from my grasp." + +We should not venture to quote these most remarkable statements but for +the fact that they are made by a gentleman of such high standing for +accuracy of observation, who knew perfectly well that he was imperilling +his position in the scientific world and exposing himself to the +contumely and accusation of loss of sanity that followed. In regard to +this point it need only be said that his most valuable scientific work +has been done since that period, and that his statements on scientific +subjects are received everywhere to-day as unquestionably accurate and +important. That he saw what he believed to be luminous hands there can +be no doubt. Whether he was deceived is another question. + +As to the producing cause of these manifestations Professor Crooks +offers no theory. Whether the power and the intelligence displayed came +from some one present or from some disembodied spirit he makes no +suggestion, but simply presents the facts as evidence that there are +mysteries in nature transcending any that have yet been weighed and +measured, and which must engage the attention of the science of the +future. + +Of the other scientists named, Professor Wallace openly accepts the +spiritualistic explanation of these phenomena. He has not, so far as we +are aware, published any detailed statement of his investigations, +though we have been told that they consisted in part in what is known as +"spirit photography," or the taking of photographs of persons known to +be dead, by his own private apparatus and in his own private rooms. As +to the character of the results obtained by him, however, we are unable +to make any statement. + +Professor Zöllner also became a believer in Spiritualism, mainly through +experiments with the American medium Mr. Slade. He published a work on +the subject, in which he advances the theory, which has of late +attracted so much attention, of a fourth dimension in space; that is, +that, in addition to length, breadth, and thickness, bodies may have a +fourth dimension, beyond the powers of human observation. The untying of +knots in sealed ropes, passage of matter through matter, etc., he +attempts to explain as possibly done by agents capable of working in +this fourth dimension of matter. Science, however, is as little inclined +to accept this theory as to accept that of spirit communication. + +Of the American scientific observers Professor Hare is far the most +noted for his critical discernment, his accuracy of observation, and his +obstinate determination not to be convinced that there was anything +occult in these phenomena. He was remarkably skilful in the making of +scientific apparatus, and he tested the phenomena received by a series +of instruments of delicate construction and capable of exposing the +least attempt at fraud. Those who were present at the circles with him +declare that he would frequently make his appearance with a new +instrument and a face full of grim expectancy that he would now baffle +the powers that had baffled him on previous occasions, and that he would +retire with a countenance of settled despondency as the unseen +_something_ set at nought his deep-laid plans and secret hopes. It will +suffice to say here that his experiments ended in his accepting the +spiritual explanation of the phenomena and publishing a work on the +subject. + +The same was the case with Judge Edmonds, from whose published work we +may make a few quotations, as his high standing as a jurist and +reputation for veracity and legal shrewdness make him a witness whose +word would be accepted without question on any ordinary subject. He +gives the following strange experience: "During the last illness of my +revered old friend Isaac T. Hopper I was a good deal with him, and on +the day when he died I was with him from noon till about seven o'clock +in the evening. I then supposed he would live yet for several days, and +at that hour I left to attend my circle, proposing to call again on my +way home. About ten o'clock in the evening, while attending the circle, +I asked if I might put a mental question. I did so, and I know that no +person present could know what it was, or to what subject even it +referred. My question related to Mr. Hopper, and I received for answer +through the rappings, as from himself, that he was dead. I hastened +immediately to his house, and found that it was so. That could not have +been from any one present, for they did not know of his death, nor did +they understand the answer I received. It could not have been the reflex +of my own mind, for I had left him alive, and thought that he would live +several days." + +Of his statements in regard to physical phenomena the following may be +quoted: "I have known a pine table with four legs lifted bodily up from +the floor in the centre of a circle of six or eight persons, turned +upside down, and laid upon its top at our feet, then lifted up over our +heads and put leaning against the back of the sofa on which we sat. I +have seen a mahogany table, having only a centre leg, and with a lamp +burning upon it, lifted from the floor at least a foot, in spite of the +efforts of those present, and shaken backward and forward as one would +shake a goblet in his hand, and the lamp retain its place, though its +glass pendants rung again. I have seen the same table tipped up with the +lamp upon it, so that the lamp must have fallen off unless retained +there by something else than its own gravity; yet it fell not, moved +not. I have known a mahogany chair thrown on its side and moved swiftly +back and forth on the floor, no one touching it, through a room where +there were at least a dozen persons sitting; and it was repeatedly +stopped within a few inches of me, when it was coming with a violence +which, if not arrested, must have broken my legs." + +Of the phenomena classed under the head of spiritualistic three +explanations have been offered. One is that they are purely the result +of fraud in the mediums and self-delusion in the believers. A second is +that they are due to some unknown law and force of nature, the physical +manifestations being ascribed to a psychic energy of nervous origin, the +mental to _unconscious cerebration_. A third explanation is that they +are due to the action of disembodied spirits, who are able to return to +the earth and make their presence manifest in all the methods above +recounted. Of these explanations the first is that given by the general +public, and particularly by those who know nothing practically about the +subject, but have reached their opinions by their own inner +consciousness and without troubling themselves to investigate the facts. +That it does apply, however, to much of what is known as spiritual +manifestations there can be no doubt. Of frauds under the name of +mediums there has been an abundance. Of dupes under the name of +Spiritualists there has been an equal abundance. And the tricks of false +mediums have been so often detected as to throw a shadow of doubt over +everything connected with the asserted phenomena. Yet that it is not all +fraud has been abundantly proved by the testimony of the men above named +and many others of equal powers of discrimination, and by the occurrence +of numerous phenomena under circumstances that absolutely precluded +deception, either in medium or audience. To these cases one or other of +the second and third explanations must be given. Acceptance of the +third, that they are really the work of spirits, would of course settle +the whole business and explain all the phenomena in a word. But the +great body of critical observers are disinclined to accept this theory, +for the reason that many of the scientific class doubt the existence of +any spirit beyond the earth-life, that many of the religious class +question the possibility of freed spirits returning to earth, and that +many of an intermediate class consider the manifestations too puerile +and the mental communications given too unsatisfactory and too far below +the mental calibre of the professed speakers to be worthy of assignment +to any such source. These communications seem usually painted by the +mind of the medium, and are often notably feeble, absurd, and valueless. + +To the members of this class the second explanation is the only tenable +one,--namely, that there are certain extraordinary powers resident in +the nervous organism which are capable of acting in opposition to the +ordinary energies of nature; that an intangible material exists outside +the body and penetrates physical objects, through whose aid the +nerve-power somehow operates to produce sounds and motions of bodies; +that this nerve-power may act unconsciously to the person who possesses +it in even a highly-developed state; that its action may be controlled +by the mind, acting either consciously or unconsciously; that old and +long-forgotten stores of the memory may take part in this action; and +that other minds may act through the medium's mind and set in action his +psychic powers unconsciously to himself. + +That there is such a supersensible substance, and that the human mind +has such hitherto unknown powers, is not easy to admit. And yet when we +consider all the facts bearing upon the case it becomes equally hard to +deny. The history of mankind is full of stories of occult operations and +so-called supernatural performances. Those recorded are, of course, but +the merest fraction of those that have been observed. At the present day +this world of mystery seems everywhere around us. Outside of what is put +on record, almost every person one meets can relate some such mysterious +occurrence which has happened to himself or some of his acquaintances. +That a very great proportion of this has been self-deception must be +admitted. But all mankind is not blind and gullible; and if we strain +these stories of the marvellous through the sieve of criticism, some +considerable residuum will remain, which must be accounted for by +another theory than that of delusion. + +The theory above given accounts in some degree for most of the facts, +though there are others which it is not easy to make fit in. Such are +the instances in which information unknown to any person present has +been given. We may instance the writing of the word covered by Professor +Crooks's finger, and the answer to Judge Edmonds's mental question +concerning his dying friend. Other striking instances of the same +character might be given, some of which have happened within the +knowledge of the writer. We may give in illustration the case of one +gentleman, a prominent businessman of Philadelphia, who received from a +medium a statement of the date of the death of a child that had occurred +many years before. The gentleman denied the correctness of the date, and +gave what he believed to be the correct one. But the medium insisted on +the date given. On going home and consulting his family record, to his +surprise the gentleman found that the medium was right and he +wrong,--that the child had died on the date stated, not on that which +had been impressed upon his memory. + +Taking the case of mentality as a whole, it is certain that we are yet +far from being acquainted with all the powers and mysteries of the human +mental and nervous organism, despite all the researches of late years. +Nor do we know all the conditions and capabilities of the world of +matter which surrounds us, or the possibilities of intercommunication +of minds without the aid of the senses. On the other hand, Spiritualists +assert that we are equally far from knowing all the possibilities of +spirit existence or of communication between embodied and disembodied +mind. As to all this, it is perhaps best to remain in a state of +suspended decision and await the results of accurate observation to +settle the question definitely on one side or other. The investigation +now being carried on by a committee appointed by the University of +Pennsylvania, under the conditions of a bequest from the late Mr. +Seybert, will, it may be hoped, tend to clear up the mystery. + + CHARLES MORRIS. + + + + +THE STORY OF AN ITALIAN WORKWOMAN'S LIFE.[B] + + +Si, signora, there are four of us,--Fausta, and Flavia, and Marc +Antonio, and I. La Mamma was left a widow when Marc Antonio was twelve +years old and Fausta ten, Flavia was eight, little Teresina (who died in +childhood) six, and I was only sixteen months old. All the rest can +remember Babbo [daddy], and many's the time, when I was a little one, I +have cried my eyes out with anger and jealousy because I couldn't +remember him too. Babbo was a good man, signora. Never an angry word, La +Mamma says,--not one,--in all the fifteen years they were married, and +_allegro, allegro_ (cheerful). He was a carrier, and he had only a +little time at home; but then he always played with the little ones and +made them happy. La Mamma loved him with all her heart; and often she +says, "Ah, if I ever come to Paradise, I pray our Lord to make me find +my Pietro again." Si, signora, I know our Lord said there was no +marrying or giving in marriage in heaven; La Mamma knows it too; but we +shall know each other, you know, up there, and our Blessed Lord is +merciful, and won't part those who love each other. La Mamma says so; +and I hope so, too. If ever I gain the rest of Paradise,--may our +Blessed Lord and the Madonna and all the saints grant it!--I want to +find my Luigi there too. Well, but I promised to tell the signora how +the Mamma brought us all up on only a franc a day. As I said already, +Babbo was a carrier. He did well, and sent Marc Antonio and Fausta and +Flavia to school, and me to a _balia_ in the country, and put something +by besides. La Mamma was a silk-weaver,--one of the best in Florence +then,--and she put by something too; for she worked hard every day. +Everything went well with them until the day that I came home from the +_baliatico_ (period of nursing in the country). I was well weaned, and a +strong, fine baby, and the _balia_ was proud of me; and Babbo was so +pleased to find me so well and lively that he gave the _balia_ two +francs more than he had agreed to do. But Babbo was always generous. +Well, the next day La Mamma took me in her arms and went to the +silk-shop where she had been at work, to see about selling her loom; for +the master of the shop was old and was giving up his business and +selling everything: it was just at that time that the silk-trade began +to go down in Florence. When the loom was sold, La Mamma put the money +in her purse, and then she went to put it in the bank, and then home. +When she got into the Borgo degli Santi Apostoli she saw several people +standing before our door; but she thought nothing of that, for we lived +on the top floor, and there were several other families in the house. +But when La Mamma came up to the door, she saw old Martia, her aunt, and +Miniato, her brother, there. They were both crying. + +"Oh, _poverina, poverina_! here she is," says Miniato. + +"_Madonna santissima_! how shall we ever tell her?" says Aunt Martia. + +"For the love of God, tell me what it is!" said poor mamma, and her +heart died in her. + +Well, in a few minutes, _adagio, adagio_, little by little, they told +her how it was. Near the Porta San Niccolò a heavy load of bricks had +been overturned, and poor Babbo, who was passing at the time, had been +badly hurt. His fine gray mule Giannetta was killed. So two troubles +came together. After a little the Misericordia brought Babbo home, and +they put him in bed, and one of the Brethren stayed to watch him that +night. He was badly hurt, and he never took a step again, though he +lived for six months. La Mamma did her best: the weaving was over,--she +could not have found much more weaving to do, even if Babbo had been +able to bear the noise of the loom,--but she knitted, and sewed, and did +what she could. Still, the money melted away. Babbo might have been put +into a hospital, but La Mamma couldn't bear to part with him, even +though he said often, as the days went on and he got no better, that he +would rather go into a hospital than lie there and feel that he was +eating up the little money he had put away for his wife and children. +"_Povera_ Leonora," he used to say,--"_povera_ Leonora, who must work so +hard while I lie here and play the signore!" And once or twice he cried +a little. But for the most part he was cheerful and bore his pain with +patience. + +All the time _la povera Mamma_ kept up her courage, and made Babbo +believe that the money went three times as far as it did. But it melted +away; and, the day before Babbo died, when she counted it over she knew +that she had a hard struggle before her. She did not let him know it, +however. He thought she had money to last for two or three months. So +Easter came round, and still Babbo lay helpless and full of pain. The +priest came to confess and communicate him, as he does all the bedridden +at Easter-time, and that afternoon Babbo had less pain than for many a +day. He kissed and blessed us as usual at bedtime, and then he told La +Mamma to call him in the morning, so that he might light the lamp for +her. This was because the table with the lamp stood by his side of the +bed, and often La Mamma, who had to get up early, used to strike the +light without waking him. "But now that I have no pain," says Babbo, +"I'll strike a light for you, _cara mia_, so that you may have that +comfort." Easter fell early that year, in March, and the weather was +cold and stormy. When La Mamma woke up at four o'clock, the bells were +ringing for first mass, but it was cold and dark, and a storm was +raging. She could not bear to wake Babbo up, but she had promised to do +so, and she had a long day's work before her and no time to lose. So she +called him, very gently at first, and then louder. There was no answer, +and she touched his shoulder and shook him a little. Still there was no +answer, and, being frightened, she leaned over and touched his face. +_Povera mamma!_ it was cold as ice, and stiff. Then she put her hand on +his heart, but it was still. She jumped up quickly, but, in her fright +and grief, she could not find the matches. At last she did so, and then +she saw that he was dead. Little Teresa slept between them, and he had +her hand in his, clasped so tightly that it was many minutes before La +Mamma could set it free. She did so without waking the child, and then +she put her into bed with Flavia and Fausta, and woke Marc Antonio and +sent him for the doctor. When he was gone she lighted the fire and did +what she could to warm Babbo and bring the life back, though her heart +told her, as did the doctor when he came, that all was over. By and by +the children woke and cried, and La Mamma wondered that she could find +words to quiet them, and yet she did. When everything was over and the +house quiet, the poor soul felt her heart die in her breast, and would +have been glad to lie down and die too; but no, she could not. She had +to take out the purse and count the money again, and then she found that +after buying a reserved grave for Babbo at the Campo Santo at Trespiano +she would have just enough to pay the rent for the next six months. You +know, signora, that if a reserved grave is not bought at Trespiano the +bodies are put into the _fossa comune_, and that is the end. The graves +are not marked. La Mamma could not bear the thought of that, and so she +bought a reserved grave. Then came the funeral; and she called the +children together and told them that if they each wanted to carry a +taper for Babbo they would have to go without their supper that night. +They were very hungry, every one, for, what with the trouble, and the +care, and the sorrow of that last day, La Mamma had not been able to +cook the dinner, and they had had nothing all day but a piece of bread. +Ah, they were hungry! They had cried until they were tired out, and they +were as empty as organ-tubes. Marc Antonio has told me many a time about +it. "God forgive me," says he, "but when La Mamma said that, I felt the +hunger grip me like a tiger, and the devil tempted me, and I said to +myself, 'Babbo's gone to the world over there, and what good will a +taper do him? He was never the one to want us to go to bed hungry as +well as with a sore heart.'" But even while he thought the wicked +thoughts the love for Babbo came into his heart again. He burst out +crying and sobbing, and cried out, "Mamma, mamma, I don't want any +supper to-night; I don't! I don't!" _Poverino_! he was growing and +strong, and so hungry. Fausta and Flavia and little Teresa said the +same, but it hurt them less, and they did not cry. And then little +Teresa spoke up,--she was always as wise as a little angel: + +"Mamma," says she, "the baby must have her supper, mustn't she?" + +"_Poverina!_ what would you have?" says La Mamma. "Yes, the poor baby +must have her supper, indeed. She knows nothing, poor little one, of the +sorrow in the house, or she would not grudge Babbo a taper any more than +the rest of you." + +Little Teresa smiled, "Then, mamma, I've baby's supper for her," says +she. "I did not eat my bread all day, and you can have it now to make a +_pappa_ for her." + +So La Mamma took me in her arms and went into the kitchen, and then Marc +Antonio held me while she and Fausta and Flavia and Teresa made the +_pappa_; and then each one took it in turn to feed me. You cannot know, +signora, how often I have lain awake and cried to think that I should +have been the only one of us all to eat like a pig that night, while +dear Babbo lay dead in the house and the rest were sad and hungry. +_Pazienza_! we need patience in this world, even with ourselves +sometimes. + +When the funeral was over, La Mamma put the house in order, and then she +took out all her papers and accounts and counted over all she had. Just +a little of the money that Babbo had saved was left,--enough, if she +never touched it, to bring in seventy-three francs a year,--that is, +twenty centimes [four cents] a day. She made up her mind that she would +never touch it, so that each day, as long as we lived, we might have at +least a piece of bread bought with Babbo's money. Then there was the +parish, which gave her some help. The guardians of the poor widows +appointed a guardian for us,--the Conte Bertoli, a good man, God rest +his soul,--and he applied to the poor widows' fund for La Mamma and got +her an allowance of fifty centimes [ten cents] a day until Marc Antonio +should be fifteen and able to work; and then the Signor Conte himself +added to that twenty centimes more, so that altogether La Mamma had a +franc a day. But there were six of us. Thankful enough she was to have +the franc; but still, as you may suppose, signora, she had to think a +good deal and work hard to keep us. The elder children had all been put +to a school near by, a nice school, but where Babbo had had to pay for +them; now that was changed. Fausta and Flavia and Teresa were sent to +the convent of the Doratei Sisters, and Marc Antonio to the Frate +Scalopi. There was nothing to pay at either place, and the children were +taught well and taken good care of. The convent of the Doratei is in the +Via dei Malcontenti, and that of the Frate Scalopi in the Piazza Santa +Croce. Marc Antonio and Fausta and Flavia and Teresa used to set off at +seven every morning, winter and summer, and La Mamma walked with them, +carrying me in her arms. She gave all the children a good breakfast of +hot _pappa_ before they set out for school, and some bread and apple, or +bread and onions, in a basket, to eat at dinner-time. At night, when +they came home, they had a good supper of _casalingo_ [household, +_i.e._, black] bread and milk. Then they were washed and put to bed; for +La Mamma was very strict, and never allowed any one out of bed after +eight o'clock. As soon as I was two years old I was sent to the Doratei +too; and the big dark convent, with the great garden behind, is the +first thing I ever remember. The good sisters were very kind to us. They +taught all the older girls to read and write, and sew and knit, not only +plain sewing, but fine stitching, and open-work, and fine darning, and +button-holes, and lace-work, and so on. They also taught them to make +beds, and sweep, and dust, and cook a little,--that is, how to make +broth, and _pappa_, and such simple things. From twelve to two every day +there was recreation. At twelve all the children, big and little, sat +down to dinner in the refectory with the nuns. The nuns had their own +dinner,--a very plain one always, for their rule is severe,--and the +children had whatever they brought with them. If anything was brought +that could be warmed over and made more nourishing, Sister Cherubina +never grudged the trouble. When dinner was over we sang a grace, and +then we all ran into the garden and had a good game of play. Of course +the very little ones did nothing all day but play and sleep. Sister +Arcangela took care of them. Sometimes on fine days the sisters used to +take us all out for a walk in the country. Twice every week we had +religious instruction. Padre Giovanni, our confessor, taught us +everything, our Credo and Pater Noster, and our holy religion, and the +holy gospel, and all the beautiful stories in the Bible, and the legends +of the saints. Which of our Lord's miracles does the signora think the +finest? For myself, I always liked the story of the night in which our +Blessed Redeemer came to his disciples walking on the water. And then of +the older stories I liked the one of poor Joseph and his brethren. What +bad devils the brothers were! But God brought good out of evil, and +rewarded poor Joseph, who was an angel, by making him a great king. +Well, still I am babbling on and telling you about our school, and +forgetting La Mamma. I told you she had a franc a day. Our rent cost a +hundred francs a year. That was a little more than twenty-five centimes +a day, and that left La Mamma about seventy centimes a day for food, and +clothing, and lights, and so on. La Mamma worked day and night. Whenever +she could, she used to sit up at night with sick people, for that was +paid well,--a franc a night; sometimes in grand houses as much as two +francs,--and then she could rest in the day-time when we were at school. +But, whatever she did, or wherever she went, she always managed to be at +the convent gate every evening at half-past five to bring us home. If by +any chance she could not do that, Marc Antonio always waited for us and +brought us home very carefully. He was a good, steady boy, and never +stopped to play when we were with him, and always shut himself in with +us at home and did his best to take care of us until La Mamma came back. +God forgive me! but I used to think La Mamma very hard in those days. +She would never let us go the length of a yard alone; and once when she +caught me running out on the stairs to play hide-and-seek with some +girls and boys who lived on the floor below us, she gave me such a slap +that my ears rang again. Well, to tell truth, we had so much playing in +the convent garden, and such a long walk home in the evening, that we +were generally rather tired and glad to get quickly to bed as mamma bade +us. She, _poverina!_ always sat up, patching and darning, long after we +were in bed, so that we might go decently to school. + +I remember well the first real dolls we ever had. It was at the Feast of +the Assumption, and there was a fair outside the Roman gate. Marc +Antonio was to be apprenticed the next day to a very decent _vetturino_, +and he had begged La Mamma to treat us all to some fried dumplings. We +were all day at the fair, though of course we bought nothing; but it was +a great pleasure to us to walk about and look at the booths full of gay +things. We were nearly ready to come home, when Teresina spied some +dolls and began to beg for one. She was such a sweet, good, gentle child +that La Mamma could not bear to refuse her, especially as she scarcely +ever asked for anything. And she seemed to have a passion for that doll, +so pretty it was, all in pink and spangles. At last, as she begged so +hard, La Mamma gave her ten centimes, and told her that if she could get +it for that she might have it; and Teresina bargained so well that she +got it for eight centimes; and then nothing would satisfy her but that +we all should have dolls. It was in vain that La Mamma said no; Teresina +would have her way. And so at last we all had dolls, and La Mamma, poor +soul! spent thirty-six centimes! It seemed a mortal sin to her; and she +has told me many a time how she lay awake that night and cried, and +prayed to God and the saints to forgive her for that wicked +extravagance. And yet she could not but feel glad to see how happy we +all were with our dolls. And she was glad afterward for another reason, +which I will explain presently. Little Teresina never went out again +after the Feast of the Assumption. She was the first to fall ill, but +before ten days were over we were all (all the girls, I mean,--Marc +Antonio was not at home) struck down with smallpox. Teresina suffered +most. I remember it well, how strange it seemed to me to hear her +calling constantly for water and other things,--strange, because she was +always the one who waited on the others, and never before thought of +herself. La Mamma did everything for her that could be done, but she +grew daily worse. Once mamma brought her doll and put it in her hands. I +can see now--my bed was opposite to hers--how mamma watched Teresina, +and how Teresina looked at the doll. In my own heart I thought, "Surely +she will get better, now that she has her pretty doll." It seemed to me +that she must do so. But in a moment she heaved a deep sigh, and said, +"Too tired! too tired!" And then she threw the doll away from her and +closed her eyes. _La povera Mamma_ picked up the doll and put it away in +a drawer, and then she sat still and looked at Teresina, with the tears +rolling down her face. Whenever I woke up in the night it was always the +same, mamma fanning Teresina or putting bits of ice in her mouth, and +never moving her eyes from her, and Teresina no longer restless, but +quite still,--so still that I had never seen anything like it. Quite +early the next day the archbishop came to confirm her, and while I was +looking at the grand robes he wore, and at the priests who came with +him, and watching the lighted tapers blow about in the wind, for the +window was open and there was a strong draught, suddenly I felt a pain +in my head which was worse than anything I had felt before,--a dreadful +pain, which made me feel giddy and confused. I felt myself sinking, and +I suppose I must have cried out, for I remember that some one lifted me +and put a wet cloth on my head. The last thing I saw was Teresina's +pale, quiet face, with the white and gold confirmation ribbon bound +about her brows. I never saw her again. When I came to myself, days +afterward, the corner where her bed used to stand was empty, and I knew, +without asking, that she was in Paradise. + +Flavia and Fausta and I got well over it, but much disfigured, as you +see; and yet God is good, and has sent me as kind and loving a husband +as if I had been the most beautiful person in the world. + +Well, the time went on, just as before, until Flavia was old enough to +be apprenticed to Madama Castagna, the grand dressmaker. She had always +been a good, steady, hard-working girl, and, thanks to the good Doratei +Sisters, she sewed so beautifully that very soon Madama allowed her +twenty centimes a day. She had to work from eight till eight; but of +course she could not expect more than twenty centimes while she was +learning. + +Fausta was not so fortunate. She was a good girl, and the cleverest and +quickest of us all,--yes, indeed, cleverer than I am, although the +signora does think so well of me,--but she changed too often. First, she +wanted to learn how to bind shoes (I forgot to say that they taught that +in the convent), and so, while the rest of us were learning to sew and +knit, she was binding shoes. Then, suddenly, she thought she would like +to learn to weave, and she went to her godmother, the Contessa Minia, +and told her so. The contessa was good and generous, and she gave her a +loom, and Sister Annunziata taught her to weave. But just at the time +that Fausta ought to have been apprenticed, the silk-trade, which, as I +said before, had been going down for several years, failed altogether, +and Fausta had to sell her loom for what it would bring. Then she +thought that she would like to learn lace-mending: so the contessa got +her a lace-cushion, and apprenticed her to a lace-mender for four years. +Just as her time was out, poor Fausta had a bad fall, broke her right +arm and injured her leg, so that for many months she was confined to her +bed, and was unable to walk for more than a year. Then, as if the poor +girl were destined to trouble, she must needs fall in love, and with a +bad, good-for-nothing fellow. La Mamma would not consent, and we all +begged and prayed her not to have him, but Fausta was obstinate, and +married him. _Poverina!_ she has had one trouble after another, and will +have to the end. + +As soon as I had passed my fourteenth birthday I was apprenticed to +Madama. Flavia was one of her best workwomen then, as she has been ever +since. After the first six months I received twenty centimes a day, and +at the end of the first year thirty centimes. We went away from home +every morning at seven o'clock. La Mamma gave us a good breakfast of +black bread and coffee before we set out, and black bread and onions or +apples for our dinner. Sometimes, instead of onions or apples, she would +give us ten or fifteen centimes; and that we liked better, because then +we could make a bank. Making a bank we called it when we put all our +money together. Madama had then twenty-five apprentices, and at +dinner-time we used to put all our money together and send out and buy +something. One would buy anchovies, another ham, another olives, another +cheese, and so on. There was one apprentice who always did the marketing +for us. Then we used to clear the work-table and set out our food, and +dine merrily enough. I was an apprentice at Madama's for five years, and +then began to work for myself. If Madama had been willing to pay me a +franc a day and give me my dinner besides, I dare say that I might have +been there now; but she would not, and so I plucked up my courage and +tried my hand alone. For some time before I left her I had been working +so well, at cutting out and fitting, finishing, and so on, that she used +to give me all the finest and most difficult work to do; but still she +never did and never would pay me more than eighty centimes [sixteen +cents] a day. None of us got more than that. What we always liked to do +was to carry the dresses home, because then the ladies usually gave us +something. And at Christmas, when we went to wish our patrons all +happiness, we got very nice presents. One Christmas we received thirty +francs. When we carried dresses home we generally got twenty or thirty +centimes. That made fifteen centimes for each of us, because we always +did errands in couples. One night at ten o'clock we had to go quite +across Florence in a driving rain to carry a lady a ball-dress. We were +dripping wet when we reached her palace, but the dress was in good +order, and we hoped, considering the lateness of the hour, and the bad +weather, and so on, that the lady would give us something handsome, +perhaps as much as half a franc. Well, she was very glad to see us, and, +after putting on the dress, she said that she must give us something. +And so she did,--five centimes [one cent] to each of us! I swallowed my +anger, and put the coin into my pocket, but my companion fitted hers +nicely into the key-hole of the hall door as soon as it was closed +behind us. "There!" says she; "now my lady miser will have to send for a +locksmith, and that will teach her not to be so stingy another time." So +we both ran home laughing, in spite of our disappointment. But we were +not so fortunate as to get off without a scolding. The next day the lady +came to Madama and complained of our impertinence. Madama scolded us a +little; but when she heard what a pitiful _buona mano_ the lady had +given us, she could not help laughing herself. + +Still, she never thought of raising our pay, and as I improved, and felt +myself quite mistress of my trade, I began to work over hours, at one or +two houses where La Mamma had patrons, and in that way I got on very +quickly. It was a proud day for me, signora, when I first began to give +La Mamma something toward the housekeeping. I wanted to give her +two-thirds of all I earned, but she would not let me. When I began to +earn a franc and a half a day, she accepted half a franc, but she made +me put away the franc for my _dote_. La Mamma always walked with me to +the houses where I went to work, and in the evening either came for me +herself or sent Marc Antonio. And she bade me be very careful and +watchful and keep myself to myself. Often I thought her severe and +suspicious, but now I thank God for the mother he gave us. We owe all +the happiness of our lives to her. + +I had been working for myself, as I have said, for more than five years. +I had plenty of patrons, and was well thought of. Plain as I am, +signora, I had not wanted for opportunities to go wrong; but, thank God, +I never did. Once, too, I had thought of being married, but, happily for +me, I found out in time that I had set my love on a bad man, so I broke +off my engagement, and put the thought of marriage away from me. Fausta +had been married a long time, and so had Marc Antonio. Flavia said that +she never would leave La Mamma, and I thought that I would do the same. +But it was not to be. One morning La Mamma, who had been sitting up with +a sick baby at the Albergo della Stella, came home and told me that I +was born to good fortune,--that Signorina Teodora, the landlord's +daughter, was going to be married, and that I was wanted to work at the +_trousseau_. It was all to be made at home, and the signorina engaged me +for three months. It was the first time that I had ever gone to an hotel +to work; and La Mamma gave me a great many counsels about my behavior. +Signorina Teodora was very kind, and the work was just exactly what I +liked to do. I used to sew in the _guarda-roba_ (linen-room), where the +linen-keeper, a very respectable woman, was busy all day, mending and +arranging the linen. That was all well enough, but at meal-times I was +very uncomfortable. I used to go down to the servants' dining-room, and +there the talk, and the manners too, were coarse and rude. I did not +like to complain, but my position was a very hard one. I had taught the +men to keep their distance, and they did so, but they were cross and +disagreeable to me, and nicknamed me "La Superba" (the proud one). The +women-servants all said that I gave myself airs, and if they could do +anything to annoy me they did. At last I proposed to Signorina Teodora +that I should be allowed to take my meals in the _guarda-roba_, so that +I might be nearer my work. But she said no, that would not do, but that +I might have them in a little room next the padrone's dining-room, and +that she would say that this was because I was wanted for trying on her +dresses just at the time that the servants' dinner was served. The first +time I went down to dinner alone I felt very much frightened; but my +dinner was put on the table very nicely, and one of the men-servants, +whom I had never spoken to before, waited on me. He did so just as +politely as if I had been a lady, but he was very quiet. The next day he +began to talk a little, and told me about his mother (who was dead), and +about his childhood, and the customs of the Abruzzi, because he came +from that part of Italy. We used to talk together so, day after day, +while he waited on me, and we became very good friends. At last, when +the time of my engagement was nearly run out, Luigi--that was the +waiter's name--became very silent, but he served my dinner as nicely and +carefully as ever. I was a little afraid that I had offended him, +because every evening he used to say, as I rose from the table, "Are you +coming back to-morrow?" And every time I said yes, he would answer, +"Well, then, I can say what I have to say to-morrow," At last one night, +when he said as usual, "Are you coming back to-morrow, _sarta_ +[dressmaker]?" I answered no,--that my work was over. "Well, then," says +Luigi, "I must find courage to tell you to-night, _sarta_, that I love +you, and I want you to be my wife!" + +I sat still a moment, quite thunder-struck, and then I jumped up and ran +out of the room. "I can say not a word," I said, as I passed him, "You +know you ought to have spoken to La Mamma first." + +"If that's all," says he, following me to the foot of the stairs, "I can +speak to La Mamma to-morrow night." + +"And then I may say no," I called out as I ran up-stairs. + +Well, the next night he came to see La Mamma, and brought his uncle with +him. This uncle was a very decent man, who had been gardener for thirty +years in Count Gemiani's family. He was the only relation Luigi had in +the world, and he gave him an excellent character. But I would not say a +word. I told Luigi I could not tell whether I liked him or not until I +saw him _in borghese_ [_i.e._, dressed in ordinary clothes], because you +know, signora, I had only seen him dressed in black, with a white +cravat. Well, he was very patient, and, as soon as he was at liberty, he +came again, dressed _in borghese_, and then he pleased me, and I made up +my mind to have him. + +But then came another trouble. The match was not well looked upon by La +Mamma and my brother and sisters, because Luigi was a person in service, +and that had never happened in our family before. Babbo, as I have said, +was a carrier; Mamma, a silk-weaver; Marc Antonio had married a +_cucitrice di bianco_ [shirt-maker]; Fausta, a candle-maker,--but, to be +sure, her marriage did not matter, because her husband was a bad man. +However, I was obstinate, and La Mamma liked Luigi in her heart, and so +at last we were engaged. He used to come and see me two evenings in the +week. Sometimes La Mamma sat with us, and sometimes Flavia. When it was +Flavia's turn Luigi used to laugh and say the sentinel was changed. We +had to keep our engagement very quiet, because you know that the +men-servants at Italian hotels are not allowed to marry, and, though +most of them are in reality married men, they always pretend to be +bachelors. Gradually we made our preparations. Luigi had nearly eight +hundred francs saved, and I had about four hundred. We spent about three +hundred in getting our furniture and linen and so on, and Luigi took an +apartment in the Borgo Santo Jacopo. I chose the house because it is +directly opposite the Albergo della Stella, and I knew that I should +feel happier if I could look across the river to the hotel lights and +think that my Luigi was there. We were married on the morning of the +30th of August, and when we had been _promessi sposi_ for six months. +The religious marriage was just after the early mass [five o'clock], and +we all walked over together to the church. I felt quite calm,--not +frightened at all; but when, four hours later, we had to go over to the +Palazzo Vecchio for the civil marriage, I was all tears and trembling. +However, that passed, like other things. We had quite a fine wedding +breakfast. Marc Antonio had brought a friend of his, a nice, quiet man, +who was a very good cook. He was out of place just then, and he had +offered to cook for us if we would give him his breakfast. We had a +mixed fry, and macaroni, and _ravaioli_, and a melon, one course after +another, just like signori. Everybody had a good appetite, except Luigi +and me, and La Mamma said that it did her soul good to hear the sound of +frying in the house. _Poverina!_ she did not often hear it. Well, after +breakfast we all took a walk in the country, and when we came home again +Flavia began to prepare supper, but Luigi said no, _we_ must go home, +that our supper was waiting for us there. So I put my bonnet on, and +then, when we were ready to say good-by, every one burst into tears,--La +Mamma, and Flavia, and Fausta, and Marc Antonio and his wife, and I, and +even Luigi, though he said afterward he was sure he did not know why. +And how we all embraced! The signora would have thought that we were +going over the sea, instead of just across the Ponte Vecchio. At last we +went away arm in arm, and when we got to our own home there I found that +Luigi had arranged the table so nicely, just as he used to do at the +_albergo_, and had put a bunch of flowers in the centre. So we sat down +to supper, and pretended to be signori just for that one evening. + +The next day, being Sunday, we all went to high mass at the Duomo, and I +wore my new wedding-gown of black cashmere. In the afternoon we went +out to Certosa; and that was the end of my wedding-journey, for the next +morning Luigi had to go back to his work at the _albergo_, and I had to +take up my sewing again. It seemed so strange to be sitting down to work +in my own house, and to look across the Arno at the great _albergo_ and +think that I had a husband there. Luigi could not come home as often as +he longed to do, because he had but two free nights in the week. And he +dared scarcely look out of the window, for fear some one should suspect +that he was married, and then he would have lost his place. However, +everything went well. We have been married eight years now, and, what +with Luigi's fifty francs a month, and the _incerti_ [_pour-boires_] and +my work, we do pretty well. Luigi, thank God, is a good man, faithful +and true and kind. I have never heard an angry word from him yet. And +then he has no faults,--he does not smoke, or drink wine, or gamble; and +regularly every month he brings me all his money to take care of. He is +such a good son to La Mamma, too. He would never take a mouthful of food +until he had helped her; and if a famine came to Florence, and there was +but a piece of bread between Luigi and La Mamma, he would make her eat +it, I know. Si, signora, we all live together now; La Mamma takes care +of our little boy, and Flavia is head-woman in Madama Castagna's +workroom, while I go out by the day, as I always did. It is a little +harder for us this winter than usual, because there are so few +_forestieri_. It really seemed as if the _alberghi_ would never open. +Luigi said that every evening there would be a crowd of people--waiters, +and _facchini_, and so on--waiting at the door of the _albergo_ and +begging for work. And the _padrone_ [landlord] used to say, "Find me the +_forestieri_, and I'll find you the work." My Luigi is such a good +servant that the _padrone_ keeps him employed all the year round; but he +felt very anxious this winter when he saw how few _forestieri_ there +were, and tried to save in every possible way. But, thank God, he never +grudges La Mamma anything, and she often says that these are her +happiest days. She still works at knitting stockings, and braiding +straw, and such light work; and she takes our baby boy out to walk twice +a day, and every day at noon, rain or shine, she goes to mass. Many a +quiet hour she has now in church to pray for Babbo, whom she never +forgets, and for all of us. Then when we all come home from our work we +have such pleasant evenings. I tell about the fine gowns I make for my +ladies, and Luigi has so many stories about the grand _forestieri_ and +all their strange caprices, and then Marc Antonio and his wife come in, +and he tells us about the ladies and gentlemen he drives out in his +_vettura_, and she describes the fine linen she makes for her ladies. +Well, if signori live for nothing else, they give us a great deal of +pleasure. + +Si, signora, we still live in the same apartment in the Borgo Santo +Jacopo, on the south side of the Arno. I would not go away, because when +my husband is at the _albergo_ I can look across the river and think +that he is there. Very often when I sit up late at my work, and all the +rest are asleep and Luigi at the _albergo_, I look over the river, and +the lights at the "Stella" seem to keep me company. Luigi, too, watches +my light. I always sit by my window and keep my lamp there, so that he +may know how late I work. Well, here is the signora's gown quite +finished, and the end of my poor story. So good-night, signora, and may +the good Lord send the signora a happy New Year! + + MARIE L. THOMPSON. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[B] This true history--a picture, in its general features, of thousands +of lives--is given, as nearly as possible, exactly as it fell from the +lips of the narrator. + + + + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + + +Tourgéneff's Idea of Bazaroff. + +A volume containing several hundred of Tourgéneff's letters was +published last winter in St. Petersburg by the "Society for Assisting +Impecunious Authors and Scholars." It is to be followed by a second, and +the proceeds are to be devoted to the foundation of a "Tourgéneff +Memorial Fund." The whole collection will, we may hope, be translated +into English. The following extracts relate chiefly to the character +which is considered by many readers his finest creation, but which, as +is well known, made him for a time very unpopular in Russia: + + BOUGIVAL, August 18, 1871. + +DEAR A. P.,--Although you do not ask me for a reply, and do not seem to +wish for one, yet the confidence which you have reposed in me and the +feeling of sympathy and respect which you have awakened in me make it my +duty to say a few words to you about your letter.... What? You say, too, +that I meant to caricature the youth of Russia in Bazaroff? you repeat +this--pardon the frankness of the expression--nonsensical accusation? +Bazaroff,--this is my favorite child, for whose sake I quarrelled with +Katkoff, upon whom I used all the color at my command. Bazaroff, this +fine mind, this hero, a caricature? But it seems that there is nothing +to be done in the case. Just as people accuse Louis Blanc to this day, +in spite of all his protestations, of having introduced the national +workshops, they attribute to me a wish to represent our youth as a +caricature. I have long regarded the slander with contempt: I did not +expect the feeling to be renewed on reading your letter. + +Now to turn to your "elderly lady,"--that is, to current criticism, to +the public. Like every elderly person, she holds fast to preconceived +ideas, however preposterous they may be. For example, she is perpetually +asserting that since my "Annals of a Sportsman" my works are weak, +because, having lived abroad, I cannot know Russia. But this accusation +can touch only what I have written since 1863; for until then--_i.e._, +until my forty-fifth year--I lived almost uninterruptedly in Russia, +except in 1848-49, when I wrote the "Annals of a Sportsman," while +"Roudine," "A Nest of Nobles," "Ellen," and "Fathers and Sons" were +written in Russia. But all that means nothing to the "elderly person:" +_son siège est fait_. + +The second weakness of the elderly one is that she persistently follows +the fashion. At present the fashion in literature is politics. +Everything non-political is for her rubbish and nonsense. + +It is somewhat inconvenient to defend one's own works; but--fancy it!--I +cannot even admit that "Stuk-Stuk" is nonsense. "What is it, then?" you +will ask. It is this: it is a study of the Russian suicide epidemic, +which rarely presents anything poetic or pathetic, but almost always +results, on the contrary, from ambition, narrowness, with a mixture of +mysticism or fatalism. You will object that my study is not successful. +Possibly not; but I wished to point you to the right and fitness of +investigating purely psychological (non-political and non-social) +questions. + +The elderly person reproaches me further with having no convictions. As +an answer to that, my thirty years of literary activity will suffice. +For no line which I have written have I had cause to blush, none have I +had occasion to repudiate. Let another say this of himself. However, let +the elderly person babble. I have not heeded her hitherto: I shall not +begin now. + +I do not know whether I shall write my novel; and I know in advance that +it will have many defects.... But, permit me, dear A. P., why do not the +oncoming young people take this task upon themselves? The old ones +would gladly yield them place and honor, and would be the first to +rejoice at the accession of new forces. But in the literary arena there +figure the contributors to the "Djelo"[C] such as H. + +You see, dear A. P., that you are not alone in being able to speak the +whole truth, regardless of consequences. I hope you too will not be +angry because of it, and will at least take notice of what I am saying. + +I am still suffering from gout,--have reached Bougival, but still go +about upon crutches, and shall hardly reach Paris within a month. You +may be sure that I shall return the portfolio safely. + + BOUGIVAL, September 11, 1874. + +Your letter is so sweet and friendly, dear A. P., that I shall not delay +answering it. You began with Bazaroff; I will begin with him too. You +look for him in real life, and you do not find him. I will tell you why, +at once. The times are changed; Bazaroffs are not needed now. For the +social activity that is before us neither extraordinary talent nor even +extraordinary mental power is needed; nothing great, distinguished, very +individual. Industry and patience are required. Men and women must be +ready to sacrifice themselves without fame or glory, must be able to +conquer, having no fear of petty, obscure, necessary, elementary work. +What, for instance, can be more necessary or elementary than teaching +the peasant to read and write, helping him to get hospitals, etc.? Of +what use are talents, even learning, for such work? One needs only a +heart that can sacrifice its own egotism. You cannot even speak of a +profession in the case (much less of our friend Blank's star). A sense +of duty, the magnificent feeling of patriotism in the true sense of the +word,--that is all that is needed. Bazaroff was the type of "one sent +with a message," a great figure, gifted with a definite charm, not +without a certain aureole. All that is not needed now, and it is +ridiculous to speak of heroes and artists of work. Brilliant figures in +literature will probably not appear. Those who plunge into politics will +only destroy themselves in vain. This is all true; but many cannot +reconcile themselves at first to the fact, to the uncongenial _milieu_, +to this modest resolve, especially such responsive and enthusiastic +women as yourself. They may say what they please, they want to be +charmed, carried away. You yourself say that you wish to bow in +reverence; but before _useful_ people one does not bow in reverence. We +are entering an era of _merely useful_ people; and these will be the +best. Of these there will probably be many, of beautiful, charming +workers very few. And in the very search for a Bazaroff--a living +one--is perhaps unconsciously betrayed the thirst for beauty, naturally +of a single peculiar type. All these illusions one must get rid of. + +I should not have reproached your acquaintances with a want of talent if +they had not made pretensions. If they were plodding workers, they would +leave nothing to be desired; but when they loom up and claim admiration, +one cannot pass on without reminding them that they have no right to our +admiration. + +Ah, A. P.! we shall see no typical characters, none of those new +creations of whom people talk so much. The life of the people is +undergoing a process of development and--throughout the whole mass--of +decomposition and recomposition: it needs helpers, not leaders, and only +at the end of this period will important, original figures appear. I +have just said that you will not see them. You are still young. You will +live to see the day: as for me, that is another thing. + +For the present, let us learn our A, B, C, and teach others, do good +gradually, in which you are already making progress. The letter from +your son, which I herewith return, is warm and good. May he, too, enter +the ranks of the useful workers and servants of the people, as we once +had servants of the Czar! + + PARIS, January 3, 1876. + +TO M. E. SALTIKOFF:[D]--I received your letter yesterday, dear Michael +Jefgrafowitch, and, as you see, I do not delay the answer. Your letter +is by no means "dull and blunt," as you say. On the contrary, it is very +good and sensible. It gave me pleasure. There hovers about it some power +and better health, in sharp contrast with its immediate predecessor, +which was an extremely gloomy production. Besides, I am by no means +cheerful myself at present: this is the third day in bed with gout. + +Now a line or two as to "Fathers and Sons," seeing that you have +mentioned the subject. Do you really believe that all that you reproach +me with never entered my own mind? For this reason I wish not to vanish +from the scene before I finish my comprehensive novel, which I think +will clear up many misunderstandings and place me where and as I belong. +However, I do not wonder that Bazaroff has remained a riddle for many +persons: I cannot understand clearly how I conceived him. There was--do +not laugh--something more powerful than the author himself, something +independent of him. I know only this,--there was no preconceived idea in +me then, no "novel with a purpose" in my thought: I wrote naïvely, as if +I myself wondered at what came of it.... + +Tell me, on your conscience, whether comparison with Bazaroff could be +an affront to any one. Don't you perceive yourself that he is the most +congenial of all my characters? "A certain fine perfume" is an invention +of the reader's; but I am prepared to admit (and have already admitted +in print in my "Recollections") that I had no right to give our +reactionary mob an opportunity to make of a nickname a name. The author +ought to have sacrificed himself to the citizen; and I therefore +recognize as justified the estrangement of our youth from me, and all +possible reproaches. The question of the time was more important than +artistic truth, and I ought to have known this in advance. + +I have only to say once more, wait for my novel, and, until then, do not +be indignant that, in order not to grow unaccustomed to the pen, I write +slight insignificant things. Who knows?--perhaps it may yet be given to +me to fire the hearts of men. + +An entertaining writer in the sense of G----wa I shall never be. I would +rather be a stupid writer. + +But now--_basta_! + +I greet you and press your hand most cordially. + + IVAN SERGEWITCH TOURGÉNEFF. + + +Old Songs and Sweet Singers. + + I cannot sing the old songs now: + It is not that I deem them low, + But that I have forgotten how + They go, + +wrote Calverley in his delightful drollery about the advances of old +age. Nevertheless he made a mistake, for old songs cling tenaciously to +the consciousness; and memory, are retained when everything else in +heart and mind has been blurred over, and of all the magic mirrors which +reflect back our lives for us the most effective is a melody linked to +words which moved us in our youth. When an orchestra stops playing its +waltzes and mazourkas of the latest fashion and takes up the strains of +"Kathleen Mavourneen," "Oft in the Stilly Night," or "Robin Adair," one +may readily observe a change come over the older part of the crowd who +listen. The familiar air is like a shell murmuring in their ears sweet, +far-off, imperishable memories of youth, and that special epoch of youth +best described as "_les heureux jours où l'on était si malheureux!_" It +is an experience worth having to have heard the great singers, but it is +not of the great singers that I wish to speak here. I fancy that it is +with others as with myself, and, in my early days at least, music +wrought its chief enchantments and most perfectly allied itself with +the great world of fantasy and imagination when I heard it in my own +home, or at least quietly and privately, and when its influence was of a +constant and regular kind. Why is it that literature, which enshrines so +much of what is personal and actual and a part of ideal autobiography, +says so little of singers, although the song which moves us, rummaging +among our old memories and, to our surprise and delight, bringing back +clear pictures, is generally linked to the sweet singer who sang it, who +interpreted it for us and made it a part of our imaginative possessions? +Heroines of novels are rarely singers, or, if they sing, abstain from +effective music, and have soft, soothing voices, "as if they only sang +at twilight." Heroines of course have to be heroines and nothing else. +"Soothing, unspeakable charm of gentle womanhood," wrote George Eliot, +"which supersedes all acquisitions, all accomplishments. You would never +have asked at any period of Mrs. Amos Barton's life if she sketched or +played the piano. You would perhaps have been rather scandalized if she +had descended from the serene dignity of _being_ to the assiduous unrest +of _doing_." However, when he recalls the female singers he has known, +any man will grant that they have been almost without exception very +charming women. A really good singer must possess in absolute equipoise +ardor and calm. But the first singer I ever heard who made me feel +upborne by the music and floated as by the sweep of wings was a man with +a high, melancholy, piercingly sweet tenor voice. He had a pale, +striking face, with a mobile mouth, intensely brilliant blue eyes, a +lofty forehead, and his fine, scanty brown hair hung low on his neck. As +he sang with lifted head and eyes which gazed steadfastly before him, he +seemed rapt and inspired. Were I to paint an angel I should try to seize +his lineaments and the glory shining on his pale face. The song I loved +best to hear him sing was Schubert's "Erl-King," which thrilled me with +a sense of terror and mystery and made me tremble like a harp-string in +response to his piercingly clear tones. Ever and anon, as I listened to +the child's cry of "Oh, father, my father!" I was clutched by the icy +hand of the awful phantom he had invoked. Does anybody sing Schubert's +songs nowadays, or are they invariably left to the violins, which can +interpret their "eternal passion, eternal pain," so thrillingly? I +never, I regret to say, heard the "Serenade" sung in a way which seemed +to me adequate,--not to compare with the way in which Remenyi plays it. +Those wonderful lyrical instruments the violin, the 'cello, and the +flute have an almost exclusive right nowadays to some of the greatest +songs. Few singers attempt the "Adelaïde" or "Che faro?" + +I like to recall the first time I ever heard "Che faro senza Eurydice?" +A musical _matinée_ was given to an elegant elderly woman, Mrs. P----, +who had had a wide social reputation as an accomplished singer. She was +still mistress of all the technique of her art, but her voice was worn +and it was not easily conceded that she was a delightful vocalist. Many +of her songs seemed like the ghosts of the blissful happy songs she had +sung in her youth. There was something half painful in their jocund +gayety and archness. I went far away from the piano and seated myself +with a group of young people, paying little attention to the music. +Presently, however, a strain sought me out, a sweet, passionately +reiterated strain: it seemed to be supplicating, imploring; it filled me +with a restless pain. That cry of "Eurydice!" "Eurydice!" so beseeching, +so passionate, so exhausted by longing, drew me with an irresistible +power. Gluck certainly achieved the effect he attempted, and showed us +what the fabled power of Orpheus was. + +Certain songs of indifferent worth often gain charm to us, although it +is only the greatest music which has the supreme power of expressing the +highest thoughts of man and the most ardent longings of his soul. But +there was a time when I found inconceivable sweetness in certain +ballads of Abt, and the like. Sara X----, a lovely youthful creature, +with a frank, beautiful smile, used to sing them, sitting down at the +piano and going on from one song to another, generally beginning with +"The Bells are Hushed," which silenced the room when twenty people were +buzzing flirtation and gossip. One line of that song, as she sang it, +draws the heart out of me still as I remember it: + + Sleep well, sleep well, + And let thy lovely eyelids close. + +The sentiment such songs arouse is soft but poignant. Some songs--the +"Adelaïde," for example--are songs to make one commit suicide. But this +sort of music stirs and delights while it mocks with the sweetness which +soothes us not. "She kept me awake all night, as a strain of Mozart's +might do," Keats wrote of his Charmian. There was no song this special +songstress sang which she did not make her own by a peculiar and +powerful effort. Her instinct was to rouse, charm, fascinate her little +audience. Not to move her hearers was to her not to sing, and when she +sang as she wished she could sweep away his world of ideas from her +listener and recreate a new one. In one song, an Italian composition +called "The Dream," she always seemed to be carried beyond herself. In +reading Tourgéneff's description of Iakof's singing I could only think +of Sara X----: "Iakof became more and more excited; completely master of +himself, he gave himself up entirely to the inspiration that had taken +possession of him. His voice no longer trembled; it no longer betrayed +anything but the emotion of passion, that emotion that so rapidly +communicates itself to the hearers. One evening I was by the sea when +the tide was coming in; the murmur of the waves was becoming more and +more distinct. I saw a gull motionless on the shore, with its white +breast facing the purplish sea; from time to time it spread its enormous +wings and seemed to greet the incoming waves and the disk of the sun. +This came to my mind at that moment." And as I read these words of +Tourgéneff's, Sara X---- singing "The Dream" came to my mind. + +A less dramatic singer, but an incomparable singer of Scotch ballads, +and indeed of all ballads, at the same period of my life made an +imperishable impression upon my mind. Nothing can surpass certain Scotch +ballads for the faculty of quickening into susceptibility the elementary +poetry which underlies human nature. Every man and every woman becomes +again an individual man, an individual woman, who is moved by "John +Anderson, my Jo, John," or "Auld Robin Gray." Never was so sweet a voice +as this singer's, never did woman have a higher gift of rescuing the +soul from every-day use and wont and giving it glimpses from the +mountain-summit and the thrill and inspiration which come from the wider +view and the purer air. She gave her gift, she enriched the world, and +her songs are still incorporate in the hearts and souls of those who +loved her. + +We do not hear songs enough in our every-day life; and even from the +singers on the boards the best songs are rarely heard. There are many +songs I should like to repeat the mere name of, so much it means to me; +but it might not carry the same music to others. Dr. Johnson said of a +certain work, "There should come out such a book every thirty years, +dressed in the words of the times." So there should appear at least +twice in every decade of each man's and woman's life an unsurpassed +singer of old songs, who should give us not only the "Adelaïde," but +"Mignon," "The Serenade," the "Adieu," and all the many-colored ballads +on love,--plain, fantastic, descriptive, sad, and sweet,--so that we +might enjoy an epitome of our life-long musical pleasures, and not have +to cry, like Faust, but in vain, "Give me my youth again." + + L. M. + + +A Chess Village. + +The all-pervading influence of chess observable in that peculiar region +described in "Through the Looking-Glass" is hardly less perceptible in +the little, antiquated German village of Ströbeck, not far from +Halberstadt. In the eleventh century this village was noted for the +devotion of its people to chess, and they have kept this characteristic +feature down to the present day. All the inhabitants, except the very +small children, are chess-players of more or less skill, and the game is +to them what the world-renowned Passion-play is to the Oberammergauers. + +A great many notable men have visited Ströbeck at various times on +account of its reputation as a chess-playing community. The +council-house contains numerous memorials of these visits, which the +villagers take pride in showing to strangers. Among the most highly +prized of these memorials are a board and chessmen which were presented +to the village in 1651 by Kurfürst Frederick William of Brandenburg. + +In June, 1885, the chess societies of the Hartz districts held a +"_Schachcongress_," or chess convention, at this appropriate place. +Besides the regularly-appointed delegates, a large number of visitors +came from various parts of Germany, many of whom were players of wide +repute. Among the latter was Herr Schalopp, well known as one of the +best chess-players of Berlin. While at Ströbeck, Schalopp played games +with thirty-seven persons at the same time. He won thirty-four of the +games, and two of the three opponents whom he did not defeat were an old +woman of the village, and her grandson, a boy of thirteen. + +The convention lasted several days, and the villagers won a large +proportion of the silver-ware, chess-boards, and other prizes offered +for victory. Every house contains prizes which had been won in such +contests on former occasions. The visitors were very much surprised at +the fine playing of the village children, who, before the convention +adjourned, gave a special exhibition of their skill in the game. The +time characteristically chosen for this juvenile tournament was Sunday +afternoon. Of course the early development of these small chess-players +must have been caused principally by frequent practice and constant +study of the game; but students of psychology might find in it an +instance of transmitted tendency and the inherited effect of a certain +habit of thought. + +Such a rustic society as Ströbeck could hardly exist anywhere but in +Germany. The Italian peasants, who give so much of their time to _loto_, +are generally too lazy to make the mental exertion required for chess, +while in most other European countries the rural population of the lower +class entertain themselves chiefly with fights between dogs, cocks, or +men who are but little superior to either. Here in the United States +there are, no doubt, lovers of chess in nearly every village or small +town, as well as in the cities; but in comparison with that of base-ball +or roller-skating its popularity is nowhere great enough to be taken +into account as an indication of mental tendencies or characteristics. + + W. W. C. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[C] A review of which the belles-lettres department is feeble, but which +publishes excellent articles in other departments. + +[D] Known in Russian literature as Tschtedrin, one of the ablest +satirists, editor until last year of the leading scientific literary +review, now suppressed on account of its radical tendencies. + + + + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY + + + "The Congo, and the Founding of its Free State: A Story of Work + and Exploration." By Henry M. Stanley. Two Volumes. New York: + Harper & Brothers. + +It is not as the geographical discoverer and explorer--except +incidentally and to a limited extent--that Mr. Stanley appears in these +volumes. It is as Bula Matari,--"Breaker of Rocks,"--making roads and +bridges, establishing stations, pushing the outposts of civilization +into the heart of Africa. He no longer fights his way through hostile +tribes or seeks to avoid their notice, anxious only to penetrate an +unknown region, secure his own safety and that of his followers, and +report his achievements, leaving no trace behind except a recollection +as of some fiery meteor that had vanished without its portents being +apprehended. He returns to make the signification clear, a harbinger not +of disasters, but of a wonderful new era of peace and prosperity. He +bestows lavish gifts, negotiates treaties, purchases territorial rights, +and devotes himself to the task of opening avenues to trade and +preparing the way for colonization. The same energy and pluck, the same +spirit of persistence, that triumphed over the obstacles and dangers of +his earlier enterprises are again called into play, combined with the +suavity and patience demanded for the attainment of the present object +and permitted by the ample means at his disposal and the freedom from +any necessity for impetuous haste or hazardous adventures. Experience, +counsel, and the sense of higher responsibilities have brought a calmer +judgment and greater steadiness of action, but the boyish temperament +has not lost its sway, and more than one crisis is brought to a happy +issue by methods in which a love of fun mingles with sagacity and +foresight and renders their measures more effective. + +The work undertaken by the Association of which Mr. Stanley was the +agent is of a purely initiatory character. The acquisition of territory +and of certain rights of sovereignty under treaties with local chiefs +constitutes the "founding" of the "Congo Free State," which has obtained +the recognition of the European powers and become one of the contracting +parties to the articles adopted by the recent Conference at Berlin for +regulating the commercial and political status of the river-basins of +Central Africa. Under these articles absolute freedom of trade, +intercourse, and settlement is secured to the people of all nations +throughout a region of vast extent and unsurpassed fertility, rich in +natural products, not so densely peopled as to resist or restrict any +conceivable schemes of colonization, yet offering in its numerous +village populations material sufficiently available for the needs of +industry and commerce and amenable to philanthropic influences. The +preparatory labors, which leave no room for doubt on this point, have +been already accomplished, with the exception of what Mr. Stanley +regards as the sure and indispensable means of opening up the resources +of the country,--viz., the construction of a railway around the rapids +that impede the navigation of the Congo. That this crowning enterprise +would be highly and immediately remunerative he considers easily +demonstrable. "To-day," he writes, "fifty-two thousand pounds are paid +per annum for porterage between Stanley Pool and the coast, by native +traders, the International Association, and three missions, which is +equal to five and one-half per cent. on the nine hundred and forty +thousand pounds said to be needed to construct the railway to the Pool. +But let the Vivi and Stanley Pool railroad be constructed, and it would +require an army of grenadiers to prevent the traders from moving on to +secure the favorite places in the commercial El Dorado of Africa." It +is, of course, to European capitalists that Mr. Stanley addresses his +appeal; and when it is remembered that their least profitable +investments have not been those which aided in the development of +barbarous countries, it seems not improbable that at no remote period a +sufficient portion of the riches that so continually make themselves +wings and fly away to distant quarters of the globe may seek the banks +of the Congo in preference to those of the Hudson or the Wabash. + +While holding out this tempting bait to merchants, manufacturers, and +the moneyed classes generally, Mr. Stanley declines to dilate upon the +advantages of the Congo basin as a field for immigration. That portion +of it which in his view "is blessed with a temperature under which +Europeans may thrive and multiply" is at present inaccessible to +settlers. It is "the cautious trader, who advances, not without the +means of retreat," who is to act as the pioneer and the missionary of +civilization, stimulating and directing the industry of the natives. The +suppression of the internal slave-trade is another object to be aimed +at,--one which Mr. Stanley, in an address recently delivered in London, +held up as capable of accomplishment by an outlay of five thousand +pounds a year. What rebate should be made, on this point and on others, +from the anticipations which a sanguine temperament, that has enabled +its possessor to struggle with so many difficulties and to achieve so +many enterprises, would naturally tend to heighten and render glowing, +is a question that may be reserved for those whom it directly concerns. +Equatorial Africa is not likely ever to become the home of a white +population, but it need not for that reason be left to "stew in its own +juice." On the contrary, it offers on that very account a fit subject +for the experiment, which has nowhere yet been adequately tried, of +developing latent capacities for progress in races that have raised +themselves above the level of absolute savagery without attaining to +those ideals which, never wholly realized, are essential to continuous +improvement. It has been found easy to enslave, to debase, to +exterminate races in this condition, while the ill success of efforts to +enlighten and elevate them has led to the inference that this is +impracticable. The trial, however, will not have been made till the +counteracting influences have ceased to act, or at least to predominate, +and time has been allowed for hidden forces that may possibly exist to +be called into play. As Mr. Stanley observes, "It is out of the +fragments of warring myriads that the present polished nations of Europe +have sprung. Had a few of those waves of races flowing and eddying over +Northern Africa succeeded in leaping the barrier of the equator, we +should have found the black aboriginal races of Southern Africa very +different from the savages we meet to-day." + +It was the spirit in which Mr. Stanley labored--the ardor and +hopefulness, the unfailing patience and good temper, with which he +applied himself to the task of cultivating the good will and securing +the co-operation of the natives--that made his enterprise a success. +With some exceptions, for which he gives ample credit, his European +subordinates seem to have been a constant source of embarrassment. +Possibly there may have been on his own part a lack of that +administrative ability which, acquired through discipline, imparts the +skill and power to enforce it. At all events, it is the sympathy and +humor with which he portrays his innumerable "blood-brothers"--greedy, +cunning, and capricious, but untainted with ferocity, and consequently +manageable, like children, by a judicious blending of severity and +indulgence--that give interest and charm to his narrative. It has many +faults and deficiencies which in a work of greater literary pretensions +would be inexcusable. The grammatical blunders with which it abounds +are the least annoying, since their grossness makes it easy for the +reader to supply mentally the needed correction without effort or +consideration. Looseness of diction, repetitions and redundancies of all +kinds, and, above all, a frequent lack of clearness and vividness both +in statement and description, are more serious impediments to the wish +to gain comprehension and instruction. Like most untrained writers, Mr. +Stanley imagines that, with a sufficiency of matter, it is only +necessary to refrain from striving after picturesque effects or ornate +embellishments in order to attain the qualities of clearness and +simplicity. Happily, the impulsiveness that betrays itself in his style +seems to have been kept well under control in the management of his +enterprise. It is always, indeed, apparent as a leading characteristic, +but it breaks loose only on occasions when it may be safely and not +unattractively displayed. + + + "Life of Frank Buckland." By his Brother-in-Law, George C. + Bompas. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Philadelphia: J. B. + Lippincott Company. + +There is a story told of Sir Edwin Landseer's being presented to the +King of Portugal, who impressively greeted the famous painter with, "I +am rejoiced to make your acquaintance, Sir Edwin Landseer, _I am so fond +of beasts_." An equally ardent sympathy with Frank Buckland's specialty +was necessary to his friends while he was alive, and is required by +those who read this delightful, bizarre, and admirable history of a man +whose fellow-feeling for all creatures endowed with life was as broad +and comprehensive as Dame Nature's for all her children. He had, it +might seem, no antipathies. Everything excited his interest, curiosity, +and tenderness. Bears, eagles, vipers, jackals, hedgehogs, and snakes +roomed with him. He not only lived on intimate terms with his zoological +curiosities, petting them, training them, studying them, but he finally +ate them. As Douglas Jerrold said of the New Zealanders, "Very +economical people. We only kill our enemies; they eat 'em. We hate our +foes to the last: while there's no learning in the end how Zealanders +are brought to relish 'em." + +It had been the elder Buckland's habit to try strange dishes. While he +was Dean of Westminster, hedgehogs, tortoises, potted ostrich, and +occasionally rats, frogs, and snails, were served up for the +delectation of favored guests, and alligator was considered a rare +delicacy. "Party at the Deanery," one guest notes: "tripe for dinner; +don't like crocodile for breakfast." Thus freed, to begin with, from the +trammels of habit and prejudice, there was little in the way of fish, +flesh, or fowl which Frank Buckland did not sooner or later try, with +various results. For instance, to quote from his diary: + +"March 9. Party of Huxley, Blagden, Rolfs. Had the lump-fish for dinner; +very good,--something like turtle. + +"March 10. Rather seedy from lump-fish." + +And again: + +"B---- called: had a viper for luncheon." + +He held a theory that from popular ignorance and superstition much +wholesome material is wasted which might be made useful not only in +satisfying hunger, but in cheapening the prices of the foods which new +control the market. The "Acclimatization Society" was formed by his +influence, at the inaugural dinner of which everything that grows on the +face of the earth and under the waters was partaken of, from kangaroo +hams to sea-slugs. These various studies and experiments, all entered +into with unequalled spirit and audacity, led up finally to the great +work of Frank Buckland's life, which was the restocking of the +watercourses of his own and other countries with the trout and salmon +which had once teemed in them, but had been driven away by man's +encroachments. The success of his system of fish-culture is too well +known to require comment, having had the happiest results in all +countries in which it has been introduced. But the perils and +vicissitudes encountered in procuring the ova are little realized by +most people. "Salmon-egg collecting," Frank Buckland wrote in 1878, "is +one of the most difficult, and I may say dangerous, tasks that fall to +my lot." And it was, indeed, the frightful exposure attending this +search for spawn on a bitter January day in the icy waters of the North +Tyne that shortened his bright, useful career. + +The biography is most instructive and valuable, besides being highly +interesting. And Frank Buckland's life was by far too rich and too +many-sided to allow anything less than his full history to give an +adequate idea of his patience, his fidelity of purpose, his love of +work, and his joy in accomplishment. The birthday entries in his diary +almost invariably disclose his satisfaction and comfort in his own life +and endeavors: "December 17, 1870. My birthday. I am very thankful to +God to allow me so much prosperity and happiness on my forty-fourth +birthday, and that I have been enabled to work so well. I trust he may +spare me for many more years to go on with my work." + +The book abounds in droll stories, some quite new, and some already +given in his lectures and natural-history papers. He generally travelled +with some curious collections in his pockets or in bottles; and, whether +these were rats, vipers, snails, or frogs, by some strange fatality they +were certain to get loose and turn up among his fellow-passengers in car +or diligence. To twine snakes around the necks and arms of young ladies +playing quadrilles was another harmless joke. "Don't be afraid," he +would say: "they won't hurt you. And do be a good girl, and don't make a +fuss." He possessed an easy gift of adapting scientific theories and +deductions to popular interest and comprehension, and his "Curiosities +in Natural History" and other writings undoubtedly gave a strong impulse +to the tastes of this generation, of which the many out-of-doors papers +on birds, game, and the habits of all living creatures are the result. + + + "George Eliot's Poetry, and Other Studies." By Rose Elizabeth + Cleveland. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. + +Miss Cleveland's book shows wide reading, study, painstaking +discrimination, enthusiastic zeal, and, above all, the never-failing +impulse of an individual idea. It reveals on every page a healthy, +well-poised womanly nature, and the opinions advanced are a part of the +conscience and moral being as well as of the intellect. The author has +fed her mind and heart with high dreams and lofty ideals, and it is not +only a pleasure to her to disclose them, but a sacred duty as well. + +"When a high thought comes," she writes in "Reciprocity," "we owe that +thought to the world. A great deal of this interment of our best +thought-life is justified to ourselves by the plea that such thoughts +are too sacred for utterance: a wretched sophistry, a miserable excuse +for what is really our fear of criticism." There is nothing trivial or +false about the critical and ethical views which Miss Cleveland gives +bravely, although they are not invariably rendered with the felicity and +pointed phrase which come from a careful selection of words and symbols. +She is a little dazzled by the flowers and fruitage of a fancy which +most of us are compelled to curb and prune to meet the requisitions of +time and space. These papers were prepared chiefly, the dedication tells +us, for schools and colleges, and a little of the pedantry and ample +leisure of a teacher who has his audience safe under his own control is +apparent in them. Little goes without saying; the whole story is told; +yet it is always easy to put aside the parasitical growth and get at the +solid and useful idea. The book was not written for critics who desire +to have everything summed up in a single sentence, and who are apt to +praise the volumes which encumber the book-seller's shelves rather than +those which run through seven editions in as many days. + +Like most other American essayists, she has couched many of her phrases +and ideas in the Emersonian mould. Her sentences are short; she uses a +homely illustration by preference. "Independence," she says, "in an +absolute sense is an impossibility. The nature of things is against it. +The human soul was not made to contain itself. It was made to spill +over, and it does and will spill over, always as _quid pro quo_, +wherever lodged, to the end of time."... "There is a vast amount of +thinking which ought to be in the market. We hold our best thoughts and +give our second best."... "We do a good deal of shirking in this life on +the ground of not being geniuses. The truth is, there is an immense +amount of humbug lurking in the folds of those specious theories about +genius. Let a man or woman go to work at a thing, and the genius will +take care of itself." + +Miss Cleveland has gathered a large audience, and it is a satisfaction +to feel in reading her book that she holds her place before them with +invariable good sense, high faith, and a dignity which commands respect. + + + "Aulnay Tower." By Blanche Willis Howard. Boston: Ticknor & Co. + +There is a good situation in "Aulnay Tower," but the book may be said to +be all situation, with little movement, no development, and the very +slightest free play of character and motive. The scene is laid at the +château of the Marquis de Montauban, not far from Paris, at the moment +in the Franco-German war when Sedan had been fought, the emperor was a +prisoner, and the Germans were investing the capital. The marquis, his +niece the Countess Nathalie de Vallauris, and his chaplain the Abbé de +Navailles, in spite of orders from General Trochu, have remained at this +country-seat, apparently indifferent to passing events. Thus it is a +rude awakening when they find the Germans knocking at the castle doors +and demanding entertainment for the officers of the Saxon grenadiers, +who are quartered upon them during most of the time occupied by the +siege of Paris. + +Here, then, is the situation. The Countess Nathalie, a widow of +twenty-three, "a beautiful woman, young, pale, fair-haired, stately and +forbidding," confronts these invaders of her private peace and enemies +of her country, intending to freeze them by her haughtiness, her +indifference, her disdain, but carries away even from the first +encounter a haunting and rankling recollection of a tall man in blue; +while the tall man in blue, Adjutant von Nordenfels, "from the moment +she stood before the officers in her cold protest and unrelenting +pride," was madly in love with the countess. The feelings of these two +young people being thus from the first removed from the region of doubt +and conjecture, what few slight obstacles contrive to separate them for +a time carry little weight with the reader. There is a dearth of +incident which the side-play of the coquettish maid, Nathalie's +_femme-de-chambre_, fails to relieve. The marquis and Manette are the +traditional nobleman and soubrette, and flourish before us all the +adjuncts of the stage. We give a fragment from a soliloquy of Manette's +which suggests the foot-lights and an enforced "wait" in a comedy during +a change of dress for the principal actors: "I adore Countess Nathalie, +and am thankful for my blessings. And yet I have my disappointments, my +chagrins. To-day, for example, what a field for genius! what a chance +for never-to-be-forgotten impressions! A dozen officers! Not a woman in +Aulnay but madame and me. Oh, just heaven, what possibilities! My rich +imagination dressed us both in the twinkling of an eye. For the +Countess Nathalie gentle severity was the key-note of my +composition,--heavy black silk, of course. There it lies. Elegance and +dignity in the train. Happy surprises in the drapery. Fascination in the +sleeves. Defiance, pride, and patriotism in the high collar, tempered by +regret in the soft ruche.... She would have been a problem and a poem; +while I, in my cheerful reds, my dazzling white, my decisive short +skirts, my piquant shoes, my audacious apron, am a conundrum, a +pleasantry, an epigram." This would be very pretty on the stage, but a +waiting-maid who calls herself an "epigram" passes our imagination under +any other circumstances. In fact, Miss Howard seems to us to be +altogether on a false tack in this novel,--to have utterly abandoned +realism, and in its place to have imposed upon us scenes, characters, +and actuating motives which have figured over and over again in book and +play, and to which she has not succeeded in imparting any special +vivacity or charm. The novel falls far below "Guenn," in which the +author riveted and deepened the impression of her first clever little +book, "One Summer." + + + "Married for Fun." Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + +The title of "Married for Fun," and the plot of the book itself, might +easily suggest its being a screaming farce; and that may actually have +been the intention of the author, although she is at times painfully +serious. A young lady who, after going through a form of marriage to an +utter stranger in a stupid charade, believes herself to be legally his +wife, seems to be practically unfitted for the position of heroine in +anything except a farce. But there is no fun in the book, and a whole +series of absurd and incoherent incidents fail to produce any effect +upon the reader save one of deadly ennui. The narrative, if such a host +of incongruities and imbecilities can be called a narrative, is +perpetually adorned by choice reflections of the author's own, and the +itinerancy of an extended European tour is condensed and added to the +other attractions. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, SEPT 1885 *** + +***** This file should be named 29158-8.txt or 29158-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/1/5/29158/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 18, 2009 [EBook #29158] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, SEPT 1885 *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE.</h1> + +<h2><i>SEPTEMBER, 1885.</i></h2> + +<h4>Copyright, 1885, by J. B. <span class="smcap">Lippincott Company</span>.</h4> + +<p class="notes">Transcriber's notes: Minor typos have been corrected. Table of contents has been +generated for HTML version.</p> + +<h2>Contents</h2> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#ON_THIS_SIDE"><b>ON THIS SIDE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_TRUTH_ABOUT_DOGS"><b>THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#RENAS_WARNING"><b>RENA'S WARNING.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#MUSTER-DAY_IN_NEW_ENGLAND"><b>MUSTER-DAY IN NEW ENGLAND.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_STORY_OF_A_STORY"><b>THE STORY OF A STORY.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SHADOWS_ALL"><b>SHADOWS ALL.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ROSES_OF_YESTERDAY_AND_TO-DAY"><b>ROSES OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#A_HOOSIER_IDYL"><b>A HOOSIER IDYL.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#INTO_THY_HANDS"><b>INTO THY HANDS.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#A_CHAPTER_OF_MYSTERY"><b>A CHAPTER OF MYSTERY.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_STORY_OF_AN_ITALIAN_WORKWOMANS_LIFEB"><b>THE STORY OF AN ITALIAN WORKWOMAN'S LIFE.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#OUR_MONTHLY_GOSSIP"><b>OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#LITERATURE_OF_THE_DAY"><b>LITERATURE OF THE DAY</b></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="ON_THIS_SIDE" id="ON_THIS_SIDE"></a>ON THIS SIDE.</h2> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>Among the inhabitants of the United States there are none that stand so +firmly on the national legs as the Virginians,—though it would be more +correct to contract this statement somewhat, substituting "State" for +"national," since it has never been the habit of Virginians to make +themselves more than very incidentally responsible for thirty-eight +States and ten Territories occupied by persons of mixed race, numerous +religions, objectionable politics, and no safe views about so much as +the proper way to make mint-juleps. When Sir Robert presented himself +one day at the door of a fine old house belonging to the golden age of +ante-bellum prosperity in Caroline County, he was received by two of the +most English Englishmen to be found on this planet, in the persons of +Mr. Edmund and Mr. Gregory Aglonby, brothers, bachelors, and joint-heirs +of the property he had come to look at. These gentlemen received him +with a dignity and antique courtesy irresistibly suggestive of bag-wigs, +short swords, and aristocratic institutions generally, a courtesy +largely mingled with restrained severity and unspoken suspicion until +his identity had been fully established by the letters of introduction +he had brought, his position defined, and his mission in Caroline +clearly set forth. An Englishman out of England was a fact to be +accounted for, not imprudently accepted without due inquiry; but, this +done, the law and traditions of hospitality began to alleviate the +situation and temper justice with mercy. The lady of the house was sent +for, and proved to be a wonderfully pretty old lady, who might have just +got out of a sedan-chair, whose manner was even finer and statelier than +that of her brothers (diminutive as she was in point of mere inches), +and who executed a tremendous courtesy when Sir Robert was presented. +"An English gentleman travelling in this country for pleasure, and +desirous of seeing 'Heart's Content,' Anne Buller," explained the elder +brother. Miss Aglonby's face, which had worn a look of mild interest +during the first part of this speech, clouded perceptibly at its close. +She murmured some mechanical speech of welcome in an almost inaudible +voice, and sat down in a rigid and uncompromising fashion, while her +heart contracted painfully. A gentleman to look at the place: there had +been several such in the last year, who had come, and seen, and objected +to the price, and ridden away again; but perhaps this one might not ride +away, and the uneasy thought tormented her throughout the conversation +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>that followed. The brothers, meanwhile, had quite accepted Sir Robert, +and had insisted, with a calm, authoritative air, on sending for his +"travelling impedimenta," which had been deposited at the hotel in a +neighboring town, and had expressed a lofty hope that he would do them +the honor to consider himself their guest.</p> + +<p>"The <i>res angusta domi</i> will not permit us to entertain you in a manner +befitting your rank and in consonance with our wishes," said Mr. Edmund +Aglonby, in his representative capacity as head of the family, "but, +that consideration waived, I need not say that we shall esteem it an +honor and a pleasure to have you domesticated beneath this roof as long +as you find any satisfaction in remaining."</p> + +<p>"It was not my idea, certainly, to intrude upon you here, but rather to +treat with your solicitor in this matter; but if you find it more +agreeable to set him aside, which between gentlemen is usually +altogether more satisfactory, and will, in addition, allow me to become +your guest for a few days, I can only say that I shall be delighted to +accept your kind hospitality," replied Sir Robert.</p> + +<p>"Brother Gregory, will you see that our guest's effects are at once +transferred to his room here?" said Mr. Aglonby, half turning in his +chair and giving a graceful wave with one of his long, shapely hands +toward the door, after which he bowed with dignified grace to Sir +Robert, and said, "Your decision gives us great satisfaction, sir." Mr. +Gregory Aglonby confirmed this statement in Johnsonian periods before he +left, and tiny Miss Aglonby expressed herself as became a lady who had +been receiving guests in that very room for fifty years with stiff but +genuine courtesy. The atmosphere was so familiar to Sir Robert that he +could scarcely believe himself to be in an American household. Could +this be the American type of his dreams? Was there ever a country in +which the scenes shifted so completely with a few hours or days of +travel? "If this goes on, America will mean everything, anything, to +me," he thought. "When I hear of a Frenchman, or German, or Italian, I +have some idea of what I shall find; but it is not so here at all. This +Mr. Aglonby is quite evidently a gentleman, and a high-bred one; but so +was Porter in Boston, and Colonel De Witt, and those Baltimore fellows; +yet how different they all are! These men remind me more of my +grandfather and my great-uncles than any Englishman of the present day. +Perhaps they are English. I'll ask. Who would ever suppose them to be +countrymen of Ketchum's?"</p> + +<p>After dinner,—and you may be sure the dinner was a good one, for Miss +Aglonby was one of a generation of women whose knowledge of housewifely +arts was such that, shut up in a lighthouse or wrecked on a desert +island, they would have made shift to get a nice meal somehow, even if +they could not have served it, as she did, off old china and graced it +with old silver,—after dinner, then, a long and pleasant evening set +in, with no thought or talk of business-matters. Sir Robert was charmed +with his new acquaintances, and not less by the matter than by the +manner of their conversation. Did they talk of travels, Mr. Aglonby +"liked to read books of adventure," but had never been out of the State +of Virginia, and had no wish to go anywhere. He deplored his fate in +being compelled at his age to leave it permanently and take up his +residence in Florida, where his physician was sending him. He talked of +"Mr. Pope" and "Mr. Addison," quoted Milton and the Latin classics, and +had chanced upon "a modern work lately, by a writer named Thackeray," +"Henry Esmond," which had pleased him extremely. On hearing this, Sir +Robert took occasion to ask him whether he liked any of the writings of +this and that New-England author of the day, about whom he had been +hearing a great deal since his arrival in the country, and Mr. Aglonby +replied, with perfect truth, that he had "never heard of them," though +he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> added that Irving and Cooper, the latest additions to his library, +were, in his opinion, "writers of merit." In politics Mr. Aglonby +declared himself the champion of a defunct party,—the "old-line +Whigs,"—and explained "the levelling, agrarian tendencies of Tom +Jefferson" and the result of his policy, which had been "to eliminate +the gentleman from politics." Mr. Gregory Aglonby spoke with regretful +emotion of that period of the history of Virginia in which her local +magistrates had managed county affairs in such a way as to secure her +"safety, honor, and welfare," when universal suffrage had not "cursed +the country with ignorance and incompetence, legally established at +present, indeed, but sure to be supplemented by a property or +educational test eventually." In religion they were what "the Aglonbys +had always been,—attached adherents of the Episcopal Church in this +country, as of the Establishment in England." Quite early in the evening +Sir Robert had propounded his question as to their nationality. "Are you +an American?" he had asked the elder of the two gentlemen, and both had +replied, "We are Virginians," in accents that were eloquent of love and +pride.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, if I were asked what your nationality was, I should say +that you were English," remarked Sir Robert, feeling that he was making +what they must see was a handsome concession. But he was not talking to +a Sam Bates now. Mr. Edmund Aglonby regarded him with a reserved air, as +if he had said something rather flippant.</p> + +<p>Mr. Gregory said gravely, "You doubtless mean it kindly, but we would +prefer to be thought what we are,—Virginians. Not that we are ashamed +of our parent stock, but Anne Buller here is the seventh of the name +born in this country, and it is only natural that we should be +completely identified with it. Unworthy as we are to represent it, we +are Virginians." That anybody could be <i>more</i> than a Virginian had never +crossed Mr. Aglonby's mind; but it should be said, in defence of what +many regard as an exaggerated State pride, that to such, men to be +<i>less</i> than a Virginian (that is, an embodiment of the virtues +represented to them by the title) is equally impossible.</p> + +<p>Whist was now proposed, and played by the light of two candles in +old-fashioned candlesticks, that towered high enough to allow mild +yellow rays to illuminate a vast expanse of bald head belonging to Mr. +Gregory, and made the dark sheen of the polished mahogany table dimly +visible beneath. An oil-lamp on the high mantel-shelf enabled Sir Robert +to get a ghostly impression of the large, bare room in which they were +sitting,—the high ceilings, the black-looking floors fading away into +grewsome corners, the spindle-legged furniture that had no idea of +accommodating itself to a lolling, mannerless generation, and loomed up +in some occasional piece in a threatening sort of way,—solid, massive, +dignified furniture, conscious of its obligations to society and ready +to fulfil them to the very end, however little a frivolous and +degenerate world might be worthy of such accessories. More than once in +the pauses of the game Sir Robert's eyes wandered to the pictures, of +which there were a number, all portraits, two being half discernible,—a +young matron in ruby velvet and pearls, with hair dressed in a pyramid, +a coach-and-six in court-plaster stuck on a snowy forehead, and eyes +that would have laughed anybody into a good humor; and, opposite, a +gentleman of the pursiest, puffiest, most prosperous description, the +husband of the young matron, and so evidently high-tempered, dull, and +obstinate, that he must have brought many a tear into the laughing eyes.</p> + +<p>"A handsome woman, that," he said, after one of these moments of +inattention, "and a good picture."</p> + +<p>"It is an ancestress of ours on the distaff side,—Lady Philippa +Vane,—and is accounted a Lely.—Brother Gregory, if you will have the +kindness to cut the cards we can proceed with our game.—The other is +her husband and cousin, a man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> of rank and large property but incurably +vicious propensities, to whom we are rather fond of attributing certain +follies and weaknesses in his descendants, and who we could wish had +laid to heart the maxim, '<i>Nobilitatis virtus non stemma character</i>.' +They were of the Vanes of Huddlesford," said Mr. Aglonby.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said Sir Robert, "you suppose yourself to have some connection +with the Huddlesford Vanes?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Aglonby's white tufted brows arched themselves in surprise above his +dark eyes at the question, and there was a little more dignified reserve +than before in his voice and manner as he said, "Descent and alliance +are not matters of <i>supposition</i> in Virginia, but of record.—Anne +Buller, I beg your forgiveness for having inadvertently revoked. My +memory is really growing too treacherous to permit of my long enjoying +this diversion, however great the horrors of an old age without cards +may be."</p> + +<p>The deferential courtesy paid to Miss Aglonby by her brothers was the +most remarkable feature of the game to Sir Robert, and, when it was +over, the first thought of both was to place a chair for her in the +corner she generally occupied. They were not in haste,—it was +impossible to associate the idea of hurry or flurry with either of +them,—but somehow there was a little collision between them in doing +this, followed by formal bows and elaborate mutual apologies, which were +broken in upon by Miss Aglonby's low voice, saying, "Brother Edmund, I +feared that you had slipped again.—He sustained a grave injury in that +way last winter" (this to Sir Robert), "and I am always afraid that the +disastrous experience may be repeated.—Brother Gregory, I thank you. I +am entirely comfortable, and I beg that you will be seated now. Perhaps +our guest will do us the favor to resume the very instructive and +entertaining discourse with which he was beguiling us earlier in the +evening."</p> + +<p>Thus adjured, Sir Robert proceeded to instruct and entertain, with such +success that all three of his companions were charmed, though they gave +no frivolous evidences of it, such as laughing heartily, interrupting +him to interject phrases or opinions into the "discourse," or replying +in an animated strain. They listened with intelligent seriousness to +what he had to say, weighed it apparently, replied to it with gravity, +responded to some jest with a smile; but, although they were not people +to approve of crackling thorns under a pot, or any form of folly, they +were, in their way, appreciative of the culture, humor, and insight he +showed. Mr. Aglonby begged to be favored with his "observations" on +America, and added that "the dispassionate reflections of an intelligent +foreigner should be esteemed of the utmost value by all judicious +patriots and enlightened political economists, calling attention, as +they often did, to evils and dangers whose existence had not been +previously suspected." Mr. Gregory Aglonby wished to hear more of his +travels among "that God-forsaken people the French." Miss Aglonby was +eager to know more of the England of "Bracebridge Hall."</p> + +<p>When bedtime came at last ("the proper season for repose," dear old Anne +Buller called it, when she rose to "retire"), another courtesy was +executed in front of Sir Robert by the châtelaine of "Heart's Content," +who said, "How truly it has been remarked that we owe some of our +keenest pleasures in life to strangers! You must permit me to thank you +again for your improving and pleasing conversation, which I shall often +recall, and always with lively satisfaction. May your slumbers be +refreshing and your awakening devoid of all pain! I wish you a very good +night, sir." With this Miss Aglonby took up one of the top-heavy +candlesticks, and glided, like the shade she was and ghost of a past +period, up the stairs.</p> + +<p>While Mr. Gregory was looking to bolts and bars, Sir Robert strayed +about the room with his hands behind him, looking at the pictures, +followed by Mr. Aglonby, who made no extensive comment on them, but gave +a word of explanation occasionally when his guest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> halted longer than +usual before a canvas, such as, "The First Edmund, who came here in +1654;" "Edmund the Second;" "Edmund the Third, in his Oxford cap and +gown;" "Gregory Aglonby, a colonel in the Revolutionary forces;" +"Red-haired Edmund, as we call him, because the others are all dark;" +"Colonel Everard Buller Aglonby, who represented this county in the +House of Burgesses for thirty years, and his wife, who was a Calvert,—a +great-aunt, a woman of extraordinary piety, who reduced herself from a +condition of affluence to comparative poverty by the manumission of her +three hundred slaves."</p> + +<p>When he had shaken hands with his host at the door of his bedroom (which +was emphatically the room of a bed, a huge, be-stepped, pillared, +testered contrivance that waited at one end of the large apartment to +murder sleep), Sir Robert fell to winding his watch with what looked +like interest, but all his thoughts were with the Aglonbys.</p> + +<p>"English gentlefolks of the eighteenth century preserved in Virginian +amber. What a curious survival! 'Gentlemen of a period of manners, +morals.' Remarkably interesting! Delightful types of a society as +extinct as the dodo," he was saying to himself. "There is but one mould +for the gentleman; but nature changes its shape with every century, I +suppose,—though I sometimes think she has gone out of the business +altogether in utter disgust. We have got a lot of plutocrats that are +tailors' blocks, and nobles that talk like stable-boys and act like +blackguards, and both fancy themselves gentlemen; but when I contrast +them with the men of my father's day even—And this dainty, charming old +bit of Chelsea-ware, Anne Buller! Her brothers treat her as though she +were a reigning princess. I wonder what she would say if she could see, +as I did the other day, a group of Nuneham girls calling each other by +their last names and smoking cigarettes with a half-dozen Cambridge men, +who chaffed them and treated them exactly as though they were so many +boys in petticoats. Well, well, the world moves, I know, and I am an +old fogy; but I shall not make myself hoarse shouting 'Huzza' until I +find out whether we are going to the devil or not. I hope I am not +getting as cynical as old Caradoc, who declares that he can always tell +a countess from an actress nowadays by the superior modesty and +refinement of—the actress."</p> + +<p>In the next few days Sir Robert carefully inspected the rambling, +substantial old house, which, to Miss Aglonby's chagrin, he pronounced +"quite modern;" though he smiled when she informed him that "Heart's +Content" had been "refurnished quite recently,—in '48." He also went +over the land, only about four hundred acres, put the most searching +questions as to its practical value and uses, filled a tin box with the +earth, meaning to have it analyzed by "a respectable chemist," and went +into details generally with much energy. Nor had he anything to complain +of in the way of unfair dealing in Mr. Gregory Aglonby, who accompanied +him and gave him the fullest and frankest particulars about the +property, which he pointed out was going to rack and ruin, or rather had +gone there. Every broken gate and stony field was dear to his heart, and +it was a melancholy pilgrimage to him; but had not Mr. Aglonby said to +him that morning, "Brother Gregory, the place must go,—there is no help +for it,—and this gentleman seems likely to become a purchaser. Will you +see that the disadvantages of the property are set before him clearly, +especially such as a stranger would certainly overlook? I cannot +entertain a proposition of any kind looking to its ultimate purchase +until I know that this has been done, anxious as I am to have this +matter definitely concluded. I had thought to die here. But it has been +otherwise ordered by an overruling and all-wise Providence."</p> + +<p>It did not escape Sir Robert that he was not likely to be overreached in +his bargain, however much he might repent of it; and when Mr. Gregory +pointed across the road and said, "The 'Little England' farm lies over +there, but produces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> less and less every year. The land is exhausted," +Sir Robert thought, "The fellow is either quixotic or doesn't wish to +sell. I rather think the first: there has certainly been no shuffling +and pretending." Aloud he said, "The soil can't be exhausted. It is +virgin still compared to that of England, and all that it needs is +careful cultivation. It seems to me that what Virginia needs is +immigration."</p> + +<p>Mr. Gregory looked displeased. It was as though Sir Robert had +criticised Anne Buller's dress. "On the contrary, we wish to keep +Virginia for Virginians," he said slowly. "We have no desire to see it +overrun by a horde of Irish and Dutch, and heaven knows what besides. +The proper place for that kind of people is the West and Northwest. If +we could get <i>the right class</i> of English emigrants, that would be +another matter. But it is scarcely likely that they will come here in +any considerable number, now that the poor old commonwealth offers so +little remunerative return to the most honorable enterprise."</p> + +<p>When Sir Robert had quite made up his mind that he would like to possess +the place, he telegraphed imperatively for Mr. Heathcote, who joined him +most reluctantly. Together they walked all over the county, saw a great +many people, and, having bought two hundred acres that marched with, +and, indeed, had formerly been a part of, the Aglonby estate, Sir Robert +made a liberal offer for Heart's Content, expressed his thanks for the +kind and honorable treatment he had received there, and, his terms being +accepted, paid the purchase-money, and begged that the family would suit +their own convenience entirely in giving it up. This settled, he went +his way to the Natural Bridge, which he considered should rank second +only to Niagara in this country in point of interest, and then went on +to Lexington, to visit General Lee's tomb, and from there to see +Stonewall Jackson's grave, which, to his intense astonishment and +indignation, he found half covered with visiting-cards,—the exquisite +tribute of the sentimental tourist to the stern soldier. He could do +nothing until he had cleared the last bit of pasteboard (with "Miss +Mollie Bangs, Jonesville," printed on it) away from the mound. This he +did energetically with his umbrella, after which he sat down quietly to +think of his favorite hero, who seemed to be "resting under the shade of +the trees over the river" rather than there, and fell to repeating +"Stonewall Jackson's Way,"—a very favorite lyric, which he knew by +heart. "'Appealing from his native sod In <i>forma pauperis</i> to God,' +ought to be his epitaph. I think he would like that," he said. "I am +glad England can claim such a son, however indirectly. Fancy 'Miss +Mollie Bangs' leaving a card—and such a card—on old Blue-Light! A +decent one might do for Beau Brummel's grave, but Jackson's—!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Heathcote was with him, and, after one careless glance, had strolled +up and down, absorbed in his own thoughts, which were not of war or +death. He only half listened to his uncle's praise of the great soldier, +and presently said, <i>à propos</i> of nothing that had happened that day, +"Uncle, what would you say if I should ask you to let me live at +'Heart's Content'?"</p> + +<p>"Eh? What's that?" asked Sir Robert, forgetting in his surprise to blow +out the lighted match he had just applied to the offending cards. "You +live in America? What idea have you got in your head, my boy?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Heathcote could not tell his uncle that Edith had said that she +would never marry an Englishman, never! but that if she ever did, she +should insist upon his living in America, for to go away from mamma and +papa and the boys and everybody she cared for was a thing she could not +and would not do, not if she adored the man that demanded such a +sacrifice of her. What he did say was that he was tired of his aimless +life in London, and liked his uncle too well to look forward with any +pleasure to succeeding him, and that he should like to have a small +property to manage without aid of bailiff, steward,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> agent, or factotum +of any kind. "I could go over whenever I liked, or you needed me, and +you could come to me to see that I wasn't making ducks and drakes of the +property," he said. "And it is an experiment, I grant; but you have +always been awfully generous and kind to me, and I have something laid +by that would cover the possible losses my inexperience might cause, for +the first year at least. I am sure I can learn the trade, and am willing +to pay for my apprenticeship, if you will only let me try my hand at +farming."</p> + +<p>"The boy is thinking of marrying," was Sir Robert's mental comment; but +he only said that he had bought the place with a very different idea, +but that he would think the matter over.</p> + +<p>"You must remember that it will not be child's play," he said. "And if +you should grow attached to it and wish to stay, you will be practically +giving up your own country, you know. But America is hardly a foreign +country. It is the representative institutions, moral ideas, social +atmosphere, and mental habits that make a people, not the mere physical +features of the country, and in character the Americans are, as Mr. +Aglonby would say, 'Englishmen once removed'—across the Atlantic. You +might be quite happy and content among them. Just so."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I am sure I shall. You are quite in the right in what you say +of them," Mr. Heathcote eagerly replied.</p> + +<p>And Sir Robert, who had purposely laid this trap for him, thought to +himself, "The boy is certainly in love. I must find out all about it, +unless he has the grace to tell me himself."</p> + +<p>Much as she liked Niagara, Miss Noel was not sorry, after long delay, to +get a letter from Sir Robert, asking her to join him in Chicago, and +telling her of a delightful visit he had made to Richmond, where he had +been received "with particular kindness" and had met a great number of +agreeable people, most of them Virginians of the modern type and +scarcely so interesting, in a way, as the Aglonby family, who, as he saw +from other individuals, were survivals of a generation rapidly +disappearing, to be found only occasionally here and there now,—"a +class of aristocrats long a curious anomaly in a republican state, +hardly to be matched in Europe to-day outside of Austria, and never to +be reproduced."</p> + +<p>It did not take Parsons long to do the necessary packing; but Miss Noel +consumed a whole day in putting up her carefully-labelled "specimens of +the flora of New York;" and Ethel had to settle with Mr. Bates, who +would doubtless rather have been rejected by an English-woman than +accepted by any American, and was not denied that luxury.</p> + +<p>From Chicago the reunited forces went off almost immediately to Salt +Lake City, having only three days to give to a little hurried +sight-seeing in the "marvellous Sphinx city," as they called it in their +letters home.</p> + +<p>At Salt Lake Mrs. Sykes was awaiting their arrival, and betrayed a +radiant satisfaction at the first glance.</p> + +<p>"You can't think how busy I have been and what a lot I have +accomplished," she related exultantly. "I have found a whole village of +Thompsons with a <i>p</i>, and went and boarded there, and have got up a book +that Bentley will give me a hundred pounds for. And I have done a lot of +sketches to illustrate it, and, so far from being out of pocket, shall +have made by my American tour. It has been the greatest fun imaginable, +poking about in their houses and dishing them up afterward. And, only +fency, I've got a lock of Brigham Young's hair, <i>well authenticated</i>. I +palmed myself off on a person that I met as being a very great admirer +of his, and she gave me it. When I get home I'm going to have a ring +made of it, like the one Lady Bottsford has got made of King John of +Abyssinia's wool, which has been so talked of. People have taken to +noticing my rings very much ever since I had that tooth of darling +Bobo's polished and mounted in brilliants; and this will be +unique,—there will not be another like it in all England. I told the +person of whom I got it what I meant to do with it, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> she said that I +must revere him deeply; and, do you know, I quite forgot my part that I +was playing, and said that I didn't care a fig for the old sinner, but +that it was a great curiosity. And she was so engry, quite fiawrious, +and wanted it back; but of course she didn't get it. When do we leave +this?"</p> + +<p>They left as soon as Sir Robert had satisfied himself on certain points, +and Miss Noel bad been sufficiently shocked by a service in the +Tabernacle, and Mr. Heathcote had indulged in a bath in the lake, which +he persisted in taking, and in the course of which he went through any +number of antics in addition to his usual feats, in themselves +remarkable, for he was a vigorous and powerful swimmer. The +ex-Devonshire Elder (whom Mrs. Sykes had seen more than once slinking +about the streets, she said, but who had not come near her) was pleased +to be very polite to Sir Robert, or would have been if he had been +allowed; but, not wishing to conduct a Salt Lake campaign <i>à la</i> Sykes, +Sir Robert was content to see the place in his own way, got a phial of +water from the lake, which Miss Noel said reminded her of Sodom and +Gomorrah and was "very suited to the odious place," looked at and into +such things as could be seen in a short stay, and made temperate, +careful records of the same in his note-book.</p> + +<p>The next point of interest to the party was "'Frisco and the Yosemite," +toward which they pushed as fast as steam could take them, Sir Robert +and Miss Noel being vividly interested in many things <i>en route</i>, Ethel +and Mr. Heathcote pleased by a few, Mrs. Sykes grumbling ceaselessly +about the length, monotony, bareness, aridity, stupidity, and general +hideousness of the journey. The only thing that really amused her was a +quarrel that she got up with a lady who sat near her. The acquaintance +promised to be friendly enough for a while, for the lady was an amiable +soul,—the wife of "a dry-goods merchant in Topeka," she told Mrs. +Sykes. The latter was pleased to ask her a great many questions and to +patronize her quite extensively in default of other amusement, so that +all went well at first. But the second stage of Mrs. Sykes's friendship +was not apt to be so pleasant as the first, and accordingly she much +astonished her neighbor one morning by saying to her curtly, "Why don't +you speak English?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I do. I talk it all the time, don't I?" replied the lady.</p> + +<p>"No, you don't. Just look here. I have made a list of the things you +say. They are not English at all. I don't know what you mean, often."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say that you never heard anybody talk like me?" asked +the lady indignantly, as she fumbled in her bag for her glasses.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't say that. I've heard <i>some</i> of the words among our +lodging-house-keepers; but you have invented others, and your +pronunciation is abominable. You should really mend it, if you can," +replied Mrs. Sykes, with decision.</p> + +<p>The list which had been so civilly put in the Topekan lady's hands was a +long one, and ran as follows: "Chawcolate, pawk, hawrid, cawd, squrl, +stoopid, winder, lemmy, gimmy, years (for ears), 'cute, edgercation, +conchienchous," etc., etc.</p> + +<p>The fingers that held it trembled with rage long before it was finished, +for the Topekan lady had wealth and social aspiration, if not +"edgercation;" and when Mrs. Sykes broke in with, "Well, what do you say +to that?" she had a good deal to say, and said it very forcibly, in such +English as she could command, after which she swelled in speechless +anger opposite for the remainder of their journey.</p> + +<p>"There it is again. If I say the least thing to these Americans they fly +out like that," complained Mrs. Sykes to Miss Noel.</p> + +<p>But for sheer ill humor nothing could have surpassed her conduct when +they had "done" San Francisco, which she declared to be "a dull, dirty, +windy place, with a harbor of which entirely too much is +made,—ridiculously over-praised, in fact," and got under way for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> the +Yosemite. The roads, the rough vehicle, the country, could not be +sufficiently abused. However, when the spot was reached, she relented, +as she had done at Niagara, and, looking up at the giant trees, +graciously conceded that they also were "quite up to the mark."</p> + +<p>It was a pleasant spectacle to see Sir Roberts enthusiasm. Such gazing +and neck-craning and measuring and speculating! Such critical inspection +of bark, leaves, soil, lichens! Such questioning of the guides! Such +keen delight, wonder, remeasuring, recraning, theories, calculations, +endless contemplation! The enjoyment of the others was as nothing, +compared to his,—for if there was a thing that he loved it was a fine +tree, and had he not some of the best timber in England, which he knew +as some generals have known their soldiers and some shepherds their +sheep? "Stupendous! Prodigious! Wonderful!" burst from his lips as he +walked slowly around them and rode between them as in a dream, perfectly +entranced. He could scarcely be dragged away, and at last was only moved +by the thought that there was so much that he "must positively see" in +the surrounding country which was waiting to be considered volcanically, +botanically, geologically, and otherwise. It was one of his vexations +that nature, art, science, history, commerce, were so long, and time and +a voraciously intelligent but mortal and limited baronet so fleeting. He +would have liked to spend several months on the Pacific coast, looking +into a thousand things with unflagging zeal and interest. It was really +afflicting to turn his back upon the early Spanish settlers, the Jesuit +missions, the grape and olive production, mining interests, earthquake +statistics, the Chinese problem, annual rainfall on the great plateau, +study of the Sierra Nevada range, and last, most alluring of all, that +of the Santa Barbara Islands, described by a companion of Drake as +densely populated by a white race with light hair and ruddy cheeks. When +Sir Robert thought of that people and of all the bliss of investigation, +he almost decided to make a winter of it in California and solve that +mystery or perish. But he had still much to accomplish, and he had fixed +the day for sailing before leaving England. So back the party came to +St. Louis, where they found a mountain of mail-matter from the four +quarters of the globe. There were five voluminous epistles from Mrs. +Vane to Miss Noel, and others from that household; a simple domestic +chronicle from Mabel, describing her daily round and stating her fears +and anxieties about "Boy," who was getting "sadly wilful and unruly," +and, like a youthful Ajax, had lately "defied husband;" and one of Mr. +Ketchum's characteristic epistles:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I send you a letter of introduction to my friend Fry in New +Orleans (to whom my double-and-twisted), since you will go +there. He will put you through all right. But I warn you that +you will be nobody and won't be able to hold up your head there +at all. No one can after an epidemic, unless he has lost half +of his relations and had the other half given up by the doctors +and prepared for burial. This reminds me that Brown's +scapegrace of a brother has turned up here with a handsome +Mexican wife and a million, and has deodorized his reputation +by giving large sums to the yellow-fever sufferers, while I am +thinking of colonizing all the mothers-in-law of these United +there before another season opens, unless business improves. +Fairfield has a Benedicts' Club now, and I chose the motto for +it, 'Here the women cease from troubling and the wicked are at +rest:' so when you want a little peace and comfort you will +know where to come. My wife will have nothing less than her +love sent you; but I am all the same your friend, J. K."</p></div> + +<p>Having seen a certificate that New Orleans was entirely free from fever, +"signed by all the medical men of eminence in the city," Sir Robert was +determined not to be frightened out of his visit there altogether. But +it was only November, and he did not wish to run<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> any foolish risks, and +the ladies were very nervous on this score. He was still undecided what +course to take, when he one day picked up a paper and read an account of +the Indian Territory that interested him beyond measure. In an hour he +had got out his maps and time-tables and arranged to "put in a week" at +Tahlequah, the Falls of St. Anthony, and the Mammoth Cave. As none of +the party cared for the first except himself, he went there alone, and +felt fully repaid for the effort. Great was his joy at finding "a purely +Indian legislative body" and assisting at their deliberations, his +lorgnon glued now to one chief and now to another. And then to talk to +them, to get their "views," to sketch them, to have a copy of their +constitution and laws and a newspaper in their own tongue and characters +in which an affinity to the Egyptian, Arabic, Chinese, or any other +might perhaps be traced! And then how full his letters to his friends in +England were of his "visit to a Choctaw gentleman's plantation,—a most +deeply interesting, well-educated man;" "the first-fruits of the new +civilization;" "the opinion of a Seminole person on the Indian policy of +the American government;" "the beauty of a young Chickasaw female" whom +he had seen at one of the schools, and "the extraordinary progress made +by some of the other scholars, showing that there is absolutely no limit +to the intellectual development of the once-despised savage;" "the +crystal clearness of the beautiful rivers, the lovely, fertile plains, +framed by the Mozark Mountains, the balmy, delightful climate, and the +brutality and wicked greed of an American of the lower class," who had +told him that "the country was a million times too good for redskins, +who ought all to be exterminated, as 'Indians was p'ison wherever +found.'" And then, while the glow of this interest still flushed his +mind, he took up the Mississippi River, which was a career in itself and +beckoned him on to fresh conquests. He went up to the Falls of St. +Anthony, which, after Niagara and the Yosemite, was accounted "tame and +overrated" by Mrs. Sykes, but over which he pondered deeply. Before he +left there the river had got a strong hold on his imagination that grew +ever greater and greater. He spent all his time on the boat studying it. +He talked to the pilot about it,—or rather made the pilot talk, and +listened with all his ears; he took up the methods now practised for +preventing the banks from caving in and forcing the Great Father to lie +in the bed he has made, instead of driving honest folk out of theirs by +scurvy turns and bends that break up thousands of homes. He drew +diagrams of the pile-driving and wattling and willow mattrasses in the +diary, with the improvements he thought advisable, and some very +scientific suggestions by which the river could be made to checkmate +itself, like an automaton chess-player. He hung over the guards +continually, observing all that was to be observed, and recorded the +same under separate headings, such as "currents," "velocity," +"flood-rises," with statistics without end showing that the +carrying-trade of the great water highway would amount in 1950 to +something so colossal that there is no room for it here, while a future +for the cities that stud its banks was predicted that would satisfy +their most ambitious citizens.</p> + +<p>His heart was not in Louisville nor in the Mammoth Cave, though he went +over the first religiously and examined the latter carefully, collected +specimens, and even thrilled faintly over an eyeless fish, which aroused +considerable enthusiasm in Mr. Heathcote. He was not really himself +until he was again on the river, doing a little dredging and sounding on +his own account. At Cairo he expanded almost as much as his subject, and +for a long while afterward was never weary of tracing the blue and +yellow currents that fuse so reluctantly and imperfectly that out in the +Gulf of Mexico, it is said, one comes upon patches of the Missouri of +the most jaundiced, angry hue.</p> + +<p>The sombre majesty of the stream was quite lost upon Mrs. Sykes, who saw +in it only "an ugly, wicked-looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> river, with a lot of dirty-white +villages along its mud banks." Her attention was given to the passengers +and the clerk,—especially the latter. "A clerk that talks to the ladies +in the cabin about literature and the dramar! Only fency!" she said to +Miss Noel. "And such comical blackies, that the ladies call 'aunty,' and +that call me 'honey' and 'child.' As like as not you'll see a snag +coming up through the bottom of the boat presently, and you had better +try one of the life-preservers on and see how it works; though, after +all, we may be blown up instead. Of course we are racing. I am sure of +it."</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear! How <i>very</i> dreadful! How did you discover that? It should +really be made known. I shall speak to the captain. I really can't +consent to being <i>raced</i> with," replied Miss Noel, who did not make +sufficient allowance for Mrs. Sykes's love of the sensational. "Robert +must call a meeting and protest, or something."</p> + +<p>She went to look for Sir Robert, whom she found walking about on deck. +He had been reading all the afternoon, and his mind was full of La +Salle, and De Soto, and poor Evangeline, so cruelly near to Gabriel and +happiness once, only to drift away from both forever. So large was his +grasp of any subject that the imaginative phases of a situation appealed +to him as powerfully as the practical, and he was not the man to take +the Mississippi without its associations, any more than he would have +done the Hudson or the Sierras without Irving and Bret Harte. So now he +was pacing backward and forward under the stars, thinking of these +things, and in no mood for bearding the captain in his cabin; and, +having calmed Miss Noel's fears, he stayed on deck until very late, +enjoying his cigar and surroundings.</p> + +<p>When they got low enough down to come upon levees and see that the river +was actually higher than the land, the questions of inundation, +protection, blue-clay banks, dikes, sluices, crevasses, water-gates, +sediment, currents, swept in upon Sir Robert, and he was still working +at them when they reached New Orleans. Fresh interests and employments +now awaited him, in which he was soon absorbed, head over ears. Like +olives, New Orleans has a flavor of its own, so decided that it is +impossible to be indifferent to it: one must either be very fond of it +or dislike it heartily. It was soon evident that Sir Robert belonged to +the first class and Mrs. Sykes to the second. Its brilliant blue skies, +and sunshine, and warmth, the lovely flowers, the good opera and better +restaurants, the infectious gayety of the people, as light about the +heart as the heels, with enough Gallic quicksilver in their veins to +give them a genius for being and looking happy, and, lastly, the warmth +of his reception, and a hospitality as refined as limitless, delighted +this most amiable of baronets. He had brought good letters, and was +admitted to that inner Creole circle which few strangers see, and in +which he found among the elders, as he said to Miss Noel, "the +atmosphere of the Faubourg Saint-Germain,—a dignity like that of the +period to which the Aglonbys belonged, with more grace and +<i>savoir-faire</i>. And such wonderfully pretty girls, my dear Augusta, +with eyes like sloes and skins like the petals of their own +magnolia-blossoms. And I observe a sort of patriarchal tribal state of +affairs among them,—grandparents, children, grandchildren, all living +together in great numbers and perfect amity, apparently." Among the +Americans of the city Sir Robert found much to interest him, and he went +to visit their "sugar-estates," took down in black and white the +astounding number of oranges that one tree is capable of producing, held +conversations with many gentlemen about the emancipated slaves, and with +many emancipated slaves about their late masters and present condition. +And then was there not cotton, the machinery employed on rice-, sugar-, +and cotton-plantations to "go, into"? to say nothing of the swamp-flora, +the possible introduction of olives into Louisiana, and Voodooism to +trace back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> to the Vaudois sorcerers of the fourteenth century and +connect with the serpent-worship of some parts of Italy, where he had +himself seen the peasants make their yearly procession with snakes +wrapped about their necks, waists, and wrists? And was there not, too, +serious business to be done? How could he secure and forward to England +a few things that he must have, such as a gar alligator, a pair of +mocking-birds, a Floridian flamingo, a ruby humming-bird, "a Texan +horned frog, with a distinctly-developed tail, crustaceous, probably +antediluvian, and credibly reported to live upon air," not to mention +other treasures, and collections previously made, which must be shipped +before he left? All this he finally accomplished, and was so pleased by +his success that not even a letter from his Kalsing "solicitor," saying +that his suit against the "Eagle" had been brought to trial and he had +been awarded fifty cents damages, could greatly cloud the content he +felt.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sykes, meanwhile, was looking at everything through her own bit of +yellow glass or London fog, and seeing only what her prepossessions +would let her see through a medium that distorted and magnified every +object. As the spittoons at the Capitol had seemed to her far bigger and +more striking than the dome, so now the gutters of New Orleans made an +immense impression upon her and affected her most painfully, although +the Mississippi failed to impress her at all. The climate she found +odious, the people spoke neither pure French nor good English, and many +a fault besides she found, chiefly with what she politely termed "the +Creowls," whom she was never tired of ridiculing as lazy, ignorant, +effeminate, and morbidly conceited. She was not an ideal companion when +they made an expedition into the lovely pastoral Tèche country, the +Acadia of exiled Acadians and Eden of Louisiana, but her lack of +enthusiasm did not damp the ardor of Sir Robert. Miss Noel thought it a +beautiful country, but added that it looked "sadly damp, and as if it +might be malarious," and insisted on "dear Ethel's" taking ten grains +of quinine daily during their stay and wearing a potato in her +pocket,—precautionary measures adopted by herself, and known to have +nipped jungle-fever in the bud repeatedly in India, so she said. It +seemed to Sir Robert's heated fancy that even Ethel praised this ideal +spot but tepidly, and when she had started out of a revery three times +with an "I beg pardon" while he was reading "Evangeline" to her under +the shade of one of those noble oaks "from whose branches garlands of +Spanish moss floated," fit monuments of the sorrowful maiden of +ever-green memory, he put down the book impatiently, saying, "It is only +the old that are young nowadays; I am boring you,"—a speech that made +her blush guiltily, since she did not care to explain where her thoughts +had wandered. He was not bored. The bayous were a fascinating novelty to +him, the trees and fields and glades were eloquent to him, the simple +French peasants who belong to the seventeenth century and by some +miracle lead its idyllic life in the nineteenth interested him, and he +could see Basil, Gabriel, and Father Félicien at every step.</p> + +<p>The next week found them on a steamer bound for Havana and New York, +followed by friendly faces and good claret to the last, leaving three +baskets of champagne and about a ton of flowers out of account. For an +account of Havana, Matanzas, Spanish atrocities, Cuban exports, coolie +slavery, and the like topics, the reader is respectfully referred to the +book since published by Sir Robert,—"Eight Months in the United States, +Cuba, and Canada,"—a work pronounced in critical quarters "the best +book of travels in America ever published in England" (high praise, +surely), though it attracted less general attention than a very spicy, +entertaining volume by Mrs. Arundel Sykes, called "A Britisher among the +Yankees," (to quote from another English journal) said to contain "a not +very flattering picture of the life, society, and institutions of the +Great Republic,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> which must be a true one, since it is so universally +resented by the American press. People will cry out when they are hit, +as every one knows."</p> + +<p>On arriving in New York our party went at once to Mr. Brown's, that +gentleman being established there for the winter and having urged them +to stay with him. Their idea was to sail for home almost immediately, as +soon as Sir Robert had seen his friend General Bludyer, with whom he had +some business and who was bringing out his two sons to establish them in +America. But an unexpected delay occurred. On the day after their +arrival, Mr. Heathcote ran up to his aunt's room to bid her good-by +before taking himself off to Baltimore,—he had made a full confession +to Sir Robert, and received much advice and counsel, together with a +qualified approval of his plans and hopes,—and he found Miss Noel still +in bed, although it was mid-day and she not the least punctual and +energetic of her sex. In reply to his playful reproaches she replied +that she was "feeling very, very queer," and he cheerfully assured her +that she "had best stop in bed a day or two and all would be well," +after which he told her that he was not going back to England with the +party, and, with a further remark to the effect that she "was looking +awfully seedy," discovered that he was late for his train, was again +pleasantly sure that she would "be all right soon," and hurried off to +the station, well pleased to think that he should see Edith in a few +hours. It is not always possible, however, for a woman to fulfil the +optimistic predictions of her careless male relatives, and in a few +hours Miss Noel was feeling really ill. "Who is your doctor, my dear?" +she asked of Bijou, who had herself arranged and carried up a little +tray of delicacies with which to tempt her. "How very sweet of you to +trouble! Why did you not let Parsons do that? Do you know I am +making myself quite wretched lest I should be sickening with +something,—something serious? I must have a doctor at once. Would you +kindly send for one, or, rather, tell Parsons where to go? I can't rest +until I get the opinion of a medical man."</p> + +<p>"Now, don't you worry about <i>that</i>," said Bijou, bestowing an embrace +upon her and then perching herself on the foot of the bed. "You are not +going to be ill; and if you are, why, you are with friends who will take +the best sort of care of you, that's all. I'll nurse you; and popper +says I am just a natural-born nurse, if there ever was one. You can see +the doctor if you want to, but most likely you will be a great deal +better to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, suppose I should be worse? It would be too dreadful! I +can't be ill in your house, you know," said Miss Noel disconsolately.</p> + +<p>"Why, why not?" queried Bijou, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Why not? Can you ask why? Think of all the trouble I should be putting +you to, the house upset, and the servants giving warning very likely, +and all that. Oh, no! I hope and trust it is nothing; but if it should +be serious I could not dream of putting you out like that," replied Miss +Noel, with emphasis.</p> + +<p>"Why, do you mean to say that anybody would care for <i>that</i>, or think of +the <i>trouble</i>, with a friend lying sick in their house? I never heard of +such a thing," exclaimed Bijou, expressing the liveliest emotions of +astonishment and contempt in face and voice. "Of course we don't want +you to get sick, for your own sake; but if you do we'll do everything in +this world to make you comfortable and cure you. And the house won't be +upset at all; and we don't care a snap what the servants think. You must +put that perfectly ridiculous idea right out of your head, and turn over +and try to go to sleep."</p> + +<p>When the doctor came he looked grave even for a doctor, and felt it his +duty to tell Miss Noel that she might have yellow fever. It was always +to be had for the catching in Cuba, and her symptoms were suspicious, +though he could not, of course, be positive. Here was a sensation. It +was curious to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> the effect this declaration had on the different +members of the household. Sir Robert, after turning pale and saying "God +bless my soul! you don't mean it," to the doctor, rallied from the shock +as soon as he had left the house, and refused to believe anything of the +kind, talked about "the art conjectural," and did all he could to +impress this view on Miss Noel, who promptly gave herself up as lost, +told him that she had made her will "before leaving town for the North" +the year before, asked that her body might be "taken back to dear old +England," if this could be done without risk to others, and begged that +she might be "sent straight away to the hospital" and no one allowed to +come in contact with her meanwhile. Bijou, Ethel, and Parsons stoutly +refused to be hustled out of her room, declaring that they had already +been exposed to the danger, if danger there was, and protested that they +were ready to nurse her through anything. Mr. Brown, coming home to +dinner, was horrified as by some impiety to hear it proposed that Miss +Noel should go to a hospital. "Admitting, for the sake of argument," +said this ever-judicial host, "that the doctor is right, what follows? +Why, that Miss Noel will require great care, and, humanly speaking, will +incur additional risk in leaving my house. I cannot dream of allowing +it. My married daughter has taken her children to see their grandmother; +there are only Bijou and myself to be considered, and neither of us has +any fear of the disease, or, indeed, any great belief in the reality of +the danger. I cannot think of letting a guest, and that guest a stranger +here, go to a public place of the kind and commit herself to hired +nurses. Oh, no! That is out of the question."</p> + +<p>"I never heard of such a thing,—never. It would be perfectly shameful!" +protested Bijou afresh. And so Sir Robert was overruled, and, much +touched by this view of the matter, tried to express thanks on behalf of +Miss Noel, bungled out a few short phrases, very different from his +usually fluent utterances, shook Mr. Brown's hand heartily, sat down +with a very red face, and then started up and dismissed the carriage, +which, pending this decision, had been waiting at the door.</p> + +<p>It chanced that Mrs. Sykes had been out for some hours that day, and had +then come back and gone into the library, where she spent some time in +writing to the friends who had entertained her in Central New York. She +had just finished putting up the morning paper for them containing a +full and carefully-marked account of the defalcation and disappearance +of a bank-president in Delaware in whom she recognized the brother of +her former hostess, when Ethel looked in at the door and said, "Oh, you +are here," and, coming forward, gave her the dreadful news. It was well +that this final mark of her gratitude and graceful interest was complete +down to the very postage-stamp, for after this Mrs. Sykes had no time +for delicate attentions.</p> + +<p>"Stand off! good heavens! Don't come near me. Get away!" she shrieked, +and for once every particle of color left her face. The next moment she +rushed up-stairs to her room, put on her bonnet and cloak in a flash, +and, without farewells of any kind, or thought of so much as her darling +Bobo, left the house immediately. She went first, and that as fast as +her feet could carry her, to the nearest druggist's, where she invested +lavishly in disinfectants and hung innumerable camphor-bags about her +person. From there she went to the nearest hotel, from which she wrote +to the Browns, giving instructions about her luggage, which she said +must be packed by Parsons and sent over to England, to be unpacked at +Liverpool, for fear of infection, by "a person" whom she would engage. +She then took the first steamer leaving New York, and when she got on +board gave vent to a perfectly sincere and devout exclamation, "Thank +heaven, I have done with America!" From Liverpool she wrote back a +lively account of the passage, and expressed the deepest interest in +"dear Miss Noel," about whom she had been "quite wretched," but who she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +"hoped was doing nicely by this time and would make a good recovery." +She also hoped, and even more earnestly, that "dearest Bobo was not +being neglected in the general hubbub, and given his biscuits without +their being properly soaked first, and his chicken in great pieces, not +carefully minced," and begged that every care should be taken of him, +imploring that everybody would remember that "<i>hot</i> milk invariably made +the poor dear ill." She also sent Bijou a small and particularly hideous +pin-cushion, which she said had been made for the Ashantee Bazaar by the +Grand Duchess of Aufstadt.</p> + +<p>The defection of Mrs. Sykes was not greatly deplored by anybody, but it +was deeply resented by Parsons, who it is to be feared was not as +devoted to Bobo as his mistress expected.</p> + +<p>"I'm not one to run away,—not if it was lions and tigers,—like +<i>some</i>," she remarked; "but if hever I get back to the hold country I'll +go down on my bended knees, if it's in the very cab at Liverpool, and +thank 'eaven I'm at 'ome again; which I 'ope I may live to see it."</p> + +<p>Happily, Miss Noel did not have yellow fever. Unhappily, she had <i>a</i> +fever, if not the dreaded one, and was ill for several weeks,—so ill +that it seemed at one time as though she had done with travelling-days. +Anxious weeks these for Ethel and Sir Robert and Mr. Heathcote, trying +ones for Bijou, who had at last found "a rational occupation." For it +was she who, with Parsons's help, nursed Miss Noel faithfully, tenderly, +efficiently, Ethel being a most willing coadjutress, but sadly out of +place in a sick-room. The skill, the self-reliance, and the +unselfishness that Bijou showed surprised even those who knew her best, +and quite endeared her to Sir Robert.</p> + +<p>"That girl is one in a thousand," he said to Ethel more than once; "and +I was such a wiseacre that I thought her a useless, spoiled creature who +would never be anything but a domestic fetich. I shall ask her pardon, +when I get the chance, for having so shamefully underrated and +misjudged her. Could there be a kinder family? If Augusta had been a +near and dear relative they could scarcely have shown more solicitude. +Every luxury, every kindness that the most thoughtful affection could +have suggested has been lavished on her. Everything has been +subordinated to the one object,—her recovery,—and all their ordinary +pursuits, amusements, occupations, cheerfully laid aside, apparently as +a mere matter of course. At least, they disclaim the idea of sacrifice; +and in all that they have done there has been nothing perfunctory. If +they have merely been performing what they considered a duty, I must say +that they have had the grace and innate good breeding to make it appear +that it was a pleasure. Just so."</p> + +<p>Miss Noel had been down-stairs on the sofa for three days, having been +officially pronounced convalescent, when who should walk in upon her but +the Ketchums,—Mabel serene and smiling, and Job in a state of evident +satisfaction and radiant good humor.</p> + +<p>"Well, now, this is something like. Up and dressed, and looking +first-rate for an invalid," he called out from the door, and then, +advancing, took one of her thin hands with much gentleness, and said, +"Getting well, ain't you? That's right. I am so glad. Creepin' through +mercy, eh? as Father Root used to say."</p> + +<p>Mabel slipped into a seat near Miss Noel, and, after some inquiries +about Sir Robert, Ethel, and the Browns, told her what concern they had +felt about her illness. "Husband telegraphed constantly to know how you +were going on; but the replies were often most unsatisfactory; and it is +so very nice to see you up again. You will soon be about, and the +sea-voyage will set you up wonderfully. That puts me in mind of—Tell +her, husband; show her."</p> + +<p>Thus stimulated, Mr. Ketchum drew out an enormous pocket-book, stuffed +full of papers, and attacked it rather than looked through it, drew out +a handful of letters, bills, memorandums, tore up several, crushed +others back into his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> case, walked swiftly into the hall, and came back +triumphantly with his over-coat on his arm and a sheet of foolscap in +his hand.</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear, husband, you should not mess about like this," said Mabel, +"littering up the carpet."</p> + +<p>She would have picked up the bits of paper, but he interfered. "Here! +I'll do that, Daisy; sit down. Daisy's occupation in the next world, +Miss Noel, is going to be sweeping all the dirty clouds out of the sky, +and polishing up the harps and crowns, and telling the small angels not +to leave the ivory gates ajar, for fear of draughts, and to be sure and +put their buckets and spades away tidily when they have done digging in +the golden sands, and not to get over-heated and fall ill, because they +can't die and have got nowhere to go. Now, look at this" (getting up +from his knees and holding up the foolscap, which was covered with +drawings of some mechanical contrivance): "I got thinking about you one +day and your illness, and that you ought to stay on deck all you could, +and to have the right kind of chair, and suddenly this idea hit me right +on the head, and I got out my pencil and started in on it. And here it +is. This is only the rough draught, you understand."</p> + +<p>With growing enthusiasm he explained all the details, while Mabel looked +intently and respectfully at the paper he held, and interjected admiring +comments: "Isn't it a most wonderful thing? and wasn't it clever of +husband to think of it?—but, then, he is always thinking of things. +Husband has got such a surprising talent for invention, and grasps an +idea at once."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I haven't. I think I could have found out the way to my mouth +as soon as any other baby, that's all. But this is a lucky hit. I am +going to have it patented. It's a first-rate thing. This is the way you +lash it to the mast when you want to; and when you want to move about +you let down the rollers and fasten them with this hook, and go where +you please. Twenty-seven changes of position. Why, you can read, eat, +sleep, ride, get married, run for Congress, die, and be buried in that +chair, if you want to!" he said, by way of final recommendation.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, but I don't wish to die. I would rather live," said Miss +Noel, laughing cheerfully for the first time since her illness. "And did +you really design it for me? How very kind! I must really try to get it +worked out, if you think it will answer, as of course you do."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't you bother your head about that," he replied. "I worked it +all out one night, and set a smart carpenter at it the next morning +before breakfast. And it's a perfect success. And I've got it down at +the hotel, ready for you. I'm coming up here to put you in it and take +you down to the steamer myself."</p> + +<p>Sir Robert and Mr. Heathcote now came in (the latter having returned +from Baltimore an affianced man), and Ethel and Bijou followed, and +everybody was delighted to see everybody else; and they had so much to +talk about that Sir Robert almost forgot that he was engaged to preside +over a children's dinner-party at the house of an intimate friend of the +De Witts. He hurried off, though; and never had he "looked into" ten +more charming little faces than brightened on his arrival. The way in +which he radiated good humor, intelligence, benevolence, told stories +and jokes that kept the little company shouting with laughter, and +finally rose and got off an impromptu piece of doggerel with exactly ten +verses, and each child's name and some peculiarity brought out in a way +to convulse even mammas and the maids, was as indescribable as +delightful. I am not sure that he did not enjoy it more than any of the +grand entertainments that he had been asked to; and as for the children, +they remember it to this day, although they are on the verge of +young-ladyhood and at college now and have very serious demands made on +their memories.</p> + +<p>After a pleasant little interval of reunion and various diversions, the +day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> came at last for our English people to leave the country. What they +felt about this necessity was well expressed for them by Sir Robert in +the last letter that he wrote before going on the steamer.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to turn my face toward the old land, which must always seem +to me the best of all lands," he said; "but I take with me the +pleasantest memories of the new. It has been a constant surprise and +pleasure to me to find how like they are to each other in all +essentials, greatly as they often seem to differ on the surface. I have +had a most interesting and delightful tour. Such opportunities of +observation as have come in my way, and such authentic information as I +have been able to lay hold of, I have tried to make the most of; but in +so short a time I could not do more than glean in a field that offers a +rich harvest to more fortunate travellers. From the moment of landing +until now I have been made the recipient of a hospitality too generous +and too flattering to be appropriated to myself in my individual +capacity. I must either set it down to the good will which Americans +feel toward England when not irritated and repelled by the insolent and +overbearing among us,—who have done more to make a breach between the +two peoples than you would fancy, and inflicted wounds that all the +ambassadors and public-dinner fine speeches cannot heal,—or to that +true politeness which Americans observe in the most casual relations, +and the immense, apparently inexhaustible kindness which it is their +habit to show to strangers. I find in them a certain spontaneity and +affectionateness that has quite won my heart."</p> + +<p>To the credit of Mr. Ketchum be it said that if Miss Noel had been made +of cobwebs she could have been safely transported in his invention to +the steamer. This feat was comfortably achieved, at all events, and Mr. +Ketchum, having superintended it, left Miss Noel in the chair on deck; +and there were kisses and embraces between the ladies, a hurried rush to +the wharf, and the steamer moved out, with Miss Noel crying softly, and +saying, "Dear, dear Bijou! Dear America! How good they have been to me!" +and Ethel and Sir Robert hanging over the side; and ashore the Browns, +the doctor, Mr. Heathcote, the De Witts, and Mr. Ketchum and Mabel +looking earnestly at them and waving their adieux.</p> + +<p>"You'll find a couple of barrels of pecans at your place. I forgot to +tell you. Good-by! good-by! Call again!" shouted Mr. Ketchum. And then, +turning to his wife, he said, "Don't you wish you were going home, too?"</p> + +<p>Mabel stopped to straighten little Jared Ponsonby's hat and settle his +curls, somewhat disordered by the wind from the river. Then she turned a +face full of sweet content toward her husband; her simple and serious +look met his twinkling, bantering one for a moment. "No, dearest," she +said, as she took his arm and walked away. "You know that I don't. You +are my home."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The Ketchums went back to Fairfield, and spent the two years that +followed very happily and quite uneventfully in that simple round of +duties and pleasures which the foolish find so dull and the wise would +not exchange for any other. And not the least agreeable feature of this +life was what was known as "the English letters," although this really +included books, music, photographs, sketches, and a great variety of +things, from the J. pens that came for Mrs. Vane and the larding-needles +that housewifely Mabel had coveted that she might "set a proper fowl +before husband," up to packages of a disgraceful size and bulk addressed +to Mr. Ketchum in Sir Robert's hand. Sir Robert was a regular and +delightful correspondent; Miss Noel and Ethel were equally kind about +writing; Mrs. Sykes sent a very characteristic epistle or two to the +family after her return, and then let "silence like a poultice" come to +heal the blows she had inflicted.</p> + +<p>"What do you hear from that idiotic young Ramsay?" "How is Ramsay +opening the American oyster?" "What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> of poor Mr. Ramsay?" "Is Mr. Ramsay +coming back to England?" were questions often asked by these +correspondents; and Mr. Ketchum was able to give some account of that +fascinating fortune-seeker.</p> + +<p>Mr. Ramsay wrote to him occasionally, which was the more flattering +because he repeatedly said in these productions that he "hated doing a +letter most tremendously," and very truly remarked that "the worst of it +is that you've got to be thinking what to say, which is an awful bore, +and ten to one the pen is bad, and spelling takes a lot out of you if +you are not used to looking up the words." Whether, "not being a +literary chap," he would have written to Mr. Ketchum at all had not the +Ketchum and Brown properties marched and the two families been good +friends is one of those nice questions which it is hard to decide. His +letters were headed "Out in the Bush" at first, and were full of the +adventures and amusements that his novel surroundings afforded him. Then +came more sober epistles from "The Ranch," with a good deal in them +about "these dirty brutes of Mexicans and ignorant cowboys," the long, +dull days, the doubts that had begun to agitate him as to the +possibility of getting the millions that had seemed almost within his +grasp in London out of "old Brown's farm." Finally, after a long +silence, Job got a letter one day, written in pencil, that betrayed the +deepest depression and most utter disgust. He had "come an awful cropper +from a mustang," and been laid up for three months; his money was all +gone; he could get nothing to do. "I tried to get a clerkship in a +'country store' before I got my fall," he explained, "though if I have +got to that I had better go back to England, where those fellows get a +half-holiday on Saturdays and lots of bank holidays, and are in +civilization at least. Perhaps if the governor saw me with a quill +behind my ear, or riding down to the city on top of a 'bus, smoking a +pipe, he'd do something for me for the honor of the family. But he's in +a beastly humor now, and wouldn't send me a fiver to save my life. He +says that I'm not worth my salt anywhere, and that he washes his hands +of me. And Bill has taken to patronizing me so tremendously that I'd +starve rather than ask his help. So I must just stick it out here, I +suppose, unless you meant what you said when we parted, and will help me +to get back home, where I have friends, a brother-in-law especially, an +awfully good sort of fellow, that would stick to a fellow through thick +and thin, no matter what other fellows said of him. There's a lot of +'fellows' in this last sentence, but I never was a clever fellow—I had +better stop. I am getting worse mixed up than ever."</p> + +<p>Mr. Ketchum's reply to this was a short, cordial, hearty note, enclosing +a check for five hundred dollars, telling Mr. Ramsay to draw upon him +for more if he needed it, bidding him keep "a stiff upper lip," and +advising him to stop at Fairfield <i>en route</i> to England and see if there +wasn't some better way out of his difficulties. About two weeks after +this Mr. Ramsay walked into Mr. Ketchum's office and almost wrung his +hand off, "Awfully kind of you," "awfully glad to see you," "awfully +good news to tell you," was poured out as in one breath by the bronzed, +thin, but still beautiful Englishman, whose illness had given a last and +quite irresistible charm of spirituality to his handsome face.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, man, and tell us all about it," said Mr. Ketchum, when he had +given him an embrace half real, half theatrical. "Delighted to see +<i>you</i>, if it comes to that."</p> + +<p>"Here's that check you sent me," said Mr. Ramsay, going straight to his +point, as usual. "I never got it cashed, because I got by the very same +post good news from England. My great-aunt Maxwell is dead at Bath and +has left me all her money, twenty thousand pounds. Isn't it the luckiest +fluke that ever was? But all the same it is a kindness that I shan't +forget. You are an awfully good sort to have done it. Most fellows would +have seen me in Halifax<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> first, you know. And if ever you want a friend +you'll know where to find him, that's all. Only fancy all this money +falling in when I hadn't a penny and was in perfect despair! Such luck! +And such a fluke, as I have said. You see, it was all to have been +Bill's. He has always been my aunt's favorite, though at first it was to +have been divided between us; only when I was a little chap I blew off +the tail of her parrot with a bunch of fire-crackers. Haw! haw! haw! I +was never allowed there afterward, and she hated the very name of me. +She and Bill have hit it off together so well that he never had the +least fear of me stepping in. But on last Valentine's Day it seems that +she got an awfully cocky, cheeky valentine of an old maid putting on a +wig and painting her face, and it had the Stoke-Pogis post-mark, and she +took it into her head that Bill had sent it, flew into a most awful +rage, and sent for her solicitor and changed her will. And then, most +fortunate thing, she died that night, and couldn't make another."</p> + +<p>"Well, you are a doting nephew, upon my word," said Job.</p> + +<p>"It is no use of me being a hypocrite and going about looking cut up and +pretending that I am sorry when I am not," replied Mr. Ramsay. "I +haven't seen her for years, and she was nasty to me even when I was a +child, and she was a regular old cat, and no good to herself or anybody +else. I don't see why I should pull a long face and turn crocodile +because she made me her heir to spite Bill, though it comes in most +beautifully for me. I don't mean to keep it all, though I could swell it +considerably if I did. It would be a dirty thing to do, for Bill has +been brought up to expect it and didn't send the valentine at all. I +shall go halves with him; that seems fair all round." Mr. Ketchum agreed +with him, and Mr. Ramsay went on to make further confidences, in which +it appeared that he still cared for Miss Brown, and had "thought an +awful lot about her," and now rejoiced to find himself in a position to +address her if she was still free. Tom Price, coming in, could scarcely +announce that the buggy was at the door for goggling at Mr. Ramsay. The +two men drove rapidly out to Fairfield, talking all the way, and Mr. +Ramsay stared very hard at the Brown mansion and grounds, and got a +pretty welcome from Mabel that warmed his heart not a little. What he +said to Bijou in an interview that evening of four hours is no business +of ours.</p> + +<p>It began after quite formal greetings with, "Do you know that you are +looking most awfully well, Miss Brown?" on his part.</p> + +<p>"You didn't dream that I cared for you, did you?" said Bijou toward its +close, anxious to reassure herself upon a point that had made the last +two years a bitterness to her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I did. I twigged that long ago," replied he. "That is why I +cut my stick so suddenly. I couldn't support a wife then, and I wasn't +goin' to be thought a fortune-hunter, you know." It must have been that +he was forgiven the sentimental blunder that is worse than a crime,—a +want of frankness,—or how else could they have been married in six +weeks and sailed for England? Mr. Alfred Brown, being in California, did +not witness this ceremony, but Mr. Ketchum did, and "a large and +fashionable company of the <i>élite</i> of Kalsing" (<i>vide</i> the local paper). +And did not Mr. Ketchum give the groom a pair of trotting-horses that +afterward attracted much attention in Hyde Park? and did not Mr. Brown +present the bride with a considerable fortune on her wedding-day, which +her husband insisted should be set apart for her exclusive use and +control?</p> + +<p>"Haven't you got any other name than Bijou?" he said to her. "That is a +most absurd name. Bijou Ramsay. What will my people say?"</p> + +<p>"I was baptized Ellen," said she, "but I have never been called that."</p> + +<p>"Ellen? A nice, sensible name. I shall call you that," he replied, and +kept his word.</p> + +<p>And so the immigrant, who thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> he had left England forever, went +home in a little while and is living there now in inglorious ease and +somewhat enervating luxury, while Mr. Heathcote, who thought that he was +coming out for a short visit and couldn't possibly live out of England, +is already more than half an American, a successful, practical farmer, +and, it may be added, a happy man. "Heart's Content" has been +renaissanced, papered, tiled, <i>portièred</i>, utterly transformed, and is +thought quite a show-place now and much admired; but there are some +persons who liked it better when it was only an old-fashioned Virginian +home, before their mahogany majesties the old furniture, and those +courtly commoners Anne Buller and her brothers, had been swept away with +all the other cumbering antiquities.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert is now looking into the military, monastic, and baronial +architecture of the mediæval period on the Continent, and goes next year +to Japan to begin the exhaustive researches which are to culminate in +his next book, the "Lives of the Mikados."</p> + + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">F. C. Baylor.</span></p> + + +<h4>[THE END.]</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_TRUTH_ABOUT_DOGS" id="THE_TRUTH_ABOUT_DOGS"></a>THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS.</h2> + + +<p>I am about to do a very unpopular thing,—namely, to write realistically +about the dog and to protest mildly against the extravagant and +sentimental way of writing about him which has become so fashionable and +which threatens to make him a veritable fetich. The intolerance of his +worshippers has already attained a height of dogmatism (the pun is +hardly a conscious one) which is truly theologic. I have been made +aware, when expressing dissent or a low measure of faith, of an +ill-concealed scorn, such as curls the lip of a Boston liberal or lights +the eye of a "Hard-Shell" or a Covenanter when any one ventures to +differ from him.</p> + +<p>The theory is gravely advanced of a dog heaven,—not confined to the +poor Indian, whose paradise consists of happy hunting-grounds, where, of +course, he will need his faithful hound to keep him company. The main +argument of white men is generally found to be the superiority of canine +virtue over the human. Whether the word "cynic" originates from a +similar source I will not undertake to say; but I have more than half a +suspicion that such talk proceeds rather from a prejudice against men +than a genuine enthusiasm for dogs. This was doubtless the feeling of +the Frenchman who said, "<i>Plus je connais l'homme, plus je préfère le +chien.</i>" As to any argument drawn from the need of compensation +elsewhere for privation endured on earth, however it might hold +concerning the ancient dog, there is no foundation for the claim now; +for verily the modern dog hath his portion in this life,—and a double +one, too.</p> + +<p>I am impelled by no fanatical zeal, and have no creed or cult of my own +to vindicate. I am influenced only by a noble love of truth and a +sublime sense of duty in arraying myself with the despised +minority,—perhaps I may say by a sense of fair play for the "under +dog." I do not ask the <i>kynolatrist</i> to "call off his dogs" altogether: +I merely ask him to allow those who do not share his enthusiasm to pass +by on the other side without his setting the dogs upon them. I would +recall to the sentimentalist who goes on repeating his stock phrases +and, perhaps, like Mr. Winkle, pretending an enthusiasm which he does +not feel, the wholesome advice of Dr. Johnson,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> "Sir, free your mind of +cant." Canon Farrar tells of a gentleman who was seated in the +smoking-room of an English hotel when a dog entered. He became violently +agitated, so that a waiter had to bend over and whisper to him, "It's a +real dog." The poor fellow was subject to a form of delirium tremens +which caused him to see imaginary dogs. I fear the disease is epidemic +and is on the increase. I would kindly recall the public mind to the +real dog. At least, I would suggest that the other side be heard; for +those who have had most to say on the subject seem to me to exhibit a +one-sided habit of mind, analogous to the manner of running observable +in their favorites.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to trace the origin of this new theology, the apotheosis +of the Dog. It is certainly altogether un-Biblical. The whole tenor of +Scripture is decidedly uncomplimentary to the species. It is even +proclaimed as a new commandment, "Beware of dogs." They are everywhere +presented as the symbol of all that is unclean, noisy, greedy, and +dangerous. The nearest to a compliment I can find is the saying that "a +living dog is better than a dead lion." The only good deed recorded of +them is that of licking the wounds of poor Lazarus. When Hazael would +express in the strongest terms his incapability of the most shocking +conduct, he asks, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" +Job seems to have felt that he could say nothing more scathing of +certain persons who derided him than that "their fathers I would have +disdained to set with the dogs of my flock." Instead of a dog heaven, we +are told that one of the bright distinctions and blessed securities of +the New Jerusalem will be that "without are dogs."</p> + +<p>Nor would it seem to be a religion of nature. I find little, if any, +more respect shown to the species in mythology,—the nearest to an +apotheosis being the assignment of the janitorship of hell to a dog with +three heads. Egyptian mythology found it convenient to have a dog-headed +man—Anubis—as the attendant of Isis and Osiris. The <i>cynocephali</i> +whom the Egyptians venerated were more properly baboons: so that their +dog heaven, one might say, was only such on its face.</p> + +<p>Language is the amber which preserves the thought of man. We need not +dig far into the etymological strata to be impressed by the unenviable +place which the dog has made for himself in the tradition and experience +of our race. The name itself, and still more its variations, such as +cur, hound, puppy, and whelp, are anything but complimentary when +applied to mankind; and its derivatives, such as "dogged" and +"doggerel," are not of dignified suggestion. And, mark you, these +associations with the names do not seem to "let go," any more than the +dog itself from his bone.</p> + +<p>The dog slipped into literature at a very early date after the Fall, but +slunk about with his tail between his legs, as it were, and was kicked +and cursed with entire unanimity. It is difficult to say just when his +dogship began to stand up on his hind legs in literature. He has little +or no classical standing. The dog of Ulysses is, I believe, a solitary +instance. Shakespeare's "view" comes out in Lear's climacteric +execration of his "dog-hearted daughters." Sir Henry Holland once lost a +bet of a guinea owing to his failure to find a dog kindly spoken of by +Shakespeare. Milton for the most part sublimely passes them by, except +to embellish his "portress at hell's gate" with a canine appendix. +Goethe's aversion to them is well known. Old Dr. Watts is an authority +on moral traits, and the best word he has for them is that "dogs delight +to bark and bite, for 'tis their nature to."</p> + +<p>Let it not be supposed that I altogether endorse this apparent +conspiracy of the ages to give the dog a bad name,—always supposing +that he did not himself furnish the bad name to literature. I am not +impervious to advanced thought, and I like to see fair play. When a dog +is down, and everybody is down on him, he ought to be let up. It is no +wonder that a reaction set in, as will always be the case in extremes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +and, as usual, to the opposite extreme. English literature experienced +about the beginning of this century an invasion of shepherd kings, such +as Walter Scott, Christopher North, the Ettrick Shepherd, and the like, +who brought with them a great gust of outdoor air, and with it a +renaissance of the dog. But the great apostle of the new movement was +the late Dr. John Brown, of Edinburgh, whose famous "Rab and his +Friends" has inoculated the reading public with something which might be +called a species of <i>rabies</i>. This charming writer reminds me of certain +gentle inhabitants of the asylum, who have so identified themselves in +imagination with dogs that they greet you with a bark.</p> + +<p>We owe a debt of gratitude to these amiable enthusiasts for their +demurrers to the one-sided verdict of history and for their discoveries +of exceptional dogs and of exceptional traits in the canine character. +For are we not bidden, "if there be <i>any</i> virtue, and if there be any +praise," to "think on these things"?</p> + +<p>We do think of them, and we are grateful. We do not, to be sure, find +ourselves starting off incontinently to the dog-fancier's in order to +present our wife with a poodle or to transform our quiet premises into a +howling wilderness, but we think better of the world as a place to live +in, and we have a higher sense of the charity and patience of human +nature. Nevertheless, while yielding to none in my tender feeling for +dear Dr. Brown and his gentle fellow-kynophilists, I am not prepared to +obey the new commandment which this new canine gospel inculcates, "Love +me, love my dog."</p> + +<p>Probably my personal acquaintance with the species has been unfortunate, +but I have not happened to meet with these superhuman creatures. I once +tried, in my extreme childhood, to make a pet of a Newfoundland pup of +high degree; but the little brute sickened and killed himself one day by +eating a mess of the foulest refuse. In the village where I lived there +was a crabbed little hump-backed tailor, whose house and shop were on a +corner, and with him lived a vicious yellow bull-dog. It was a question +which was the most unpopular and the most obnoxious <i>bête noire</i> with +the villagers. We boys took a fearful delight in stealthily approaching +the little tailor's back door in the evening, and then, with a sudden +shout, taking to our heels around the corner, whereat the yellow fiend +would burst out after us, with "Bunky" close behind.</p> + +<p>The only other dog in our village of which I have any recollection was a +great animal, facetiously known as a watch-dog, whose mission it was to +lie in wait behind the house of the man he owned, and, as soon as he +heard a step upon the gravel walk or the tinkle of the door-bell, to +dart out upon the intruder with a howl and a spring. The result was that +one day my father, the most quiet and respectable of men, in attempting +to pay a friendly visit, was set upon, knocked down, throttled, and, but +for timely rescue, would probably have fallen a victim to the habits of +this hospitable mansion. And from that day he left his friends to their +preference of companions. My own experiences of the premises were such +that I followed for once the paternal example, in giving them a wide +berth.</p> + +<p>My social footsteps have always been guided by a knowledge of the +kennel, as well as of the house. Even as the pastor of a human flock, I +confess that I have many a time stood at men's gates balancing the +question of duty or safety before I girded up a martyr spirit and +resolved to enter. Not that I loved the sheep and lambs less, but that I +hated their growling, leaping, four-footed favorites more.</p> + +<p>It is not a mere question of wisdom or of taste, this prevalence and +idolatry of dogs. If it were only an amiable weakness, and a matter +affecting the person indulging it, some such form of image-worship as +the rage for bric-à-brac and old china, I should not take the trouble to +enter my protest. But hath not a dog teeth? Hath not a dog great, dirty +paws, a venomous and fiery tongue, and a throat which is the organ of +all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> discords? Hath he not feet which can carry his unpleasantnesses +into other people's presence, perhaps deposit them on your lap, or cause +you to stumble and be offended and made weak by standing in your way? An +ideal dog, a china dog, a dog behind a picture-frame, the dog of +literature, are not without their æsthetic side,—are certainly things +to be let alone. But the realistic, vigorously vital, intrusively +affectionate, or faithfully suspicious dog can no more be "let alone" +than could Mr. Jefferson Davis and his rebellious States once upon a +time, for the simple reason that he will not let us alone. It is as +curious an exhibition of human nature to note the surprise which always +seizes the owner when one of these "faithful" creatures bites any of his +friends and neighbors as is the proverbial incapacity of the householder +to admit the existence of malaria on his premises. A little friend of +mine who can hardly toddle, while visiting with his parents, was +recently sprung upon by a great house-dog and bitten seriously in the +cheek. And the philosophical explanation, which ought to have been +highly satisfactory, was, "The dog dislikes children, but has never been +known to hurt grown people"!</p> + +<p>I have alluded to the testimony of Scripture concerning dogs. Herein, at +least, Science is in accord with Revelation. It tells us that there is +nothing in the osteology of this family (<i>Canidæ</i>) to distinguish the +domestic dog from the wolf or fox or jackal. His "brain-cavity is +small," his strong point being "his powerful muscles of mastication." +His "sense of taste is dull and coarse." He is "not as cleanly in his +habits as the cat." He is "not courageous in proportion to his +strength." Let me illustrate this last point by what I saw this +afternoon. A dog about as large and strong as a young lion was barking +vigorously behind a low fence at a cat, who sat serenely on the other +side, meeting his Bombastes Furioso plunges at the intervening pickets +with a contemptuous hiss and an occasional buffet with her claw upon his +muzzle. I have yet to see a dog that dares attack my goat of a year +old, except when he is harnessed to his wagon. They are not, however, +afraid of sheep. And they are much more clear in their minds about +attacking children than strong men with clubs. A man is safe before them +in proportion as he is not in fear. They know a coward at once, with all +a coward's instinct.</p> + +<p>Another little peculiarity of this family in all its branches is the +hydrophobia, an accomplishment which they are very generous in +imparting, and which is to be taken into account in estimating their +usefulness.</p> + +<p>Cuvier, however, puts forward the ingenious claim—worthy of the Buckle +and Taine type of scientific speculators, who are never so happy as when +they think they have accounted for the world without the hypothesis of a +God, and who naturally catch at an opportunity of reading that name +backward (or the name Dog backward, whichever you like)—that "the dog +was necessary to the establishment of human society." This startling +dogma of the new kynolatry is a good illustration of the way in which +this class of theorists persist in putting the cart before the horse. +The truth is that man was necessary to the establishment of canine +society. Except as human skill and patience subdued, trained, and +developed the dog, the latter was incapable of rising, and was one of +man's most dangerous foes,—the fox robbing his hen-roosts and +grape-vines, the wolf eating him and his children, and the jackal and +hyena picking his bones and rifling his grave. The same ridiculous claim +of being the corner-stone of human society has been made by some +wiseacre in behalf of the goat. The plain truth is that only one animal +can justly lay claim to such a distinction. At the threshold of human +society and civilization lies the slimy figure of the snake, who +persuaded man to purchase knowledge at the cost of innocence, a lesson +which has been learned by heart and been worked out in all the "history +of civilization," for verily "the trail of the serpent is over it +still."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + +<p>Few persons realize the comparative un-worth of the dog. There is even a +hazy notion in most minds that he is to be classed with the horse, the +cow, the sheep, and the gentle swine, that he is entitled to lift up his +voice with the morn-saluting cock, or to roam with the mouse-disturbing +cat, or with that patient pair, the harnessed billy- and the lactiferous +nanny-goat.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> Hence an enormous revenue is required for his support. +For example, we are told that "the dogs in Iowa eat enough annually to +feed a hundred thousand workmen, and cost the State nine million +dollars, or double the education of all its children." I should like to +know how many of these costly and pampered creatures earn their salt. +They toil not, they spin not, they contribute neither food nor wool nor +"power." There are extreme cases where they have proved serviceable for +defence and special purposes. The Laplanders are forced to make shift +with them in default of better draught-animals. There was a time when +the dogs of St. Bernard were a great convenience to the philanthropic +monks,—who, by the way, never received one-hundredth part of the credit +which has been lavished by the sentimentalists upon their half-automaton +assistants. The slave-hunters have found the race still more serviceable +for their ends. On great moors and lonely mountains and in the +exigencies of frontier-life, the shepherd, the hunter, and the pioneer +have turned them to account.</p> + +<p>Far be it from me to disparage their assistance in these exceptional +instances and in others which might be named. The dog, like the bull or +the frogs of Egypt, is good in his place. But it does not follow that we +should have a bull in every door-yard, nor that it was an advantage to +the land of Egypt to be covered with frogs in-doors and out. The notion +that a dog is needful for defence in settled, civilized communities is +on a par with the delusion that a man is safer for carrying a loaded +pistol, more harm being done to honest people, and even to those of them +who resort to fire-arms, than to their enemies. One needs only to +consider the dogs of one's own neighborhood and compare the number of +burglars they have routed with the number of children or innocent +passers-by they have scared or bitten. My experience convinces me that +more houses and hen roosts are robbed where there are dogs than where +there are none. And it is easily explained. People who have a blind +trust in watch-dogs cease to watch for themselves. Moreover, the false +alarms of the dog are so numerous, and his barking so indiscriminating +of the difference between friend and foe, and even between real and +imaginary persons, that his owner soon ceases to take note of them. For +who is going to get up every time the dog barks in the night? The dog +is, of course, one of the conditions to be provided for in the burglar's +plan. But when he has silenced, overpowered, or eluded the watch, he has +turned the defence over to his own side, and proceeds with a special +sense of security.</p> + +<p>At all events, I do not find that dogs are chiefly kept by those who +most need to be defended, but rather by the strong and by persons living +in closely-settled neighborhoods. Nor do I find that people affect dogs +at all in the ratio or for the sake of the protection, but for the +amusement which they afford, as something to be taken care of as pets +rather than to take care of them.</p> + +<p>The watch-dog is an admirable protection<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> from one's friends. What a +boon he is to the misanthrope! What an isolation reigns about the home, +especially in the evening, where a real savage beast stands guard, +roaming in the shadows or clanking his chain beside the path! The +ingenious Mr. Quilp turned this fact to fine account, as he escorted +Sampson Brass to the door of his counting-house on a dark night:</p> + +<p>"Be careful how you go, my dear friend. There's a dog in the lane. He +bit a man last night, and a woman the night before, and last Tuesday he +killed a child; but that was in play. Don't go too near him."</p> + +<p>"Which side of the road is he, sir?" asked Brass, in great dismay.</p> + +<p>"He lives on the right hand," said Quilp, "but sometimes he hides on the +left, ready for a spring. He's uncertain in that respect. Mind you take +care of yourself. I'll never forgive you if you don't."</p> + +<p>An exceedingly social institution, the watch-dog, and a delightful +attraction to one's visitors and would-be callers. A <i>watch</i>-dog indeed; +for is he not the one thing to be on the watch for, now that the day of +spring-guns and man-traps is past?</p> + +<p>It is all very well for Byron to rhapsodize about "the watch-dog's +honest bark," and to think it "sweet" when it "bays deep-mouthed welcome +as we draw near home;" but when one has got inside of that home and gone +to bed, and wants to sleep off his fatigue, it is not always so sweet to +have some neighbor's watch-dog keeping up a dishonest bark at everything +and nothing half through the night. As to the moral quality of the +noise, the only honest bark is that of the mosquito, who is too sincere +either to attack you without warning or to give a false alarm. I have +thrown my share of boot-jacks and other missiles at the nightly cat, and +with some small measure of success; but what boot-jack will reach the +howling mastiff domiciled several doors off, and whose owner says in +effect, "Boot me, boot my dog," or the converse? And what an "aid to +reflection," which Coleridge never conceived of, is that wretched +little whelp that explodes under my study window at the critical moment +of intellectual inspiration, like a pack of animated fire-crackers! Who +shall pretend to set off the occasional service which the canine voice +has rendered to man against the long and varied agonies which it has +inflicted on our race? Emerson has a fine touch of nature, which will go +to many a heart, when he enumerates among the recollected experiences of +childhood "the fear of dogs." Goethe's aversion to dogs, already alluded +to, seems to have been based chiefly upon their noisiness at night. +Charles Reade had a habit of hitting the nail on the head, and never +showed it more pithily than when he answered "Ouida's" application for a +name for her new pet poodle: "Call it Tonic, for it is sure to be a +mixture of bark, steal, and whine."</p> + +<p>As to poodles and pugs, it is difficult for the masculine "man of +letters" to write. Fortunately, no member of my family has thus far +evinced any symptom of the poodle mania, so akin to the singular malady +which reduced poor Titania to the abject adoration of ass-headed Bottom. +Therefore any repugnance (this is purely an <i>ex post facto</i> pun) on my +part cannot be attributed to jealousy. I feel that I cannot be too +thankful not to be numbered among the unhappy husbands indicated by the +following recent incident:</p> + +<p>"Hello, old man!" said a gentleman to a friend, "what's that you've got +under your coat?"</p> + +<p>"That," was the sad reply, as he brought it forth, "is my wife's little +pug dog."</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do with him? Take him somewhere and drown him?"</p> + +<p>"I wish I might," earnestly responded the gentleman, fetching a sigh. +"No, I am not going to drown him. My wife is having a new spring suit +made to harmonize with Beauty, as she is pleased to call the disgusting +little brute, and I am on my way to a dry-goods store to match him for +half a yard more of material."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + +<p>Ladies will pay as much as ten dollars a week for the board of a poodle +in summer. And here is a specimen order at the inn wherein his puppyship +is taking his ease:</p> + +<p>"Room No. 122.—To the clerk of —— Hotel: Please send to my room, for +the use of my little pet 'Watch,' a choice porter-house steak, cooked +rare, and two chicken-wings, and charge to account of Mrs. ——."</p> + +<p>But it is not always practicable to take our "dumb companions" with us +in our travels. Accordingly, the following advertisement is said to have +been recently inserted in the papers:</p> + +<p>"Wanted, by a lady, a careful man to look after the house and be company +for her dog during her absence in Europe."</p> + +<p>I myself lately witnessed a suggestive scene in a drawing-room car at +the Grand Central Dépôt. A portly old gentleman of opulent appearance +was stepping aboard with his daughter (or wife?), a fine specimen of +Amazonian beauty, accompanied by a third member of the family, a yellow +and dirty-looking little pug with its hair in its eyes. But, alas! the +latter was arrested at the platform, according to rule, and was being +conveyed to the baggage-car. I have no power to picture the blazing +indignation of his devoted mistress, or the eloquent storm with which +she assailed the officials, or the undignified haste and distress of +mind into which the old gentleman was thrown in his part of negotiator +between the contending parties. The lady was inconsolable and +inexorable. She would not go without her beloved. She would <i>never</i> +subject him to the discomfort and indignity of the baggage-car. She +would "rather ride in the common car" herself. How the case was settled +I did not see. She left the hateful drawing-room car with her packages +and her papa(?). Whether she abandoned her tour, or went into the +baggage-car to share the shame and sorrow of her poodle, or whether a +compromise was effected in favor of the "common car," I never +ascertained, I trust she was not the lady of Baltimore who last summer +went insane and tried to kill herself on account of the death of her pet +dog.</p> + +<p>And this leads me to make a point in favor of dogs, at least so far as +their claim to being "so human" is concerned. There has been supposed to +be nothing more distinctive of human nature than its propensity to +suicide, arising from its capacity, as it rises in civilization and +enlightenment, of finding out that life is not worth living. But a +number of well-authenticated cases have come to my observation which +show that the dog is rapidly learning this supreme accomplishment. A dog +at Warwick, New York, whose master had neglected him for a new-comer, +became morose and sulky, took to watching the railway-trains with great +interest, and one day threw himself under a passing car and was crushed +to death. Another, in Marseilles, whose owner had avoided him from fear +of hydrophobia, and which had been driven from the door of a friend of +his master, ran straight for the river and plunged in, never to rise +till he was dead. A Newfoundland dog on the relief-ship Bear, and two or +three of the Esquimaux dogs belonging to the relief expedition, drowned +themselves deliberately, after showing great depression for several +days. Dr. Lauder Lindsay, in his "Mind in the Lower Animals," tells of a +Newfoundland that, being refused an accustomed outing with the children +and being playfully whipped with a handkerchief, took it so deeply to +heart that he went and drowned himself by resolutely holding his head +under water in a shallow ditch.</p> + +<p>But, seriously, it is a nice psychological question whether there is +something human about dogs, or something canine about men. At any rate, +it may well be asked whether it is really the dog-nature which attracts +us, and not rather a somewhat of the human in the brute. For when we see +the dog in the man we are repelled.</p> + +<p>The above is undoubtedly the most honorable, if not the most obvious, +reason why the dog has succeeded in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> winning the companionship, and even +the affection, of so large a portion of mankind. Another reason lies in +the fact that, as a dog, he has been wonderfully improved. There is no +denying that he comes of a bad stock. As already intimated, his "family" +includes, besides himself, the wolf, the fox, and the jackal, with the +hyena as a sort of step-brother. But he has proved himself "the flower +of the family," and, like all flowers, he has been "cultivated" and +developed, differentiated in species, till a grand bench-show will +display all the varieties, from little fluff balls, "small enough to put +in your waistcoat-pocket," to the splendid deerhound, valued at ten +thousand dollars, with his "silver-gray hair, muscular flanks, and calm, +resolute eyes." I shall never forget coming suddenly, in the streets of +Montgomery, Alabama, upon one of the veritable bloodhounds which were +employed once upon a time in tracking fugitive slaves. His dimensions +were beyond all my previous conceptions of the canine race. He impressed +me rather as an institution than an animal. And as he stood across my +path in a statuesque repose, with his red tongue and massive jaws, and a +slumbering fire in his eye, I conceived a new idea and even admiration +of "brute force."</p> + +<p>The intelligence of the dog has also been developed, notwithstanding the +smallness of his brain and his natural inferiority in this respect to +many other animals, until he has almost rivalled the feats of the +learned pig and the industrious fleas. His moral character must be +admitted to have shown itself capable of great development, despite the +recent effort of writers like Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson to prove that +he develops chiefly the worst and meanest traits of human nature. His +capacity for hero-worship and his patience under ill usage from the one +who has mastered him are conspicuous. He has a sublime indifference to +that master's moral character, however, being as subservient to Bill +Sykes or Daniel Quilp as to Leatherstocking or Dr. John Brown himself. +This fidelity to me does not imply that he may not be highly +treacherous to others, just as his protective value to me is in +proportion to his savage and perilous possibilities to the not-me. +Therefore I ought not to insist that my lovers must love my dog also. I +should rather estimate their steadfast affection for me all the more on +his account.</p> + +<p>It is argued by the dog-haters that we must not judge the whole vast and +varied race of <i>Canidæ</i> from a few exceptional individuals and +highly-cultivated breeds. But it may be retorted that neither are all +men Shakespeares and St. Augustines. The credit is so much the greater +to those of the species which have overcome the disadvantages of a low +and repulsive origin. None the less, however, will a strict veracity of +mind and speech be careful not to generalize too sweepingly from a few +particulars, and also not to make too indiscriminate and imperious a +demand upon other people's enthusiasm. Especially will it be unwise for +the friends of the dog to persist in their attempt to exalt him by +depreciating man, inasmuch as man is the party to be won over to their +way of thinking. Man has, unfortunately, been endowed by his Creator +with a notion of his superiority even to the hound and the terrier, and +naturally winces at the comparison, and is in danger of being thrown to +the other extreme. I myself am able to present these considerations thus +dispassionately as a friend of humanity rather than a foe to caninity; +but all are not favored with a judicial spirit.</p> + +<p>I suspect, in fact, that this inclining of our race to these brute +servitors is largely due to the same cause which promotes the love of +"horse-flesh." Man must assert his dominion over the brutes. He wants +some tangible evidence, always beside him and running at his heels, of +his superiority to something. It is a great upholder of his +self-respect. It is so consoling, amid our conscious defeats and +snubbings by a proud and unmanageable world, to have at hand a +fellow-creature, strong enough to tear us in pieces, who will grovel at +our feet, and quail before our eye, and let us laugh at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> him while he +makes a fool of himself at our bidding. Even the most successful and +superior men find herein a grateful outlet for their surplus +masterfulness.</p> + +<p>But I prefer to ascribe the tender and enthusiastic feeling which men +have for their dogs not so much to the merits of the latter as to an +overflowing and supererogatory goodness in the former. The human runs +readily into the humane. Man is, after all, a loving animal, and is +disposed to lavish his affection upon all who come into the right +relation and moral angle with himself. He loves to be munificent as well +as magnificent, and to be the patron of somebody or something. He has no +little magnanimity toward such as put themselves in an abject dependence +upon his honor and justice. He is ready to see all good in those who +come not in competition with himself. He has a fund of generous +enthusiasm which finds too little occupation in the world, and is glad +to find or create an object for it near at hand. So that his dog, +unconsciously to himself, is seen rather in the reflection of his own +light. He clothes him with those amiable qualities which superabound in +his own heart, and attributes to him a fidelity which is really far more +remarkable on his own side.</p> + +<p>Dogs are remarkable for their dreaming capacity. A dog never seems to +sleep but he dreams, and very likely is quite unable to distinguish his +waking and sleeping impressions. And is it not altogether probable that +those who have much to do with them catch the infection, so that they +view the canine race through a dream-like medium and as slumbering dogs +are haunted by imaginary flies?</p> + +<p>But I fear lest I shall be suspected of having caught at least one +quality of my subject and of following up this scent at a wearisome +length. And yet I have not begun to exhaust my theme, and have hardly +given a glimpse of its many lights and shades. Inasmuch as there is an +excessive tendency just now to show the lights only, it may have been +noticed that I have rather emphasized the shades. Perhaps I shall not +have written in vain if I have succeeded in moderating the present +<i>kynomania</i>, surpassing in virulence even the æsthetic craze. The dog is +having his day now,—that is clear. I presume it is the order of nature, +and that we must expect a season in human history when the dog-star will +rage. But it may not be unseasonable to recommend a slight muzzle to the +dog-bitten, especially of the literary <i>gens</i>.</p> + + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">F. N. Zabriskie.</span></p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> By a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Maine, the +judges standing six to one, it was decided that dogs are not to be +classed with domestic animals. The learned Court affirms "that they +retain in great measure their vicious habits, furnish no support to the +family, add nothing in a legal sense to the wealth of the community, and +are not inventoried as property of a debtor or dead man's estate, or as +liable to taxation except under a special provision of the statute; that +when kept it is for pleasure, or, if any usefulness is obtained from +them, it is founded upon the ferocity natural to them, by which they are +made to serve as a watch or for hunting; and that while because of his +attachment to his master, from which arises a well-founded expectation +of his return when lost, the law gives the owner the right of +reclamation, the owner in all other respects has only that qualified +property in them which he may have in wild animals generally."</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="RENAS_WARNING" id="RENAS_WARNING"></a>RENA'S WARNING.</h2> + + +<p>"If anything be anything," said Frederick Brent, "the Pennsylvania +mountains are what Oscar Wilde called them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you miserable agnostic!" exclaimed his friend Professor +Helfenstein. "Can you not, in the face of this so beautiful landscape, +get rid of your eternal subjunctive mood? <i>If</i>, indeed!"</p> + +<p>The two men had stopped at a high point on the road they had been +traversing, and were looking across a fair and fertile valley, flooded +by the summer-morning sunlight, to the mountains on its western rim.</p> + +<p>A slight smile showed Brent's pleasure in arousing his companion's +indignation.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "my ideas of natural beauty and those of the æsthetic +Wilde may be entirely false; or the whole scene may be an optical +illusion; or—<i>Rosenduft und Maienblumen</i>, observe me this lovely +maiden!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If anything be anything? You can be positive enough where a pretty girl +is concerned. She <i>is</i> pretty, though, and as <i>deutsch</i> as her ancestors +were a century or two ago, when they left the Rhineland and crossed the +sea. A pure blonde German type. Tacitus would have included her among +the Non-Suevi."</p> + +<p>Their attention had been drawn from the scenery by the approach of a +young woman and a little boy. The former was above the medium height, +and was about twenty years old, but the infantile mould of her features +and the innocent look in her large blue eyes gave strangers a +bewildering impression that she was somewhere in the neighborhood of +five. She was charmingly pretty in her way, and her wide-brimmed hat of +dark straw set off to full advantage the pale golden hue of her braided +hair and the delicate purity of her complexion.</p> + +<p>Brent could not resist the temptation to accost this mild and grave +young beauty. Stepping forward as she was passing, he lifted his hat, +and said, "Will you be good enough to tell me the way to the nearest +encampment of Indians?"</p> + +<p>"Indians?" she repeated, with a timid wonder in the tones of her soft +voice.</p> + +<p>"Yes. We are Europeans, travelling in this country, and we should like +to find some Indians who will help us to hunt buffaloes. Are there many +buffaloes near here? We haven't seen any sitting on the branches of the +trees as we came along."</p> + +<p>"I don't think buffaloes <i>could</i> get up in the trees," said the girl in +a meekly explanatory manner.</p> + +<p>"Why, you don't mean to say that the buffaloes in this country can't +climb, do you?"</p> + +<p>"I never saw a buffalo; but I don't <i>think</i> they can."</p> + +<p>She looked despairingly at her small brother, who, having not yet +reached the age of six years, was unable to afford any help in deciding +a question in zoology.</p> + +<p>"This is very interesting," said Brent, turning toward his companion. +"It seems that American buffaloes are forced to spend all their time on +the ground."</p> + +<p>"<i>Narrheit!</i>" growled the professor, beginning to walk away.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm very much obliged to you," said Brent. "Good-morning."</p> + +<p>Then he followed his friend, who was already descending a hill in the +road.</p> + +<p>"Sister Rena, what did that man want still?" asked the little boy.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, love," said his sister faintly. Her ideas were in a +hopeless state of confusion, and she was troubled by a fear that a lack +of intelligence had made her seem disobliging.</p> + +<p>When Brent overtook the professor, the latter said, "All Englishmen are +ridiculous; and you are a good specimen of the race. Why should you stop +on the public highway and talk nothingness to a harmless girl?"</p> + +<p>"All Germans are prejudiced; and Professor Helfenstein is a true +<i>Deutscher</i>," answered Brent. "My remarks to the young Non-Sueve no +doubt interested her deeply, and I fancy she will reflect on them, as +Piers Plowman says,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">With inwit and outwit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Imagynyng and studie."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They were both good walkers, and, though the heat became somewhat +oppressive at noon, they did not halt until they had reached the village +where they intended to pass the night. In this place Helfenstein heard +the Pennsylvania-German dialect spoken to his heart's content. After +dinner he sat on the porch of the inn for several hours, talking to a +number of the indigenes and making copious notes.</p> + +<p>When Brent returned from a visit to one of the village stores, he found +him looking over the result of his investigations.</p> + +<p>"Will the 'Allgemeine Zeitung' have the benefit of your researches?" +asked the Englishman.</p> + +<p>"Most like. The people at home love to have tidings of shoots from the +old German lingual stock. The dialect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> of this locality is a truly +noteworthy one."</p> + +<p>"I heard it spoken just now by the young blossom we met on the road this +morning."</p> + +<p>"Does she live here?"</p> + +<p>"No. She had driven in to the village to make some purchases. Her father +is one Reinfelter, who tills the soil of his ancestral demesne over +there near the mountains."</p> + +<p>"From whom did you learn these facts?"</p> + +<p>"From the tradesman with whom she had been talking."</p> + +<p>"Will agnosticism let you be absolutely sure his statements are true?"</p> + +<p>"No; and even less sure that they are untrue. It seems to me that a vast +amount of credulity is needed for positive unbelief. Do atheists ever +have doubts about anything?"</p> + +<p>"We don't sit still and say, '<i>Quien sabe?</i>' like you agnostics. When +nobody shall believe or disbelieve, who will <i>act</i>?"</p> + +<p>"I give it up."</p> + +<p>With a look of profound disgust, the professor pocketed his note-book +and went to seek refreshment in the shape of beer.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the difference in their ways of thinking, these two men +had something in common which furnished a strong bond of union between +them. Helfenstein sometimes said to himself, "Well, if he <i>is</i> a +pitiable doubter, he at least doubts in earnest. This makes him better +than the miserable tric-trac men who are always ready to agree that +black is white, or deny that two and two make four, when it suits their +convenience or interest."</p> + +<p>And, in fact, though Brent often paraded his agnosticism merely to draw +forth the professor's scornful comments, he really had a humble and +hopeless consciousness that if truth be visible to any human mind it was +hidden from his. The possession of an ample fortune and the lack of +family ties and active interests in life had fostered his tendency +toward introspection till it became morbid. Now, at the age of thirty, +he had no positive beliefs or aims, and felt the despairing +self-contempt which inspired Hamlet's cry, "What should such fellows as +I do, crawling between earth and heaven?"</p> + +<p>Before retiring, the travellers agreed to spend the next day in making +an excursion on foot to the neighboring mountains. But when the hour for +starting arrived, Brent had not risen, and the professor, who allowed +nothing to interfere with his plans if he could help it, set out alone.</p> + +<p>A little before sunset he returned, full of enthusiasm over the scenery, +and highly pleased with the people in the farm-houses where he had +stopped.</p> + +<p>"They are a good, honest, <i>kreuzbraves Volk</i>," he said. "They have kept +the old German home-feeling all unchanged. There is a certain Bärnthaler +over there at the foot of the mountains who is worthy to be a native of +the Fatherland,—a noble-looking fellow, with the lion-front of a young +Marcomannic chief."</p> + +<p>"The Marcomanni were a Suevic race, were they not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I should have known his ancestors were dark-haired Swabians even +if he had not told me so. He is something of a scholar, I should say, +and he seems as true a gentleman as ever lived. What a shame it is that +his good South-German name should have been corrupted into Barndollar!"</p> + +<p>"I heard this Barndollar's praises sounded about three hours ago."</p> + +<p>"By whom?"</p> + +<p>"By the father of Miss Reinfelter, the mild-eyed blonde who had her +doubts about the ability of buffaloes to climb trees. He was here this +afternoon, and we became intimate in five minutes. He told me his +ancestors came from the neighborhood of Heidelberg; and when he heard I +was there last summer his expansive face was illumined with joy. He +answered my questions about the old German settlers intelligently +enough; but he said nobody could tell me as much about such matters as +'Melker Barndollar,' of whom he spoke with 'bated breath. He also +invited me to visit him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Shall you accept his invitation?"</p> + +<p>"I have fully made up my mind to go; but that doesn't make it certain +that I shall."</p> + +<p>"Should you go if he possessed not a pretty daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Probably not."</p> + +<p>The next morning Brent rode over to the Reinfelter farm. The farm-house +interested him at the first view. It was a quaint old stone building, +with four gables and a slated roof, from the projecting windows in which +the mountain-line could be seen stretching away to the southwest and +growing more and more indistinct until their faint outlines were lost on +the far horizon. Ivy concealed more than half the gray stones from +sight, and fragrant pink roses were blooming against the southern wall, +while thick bushes of flowering jessamine grew on both sides of the +front door.</p> + +<p>The visitor received a welcome which made him feel as if he had reached +his own home. He had grown so weary of wandering aimlessly around the +world, and had become so disgusted with conventional forms and +ceremonies, that the peaceful home-like and simple, kindly manners of +these unsophisticated people gave him an agreeable sense of rest and +freedom from restraint.</p> + +<p>He allowed himself to be prevailed on to stay until late in the +afternoon; and before his visit ended he circumspectly inquired whether +they would receive him as a boarder. The promptness and pleasure with +which both the farmer and his wife agreed to his proposal showed him +that his fear of giving offence had been entirely groundless.</p> + +<p>When he returned to the inn, the professor informed him that on the +succeeding day he was going on to the next county.</p> + +<p>"I shall stay in this neighborhood some time longer," said Brent.</p> + +<p>"So? What is the especial attraction? The young woman over there where +the mountains stand?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps; but my own motives are about the last things I should attempt +to analyze."</p> + +<p>"Well, I expect to come back this way in three months, and, if I find +you here and ready to depart, we can return to New York together."</p> + +<p>"Like nearly all other imaginable things, what you state is not +impossible."</p> + +<p>Helfenstein went on his way the next morning, and Brent began his +sojourn at the farm-house on the same day.</p> + +<p>The burdens of Rena Reinfelter's life immediately became very much more +numerous. The Englishman found an unfailing satisfaction in bewildering +and horrifying her, and tried systematically to find out whether there +was really any limit to her patience and gentleness. He induced her to +go with him to the mountains near at hand, and took every opportunity to +place himself in positions where he was in imminent danger of falling +some hundreds of feet and being dashed to pieces on the rocks. Her +dearly-beloved cat was suddenly lost to sight, and when it reappeared, +uttering meek appeals for sympathy and help, its personal adornments +were as striking as they were varied. He proved to her conclusively that +all cats are utterly incapable of affection, and that their characters +are vicious and treacherous to the last degree. His favorite method, +however, was to begin by asking her some trivial question and then +involve her in a net-work of apparent self-contradictions, which filled +her conscientious soul with anguish and dismay at her own +untruthfulness. Sometimes he felt a little ashamed of these amusements, +and determined to forego them; but the temptation was too great for his +powers of resistance, and he soon began transgressing again.</p> + +<p>One morning Rena received a visit from her most intimate friend, Elsa +Barndollar, who was only fifteen years old, but, having spent the +preceding season at a city boarding-school, considered herself a grown +woman with an unusually wide experience. Although passionately devoted +to Rena, she was as fond of teasing her as Brent himself. Yet as soon as +the latter began indulging himself with that diversion, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> became +highly indignant, and scornfully betook herself to the garden.</p> + +<p>When Rena had followed her thither, she gave vent to her wrath without +restraint.</p> + +<p>"That's the most hateful man I ever saw!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Elsa!" said Rena deprecatingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is. He's perfectly horrid! What does he mean by teasing you as +if you were a little white kitten, or a green and yellow parrot, or some +other ridiculous thing? I suppose he thinks country-people are all +idiots. I never <i>did</i> see the use of Englishmen, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he only does it for fun. He's always polite to father and mother, +and little Casper thinks he's the nicest man he ever saw."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! If he's good to your relations you don't care how he treats +you. It's a shame, and he ought to be told so, too."</p> + +<p>Rena tried to pacify her young friend, but the attempt was not +successful. The latter made her visit a very short one, and when she +reached home her anger and jealousy found expression in very vigorous +terms.</p> + +<p>Her brother visited the Reinfelters a short time afterward. His interest +in the Englishman was evidently very strong, but if he shared his +sister's feelings toward him they did not prevent his treating him with +perfect courtesy.</p> + +<p>"Helfenstein is right," thought Brent, as the young farmer rode away. +"He's as handsome a fellow as I ever saw. I wonder whether he's Sister +Rena's lover so bold."</p> + +<p>But although Melchior Barndollar was far superior to the Reinfelters in +culture and in knowledge of the world, he did not interest Brent as much +as they did. The positiveness of their beliefs was a special source of +wonder to him. From the father, who had no doubt about the existence of +ghosts, to the little boy, who firmly believed in the reality of +<i>Belsnickel</i>,—hides, horns, and all,—they were the most frankly +credulous people he had ever known. But the superstition and +anthropomorphism mingled with their faith did not make him think it +less enviable. He would have been glad to believe anything as firmly as +they did the traditions which had come down to them from their +ancestors, unchallenged by doubt and unchanged by time.</p> + +<p>One evening, after Rena had, as usual, sat beside her little brother's +bed until he was sound asleep, she joined her parents and Brent, who +were sitting in the garden behind the house.</p> + +<p>The full moon was high above the mountains, and the whole landscape was +almost as distinct as it had been before the sun went down. A +whippoorwill's notes, mellowed by distance, resounded from the farthest +part of the orchard, and a tinkling chorus arose from the leaves and +blades of grass, where the myriads of nocturnal musicians were +disporting themselves after the heat and glare of the day. But the +sounds made by these performers were so regular and monotonous that they +seemed merely a part of the calm summer night.</p> + +<p>Suddenly another sound came down from the lower part of the mountains. +It began with a deep, long-drawn, hollow cry, between a howl and a moan, +and then broke into a wild, piercing shriek.</p> + +<p>The farmer started to his feet, and stood gazing in the direction from +which the cry had come.</p> + +<p>"It's only a stray dog howling," said Brent.</p> + +<p>Reinfelter turned toward his wife, and the moonlight showed that his +face was white with terror.</p> + +<p>"<i>De warnoong!</i>" he said, in a low voice. "<i>D'r geishter-shray foon de +bairga!</i>"</p> + +<p>The woman covered her face with her hands, and began trembling and +sobbing. Rena put her arms around her mother's neck and tried to comfort +her, as if <i>she</i> had been the mother instead of the child.</p> + +<p>The sound broke out again, and this time it was louder and more distinct +than before. As the melancholy echoes died away, Rena rose, and, taking +her mother's hand in hers, led her toward the house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<p>When they had gone, Brent said, "What do you think that sound is?"</p> + +<p>"It's the warning still," said Reinfelter. "It's the warning of death."</p> + +<p>"What is it made by?"</p> + +<p>"A ghost. It goes up there in the mount'ins an' calls, an' the one it +calls is soon in the graveyard already. It's called the mother, or Rena, +or me, this night."</p> + +<p>"Maybe I was the one it meant."</p> + +<p>"No; it only calls the Reinfelters still. It's been so ever since the +Injun massacree, a long time ago."</p> + +<p>"Did that happen here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. My great-grandfather an' his oldest son was up in the mount'ins, +and his wife was a-comin' back from there by herself once. Just as she +got where she could see her little children a-playin' in the yard, three +Injuns jumped out o' the woods that was nigh to the house then, an' run +into the yard an' killed the children right before her eyes. The men up +there heard her scream, an' they run down, an' found her a-layin' there +where she fell, an' they thought she was dead already. She come to +herself ag'in, but after that she just sort o' pined away, an' in less +than two months she died. It's her ghost that goes up there an' calls us +still."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever hear the call before?"</p> + +<p>"No; I never heard it myself. But the night my little girl died, nine +years ago, she rose up in bed once, an' she says, 'Who is that a-cryin' +up there in the mount'ins?' We couldn't hear nothin' still, but we knew +what <i>she</i> had heard, an' after that we didn't have no more hope."</p> + +<p>Brent did not think of the banshee as a positive reality, but he would +not have denied that its existence was possible, and he felt that it +would be useless for him to try to shake the farmer's faith in the +tradition which had such a strong hold on his mind.</p> + +<p>After a brief silence, he said he would take a short walk before going +to bed. Leaving the garden, he strolled toward the mountains, which rose +like a vast wall above the foot-hills at their base.</p> + +<p>As he drew near the rising ground which marked the verge of the valley, +the strange sound once more fell on his ear, and he walked in the +direction from which it came. Passing through a grove of chestnut-trees, +he reached an elevated open space, where the moonlight shone on the +almost level surface of large gray rocks. Near the middle of this clear +space he saw a black, shaggy object moving slowly about, with its +lowered head turned away from him. He stepped forward to get a closer +view of this creature, and as he did so it turned its head and looked at +him. The next instant it bounded away and disappeared among the nearest +trees.</p> + +<p>"Just as I thought," said Brent to himself. "It <i>was</i> a dog, and a +villanous-looking cur, too. Exactly the sort of brute to howl and shriek +at the moon on a night like this."</p> + +<p>But, as he sauntered back to the house, various doubts entered his mind. +He reflected that he had seen the animal only for an instant, by +moonlight and at some distance, and that he could not be sure it was +really a dog. Neither could he be confident it had uttered the +mysterious cry, for while it was within his sight it had made no sound +of any kind. "Perhaps it went up there for the same reason I did,—to +find out what was going on," he thought.</p> + +<p>As usual, he ended by informing himself that he was under no +responsibility to settle the question, and that, as far as he was +concerned, it would probably remain unsettled.</p> + +<p>The next morning he found the farmer and his wife very much depressed, +but he had no hope of being able to convince them that they had heard +nothing supernatural, and thought it best to avoid the subject. He +passed the day in calling on some of the neighbors who had asked him to +visit them, and returned to the farm-house just before nightfall.</p> + +<p>He found Rena standing at the door, and, while talking to her, he +mentioned his moonlight walk.</p> + +<p>"I saw what I took to be a stray dog up there," he said. "Perhaps it +made the sound we heard."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Was it a black dog, with rough, curly hair?" asked Rena.</p> + +<p>"I think it was; but I couldn't see it very well. Do you know whose it +is?"</p> + +<p>"No; but this morning when I came out of the dairy a dog that looked +like that was standing in the path, a little way off, and I was thinking +it might have been the same one."</p> + +<p>As she looked away again, Brent said, "I didn't tell your father and +mother about the dog I saw, because I thought it would be well for them +to forget the whole matter as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Rena, turning her face and looking at him gratefully.</p> + +<p>He had lost the desire to tease her, and treated her as he had never +done before. Thinking of this, not long afterward, he wondered whether a +presentiment of what was coming had caused the change, or whether it +merely arose from a consciousness of the gloom which had already settled +on the household.</p> + +<p>During his call on the Barndollars that morning, he had partly overcome +Elsa's unfavorable impression of him by treating her, to some extent, +"like a grown-up woman" and showing by his manner that he was not +unconscious of the handsome young brunette's personal attractions. On +her next visit, a little more than two weeks later, she noticed that he +had entirely given up the objectionable teasings; and this removed the +last obstacle in the way of her considering him extremely "nice." She +had mentally admitted, even at the first view, that he possessed the +degree of good looks and stylishness rigorously exacted from the male +sex by the canons of boarding school taste, and she now candidly +acknowledged to herself that his being an Englishman was, strictly +speaking, not his own fault.</p> + +<p>When she was ready to go, she made her adieux with an agreeable sense of +having been both entertaining and instructive. She forgot to take leave +of her friend the aged and decrepit mastiff, which was sitting just +inside the hall; but he called attention to his presence by three raps +of his tail on the floor. Elsa laughed, and went through the form of +shaking his huge paw,—an attention which he acknowledged by a prolonged +caudal tattoo.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Rena!" said Elsa, stopping on the topmost step, "I forgot to tell +you what happened to our Scotch shepherd-dog, Macbeth. You know Melker +and I made friends with him the first day, but we were the only ones +he'd be intimate with. Well, about two weeks ago an ugly old black dog +came prowling around the house, and when Mac went up to it it bit him +and then ran away to the mountains. Soon after that, we heard that a +black dog with the hydrophobia had been killed up there, and Derrick and +Jake said they believed it was the same one. Melker was in Philadelphia, +and before he came home Mac went mad. Derrick shot at him out of the +barn, and scared him so much that he ran off down the road, and we +haven't heard anything about him since."</p> + +<p>Rena was bending over one of the jessamine-bushes, and seemed to be +absorbed in removing some dead leaves.</p> + +<p>"Did your dog come this way, Elsa?" asked Mrs. Reinfelter nervously.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed," replied Elsa. "He ran up the road to the village. Good-by, +Kuno. I won't forget you again."</p> + +<p>Brent followed her down the steps to assist her in mounting, but she +sprang into the saddle without waiting for his help, and rode away at a +brisk canter.</p> + +<p>The farmer and his wife conferred together anxiously about the two mad +dogs, while their little son stood near them, listening intently to all +they said. Unnoticed by them, Rena walked across the yard and passed +around the corner of the house in the direction of the garden.</p> + +<p>Something in her manner caught Brent's attention, and in a little while +he followed her. He found her sitting in the garden; and, though she +tried to keep her face turned away from him, its death like pallor did +not escape his sight. He sat down at her side and asked her to tell him +what had happened. The sympathy in his voice went straight to her heart +and won her whole confidence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The warning was for me," she answered, "I'm not afraid to die; but +father and mother and my little brother—"</p> + +<p>She did not sob or make any sound, but great tears welled from her eyes, +and she was unable to go on.</p> + +<p>When she could speak again, she told him that on the day after the +warning, when she found a black, shaggy-haired dog standing near the +dairy door, she put out her hand, intending to stroke its head, but it +caught her hand with its teeth, and left a wound from which the blood +fell in large drops. The dog ran away in the direction of the Barndollar +farm, and she bound up her hand and managed to keep the wound from being +noticed while it was healing, for she was anxious to avoid increasing +the anxiety her parents already felt. Only a slight scar now remained; +but Elsa's account of the mad dogs left no doubt in her mind that she +was in imminent danger of a frightful death.</p> + +<p>Brent had once witnessed a sight which rose before his eyes many times +afterward and would not be blotted from his memory. It all came back to +him now once more,—the agonized, horribly glaring eyes, the clinched +hands and quivering throat, and the convulsive sobbing and gasping which +would not cease tearing the wasted frame until death should bring the +only possible help. It made him sick at heart to think that the gentle +unselfish girl who was even then forgetting herself in her care for +others would be seized by those paroxysms of frightful madness.</p> + +<p>He knew that many people who are bitten by mad dogs escape hydrophobia +entirely, but he could not doubt that when the teeth have entered the +bare flesh, and strong remedies are not instantly applied, there is very +little ground for hope.</p> + +<p>"Was your hand entirely uncovered?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I never wear gloves."</p> + +<p>With a desperate impulse to do something, he said, "I'll go to +Philadelphia and bring a physician. We can be here to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's too late for that now," said Rena. "It would only +frighten father and mother. I want to keep them from knowing it as long +as I can."</p> + +<p>"I won't bring anybody back with me if you are unwilling; but I must go +and find out what I can do to help you."</p> + +<p>"Do you think anything can be done to keep me from hurting anybody +else?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure of that. I'll find out the best way to do it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you. You're so good to me!"</p> + +<p>The earnestness of her gratitude made him think with sorrow and shame of +the time when his chief pleasure had been to make her unhappy. He could +hardly believe he had really been as selfish and heartless as he +appeared in the picture rising before him now out of the unchangeable +past. His dormant human interest was awakening, and his soul was +beginning to resist the tyranny of his mind.</p> + +<p>He was so impatient to begin his journey that he proposed setting off +immediately and riding to the nearest railroad-station. But Rena was +afraid this would alarm her parents: so he agreed to wait until the next +morning and take the stage in the village.</p> + +<p>That night Rena stayed longer than usual in the room with her little +brother after he had sunk into peaceful slumber in the midst of his +small confidences and grave interrogations.</p> + +<p>Soon after she came down, her mother said, "Rena, sing us one of the +nice German songs Mr. Brent learned you once. Sing the one about the +lady that set up on the high rock an' combed her hair with a golden +comb. What did they call her still? 'De Lower Liar'?"</p> + +<p>As Rena turned toward Brent and the lamplight fell on her face, he was +sure that if she tried to sing her voice would tell what she was trying +to keep unknown.</p> + +<p>"I don't think 'Die Lorelei' is a very lively song, Mrs. Reinfelter," +said he. "Maybe I can find some prettier ones in Philadelphia to-morrow, +if I have time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> I must be sure to bring Casper something. What do you +think he would like best?"</p> + +<p>This question introduced a topic which banished all others; and when +Brent looked at Rena again he saw he had come to the rescue in good +time. He was glad to think he could at least do this, and he determined +to be on the watch for such opportunities.</p> + +<p>The result of his consultations the next day gave him very little ground +for hope. All he could depend on doing was to save Rena from suffering +and prevent what she feared most by making her insensible as soon as the +madness showed signs of taking an active form.</p> + +<p>When he had gotten what was needed for this purpose and had been fully +advised as to his course of action, he went back with a heavy heart to +the farm among the mountains.</p> + +<p>At the first opportunity he repeated to Rena all he had learned in the +city, and told her what he proposed doing. The prospect that was so +dispiriting to him removed her greatest care; but her eager thanks +humiliated him as he felt his utter helplessness in the hands of fate. A +sudden fear that she might hurt him before he could make her unconscious +brought back her anxiety; but he reassured her by promising to be +constantly on his guard and take every possible means to insure his own +safety.</p> + +<p>Watching her closely as the days went by, he saw the full extent of her +calm and steadfast courage. She made no effort to hide from him her +grief at the prospect of separation from those she loved so dearly; but +of anguish or terror on her own account there was never any sign. He did +not doubt that this came from her perfect faith and trust in a higher +power, and, though he could not share her feeling, it comforted him to +know that she had such a strong support as she drew near to death.</p> + +<p>Near the close of the fifth day after his return he and Rena were +standing together at the gate in front of the house. Deep shadows were +advancing up the sides of the mountains, but their summits were still +bright with the evening glow. Both of them watched the narrowing line +of light without speaking. Their minds were full of the same thoughts, +and there was a sympathetic communion between them which did not need to +be expressed in words.</p> + +<p>Hearing footsteps on the road, they looked around, and saw Melchior +Barndollar coming toward them. A large and very handsome dog of the +Scotch shepherd breed was running along before him, and when he stopped +at the gate it came back and stood near him, with its intelligent brown +eyes fixed on his face.</p> + +<p>"You have got another collie, I see," said Brent.</p> + +<p>"No; this is the only one I've ever owned," replied Barndollar.</p> + +<p>He had been surprised at the Englishman's remark, and he was entirely +unable to account for the effect of his answer on both the others. They +turned quickly toward each other with a look of eager interest, mingled +with something else which he could not understand.</p> + +<p>"I thought your collie went mad," said Brent.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you heard that report, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. The last time your sister was here she mentioned it. Was there +nothing in it?"</p> + +<p>"It wasn't even founded on an apparent fact," said the young farmer, +smiling and looking down at the dog, which immediately began wagging its +tail so forcibly that at least one-third of its body partook of the +motion. "The men on my mother's farm have regaled themselves so often +with stories about mad dogs that they have become their pet horror. When +I came home I found that their fire from behind intrenchments had driven +poor Mac off the place; though if he had been better acquainted with +their marksmanship he would probably have gone to sleep while they were +shooting at him. I went out to hunt for him, and found him at a house +near the village, as free from hydrophobia as I am. To make sure, I +traced the dog that bit him back to its owner's hut in the mountains, +and found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> it there, sneaking around the lot and looking as vicious and +mean-spirited as ever. Its master said the dog that was shot came from +the other side of the mountains, and was worth a dozen such curs as +his."</p> + +<p>Rena stepped into the road and began stroking the dog's head and neck. +As she did so, her father came out of the house, and, seeing Barndollar +at the gate, he came down to speak to him.</p> + +<p>While the two farmers were talking, Brent walked away to a grove of oaks +near the road and a short distance below the gate. Standing among the +trees as the twilight came on, he thought over the episode which had +just come to a close, and wondered at its effect on him. Instead of +pondering over the uncertainties of the case until it lost all reality +to him, he had been too much concerned to think of probabilities at all. +Sensibility had overcome his agnosticism, and he had forgotten that it +was possible to doubt. He knew he had not acted philosophically; but he +felt that philosophy, compared with sympathy and self-forgetfulness, is +of very slight account.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Professor Helfenstein returned to the little Pennsylvania village at the +time he had indicated, which was about the middle of October. The +innkeeper told him his friend had not yet left the farm-house, and the +next morning he set out on foot to visit him there.</p> + +<p>The mountain-woods, all arrayed in their autumn foliage, were glowing +with rich, warm color. Silvery cloud-banks heightened the deep blue of +the sky, and their slowly-floating shadows intensified the brightness of +the sunlight. "<i>Ueberall Sonnenschein!</i>" said the nature-loving German. +"<i>Ach, 's ist ein wunderschönes Land!</i>"</p> + +<p>Brent saw him enter the yard, and came to the door to meet him. The +family had dispersed soon after breakfast, and, as there was no one in +the house for him to see, Helfenstein declined going in, but stood on +the door-step, describing his journeyings in the West.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he at last, "are you ready to start with me for New York +to-morrow morning, and for Liverpool next Monday?"</p> + +<p>"My starting for any place out of sight of these mountains," answered +Brent, "depends chiefly on the views of a certain young woman. At +present the indications are that no such pilgrimage will ever begin."</p> + +<p>"<i>Alle Wetter!</i> Are you married?"</p> + +<p>"No; but I expect to be in two weeks."</p> + +<p>"Is it the maiden who dwells in this house?"</p> + +<p>"The very same."</p> + +<p>For a few moments the professor gazed in silence at the prospective +bride-groom. Besides feeling a personal interest in the case, he +considered it a good subject for psychic investigation.</p> + +<p>"My good friend," he said, with judicial calmness, "why do you wish to +espouse Miss Reinfelter?"</p> + +<p>Brent knew this question was not meant to be offensive, but was +propounded in a spirit of critical analysis. He was about to answer it +with a pretence of deep gravity, when Casper came around the corner of +the house and asked him where "Sister Rena" was.</p> + +<p>"She has gone to the village," replied Brent.</p> + +<p>As the boy turned away, his disappointment was so evident that Brent +said, "Do you want her to do anything for you, Casper?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said Casper dejectedly. "I just <i>want</i> her."</p> + +<p>Brent smiled, and turned to the professor again.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't find a better answer to your question if I thought for a +week," he said. "I just <i>want</i> her."</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. W. Crane.</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="MUSTER-DAY_IN_NEW_ENGLAND" id="MUSTER-DAY_IN_NEW_ENGLAND"></a>MUSTER-DAY IN NEW ENGLAND.</h2> + + +<p>Arms and the men we sing,—not those panoplied and helmeted according to +Virgil, nor those of our own day, armed with repeating rifles and +drum-majored into popular favor, but rather the heroes of the flint-lock +and the priming-wire in the New England of two or three generations ago, +the sturdy train-bands that have left scarce one John Gilpin to tell the +tale of their valor.</p> + +<p>"Train-bands are the trustiest and most proper strength of a free +people," wrote Milton, and the colonists of Massachusetts Bay were of a +like opinion, from Miles Standish down to the humbler men of prowess. By +the law of 1666, all males in the colony were required to attend +"military exercises and service." Companies were exercised six days +yearly, prayer being offered by the captain at the beginning and at the +end of every "training." A regimental training was ordered once in three +years. Every company of foot was composed two-thirds of "musketeers" and +one-third of "pikemen," the pike of Connecticut being two feet shorter +than the rod-pike of England. Some of the lighter muskets were fired +with a simple match, but the greater number were supported by "rests," +forked at the top and stuck into the ground. They were fired by +"match-locks," the "cock" being that part which held the burning match +aloft before it was applied to the powder in the pan. Hence "to go off +half cocked" originally meant that the burning fuse dropped into the +powder pan before it was wanted. Single charges of powder were carried +by the musketeers in wooden, tin, or copper boxes, and twelve of these +boxes, fitted to a belt and slung over the left shoulder, made the +"bandolier," which jingled like a band of sleigh-bells if the boxes were +metallic. The belt also secured the "primer with priming-powder," the +"bullet-bag," the "priming-wire," and the "match-cord." The soldier +being thus a slave to his weapon, we are not surprised to note that his +manual of arms was the following, from Elton's "Postures of the Musket:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Stand to your arms.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take up your bandoliers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Put on your bandoliers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take up your match.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take up your rest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Put the string of your rest about<br /></span> +<span class="i0">your left wrist.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take up your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rest your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poise your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shoulder your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unshoulder your musket and poise.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join your rest to the outside of your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Open your pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Clear your pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prime your pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shut your pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast off your loose corns.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blow off your loose corns, and bring<br /></span> +<span class="i0">about your musket to the left side.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Trail your rest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Balance your musket in your left hand.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Find out your charge.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Open your charge.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Charge with powder.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Draw forth your scouring-stick.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Turn and shorten him to an inch.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Charge with bullet.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Put your scouring-stick into your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ram home your charge.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Withdraw your scouring-stick.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Turn and shorten him to a handful.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Return your scouring-stick.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bring forward your musket and rest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poise your musket and recover your rest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Join your rest to the outside of your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Draw forth your match.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blow your coal.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cock your match.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Guard your pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Blow the ashes from your coal.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Open your pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Present upon your rest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give fire breast-high.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dismount your musket, joining the rest to the outside of your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Uncock and return your match.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Clear your pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poise your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rest your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take your musket off the rest and set<br /></span> +<span class="i0">the butt end to the ground.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lay down your musket.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lay down your match.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take your rest into your right hand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">clearing the string from your left wrist.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lay down your rest.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take off your bandoliers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lay down your bandoliers.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Here endeth the postures of the musket.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The "Postures of the Pike" gave these orders: "Handle, raise, charge, +order, advance, shoulder, port, comport, check, trail, and lay +down,"—the words "your pikes" being given with every order.</p> + +<p>Elton's "Instructions to a Company of Horsemen" were as follows:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Horse,—<i>i.e.</i>, mount your horse.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Uncap your pistol-case.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Draw your pistol.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Order your pistol.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Span your pistol.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prime your pistol.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shut your pan.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cast your pistol.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gage your flasque.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lode your pistol.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Draw your rammer.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lode with bullet and ram home.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Return your rammer.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pull down the cock.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Recover your pistol.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Present and give fire.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Return your pistol.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Our fathers might have gone on in this lumbering way for many years if +they had seen nothing worth imitating in the red men. The Indians of +King Philip's War brought out their "snap-hances," or flint-locks, and +the colonists were not slow to see the improvement. Experimentally at +first, and afterward by a law of Massachusetts, the old pikes and heavy +match-lock rifles were replaced with lighter muskets bearing the flint. +The soldier ceased to be a slave to his weapon. Tactics were +revolutionized; and the newly-developed military spirit was met by "The +Complete Soldier," compiled from Elton, Bariff, and other authorities, +and published by Nicholas Boone, of Boston, in 1701. This, the first +military book in the British colonies, directed the soldiers to appear +"with their hair, or periwigs, tied up in bags, and their hats briskly +cocked." We hear also for the first time of the "powder-horn" and the +"cartouch-box." The "bagnets" that are mentioned were of little use +against the Indians, and they were scarcely known in America until the +wars with France. But with the appearance of the bayonet came also the +revival of the fife, which had been discarded in England in the time of +Shakespeare. The military experiences gained in the French wars were of +immense benefit when the Continentals and the volunteers formed +themselves in line for the American Revolution. And yet the <i>esprit de +corps</i> was contemptible; for every movement contemplated and every order +given by a superior officer had to be discussed, approved, or +disapproved by the inferior officers and by the humblest privates. It +was years before the army ceased to be a great debating-society with a +sharp rivalry as to which regiment should have the handsomest silk +banner. But Steuben—the great drill-master—brought order out of the +turmoil with his "Regulations for the Discipline of the Troops of the +United States," although the evolutions in the field did not go much +beyond the old-time marching that clings to the Hartford Phalanx of +to-day. An Englishman who lived in Massachusetts during the Revolution +had this to say: "The females are fond of dress and love to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> rule. The +men are fond of the military art. But in Connecticut the men are less +so, while the women stay at home and spin."</p> + +<p>The Revolution being over, the several States of the new republic +enacted military laws of their own. In New York every able-bodied male +between eighteen and forty-five was required to meet with his company +four times in each year "for training and discipline,"—once by brigade, +once by regiment, and twice by company,—for such length of time as the +governor might direct. Similar laws were in force in the New-England +States, and upon them was based the United States law of 1792 which +sought to establish a uniform militia throughout the country. The +attempt was a failure, because the President is commander-in-chief of +the militia only when it is in the actual service of the United States. +The several States, therefore, kept up their ununiformed militia until +it became a laughing-stock,—an army with broom-sticks, to evade serving +in which but fifty cents a year was required,—and then the present +uniformed militia arose from the ruins. Our present inquiry concerns the +militia of New England during the fifty years from 1790 to 1840. In +those days the "military duty" consisted of two "company trainings" of +half a day each in May and October, and one "general training" or +"regimental muster" of one day in October. While no uniforms were +required at the trainings, except to distinguish the officers, yet there +were usually enough public-spirited people in every town to furnish +uniforms to the crack company. The other company, the tatterdemalions of +the town, was called "the flood-wood." The regiment consisted of one +company each of artillery, grenadiers, light infantry, and riflemen from +adjoining towns,—the cavalry being recruited wherever a farm-house +could be found which was able to stand the shock of war. Then came the +flood-wood companies, outnumbering the uniformed companies almost two to +one.</p> + +<p>The cavalry—it was before the days of Hackett and Poinsett and +McClellan saddles and Solingen sabres—appeared to treasure up the +memory of "Light-Horse Harry Lee" and Major Winston of the Legionary +Cavalry that helped Mad Anthony Wayne against the Indians of the West. +They had not heard of the valor of the elder Hampton or the daring rides +of Major Davies, of Kentucky. "Tone's Tactics" was unknown to them. And +yet they were admired in their black suits faced and corded with red +(the militia repudiated the colors of the regular army), and they were a +terror with their cutlasses and holsters for the brace of huge +horse-pistols that they were required to carry. The uniform of the +artillery and grenadiers differed little from that of the cavalry. The +latter were topped off with helmets of red leather. Upon the hats of the +flood-wood, tin or sheet-iron plates showed the name of the +company,—the L. I. standing for "Light Infantry,"—just as you know the +porter of your hotel by his badge. The riflemen wore gray spencers and +gray pantaloons. Their hats were stiff black beavers, for the comfort of +a soft felt hat had not yet been discovered. Most gorgeous of all were +the men of the infantry, in their white pantaloons and blue coats, the +latter covered by cross-belts of white, to which priming-wires, brushes, +and extra flints were chained. A cap of black leather, sprung outward at +the top, carried a black feather tipped with red. The musicians, when +there were any, followed the uniform of the company which they attended, +with some slight differences, like turned-over plates and tasselled +ends, to show that they were non-combatants. Altogether, as one looked +at the "fuss and feathers," the broad lapels, and the bob-tailed coats, +he might well recall Thoreau's description of the manner in which the +salt cod are spread out on the fish-flakes to dry: "They were everywhere +lying on their backs, their collar-bones standing out like the lapels of +a man-o'-war-man's jacket.... If you should wrap a large salt fish +around a small boy, he would have a coat of such fashion as I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> seen +many a one wear at muster." Or, if we wish to go back still further, we +might exclaim, with Falstaff, "You would think that I had a hundred and +fifty tattered prodigals, lately come from swine-keeping, from eating +draff and husks.... No eye hath seen such scarecrows."</p> + +<p>We are at the training "in the fall of the year,"—a far more important +occasion than that in the spring, because the annual "muster" is only a +week or ten days ahead. It is a private show. The uniformed infantry and +the flood-wood have met at Walton Centre, but they, and all the +spectators too, are from "our town," with its various outlying +settlements. Let the other towns boast, let Stormont show her +grenadiers, Leicester her riflemen, and Acton her artillery, but when +"muster-day" comes look out for Walton and her infantry. The law +requires every soldier to have a musket or rifle,—flint-lock of +course,—a bayonet, a priming-wire and brush, a knapsack, a +cartridge-box, and two spare flints. The lack of any one of these may +lead to a fine. The regular order of the manual is, open pan, tear +cartridge, prime, shut pan, ram down cartridge, ready, aim, fire. But +cartridges are not often to be had, and flasks must be used, with a +pause in the manual to allow the measuring of a charge. The lack of +cartridges leads also to the carrying of powder in bulk in the +pantaloons pocket, so that the soldier may move quickly when the order +is given to "load and fire as fast as possible." Still more quick in his +movements will the soldier be when, led on by the excitement of the +hour, he becomes careless of his pocket-magazine and allows it to +explode, with a great wreckage of hair, whiskers, and eyebrows, though +no one was ever known to lose his life thereby.</p> + +<p>But the "evolutions" of the fall training-day make up its greatest +worth. It is not enough that squads of "our company" advance, fire, and +fall back, the drummer drumming his loudest all the while. It is mere +boy's play to march in single and double files or in platoons. We are to +meet the companies from the other towns at the muster, and they must be +forced to admit our superiority in spite of themselves, or else our town +will not come out ahead. Now, if there is any one manœuvre on which +the Walton infantry prides itself, the "lock-step and sit-down" is that +one. The company is marched about in single file until a circle is +formed, care being taken that the captain shall be in the inside and the +musicians on the outside. Gradually drawing toward the centre, the +circle contracts to slow music, until the whole company is in lock-step, +like a gang of convicts. At the word of command, each man seats himself +in the lap of the man behind him, and the whole company is in the +attitude of frogs as they are ready to leap. The captain, raised aloft +in the middle by some convenient mackerel-keg, draws his sword, and the +tableau lasts while the music sounds the "three cheers."</p> + +<p>Another "evolution," such as Darwin never dreamed of, is begun by facing +the company to the front in a single rank. The left hand of each man +resting on his next neighbor's right shoulder, space is taken until all +the men are an arm's length apart. At a given signal they all face to +the right. The captain, "with drawn sword," followed by the music, the +drum beating vigorously, runs at double-quick time in and out of the +spaces, like a very undignified performance of the Virginia Reel. As +each man is passed, he joins the rapidly-increasing file, until the +whole line expends its snake-like activity and marches off in "common +time" on a straight course, like this:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/image1.jpg" width="600" height="66" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p>Both of these "evolutions" are calculated to inspire the enemy with +terror, but the latter especially so. On beholding it, the enemy cannot +help giving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> applause, and in applauding he must necessarily drop his +arms. The Walton Light Infantry, equal to any emergency, may now show +their superior discipline by capturing the enemy before he can recover +from his surprise and admiration. Even the very boys on a training-day +seek to terrorize the enemy with broom-sticks and tin pans, until they +become a nuisance to the older folk and are sent off to some field to +play base-ball after the old method, the "Massachusetts game," which +allows the "plunking" of a batter when he is not on his base. But the +boys will claim their share of the extra cards of gingerbread that have +been laid in at the stores, and they will be on hand to see the +half-day's sport of training-day end before early tea-time with the +flashing of powder and the departure of the "sojers" for their homes.</p> + +<p>A very different affair is the "muster-day" of the early fall, before +the cold days and nights have come to stay. The several adjoining towns, +that furnish each its own company or its quota of cavalry, take care of +the "regiment," by rotation, at such a time as this. No matter how +centrally located the town may be, the grenadiers must come a long way +over the hills from Stormont, and the riflemen must leave Acton soon +after midnight in order to obey the signal of the seven-o'clock gun, +which demands the presence of every company on the "parade-ground:" it +goes by the name of "the common" every other day in the year. The night +marches or rides are orderly, the more so in anticipation of what is to +follow. The sun rises upon a gala-day for the men and youth: the boys +had their time at the training. Now the crowd is greater, and there is +no room for the boys, except those who live in the town where the muster +is held. The field, at a respectful distance from the regimental +line, is covered with auctioneers' stands, peddlers' wagons, +refreshment-booths of rough boards, and planked platforms for dancing to +the music of the violin. It is the picture of a college town on +"commencement-day," magnified to ten times the proportions. As you +stand,—no seats are allowed,—you can partake of sweet cider, lemonade, +apples, gingerbread, and pies and buns of all kinds. If you call for it, +you can have New-England rum, or its more popular substitute, +"black-strap," one-half rum and the other half molasses. Awaiting the +inspection, soldiers on leave of absence mingle with the commoners, +partake of the refreshments, including the black-strap, and nod their +plumes or rattle their swords while they dance the "double shuffle" or +"cut a double pigeon-wing" on the platforms, to the great wonder of the +crowd.</p> + +<p>When the regiment gathers itself together it is a sight to behold. There +are perhaps five hundred men, all told, in two ranks. A part of them +rejoice in gayly-colored uniforms, but the majority are "the +flood-wood," dressed in sheep's gray and blue jeans and armed with +rifles, muskets, and fowling-pieces of every pattern. This motley band +"toe the mark,"—a small trench that has been cut in the turf to save +their reputation for alignment. Then they break into platoons, and are +inspected, man by man, by the adjutant and his aides. The inspection +being over about eleven o'clock, the colonel appears, all glorious in +brass buttons, epaulets as large as tin plates, and a cocked hat of +great proportions. Once more the regiment forms in double ranks, with +presented arms. The colonel and his "staff" ride slowly down the line, +turn back, and take their stand for review. The music, just as it came +from every town contributing to the regiment, has been "pooled" and +placed in the charge of a leader. It is a strange medley of snare-, +kettle-, and bass drums, of fifes, clarionets, and piccolos, with an +occasional "Kent bugle"—the predecessor of the cornet—or some other +instrument of brass. It is poor music at the best, and it cannot go far +beyond marking time for the marching. But is it not better than the +simple drum and fife of a common training-day? The "full brass band," we +must recollect, is too expensive a luxury except for the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +extraordinary occasions, and even then we run the risk of hearing +"Highland Mary" repeated all day long, so scant is the <i>répertoire</i>. The +regiment, headed by the cavalry and the music, passes the colonel and +his staff. The music wheels out of the line, gives "three cheers," and +remains at the colonel's side till the regiment has returned to its +place. A hollow square is formed, in imitation of the great Napoleon at +Waterloo, and the colonel addresses his "brother-officers and +fellow-soldiers" in a few fitting words, and retires from the field.</p> + +<p>And now comes dinner,—a most important feature of muster-day. No one +has had a bite since his breakfast at home by candle-light,—unless he +has patronized the refreshment-booths. Even then he will not allow his +appetite for the noonday meal to become impaired. By previous +arrangement, each company dines by itself, or it joins forces with some +friendly company and hires the services of a caterer. The hotel of the +village cannot begin to accommodate the public, whether martial or +civilian, and temporary sheds cover long lines of tables on which the +feast is spread. It is a jolly company, and the scrambling for the +viands and the vintages, if there are any, is done in a good-natured +way. As the repast draws to a close and dessert is in order, the caterer +appears at the end of one of the tables in shirt-sleeves that are more +than wet with perspiration. Under his arm he holds a pile of plateless +pies, just as the newsboy on the train secures a pile of magazines. The +caterer marches down the length of the table with the half-inquiring, +half-defiant announcement, "Pies, gentlemen! pies, gentlemen!" At every +step he reaches for a pie, gives it a dexterous twirl between his thumb +and finger, and sends it spinning to the recipient with a skill and +accuracy of aim which would have done credit to the disk-thrower of the +ancient Romans.</p> + +<p>The "noon gun," fired after dinner, calls the regiment back to the +parade-ground. The real work of the day is over; and now come +recreation and amusement. The remarkable "evolutions" of the several +companies are shown, each town striving to outdo the others. Of course +the Walton Light Infantry will excel all the rest; but it may be no easy +matter to make every one think as we do. The newest evolution—that of +the snake on training-day—certainly "brings down the house," even if it +fails to carry an admission of its superiority. When this friendly +rivalry is over, the sham fight proceeds. A rough structure of boards +and boughs has been prepared to represent a fort, and one of the +companies is imprisoned therein, with little air or light, and with no +means of defence except to discharge their guns upward. The advancing +regiment fires by platoons, which wheel outward and retire to the rear +to load. The artillery fires blank charges from a neighboring hill. The +sweltering soldiers within the fort are only too glad to capitulate and +let some other company take their place; the new company, in turn, to +capitulate and march out with the honors of war. Meanwhile, the +cavalry—whose horses are more used to the plough than to the din of +battle—has retired to a distance, and indulges in a sham fight on its +own account. And yet, in spite of all this preparation and in spite of +the pains that have been taken to show the fancy movements of the +soldiers, you will seldom see a company that is really well drilled in +the most simple movements; for drill-masters are unknown.</p> + +<p>The sham fight goes on till toward sunset, when the regiment is +dismissed at the signal of the evening gun. And now comes the hurry to +reach home. Such reckless driving, such wild racing over the hills and +along the rough roads and ledges, and such a desire to "take off +somebody's wheel," you never saw, unless you have been to a muster-day +before. This is a part of the fun; and if you do not take it as the +correct thing, and enjoy it too, you might as well have stayed away from +the muster altogether.</p> + + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Frederic G. Mather.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="THE_STORY_OF_A_STORY" id="THE_STORY_OF_A_STORY"></a>THE STORY OF A STORY.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<h4>THE HEROINE.</h4> + +<p>A horse-car, for all it is so common a sight, is not without its +picturesque side. To stand on a long bridge at night, while the lights +twinkle in the perspective, and watch one of these animated servants, +with its colored globular eye, come scrambling toward you, is to see a +clumsy, good-natured Caliban of this mechanical age. One of these days, +when the horse-car is superseded by some electric skipping wicker-basket +or what not, the Austin Dobson of the time will doubtless expend his +light sympathy of verse on the pathetic old abandoned conveyance.</p> + +<p>Such picturesqueness, however, is rather for one who seeks, than a view +which thrusts itself upon the merely casual observer. At any rate, +another Austin,—Austin Buckingham,—who was engaged one winter evening +at the end of a long bridge in idealizing horse-cars, hit upon this way +of looking at the one he was waiting for, out of sheer desperation of +intellect. He was a young <i>littérateur</i> who was out of work. He was not, +like other workmen in similar straits, going from one shop to another +looking for a job. Not at all. He recognized the situation. He had only +to write a clever story and he could quickly dispose of it. He had +written a good many stories in his short day. Now he wished to write +another. The pity of it was that he had no story to tell,—absolutely +nothing. He had been through his note-books, but they gave him no help; +he had kept his ears open for some suggestive little incident, but the +whole world seemed suddenly given over to the dreariest commonplace. He +had walked out this evening, slowly revolving in his mind the various +odds and ends which came upon demand of his rag-picking memory, and yet +nothing of value had turned up. He was tired, and determined to take a +horse-car for the rest of the way.</p> + +<p>It was while he stood watching for the one which took him nearest to his +door, that he made the slight reflection with which this story opens. +"Could I make a horse-car the hero of my story?" he asked himself, with +a petulant tone, as he thought how dismally dull he was. The jingling +car came up, and he jumped upon the rear platform, wedged his way +through the men and boys who crowded the steps and platform, and so +pushed into the interior. He found half a dozen men in various attitudes +of neglect, but all hanging abjectly by the loops which a considerate +company had provided for its patrons. For his part, he preferred to +brace himself against the forward door, which gave him a position where +he could watch his fellow-prisoners.</p> + +<p>His eye fell at once on a girl for whom he always looked. He did not +know her name, but, as the saying goes, he knew her face very well. She +lived on the same street where he had his lodging, so that when they met +in a horse-car they always got out together. From the regularity with +which she came out in a certain car, Buckingham had sagely concluded +that she was one of the multitude of girls who earned their living, for +whom as a class he had great respect, though he did not happen to know +any single member. He liked to look at her. She was shy and discreet in +bearing; she usually entertained herself with a book, which permitted +him larger liberty of eye; and she dressed with a neatness which had an +individuality: she evidently expressed herself in her clothes. That is +not all. She was undeniably pretty.</p> + +<p>Now, our young friend had seen her in his horse-car a great many times, +but never under the conditions which existed at this time. People rarely +exclaim to themselves except in novels, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> Buckingham did deliberately +shout to himself, "Why, this—this is my heroine! I have only to find a +hero and a plot. I know this girl very well. I am sure I can make a +story about her. Give me a hero, give me a plot, and there is my story!"</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<h4>MISS MARTINDALE.</h4> + +<p>When the horse-car stopped at the foot of Grove Street, Austin +Buckingham and the prospective heroine of his story got out so nearly at +the same time that when they reached the sidewalk they were side by +side. Beneath the gas-light stood a tallish man who was looking up to +read the name of the street upon the lamp. The light thus fell on his +face and brought it into distinctness; especially it disclosed a scar +upon his cheek. He caught sight now of these two people, and at once +addressed Buckingham:</p> + +<p>"Can you tell me whereabouts Mr. Martindale lives?"</p> + +<p>Buckingham hesitated, not because he knew and did not wish to tell, but +because he did not know, but wished to, if possible, out of courtesy. He +was trying to remember. The answer, however, came a moment after from +the girl, who had checked her walk upon hearing the name.</p> + +<p>"I am going directly there," she said, and the two walked off together, +the young man lifting his broad-brimmed felt hat in acknowledgment of +her civility. He lifted it by seizing the crown in a bunch. It is +difficult to lift a soft hat gracefully. Buckingham followed the pair, +and when he had reached his own door-way he continued to follow them +with his eyes until they were lost at a bend in the street. Then he +entered the house where he lodged, and sat down in his study. He was +greatly pleased with this little turn in affairs.</p> + +<p>"That is one step further in my story," he said to himself, for there +was no one else to say it to. "So she is Miss Martindale, and this young +man with a scar has come to see her father on business. He will stay to +tea. The father will—what will the father do or say? I must look out +the name in the directory, so as to get some solid basis of fact about +the father,—something to avoid, of course, when I arrange him in the +story. If he is a stone-cutter I must make him a house- and +sign-painter. I must disguise him so that his most intimate friend will +not detect him."</p> + +<p>Austin Buckingham was in the most agreeable humor as he proceeded to +prepare his solitary tea, for he was a bachelor and yet he detested +restaurants and boarding-houses. His dinner he needed to buy, and eat +where he bought it, but his breakfast and tea he provided in the room +which served as study and dining-room. He did not wash his dishes, it +may be remarked, with the exception of a Kaga cup which was too precious +to be intrusted to his landlady.</p> + +<p>He had set aside his tea-things, and, with a paper and pencil, was +proceeding to sketch a plot for his story, with Miss Martindale for the +heroine and the young man with a scar for a hero, when there was a knock +at the door, and the servant came in, bearing a card. It contained the +name of Henry Dale Wilding, a correspondent whom he had never met, but +who had begun with asking for his autograph, and had now ended, it +seems, with calling in person.</p> + +<p>"Show him up," said the story-teller; and Mr. Wilding, who was two steps +behind the servant, instantly presented himself. His face was certainly +familiar. Ah! it was the scar upon the face which made the recognition +easy.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<h4>MR. WILDING.</h4> + +<p>"This is very pleasant," said Buckingham cordially, as he bade the young +man lay aside his coat and take a seat by the fire. While his guest was +obeying him, the host said in an aside,—only the aside was inaudible, +contrary to the custom of asides,—"He does not recognize me. I will +draw him out."</p> + +<p>"I was in town this evening,—in fact, in this very street," said Mr. +Wilding,—"and I could not resist the temptation to call on you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I am very glad you didn't," said Buckingham heartily. "It is evident +you were led into it. Have you many friends in town?"</p> + +<p>"Not very many. I know one or two men in college. I thought at one time +of coming here to college myself. I gave that up, however, and now I am +thinking of taking a special course, perhaps in English. Indeed, that is +one reason why I came to town to-day."</p> + +<p>"Well, the college is hospitable enough. It is a great hotel, with +accommodations for regular boarders, but with reduced tickets for the +<i>table-d'hôte</i>, and a restaurant for any one who happens in, where one +may dine <i>à la carte</i>."</p> + +<p>"I have not had a classical education," said the young man.</p> + +<p>"Very well: you can make a special point of that. Very few of our later +writers have had a classical education. Scholarship is no longer a part +of general culture. It is a profession by itself. It is scientific, not +literary."</p> + +<p>"But you had a classical education, Mr. Buckingham?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I had once. I don't deny that I am glad I had; but I am forced to +conceal it nowadays."</p> + +<p>"And you still read the classics," he went on, with a respectful glance +at a Greek book lying open on the table. Buckingham hastily closed the +book.</p> + +<p>"Yes, when no one is looking. But tell me about your plans. Shall you +room in the college buildings?"</p> + +<p>"I have come so late in the year that I cannot get any satisfactory +rooms."</p> + +<p>"Why not try getting a room somewhere in this neighborhood? There are +students, I think, who live on this street. I am afraid there are no +vacant rooms in this house, or I would introduce you to my landlady."</p> + +<p>"I am not sure but I shall. In fact, I have been looking at a room +farther up the street this evening."</p> + +<p>"Indeed! What house did you find it in?"</p> + +<p>"I found two or three houses that had rooms to let for students. They +were not boarding-houses. I don't care to board."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wilding, my opinion of you rises with each sentiment you express. +First you think of studying English in a scholarly fashion; then you +detest boarding. I am sure we shall be friends. I shall invite you to +take tea with me,—not to-night, for I have already had my tea, but when +you are settled in your room."</p> + +<p>"Thank you; I accept with pleasure. I am glad you did not insist on my +taking tea with you to-night, for I have just come from tea."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I remember you said you had friends in town."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have some cousins of an indefinite degree. They live on this +street, and they will make it pleasant for me. But they know very little +about the college, and I ventured to call to ask your advice about this +matter of a special course. Would you try for a degree?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Buckingham had nothing to do with the college; he was not even a +graduate of this particular one; but he dearly loved to give advice. He +took down the college catalogue, and talked with great animation for +some time to his young friend, who confided to him that his ambition was +to be an author, and that he had already written several sketches of +character.</p> + +<p>"Excellent," said Buckingham to himself. "You shall be my hero; only you +will write short poems. Then nobody will detect your likeness."</p> + +<p>Wilding stayed an hour, and then made ready to leave.</p> + +<p>"If you are going to take the car, you are just in time," said his host, +as they shook hands by the door of his room.</p> + +<p>"I am going first to my cousin's," said the young man.</p> + +<p>"Oh, are you? Wait a moment. I should like a little airing. I will walk +along with you." And Buckingham, with a sudden admiration for his prompt +seizure of the hour, put on his hat and coat.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<h4>THE PLAY MYSTERY.</h4> + +<p>Two young women were sitting over their worsted-work in the house +numbered 17 Grove Street.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Twenty-five, twenty-six," said the elder. "Lillie, if I were you, I +would always carry one of his books with me in the horse-car, prepared +to open and read it whenever he chanced to hang by the straps over me. +He would be sure to try to read it upside down, and—"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Julia! you speak exactly as if I were running after him."</p> + +<p>"Not running, my dear, but waiting for him. Confess it; don't you make +up stories about this Mr. Buckingham? don't you call him Austin all by +yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Julia, you are shameless! I have a great mind to roll up my work and go +up-stairs."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Lillie. Stay here; for Henry will surely be back soon, and we +shall learn exactly how the lion looked in his den. What a singularly +good piece of fortune it was that Henry should have met you both!"</p> + +<p>"Julia! you don't suppose that cousin of yours has been telling! You +don't suppose he has mentioned me to Mr. Buckingham!"</p> + +<p>"It is impossible to say. You get two men talking together, and you may +be sure they forget all their promises of secrecy. Now, I shouldn't +wonder if Henry were at this very moment—"</p> + +<p>"You are simply—"</p> + +<p>"Hark! There's Henry now."</p> + +<p>For the door opened, and Mr. Wilding entered, the remains of a smile +upon his face.</p> + +<p>"I really should like to know, Julia," he said, "what you two ladies +have been talking about. We could almost hear. We certainly could see."</p> + +<p>"We, Henry? Pray, who is we?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Buckingham and I. You have certainly a most hospitable fashion +of leaving your shades up. He walked out with me after I had called on +him, and he seemed to have a good deal to say after we came to the door. +There is an excellent view of the interior from the door; and Miss Vila +and you were certainly animated."</p> + +<p>"This is really dreadful! Lillie, do you suppose he saw us talk?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I feel as if he heard every word.—Mr. Wilding, I hope +you didn't repeat any of the foolish speeches your cousin made at the +tea-table?"</p> + +<p>"I was discreetness itself, Miss Vila."</p> + +<p>"But why didn't you invite him in, Henry?" asked his cousin.</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, this is reasonable! First I am made to promise solemnly +that I won't disclose Miss Vila's name, and then I am asked why I didn't +bring him in and introduce him. He wanted to come in, I know."</p> + +<p>"He wanted to!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; he tried to worm out of me who my cousin was, and he walked up +here on purpose to find out where you lived."</p> + +<p>"How lucky there is no name on the door!" exclaimed the cousin.</p> + +<p>"But he heard me ask for your husband's house,—did he not, Miss Vila? +And why on earth you should make such a mystery of it all I can't see."</p> + +<p>"Do draw the shade, Julia. It makes me nervous. I feel as if he were +looking in now."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, Lillie! he's a gentleman."</p> + +<p>"But why do you make such a mystery of it all?" persisted the young man.</p> + +<p>"There is no mystery," said Miss Vila stiffly. And, gathering up her +work, she went up-stairs.</p> + +<p>"It's only play mystery, Henry," said his cousin, when they were alone. +"You see, Lillie Vila has been coming out in the horse-car with him +every night for a long time; and she has seen him watching her. Of +course she has seen him, but he has not seen that she has seen him. Men +are so stupid. And she knows that he has tried in vain to find out who +she is. He saw her once go into the library. She was dreadfully afraid +he would come in and see her working behind the screen; but he evidently +fancied she went in to get a book. Then he is always managing to stand +or sit near her, and he peeks at her book when she is reading. He is +just dying, I know, to find out who she is."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<h4>THE REAL MYSTERY.</h4> + +<p>Mr. Austin Buckingham found on his table, when he returned from his walk +with Henry Wilding, a scrap of paper. It had nothing on it but the words +"The Mystery." This was the heading which he had made for his story. He +had been interrupted by his caller just as he had written the words. He +had not the remotest notion when he set them down what the mystery was +which he meant to reveal. The title now seemed like a prophecy to him. +Instead, however, of jotting down an outline of his story, he took out +his note-book and wrote busily:</p> + +<p>"I wish I knew just what I saw this evening. I had walked out with Henry +Wilding, who called, and who was going, he said, to his cousin's. Now, I +will not conceal from my faithful journal that I was moved by a desire +to know just who his cousin was and where he or she lived; for by a most +fortunate chance I have found out that my maiden without a name lives, +or probably lives, at a Mr. Martindale's, on this street. I tried to +draw Wilding out without betraying my own interest, but he was very +obtuse, and even seemed to be ashamed of his cousin. At any rate, he +parried my questions, and of course I could not push my curiosity. +However, I got the better of him, and walked out with him when he left. +As luck would have it again, the shades were drawn at the house where he +stopped, and the bright light within made the scene perfectly distinct. +I talked on the door-step about I know not what, half hoping that +Wilding would invite me in, but really absorbed in watching two ladies +who sat by a table. One was my fair unknown, the other a lady whom I +have occasionally seen, and whom I take to be Wilding's cousin,—though +this is all guess-work. Whether she is or not, she is evidently a very +unpleasant sort of body, for, whatever she said, the other was plainly +exceedingly vexed and mortified. She covered her face with her hands. At +one time she made a movement as if to leave. She looked earnest and +troubled. I could vow she was about to burst into tears. Her face was +very expressive. No one who shows such sudden changes can help being a +person of rare sensibility. I am almost out of conceit of making her the +heroine of my story, though, to be sure, I am not likely to interfere +with her personal rights, so long as I do not know either her name or +her history.</p> + +<p>"To come back to the pantomime which I saw through the window. It was +probably by no means so mysterious in reality as it appeared to me. Yet +what could it have been? or, rather, how can I appropriate it for my +purposes? I have it! The very situation of looking through a window +shall serve as the critical point in my story, only it shall be the hero +of my story, and not an idle spectator like myself, who does the +looking. The young poet, Wilding in disguise, only walks out at night. +He is a shy fellow, who even in public holds his hat, as it were, before +his face. He keeps by himself in his garret, brooding over his poems, +and seeing no one, until he almost loses the power of ordinary +association with other people. When night comes, he walks, sometimes +through the night. But his loneliness has generated a desire for +companionship which he can satisfy only by ghostly intercourse. So, +instead of knowing people, he imagines them, and falls in love with his +imaginations. He observes that one house looking toward the sea always +keeps its curtains drawn. He falls into the way of stealing by every +night to catch a glimpse of a fireside. There he sees a fair girl,—and +I may as well draw her portrait like that of my unknown friend,—with +eyes that are downcast but when raised suddenly grow large and lustrous, +with hands that fold themselves when disengaged, with hair that peeps +shyly over the forehead, and with a figure that seems always to be +listening. She becomes the world to him. He has renounced all common +association with men and women, and he peoples the world which he has +thus brushed out with shapes caught from this one girl. The very silence +which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> separates them makes him more quick in his imagination to invest +her with the grace which her distant presence never denies."</p> + +<p>"Bah! what superfine nonsense I am writing!" exclaimed Buckingham, +pushing his note-book aside, but continuing to sit before his fire in +revery.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<h4>THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE TAPESTRY.</h4> + +<p>Mr. Henry Wilding suited himself easily to a room in a house which stood +just beyond his cousin's. He wanted little to make him at home; for he +had only pitched his tent in this university town, and had no thought of +settling in it. His wish was to get what he came for and to go again as +little encumbered with baggage as he had come. Something of this sort he +had been saying, not long after his established routine had begun, in a +letter to the lady to whom he had the good fortune to be engaged. "I +never could feel settled so far from you," he went on gallantly; "and I +want only so much home at hand as will keep me from daily discontent. So +it is exceedingly convenient to have my cousin Julia next door. I feel +as one might who lived over a grocery-shop: there would be no fear of +starving, at all events. When my supply of family feeling runs low, I +drop in upon Julia and lay in enough to last a few days. Her friend, who +makes a home with her, of whom I wrote in my last, does not greatly +interest me. She says very little; but I am willing to grant that she is +uncommonly pretty. I don't know why I say this in such grudging fashion. +If some one else be fair to me, what care I how fair this 't other one +be? Julia admires her greatly; but I suspect she is one of the kind whom +one needs to marry ever to get at. Julia is as much married to her as +one woman can be to another; and that explains why she sees so much in +her. She sometimes reports scraps of conversations which she has held +with this Miss Lillie Vila. Unless Julia makes up both sides of the +conversation, her friend certainly is intelligent, and, I am afraid, +witty. I say this last because it piques me that I have never extracted +any witty remark from her.</p> + +<p>"As for John, he is imperturbably good-natured. His profession keeps him +away a good deal; but when he is at home he seems to do nothing but read +a book by the fireside and chuckle to himself. Julia and Miss Vila both +admire him greatly; but I suspect it is necessary to reconstruct him out +of imaginary material before one can get to think very highly of him. +Women do this naturally. I can always make myself humble by thinking +that you do it with me.</p> + +<p>"Buckingham is decidedly more interesting. I have not seen him since the +evening I called upon him; but as I recall him, his air, his +conversation, and the shell of a room which he has been forming about +him, I constantly find something new to enjoy. He has a good deal of +insight. I am not uncomfortable when I remember how steadily he looked +at me; for he is not cynical. Indeed, I should say that he had managed +to preserve an unusual amount of sentiment,—more than is generally +found in one at his time of life. I am convinced that he ought to marry; +and if he ever does, I am sure that he will give up writing stories. He +is just one of those men who will find such satisfaction in domestic +life as to become indifferent to imaginative experiences. I notice that +in his stories he always seems to be groping about for some agreeable +domestic conclusion. His room shows it. It looks as if a woman had been +in it, but had left before she had put the final touch to it. She ought +to come back."</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<h4>MR. BUCKINGHAM MAKES A MOVE.</h4> + +<p>A week after Henry Wilding had called on Austin Buckingham, that +gentleman tried to return his call. It must be confessed that his motive +was not so much a commendable desire to get even socially with his new +acquaintance, nor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> to give him good advice, as it was to get a nearer +view of the heroine of his story. Candor compels me to say that every +evening for the week past Buckingham had taken an airing, and always in +the same direction. He had always found the shade drawn at No. 17, and +often he had caught a glimpse, as he sauntered past, of the figure which +he now knew so well. It is true that he had never again seen Miss Vila +in so dramatic a character as upon the first evening when he had +discovered her <i>en famille;</i> but he had seen her, not as one sees a +portrait, which always looks in the same direction. In the horse-car she +had been such a portrait to him,—the "Portrait of a Lady Reading." +Behind the window of Mr. Martindale's house she had been a figure in a +<i>tableau vivant</i>, often animated, always disclosing some new grace of +attitude, some new charm of manner. He faintly told himself that these +views enabled him to form a more distinct impression of the character of +his heroine: whenever he should have his plot ready, his heroine would +in the various situations instantly appear to him with the vividness and +richness of reality.</p> + +<p>He bethought himself that it was high time to see a little more of his +hero; and so he persuaded himself that in going to call upon him he was +engaged in a strictly professional occupation. If by any chance he +should hear the rustle of the heroine's dress, why, that could not +possibly injure any impressions which he might receive of his hero's +individuality. These two people had become important factors in his +story. He had not yet succeeded in sketching his plot. He felt it all +the more necessary that they should sketch it for him. He was sure that +he should readily catch at any hint which they might drop. He would +therefore go into the society of his hero—and heroine.</p> + +<p>For, somehow or other, whenever he essayed to call up the image of his +hero and make it yield some distinct personality, the heroine would +gently come to the fore. It was like going to a party and finding the +eye glancing off from every black-coated figure to the richly-draped +presence which made the party different from a town-meeting.</p> + +<p>He was so much under the influence of all this reflex sentiment that he +dressed himself with care before he went out, and so presented himself +at the door of Mr. Martindale's house. It did not occur to him that +Wilding lived anywhere else. He had taken it for granted that the young +man was still at his cousin's. So when the door was opened for him he +asked if Mr. Wilding were in, at the same time presenting his card. It +chanced that the maid-servant had that day entered Mr. Martindale's +service,—not a very rare chance in any household,—and, never having +heard Mr. Wilding's name, indeed, not now hearing it, but hearing +instead the name Miss Vila, cordially welcomed the distinguished-looking +visitor, and marched before him into the little parlor, where she +presented the card, on a salver which she had snatched on the way, to +Miss Vila, who was sitting with Mrs. Martindale. The two ladies were +playing backgammon.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE INTERRUPTED GAME.</h4> + +<p>"For me!" exclaimed Miss Vila, in a dismayed undertone. "Julia!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Martindale glanced at the card. She rose at once, just as Mr. +Buckingham entered the room with a little hesitation in his step. As the +two ladies held the backgammon-board in their laps, one effect of the +sudden movement was to send the men rolling in every direction about the +room. It was weeks before one of the men—a black one—was found.</p> + +<p>Mr. Buckingham saw his card in Miss Vila's hands. He addressed himself +to her:</p> + +<p>"Possibly your servant misunderstood me. I asked for Mr. Wilding."</p> + +<p>"She is a new servant," said Mrs. Martindale, and then added, with +alacrity, as she seized the accident by its nearest horn, "her mistake +was probably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> one of the ear. She thought you asked for Miss Vila." Mrs. +Martindale had it in her to wave her hand toward the young lady, as if +showing off wax-works, and to explain, "This is Miss Vila," but Mr. +Buckingham was quick enough not to need the line upon line.</p> + +<p>"I must beg Miss Vila's pardon. There certainly is a likeness in the +names, if you spell it with a <i>we</i>."</p> + +<p>"I will speak to Mr. Wilding," said Mrs. Martindale, jerking an eyeful +of mysterious intelligence at Miss Vila and whisking out of the room.</p> + +<p>"I hope you were just about to be beaten, Miss Vila," said Buckingham, +"for I see I have spoiled the game."</p> + +<p>"It is nothing," said she.</p> + +<p>She had said nothing, but she had said it with a singularly musical +voice, and, after all, it is not the significant words but the +significant tones which touch one.</p> + +<p>"No. It is nothing," he repeated. "A game may always be interrupted, +because it is not the conclusion but the playing which gives it any +value. I suspect it is like the stories we read,—somebody comes in, and +we lay the book down before we come to the end. It is no great matter if +we never take it up again. We got our pleasure, not from knowing how +things turned out, but from knowing things." He blushed a little as he +said this. In fact, his own inchoate story came to his mind. Besides, +Miss Vila had his card. Since she read so constantly, it was odds but +she knew of him. He blushed a little more as this thought crossed his +mind.</p> + +<p>"Do you think so?" she asked, and her downcast eyes were suddenly +up-turned in full, the look which he had often patiently watched for as +he had seen her in the horse-car. "I find the end necessary. If I stop +half-way I think I have done the story-teller an injustice. I have not +given him the chance to tell me all he intended to tell me. He lets out +the secret of his characters by degrees. He could justly say to me, 'You +do not know the heroine; you have not seen her in that scene which is +going to test her.'"</p> + +<p>"You are quite right," said Buckingham, "if you really think you are +under any obligation to the story-teller."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course I am," she exclaimed, with wide-open surprise. Then she +blushed in turn,—first a little color of half-indignant rebuke, then a +warm hue as she thought of her unnecessary earnestness, then a deep +crimson as there rushed over her the sudden recollection of the hours +she had spent in Buckingham's company, and the silent admiration which +she had bestowed from the shelter of ignorance upon this gentleman who +now sat composedly before her. It was by an effort of self-control that +she did not spring from her seat and leave the room. The effort blanched +her face. It was as she sat thus, her eyes cast down, her lips set, her +countenance pale, that Mrs. Martindale returned.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<h4>THE UNNECESSARY HERO.</h4> + +<p>"My cousin will be here presently," she said, as she entered the room. +And then her eye fell on Miss Vila and glanced quickly at Mr. +Buckingham, who was nervously fingering his stick. "Meanwhile," she +added, with a mischievous look, "I will ask you to remain with us, as +Mr. Wilding will be obliged to see you here. Lillie, you have the +gentleman's card. It seems awkward to wait for the formality of Henry's +introduction. Will you have the kindness to make us acquainted?"</p> + +<p>Miss Vila gravely performed the ceremony.</p> + +<p>"Your cousin is fortunate in finding friends in town, Mrs. Martindale," +said Buckingham; "for a collegian coming here freshly, especially one in +a special course, is apt to be slow in breaking through the hedge which +divides the college from the town."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is quite fortunate," said his cousin. "I exercise an influence +over him. You know we exercise an influence over students, don't you?"</p> + +<p>Buckingham laughed.</p> + +<p>"I supposed that was what the town was for."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p> + +<p>"When they are away from home and parents and all those refining +influences, we serve as substitutes. Henry is away, not so much from his +parents, who are dead, as from the lady to whom he is engaged. That is +why I feel bound to exercise an influence over him." Mrs. Martindale +made this explanation with a serious air, but Buckingham, whose eye +never stayed far from Miss Vila, detected that young lady casting a +reproachful, not to say indignant, glance at the speaker. Miss Vila, +indeed, made a motion as if to leave, but, with another quick blush, as +if she had betrayed a secret thought, settled again into her chair. To +tell the secret, she had a sudden misgiving that her reckless friend +might take it into her head to make ingenuous revelations concerning +her.</p> + +<p>"I hope he finds his work agreeable," said Buckingham; not that he cared +a straw, but by way of keeping up his end of the conversation.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have no doubt he does, or he would come to see us oftener. I +mean," she explained hurriedly, "he would stay in his room less."</p> + +<p>"He certainly takes his time now in coming down," thought the visitor. +There was, however, a movement in the passage, and Mrs. Martindale +darted out. She came back immediately, looking somewhat embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," she faltered, "but I find I am mistaken. He is not in."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid you are not exerting enough influence, Mrs. Martindale," +said Buckingham pleasantly, but somewhat perplexed in his mind at the +length of time it had taken to make this discovery, and at the +hallucination which had seemed to possess his cousin's mind when she +announced him as about to appear. As for Miss Vila, she persistently +refused to look up. She scarcely looked up, indeed, when Mr. Buckingham +bowed himself out, though he looked eagerly at her, in hopes once more +of catching the full light of her eyes.</p> + +<p>She did look up, however, when the door closed behind the visitor, and +she looked straight at Mrs. Martindale. That lady answered her look +with one tear and a good many words:</p> + +<p>"Well, Lillie, if you knew how I felt at getting into such a scrape, you +wouldn't look at me as if you were an Avenging Conscience, or a Nemesis, +or any of those horrid furies. No; and you wouldn't look speechlessly +sorrowful, either. Of course I ought to have told him at once that Henry +did not live here, and I ought to have sent him next door instead of +sending Kate, and I ought not to have pretended that he was coming the +next moment; but of course I thought he was at home, and then when he +came I could have laughed it off; but he didn't come, and I was too +frightened to laugh it off. Oh, yes, I am a criminal of the deepest dye; +but he's introduced, Lillie, and you've introduced him to me, and we're +all—we're all introduced."</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<h4>THE REAL HERO.</h4> + +<p>When a pile of wood has been laid upon smouldering embers, a thin curl +of smoke crawls lazily up the chimney, another follows with like +indolence, and it looks after a while as if the wood would not burn at +all. Suddenly a little whiff of air enters the pile, when, presto! up +blazes the fire, and soon there is a famous glow.</p> + +<p>It was somewhat thus with Mr. Austin Buckingham. He had been toying with +the fancy of his story, and especially of this maiden to whom his eyes +had become so wonted, and had allowed himself to look at her in so many +lights, that she had gradually come to be always before him. The figure +of the hero had as gradually disappeared: it was only by an effort that +he could revive it. Suddenly he had sat a long quarter of an hour with +the girl, he had heard her voice, he had seen her smile, he had felt the +graciousness of her near presence when he was not merely at hand, but +the direct object of her thought. What a world of difference there was +between sitting by her side in a crowded horse-car and sitting even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +half a room-breadth's away, when they two were the only ones in the +room!</p> + +<p>By all this experience, as much perhaps by what had gone before as by +what had followed suddenly after, Buckingham now stood revealed to +himself. He was ablaze with this new, tingling, searching ardor. When he +had entered the room and shut the door, he saw lying upon his table his +note-book, open as he had left it. He had been amusing himself, just +before he went out, with further suggestions for his story. He dipped +his pen into the ink and drew a bold, straight line across the page. He +stood looking at the leaf,—idle fancy above the line, a blank below it.</p> + +<p>A knock at the door, and Henry Wilding entered. Buckingham greeted him +with a sudden excess of fervor which puzzled the young man.</p> + +<p>"I was sorry to miss finding you," he began, and then checked himself. +"Not so very sorry either, since fortune made me acquainted with—your +cousin—and with Miss Vila," he added, after an embarrassed pause.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," said Wilding. "Have I missed a call from you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I just came from your house. Your cousin at first thought you were +at home. Now I think of it, she—"</p> + +<p>"But I don't live at my cousin's," said Wilding.</p> + +<p>"Where do you live, then?"</p> + +<p>"Next door to her house."</p> + +<p>"Oh! then she sent out for you. That explains it." And so Mr. +Buckingham, intent on his own affairs, brushed away the duplicity of the +fair hostess. "But I was very glad to hear a piece of news about you +from her. Let me congratulate you. I did not know you were engaged." And +he shook Wilding's hand warmly. He was not so generous at the moment as +he appeared. In reality, he was shaking his own hand in anticipation. +Wilding responded with a good-natured laugh.</p> + +<p>"I have sometimes wondered, Mr. Buckingham," he said, "how you, who +write stories of love and marriage, should remain unmarried."</p> + +<p>"Let us put it the other way. How can I who am unmarried write such +stories? In truth, I have a dim sense that persons like you, who know +the matter by experience, must laugh inwardly at my innocent attempts at +realistic treatment."</p> + +<p>"Why not, then, have the experience first?" said Wilding lightly.</p> + +<p>"God forbid!" said Buckingham, with a somewhat unintelligible +seriousness. "If I were ever in love, it seems to me I should stop +writing love-stories."</p> + +<p>Now, this was just what happened, for a time at least. To any one so +dead in love as Buckingham was at this time, all circumstances are +favorable. It needs but a given moment, and the hero is on hand ready to +seize it. The next night he could not ride out from the city; he must +walk. When he got beyond the bridge, he wondered that he saw no +horse-cars coming toward him. He remembered that he had seen none for +some time, but now he noticed a long line of them standing before him, +pointed outward. He heard the puff of a steam fire-engine, and saw that +travel by rail was stopped by a fire. The hose crossed the track, and +the incoming horse-cars were in a long line beyond it. He looked at the +cars which he had over-taken. Midway in the line stood the one he had +been accustomed to take. He caught sight of a familiar head bent over a +book. He stepped into the car and stood before Miss Vila. He bent +forward, and she looked up as he spoke:</p> + +<p>"The cars are stopped by a fire. We may be delayed a long while. Why not +walk home from here? It is a fine night."</p> + +<p>He spoke somewhat hurriedly. He did not know how appealingly he looked. +She did, however, and she closed her book and followed him.</p> + +<p>The story, then, never was written, even though the heroine had been +found. Everything else had disappeared,—the hero, the mystery, the +plot. Nothing was left but the heroine and—love.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Horace E. Scudder.</span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="SHADOWS_ALL" id="SHADOWS_ALL"></a>SHADOWS ALL.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Shadows all!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From the birth-robe to the pall,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In this travesty of life,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hollow calm and fruitless strife,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whatsoe'er the actors seem,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They are posturing in a dream;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fates may rise, and fates may fall,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shadows are we, shadows all!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">From what sphere<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Float these phantoms flickering here?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From what mystic circle cast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the dim æonian Past?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Many voices make reply,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But they only rise to die<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Down the midnight mystery,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">While earth's mocking echoes call,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Shadows, shadows, shadows all!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i24"><span class="smcap">Paul Hamilton Hayne.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ROSES_OF_YESTERDAY_AND_TO-DAY" id="ROSES_OF_YESTERDAY_AND_TO-DAY"></a>ROSES OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY.</h2> + + +<p>It always seemed to me, as a child, that the birds put their hearts more +wholly into their songs in that special little corner of Paradise on the +Hudson River than they did anywhere else. Not that it was really so very +little a corner, being small only in comparison with an entire Paradise, +composed of many such bits, that lines the shore of the beautiful +Hudson.</p> + +<p>It was so great a delight to the child who knew little of country +pleasures to be called away from some task or commonplace "every-day" +pastime and to be told that there was an invitation to spend an +afternoon, or perhaps several days, at Professor Morse's place, "Locust +Grove."</p> + +<p>There would be the drive, leaning back in the barouche (with a feeling +of easy importance lent by the consciousness of wondrous delights to +come) and looking up with a species of admiring awe at the herculean +form of the French coachman, who seemed to be concealing romantically +brigandish recollections behind his fiery black eyes and wide-spreading, +ferocious moustache. Along the dusty "South Road" we would go, under the +green lights and shadows of the maple-trees, over the two miles which +stretch between Poughkeepsie town and "Locust Grove,"—past "Eastman's +Park," with its smart decorations, past the small, unambitious houses, +draped with many-hued, old-fashioned roses, that straggled along the +dividing-line between the narrow restrictions of town and the fragrant +wideness of the country, where the air was cool with the breath of the +river, and the breezes brought suggestions of freshly-cut grass, just +blown locust-blossoms, and the thousand sweet, indefinable scents of the +woods.</p> + +<p>On approaching the boundaries of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> "the Grove," the perfume of the +locust-flowers assumed due prominence, as the name of the place implies +they should, while their white clusters drooped from the heavily-loaded +branches till they fairly touched the high posts of the gate. And then +would come the drive up the dim avenue, flecked with patches of sunshine +that lay like fallen gold pieces in the dusk shadow, while if one +glanced upward or on either side one saw nothing save the arching +trees,—pines and locusts, and maples no less stately,—until a space +was reached where the grove was less dense and the view widened to a +stretch of velvet grass whitened with daisies lying soft on the tops of +the blades in a way to make one fancy a summer fall of snow. At the turn +of the avenue one caught a glimpse of the house, with its vine-wreathed +tower, generous piazzas, and hospitable <i>porte-cochère</i>, and in the +background, beyond the lawn, the river, with the blue hills on the +opposite shore veiled by a light, lace like haze, just enough of a haze +to lend mystery to the distance.</p> + +<p>The loud clattering of the horses' shoes on the stone pavement under the +<i>porte-cochère</i>, which informed the occupants of the house that visitors +had come, seemed always to tell the youngest, most insignificant, yet +happiest of those visitors that the anticipated hour of many delights +had actually arrived. And of these delights there were to the heart of +the child a thousand and one such as could scarcely be realized or even +dreamed of at the home in town. There were the broad, shady piazzas to +be walked over with dainty footfalls, lest the grown people should be +disturbed. There was the mystic retreat within the circle of a group of +low-branching pines, the secret of which one penetrated by stepping down +from the front piazza at a certain place and there insinuating one's +self into a small opening, which only the initiated could discover, +among the trees. Here one had a little fragrant sanctum all one's own, +carpeted with pine needles, green and brown, and arched over by ceiling +and walls of thick branches, from out of which peeped startled robins, +who soon, finding that no harm was meant them, went on with their song. +Then there was the garden, fragrant and brilliant, which one might +explore when one had promised Thomas, the presiding genius, that one +would not touch his cherished sweets, for it "went to his heart" to see +a single blossom torn from its parent stem. And there were the +grape-houses, for which the place was famous far and near,—hot, and +odorous of moist soil and growing vines, among which white and purple +clusters hung temptingly heavy and low.</p> + +<p>One especial pleasure was to walk along the gravelled path that skirted +the smooth, level stretch of lawn at the back of the house, and thus to +reach the brow of the hill overlooking the "farm" and the river. There +were seats on the edge of this bluff, and a large spring-board on which +one might ride and jump to one's heart's content. By following this path +still farther, and to the left, one soon deserted the well-kept lawn and +found one's self on a narrow, winding walk overhanging a deep, wooded +ravine, in the depths of which a little brook ran curving about among +the ferns and daisies; and presently, far out of sight of the house, in +shade so dense as to lend a certain pleasing enchantment, one came upon +a rustic summer-house, with odd, three-cornered-seats, and a table +surrounding the tree-trunk that supported the centre of the roof.</p> + +<p>There were manifold other out-of-door enjoyments, such as visiting the +pigeon-house, and, as a rare favor, rioting in the scented hay in the +loft over the barn, visiting the gardener's wife (whose home was in that +part of the old Livingston mansion which its master and time had allowed +to stand), and being permitted to draw water from the ancient well, +about which hung so many stories of generations past. How exciting it +was, and with what delicious awe one listened, when the little lady who +was a fairy grandmamma instead of a fairy godmother in the household<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +told a certain story regarding this well! It was a story before the time +of her own birth, when two of her older sisters were very tiny girls. +One day, when the mother was busy in superintending some homely task +(such as the manufacturing of the "cream cheese," perhaps, for which she +was noted), the baby of two years toddled in and began to lisp over and +over the same broken words, "Tatie in 'ell, Tatie in 'ell." She had +repeated them many times, with increasing insistence, before the busy +mother realized that they possessed a meaning. "Tatie in 'ell, Tatie in +'ell," the little one said, pulling at her mother's gown, half crying as +she spoke; and then it dawned upon the latter that her baby had +something serious to tell. She yielded to the little importunate hands +upon her dress, and followed the child out of doors to the well and +there looked down. "Katie" was indeed in the well, as the lisping tongue +had tried to say, and, gazing into the darkness below, the mother could +see the frightened, pitiful little face turned up to her, while two +small hands convulsively grasped the edge of the great bucket. The +husband and father was away from home, all the men employed about the +place were working at a distance, and there was no time to lose: those +frail hands must soon relax their hold, and the child was sorely +terrified and begging to be saved. As the mother hesitated, in an agony +of doubt, out from the house came a stout, elderly serving-woman, who +had lived in the family for many years, and who was especially devoted +to little Kate. She had heard her mistress's cry, and, running to look +into the well, without even waiting to explain, she set about the +execution of a hazardous and original plan of rescue. Climbing over the +curb, she began to descend by striding the well and planting her feet +upon the rough, protruding stones of which the sides were formed. Not +one woman in a thousand could or would have done such a thing; but this +one was tall and strong, and brave as a lion with the might of her love +for little Kate. She saved the child, who had suffered no graver injury +than a thorough drenching and a fright which served as a warning for +herself and the children of her own and several generations to come.</p> + +<p>Interesting as was this story and others told of the past, and +delightful as it was to play under the great trees, roaming at one's own +sweet will all about "the Grove," better than everything else was it to +be admitted into the "sanctum sanctorum" of the place,—Professor +Morse's study,—where the master sat among his books and treasures, his +kindly, clear-featured face and bright brown eyes, framed in by silver +hair and beard, shining out from the curtained dimness of the room. +There were many objects fascinating even to a child in that study, which +opened out of the family library with its store of books. The library +was very good, but the study was still better. There, under a glass +case, was the first telegraph-instrument that had ever been made. One or +two of Professor Morse's early paintings hung upon the wall, and +sometimes he would display a few sketches to the older members of the +party, who were naturally regardless of the fact that there was "a chiel +amang 'em, takin' notes." The crowning treat offered within the +study-walls, however, was to have the marvels of the Professor's immense +and powerful microscope displayed before our wondering gaze. There we +became acquainted with the rainbow-tinted plumes of the fly's wing and +the jewels that lie hidden from ordinary ken in the pollen and petals of +the simplest blossoms. And the master of it all, to whom the marvels +were as familiar as the common objects themselves, seemed to derive a +genuine pleasure from that which he bestowed upon his guests.</p> + +<p>When Professor Morse purchased Locust Grove, before his second marriage, +he was not aware that it had belonged to the family of the lady who was +soon to become his wife. Indeed, it was not until some friend remarked, +"How delightful for you to take your bride to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> the old ancestral place +owned by her kindred for so many generations!" that he knew the home +would possess any associations, save those to be formed in the future, +for his <i>fiancée</i>. But no doubt at the beginning of their life there +Locust Grove was thus rendered doubly dear to both. The old Livingston +mansion was at that time standing, much nearer to the entrance-gates +than the more modern residence inhabited by the owner's family; and the +quaint well, with the stone curb, the water of which was so remarkable +for its purity that travellers came from a distance to ask the privilege +of drinking, formed an object of interest at least, if not of actual +beauty, before the old vine-grown porch. Gradually the house fell into +decay, and the greater portion was torn down, leaving but five or six +rooms, with their odd, hooded windows and strangely-fashioned fireplaces +and mantels, the porch, with its broad, shallow seats, and the +green-painted, "divided" front doors, to tell the tale of what once had +been the home of so much hospitality and happiness.</p> + +<p>So all remained painted with unfading colors on the canvas of my memory, +each object as I had known and loved it when a child. And then the child +went far away and grew to womanhood, having looked on many places and +"things of beauty," but, while forgetting much that belonged to the old +days, never forgot Locust Grove. The scent of the new locust-blossoms, +the songs of the birds, and the beauty of the lights and shadows dancing +on the river were as vivid in recollection as they had been in +actuality; and after a severe and tedious illness it seemed that no +tonic could prove so effectual as a visit to that dear old place, not +seen for years, and which I had loved so well.</p> + +<p>There is generally experienced a vague yet bitter disappointment in +returning to a spot hallowed by associations after an absence of any +appreciable length of time. It is wellnigh impossible for the reality to +equal what has through the filtering of fancy become scarcely more than +a remembered dream.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nothing can be as it has been;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Better, so call it, only—not the same.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And yet Locust Grove in 1884 looked almost as unchanged as though it had +shared the slumbers of the "Sleeping Beauty" since 1871. Only, a certain +potent charm had fled with the presence of the departed master. It was +now but his pictured eyes and silver hair that lit up the dimness of the +room that had been sacred to him. The books and papers covering the desk +belonged to a later and more careless generation. The microscope stood +unused under its glass case, the sketches were lovingly laid away out of +sight, and altogether a subtile change could be detected in the +atmosphere. There were things, however, about the house which perhaps +had always been there, and yet which I looked upon now with a new and +keener appreciation. The picture of Professor Morse when a child of five +or six years, standing by his father, who is clad in the quaint robes +which then distinguished a Congregationalist divine, seemed to me one +that might interest others besides myself. Also the portrait of his +mother, with pearls in her puffed and powdered hair, and her beautiful +bare arms holding the older child, Sidney (a baby in oddly-fashioned +long robes), was charming to look at because of its intrinsic beauty as +well as the associations attached to it. And the life-size painting of +General Washington's mother,—said to be the only one of the kind in +existence,—which looked down from its broad frame over the dining-room +mantel, possessed a special fascination for me. One felt rather +insignificant with that scornful smile and those languid eyes brooding +over one as one sat engaged in the discussion of soup; and it was +impossible to keep from imagining that the stiff and stately dame in her +mathematically correct white and green draperies was drawing invidious +comparisons between the way one did one's hair and the way in which she +had considered it proper to arrange her abundant pale-brown locks.</p> + +<p>About the place itself were more changes than at first would strike the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +eye. The old Livingston homestead had been razed to the ground, and +smooth, emerald grass thrived upon its site, while the chief gardener, +Thomas, had been promoted to a new æsthetic cottage of the latest +approved colors and style. Even the famous well was no more; for a small +and inconspicuous pump had been put in its stead, to save unwary +children from instituting a too curious search for the "truth" popularly +supposed to lie within its depths. The graperies were gone, and in their +stead nourished rose-houses,—visiting the interior of which seemed +fairly to transport one into the famous "Vale of Cashmere." Roses of all +colors and all descriptions here found an ideal home, and with their +beauty served the purses of their two young masters, who superintended +their culture. It was in the early summer that I saw the place again +after my long absence, and the rose-houses of course could not be seen +at their best, as they can in winter. There are four large houses, +opening into a long, narrow frame building, at one end of which is the +office where the young gentlemen managers transact their business. Here +all was—and still is, no doubt—immaculately neat, the walls adorned +with colored prints and paintings of flowers, an array of books, papers, +and ledgers carefully arranged in their exact places on the desk, and +everything kept free from dust, swept and garnished. In the long, bare +room from which the office opens are stored gardening-tools, +watering-cans of all shapes and descriptions (some of which to an +untutored eye present a striking resemblance to coffee-pots such as the +Brobdingnag giants might have used), baskets for packing the roses, with +all their paraphernalia, earthen pots for plants great and small, and +many other utensils such as those unlearned in gardening lore would +consider uncouth in the extreme. On one side of the room stands the big +table upon which the baskets are set, and above this are ranged numerous +rows of shelves. Four doors open into the rose-houses, and at the east +end is the one devoted exclusively to the culture of Jacqueminots,—the +"Jack"-house it is irreverently, if not slangily, styled. Here the glass +roof stands open all the summer long, for the breezes to blow and the +soft rains to fall upon the petted plants; and here the sunshine holds +high revel, bronzing the intricate tracery of stem and branch and +turning half the leaves to shining emeralds.</p> + +<p>It was in the "Jack"-house that I one morning found Thomas Devoy, the +gardener, at work with his great oddly-shaped shears or scissors, and +detained him long enough to make a little sketch of him among his +flowers; and while I worked with pencils and paper he told me divers +anecdotes of the twenty-eight years he had spent in Professor Morse's +service. "I entered service in the old country when I was very young," +he said; "and even as a little boy I was fond of gardening. One time, +when I was a child, I was going through some splendid greenhouses with +the head-gardener who took care of them. There was one very rare plant +of which he was exceedingly proud, and I begged him for a tiny slip to +take home with me. But he refused; and so, in passing by, I quietly +broke off one little leaf. Some time afterward I was able to show him a +plant as fine as his own which I had raised from that one leaf, and then +I told him its story."</p> + +<p>All the fine, large Jacqueminots in the "Jack"-house were raised from +one parent plant with cuttings made about four years or so before, the +gardener told me, while I, gazing in amazement at their high-reaching +branches, thought, with "Topsy," it was something to boast of that they +had "jest growed."</p> + +<p>In the winter the rose-houses become things of beauty and a joy forever, +seeming to have imprisoned the very heart of summer within their walls, +while outside—shut away from the warmth and glowing tints of red and +pink, yellow and lustrous rosy pearl—lie the snow and the ice, and +through the bare branches of the trees the wind whistles drearily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> + +<p>But in the summer the aspect of the rose-houses is very different. All +then is preparation and making over for the coming autumn and winter. +Some of the houses are planted with tiny cuttings just lifting little +tender sprays above the warm, moist soil. Men are at work here and there +with hammers and nails, repairing any slight damage that may have been +done in previous months. Hose-pipes coil over the floors, and one must +walk by them daintily. In other houses one would exclaim with pleasure +at finding one's self in a wilderness of roses, pink, yellow, and white, +only to be told, rather contemptuously, "<i>That</i> is nothing. There are no +roses here now. You must wait till winter if you want something worth +seeing. We have roses as large as tea-saucers then, and any quantity of +them."</p> + +<p>Outside the buildings, and fairly surrounding them, are large square +beds of hybrid roses of many varieties, each sort planted in separate +rows by itself. There are beds of cuttings also, and one long, narrow +bed of red hybrids running the entire length of the greenhouse. +"Catherine Mermet," "La Reine," "Adam," "Paul Neyron," the exquisite "La +France," "John Hopper," the "Duke of Connaught," "Niphetos," and "Perle +des Jardins" are here in profusion, with others of every shade and tint, +too numerous almost to count, and the perfume arising from beds and +hot-houses is intoxicating in its strength and sweetness. Some bushes +are merely set in earthen pots out of doors; and these are supposed to +be in a dormant state, undergoing the process of "drying off," or +"hardening," receiving very little water, and are to be so kept until +September, when they will be repotted and "started" for growing,—thus +illustrating the truth of the saying that there is a blessing for those +who only stand and wait. But one could not help pitying them, when one +thought how their more fortunate companions with their uncramped roots +were exploring underground passages and enjoying all the freedom and +moisture of the rich soil.</p> + +<p>"During the fall and winter we are very busy in a different way," said +Thomas Devoy, as he displayed his treasures. And then he told me how +every day in the later months all hands are occupied in tending, +cutting, and packing the roses which are daily expressed to a certain +New York florist. The beautiful half-blown buds are carefully cut, with +long, leafy stems, and laid in the great market-baskets standing on the +table ready to receive them. Row after row and layer after layer are +laid in, sprinkled until leaves and petals sparkle with a diamond dew. +Only buds at a certain stage of unfolding are used, and the most +exquisite roses with their petals opening one pink or pearly crease too +far are discarded as unfit to send away. Tissue-paper covers the flowers +as they lie ready in their baskets, then oiled paper is placed on top, +and finally a thin red oilcloth is fastened over all.</p> + +<p>Thus from two to four hundred roses of almost every variety are daily +put upon the New York train and expressed to the florist, at whose +establishment they arrive, after a few hours, as fresh, dewy, and +fragrant as when they left their parent plants.</p> + +<p>And yet, with all these that are sent away, the home is not forgotten. +Gorgeous blooms in exquisite foreign vases adorn table, cabinet-shelf, +and mantel in every inhabited room in the house, where, among relics of +the old time, the roses of yesterday and to-day meet in a rivalry so +lovely that one is at a loss in deciding the merits of their separate +claims. The roses of to-day are freshest, and it may even be fairest; +yet there is a little poem which asks,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What's the rose that I hold to the rose that is dead?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And thus, to one who has known and loved the place in days gone by, when +what has become a mere association and memory now made its very life and +soul, there is something in the suggestion of that verse which at least +lets itself be readily understood.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Alice King Hamilton.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="A_HOOSIER_IDYL" id="A_HOOSIER_IDYL"></a>A HOOSIER IDYL.</h2> + + +<p>It was a part of the Great West which in the past fifty or seventy-five +years has been transformed from unbroken forests, the home of the red +Indian and the deer, to a thickly-settled farming-country, dotted with +comfortable homes and traversed by railways and wagon-roads. Here and +there in retired districts the log cabins of the pioneers remained, and +wherever one looked an horizon of woods met his eye; but the numerous +towns and villages gave evidence of a higher and ever-increasing degree +of civilization.</p> + +<p>It was a land of rich soil and lush natural growth, without rocks or +hills or swiftly-running streams, a region of corn- and wheat-fields and +orchards, of clover-pastures and melon-patches.</p> + +<p>The human <i>physique</i> showed good development and abundant nourishment, +but the dwellers along the sluggish creeks sometimes had a tinge of +yellow beneath the sunburn of their faces. Caste distinctions, pride of +station, were unknown here; all the people, whether their possessions +were great or small, drew their nurture from the soil, and greeted each +other with a friendly "Howdy?" when they met, conscious of perfect +equality. It was much better to be poor in a place like this than in a +great city,—to have at least physical abundance if one could not have +other advantages. Elvira Hill was not conscious of being poor, though +just now she was anxious to get a country school to teach. All her life +had been spent amid these familiar scenes, her condition in life was +neither worse nor better than that of her acquaintances, and it never +occurred to her to be discontented with her lot and rebel against fate. +She had been brought up on a farm, had known what it was to go after the +cows of an evening, to drive them to the barn-lot bars and milk them, to +catch a horse in the pasture and saddle and ride it, to hunt hens' nests +in the hay-mow, to churn, and wash dishes, and get vegetables from the +garden, and pick the raspberries and blackberries that ripened in the +fence corners along the fields and woods. But just now she was living +with her grandmother in a little brown house in the cluster of houses +called Hill's Station. There were two stores, a post-office, a +blacksmith's shop, and a mill; the mail-trains stopped here, and a daily +hack carried passengers northward two miles and a half to a larger +village, Sassafrasville, where there was an excellent academy. The +national pike ran through Hill's Station, and there was a great deal of +travel on this road,—local travel of various kinds, peddlers' wagons +which stopped in every town, and long rows of white-covered movers' +wagons going West to Illinois or Iowa or Kansas. What wonder, then, that +with all these advantages the people of Hill's Station thought +themselves centrally located, and watched with complaisant interest the +passing trains, the daily hack, and the teams going along the pike? That +they were pleasantly located there was no doubt. Tall beech- and +sugar-maple-trees, part of the original forest, stood singly here and +there and cast pleasant islands of shade upon the expanse of sunshine, +and from the fields which bordered the road came the scent of +clover-blooms.</p> + +<p>Elvira Hill had gone to the little country schools, sometimes to the one +a mile west of town, sometimes to the one a mile east, and for the past +three years had attended the Sassafrasville Academy: so that now, at +seventeen, she was considered to have a good education, and expected to +follow the example of many of the young people of that section and go to +teaching. She talked it over with her grandmother, and decided that she +had better try a subscription school in the country first; then, if she +succeeded in giving satisfaction, she would apply in the winter for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> the +position of assistant in the Hill's Station school.</p> + +<p>Her grandmother, placid and fair, with a cap of sheer white muslin +resting on her yet brown hair, and a pair of gold-bowed spectacles +pushed up on her forehead above her kindly blue eyes, was considered a +handsome old woman, and showed few traces of the life of toil through +which she had passed. She read a great deal in a New Testament with +large print, and often sat a long time in thought, with it open on her +knees. Another work which she frequently perused was Mrs. Ellet's "Women +of the Revolution," in two volumes, containing steel engravings of +stately dames in laced bodices and powdered hair.</p> + +<p>Elvira borrowed a horse of one of the neighbors, put her grandmother's +much-worn red plush side saddle upon it, and started out in search of a +school. She rode east and she rode north; but in the first district they +had a teacher already engaged, and in the second they had concluded they +wouldn't have any school that summer. Did they know of any other school +where a teacher was wanted? she inquired. No, they couldn't say they +did; but she might hear of one by inquiring further, the honest district +trustees said. So she rode homeward again, in no wise discouraged, and +asked the postmaster to inquire of the farmers who came in from other +neighborhoods in regard to this matter.</p> + +<p>He promised that he would, and a week later called her in as she was +passing, and said, "There was a man here yesterday from Buck Creek +district who said they wanted a teacher in their school this summer. You +might try there. His name is Sapp, and he lives right by the +school-house. You go two miles and a half south till you come to a mud +road, then two miles and a half east till you come to a pike. You can't +miss the place."</p> + +<p>Elvira thanked him, and a little while later, when her accommodating +neighbor was not using his horse, she borrowed it again and rode forth +on her quest. It had been raining, the mud road was muddy, and clouds +still hung in the sky; but the country through which she passed was a +rich, fresh green, and the fruit-orchards were in bloom. From solitary +farm-houses big dogs and little dogs issued forth to bark at the sound +of her horse's feet, and bareheaded children at this signal ran out to +the gate to see who was passing.</p> + +<p>The school-house of Buck Creek district, a neat wooden building, painted +white, stood in a grassy acre lot, bordered on two sides by thick woods, +on the other two by the roads which crossed here. In the corner +diagonally across from it stood a snug cabin, with a garden around it, a +well-sweep in the rear, and a log stable not far distant. She alighted +in front of it, and was proceeding to hitch her horse, when the door +opened, and a man stepped out, greeting her with a friendly "Howdy?"</p> + +<p>She responded, and asked if Mr. Sapp lived here.</p> + +<p>"My name is Sapp," he said, and, tying her horse, invited her in.</p> + +<p>There she found the rest of the family,—the mother, a grown daughter, +and two half-grown sons: they seemed friendly, but a little shy, and +stood in the background while she transacted her business.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Mr. Sapp said, in answer to her question, "they wanted a +three-months' school, but had no teacher engaged. Had she ever taught +before?"</p> + +<p>No, she had had no experience in teaching; but she had attended the +Sassafrasville Academy several terms, and was qualified to teach the +common branches,—arithmetic, grammar, and geography, reading, writing, +and spelling.</p> + +<p>Well, he would bring her application before the other two trustees, and +guessed they would elect her: there was no other applicant. Now, about +the terms: three dollars a scholar for the term of twelve weeks was the +usual rate. If she would draw up a subscription-paper, he would take it +round himself and get as many names as he could; thought he could get +twelve scholars signed, and knew that more would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> sent. The children +had to be kept at home in busy times, and the farmers didn't like to +bind themselves to pay the full amount for all that they would send. He +himself would sign one and send two. Charley could go all the time; but +Jack would have to help about mowing and reaping and threshing, and +couldn't attend regularly.</p> + +<p>So Elvira drew up the paper according to his dictation, and, leaving it +with him, rode home in the dusk of the evening, feeling happy over her +prospects.</p> + +<p>Her grandmother had supper ready in the little kitchen; and it tasted so +good, the salt-rising bread and butter and hash, the little tea-cakes, +and the preserved pears. While the grandmother drank her cup of tea, +Elvira told her the incidents of the afternoon; and the night closed +around them as they sat secure and content in their humble home.</p> + +<p>The great world was full of great problems which wearied and perplexed +men's brains and seemed wellnigh unsolvable, but she had solved her own +little problem in her own little way, and was at peace.</p> + +<p>In a few days Mr. Sapp called with the subscription-paper. He had got +sixteen scholars signed,—more than he expected. That was a good +prospect for a summer school. They wanted her to begin on the following +Monday; which she promised to do. Then she asked him if she could board +at his house a week or two, until she could make some arrangements to +ride from home. Yes, she could; he guessed a dollar and a half a week +for board would be about the fair thing.</p> + +<p>So, early Monday morning she bade her grandmother good-by, and, with her +books under her arm, set forth to walk to Buck Creek district. The +school-house door was locked when she got there, but a few timid +country-children were sitting on the door-steps or on the fence, with +their school-books and dinner-buckets. Mr. Sapp came over and unlocked +the door; then, as it was half-past eight, Elvira rang the little bell +which she found on the teacher's desk, and school began. After taking +down the children's names and ages and assigning desks to them, she +heard them read in their first, second, or third readers, and questioned +them about the progress they had made in other branches. Other children +came in from time to time, until there were twenty-two present. And when +Mr. Sapp went home at "little recess," as the intermission of fifteen +minutes in the middle of the forenoon was called, he told her that her +school opened very well. "Big recess" was the intermission from twelve +o'clock till half-past one. In that time the children ate their dinners +and then scattered to play in the large grassy yard or in the shade of +the adjoining woods. Elvira won their hearts by going out and playing +prisoners' base and two or three other games with them. When she rang +the bell again, the children said, "It's books now," meaning the time +allotted to study and recitation, came in red and panting, and, with the +energy generated by violent exercise, got out their books and turned to +their lessons as if they meant to learn everything there. But as their +blood cooled their efforts relaxed, and they were soon looking idly +around the school-room for some source of entertainment. When Elvira +called up a class to recite, the children at their seats looked and +listened with absorbed interest, till reminded by their teacher that +they had lessons of their own to learn. There was another "little +recess" in the afternoon; then, at half-past four, school closed, or +"broke," as the children called it, and they rushed forth with their +empty dinner-buckets in hand, laughing and shouting and chasing each +other as they started home. Some of the little girls waited to say +good-by to the school-ma'am and to kiss her, and one of them said, in a +shamefaced way, "I like you real well."</p> + +<p>When all had gone, Elvira sprinkled and swept the floor and put her own +desk in order. Then, locking the door, she went over to Sapp's cabin, +which was to be her home for a while.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sapp rose up from the quilt she was quilting, and, greeting Elvira +cordially,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> invited her to lay off her things—meaning her hat and +cloak—and take a chair. Mary was in the kitchen, a small shed-room +attached to the cabin, getting supper. Elvira looked around her. The +hewn logs which formed the walls were well chinked in the cracks, and +neatly whitewashed. A home-made rag carpet covered the floor. Two beds +stood foot to foot in the back part of the room, and a third in the +corner by the fireplace. On the wall, over the beds, hung various +articles of clothing,—a dozen calico dresses, several pairs of +pantaloons, and coats, turned wrong side out. In the corner, between the +window and the fireplace, stood a bureau, covered with a white muslin +cloth, the borders ornamented with open-work made by drawing out the +horizontal threads in narrow strips and knotting the others together in +various patterns. Over the mantel hung an almanac, and two +highly-colored pictures representing a brunette beauty and a blonde, +named Caroline and Matilda. Mrs. Sapp, meantime, was giving a +biographical account of the school-children and their parents,—saying +how Mrs. Brown was bound her two little girls should get some schooling, +if she had to pay for it herself out of money she got by selling eggs +and butter, and how the Sanders children didn't have any clothes in the +world besides those they wore to school, except some old ragged ones, +and how they had to change them at night as soon as they got home.</p> + +<p>"I saw 'Tildy White at school to-day," she continued, "but I guess she +won't get to come much. Her step-mother keeps her at home and makes her +work, while her <i>own</i> children can go all the time. The three Mays +children were there too, but you needn't care whether they come regular +or not: Mr. Mays is mighty poor pay, and I suppose you won't ever get +your dues from him; but maybe Mr. Sapp can collect it off of him some +way. And Bert Mowrer was there: he's a sassy boy. His folks don't make +him mind at home at all, and 'most every teacher has trouble with him. +Mr. Redding, the teacher we had last winter, licked him with a beech +gad, and he behaved hisself after that. And there's Maggie Loper; her +mother needs her at home real bad, but she'll get to come all summer. +She's the only girl, and there are six grown boys; and the family set a +heap o' store by Maggie."</p> + +<p>This stream of talk was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Sapp and the +two boys; and soon after Mary called them all to supper. There was +hardly space to pass between the stove and the table in the kitchen, and +several splint-bottomed chairs had to be brought from the front room; +but at last all were seated, and, after Mr. Sapp said grace, +conversation began in a loud and cheerful tone. The plate of hot +biscuits was first passed to Elvira, then the platter of fried ham, then +the butter, the young radishes and onions, and later the blue bowl +containing stewed dried apples. Mrs. Sapp poured out the hot coffee, +saying, "Our folks want coffee three times a day, and want it pretty +strong." The sugar-bowl, containing brown sugar, was passed around, that +each one might sweeten his coffee according to his taste; then the +cream-pitcher, full of rich cream. Mr. Sapp drank three cups of coffee, +and ate in proportion, and frequently passed the meat and bread to +Elvira, hospitably urging her to eat more.</p> + +<p>After supper, Mrs. Sapp invited Elvira to come out and see her little +chickens. She had sixty, all hatched within the last two or three weeks, +and another hen would come off next week with a brood. "I've got some +young turkeys, too," she said, "but they hain't done very well this +spring, because it was so rainy. Two died, and I have to look after the +others to keep 'em out of the wet grass." Then they looked at the +garden, and Mrs. Sapp remarked that the boys must stick the peas right +off, went on to the milk-house,—a log shanty beyond the well,—and +finally came back to the sitting-room, where, as there was yet an hour +of daylight, Mrs. Sapp sat down to the quilting-frame. Elvira borrowed a +thimble and assisted her, having only to ply her needle and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> listen. The +stream of talk ran on the subject of quilts, the various patterns in +which they were pieced and quilted, the Rising Sun, the Lion's Paw, and +the Star of Bethlehem being Mrs. Sapp's favorites. From the pile resting +on a chair between the two beds at the back of the cabin, quilts +representing these patterns were brought and unfolded for Elvira to +admire; and each one had reminiscences connected with it which she must +hear. One was pieced when Jack was a baby, one was Mary's work and +property, and another was quilted in one day by the neighbor women on +the occasion of a quilting-bee, which Mrs. Sapp proceeded to describe in +all its particulars.</p> + +<p>As darkness settled down, the other members of the family came in from +their various chores, and, as the evenings were yet cool, a fire was +made in the fireplace. Then, seating himself by one of the jambs, Mr. +Sapp opened the spelling-book, and, calling Charley into the middle of +the floor, pronounced one row of words after another for him to spell, +until several pages had been gone over and not a single word missed, +greatly to the pride and admiration of the father. But by nine o'clock +the fire got low, and the family began to yawn. It was time to go to +bed, and, without saying good-night, the different members retired to +their allotted quarters,—Mr. and Mrs. Sapp to the bed by the fireplace, +Jack and Charley to one bed in the back part of the room, and Mary and +the school-ma'am to the other.</p> + +<p>Thus, with few variations, the days passed until the first week of +school had gone. Elvira became better acquainted with her pupils, with +the Sapp family, and, through them, with the news and gossip of the +neighborhood. One evening she found Mary, who was a young woman grown +and older than herself, standing outside the back door, crying bitterly, +while her mother stood by, talking to her with the air of one who could +be liberal in some views and yield many points, but who felt that a firm +stand must be made somewhere. On explanation, it appeared that Mary +wanted to go to the nearest station on the railroad and ride to the next +station east, a distance of thirteen miles, for the purpose of making a +visit; but Mrs. Sapp was not willing that she should do so, giving as +her objection that there was so much danger in riding on the cars, +adding that if Mary would wait till corn-planting was over, her father +would take her through in a wagon. She had never been on the cars +herself, and could not give her consent for one of her family to enter +upon such risks. So Mary, with much disappointment, had to give up her +proposed visit for the time.</p> + +<p>When Friday evening came, Elvira walked home to Hill's Station, feeling +that she had made a good beginning in her new work, and related to her +grandmother all the incidents of the week. On Saturday she went about +among the neighbors, who were most of them farmers, to see if she could +hire a horse for the summer. All the good horses, however, were in +constant use, and could not be spared by their owners. At last, one +farmer said that he had a horse which wasn't worth much at its best, and +just now had a sore head, so that he had put it out to pasture for the +summer on a farm several miles distant. She could have it to use, and be +welcome, if she would provide pasturage for it and give it now and then +a few ears of corn. Elvira accepted the offer gratefully, and he +promised to have it at Hill's Station for her by another Saturday. She +boarded at Sapp's another week, and after that rode from home every +morning and back every night. Her steed did not seem to have an arch or +curve in its whole body, but to be made up of straight lines and angles. +It reminded her of the corn-stalk horses she used to make when a little +girl. Its favorite gait was a slow walk, with its head in a drooping +dejected attitude, and sometimes it came to an entire stand-still, as if +it had reached its journey's end. When she was about to meet some one, +or heard wheels coming behind her, she tried to urge it into a spirited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +trot, and to rein it in so that its neck would have some slight +appearance of a curve; but it only threw its nose into the air, +presenting a longer straight line than before, and, after trotting a +little way, it came to a sudden pause about the time the people passed +or met her. More than once she heard them laugh and felt her face burn. +If she had not known better days, she had at least known better horses, +and was aware that her steed presented a sorry appearance. The only time +it displayed any life was in the morning, when she came to catch and +saddle it. Then it trotted repeatedly around the pasture-lot, +occasionally sticking its head over the top rails, as if it had a notion +to jump the fence and run away. During the day it fed on the grass in +the school-house yard, and every day at noon she took it over to Sapp's, +drew water from their well, and gave it as many bucketfuls as it would +drink. Elvira carried her dinner, consisting generally of bread and +butter, cold meat, and pie, in a little basket hung on the horn of the +saddle, and sometimes, when she had been trotting, found on reaching +school that part of it had fallen out on the way.</p> + +<p>The road over which she passed every morning and evening grew familiar +to her, even to the individual trees, the mossy old stumps, the +fence-corners over-grown with wild vines. The life of the farm-houses, +as daily presented to her, furnished perpetual entertainment. She came +to know every member of every family by sight, and to associate certain +traits of character with them. Some two-story white houses stood back +from the road in the retirement of fruit- and shade-trees, and seemed +reserved and dignified; other smaller houses were only a few steps +removed, and had their wood-piles on the side of the road. One little +new cabin in the corner of a strip of woods especially interested +Elvira. It was the home of a lately-married pair, young folks full of +energy and ambition. The husband chopped down trees, ploughed, or +ditched his land, as if he were working for a wager, and the wife was +equally active and industrious. Her bright tin milk-pans were out +sunning early every morning, her churning and ironing were done in the +cool part of the forenoons, her front yard was always neatly swept, and +the borders were bright with balsams, petunias, and other flowers.</p> + +<p>Then the world of nature unfolded every day something fresh to the +solitary rider,—the blue depths of summer sky in which great masses of +dazzling white clouds were heaped, the thick beech woods, where it was +always cool and pleasant, the swamps, with their spicy fragrance, their +variety of growth, and their slow-running streams of clear brown water. +The blossoming blue-flags of May gave way in June to the fragrant wild +roses, and these were followed in July and August by ripe raspberries +and blackberries, which grew plentifully along the fence-corners and +could be had for the picking.</p> + +<p>Toward the latter part of the term, Elvira was frequently invited by her +pupils to go home with them on Friday night and spend Saturday at their +house, now one girl, now another, saying, "Miss Hill, mother said ask +you to come home with us to-night." And when she went, she found that +the farmer's wife had prepared something extra for supper in expectation +of her coming,—fried chicken, and honey, and other home luxuries,—and +seemed glad of the little break in the monotony of farm-life which the +school-ma'am's visit afforded. The faded family photographs and old +daguerreotypes were brought out for her entertainment, and she was told +that "This is Aunt Lizzie Barnwell: she lives in Grant County, and this +is her husband, and these are her children. This is Grandpa and Grandma +Brown, and this is grandma's brother, ma's uncle. For a long time he +thought that was a cancer on his nose, but it turned out to be only a +wart. And this is Mr. and Mrs. Holmes: they used to live neighbors to +us, but now they have moved to Kansas. And this is Johnnie and Sarah and +Nelson Holmes. Nelson used to be real mean: he pulled our hair at +school, and threw clods of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> dirt at us when we were coming home of +nights, and we always thought he stole our watermelons, and we were glad +when he moved away; but we liked Sarah and Johnnie." And so on through +the list of relatives and acquaintances. On these visits Elvira +generally slept on a high feather bed in the best room, or in a little +bedroom opening from the parlor,—for not all the homes were as humble +as Sapp's,—and the oldest daughter of the family slept with her. On +Saturday forenoon she often went berry-picking with the children, +crossing the corn-fields in the hot sun, climbing fences, and so gaining +the thickets or woods where the blackberry-vines grew wild, with gallons +of ripe berries ready for nimble finders. "Look out for snakes!" the +children used to call to each other when deep in the bushes, but they +never saw anything more than a harmless garter-snake, or perhaps a +water-snake in the swamp. Saturday afternoons she sat and talked with +the farmer's wife, assisting in the sewing or quilting or whatever work +of this kind was on hand; and when she rode home in the cool of the +evening it was always with some little delicacy in her basket for her +grandmother,—a glass tumbler of honey, a cake, some pickles or +preserves, or a quart bottle of maple syrup, which her hostess had given +her at parting.</p> + +<p>Near the end of the term, Maggie Loper invited Elvira to go home with +her Friday night and spend Saturday. "Mother says for you to come. We're +going to thrash, Saturday, and we'll have a big dinner and lots of fun." +She meant that they were to thresh wheat, and it was the stir and +excitement of this event which she called fun. Elvira accepted the +invitation, and went home with Maggie at the time appointed. She felt at +home among these farm festivals, and enjoyed them, the work included, +for she had as yet acted only as assistant, and had not felt the +responsibility of "cookin' for thrashers" which weighs so heavily on +housewives. It is not alone the fact that they must provide dinner and +supper for fifteen or twenty hungry men, but the knowledge that their +viands will be compared, favorably or unfavorably, with those of other +women in the neighborhood. So they exert themselves to provide a +variety, and load their tables with rich food, insomuch that "goin' with +the thrashers" means to farm-workers in this section a round of +sumptuous living. The Loper family rose Saturday morning while the east +was red, and did the milking and despatched breakfast earlier than +usual. The threshers were coming at eight o'clock, and they hoped to get +the engine and threshing-machine in order and be well under way at nine. +Two neighbor women came over to help Mrs. Loper, and Elvira assisted +Maggie in all her tasks. Together they cleaned and scraped a tub half +full of potatoes, plucked the feathers of two fat hens, gathered a lot +of beets and summer squashes, and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes into +dishes of vinegar, adding pepper and salt; they brought eggs from the +barn, rousing a protesting cackle among the hens by scaring some of them +off their nests, and milk and butter from the spring-house.</p> + +<p>In the mean time Mrs. Loper and her two assistants, warm and red, but +sustained by the importance of the occasion, were at work in the +kitchen, beating eggs and stirring sugar and butter together for cakes, +making pies, and roasting, baking, boiling, and stewing. When their +other tasks were done, Maggie and Elvira were deputed to set the table. +Two long tables were placed end to end in the shade of some maple-trees +which stood near the house, and covered with white cloths, then the +plates, knives and forks, and drinking-glasses were placed in order. The +Loper supply of dishes was not sufficient, but there were two large +basketfuls which had been borrowed from neighbors for the occasion, and, +by having recourse to these, the tables were furnished. Chairs were +brought from kitchen and parlor and every room in the house, but even +then two were lacking. "Never mind," said Maggie: "Joe and Will can sit +on nail-kegs," referring to two of her brothers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> + +<p>The men and machinery and wagons had come early in the day, the engine +drawn by two oxen, the threshing-machine by four horses. The oxen swayed +hither and thither as they were driven through the gates and into the +barn-lot, and the driver cracked his whip and cried, "You Buck! You +Berry! Gee! Haw! Whoa!" till one was ready to wonder that the bewildered +animals did anything right. At last the engine was in the desired +position, and the oxen were released from their yoke, to stand with +panting sides in the shade of the barn. Then the threshing-machine was +stationed in its place, and the broad band put on which connected it +with the engine. In the mean time, those whose duty it was to haul water +from the creek had brought three or four barrelfuls to the boiler, fire +had been built in the engine, and the engineer "got up steam." Two +wagons were off to the field, where the wheat still stood in shocks, and +as soon as they returned, piled high with yellow sheaves, the work began +in earnest. Two men—cutters and feeders, as they were called—received +the sheaves tossed to them from the wagons, cut the withes of straw +which bound them, and pushed them evenly into the thresher. Farmer Loper +himself and one of his sons stood at the place where the grain ran out, +and as fast as one bushel-measure was filled another one was set in its +place and the wheat poured into a sack. When a sack was full it was tied +up and set back out of the way. Other laborers stood at the back part of +the thresher, where the straw came out, and, with pitch-forks in hand, +tossed it about until the foundation for a stack was formed. Then they +stood on the stack, rising higher as it rose, trampling the straw and +pitching it into place. The chaff and dust flew upon them until their +faces, their hat-brims, and the shoulders of their colored shirts were +covered, and the perspiration streamed from every pore. No wonder that +the wives and mothers of these farmers dreaded the wash-days after a +week of threshing. There was noise and excitement enough in connection +with the dust and work,—the puffing of the engine, the whir and shake +and rattle of the threshing-machine, and the raised voices of the men +calling to each other or giving orders. The engineer and the feeders and +cutters were conceded to have the most responsible positions, but the +duties of the other workers were also important. There must be water for +the boiler, and the wheat must be brought from the field fast enough to +keep a constant supply on hand, the straw must be stacked well, and the +grain accurately measured. At exactly twelve o'clock the engineer blew a +long loud whistle, the band was thrown off, the wheels of the thresher +ceased to revolve, and the work came to a stand-still. Comments were +exchanged on the progress made during the forenoon and the quality of +the wheat, then the tired horses were unharnessed and fed, and Farmer +Loper led the way toward the house. Here on a bench by the well were all +the wash-pans and wash-bowls the house afforded, and clean towels hung +on the roller and on nails outside the door. The men washed their hands +and faces, and, by the aid of a small looking-glass hung by the towels, +and a comb attached to a string, combed their hair. To the women it was +the most exciting moment of the day. They were dishing up the dinner and +putting the finishing-touches to the table. Finally all was ready. Mrs. +Loper spoke to her husband, and he said, "Come, men, dinner's ready," +and led the way to the table. He took the chair at one end, his oldest +son that at the other, and the others ranged themselves at will between.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Loper poured out coffee in the kitchen, the neighbor women carried +the cups and saucers, Maggie waited on the table, passing the bread +around first, and Elvira stood with a bunch of peacock's feathers in her +hand and kept off the flies. A boiled ham was at the head of the table, +a pair of roast fowls at the foot; between stood a long row of +vegetables,—potatoes, string-beans, squash, beets, and others,—and +near the large tureens were smaller dishes,—cold-slaw,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> tomatoes, +cucumbers, pickles and preserves of various kinds. A large cake stood on +a glass cake-stand in the middle of the table, flanked on one side by a +deep glass dish full of canned peaches, on the other by a similar one of +floating island, while all the available remaining space was occupied by +pies,—apple-pies, custard, berry-pies, cream-pies. To have a variety of +pies on a festal occasion was the ambition of every housewife, seven +different kinds of pies and three kinds of cake being not uncommon. If a +map of the region where pie prevails is ever drawn up and printed, this +section of the country will be shaded unusually dark. To have company to +dinner and not set pie before them would be considered a breach of an +ancient and well-grounded custom: the best of puddings or other forms of +dessert would be regarded only as an evasion. Pie was not out of place +at supper; and the instance of one family comes to mind where steamed +mince-pie for breakfast was eaten, and considered both appropriate and +delicious.</p> + +<p>At Farmer Loper's harvest-table sweet milk and fresh buttermilk were +among the drinks, but most of the men preferred coffee, and drank it hot +out of the saucers. Some sets of dishes included tiny cup-plates, in +which to set the coffee-cups that they might not stain the table-cloth; +but Mrs. Loper had none, and the men scraped their cups on the edge of +the saucers before placing them on the clean white cloth. One man drank +six cups of coffee, then said he guessed he wouldn't take any more, +adding, "It's best to be moderate." At this all the men burst into a +roar of laughter, except one, who grew red in the face and ate his +dinner in silence. It seemed that while hauling that day one of his +horses had balked, and in his anger he had lifted one foot to kick it, +but missed it, lost his balance, and fell. He arose from the fall +somewhat ashamed, and remarked, "It's best to be moderate." This +incident had amused the others very much, and any allusion to it caused +laughter.</p> + +<p>The women waited on the table, not in the sense of changing plates and +bringing fresh courses, for all the dinner was before them, but +replenishing cups and glasses when they were empty, refilling the +vegetable-tureens and bread-plates, cutting the pies and cake and +passing them around, and serving out the canned peaches and the custard +in small dishes. They were also careful to see that the pickles and +preserves were passed to every one.</p> + +<p>With most of the men present Elvira was acquainted: they were the +patrons of her school, and found time in the midst of eating and general +conversation to ask how Johnnie was a-comin' on in his spellin', or if +Annie was gettin' along well in her 'rithmetic, adding, "I'll be wantin' +her to calkilate interest for me by and by." Bert Mowrer's father +inquired about his boy, then added cheerfully, "If he don't behave, lick +him,—lick him: that's what I tell every teacher."</p> + +<p>Farmer Loper and the engineer fell to discussing how many bushels of +wheat to the acre the neighboring farms had produced, and how many this +would probably produce, with various comments on the weather and the +soil. A little farther down the table a young farmer was telling of the +speed made by his brown mare Kitty,—how she passed every team on the +road, and that he wouldn't take a hundred and fifty dollars for her; and +farther still, two or three were discussing the affairs of an absent +neighbor,—how he had bought the Caldwell place, but, not being able to +pay for it, had given a mortgage, and hadn't managed the farm very well, +had let the interest run behind, they had heard, so there was a prospect +of his losing it.</p> + +<p>"I guess he won't have to give it up," said one: "the woman that raised +his wife has got plenty of money, and if he can't make it, she'll pay +for the place and let them live on it. She's helped them several times +already. If he wasn't so lazy and shiftless he might have everything in +good shape."</p> + +<p>But a conversation which was going on at the lower end of the table +interested<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> Elvira most of all. It was about birds, including some of +her favorites of the woods and fields which she had noticed a great deal +in her solitary rides that summer. The principal speaker was a young +farmer whom she had never seen before. He seemed to be acquainted with +the names and habits of all the birds which lived in that section, +besides many which merely passed through it on their way northward every +spring and southward every fall.</p> + +<p>"I have kept a record of the time of each arrival," he said, "and notes +of rare birds. The bluebird came first, and the humming-bird last. And I +discovered two birds that were new to me. One is a Northern bunting. A +flock stayed one day in our orchard on their way northward to their +summer home, and I succeeded in killing and stuffing a pair. The +feathers of the male were a beautiful pink-red. The other strange bird +seemed to come with the scarlet tanager, and is much like a pee-wee in +shape and size, with feathers of a greenish yellow."</p> + +<p>"When do you find time to learn so much about birds?" asked George +Loper, who knew only a few of the more common ones,—blackbirds, crows, +jays, hawks, and robins,—and had no eyes for the variety of feathered +life around him.</p> + +<p>"I keep my eyes open as I work and as I go along the road," answered +young Farmer Worth; "then I look up their names and read something about +them in a book on birds which I have. You've no idea how much enjoyment +there is in it. I have quite a collection of birds which I have stuffed, +and more than a hundred different kinds of eggs, besides my cabinet of +mineral specimens. I nailed two ladders together, and climbed thirty +feet above these and got a crow's nest; and this spring we found a +hawk's nest in a high tree. We tied a stout twine to a small stone, +which we threw over the forks of the tree, and with this drew a large +rope over. Then I sat in the noose of the rope, and three boys pulled me +up sixty feet to the nest. It was rather scary, I can tell you, and I +was glad to get down to the ground again; but I got the hawk's nest."</p> + +<p>Then Elvira asked him if he could tell her the name of the bird with a +yellow head, but otherwise black plumage, which she had noticed not long +before in a flock of common blackbirds; and they were soon in an +animated conversation on the subject of birds in general. Elvira had +noticed many that summer which she could describe, but whose names she +did not know.</p> + +<p>Soon the men began to leave the table, for it was not the custom to wait +till all had done eating, but for each one to go when he was ready. +George Loper went away grumbling that he couldn't see any use in +learning about birds: all he wanted was for the crows and blackbirds to +keep away from the corn when it was first planted. But Elvira and young +Worth talked ten minutes longer, finding more and more that they were +interested in the same subjects. Then the women began to clear away the +plates and cups and knives, and Elvira turned to assist them, while her +new acquaintance joined his companions, who were resting in the shade of +the trees. There he encountered some good-natured chaff from the younger +members, who began by asking him if he was struck with the school-ma'am. +The responsibility of the threshers' dinner being over, Mrs. Loper and +her assistants sat down to the table, to eat their own dinner at ease, +and exchange remarks with each other, complimenting or criticising their +cooking.</p> + +<p>"This chicken-stuffin' is real good," said one of the neighbors to Mrs. +Loper.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know," said Mrs. Loper, tasting some of it on the end of +her knife: "'pears to me I put a leetle too much sage in it. But the +gravy you made, Mirandy, that couldn't be better. Didn't you see how the +men kept askin' for it to be passed? And they've et up all the summer +squash and all the cream-pie. Taste some of these plum preserves, Mis' +Brown, and don't let me forget to send some to your little girls:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> I +remember how well they like 'em. This cake is real light and good, but I +was afraid it would fall. This float would 'a' been better if I'd had a +little lemon flavor to put in it. But I guess, on the whole, the dinner +went off middlin' well." Then, seeing Elvira and Maggie sitting on the +opposite side of the table, some deeper thoughts were stirred in her +motherly heart, and she began to talk of the daughter she had lost years +before: "If Lucy had lived, she'd 'a' been seventeen this spring,—just +your age; and you remind me of her sometimes. She always had such red +cheeks, and was never sick a day till she was taken down with the +diphtheria."</p> + +<p>For a while the affairs of the present were forgotten, as the old and +never-wholly-healed wound was opened afresh and she dwelt upon her +bereavement; but soon the round of work must be taken up, the dishes +must be washed, the victuals set away, and supper for the threshers must +be planned and prepared. It was best so. "Time, the healer, and work, +the consoler," enable us to bear many things which in the first keen +freshness of grief seem unbearable.</p> + +<p>The threshers thought they would be done by six o'clock, so they decided +not to stop for supper at five, as was the custom, but wait for their +evening meal till the work of the day was completed. Elvira started home +before this time, and good Mrs. Loper not only filled her own little +basket, but made her take a larger one packed with remains of the feast.</p> + +<p>There were three weeks more of her school, and during that time she saw +young Farmer Worth several times. Twice she met him in the road, and +once he stopped at the school-house to bring her Wilson's book on birds, +which he had promised to lend her. But the day before school closed he +came and helped Jack Sapp and some other boys make a platform in the +woods, on which the children could speak their declamations and sing +their songs, and on the afternoon of the last day of school was present +in the crowd of parents, brothers, sisters, and friends assembled on +that important and, to the children, most exciting occasion. There were +declamations from the third and fourth readers,—"How big was Alexander, +Pa?" and "He never smiled again," and "Lord Ullin's Daughter,"—and +Maggie Loper held the audience spell-bound by an entirely new one, which +Elvira had selected and copied for her out of a book of poems,—"The +Dream of Eugene Aram." Then there were songs, and dialogues, and two +compositions, one on "Rats" and one on "Planting Corn," which had been +produced by their respective authors after much wear of brain fibre and +much blotting of writing-paper. Last of all, Elvira read one of +Longfellow's poems, after which she said that the exercises of the +school were over, but that remarks from visitors would be gladly +received. Then one of the trustees arose, and said that education was a +great blessing, that he hoped the children of the present day would +appreciate their advantages and grow up to be useful men and women, +adding that all the schooling he had received was three winter terms in +a log school-house, one entire end of which was occupied by the +fireplace, and which had no glass windows, the light being admitted +through holes cut in the logs and covered with greased foolscap-paper. +No other remarks being offered, the audience was dismissed, and the +children began in an excited hurry to collect their possessions, and bid +their teacher good-by as if for a life-long parting. Some of them even +shed tears, and this occasioned the cynical remark from a by-stander, +"Them Mays children needn't to take on so: the school-ma'am will have to +call at their house often enough before she gits her money."</p> + +<p>Soon the spot was deserted, and the squirrels came down from the trees +to retake possession of their old haunts, to scamper across the +platform, to sniff at the fallen rose-petals of the bouquets, and to +nibble the crumbs of cake and bread dropped from the lunch-baskets.</p> + +<p>The next outing for the people of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> Buck Creek neighborhood was the +county fair, which occurred in September. They went in spring-wagons, in +farm-wagons, in buggies, and on horseback, starting early in the +morning, and taking an ample supply of provisions for themselves as well +as feed for their horses.</p> + +<p>The sunshine poured down hot upon them, and there was much dust, but +they were happy. There were crowds of people from all the surrounding +country; there were displays of vegetables, fruit, honey, butter, in +tents and sheds,—in short, all the products of a farming region; there +were cakes, loaves of bread, glasses of jelly, and jars of pickles and +preserves, made by farmers' wives; and in the department allotted to +needle-work there were quilts of various patterns and various claims to +public notice: one had three thousand five hundred and forty-four pieces +in it, and was made by a great-granddaughter of Daniel Boone, the +pioneer; another was pieced by an old lady of eighty-one without the aid +of glasses. Among the live-stock were fat cattle and prancing +three-year-old colts, with red or blue ribbons fastened to their manes, +indicating that they had received the first or second prize, and fat +hogs; there were various breeds of poultry in coops, and before each +stall or pen or coop stood a group of spectators, admiring, commenting, +or asking questions of the owner; there were agricultural machines and +implements, and patent pumps for stock-yards, and improved cross-cut +saws, each strongly recommended to the public by a glib-tongued agent. +Then there were stands for the sale of ice-cream, lemonade, and peanuts +and candy; and no rural beau felt that he had done the polite thing +unless he took his girl up to the counter and treated her. When he had +strolled all over the ground with her, and perhaps taken her into one or +two side-shows, where there were negro minstrels or the Wild Australian +Children, he went and sat in a buggy with her, and they talked, and +waited for the horse-race, or balloon-ascension, or wire-walking, which +was the especial attraction of the afternoon.</p> + +<p>"Why, who's that with Tom Worth?" asked one Buck Creek belle of her +escort as they were thus sitting together. "I didn't know that he was +goin' with anybody?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't, either," was the response; then, after a little pause, "I'll +swan, it's Miss Hill, the school-ma'am. Who'd 'a' thought they would be +here together? I didn't know they were acquainted."</p> + +<p>And this remark was echoed by other Buck Creek people as they saw the +couple walking together. But there is a law of affinity by which people +are drawn together as lovers or as friends, which is like some of the +hidden forces of nature: we cannot see their operation, we can only see +their results. Some one has made the paradoxical remark that we are +acquainted with our friends before we ever see them; meaning that our +tastes for the same pursuits or subjects, traits of character that +harmonize, views that coincide, have been ripening apart, and, when at +last we meet, that is sufficient; it does not require a long +acquaintanceship to reveal one to the other.</p> + +<p>Young Farmer Worth was now in the habit of frequently calling to see +Elvira Hill, and of taking her out riding in his buggy, that being an +approved form of courtship in this section. They talked of their +favorite books and studies, their ambitions for the future as regarded +mental culture, and their individual plans.</p> + +<p>Elvira had applied for the position of assistant in the Hill's Station +school, and had been engaged as first assistant instead of second, which +was better than she had hoped. She would have to hear some advanced +classes from the principal's room, and this would require her to study, +which would be a source of improvement.</p> + +<p>Young Farmer Worth, whose father had died three years before, had bought +the home farm, and was now working to pay his older brothers and sisters +for their shares in it and to comfortably support his mother in her +declining years.</p> + +<p>"There are eighty acres in it, well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> improved, and with good buildings," +he said one day, while unfolding his plans to Elvira, "and I think I can +make a good home of it, and a happy one, where I can feel independent, +and no one's servant, as I could not at any other business. Farming is a +profession, and I intend to work with my head as well as my hands, to +read and study on the subject, to take the best agricultural papers, and +keep up with the times. My fondness for ornithology and mineralogy can +be indulged in connection with my work on the farm and without in any +wise interfering with it."</p> + +<p>In the winter he came occasionally to take her to lectures at +Sassafrasville or another neighboring town, and they always found food +for thought in what they heard, and pleasure in discussing it afterward.</p> + +<p>The gossips said, "There's a match;" but it was not until spring that +they were engaged. Then he took her to see his mother, and showed her +the old home, the farm, and the improvements he was making. The old lady +received Elvira with mingled dignity and cordiality, but, finding her +interested in all she heard and saw, warmed toward her more and more, +and told much of her own life, unfolding the store of memories on which +her thoughts chiefly dwelt nowadays, talking of her husband, the +children she had lost, and bringing forth their pictures, opening closed +rooms, and showing dishes, linen, and other household goods which dated +back to her own girlhood and early married life.</p> + +<p>Elvira felt an attachment for Mrs. Worth which deepened when, in the +ensuing autumn, her dear grandmother died after a brief illness, and +she experienced the loneliness of bereavement and homelessness. The +little brown house in Hill's Station was sold, and Elvira went to board +with one of the neighbors: she was still teaching in the village school.</p> + +<p>When June came round again, with its beauty of earth and sky, it brought +her wedding-day. A very quiet wedding it was; but the home-coming, or +the "in-fare," to use a good old-fashioned word, was the occasion of +much joy and merry-making. It seemed as if all the Buck Creek +neighborhood had assembled to welcome the bride. Two of the farmers' +wives had been at the Worth homestead all the preceding day, and many of +them brought cakes with them.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the table stood a roast pig, with an apple in its +mouth, and around it were a great abundance of the substantial viands +and delicacies usually provided on such occasions. There were also many +presents for the bride from her old friends, not costly or fine, but in +keeping with their manner of living. Mrs. Loper brought a sheep-skin for +a mat, the wool combed out smoothly and colored crimson, Maggie a white +crocheted tidy as big as a cart-wheel, Mrs. Sapp a wooden butter-stamp, +Mary Sapp a picture-frame made of pasteboard, with beech-nuts glued +together thickly upon it and varnished.</p> + +<p>So, amid good wishes and rejoicing, the young married pair entered upon +their new life together, contented, yet energetic, and happy in the fact +that their own lives afforded fulness and enjoyment, and that in their +own efforts lay the fulfilment of their ambitions.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Louise Coffin Jones.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INTO_THY_HANDS" id="INTO_THY_HANDS"></a>INTO THY HANDS.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Into thy hands, my Father, I commit<br /></span> +<span class="i2">All, all my spirit's care,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The sorest burden this dim life can bear,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The sweetest hope wherewith its paths are lit!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into thy hands, that hold so closely knit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span><br /></span> +<span class="i2">What our blind, aching heart<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Calls joy or grief,—we know them not apart!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Into the hands whence leap<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The hurling tempest, and the gentle breath<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Kissing the babe to sleep,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The flaming bolt that smites with instant death<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The giant oak, and the refreshing shower<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose balmy drops make glad the tender flower.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What though, even as lent jewels passing bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That crowned me happy king<br /></span> +<span class="i2">For one sweet revel of one night in spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I must surrender in the morning light,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That cold and gray breaks on my tearful sight,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Youth, hope, and joy, and love,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And—oh, all other gems, all price, above!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The deathless certainty<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of the deep life beyond this pallid sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That golden shore and sea<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Which to my youthful feet seemed wellnigh won,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So fair, so close, so clear, methought I heard<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The trees' soft whisper and faint song of bird;<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">What though this fair dream, too, fled long ago,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And on my straining eyes<br /></span> +<span class="i2">There break no more visions of mellow skies<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Neath which dear friends, called dead, move on in low<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sweet converse through wide, happy fields aglow<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With heavenly flower and star,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What though, like some poor pilgrim who from far<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sees, through a slender rift<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In the dark rocks that hem his toilsome way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The clouds an instant lift<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From countries bathed in everlasting day,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I stand and stretch my yearning arms in vain<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Toward the blest light, too swiftly lost again?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Into thy hands, my Father, I commit<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This dearest, last hope too,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Old as the world, and yet forever new,—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The hope wherewith our dimmest paths are lit,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With life itself indissolubly knit!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That too is well, I know,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In thy eternal keeping. Ah! and so<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let my poor soul dismiss<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Each fear and doubt, hush every anxious cry,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Forget all thought save this,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Some time,—oh, dream of joy that cannot die!—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In those beloved hands, a priceless store,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All our lost jewels shall be found once more!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i24"><span class="smcap">Stuart Sterne.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="A_CHAPTER_OF_MYSTERY" id="A_CHAPTER_OF_MYSTERY"></a>A CHAPTER OF MYSTERY.</h2> + + +<p>Science, as a rule, has avoided the subject of Spiritualism. Its results +are too much unlike the hard, visible, tangible facts of scientific +research to attract those accustomed to positive investigations. And its +methods and conditions are usually of a character to set a scientist +beside himself with impatience. Crucial tests do not seem acceptable to +spirits in general. They decline to be placed on the microscopic slide +or to show their ghostly forms in the glare of the electric light, and +prefer to haunt the society of those who do not pester them with too +exacting <i>conditions</i>. Thus they have been mainly given over to a class +of somewhat credulous and, in some instances, not well-balanced mortals, +whose statements have very little weight with the general public, and +whose strong powers of digesting the marvellous have originated a +plentiful crop of fraud and trickery sufficient to throw discredit on +the whole business.</p> + +<p>It cannot be said, however, that all the adherents of Spiritualism are +of this character, or that science has completely failed to investigate +it. It has won over many persons of good sense and sound logic, +including several prominent scientists, to a belief in the truth of its +claims. Were its adherents all cranks or credulous believers, and its +phenomena only such common sleight-of-hand performances as suffice to +convince the open-mouthed swallowers of conjurers' tricks, it would be +idle to give it any attention. But phenomena sufficiently striking to +convert such men as Hare, Crooks, Wallace, Zöllner, and the like are +certainly worthy of some attention, and cannot be at once dismissed as +results of skilful prestidigitation.</p> + +<p>In fact, it is evident to those who have taken the trouble to +investigate the question seriously, and who do not dismiss it with an <i>a +priori</i> decision, that in addition to the fraudulent mediums who make it +their business to trick the public, and are ready to produce a new +marvel for every new dollar, and to call "spirits from the vasty deep" +of the unseen universe in form and shape to suit every customer, there +are some private and strictly honest mediums, and many phenomena which +no theory of conjuring will explain. To what they are due is another +question, in regard to which no hypothesis is here offered. It may be +said here, however, that the work of the Psychic Research Society has +demonstrated rather conclusively that certain hitherto unknown and +unsuspected powers and laws of nature do exist, and that man's five +senses are not the only means by which he gains a knowledge of what is +going on in other minds than his own. The facts of thought-transference, +of mesmeric control, of apparitions of the living, and the like, as +critically tested by the members of this society, seem to indicate +clearly that mind can affect, influence, and control mind through some +other channel than that of the senses, usually over short distances, but +in case of strong mental concentration over long distances. That some +psychic medium, some ethereal atmosphere, infiltrates our grosser +atmosphere, and is capable of conveying waves of thought as the +luminiferous ether conveys waves of light, is the theory advanced in +explanation of these phenomena. Spiritualists had long before advanced a +like theory in explanation of their phenomena, claiming that disembodied +as well as living minds have the power of influencing and controlling +other minds, through the agency of such a psychic atmosphere, and also +of acting upon and moving physical substances through a like agency. As +to the probability of all this, no opinion is here offered.</p> + +<p>It is our purpose simply to select some of the more striking instances +of spiritualistic phenomena, as recorded by scientific observers. Those +placed on record by the numerous unscientific<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> and unknown investigators +are not the kind of material to present to the general public. +Statements of an unusual character need to be thoroughly substantiated +before they can be accepted, and the remarkable phenomena adduced as +spiritual demand evidence of the most unquestionable character. There is +always the feeling that the observer may have been deceived by some +shrewd trickery, or have credulously accepted what others would have +readily seen through, or that the senses may have been under some form +of mesmeric control. Instances of such phenomena, therefore, need to be +attested by the names of persons of well-known honesty, judgment, and +discrimination, and attended with an exact statement of the tests +applied, before they can be accepted as thoroughly trustworthy accounts. +Some instances of this character may be here given.</p> + +<p>The phenomena known under the general name of spirit-manifestations vary +greatly in different instances. In some cases they take the form of +strange dreams, in which some warning or information concerning coming +events is given that afterward proves true. In others they occur as +seeming apparitions of persons recently or long dead. In others, as in +the case of haunted houses, there are noises of great variety, moving of +objects, opening and shutting of doors, appearances of unknown forms, +and all the phenomena which might be produced by an invisible inhabitant +of the house who was able to become visible under certain circumstances. +More ordinary manifestations are rapping sounds and lifting of heavy +bodies, writing either with or without apparent human agency, and mental +communication of facts unknown to or forgotten by the persons present. +Other phases are those presented by professional mediums,—the tying and +untying of ropes, playing on musical instruments, the production of +luminous phenomena, slate-writing under tables, and the like. +Performances of this character are usually done in the dark, and the +fraud which may be present is therefore not easily detected. It is +impossible to apply tests under such circumstances, and nothing can be +accepted as positive that cannot be tested. Performances similarly +surprising are constantly offered by professional conjurers, and nothing +claiming the high origin of spiritual phenomena can be received in +evidence where trickery is possible or has not been rendered impossible +by the employment of adequate tests.</p> + +<p>To the same class belong the cabinet performances and the so-called +materialization of spirit forms, which have been the favorite cards of +professional mediums of late years. So far as yet offered in public, +they may be dismissed in the mass as pure trickery. The fact that +stage-performers of sleight-of-hand tricks can repeat the cabinet +phenomena in every detail, and that the materialized spirit showmen have +been caught in numerous instances in the very act of fraud, throws utter +discredit on the business. No repetition by new mediums of other forms +of the exposed tricks carries any weight. In fact, in a matter of such +importance nothing can be accepted as settled until it has been +subjected to the strictest scientific tests and every possible +opportunity for deceit or trickery eliminated. We are not ready to +believe that the spirits of our departed friends are able and willing to +talk with or show themselves to us, or create disturbances in the +arrangement of our furniture, unless we are absolutely positive that our +eyes, ears, and nerves are not being cleverly fooled by some skilled and +unscrupulous show-man, or that we are not self-deceived by some +temporary vagary of our brains or senses.</p> + +<p>In addition to the purely physical phenomena are others of a more or +less mental character. One interesting phase of the latter is that of +planchette-writing, which attracted so much attention a few years ago. +The planchette, a heart-shaped board moving easily on casters, and with +a pencil supporting it at one extremity, moves with great readiness when +touched by mediumistic fingers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> and is responsible for acres of +communications purporting to come from the world of spirits, and +conveying the greatest variety of information, alike as to the thoughts +and deeds of particular spirits and the general conditions of +disembodied spiritual existence. In other instances the planchette is +dispensed with, and the writing done by a pencil held in the hand of the +medium, or occasionally, as some persons positively declare, by a pencil +that is held in no mortal hand. In still other cases the medium, either +awake or entranced, gives the communication by word of mouth. And this +is asserted to be the case not only in respect to brief messages, but in +long addresses, which are given every Sunday in our principal cities +before large audiences, and in the writing of books of considerable +length, but not, as a rule, of any great profundity or literary value. +To all these claims, however, we can simply record the verdict "not +proven." When a man writes or says anything we want more than his mere +assertion to prove that it does not come from his own mind. And, even if +we are satisfied that he is not consciously deceiving, the possibility +remains that he is affected by some unconscious mental action. We shall +certainly not accept his declaration that spirits of the dead are +talking through him unless he gives information that could not possibly +have been in his own mind, and could not have been received by +thought-transference from the mind of any other person present +or in <i>rapport</i> with him at a distance. The discoveries in +thought-transference open possibilities of mental influence between +living persons which aid to explain many hitherto incomprehensible +phenomena.</p> + +<p>Clairvoyant and clairaudiant mediums fall into the same category. They +profess to see forms which no one else can see, and to hear voices which +no one else can hear, and describe these forms, or repeat the words of +these voices, often with the effect of recalling the appearance or +character of deceased persons whom they could not possibly have known. +Yet the fact remains that the persons who recognize these descriptions +as accurate must have known the parties described, and it becomes +possible that the mental impression of the medium may have been received +by thought-transference from them. We do not assert that it has been so +received. We assert nothing. In fact, phenomena are claimed to occur +which it is difficult or impossible to explain on any such theory, or on +any other theory yet promulgated. Among these is the conveyance of +matter through matter, as of an object from the interior to the exterior +of a corked and sealed bottle, of other objects from a distance into +locked rooms, of writing by a sliver of pencil in the interior of a +double slate firmly screwed together, of the placing of close-fitting +steel rings in one solid piece around human necks, and their subsequent +removal, of writing and speaking in languages unknown to some or all of +the persons present, and a considerable variety of similar performances, +declared to have occurred under strict test-conditions. Yet if we cannot +explain we retain the right to doubt, and such statements cannot be +received as facts except on the strongest substantiation.</p> + +<p>The phenomena whose main forms we have here given, but whose actual +variety we cannot attempt to give, are offered on the testimony of a +great variety of persons, many of whom are plainly too credulous for +their evidence to be of any value whatever, while others, who seem to +have exercised great caution and cool judgment, are unknown to the +general public, and therefore not likely to be accepted as witnesses in +such a critical case. Others, again, who are well known and highly +respected, have invalidated their testimony by clearly letting +themselves be deceived. Such was the case with Robert Dale Owen, one of +the main historians of spiritual phenomena, who permitted himself to be +pitifully humbugged in Philadelphia by the somewhat famous spirit of +Katie King, whose spirit face was afterward discovered on the sturdy +shoulders of a very decidedly incarnate young lady. This was one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> the +first instances of that throng of materialized frauds with which this +country has ever since been well supplied.</p> + +<p>But there have been numerous investigators of spiritualism who cannot be +placed in any such category, many of them men of high standing in the +scientific world, whose word is still taken as positive evidence in +support of very surprising scientific statements, since they are known +to examine and test phenomena with the closest and most accurate +scrutiny. This class of observers is particularly abundant in the London +scientific world, and includes in its list such noted names as Alfred +Russel Wallace, the celebrated naturalist, Dr. William Crooks, whose +discoveries in chemistry and physics have been of a remarkable +character, and Dr. Huggins, the equally celebrated astronomer. In +America the most noted scientific observer was the late Dr. Hare, of +Philadelphia, a chemist of world-wide fame. Of those who, if not +professed scientists, have been otherwise of high standing, Professor +Wallace names, in a recent communication to the "Times," Dr. Robert +Chambers, Dr. Elliotson, and Professor William Gregory, of Edinburgh, +Dr. Gully, a scientific physician of Malvern, and Judge Edmonds, one of +the best known American lawyers. Names of similar reputation in the +scientific and professional world might be adduced from Germany and +France, prominent among them the late Professor Zöllner, of Leipsic, a +well-known astronomer; but the above-given will suffice as evidence that +the investigation of spiritualism has not been confined to the unknown, +unlearned, and credulous, but has been pursued by men of the very +highest standing for probity, learning, sound judgment, and critical +discrimination.</p> + +<p>The results reached by these men are therefore of great weight, and go +far to fix the status of the phenomena examined. We may say here that +several of them have become acknowledged converts to the spiritual +theory. More generally, however, they have declined to express positive +opinions as to the cause of these phenomena, while positively testifying +that they are not the result of trickery, but that they indicate the +existence of some power or energy in nature which is able to suspend or +overcome the operation of nature's ordinary forces. Only two prominent +scientists, who have made any pretence to examine these phenomena, have +declared that they are <i>in toto</i> the result of fraud. These two are +Professor Faraday and Dr. Carpenter. But the investigations made by +these noted personages were too trivial to render their decision of any +value. Faraday briefly examined the phenomena of table-tipping, and +decided that it was due to involuntary muscular movement. Dr. Carpenter +reasserted the same, years after this explanation had been shown to be +entirely inadequate, and declared that the mental phenomena were due +only to <i>unconscious cerebration</i>, or the action of memories and ideas +long since stored in the mind, when the consciousness is otherwise +engaged and the person is unaware of the activity of his mental stores. +This theory, we may also say, is utterly inadequate to explain all the +phenomena, and only applies by a strained interpretation to the +instances which Dr. Carpenter gives in illustration.</p> + +<p>One of the most striking of these instances we may here append. A +student relates that a professor had said to his class in mathematics, +of which this student was a member, "'A question of great difficulty has +been referred to me by a banker, a very complicated question of +accounts, which they themselves have not been able to bring to a +satisfactory issue, and they have asked my assistance. I have been +trying, and I cannot resolve it. I have covered whole sheets of paper +with calculations and have not been able to make it out. Will you try?' +He gave it as a sort of problem to his class, and said he would be +extremely obliged to any one who would bring him the solution on a +certain day. This gentleman tried it over and over again. He covered +many slates with figures, but could not succeed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> in resolving it. He was +a little put on his mettle, and very much desired to attain the +solution. But he went to bed on the night before the solution, if +attained, was to be given in, without having succeeded. In the morning, +when he went to his desk, he found the whole problem worked out in his +own hand. He was perfectly sure that it was his own hand. And this was a +curious part of it, that the result was attained by a process very much +shorter than any he had tried. He had covered three or four sheets of +paper in his attempts, and this was all worked out on one page, and +correctly worked, as the result proved. He inquired of the woman who +attended to his room, and she said that she was certain no one had +entered it during the night. It was perfectly clear that this had been +worked out by himself."</p> + +<p>Instances of this kind are certainly very curious, and seem to show that +the mind, when set in any train of thought by intense concentration, may +pursue it after consciousness has been withdrawn. And the result +indicates that the mind acts with innate logic when not disturbed by +distracting considerations, and can be trusted to do more correct work +when thus set going and left to run of itself than when consciously held +to its work. Yet an examination of every recorded instance of this kind +strongly indicates that no such unconscious mental action ever takes +place except when the consciousness has been earnestly directed to the +subject in advance, that no marked instances of this activity ever occur +except in the unconsciousness of sleep or trance, and that it ceases +when the mental excitement that started it has gradually subsided. There +is not an instance on record to show that the mind ever originates +unconscious action, or that any of its remote stores or powers ever +spring into activity without being aroused by sensation or conscious +thought. Thus the doctrine of <i>unconscious cerebration</i> has been carried +much further than the facts warrant. It need hardly be said that it is +utterly inapplicable as a theory to many of the facts adduced by the +Society for Psychic Research.</p> + +<p>In the year 1869 the London Dialectical Society, an association of +cultured liberals, embracing many well-known personages, appointed a +committee to examine "the asserted phenomena of Spiritualism." The +committee divided itself into six sub-committees, each of which +submitted a report, and according to a general report, published in +1871, "these reports substantially corroborated each other." We may +therefore quote the more interesting points from the report of one of +the sub-committees:</p> + +<p>"All of these meetings were held at the private residences of members of +the committee, purposely to preclude the possibility of prearranged +mechanism or contrivance. The furniture of the room in which the +experiments were conducted was on every occasion its accustomed +furniture. The tables were in all cases heavy dining-tables, and +required a strong effort to move them. The smallest of them was five +feet nine inches long and four feet wide, and the largest nine feet +three inches long and four and a half feet wide, and of proportionate +weight. The rooms, tables, and furniture generally were repeatedly +subjected to careful examination, before, during, and after the +experiments, to ascertain that no concealed machinery, instrument, or +other contrivance existed, by means of which the sounds or movements +hereinafter mentioned could be caused. The experiments were conducted in +the light of gas, except on the few occasions specially noted in the +minutes.</p> + +<p>"Of the members of your sub-committee about four-fifths entered upon the +investigation wholly sceptical as to the reality of the alleged +phenomena, firmly believing them to be the result either of <i>imposture</i>, +or of <i>delusion</i>, or of <i>involuntary muscular action</i>. It was only by +irresistible evidence, under conditions that precluded the possibility +of either of these solutions, and after trials and tests many times +repeated, that the most sceptical of your sub-committee were slowly and +reluctantly convinced that the phenomena exhibited in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> course of +their protracted inquiry were <i>veritable facts</i>. The result of their +long-continued and carefully-conducted experiments, after trial by every +delicate test they could devise, has been to establish <i>conclusively</i>,—</p> + +<p>"First. That under certain <i>bodily</i> and <i>mental</i> conditions of one or +more of the persons present a force is exhibited sufficient to set in +motion heavy substances, without the employment of any muscular force, +and without contact or material connection of any kind between such +substances and the body of any person present.</p> + +<p>"Second. That this force can cause sounds to proceed, distinctly audible +to all present, from solid substances not in contact with nor having any +visible or material connection with the body of any person present, and +which sounds are proved to proceed from such substances by the +vibrations which are distinctly felt when they are touched.</p> + +<p>"Third. That this force is frequently directed by intelligence."</p> + +<p>Of the many experiments described in this report we will quote here but +one:</p> + +<p>"On one occasion, when eleven members of your sub-committee had been +sitting around one of the dining-tables above described for forty +minutes, and various sounds and motions had occurred, they, by way of +test, turned the backs of their chairs to the table, at about nine +inches from it. They all then knelt upon their chairs, placing their +arms upon the backs thereof. In this position their feet were of course +turned away from the table, and by no possibility could be placed under +it or touch the floor. The hands of each person were extended over the +table, at about four inches from the surface. Contact, therefore, with +any part of the table could not take place without detection. In less +than a minute the table, untouched, moved four times,—at first about +four inches to one side, then about twelve to the other side, and then, +in like manner, four and six inches respectively."</p> + +<p>The committee further remarks that after this experiment "the table was +carefully examined, turned upside down, and taken to pieces, but nothing +was discovered to account for the phenomenon. Delusion was out of the +question. The movements were in various directions, and were witnessed +simultaneously by all present. They were matters of <i>measurement</i>, and +not of opinion or fancy. Your sub-committee have not collectively +obtained any evidence as to the nature and source of this force, but +simply as to the <i>fact of its existence</i>."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sergeant Cox, a member of this sub-committee and a prominent member +of the English bar, relates that he experimented elsewhere in the same +manner as that above described, and with similar results, a heavy +dining-table being employed. Afterward, when all the party stood in a +circle round the table, holding hands, at first two and then three feet +distant, the table lurched four times, once more than two feet and with +great force, and moved to such an extent as to become completely turned +round. After the party had broken up, and were standing in groups about +the room, the table, which was about two feet from its original +position, swung violently back to its proper place and set itself +exactly square with the room, with such force as literally to knock down +a lady who was standing in the way putting on her shawl for departure.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cox, after a close examination of these phenomena, offered a theory +in explanation somewhat differing from that already mentioned. He +believes that they are due to the action of some psychic force, +originating in the nervous system and analogous in character to magnetic +attraction. He relates several instances of heavy bodies moving toward +the mediums, as if attracted, and remarks, "In another experiment in my +own lighted drawing-room, as the psychic [the medium] was entering the +room with myself, <i>no other person being there</i>, an easy-chair of great +weight that was standing fourteen feet from us was suddenly lifted from +the floor and drawn to him with great rapidity, precisely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> as a heavy +magnet will attract a mass of iron."</p> + +<p>Another phase of these phenomena, as observed by the committee, was the +sudden and considerable change of weight in the table, it becoming light +or heavy as desired. To prove this scientifically, a weighing-machine +was attached, and the change of weight clearly proved. "One instance +will suffice. Weighed by the machine, the normal weight of a table +raised from the floor eighteen inches on one side was eight pounds. +Desired to be light, the index fell to five pounds; desired to be heavy, +it advanced to eighty-two pounds. And these changes were instantaneous +and repeated many times."</p> + +<p>The most remarkable evidence adduced by scientific observers is that +presented by Professor Crooks. He is a chemist of high reputation, the +editor of the "Chemical News" and for many years of the "Quarterly +Journal of Science," the discoverer of the metallic element thallium, +and of recent years noted for his remarkable discoveries in the +conditions of matter in highly-exhausted vacuum-tubes. In 1870 he +undertook the investigation of Spiritualism, with the full expectation +of exposing it as a compound of trickery on the one side and of +credulity and self-deception on the other. In January, 1874, he +published, in the "Quarterly Journal of Science," a brief compend of the +notes of his investigations during the four years preceding. Some of the +phenomena here recorded are so extraordinary that they would not be +worthy an instant's attention but for the attestation of a witness of +such standing, and one accustomed to the employment of the severest +scientific tests.</p> + +<p>The phenomena recorded, as he declares, with few exceptions, all took +place in his own house and in full light, at times appointed by himself, +"and under conditions that absolutely precluded the employment of the +very simplest instrumental aid." In all cases only private friends were +present besides the medium. The mediums employed were the noted D. D. +Home and Miss Kate Fox, of Rochester-rappings notoriety. Of the simpler +phenomena observed were the movement of heavy bodies with contact, but +without mechanism or exertion, percussive and other sounds, etc. He +remarks,—</p> + +<p>"I have had these sounds proceeding from the floor, walls, etc., when +the medium's hands and feet were held, when she was standing on a chair, +when she was suspended in a swing from the ceiling, when she was +enclosed in a wire cage, and when she had fallen fainting on a sofa. I +have had them on a glass harmonicon. I have felt them on my own shoulder +and under my own hands. I have heard them on a sheet of paper held +between the fingers by a piece of thread passed through one corner. I +have tested them in every way that I could devise; and there has been no +escape from the conviction that they were true objective occurrences, +not produced by trickery or mechanical means." Intelligence is +manifested by these sounds, "sometimes of such a character as to lead to +the belief that it does not emanate from any person present."</p> + +<p>He records numerous instances of the movement of heavy bodies when not +touched: "My own chair has been twisted partly round while my feet were +off the floor. A chair was seen by all present to move slowly up to the +table from a far corner when all were watching it; on another occasion +an arm-chair moved to where we were sitting, and then moved slowly back +again (a distance of about three feet) at my request."</p> + +<p>"On five separate occasions a heavy dining-table rose between a few +inches and one and a half feet off the floor, under special +circumstances which rendered trickery impossible.... On another occasion +the table rose from the floor, not only when no person was touching it, +but under conditions which I had prearranged so as to assure +unquestionable proof of the fact."</p> + +<p>As to the power of overcoming gravity, he tested it by the use of a +weighing-machine specially constructed and very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> delicate in its +operation, being so arranged that its extremity could not possibly move +downward without external pressure. Yet it did so move downward when the +medium's fingers were held over it without touching it. This experiment +was conducted in a way that renders it absolutely certain that some +force beyond those visible to the persons present was in operation.</p> + +<p>He also describes the lifting of human bodies without visible external +aid: "On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, +rise several inches from the ground.... At another time two children, on +separate occasions, rose from the floor with their chairs, in full +daylight, under (to me) most satisfactory conditions; for I was kneeling +and keeping close watch upon the feet of the chair, and observing that +no one might touch them."</p> + +<p>Among other strange manifestations, he positively declares that his +library-bell was brought into a room in which he was sitting with the +medium, with locked doors, both he and his children having seen and +handled the bell a short time before in the library. Also a piece of +China grass was taken from a vase on the table, and before his eyes +seemed to pass through the substance of the table. Observation showed +that there was a crack in the table through which it had apparently +passed. But this crack was much narrower than the diameter of the grass, +yet the latter showed no signs of abrasion or change of shape.</p> + +<p>As to the intelligence manifested by this strange power he gives the +following instance. A lady was writing with a planchette. "I asked, 'Can +you see the contents of this room?' 'Yes,' wrote the planchette. 'Can +you see to read this newspaper?' said I, putting my finger on a copy of +the 'Times' which was on the table behind me, but without looking at it. +'Yes,' was the reply of the planchette. 'Well,' I said, 'if you can see +that, write the word that is now covered by my finger, and I will +believe you.' The planchette commenced to move. Slowly and with great +difficulty the word 'however' was written out. I turned round, and saw +that the word 'however' was covered by the tip of my finger. I had +purposely avoided looking at the newspaper when I tried this experiment, +and it was impossible for the lady, had she tried, to have seen any of +the printed words, for she was sitting at one table, and the paper was +on another table behind, my body intervening."</p> + +<p>The most remarkable phenomena attested by Professor Crooks, however, are +those classed as luminous appearances, and particularly as luminous +hands. Some of the most striking of those may be here quoted:</p> + +<p>"Under the strictest test-conditions I have seen a self-luminous body, +the size and nearly the shape of a turkey's egg, float noiselessly about +the room, at one time higher than any one present could reach standing +on tiptoe, and then gently descend to the floor. It was visible more +than ten minutes, and before it faded away struck the table three times +with a sound like that of a hard, solid body. During this time the +medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy-chair."</p> + +<p>"I have had an alphabetic communication given by luminous flashes +occurring before me in the air while my hand was moving about among +them. I was sitting next to the medium, Miss Fox, the only other persons +present being my wife and a lady relative, and I was holding the +medium's two hands in one of mine, while her feet were resting on my +feet. Paper was on the table before us, and my disengaged hand was +holding a pencil. A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the +room, and, after hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil +from my hand, rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, +and then rose up above our heads, gradually fading into darkness."</p> + +<p>"In the night I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a +side-table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady; and on +some occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to +the form of a hand and carry small objects about."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></p> + +<p>These hands he claims to have frequently seen, sometimes in darkness, +sometimes in light. On one occasion "a beautifully-formed small hand +rose up from an opening in a dining-table and gave me a flower; it +appeared and then disappeared three times at intervals: this occurred in +the light, in my own room, while I was holding the medium's hands and +feet."</p> + +<p>The hand often seemed to form from a luminous cloud. "It is not always a +mere form, but sometimes appears perfectly life-like and graceful, the +fingers moving, the flesh appearing as human as that of any in the room. +At the wrist or arm it becomes hazy and fades off into a luminous +cloud.... I have retained one of these hands in my own, firmly resolved +not to let it escape. There was no struggle or effort made to get loose, +but it gradually seemed to resolve itself into vapor, and faded in that +manner from my grasp."</p> + +<p>We should not venture to quote these most remarkable statements but for +the fact that they are made by a gentleman of such high standing for +accuracy of observation, who knew perfectly well that he was imperilling +his position in the scientific world and exposing himself to the +contumely and accusation of loss of sanity that followed. In regard to +this point it need only be said that his most valuable scientific work +has been done since that period, and that his statements on scientific +subjects are received everywhere to-day as unquestionably accurate and +important. That he saw what he believed to be luminous hands there can +be no doubt. Whether he was deceived is another question.</p> + +<p>As to the producing cause of these manifestations Professor Crooks +offers no theory. Whether the power and the intelligence displayed came +from some one present or from some disembodied spirit he makes no +suggestion, but simply presents the facts as evidence that there are +mysteries in nature transcending any that have yet been weighed and +measured, and which must engage the attention of the science of the +future.</p> + +<p>Of the other scientists named, Professor Wallace openly accepts the +spiritualistic explanation of these phenomena. He has not, so far as we +are aware, published any detailed statement of his investigations, +though we have been told that they consisted in part in what is known as +"spirit photography," or the taking of photographs of persons known to +be dead, by his own private apparatus and in his own private rooms. As +to the character of the results obtained by him, however, we are unable +to make any statement.</p> + +<p>Professor Zöllner also became a believer in Spiritualism, mainly through +experiments with the American medium Mr. Slade. He published a work on +the subject, in which he advances the theory, which has of late +attracted so much attention, of a fourth dimension in space; that is, +that, in addition to length, breadth, and thickness, bodies may have a +fourth dimension, beyond the powers of human observation. The untying of +knots in sealed ropes, passage of matter through matter, etc., he +attempts to explain as possibly done by agents capable of working in +this fourth dimension of matter. Science, however, is as little inclined +to accept this theory as to accept that of spirit communication.</p> + +<p>Of the American scientific observers Professor Hare is far the most +noted for his critical discernment, his accuracy of observation, and his +obstinate determination not to be convinced that there was anything +occult in these phenomena. He was remarkably skilful in the making of +scientific apparatus, and he tested the phenomena received by a series +of instruments of delicate construction and capable of exposing the +least attempt at fraud. Those who were present at the circles with him +declare that he would frequently make his appearance with a new +instrument and a face full of grim expectancy that he would now baffle +the powers that had baffled him on previous occasions, and that he would +retire with a countenance of settled despondency as the unseen +<i>something</i> set at nought his deep-laid plans and secret hopes. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> will +suffice to say here that his experiments ended in his accepting the +spiritual explanation of the phenomena and publishing a work on the +subject.</p> + +<p>The same was the case with Judge Edmonds, from whose published work we +may make a few quotations, as his high standing as a jurist and +reputation for veracity and legal shrewdness make him a witness whose +word would be accepted without question on any ordinary subject. He +gives the following strange experience: "During the last illness of my +revered old friend Isaac T. Hopper I was a good deal with him, and on +the day when he died I was with him from noon till about seven o'clock +in the evening. I then supposed he would live yet for several days, and +at that hour I left to attend my circle, proposing to call again on my +way home. About ten o'clock in the evening, while attending the circle, +I asked if I might put a mental question. I did so, and I know that no +person present could know what it was, or to what subject even it +referred. My question related to Mr. Hopper, and I received for answer +through the rappings, as from himself, that he was dead. I hastened +immediately to his house, and found that it was so. That could not have +been from any one present, for they did not know of his death, nor did +they understand the answer I received. It could not have been the reflex +of my own mind, for I had left him alive, and thought that he would live +several days."</p> + +<p>Of his statements in regard to physical phenomena the following may be +quoted: "I have known a pine table with four legs lifted bodily up from +the floor in the centre of a circle of six or eight persons, turned +upside down, and laid upon its top at our feet, then lifted up over our +heads and put leaning against the back of the sofa on which we sat. I +have seen a mahogany table, having only a centre leg, and with a lamp +burning upon it, lifted from the floor at least a foot, in spite of the +efforts of those present, and shaken backward and forward as one would +shake a goblet in his hand, and the lamp retain its place, though its +glass pendants rung again. I have seen the same table tipped up with the +lamp upon it, so that the lamp must have fallen off unless retained +there by something else than its own gravity; yet it fell not, moved +not. I have known a mahogany chair thrown on its side and moved swiftly +back and forth on the floor, no one touching it, through a room where +there were at least a dozen persons sitting; and it was repeatedly +stopped within a few inches of me, when it was coming with a violence +which, if not arrested, must have broken my legs."</p> + +<p>Of the phenomena classed under the head of spiritualistic three +explanations have been offered. One is that they are purely the result +of fraud in the mediums and self-delusion in the believers. A second is +that they are due to some unknown law and force of nature, the physical +manifestations being ascribed to a psychic energy of nervous origin, the +mental to <i>unconscious cerebration</i>. A third explanation is that they +are due to the action of disembodied spirits, who are able to return to +the earth and make their presence manifest in all the methods above +recounted. Of these explanations the first is that given by the general +public, and particularly by those who know nothing practically about the +subject, but have reached their opinions by their own inner +consciousness and without troubling themselves to investigate the facts. +That it does apply, however, to much of what is known as spiritual +manifestations there can be no doubt. Of frauds under the name of +mediums there has been an abundance. Of dupes under the name of +Spiritualists there has been an equal abundance. And the tricks of false +mediums have been so often detected as to throw a shadow of doubt over +everything connected with the asserted phenomena. Yet that it is not all +fraud has been abundantly proved by the testimony of the men above named +and many others of equal powers of discrimination, and by the occurrence +of numerous phenomena under circumstances that absolutely precluded +deception,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> either in medium or audience. To these cases one or other of +the second and third explanations must be given. Acceptance of the +third, that they are really the work of spirits, would of course settle +the whole business and explain all the phenomena in a word. But the +great body of critical observers are disinclined to accept this theory, +for the reason that many of the scientific class doubt the existence of +any spirit beyond the earth-life, that many of the religious class +question the possibility of freed spirits returning to earth, and that +many of an intermediate class consider the manifestations too puerile +and the mental communications given too unsatisfactory and too far below +the mental calibre of the professed speakers to be worthy of assignment +to any such source. These communications seem usually painted by the +mind of the medium, and are often notably feeble, absurd, and valueless.</p> + +<p>To the members of this class the second explanation is the only tenable +one,—namely, that there are certain extraordinary powers resident in +the nervous organism which are capable of acting in opposition to the +ordinary energies of nature; that an intangible material exists outside +the body and penetrates physical objects, through whose aid the +nerve-power somehow operates to produce sounds and motions of bodies; +that this nerve-power may act unconsciously to the person who possesses +it in even a highly-developed state; that its action may be controlled +by the mind, acting either consciously or unconsciously; that old and +long-forgotten stores of the memory may take part in this action; and +that other minds may act through the medium's mind and set in action his +psychic powers unconsciously to himself.</p> + +<p>That there is such a supersensible substance, and that the human mind +has such hitherto unknown powers, is not easy to admit. And yet when we +consider all the facts bearing upon the case it becomes equally hard to +deny. The history of mankind is full of stories of occult operations and +so-called supernatural performances. Those recorded are, of course, but +the merest fraction of those that have been observed. At the present day +this world of mystery seems everywhere around us. Outside of what is put +on record, almost every person one meets can relate some such mysterious +occurrence which has happened to himself or some of his acquaintances. +That a very great proportion of this has been self-deception must be +admitted. But all mankind is not blind and gullible; and if we strain +these stories of the marvellous through the sieve of criticism, some +considerable residuum will remain, which must be accounted for by +another theory than that of delusion.</p> + +<p>The theory above given accounts in some degree for most of the facts, +though there are others which it is not easy to make fit in. Such are +the instances in which information unknown to any person present has +been given. We may instance the writing of the word covered by Professor +Crooks's finger, and the answer to Judge Edmonds's mental question +concerning his dying friend. Other striking instances of the same +character might be given, some of which have happened within the +knowledge of the writer. We may give in illustration the case of one +gentleman, a prominent businessman of Philadelphia, who received from a +medium a statement of the date of the death of a child that had occurred +many years before. The gentleman denied the correctness of the date, and +gave what he believed to be the correct one. But the medium insisted on +the date given. On going home and consulting his family record, to his +surprise the gentleman found that the medium was right and he +wrong,—that the child had died on the date stated, not on that which +had been impressed upon his memory.</p> + +<p>Taking the case of mentality as a whole, it is certain that we are yet +far from being acquainted with all the powers and mysteries of the human +mental and nervous organism, despite all the researches of late years. +Nor do we know all the conditions and capabilities of the world of +matter which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> surrounds us, or the possibilities of intercommunication +of minds without the aid of the senses. On the other hand, Spiritualists +assert that we are equally far from knowing all the possibilities of +spirit existence or of communication between embodied and disembodied +mind. As to all this, it is perhaps best to remain in a state of +suspended decision and await the results of accurate observation to +settle the question definitely on one side or other. The investigation +now being carried on by a committee appointed by the University of +Pennsylvania, under the conditions of a bequest from the late Mr. +Seybert, will, it may be hoped, tend to clear up the mystery.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Charles Morris.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_STORY_OF_AN_ITALIAN_WORKWOMANS_LIFEB" id="THE_STORY_OF_AN_ITALIAN_WORKWOMANS_LIFEB"></a>THE STORY OF AN ITALIAN WORKWOMAN'S LIFE.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></h2> + + +<p>Si, signora, there are four of us,—Fausta, and Flavia, and Marc +Antonio, and I. La Mamma was left a widow when Marc Antonio was twelve +years old and Fausta ten, Flavia was eight, little Teresina (who died in +childhood) six, and I was only sixteen months old. All the rest can +remember Babbo [daddy], and many's the time, when I was a little one, I +have cried my eyes out with anger and jealousy because I couldn't +remember him too. Babbo was a good man, signora. Never an angry word, La +Mamma says,—not one,—in all the fifteen years they were married, and +<i>allegro, allegro</i> (cheerful). He was a carrier, and he had only a +little time at home; but then he always played with the little ones and +made them happy. La Mamma loved him with all her heart; and often she +says, "Ah, if I ever come to Paradise, I pray our Lord to make me find +my Pietro again." Si, signora, I know our Lord said there was no +marrying or giving in marriage in heaven; La Mamma knows it too; but we +shall know each other, you know, up there, and our Blessed Lord is +merciful, and won't part those who love each other. La Mamma says so; +and I hope so, too. If ever I gain the rest of Paradise,—may our +Blessed Lord and the Madonna and all the saints grant it!—I want to +find my Luigi there too. Well, but I promised to tell the signora how +the Mamma brought us all up on only a franc a day. As I said already, +Babbo was a carrier. He did well, and sent Marc Antonio and Fausta and +Flavia to school, and me to a <i>balia</i> in the country, and put something +by besides. La Mamma was a silk-weaver,—one of the best in Florence +then,—and she put by something too; for she worked hard every day. +Everything went well with them until the day that I came home from the +<i>baliatico</i> (period of nursing in the country). I was well weaned, and a +strong, fine baby, and the <i>balia</i> was proud of me; and Babbo was so +pleased to find me so well and lively that he gave the <i>balia</i> two +francs more than he had agreed to do. But Babbo was always generous. +Well, the next day La Mamma took me in her arms and went to the +silk-shop where she had been at work, to see about selling her loom; for +the master of the shop was old and was giving up his business and +selling everything: it was just at that time that the silk-trade began +to go down in Florence. When the loom was sold, La Mamma put the money +in her purse, and then she went to put it in the bank, and then home. +When she got into the Borgo degli Santi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> Apostoli she saw several people +standing before our door; but she thought nothing of that, for we lived +on the top floor, and there were several other families in the house. +But when La Mamma came up to the door, she saw old Martia, her aunt, and +Miniato, her brother, there. They were both crying.</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>poverina, poverina</i>! here she is," says Miniato.</p> + +<p>"<i>Madonna santissima</i>! how shall we ever tell her?" says Aunt Martia.</p> + +<p>"For the love of God, tell me what it is!" said poor mamma, and her +heart died in her.</p> + +<p>Well, in a few minutes, <i>adagio, adagio</i>, little by little, they told +her how it was. Near the Porta San Niccolò a heavy load of bricks had +been overturned, and poor Babbo, who was passing at the time, had been +badly hurt. His fine gray mule Giannetta was killed. So two troubles +came together. After a little the Misericordia brought Babbo home, and +they put him in bed, and one of the Brethren stayed to watch him that +night. He was badly hurt, and he never took a step again, though he +lived for six months. La Mamma did her best: the weaving was over,—she +could not have found much more weaving to do, even if Babbo had been +able to bear the noise of the loom,—but she knitted, and sewed, and did +what she could. Still, the money melted away. Babbo might have been put +into a hospital, but La Mamma couldn't bear to part with him, even +though he said often, as the days went on and he got no better, that he +would rather go into a hospital than lie there and feel that he was +eating up the little money he had put away for his wife and children. +"<i>Povera</i> Leonora," he used to say,—"<i>povera</i> Leonora, who must work so +hard while I lie here and play the signore!" And once or twice he cried +a little. But for the most part he was cheerful and bore his pain with +patience.</p> + +<p>All the time <i>la povera Mamma</i> kept up her courage, and made Babbo +believe that the money went three times as far as it did. But it melted +away; and, the day before Babbo died, when she counted it over she knew +that she had a hard struggle before her. She did not let him know it, +however. He thought she had money to last for two or three months. So +Easter came round, and still Babbo lay helpless and full of pain. The +priest came to confess and communicate him, as he does all the bedridden +at Easter-time, and that afternoon Babbo had less pain than for many a +day. He kissed and blessed us as usual at bedtime, and then he told La +Mamma to call him in the morning, so that he might light the lamp for +her. This was because the table with the lamp stood by his side of the +bed, and often La Mamma, who had to get up early, used to strike the +light without waking him. "But now that I have no pain," says Babbo, +"I'll strike a light for you, <i>cara mia</i>, so that you may have that +comfort." Easter fell early that year, in March, and the weather was +cold and stormy. When La Mamma woke up at four o'clock, the bells were +ringing for first mass, but it was cold and dark, and a storm was +raging. She could not bear to wake Babbo up, but she had promised to do +so, and she had a long day's work before her and no time to lose. So she +called him, very gently at first, and then louder. There was no answer, +and she touched his shoulder and shook him a little. Still there was no +answer, and, being frightened, she leaned over and touched his face. +<i>Povera mamma!</i> it was cold as ice, and stiff. Then she put her hand on +his heart, but it was still. She jumped up quickly, but, in her fright +and grief, she could not find the matches. At last she did so, and then +she saw that he was dead. Little Teresa slept between them, and he had +her hand in his, clasped so tightly that it was many minutes before La +Mamma could set it free. She did so without waking the child, and then +she put her into bed with Flavia and Fausta, and woke Marc Antonio and +sent him for the doctor. When he was gone she lighted the fire and did +what she could to warm Babbo and bring the life back, though her heart +told her, as did the doctor when he came, that all was over. By and by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +the children woke and cried, and La Mamma wondered that she could find +words to quiet them, and yet she did. When everything was over and the +house quiet, the poor soul felt her heart die in her breast, and would +have been glad to lie down and die too; but no, she could not. She had +to take out the purse and count the money again, and then she found that +after buying a reserved grave for Babbo at the Campo Santo at Trespiano +she would have just enough to pay the rent for the next six months. You +know, signora, that if a reserved grave is not bought at Trespiano the +bodies are put into the <i>fossa comune</i>, and that is the end. The graves +are not marked. La Mamma could not bear the thought of that, and so she +bought a reserved grave. Then came the funeral; and she called the +children together and told them that if they each wanted to carry a +taper for Babbo they would have to go without their supper that night. +They were very hungry, every one, for, what with the trouble, and the +care, and the sorrow of that last day, La Mamma had not been able to +cook the dinner, and they had had nothing all day but a piece of bread. +Ah, they were hungry! They had cried until they were tired out, and they +were as empty as organ-tubes. Marc Antonio has told me many a time about +it. "God forgive me," says he, "but when La Mamma said that, I felt the +hunger grip me like a tiger, and the devil tempted me, and I said to +myself, 'Babbo's gone to the world over there, and what good will a +taper do him? He was never the one to want us to go to bed hungry as +well as with a sore heart.'" But even while he thought the wicked +thoughts the love for Babbo came into his heart again. He burst out +crying and sobbing, and cried out, "Mamma, mamma, I don't want any +supper to-night; I don't! I don't!" <i>Poverino</i>! he was growing and +strong, and so hungry. Fausta and Flavia and little Teresa said the +same, but it hurt them less, and they did not cry. And then little +Teresa spoke up,—she was always as wise as a little angel:</p> + +<p>"Mamma," says she, "the baby must have her supper, mustn't she?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Poverina!</i> what would you have?" says La Mamma. "Yes, the poor baby +must have her supper, indeed. She knows nothing, poor little one, of the +sorrow in the house, or she would not grudge Babbo a taper any more than +the rest of you."</p> + +<p>Little Teresa smiled, "Then, mamma, I've baby's supper for her," says +she. "I did not eat my bread all day, and you can have it now to make a +<i>pappa</i> for her."</p> + +<p>So La Mamma took me in her arms and went into the kitchen, and then Marc +Antonio held me while she and Fausta and Flavia and Teresa made the +<i>pappa</i>; and then each one took it in turn to feed me. You cannot know, +signora, how often I have lain awake and cried to think that I should +have been the only one of us all to eat like a pig that night, while +dear Babbo lay dead in the house and the rest were sad and hungry. +<i>Pazienza</i>! we need patience in this world, even with ourselves +sometimes.</p> + +<p>When the funeral was over, La Mamma put the house in order, and then she +took out all her papers and accounts and counted over all she had. Just +a little of the money that Babbo had saved was left,—enough, if she +never touched it, to bring in seventy-three francs a year,—that is, +twenty centimes [four cents] a day. She made up her mind that she would +never touch it, so that each day, as long as we lived, we might have at +least a piece of bread bought with Babbo's money. Then there was the +parish, which gave her some help. The guardians of the poor widows +appointed a guardian for us,—the Conte Bertoli, a good man, God rest +his soul,—and he applied to the poor widows' fund for La Mamma and got +her an allowance of fifty centimes [ten cents] a day until Marc Antonio +should be fifteen and able to work; and then the Signor Conte himself +added to that twenty centimes more, so that altogether La Mamma had a +franc a day. But there were six of us. Thankful enough she was to have +the franc; but still, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> you may suppose, signora, she had to think a +good deal and work hard to keep us. The elder children had all been put +to a school near by, a nice school, but where Babbo had had to pay for +them; now that was changed. Fausta and Flavia and Teresa were sent to +the convent of the Doratei Sisters, and Marc Antonio to the Frate +Scalopi. There was nothing to pay at either place, and the children were +taught well and taken good care of. The convent of the Doratei is in the +Via dei Malcontenti, and that of the Frate Scalopi in the Piazza Santa +Croce. Marc Antonio and Fausta and Flavia and Teresa used to set off at +seven every morning, winter and summer, and La Mamma walked with them, +carrying me in her arms. She gave all the children a good breakfast of +hot <i>pappa</i> before they set out for school, and some bread and apple, or +bread and onions, in a basket, to eat at dinner-time. At night, when +they came home, they had a good supper of <i>casalingo</i> [household, +<i>i.e.</i>, black] bread and milk. Then they were washed and put to bed; for +La Mamma was very strict, and never allowed any one out of bed after +eight o'clock. As soon as I was two years old I was sent to the Doratei +too; and the big dark convent, with the great garden behind, is the +first thing I ever remember. The good sisters were very kind to us. They +taught all the older girls to read and write, and sew and knit, not only +plain sewing, but fine stitching, and open-work, and fine darning, and +button-holes, and lace-work, and so on. They also taught them to make +beds, and sweep, and dust, and cook a little,—that is, how to make +broth, and <i>pappa</i>, and such simple things. From twelve to two every day +there was recreation. At twelve all the children, big and little, sat +down to dinner in the refectory with the nuns. The nuns had their own +dinner,—a very plain one always, for their rule is severe,—and the +children had whatever they brought with them. If anything was brought +that could be warmed over and made more nourishing, Sister Cherubina +never grudged the trouble. When dinner was over we sang a grace, and +then we all ran into the garden and had a good game of play. Of course +the very little ones did nothing all day but play and sleep. Sister +Arcangela took care of them. Sometimes on fine days the sisters used to +take us all out for a walk in the country. Twice every week we had +religious instruction. Padre Giovanni, our confessor, taught us +everything, our Credo and Pater Noster, and our holy religion, and the +holy gospel, and all the beautiful stories in the Bible, and the legends +of the saints. Which of our Lord's miracles does the signora think the +finest? For myself, I always liked the story of the night in which our +Blessed Redeemer came to his disciples walking on the water. And then of +the older stories I liked the one of poor Joseph and his brethren. What +bad devils the brothers were! But God brought good out of evil, and +rewarded poor Joseph, who was an angel, by making him a great king. +Well, still I am babbling on and telling you about our school, and +forgetting La Mamma. I told you she had a franc a day. Our rent cost a +hundred francs a year. That was a little more than twenty-five centimes +a day, and that left La Mamma about seventy centimes a day for food, and +clothing, and lights, and so on. La Mamma worked day and night. Whenever +she could, she used to sit up at night with sick people, for that was +paid well,—a franc a night; sometimes in grand houses as much as two +francs,—and then she could rest in the day-time when we were at school. +But, whatever she did, or wherever she went, she always managed to be at +the convent gate every evening at half-past five to bring us home. If by +any chance she could not do that, Marc Antonio always waited for us and +brought us home very carefully. He was a good, steady boy, and never +stopped to play when we were with him, and always shut himself in with +us at home and did his best to take care of us until La Mamma came back. +God forgive me! but I used to think La Mamma very hard in those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> days. +She would never let us go the length of a yard alone; and once when she +caught me running out on the stairs to play hide-and-seek with some +girls and boys who lived on the floor below us, she gave me such a slap +that my ears rang again. Well, to tell truth, we had so much playing in +the convent garden, and such a long walk home in the evening, that we +were generally rather tired and glad to get quickly to bed as mamma bade +us. She, <i>poverina!</i> always sat up, patching and darning, long after we +were in bed, so that we might go decently to school.</p> + +<p>I remember well the first real dolls we ever had. It was at the Feast of +the Assumption, and there was a fair outside the Roman gate. Marc +Antonio was to be apprenticed the next day to a very decent <i>vetturino</i>, +and he had begged La Mamma to treat us all to some fried dumplings. We +were all day at the fair, though of course we bought nothing; but it was +a great pleasure to us to walk about and look at the booths full of gay +things. We were nearly ready to come home, when Teresina spied some +dolls and began to beg for one. She was such a sweet, good, gentle child +that La Mamma could not bear to refuse her, especially as she scarcely +ever asked for anything. And she seemed to have a passion for that doll, +so pretty it was, all in pink and spangles. At last, as she begged so +hard, La Mamma gave her ten centimes, and told her that if she could get +it for that she might have it; and Teresina bargained so well that she +got it for eight centimes; and then nothing would satisfy her but that +we all should have dolls. It was in vain that La Mamma said no; Teresina +would have her way. And so at last we all had dolls, and La Mamma, poor +soul! spent thirty-six centimes! It seemed a mortal sin to her; and she +has told me many a time how she lay awake that night and cried, and +prayed to God and the saints to forgive her for that wicked +extravagance. And yet she could not but feel glad to see how happy we +all were with our dolls. And she was glad afterward for another reason, +which I will explain presently. Little Teresina never went out again +after the Feast of the Assumption. She was the first to fall ill, but +before ten days were over we were all (all the girls, I mean,—Marc +Antonio was not at home) struck down with smallpox. Teresina suffered +most. I remember it well, how strange it seemed to me to hear her +calling constantly for water and other things,—strange, because she was +always the one who waited on the others, and never before thought of +herself. La Mamma did everything for her that could be done, but she +grew daily worse. Once mamma brought her doll and put it in her hands. I +can see now—my bed was opposite to hers—how mamma watched Teresina, +and how Teresina looked at the doll. In my own heart I thought, "Surely +she will get better, now that she has her pretty doll." It seemed to me +that she must do so. But in a moment she heaved a deep sigh, and said, +"Too tired! too tired!" And then she threw the doll away from her and +closed her eyes. <i>La povera Mamma</i> picked up the doll and put it away in +a drawer, and then she sat still and looked at Teresina, with the tears +rolling down her face. Whenever I woke up in the night it was always the +same, mamma fanning Teresina or putting bits of ice in her mouth, and +never moving her eyes from her, and Teresina no longer restless, but +quite still,—so still that I had never seen anything like it. Quite +early the next day the archbishop came to confirm her, and while I was +looking at the grand robes he wore, and at the priests who came with +him, and watching the lighted tapers blow about in the wind, for the +window was open and there was a strong draught, suddenly I felt a pain +in my head which was worse than anything I had felt before,—a dreadful +pain, which made me feel giddy and confused. I felt myself sinking, and +I suppose I must have cried out, for I remember that some one lifted me +and put a wet cloth on my head. The last thing I saw was Teresina's +pale, quiet face, with the white and gold confirmation ribbon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> bound +about her brows. I never saw her again. When I came to myself, days +afterward, the corner where her bed used to stand was empty, and I knew, +without asking, that she was in Paradise.</p> + +<p>Flavia and Fausta and I got well over it, but much disfigured, as you +see; and yet God is good, and has sent me as kind and loving a husband +as if I had been the most beautiful person in the world.</p> + +<p>Well, the time went on, just as before, until Flavia was old enough to +be apprenticed to Madama Castagna, the grand dressmaker. She had always +been a good, steady, hard-working girl, and, thanks to the good Doratei +Sisters, she sewed so beautifully that very soon Madama allowed her +twenty centimes a day. She had to work from eight till eight; but of +course she could not expect more than twenty centimes while she was +learning.</p> + +<p>Fausta was not so fortunate. She was a good girl, and the cleverest and +quickest of us all,—yes, indeed, cleverer than I am, although the +signora does think so well of me,—but she changed too often. First, she +wanted to learn how to bind shoes (I forgot to say that they taught that +in the convent), and so, while the rest of us were learning to sew and +knit, she was binding shoes. Then, suddenly, she thought she would like +to learn to weave, and she went to her godmother, the Contessa Minia, +and told her so. The contessa was good and generous, and she gave her a +loom, and Sister Annunziata taught her to weave. But just at the time +that Fausta ought to have been apprenticed, the silk-trade, which, as I +said before, had been going down for several years, failed altogether, +and Fausta had to sell her loom for what it would bring. Then she +thought that she would like to learn lace-mending: so the contessa got +her a lace-cushion, and apprenticed her to a lace-mender for four years. +Just as her time was out, poor Fausta had a bad fall, broke her right +arm and injured her leg, so that for many months she was confined to her +bed, and was unable to walk for more than a year. Then, as if the poor +girl were destined to trouble, she must needs fall in love, and with a +bad, good-for-nothing fellow. La Mamma would not consent, and we all +begged and prayed her not to have him, but Fausta was obstinate, and +married him. <i>Poverina!</i> she has had one trouble after another, and will +have to the end.</p> + +<p>As soon as I had passed my fourteenth birthday I was apprenticed to +Madama. Flavia was one of her best workwomen then, as she has been ever +since. After the first six months I received twenty centimes a day, and +at the end of the first year thirty centimes. We went away from home +every morning at seven o'clock. La Mamma gave us a good breakfast of +black bread and coffee before we set out, and black bread and onions or +apples for our dinner. Sometimes, instead of onions or apples, she would +give us ten or fifteen centimes; and that we liked better, because then +we could make a bank. Making a bank we called it when we put all our +money together. Madama had then twenty-five apprentices, and at +dinner-time we used to put all our money together and send out and buy +something. One would buy anchovies, another ham, another olives, another +cheese, and so on. There was one apprentice who always did the marketing +for us. Then we used to clear the work-table and set out our food, and +dine merrily enough. I was an apprentice at Madama's for five years, and +then began to work for myself. If Madama had been willing to pay me a +franc a day and give me my dinner besides, I dare say that I might have +been there now; but she would not, and so I plucked up my courage and +tried my hand alone. For some time before I left her I had been working +so well, at cutting out and fitting, finishing, and so on, that she used +to give me all the finest and most difficult work to do; but still she +never did and never would pay me more than eighty centimes [sixteen +cents] a day. None of us got more than that. What we always liked to do +was to carry the dresses home, because then the ladies usually gave us +something. And at Christmas, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> we went to wish our patrons all +happiness, we got very nice presents. One Christmas we received thirty +francs. When we carried dresses home we generally got twenty or thirty +centimes. That made fifteen centimes for each of us, because we always +did errands in couples. One night at ten o'clock we had to go quite +across Florence in a driving rain to carry a lady a ball-dress. We were +dripping wet when we reached her palace, but the dress was in good +order, and we hoped, considering the lateness of the hour, and the bad +weather, and so on, that the lady would give us something handsome, +perhaps as much as half a franc. Well, she was very glad to see us, and, +after putting on the dress, she said that she must give us something. +And so she did,—five centimes [one cent] to each of us! I swallowed my +anger, and put the coin into my pocket, but my companion fitted hers +nicely into the key-hole of the hall door as soon as it was closed +behind us. "There!" says she; "now my lady miser will have to send for a +locksmith, and that will teach her not to be so stingy another time." So +we both ran home laughing, in spite of our disappointment. But we were +not so fortunate as to get off without a scolding. The next day the lady +came to Madama and complained of our impertinence. Madama scolded us a +little; but when she heard what a pitiful <i>buona mano</i> the lady had +given us, she could not help laughing herself.</p> + +<p>Still, she never thought of raising our pay, and as I improved, and felt +myself quite mistress of my trade, I began to work over hours, at one or +two houses where La Mamma had patrons, and in that way I got on very +quickly. It was a proud day for me, signora, when I first began to give +La Mamma something toward the housekeeping. I wanted to give her +two-thirds of all I earned, but she would not let me. When I began to +earn a franc and a half a day, she accepted half a franc, but she made +me put away the franc for my <i>dote</i>. La Mamma always walked with me to +the houses where I went to work, and in the evening either came for me +herself or sent Marc Antonio. And she bade me be very careful and +watchful and keep myself to myself. Often I thought her severe and +suspicious, but now I thank God for the mother he gave us. We owe all +the happiness of our lives to her.</p> + +<p>I had been working for myself, as I have said, for more than five years. +I had plenty of patrons, and was well thought of. Plain as I am, +signora, I had not wanted for opportunities to go wrong; but, thank God, +I never did. Once, too, I had thought of being married, but, happily for +me, I found out in time that I had set my love on a bad man, so I broke +off my engagement, and put the thought of marriage away from me. Fausta +had been married a long time, and so had Marc Antonio. Flavia said that +she never would leave La Mamma, and I thought that I would do the same. +But it was not to be. One morning La Mamma, who had been sitting up with +a sick baby at the Albergo della Stella, came home and told me that I +was born to good fortune,—that Signorina Teodora, the landlord's +daughter, was going to be married, and that I was wanted to work at the +<i>trousseau</i>. It was all to be made at home, and the signorina engaged me +for three months. It was the first time that I had ever gone to an hotel +to work; and La Mamma gave me a great many counsels about my behavior. +Signorina Teodora was very kind, and the work was just exactly what I +liked to do. I used to sew in the <i>guarda-roba</i> (linen-room), where the +linen-keeper, a very respectable woman, was busy all day, mending and +arranging the linen. That was all well enough, but at meal-times I was +very uncomfortable. I used to go down to the servants' dining-room, and +there the talk, and the manners too, were coarse and rude. I did not +like to complain, but my position was a very hard one. I had taught the +men to keep their distance, and they did so, but they were cross and +disagreeable to me, and nicknamed me "La Superba" (the proud one). The +women-servants all said that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> I gave myself airs, and if they could do +anything to annoy me they did. At last I proposed to Signorina Teodora +that I should be allowed to take my meals in the <i>guarda-roba</i>, so that +I might be nearer my work. But she said no, that would not do, but that +I might have them in a little room next the padrone's dining-room, and +that she would say that this was because I was wanted for trying on her +dresses just at the time that the servants' dinner was served. The first +time I went down to dinner alone I felt very much frightened; but my +dinner was put on the table very nicely, and one of the men-servants, +whom I had never spoken to before, waited on me. He did so just as +politely as if I had been a lady, but he was very quiet. The next day he +began to talk a little, and told me about his mother (who was dead), and +about his childhood, and the customs of the Abruzzi, because he came +from that part of Italy. We used to talk together so, day after day, +while he waited on me, and we became very good friends. At last, when +the time of my engagement was nearly run out, Luigi—that was the +waiter's name—became very silent, but he served my dinner as nicely and +carefully as ever. I was a little afraid that I had offended him, +because every evening he used to say, as I rose from the table, "Are you +coming back to-morrow?" And every time I said yes, he would answer, +"Well, then, I can say what I have to say to-morrow," At last one night, +when he said as usual, "Are you coming back to-morrow, <i>sarta</i> +[dressmaker]?" I answered no,—that my work was over. "Well, then," says +Luigi, "I must find courage to tell you to-night, <i>sarta</i>, that I love +you, and I want you to be my wife!"</p> + +<p>I sat still a moment, quite thunder-struck, and then I jumped up and ran +out of the room. "I can say not a word," I said, as I passed him, "You +know you ought to have spoken to La Mamma first."</p> + +<p>"If that's all," says he, following me to the foot of the stairs, "I can +speak to La Mamma to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>"And then I may say no," I called out as I ran up-stairs.</p> + +<p>Well, the next night he came to see La Mamma, and brought his uncle with +him. This uncle was a very decent man, who had been gardener for thirty +years in Count Gemiani's family. He was the only relation Luigi had in +the world, and he gave him an excellent character. But I would not say a +word. I told Luigi I could not tell whether I liked him or not until I +saw him <i>in borghese</i> [<i>i.e.</i>, dressed in ordinary clothes], because you +know, signora, I had only seen him dressed in black, with a white +cravat. Well, he was very patient, and, as soon as he was at liberty, he +came again, dressed <i>in borghese</i>, and then he pleased me, and I made up +my mind to have him.</p> + +<p>But then came another trouble. The match was not well looked upon by La +Mamma and my brother and sisters, because Luigi was a person in service, +and that had never happened in our family before. Babbo, as I have said, +was a carrier; Mamma, a silk-weaver; Marc Antonio had married a +<i>cucitrice di bianco</i> [shirt-maker]; Fausta, a candle-maker,—but, to be +sure, her marriage did not matter, because her husband was a bad man. +However, I was obstinate, and La Mamma liked Luigi in her heart, and so +at last we were engaged. He used to come and see me two evenings in the +week. Sometimes La Mamma sat with us, and sometimes Flavia. When it was +Flavia's turn Luigi used to laugh and say the sentinel was changed. We +had to keep our engagement very quiet, because you know that the +men-servants at Italian hotels are not allowed to marry, and, though +most of them are in reality married men, they always pretend to be +bachelors. Gradually we made our preparations. Luigi had nearly eight +hundred francs saved, and I had about four hundred. We spent about three +hundred in getting our furniture and linen and so on, and Luigi took an +apartment in the Borgo Santo Jacopo. I chose the house because it is +directly opposite the Albergo della Stella, and I knew that I should +feel happier if I could look across<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> the river to the hotel lights and +think that my Luigi was there. We were married on the morning of the +30th of August, and when we had been <i>promessi sposi</i> for six months. +The religious marriage was just after the early mass [five o'clock], and +we all walked over together to the church. I felt quite calm,—not +frightened at all; but when, four hours later, we had to go over to the +Palazzo Vecchio for the civil marriage, I was all tears and trembling. +However, that passed, like other things. We had quite a fine wedding +breakfast. Marc Antonio had brought a friend of his, a nice, quiet man, +who was a very good cook. He was out of place just then, and he had +offered to cook for us if we would give him his breakfast. We had a +mixed fry, and macaroni, and <i>ravaioli</i>, and a melon, one course after +another, just like signori. Everybody had a good appetite, except Luigi +and me, and La Mamma said that it did her soul good to hear the sound of +frying in the house. <i>Poverina!</i> she did not often hear it. Well, after +breakfast we all took a walk in the country, and when we came home again +Flavia began to prepare supper, but Luigi said no, <i>we</i> must go home, +that our supper was waiting for us there. So I put my bonnet on, and +then, when we were ready to say good-by, every one burst into tears,—La +Mamma, and Flavia, and Fausta, and Marc Antonio and his wife, and I, and +even Luigi, though he said afterward he was sure he did not know why. +And how we all embraced! The signora would have thought that we were +going over the sea, instead of just across the Ponte Vecchio. At last we +went away arm in arm, and when we got to our own home there I found that +Luigi had arranged the table so nicely, just as he used to do at the +<i>albergo</i>, and had put a bunch of flowers in the centre. So we sat down +to supper, and pretended to be signori just for that one evening.</p> + +<p>The next day, being Sunday, we all went to high mass at the Duomo, and I +wore my new wedding-gown of black cashmere. In the afternoon we went +out to Certosa; and that was the end of my wedding-journey, for the next +morning Luigi had to go back to his work at the <i>albergo</i>, and I had to +take up my sewing again. It seemed so strange to be sitting down to work +in my own house, and to look across the Arno at the great <i>albergo</i> and +think that I had a husband there. Luigi could not come home as often as +he longed to do, because he had but two free nights in the week. And he +dared scarcely look out of the window, for fear some one should suspect +that he was married, and then he would have lost his place. However, +everything went well. We have been married eight years now, and, what +with Luigi's fifty francs a month, and the <i>incerti</i> [<i>pour-boires</i>] and +my work, we do pretty well. Luigi, thank God, is a good man, faithful +and true and kind. I have never heard an angry word from him yet. And +then he has no faults,—he does not smoke, or drink wine, or gamble; and +regularly every month he brings me all his money to take care of. He is +such a good son to La Mamma, too. He would never take a mouthful of food +until he had helped her; and if a famine came to Florence, and there was +but a piece of bread between Luigi and La Mamma, he would make her eat +it, I know. Si, signora, we all live together now; La Mamma takes care +of our little boy, and Flavia is head-woman in Madama Castagna's +workroom, while I go out by the day, as I always did. It is a little +harder for us this winter than usual, because there are so few +<i>forestieri</i>. It really seemed as if the <i>alberghi</i> would never open. +Luigi said that every evening there would be a crowd of people—waiters, +and <i>facchini</i>, and so on—waiting at the door of the <i>albergo</i> and +begging for work. And the <i>padrone</i> [landlord] used to say, "Find me the +<i>forestieri</i>, and I'll find you the work." My Luigi is such a good +servant that the <i>padrone</i> keeps him employed all the year round; but he +felt very anxious this winter when he saw how few <i>forestieri</i> there +were, and tried to save in every possible way. But, thank God, he never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> +grudges La Mamma anything, and she often says that these are her +happiest days. She still works at knitting stockings, and braiding +straw, and such light work; and she takes our baby boy out to walk twice +a day, and every day at noon, rain or shine, she goes to mass. Many a +quiet hour she has now in church to pray for Babbo, whom she never +forgets, and for all of us. Then when we all come home from our work we +have such pleasant evenings. I tell about the fine gowns I make for my +ladies, and Luigi has so many stories about the grand <i>forestieri</i> and +all their strange caprices, and then Marc Antonio and his wife come in, +and he tells us about the ladies and gentlemen he drives out in his +<i>vettura</i>, and she describes the fine linen she makes for her ladies. +Well, if signori live for nothing else, they give us a great deal of +pleasure.</p> + +<p>Si, signora, we still live in the same apartment in the Borgo Santo +Jacopo, on the south side of the Arno. I would not go away, because when +my husband is at the <i>albergo</i> I can look across the river and think +that he is there. Very often when I sit up late at my work, and all the +rest are asleep and Luigi at the <i>albergo</i>, I look over the river, and +the lights at the "Stella" seem to keep me company. Luigi, too, watches +my light. I always sit by my window and keep my lamp there, so that he +may know how late I work. Well, here is the signora's gown quite +finished, and the end of my poor story. So good-night, signora, and may +the good Lord send the signora a happy New Year!</p> + + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Marie L. Thompson.</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> This true history—a picture, in its general features, of +thousands of lives—is given, as nearly as possible, exactly as it fell +from the lips of the narrator.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="OUR_MONTHLY_GOSSIP" id="OUR_MONTHLY_GOSSIP"></a>OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.</h2> + + +<h3>Tourgéneff's Idea of Bazaroff.</h3> + +<p>A volume containing several hundred of Tourgéneff's letters was +published last winter in St. Petersburg by the "Society for Assisting +Impecunious Authors and Scholars." It is to be followed by a second, and +the proceeds are to be devoted to the foundation of a "Tourgéneff +Memorial Fund." The whole collection will, we may hope, be translated +into English. The following extracts relate chiefly to the character +which is considered by many readers his finest creation, but which, as +is well known, made him for a time very unpopular in Russia:</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bougival</span>, August 18, 1871.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear A. P.</span>,—Although you do not ask me for a reply, and do not seem to +wish for one, yet the confidence which you have reposed in me and the +feeling of sympathy and respect which you have awakened in me make it my +duty to say a few words to you about your letter.... What? You say, too, +that I meant to caricature the youth of Russia in Bazaroff? you repeat +this—pardon the frankness of the expression—nonsensical accusation? +Bazaroff,—this is my favorite child, for whose sake I quarrelled with +Katkoff, upon whom I used all the color at my command. Bazaroff, this +fine mind, this hero, a caricature? But it seems that there is nothing +to be done in the case. Just as people accuse Louis Blanc to this day, +in spite of all his protestations, of having introduced the national +workshops, they attribute to me a wish to represent our youth as a +caricature. I have long regarded the slander with contempt: I did not +expect the feeling to be renewed on reading your letter.</p> + +<p>Now to turn to your "elderly lady,"—that is, to current criticism, to +the public. Like every elderly person, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> holds fast to preconceived +ideas, however preposterous they may be. For example, she is perpetually +asserting that since my "Annals of a Sportsman" my works are weak, +because, having lived abroad, I cannot know Russia. But this accusation +can touch only what I have written since 1863; for until then—<i>i.e.</i>, +until my forty-fifth year—I lived almost uninterruptedly in Russia, +except in 1848-49, when I wrote the "Annals of a Sportsman," while +"Roudine," "A Nest of Nobles," "Ellen," and "Fathers and Sons" were +written in Russia. But all that means nothing to the "elderly person:" +<i>son siège est fait</i>.</p> + +<p>The second weakness of the elderly one is that she persistently follows +the fashion. At present the fashion in literature is politics. +Everything non-political is for her rubbish and nonsense.</p> + +<p>It is somewhat inconvenient to defend one's own works; but—fancy it!—I +cannot even admit that "Stuk-Stuk" is nonsense. "What is it, then?" you +will ask. It is this: it is a study of the Russian suicide epidemic, +which rarely presents anything poetic or pathetic, but almost always +results, on the contrary, from ambition, narrowness, with a mixture of +mysticism or fatalism. You will object that my study is not successful. +Possibly not; but I wished to point you to the right and fitness of +investigating purely psychological (non-political and non-social) +questions.</p> + +<p>The elderly person reproaches me further with having no convictions. As +an answer to that, my thirty years of literary activity will suffice. +For no line which I have written have I had cause to blush, none have I +had occasion to repudiate. Let another say this of himself. However, let +the elderly person babble. I have not heeded her hitherto: I shall not +begin now.</p> + +<p>I do not know whether I shall write my novel; and I know in advance that +it will have many defects.... But, permit me, dear A. P., why do not the +oncoming young people take this task upon themselves? The old ones +would gladly yield them place and honor, and would be the first to +rejoice at the accession of new forces. But in the literary arena there +figure the contributors to the "Djelo"<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> such as H.</p> + +<p>You see, dear A. P., that you are not alone in being able to speak the +whole truth, regardless of consequences. I hope you too will not be +angry because of it, and will at least take notice of what I am saying.</p> + +<p>I am still suffering from gout,—have reached Bougival, but still go +about upon crutches, and shall hardly reach Paris within a month. You +may be sure that I shall return the portfolio safely.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Bougival</span>, September 11, 1874.</p> + +<p>Your letter is so sweet and friendly, dear A. P., that I shall not delay +answering it. You began with Bazaroff; I will begin with him too. You +look for him in real life, and you do not find him. I will tell you why, +at once. The times are changed; Bazaroffs are not needed now. For the +social activity that is before us neither extraordinary talent nor even +extraordinary mental power is needed; nothing great, distinguished, very +individual. Industry and patience are required. Men and women must be +ready to sacrifice themselves without fame or glory, must be able to +conquer, having no fear of petty, obscure, necessary, elementary work. +What, for instance, can be more necessary or elementary than teaching +the peasant to read and write, helping him to get hospitals, etc.? Of +what use are talents, even learning, for such work? One needs only a +heart that can sacrifice its own egotism. You cannot even speak of a +profession in the case (much less of our friend Blank's star). A sense +of duty, the magnificent feeling of patriotism in the true sense of the +word,—that is all that is needed. Bazaroff was the type of "one sent +with a message," a great figure, gifted with a definite charm, not +without a certain aureole. All that is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> not needed now, and it is +ridiculous to speak of heroes and artists of work. Brilliant figures in +literature will probably not appear. Those who plunge into politics will +only destroy themselves in vain. This is all true; but many cannot +reconcile themselves at first to the fact, to the uncongenial <i>milieu</i>, +to this modest resolve, especially such responsive and enthusiastic +women as yourself. They may say what they please, they want to be +charmed, carried away. You yourself say that you wish to bow in +reverence; but before <i>useful</i> people one does not bow in reverence. We +are entering an era of <i>merely useful</i> people; and these will be the +best. Of these there will probably be many, of beautiful, charming +workers very few. And in the very search for a Bazaroff—a living +one—is perhaps unconsciously betrayed the thirst for beauty, naturally +of a single peculiar type. All these illusions one must get rid of.</p> + +<p>I should not have reproached your acquaintances with a want of talent if +they had not made pretensions. If they were plodding workers, they would +leave nothing to be desired; but when they loom up and claim admiration, +one cannot pass on without reminding them that they have no right to our +admiration.</p> + +<p>Ah, A. P.! we shall see no typical characters, none of those new +creations of whom people talk so much. The life of the people is +undergoing a process of development and—throughout the whole mass—of +decomposition and recomposition: it needs helpers, not leaders, and only +at the end of this period will important, original figures appear. I +have just said that you will not see them. You are still young. You will +live to see the day: as for me, that is another thing.</p> + +<p>For the present, let us learn our A, B, C, and teach others, do good +gradually, in which you are already making progress. The letter from +your son, which I herewith return, is warm and good. May he, too, enter +the ranks of the useful workers and servants of the people, as we once +had servants of the Czar!</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Paris</span>, January 3, 1876.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">To M. E. Saltikoff</span>:<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a>—I received your letter yesterday, dear Michael +Jefgrafowitch, and, as you see, I do not delay the answer. Your letter +is by no means "dull and blunt," as you say. On the contrary, it is very +good and sensible. It gave me pleasure. There hovers about it some power +and better health, in sharp contrast with its immediate predecessor, +which was an extremely gloomy production. Besides, I am by no means +cheerful myself at present: this is the third day in bed with gout.</p> + +<p>Now a line or two as to "Fathers and Sons," seeing that you have +mentioned the subject. Do you really believe that all that you reproach +me with never entered my own mind? For this reason I wish not to vanish +from the scene before I finish my comprehensive novel, which I think +will clear up many misunderstandings and place me where and as I belong. +However, I do not wonder that Bazaroff has remained a riddle for many +persons: I cannot understand clearly how I conceived him. There was—do +not laugh—something more powerful than the author himself, something +independent of him. I know only this,—there was no preconceived idea in +me then, no "novel with a purpose" in my thought: I wrote naïvely, as if +I myself wondered at what came of it....</p> + +<p>Tell me, on your conscience, whether comparison with Bazaroff could be +an affront to any one. Don't you perceive yourself that he is the most +congenial of all my characters? "A certain fine perfume" is an invention +of the reader's; but I am prepared to admit (and have already admitted +in print in my "Recollections") that I had no right to give our +reactionary mob an opportunity to make of a nickname a name. The author +ought to have sacrificed himself to the citizen; and I therefore +recognize<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> as justified the estrangement of our youth from me, and all +possible reproaches. The question of the time was more important than +artistic truth, and I ought to have known this in advance.</p> + +<p>I have only to say once more, wait for my novel, and, until then, do not +be indignant that, in order not to grow unaccustomed to the pen, I write +slight insignificant things. Who knows?—perhaps it may yet be given to +me to fire the hearts of men.</p> + +<p>An entertaining writer in the sense of G——wa I shall never be. I would +rather be a stupid writer.</p> + +<p>But now—<i>basta</i>!</p> + +<p>I greet you and press your hand most cordially.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Ivan Sergewitch Tourgéneff.</span></p> + + +<h3>Old Songs and Sweet Singers.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I cannot sing the old songs now:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It is not that I deem them low,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But that I have forgotten how<br /></span> +<span class="i4">They go,<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>wrote Calverley in his delightful drollery about the advances of old +age. Nevertheless he made a mistake, for old songs cling tenaciously to +the consciousness; and memory, are retained when everything else in +heart and mind has been blurred over, and of all the magic mirrors which +reflect back our lives for us the most effective is a melody linked to +words which moved us in our youth. When an orchestra stops playing its +waltzes and mazourkas of the latest fashion and takes up the strains of +"Kathleen Mavourneen," "Oft in the Stilly Night," or "Robin Adair," one +may readily observe a change come over the older part of the crowd who +listen. The familiar air is like a shell murmuring in their ears sweet, +far-off, imperishable memories of youth, and that special epoch of youth +best described as "<i>les heureux jours où l'on était si malheureux!</i>" It +is an experience worth having to have heard the great singers, but it is +not of the great singers that I wish to speak here. I fancy that it is +with others as with myself, and, in my early days at least, music +wrought its chief enchantments and most perfectly allied itself with +the great world of fantasy and imagination when I heard it in my own +home, or at least quietly and privately, and when its influence was of a +constant and regular kind. Why is it that literature, which enshrines so +much of what is personal and actual and a part of ideal autobiography, +says so little of singers, although the song which moves us, rummaging +among our old memories and, to our surprise and delight, bringing back +clear pictures, is generally linked to the sweet singer who sang it, who +interpreted it for us and made it a part of our imaginative possessions? +Heroines of novels are rarely singers, or, if they sing, abstain from +effective music, and have soft, soothing voices, "as if they only sang +at twilight." Heroines of course have to be heroines and nothing else. +"Soothing, unspeakable charm of gentle womanhood," wrote George Eliot, +"which supersedes all acquisitions, all accomplishments. You would never +have asked at any period of Mrs. Amos Barton's life if she sketched or +played the piano. You would perhaps have been rather scandalized if she +had descended from the serene dignity of <i>being</i> to the assiduous unrest +of <i>doing</i>." However, when he recalls the female singers he has known, +any man will grant that they have been almost without exception very +charming women. A really good singer must possess in absolute equipoise +ardor and calm. But the first singer I ever heard who made me feel +upborne by the music and floated as by the sweep of wings was a man with +a high, melancholy, piercingly sweet tenor voice. He had a pale, +striking face, with a mobile mouth, intensely brilliant blue eyes, a +lofty forehead, and his fine, scanty brown hair hung low on his neck. As +he sang with lifted head and eyes which gazed steadfastly before him, he +seemed rapt and inspired. Were I to paint an angel I should try to seize +his lineaments and the glory shining on his pale face. The song I loved +best to hear him sing was Schubert's "Erl-King," which thrilled me with +a sense of terror and mystery and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> made me tremble like a harp-string in +response to his piercingly clear tones. Ever and anon, as I listened to +the child's cry of "Oh, father, my father!" I was clutched by the icy +hand of the awful phantom he had invoked. Does anybody sing Schubert's +songs nowadays, or are they invariably left to the violins, which can +interpret their "eternal passion, eternal pain," so thrillingly? I +never, I regret to say, heard the "Serenade" sung in a way which seemed +to me adequate,—not to compare with the way in which Remenyi plays it. +Those wonderful lyrical instruments the violin, the 'cello, and the +flute have an almost exclusive right nowadays to some of the greatest +songs. Few singers attempt the "Adelaïde" or "Che faro?"</p> + +<p>I like to recall the first time I ever heard "Che faro senza Eurydice?" +A musical <i>matinée</i> was given to an elegant elderly woman, Mrs. P——, +who had had a wide social reputation as an accomplished singer. She was +still mistress of all the technique of her art, but her voice was worn +and it was not easily conceded that she was a delightful vocalist. Many +of her songs seemed like the ghosts of the blissful happy songs she had +sung in her youth. There was something half painful in their jocund +gayety and archness. I went far away from the piano and seated myself +with a group of young people, paying little attention to the music. +Presently, however, a strain sought me out, a sweet, passionately +reiterated strain: it seemed to be supplicating, imploring; it filled me +with a restless pain. That cry of "Eurydice!" "Eurydice!" so beseeching, +so passionate, so exhausted by longing, drew me with an irresistible +power. Gluck certainly achieved the effect he attempted, and showed us +what the fabled power of Orpheus was.</p> + +<p>Certain songs of indifferent worth often gain charm to us, although it +is only the greatest music which has the supreme power of expressing the +highest thoughts of man and the most ardent longings of his soul. But +there was a time when I found inconceivable sweetness in certain +ballads of Abt, and the like. Sara X——, a lovely youthful creature, +with a frank, beautiful smile, used to sing them, sitting down at the +piano and going on from one song to another, generally beginning with +"The Bells are Hushed," which silenced the room when twenty people were +buzzing flirtation and gossip. One line of that song, as she sang it, +draws the heart out of me still as I remember it:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sleep well, sleep well,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And let thy lovely eyelids close.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sentiment such songs arouse is soft but poignant. Some songs—the +"Adelaïde," for example—are songs to make one commit suicide. But this +sort of music stirs and delights while it mocks with the sweetness which +soothes us not. "She kept me awake all night, as a strain of Mozart's +might do," Keats wrote of his Charmian. There was no song this special +songstress sang which she did not make her own by a peculiar and +powerful effort. Her instinct was to rouse, charm, fascinate her little +audience. Not to move her hearers was to her not to sing, and when she +sang as she wished she could sweep away his world of ideas from her +listener and recreate a new one. In one song, an Italian composition +called "The Dream," she always seemed to be carried beyond herself. In +reading Tourgéneff's description of Iakof's singing I could only think +of Sara X——: "Iakof became more and more excited; completely master of +himself, he gave himself up entirely to the inspiration that had taken +possession of him. His voice no longer trembled; it no longer betrayed +anything but the emotion of passion, that emotion that so rapidly +communicates itself to the hearers. One evening I was by the sea when +the tide was coming in; the murmur of the waves was becoming more and +more distinct. I saw a gull motionless on the shore, with its white +breast facing the purplish sea; from time to time it spread its enormous +wings and seemed to greet the incoming waves and the disk of the sun. +This came to my mind at that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> moment." And as I read these words of +Tourgéneff's, Sara X—— singing "The Dream" came to my mind.</p> + +<p>A less dramatic singer, but an incomparable singer of Scotch ballads, +and indeed of all ballads, at the same period of my life made an +imperishable impression upon my mind. Nothing can surpass certain Scotch +ballads for the faculty of quickening into susceptibility the elementary +poetry which underlies human nature. Every man and every woman becomes +again an individual man, an individual woman, who is moved by "John +Anderson, my Jo, John," or "Auld Robin Gray." Never was so sweet a voice +as this singer's, never did woman have a higher gift of rescuing the +soul from every-day use and wont and giving it glimpses from the +mountain-summit and the thrill and inspiration which come from the wider +view and the purer air. She gave her gift, she enriched the world, and +her songs are still incorporate in the hearts and souls of those who +loved her.</p> + +<p>We do not hear songs enough in our every-day life; and even from the +singers on the boards the best songs are rarely heard. There are many +songs I should like to repeat the mere name of, so much it means to me; +but it might not carry the same music to others. Dr. Johnson said of a +certain work, "There should come out such a book every thirty years, +dressed in the words of the times." So there should appear at least +twice in every decade of each man's and woman's life an unsurpassed +singer of old songs, who should give us not only the "Adelaïde," but +"Mignon," "The Serenade," the "Adieu," and all the many-colored ballads +on love,—plain, fantastic, descriptive, sad, and sweet,—so that we +might enjoy an epitome of our life-long musical pleasures, and not have +to cry, like Faust, but in vain, "Give me my youth again."</p> + + +<p class="right">L. M.</p> + + +<h3>A Chess Village.</h3> + +<p>The all-pervading influence of chess observable in that peculiar region +described in "Through the Looking-Glass" is hardly less perceptible in +the little, antiquated German village of Ströbeck, not far from +Halberstadt. In the eleventh century this village was noted for the +devotion of its people to chess, and they have kept this characteristic +feature down to the present day. All the inhabitants, except the very +small children, are chess-players of more or less skill, and the game is +to them what the world-renowned Passion-play is to the Oberammergauers.</p> + +<p>A great many notable men have visited Ströbeck at various times on +account of its reputation as a chess-playing community. The +council-house contains numerous memorials of these visits, which the +villagers take pride in showing to strangers. Among the most highly +prized of these memorials are a board and chessmen which were presented +to the village in 1651 by Kurfürst Frederick William of Brandenburg.</p> + +<p>In June, 1885, the chess societies of the Hartz districts held a +"<i>Schachcongress</i>," or chess convention, at this appropriate place. +Besides the regularly-appointed delegates, a large number of visitors +came from various parts of Germany, many of whom were players of wide +repute. Among the latter was Herr Schalopp, well known as one of the +best chess-players of Berlin. While at Ströbeck, Schalopp played games +with thirty-seven persons at the same time. He won thirty-four of the +games, and two of the three opponents whom he did not defeat were an old +woman of the village, and her grandson, a boy of thirteen.</p> + +<p>The convention lasted several days, and the villagers won a large +proportion of the silver-ware, chess-boards, and other prizes offered +for victory. Every house contains prizes which had been won in such +contests on former occasions. The visitors were very much surprised at +the fine playing of the village children, who, before the convention +adjourned, gave a special exhibition of their skill in the game. The +time characteristically chosen for this juvenile tournament was Sunday +afternoon. Of course the early development<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> of these small chess-players +must have been caused principally by frequent practice and constant +study of the game; but students of psychology might find in it an +instance of transmitted tendency and the inherited effect of a certain +habit of thought.</p> + +<p>Such a rustic society as Ströbeck could hardly exist anywhere but in +Germany. The Italian peasants, who give so much of their time to <i>loto</i>, +are generally too lazy to make the mental exertion required for chess, +while in most other European countries the rural population of the lower +class entertain themselves chiefly with fights between dogs, cocks, or +men who are but little superior to either. Here in the United States +there are, no doubt, lovers of chess in nearly every village or small +town, as well as in the cities; but in comparison with that of base-ball +or roller-skating its popularity is nowhere great enough to be taken +into account as an indication of mental tendencies or characteristics.</p> + + +<p class="right">W. W. C.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> A review of which the belles-lettres department is feeble, +but which publishes excellent articles in other departments.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> Known in Russian literature as Tschtedrin, one of the +ablest satirists, editor until last year of the leading scientific +literary review, now suppressed on account of its radical tendencies.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LITERATURE_OF_THE_DAY" id="LITERATURE_OF_THE_DAY"></a>LITERATURE OF THE DAY</h2> +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Congo, and the Founding of its Free State: A Story of Work +and Exploration." By Henry M. Stanley. Two Volumes. New York: +Harper & Brothers.</p></div> + +<p>It is not as the geographical discoverer and explorer—except +incidentally and to a limited extent—that Mr. Stanley appears in these +volumes. It is as Bula Matari,—"Breaker of Rocks,"—making roads and +bridges, establishing stations, pushing the outposts of civilization +into the heart of Africa. He no longer fights his way through hostile +tribes or seeks to avoid their notice, anxious only to penetrate an +unknown region, secure his own safety and that of his followers, and +report his achievements, leaving no trace behind except a recollection +as of some fiery meteor that had vanished without its portents being +apprehended. He returns to make the signification clear, a harbinger not +of disasters, but of a wonderful new era of peace and prosperity. He +bestows lavish gifts, negotiates treaties, purchases territorial rights, +and devotes himself to the task of opening avenues to trade and +preparing the way for colonization. The same energy and pluck, the same +spirit of persistence, that triumphed over the obstacles and dangers of +his earlier enterprises are again called into play, combined with the +suavity and patience demanded for the attainment of the present object +and permitted by the ample means at his disposal and the freedom from +any necessity for impetuous haste or hazardous adventures. Experience, +counsel, and the sense of higher responsibilities have brought a calmer +judgment and greater steadiness of action, but the boyish temperament +has not lost its sway, and more than one crisis is brought to a happy +issue by methods in which a love of fun mingles with sagacity and +foresight and renders their measures more effective.</p> + +<p>The work undertaken by the Association of which Mr. Stanley was the +agent is of a purely initiatory character. The acquisition of territory +and of certain rights of sovereignty under treaties with local chiefs +constitutes the "founding" of the "Congo Free State," which has obtained +the recognition of the European powers and become one of the contracting +parties to the articles adopted by the recent Conference at Berlin for +regulating the commercial and political status of the river-basins of +Central Africa. Under these articles absolute freedom of trade, +intercourse, and settlement is secured to the people of all nations +throughout a region of vast extent and unsurpassed fertility, rich in +natural products, not so densely peopled as to resist or restrict any +conceivable schemes of colonization, yet offering in its numerous +village populations material sufficiently available for the needs of +industry and commerce and amenable to philanthropic influences. The +preparatory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> labors, which leave no room for doubt on this point, have +been already accomplished, with the exception of what Mr. Stanley +regards as the sure and indispensable means of opening up the resources +of the country,—viz., the construction of a railway around the rapids +that impede the navigation of the Congo. That this crowning enterprise +would be highly and immediately remunerative he considers easily +demonstrable. "To-day," he writes, "fifty-two thousand pounds are paid +per annum for porterage between Stanley Pool and the coast, by native +traders, the International Association, and three missions, which is +equal to five and one-half per cent. on the nine hundred and forty +thousand pounds said to be needed to construct the railway to the Pool. +But let the Vivi and Stanley Pool railroad be constructed, and it would +require an army of grenadiers to prevent the traders from moving on to +secure the favorite places in the commercial El Dorado of Africa." It +is, of course, to European capitalists that Mr. Stanley addresses his +appeal; and when it is remembered that their least profitable +investments have not been those which aided in the development of +barbarous countries, it seems not improbable that at no remote period a +sufficient portion of the riches that so continually make themselves +wings and fly away to distant quarters of the globe may seek the banks +of the Congo in preference to those of the Hudson or the Wabash.</p> + +<p>While holding out this tempting bait to merchants, manufacturers, and +the moneyed classes generally, Mr. Stanley declines to dilate upon the +advantages of the Congo basin as a field for immigration. That portion +of it which in his view "is blessed with a temperature under which +Europeans may thrive and multiply" is at present inaccessible to +settlers. It is "the cautious trader, who advances, not without the +means of retreat," who is to act as the pioneer and the missionary of +civilization, stimulating and directing the industry of the natives. The +suppression of the internal slave-trade is another object to be aimed +at,—one which Mr. Stanley, in an address recently delivered in London, +held up as capable of accomplishment by an outlay of five thousand +pounds a year. What rebate should be made, on this point and on others, +from the anticipations which a sanguine temperament, that has enabled +its possessor to struggle with so many difficulties and to achieve so +many enterprises, would naturally tend to heighten and render glowing, +is a question that may be reserved for those whom it directly concerns. +Equatorial Africa is not likely ever to become the home of a white +population, but it need not for that reason be left to "stew in its own +juice." On the contrary, it offers on that very account a fit subject +for the experiment, which has nowhere yet been adequately tried, of +developing latent capacities for progress in races that have raised +themselves above the level of absolute savagery without attaining to +those ideals which, never wholly realized, are essential to continuous +improvement. It has been found easy to enslave, to debase, to +exterminate races in this condition, while the ill success of efforts to +enlighten and elevate them has led to the inference that this is +impracticable. The trial, however, will not have been made till the +counteracting influences have ceased to act, or at least to predominate, +and time has been allowed for hidden forces that may possibly exist to +be called into play. As Mr. Stanley observes, "It is out of the +fragments of warring myriads that the present polished nations of Europe +have sprung. Had a few of those waves of races flowing and eddying over +Northern Africa succeeded in leaping the barrier of the equator, we +should have found the black aboriginal races of Southern Africa very +different from the savages we meet to-day."</p> + +<p>It was the spirit in which Mr. Stanley labored—the ardor and +hopefulness, the unfailing patience and good temper, with which he +applied himself to the task of cultivating the good will and securing +the co-operation of the natives—that made his enterprise a success. +With some exceptions, for which he gives ample credit, his European +subordinates seem to have been a constant source of embarrassment. +Possibly there may have been on his own part a lack of that +administrative ability which, acquired through discipline, imparts the +skill and power to enforce it. At all events, it is the sympathy and +humor with which he portrays his innumerable "blood-brothers"—greedy, +cunning, and capricious, but untainted with ferocity, and consequently +manageable, like children, by a judicious blending of severity and +indulgence—that give interest and charm to his narrative. It has many +faults and deficiencies which in a work of greater literary pretensions +would be inexcusable. The grammatical blunders with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> which it abounds +are the least annoying, since their grossness makes it easy for the +reader to supply mentally the needed correction without effort or +consideration. Looseness of diction, repetitions and redundancies of all +kinds, and, above all, a frequent lack of clearness and vividness both +in statement and description, are more serious impediments to the wish +to gain comprehension and instruction. Like most untrained writers, Mr. +Stanley imagines that, with a sufficiency of matter, it is only +necessary to refrain from striving after picturesque effects or ornate +embellishments in order to attain the qualities of clearness and +simplicity. Happily, the impulsiveness that betrays itself in his style +seems to have been kept well under control in the management of his +enterprise. It is always, indeed, apparent as a leading characteristic, +but it breaks loose only on occasions when it may be safely and not +unattractively displayed.</p> +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Life of Frank Buckland." By his Brother-in-Law, George C. +Bompas. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Philadelphia: J. B. +Lippincott Company.</p></div> + +<p>There is a story told of Sir Edwin Landseer's being presented to the +King of Portugal, who impressively greeted the famous painter with, "I +am rejoiced to make your acquaintance, Sir Edwin Landseer, <i>I am so fond +of beasts</i>." An equally ardent sympathy with Frank Buckland's specialty +was necessary to his friends while he was alive, and is required by +those who read this delightful, bizarre, and admirable history of a man +whose fellow-feeling for all creatures endowed with life was as broad +and comprehensive as Dame Nature's for all her children. He had, it +might seem, no antipathies. Everything excited his interest, curiosity, +and tenderness. Bears, eagles, vipers, jackals, hedgehogs, and snakes +roomed with him. He not only lived on intimate terms with his zoological +curiosities, petting them, training them, studying them, but he finally +ate them. As Douglas Jerrold said of the New Zealanders, "Very +economical people. We only kill our enemies; they eat 'em. We hate our +foes to the last: while there's no learning in the end how Zealanders +are brought to relish 'em."</p> + +<p>It had been the elder Buckland's habit to try strange dishes. While he +was Dean of Westminster, hedgehogs, tortoises, potted ostrich, and +occasionally rats, frogs, and snails, were served up for the +delectation of favored guests, and alligator was considered a rare +delicacy. "Party at the Deanery," one guest notes: "tripe for dinner; +don't like crocodile for breakfast." Thus freed, to begin with, from the +trammels of habit and prejudice, there was little in the way of fish, +flesh, or fowl which Frank Buckland did not sooner or later try, with +various results. For instance, to quote from his diary:</p> + +<p>"March 9. Party of Huxley, Blagden, Rolfs. Had the lump-fish for dinner; +very good,—something like turtle.</p> + +<p>"March 10. Rather seedy from lump-fish."</p> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<p>"B—— called: had a viper for luncheon."</p> + +<p>He held a theory that from popular ignorance and superstition much +wholesome material is wasted which might be made useful not only in +satisfying hunger, but in cheapening the prices of the foods which new +control the market. The "Acclimatization Society" was formed by his +influence, at the inaugural dinner of which everything that grows on the +face of the earth and under the waters was partaken of, from kangaroo +hams to sea-slugs. These various studies and experiments, all entered +into with unequalled spirit and audacity, led up finally to the great +work of Frank Buckland's life, which was the restocking of the +watercourses of his own and other countries with the trout and salmon +which had once teemed in them, but had been driven away by man's +encroachments. The success of his system of fish-culture is too well +known to require comment, having had the happiest results in all +countries in which it has been introduced. But the perils and +vicissitudes encountered in procuring the ova are little realized by +most people. "Salmon-egg collecting," Frank Buckland wrote in 1878, "is +one of the most difficult, and I may say dangerous, tasks that fall to +my lot." And it was, indeed, the frightful exposure attending this +search for spawn on a bitter January day in the icy waters of the North +Tyne that shortened his bright, useful career.</p> + +<p>The biography is most instructive and valuable, besides being highly +interesting. And Frank Buckland's life was by far too rich and too +many-sided to allow anything less than his full history to give an +adequate idea of his patience, his fidelity of purpose, his love of +work, and his joy in accomplishment. The birthday entries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> in his diary +almost invariably disclose his satisfaction and comfort in his own life +and endeavors: "December 17, 1870. My birthday. I am very thankful to +God to allow me so much prosperity and happiness on my forty-fourth +birthday, and that I have been enabled to work so well. I trust he may +spare me for many more years to go on with my work."</p> + +<p>The book abounds in droll stories, some quite new, and some already +given in his lectures and natural-history papers. He generally travelled +with some curious collections in his pockets or in bottles; and, whether +these were rats, vipers, snails, or frogs, by some strange fatality they +were certain to get loose and turn up among his fellow-passengers in car +or diligence. To twine snakes around the necks and arms of young ladies +playing quadrilles was another harmless joke. "Don't be afraid," he +would say: "they won't hurt you. And do be a good girl, and don't make a +fuss." He possessed an easy gift of adapting scientific theories and +deductions to popular interest and comprehension, and his "Curiosities +in Natural History" and other writings undoubtedly gave a strong impulse +to the tastes of this generation, of which the many out-of-doors papers +on birds, game, and the habits of all living creatures are the result.</p> +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"George Eliot's Poetry, and Other Studies." By Rose Elizabeth +Cleveland. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.</p></div> + +<p>Miss Cleveland's book shows wide reading, study, painstaking +discrimination, enthusiastic zeal, and, above all, the never-failing +impulse of an individual idea. It reveals on every page a healthy, +well-poised womanly nature, and the opinions advanced are a part of the +conscience and moral being as well as of the intellect. The author has +fed her mind and heart with high dreams and lofty ideals, and it is not +only a pleasure to her to disclose them, but a sacred duty as well.</p> + +<p>"When a high thought comes," she writes in "Reciprocity," "we owe that +thought to the world. A great deal of this interment of our best +thought-life is justified to ourselves by the plea that such thoughts +are too sacred for utterance: a wretched sophistry, a miserable excuse +for what is really our fear of criticism." There is nothing trivial or +false about the critical and ethical views which Miss Cleveland gives +bravely, although they are not invariably rendered with the felicity and +pointed phrase which come from a careful selection of words and symbols. +She is a little dazzled by the flowers and fruitage of a fancy which +most of us are compelled to curb and prune to meet the requisitions of +time and space. These papers were prepared chiefly, the dedication tells +us, for schools and colleges, and a little of the pedantry and ample +leisure of a teacher who has his audience safe under his own control is +apparent in them. Little goes without saying; the whole story is told; +yet it is always easy to put aside the parasitical growth and get at the +solid and useful idea. The book was not written for critics who desire +to have everything summed up in a single sentence, and who are apt to +praise the volumes which encumber the book-seller's shelves rather than +those which run through seven editions in as many days.</p> + +<p>Like most other American essayists, she has couched many of her phrases +and ideas in the Emersonian mould. Her sentences are short; she uses a +homely illustration by preference. "Independence," she says, "in an +absolute sense is an impossibility. The nature of things is against it. +The human soul was not made to contain itself. It was made to spill +over, and it does and will spill over, always as <i>quid pro quo</i>, +wherever lodged, to the end of time."... "There is a vast amount of +thinking which ought to be in the market. We hold our best thoughts and +give our second best."... "We do a good deal of shirking in this life on +the ground of not being geniuses. The truth is, there is an immense +amount of humbug lurking in the folds of those specious theories about +genius. Let a man or woman go to work at a thing, and the genius will +take care of itself."</p> + +<p>Miss Cleveland has gathered a large audience, and it is a satisfaction +to feel in reading her book that she holds her place before them with +invariable good sense, high faith, and a dignity which commands respect.</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Aulnay Tower." By Blanche Willis Howard. Boston: Ticknor & Co.</p></div> + +<p>There is a good situation in "Aulnay Tower," but the book may be said to +be all situation, with little movement, no development, and the very +slightest free<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> play of character and motive. The scene is laid at the +château of the Marquis de Montauban, not far from Paris, at the moment +in the Franco-German war when Sedan had been fought, the emperor was a +prisoner, and the Germans were investing the capital. The marquis, his +niece the Countess Nathalie de Vallauris, and his chaplain the Abbé de +Navailles, in spite of orders from General Trochu, have remained at this +country-seat, apparently indifferent to passing events. Thus it is a +rude awakening when they find the Germans knocking at the castle doors +and demanding entertainment for the officers of the Saxon grenadiers, +who are quartered upon them during most of the time occupied by the +siege of Paris.</p> + +<p>Here, then, is the situation. The Countess Nathalie, a widow of +twenty-three, "a beautiful woman, young, pale, fair-haired, stately and +forbidding," confronts these invaders of her private peace and enemies +of her country, intending to freeze them by her haughtiness, her +indifference, her disdain, but carries away even from the first +encounter a haunting and rankling recollection of a tall man in blue; +while the tall man in blue, Adjutant von Nordenfels, "from the moment +she stood before the officers in her cold protest and unrelenting +pride," was madly in love with the countess. The feelings of these two +young people being thus from the first removed from the region of doubt +and conjecture, what few slight obstacles contrive to separate them for +a time carry little weight with the reader. There is a dearth of +incident which the side-play of the coquettish maid, Nathalie's +<i>femme-de-chambre</i>, fails to relieve. The marquis and Manette are the +traditional nobleman and soubrette, and flourish before us all the +adjuncts of the stage. We give a fragment from a soliloquy of Manette's +which suggests the foot-lights and an enforced "wait" in a comedy during +a change of dress for the principal actors: "I adore Countess Nathalie, +and am thankful for my blessings. And yet I have my disappointments, my +chagrins. To-day, for example, what a field for genius! what a chance +for never-to-be-forgotten impressions! A dozen officers! Not a woman in +Aulnay but madame and me. Oh, just heaven, what possibilities! My rich +imagination dressed us both in the twinkling of an eye. For the +Countess Nathalie gentle severity was the key-note of my +composition,—heavy black silk, of course. There it lies. Elegance and +dignity in the train. Happy surprises in the drapery. Fascination in the +sleeves. Defiance, pride, and patriotism in the high collar, tempered by +regret in the soft ruche.... She would have been a problem and a poem; +while I, in my cheerful reds, my dazzling white, my decisive short +skirts, my piquant shoes, my audacious apron, am a conundrum, a +pleasantry, an epigram." This would be very pretty on the stage, but a +waiting-maid who calls herself an "epigram" passes our imagination under +any other circumstances. In fact, Miss Howard seems to us to be +altogether on a false tack in this novel,—to have utterly abandoned +realism, and in its place to have imposed upon us scenes, characters, +and actuating motives which have figured over and over again in book and +play, and to which she has not succeeded in imparting any special +vivacity or charm. The novel falls far below "Guenn," in which the +author riveted and deepened the impression of her first clever little +book, "One Summer."</p> +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Married for Fun." Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</p></div> + +<p>The title of "Married for Fun," and the plot of the book itself, might +easily suggest its being a screaming farce; and that may actually have +been the intention of the author, although she is at times painfully +serious. A young lady who, after going through a form of marriage to an +utter stranger in a stupid charade, believes herself to be legally his +wife, seems to be practically unfitted for the position of heroine in +anything except a farce. But there is no fun in the book, and a whole +series of absurd and incoherent incidents fail to produce any effect +upon the reader save one of deadly ennui. The narrative, if such a host +of incongruities and imbecilities can be called a narrative, is +perpetually adorned by choice reflections of the author's own, and the +itinerancy of an extended European tour is condensed and added to the +other attractions.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, SEPT 1885 *** + +***** This file should be named 29158-h.htm or 29158-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/1/5/29158/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: June 18, 2009 [EBook #29158] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, SEPT 1885 *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + +_SEPTEMBER, 1885._ + +Copyright, 1885, by J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. + + + + +ON THIS SIDE. + + +IX. + +Among the inhabitants of the United States there are none that stand so +firmly on the national legs as the Virginians,--though it would be more +correct to contract this statement somewhat, substituting "State" for +"national," since it has never been the habit of Virginians to make +themselves more than very incidentally responsible for thirty-eight +States and ten Territories occupied by persons of mixed race, numerous +religions, objectionable politics, and no safe views about so much as +the proper way to make mint-juleps. When Sir Robert presented himself +one day at the door of a fine old house belonging to the golden age of +ante-bellum prosperity in Caroline County, he was received by two of the +most English Englishmen to be found on this planet, in the persons of +Mr. Edmund and Mr. Gregory Aglonby, brothers, bachelors, and joint-heirs +of the property he had come to look at. These gentlemen received him +with a dignity and antique courtesy irresistibly suggestive of bag-wigs, +short swords, and aristocratic institutions generally, a courtesy +largely mingled with restrained severity and unspoken suspicion until +his identity had been fully established by the letters of introduction +he had brought, his position defined, and his mission in Caroline +clearly set forth. An Englishman out of England was a fact to be +accounted for, not imprudently accepted without due inquiry; but, this +done, the law and traditions of hospitality began to alleviate the +situation and temper justice with mercy. The lady of the house was sent +for, and proved to be a wonderfully pretty old lady, who might have just +got out of a sedan-chair, whose manner was even finer and statelier than +that of her brothers (diminutive as she was in point of mere inches), +and who executed a tremendous courtesy when Sir Robert was presented. +"An English gentleman travelling in this country for pleasure, and +desirous of seeing 'Heart's Content,' Anne Buller," explained the elder +brother. Miss Aglonby's face, which had worn a look of mild interest +during the first part of this speech, clouded perceptibly at its close. +She murmured some mechanical speech of welcome in an almost inaudible +voice, and sat down in a rigid and uncompromising fashion, while her +heart contracted painfully. A gentleman to look at the place: there had +been several such in the last year, who had come, and seen, and objected +to the price, and ridden away again; but perhaps this one might not ride +away, and the uneasy thought tormented her throughout the conversation +that followed. The brothers, meanwhile, had quite accepted Sir Robert, +and had insisted, with a calm, authoritative air, on sending for his +"travelling impedimenta," which had been deposited at the hotel in a +neighboring town, and had expressed a lofty hope that he would do them +the honor to consider himself their guest. + +"The _res angusta domi_ will not permit us to entertain you in a manner +befitting your rank and in consonance with our wishes," said Mr. Edmund +Aglonby, in his representative capacity as head of the family, "but, +that consideration waived, I need not say that we shall esteem it an +honor and a pleasure to have you domesticated beneath this roof as long +as you find any satisfaction in remaining." + +"It was not my idea, certainly, to intrude upon you here, but rather to +treat with your solicitor in this matter; but if you find it more +agreeable to set him aside, which between gentlemen is usually +altogether more satisfactory, and will, in addition, allow me to become +your guest for a few days, I can only say that I shall be delighted to +accept your kind hospitality," replied Sir Robert. + +"Brother Gregory, will you see that our guest's effects are at once +transferred to his room here?" said Mr. Aglonby, half turning in his +chair and giving a graceful wave with one of his long, shapely hands +toward the door, after which he bowed with dignified grace to Sir +Robert, and said, "Your decision gives us great satisfaction, sir." Mr. +Gregory Aglonby confirmed this statement in Johnsonian periods before he +left, and tiny Miss Aglonby expressed herself as became a lady who had +been receiving guests in that very room for fifty years with stiff but +genuine courtesy. The atmosphere was so familiar to Sir Robert that he +could scarcely believe himself to be in an American household. Could +this be the American type of his dreams? Was there ever a country in +which the scenes shifted so completely with a few hours or days of +travel? "If this goes on, America will mean everything, anything, to +me," he thought. "When I hear of a Frenchman, or German, or Italian, I +have some idea of what I shall find; but it is not so here at all. This +Mr. Aglonby is quite evidently a gentleman, and a high-bred one; but so +was Porter in Boston, and Colonel De Witt, and those Baltimore fellows; +yet how different they all are! These men remind me more of my +grandfather and my great-uncles than any Englishman of the present day. +Perhaps they are English. I'll ask. Who would ever suppose them to be +countrymen of Ketchum's?" + +After dinner,--and you may be sure the dinner was a good one, for Miss +Aglonby was one of a generation of women whose knowledge of housewifely +arts was such that, shut up in a lighthouse or wrecked on a desert +island, they would have made shift to get a nice meal somehow, even if +they could not have served it, as she did, off old china and graced it +with old silver,--after dinner, then, a long and pleasant evening set +in, with no thought or talk of business-matters. Sir Robert was charmed +with his new acquaintances, and not less by the matter than by the +manner of their conversation. Did they talk of travels, Mr. Aglonby +"liked to read books of adventure," but had never been out of the State +of Virginia, and had no wish to go anywhere. He deplored his fate in +being compelled at his age to leave it permanently and take up his +residence in Florida, where his physician was sending him. He talked of +"Mr. Pope" and "Mr. Addison," quoted Milton and the Latin classics, and +had chanced upon "a modern work lately, by a writer named Thackeray," +"Henry Esmond," which had pleased him extremely. On hearing this, Sir +Robert took occasion to ask him whether he liked any of the writings of +this and that New-England author of the day, about whom he had been +hearing a great deal since his arrival in the country, and Mr. Aglonby +replied, with perfect truth, that he had "never heard of them," though +he added that Irving and Cooper, the latest additions to his library, +were, in his opinion, "writers of merit." In politics Mr. Aglonby +declared himself the champion of a defunct party,--the "old-line +Whigs,"--and explained "the levelling, agrarian tendencies of Tom +Jefferson" and the result of his policy, which had been "to eliminate +the gentleman from politics." Mr. Gregory Aglonby spoke with regretful +emotion of that period of the history of Virginia in which her local +magistrates had managed county affairs in such a way as to secure her +"safety, honor, and welfare," when universal suffrage had not "cursed +the country with ignorance and incompetence, legally established at +present, indeed, but sure to be supplemented by a property or +educational test eventually." In religion they were what "the Aglonbys +had always been,--attached adherents of the Episcopal Church in this +country, as of the Establishment in England." Quite early in the evening +Sir Robert had propounded his question as to their nationality. "Are you +an American?" he had asked the elder of the two gentlemen, and both had +replied, "We are Virginians," in accents that were eloquent of love and +pride. + +"Upon my word, if I were asked what your nationality was, I should say +that you were English," remarked Sir Robert, feeling that he was making +what they must see was a handsome concession. But he was not talking to +a Sam Bates now. Mr. Edmund Aglonby regarded him with a reserved air, as +if he had said something rather flippant. + +Mr. Gregory said gravely, "You doubtless mean it kindly, but we would +prefer to be thought what we are,--Virginians. Not that we are ashamed +of our parent stock, but Anne Buller here is the seventh of the name +born in this country, and it is only natural that we should be +completely identified with it. Unworthy as we are to represent it, we +are Virginians." That anybody could be _more_ than a Virginian had never +crossed Mr. Aglonby's mind; but it should be said, in defence of what +many regard as an exaggerated State pride, that to such, men to be +_less_ than a Virginian (that is, an embodiment of the virtues +represented to them by the title) is equally impossible. + +Whist was now proposed, and played by the light of two candles in +old-fashioned candlesticks, that towered high enough to allow mild +yellow rays to illuminate a vast expanse of bald head belonging to Mr. +Gregory, and made the dark sheen of the polished mahogany table dimly +visible beneath. An oil-lamp on the high mantel-shelf enabled Sir Robert +to get a ghostly impression of the large, bare room in which they were +sitting,--the high ceilings, the black-looking floors fading away into +grewsome corners, the spindle-legged furniture that had no idea of +accommodating itself to a lolling, mannerless generation, and loomed up +in some occasional piece in a threatening sort of way,--solid, massive, +dignified furniture, conscious of its obligations to society and ready +to fulfil them to the very end, however little a frivolous and +degenerate world might be worthy of such accessories. More than once in +the pauses of the game Sir Robert's eyes wandered to the pictures, of +which there were a number, all portraits, two being half discernible,--a +young matron in ruby velvet and pearls, with hair dressed in a pyramid, +a coach-and-six in court-plaster stuck on a snowy forehead, and eyes +that would have laughed anybody into a good humor; and, opposite, a +gentleman of the pursiest, puffiest, most prosperous description, the +husband of the young matron, and so evidently high-tempered, dull, and +obstinate, that he must have brought many a tear into the laughing eyes. + +"A handsome woman, that," he said, after one of these moments of +inattention, "and a good picture." + +"It is an ancestress of ours on the distaff side,--Lady Philippa +Vane,--and is accounted a Lely.--Brother Gregory, if you will have the +kindness to cut the cards we can proceed with our game.--The other is +her husband and cousin, a man of rank and large property but incurably +vicious propensities, to whom we are rather fond of attributing certain +follies and weaknesses in his descendants, and who we could wish had +laid to heart the maxim, '_Nobilitatis virtus non stemma character_.' +They were of the Vanes of Huddlesford," said Mr. Aglonby. + +"Ah," said Sir Robert, "you suppose yourself to have some connection +with the Huddlesford Vanes?" + +Mr. Aglonby's white tufted brows arched themselves in surprise above his +dark eyes at the question, and there was a little more dignified reserve +than before in his voice and manner as he said, "Descent and alliance +are not matters of _supposition_ in Virginia, but of record.--Anne +Buller, I beg your forgiveness for having inadvertently revoked. My +memory is really growing too treacherous to permit of my long enjoying +this diversion, however great the horrors of an old age without cards +may be." + +The deferential courtesy paid to Miss Aglonby by her brothers was the +most remarkable feature of the game to Sir Robert, and, when it was +over, the first thought of both was to place a chair for her in the +corner she generally occupied. They were not in haste,--it was +impossible to associate the idea of hurry or flurry with either of +them,--but somehow there was a little collision between them in doing +this, followed by formal bows and elaborate mutual apologies, which were +broken in upon by Miss Aglonby's low voice, saying, "Brother Edmund, I +feared that you had slipped again.--He sustained a grave injury in that +way last winter" (this to Sir Robert), "and I am always afraid that the +disastrous experience may be repeated.--Brother Gregory, I thank you. I +am entirely comfortable, and I beg that you will be seated now. Perhaps +our guest will do us the favor to resume the very instructive and +entertaining discourse with which he was beguiling us earlier in the +evening." + +Thus adjured, Sir Robert proceeded to instruct and entertain, with such +success that all three of his companions were charmed, though they gave +no frivolous evidences of it, such as laughing heartily, interrupting +him to interject phrases or opinions into the "discourse," or replying +in an animated strain. They listened with intelligent seriousness to +what he had to say, weighed it apparently, replied to it with gravity, +responded to some jest with a smile; but, although they were not people +to approve of crackling thorns under a pot, or any form of folly, they +were, in their way, appreciative of the culture, humor, and insight he +showed. Mr. Aglonby begged to be favored with his "observations" on +America, and added that "the dispassionate reflections of an intelligent +foreigner should be esteemed of the utmost value by all judicious +patriots and enlightened political economists, calling attention, as +they often did, to evils and dangers whose existence had not been +previously suspected." Mr. Gregory Aglonby wished to hear more of his +travels among "that God-forsaken people the French." Miss Aglonby was +eager to know more of the England of "Bracebridge Hall." + +When bedtime came at last ("the proper season for repose," dear old Anne +Buller called it, when she rose to "retire"), another courtesy was +executed in front of Sir Robert by the chatelaine of "Heart's Content," +who said, "How truly it has been remarked that we owe some of our +keenest pleasures in life to strangers! You must permit me to thank you +again for your improving and pleasing conversation, which I shall often +recall, and always with lively satisfaction. May your slumbers be +refreshing and your awakening devoid of all pain! I wish you a very good +night, sir." With this Miss Aglonby took up one of the top-heavy +candlesticks, and glided, like the shade she was and ghost of a past +period, up the stairs. + +While Mr. Gregory was looking to bolts and bars, Sir Robert strayed +about the room with his hands behind him, looking at the pictures, +followed by Mr. Aglonby, who made no extensive comment on them, but gave +a word of explanation occasionally when his guest halted longer than +usual before a canvas, such as, "The First Edmund, who came here in +1654;" "Edmund the Second;" "Edmund the Third, in his Oxford cap and +gown;" "Gregory Aglonby, a colonel in the Revolutionary forces;" +"Red-haired Edmund, as we call him, because the others are all dark;" +"Colonel Everard Buller Aglonby, who represented this county in the +House of Burgesses for thirty years, and his wife, who was a Calvert,--a +great-aunt, a woman of extraordinary piety, who reduced herself from a +condition of affluence to comparative poverty by the manumission of her +three hundred slaves." + +When he had shaken hands with his host at the door of his bedroom (which +was emphatically the room of a bed, a huge, be-stepped, pillared, +testered contrivance that waited at one end of the large apartment to +murder sleep), Sir Robert fell to winding his watch with what looked +like interest, but all his thoughts were with the Aglonbys. + +"English gentlefolks of the eighteenth century preserved in Virginian +amber. What a curious survival! 'Gentlemen of a period of manners, +morals.' Remarkably interesting! Delightful types of a society as +extinct as the dodo," he was saying to himself. "There is but one mould +for the gentleman; but nature changes its shape with every century, I +suppose,--though I sometimes think she has gone out of the business +altogether in utter disgust. We have got a lot of plutocrats that are +tailors' blocks, and nobles that talk like stable-boys and act like +blackguards, and both fancy themselves gentlemen; but when I contrast +them with the men of my father's day even--And this dainty, charming old +bit of Chelsea-ware, Anne Buller! Her brothers treat her as though she +were a reigning princess. I wonder what she would say if she could see, +as I did the other day, a group of Nuneham girls calling each other by +their last names and smoking cigarettes with a half-dozen Cambridge men, +who chaffed them and treated them exactly as though they were so many +boys in petticoats. Well, well, the world moves, I know, and I am an +old fogy; but I shall not make myself hoarse shouting 'Huzza' until I +find out whether we are going to the devil or not. I hope I am not +getting as cynical as old Caradoc, who declares that he can always tell +a countess from an actress nowadays by the superior modesty and +refinement of--the actress." + +In the next few days Sir Robert carefully inspected the rambling, +substantial old house, which, to Miss Aglonby's chagrin, he pronounced +"quite modern;" though he smiled when she informed him that "Heart's +Content" had been "refurnished quite recently,--in '48." He also went +over the land, only about four hundred acres, put the most searching +questions as to its practical value and uses, filled a tin box with the +earth, meaning to have it analyzed by "a respectable chemist," and went +into details generally with much energy. Nor had he anything to complain +of in the way of unfair dealing in Mr. Gregory Aglonby, who accompanied +him and gave him the fullest and frankest particulars about the +property, which he pointed out was going to rack and ruin, or rather had +gone there. Every broken gate and stony field was dear to his heart, and +it was a melancholy pilgrimage to him; but had not Mr. Aglonby said to +him that morning, "Brother Gregory, the place must go,--there is no help +for it,--and this gentleman seems likely to become a purchaser. Will you +see that the disadvantages of the property are set before him clearly, +especially such as a stranger would certainly overlook? I cannot +entertain a proposition of any kind looking to its ultimate purchase +until I know that this has been done, anxious as I am to have this +matter definitely concluded. I had thought to die here. But it has been +otherwise ordered by an overruling and all-wise Providence." + +It did not escape Sir Robert that he was not likely to be overreached in +his bargain, however much he might repent of it; and when Mr. Gregory +pointed across the road and said, "The 'Little England' farm lies over +there, but produces less and less every year. The land is exhausted," +Sir Robert thought, "The fellow is either quixotic or doesn't wish to +sell. I rather think the first: there has certainly been no shuffling +and pretending." Aloud he said, "The soil can't be exhausted. It is +virgin still compared to that of England, and all that it needs is +careful cultivation. It seems to me that what Virginia needs is +immigration." + +Mr. Gregory looked displeased. It was as though Sir Robert had +criticised Anne Buller's dress. "On the contrary, we wish to keep +Virginia for Virginians," he said slowly. "We have no desire to see it +overrun by a horde of Irish and Dutch, and heaven knows what besides. +The proper place for that kind of people is the West and Northwest. If +we could get _the right class_ of English emigrants, that would be +another matter. But it is scarcely likely that they will come here in +any considerable number, now that the poor old commonwealth offers so +little remunerative return to the most honorable enterprise." + +When Sir Robert had quite made up his mind that he would like to possess +the place, he telegraphed imperatively for Mr. Heathcote, who joined him +most reluctantly. Together they walked all over the county, saw a great +many people, and, having bought two hundred acres that marched with, +and, indeed, had formerly been a part of, the Aglonby estate, Sir Robert +made a liberal offer for Heart's Content, expressed his thanks for the +kind and honorable treatment he had received there, and, his terms being +accepted, paid the purchase-money, and begged that the family would suit +their own convenience entirely in giving it up. This settled, he went +his way to the Natural Bridge, which he considered should rank second +only to Niagara in this country in point of interest, and then went on +to Lexington, to visit General Lee's tomb, and from there to see +Stonewall Jackson's grave, which, to his intense astonishment and +indignation, he found half covered with visiting-cards,--the exquisite +tribute of the sentimental tourist to the stern soldier. He could do +nothing until he had cleared the last bit of pasteboard (with "Miss +Mollie Bangs, Jonesville," printed on it) away from the mound. This he +did energetically with his umbrella, after which he sat down quietly to +think of his favorite hero, who seemed to be "resting under the shade of +the trees over the river" rather than there, and fell to repeating +"Stonewall Jackson's Way,"--a very favorite lyric, which he knew by +heart. "'Appealing from his native sod In _forma pauperis_ to God,' +ought to be his epitaph. I think he would like that," he said. "I am +glad England can claim such a son, however indirectly. Fancy 'Miss +Mollie Bangs' leaving a card--and such a card--on old Blue-Light! A +decent one might do for Beau Brummel's grave, but Jackson's--!" + +Mr. Heathcote was with him, and, after one careless glance, had strolled +up and down, absorbed in his own thoughts, which were not of war or +death. He only half listened to his uncle's praise of the great soldier, +and presently said, _a propos_ of nothing that had happened that day, +"Uncle, what would you say if I should ask you to let me live at +'Heart's Content'?" + +"Eh? What's that?" asked Sir Robert, forgetting in his surprise to blow +out the lighted match he had just applied to the offending cards. "You +live in America? What idea have you got in your head, my boy?" + +Mr. Heathcote could not tell his uncle that Edith had said that she +would never marry an Englishman, never! but that if she ever did, she +should insist upon his living in America, for to go away from mamma and +papa and the boys and everybody she cared for was a thing she could not +and would not do, not if she adored the man that demanded such a +sacrifice of her. What he did say was that he was tired of his aimless +life in London, and liked his uncle too well to look forward with any +pleasure to succeeding him, and that he should like to have a small +property to manage without aid of bailiff, steward, agent, or factotum +of any kind. "I could go over whenever I liked, or you needed me, and +you could come to me to see that I wasn't making ducks and drakes of the +property," he said. "And it is an experiment, I grant; but you have +always been awfully generous and kind to me, and I have something laid +by that would cover the possible losses my inexperience might cause, for +the first year at least. I am sure I can learn the trade, and am willing +to pay for my apprenticeship, if you will only let me try my hand at +farming." + +"The boy is thinking of marrying," was Sir Robert's mental comment; but +he only said that he had bought the place with a very different idea, +but that he would think the matter over. + +"You must remember that it will not be child's play," he said. "And if +you should grow attached to it and wish to stay, you will be practically +giving up your own country, you know. But America is hardly a foreign +country. It is the representative institutions, moral ideas, social +atmosphere, and mental habits that make a people, not the mere physical +features of the country, and in character the Americans are, as Mr. +Aglonby would say, 'Englishmen once removed'--across the Atlantic. You +might be quite happy and content among them. Just so." + +"Oh, yes, I am sure I shall. You are quite in the right in what you say +of them," Mr. Heathcote eagerly replied. + +And Sir Robert, who had purposely laid this trap for him, thought to +himself, "The boy is certainly in love. I must find out all about it, +unless he has the grace to tell me himself." + +Much as she liked Niagara, Miss Noel was not sorry, after long delay, to +get a letter from Sir Robert, asking her to join him in Chicago, and +telling her of a delightful visit he had made to Richmond, where he had +been received "with particular kindness" and had met a great number of +agreeable people, most of them Virginians of the modern type and +scarcely so interesting, in a way, as the Aglonby family, who, as he saw +from other individuals, were survivals of a generation rapidly +disappearing, to be found only occasionally here and there now,--"a +class of aristocrats long a curious anomaly in a republican state, +hardly to be matched in Europe to-day outside of Austria, and never to +be reproduced." + +It did not take Parsons long to do the necessary packing; but Miss Noel +consumed a whole day in putting up her carefully-labelled "specimens of +the flora of New York;" and Ethel had to settle with Mr. Bates, who +would doubtless rather have been rejected by an English-woman than +accepted by any American, and was not denied that luxury. + +From Chicago the reunited forces went off almost immediately to Salt +Lake City, having only three days to give to a little hurried +sight-seeing in the "marvellous Sphinx city," as they called it in their +letters home. + +At Salt Lake Mrs. Sykes was awaiting their arrival, and betrayed a +radiant satisfaction at the first glance. + +"You can't think how busy I have been and what a lot I have +accomplished," she related exultantly. "I have found a whole village of +Thompsons with a _p_, and went and boarded there, and have got up a book +that Bentley will give me a hundred pounds for. And I have done a lot of +sketches to illustrate it, and, so far from being out of pocket, shall +have made by my American tour. It has been the greatest fun imaginable, +poking about in their houses and dishing them up afterward. And, only +fency, I've got a lock of Brigham Young's hair, _well authenticated_. I +palmed myself off on a person that I met as being a very great admirer +of his, and she gave me it. When I get home I'm going to have a ring +made of it, like the one Lady Bottsford has got made of King John of +Abyssinia's wool, which has been so talked of. People have taken to +noticing my rings very much ever since I had that tooth of darling +Bobo's polished and mounted in brilliants; and this will be +unique,--there will not be another like it in all England. I told the +person of whom I got it what I meant to do with it, and she said that I +must revere him deeply; and, do you know, I quite forgot my part that I +was playing, and said that I didn't care a fig for the old sinner, but +that it was a great curiosity. And she was so engry, quite fiawrious, +and wanted it back; but of course she didn't get it. When do we leave +this?" + +They left as soon as Sir Robert had satisfied himself on certain points, +and Miss Noel bad been sufficiently shocked by a service in the +Tabernacle, and Mr. Heathcote had indulged in a bath in the lake, which +he persisted in taking, and in the course of which he went through any +number of antics in addition to his usual feats, in themselves +remarkable, for he was a vigorous and powerful swimmer. The +ex-Devonshire Elder (whom Mrs. Sykes had seen more than once slinking +about the streets, she said, but who had not come near her) was pleased +to be very polite to Sir Robert, or would have been if he had been +allowed; but, not wishing to conduct a Salt Lake campaign _a la_ Sykes, +Sir Robert was content to see the place in his own way, got a phial of +water from the lake, which Miss Noel said reminded her of Sodom and +Gomorrah and was "very suited to the odious place," looked at and into +such things as could be seen in a short stay, and made temperate, +careful records of the same in his note-book. + +The next point of interest to the party was "'Frisco and the Yosemite," +toward which they pushed as fast as steam could take them, Sir Robert +and Miss Noel being vividly interested in many things _en route_, Ethel +and Mr. Heathcote pleased by a few, Mrs. Sykes grumbling ceaselessly +about the length, monotony, bareness, aridity, stupidity, and general +hideousness of the journey. The only thing that really amused her was a +quarrel that she got up with a lady who sat near her. The acquaintance +promised to be friendly enough for a while, for the lady was an amiable +soul,--the wife of "a dry-goods merchant in Topeka," she told Mrs. +Sykes. The latter was pleased to ask her a great many questions and to +patronize her quite extensively in default of other amusement, so that +all went well at first. But the second stage of Mrs. Sykes's friendship +was not apt to be so pleasant as the first, and accordingly she much +astonished her neighbor one morning by saying to her curtly, "Why don't +you speak English?" + +"Why, I do. I talk it all the time, don't I?" replied the lady. + +"No, you don't. Just look here. I have made a list of the things you +say. They are not English at all. I don't know what you mean, often." + +"Do you mean to say that you never heard anybody talk like me?" asked +the lady indignantly, as she fumbled in her bag for her glasses. + +"Oh, I didn't say that. I've heard _some_ of the words among our +lodging-house-keepers; but you have invented others, and your +pronunciation is abominable. You should really mend it, if you can," +replied Mrs. Sykes, with decision. + +The list which had been so civilly put in the Topekan lady's hands was a +long one, and ran as follows: "Chawcolate, pawk, hawrid, cawd, squrl, +stoopid, winder, lemmy, gimmy, years (for ears), 'cute, edgercation, +conchienchous," etc., etc. + +The fingers that held it trembled with rage long before it was finished, +for the Topekan lady had wealth and social aspiration, if not +"edgercation;" and when Mrs. Sykes broke in with, "Well, what do you say +to that?" she had a good deal to say, and said it very forcibly, in such +English as she could command, after which she swelled in speechless +anger opposite for the remainder of their journey. + +"There it is again. If I say the least thing to these Americans they fly +out like that," complained Mrs. Sykes to Miss Noel. + +But for sheer ill humor nothing could have surpassed her conduct when +they had "done" San Francisco, which she declared to be "a dull, dirty, +windy place, with a harbor of which entirely too much is +made,--ridiculously over-praised, in fact," and got under way for the +Yosemite. The roads, the rough vehicle, the country, could not be +sufficiently abused. However, when the spot was reached, she relented, +as she had done at Niagara, and, looking up at the giant trees, +graciously conceded that they also were "quite up to the mark." + +It was a pleasant spectacle to see Sir Roberts enthusiasm. Such gazing +and neck-craning and measuring and speculating! Such critical inspection +of bark, leaves, soil, lichens! Such questioning of the guides! Such +keen delight, wonder, remeasuring, recraning, theories, calculations, +endless contemplation! The enjoyment of the others was as nothing, +compared to his,--for if there was a thing that he loved it was a fine +tree, and had he not some of the best timber in England, which he knew +as some generals have known their soldiers and some shepherds their +sheep? "Stupendous! Prodigious! Wonderful!" burst from his lips as he +walked slowly around them and rode between them as in a dream, perfectly +entranced. He could scarcely be dragged away, and at last was only moved +by the thought that there was so much that he "must positively see" in +the surrounding country which was waiting to be considered volcanically, +botanically, geologically, and otherwise. It was one of his vexations +that nature, art, science, history, commerce, were so long, and time and +a voraciously intelligent but mortal and limited baronet so fleeting. He +would have liked to spend several months on the Pacific coast, looking +into a thousand things with unflagging zeal and interest. It was really +afflicting to turn his back upon the early Spanish settlers, the Jesuit +missions, the grape and olive production, mining interests, earthquake +statistics, the Chinese problem, annual rainfall on the great plateau, +study of the Sierra Nevada range, and last, most alluring of all, that +of the Santa Barbara Islands, described by a companion of Drake as +densely populated by a white race with light hair and ruddy cheeks. When +Sir Robert thought of that people and of all the bliss of investigation, +he almost decided to make a winter of it in California and solve that +mystery or perish. But he had still much to accomplish, and he had fixed +the day for sailing before leaving England. So back the party came to +St. Louis, where they found a mountain of mail-matter from the four +quarters of the globe. There were five voluminous epistles from Mrs. +Vane to Miss Noel, and others from that household; a simple domestic +chronicle from Mabel, describing her daily round and stating her fears +and anxieties about "Boy," who was getting "sadly wilful and unruly," +and, like a youthful Ajax, had lately "defied husband;" and one of Mr. +Ketchum's characteristic epistles: + + "I send you a letter of introduction to my friend Fry in New + Orleans (to whom my double-and-twisted), since you will go + there. He will put you through all right. But I warn you that + you will be nobody and won't be able to hold up your head there + at all. No one can after an epidemic, unless he has lost half + of his relations and had the other half given up by the doctors + and prepared for burial. This reminds me that Brown's + scapegrace of a brother has turned up here with a handsome + Mexican wife and a million, and has deodorized his reputation + by giving large sums to the yellow-fever sufferers, while I am + thinking of colonizing all the mothers-in-law of these United + there before another season opens, unless business improves. + Fairfield has a Benedicts' Club now, and I chose the motto for + it, 'Here the women cease from troubling and the wicked are at + rest:' so when you want a little peace and comfort you will + know where to come. My wife will have nothing less than her + love sent you; but I am all the same your friend, J. K." + +Having seen a certificate that New Orleans was entirely free from fever, +"signed by all the medical men of eminence in the city," Sir Robert was +determined not to be frightened out of his visit there altogether. But +it was only November, and he did not wish to run any foolish risks, and +the ladies were very nervous on this score. He was still undecided what +course to take, when he one day picked up a paper and read an account of +the Indian Territory that interested him beyond measure. In an hour he +had got out his maps and time-tables and arranged to "put in a week" at +Tahlequah, the Falls of St. Anthony, and the Mammoth Cave. As none of +the party cared for the first except himself, he went there alone, and +felt fully repaid for the effort. Great was his joy at finding "a purely +Indian legislative body" and assisting at their deliberations, his +lorgnon glued now to one chief and now to another. And then to talk to +them, to get their "views," to sketch them, to have a copy of their +constitution and laws and a newspaper in their own tongue and characters +in which an affinity to the Egyptian, Arabic, Chinese, or any other +might perhaps be traced! And then how full his letters to his friends in +England were of his "visit to a Choctaw gentleman's plantation,--a most +deeply interesting, well-educated man;" "the first-fruits of the new +civilization;" "the opinion of a Seminole person on the Indian policy of +the American government;" "the beauty of a young Chickasaw female" whom +he had seen at one of the schools, and "the extraordinary progress made +by some of the other scholars, showing that there is absolutely no limit +to the intellectual development of the once-despised savage;" "the +crystal clearness of the beautiful rivers, the lovely, fertile plains, +framed by the Mozark Mountains, the balmy, delightful climate, and the +brutality and wicked greed of an American of the lower class," who had +told him that "the country was a million times too good for redskins, +who ought all to be exterminated, as 'Indians was p'ison wherever +found.'" And then, while the glow of this interest still flushed his +mind, he took up the Mississippi River, which was a career in itself and +beckoned him on to fresh conquests. He went up to the Falls of St. +Anthony, which, after Niagara and the Yosemite, was accounted "tame and +overrated" by Mrs. Sykes, but over which he pondered deeply. Before he +left there the river had got a strong hold on his imagination that grew +ever greater and greater. He spent all his time on the boat studying it. +He talked to the pilot about it,--or rather made the pilot talk, and +listened with all his ears; he took up the methods now practised for +preventing the banks from caving in and forcing the Great Father to lie +in the bed he has made, instead of driving honest folk out of theirs by +scurvy turns and bends that break up thousands of homes. He drew +diagrams of the pile-driving and wattling and willow mattrasses in the +diary, with the improvements he thought advisable, and some very +scientific suggestions by which the river could be made to checkmate +itself, like an automaton chess-player. He hung over the guards +continually, observing all that was to be observed, and recorded the +same under separate headings, such as "currents," "velocity," +"flood-rises," with statistics without end showing that the +carrying-trade of the great water highway would amount in 1950 to +something so colossal that there is no room for it here, while a future +for the cities that stud its banks was predicted that would satisfy +their most ambitious citizens. + +His heart was not in Louisville nor in the Mammoth Cave, though he went +over the first religiously and examined the latter carefully, collected +specimens, and even thrilled faintly over an eyeless fish, which aroused +considerable enthusiasm in Mr. Heathcote. He was not really himself +until he was again on the river, doing a little dredging and sounding on +his own account. At Cairo he expanded almost as much as his subject, and +for a long while afterward was never weary of tracing the blue and +yellow currents that fuse so reluctantly and imperfectly that out in the +Gulf of Mexico, it is said, one comes upon patches of the Missouri of +the most jaundiced, angry hue. + +The sombre majesty of the stream was quite lost upon Mrs. Sykes, who saw +in it only "an ugly, wicked-looking river, with a lot of dirty-white +villages along its mud banks." Her attention was given to the passengers +and the clerk,--especially the latter. "A clerk that talks to the ladies +in the cabin about literature and the dramar! Only fency!" she said to +Miss Noel. "And such comical blackies, that the ladies call 'aunty,' and +that call me 'honey' and 'child.' As like as not you'll see a snag +coming up through the bottom of the boat presently, and you had better +try one of the life-preservers on and see how it works; though, after +all, we may be blown up instead. Of course we are racing. I am sure of +it." + +"Dear, dear! How _very_ dreadful! How did you discover that? It should +really be made known. I shall speak to the captain. I really can't +consent to being _raced_ with," replied Miss Noel, who did not make +sufficient allowance for Mrs. Sykes's love of the sensational. "Robert +must call a meeting and protest, or something." + +She went to look for Sir Robert, whom she found walking about on deck. +He had been reading all the afternoon, and his mind was full of La +Salle, and De Soto, and poor Evangeline, so cruelly near to Gabriel and +happiness once, only to drift away from both forever. So large was his +grasp of any subject that the imaginative phases of a situation appealed +to him as powerfully as the practical, and he was not the man to take +the Mississippi without its associations, any more than he would have +done the Hudson or the Sierras without Irving and Bret Harte. So now he +was pacing backward and forward under the stars, thinking of these +things, and in no mood for bearding the captain in his cabin; and, +having calmed Miss Noel's fears, he stayed on deck until very late, +enjoying his cigar and surroundings. + +When they got low enough down to come upon levees and see that the river +was actually higher than the land, the questions of inundation, +protection, blue-clay banks, dikes, sluices, crevasses, water-gates, +sediment, currents, swept in upon Sir Robert, and he was still working +at them when they reached New Orleans. Fresh interests and employments +now awaited him, in which he was soon absorbed, head over ears. Like +olives, New Orleans has a flavor of its own, so decided that it is +impossible to be indifferent to it: one must either be very fond of it +or dislike it heartily. It was soon evident that Sir Robert belonged to +the first class and Mrs. Sykes to the second. Its brilliant blue skies, +and sunshine, and warmth, the lovely flowers, the good opera and better +restaurants, the infectious gayety of the people, as light about the +heart as the heels, with enough Gallic quicksilver in their veins to +give them a genius for being and looking happy, and, lastly, the warmth +of his reception, and a hospitality as refined as limitless, delighted +this most amiable of baronets. He had brought good letters, and was +admitted to that inner Creole circle which few strangers see, and in +which he found among the elders, as he said to Miss Noel, "the +atmosphere of the Faubourg Saint-Germain,--a dignity like that of the +period to which the Aglonbys belonged, with more grace and +_savoir-faire_. And such wonderfully pretty girls, my dear Augusta, +with eyes like sloes and skins like the petals of their own +magnolia-blossoms. And I observe a sort of patriarchal tribal state of +affairs among them,--grandparents, children, grandchildren, all living +together in great numbers and perfect amity, apparently." Among the +Americans of the city Sir Robert found much to interest him, and he went +to visit their "sugar-estates," took down in black and white the +astounding number of oranges that one tree is capable of producing, held +conversations with many gentlemen about the emancipated slaves, and with +many emancipated slaves about their late masters and present condition. +And then was there not cotton, the machinery employed on rice-, sugar-, +and cotton-plantations to "go, into"? to say nothing of the swamp-flora, +the possible introduction of olives into Louisiana, and Voodooism to +trace back to the Vaudois sorcerers of the fourteenth century and +connect with the serpent-worship of some parts of Italy, where he had +himself seen the peasants make their yearly procession with snakes +wrapped about their necks, waists, and wrists? And was there not, too, +serious business to be done? How could he secure and forward to England +a few things that he must have, such as a gar alligator, a pair of +mocking-birds, a Floridian flamingo, a ruby humming-bird, "a Texan +horned frog, with a distinctly-developed tail, crustaceous, probably +antediluvian, and credibly reported to live upon air," not to mention +other treasures, and collections previously made, which must be shipped +before he left? All this he finally accomplished, and was so pleased by +his success that not even a letter from his Kalsing "solicitor," saying +that his suit against the "Eagle" had been brought to trial and he had +been awarded fifty cents damages, could greatly cloud the content he +felt. + +Mrs. Sykes, meanwhile, was looking at everything through her own bit of +yellow glass or London fog, and seeing only what her prepossessions +would let her see through a medium that distorted and magnified every +object. As the spittoons at the Capitol had seemed to her far bigger and +more striking than the dome, so now the gutters of New Orleans made an +immense impression upon her and affected her most painfully, although +the Mississippi failed to impress her at all. The climate she found +odious, the people spoke neither pure French nor good English, and many +a fault besides she found, chiefly with what she politely termed "the +Creowls," whom she was never tired of ridiculing as lazy, ignorant, +effeminate, and morbidly conceited. She was not an ideal companion when +they made an expedition into the lovely pastoral Teche country, the +Acadia of exiled Acadians and Eden of Louisiana, but her lack of +enthusiasm did not damp the ardor of Sir Robert. Miss Noel thought it a +beautiful country, but added that it looked "sadly damp, and as if it +might be malarious," and insisted on "dear Ethel's" taking ten grains +of quinine daily during their stay and wearing a potato in her +pocket,--precautionary measures adopted by herself, and known to have +nipped jungle-fever in the bud repeatedly in India, so she said. It +seemed to Sir Robert's heated fancy that even Ethel praised this ideal +spot but tepidly, and when she had started out of a revery three times +with an "I beg pardon" while he was reading "Evangeline" to her under +the shade of one of those noble oaks "from whose branches garlands of +Spanish moss floated," fit monuments of the sorrowful maiden of +ever-green memory, he put down the book impatiently, saying, "It is only +the old that are young nowadays; I am boring you,"--a speech that made +her blush guiltily, since she did not care to explain where her thoughts +had wandered. He was not bored. The bayous were a fascinating novelty to +him, the trees and fields and glades were eloquent to him, the simple +French peasants who belong to the seventeenth century and by some +miracle lead its idyllic life in the nineteenth interested him, and he +could see Basil, Gabriel, and Father Felicien at every step. + +The next week found them on a steamer bound for Havana and New York, +followed by friendly faces and good claret to the last, leaving three +baskets of champagne and about a ton of flowers out of account. For an +account of Havana, Matanzas, Spanish atrocities, Cuban exports, coolie +slavery, and the like topics, the reader is respectfully referred to the +book since published by Sir Robert,--"Eight Months in the United States, +Cuba, and Canada,"--a work pronounced in critical quarters "the best +book of travels in America ever published in England" (high praise, +surely), though it attracted less general attention than a very spicy, +entertaining volume by Mrs. Arundel Sykes, called "A Britisher among the +Yankees," (to quote from another English journal) said to contain "a not +very flattering picture of the life, society, and institutions of the +Great Republic, which must be a true one, since it is so universally +resented by the American press. People will cry out when they are hit, +as every one knows." + +On arriving in New York our party went at once to Mr. Brown's, that +gentleman being established there for the winter and having urged them +to stay with him. Their idea was to sail for home almost immediately, as +soon as Sir Robert had seen his friend General Bludyer, with whom he had +some business and who was bringing out his two sons to establish them in +America. But an unexpected delay occurred. On the day after their +arrival, Mr. Heathcote ran up to his aunt's room to bid her good-by +before taking himself off to Baltimore,--he had made a full confession +to Sir Robert, and received much advice and counsel, together with a +qualified approval of his plans and hopes,--and he found Miss Noel still +in bed, although it was mid-day and she not the least punctual and +energetic of her sex. In reply to his playful reproaches she replied +that she was "feeling very, very queer," and he cheerfully assured her +that she "had best stop in bed a day or two and all would be well," +after which he told her that he was not going back to England with the +party, and, with a further remark to the effect that she "was looking +awfully seedy," discovered that he was late for his train, was again +pleasantly sure that she would "be all right soon," and hurried off to +the station, well pleased to think that he should see Edith in a few +hours. It is not always possible, however, for a woman to fulfil the +optimistic predictions of her careless male relatives, and in a few +hours Miss Noel was feeling really ill. "Who is your doctor, my dear?" +she asked of Bijou, who had herself arranged and carried up a little +tray of delicacies with which to tempt her. "How very sweet of you to +trouble! Why did you not let Parsons do that? Do you know I am +making myself quite wretched lest I should be sickening with +something,--something serious? I must have a doctor at once. Would you +kindly send for one, or, rather, tell Parsons where to go? I can't rest +until I get the opinion of a medical man." + +"Now, don't you worry about _that_," said Bijou, bestowing an embrace +upon her and then perching herself on the foot of the bed. "You are not +going to be ill; and if you are, why, you are with friends who will take +the best sort of care of you, that's all. I'll nurse you; and popper +says I am just a natural-born nurse, if there ever was one. You can see +the doctor if you want to, but most likely you will be a great deal +better to-morrow." + +"But, my dear, suppose I should be worse? It would be too dreadful! I +can't be ill in your house, you know," said Miss Noel disconsolately. + +"Why, why not?" queried Bijou, in surprise. + +"Why not? Can you ask why? Think of all the trouble I should be putting +you to, the house upset, and the servants giving warning very likely, +and all that. Oh, no! I hope and trust it is nothing; but if it should +be serious I could not dream of putting you out like that," replied Miss +Noel, with emphasis. + +"Why, do you mean to say that anybody would care for _that_, or think of +the _trouble_, with a friend lying sick in their house? I never heard of +such a thing," exclaimed Bijou, expressing the liveliest emotions of +astonishment and contempt in face and voice. "Of course we don't want +you to get sick, for your own sake; but if you do we'll do everything in +this world to make you comfortable and cure you. And the house won't be +upset at all; and we don't care a snap what the servants think. You must +put that perfectly ridiculous idea right out of your head, and turn over +and try to go to sleep." + +When the doctor came he looked grave even for a doctor, and felt it his +duty to tell Miss Noel that she might have yellow fever. It was always +to be had for the catching in Cuba, and her symptoms were suspicious, +though he could not, of course, be positive. Here was a sensation. It +was curious to see the effect this declaration had on the different +members of the household. Sir Robert, after turning pale and saying "God +bless my soul! you don't mean it," to the doctor, rallied from the shock +as soon as he had left the house, and refused to believe anything of the +kind, talked about "the art conjectural," and did all he could to +impress this view on Miss Noel, who promptly gave herself up as lost, +told him that she had made her will "before leaving town for the North" +the year before, asked that her body might be "taken back to dear old +England," if this could be done without risk to others, and begged that +she might be "sent straight away to the hospital" and no one allowed to +come in contact with her meanwhile. Bijou, Ethel, and Parsons stoutly +refused to be hustled out of her room, declaring that they had already +been exposed to the danger, if danger there was, and protested that they +were ready to nurse her through anything. Mr. Brown, coming home to +dinner, was horrified as by some impiety to hear it proposed that Miss +Noel should go to a hospital. "Admitting, for the sake of argument," +said this ever-judicial host, "that the doctor is right, what follows? +Why, that Miss Noel will require great care, and, humanly speaking, will +incur additional risk in leaving my house. I cannot dream of allowing +it. My married daughter has taken her children to see their grandmother; +there are only Bijou and myself to be considered, and neither of us has +any fear of the disease, or, indeed, any great belief in the reality of +the danger. I cannot think of letting a guest, and that guest a stranger +here, go to a public place of the kind and commit herself to hired +nurses. Oh, no! That is out of the question." + +"I never heard of such a thing,--never. It would be perfectly shameful!" +protested Bijou afresh. And so Sir Robert was overruled, and, much +touched by this view of the matter, tried to express thanks on behalf of +Miss Noel, bungled out a few short phrases, very different from his +usually fluent utterances, shook Mr. Brown's hand heartily, sat down +with a very red face, and then started up and dismissed the carriage, +which, pending this decision, had been waiting at the door. + +It chanced that Mrs. Sykes had been out for some hours that day, and had +then come back and gone into the library, where she spent some time in +writing to the friends who had entertained her in Central New York. She +had just finished putting up the morning paper for them containing a +full and carefully-marked account of the defalcation and disappearance +of a bank-president in Delaware in whom she recognized the brother of +her former hostess, when Ethel looked in at the door and said, "Oh, you +are here," and, coming forward, gave her the dreadful news. It was well +that this final mark of her gratitude and graceful interest was complete +down to the very postage-stamp, for after this Mrs. Sykes had no time +for delicate attentions. + +"Stand off! good heavens! Don't come near me. Get away!" she shrieked, +and for once every particle of color left her face. The next moment she +rushed up-stairs to her room, put on her bonnet and cloak in a flash, +and, without farewells of any kind, or thought of so much as her darling +Bobo, left the house immediately. She went first, and that as fast as +her feet could carry her, to the nearest druggist's, where she invested +lavishly in disinfectants and hung innumerable camphor-bags about her +person. From there she went to the nearest hotel, from which she wrote +to the Browns, giving instructions about her luggage, which she said +must be packed by Parsons and sent over to England, to be unpacked at +Liverpool, for fear of infection, by "a person" whom she would engage. +She then took the first steamer leaving New York, and when she got on +board gave vent to a perfectly sincere and devout exclamation, "Thank +heaven, I have done with America!" From Liverpool she wrote back a +lively account of the passage, and expressed the deepest interest in +"dear Miss Noel," about whom she had been "quite wretched," but who she +"hoped was doing nicely by this time and would make a good recovery." +She also hoped, and even more earnestly, that "dearest Bobo was not +being neglected in the general hubbub, and given his biscuits without +their being properly soaked first, and his chicken in great pieces, not +carefully minced," and begged that every care should be taken of him, +imploring that everybody would remember that "_hot_ milk invariably made +the poor dear ill." She also sent Bijou a small and particularly hideous +pin-cushion, which she said had been made for the Ashantee Bazaar by the +Grand Duchess of Aufstadt. + +The defection of Mrs. Sykes was not greatly deplored by anybody, but it +was deeply resented by Parsons, who it is to be feared was not as +devoted to Bobo as his mistress expected. + +"I'm not one to run away,--not if it was lions and tigers,--like +_some_," she remarked; "but if hever I get back to the hold country I'll +go down on my bended knees, if it's in the very cab at Liverpool, and +thank 'eaven I'm at 'ome again; which I 'ope I may live to see it." + +Happily, Miss Noel did not have yellow fever. Unhappily, she had _a_ +fever, if not the dreaded one, and was ill for several weeks,--so ill +that it seemed at one time as though she had done with travelling-days. +Anxious weeks these for Ethel and Sir Robert and Mr. Heathcote, trying +ones for Bijou, who had at last found "a rational occupation." For it +was she who, with Parsons's help, nursed Miss Noel faithfully, tenderly, +efficiently, Ethel being a most willing coadjutress, but sadly out of +place in a sick-room. The skill, the self-reliance, and the +unselfishness that Bijou showed surprised even those who knew her best, +and quite endeared her to Sir Robert. + +"That girl is one in a thousand," he said to Ethel more than once; "and +I was such a wiseacre that I thought her a useless, spoiled creature who +would never be anything but a domestic fetich. I shall ask her pardon, +when I get the chance, for having so shamefully underrated and +misjudged her. Could there be a kinder family? If Augusta had been a +near and dear relative they could scarcely have shown more solicitude. +Every luxury, every kindness that the most thoughtful affection could +have suggested has been lavished on her. Everything has been +subordinated to the one object,--her recovery,--and all their ordinary +pursuits, amusements, occupations, cheerfully laid aside, apparently as +a mere matter of course. At least, they disclaim the idea of sacrifice; +and in all that they have done there has been nothing perfunctory. If +they have merely been performing what they considered a duty, I must say +that they have had the grace and innate good breeding to make it appear +that it was a pleasure. Just so." + +Miss Noel had been down-stairs on the sofa for three days, having been +officially pronounced convalescent, when who should walk in upon her but +the Ketchums,--Mabel serene and smiling, and Job in a state of evident +satisfaction and radiant good humor. + +"Well, now, this is something like. Up and dressed, and looking +first-rate for an invalid," he called out from the door, and then, +advancing, took one of her thin hands with much gentleness, and said, +"Getting well, ain't you? That's right. I am so glad. Creepin' through +mercy, eh? as Father Root used to say." + +Mabel slipped into a seat near Miss Noel, and, after some inquiries +about Sir Robert, Ethel, and the Browns, told her what concern they had +felt about her illness. "Husband telegraphed constantly to know how you +were going on; but the replies were often most unsatisfactory; and it is +so very nice to see you up again. You will soon be about, and the +sea-voyage will set you up wonderfully. That puts me in mind of--Tell +her, husband; show her." + +Thus stimulated, Mr. Ketchum drew out an enormous pocket-book, stuffed +full of papers, and attacked it rather than looked through it, drew out +a handful of letters, bills, memorandums, tore up several, crushed +others back into his case, walked swiftly into the hall, and came back +triumphantly with his over-coat on his arm and a sheet of foolscap in +his hand. + +"Dear, dear, husband, you should not mess about like this," said Mabel, +"littering up the carpet." + +She would have picked up the bits of paper, but he interfered. "Here! +I'll do that, Daisy; sit down. Daisy's occupation in the next world, +Miss Noel, is going to be sweeping all the dirty clouds out of the sky, +and polishing up the harps and crowns, and telling the small angels not +to leave the ivory gates ajar, for fear of draughts, and to be sure and +put their buckets and spades away tidily when they have done digging in +the golden sands, and not to get over-heated and fall ill, because they +can't die and have got nowhere to go. Now, look at this" (getting up +from his knees and holding up the foolscap, which was covered with +drawings of some mechanical contrivance): "I got thinking about you one +day and your illness, and that you ought to stay on deck all you could, +and to have the right kind of chair, and suddenly this idea hit me right +on the head, and I got out my pencil and started in on it. And here it +is. This is only the rough draught, you understand." + +With growing enthusiasm he explained all the details, while Mabel looked +intently and respectfully at the paper he held, and interjected admiring +comments: "Isn't it a most wonderful thing? and wasn't it clever of +husband to think of it?--but, then, he is always thinking of things. +Husband has got such a surprising talent for invention, and grasps an +idea at once." + +"Oh, no, I haven't. I think I could have found out the way to my mouth +as soon as any other baby, that's all. But this is a lucky hit. I am +going to have it patented. It's a first-rate thing. This is the way you +lash it to the mast when you want to; and when you want to move about +you let down the rollers and fasten them with this hook, and go where +you please. Twenty-seven changes of position. Why, you can read, eat, +sleep, ride, get married, run for Congress, die, and be buried in that +chair, if you want to!" he said, by way of final recommendation. + +"Thank you, but I don't wish to die. I would rather live," said Miss +Noel, laughing cheerfully for the first time since her illness. "And did +you really design it for me? How very kind! I must really try to get it +worked out, if you think it will answer, as of course you do." + +"Oh, don't you bother your head about that," he replied. "I worked it +all out one night, and set a smart carpenter at it the next morning +before breakfast. And it's a perfect success. And I've got it down at +the hotel, ready for you. I'm coming up here to put you in it and take +you down to the steamer myself." + +Sir Robert and Mr. Heathcote now came in (the latter having returned +from Baltimore an affianced man), and Ethel and Bijou followed, and +everybody was delighted to see everybody else; and they had so much to +talk about that Sir Robert almost forgot that he was engaged to preside +over a children's dinner-party at the house of an intimate friend of the +De Witts. He hurried off, though; and never had he "looked into" ten +more charming little faces than brightened on his arrival. The way in +which he radiated good humor, intelligence, benevolence, told stories +and jokes that kept the little company shouting with laughter, and +finally rose and got off an impromptu piece of doggerel with exactly ten +verses, and each child's name and some peculiarity brought out in a way +to convulse even mammas and the maids, was as indescribable as +delightful. I am not sure that he did not enjoy it more than any of the +grand entertainments that he had been asked to; and as for the children, +they remember it to this day, although they are on the verge of +young-ladyhood and at college now and have very serious demands made on +their memories. + +After a pleasant little interval of reunion and various diversions, the +day came at last for our English people to leave the country. What they +felt about this necessity was well expressed for them by Sir Robert in +the last letter that he wrote before going on the steamer. + +"I am glad to turn my face toward the old land, which must always seem +to me the best of all lands," he said; "but I take with me the +pleasantest memories of the new. It has been a constant surprise and +pleasure to me to find how like they are to each other in all +essentials, greatly as they often seem to differ on the surface. I have +had a most interesting and delightful tour. Such opportunities of +observation as have come in my way, and such authentic information as I +have been able to lay hold of, I have tried to make the most of; but in +so short a time I could not do more than glean in a field that offers a +rich harvest to more fortunate travellers. From the moment of landing +until now I have been made the recipient of a hospitality too generous +and too flattering to be appropriated to myself in my individual +capacity. I must either set it down to the good will which Americans +feel toward England when not irritated and repelled by the insolent and +overbearing among us,--who have done more to make a breach between the +two peoples than you would fancy, and inflicted wounds that all the +ambassadors and public-dinner fine speeches cannot heal,--or to that +true politeness which Americans observe in the most casual relations, +and the immense, apparently inexhaustible kindness which it is their +habit to show to strangers. I find in them a certain spontaneity and +affectionateness that has quite won my heart." + +To the credit of Mr. Ketchum be it said that if Miss Noel had been made +of cobwebs she could have been safely transported in his invention to +the steamer. This feat was comfortably achieved, at all events, and Mr. +Ketchum, having superintended it, left Miss Noel in the chair on deck; +and there were kisses and embraces between the ladies, a hurried rush to +the wharf, and the steamer moved out, with Miss Noel crying softly, and +saying, "Dear, dear Bijou! Dear America! How good they have been to me!" +and Ethel and Sir Robert hanging over the side; and ashore the Browns, +the doctor, Mr. Heathcote, the De Witts, and Mr. Ketchum and Mabel +looking earnestly at them and waving their adieux. + +"You'll find a couple of barrels of pecans at your place. I forgot to +tell you. Good-by! good-by! Call again!" shouted Mr. Ketchum. And then, +turning to his wife, he said, "Don't you wish you were going home, too?" + +Mabel stopped to straighten little Jared Ponsonby's hat and settle his +curls, somewhat disordered by the wind from the river. Then she turned a +face full of sweet content toward her husband; her simple and serious +look met his twinkling, bantering one for a moment. "No, dearest," she +said, as she took his arm and walked away. "You know that I don't. You +are my home." + + * * * * * + +The Ketchums went back to Fairfield, and spent the two years that +followed very happily and quite uneventfully in that simple round of +duties and pleasures which the foolish find so dull and the wise would +not exchange for any other. And not the least agreeable feature of this +life was what was known as "the English letters," although this really +included books, music, photographs, sketches, and a great variety of +things, from the J. pens that came for Mrs. Vane and the larding-needles +that housewifely Mabel had coveted that she might "set a proper fowl +before husband," up to packages of a disgraceful size and bulk addressed +to Mr. Ketchum in Sir Robert's hand. Sir Robert was a regular and +delightful correspondent; Miss Noel and Ethel were equally kind about +writing; Mrs. Sykes sent a very characteristic epistle or two to the +family after her return, and then let "silence like a poultice" come to +heal the blows she had inflicted. + +"What do you hear from that idiotic young Ramsay?" "How is Ramsay +opening the American oyster?" "What of poor Mr. Ramsay?" "Is Mr. Ramsay +coming back to England?" were questions often asked by these +correspondents; and Mr. Ketchum was able to give some account of that +fascinating fortune-seeker. + +Mr. Ramsay wrote to him occasionally, which was the more flattering +because he repeatedly said in these productions that he "hated doing a +letter most tremendously," and very truly remarked that "the worst of it +is that you've got to be thinking what to say, which is an awful bore, +and ten to one the pen is bad, and spelling takes a lot out of you if +you are not used to looking up the words." Whether, "not being a +literary chap," he would have written to Mr. Ketchum at all had not the +Ketchum and Brown properties marched and the two families been good +friends is one of those nice questions which it is hard to decide. His +letters were headed "Out in the Bush" at first, and were full of the +adventures and amusements that his novel surroundings afforded him. Then +came more sober epistles from "The Ranch," with a good deal in them +about "these dirty brutes of Mexicans and ignorant cowboys," the long, +dull days, the doubts that had begun to agitate him as to the +possibility of getting the millions that had seemed almost within his +grasp in London out of "old Brown's farm." Finally, after a long +silence, Job got a letter one day, written in pencil, that betrayed the +deepest depression and most utter disgust. He had "come an awful cropper +from a mustang," and been laid up for three months; his money was all +gone; he could get nothing to do. "I tried to get a clerkship in a +'country store' before I got my fall," he explained, "though if I have +got to that I had better go back to England, where those fellows get a +half-holiday on Saturdays and lots of bank holidays, and are in +civilization at least. Perhaps if the governor saw me with a quill +behind my ear, or riding down to the city on top of a 'bus, smoking a +pipe, he'd do something for me for the honor of the family. But he's in +a beastly humor now, and wouldn't send me a fiver to save my life. He +says that I'm not worth my salt anywhere, and that he washes his hands +of me. And Bill has taken to patronizing me so tremendously that I'd +starve rather than ask his help. So I must just stick it out here, I +suppose, unless you meant what you said when we parted, and will help me +to get back home, where I have friends, a brother-in-law especially, an +awfully good sort of fellow, that would stick to a fellow through thick +and thin, no matter what other fellows said of him. There's a lot of +'fellows' in this last sentence, but I never was a clever fellow--I had +better stop. I am getting worse mixed up than ever." + +Mr. Ketchum's reply to this was a short, cordial, hearty note, enclosing +a check for five hundred dollars, telling Mr. Ramsay to draw upon him +for more if he needed it, bidding him keep "a stiff upper lip," and +advising him to stop at Fairfield _en route_ to England and see if there +wasn't some better way out of his difficulties. About two weeks after +this Mr. Ramsay walked into Mr. Ketchum's office and almost wrung his +hand off, "Awfully kind of you," "awfully glad to see you," "awfully +good news to tell you," was poured out as in one breath by the bronzed, +thin, but still beautiful Englishman, whose illness had given a last and +quite irresistible charm of spirituality to his handsome face. + +"Sit down, man, and tell us all about it," said Mr. Ketchum, when he had +given him an embrace half real, half theatrical. "Delighted to see +_you_, if it comes to that." + +"Here's that check you sent me," said Mr. Ramsay, going straight to his +point, as usual. "I never got it cashed, because I got by the very same +post good news from England. My great-aunt Maxwell is dead at Bath and +has left me all her money, twenty thousand pounds. Isn't it the luckiest +fluke that ever was? But all the same it is a kindness that I shan't +forget. You are an awfully good sort to have done it. Most fellows would +have seen me in Halifax first, you know. And if ever you want a friend +you'll know where to find him, that's all. Only fancy all this money +falling in when I hadn't a penny and was in perfect despair! Such luck! +And such a fluke, as I have said. You see, it was all to have been +Bill's. He has always been my aunt's favorite, though at first it was to +have been divided between us; only when I was a little chap I blew off +the tail of her parrot with a bunch of fire-crackers. Haw! haw! haw! I +was never allowed there afterward, and she hated the very name of me. +She and Bill have hit it off together so well that he never had the +least fear of me stepping in. But on last Valentine's Day it seems that +she got an awfully cocky, cheeky valentine of an old maid putting on a +wig and painting her face, and it had the Stoke-Pogis post-mark, and she +took it into her head that Bill had sent it, flew into a most awful +rage, and sent for her solicitor and changed her will. And then, most +fortunate thing, she died that night, and couldn't make another." + +"Well, you are a doting nephew, upon my word," said Job. + +"It is no use of me being a hypocrite and going about looking cut up and +pretending that I am sorry when I am not," replied Mr. Ramsay. "I +haven't seen her for years, and she was nasty to me even when I was a +child, and she was a regular old cat, and no good to herself or anybody +else. I don't see why I should pull a long face and turn crocodile +because she made me her heir to spite Bill, though it comes in most +beautifully for me. I don't mean to keep it all, though I could swell it +considerably if I did. It would be a dirty thing to do, for Bill has +been brought up to expect it and didn't send the valentine at all. I +shall go halves with him; that seems fair all round." Mr. Ketchum agreed +with him, and Mr. Ramsay went on to make further confidences, in which +it appeared that he still cared for Miss Brown, and had "thought an +awful lot about her," and now rejoiced to find himself in a position to +address her if she was still free. Tom Price, coming in, could scarcely +announce that the buggy was at the door for goggling at Mr. Ramsay. The +two men drove rapidly out to Fairfield, talking all the way, and Mr. +Ramsay stared very hard at the Brown mansion and grounds, and got a +pretty welcome from Mabel that warmed his heart not a little. What he +said to Bijou in an interview that evening of four hours is no business +of ours. + +It began after quite formal greetings with, "Do you know that you are +looking most awfully well, Miss Brown?" on his part. + +"You didn't dream that I cared for you, did you?" said Bijou toward its +close, anxious to reassure herself upon a point that had made the last +two years a bitterness to her. + +"Oh, yes, I did. I twigged that long ago," replied he. "That is why I +cut my stick so suddenly. I couldn't support a wife then, and I wasn't +goin' to be thought a fortune-hunter, you know." It must have been that +he was forgiven the sentimental blunder that is worse than a crime,--a +want of frankness,--or how else could they have been married in six +weeks and sailed for England? Mr. Alfred Brown, being in California, did +not witness this ceremony, but Mr. Ketchum did, and "a large and +fashionable company of the _elite_ of Kalsing" (_vide_ the local paper). +And did not Mr. Ketchum give the groom a pair of trotting-horses that +afterward attracted much attention in Hyde Park? and did not Mr. Brown +present the bride with a considerable fortune on her wedding-day, which +her husband insisted should be set apart for her exclusive use and +control? + +"Haven't you got any other name than Bijou?" he said to her. "That is a +most absurd name. Bijou Ramsay. What will my people say?" + +"I was baptized Ellen," said she, "but I have never been called that." + +"Ellen? A nice, sensible name. I shall call you that," he replied, and +kept his word. + +And so the immigrant, who thought he had left England forever, went +home in a little while and is living there now in inglorious ease and +somewhat enervating luxury, while Mr. Heathcote, who thought that he was +coming out for a short visit and couldn't possibly live out of England, +is already more than half an American, a successful, practical farmer, +and, it may be added, a happy man. "Heart's Content" has been +renaissanced, papered, tiled, _portiered_, utterly transformed, and is +thought quite a show-place now and much admired; but there are some +persons who liked it better when it was only an old-fashioned Virginian +home, before their mahogany majesties the old furniture, and those +courtly commoners Anne Buller and her brothers, had been swept away with +all the other cumbering antiquities. + +Sir Robert is now looking into the military, monastic, and baronial +architecture of the mediaeval period on the Continent, and goes next year +to Japan to begin the exhaustive researches which are to culminate in +his next book, the "Lives of the Mikados." + + F. C. BAYLOR. + +[THE END.] + + + + +THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS. + + +I am about to do a very unpopular thing,--namely, to write realistically +about the dog and to protest mildly against the extravagant and +sentimental way of writing about him which has become so fashionable and +which threatens to make him a veritable fetich. The intolerance of his +worshippers has already attained a height of dogmatism (the pun is +hardly a conscious one) which is truly theologic. I have been made +aware, when expressing dissent or a low measure of faith, of an +ill-concealed scorn, such as curls the lip of a Boston liberal or lights +the eye of a "Hard-Shell" or a Covenanter when any one ventures to +differ from him. + +The theory is gravely advanced of a dog heaven,--not confined to the +poor Indian, whose paradise consists of happy hunting-grounds, where, of +course, he will need his faithful hound to keep him company. The main +argument of white men is generally found to be the superiority of canine +virtue over the human. Whether the word "cynic" originates from a +similar source I will not undertake to say; but I have more than half a +suspicion that such talk proceeds rather from a prejudice against men +than a genuine enthusiasm for dogs. This was doubtless the feeling of +the Frenchman who said, "_Plus je connais l'homme, plus je prefere le +chien._" As to any argument drawn from the need of compensation +elsewhere for privation endured on earth, however it might hold +concerning the ancient dog, there is no foundation for the claim now; +for verily the modern dog hath his portion in this life,--and a double +one, too. + +I am impelled by no fanatical zeal, and have no creed or cult of my own +to vindicate. I am influenced only by a noble love of truth and a +sublime sense of duty in arraying myself with the despised +minority,--perhaps I may say by a sense of fair play for the "under +dog." I do not ask the _kynolatrist_ to "call off his dogs" altogether: +I merely ask him to allow those who do not share his enthusiasm to pass +by on the other side without his setting the dogs upon them. I would +recall to the sentimentalist who goes on repeating his stock phrases +and, perhaps, like Mr. Winkle, pretending an enthusiasm which he does +not feel, the wholesome advice of Dr. Johnson, "Sir, free your mind of +cant." Canon Farrar tells of a gentleman who was seated in the +smoking-room of an English hotel when a dog entered. He became violently +agitated, so that a waiter had to bend over and whisper to him, "It's a +real dog." The poor fellow was subject to a form of delirium tremens +which caused him to see imaginary dogs. I fear the disease is epidemic +and is on the increase. I would kindly recall the public mind to the +real dog. At least, I would suggest that the other side be heard; for +those who have had most to say on the subject seem to me to exhibit a +one-sided habit of mind, analogous to the manner of running observable +in their favorites. + +It is difficult to trace the origin of this new theology, the apotheosis +of the Dog. It is certainly altogether un-Biblical. The whole tenor of +Scripture is decidedly uncomplimentary to the species. It is even +proclaimed as a new commandment, "Beware of dogs." They are everywhere +presented as the symbol of all that is unclean, noisy, greedy, and +dangerous. The nearest to a compliment I can find is the saying that "a +living dog is better than a dead lion." The only good deed recorded of +them is that of licking the wounds of poor Lazarus. When Hazael would +express in the strongest terms his incapability of the most shocking +conduct, he asks, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" +Job seems to have felt that he could say nothing more scathing of +certain persons who derided him than that "their fathers I would have +disdained to set with the dogs of my flock." Instead of a dog heaven, we +are told that one of the bright distinctions and blessed securities of +the New Jerusalem will be that "without are dogs." + +Nor would it seem to be a religion of nature. I find little, if any, +more respect shown to the species in mythology,--the nearest to an +apotheosis being the assignment of the janitorship of hell to a dog with +three heads. Egyptian mythology found it convenient to have a dog-headed +man--Anubis--as the attendant of Isis and Osiris. The _cynocephali_ +whom the Egyptians venerated were more properly baboons: so that their +dog heaven, one might say, was only such on its face. + +Language is the amber which preserves the thought of man. We need not +dig far into the etymological strata to be impressed by the unenviable +place which the dog has made for himself in the tradition and experience +of our race. The name itself, and still more its variations, such as +cur, hound, puppy, and whelp, are anything but complimentary when +applied to mankind; and its derivatives, such as "dogged" and +"doggerel," are not of dignified suggestion. And, mark you, these +associations with the names do not seem to "let go," any more than the +dog itself from his bone. + +The dog slipped into literature at a very early date after the Fall, but +slunk about with his tail between his legs, as it were, and was kicked +and cursed with entire unanimity. It is difficult to say just when his +dogship began to stand up on his hind legs in literature. He has little +or no classical standing. The dog of Ulysses is, I believe, a solitary +instance. Shakespeare's "view" comes out in Lear's climacteric +execration of his "dog-hearted daughters." Sir Henry Holland once lost a +bet of a guinea owing to his failure to find a dog kindly spoken of by +Shakespeare. Milton for the most part sublimely passes them by, except +to embellish his "portress at hell's gate" with a canine appendix. +Goethe's aversion to them is well known. Old Dr. Watts is an authority +on moral traits, and the best word he has for them is that "dogs delight +to bark and bite, for 'tis their nature to." + +Let it not be supposed that I altogether endorse this apparent +conspiracy of the ages to give the dog a bad name,--always supposing +that he did not himself furnish the bad name to literature. I am not +impervious to advanced thought, and I like to see fair play. When a dog +is down, and everybody is down on him, he ought to be let up. It is no +wonder that a reaction set in, as will always be the case in extremes, +and, as usual, to the opposite extreme. English literature experienced +about the beginning of this century an invasion of shepherd kings, such +as Walter Scott, Christopher North, the Ettrick Shepherd, and the like, +who brought with them a great gust of outdoor air, and with it a +renaissance of the dog. But the great apostle of the new movement was +the late Dr. John Brown, of Edinburgh, whose famous "Rab and his +Friends" has inoculated the reading public with something which might be +called a species of _rabies_. This charming writer reminds me of certain +gentle inhabitants of the asylum, who have so identified themselves in +imagination with dogs that they greet you with a bark. + +We owe a debt of gratitude to these amiable enthusiasts for their +demurrers to the one-sided verdict of history and for their discoveries +of exceptional dogs and of exceptional traits in the canine character. +For are we not bidden, "if there be _any_ virtue, and if there be any +praise," to "think on these things"? + +We do think of them, and we are grateful. We do not, to be sure, find +ourselves starting off incontinently to the dog-fancier's in order to +present our wife with a poodle or to transform our quiet premises into a +howling wilderness, but we think better of the world as a place to live +in, and we have a higher sense of the charity and patience of human +nature. Nevertheless, while yielding to none in my tender feeling for +dear Dr. Brown and his gentle fellow-kynophilists, I am not prepared to +obey the new commandment which this new canine gospel inculcates, "Love +me, love my dog." + +Probably my personal acquaintance with the species has been unfortunate, +but I have not happened to meet with these superhuman creatures. I once +tried, in my extreme childhood, to make a pet of a Newfoundland pup of +high degree; but the little brute sickened and killed himself one day by +eating a mess of the foulest refuse. In the village where I lived there +was a crabbed little hump-backed tailor, whose house and shop were on a +corner, and with him lived a vicious yellow bull-dog. It was a question +which was the most unpopular and the most obnoxious _bete noire_ with +the villagers. We boys took a fearful delight in stealthily approaching +the little tailor's back door in the evening, and then, with a sudden +shout, taking to our heels around the corner, whereat the yellow fiend +would burst out after us, with "Bunky" close behind. + +The only other dog in our village of which I have any recollection was a +great animal, facetiously known as a watch-dog, whose mission it was to +lie in wait behind the house of the man he owned, and, as soon as he +heard a step upon the gravel walk or the tinkle of the door-bell, to +dart out upon the intruder with a howl and a spring. The result was that +one day my father, the most quiet and respectable of men, in attempting +to pay a friendly visit, was set upon, knocked down, throttled, and, but +for timely rescue, would probably have fallen a victim to the habits of +this hospitable mansion. And from that day he left his friends to their +preference of companions. My own experiences of the premises were such +that I followed for once the paternal example, in giving them a wide +berth. + +My social footsteps have always been guided by a knowledge of the +kennel, as well as of the house. Even as the pastor of a human flock, I +confess that I have many a time stood at men's gates balancing the +question of duty or safety before I girded up a martyr spirit and +resolved to enter. Not that I loved the sheep and lambs less, but that I +hated their growling, leaping, four-footed favorites more. + +It is not a mere question of wisdom or of taste, this prevalence and +idolatry of dogs. If it were only an amiable weakness, and a matter +affecting the person indulging it, some such form of image-worship as +the rage for bric-a-brac and old china, I should not take the trouble to +enter my protest. But hath not a dog teeth? Hath not a dog great, dirty +paws, a venomous and fiery tongue, and a throat which is the organ of +all discords? Hath he not feet which can carry his unpleasantnesses +into other people's presence, perhaps deposit them on your lap, or cause +you to stumble and be offended and made weak by standing in your way? An +ideal dog, a china dog, a dog behind a picture-frame, the dog of +literature, are not without their aesthetic side,--are certainly things +to be let alone. But the realistic, vigorously vital, intrusively +affectionate, or faithfully suspicious dog can no more be "let alone" +than could Mr. Jefferson Davis and his rebellious States once upon a +time, for the simple reason that he will not let us alone. It is as +curious an exhibition of human nature to note the surprise which always +seizes the owner when one of these "faithful" creatures bites any of his +friends and neighbors as is the proverbial incapacity of the householder +to admit the existence of malaria on his premises. A little friend of +mine who can hardly toddle, while visiting with his parents, was +recently sprung upon by a great house-dog and bitten seriously in the +cheek. And the philosophical explanation, which ought to have been +highly satisfactory, was, "The dog dislikes children, but has never been +known to hurt grown people"! + +I have alluded to the testimony of Scripture concerning dogs. Herein, at +least, Science is in accord with Revelation. It tells us that there is +nothing in the osteology of this family (_Canidae_) to distinguish the +domestic dog from the wolf or fox or jackal. His "brain-cavity is +small," his strong point being "his powerful muscles of mastication." +His "sense of taste is dull and coarse." He is "not as cleanly in his +habits as the cat." He is "not courageous in proportion to his +strength." Let me illustrate this last point by what I saw this +afternoon. A dog about as large and strong as a young lion was barking +vigorously behind a low fence at a cat, who sat serenely on the other +side, meeting his Bombastes Furioso plunges at the intervening pickets +with a contemptuous hiss and an occasional buffet with her claw upon his +muzzle. I have yet to see a dog that dares attack my goat of a year +old, except when he is harnessed to his wagon. They are not, however, +afraid of sheep. And they are much more clear in their minds about +attacking children than strong men with clubs. A man is safe before them +in proportion as he is not in fear. They know a coward at once, with all +a coward's instinct. + +Another little peculiarity of this family in all its branches is the +hydrophobia, an accomplishment which they are very generous in +imparting, and which is to be taken into account in estimating their +usefulness. + +Cuvier, however, puts forward the ingenious claim--worthy of the Buckle +and Taine type of scientific speculators, who are never so happy as when +they think they have accounted for the world without the hypothesis of a +God, and who naturally catch at an opportunity of reading that name +backward (or the name Dog backward, whichever you like)--that "the dog +was necessary to the establishment of human society." This startling +dogma of the new kynolatry is a good illustration of the way in which +this class of theorists persist in putting the cart before the horse. +The truth is that man was necessary to the establishment of canine +society. Except as human skill and patience subdued, trained, and +developed the dog, the latter was incapable of rising, and was one of +man's most dangerous foes,--the fox robbing his hen-roosts and +grape-vines, the wolf eating him and his children, and the jackal and +hyena picking his bones and rifling his grave. The same ridiculous claim +of being the corner-stone of human society has been made by some +wiseacre in behalf of the goat. The plain truth is that only one animal +can justly lay claim to such a distinction. At the threshold of human +society and civilization lies the slimy figure of the snake, who +persuaded man to purchase knowledge at the cost of innocence, a lesson +which has been learned by heart and been worked out in all the "history +of civilization," for verily "the trail of the serpent is over it +still." + +Few persons realize the comparative un-worth of the dog. There is even a +hazy notion in most minds that he is to be classed with the horse, the +cow, the sheep, and the gentle swine, that he is entitled to lift up his +voice with the morn-saluting cock, or to roam with the mouse-disturbing +cat, or with that patient pair, the harnessed billy- and the lactiferous +nanny-goat.[A] Hence an enormous revenue is required for his support. +For example, we are told that "the dogs in Iowa eat enough annually to +feed a hundred thousand workmen, and cost the State nine million +dollars, or double the education of all its children." I should like to +know how many of these costly and pampered creatures earn their salt. +They toil not, they spin not, they contribute neither food nor wool nor +"power." There are extreme cases where they have proved serviceable for +defence and special purposes. The Laplanders are forced to make shift +with them in default of better draught-animals. There was a time when +the dogs of St. Bernard were a great convenience to the philanthropic +monks,--who, by the way, never received one-hundredth part of the credit +which has been lavished by the sentimentalists upon their half-automaton +assistants. The slave-hunters have found the race still more serviceable +for their ends. On great moors and lonely mountains and in the +exigencies of frontier-life, the shepherd, the hunter, and the pioneer +have turned them to account. + +Far be it from me to disparage their assistance in these exceptional +instances and in others which might be named. The dog, like the bull or +the frogs of Egypt, is good in his place. But it does not follow that we +should have a bull in every door-yard, nor that it was an advantage to +the land of Egypt to be covered with frogs in-doors and out. The notion +that a dog is needful for defence in settled, civilized communities is +on a par with the delusion that a man is safer for carrying a loaded +pistol, more harm being done to honest people, and even to those of them +who resort to fire-arms, than to their enemies. One needs only to +consider the dogs of one's own neighborhood and compare the number of +burglars they have routed with the number of children or innocent +passers-by they have scared or bitten. My experience convinces me that +more houses and hen roosts are robbed where there are dogs than where +there are none. And it is easily explained. People who have a blind +trust in watch-dogs cease to watch for themselves. Moreover, the false +alarms of the dog are so numerous, and his barking so indiscriminating +of the difference between friend and foe, and even between real and +imaginary persons, that his owner soon ceases to take note of them. For +who is going to get up every time the dog barks in the night? The dog +is, of course, one of the conditions to be provided for in the burglar's +plan. But when he has silenced, overpowered, or eluded the watch, he has +turned the defence over to his own side, and proceeds with a special +sense of security. + +At all events, I do not find that dogs are chiefly kept by those who +most need to be defended, but rather by the strong and by persons living +in closely-settled neighborhoods. Nor do I find that people affect dogs +at all in the ratio or for the sake of the protection, but for the +amusement which they afford, as something to be taken care of as pets +rather than to take care of them. + +The watch-dog is an admirable protection from one's friends. What a +boon he is to the misanthrope! What an isolation reigns about the home, +especially in the evening, where a real savage beast stands guard, +roaming in the shadows or clanking his chain beside the path! The +ingenious Mr. Quilp turned this fact to fine account, as he escorted +Sampson Brass to the door of his counting-house on a dark night: + +"Be careful how you go, my dear friend. There's a dog in the lane. He +bit a man last night, and a woman the night before, and last Tuesday he +killed a child; but that was in play. Don't go too near him." + +"Which side of the road is he, sir?" asked Brass, in great dismay. + +"He lives on the right hand," said Quilp, "but sometimes he hides on the +left, ready for a spring. He's uncertain in that respect. Mind you take +care of yourself. I'll never forgive you if you don't." + +An exceedingly social institution, the watch-dog, and a delightful +attraction to one's visitors and would-be callers. A _watch_-dog indeed; +for is he not the one thing to be on the watch for, now that the day of +spring-guns and man-traps is past? + +It is all very well for Byron to rhapsodize about "the watch-dog's +honest bark," and to think it "sweet" when it "bays deep-mouthed welcome +as we draw near home;" but when one has got inside of that home and gone +to bed, and wants to sleep off his fatigue, it is not always so sweet to +have some neighbor's watch-dog keeping up a dishonest bark at everything +and nothing half through the night. As to the moral quality of the +noise, the only honest bark is that of the mosquito, who is too sincere +either to attack you without warning or to give a false alarm. I have +thrown my share of boot-jacks and other missiles at the nightly cat, and +with some small measure of success; but what boot-jack will reach the +howling mastiff domiciled several doors off, and whose owner says in +effect, "Boot me, boot my dog," or the converse? And what an "aid to +reflection," which Coleridge never conceived of, is that wretched +little whelp that explodes under my study window at the critical moment +of intellectual inspiration, like a pack of animated fire-crackers! Who +shall pretend to set off the occasional service which the canine voice +has rendered to man against the long and varied agonies which it has +inflicted on our race? Emerson has a fine touch of nature, which will go +to many a heart, when he enumerates among the recollected experiences of +childhood "the fear of dogs." Goethe's aversion to dogs, already alluded +to, seems to have been based chiefly upon their noisiness at night. +Charles Reade had a habit of hitting the nail on the head, and never +showed it more pithily than when he answered "Ouida's" application for a +name for her new pet poodle: "Call it Tonic, for it is sure to be a +mixture of bark, steal, and whine." + +As to poodles and pugs, it is difficult for the masculine "man of +letters" to write. Fortunately, no member of my family has thus far +evinced any symptom of the poodle mania, so akin to the singular malady +which reduced poor Titania to the abject adoration of ass-headed Bottom. +Therefore any repugnance (this is purely an _ex post facto_ pun) on my +part cannot be attributed to jealousy. I feel that I cannot be too +thankful not to be numbered among the unhappy husbands indicated by the +following recent incident: + +"Hello, old man!" said a gentleman to a friend, "what's that you've got +under your coat?" + +"That," was the sad reply, as he brought it forth, "is my wife's little +pug dog." + +"What are you going to do with him? Take him somewhere and drown him?" + +"I wish I might," earnestly responded the gentleman, fetching a sigh. +"No, I am not going to drown him. My wife is having a new spring suit +made to harmonize with Beauty, as she is pleased to call the disgusting +little brute, and I am on my way to a dry-goods store to match him for +half a yard more of material." + +Ladies will pay as much as ten dollars a week for the board of a poodle +in summer. And here is a specimen order at the inn wherein his puppyship +is taking his ease: + +"Room No. 122.--To the clerk of ---- Hotel: Please send to my room, for +the use of my little pet 'Watch,' a choice porter-house steak, cooked +rare, and two chicken-wings, and charge to account of Mrs. ----." + +But it is not always practicable to take our "dumb companions" with us +in our travels. Accordingly, the following advertisement is said to have +been recently inserted in the papers: + +"Wanted, by a lady, a careful man to look after the house and be company +for her dog during her absence in Europe." + +I myself lately witnessed a suggestive scene in a drawing-room car at +the Grand Central Depot. A portly old gentleman of opulent appearance +was stepping aboard with his daughter (or wife?), a fine specimen of +Amazonian beauty, accompanied by a third member of the family, a yellow +and dirty-looking little pug with its hair in its eyes. But, alas! the +latter was arrested at the platform, according to rule, and was being +conveyed to the baggage-car. I have no power to picture the blazing +indignation of his devoted mistress, or the eloquent storm with which +she assailed the officials, or the undignified haste and distress of +mind into which the old gentleman was thrown in his part of negotiator +between the contending parties. The lady was inconsolable and +inexorable. She would not go without her beloved. She would _never_ +subject him to the discomfort and indignity of the baggage-car. She +would "rather ride in the common car" herself. How the case was settled +I did not see. She left the hateful drawing-room car with her packages +and her papa(?). Whether she abandoned her tour, or went into the +baggage-car to share the shame and sorrow of her poodle, or whether a +compromise was effected in favor of the "common car," I never +ascertained, I trust she was not the lady of Baltimore who last summer +went insane and tried to kill herself on account of the death of her pet +dog. + +And this leads me to make a point in favor of dogs, at least so far as +their claim to being "so human" is concerned. There has been supposed to +be nothing more distinctive of human nature than its propensity to +suicide, arising from its capacity, as it rises in civilization and +enlightenment, of finding out that life is not worth living. But a +number of well-authenticated cases have come to my observation which +show that the dog is rapidly learning this supreme accomplishment. A dog +at Warwick, New York, whose master had neglected him for a new-comer, +became morose and sulky, took to watching the railway-trains with great +interest, and one day threw himself under a passing car and was crushed +to death. Another, in Marseilles, whose owner had avoided him from fear +of hydrophobia, and which had been driven from the door of a friend of +his master, ran straight for the river and plunged in, never to rise +till he was dead. A Newfoundland dog on the relief-ship Bear, and two or +three of the Esquimaux dogs belonging to the relief expedition, drowned +themselves deliberately, after showing great depression for several +days. Dr. Lauder Lindsay, in his "Mind in the Lower Animals," tells of a +Newfoundland that, being refused an accustomed outing with the children +and being playfully whipped with a handkerchief, took it so deeply to +heart that he went and drowned himself by resolutely holding his head +under water in a shallow ditch. + +But, seriously, it is a nice psychological question whether there is +something human about dogs, or something canine about men. At any rate, +it may well be asked whether it is really the dog-nature which attracts +us, and not rather a somewhat of the human in the brute. For when we see +the dog in the man we are repelled. + +The above is undoubtedly the most honorable, if not the most obvious, +reason why the dog has succeeded in winning the companionship, and even +the affection, of so large a portion of mankind. Another reason lies in +the fact that, as a dog, he has been wonderfully improved. There is no +denying that he comes of a bad stock. As already intimated, his "family" +includes, besides himself, the wolf, the fox, and the jackal, with the +hyena as a sort of step-brother. But he has proved himself "the flower +of the family," and, like all flowers, he has been "cultivated" and +developed, differentiated in species, till a grand bench-show will +display all the varieties, from little fluff balls, "small enough to put +in your waistcoat-pocket," to the splendid deerhound, valued at ten +thousand dollars, with his "silver-gray hair, muscular flanks, and calm, +resolute eyes." I shall never forget coming suddenly, in the streets of +Montgomery, Alabama, upon one of the veritable bloodhounds which were +employed once upon a time in tracking fugitive slaves. His dimensions +were beyond all my previous conceptions of the canine race. He impressed +me rather as an institution than an animal. And as he stood across my +path in a statuesque repose, with his red tongue and massive jaws, and a +slumbering fire in his eye, I conceived a new idea and even admiration +of "brute force." + +The intelligence of the dog has also been developed, notwithstanding the +smallness of his brain and his natural inferiority in this respect to +many other animals, until he has almost rivalled the feats of the +learned pig and the industrious fleas. His moral character must be +admitted to have shown itself capable of great development, despite the +recent effort of writers like Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson to prove that +he develops chiefly the worst and meanest traits of human nature. His +capacity for hero-worship and his patience under ill usage from the one +who has mastered him are conspicuous. He has a sublime indifference to +that master's moral character, however, being as subservient to Bill +Sykes or Daniel Quilp as to Leatherstocking or Dr. John Brown himself. +This fidelity to me does not imply that he may not be highly +treacherous to others, just as his protective value to me is in +proportion to his savage and perilous possibilities to the not-me. +Therefore I ought not to insist that my lovers must love my dog also. I +should rather estimate their steadfast affection for me all the more on +his account. + +It is argued by the dog-haters that we must not judge the whole vast and +varied race of _Canidae_ from a few exceptional individuals and +highly-cultivated breeds. But it may be retorted that neither are all +men Shakespeares and St. Augustines. The credit is so much the greater +to those of the species which have overcome the disadvantages of a low +and repulsive origin. None the less, however, will a strict veracity of +mind and speech be careful not to generalize too sweepingly from a few +particulars, and also not to make too indiscriminate and imperious a +demand upon other people's enthusiasm. Especially will it be unwise for +the friends of the dog to persist in their attempt to exalt him by +depreciating man, inasmuch as man is the party to be won over to their +way of thinking. Man has, unfortunately, been endowed by his Creator +with a notion of his superiority even to the hound and the terrier, and +naturally winces at the comparison, and is in danger of being thrown to +the other extreme. I myself am able to present these considerations thus +dispassionately as a friend of humanity rather than a foe to caninity; +but all are not favored with a judicial spirit. + +I suspect, in fact, that this inclining of our race to these brute +servitors is largely due to the same cause which promotes the love of +"horse-flesh." Man must assert his dominion over the brutes. He wants +some tangible evidence, always beside him and running at his heels, of +his superiority to something. It is a great upholder of his +self-respect. It is so consoling, amid our conscious defeats and +snubbings by a proud and unmanageable world, to have at hand a +fellow-creature, strong enough to tear us in pieces, who will grovel at +our feet, and quail before our eye, and let us laugh at him while he +makes a fool of himself at our bidding. Even the most successful and +superior men find herein a grateful outlet for their surplus +masterfulness. + +But I prefer to ascribe the tender and enthusiastic feeling which men +have for their dogs not so much to the merits of the latter as to an +overflowing and supererogatory goodness in the former. The human runs +readily into the humane. Man is, after all, a loving animal, and is +disposed to lavish his affection upon all who come into the right +relation and moral angle with himself. He loves to be munificent as well +as magnificent, and to be the patron of somebody or something. He has no +little magnanimity toward such as put themselves in an abject dependence +upon his honor and justice. He is ready to see all good in those who +come not in competition with himself. He has a fund of generous +enthusiasm which finds too little occupation in the world, and is glad +to find or create an object for it near at hand. So that his dog, +unconsciously to himself, is seen rather in the reflection of his own +light. He clothes him with those amiable qualities which superabound in +his own heart, and attributes to him a fidelity which is really far more +remarkable on his own side. + +Dogs are remarkable for their dreaming capacity. A dog never seems to +sleep but he dreams, and very likely is quite unable to distinguish his +waking and sleeping impressions. And is it not altogether probable that +those who have much to do with them catch the infection, so that they +view the canine race through a dream-like medium and as slumbering dogs +are haunted by imaginary flies? + +But I fear lest I shall be suspected of having caught at least one +quality of my subject and of following up this scent at a wearisome +length. And yet I have not begun to exhaust my theme, and have hardly +given a glimpse of its many lights and shades. Inasmuch as there is an +excessive tendency just now to show the lights only, it may have been +noticed that I have rather emphasized the shades. Perhaps I shall not +have written in vain if I have succeeded in moderating the present +_kynomania_, surpassing in virulence even the aesthetic craze. The dog is +having his day now,--that is clear. I presume it is the order of nature, +and that we must expect a season in human history when the dog-star will +rage. But it may not be unseasonable to recommend a slight muzzle to the +dog-bitten, especially of the literary _gens_. + + F. N. ZABRISKIE. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] By a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Maine, the judges +standing six to one, it was decided that dogs are not to be classed with +domestic animals. The learned Court affirms "that they retain in great +measure their vicious habits, furnish no support to the family, add +nothing in a legal sense to the wealth of the community, and are not +inventoried as property of a debtor or dead man's estate, or as liable +to taxation except under a special provision of the statute; that when +kept it is for pleasure, or, if any usefulness is obtained from them, it +is founded upon the ferocity natural to them, by which they are made to +serve as a watch or for hunting; and that while because of his +attachment to his master, from which arises a well-founded expectation +of his return when lost, the law gives the owner the right of +reclamation, the owner in all other respects has only that qualified +property in them which he may have in wild animals generally." + + + + +RENA'S WARNING. + + +"If anything be anything," said Frederick Brent, "the Pennsylvania +mountains are what Oscar Wilde called them." + +"Oh, you miserable agnostic!" exclaimed his friend Professor +Helfenstein. "Can you not, in the face of this so beautiful landscape, +get rid of your eternal subjunctive mood? _If_, indeed!" + +The two men had stopped at a high point on the road they had been +traversing, and were looking across a fair and fertile valley, flooded +by the summer-morning sunlight, to the mountains on its western rim. + +A slight smile showed Brent's pleasure in arousing his companion's +indignation. + +"Well," said he, "my ideas of natural beauty and those of the aesthetic +Wilde may be entirely false; or the whole scene may be an optical +illusion; or--_Rosenduft und Maienblumen_, observe me this lovely +maiden!" + +"If anything be anything? You can be positive enough where a pretty girl +is concerned. She _is_ pretty, though, and as _deutsch_ as her ancestors +were a century or two ago, when they left the Rhineland and crossed the +sea. A pure blonde German type. Tacitus would have included her among +the Non-Suevi." + +Their attention had been drawn from the scenery by the approach of a +young woman and a little boy. The former was above the medium height, +and was about twenty years old, but the infantile mould of her features +and the innocent look in her large blue eyes gave strangers a +bewildering impression that she was somewhere in the neighborhood of +five. She was charmingly pretty in her way, and her wide-brimmed hat of +dark straw set off to full advantage the pale golden hue of her braided +hair and the delicate purity of her complexion. + +Brent could not resist the temptation to accost this mild and grave +young beauty. Stepping forward as she was passing, he lifted his hat, +and said, "Will you be good enough to tell me the way to the nearest +encampment of Indians?" + +"Indians?" she repeated, with a timid wonder in the tones of her soft +voice. + +"Yes. We are Europeans, travelling in this country, and we should like +to find some Indians who will help us to hunt buffaloes. Are there many +buffaloes near here? We haven't seen any sitting on the branches of the +trees as we came along." + +"I don't think buffaloes _could_ get up in the trees," said the girl in +a meekly explanatory manner. + +"Why, you don't mean to say that the buffaloes in this country can't +climb, do you?" + +"I never saw a buffalo; but I don't _think_ they can." + +She looked despairingly at her small brother, who, having not yet +reached the age of six years, was unable to afford any help in deciding +a question in zoology. + +"This is very interesting," said Brent, turning toward his companion. +"It seems that American buffaloes are forced to spend all their time on +the ground." + +"_Narrheit!_" growled the professor, beginning to walk away. + +"Well, I'm very much obliged to you," said Brent. "Good-morning." + +Then he followed his friend, who was already descending a hill in the +road. + +"Sister Rena, what did that man want still?" asked the little boy. + +"I don't know, love," said his sister faintly. Her ideas were in a +hopeless state of confusion, and she was troubled by a fear that a lack +of intelligence had made her seem disobliging. + +When Brent overtook the professor, the latter said, "All Englishmen are +ridiculous; and you are a good specimen of the race. Why should you stop +on the public highway and talk nothingness to a harmless girl?" + +"All Germans are prejudiced; and Professor Helfenstein is a true +_Deutscher_," answered Brent. "My remarks to the young Non-Sueve no +doubt interested her deeply, and I fancy she will reflect on them, as +Piers Plowman says,-- + + With inwit and outwit, + Imagynyng and studie." + +They were both good walkers, and, though the heat became somewhat +oppressive at noon, they did not halt until they had reached the village +where they intended to pass the night. In this place Helfenstein heard +the Pennsylvania-German dialect spoken to his heart's content. After +dinner he sat on the porch of the inn for several hours, talking to a +number of the indigenes and making copious notes. + +When Brent returned from a visit to one of the village stores, he found +him looking over the result of his investigations. + +"Will the 'Allgemeine Zeitung' have the benefit of your researches?" +asked the Englishman. + +"Most like. The people at home love to have tidings of shoots from the +old German lingual stock. The dialect of this locality is a truly +noteworthy one." + +"I heard it spoken just now by the young blossom we met on the road this +morning." + +"Does she live here?" + +"No. She had driven in to the village to make some purchases. Her father +is one Reinfelter, who tills the soil of his ancestral demesne over +there near the mountains." + +"From whom did you learn these facts?" + +"From the tradesman with whom she had been talking." + +"Will agnosticism let you be absolutely sure his statements are true?" + +"No; and even less sure that they are untrue. It seems to me that a vast +amount of credulity is needed for positive unbelief. Do atheists ever +have doubts about anything?" + +"We don't sit still and say, '_Quien sabe?_' like you agnostics. When +nobody shall believe or disbelieve, who will _act_?" + +"I give it up." + +With a look of profound disgust, the professor pocketed his note-book +and went to seek refreshment in the shape of beer. + +Notwithstanding the difference in their ways of thinking, these two men +had something in common which furnished a strong bond of union between +them. Helfenstein sometimes said to himself, "Well, if he _is_ a +pitiable doubter, he at least doubts in earnest. This makes him better +than the miserable tric-trac men who are always ready to agree that +black is white, or deny that two and two make four, when it suits their +convenience or interest." + +And, in fact, though Brent often paraded his agnosticism merely to draw +forth the professor's scornful comments, he really had a humble and +hopeless consciousness that if truth be visible to any human mind it was +hidden from his. The possession of an ample fortune and the lack of +family ties and active interests in life had fostered his tendency +toward introspection till it became morbid. Now, at the age of thirty, +he had no positive beliefs or aims, and felt the despairing +self-contempt which inspired Hamlet's cry, "What should such fellows as +I do, crawling between earth and heaven?" + +Before retiring, the travellers agreed to spend the next day in making +an excursion on foot to the neighboring mountains. But when the hour for +starting arrived, Brent had not risen, and the professor, who allowed +nothing to interfere with his plans if he could help it, set out alone. + +A little before sunset he returned, full of enthusiasm over the scenery, +and highly pleased with the people in the farm-houses where he had +stopped. + +"They are a good, honest, _kreuzbraves Volk_," he said. "They have kept +the old German home-feeling all unchanged. There is a certain Baernthaler +over there at the foot of the mountains who is worthy to be a native of +the Fatherland,--a noble-looking fellow, with the lion-front of a young +Marcomannic chief." + +"The Marcomanni were a Suevic race, were they not?" + +"Yes; I should have known his ancestors were dark-haired Swabians even +if he had not told me so. He is something of a scholar, I should say, +and he seems as true a gentleman as ever lived. What a shame it is that +his good South-German name should have been corrupted into Barndollar!" + +"I heard this Barndollar's praises sounded about three hours ago." + +"By whom?" + +"By the father of Miss Reinfelter, the mild-eyed blonde who had her +doubts about the ability of buffaloes to climb trees. He was here this +afternoon, and we became intimate in five minutes. He told me his +ancestors came from the neighborhood of Heidelberg; and when he heard I +was there last summer his expansive face was illumined with joy. He +answered my questions about the old German settlers intelligently +enough; but he said nobody could tell me as much about such matters as +'Melker Barndollar,' of whom he spoke with 'bated breath. He also +invited me to visit him." + +"Shall you accept his invitation?" + +"I have fully made up my mind to go; but that doesn't make it certain +that I shall." + +"Should you go if he possessed not a pretty daughter?" + +"Probably not." + +The next morning Brent rode over to the Reinfelter farm. The farm-house +interested him at the first view. It was a quaint old stone building, +with four gables and a slated roof, from the projecting windows in which +the mountain-line could be seen stretching away to the southwest and +growing more and more indistinct until their faint outlines were lost on +the far horizon. Ivy concealed more than half the gray stones from +sight, and fragrant pink roses were blooming against the southern wall, +while thick bushes of flowering jessamine grew on both sides of the +front door. + +The visitor received a welcome which made him feel as if he had reached +his own home. He had grown so weary of wandering aimlessly around the +world, and had become so disgusted with conventional forms and +ceremonies, that the peaceful home-like and simple, kindly manners of +these unsophisticated people gave him an agreeable sense of rest and +freedom from restraint. + +He allowed himself to be prevailed on to stay until late in the +afternoon; and before his visit ended he circumspectly inquired whether +they would receive him as a boarder. The promptness and pleasure with +which both the farmer and his wife agreed to his proposal showed him +that his fear of giving offence had been entirely groundless. + +When he returned to the inn, the professor informed him that on the +succeeding day he was going on to the next county. + +"I shall stay in this neighborhood some time longer," said Brent. + +"So? What is the especial attraction? The young woman over there where +the mountains stand?" + +"Perhaps; but my own motives are about the last things I should attempt +to analyze." + +"Well, I expect to come back this way in three months, and, if I find +you here and ready to depart, we can return to New York together." + +"Like nearly all other imaginable things, what you state is not +impossible." + +Helfenstein went on his way the next morning, and Brent began his +sojourn at the farm-house on the same day. + +The burdens of Rena Reinfelter's life immediately became very much more +numerous. The Englishman found an unfailing satisfaction in bewildering +and horrifying her, and tried systematically to find out whether there +was really any limit to her patience and gentleness. He induced her to +go with him to the mountains near at hand, and took every opportunity to +place himself in positions where he was in imminent danger of falling +some hundreds of feet and being dashed to pieces on the rocks. Her +dearly-beloved cat was suddenly lost to sight, and when it reappeared, +uttering meek appeals for sympathy and help, its personal adornments +were as striking as they were varied. He proved to her conclusively that +all cats are utterly incapable of affection, and that their characters +are vicious and treacherous to the last degree. His favorite method, +however, was to begin by asking her some trivial question and then +involve her in a net-work of apparent self-contradictions, which filled +her conscientious soul with anguish and dismay at her own +untruthfulness. Sometimes he felt a little ashamed of these amusements, +and determined to forego them; but the temptation was too great for his +powers of resistance, and he soon began transgressing again. + +One morning Rena received a visit from her most intimate friend, Elsa +Barndollar, who was only fifteen years old, but, having spent the +preceding season at a city boarding-school, considered herself a grown +woman with an unusually wide experience. Although passionately devoted +to Rena, she was as fond of teasing her as Brent himself. Yet as soon as +the latter began indulging himself with that diversion, she became +highly indignant, and scornfully betook herself to the garden. + +When Rena had followed her thither, she gave vent to her wrath without +restraint. + +"That's the most hateful man I ever saw!" she exclaimed. + +"Oh, no, Elsa!" said Rena deprecatingly. + +"Yes, he is. He's perfectly horrid! What does he mean by teasing you as +if you were a little white kitten, or a green and yellow parrot, or some +other ridiculous thing? I suppose he thinks country-people are all +idiots. I never _did_ see the use of Englishmen, anyhow." + +"Oh, he only does it for fun. He's always polite to father and mother, +and little Casper thinks he's the nicest man he ever saw." + +"Oh, yes! If he's good to your relations you don't care how he treats +you. It's a shame, and he ought to be told so, too." + +Rena tried to pacify her young friend, but the attempt was not +successful. The latter made her visit a very short one, and when she +reached home her anger and jealousy found expression in very vigorous +terms. + +Her brother visited the Reinfelters a short time afterward. His interest +in the Englishman was evidently very strong, but if he shared his +sister's feelings toward him they did not prevent his treating him with +perfect courtesy. + +"Helfenstein is right," thought Brent, as the young farmer rode away. +"He's as handsome a fellow as I ever saw. I wonder whether he's Sister +Rena's lover so bold." + +But although Melchior Barndollar was far superior to the Reinfelters in +culture and in knowledge of the world, he did not interest Brent as much +as they did. The positiveness of their beliefs was a special source of +wonder to him. From the father, who had no doubt about the existence of +ghosts, to the little boy, who firmly believed in the reality of +_Belsnickel_,--hides, horns, and all,--they were the most frankly +credulous people he had ever known. But the superstition and +anthropomorphism mingled with their faith did not make him think it +less enviable. He would have been glad to believe anything as firmly as +they did the traditions which had come down to them from their +ancestors, unchallenged by doubt and unchanged by time. + +One evening, after Rena had, as usual, sat beside her little brother's +bed until he was sound asleep, she joined her parents and Brent, who +were sitting in the garden behind the house. + +The full moon was high above the mountains, and the whole landscape was +almost as distinct as it had been before the sun went down. A +whippoorwill's notes, mellowed by distance, resounded from the farthest +part of the orchard, and a tinkling chorus arose from the leaves and +blades of grass, where the myriads of nocturnal musicians were +disporting themselves after the heat and glare of the day. But the +sounds made by these performers were so regular and monotonous that they +seemed merely a part of the calm summer night. + +Suddenly another sound came down from the lower part of the mountains. +It began with a deep, long-drawn, hollow cry, between a howl and a moan, +and then broke into a wild, piercing shriek. + +The farmer started to his feet, and stood gazing in the direction from +which the cry had come. + +"It's only a stray dog howling," said Brent. + +Reinfelter turned toward his wife, and the moonlight showed that his +face was white with terror. + +"_De warnoong!_" he said, in a low voice. "_D'r geishter-shray foon de +bairga!_" + +The woman covered her face with her hands, and began trembling and +sobbing. Rena put her arms around her mother's neck and tried to comfort +her, as if _she_ had been the mother instead of the child. + +The sound broke out again, and this time it was louder and more distinct +than before. As the melancholy echoes died away, Rena rose, and, taking +her mother's hand in hers, led her toward the house. + +When they had gone, Brent said, "What do you think that sound is?" + +"It's the warning still," said Reinfelter. "It's the warning of death." + +"What is it made by?" + +"A ghost. It goes up there in the mount'ins an' calls, an' the one it +calls is soon in the graveyard already. It's called the mother, or Rena, +or me, this night." + +"Maybe I was the one it meant." + +"No; it only calls the Reinfelters still. It's been so ever since the +Injun massacree, a long time ago." + +"Did that happen here?" + +"Yes. My great-grandfather an' his oldest son was up in the mount'ins, +and his wife was a-comin' back from there by herself once. Just as she +got where she could see her little children a-playin' in the yard, three +Injuns jumped out o' the woods that was nigh to the house then, an' run +into the yard an' killed the children right before her eyes. The men up +there heard her scream, an' they run down, an' found her a-layin' there +where she fell, an' they thought she was dead already. She come to +herself ag'in, but after that she just sort o' pined away, an' in less +than two months she died. It's her ghost that goes up there an' calls us +still." + +"Did you ever hear the call before?" + +"No; I never heard it myself. But the night my little girl died, nine +years ago, she rose up in bed once, an' she says, 'Who is that a-cryin' +up there in the mount'ins?' We couldn't hear nothin' still, but we knew +what _she_ had heard, an' after that we didn't have no more hope." + +Brent did not think of the banshee as a positive reality, but he would +not have denied that its existence was possible, and he felt that it +would be useless for him to try to shake the farmer's faith in the +tradition which had such a strong hold on his mind. + +After a brief silence, he said he would take a short walk before going +to bed. Leaving the garden, he strolled toward the mountains, which rose +like a vast wall above the foot-hills at their base. + +As he drew near the rising ground which marked the verge of the valley, +the strange sound once more fell on his ear, and he walked in the +direction from which it came. Passing through a grove of chestnut-trees, +he reached an elevated open space, where the moonlight shone on the +almost level surface of large gray rocks. Near the middle of this clear +space he saw a black, shaggy object moving slowly about, with its +lowered head turned away from him. He stepped forward to get a closer +view of this creature, and as he did so it turned its head and looked at +him. The next instant it bounded away and disappeared among the nearest +trees. + +"Just as I thought," said Brent to himself. "It _was_ a dog, and a +villanous-looking cur, too. Exactly the sort of brute to howl and shriek +at the moon on a night like this." + +But, as he sauntered back to the house, various doubts entered his mind. +He reflected that he had seen the animal only for an instant, by +moonlight and at some distance, and that he could not be sure it was +really a dog. Neither could he be confident it had uttered the +mysterious cry, for while it was within his sight it had made no sound +of any kind. "Perhaps it went up there for the same reason I did,--to +find out what was going on," he thought. + +As usual, he ended by informing himself that he was under no +responsibility to settle the question, and that, as far as he was +concerned, it would probably remain unsettled. + +The next morning he found the farmer and his wife very much depressed, +but he had no hope of being able to convince them that they had heard +nothing supernatural, and thought it best to avoid the subject. He +passed the day in calling on some of the neighbors who had asked him to +visit them, and returned to the farm-house just before nightfall. + +He found Rena standing at the door, and, while talking to her, he +mentioned his moonlight walk. + +"I saw what I took to be a stray dog up there," he said. "Perhaps it +made the sound we heard." + +"Was it a black dog, with rough, curly hair?" asked Rena. + +"I think it was; but I couldn't see it very well. Do you know whose it +is?" + +"No; but this morning when I came out of the dairy a dog that looked +like that was standing in the path, a little way off, and I was thinking +it might have been the same one." + +As she looked away again, Brent said, "I didn't tell your father and +mother about the dog I saw, because I thought it would be well for them +to forget the whole matter as soon as possible." + +"Thank you," said Rena, turning her face and looking at him gratefully. + +He had lost the desire to tease her, and treated her as he had never +done before. Thinking of this, not long afterward, he wondered whether a +presentiment of what was coming had caused the change, or whether it +merely arose from a consciousness of the gloom which had already settled +on the household. + +During his call on the Barndollars that morning, he had partly overcome +Elsa's unfavorable impression of him by treating her, to some extent, +"like a grown-up woman" and showing by his manner that he was not +unconscious of the handsome young brunette's personal attractions. On +her next visit, a little more than two weeks later, she noticed that he +had entirely given up the objectionable teasings; and this removed the +last obstacle in the way of her considering him extremely "nice." She +had mentally admitted, even at the first view, that he possessed the +degree of good looks and stylishness rigorously exacted from the male +sex by the canons of boarding school taste, and she now candidly +acknowledged to herself that his being an Englishman was, strictly +speaking, not his own fault. + +When she was ready to go, she made her adieux with an agreeable sense of +having been both entertaining and instructive. She forgot to take leave +of her friend the aged and decrepit mastiff, which was sitting just +inside the hall; but he called attention to his presence by three raps +of his tail on the floor. Elsa laughed, and went through the form of +shaking his huge paw,--an attention which he acknowledged by a prolonged +caudal tattoo. + +"Oh, Rena!" said Elsa, stopping on the topmost step, "I forgot to tell +you what happened to our Scotch shepherd-dog, Macbeth. You know Melker +and I made friends with him the first day, but we were the only ones +he'd be intimate with. Well, about two weeks ago an ugly old black dog +came prowling around the house, and when Mac went up to it it bit him +and then ran away to the mountains. Soon after that, we heard that a +black dog with the hydrophobia had been killed up there, and Derrick and +Jake said they believed it was the same one. Melker was in Philadelphia, +and before he came home Mac went mad. Derrick shot at him out of the +barn, and scared him so much that he ran off down the road, and we +haven't heard anything about him since." + +Rena was bending over one of the jessamine-bushes, and seemed to be +absorbed in removing some dead leaves. + +"Did your dog come this way, Elsa?" asked Mrs. Reinfelter nervously. + +"No, indeed," replied Elsa. "He ran up the road to the village. Good-by, +Kuno. I won't forget you again." + +Brent followed her down the steps to assist her in mounting, but she +sprang into the saddle without waiting for his help, and rode away at a +brisk canter. + +The farmer and his wife conferred together anxiously about the two mad +dogs, while their little son stood near them, listening intently to all +they said. Unnoticed by them, Rena walked across the yard and passed +around the corner of the house in the direction of the garden. + +Something in her manner caught Brent's attention, and in a little while +he followed her. He found her sitting in the garden; and, though she +tried to keep her face turned away from him, its death like pallor did +not escape his sight. He sat down at her side and asked her to tell him +what had happened. The sympathy in his voice went straight to her heart +and won her whole confidence. + +"The warning was for me," she answered, "I'm not afraid to die; but +father and mother and my little brother--" + +She did not sob or make any sound, but great tears welled from her eyes, +and she was unable to go on. + +When she could speak again, she told him that on the day after the +warning, when she found a black, shaggy-haired dog standing near the +dairy door, she put out her hand, intending to stroke its head, but it +caught her hand with its teeth, and left a wound from which the blood +fell in large drops. The dog ran away in the direction of the Barndollar +farm, and she bound up her hand and managed to keep the wound from being +noticed while it was healing, for she was anxious to avoid increasing +the anxiety her parents already felt. Only a slight scar now remained; +but Elsa's account of the mad dogs left no doubt in her mind that she +was in imminent danger of a frightful death. + +Brent had once witnessed a sight which rose before his eyes many times +afterward and would not be blotted from his memory. It all came back to +him now once more,--the agonized, horribly glaring eyes, the clinched +hands and quivering throat, and the convulsive sobbing and gasping which +would not cease tearing the wasted frame until death should bring the +only possible help. It made him sick at heart to think that the gentle +unselfish girl who was even then forgetting herself in her care for +others would be seized by those paroxysms of frightful madness. + +He knew that many people who are bitten by mad dogs escape hydrophobia +entirely, but he could not doubt that when the teeth have entered the +bare flesh, and strong remedies are not instantly applied, there is very +little ground for hope. + +"Was your hand entirely uncovered?" he asked. + +"Yes; I never wear gloves." + +With a desperate impulse to do something, he said, "I'll go to +Philadelphia and bring a physician. We can be here to-morrow." + +"I'm afraid it's too late for that now," said Rena. "It would only +frighten father and mother. I want to keep them from knowing it as long +as I can." + +"I won't bring anybody back with me if you are unwilling; but I must go +and find out what I can do to help you." + +"Do you think anything can be done to keep me from hurting anybody +else?" + +"I'm sure of that. I'll find out the best way to do it." + +"Oh, thank you. You're so good to me!" + +The earnestness of her gratitude made him think with sorrow and shame of +the time when his chief pleasure had been to make her unhappy. He could +hardly believe he had really been as selfish and heartless as he +appeared in the picture rising before him now out of the unchangeable +past. His dormant human interest was awakening, and his soul was +beginning to resist the tyranny of his mind. + +He was so impatient to begin his journey that he proposed setting off +immediately and riding to the nearest railroad-station. But Rena was +afraid this would alarm her parents: so he agreed to wait until the next +morning and take the stage in the village. + +That night Rena stayed longer than usual in the room with her little +brother after he had sunk into peaceful slumber in the midst of his +small confidences and grave interrogations. + +Soon after she came down, her mother said, "Rena, sing us one of the +nice German songs Mr. Brent learned you once. Sing the one about the +lady that set up on the high rock an' combed her hair with a golden +comb. What did they call her still? 'De Lower Liar'?" + +As Rena turned toward Brent and the lamplight fell on her face, he was +sure that if she tried to sing her voice would tell what she was trying +to keep unknown. + +"I don't think 'Die Lorelei' is a very lively song, Mrs. Reinfelter," +said he. "Maybe I can find some prettier ones in Philadelphia to-morrow, +if I have time. I must be sure to bring Casper something. What do you +think he would like best?" + +This question introduced a topic which banished all others; and when +Brent looked at Rena again he saw he had come to the rescue in good +time. He was glad to think he could at least do this, and he determined +to be on the watch for such opportunities. + +The result of his consultations the next day gave him very little ground +for hope. All he could depend on doing was to save Rena from suffering +and prevent what she feared most by making her insensible as soon as the +madness showed signs of taking an active form. + +When he had gotten what was needed for this purpose and had been fully +advised as to his course of action, he went back with a heavy heart to +the farm among the mountains. + +At the first opportunity he repeated to Rena all he had learned in the +city, and told her what he proposed doing. The prospect that was so +dispiriting to him removed her greatest care; but her eager thanks +humiliated him as he felt his utter helplessness in the hands of fate. A +sudden fear that she might hurt him before he could make her unconscious +brought back her anxiety; but he reassured her by promising to be +constantly on his guard and take every possible means to insure his own +safety. + +Watching her closely as the days went by, he saw the full extent of her +calm and steadfast courage. She made no effort to hide from him her +grief at the prospect of separation from those she loved so dearly; but +of anguish or terror on her own account there was never any sign. He did +not doubt that this came from her perfect faith and trust in a higher +power, and, though he could not share her feeling, it comforted him to +know that she had such a strong support as she drew near to death. + +Near the close of the fifth day after his return he and Rena were +standing together at the gate in front of the house. Deep shadows were +advancing up the sides of the mountains, but their summits were still +bright with the evening glow. Both of them watched the narrowing line +of light without speaking. Their minds were full of the same thoughts, +and there was a sympathetic communion between them which did not need to +be expressed in words. + +Hearing footsteps on the road, they looked around, and saw Melchior +Barndollar coming toward them. A large and very handsome dog of the +Scotch shepherd breed was running along before him, and when he stopped +at the gate it came back and stood near him, with its intelligent brown +eyes fixed on his face. + +"You have got another collie, I see," said Brent. + +"No; this is the only one I've ever owned," replied Barndollar. + +He had been surprised at the Englishman's remark, and he was entirely +unable to account for the effect of his answer on both the others. They +turned quickly toward each other with a look of eager interest, mingled +with something else which he could not understand. + +"I thought your collie went mad," said Brent. + +"Oh, you heard that report, then?" + +"Yes. The last time your sister was here she mentioned it. Was there +nothing in it?" + +"It wasn't even founded on an apparent fact," said the young farmer, +smiling and looking down at the dog, which immediately began wagging its +tail so forcibly that at least one-third of its body partook of the +motion. "The men on my mother's farm have regaled themselves so often +with stories about mad dogs that they have become their pet horror. When +I came home I found that their fire from behind intrenchments had driven +poor Mac off the place; though if he had been better acquainted with +their marksmanship he would probably have gone to sleep while they were +shooting at him. I went out to hunt for him, and found him at a house +near the village, as free from hydrophobia as I am. To make sure, I +traced the dog that bit him back to its owner's hut in the mountains, +and found it there, sneaking around the lot and looking as vicious and +mean-spirited as ever. Its master said the dog that was shot came from +the other side of the mountains, and was worth a dozen such curs as +his." + +Rena stepped into the road and began stroking the dog's head and neck. +As she did so, her father came out of the house, and, seeing Barndollar +at the gate, he came down to speak to him. + +While the two farmers were talking, Brent walked away to a grove of oaks +near the road and a short distance below the gate. Standing among the +trees as the twilight came on, he thought over the episode which had +just come to a close, and wondered at its effect on him. Instead of +pondering over the uncertainties of the case until it lost all reality +to him, he had been too much concerned to think of probabilities at all. +Sensibility had overcome his agnosticism, and he had forgotten that it +was possible to doubt. He knew he had not acted philosophically; but he +felt that philosophy, compared with sympathy and self-forgetfulness, is +of very slight account. + + * * * * * + +Professor Helfenstein returned to the little Pennsylvania village at the +time he had indicated, which was about the middle of October. The +innkeeper told him his friend had not yet left the farm-house, and the +next morning he set out on foot to visit him there. + +The mountain-woods, all arrayed in their autumn foliage, were glowing +with rich, warm color. Silvery cloud-banks heightened the deep blue of +the sky, and their slowly-floating shadows intensified the brightness of +the sunlight. "_Ueberall Sonnenschein!_" said the nature-loving German. +"_Ach, 's ist ein wunderschoenes Land!_" + +Brent saw him enter the yard, and came to the door to meet him. The +family had dispersed soon after breakfast, and, as there was no one in +the house for him to see, Helfenstein declined going in, but stood on +the door-step, describing his journeyings in the West. + +"Well," said he at last, "are you ready to start with me for New York +to-morrow morning, and for Liverpool next Monday?" + +"My starting for any place out of sight of these mountains," answered +Brent, "depends chiefly on the views of a certain young woman. At +present the indications are that no such pilgrimage will ever begin." + +"_Alle Wetter!_ Are you married?" + +"No; but I expect to be in two weeks." + +"Is it the maiden who dwells in this house?" + +"The very same." + +For a few moments the professor gazed in silence at the prospective +bride-groom. Besides feeling a personal interest in the case, he +considered it a good subject for psychic investigation. + +"My good friend," he said, with judicial calmness, "why do you wish to +espouse Miss Reinfelter?" + +Brent knew this question was not meant to be offensive, but was +propounded in a spirit of critical analysis. He was about to answer it +with a pretence of deep gravity, when Casper came around the corner of +the house and asked him where "Sister Rena" was. + +"She has gone to the village," replied Brent. + +As the boy turned away, his disappointment was so evident that Brent +said, "Do you want her to do anything for you, Casper?" + +"No, sir," said Casper dejectedly. "I just _want_ her." + +Brent smiled, and turned to the professor again. + +"I couldn't find a better answer to your question if I thought for a +week," he said. "I just _want_ her." + + W. W. CRANE. + + + + +MUSTER-DAY IN NEW ENGLAND. + + +Arms and the men we sing,--not those panoplied and helmeted according to +Virgil, nor those of our own day, armed with repeating rifles and +drum-majored into popular favor, but rather the heroes of the flint-lock +and the priming-wire in the New England of two or three generations ago, +the sturdy train-bands that have left scarce one John Gilpin to tell the +tale of their valor. + +"Train-bands are the trustiest and most proper strength of a free +people," wrote Milton, and the colonists of Massachusetts Bay were of a +like opinion, from Miles Standish down to the humbler men of prowess. By +the law of 1666, all males in the colony were required to attend +"military exercises and service." Companies were exercised six days +yearly, prayer being offered by the captain at the beginning and at the +end of every "training." A regimental training was ordered once in three +years. Every company of foot was composed two-thirds of "musketeers" and +one-third of "pikemen," the pike of Connecticut being two feet shorter +than the rod-pike of England. Some of the lighter muskets were fired +with a simple match, but the greater number were supported by "rests," +forked at the top and stuck into the ground. They were fired by +"match-locks," the "cock" being that part which held the burning match +aloft before it was applied to the powder in the pan. Hence "to go off +half cocked" originally meant that the burning fuse dropped into the +powder pan before it was wanted. Single charges of powder were carried +by the musketeers in wooden, tin, or copper boxes, and twelve of these +boxes, fitted to a belt and slung over the left shoulder, made the +"bandolier," which jingled like a band of sleigh-bells if the boxes were +metallic. The belt also secured the "primer with priming-powder," the +"bullet-bag," the "priming-wire," and the "match-cord." The soldier +being thus a slave to his weapon, we are not surprised to note that his +manual of arms was the following, from Elton's "Postures of the Musket:" + + Stand to your arms. + Take up your bandoliers. + Put on your bandoliers. + Take up your match. + Take up your rest. + Put the string of your rest about + your left wrist. + Take up your musket. + Rest your musket. + Poise your musket. + Shoulder your musket. + Unshoulder your musket and poise. + Join your rest to the outside of your musket. + Open your pan. + Clear your pan. + Prime your pan. + Shut your pan. + Cast off your loose corns. + Blow off your loose corns, and bring + about your musket to the left side. + Trail your rest. + Balance your musket in your left hand. + Find out your charge. + Open your charge. + Charge with powder. + Draw forth your scouring-stick. + Turn and shorten him to an inch. + Charge with bullet. + Put your scouring-stick into your musket. + Ram home your charge. + Withdraw your scouring-stick. + Turn and shorten him to a handful. + Return your scouring-stick. + Bring forward your musket and rest. + Poise your musket and recover your rest. + Join your rest to the outside of your musket. + Draw forth your match. + Blow your coal. + Cock your match. + Guard your pan. + Blow the ashes from your coal. + Open your pan. + Present upon your rest. + Give fire breast-high. + Dismount your musket, joining the rest to the outside of your musket. + Uncock and return your match. + Clear your pan. + Poise your musket. + Rest your musket. + Take your musket off the rest and set + the butt end to the ground. + Lay down your musket. + Lay down your match. + Take your rest into your right hand, + clearing the string from your left wrist. + Lay down your rest. + Take off your bandoliers. + Lay down your bandoliers. + Here endeth the postures of the musket. + +The "Postures of the Pike" gave these orders: "Handle, raise, charge, +order, advance, shoulder, port, comport, check, trail, and lay +down,"--the words "your pikes" being given with every order. + +Elton's "Instructions to a Company of Horsemen" were as follows: + + Horse,--_i.e._, mount your horse. + Uncap your pistol-case. + Draw your pistol. + Order your pistol. + Span your pistol. + Prime your pistol. + Shut your pan. + Cast your pistol. + Gage your flasque. + Lode your pistol. + Draw your rammer. + Lode with bullet and ram home. + Return your rammer. + Pull down the cock. + Recover your pistol. + Present and give fire. + Return your pistol. + +Our fathers might have gone on in this lumbering way for many years if +they had seen nothing worth imitating in the red men. The Indians of +King Philip's War brought out their "snap-hances," or flint-locks, and +the colonists were not slow to see the improvement. Experimentally at +first, and afterward by a law of Massachusetts, the old pikes and heavy +match-lock rifles were replaced with lighter muskets bearing the flint. +The soldier ceased to be a slave to his weapon. Tactics were +revolutionized; and the newly-developed military spirit was met by "The +Complete Soldier," compiled from Elton, Bariff, and other authorities, +and published by Nicholas Boone, of Boston, in 1701. This, the first +military book in the British colonies, directed the soldiers to appear +"with their hair, or periwigs, tied up in bags, and their hats briskly +cocked." We hear also for the first time of the "powder-horn" and the +"cartouch-box." The "bagnets" that are mentioned were of little use +against the Indians, and they were scarcely known in America until the +wars with France. But with the appearance of the bayonet came also the +revival of the fife, which had been discarded in England in the time of +Shakespeare. The military experiences gained in the French wars were of +immense benefit when the Continentals and the volunteers formed +themselves in line for the American Revolution. And yet the _esprit de +corps_ was contemptible; for every movement contemplated and every order +given by a superior officer had to be discussed, approved, or +disapproved by the inferior officers and by the humblest privates. It +was years before the army ceased to be a great debating-society with a +sharp rivalry as to which regiment should have the handsomest silk +banner. But Steuben--the great drill-master--brought order out of the +turmoil with his "Regulations for the Discipline of the Troops of the +United States," although the evolutions in the field did not go much +beyond the old-time marching that clings to the Hartford Phalanx of +to-day. An Englishman who lived in Massachusetts during the Revolution +had this to say: "The females are fond of dress and love to rule. The +men are fond of the military art. But in Connecticut the men are less +so, while the women stay at home and spin." + +The Revolution being over, the several States of the new republic +enacted military laws of their own. In New York every able-bodied male +between eighteen and forty-five was required to meet with his company +four times in each year "for training and discipline,"--once by brigade, +once by regiment, and twice by company,--for such length of time as the +governor might direct. Similar laws were in force in the New-England +States, and upon them was based the United States law of 1792 which +sought to establish a uniform militia throughout the country. The +attempt was a failure, because the President is commander-in-chief of +the militia only when it is in the actual service of the United States. +The several States, therefore, kept up their ununiformed militia until +it became a laughing-stock,--an army with broom-sticks, to evade serving +in which but fifty cents a year was required,--and then the present +uniformed militia arose from the ruins. Our present inquiry concerns the +militia of New England during the fifty years from 1790 to 1840. In +those days the "military duty" consisted of two "company trainings" of +half a day each in May and October, and one "general training" or +"regimental muster" of one day in October. While no uniforms were +required at the trainings, except to distinguish the officers, yet there +were usually enough public-spirited people in every town to furnish +uniforms to the crack company. The other company, the tatterdemalions of +the town, was called "the flood-wood." The regiment consisted of one +company each of artillery, grenadiers, light infantry, and riflemen from +adjoining towns,--the cavalry being recruited wherever a farm-house +could be found which was able to stand the shock of war. Then came the +flood-wood companies, outnumbering the uniformed companies almost two to +one. + +The cavalry--it was before the days of Hackett and Poinsett and +McClellan saddles and Solingen sabres--appeared to treasure up the +memory of "Light-Horse Harry Lee" and Major Winston of the Legionary +Cavalry that helped Mad Anthony Wayne against the Indians of the West. +They had not heard of the valor of the elder Hampton or the daring rides +of Major Davies, of Kentucky. "Tone's Tactics" was unknown to them. And +yet they were admired in their black suits faced and corded with red +(the militia repudiated the colors of the regular army), and they were a +terror with their cutlasses and holsters for the brace of huge +horse-pistols that they were required to carry. The uniform of the +artillery and grenadiers differed little from that of the cavalry. The +latter were topped off with helmets of red leather. Upon the hats of the +flood-wood, tin or sheet-iron plates showed the name of the +company,--the L. I. standing for "Light Infantry,"--just as you know the +porter of your hotel by his badge. The riflemen wore gray spencers and +gray pantaloons. Their hats were stiff black beavers, for the comfort of +a soft felt hat had not yet been discovered. Most gorgeous of all were +the men of the infantry, in their white pantaloons and blue coats, the +latter covered by cross-belts of white, to which priming-wires, brushes, +and extra flints were chained. A cap of black leather, sprung outward at +the top, carried a black feather tipped with red. The musicians, when +there were any, followed the uniform of the company which they attended, +with some slight differences, like turned-over plates and tasselled +ends, to show that they were non-combatants. Altogether, as one looked +at the "fuss and feathers," the broad lapels, and the bob-tailed coats, +he might well recall Thoreau's description of the manner in which the +salt cod are spread out on the fish-flakes to dry: "They were everywhere +lying on their backs, their collar-bones standing out like the lapels of +a man-o'-war-man's jacket.... If you should wrap a large salt fish +around a small boy, he would have a coat of such fashion as I have seen +many a one wear at muster." Or, if we wish to go back still further, we +might exclaim, with Falstaff, "You would think that I had a hundred and +fifty tattered prodigals, lately come from swine-keeping, from eating +draff and husks.... No eye hath seen such scarecrows." + +We are at the training "in the fall of the year,"--a far more important +occasion than that in the spring, because the annual "muster" is only a +week or ten days ahead. It is a private show. The uniformed infantry and +the flood-wood have met at Walton Centre, but they, and all the +spectators too, are from "our town," with its various outlying +settlements. Let the other towns boast, let Stormont show her +grenadiers, Leicester her riflemen, and Acton her artillery, but when +"muster-day" comes look out for Walton and her infantry. The law +requires every soldier to have a musket or rifle,--flint-lock of +course,--a bayonet, a priming-wire and brush, a knapsack, a +cartridge-box, and two spare flints. The lack of any one of these may +lead to a fine. The regular order of the manual is, open pan, tear +cartridge, prime, shut pan, ram down cartridge, ready, aim, fire. But +cartridges are not often to be had, and flasks must be used, with a +pause in the manual to allow the measuring of a charge. The lack of +cartridges leads also to the carrying of powder in bulk in the +pantaloons pocket, so that the soldier may move quickly when the order +is given to "load and fire as fast as possible." Still more quick in his +movements will the soldier be when, led on by the excitement of the +hour, he becomes careless of his pocket-magazine and allows it to +explode, with a great wreckage of hair, whiskers, and eyebrows, though +no one was ever known to lose his life thereby. + +But the "evolutions" of the fall training-day make up its greatest +worth. It is not enough that squads of "our company" advance, fire, and +fall back, the drummer drumming his loudest all the while. It is mere +boy's play to march in single and double files or in platoons. We are to +meet the companies from the other towns at the muster, and they must be +forced to admit our superiority in spite of themselves, or else our town +will not come out ahead. Now, if there is any one manoeuvre on which +the Walton infantry prides itself, the "lock-step and sit-down" is that +one. The company is marched about in single file until a circle is +formed, care being taken that the captain shall be in the inside and the +musicians on the outside. Gradually drawing toward the centre, the +circle contracts to slow music, until the whole company is in lock-step, +like a gang of convicts. At the word of command, each man seats himself +in the lap of the man behind him, and the whole company is in the +attitude of frogs as they are ready to leap. The captain, raised aloft +in the middle by some convenient mackerel-keg, draws his sword, and the +tableau lasts while the music sounds the "three cheers." + +Another "evolution," such as Darwin never dreamed of, is begun by facing +the company to the front in a single rank. The left hand of each man +resting on his next neighbor's right shoulder, space is taken until all +the men are an arm's length apart. At a given signal they all face to +the right. The captain, "with drawn sword," followed by the music, the +drum beating vigorously, runs at double-quick time in and out of the +spaces, like a very undignified performance of the Virginia Reel. As +each man is passed, he joins the rapidly-increasing file, until the +whole line expends its snake-like activity and marches off in "common +time" on a straight course, like this: + +[Illustration] + +Both of these "evolutions" are calculated to inspire the enemy with +terror, but the latter especially so. On beholding it, the enemy cannot +help giving applause, and in applauding he must necessarily drop his +arms. The Walton Light Infantry, equal to any emergency, may now show +their superior discipline by capturing the enemy before he can recover +from his surprise and admiration. Even the very boys on a training-day +seek to terrorize the enemy with broom-sticks and tin pans, until they +become a nuisance to the older folk and are sent off to some field to +play base-ball after the old method, the "Massachusetts game," which +allows the "plunking" of a batter when he is not on his base. But the +boys will claim their share of the extra cards of gingerbread that have +been laid in at the stores, and they will be on hand to see the +half-day's sport of training-day end before early tea-time with the +flashing of powder and the departure of the "sojers" for their homes. + +A very different affair is the "muster-day" of the early fall, before +the cold days and nights have come to stay. The several adjoining towns, +that furnish each its own company or its quota of cavalry, take care of +the "regiment," by rotation, at such a time as this. No matter how +centrally located the town may be, the grenadiers must come a long way +over the hills from Stormont, and the riflemen must leave Acton soon +after midnight in order to obey the signal of the seven-o'clock gun, +which demands the presence of every company on the "parade-ground:" it +goes by the name of "the common" every other day in the year. The night +marches or rides are orderly, the more so in anticipation of what is to +follow. The sun rises upon a gala-day for the men and youth: the boys +had their time at the training. Now the crowd is greater, and there is +no room for the boys, except those who live in the town where the muster +is held. The field, at a respectful distance from the regimental +line, is covered with auctioneers' stands, peddlers' wagons, +refreshment-booths of rough boards, and planked platforms for dancing to +the music of the violin. It is the picture of a college town on +"commencement-day," magnified to ten times the proportions. As you +stand,--no seats are allowed,--you can partake of sweet cider, lemonade, +apples, gingerbread, and pies and buns of all kinds. If you call for it, +you can have New-England rum, or its more popular substitute, +"black-strap," one-half rum and the other half molasses. Awaiting the +inspection, soldiers on leave of absence mingle with the commoners, +partake of the refreshments, including the black-strap, and nod their +plumes or rattle their swords while they dance the "double shuffle" or +"cut a double pigeon-wing" on the platforms, to the great wonder of the +crowd. + +When the regiment gathers itself together it is a sight to behold. There +are perhaps five hundred men, all told, in two ranks. A part of them +rejoice in gayly-colored uniforms, but the majority are "the +flood-wood," dressed in sheep's gray and blue jeans and armed with +rifles, muskets, and fowling-pieces of every pattern. This motley band +"toe the mark,"--a small trench that has been cut in the turf to save +their reputation for alignment. Then they break into platoons, and are +inspected, man by man, by the adjutant and his aides. The inspection +being over about eleven o'clock, the colonel appears, all glorious in +brass buttons, epaulets as large as tin plates, and a cocked hat of +great proportions. Once more the regiment forms in double ranks, with +presented arms. The colonel and his "staff" ride slowly down the line, +turn back, and take their stand for review. The music, just as it came +from every town contributing to the regiment, has been "pooled" and +placed in the charge of a leader. It is a strange medley of snare-, +kettle-, and bass drums, of fifes, clarionets, and piccolos, with an +occasional "Kent bugle"--the predecessor of the cornet--or some other +instrument of brass. It is poor music at the best, and it cannot go far +beyond marking time for the marching. But is it not better than the +simple drum and fife of a common training-day? The "full brass band," we +must recollect, is too expensive a luxury except for the most +extraordinary occasions, and even then we run the risk of hearing +"Highland Mary" repeated all day long, so scant is the _repertoire_. The +regiment, headed by the cavalry and the music, passes the colonel and +his staff. The music wheels out of the line, gives "three cheers," and +remains at the colonel's side till the regiment has returned to its +place. A hollow square is formed, in imitation of the great Napoleon at +Waterloo, and the colonel addresses his "brother-officers and +fellow-soldiers" in a few fitting words, and retires from the field. + +And now comes dinner,--a most important feature of muster-day. No one +has had a bite since his breakfast at home by candle-light,--unless he +has patronized the refreshment-booths. Even then he will not allow his +appetite for the noonday meal to become impaired. By previous +arrangement, each company dines by itself, or it joins forces with some +friendly company and hires the services of a caterer. The hotel of the +village cannot begin to accommodate the public, whether martial or +civilian, and temporary sheds cover long lines of tables on which the +feast is spread. It is a jolly company, and the scrambling for the +viands and the vintages, if there are any, is done in a good-natured +way. As the repast draws to a close and dessert is in order, the caterer +appears at the end of one of the tables in shirt-sleeves that are more +than wet with perspiration. Under his arm he holds a pile of plateless +pies, just as the newsboy on the train secures a pile of magazines. The +caterer marches down the length of the table with the half-inquiring, +half-defiant announcement, "Pies, gentlemen! pies, gentlemen!" At every +step he reaches for a pie, gives it a dexterous twirl between his thumb +and finger, and sends it spinning to the recipient with a skill and +accuracy of aim which would have done credit to the disk-thrower of the +ancient Romans. + +The "noon gun," fired after dinner, calls the regiment back to the +parade-ground. The real work of the day is over; and now come +recreation and amusement. The remarkable "evolutions" of the several +companies are shown, each town striving to outdo the others. Of course +the Walton Light Infantry will excel all the rest; but it may be no easy +matter to make every one think as we do. The newest evolution--that of +the snake on training-day--certainly "brings down the house," even if it +fails to carry an admission of its superiority. When this friendly +rivalry is over, the sham fight proceeds. A rough structure of boards +and boughs has been prepared to represent a fort, and one of the +companies is imprisoned therein, with little air or light, and with no +means of defence except to discharge their guns upward. The advancing +regiment fires by platoons, which wheel outward and retire to the rear +to load. The artillery fires blank charges from a neighboring hill. The +sweltering soldiers within the fort are only too glad to capitulate and +let some other company take their place; the new company, in turn, to +capitulate and march out with the honors of war. Meanwhile, the +cavalry--whose horses are more used to the plough than to the din of +battle--has retired to a distance, and indulges in a sham fight on its +own account. And yet, in spite of all this preparation and in spite of +the pains that have been taken to show the fancy movements of the +soldiers, you will seldom see a company that is really well drilled in +the most simple movements; for drill-masters are unknown. + +The sham fight goes on till toward sunset, when the regiment is +dismissed at the signal of the evening gun. And now comes the hurry to +reach home. Such reckless driving, such wild racing over the hills and +along the rough roads and ledges, and such a desire to "take off +somebody's wheel," you never saw, unless you have been to a muster-day +before. This is a part of the fun; and if you do not take it as the +correct thing, and enjoy it too, you might as well have stayed away from +the muster altogether. + + FREDERIC G. MATHER. + + + + +THE STORY OF A STORY. + + +I. + +THE HEROINE. + +A horse-car, for all it is so common a sight, is not without its +picturesque side. To stand on a long bridge at night, while the lights +twinkle in the perspective, and watch one of these animated servants, +with its colored globular eye, come scrambling toward you, is to see a +clumsy, good-natured Caliban of this mechanical age. One of these days, +when the horse-car is superseded by some electric skipping wicker-basket +or what not, the Austin Dobson of the time will doubtless expend his +light sympathy of verse on the pathetic old abandoned conveyance. + +Such picturesqueness, however, is rather for one who seeks, than a view +which thrusts itself upon the merely casual observer. At any rate, +another Austin,--Austin Buckingham,--who was engaged one winter evening +at the end of a long bridge in idealizing horse-cars, hit upon this way +of looking at the one he was waiting for, out of sheer desperation of +intellect. He was a young _litterateur_ who was out of work. He was not, +like other workmen in similar straits, going from one shop to another +looking for a job. Not at all. He recognized the situation. He had only +to write a clever story and he could quickly dispose of it. He had +written a good many stories in his short day. Now he wished to write +another. The pity of it was that he had no story to tell,--absolutely +nothing. He had been through his note-books, but they gave him no help; +he had kept his ears open for some suggestive little incident, but the +whole world seemed suddenly given over to the dreariest commonplace. He +had walked out this evening, slowly revolving in his mind the various +odds and ends which came upon demand of his rag-picking memory, and yet +nothing of value had turned up. He was tired, and determined to take a +horse-car for the rest of the way. + +It was while he stood watching for the one which took him nearest to his +door, that he made the slight reflection with which this story opens. +"Could I make a horse-car the hero of my story?" he asked himself, with +a petulant tone, as he thought how dismally dull he was. The jingling +car came up, and he jumped upon the rear platform, wedged his way +through the men and boys who crowded the steps and platform, and so +pushed into the interior. He found half a dozen men in various attitudes +of neglect, but all hanging abjectly by the loops which a considerate +company had provided for its patrons. For his part, he preferred to +brace himself against the forward door, which gave him a position where +he could watch his fellow-prisoners. + +His eye fell at once on a girl for whom he always looked. He did not +know her name, but, as the saying goes, he knew her face very well. She +lived on the same street where he had his lodging, so that when they met +in a horse-car they always got out together. From the regularity with +which she came out in a certain car, Buckingham had sagely concluded +that she was one of the multitude of girls who earned their living, for +whom as a class he had great respect, though he did not happen to know +any single member. He liked to look at her. She was shy and discreet in +bearing; she usually entertained herself with a book, which permitted +him larger liberty of eye; and she dressed with a neatness which had an +individuality: she evidently expressed herself in her clothes. That is +not all. She was undeniably pretty. + +Now, our young friend had seen her in his horse-car a great many times, +but never under the conditions which existed at this time. People rarely +exclaim to themselves except in novels, but Buckingham did deliberately +shout to himself, "Why, this--this is my heroine! I have only to find a +hero and a plot. I know this girl very well. I am sure I can make a +story about her. Give me a hero, give me a plot, and there is my story!" + + +II. + +MISS MARTINDALE. + +When the horse-car stopped at the foot of Grove Street, Austin +Buckingham and the prospective heroine of his story got out so nearly at +the same time that when they reached the sidewalk they were side by +side. Beneath the gas-light stood a tallish man who was looking up to +read the name of the street upon the lamp. The light thus fell on his +face and brought it into distinctness; especially it disclosed a scar +upon his cheek. He caught sight now of these two people, and at once +addressed Buckingham: + +"Can you tell me whereabouts Mr. Martindale lives?" + +Buckingham hesitated, not because he knew and did not wish to tell, but +because he did not know, but wished to, if possible, out of courtesy. He +was trying to remember. The answer, however, came a moment after from +the girl, who had checked her walk upon hearing the name. + +"I am going directly there," she said, and the two walked off together, +the young man lifting his broad-brimmed felt hat in acknowledgment of +her civility. He lifted it by seizing the crown in a bunch. It is +difficult to lift a soft hat gracefully. Buckingham followed the pair, +and when he had reached his own door-way he continued to follow them +with his eyes until they were lost at a bend in the street. Then he +entered the house where he lodged, and sat down in his study. He was +greatly pleased with this little turn in affairs. + +"That is one step further in my story," he said to himself, for there +was no one else to say it to. "So she is Miss Martindale, and this young +man with a scar has come to see her father on business. He will stay to +tea. The father will--what will the father do or say? I must look out +the name in the directory, so as to get some solid basis of fact about +the father,--something to avoid, of course, when I arrange him in the +story. If he is a stone-cutter I must make him a house- and +sign-painter. I must disguise him so that his most intimate friend will +not detect him." + +Austin Buckingham was in the most agreeable humor as he proceeded to +prepare his solitary tea, for he was a bachelor and yet he detested +restaurants and boarding-houses. His dinner he needed to buy, and eat +where he bought it, but his breakfast and tea he provided in the room +which served as study and dining-room. He did not wash his dishes, it +may be remarked, with the exception of a Kaga cup which was too precious +to be intrusted to his landlady. + +He had set aside his tea-things, and, with a paper and pencil, was +proceeding to sketch a plot for his story, with Miss Martindale for the +heroine and the young man with a scar for a hero, when there was a knock +at the door, and the servant came in, bearing a card. It contained the +name of Henry Dale Wilding, a correspondent whom he had never met, but +who had begun with asking for his autograph, and had now ended, it +seems, with calling in person. + +"Show him up," said the story-teller; and Mr. Wilding, who was two steps +behind the servant, instantly presented himself. His face was certainly +familiar. Ah! it was the scar upon the face which made the recognition +easy. + + +III. + +MR. WILDING. + +"This is very pleasant," said Buckingham cordially, as he bade the young +man lay aside his coat and take a seat by the fire. While his guest was +obeying him, the host said in an aside,--only the aside was inaudible, +contrary to the custom of asides,--"He does not recognize me. I will +draw him out." + +"I was in town this evening,--in fact, in this very street," said Mr. +Wilding,--"and I could not resist the temptation to call on you." + +"I am very glad you didn't," said Buckingham heartily. "It is evident +you were led into it. Have you many friends in town?" + +"Not very many. I know one or two men in college. I thought at one time +of coming here to college myself. I gave that up, however, and now I am +thinking of taking a special course, perhaps in English. Indeed, that is +one reason why I came to town to-day." + +"Well, the college is hospitable enough. It is a great hotel, with +accommodations for regular boarders, but with reduced tickets for the +_table-d'hote_, and a restaurant for any one who happens in, where one +may dine _a la carte_." + +"I have not had a classical education," said the young man. + +"Very well: you can make a special point of that. Very few of our later +writers have had a classical education. Scholarship is no longer a part +of general culture. It is a profession by itself. It is scientific, not +literary." + +"But you had a classical education, Mr. Buckingham?" + +"Yes, I had once. I don't deny that I am glad I had; but I am forced to +conceal it nowadays." + +"And you still read the classics," he went on, with a respectful glance +at a Greek book lying open on the table. Buckingham hastily closed the +book. + +"Yes, when no one is looking. But tell me about your plans. Shall you +room in the college buildings?" + +"I have come so late in the year that I cannot get any satisfactory +rooms." + +"Why not try getting a room somewhere in this neighborhood? There are +students, I think, who live on this street. I am afraid there are no +vacant rooms in this house, or I would introduce you to my landlady." + +"I am not sure but I shall. In fact, I have been looking at a room +farther up the street this evening." + +"Indeed! What house did you find it in?" + +"I found two or three houses that had rooms to let for students. They +were not boarding-houses. I don't care to board." + +"Mr. Wilding, my opinion of you rises with each sentiment you express. +First you think of studying English in a scholarly fashion; then you +detest boarding. I am sure we shall be friends. I shall invite you to +take tea with me,--not to-night, for I have already had my tea, but when +you are settled in your room." + +"Thank you; I accept with pleasure. I am glad you did not insist on my +taking tea with you to-night, for I have just come from tea." + +"Oh! I remember you said you had friends in town." + +"Yes; I have some cousins of an indefinite degree. They live on this +street, and they will make it pleasant for me. But they know very little +about the college, and I ventured to call to ask your advice about this +matter of a special course. Would you try for a degree?" + +Mr. Buckingham had nothing to do with the college; he was not even a +graduate of this particular one; but he dearly loved to give advice. He +took down the college catalogue, and talked with great animation for +some time to his young friend, who confided to him that his ambition was +to be an author, and that he had already written several sketches of +character. + +"Excellent," said Buckingham to himself. "You shall be my hero; only you +will write short poems. Then nobody will detect your likeness." + +Wilding stayed an hour, and then made ready to leave. + +"If you are going to take the car, you are just in time," said his host, +as they shook hands by the door of his room. + +"I am going first to my cousin's," said the young man. + +"Oh, are you? Wait a moment. I should like a little airing. I will walk +along with you." And Buckingham, with a sudden admiration for his prompt +seizure of the hour, put on his hat and coat. + + +IV. + +THE PLAY MYSTERY. + +Two young women were sitting over their worsted-work in the house +numbered 17 Grove Street. + +"Twenty-five, twenty-six," said the elder. "Lillie, if I were you, I +would always carry one of his books with me in the horse-car, prepared +to open and read it whenever he chanced to hang by the straps over me. +He would be sure to try to read it upside down, and--" + +"Nonsense, Julia! you speak exactly as if I were running after him." + +"Not running, my dear, but waiting for him. Confess it; don't you make +up stories about this Mr. Buckingham? don't you call him Austin all by +yourself?" + +"Julia, you are shameless! I have a great mind to roll up my work and go +up-stairs." + +"Oh, no, Lillie. Stay here; for Henry will surely be back soon, and we +shall learn exactly how the lion looked in his den. What a singularly +good piece of fortune it was that Henry should have met you both!" + +"Julia! you don't suppose that cousin of yours has been telling! You +don't suppose he has mentioned me to Mr. Buckingham!" + +"It is impossible to say. You get two men talking together, and you may +be sure they forget all their promises of secrecy. Now, I shouldn't +wonder if Henry were at this very moment--" + +"You are simply--" + +"Hark! There's Henry now." + +For the door opened, and Mr. Wilding entered, the remains of a smile +upon his face. + +"I really should like to know, Julia," he said, "what you two ladies +have been talking about. We could almost hear. We certainly could see." + +"We, Henry? Pray, who is we?" + +"Why, Mr. Buckingham and I. You have certainly a most hospitable fashion +of leaving your shades up. He walked out with me after I had called on +him, and he seemed to have a good deal to say after we came to the door. +There is an excellent view of the interior from the door; and Miss Vila +and you were certainly animated." + +"This is really dreadful! Lillie, do you suppose he saw us talk?" + +"I don't know. I feel as if he heard every word.--Mr. Wilding, I hope +you didn't repeat any of the foolish speeches your cousin made at the +tea-table?" + +"I was discreetness itself, Miss Vila." + +"But why didn't you invite him in, Henry?" asked his cousin. + +"Upon my word, this is reasonable! First I am made to promise solemnly +that I won't disclose Miss Vila's name, and then I am asked why I didn't +bring him in and introduce him. He wanted to come in, I know." + +"He wanted to!" + +"Yes; he tried to worm out of me who my cousin was, and he walked up +here on purpose to find out where you lived." + +"How lucky there is no name on the door!" exclaimed the cousin. + +"But he heard me ask for your husband's house,--did he not, Miss Vila? +And why on earth you should make such a mystery of it all I can't see." + +"Do draw the shade, Julia. It makes me nervous. I feel as if he were +looking in now." + +"Nonsense, Lillie! he's a gentleman." + +"But why do you make such a mystery of it all?" persisted the young man. + +"There is no mystery," said Miss Vila stiffly. And, gathering up her +work, she went up-stairs. + +"It's only play mystery, Henry," said his cousin, when they were alone. +"You see, Lillie Vila has been coming out in the horse-car with him +every night for a long time; and she has seen him watching her. Of +course she has seen him, but he has not seen that she has seen him. Men +are so stupid. And she knows that he has tried in vain to find out who +she is. He saw her once go into the library. She was dreadfully afraid +he would come in and see her working behind the screen; but he evidently +fancied she went in to get a book. Then he is always managing to stand +or sit near her, and he peeks at her book when she is reading. He is +just dying, I know, to find out who she is." + + +V. + +THE REAL MYSTERY. + +Mr. Austin Buckingham found on his table, when he returned from his walk +with Henry Wilding, a scrap of paper. It had nothing on it but the words +"The Mystery." This was the heading which he had made for his story. He +had been interrupted by his caller just as he had written the words. He +had not the remotest notion when he set them down what the mystery was +which he meant to reveal. The title now seemed like a prophecy to him. +Instead, however, of jotting down an outline of his story, he took out +his note-book and wrote busily: + +"I wish I knew just what I saw this evening. I had walked out with Henry +Wilding, who called, and who was going, he said, to his cousin's. Now, I +will not conceal from my faithful journal that I was moved by a desire +to know just who his cousin was and where he or she lived; for by a most +fortunate chance I have found out that my maiden without a name lives, +or probably lives, at a Mr. Martindale's, on this street. I tried to +draw Wilding out without betraying my own interest, but he was very +obtuse, and even seemed to be ashamed of his cousin. At any rate, he +parried my questions, and of course I could not push my curiosity. +However, I got the better of him, and walked out with him when he left. +As luck would have it again, the shades were drawn at the house where he +stopped, and the bright light within made the scene perfectly distinct. +I talked on the door-step about I know not what, half hoping that +Wilding would invite me in, but really absorbed in watching two ladies +who sat by a table. One was my fair unknown, the other a lady whom I +have occasionally seen, and whom I take to be Wilding's cousin,--though +this is all guess-work. Whether she is or not, she is evidently a very +unpleasant sort of body, for, whatever she said, the other was plainly +exceedingly vexed and mortified. She covered her face with her hands. At +one time she made a movement as if to leave. She looked earnest and +troubled. I could vow she was about to burst into tears. Her face was +very expressive. No one who shows such sudden changes can help being a +person of rare sensibility. I am almost out of conceit of making her the +heroine of my story, though, to be sure, I am not likely to interfere +with her personal rights, so long as I do not know either her name or +her history. + +"To come back to the pantomime which I saw through the window. It was +probably by no means so mysterious in reality as it appeared to me. Yet +what could it have been? or, rather, how can I appropriate it for my +purposes? I have it! The very situation of looking through a window +shall serve as the critical point in my story, only it shall be the hero +of my story, and not an idle spectator like myself, who does the +looking. The young poet, Wilding in disguise, only walks out at night. +He is a shy fellow, who even in public holds his hat, as it were, before +his face. He keeps by himself in his garret, brooding over his poems, +and seeing no one, until he almost loses the power of ordinary +association with other people. When night comes, he walks, sometimes +through the night. But his loneliness has generated a desire for +companionship which he can satisfy only by ghostly intercourse. So, +instead of knowing people, he imagines them, and falls in love with his +imaginations. He observes that one house looking toward the sea always +keeps its curtains drawn. He falls into the way of stealing by every +night to catch a glimpse of a fireside. There he sees a fair girl,--and +I may as well draw her portrait like that of my unknown friend,--with +eyes that are downcast but when raised suddenly grow large and lustrous, +with hands that fold themselves when disengaged, with hair that peeps +shyly over the forehead, and with a figure that seems always to be +listening. She becomes the world to him. He has renounced all common +association with men and women, and he peoples the world which he has +thus brushed out with shapes caught from this one girl. The very silence +which separates them makes him more quick in his imagination to invest +her with the grace which her distant presence never denies." + +"Bah! what superfine nonsense I am writing!" exclaimed Buckingham, +pushing his note-book aside, but continuing to sit before his fire in +revery. + + +VI. + +THE REVERSE SIDE OF THE TAPESTRY. + +Mr. Henry Wilding suited himself easily to a room in a house which stood +just beyond his cousin's. He wanted little to make him at home; for he +had only pitched his tent in this university town, and had no thought of +settling in it. His wish was to get what he came for and to go again as +little encumbered with baggage as he had come. Something of this sort he +had been saying, not long after his established routine had begun, in a +letter to the lady to whom he had the good fortune to be engaged. "I +never could feel settled so far from you," he went on gallantly; "and I +want only so much home at hand as will keep me from daily discontent. So +it is exceedingly convenient to have my cousin Julia next door. I feel +as one might who lived over a grocery-shop: there would be no fear of +starving, at all events. When my supply of family feeling runs low, I +drop in upon Julia and lay in enough to last a few days. Her friend, who +makes a home with her, of whom I wrote in my last, does not greatly +interest me. She says very little; but I am willing to grant that she is +uncommonly pretty. I don't know why I say this in such grudging fashion. +If some one else be fair to me, what care I how fair this 't other one +be? Julia admires her greatly; but I suspect she is one of the kind whom +one needs to marry ever to get at. Julia is as much married to her as +one woman can be to another; and that explains why she sees so much in +her. She sometimes reports scraps of conversations which she has held +with this Miss Lillie Vila. Unless Julia makes up both sides of the +conversation, her friend certainly is intelligent, and, I am afraid, +witty. I say this last because it piques me that I have never extracted +any witty remark from her. + +"As for John, he is imperturbably good-natured. His profession keeps him +away a good deal; but when he is at home he seems to do nothing but read +a book by the fireside and chuckle to himself. Julia and Miss Vila both +admire him greatly; but I suspect it is necessary to reconstruct him out +of imaginary material before one can get to think very highly of him. +Women do this naturally. I can always make myself humble by thinking +that you do it with me. + +"Buckingham is decidedly more interesting. I have not seen him since the +evening I called upon him; but as I recall him, his air, his +conversation, and the shell of a room which he has been forming about +him, I constantly find something new to enjoy. He has a good deal of +insight. I am not uncomfortable when I remember how steadily he looked +at me; for he is not cynical. Indeed, I should say that he had managed +to preserve an unusual amount of sentiment,--more than is generally +found in one at his time of life. I am convinced that he ought to marry; +and if he ever does, I am sure that he will give up writing stories. He +is just one of those men who will find such satisfaction in domestic +life as to become indifferent to imaginative experiences. I notice that +in his stories he always seems to be groping about for some agreeable +domestic conclusion. His room shows it. It looks as if a woman had been +in it, but had left before she had put the final touch to it. She ought +to come back." + + +VII. + +MR. BUCKINGHAM MAKES A MOVE. + +A week after Henry Wilding had called on Austin Buckingham, that +gentleman tried to return his call. It must be confessed that his motive +was not so much a commendable desire to get even socially with his new +acquaintance, nor to give him good advice, as it was to get a nearer +view of the heroine of his story. Candor compels me to say that every +evening for the week past Buckingham had taken an airing, and always in +the same direction. He had always found the shade drawn at No. 17, and +often he had caught a glimpse, as he sauntered past, of the figure which +he now knew so well. It is true that he had never again seen Miss Vila +in so dramatic a character as upon the first evening when he had +discovered her _en famille;_ but he had seen her, not as one sees a +portrait, which always looks in the same direction. In the horse-car she +had been such a portrait to him,--the "Portrait of a Lady Reading." +Behind the window of Mr. Martindale's house she had been a figure in a +_tableau vivant_, often animated, always disclosing some new grace of +attitude, some new charm of manner. He faintly told himself that these +views enabled him to form a more distinct impression of the character of +his heroine: whenever he should have his plot ready, his heroine would +in the various situations instantly appear to him with the vividness and +richness of reality. + +He bethought himself that it was high time to see a little more of his +hero; and so he persuaded himself that in going to call upon him he was +engaged in a strictly professional occupation. If by any chance he +should hear the rustle of the heroine's dress, why, that could not +possibly injure any impressions which he might receive of his hero's +individuality. These two people had become important factors in his +story. He had not yet succeeded in sketching his plot. He felt it all +the more necessary that they should sketch it for him. He was sure that +he should readily catch at any hint which they might drop. He would +therefore go into the society of his hero--and heroine. + +For, somehow or other, whenever he essayed to call up the image of his +hero and make it yield some distinct personality, the heroine would +gently come to the fore. It was like going to a party and finding the +eye glancing off from every black-coated figure to the richly-draped +presence which made the party different from a town-meeting. + +He was so much under the influence of all this reflex sentiment that he +dressed himself with care before he went out, and so presented himself +at the door of Mr. Martindale's house. It did not occur to him that +Wilding lived anywhere else. He had taken it for granted that the young +man was still at his cousin's. So when the door was opened for him he +asked if Mr. Wilding were in, at the same time presenting his card. It +chanced that the maid-servant had that day entered Mr. Martindale's +service,--not a very rare chance in any household,--and, never having +heard Mr. Wilding's name, indeed, not now hearing it, but hearing +instead the name Miss Vila, cordially welcomed the distinguished-looking +visitor, and marched before him into the little parlor, where she +presented the card, on a salver which she had snatched on the way, to +Miss Vila, who was sitting with Mrs. Martindale. The two ladies were +playing backgammon. + + +VIII. + +THE INTERRUPTED GAME. + +"For me!" exclaimed Miss Vila, in a dismayed undertone. "Julia!" + +Mrs. Martindale glanced at the card. She rose at once, just as Mr. +Buckingham entered the room with a little hesitation in his step. As the +two ladies held the backgammon-board in their laps, one effect of the +sudden movement was to send the men rolling in every direction about the +room. It was weeks before one of the men--a black one--was found. + +Mr. Buckingham saw his card in Miss Vila's hands. He addressed himself +to her: + +"Possibly your servant misunderstood me. I asked for Mr. Wilding." + +"She is a new servant," said Mrs. Martindale, and then added, with +alacrity, as she seized the accident by its nearest horn, "her mistake +was probably one of the ear. She thought you asked for Miss Vila." Mrs. +Martindale had it in her to wave her hand toward the young lady, as if +showing off wax-works, and to explain, "This is Miss Vila," but Mr. +Buckingham was quick enough not to need the line upon line. + +"I must beg Miss Vila's pardon. There certainly is a likeness in the +names, if you spell it with a _we_." + +"I will speak to Mr. Wilding," said Mrs. Martindale, jerking an eyeful +of mysterious intelligence at Miss Vila and whisking out of the room. + +"I hope you were just about to be beaten, Miss Vila," said Buckingham, +"for I see I have spoiled the game." + +"It is nothing," said she. + +She had said nothing, but she had said it with a singularly musical +voice, and, after all, it is not the significant words but the +significant tones which touch one. + +"No. It is nothing," he repeated. "A game may always be interrupted, +because it is not the conclusion but the playing which gives it any +value. I suspect it is like the stories we read,--somebody comes in, and +we lay the book down before we come to the end. It is no great matter if +we never take it up again. We got our pleasure, not from knowing how +things turned out, but from knowing things." He blushed a little as he +said this. In fact, his own inchoate story came to his mind. Besides, +Miss Vila had his card. Since she read so constantly, it was odds but +she knew of him. He blushed a little more as this thought crossed his +mind. + +"Do you think so?" she asked, and her downcast eyes were suddenly +up-turned in full, the look which he had often patiently watched for as +he had seen her in the horse-car. "I find the end necessary. If I stop +half-way I think I have done the story-teller an injustice. I have not +given him the chance to tell me all he intended to tell me. He lets out +the secret of his characters by degrees. He could justly say to me, 'You +do not know the heroine; you have not seen her in that scene which is +going to test her.'" + +"You are quite right," said Buckingham, "if you really think you are +under any obligation to the story-teller." + +"Why, of course I am," she exclaimed, with wide-open surprise. Then she +blushed in turn,--first a little color of half-indignant rebuke, then a +warm hue as she thought of her unnecessary earnestness, then a deep +crimson as there rushed over her the sudden recollection of the hours +she had spent in Buckingham's company, and the silent admiration which +she had bestowed from the shelter of ignorance upon this gentleman who +now sat composedly before her. It was by an effort of self-control that +she did not spring from her seat and leave the room. The effort blanched +her face. It was as she sat thus, her eyes cast down, her lips set, her +countenance pale, that Mrs. Martindale returned. + + +IX. + +THE UNNECESSARY HERO. + +"My cousin will be here presently," she said, as she entered the room. +And then her eye fell on Miss Vila and glanced quickly at Mr. +Buckingham, who was nervously fingering his stick. "Meanwhile," she +added, with a mischievous look, "I will ask you to remain with us, as +Mr. Wilding will be obliged to see you here. Lillie, you have the +gentleman's card. It seems awkward to wait for the formality of Henry's +introduction. Will you have the kindness to make us acquainted?" + +Miss Vila gravely performed the ceremony. + +"Your cousin is fortunate in finding friends in town, Mrs. Martindale," +said Buckingham; "for a collegian coming here freshly, especially one in +a special course, is apt to be slow in breaking through the hedge which +divides the college from the town." + +"Yes, he is quite fortunate," said his cousin. "I exercise an influence +over him. You know we exercise an influence over students, don't you?" + +Buckingham laughed. + +"I supposed that was what the town was for." + +"When they are away from home and parents and all those refining +influences, we serve as substitutes. Henry is away, not so much from his +parents, who are dead, as from the lady to whom he is engaged. That is +why I feel bound to exercise an influence over him." Mrs. Martindale +made this explanation with a serious air, but Buckingham, whose eye +never stayed far from Miss Vila, detected that young lady casting a +reproachful, not to say indignant, glance at the speaker. Miss Vila, +indeed, made a motion as if to leave, but, with another quick blush, as +if she had betrayed a secret thought, settled again into her chair. To +tell the secret, she had a sudden misgiving that her reckless friend +might take it into her head to make ingenuous revelations concerning +her. + +"I hope he finds his work agreeable," said Buckingham; not that he cared +a straw, but by way of keeping up his end of the conversation. + +"Oh, I have no doubt he does, or he would come to see us oftener. I +mean," she explained hurriedly, "he would stay in his room less." + +"He certainly takes his time now in coming down," thought the visitor. +There was, however, a movement in the passage, and Mrs. Martindale +darted out. She came back immediately, looking somewhat embarrassed. + +"I am sorry," she faltered, "but I find I am mistaken. He is not in." + +"I am afraid you are not exerting enough influence, Mrs. Martindale," +said Buckingham pleasantly, but somewhat perplexed in his mind at the +length of time it had taken to make this discovery, and at the +hallucination which had seemed to possess his cousin's mind when she +announced him as about to appear. As for Miss Vila, she persistently +refused to look up. She scarcely looked up, indeed, when Mr. Buckingham +bowed himself out, though he looked eagerly at her, in hopes once more +of catching the full light of her eyes. + +She did look up, however, when the door closed behind the visitor, and +she looked straight at Mrs. Martindale. That lady answered her look +with one tear and a good many words: + +"Well, Lillie, if you knew how I felt at getting into such a scrape, you +wouldn't look at me as if you were an Avenging Conscience, or a Nemesis, +or any of those horrid furies. No; and you wouldn't look speechlessly +sorrowful, either. Of course I ought to have told him at once that Henry +did not live here, and I ought to have sent him next door instead of +sending Kate, and I ought not to have pretended that he was coming the +next moment; but of course I thought he was at home, and then when he +came I could have laughed it off; but he didn't come, and I was too +frightened to laugh it off. Oh, yes, I am a criminal of the deepest dye; +but he's introduced, Lillie, and you've introduced him to me, and we're +all--we're all introduced." + + +X. + +THE REAL HERO. + +When a pile of wood has been laid upon smouldering embers, a thin curl +of smoke crawls lazily up the chimney, another follows with like +indolence, and it looks after a while as if the wood would not burn at +all. Suddenly a little whiff of air enters the pile, when, presto! up +blazes the fire, and soon there is a famous glow. + +It was somewhat thus with Mr. Austin Buckingham. He had been toying with +the fancy of his story, and especially of this maiden to whom his eyes +had become so wonted, and had allowed himself to look at her in so many +lights, that she had gradually come to be always before him. The figure +of the hero had as gradually disappeared: it was only by an effort that +he could revive it. Suddenly he had sat a long quarter of an hour with +the girl, he had heard her voice, he had seen her smile, he had felt the +graciousness of her near presence when he was not merely at hand, but +the direct object of her thought. What a world of difference there was +between sitting by her side in a crowded horse-car and sitting even +half a room-breadth's away, when they two were the only ones in the +room! + +By all this experience, as much perhaps by what had gone before as by +what had followed suddenly after, Buckingham now stood revealed to +himself. He was ablaze with this new, tingling, searching ardor. When he +had entered the room and shut the door, he saw lying upon his table his +note-book, open as he had left it. He had been amusing himself, just +before he went out, with further suggestions for his story. He dipped +his pen into the ink and drew a bold, straight line across the page. He +stood looking at the leaf,--idle fancy above the line, a blank below it. + +A knock at the door, and Henry Wilding entered. Buckingham greeted him +with a sudden excess of fervor which puzzled the young man. + +"I was sorry to miss finding you," he began, and then checked himself. +"Not so very sorry either, since fortune made me acquainted with--your +cousin--and with Miss Vila," he added, after an embarrassed pause. + +"I don't understand," said Wilding. "Have I missed a call from you?" + +"Yes. I just came from your house. Your cousin at first thought you were +at home. Now I think of it, she--" + +"But I don't live at my cousin's," said Wilding. + +"Where do you live, then?" + +"Next door to her house." + +"Oh! then she sent out for you. That explains it." And so Mr. +Buckingham, intent on his own affairs, brushed away the duplicity of the +fair hostess. "But I was very glad to hear a piece of news about you +from her. Let me congratulate you. I did not know you were engaged." And +he shook Wilding's hand warmly. He was not so generous at the moment as +he appeared. In reality, he was shaking his own hand in anticipation. +Wilding responded with a good-natured laugh. + +"I have sometimes wondered, Mr. Buckingham," he said, "how you, who +write stories of love and marriage, should remain unmarried." + +"Let us put it the other way. How can I who am unmarried write such +stories? In truth, I have a dim sense that persons like you, who know +the matter by experience, must laugh inwardly at my innocent attempts at +realistic treatment." + +"Why not, then, have the experience first?" said Wilding lightly. + +"God forbid!" said Buckingham, with a somewhat unintelligible +seriousness. "If I were ever in love, it seems to me I should stop +writing love-stories." + +Now, this was just what happened, for a time at least. To any one so +dead in love as Buckingham was at this time, all circumstances are +favorable. It needs but a given moment, and the hero is on hand ready to +seize it. The next night he could not ride out from the city; he must +walk. When he got beyond the bridge, he wondered that he saw no +horse-cars coming toward him. He remembered that he had seen none for +some time, but now he noticed a long line of them standing before him, +pointed outward. He heard the puff of a steam fire-engine, and saw that +travel by rail was stopped by a fire. The hose crossed the track, and +the incoming horse-cars were in a long line beyond it. He looked at the +cars which he had over-taken. Midway in the line stood the one he had +been accustomed to take. He caught sight of a familiar head bent over a +book. He stepped into the car and stood before Miss Vila. He bent +forward, and she looked up as he spoke: + +"The cars are stopped by a fire. We may be delayed a long while. Why not +walk home from here? It is a fine night." + +He spoke somewhat hurriedly. He did not know how appealingly he looked. +She did, however, and she closed her book and followed him. + +The story, then, never was written, even though the heroine had been +found. Everything else had disappeared,--the hero, the mystery, the +plot. Nothing was left but the heroine and--love. + + HORACE E. SCUDDER. + + + + +SHADOWS ALL. + + + Shadows all! + From the birth-robe to the pall, + In this travesty of life, + Hollow calm and fruitless strife, + Whatsoe'er the actors seem, + They are posturing in a dream; + Fates may rise, and fates may fall, + Shadows are we, shadows all! + + From what sphere + Float these phantoms flickering here? + From what mystic circle cast + In the dim aeonian Past? + Many voices make reply, + But they only rise to die + Down the midnight mystery, + While earth's mocking echoes call, + Shadows, shadows, shadows all! + + PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE. + + + + +ROSES OF YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY. + + +It always seemed to me, as a child, that the birds put their hearts more +wholly into their songs in that special little corner of Paradise on the +Hudson River than they did anywhere else. Not that it was really so very +little a corner, being small only in comparison with an entire Paradise, +composed of many such bits, that lines the shore of the beautiful +Hudson. + +It was so great a delight to the child who knew little of country +pleasures to be called away from some task or commonplace "every-day" +pastime and to be told that there was an invitation to spend an +afternoon, or perhaps several days, at Professor Morse's place, "Locust +Grove." + +There would be the drive, leaning back in the barouche (with a feeling +of easy importance lent by the consciousness of wondrous delights to +come) and looking up with a species of admiring awe at the herculean +form of the French coachman, who seemed to be concealing romantically +brigandish recollections behind his fiery black eyes and wide-spreading, +ferocious moustache. Along the dusty "South Road" we would go, under the +green lights and shadows of the maple-trees, over the two miles which +stretch between Poughkeepsie town and "Locust Grove,"--past "Eastman's +Park," with its smart decorations, past the small, unambitious houses, +draped with many-hued, old-fashioned roses, that straggled along the +dividing-line between the narrow restrictions of town and the fragrant +wideness of the country, where the air was cool with the breath of the +river, and the breezes brought suggestions of freshly-cut grass, just +blown locust-blossoms, and the thousand sweet, indefinable scents of the +woods. + +On approaching the boundaries of "the Grove," the perfume of the +locust-flowers assumed due prominence, as the name of the place implies +they should, while their white clusters drooped from the heavily-loaded +branches till they fairly touched the high posts of the gate. And then +would come the drive up the dim avenue, flecked with patches of sunshine +that lay like fallen gold pieces in the dusk shadow, while if one +glanced upward or on either side one saw nothing save the arching +trees,--pines and locusts, and maples no less stately,--until a space +was reached where the grove was less dense and the view widened to a +stretch of velvet grass whitened with daisies lying soft on the tops of +the blades in a way to make one fancy a summer fall of snow. At the turn +of the avenue one caught a glimpse of the house, with its vine-wreathed +tower, generous piazzas, and hospitable _porte-cochere_, and in the +background, beyond the lawn, the river, with the blue hills on the +opposite shore veiled by a light, lace like haze, just enough of a haze +to lend mystery to the distance. + +The loud clattering of the horses' shoes on the stone pavement under the +_porte-cochere_, which informed the occupants of the house that visitors +had come, seemed always to tell the youngest, most insignificant, yet +happiest of those visitors that the anticipated hour of many delights +had actually arrived. And of these delights there were to the heart of +the child a thousand and one such as could scarcely be realized or even +dreamed of at the home in town. There were the broad, shady piazzas to +be walked over with dainty footfalls, lest the grown people should be +disturbed. There was the mystic retreat within the circle of a group of +low-branching pines, the secret of which one penetrated by stepping down +from the front piazza at a certain place and there insinuating one's +self into a small opening, which only the initiated could discover, +among the trees. Here one had a little fragrant sanctum all one's own, +carpeted with pine needles, green and brown, and arched over by ceiling +and walls of thick branches, from out of which peeped startled robins, +who soon, finding that no harm was meant them, went on with their song. +Then there was the garden, fragrant and brilliant, which one might +explore when one had promised Thomas, the presiding genius, that one +would not touch his cherished sweets, for it "went to his heart" to see +a single blossom torn from its parent stem. And there were the +grape-houses, for which the place was famous far and near,--hot, and +odorous of moist soil and growing vines, among which white and purple +clusters hung temptingly heavy and low. + +One especial pleasure was to walk along the gravelled path that skirted +the smooth, level stretch of lawn at the back of the house, and thus to +reach the brow of the hill overlooking the "farm" and the river. There +were seats on the edge of this bluff, and a large spring-board on which +one might ride and jump to one's heart's content. By following this path +still farther, and to the left, one soon deserted the well-kept lawn and +found one's self on a narrow, winding walk overhanging a deep, wooded +ravine, in the depths of which a little brook ran curving about among +the ferns and daisies; and presently, far out of sight of the house, in +shade so dense as to lend a certain pleasing enchantment, one came upon +a rustic summer-house, with odd, three-cornered-seats, and a table +surrounding the tree-trunk that supported the centre of the roof. + +There were manifold other out-of-door enjoyments, such as visiting the +pigeon-house, and, as a rare favor, rioting in the scented hay in the +loft over the barn, visiting the gardener's wife (whose home was in that +part of the old Livingston mansion which its master and time had allowed +to stand), and being permitted to draw water from the ancient well, +about which hung so many stories of generations past. How exciting it +was, and with what delicious awe one listened, when the little lady who +was a fairy grandmamma instead of a fairy godmother in the household +told a certain story regarding this well! It was a story before the time +of her own birth, when two of her older sisters were very tiny girls. +One day, when the mother was busy in superintending some homely task +(such as the manufacturing of the "cream cheese," perhaps, for which she +was noted), the baby of two years toddled in and began to lisp over and +over the same broken words, "Tatie in 'ell, Tatie in 'ell." She had +repeated them many times, with increasing insistence, before the busy +mother realized that they possessed a meaning. "Tatie in 'ell, Tatie in +'ell," the little one said, pulling at her mother's gown, half crying as +she spoke; and then it dawned upon the latter that her baby had +something serious to tell. She yielded to the little importunate hands +upon her dress, and followed the child out of doors to the well and +there looked down. "Katie" was indeed in the well, as the lisping tongue +had tried to say, and, gazing into the darkness below, the mother could +see the frightened, pitiful little face turned up to her, while two +small hands convulsively grasped the edge of the great bucket. The +husband and father was away from home, all the men employed about the +place were working at a distance, and there was no time to lose: those +frail hands must soon relax their hold, and the child was sorely +terrified and begging to be saved. As the mother hesitated, in an agony +of doubt, out from the house came a stout, elderly serving-woman, who +had lived in the family for many years, and who was especially devoted +to little Kate. She had heard her mistress's cry, and, running to look +into the well, without even waiting to explain, she set about the +execution of a hazardous and original plan of rescue. Climbing over the +curb, she began to descend by striding the well and planting her feet +upon the rough, protruding stones of which the sides were formed. Not +one woman in a thousand could or would have done such a thing; but this +one was tall and strong, and brave as a lion with the might of her love +for little Kate. She saved the child, who had suffered no graver injury +than a thorough drenching and a fright which served as a warning for +herself and the children of her own and several generations to come. + +Interesting as was this story and others told of the past, and +delightful as it was to play under the great trees, roaming at one's own +sweet will all about "the Grove," better than everything else was it to +be admitted into the "sanctum sanctorum" of the place,--Professor +Morse's study,--where the master sat among his books and treasures, his +kindly, clear-featured face and bright brown eyes, framed in by silver +hair and beard, shining out from the curtained dimness of the room. +There were many objects fascinating even to a child in that study, which +opened out of the family library with its store of books. The library +was very good, but the study was still better. There, under a glass +case, was the first telegraph-instrument that had ever been made. One or +two of Professor Morse's early paintings hung upon the wall, and +sometimes he would display a few sketches to the older members of the +party, who were naturally regardless of the fact that there was "a chiel +amang 'em, takin' notes." The crowning treat offered within the +study-walls, however, was to have the marvels of the Professor's immense +and powerful microscope displayed before our wondering gaze. There we +became acquainted with the rainbow-tinted plumes of the fly's wing and +the jewels that lie hidden from ordinary ken in the pollen and petals of +the simplest blossoms. And the master of it all, to whom the marvels +were as familiar as the common objects themselves, seemed to derive a +genuine pleasure from that which he bestowed upon his guests. + +When Professor Morse purchased Locust Grove, before his second marriage, +he was not aware that it had belonged to the family of the lady who was +soon to become his wife. Indeed, it was not until some friend remarked, +"How delightful for you to take your bride to the old ancestral place +owned by her kindred for so many generations!" that he knew the home +would possess any associations, save those to be formed in the future, +for his _fiancee_. But no doubt at the beginning of their life there +Locust Grove was thus rendered doubly dear to both. The old Livingston +mansion was at that time standing, much nearer to the entrance-gates +than the more modern residence inhabited by the owner's family; and the +quaint well, with the stone curb, the water of which was so remarkable +for its purity that travellers came from a distance to ask the privilege +of drinking, formed an object of interest at least, if not of actual +beauty, before the old vine-grown porch. Gradually the house fell into +decay, and the greater portion was torn down, leaving but five or six +rooms, with their odd, hooded windows and strangely-fashioned fireplaces +and mantels, the porch, with its broad, shallow seats, and the +green-painted, "divided" front doors, to tell the tale of what once had +been the home of so much hospitality and happiness. + +So all remained painted with unfading colors on the canvas of my memory, +each object as I had known and loved it when a child. And then the child +went far away and grew to womanhood, having looked on many places and +"things of beauty," but, while forgetting much that belonged to the old +days, never forgot Locust Grove. The scent of the new locust-blossoms, +the songs of the birds, and the beauty of the lights and shadows dancing +on the river were as vivid in recollection as they had been in +actuality; and after a severe and tedious illness it seemed that no +tonic could prove so effectual as a visit to that dear old place, not +seen for years, and which I had loved so well. + +There is generally experienced a vague yet bitter disappointment in +returning to a spot hallowed by associations after an absence of any +appreciable length of time. It is wellnigh impossible for the reality to +equal what has through the filtering of fancy become scarcely more than +a remembered dream. + + Nothing can be as it has been; + Better, so call it, only--not the same. + +And yet Locust Grove in 1884 looked almost as unchanged as though it had +shared the slumbers of the "Sleeping Beauty" since 1871. Only, a certain +potent charm had fled with the presence of the departed master. It was +now but his pictured eyes and silver hair that lit up the dimness of the +room that had been sacred to him. The books and papers covering the desk +belonged to a later and more careless generation. The microscope stood +unused under its glass case, the sketches were lovingly laid away out of +sight, and altogether a subtile change could be detected in the +atmosphere. There were things, however, about the house which perhaps +had always been there, and yet which I looked upon now with a new and +keener appreciation. The picture of Professor Morse when a child of five +or six years, standing by his father, who is clad in the quaint robes +which then distinguished a Congregationalist divine, seemed to me one +that might interest others besides myself. Also the portrait of his +mother, with pearls in her puffed and powdered hair, and her beautiful +bare arms holding the older child, Sidney (a baby in oddly-fashioned +long robes), was charming to look at because of its intrinsic beauty as +well as the associations attached to it. And the life-size painting of +General Washington's mother,--said to be the only one of the kind in +existence,--which looked down from its broad frame over the dining-room +mantel, possessed a special fascination for me. One felt rather +insignificant with that scornful smile and those languid eyes brooding +over one as one sat engaged in the discussion of soup; and it was +impossible to keep from imagining that the stiff and stately dame in her +mathematically correct white and green draperies was drawing invidious +comparisons between the way one did one's hair and the way in which she +had considered it proper to arrange her abundant pale-brown locks. + +About the place itself were more changes than at first would strike the +eye. The old Livingston homestead had been razed to the ground, and +smooth, emerald grass thrived upon its site, while the chief gardener, +Thomas, had been promoted to a new aesthetic cottage of the latest +approved colors and style. Even the famous well was no more; for a small +and inconspicuous pump had been put in its stead, to save unwary +children from instituting a too curious search for the "truth" popularly +supposed to lie within its depths. The graperies were gone, and in their +stead nourished rose-houses,--visiting the interior of which seemed +fairly to transport one into the famous "Vale of Cashmere." Roses of all +colors and all descriptions here found an ideal home, and with their +beauty served the purses of their two young masters, who superintended +their culture. It was in the early summer that I saw the place again +after my long absence, and the rose-houses of course could not be seen +at their best, as they can in winter. There are four large houses, +opening into a long, narrow frame building, at one end of which is the +office where the young gentlemen managers transact their business. Here +all was--and still is, no doubt--immaculately neat, the walls adorned +with colored prints and paintings of flowers, an array of books, papers, +and ledgers carefully arranged in their exact places on the desk, and +everything kept free from dust, swept and garnished. In the long, bare +room from which the office opens are stored gardening-tools, +watering-cans of all shapes and descriptions (some of which to an +untutored eye present a striking resemblance to coffee-pots such as the +Brobdingnag giants might have used), baskets for packing the roses, with +all their paraphernalia, earthen pots for plants great and small, and +many other utensils such as those unlearned in gardening lore would +consider uncouth in the extreme. On one side of the room stands the big +table upon which the baskets are set, and above this are ranged numerous +rows of shelves. Four doors open into the rose-houses, and at the east +end is the one devoted exclusively to the culture of Jacqueminots,--the +"Jack"-house it is irreverently, if not slangily, styled. Here the glass +roof stands open all the summer long, for the breezes to blow and the +soft rains to fall upon the petted plants; and here the sunshine holds +high revel, bronzing the intricate tracery of stem and branch and +turning half the leaves to shining emeralds. + +It was in the "Jack"-house that I one morning found Thomas Devoy, the +gardener, at work with his great oddly-shaped shears or scissors, and +detained him long enough to make a little sketch of him among his +flowers; and while I worked with pencils and paper he told me divers +anecdotes of the twenty-eight years he had spent in Professor Morse's +service. "I entered service in the old country when I was very young," +he said; "and even as a little boy I was fond of gardening. One time, +when I was a child, I was going through some splendid greenhouses with +the head-gardener who took care of them. There was one very rare plant +of which he was exceedingly proud, and I begged him for a tiny slip to +take home with me. But he refused; and so, in passing by, I quietly +broke off one little leaf. Some time afterward I was able to show him a +plant as fine as his own which I had raised from that one leaf, and then +I told him its story." + +All the fine, large Jacqueminots in the "Jack"-house were raised from +one parent plant with cuttings made about four years or so before, the +gardener told me, while I, gazing in amazement at their high-reaching +branches, thought, with "Topsy," it was something to boast of that they +had "jest growed." + +In the winter the rose-houses become things of beauty and a joy forever, +seeming to have imprisoned the very heart of summer within their walls, +while outside--shut away from the warmth and glowing tints of red and +pink, yellow and lustrous rosy pearl--lie the snow and the ice, and +through the bare branches of the trees the wind whistles drearily. + +But in the summer the aspect of the rose-houses is very different. All +then is preparation and making over for the coming autumn and winter. +Some of the houses are planted with tiny cuttings just lifting little +tender sprays above the warm, moist soil. Men are at work here and there +with hammers and nails, repairing any slight damage that may have been +done in previous months. Hose-pipes coil over the floors, and one must +walk by them daintily. In other houses one would exclaim with pleasure +at finding one's self in a wilderness of roses, pink, yellow, and white, +only to be told, rather contemptuously, "_That_ is nothing. There are no +roses here now. You must wait till winter if you want something worth +seeing. We have roses as large as tea-saucers then, and any quantity of +them." + +Outside the buildings, and fairly surrounding them, are large square +beds of hybrid roses of many varieties, each sort planted in separate +rows by itself. There are beds of cuttings also, and one long, narrow +bed of red hybrids running the entire length of the greenhouse. +"Catherine Mermet," "La Reine," "Adam," "Paul Neyron," the exquisite "La +France," "John Hopper," the "Duke of Connaught," "Niphetos," and "Perle +des Jardins" are here in profusion, with others of every shade and tint, +too numerous almost to count, and the perfume arising from beds and +hot-houses is intoxicating in its strength and sweetness. Some bushes +are merely set in earthen pots out of doors; and these are supposed to +be in a dormant state, undergoing the process of "drying off," or +"hardening," receiving very little water, and are to be so kept until +September, when they will be repotted and "started" for growing,--thus +illustrating the truth of the saying that there is a blessing for those +who only stand and wait. But one could not help pitying them, when one +thought how their more fortunate companions with their uncramped roots +were exploring underground passages and enjoying all the freedom and +moisture of the rich soil. + +"During the fall and winter we are very busy in a different way," said +Thomas Devoy, as he displayed his treasures. And then he told me how +every day in the later months all hands are occupied in tending, +cutting, and packing the roses which are daily expressed to a certain +New York florist. The beautiful half-blown buds are carefully cut, with +long, leafy stems, and laid in the great market-baskets standing on the +table ready to receive them. Row after row and layer after layer are +laid in, sprinkled until leaves and petals sparkle with a diamond dew. +Only buds at a certain stage of unfolding are used, and the most +exquisite roses with their petals opening one pink or pearly crease too +far are discarded as unfit to send away. Tissue-paper covers the flowers +as they lie ready in their baskets, then oiled paper is placed on top, +and finally a thin red oilcloth is fastened over all. + +Thus from two to four hundred roses of almost every variety are daily +put upon the New York train and expressed to the florist, at whose +establishment they arrive, after a few hours, as fresh, dewy, and +fragrant as when they left their parent plants. + +And yet, with all these that are sent away, the home is not forgotten. +Gorgeous blooms in exquisite foreign vases adorn table, cabinet-shelf, +and mantel in every inhabited room in the house, where, among relics of +the old time, the roses of yesterday and to-day meet in a rivalry so +lovely that one is at a loss in deciding the merits of their separate +claims. The roses of to-day are freshest, and it may even be fairest; +yet there is a little poem which asks,-- + + What's the rose that I hold to the rose that is dead? + +And thus, to one who has known and loved the place in days gone by, when +what has become a mere association and memory now made its very life and +soul, there is something in the suggestion of that verse which at least +lets itself be readily understood. + + ALICE KING HAMILTON. + + + + +A HOOSIER IDYL. + + +It was a part of the Great West which in the past fifty or seventy-five +years has been transformed from unbroken forests, the home of the red +Indian and the deer, to a thickly-settled farming-country, dotted with +comfortable homes and traversed by railways and wagon-roads. Here and +there in retired districts the log cabins of the pioneers remained, and +wherever one looked an horizon of woods met his eye; but the numerous +towns and villages gave evidence of a higher and ever-increasing degree +of civilization. + +It was a land of rich soil and lush natural growth, without rocks or +hills or swiftly-running streams, a region of corn- and wheat-fields and +orchards, of clover-pastures and melon-patches. + +The human _physique_ showed good development and abundant nourishment, +but the dwellers along the sluggish creeks sometimes had a tinge of +yellow beneath the sunburn of their faces. Caste distinctions, pride of +station, were unknown here; all the people, whether their possessions +were great or small, drew their nurture from the soil, and greeted each +other with a friendly "Howdy?" when they met, conscious of perfect +equality. It was much better to be poor in a place like this than in a +great city,--to have at least physical abundance if one could not have +other advantages. Elvira Hill was not conscious of being poor, though +just now she was anxious to get a country school to teach. All her life +had been spent amid these familiar scenes, her condition in life was +neither worse nor better than that of her acquaintances, and it never +occurred to her to be discontented with her lot and rebel against fate. +She had been brought up on a farm, had known what it was to go after the +cows of an evening, to drive them to the barn-lot bars and milk them, to +catch a horse in the pasture and saddle and ride it, to hunt hens' nests +in the hay-mow, to churn, and wash dishes, and get vegetables from the +garden, and pick the raspberries and blackberries that ripened in the +fence corners along the fields and woods. But just now she was living +with her grandmother in a little brown house in the cluster of houses +called Hill's Station. There were two stores, a post-office, a +blacksmith's shop, and a mill; the mail-trains stopped here, and a daily +hack carried passengers northward two miles and a half to a larger +village, Sassafrasville, where there was an excellent academy. The +national pike ran through Hill's Station, and there was a great deal of +travel on this road,--local travel of various kinds, peddlers' wagons +which stopped in every town, and long rows of white-covered movers' +wagons going West to Illinois or Iowa or Kansas. What wonder, then, that +with all these advantages the people of Hill's Station thought +themselves centrally located, and watched with complaisant interest the +passing trains, the daily hack, and the teams going along the pike? That +they were pleasantly located there was no doubt. Tall beech- and +sugar-maple-trees, part of the original forest, stood singly here and +there and cast pleasant islands of shade upon the expanse of sunshine, +and from the fields which bordered the road came the scent of +clover-blooms. + +Elvira Hill had gone to the little country schools, sometimes to the one +a mile west of town, sometimes to the one a mile east, and for the past +three years had attended the Sassafrasville Academy: so that now, at +seventeen, she was considered to have a good education, and expected to +follow the example of many of the young people of that section and go to +teaching. She talked it over with her grandmother, and decided that she +had better try a subscription school in the country first; then, if she +succeeded in giving satisfaction, she would apply in the winter for the +position of assistant in the Hill's Station school. + +Her grandmother, placid and fair, with a cap of sheer white muslin +resting on her yet brown hair, and a pair of gold-bowed spectacles +pushed up on her forehead above her kindly blue eyes, was considered a +handsome old woman, and showed few traces of the life of toil through +which she had passed. She read a great deal in a New Testament with +large print, and often sat a long time in thought, with it open on her +knees. Another work which she frequently perused was Mrs. Ellet's "Women +of the Revolution," in two volumes, containing steel engravings of +stately dames in laced bodices and powdered hair. + +Elvira borrowed a horse of one of the neighbors, put her grandmother's +much-worn red plush side saddle upon it, and started out in search of a +school. She rode east and she rode north; but in the first district they +had a teacher already engaged, and in the second they had concluded they +wouldn't have any school that summer. Did they know of any other school +where a teacher was wanted? she inquired. No, they couldn't say they +did; but she might hear of one by inquiring further, the honest district +trustees said. So she rode homeward again, in no wise discouraged, and +asked the postmaster to inquire of the farmers who came in from other +neighborhoods in regard to this matter. + +He promised that he would, and a week later called her in as she was +passing, and said, "There was a man here yesterday from Buck Creek +district who said they wanted a teacher in their school this summer. You +might try there. His name is Sapp, and he lives right by the +school-house. You go two miles and a half south till you come to a mud +road, then two miles and a half east till you come to a pike. You can't +miss the place." + +Elvira thanked him, and a little while later, when her accommodating +neighbor was not using his horse, she borrowed it again and rode forth +on her quest. It had been raining, the mud road was muddy, and clouds +still hung in the sky; but the country through which she passed was a +rich, fresh green, and the fruit-orchards were in bloom. From solitary +farm-houses big dogs and little dogs issued forth to bark at the sound +of her horse's feet, and bareheaded children at this signal ran out to +the gate to see who was passing. + +The school-house of Buck Creek district, a neat wooden building, painted +white, stood in a grassy acre lot, bordered on two sides by thick woods, +on the other two by the roads which crossed here. In the corner +diagonally across from it stood a snug cabin, with a garden around it, a +well-sweep in the rear, and a log stable not far distant. She alighted +in front of it, and was proceeding to hitch her horse, when the door +opened, and a man stepped out, greeting her with a friendly "Howdy?" + +She responded, and asked if Mr. Sapp lived here. + +"My name is Sapp," he said, and, tying her horse, invited her in. + +There she found the rest of the family,--the mother, a grown daughter, +and two half-grown sons: they seemed friendly, but a little shy, and +stood in the background while she transacted her business. + +"Yes," Mr. Sapp said, in answer to her question, "they wanted a +three-months' school, but had no teacher engaged. Had she ever taught +before?" + +No, she had had no experience in teaching; but she had attended the +Sassafrasville Academy several terms, and was qualified to teach the +common branches,--arithmetic, grammar, and geography, reading, writing, +and spelling. + +Well, he would bring her application before the other two trustees, and +guessed they would elect her: there was no other applicant. Now, about +the terms: three dollars a scholar for the term of twelve weeks was the +usual rate. If she would draw up a subscription-paper, he would take it +round himself and get as many names as he could; thought he could get +twelve scholars signed, and knew that more would be sent. The children +had to be kept at home in busy times, and the farmers didn't like to +bind themselves to pay the full amount for all that they would send. He +himself would sign one and send two. Charley could go all the time; but +Jack would have to help about mowing and reaping and threshing, and +couldn't attend regularly. + +So Elvira drew up the paper according to his dictation, and, leaving it +with him, rode home in the dusk of the evening, feeling happy over her +prospects. + +Her grandmother had supper ready in the little kitchen; and it tasted so +good, the salt-rising bread and butter and hash, the little tea-cakes, +and the preserved pears. While the grandmother drank her cup of tea, +Elvira told her the incidents of the afternoon; and the night closed +around them as they sat secure and content in their humble home. + +The great world was full of great problems which wearied and perplexed +men's brains and seemed wellnigh unsolvable, but she had solved her own +little problem in her own little way, and was at peace. + +In a few days Mr. Sapp called with the subscription-paper. He had got +sixteen scholars signed,--more than he expected. That was a good +prospect for a summer school. They wanted her to begin on the following +Monday; which she promised to do. Then she asked him if she could board +at his house a week or two, until she could make some arrangements to +ride from home. Yes, she could; he guessed a dollar and a half a week +for board would be about the fair thing. + +So, early Monday morning she bade her grandmother good-by, and, with her +books under her arm, set forth to walk to Buck Creek district. The +school-house door was locked when she got there, but a few timid +country-children were sitting on the door-steps or on the fence, with +their school-books and dinner-buckets. Mr. Sapp came over and unlocked +the door; then, as it was half-past eight, Elvira rang the little bell +which she found on the teacher's desk, and school began. After taking +down the children's names and ages and assigning desks to them, she +heard them read in their first, second, or third readers, and questioned +them about the progress they had made in other branches. Other children +came in from time to time, until there were twenty-two present. And when +Mr. Sapp went home at "little recess," as the intermission of fifteen +minutes in the middle of the forenoon was called, he told her that her +school opened very well. "Big recess" was the intermission from twelve +o'clock till half-past one. In that time the children ate their dinners +and then scattered to play in the large grassy yard or in the shade of +the adjoining woods. Elvira won their hearts by going out and playing +prisoners' base and two or three other games with them. When she rang +the bell again, the children said, "It's books now," meaning the time +allotted to study and recitation, came in red and panting, and, with the +energy generated by violent exercise, got out their books and turned to +their lessons as if they meant to learn everything there. But as their +blood cooled their efforts relaxed, and they were soon looking idly +around the school-room for some source of entertainment. When Elvira +called up a class to recite, the children at their seats looked and +listened with absorbed interest, till reminded by their teacher that +they had lessons of their own to learn. There was another "little +recess" in the afternoon; then, at half-past four, school closed, or +"broke," as the children called it, and they rushed forth with their +empty dinner-buckets in hand, laughing and shouting and chasing each +other as they started home. Some of the little girls waited to say +good-by to the school-ma'am and to kiss her, and one of them said, in a +shamefaced way, "I like you real well." + +When all had gone, Elvira sprinkled and swept the floor and put her own +desk in order. Then, locking the door, she went over to Sapp's cabin, +which was to be her home for a while. + +Mrs. Sapp rose up from the quilt she was quilting, and, greeting Elvira +cordially, invited her to lay off her things--meaning her hat and +cloak--and take a chair. Mary was in the kitchen, a small shed-room +attached to the cabin, getting supper. Elvira looked around her. The +hewn logs which formed the walls were well chinked in the cracks, and +neatly whitewashed. A home-made rag carpet covered the floor. Two beds +stood foot to foot in the back part of the room, and a third in the +corner by the fireplace. On the wall, over the beds, hung various +articles of clothing,--a dozen calico dresses, several pairs of +pantaloons, and coats, turned wrong side out. In the corner, between the +window and the fireplace, stood a bureau, covered with a white muslin +cloth, the borders ornamented with open-work made by drawing out the +horizontal threads in narrow strips and knotting the others together in +various patterns. Over the mantel hung an almanac, and two +highly-colored pictures representing a brunette beauty and a blonde, +named Caroline and Matilda. Mrs. Sapp, meantime, was giving a +biographical account of the school-children and their parents,--saying +how Mrs. Brown was bound her two little girls should get some schooling, +if she had to pay for it herself out of money she got by selling eggs +and butter, and how the Sanders children didn't have any clothes in the +world besides those they wore to school, except some old ragged ones, +and how they had to change them at night as soon as they got home. + +"I saw 'Tildy White at school to-day," she continued, "but I guess she +won't get to come much. Her step-mother keeps her at home and makes her +work, while her _own_ children can go all the time. The three Mays +children were there too, but you needn't care whether they come regular +or not: Mr. Mays is mighty poor pay, and I suppose you won't ever get +your dues from him; but maybe Mr. Sapp can collect it off of him some +way. And Bert Mowrer was there: he's a sassy boy. His folks don't make +him mind at home at all, and 'most every teacher has trouble with him. +Mr. Redding, the teacher we had last winter, licked him with a beech +gad, and he behaved hisself after that. And there's Maggie Loper; her +mother needs her at home real bad, but she'll get to come all summer. +She's the only girl, and there are six grown boys; and the family set a +heap o' store by Maggie." + +This stream of talk was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Sapp and the +two boys; and soon after Mary called them all to supper. There was +hardly space to pass between the stove and the table in the kitchen, and +several splint-bottomed chairs had to be brought from the front room; +but at last all were seated, and, after Mr. Sapp said grace, +conversation began in a loud and cheerful tone. The plate of hot +biscuits was first passed to Elvira, then the platter of fried ham, then +the butter, the young radishes and onions, and later the blue bowl +containing stewed dried apples. Mrs. Sapp poured out the hot coffee, +saying, "Our folks want coffee three times a day, and want it pretty +strong." The sugar-bowl, containing brown sugar, was passed around, that +each one might sweeten his coffee according to his taste; then the +cream-pitcher, full of rich cream. Mr. Sapp drank three cups of coffee, +and ate in proportion, and frequently passed the meat and bread to +Elvira, hospitably urging her to eat more. + +After supper, Mrs. Sapp invited Elvira to come out and see her little +chickens. She had sixty, all hatched within the last two or three weeks, +and another hen would come off next week with a brood. "I've got some +young turkeys, too," she said, "but they hain't done very well this +spring, because it was so rainy. Two died, and I have to look after the +others to keep 'em out of the wet grass." Then they looked at the +garden, and Mrs. Sapp remarked that the boys must stick the peas right +off, went on to the milk-house,--a log shanty beyond the well,--and +finally came back to the sitting-room, where, as there was yet an hour +of daylight, Mrs. Sapp sat down to the quilting-frame. Elvira borrowed a +thimble and assisted her, having only to ply her needle and listen. The +stream of talk ran on the subject of quilts, the various patterns in +which they were pieced and quilted, the Rising Sun, the Lion's Paw, and +the Star of Bethlehem being Mrs. Sapp's favorites. From the pile resting +on a chair between the two beds at the back of the cabin, quilts +representing these patterns were brought and unfolded for Elvira to +admire; and each one had reminiscences connected with it which she must +hear. One was pieced when Jack was a baby, one was Mary's work and +property, and another was quilted in one day by the neighbor women on +the occasion of a quilting-bee, which Mrs. Sapp proceeded to describe in +all its particulars. + +As darkness settled down, the other members of the family came in from +their various chores, and, as the evenings were yet cool, a fire was +made in the fireplace. Then, seating himself by one of the jambs, Mr. +Sapp opened the spelling-book, and, calling Charley into the middle of +the floor, pronounced one row of words after another for him to spell, +until several pages had been gone over and not a single word missed, +greatly to the pride and admiration of the father. But by nine o'clock +the fire got low, and the family began to yawn. It was time to go to +bed, and, without saying good-night, the different members retired to +their allotted quarters,--Mr. and Mrs. Sapp to the bed by the fireplace, +Jack and Charley to one bed in the back part of the room, and Mary and +the school-ma'am to the other. + +Thus, with few variations, the days passed until the first week of +school had gone. Elvira became better acquainted with her pupils, with +the Sapp family, and, through them, with the news and gossip of the +neighborhood. One evening she found Mary, who was a young woman grown +and older than herself, standing outside the back door, crying bitterly, +while her mother stood by, talking to her with the air of one who could +be liberal in some views and yield many points, but who felt that a firm +stand must be made somewhere. On explanation, it appeared that Mary +wanted to go to the nearest station on the railroad and ride to the next +station east, a distance of thirteen miles, for the purpose of making a +visit; but Mrs. Sapp was not willing that she should do so, giving as +her objection that there was so much danger in riding on the cars, +adding that if Mary would wait till corn-planting was over, her father +would take her through in a wagon. She had never been on the cars +herself, and could not give her consent for one of her family to enter +upon such risks. So Mary, with much disappointment, had to give up her +proposed visit for the time. + +When Friday evening came, Elvira walked home to Hill's Station, feeling +that she had made a good beginning in her new work, and related to her +grandmother all the incidents of the week. On Saturday she went about +among the neighbors, who were most of them farmers, to see if she could +hire a horse for the summer. All the good horses, however, were in +constant use, and could not be spared by their owners. At last, one +farmer said that he had a horse which wasn't worth much at its best, and +just now had a sore head, so that he had put it out to pasture for the +summer on a farm several miles distant. She could have it to use, and be +welcome, if she would provide pasturage for it and give it now and then +a few ears of corn. Elvira accepted the offer gratefully, and he +promised to have it at Hill's Station for her by another Saturday. She +boarded at Sapp's another week, and after that rode from home every +morning and back every night. Her steed did not seem to have an arch or +curve in its whole body, but to be made up of straight lines and angles. +It reminded her of the corn-stalk horses she used to make when a little +girl. Its favorite gait was a slow walk, with its head in a drooping +dejected attitude, and sometimes it came to an entire stand-still, as if +it had reached its journey's end. When she was about to meet some one, +or heard wheels coming behind her, she tried to urge it into a spirited +trot, and to rein it in so that its neck would have some slight +appearance of a curve; but it only threw its nose into the air, +presenting a longer straight line than before, and, after trotting a +little way, it came to a sudden pause about the time the people passed +or met her. More than once she heard them laugh and felt her face burn. +If she had not known better days, she had at least known better horses, +and was aware that her steed presented a sorry appearance. The only time +it displayed any life was in the morning, when she came to catch and +saddle it. Then it trotted repeatedly around the pasture-lot, +occasionally sticking its head over the top rails, as if it had a notion +to jump the fence and run away. During the day it fed on the grass in +the school-house yard, and every day at noon she took it over to Sapp's, +drew water from their well, and gave it as many bucketfuls as it would +drink. Elvira carried her dinner, consisting generally of bread and +butter, cold meat, and pie, in a little basket hung on the horn of the +saddle, and sometimes, when she had been trotting, found on reaching +school that part of it had fallen out on the way. + +The road over which she passed every morning and evening grew familiar +to her, even to the individual trees, the mossy old stumps, the +fence-corners over-grown with wild vines. The life of the farm-houses, +as daily presented to her, furnished perpetual entertainment. She came +to know every member of every family by sight, and to associate certain +traits of character with them. Some two-story white houses stood back +from the road in the retirement of fruit- and shade-trees, and seemed +reserved and dignified; other smaller houses were only a few steps +removed, and had their wood-piles on the side of the road. One little +new cabin in the corner of a strip of woods especially interested +Elvira. It was the home of a lately-married pair, young folks full of +energy and ambition. The husband chopped down trees, ploughed, or +ditched his land, as if he were working for a wager, and the wife was +equally active and industrious. Her bright tin milk-pans were out +sunning early every morning, her churning and ironing were done in the +cool part of the forenoons, her front yard was always neatly swept, and +the borders were bright with balsams, petunias, and other flowers. + +Then the world of nature unfolded every day something fresh to the +solitary rider,--the blue depths of summer sky in which great masses of +dazzling white clouds were heaped, the thick beech woods, where it was +always cool and pleasant, the swamps, with their spicy fragrance, their +variety of growth, and their slow-running streams of clear brown water. +The blossoming blue-flags of May gave way in June to the fragrant wild +roses, and these were followed in July and August by ripe raspberries +and blackberries, which grew plentifully along the fence-corners and +could be had for the picking. + +Toward the latter part of the term, Elvira was frequently invited by her +pupils to go home with them on Friday night and spend Saturday at their +house, now one girl, now another, saying, "Miss Hill, mother said ask +you to come home with us to-night." And when she went, she found that +the farmer's wife had prepared something extra for supper in expectation +of her coming,--fried chicken, and honey, and other home luxuries,--and +seemed glad of the little break in the monotony of farm-life which the +school-ma'am's visit afforded. The faded family photographs and old +daguerreotypes were brought out for her entertainment, and she was told +that "This is Aunt Lizzie Barnwell: she lives in Grant County, and this +is her husband, and these are her children. This is Grandpa and Grandma +Brown, and this is grandma's brother, ma's uncle. For a long time he +thought that was a cancer on his nose, but it turned out to be only a +wart. And this is Mr. and Mrs. Holmes: they used to live neighbors to +us, but now they have moved to Kansas. And this is Johnnie and Sarah and +Nelson Holmes. Nelson used to be real mean: he pulled our hair at +school, and threw clods of dirt at us when we were coming home of +nights, and we always thought he stole our watermelons, and we were glad +when he moved away; but we liked Sarah and Johnnie." And so on through +the list of relatives and acquaintances. On these visits Elvira +generally slept on a high feather bed in the best room, or in a little +bedroom opening from the parlor,--for not all the homes were as humble +as Sapp's,--and the oldest daughter of the family slept with her. On +Saturday forenoon she often went berry-picking with the children, +crossing the corn-fields in the hot sun, climbing fences, and so gaining +the thickets or woods where the blackberry-vines grew wild, with gallons +of ripe berries ready for nimble finders. "Look out for snakes!" the +children used to call to each other when deep in the bushes, but they +never saw anything more than a harmless garter-snake, or perhaps a +water-snake in the swamp. Saturday afternoons she sat and talked with +the farmer's wife, assisting in the sewing or quilting or whatever work +of this kind was on hand; and when she rode home in the cool of the +evening it was always with some little delicacy in her basket for her +grandmother,--a glass tumbler of honey, a cake, some pickles or +preserves, or a quart bottle of maple syrup, which her hostess had given +her at parting. + +Near the end of the term, Maggie Loper invited Elvira to go home with +her Friday night and spend Saturday. "Mother says for you to come. We're +going to thrash, Saturday, and we'll have a big dinner and lots of fun." +She meant that they were to thresh wheat, and it was the stir and +excitement of this event which she called fun. Elvira accepted the +invitation, and went home with Maggie at the time appointed. She felt at +home among these farm festivals, and enjoyed them, the work included, +for she had as yet acted only as assistant, and had not felt the +responsibility of "cookin' for thrashers" which weighs so heavily on +housewives. It is not alone the fact that they must provide dinner and +supper for fifteen or twenty hungry men, but the knowledge that their +viands will be compared, favorably or unfavorably, with those of other +women in the neighborhood. So they exert themselves to provide a +variety, and load their tables with rich food, insomuch that "goin' with +the thrashers" means to farm-workers in this section a round of +sumptuous living. The Loper family rose Saturday morning while the east +was red, and did the milking and despatched breakfast earlier than +usual. The threshers were coming at eight o'clock, and they hoped to get +the engine and threshing-machine in order and be well under way at nine. +Two neighbor women came over to help Mrs. Loper, and Elvira assisted +Maggie in all her tasks. Together they cleaned and scraped a tub half +full of potatoes, plucked the feathers of two fat hens, gathered a lot +of beets and summer squashes, and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes into +dishes of vinegar, adding pepper and salt; they brought eggs from the +barn, rousing a protesting cackle among the hens by scaring some of them +off their nests, and milk and butter from the spring-house. + +In the mean time Mrs. Loper and her two assistants, warm and red, but +sustained by the importance of the occasion, were at work in the +kitchen, beating eggs and stirring sugar and butter together for cakes, +making pies, and roasting, baking, boiling, and stewing. When their +other tasks were done, Maggie and Elvira were deputed to set the table. +Two long tables were placed end to end in the shade of some maple-trees +which stood near the house, and covered with white cloths, then the +plates, knives and forks, and drinking-glasses were placed in order. The +Loper supply of dishes was not sufficient, but there were two large +basketfuls which had been borrowed from neighbors for the occasion, and, +by having recourse to these, the tables were furnished. Chairs were +brought from kitchen and parlor and every room in the house, but even +then two were lacking. "Never mind," said Maggie: "Joe and Will can sit +on nail-kegs," referring to two of her brothers. + +The men and machinery and wagons had come early in the day, the engine +drawn by two oxen, the threshing-machine by four horses. The oxen swayed +hither and thither as they were driven through the gates and into the +barn-lot, and the driver cracked his whip and cried, "You Buck! You +Berry! Gee! Haw! Whoa!" till one was ready to wonder that the bewildered +animals did anything right. At last the engine was in the desired +position, and the oxen were released from their yoke, to stand with +panting sides in the shade of the barn. Then the threshing-machine was +stationed in its place, and the broad band put on which connected it +with the engine. In the mean time, those whose duty it was to haul water +from the creek had brought three or four barrelfuls to the boiler, fire +had been built in the engine, and the engineer "got up steam." Two +wagons were off to the field, where the wheat still stood in shocks, and +as soon as they returned, piled high with yellow sheaves, the work began +in earnest. Two men--cutters and feeders, as they were called--received +the sheaves tossed to them from the wagons, cut the withes of straw +which bound them, and pushed them evenly into the thresher. Farmer Loper +himself and one of his sons stood at the place where the grain ran out, +and as fast as one bushel-measure was filled another one was set in its +place and the wheat poured into a sack. When a sack was full it was tied +up and set back out of the way. Other laborers stood at the back part of +the thresher, where the straw came out, and, with pitch-forks in hand, +tossed it about until the foundation for a stack was formed. Then they +stood on the stack, rising higher as it rose, trampling the straw and +pitching it into place. The chaff and dust flew upon them until their +faces, their hat-brims, and the shoulders of their colored shirts were +covered, and the perspiration streamed from every pore. No wonder that +the wives and mothers of these farmers dreaded the wash-days after a +week of threshing. There was noise and excitement enough in connection +with the dust and work,--the puffing of the engine, the whir and shake +and rattle of the threshing-machine, and the raised voices of the men +calling to each other or giving orders. The engineer and the feeders and +cutters were conceded to have the most responsible positions, but the +duties of the other workers were also important. There must be water for +the boiler, and the wheat must be brought from the field fast enough to +keep a constant supply on hand, the straw must be stacked well, and the +grain accurately measured. At exactly twelve o'clock the engineer blew a +long loud whistle, the band was thrown off, the wheels of the thresher +ceased to revolve, and the work came to a stand-still. Comments were +exchanged on the progress made during the forenoon and the quality of +the wheat, then the tired horses were unharnessed and fed, and Farmer +Loper led the way toward the house. Here on a bench by the well were all +the wash-pans and wash-bowls the house afforded, and clean towels hung +on the roller and on nails outside the door. The men washed their hands +and faces, and, by the aid of a small looking-glass hung by the towels, +and a comb attached to a string, combed their hair. To the women it was +the most exciting moment of the day. They were dishing up the dinner and +putting the finishing-touches to the table. Finally all was ready. Mrs. +Loper spoke to her husband, and he said, "Come, men, dinner's ready," +and led the way to the table. He took the chair at one end, his oldest +son that at the other, and the others ranged themselves at will between. + +Mrs. Loper poured out coffee in the kitchen, the neighbor women carried +the cups and saucers, Maggie waited on the table, passing the bread +around first, and Elvira stood with a bunch of peacock's feathers in her +hand and kept off the flies. A boiled ham was at the head of the table, +a pair of roast fowls at the foot; between stood a long row of +vegetables,--potatoes, string-beans, squash, beets, and others,--and +near the large tureens were smaller dishes,--cold-slaw, tomatoes, +cucumbers, pickles and preserves of various kinds. A large cake stood on +a glass cake-stand in the middle of the table, flanked on one side by a +deep glass dish full of canned peaches, on the other by a similar one of +floating island, while all the available remaining space was occupied by +pies,--apple-pies, custard, berry-pies, cream-pies. To have a variety of +pies on a festal occasion was the ambition of every housewife, seven +different kinds of pies and three kinds of cake being not uncommon. If a +map of the region where pie prevails is ever drawn up and printed, this +section of the country will be shaded unusually dark. To have company to +dinner and not set pie before them would be considered a breach of an +ancient and well-grounded custom: the best of puddings or other forms of +dessert would be regarded only as an evasion. Pie was not out of place +at supper; and the instance of one family comes to mind where steamed +mince-pie for breakfast was eaten, and considered both appropriate and +delicious. + +At Farmer Loper's harvest-table sweet milk and fresh buttermilk were +among the drinks, but most of the men preferred coffee, and drank it hot +out of the saucers. Some sets of dishes included tiny cup-plates, in +which to set the coffee-cups that they might not stain the table-cloth; +but Mrs. Loper had none, and the men scraped their cups on the edge of +the saucers before placing them on the clean white cloth. One man drank +six cups of coffee, then said he guessed he wouldn't take any more, +adding, "It's best to be moderate." At this all the men burst into a +roar of laughter, except one, who grew red in the face and ate his +dinner in silence. It seemed that while hauling that day one of his +horses had balked, and in his anger he had lifted one foot to kick it, +but missed it, lost his balance, and fell. He arose from the fall +somewhat ashamed, and remarked, "It's best to be moderate." This +incident had amused the others very much, and any allusion to it caused +laughter. + +The women waited on the table, not in the sense of changing plates and +bringing fresh courses, for all the dinner was before them, but +replenishing cups and glasses when they were empty, refilling the +vegetable-tureens and bread-plates, cutting the pies and cake and +passing them around, and serving out the canned peaches and the custard +in small dishes. They were also careful to see that the pickles and +preserves were passed to every one. + +With most of the men present Elvira was acquainted: they were the +patrons of her school, and found time in the midst of eating and general +conversation to ask how Johnnie was a-comin' on in his spellin', or if +Annie was gettin' along well in her 'rithmetic, adding, "I'll be wantin' +her to calkilate interest for me by and by." Bert Mowrer's father +inquired about his boy, then added cheerfully, "If he don't behave, lick +him,--lick him: that's what I tell every teacher." + +Farmer Loper and the engineer fell to discussing how many bushels of +wheat to the acre the neighboring farms had produced, and how many this +would probably produce, with various comments on the weather and the +soil. A little farther down the table a young farmer was telling of the +speed made by his brown mare Kitty,--how she passed every team on the +road, and that he wouldn't take a hundred and fifty dollars for her; and +farther still, two or three were discussing the affairs of an absent +neighbor,--how he had bought the Caldwell place, but, not being able to +pay for it, had given a mortgage, and hadn't managed the farm very well, +had let the interest run behind, they had heard, so there was a prospect +of his losing it. + +"I guess he won't have to give it up," said one: "the woman that raised +his wife has got plenty of money, and if he can't make it, she'll pay +for the place and let them live on it. She's helped them several times +already. If he wasn't so lazy and shiftless he might have everything in +good shape." + +But a conversation which was going on at the lower end of the table +interested Elvira most of all. It was about birds, including some of +her favorites of the woods and fields which she had noticed a great deal +in her solitary rides that summer. The principal speaker was a young +farmer whom she had never seen before. He seemed to be acquainted with +the names and habits of all the birds which lived in that section, +besides many which merely passed through it on their way northward every +spring and southward every fall. + +"I have kept a record of the time of each arrival," he said, "and notes +of rare birds. The bluebird came first, and the humming-bird last. And I +discovered two birds that were new to me. One is a Northern bunting. A +flock stayed one day in our orchard on their way northward to their +summer home, and I succeeded in killing and stuffing a pair. The +feathers of the male were a beautiful pink-red. The other strange bird +seemed to come with the scarlet tanager, and is much like a pee-wee in +shape and size, with feathers of a greenish yellow." + +"When do you find time to learn so much about birds?" asked George +Loper, who knew only a few of the more common ones,--blackbirds, crows, +jays, hawks, and robins,--and had no eyes for the variety of feathered +life around him. + +"I keep my eyes open as I work and as I go along the road," answered +young Farmer Worth; "then I look up their names and read something about +them in a book on birds which I have. You've no idea how much enjoyment +there is in it. I have quite a collection of birds which I have stuffed, +and more than a hundred different kinds of eggs, besides my cabinet of +mineral specimens. I nailed two ladders together, and climbed thirty +feet above these and got a crow's nest; and this spring we found a +hawk's nest in a high tree. We tied a stout twine to a small stone, +which we threw over the forks of the tree, and with this drew a large +rope over. Then I sat in the noose of the rope, and three boys pulled me +up sixty feet to the nest. It was rather scary, I can tell you, and I +was glad to get down to the ground again; but I got the hawk's nest." + +Then Elvira asked him if he could tell her the name of the bird with a +yellow head, but otherwise black plumage, which she had noticed not long +before in a flock of common blackbirds; and they were soon in an +animated conversation on the subject of birds in general. Elvira had +noticed many that summer which she could describe, but whose names she +did not know. + +Soon the men began to leave the table, for it was not the custom to wait +till all had done eating, but for each one to go when he was ready. +George Loper went away grumbling that he couldn't see any use in +learning about birds: all he wanted was for the crows and blackbirds to +keep away from the corn when it was first planted. But Elvira and young +Worth talked ten minutes longer, finding more and more that they were +interested in the same subjects. Then the women began to clear away the +plates and cups and knives, and Elvira turned to assist them, while her +new acquaintance joined his companions, who were resting in the shade of +the trees. There he encountered some good-natured chaff from the younger +members, who began by asking him if he was struck with the school-ma'am. +The responsibility of the threshers' dinner being over, Mrs. Loper and +her assistants sat down to the table, to eat their own dinner at ease, +and exchange remarks with each other, complimenting or criticising their +cooking. + +"This chicken-stuffin' is real good," said one of the neighbors to Mrs. +Loper. + +"Well, I don't know," said Mrs. Loper, tasting some of it on the end of +her knife: "'pears to me I put a leetle too much sage in it. But the +gravy you made, Mirandy, that couldn't be better. Didn't you see how the +men kept askin' for it to be passed? And they've et up all the summer +squash and all the cream-pie. Taste some of these plum preserves, Mis' +Brown, and don't let me forget to send some to your little girls: I +remember how well they like 'em. This cake is real light and good, but I +was afraid it would fall. This float would 'a' been better if I'd had a +little lemon flavor to put in it. But I guess, on the whole, the dinner +went off middlin' well." Then, seeing Elvira and Maggie sitting on the +opposite side of the table, some deeper thoughts were stirred in her +motherly heart, and she began to talk of the daughter she had lost years +before: "If Lucy had lived, she'd 'a' been seventeen this spring,--just +your age; and you remind me of her sometimes. She always had such red +cheeks, and was never sick a day till she was taken down with the +diphtheria." + +For a while the affairs of the present were forgotten, as the old and +never-wholly-healed wound was opened afresh and she dwelt upon her +bereavement; but soon the round of work must be taken up, the dishes +must be washed, the victuals set away, and supper for the threshers must +be planned and prepared. It was best so. "Time, the healer, and work, +the consoler," enable us to bear many things which in the first keen +freshness of grief seem unbearable. + +The threshers thought they would be done by six o'clock, so they decided +not to stop for supper at five, as was the custom, but wait for their +evening meal till the work of the day was completed. Elvira started home +before this time, and good Mrs. Loper not only filled her own little +basket, but made her take a larger one packed with remains of the feast. + +There were three weeks more of her school, and during that time she saw +young Farmer Worth several times. Twice she met him in the road, and +once he stopped at the school-house to bring her Wilson's book on birds, +which he had promised to lend her. But the day before school closed he +came and helped Jack Sapp and some other boys make a platform in the +woods, on which the children could speak their declamations and sing +their songs, and on the afternoon of the last day of school was present +in the crowd of parents, brothers, sisters, and friends assembled on +that important and, to the children, most exciting occasion. There were +declamations from the third and fourth readers,--"How big was Alexander, +Pa?" and "He never smiled again," and "Lord Ullin's Daughter,"--and +Maggie Loper held the audience spell-bound by an entirely new one, which +Elvira had selected and copied for her out of a book of poems,--"The +Dream of Eugene Aram." Then there were songs, and dialogues, and two +compositions, one on "Rats" and one on "Planting Corn," which had been +produced by their respective authors after much wear of brain fibre and +much blotting of writing-paper. Last of all, Elvira read one of +Longfellow's poems, after which she said that the exercises of the +school were over, but that remarks from visitors would be gladly +received. Then one of the trustees arose, and said that education was a +great blessing, that he hoped the children of the present day would +appreciate their advantages and grow up to be useful men and women, +adding that all the schooling he had received was three winter terms in +a log school-house, one entire end of which was occupied by the +fireplace, and which had no glass windows, the light being admitted +through holes cut in the logs and covered with greased foolscap-paper. +No other remarks being offered, the audience was dismissed, and the +children began in an excited hurry to collect their possessions, and bid +their teacher good-by as if for a life-long parting. Some of them even +shed tears, and this occasioned the cynical remark from a by-stander, +"Them Mays children needn't to take on so: the school-ma'am will have to +call at their house often enough before she gits her money." + +Soon the spot was deserted, and the squirrels came down from the trees +to retake possession of their old haunts, to scamper across the +platform, to sniff at the fallen rose-petals of the bouquets, and to +nibble the crumbs of cake and bread dropped from the lunch-baskets. + +The next outing for the people of Buck Creek neighborhood was the +county fair, which occurred in September. They went in spring-wagons, in +farm-wagons, in buggies, and on horseback, starting early in the +morning, and taking an ample supply of provisions for themselves as well +as feed for their horses. + +The sunshine poured down hot upon them, and there was much dust, but +they were happy. There were crowds of people from all the surrounding +country; there were displays of vegetables, fruit, honey, butter, in +tents and sheds,--in short, all the products of a farming region; there +were cakes, loaves of bread, glasses of jelly, and jars of pickles and +preserves, made by farmers' wives; and in the department allotted to +needle-work there were quilts of various patterns and various claims to +public notice: one had three thousand five hundred and forty-four pieces +in it, and was made by a great-granddaughter of Daniel Boone, the +pioneer; another was pieced by an old lady of eighty-one without the aid +of glasses. Among the live-stock were fat cattle and prancing +three-year-old colts, with red or blue ribbons fastened to their manes, +indicating that they had received the first or second prize, and fat +hogs; there were various breeds of poultry in coops, and before each +stall or pen or coop stood a group of spectators, admiring, commenting, +or asking questions of the owner; there were agricultural machines and +implements, and patent pumps for stock-yards, and improved cross-cut +saws, each strongly recommended to the public by a glib-tongued agent. +Then there were stands for the sale of ice-cream, lemonade, and peanuts +and candy; and no rural beau felt that he had done the polite thing +unless he took his girl up to the counter and treated her. When he had +strolled all over the ground with her, and perhaps taken her into one or +two side-shows, where there were negro minstrels or the Wild Australian +Children, he went and sat in a buggy with her, and they talked, and +waited for the horse-race, or balloon-ascension, or wire-walking, which +was the especial attraction of the afternoon. + +"Why, who's that with Tom Worth?" asked one Buck Creek belle of her +escort as they were thus sitting together. "I didn't know that he was +goin' with anybody?" + +"I didn't, either," was the response; then, after a little pause, "I'll +swan, it's Miss Hill, the school-ma'am. Who'd 'a' thought they would be +here together? I didn't know they were acquainted." + +And this remark was echoed by other Buck Creek people as they saw the +couple walking together. But there is a law of affinity by which people +are drawn together as lovers or as friends, which is like some of the +hidden forces of nature: we cannot see their operation, we can only see +their results. Some one has made the paradoxical remark that we are +acquainted with our friends before we ever see them; meaning that our +tastes for the same pursuits or subjects, traits of character that +harmonize, views that coincide, have been ripening apart, and, when at +last we meet, that is sufficient; it does not require a long +acquaintanceship to reveal one to the other. + +Young Farmer Worth was now in the habit of frequently calling to see +Elvira Hill, and of taking her out riding in his buggy, that being an +approved form of courtship in this section. They talked of their +favorite books and studies, their ambitions for the future as regarded +mental culture, and their individual plans. + +Elvira had applied for the position of assistant in the Hill's Station +school, and had been engaged as first assistant instead of second, which +was better than she had hoped. She would have to hear some advanced +classes from the principal's room, and this would require her to study, +which would be a source of improvement. + +Young Farmer Worth, whose father had died three years before, had bought +the home farm, and was now working to pay his older brothers and sisters +for their shares in it and to comfortably support his mother in her +declining years. + +"There are eighty acres in it, well improved, and with good buildings," +he said one day, while unfolding his plans to Elvira, "and I think I can +make a good home of it, and a happy one, where I can feel independent, +and no one's servant, as I could not at any other business. Farming is a +profession, and I intend to work with my head as well as my hands, to +read and study on the subject, to take the best agricultural papers, and +keep up with the times. My fondness for ornithology and mineralogy can +be indulged in connection with my work on the farm and without in any +wise interfering with it." + +In the winter he came occasionally to take her to lectures at +Sassafrasville or another neighboring town, and they always found food +for thought in what they heard, and pleasure in discussing it afterward. + +The gossips said, "There's a match;" but it was not until spring that +they were engaged. Then he took her to see his mother, and showed her +the old home, the farm, and the improvements he was making. The old lady +received Elvira with mingled dignity and cordiality, but, finding her +interested in all she heard and saw, warmed toward her more and more, +and told much of her own life, unfolding the store of memories on which +her thoughts chiefly dwelt nowadays, talking of her husband, the +children she had lost, and bringing forth their pictures, opening closed +rooms, and showing dishes, linen, and other household goods which dated +back to her own girlhood and early married life. + +Elvira felt an attachment for Mrs. Worth which deepened when, in the +ensuing autumn, her dear grandmother died after a brief illness, and +she experienced the loneliness of bereavement and homelessness. The +little brown house in Hill's Station was sold, and Elvira went to board +with one of the neighbors: she was still teaching in the village school. + +When June came round again, with its beauty of earth and sky, it brought +her wedding-day. A very quiet wedding it was; but the home-coming, or +the "in-fare," to use a good old-fashioned word, was the occasion of +much joy and merry-making. It seemed as if all the Buck Creek +neighborhood had assembled to welcome the bride. Two of the farmers' +wives had been at the Worth homestead all the preceding day, and many of +them brought cakes with them. + +In the centre of the table stood a roast pig, with an apple in its +mouth, and around it were a great abundance of the substantial viands +and delicacies usually provided on such occasions. There were also many +presents for the bride from her old friends, not costly or fine, but in +keeping with their manner of living. Mrs. Loper brought a sheep-skin for +a mat, the wool combed out smoothly and colored crimson, Maggie a white +crocheted tidy as big as a cart-wheel, Mrs. Sapp a wooden butter-stamp, +Mary Sapp a picture-frame made of pasteboard, with beech-nuts glued +together thickly upon it and varnished. + +So, amid good wishes and rejoicing, the young married pair entered upon +their new life together, contented, yet energetic, and happy in the fact +that their own lives afforded fulness and enjoyment, and that in their +own efforts lay the fulfilment of their ambitions. + + LOUISE COFFIN JONES. + + + + +INTO THY HANDS. + + + Into thy hands, my Father, I commit + All, all my spirit's care, + The sorest burden this dim life can bear, + The sweetest hope wherewith its paths are lit! + Into thy hands, that hold so closely knit + What our blind, aching heart + Calls joy or grief,--we know them not apart! + Into the hands whence leap + The hurling tempest, and the gentle breath + Kissing the babe to sleep, + The flaming bolt that smites with instant death + The giant oak, and the refreshing shower + Whose balmy drops make glad the tender flower. + + What though, even as lent jewels passing bright, + That crowned me happy king + For one sweet revel of one night in spring, + I must surrender in the morning light, + That cold and gray breaks on my tearful sight, + Youth, hope, and joy, and love, + And--oh, all other gems, all price, above!-- + The deathless certainty + Of the deep life beyond this pallid sun, + That golden shore and sea + Which to my youthful feet seemed wellnigh won, + So fair, so close, so clear, methought I heard + The trees' soft whisper and faint song of bird; + + What though this fair dream, too, fled long ago, + And on my straining eyes + There break no more visions of mellow skies + 'Neath which dear friends, called dead, move on in low + Sweet converse through wide, happy fields aglow + With heavenly flower and star,-- + What though, like some poor pilgrim who from far + Sees, through a slender rift + In the dark rocks that hem his toilsome way, + The clouds an instant lift + From countries bathed in everlasting day, + I stand and stretch my yearning arms in vain + Toward the blest light, too swiftly lost again? + + Into thy hands, my Father, I commit + This dearest, last hope too, + Old as the world, and yet forever new,-- + The hope wherewith our dimmest paths are lit, + With life itself indissolubly knit! + That too is well, I know, + In thy eternal keeping. Ah! and so + Let my poor soul dismiss + Each fear and doubt, hush every anxious cry, + Forget all thought save this, + Some time,--oh, dream of joy that cannot die!-- + In those beloved hands, a priceless store, + All our lost jewels shall be found once more! + + STUART STERNE. + + + + +A CHAPTER OF MYSTERY. + + +Science, as a rule, has avoided the subject of Spiritualism. Its results +are too much unlike the hard, visible, tangible facts of scientific +research to attract those accustomed to positive investigations. And its +methods and conditions are usually of a character to set a scientist +beside himself with impatience. Crucial tests do not seem acceptable to +spirits in general. They decline to be placed on the microscopic slide +or to show their ghostly forms in the glare of the electric light, and +prefer to haunt the society of those who do not pester them with too +exacting _conditions_. Thus they have been mainly given over to a class +of somewhat credulous and, in some instances, not well-balanced mortals, +whose statements have very little weight with the general public, and +whose strong powers of digesting the marvellous have originated a +plentiful crop of fraud and trickery sufficient to throw discredit on +the whole business. + +It cannot be said, however, that all the adherents of Spiritualism are +of this character, or that science has completely failed to investigate +it. It has won over many persons of good sense and sound logic, +including several prominent scientists, to a belief in the truth of its +claims. Were its adherents all cranks or credulous believers, and its +phenomena only such common sleight-of-hand performances as suffice to +convince the open-mouthed swallowers of conjurers' tricks, it would be +idle to give it any attention. But phenomena sufficiently striking to +convert such men as Hare, Crooks, Wallace, Zoellner, and the like are +certainly worthy of some attention, and cannot be at once dismissed as +results of skilful prestidigitation. + +In fact, it is evident to those who have taken the trouble to +investigate the question seriously, and who do not dismiss it with an _a +priori_ decision, that in addition to the fraudulent mediums who make it +their business to trick the public, and are ready to produce a new +marvel for every new dollar, and to call "spirits from the vasty deep" +of the unseen universe in form and shape to suit every customer, there +are some private and strictly honest mediums, and many phenomena which +no theory of conjuring will explain. To what they are due is another +question, in regard to which no hypothesis is here offered. It may be +said here, however, that the work of the Psychic Research Society has +demonstrated rather conclusively that certain hitherto unknown and +unsuspected powers and laws of nature do exist, and that man's five +senses are not the only means by which he gains a knowledge of what is +going on in other minds than his own. The facts of thought-transference, +of mesmeric control, of apparitions of the living, and the like, as +critically tested by the members of this society, seem to indicate +clearly that mind can affect, influence, and control mind through some +other channel than that of the senses, usually over short distances, but +in case of strong mental concentration over long distances. That some +psychic medium, some ethereal atmosphere, infiltrates our grosser +atmosphere, and is capable of conveying waves of thought as the +luminiferous ether conveys waves of light, is the theory advanced in +explanation of these phenomena. Spiritualists had long before advanced a +like theory in explanation of their phenomena, claiming that disembodied +as well as living minds have the power of influencing and controlling +other minds, through the agency of such a psychic atmosphere, and also +of acting upon and moving physical substances through a like agency. As +to the probability of all this, no opinion is here offered. + +It is our purpose simply to select some of the more striking instances +of spiritualistic phenomena, as recorded by scientific observers. Those +placed on record by the numerous unscientific and unknown investigators +are not the kind of material to present to the general public. +Statements of an unusual character need to be thoroughly substantiated +before they can be accepted, and the remarkable phenomena adduced as +spiritual demand evidence of the most unquestionable character. There is +always the feeling that the observer may have been deceived by some +shrewd trickery, or have credulously accepted what others would have +readily seen through, or that the senses may have been under some form +of mesmeric control. Instances of such phenomena, therefore, need to be +attested by the names of persons of well-known honesty, judgment, and +discrimination, and attended with an exact statement of the tests +applied, before they can be accepted as thoroughly trustworthy accounts. +Some instances of this character may be here given. + +The phenomena known under the general name of spirit-manifestations vary +greatly in different instances. In some cases they take the form of +strange dreams, in which some warning or information concerning coming +events is given that afterward proves true. In others they occur as +seeming apparitions of persons recently or long dead. In others, as in +the case of haunted houses, there are noises of great variety, moving of +objects, opening and shutting of doors, appearances of unknown forms, +and all the phenomena which might be produced by an invisible inhabitant +of the house who was able to become visible under certain circumstances. +More ordinary manifestations are rapping sounds and lifting of heavy +bodies, writing either with or without apparent human agency, and mental +communication of facts unknown to or forgotten by the persons present. +Other phases are those presented by professional mediums,--the tying and +untying of ropes, playing on musical instruments, the production of +luminous phenomena, slate-writing under tables, and the like. +Performances of this character are usually done in the dark, and the +fraud which may be present is therefore not easily detected. It is +impossible to apply tests under such circumstances, and nothing can be +accepted as positive that cannot be tested. Performances similarly +surprising are constantly offered by professional conjurers, and nothing +claiming the high origin of spiritual phenomena can be received in +evidence where trickery is possible or has not been rendered impossible +by the employment of adequate tests. + +To the same class belong the cabinet performances and the so-called +materialization of spirit forms, which have been the favorite cards of +professional mediums of late years. So far as yet offered in public, +they may be dismissed in the mass as pure trickery. The fact that +stage-performers of sleight-of-hand tricks can repeat the cabinet +phenomena in every detail, and that the materialized spirit showmen have +been caught in numerous instances in the very act of fraud, throws utter +discredit on the business. No repetition by new mediums of other forms +of the exposed tricks carries any weight. In fact, in a matter of such +importance nothing can be accepted as settled until it has been +subjected to the strictest scientific tests and every possible +opportunity for deceit or trickery eliminated. We are not ready to +believe that the spirits of our departed friends are able and willing to +talk with or show themselves to us, or create disturbances in the +arrangement of our furniture, unless we are absolutely positive that our +eyes, ears, and nerves are not being cleverly fooled by some skilled and +unscrupulous show-man, or that we are not self-deceived by some +temporary vagary of our brains or senses. + +In addition to the purely physical phenomena are others of a more or +less mental character. One interesting phase of the latter is that of +planchette-writing, which attracted so much attention a few years ago. +The planchette, a heart-shaped board moving easily on casters, and with +a pencil supporting it at one extremity, moves with great readiness when +touched by mediumistic fingers, and is responsible for acres of +communications purporting to come from the world of spirits, and +conveying the greatest variety of information, alike as to the thoughts +and deeds of particular spirits and the general conditions of +disembodied spiritual existence. In other instances the planchette is +dispensed with, and the writing done by a pencil held in the hand of the +medium, or occasionally, as some persons positively declare, by a pencil +that is held in no mortal hand. In still other cases the medium, either +awake or entranced, gives the communication by word of mouth. And this +is asserted to be the case not only in respect to brief messages, but in +long addresses, which are given every Sunday in our principal cities +before large audiences, and in the writing of books of considerable +length, but not, as a rule, of any great profundity or literary value. +To all these claims, however, we can simply record the verdict "not +proven." When a man writes or says anything we want more than his mere +assertion to prove that it does not come from his own mind. And, even if +we are satisfied that he is not consciously deceiving, the possibility +remains that he is affected by some unconscious mental action. We shall +certainly not accept his declaration that spirits of the dead are +talking through him unless he gives information that could not possibly +have been in his own mind, and could not have been received by +thought-transference from the mind of any other person present +or in _rapport_ with him at a distance. The discoveries in +thought-transference open possibilities of mental influence between +living persons which aid to explain many hitherto incomprehensible +phenomena. + +Clairvoyant and clairaudiant mediums fall into the same category. They +profess to see forms which no one else can see, and to hear voices which +no one else can hear, and describe these forms, or repeat the words of +these voices, often with the effect of recalling the appearance or +character of deceased persons whom they could not possibly have known. +Yet the fact remains that the persons who recognize these descriptions +as accurate must have known the parties described, and it becomes +possible that the mental impression of the medium may have been received +by thought-transference from them. We do not assert that it has been so +received. We assert nothing. In fact, phenomena are claimed to occur +which it is difficult or impossible to explain on any such theory, or on +any other theory yet promulgated. Among these is the conveyance of +matter through matter, as of an object from the interior to the exterior +of a corked and sealed bottle, of other objects from a distance into +locked rooms, of writing by a sliver of pencil in the interior of a +double slate firmly screwed together, of the placing of close-fitting +steel rings in one solid piece around human necks, and their subsequent +removal, of writing and speaking in languages unknown to some or all of +the persons present, and a considerable variety of similar performances, +declared to have occurred under strict test-conditions. Yet if we cannot +explain we retain the right to doubt, and such statements cannot be +received as facts except on the strongest substantiation. + +The phenomena whose main forms we have here given, but whose actual +variety we cannot attempt to give, are offered on the testimony of a +great variety of persons, many of whom are plainly too credulous for +their evidence to be of any value whatever, while others, who seem to +have exercised great caution and cool judgment, are unknown to the +general public, and therefore not likely to be accepted as witnesses in +such a critical case. Others, again, who are well known and highly +respected, have invalidated their testimony by clearly letting +themselves be deceived. Such was the case with Robert Dale Owen, one of +the main historians of spiritual phenomena, who permitted himself to be +pitifully humbugged in Philadelphia by the somewhat famous spirit of +Katie King, whose spirit face was afterward discovered on the sturdy +shoulders of a very decidedly incarnate young lady. This was one of the +first instances of that throng of materialized frauds with which this +country has ever since been well supplied. + +But there have been numerous investigators of spiritualism who cannot be +placed in any such category, many of them men of high standing in the +scientific world, whose word is still taken as positive evidence in +support of very surprising scientific statements, since they are known +to examine and test phenomena with the closest and most accurate +scrutiny. This class of observers is particularly abundant in the London +scientific world, and includes in its list such noted names as Alfred +Russel Wallace, the celebrated naturalist, Dr. William Crooks, whose +discoveries in chemistry and physics have been of a remarkable +character, and Dr. Huggins, the equally celebrated astronomer. In +America the most noted scientific observer was the late Dr. Hare, of +Philadelphia, a chemist of world-wide fame. Of those who, if not +professed scientists, have been otherwise of high standing, Professor +Wallace names, in a recent communication to the "Times," Dr. Robert +Chambers, Dr. Elliotson, and Professor William Gregory, of Edinburgh, +Dr. Gully, a scientific physician of Malvern, and Judge Edmonds, one of +the best known American lawyers. Names of similar reputation in the +scientific and professional world might be adduced from Germany and +France, prominent among them the late Professor Zoellner, of Leipsic, a +well-known astronomer; but the above-given will suffice as evidence that +the investigation of spiritualism has not been confined to the unknown, +unlearned, and credulous, but has been pursued by men of the very +highest standing for probity, learning, sound judgment, and critical +discrimination. + +The results reached by these men are therefore of great weight, and go +far to fix the status of the phenomena examined. We may say here that +several of them have become acknowledged converts to the spiritual +theory. More generally, however, they have declined to express positive +opinions as to the cause of these phenomena, while positively testifying +that they are not the result of trickery, but that they indicate the +existence of some power or energy in nature which is able to suspend or +overcome the operation of nature's ordinary forces. Only two prominent +scientists, who have made any pretence to examine these phenomena, have +declared that they are _in toto_ the result of fraud. These two are +Professor Faraday and Dr. Carpenter. But the investigations made by +these noted personages were too trivial to render their decision of any +value. Faraday briefly examined the phenomena of table-tipping, and +decided that it was due to involuntary muscular movement. Dr. Carpenter +reasserted the same, years after this explanation had been shown to be +entirely inadequate, and declared that the mental phenomena were due +only to _unconscious cerebration_, or the action of memories and ideas +long since stored in the mind, when the consciousness is otherwise +engaged and the person is unaware of the activity of his mental stores. +This theory, we may also say, is utterly inadequate to explain all the +phenomena, and only applies by a strained interpretation to the +instances which Dr. Carpenter gives in illustration. + +One of the most striking of these instances we may here append. A +student relates that a professor had said to his class in mathematics, +of which this student was a member, "'A question of great difficulty has +been referred to me by a banker, a very complicated question of +accounts, which they themselves have not been able to bring to a +satisfactory issue, and they have asked my assistance. I have been +trying, and I cannot resolve it. I have covered whole sheets of paper +with calculations and have not been able to make it out. Will you try?' +He gave it as a sort of problem to his class, and said he would be +extremely obliged to any one who would bring him the solution on a +certain day. This gentleman tried it over and over again. He covered +many slates with figures, but could not succeed in resolving it. He was +a little put on his mettle, and very much desired to attain the +solution. But he went to bed on the night before the solution, if +attained, was to be given in, without having succeeded. In the morning, +when he went to his desk, he found the whole problem worked out in his +own hand. He was perfectly sure that it was his own hand. And this was a +curious part of it, that the result was attained by a process very much +shorter than any he had tried. He had covered three or four sheets of +paper in his attempts, and this was all worked out on one page, and +correctly worked, as the result proved. He inquired of the woman who +attended to his room, and she said that she was certain no one had +entered it during the night. It was perfectly clear that this had been +worked out by himself." + +Instances of this kind are certainly very curious, and seem to show that +the mind, when set in any train of thought by intense concentration, may +pursue it after consciousness has been withdrawn. And the result +indicates that the mind acts with innate logic when not disturbed by +distracting considerations, and can be trusted to do more correct work +when thus set going and left to run of itself than when consciously held +to its work. Yet an examination of every recorded instance of this kind +strongly indicates that no such unconscious mental action ever takes +place except when the consciousness has been earnestly directed to the +subject in advance, that no marked instances of this activity ever occur +except in the unconsciousness of sleep or trance, and that it ceases +when the mental excitement that started it has gradually subsided. There +is not an instance on record to show that the mind ever originates +unconscious action, or that any of its remote stores or powers ever +spring into activity without being aroused by sensation or conscious +thought. Thus the doctrine of _unconscious cerebration_ has been carried +much further than the facts warrant. It need hardly be said that it is +utterly inapplicable as a theory to many of the facts adduced by the +Society for Psychic Research. + +In the year 1869 the London Dialectical Society, an association of +cultured liberals, embracing many well-known personages, appointed a +committee to examine "the asserted phenomena of Spiritualism." The +committee divided itself into six sub-committees, each of which +submitted a report, and according to a general report, published in +1871, "these reports substantially corroborated each other." We may +therefore quote the more interesting points from the report of one of +the sub-committees: + +"All of these meetings were held at the private residences of members of +the committee, purposely to preclude the possibility of prearranged +mechanism or contrivance. The furniture of the room in which the +experiments were conducted was on every occasion its accustomed +furniture. The tables were in all cases heavy dining-tables, and +required a strong effort to move them. The smallest of them was five +feet nine inches long and four feet wide, and the largest nine feet +three inches long and four and a half feet wide, and of proportionate +weight. The rooms, tables, and furniture generally were repeatedly +subjected to careful examination, before, during, and after the +experiments, to ascertain that no concealed machinery, instrument, or +other contrivance existed, by means of which the sounds or movements +hereinafter mentioned could be caused. The experiments were conducted in +the light of gas, except on the few occasions specially noted in the +minutes. + +"Of the members of your sub-committee about four-fifths entered upon the +investigation wholly sceptical as to the reality of the alleged +phenomena, firmly believing them to be the result either of _imposture_, +or of _delusion_, or of _involuntary muscular action_. It was only by +irresistible evidence, under conditions that precluded the possibility +of either of these solutions, and after trials and tests many times +repeated, that the most sceptical of your sub-committee were slowly and +reluctantly convinced that the phenomena exhibited in the course of +their protracted inquiry were _veritable facts_. The result of their +long-continued and carefully-conducted experiments, after trial by every +delicate test they could devise, has been to establish _conclusively_,-- + +"First. That under certain _bodily_ and _mental_ conditions of one or +more of the persons present a force is exhibited sufficient to set in +motion heavy substances, without the employment of any muscular force, +and without contact or material connection of any kind between such +substances and the body of any person present. + +"Second. That this force can cause sounds to proceed, distinctly audible +to all present, from solid substances not in contact with nor having any +visible or material connection with the body of any person present, and +which sounds are proved to proceed from such substances by the +vibrations which are distinctly felt when they are touched. + +"Third. That this force is frequently directed by intelligence." + +Of the many experiments described in this report we will quote here but +one: + +"On one occasion, when eleven members of your sub-committee had been +sitting around one of the dining-tables above described for forty +minutes, and various sounds and motions had occurred, they, by way of +test, turned the backs of their chairs to the table, at about nine +inches from it. They all then knelt upon their chairs, placing their +arms upon the backs thereof. In this position their feet were of course +turned away from the table, and by no possibility could be placed under +it or touch the floor. The hands of each person were extended over the +table, at about four inches from the surface. Contact, therefore, with +any part of the table could not take place without detection. In less +than a minute the table, untouched, moved four times,--at first about +four inches to one side, then about twelve to the other side, and then, +in like manner, four and six inches respectively." + +The committee further remarks that after this experiment "the table was +carefully examined, turned upside down, and taken to pieces, but nothing +was discovered to account for the phenomenon. Delusion was out of the +question. The movements were in various directions, and were witnessed +simultaneously by all present. They were matters of _measurement_, and +not of opinion or fancy. Your sub-committee have not collectively +obtained any evidence as to the nature and source of this force, but +simply as to the _fact of its existence_." + +Mr. Sergeant Cox, a member of this sub-committee and a prominent member +of the English bar, relates that he experimented elsewhere in the same +manner as that above described, and with similar results, a heavy +dining-table being employed. Afterward, when all the party stood in a +circle round the table, holding hands, at first two and then three feet +distant, the table lurched four times, once more than two feet and with +great force, and moved to such an extent as to become completely turned +round. After the party had broken up, and were standing in groups about +the room, the table, which was about two feet from its original +position, swung violently back to its proper place and set itself +exactly square with the room, with such force as literally to knock down +a lady who was standing in the way putting on her shawl for departure. + +Mr. Cox, after a close examination of these phenomena, offered a theory +in explanation somewhat differing from that already mentioned. He +believes that they are due to the action of some psychic force, +originating in the nervous system and analogous in character to magnetic +attraction. He relates several instances of heavy bodies moving toward +the mediums, as if attracted, and remarks, "In another experiment in my +own lighted drawing-room, as the psychic [the medium] was entering the +room with myself, _no other person being there_, an easy-chair of great +weight that was standing fourteen feet from us was suddenly lifted from +the floor and drawn to him with great rapidity, precisely as a heavy +magnet will attract a mass of iron." + +Another phase of these phenomena, as observed by the committee, was the +sudden and considerable change of weight in the table, it becoming light +or heavy as desired. To prove this scientifically, a weighing-machine +was attached, and the change of weight clearly proved. "One instance +will suffice. Weighed by the machine, the normal weight of a table +raised from the floor eighteen inches on one side was eight pounds. +Desired to be light, the index fell to five pounds; desired to be heavy, +it advanced to eighty-two pounds. And these changes were instantaneous +and repeated many times." + +The most remarkable evidence adduced by scientific observers is that +presented by Professor Crooks. He is a chemist of high reputation, the +editor of the "Chemical News" and for many years of the "Quarterly +Journal of Science," the discoverer of the metallic element thallium, +and of recent years noted for his remarkable discoveries in the +conditions of matter in highly-exhausted vacuum-tubes. In 1870 he +undertook the investigation of Spiritualism, with the full expectation +of exposing it as a compound of trickery on the one side and of +credulity and self-deception on the other. In January, 1874, he +published, in the "Quarterly Journal of Science," a brief compend of the +notes of his investigations during the four years preceding. Some of the +phenomena here recorded are so extraordinary that they would not be +worthy an instant's attention but for the attestation of a witness of +such standing, and one accustomed to the employment of the severest +scientific tests. + +The phenomena recorded, as he declares, with few exceptions, all took +place in his own house and in full light, at times appointed by himself, +"and under conditions that absolutely precluded the employment of the +very simplest instrumental aid." In all cases only private friends were +present besides the medium. The mediums employed were the noted D. D. +Home and Miss Kate Fox, of Rochester-rappings notoriety. Of the simpler +phenomena observed were the movement of heavy bodies with contact, but +without mechanism or exertion, percussive and other sounds, etc. He +remarks,-- + +"I have had these sounds proceeding from the floor, walls, etc., when +the medium's hands and feet were held, when she was standing on a chair, +when she was suspended in a swing from the ceiling, when she was +enclosed in a wire cage, and when she had fallen fainting on a sofa. I +have had them on a glass harmonicon. I have felt them on my own shoulder +and under my own hands. I have heard them on a sheet of paper held +between the fingers by a piece of thread passed through one corner. I +have tested them in every way that I could devise; and there has been no +escape from the conviction that they were true objective occurrences, +not produced by trickery or mechanical means." Intelligence is +manifested by these sounds, "sometimes of such a character as to lead to +the belief that it does not emanate from any person present." + +He records numerous instances of the movement of heavy bodies when not +touched: "My own chair has been twisted partly round while my feet were +off the floor. A chair was seen by all present to move slowly up to the +table from a far corner when all were watching it; on another occasion +an arm-chair moved to where we were sitting, and then moved slowly back +again (a distance of about three feet) at my request." + +"On five separate occasions a heavy dining-table rose between a few +inches and one and a half feet off the floor, under special +circumstances which rendered trickery impossible.... On another occasion +the table rose from the floor, not only when no person was touching it, +but under conditions which I had prearranged so as to assure +unquestionable proof of the fact." + +As to the power of overcoming gravity, he tested it by the use of a +weighing-machine specially constructed and very delicate in its +operation, being so arranged that its extremity could not possibly move +downward without external pressure. Yet it did so move downward when the +medium's fingers were held over it without touching it. This experiment +was conducted in a way that renders it absolutely certain that some +force beyond those visible to the persons present was in operation. + +He also describes the lifting of human bodies without visible external +aid: "On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, +rise several inches from the ground.... At another time two children, on +separate occasions, rose from the floor with their chairs, in full +daylight, under (to me) most satisfactory conditions; for I was kneeling +and keeping close watch upon the feet of the chair, and observing that +no one might touch them." + +Among other strange manifestations, he positively declares that his +library-bell was brought into a room in which he was sitting with the +medium, with locked doors, both he and his children having seen and +handled the bell a short time before in the library. Also a piece of +China grass was taken from a vase on the table, and before his eyes +seemed to pass through the substance of the table. Observation showed +that there was a crack in the table through which it had apparently +passed. But this crack was much narrower than the diameter of the grass, +yet the latter showed no signs of abrasion or change of shape. + +As to the intelligence manifested by this strange power he gives the +following instance. A lady was writing with a planchette. "I asked, 'Can +you see the contents of this room?' 'Yes,' wrote the planchette. 'Can +you see to read this newspaper?' said I, putting my finger on a copy of +the 'Times' which was on the table behind me, but without looking at it. +'Yes,' was the reply of the planchette. 'Well,' I said, 'if you can see +that, write the word that is now covered by my finger, and I will +believe you.' The planchette commenced to move. Slowly and with great +difficulty the word 'however' was written out. I turned round, and saw +that the word 'however' was covered by the tip of my finger. I had +purposely avoided looking at the newspaper when I tried this experiment, +and it was impossible for the lady, had she tried, to have seen any of +the printed words, for she was sitting at one table, and the paper was +on another table behind, my body intervening." + +The most remarkable phenomena attested by Professor Crooks, however, are +those classed as luminous appearances, and particularly as luminous +hands. Some of the most striking of those may be here quoted: + +"Under the strictest test-conditions I have seen a self-luminous body, +the size and nearly the shape of a turkey's egg, float noiselessly about +the room, at one time higher than any one present could reach standing +on tiptoe, and then gently descend to the floor. It was visible more +than ten minutes, and before it faded away struck the table three times +with a sound like that of a hard, solid body. During this time the +medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy-chair." + +"I have had an alphabetic communication given by luminous flashes +occurring before me in the air while my hand was moving about among +them. I was sitting next to the medium, Miss Fox, the only other persons +present being my wife and a lady relative, and I was holding the +medium's two hands in one of mine, while her feet were resting on my +feet. Paper was on the table before us, and my disengaged hand was +holding a pencil. A luminous hand came down from the upper part of the +room, and, after hovering near me for a few seconds, took the pencil +from my hand, rapidly wrote on a sheet of paper, threw the pencil down, +and then rose up above our heads, gradually fading into darkness." + +"In the night I have seen a luminous cloud hover over a heliotrope on a +side-table, break a sprig off, and carry the sprig to a lady; and on +some occasions I have seen a similar luminous cloud visibly condense to +the form of a hand and carry small objects about." + +These hands he claims to have frequently seen, sometimes in darkness, +sometimes in light. On one occasion "a beautifully-formed small hand +rose up from an opening in a dining-table and gave me a flower; it +appeared and then disappeared three times at intervals: this occurred in +the light, in my own room, while I was holding the medium's hands and +feet." + +The hand often seemed to form from a luminous cloud. "It is not always a +mere form, but sometimes appears perfectly life-like and graceful, the +fingers moving, the flesh appearing as human as that of any in the room. +At the wrist or arm it becomes hazy and fades off into a luminous +cloud.... I have retained one of these hands in my own, firmly resolved +not to let it escape. There was no struggle or effort made to get loose, +but it gradually seemed to resolve itself into vapor, and faded in that +manner from my grasp." + +We should not venture to quote these most remarkable statements but for +the fact that they are made by a gentleman of such high standing for +accuracy of observation, who knew perfectly well that he was imperilling +his position in the scientific world and exposing himself to the +contumely and accusation of loss of sanity that followed. In regard to +this point it need only be said that his most valuable scientific work +has been done since that period, and that his statements on scientific +subjects are received everywhere to-day as unquestionably accurate and +important. That he saw what he believed to be luminous hands there can +be no doubt. Whether he was deceived is another question. + +As to the producing cause of these manifestations Professor Crooks +offers no theory. Whether the power and the intelligence displayed came +from some one present or from some disembodied spirit he makes no +suggestion, but simply presents the facts as evidence that there are +mysteries in nature transcending any that have yet been weighed and +measured, and which must engage the attention of the science of the +future. + +Of the other scientists named, Professor Wallace openly accepts the +spiritualistic explanation of these phenomena. He has not, so far as we +are aware, published any detailed statement of his investigations, +though we have been told that they consisted in part in what is known as +"spirit photography," or the taking of photographs of persons known to +be dead, by his own private apparatus and in his own private rooms. As +to the character of the results obtained by him, however, we are unable +to make any statement. + +Professor Zoellner also became a believer in Spiritualism, mainly through +experiments with the American medium Mr. Slade. He published a work on +the subject, in which he advances the theory, which has of late +attracted so much attention, of a fourth dimension in space; that is, +that, in addition to length, breadth, and thickness, bodies may have a +fourth dimension, beyond the powers of human observation. The untying of +knots in sealed ropes, passage of matter through matter, etc., he +attempts to explain as possibly done by agents capable of working in +this fourth dimension of matter. Science, however, is as little inclined +to accept this theory as to accept that of spirit communication. + +Of the American scientific observers Professor Hare is far the most +noted for his critical discernment, his accuracy of observation, and his +obstinate determination not to be convinced that there was anything +occult in these phenomena. He was remarkably skilful in the making of +scientific apparatus, and he tested the phenomena received by a series +of instruments of delicate construction and capable of exposing the +least attempt at fraud. Those who were present at the circles with him +declare that he would frequently make his appearance with a new +instrument and a face full of grim expectancy that he would now baffle +the powers that had baffled him on previous occasions, and that he would +retire with a countenance of settled despondency as the unseen +_something_ set at nought his deep-laid plans and secret hopes. It will +suffice to say here that his experiments ended in his accepting the +spiritual explanation of the phenomena and publishing a work on the +subject. + +The same was the case with Judge Edmonds, from whose published work we +may make a few quotations, as his high standing as a jurist and +reputation for veracity and legal shrewdness make him a witness whose +word would be accepted without question on any ordinary subject. He +gives the following strange experience: "During the last illness of my +revered old friend Isaac T. Hopper I was a good deal with him, and on +the day when he died I was with him from noon till about seven o'clock +in the evening. I then supposed he would live yet for several days, and +at that hour I left to attend my circle, proposing to call again on my +way home. About ten o'clock in the evening, while attending the circle, +I asked if I might put a mental question. I did so, and I know that no +person present could know what it was, or to what subject even it +referred. My question related to Mr. Hopper, and I received for answer +through the rappings, as from himself, that he was dead. I hastened +immediately to his house, and found that it was so. That could not have +been from any one present, for they did not know of his death, nor did +they understand the answer I received. It could not have been the reflex +of my own mind, for I had left him alive, and thought that he would live +several days." + +Of his statements in regard to physical phenomena the following may be +quoted: "I have known a pine table with four legs lifted bodily up from +the floor in the centre of a circle of six or eight persons, turned +upside down, and laid upon its top at our feet, then lifted up over our +heads and put leaning against the back of the sofa on which we sat. I +have seen a mahogany table, having only a centre leg, and with a lamp +burning upon it, lifted from the floor at least a foot, in spite of the +efforts of those present, and shaken backward and forward as one would +shake a goblet in his hand, and the lamp retain its place, though its +glass pendants rung again. I have seen the same table tipped up with the +lamp upon it, so that the lamp must have fallen off unless retained +there by something else than its own gravity; yet it fell not, moved +not. I have known a mahogany chair thrown on its side and moved swiftly +back and forth on the floor, no one touching it, through a room where +there were at least a dozen persons sitting; and it was repeatedly +stopped within a few inches of me, when it was coming with a violence +which, if not arrested, must have broken my legs." + +Of the phenomena classed under the head of spiritualistic three +explanations have been offered. One is that they are purely the result +of fraud in the mediums and self-delusion in the believers. A second is +that they are due to some unknown law and force of nature, the physical +manifestations being ascribed to a psychic energy of nervous origin, the +mental to _unconscious cerebration_. A third explanation is that they +are due to the action of disembodied spirits, who are able to return to +the earth and make their presence manifest in all the methods above +recounted. Of these explanations the first is that given by the general +public, and particularly by those who know nothing practically about the +subject, but have reached their opinions by their own inner +consciousness and without troubling themselves to investigate the facts. +That it does apply, however, to much of what is known as spiritual +manifestations there can be no doubt. Of frauds under the name of +mediums there has been an abundance. Of dupes under the name of +Spiritualists there has been an equal abundance. And the tricks of false +mediums have been so often detected as to throw a shadow of doubt over +everything connected with the asserted phenomena. Yet that it is not all +fraud has been abundantly proved by the testimony of the men above named +and many others of equal powers of discrimination, and by the occurrence +of numerous phenomena under circumstances that absolutely precluded +deception, either in medium or audience. To these cases one or other of +the second and third explanations must be given. Acceptance of the +third, that they are really the work of spirits, would of course settle +the whole business and explain all the phenomena in a word. But the +great body of critical observers are disinclined to accept this theory, +for the reason that many of the scientific class doubt the existence of +any spirit beyond the earth-life, that many of the religious class +question the possibility of freed spirits returning to earth, and that +many of an intermediate class consider the manifestations too puerile +and the mental communications given too unsatisfactory and too far below +the mental calibre of the professed speakers to be worthy of assignment +to any such source. These communications seem usually painted by the +mind of the medium, and are often notably feeble, absurd, and valueless. + +To the members of this class the second explanation is the only tenable +one,--namely, that there are certain extraordinary powers resident in +the nervous organism which are capable of acting in opposition to the +ordinary energies of nature; that an intangible material exists outside +the body and penetrates physical objects, through whose aid the +nerve-power somehow operates to produce sounds and motions of bodies; +that this nerve-power may act unconsciously to the person who possesses +it in even a highly-developed state; that its action may be controlled +by the mind, acting either consciously or unconsciously; that old and +long-forgotten stores of the memory may take part in this action; and +that other minds may act through the medium's mind and set in action his +psychic powers unconsciously to himself. + +That there is such a supersensible substance, and that the human mind +has such hitherto unknown powers, is not easy to admit. And yet when we +consider all the facts bearing upon the case it becomes equally hard to +deny. The history of mankind is full of stories of occult operations and +so-called supernatural performances. Those recorded are, of course, but +the merest fraction of those that have been observed. At the present day +this world of mystery seems everywhere around us. Outside of what is put +on record, almost every person one meets can relate some such mysterious +occurrence which has happened to himself or some of his acquaintances. +That a very great proportion of this has been self-deception must be +admitted. But all mankind is not blind and gullible; and if we strain +these stories of the marvellous through the sieve of criticism, some +considerable residuum will remain, which must be accounted for by +another theory than that of delusion. + +The theory above given accounts in some degree for most of the facts, +though there are others which it is not easy to make fit in. Such are +the instances in which information unknown to any person present has +been given. We may instance the writing of the word covered by Professor +Crooks's finger, and the answer to Judge Edmonds's mental question +concerning his dying friend. Other striking instances of the same +character might be given, some of which have happened within the +knowledge of the writer. We may give in illustration the case of one +gentleman, a prominent businessman of Philadelphia, who received from a +medium a statement of the date of the death of a child that had occurred +many years before. The gentleman denied the correctness of the date, and +gave what he believed to be the correct one. But the medium insisted on +the date given. On going home and consulting his family record, to his +surprise the gentleman found that the medium was right and he +wrong,--that the child had died on the date stated, not on that which +had been impressed upon his memory. + +Taking the case of mentality as a whole, it is certain that we are yet +far from being acquainted with all the powers and mysteries of the human +mental and nervous organism, despite all the researches of late years. +Nor do we know all the conditions and capabilities of the world of +matter which surrounds us, or the possibilities of intercommunication +of minds without the aid of the senses. On the other hand, Spiritualists +assert that we are equally far from knowing all the possibilities of +spirit existence or of communication between embodied and disembodied +mind. As to all this, it is perhaps best to remain in a state of +suspended decision and await the results of accurate observation to +settle the question definitely on one side or other. The investigation +now being carried on by a committee appointed by the University of +Pennsylvania, under the conditions of a bequest from the late Mr. +Seybert, will, it may be hoped, tend to clear up the mystery. + + CHARLES MORRIS. + + + + +THE STORY OF AN ITALIAN WORKWOMAN'S LIFE.[B] + + +Si, signora, there are four of us,--Fausta, and Flavia, and Marc +Antonio, and I. La Mamma was left a widow when Marc Antonio was twelve +years old and Fausta ten, Flavia was eight, little Teresina (who died in +childhood) six, and I was only sixteen months old. All the rest can +remember Babbo [daddy], and many's the time, when I was a little one, I +have cried my eyes out with anger and jealousy because I couldn't +remember him too. Babbo was a good man, signora. Never an angry word, La +Mamma says,--not one,--in all the fifteen years they were married, and +_allegro, allegro_ (cheerful). He was a carrier, and he had only a +little time at home; but then he always played with the little ones and +made them happy. La Mamma loved him with all her heart; and often she +says, "Ah, if I ever come to Paradise, I pray our Lord to make me find +my Pietro again." Si, signora, I know our Lord said there was no +marrying or giving in marriage in heaven; La Mamma knows it too; but we +shall know each other, you know, up there, and our Blessed Lord is +merciful, and won't part those who love each other. La Mamma says so; +and I hope so, too. If ever I gain the rest of Paradise,--may our +Blessed Lord and the Madonna and all the saints grant it!--I want to +find my Luigi there too. Well, but I promised to tell the signora how +the Mamma brought us all up on only a franc a day. As I said already, +Babbo was a carrier. He did well, and sent Marc Antonio and Fausta and +Flavia to school, and me to a _balia_ in the country, and put something +by besides. La Mamma was a silk-weaver,--one of the best in Florence +then,--and she put by something too; for she worked hard every day. +Everything went well with them until the day that I came home from the +_baliatico_ (period of nursing in the country). I was well weaned, and a +strong, fine baby, and the _balia_ was proud of me; and Babbo was so +pleased to find me so well and lively that he gave the _balia_ two +francs more than he had agreed to do. But Babbo was always generous. +Well, the next day La Mamma took me in her arms and went to the +silk-shop where she had been at work, to see about selling her loom; for +the master of the shop was old and was giving up his business and +selling everything: it was just at that time that the silk-trade began +to go down in Florence. When the loom was sold, La Mamma put the money +in her purse, and then she went to put it in the bank, and then home. +When she got into the Borgo degli Santi Apostoli she saw several people +standing before our door; but she thought nothing of that, for we lived +on the top floor, and there were several other families in the house. +But when La Mamma came up to the door, she saw old Martia, her aunt, and +Miniato, her brother, there. They were both crying. + +"Oh, _poverina, poverina_! here she is," says Miniato. + +"_Madonna santissima_! how shall we ever tell her?" says Aunt Martia. + +"For the love of God, tell me what it is!" said poor mamma, and her +heart died in her. + +Well, in a few minutes, _adagio, adagio_, little by little, they told +her how it was. Near the Porta San Niccolo a heavy load of bricks had +been overturned, and poor Babbo, who was passing at the time, had been +badly hurt. His fine gray mule Giannetta was killed. So two troubles +came together. After a little the Misericordia brought Babbo home, and +they put him in bed, and one of the Brethren stayed to watch him that +night. He was badly hurt, and he never took a step again, though he +lived for six months. La Mamma did her best: the weaving was over,--she +could not have found much more weaving to do, even if Babbo had been +able to bear the noise of the loom,--but she knitted, and sewed, and did +what she could. Still, the money melted away. Babbo might have been put +into a hospital, but La Mamma couldn't bear to part with him, even +though he said often, as the days went on and he got no better, that he +would rather go into a hospital than lie there and feel that he was +eating up the little money he had put away for his wife and children. +"_Povera_ Leonora," he used to say,--"_povera_ Leonora, who must work so +hard while I lie here and play the signore!" And once or twice he cried +a little. But for the most part he was cheerful and bore his pain with +patience. + +All the time _la povera Mamma_ kept up her courage, and made Babbo +believe that the money went three times as far as it did. But it melted +away; and, the day before Babbo died, when she counted it over she knew +that she had a hard struggle before her. She did not let him know it, +however. He thought she had money to last for two or three months. So +Easter came round, and still Babbo lay helpless and full of pain. The +priest came to confess and communicate him, as he does all the bedridden +at Easter-time, and that afternoon Babbo had less pain than for many a +day. He kissed and blessed us as usual at bedtime, and then he told La +Mamma to call him in the morning, so that he might light the lamp for +her. This was because the table with the lamp stood by his side of the +bed, and often La Mamma, who had to get up early, used to strike the +light without waking him. "But now that I have no pain," says Babbo, +"I'll strike a light for you, _cara mia_, so that you may have that +comfort." Easter fell early that year, in March, and the weather was +cold and stormy. When La Mamma woke up at four o'clock, the bells were +ringing for first mass, but it was cold and dark, and a storm was +raging. She could not bear to wake Babbo up, but she had promised to do +so, and she had a long day's work before her and no time to lose. So she +called him, very gently at first, and then louder. There was no answer, +and she touched his shoulder and shook him a little. Still there was no +answer, and, being frightened, she leaned over and touched his face. +_Povera mamma!_ it was cold as ice, and stiff. Then she put her hand on +his heart, but it was still. She jumped up quickly, but, in her fright +and grief, she could not find the matches. At last she did so, and then +she saw that he was dead. Little Teresa slept between them, and he had +her hand in his, clasped so tightly that it was many minutes before La +Mamma could set it free. She did so without waking the child, and then +she put her into bed with Flavia and Fausta, and woke Marc Antonio and +sent him for the doctor. When he was gone she lighted the fire and did +what she could to warm Babbo and bring the life back, though her heart +told her, as did the doctor when he came, that all was over. By and by +the children woke and cried, and La Mamma wondered that she could find +words to quiet them, and yet she did. When everything was over and the +house quiet, the poor soul felt her heart die in her breast, and would +have been glad to lie down and die too; but no, she could not. She had +to take out the purse and count the money again, and then she found that +after buying a reserved grave for Babbo at the Campo Santo at Trespiano +she would have just enough to pay the rent for the next six months. You +know, signora, that if a reserved grave is not bought at Trespiano the +bodies are put into the _fossa comune_, and that is the end. The graves +are not marked. La Mamma could not bear the thought of that, and so she +bought a reserved grave. Then came the funeral; and she called the +children together and told them that if they each wanted to carry a +taper for Babbo they would have to go without their supper that night. +They were very hungry, every one, for, what with the trouble, and the +care, and the sorrow of that last day, La Mamma had not been able to +cook the dinner, and they had had nothing all day but a piece of bread. +Ah, they were hungry! They had cried until they were tired out, and they +were as empty as organ-tubes. Marc Antonio has told me many a time about +it. "God forgive me," says he, "but when La Mamma said that, I felt the +hunger grip me like a tiger, and the devil tempted me, and I said to +myself, 'Babbo's gone to the world over there, and what good will a +taper do him? He was never the one to want us to go to bed hungry as +well as with a sore heart.'" But even while he thought the wicked +thoughts the love for Babbo came into his heart again. He burst out +crying and sobbing, and cried out, "Mamma, mamma, I don't want any +supper to-night; I don't! I don't!" _Poverino_! he was growing and +strong, and so hungry. Fausta and Flavia and little Teresa said the +same, but it hurt them less, and they did not cry. And then little +Teresa spoke up,--she was always as wise as a little angel: + +"Mamma," says she, "the baby must have her supper, mustn't she?" + +"_Poverina!_ what would you have?" says La Mamma. "Yes, the poor baby +must have her supper, indeed. She knows nothing, poor little one, of the +sorrow in the house, or she would not grudge Babbo a taper any more than +the rest of you." + +Little Teresa smiled, "Then, mamma, I've baby's supper for her," says +she. "I did not eat my bread all day, and you can have it now to make a +_pappa_ for her." + +So La Mamma took me in her arms and went into the kitchen, and then Marc +Antonio held me while she and Fausta and Flavia and Teresa made the +_pappa_; and then each one took it in turn to feed me. You cannot know, +signora, how often I have lain awake and cried to think that I should +have been the only one of us all to eat like a pig that night, while +dear Babbo lay dead in the house and the rest were sad and hungry. +_Pazienza_! we need patience in this world, even with ourselves +sometimes. + +When the funeral was over, La Mamma put the house in order, and then she +took out all her papers and accounts and counted over all she had. Just +a little of the money that Babbo had saved was left,--enough, if she +never touched it, to bring in seventy-three francs a year,--that is, +twenty centimes [four cents] a day. She made up her mind that she would +never touch it, so that each day, as long as we lived, we might have at +least a piece of bread bought with Babbo's money. Then there was the +parish, which gave her some help. The guardians of the poor widows +appointed a guardian for us,--the Conte Bertoli, a good man, God rest +his soul,--and he applied to the poor widows' fund for La Mamma and got +her an allowance of fifty centimes [ten cents] a day until Marc Antonio +should be fifteen and able to work; and then the Signor Conte himself +added to that twenty centimes more, so that altogether La Mamma had a +franc a day. But there were six of us. Thankful enough she was to have +the franc; but still, as you may suppose, signora, she had to think a +good deal and work hard to keep us. The elder children had all been put +to a school near by, a nice school, but where Babbo had had to pay for +them; now that was changed. Fausta and Flavia and Teresa were sent to +the convent of the Doratei Sisters, and Marc Antonio to the Frate +Scalopi. There was nothing to pay at either place, and the children were +taught well and taken good care of. The convent of the Doratei is in the +Via dei Malcontenti, and that of the Frate Scalopi in the Piazza Santa +Croce. Marc Antonio and Fausta and Flavia and Teresa used to set off at +seven every morning, winter and summer, and La Mamma walked with them, +carrying me in her arms. She gave all the children a good breakfast of +hot _pappa_ before they set out for school, and some bread and apple, or +bread and onions, in a basket, to eat at dinner-time. At night, when +they came home, they had a good supper of _casalingo_ [household, +_i.e._, black] bread and milk. Then they were washed and put to bed; for +La Mamma was very strict, and never allowed any one out of bed after +eight o'clock. As soon as I was two years old I was sent to the Doratei +too; and the big dark convent, with the great garden behind, is the +first thing I ever remember. The good sisters were very kind to us. They +taught all the older girls to read and write, and sew and knit, not only +plain sewing, but fine stitching, and open-work, and fine darning, and +button-holes, and lace-work, and so on. They also taught them to make +beds, and sweep, and dust, and cook a little,--that is, how to make +broth, and _pappa_, and such simple things. From twelve to two every day +there was recreation. At twelve all the children, big and little, sat +down to dinner in the refectory with the nuns. The nuns had their own +dinner,--a very plain one always, for their rule is severe,--and the +children had whatever they brought with them. If anything was brought +that could be warmed over and made more nourishing, Sister Cherubina +never grudged the trouble. When dinner was over we sang a grace, and +then we all ran into the garden and had a good game of play. Of course +the very little ones did nothing all day but play and sleep. Sister +Arcangela took care of them. Sometimes on fine days the sisters used to +take us all out for a walk in the country. Twice every week we had +religious instruction. Padre Giovanni, our confessor, taught us +everything, our Credo and Pater Noster, and our holy religion, and the +holy gospel, and all the beautiful stories in the Bible, and the legends +of the saints. Which of our Lord's miracles does the signora think the +finest? For myself, I always liked the story of the night in which our +Blessed Redeemer came to his disciples walking on the water. And then of +the older stories I liked the one of poor Joseph and his brethren. What +bad devils the brothers were! But God brought good out of evil, and +rewarded poor Joseph, who was an angel, by making him a great king. +Well, still I am babbling on and telling you about our school, and +forgetting La Mamma. I told you she had a franc a day. Our rent cost a +hundred francs a year. That was a little more than twenty-five centimes +a day, and that left La Mamma about seventy centimes a day for food, and +clothing, and lights, and so on. La Mamma worked day and night. Whenever +she could, she used to sit up at night with sick people, for that was +paid well,--a franc a night; sometimes in grand houses as much as two +francs,--and then she could rest in the day-time when we were at school. +But, whatever she did, or wherever she went, she always managed to be at +the convent gate every evening at half-past five to bring us home. If by +any chance she could not do that, Marc Antonio always waited for us and +brought us home very carefully. He was a good, steady boy, and never +stopped to play when we were with him, and always shut himself in with +us at home and did his best to take care of us until La Mamma came back. +God forgive me! but I used to think La Mamma very hard in those days. +She would never let us go the length of a yard alone; and once when she +caught me running out on the stairs to play hide-and-seek with some +girls and boys who lived on the floor below us, she gave me such a slap +that my ears rang again. Well, to tell truth, we had so much playing in +the convent garden, and such a long walk home in the evening, that we +were generally rather tired and glad to get quickly to bed as mamma bade +us. She, _poverina!_ always sat up, patching and darning, long after we +were in bed, so that we might go decently to school. + +I remember well the first real dolls we ever had. It was at the Feast of +the Assumption, and there was a fair outside the Roman gate. Marc +Antonio was to be apprenticed the next day to a very decent _vetturino_, +and he had begged La Mamma to treat us all to some fried dumplings. We +were all day at the fair, though of course we bought nothing; but it was +a great pleasure to us to walk about and look at the booths full of gay +things. We were nearly ready to come home, when Teresina spied some +dolls and began to beg for one. She was such a sweet, good, gentle child +that La Mamma could not bear to refuse her, especially as she scarcely +ever asked for anything. And she seemed to have a passion for that doll, +so pretty it was, all in pink and spangles. At last, as she begged so +hard, La Mamma gave her ten centimes, and told her that if she could get +it for that she might have it; and Teresina bargained so well that she +got it for eight centimes; and then nothing would satisfy her but that +we all should have dolls. It was in vain that La Mamma said no; Teresina +would have her way. And so at last we all had dolls, and La Mamma, poor +soul! spent thirty-six centimes! It seemed a mortal sin to her; and she +has told me many a time how she lay awake that night and cried, and +prayed to God and the saints to forgive her for that wicked +extravagance. And yet she could not but feel glad to see how happy we +all were with our dolls. And she was glad afterward for another reason, +which I will explain presently. Little Teresina never went out again +after the Feast of the Assumption. She was the first to fall ill, but +before ten days were over we were all (all the girls, I mean,--Marc +Antonio was not at home) struck down with smallpox. Teresina suffered +most. I remember it well, how strange it seemed to me to hear her +calling constantly for water and other things,--strange, because she was +always the one who waited on the others, and never before thought of +herself. La Mamma did everything for her that could be done, but she +grew daily worse. Once mamma brought her doll and put it in her hands. I +can see now--my bed was opposite to hers--how mamma watched Teresina, +and how Teresina looked at the doll. In my own heart I thought, "Surely +she will get better, now that she has her pretty doll." It seemed to me +that she must do so. But in a moment she heaved a deep sigh, and said, +"Too tired! too tired!" And then she threw the doll away from her and +closed her eyes. _La povera Mamma_ picked up the doll and put it away in +a drawer, and then she sat still and looked at Teresina, with the tears +rolling down her face. Whenever I woke up in the night it was always the +same, mamma fanning Teresina or putting bits of ice in her mouth, and +never moving her eyes from her, and Teresina no longer restless, but +quite still,--so still that I had never seen anything like it. Quite +early the next day the archbishop came to confirm her, and while I was +looking at the grand robes he wore, and at the priests who came with +him, and watching the lighted tapers blow about in the wind, for the +window was open and there was a strong draught, suddenly I felt a pain +in my head which was worse than anything I had felt before,--a dreadful +pain, which made me feel giddy and confused. I felt myself sinking, and +I suppose I must have cried out, for I remember that some one lifted me +and put a wet cloth on my head. The last thing I saw was Teresina's +pale, quiet face, with the white and gold confirmation ribbon bound +about her brows. I never saw her again. When I came to myself, days +afterward, the corner where her bed used to stand was empty, and I knew, +without asking, that she was in Paradise. + +Flavia and Fausta and I got well over it, but much disfigured, as you +see; and yet God is good, and has sent me as kind and loving a husband +as if I had been the most beautiful person in the world. + +Well, the time went on, just as before, until Flavia was old enough to +be apprenticed to Madama Castagna, the grand dressmaker. She had always +been a good, steady, hard-working girl, and, thanks to the good Doratei +Sisters, she sewed so beautifully that very soon Madama allowed her +twenty centimes a day. She had to work from eight till eight; but of +course she could not expect more than twenty centimes while she was +learning. + +Fausta was not so fortunate. She was a good girl, and the cleverest and +quickest of us all,--yes, indeed, cleverer than I am, although the +signora does think so well of me,--but she changed too often. First, she +wanted to learn how to bind shoes (I forgot to say that they taught that +in the convent), and so, while the rest of us were learning to sew and +knit, she was binding shoes. Then, suddenly, she thought she would like +to learn to weave, and she went to her godmother, the Contessa Minia, +and told her so. The contessa was good and generous, and she gave her a +loom, and Sister Annunziata taught her to weave. But just at the time +that Fausta ought to have been apprenticed, the silk-trade, which, as I +said before, had been going down for several years, failed altogether, +and Fausta had to sell her loom for what it would bring. Then she +thought that she would like to learn lace-mending: so the contessa got +her a lace-cushion, and apprenticed her to a lace-mender for four years. +Just as her time was out, poor Fausta had a bad fall, broke her right +arm and injured her leg, so that for many months she was confined to her +bed, and was unable to walk for more than a year. Then, as if the poor +girl were destined to trouble, she must needs fall in love, and with a +bad, good-for-nothing fellow. La Mamma would not consent, and we all +begged and prayed her not to have him, but Fausta was obstinate, and +married him. _Poverina!_ she has had one trouble after another, and will +have to the end. + +As soon as I had passed my fourteenth birthday I was apprenticed to +Madama. Flavia was one of her best workwomen then, as she has been ever +since. After the first six months I received twenty centimes a day, and +at the end of the first year thirty centimes. We went away from home +every morning at seven o'clock. La Mamma gave us a good breakfast of +black bread and coffee before we set out, and black bread and onions or +apples for our dinner. Sometimes, instead of onions or apples, she would +give us ten or fifteen centimes; and that we liked better, because then +we could make a bank. Making a bank we called it when we put all our +money together. Madama had then twenty-five apprentices, and at +dinner-time we used to put all our money together and send out and buy +something. One would buy anchovies, another ham, another olives, another +cheese, and so on. There was one apprentice who always did the marketing +for us. Then we used to clear the work-table and set out our food, and +dine merrily enough. I was an apprentice at Madama's for five years, and +then began to work for myself. If Madama had been willing to pay me a +franc a day and give me my dinner besides, I dare say that I might have +been there now; but she would not, and so I plucked up my courage and +tried my hand alone. For some time before I left her I had been working +so well, at cutting out and fitting, finishing, and so on, that she used +to give me all the finest and most difficult work to do; but still she +never did and never would pay me more than eighty centimes [sixteen +cents] a day. None of us got more than that. What we always liked to do +was to carry the dresses home, because then the ladies usually gave us +something. And at Christmas, when we went to wish our patrons all +happiness, we got very nice presents. One Christmas we received thirty +francs. When we carried dresses home we generally got twenty or thirty +centimes. That made fifteen centimes for each of us, because we always +did errands in couples. One night at ten o'clock we had to go quite +across Florence in a driving rain to carry a lady a ball-dress. We were +dripping wet when we reached her palace, but the dress was in good +order, and we hoped, considering the lateness of the hour, and the bad +weather, and so on, that the lady would give us something handsome, +perhaps as much as half a franc. Well, she was very glad to see us, and, +after putting on the dress, she said that she must give us something. +And so she did,--five centimes [one cent] to each of us! I swallowed my +anger, and put the coin into my pocket, but my companion fitted hers +nicely into the key-hole of the hall door as soon as it was closed +behind us. "There!" says she; "now my lady miser will have to send for a +locksmith, and that will teach her not to be so stingy another time." So +we both ran home laughing, in spite of our disappointment. But we were +not so fortunate as to get off without a scolding. The next day the lady +came to Madama and complained of our impertinence. Madama scolded us a +little; but when she heard what a pitiful _buona mano_ the lady had +given us, she could not help laughing herself. + +Still, she never thought of raising our pay, and as I improved, and felt +myself quite mistress of my trade, I began to work over hours, at one or +two houses where La Mamma had patrons, and in that way I got on very +quickly. It was a proud day for me, signora, when I first began to give +La Mamma something toward the housekeeping. I wanted to give her +two-thirds of all I earned, but she would not let me. When I began to +earn a franc and a half a day, she accepted half a franc, but she made +me put away the franc for my _dote_. La Mamma always walked with me to +the houses where I went to work, and in the evening either came for me +herself or sent Marc Antonio. And she bade me be very careful and +watchful and keep myself to myself. Often I thought her severe and +suspicious, but now I thank God for the mother he gave us. We owe all +the happiness of our lives to her. + +I had been working for myself, as I have said, for more than five years. +I had plenty of patrons, and was well thought of. Plain as I am, +signora, I had not wanted for opportunities to go wrong; but, thank God, +I never did. Once, too, I had thought of being married, but, happily for +me, I found out in time that I had set my love on a bad man, so I broke +off my engagement, and put the thought of marriage away from me. Fausta +had been married a long time, and so had Marc Antonio. Flavia said that +she never would leave La Mamma, and I thought that I would do the same. +But it was not to be. One morning La Mamma, who had been sitting up with +a sick baby at the Albergo della Stella, came home and told me that I +was born to good fortune,--that Signorina Teodora, the landlord's +daughter, was going to be married, and that I was wanted to work at the +_trousseau_. It was all to be made at home, and the signorina engaged me +for three months. It was the first time that I had ever gone to an hotel +to work; and La Mamma gave me a great many counsels about my behavior. +Signorina Teodora was very kind, and the work was just exactly what I +liked to do. I used to sew in the _guarda-roba_ (linen-room), where the +linen-keeper, a very respectable woman, was busy all day, mending and +arranging the linen. That was all well enough, but at meal-times I was +very uncomfortable. I used to go down to the servants' dining-room, and +there the talk, and the manners too, were coarse and rude. I did not +like to complain, but my position was a very hard one. I had taught the +men to keep their distance, and they did so, but they were cross and +disagreeable to me, and nicknamed me "La Superba" (the proud one). The +women-servants all said that I gave myself airs, and if they could do +anything to annoy me they did. At last I proposed to Signorina Teodora +that I should be allowed to take my meals in the _guarda-roba_, so that +I might be nearer my work. But she said no, that would not do, but that +I might have them in a little room next the padrone's dining-room, and +that she would say that this was because I was wanted for trying on her +dresses just at the time that the servants' dinner was served. The first +time I went down to dinner alone I felt very much frightened; but my +dinner was put on the table very nicely, and one of the men-servants, +whom I had never spoken to before, waited on me. He did so just as +politely as if I had been a lady, but he was very quiet. The next day he +began to talk a little, and told me about his mother (who was dead), and +about his childhood, and the customs of the Abruzzi, because he came +from that part of Italy. We used to talk together so, day after day, +while he waited on me, and we became very good friends. At last, when +the time of my engagement was nearly run out, Luigi--that was the +waiter's name--became very silent, but he served my dinner as nicely and +carefully as ever. I was a little afraid that I had offended him, +because every evening he used to say, as I rose from the table, "Are you +coming back to-morrow?" And every time I said yes, he would answer, +"Well, then, I can say what I have to say to-morrow," At last one night, +when he said as usual, "Are you coming back to-morrow, _sarta_ +[dressmaker]?" I answered no,--that my work was over. "Well, then," says +Luigi, "I must find courage to tell you to-night, _sarta_, that I love +you, and I want you to be my wife!" + +I sat still a moment, quite thunder-struck, and then I jumped up and ran +out of the room. "I can say not a word," I said, as I passed him, "You +know you ought to have spoken to La Mamma first." + +"If that's all," says he, following me to the foot of the stairs, "I can +speak to La Mamma to-morrow night." + +"And then I may say no," I called out as I ran up-stairs. + +Well, the next night he came to see La Mamma, and brought his uncle with +him. This uncle was a very decent man, who had been gardener for thirty +years in Count Gemiani's family. He was the only relation Luigi had in +the world, and he gave him an excellent character. But I would not say a +word. I told Luigi I could not tell whether I liked him or not until I +saw him _in borghese_ [_i.e._, dressed in ordinary clothes], because you +know, signora, I had only seen him dressed in black, with a white +cravat. Well, he was very patient, and, as soon as he was at liberty, he +came again, dressed _in borghese_, and then he pleased me, and I made up +my mind to have him. + +But then came another trouble. The match was not well looked upon by La +Mamma and my brother and sisters, because Luigi was a person in service, +and that had never happened in our family before. Babbo, as I have said, +was a carrier; Mamma, a silk-weaver; Marc Antonio had married a +_cucitrice di bianco_ [shirt-maker]; Fausta, a candle-maker,--but, to be +sure, her marriage did not matter, because her husband was a bad man. +However, I was obstinate, and La Mamma liked Luigi in her heart, and so +at last we were engaged. He used to come and see me two evenings in the +week. Sometimes La Mamma sat with us, and sometimes Flavia. When it was +Flavia's turn Luigi used to laugh and say the sentinel was changed. We +had to keep our engagement very quiet, because you know that the +men-servants at Italian hotels are not allowed to marry, and, though +most of them are in reality married men, they always pretend to be +bachelors. Gradually we made our preparations. Luigi had nearly eight +hundred francs saved, and I had about four hundred. We spent about three +hundred in getting our furniture and linen and so on, and Luigi took an +apartment in the Borgo Santo Jacopo. I chose the house because it is +directly opposite the Albergo della Stella, and I knew that I should +feel happier if I could look across the river to the hotel lights and +think that my Luigi was there. We were married on the morning of the +30th of August, and when we had been _promessi sposi_ for six months. +The religious marriage was just after the early mass [five o'clock], and +we all walked over together to the church. I felt quite calm,--not +frightened at all; but when, four hours later, we had to go over to the +Palazzo Vecchio for the civil marriage, I was all tears and trembling. +However, that passed, like other things. We had quite a fine wedding +breakfast. Marc Antonio had brought a friend of his, a nice, quiet man, +who was a very good cook. He was out of place just then, and he had +offered to cook for us if we would give him his breakfast. We had a +mixed fry, and macaroni, and _ravaioli_, and a melon, one course after +another, just like signori. Everybody had a good appetite, except Luigi +and me, and La Mamma said that it did her soul good to hear the sound of +frying in the house. _Poverina!_ she did not often hear it. Well, after +breakfast we all took a walk in the country, and when we came home again +Flavia began to prepare supper, but Luigi said no, _we_ must go home, +that our supper was waiting for us there. So I put my bonnet on, and +then, when we were ready to say good-by, every one burst into tears,--La +Mamma, and Flavia, and Fausta, and Marc Antonio and his wife, and I, and +even Luigi, though he said afterward he was sure he did not know why. +And how we all embraced! The signora would have thought that we were +going over the sea, instead of just across the Ponte Vecchio. At last we +went away arm in arm, and when we got to our own home there I found that +Luigi had arranged the table so nicely, just as he used to do at the +_albergo_, and had put a bunch of flowers in the centre. So we sat down +to supper, and pretended to be signori just for that one evening. + +The next day, being Sunday, we all went to high mass at the Duomo, and I +wore my new wedding-gown of black cashmere. In the afternoon we went +out to Certosa; and that was the end of my wedding-journey, for the next +morning Luigi had to go back to his work at the _albergo_, and I had to +take up my sewing again. It seemed so strange to be sitting down to work +in my own house, and to look across the Arno at the great _albergo_ and +think that I had a husband there. Luigi could not come home as often as +he longed to do, because he had but two free nights in the week. And he +dared scarcely look out of the window, for fear some one should suspect +that he was married, and then he would have lost his place. However, +everything went well. We have been married eight years now, and, what +with Luigi's fifty francs a month, and the _incerti_ [_pour-boires_] and +my work, we do pretty well. Luigi, thank God, is a good man, faithful +and true and kind. I have never heard an angry word from him yet. And +then he has no faults,--he does not smoke, or drink wine, or gamble; and +regularly every month he brings me all his money to take care of. He is +such a good son to La Mamma, too. He would never take a mouthful of food +until he had helped her; and if a famine came to Florence, and there was +but a piece of bread between Luigi and La Mamma, he would make her eat +it, I know. Si, signora, we all live together now; La Mamma takes care +of our little boy, and Flavia is head-woman in Madama Castagna's +workroom, while I go out by the day, as I always did. It is a little +harder for us this winter than usual, because there are so few +_forestieri_. It really seemed as if the _alberghi_ would never open. +Luigi said that every evening there would be a crowd of people--waiters, +and _facchini_, and so on--waiting at the door of the _albergo_ and +begging for work. And the _padrone_ [landlord] used to say, "Find me the +_forestieri_, and I'll find you the work." My Luigi is such a good +servant that the _padrone_ keeps him employed all the year round; but he +felt very anxious this winter when he saw how few _forestieri_ there +were, and tried to save in every possible way. But, thank God, he never +grudges La Mamma anything, and she often says that these are her +happiest days. She still works at knitting stockings, and braiding +straw, and such light work; and she takes our baby boy out to walk twice +a day, and every day at noon, rain or shine, she goes to mass. Many a +quiet hour she has now in church to pray for Babbo, whom she never +forgets, and for all of us. Then when we all come home from our work we +have such pleasant evenings. I tell about the fine gowns I make for my +ladies, and Luigi has so many stories about the grand _forestieri_ and +all their strange caprices, and then Marc Antonio and his wife come in, +and he tells us about the ladies and gentlemen he drives out in his +_vettura_, and she describes the fine linen she makes for her ladies. +Well, if signori live for nothing else, they give us a great deal of +pleasure. + +Si, signora, we still live in the same apartment in the Borgo Santo +Jacopo, on the south side of the Arno. I would not go away, because when +my husband is at the _albergo_ I can look across the river and think +that he is there. Very often when I sit up late at my work, and all the +rest are asleep and Luigi at the _albergo_, I look over the river, and +the lights at the "Stella" seem to keep me company. Luigi, too, watches +my light. I always sit by my window and keep my lamp there, so that he +may know how late I work. Well, here is the signora's gown quite +finished, and the end of my poor story. So good-night, signora, and may +the good Lord send the signora a happy New Year! + + MARIE L. THOMPSON. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[B] This true history--a picture, in its general features, of thousands +of lives--is given, as nearly as possible, exactly as it fell from the +lips of the narrator. + + + + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + + +Tourgeneff's Idea of Bazaroff. + +A volume containing several hundred of Tourgeneff's letters was +published last winter in St. Petersburg by the "Society for Assisting +Impecunious Authors and Scholars." It is to be followed by a second, and +the proceeds are to be devoted to the foundation of a "Tourgeneff +Memorial Fund." The whole collection will, we may hope, be translated +into English. The following extracts relate chiefly to the character +which is considered by many readers his finest creation, but which, as +is well known, made him for a time very unpopular in Russia: + + BOUGIVAL, August 18, 1871. + +DEAR A. P.,--Although you do not ask me for a reply, and do not seem to +wish for one, yet the confidence which you have reposed in me and the +feeling of sympathy and respect which you have awakened in me make it my +duty to say a few words to you about your letter.... What? You say, too, +that I meant to caricature the youth of Russia in Bazaroff? you repeat +this--pardon the frankness of the expression--nonsensical accusation? +Bazaroff,--this is my favorite child, for whose sake I quarrelled with +Katkoff, upon whom I used all the color at my command. Bazaroff, this +fine mind, this hero, a caricature? But it seems that there is nothing +to be done in the case. Just as people accuse Louis Blanc to this day, +in spite of all his protestations, of having introduced the national +workshops, they attribute to me a wish to represent our youth as a +caricature. I have long regarded the slander with contempt: I did not +expect the feeling to be renewed on reading your letter. + +Now to turn to your "elderly lady,"--that is, to current criticism, to +the public. Like every elderly person, she holds fast to preconceived +ideas, however preposterous they may be. For example, she is perpetually +asserting that since my "Annals of a Sportsman" my works are weak, +because, having lived abroad, I cannot know Russia. But this accusation +can touch only what I have written since 1863; for until then--_i.e._, +until my forty-fifth year--I lived almost uninterruptedly in Russia, +except in 1848-49, when I wrote the "Annals of a Sportsman," while +"Roudine," "A Nest of Nobles," "Ellen," and "Fathers and Sons" were +written in Russia. But all that means nothing to the "elderly person:" +_son siege est fait_. + +The second weakness of the elderly one is that she persistently follows +the fashion. At present the fashion in literature is politics. +Everything non-political is for her rubbish and nonsense. + +It is somewhat inconvenient to defend one's own works; but--fancy it!--I +cannot even admit that "Stuk-Stuk" is nonsense. "What is it, then?" you +will ask. It is this: it is a study of the Russian suicide epidemic, +which rarely presents anything poetic or pathetic, but almost always +results, on the contrary, from ambition, narrowness, with a mixture of +mysticism or fatalism. You will object that my study is not successful. +Possibly not; but I wished to point you to the right and fitness of +investigating purely psychological (non-political and non-social) +questions. + +The elderly person reproaches me further with having no convictions. As +an answer to that, my thirty years of literary activity will suffice. +For no line which I have written have I had cause to blush, none have I +had occasion to repudiate. Let another say this of himself. However, let +the elderly person babble. I have not heeded her hitherto: I shall not +begin now. + +I do not know whether I shall write my novel; and I know in advance that +it will have many defects.... But, permit me, dear A. P., why do not the +oncoming young people take this task upon themselves? The old ones +would gladly yield them place and honor, and would be the first to +rejoice at the accession of new forces. But in the literary arena there +figure the contributors to the "Djelo"[C] such as H. + +You see, dear A. P., that you are not alone in being able to speak the +whole truth, regardless of consequences. I hope you too will not be +angry because of it, and will at least take notice of what I am saying. + +I am still suffering from gout,--have reached Bougival, but still go +about upon crutches, and shall hardly reach Paris within a month. You +may be sure that I shall return the portfolio safely. + + BOUGIVAL, September 11, 1874. + +Your letter is so sweet and friendly, dear A. P., that I shall not delay +answering it. You began with Bazaroff; I will begin with him too. You +look for him in real life, and you do not find him. I will tell you why, +at once. The times are changed; Bazaroffs are not needed now. For the +social activity that is before us neither extraordinary talent nor even +extraordinary mental power is needed; nothing great, distinguished, very +individual. Industry and patience are required. Men and women must be +ready to sacrifice themselves without fame or glory, must be able to +conquer, having no fear of petty, obscure, necessary, elementary work. +What, for instance, can be more necessary or elementary than teaching +the peasant to read and write, helping him to get hospitals, etc.? Of +what use are talents, even learning, for such work? One needs only a +heart that can sacrifice its own egotism. You cannot even speak of a +profession in the case (much less of our friend Blank's star). A sense +of duty, the magnificent feeling of patriotism in the true sense of the +word,--that is all that is needed. Bazaroff was the type of "one sent +with a message," a great figure, gifted with a definite charm, not +without a certain aureole. All that is not needed now, and it is +ridiculous to speak of heroes and artists of work. Brilliant figures in +literature will probably not appear. Those who plunge into politics will +only destroy themselves in vain. This is all true; but many cannot +reconcile themselves at first to the fact, to the uncongenial _milieu_, +to this modest resolve, especially such responsive and enthusiastic +women as yourself. They may say what they please, they want to be +charmed, carried away. You yourself say that you wish to bow in +reverence; but before _useful_ people one does not bow in reverence. We +are entering an era of _merely useful_ people; and these will be the +best. Of these there will probably be many, of beautiful, charming +workers very few. And in the very search for a Bazaroff--a living +one--is perhaps unconsciously betrayed the thirst for beauty, naturally +of a single peculiar type. All these illusions one must get rid of. + +I should not have reproached your acquaintances with a want of talent if +they had not made pretensions. If they were plodding workers, they would +leave nothing to be desired; but when they loom up and claim admiration, +one cannot pass on without reminding them that they have no right to our +admiration. + +Ah, A. P.! we shall see no typical characters, none of those new +creations of whom people talk so much. The life of the people is +undergoing a process of development and--throughout the whole mass--of +decomposition and recomposition: it needs helpers, not leaders, and only +at the end of this period will important, original figures appear. I +have just said that you will not see them. You are still young. You will +live to see the day: as for me, that is another thing. + +For the present, let us learn our A, B, C, and teach others, do good +gradually, in which you are already making progress. The letter from +your son, which I herewith return, is warm and good. May he, too, enter +the ranks of the useful workers and servants of the people, as we once +had servants of the Czar! + + PARIS, January 3, 1876. + +TO M. E. SALTIKOFF:[D]--I received your letter yesterday, dear Michael +Jefgrafowitch, and, as you see, I do not delay the answer. Your letter +is by no means "dull and blunt," as you say. On the contrary, it is very +good and sensible. It gave me pleasure. There hovers about it some power +and better health, in sharp contrast with its immediate predecessor, +which was an extremely gloomy production. Besides, I am by no means +cheerful myself at present: this is the third day in bed with gout. + +Now a line or two as to "Fathers and Sons," seeing that you have +mentioned the subject. Do you really believe that all that you reproach +me with never entered my own mind? For this reason I wish not to vanish +from the scene before I finish my comprehensive novel, which I think +will clear up many misunderstandings and place me where and as I belong. +However, I do not wonder that Bazaroff has remained a riddle for many +persons: I cannot understand clearly how I conceived him. There was--do +not laugh--something more powerful than the author himself, something +independent of him. I know only this,--there was no preconceived idea in +me then, no "novel with a purpose" in my thought: I wrote naively, as if +I myself wondered at what came of it.... + +Tell me, on your conscience, whether comparison with Bazaroff could be +an affront to any one. Don't you perceive yourself that he is the most +congenial of all my characters? "A certain fine perfume" is an invention +of the reader's; but I am prepared to admit (and have already admitted +in print in my "Recollections") that I had no right to give our +reactionary mob an opportunity to make of a nickname a name. The author +ought to have sacrificed himself to the citizen; and I therefore +recognize as justified the estrangement of our youth from me, and all +possible reproaches. The question of the time was more important than +artistic truth, and I ought to have known this in advance. + +I have only to say once more, wait for my novel, and, until then, do not +be indignant that, in order not to grow unaccustomed to the pen, I write +slight insignificant things. Who knows?--perhaps it may yet be given to +me to fire the hearts of men. + +An entertaining writer in the sense of G----wa I shall never be. I would +rather be a stupid writer. + +But now--_basta_! + +I greet you and press your hand most cordially. + + IVAN SERGEWITCH TOURGENEFF. + + +Old Songs and Sweet Singers. + + I cannot sing the old songs now: + It is not that I deem them low, + But that I have forgotten how + They go, + +wrote Calverley in his delightful drollery about the advances of old +age. Nevertheless he made a mistake, for old songs cling tenaciously to +the consciousness; and memory, are retained when everything else in +heart and mind has been blurred over, and of all the magic mirrors which +reflect back our lives for us the most effective is a melody linked to +words which moved us in our youth. When an orchestra stops playing its +waltzes and mazourkas of the latest fashion and takes up the strains of +"Kathleen Mavourneen," "Oft in the Stilly Night," or "Robin Adair," one +may readily observe a change come over the older part of the crowd who +listen. The familiar air is like a shell murmuring in their ears sweet, +far-off, imperishable memories of youth, and that special epoch of youth +best described as "_les heureux jours ou l'on etait si malheureux!_" It +is an experience worth having to have heard the great singers, but it is +not of the great singers that I wish to speak here. I fancy that it is +with others as with myself, and, in my early days at least, music +wrought its chief enchantments and most perfectly allied itself with +the great world of fantasy and imagination when I heard it in my own +home, or at least quietly and privately, and when its influence was of a +constant and regular kind. Why is it that literature, which enshrines so +much of what is personal and actual and a part of ideal autobiography, +says so little of singers, although the song which moves us, rummaging +among our old memories and, to our surprise and delight, bringing back +clear pictures, is generally linked to the sweet singer who sang it, who +interpreted it for us and made it a part of our imaginative possessions? +Heroines of novels are rarely singers, or, if they sing, abstain from +effective music, and have soft, soothing voices, "as if they only sang +at twilight." Heroines of course have to be heroines and nothing else. +"Soothing, unspeakable charm of gentle womanhood," wrote George Eliot, +"which supersedes all acquisitions, all accomplishments. You would never +have asked at any period of Mrs. Amos Barton's life if she sketched or +played the piano. You would perhaps have been rather scandalized if she +had descended from the serene dignity of _being_ to the assiduous unrest +of _doing_." However, when he recalls the female singers he has known, +any man will grant that they have been almost without exception very +charming women. A really good singer must possess in absolute equipoise +ardor and calm. But the first singer I ever heard who made me feel +upborne by the music and floated as by the sweep of wings was a man with +a high, melancholy, piercingly sweet tenor voice. He had a pale, +striking face, with a mobile mouth, intensely brilliant blue eyes, a +lofty forehead, and his fine, scanty brown hair hung low on his neck. As +he sang with lifted head and eyes which gazed steadfastly before him, he +seemed rapt and inspired. Were I to paint an angel I should try to seize +his lineaments and the glory shining on his pale face. The song I loved +best to hear him sing was Schubert's "Erl-King," which thrilled me with +a sense of terror and mystery and made me tremble like a harp-string in +response to his piercingly clear tones. Ever and anon, as I listened to +the child's cry of "Oh, father, my father!" I was clutched by the icy +hand of the awful phantom he had invoked. Does anybody sing Schubert's +songs nowadays, or are they invariably left to the violins, which can +interpret their "eternal passion, eternal pain," so thrillingly? I +never, I regret to say, heard the "Serenade" sung in a way which seemed +to me adequate,--not to compare with the way in which Remenyi plays it. +Those wonderful lyrical instruments the violin, the 'cello, and the +flute have an almost exclusive right nowadays to some of the greatest +songs. Few singers attempt the "Adelaide" or "Che faro?" + +I like to recall the first time I ever heard "Che faro senza Eurydice?" +A musical _matinee_ was given to an elegant elderly woman, Mrs. P----, +who had had a wide social reputation as an accomplished singer. She was +still mistress of all the technique of her art, but her voice was worn +and it was not easily conceded that she was a delightful vocalist. Many +of her songs seemed like the ghosts of the blissful happy songs she had +sung in her youth. There was something half painful in their jocund +gayety and archness. I went far away from the piano and seated myself +with a group of young people, paying little attention to the music. +Presently, however, a strain sought me out, a sweet, passionately +reiterated strain: it seemed to be supplicating, imploring; it filled me +with a restless pain. That cry of "Eurydice!" "Eurydice!" so beseeching, +so passionate, so exhausted by longing, drew me with an irresistible +power. Gluck certainly achieved the effect he attempted, and showed us +what the fabled power of Orpheus was. + +Certain songs of indifferent worth often gain charm to us, although it +is only the greatest music which has the supreme power of expressing the +highest thoughts of man and the most ardent longings of his soul. But +there was a time when I found inconceivable sweetness in certain +ballads of Abt, and the like. Sara X----, a lovely youthful creature, +with a frank, beautiful smile, used to sing them, sitting down at the +piano and going on from one song to another, generally beginning with +"The Bells are Hushed," which silenced the room when twenty people were +buzzing flirtation and gossip. One line of that song, as she sang it, +draws the heart out of me still as I remember it: + + Sleep well, sleep well, + And let thy lovely eyelids close. + +The sentiment such songs arouse is soft but poignant. Some songs--the +"Adelaide," for example--are songs to make one commit suicide. But this +sort of music stirs and delights while it mocks with the sweetness which +soothes us not. "She kept me awake all night, as a strain of Mozart's +might do," Keats wrote of his Charmian. There was no song this special +songstress sang which she did not make her own by a peculiar and +powerful effort. Her instinct was to rouse, charm, fascinate her little +audience. Not to move her hearers was to her not to sing, and when she +sang as she wished she could sweep away his world of ideas from her +listener and recreate a new one. In one song, an Italian composition +called "The Dream," she always seemed to be carried beyond herself. In +reading Tourgeneff's description of Iakof's singing I could only think +of Sara X----: "Iakof became more and more excited; completely master of +himself, he gave himself up entirely to the inspiration that had taken +possession of him. His voice no longer trembled; it no longer betrayed +anything but the emotion of passion, that emotion that so rapidly +communicates itself to the hearers. One evening I was by the sea when +the tide was coming in; the murmur of the waves was becoming more and +more distinct. I saw a gull motionless on the shore, with its white +breast facing the purplish sea; from time to time it spread its enormous +wings and seemed to greet the incoming waves and the disk of the sun. +This came to my mind at that moment." And as I read these words of +Tourgeneff's, Sara X---- singing "The Dream" came to my mind. + +A less dramatic singer, but an incomparable singer of Scotch ballads, +and indeed of all ballads, at the same period of my life made an +imperishable impression upon my mind. Nothing can surpass certain Scotch +ballads for the faculty of quickening into susceptibility the elementary +poetry which underlies human nature. Every man and every woman becomes +again an individual man, an individual woman, who is moved by "John +Anderson, my Jo, John," or "Auld Robin Gray." Never was so sweet a voice +as this singer's, never did woman have a higher gift of rescuing the +soul from every-day use and wont and giving it glimpses from the +mountain-summit and the thrill and inspiration which come from the wider +view and the purer air. She gave her gift, she enriched the world, and +her songs are still incorporate in the hearts and souls of those who +loved her. + +We do not hear songs enough in our every-day life; and even from the +singers on the boards the best songs are rarely heard. There are many +songs I should like to repeat the mere name of, so much it means to me; +but it might not carry the same music to others. Dr. Johnson said of a +certain work, "There should come out such a book every thirty years, +dressed in the words of the times." So there should appear at least +twice in every decade of each man's and woman's life an unsurpassed +singer of old songs, who should give us not only the "Adelaide," but +"Mignon," "The Serenade," the "Adieu," and all the many-colored ballads +on love,--plain, fantastic, descriptive, sad, and sweet,--so that we +might enjoy an epitome of our life-long musical pleasures, and not have +to cry, like Faust, but in vain, "Give me my youth again." + + L. M. + + +A Chess Village. + +The all-pervading influence of chess observable in that peculiar region +described in "Through the Looking-Glass" is hardly less perceptible in +the little, antiquated German village of Stroebeck, not far from +Halberstadt. In the eleventh century this village was noted for the +devotion of its people to chess, and they have kept this characteristic +feature down to the present day. All the inhabitants, except the very +small children, are chess-players of more or less skill, and the game is +to them what the world-renowned Passion-play is to the Oberammergauers. + +A great many notable men have visited Stroebeck at various times on +account of its reputation as a chess-playing community. The +council-house contains numerous memorials of these visits, which the +villagers take pride in showing to strangers. Among the most highly +prized of these memorials are a board and chessmen which were presented +to the village in 1651 by Kurfuerst Frederick William of Brandenburg. + +In June, 1885, the chess societies of the Hartz districts held a +"_Schachcongress_," or chess convention, at this appropriate place. +Besides the regularly-appointed delegates, a large number of visitors +came from various parts of Germany, many of whom were players of wide +repute. Among the latter was Herr Schalopp, well known as one of the +best chess-players of Berlin. While at Stroebeck, Schalopp played games +with thirty-seven persons at the same time. He won thirty-four of the +games, and two of the three opponents whom he did not defeat were an old +woman of the village, and her grandson, a boy of thirteen. + +The convention lasted several days, and the villagers won a large +proportion of the silver-ware, chess-boards, and other prizes offered +for victory. Every house contains prizes which had been won in such +contests on former occasions. The visitors were very much surprised at +the fine playing of the village children, who, before the convention +adjourned, gave a special exhibition of their skill in the game. The +time characteristically chosen for this juvenile tournament was Sunday +afternoon. Of course the early development of these small chess-players +must have been caused principally by frequent practice and constant +study of the game; but students of psychology might find in it an +instance of transmitted tendency and the inherited effect of a certain +habit of thought. + +Such a rustic society as Stroebeck could hardly exist anywhere but in +Germany. The Italian peasants, who give so much of their time to _loto_, +are generally too lazy to make the mental exertion required for chess, +while in most other European countries the rural population of the lower +class entertain themselves chiefly with fights between dogs, cocks, or +men who are but little superior to either. Here in the United States +there are, no doubt, lovers of chess in nearly every village or small +town, as well as in the cities; but in comparison with that of base-ball +or roller-skating its popularity is nowhere great enough to be taken +into account as an indication of mental tendencies or characteristics. + + W. W. C. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[C] A review of which the belles-lettres department is feeble, but which +publishes excellent articles in other departments. + +[D] Known in Russian literature as Tschtedrin, one of the ablest +satirists, editor until last year of the leading scientific literary +review, now suppressed on account of its radical tendencies. + + + + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY + + + "The Congo, and the Founding of its Free State: A Story of Work + and Exploration." By Henry M. Stanley. Two Volumes. New York: + Harper & Brothers. + +It is not as the geographical discoverer and explorer--except +incidentally and to a limited extent--that Mr. Stanley appears in these +volumes. It is as Bula Matari,--"Breaker of Rocks,"--making roads and +bridges, establishing stations, pushing the outposts of civilization +into the heart of Africa. He no longer fights his way through hostile +tribes or seeks to avoid their notice, anxious only to penetrate an +unknown region, secure his own safety and that of his followers, and +report his achievements, leaving no trace behind except a recollection +as of some fiery meteor that had vanished without its portents being +apprehended. He returns to make the signification clear, a harbinger not +of disasters, but of a wonderful new era of peace and prosperity. He +bestows lavish gifts, negotiates treaties, purchases territorial rights, +and devotes himself to the task of opening avenues to trade and +preparing the way for colonization. The same energy and pluck, the same +spirit of persistence, that triumphed over the obstacles and dangers of +his earlier enterprises are again called into play, combined with the +suavity and patience demanded for the attainment of the present object +and permitted by the ample means at his disposal and the freedom from +any necessity for impetuous haste or hazardous adventures. Experience, +counsel, and the sense of higher responsibilities have brought a calmer +judgment and greater steadiness of action, but the boyish temperament +has not lost its sway, and more than one crisis is brought to a happy +issue by methods in which a love of fun mingles with sagacity and +foresight and renders their measures more effective. + +The work undertaken by the Association of which Mr. Stanley was the +agent is of a purely initiatory character. The acquisition of territory +and of certain rights of sovereignty under treaties with local chiefs +constitutes the "founding" of the "Congo Free State," which has obtained +the recognition of the European powers and become one of the contracting +parties to the articles adopted by the recent Conference at Berlin for +regulating the commercial and political status of the river-basins of +Central Africa. Under these articles absolute freedom of trade, +intercourse, and settlement is secured to the people of all nations +throughout a region of vast extent and unsurpassed fertility, rich in +natural products, not so densely peopled as to resist or restrict any +conceivable schemes of colonization, yet offering in its numerous +village populations material sufficiently available for the needs of +industry and commerce and amenable to philanthropic influences. The +preparatory labors, which leave no room for doubt on this point, have +been already accomplished, with the exception of what Mr. Stanley +regards as the sure and indispensable means of opening up the resources +of the country,--viz., the construction of a railway around the rapids +that impede the navigation of the Congo. That this crowning enterprise +would be highly and immediately remunerative he considers easily +demonstrable. "To-day," he writes, "fifty-two thousand pounds are paid +per annum for porterage between Stanley Pool and the coast, by native +traders, the International Association, and three missions, which is +equal to five and one-half per cent. on the nine hundred and forty +thousand pounds said to be needed to construct the railway to the Pool. +But let the Vivi and Stanley Pool railroad be constructed, and it would +require an army of grenadiers to prevent the traders from moving on to +secure the favorite places in the commercial El Dorado of Africa." It +is, of course, to European capitalists that Mr. Stanley addresses his +appeal; and when it is remembered that their least profitable +investments have not been those which aided in the development of +barbarous countries, it seems not improbable that at no remote period a +sufficient portion of the riches that so continually make themselves +wings and fly away to distant quarters of the globe may seek the banks +of the Congo in preference to those of the Hudson or the Wabash. + +While holding out this tempting bait to merchants, manufacturers, and +the moneyed classes generally, Mr. Stanley declines to dilate upon the +advantages of the Congo basin as a field for immigration. That portion +of it which in his view "is blessed with a temperature under which +Europeans may thrive and multiply" is at present inaccessible to +settlers. It is "the cautious trader, who advances, not without the +means of retreat," who is to act as the pioneer and the missionary of +civilization, stimulating and directing the industry of the natives. The +suppression of the internal slave-trade is another object to be aimed +at,--one which Mr. Stanley, in an address recently delivered in London, +held up as capable of accomplishment by an outlay of five thousand +pounds a year. What rebate should be made, on this point and on others, +from the anticipations which a sanguine temperament, that has enabled +its possessor to struggle with so many difficulties and to achieve so +many enterprises, would naturally tend to heighten and render glowing, +is a question that may be reserved for those whom it directly concerns. +Equatorial Africa is not likely ever to become the home of a white +population, but it need not for that reason be left to "stew in its own +juice." On the contrary, it offers on that very account a fit subject +for the experiment, which has nowhere yet been adequately tried, of +developing latent capacities for progress in races that have raised +themselves above the level of absolute savagery without attaining to +those ideals which, never wholly realized, are essential to continuous +improvement. It has been found easy to enslave, to debase, to +exterminate races in this condition, while the ill success of efforts to +enlighten and elevate them has led to the inference that this is +impracticable. The trial, however, will not have been made till the +counteracting influences have ceased to act, or at least to predominate, +and time has been allowed for hidden forces that may possibly exist to +be called into play. As Mr. Stanley observes, "It is out of the +fragments of warring myriads that the present polished nations of Europe +have sprung. Had a few of those waves of races flowing and eddying over +Northern Africa succeeded in leaping the barrier of the equator, we +should have found the black aboriginal races of Southern Africa very +different from the savages we meet to-day." + +It was the spirit in which Mr. Stanley labored--the ardor and +hopefulness, the unfailing patience and good temper, with which he +applied himself to the task of cultivating the good will and securing +the co-operation of the natives--that made his enterprise a success. +With some exceptions, for which he gives ample credit, his European +subordinates seem to have been a constant source of embarrassment. +Possibly there may have been on his own part a lack of that +administrative ability which, acquired through discipline, imparts the +skill and power to enforce it. At all events, it is the sympathy and +humor with which he portrays his innumerable "blood-brothers"--greedy, +cunning, and capricious, but untainted with ferocity, and consequently +manageable, like children, by a judicious blending of severity and +indulgence--that give interest and charm to his narrative. It has many +faults and deficiencies which in a work of greater literary pretensions +would be inexcusable. The grammatical blunders with which it abounds +are the least annoying, since their grossness makes it easy for the +reader to supply mentally the needed correction without effort or +consideration. Looseness of diction, repetitions and redundancies of all +kinds, and, above all, a frequent lack of clearness and vividness both +in statement and description, are more serious impediments to the wish +to gain comprehension and instruction. Like most untrained writers, Mr. +Stanley imagines that, with a sufficiency of matter, it is only +necessary to refrain from striving after picturesque effects or ornate +embellishments in order to attain the qualities of clearness and +simplicity. Happily, the impulsiveness that betrays itself in his style +seems to have been kept well under control in the management of his +enterprise. It is always, indeed, apparent as a leading characteristic, +but it breaks loose only on occasions when it may be safely and not +unattractively displayed. + + + "Life of Frank Buckland." By his Brother-in-Law, George C. + Bompas. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Philadelphia: J. B. + Lippincott Company. + +There is a story told of Sir Edwin Landseer's being presented to the +King of Portugal, who impressively greeted the famous painter with, "I +am rejoiced to make your acquaintance, Sir Edwin Landseer, _I am so fond +of beasts_." An equally ardent sympathy with Frank Buckland's specialty +was necessary to his friends while he was alive, and is required by +those who read this delightful, bizarre, and admirable history of a man +whose fellow-feeling for all creatures endowed with life was as broad +and comprehensive as Dame Nature's for all her children. He had, it +might seem, no antipathies. Everything excited his interest, curiosity, +and tenderness. Bears, eagles, vipers, jackals, hedgehogs, and snakes +roomed with him. He not only lived on intimate terms with his zoological +curiosities, petting them, training them, studying them, but he finally +ate them. As Douglas Jerrold said of the New Zealanders, "Very +economical people. We only kill our enemies; they eat 'em. We hate our +foes to the last: while there's no learning in the end how Zealanders +are brought to relish 'em." + +It had been the elder Buckland's habit to try strange dishes. While he +was Dean of Westminster, hedgehogs, tortoises, potted ostrich, and +occasionally rats, frogs, and snails, were served up for the +delectation of favored guests, and alligator was considered a rare +delicacy. "Party at the Deanery," one guest notes: "tripe for dinner; +don't like crocodile for breakfast." Thus freed, to begin with, from the +trammels of habit and prejudice, there was little in the way of fish, +flesh, or fowl which Frank Buckland did not sooner or later try, with +various results. For instance, to quote from his diary: + +"March 9. Party of Huxley, Blagden, Rolfs. Had the lump-fish for dinner; +very good,--something like turtle. + +"March 10. Rather seedy from lump-fish." + +And again: + +"B---- called: had a viper for luncheon." + +He held a theory that from popular ignorance and superstition much +wholesome material is wasted which might be made useful not only in +satisfying hunger, but in cheapening the prices of the foods which new +control the market. The "Acclimatization Society" was formed by his +influence, at the inaugural dinner of which everything that grows on the +face of the earth and under the waters was partaken of, from kangaroo +hams to sea-slugs. These various studies and experiments, all entered +into with unequalled spirit and audacity, led up finally to the great +work of Frank Buckland's life, which was the restocking of the +watercourses of his own and other countries with the trout and salmon +which had once teemed in them, but had been driven away by man's +encroachments. The success of his system of fish-culture is too well +known to require comment, having had the happiest results in all +countries in which it has been introduced. But the perils and +vicissitudes encountered in procuring the ova are little realized by +most people. "Salmon-egg collecting," Frank Buckland wrote in 1878, "is +one of the most difficult, and I may say dangerous, tasks that fall to +my lot." And it was, indeed, the frightful exposure attending this +search for spawn on a bitter January day in the icy waters of the North +Tyne that shortened his bright, useful career. + +The biography is most instructive and valuable, besides being highly +interesting. And Frank Buckland's life was by far too rich and too +many-sided to allow anything less than his full history to give an +adequate idea of his patience, his fidelity of purpose, his love of +work, and his joy in accomplishment. The birthday entries in his diary +almost invariably disclose his satisfaction and comfort in his own life +and endeavors: "December 17, 1870. My birthday. I am very thankful to +God to allow me so much prosperity and happiness on my forty-fourth +birthday, and that I have been enabled to work so well. I trust he may +spare me for many more years to go on with my work." + +The book abounds in droll stories, some quite new, and some already +given in his lectures and natural-history papers. He generally travelled +with some curious collections in his pockets or in bottles; and, whether +these were rats, vipers, snails, or frogs, by some strange fatality they +were certain to get loose and turn up among his fellow-passengers in car +or diligence. To twine snakes around the necks and arms of young ladies +playing quadrilles was another harmless joke. "Don't be afraid," he +would say: "they won't hurt you. And do be a good girl, and don't make a +fuss." He possessed an easy gift of adapting scientific theories and +deductions to popular interest and comprehension, and his "Curiosities +in Natural History" and other writings undoubtedly gave a strong impulse +to the tastes of this generation, of which the many out-of-doors papers +on birds, game, and the habits of all living creatures are the result. + + + "George Eliot's Poetry, and Other Studies." By Rose Elizabeth + Cleveland. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. + +Miss Cleveland's book shows wide reading, study, painstaking +discrimination, enthusiastic zeal, and, above all, the never-failing +impulse of an individual idea. It reveals on every page a healthy, +well-poised womanly nature, and the opinions advanced are a part of the +conscience and moral being as well as of the intellect. The author has +fed her mind and heart with high dreams and lofty ideals, and it is not +only a pleasure to her to disclose them, but a sacred duty as well. + +"When a high thought comes," she writes in "Reciprocity," "we owe that +thought to the world. A great deal of this interment of our best +thought-life is justified to ourselves by the plea that such thoughts +are too sacred for utterance: a wretched sophistry, a miserable excuse +for what is really our fear of criticism." There is nothing trivial or +false about the critical and ethical views which Miss Cleveland gives +bravely, although they are not invariably rendered with the felicity and +pointed phrase which come from a careful selection of words and symbols. +She is a little dazzled by the flowers and fruitage of a fancy which +most of us are compelled to curb and prune to meet the requisitions of +time and space. These papers were prepared chiefly, the dedication tells +us, for schools and colleges, and a little of the pedantry and ample +leisure of a teacher who has his audience safe under his own control is +apparent in them. Little goes without saying; the whole story is told; +yet it is always easy to put aside the parasitical growth and get at the +solid and useful idea. The book was not written for critics who desire +to have everything summed up in a single sentence, and who are apt to +praise the volumes which encumber the book-seller's shelves rather than +those which run through seven editions in as many days. + +Like most other American essayists, she has couched many of her phrases +and ideas in the Emersonian mould. Her sentences are short; she uses a +homely illustration by preference. "Independence," she says, "in an +absolute sense is an impossibility. The nature of things is against it. +The human soul was not made to contain itself. It was made to spill +over, and it does and will spill over, always as _quid pro quo_, +wherever lodged, to the end of time."... "There is a vast amount of +thinking which ought to be in the market. We hold our best thoughts and +give our second best."... "We do a good deal of shirking in this life on +the ground of not being geniuses. The truth is, there is an immense +amount of humbug lurking in the folds of those specious theories about +genius. Let a man or woman go to work at a thing, and the genius will +take care of itself." + +Miss Cleveland has gathered a large audience, and it is a satisfaction +to feel in reading her book that she holds her place before them with +invariable good sense, high faith, and a dignity which commands respect. + + + "Aulnay Tower." By Blanche Willis Howard. Boston: Ticknor & Co. + +There is a good situation in "Aulnay Tower," but the book may be said to +be all situation, with little movement, no development, and the very +slightest free play of character and motive. The scene is laid at the +chateau of the Marquis de Montauban, not far from Paris, at the moment +in the Franco-German war when Sedan had been fought, the emperor was a +prisoner, and the Germans were investing the capital. The marquis, his +niece the Countess Nathalie de Vallauris, and his chaplain the Abbe de +Navailles, in spite of orders from General Trochu, have remained at this +country-seat, apparently indifferent to passing events. Thus it is a +rude awakening when they find the Germans knocking at the castle doors +and demanding entertainment for the officers of the Saxon grenadiers, +who are quartered upon them during most of the time occupied by the +siege of Paris. + +Here, then, is the situation. The Countess Nathalie, a widow of +twenty-three, "a beautiful woman, young, pale, fair-haired, stately and +forbidding," confronts these invaders of her private peace and enemies +of her country, intending to freeze them by her haughtiness, her +indifference, her disdain, but carries away even from the first +encounter a haunting and rankling recollection of a tall man in blue; +while the tall man in blue, Adjutant von Nordenfels, "from the moment +she stood before the officers in her cold protest and unrelenting +pride," was madly in love with the countess. The feelings of these two +young people being thus from the first removed from the region of doubt +and conjecture, what few slight obstacles contrive to separate them for +a time carry little weight with the reader. There is a dearth of +incident which the side-play of the coquettish maid, Nathalie's +_femme-de-chambre_, fails to relieve. The marquis and Manette are the +traditional nobleman and soubrette, and flourish before us all the +adjuncts of the stage. We give a fragment from a soliloquy of Manette's +which suggests the foot-lights and an enforced "wait" in a comedy during +a change of dress for the principal actors: "I adore Countess Nathalie, +and am thankful for my blessings. And yet I have my disappointments, my +chagrins. To-day, for example, what a field for genius! what a chance +for never-to-be-forgotten impressions! A dozen officers! Not a woman in +Aulnay but madame and me. Oh, just heaven, what possibilities! My rich +imagination dressed us both in the twinkling of an eye. For the +Countess Nathalie gentle severity was the key-note of my +composition,--heavy black silk, of course. There it lies. Elegance and +dignity in the train. Happy surprises in the drapery. Fascination in the +sleeves. Defiance, pride, and patriotism in the high collar, tempered by +regret in the soft ruche.... She would have been a problem and a poem; +while I, in my cheerful reds, my dazzling white, my decisive short +skirts, my piquant shoes, my audacious apron, am a conundrum, a +pleasantry, an epigram." This would be very pretty on the stage, but a +waiting-maid who calls herself an "epigram" passes our imagination under +any other circumstances. In fact, Miss Howard seems to us to be +altogether on a false tack in this novel,--to have utterly abandoned +realism, and in its place to have imposed upon us scenes, characters, +and actuating motives which have figured over and over again in book and +play, and to which she has not succeeded in imparting any special +vivacity or charm. The novel falls far below "Guenn," in which the +author riveted and deepened the impression of her first clever little +book, "One Summer." + + + "Married for Fun." Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + +The title of "Married for Fun," and the plot of the book itself, might +easily suggest its being a screaming farce; and that may actually have +been the intention of the author, although she is at times painfully +serious. A young lady who, after going through a form of marriage to an +utter stranger in a stupid charade, believes herself to be legally his +wife, seems to be practically unfitted for the position of heroine in +anything except a farce. But there is no fun in the book, and a whole +series of absurd and incoherent incidents fail to produce any effect +upon the reader save one of deadly ennui. The narrative, if such a host +of incongruities and imbecilities can be called a narrative, is +perpetually adorned by choice reflections of the author's own, and the +itinerancy of an extended European tour is condensed and added to the +other attractions. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, SEPT 1885 *** + +***** This file should be named 29158.txt or 29158.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/1/5/29158/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + +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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