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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 89,
+March, 1865, 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: The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 89, March, 1865
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: October 16, 2009 [EBook #30265]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, MARCH 1865 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
+(This file was produced from images generously made
+available by Cornell University Digital Collections.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE
+
+ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
+
+_A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics._
+
+VOL. XV.--MARCH, 1865.--NO. LXXXIX.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by TICKNOR AND
+FIELDS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
+Massachusetts.
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF A YEAR.
+
+
+I.
+
+My story begins as a great many stories have begun within the last three
+years, and indeed as a great many have ended; for, when the hero is
+despatched, does not the romance come to a stop?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In early May, two years ago, a young couple I wot of strolled homeward
+from an evening walk, a long ramble among the peaceful hills which
+inclosed their rustic home. Into these peaceful hills the young man had
+brought, not the rumor, (which was an old inhabitant,) but some of the
+reality of war,--a little whiff of gunpowder, the clanking of a sword;
+for, although Mr. John Ford had his campaign still before him, he wore a
+certain comely air of camp-life which stamped him a very Hector to the
+steady-going villagers, and a very pretty fellow to Miss Elizabeth
+Crowe, his companion in this sentimental stroll. And was he not attired
+in the great brightness of blue and gold which befits a freshly made
+lieutenant? This was a strange sight for these happy Northern glades;
+for, although the first Revolution had boomed awhile in their midst, the
+honest yeomen who defended them were clad in sober homespun, and it is
+well known that His Majesty's troops wore red.
+
+These young people, I say, had been roaming. It was plain that they had
+wandered into spots where the brambles were thick and the dews
+heavy,--nay, into swamps and puddles where the April rains were still
+undried. Ford's boots and trousers had imbibed a deep foretaste of the
+Virginia mud; his companion's skirts were fearfully bedraggled. What
+great enthusiasm had made our friends so unmindful of their steps? What
+blinding ardor had kindled these strange phenomena: a young lieutenant
+scornful of his first uniform, a well-bred young lady reckless of her
+stockings?
+
+Good reader, this narrative is averse to retrospect.
+
+Elizabeth (as I shall not scruple to call her outright) was leaning upon
+her companion's arm, half moving in concert with him, and half allowing
+herself to be led, with that instinctive acknowledgment of dependence
+natural to a young girl who has just received the assurance of lifelong
+protection. Ford was lounging along with that calm, swinging stride
+which often bespeaks, when you can read it aright, the answering
+consciousness of a sudden rush of manhood. A spectator might have
+thought him at this moment profoundly conceited. The young girl's blue
+veil was dangling from his pocket; he had shouldered her sun-umbrella
+after the fashion of a musket on a march: he might carry these trifles.
+Was there not a vague longing expressed in the strong expansion of his
+stalwart shoulders, in the fond accommodation of his pace to hers,--her
+pace so submissive and slow, that, when he tried to match it, they
+almost came to a delightful standstill,--a silent desire for the whole
+fair burden?
+
+They made their way up a long swelling mound, whose top commanded the
+sunset. The dim landscape which had been brightening all day to the
+green of spring was now darkening to the gray of evening. The lesser
+hills, the farms, the brooks, the fields, orchards, and woods, made a
+dusky gulf before the great splendor of the west. As Ford looked at the
+clouds, it seemed to him that their imagery was all of war, their great
+uneven masses were marshalled into the semblance of a battle. There were
+columns charging and columns flying and standards floating,--tatters of
+the reflected purple; and great captains on colossal horses, and a
+rolling canopy of cannon-smoke and fire and blood. The background of the
+clouds, indeed, was like a land on fire, or a battle-ground illumined by
+another sunset, a country of blackened villages and crimsoned pastures.
+The tumult of the clouds increased; it was hard to believe them
+inanimate. You might have fancied them an army of gigantic souls playing
+at football with the sun. They seemed to sway in confused splendor; the
+opposing squadrons bore each other down; and then suddenly they
+scattered, bowling with equal velocity towards north and south, and
+gradually fading into the pale evening sky. The purple pennons sailed
+away and sank out of sight, caught, doubtless, upon the brambles of the
+intervening plain. Day contracted itself into a fiery ball and vanished.
+
+Ford and Elizabeth had quietly watched this great mystery of the
+heavens.
+
+"That is an allegory," said the young man, as the sun went under,
+looking into his companion's face, where a pink flush seemed still to
+linger: "it means the end of the war. The forces on both sides are
+withdrawn. The blood that has been shed gathers itself into a vast
+globule and drops into the ocean."
+
+"I'm afraid it means a shabby compromise," said Elizabeth. "Light
+disappears, too, and the land is in darkness."
+
+"Only for a season," answered the other. "We mourn our dead. Then light
+comes again, stronger and brighter than ever. Perhaps you'll be crying
+for me, Lizzie, at that distant day."
+
+"Oh, Jack, didn't you promise not to talk about that?" says Lizzie,
+threatening to anticipate the performance in question.
+
+Jack took this rebuke in silence, gazing soberly at the empty sky. Soon
+the young girl's eyes stole up to his face. If he had been looking at
+anything in particular, I think she would have followed the direction of
+his glance; but as it seemed to be a very vacant one, she let her eyes
+rest.
+
+"Jack," said she, after a pause, "I wonder how you'll look when you get
+back."
+
+Ford's soberness gave way to a laugh.
+
+"Uglier than ever. I shall be all incrusted with mud and gore. And then
+I shall be magnificently sun-burnt, and I shall have a beard."
+
+"Oh, you dreadful!" and Lizzie gave a little shout. "Really, Jack, if
+you have a beard, you'll not look like a gentleman."
+
+"Shall I look like a lady, pray?" says Jack.
+
+"Are you serious?" asked Lizzie.
+
+"To be sure. I mean to alter my face as you do your misfitting
+garments,--take in on one side and let out on the other. Isn't that the
+process? I shall crop my head and cultivate my chin."
+
+"You've a very nice chin, my dear, and I think it's a shame to hide
+it."
+
+"Yes, I know my chin's handsome; but wait till you see my beard."
+
+"Oh, the vanity!" cried Lizzie, "the vanity of men in their faces! Talk
+of women!" and the silly creature looked up at her lover with most
+inconsistent satisfaction.
+
+"Oh, the pride of women in their husbands!" said Jack, who of course
+knew what she was about.
+
+"You're not my husband, Sir. There's many a slip"----But the young girl
+stopped short.
+
+"'Twixt the cup and the lip," said Jack. "Go on. I can match your
+proverb with another. 'There's many a true word,' and so forth. No, my
+darling: I'm not your husband. Perhaps I never shall be. But if anything
+happens to me, you'll take comfort, won't you?"
+
+"Never!" said Lizzie, tremulously.
+
+"Oh, but you must; otherwise, Lizzie, I should think our engagement
+inexcusable. Stuff! who am I that you should cry for me?"
+
+"You are the best and wisest of men. I don't care; you _are_."
+
+"Thank you for your great love, my dear. That's a delightful illusion.
+But I hope Time will kill it, in his own good way, before it hurts any
+one. I know so many men who are worth infinitely more than I--men wise,
+generous, and brave--that I shall not feel as if I were leaving you in
+an empty world."
+
+"Oh, my dear friend!" said Lizzie, after a pause, "I wish you could
+advise me all my life."
+
+"Take care, take care," laughed Jack; "you don't know what you are
+bargaining for. But will you let me say a word now? If by chance I'm
+taken out of the world, I want you to beware of that tawdry sentiment
+which enjoins you to be 'constant to my memory.' My memory be hanged!
+Remember me at my best,--that is, fullest of the desire of humility.
+Don't inflict me on people. There are some widows and bereaved
+sweethearts who remind me of the peddler in that horrible murder-story,
+who carried a corpse in his pack. Really, it's their stock in trade. The
+only justification of a man's personality is his rights. What rights has
+a dead man?--Let's go down."
+
+They turned southward and went jolting down the hill.
+
+"Do you mind this talk, Lizzie?" asked Ford.
+
+"No," said Lizzie, swallowing a sob, unnoticed by her companion in the
+sublime egotism of protection; "I like it."
+
+"Very well," said the young man, "I want my memory to help you. When I
+am down in Virginia, I expect to get a vast deal of good from thinking
+of you,--to do my work better, and to keep straighter altogether. Like
+all lovers, I'm horribly selfish. I expect to see a vast deal of
+shabbiness and baseness and turmoil, and in the midst of it all I'm sure
+the inspiration of patriotism will sometimes fail. Then I'll think of
+you. I love you a thousand times better than my country, Liz.--Wicked?
+So much the worse. It's the truth. But if I find your memory makes a
+milksop of me, I shall thrust you out of the way, without ceremony,--I
+shall clap you into my box or between the leaves of my Bible, and only
+look at you on Sunday."
+
+"I shall be very glad, Sir, if that makes you open your Bible
+frequently," says Elizabeth, rather demurely.
+
+"I shall put one of your photographs against every page," cried Ford;
+"and then I think I shall not lack a text for my meditations. Don't you
+know how Catholics keep little pictures of their adored Lady in their
+prayer-books?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," said Lizzie; "I should think it would be a very
+soul-stirring picture, when you are marching to the front, the night
+before a battle,--a poor, stupid girl, knitting stupid socks, in a
+stupid Yankee village."
+
+Oh, the craft of artless tongues! Jack strode along in silence a few
+moments, splashing straight through a puddle; then, ere he was quite
+clear of it, he stretched out his arm and gave his companion a long
+embrace.
+
+"And pray what am I to do," resumed Lizzie, wondering, rather proudly
+perhaps, at Jack's averted face, "while you are marching and
+countermarching in Virginia?"
+
+"Your duty, of course," said Jack, in a steady voice, which belied a
+certain little conjecture of Lizzie's. "I think you will find the sun
+will rise in the east, my dear, just as it did before you were engaged."
+
+"I'm sure I didn't suppose it wouldn't," says Lizzie.
+
+"By duty I don't mean anything disagreeable, Liz," pursued the young
+man. "I hope you'll take your pleasure, too. I wish you might go to
+Boston, or even to Leatherborough, for a month or two."
+
+"What for, pray?"
+
+"What for? Why, for the fun of it: to 'go out,' as they say."
+
+"Jack, do you think me capable of going to parties while you are in
+danger?"
+
+"Why not? Why should I have all the fun?"
+
+"Fun? I'm sure you're welcome to it all. As for me, I mean to make a new
+beginning."
+
+"Of what?"
+
+"Oh, of everything. In the first place, I shall begin to improve my
+mind. But don't you think it's horrid for women to be reasonable?"
+
+"Hard, say you?"
+
+"Horrid,--yes, and hard too. But I mean to become so. Oh, girls are such
+fools, Jack! I mean to learn to like boiled mutton and history and plain
+sewing, and all that. Yet, when a girl's engaged, she's not expected to
+do anything in particular."
+
+Jack laughed, and said nothing; and Lizzie went on.
+
+"I wonder what your mother will say to the news. I think I know."
+
+"What?"
+
+"She'll say you've been very unwise. No, she won't: she never speaks so
+to you. She'll say I've been very dishonest or indelicate, or something
+of that kind. No, she won't either: she doesn't say such things, though
+I'm sure she thinks them. I don't know what she'll say."
+
+"No, I think not, Lizzie, if you indulge in such conjectures. My mother
+never speaks without thinking. Let us hope that she may think favorably
+of our plan. Even if she doesn't"----
+
+Jack did not finish his sentence, nor did Lizzie urge him. She had a
+great respect for his hesitations. But in a moment he began again.
+
+"I was going to say this, Lizzie: I think for the present our engagement
+had better be kept quiet."
+
+Lizzie's heart sank with a sudden disappointment. Imagine the feelings
+of the damsel in the fairy-tale, whom the disguised enchantress had just
+empowered to utter diamonds and pearls, should the old beldame have
+straightway added that for the present mademoiselle had better hold her
+tongue. Yet the disappointment was brief. I think this enviable young
+lady would have tripped home talking very hard to herself, and have been
+not ill pleased to find her little mouth turning into a tightly clasped
+jewel-casket. Nay, would she not on this occasion have been thankful for
+a large mouth,--a mouth huge and unnatural,--stretching from ear to ear?
+Who wish to cast their pearls before swine? The young lady of the pearls
+was, after all, but a barnyard miss. Lizzie was too proud of Jack to be
+vain. It's well enough to wear our own hearts upon our sleeves; but for
+those of others, when intrusted to our keeping, I think we had better
+find a more secluded lodging.
+
+"You see, I think secrecy would leave us much freer," said Jack,--"leave
+_you_ much freer."
+
+"Oh, Jack, how can you?" cried Lizzie. "Yes, of course; I shall be
+falling in love with some one else. Freer! Thank you, Sir!"
+
+"Nay, Lizzie, what I'm saying is really kinder than it sounds. Perhaps
+you _will_ thank me one of these days."
+
+"Doubtless! I've already taken a great fancy to George Mackenzie."
+
+"Will you let me enlarge on my suggestion?"
+
+"Oh, certainly! You seem to have your mind quite made up."
+
+"I confess I like to take account of possibilities. Don't you know
+mathematics are my hobby? Did you ever study algebra? I always have an
+eye on the unknown quantity."
+
+"No, I never studied algebra. I agree with you, that we had better not
+speak of our engagement."
+
+"That's right, my dear. You're always right. But mind, I don't want to
+bind you to secrecy. Hang it, do as you please! Do what comes easiest to
+you, and you'll do the best thing. What made me speak is my dread of the
+horrible publicity which clings to all this business. Nowadays, when a
+girl's engaged, it's no longer, 'Ask mamma,' simply; but, 'Ask Mrs.
+Brown, and Mrs. Jones, and my large circle of acquaintance,--Mrs.
+Grundy, in short.' I say nowadays, but I suppose it's always been so."
+
+"Very well, we'll keep it all nice and quiet," said Lizzie, who would
+have been ready to celebrate her nuptials according to the rites of the
+Esquimaux, had Jack seen fit to suggest it.
+
+"I know it doesn't look well for a lover to be so cautious," pursued
+Jack; "but you understand me, Lizzie, don't you?"
+
+"I don't entirely understand you, but I quite trust you."
+
+"God bless you! My prudence, you see, is my best strength. Now, if ever,
+I need my strength. When a man's a-wooing, Lizzie, he is all feeling, or
+he ought to be; when he's accepted, then he begins to think."
+
+"And to repent, I suppose you mean."
+
+"Nay, to devise means to keep his sweetheart from repenting. Let me be
+frank. Is it the greatest fools only that are the best lovers? There's
+no telling what may happen, Lizzie. I want you to marry me with your
+eyes open. I don't want you to feel tied down or taken in. You're very
+young, you know. You're responsible to yourself of a year hence. You're
+at an age when no girl can count safely from year's end to year's end."
+
+"And you, Sir!" cries Lizzie; "one would think you were a grandfather."
+
+"Well, I'm on the way to it. I'm a pretty old boy. I mean what I say. I
+may not be entirely frank, but I think I'm sincere. It seems to me as if
+I'd been fibbing all my life before I told you that your affection was
+necessary to my happiness. I mean it out and out. I never loved any one
+before, and I never will again. If you had refused me half an hour ago,
+I should have died a bachelor. I have no fear for myself. But I have for
+you. You said a few minutes ago that you wanted me to be your adviser.
+Now you know the function of an adviser is to perfect his victim in the
+art of walking with his eyes shut. I sha'n't be so cruel."
+
+Lizzie saw fit to view these remarks in a humorous light. "How
+disinterested!" quoth she: "how very self-sacrificing! Bachelor indeed!
+For my part, I think I shall become a Mormon!"--I verily believe the
+poor misinformed creature fancied that in Utah it is the ladies who are
+guilty of polygamy.
+
+Before many minutes they drew near home. There stood Mrs. Ford at the
+garden-gate, looking up and down the road, with a letter in her hand.
+
+"Something for you, John," said his mother, as they approached. "It
+looks as if it came from camp.--Why, Elizabeth, look at your skirts!"
+
+"I know it," says Lizzie, giving the articles in question a shake. "What
+is it, Jack?"
+
+"Marching orders!" cried the young man. "The regiment leaves day after
+to-morrow. I must leave by the early train in the morning. Hurray!" And
+he diverted a sudden gleeful kiss into a filial salute.
+
+They went in. The two women were silent, after the manner of women who
+suffer. But Jack did little else than laugh and talk and circumnavigate
+the parlor, sitting first here and then there,--close beside Lizzie and
+on the opposite side of the room. After a while Miss Crowe joined in his
+laughter, but I think her mirth might have been resolved into articulate
+heart-beats. After tea she went to bed, to give Jack; opportunity for
+his last filial _epanchements_. How generous a man's intervention makes
+women! But Lizzie promised to see her lover off in the morning.
+
+"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Ford. "You'll not be up. John will want to
+breakfast quietly."
+
+"I shall see you off, Jack," repeated the young lady, from the
+threshold.
+
+Elizabeth went up stairs buoyant with her young love. It had dawned upon
+her like a new life,--a life positively worth the living. Hereby she
+would subsist and cost nobody anything. In it she was boundlessly rich.
+She would make it the hidden spring of a hundred praiseworthy deeds. She
+would begin the career of duty: she would enjoy boundless equanimity:
+she would raise her whole being to the level of her sublime passion. She
+would practise charity, humility, piety,--in fine, all the virtues:
+together with certain _morceaux_ of Beethoven and Chopin. She would walk
+the earth like one glorified. She would do homage to the best of men by
+inviolate secrecy. Here, by I know not what gentle transition, as she
+lay in the quiet darkness, Elizabeth covered her pillow with a flood of
+tears.
+
+Meanwhile Ford, down-stairs, began in this fashion. He was lounging at
+his manly length on the sofa, in his slippers.
+
+"May I light a pipe, mother?"
+
+"Yes, my love. But please be careful of your ashes. There's a
+newspaper."
+
+"Pipes don't make ashes.--Mother, what do you think?" he continued,
+between the puffs of his smoking; "I've got a piece of news."
+
+"Ah?" said Mrs. Ford, fumbling for her scissors; "I hope it's good
+news."
+
+"I hope you'll think it so. I've been engaging myself"--puff,--puff--"to
+Lizzie Crowe." A cloud of puffs between his mother's face and his own.
+When they cleared away, Jack felt his mother's eyes. Her work was in her
+lap. "To be married, you know," he added.
+
+In Mrs. Ford's view, like the king in that of the British Constitution,
+her only son could do no wrong. Prejudice is a stout bulwark against
+surprise. Moreover, Mrs. Ford's motherly instinct had not been entirely
+at fault. Still, it had by no means kept pace with fact. She had been
+silent, partly from doubt, partly out of respect for her son. As long as
+John did not doubt of himself, he was right. Should he come to do so,
+she was sure he would speak. And now, when he told her the matter was
+settled, she persuaded herself that he was asking her advice.
+
+"I've been expecting it," she said, at last.
+
+"You have? why didn't you speak?"
+
+"Well, John, I can't say I've been hoping it."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I am not sure of Lizzie's heart," said Mrs. Ford, who, it may be well
+to add, was very sure of her own.
+
+Jack began to laugh. "What's the matter with her heart?"
+
+"I think Lizzie's shallow," said Mrs. Ford; and there was that in her
+tone which betokened some satisfaction with this adjective.
+
+"Hang it! she is shallow," said Jack. "But when a thing's shallow, you
+can see to the bottom. Lizzie doesn't pretend to be deep. I want a wife,
+mother, that I can understand. That's the only wife I can love. Lizzie's
+the only girl I ever understood, and the first I ever loved. I love her
+very much,--more than I can explain to you."
+
+"Yes, I confess it's inexplicable. It seems to me," she added, with a
+bad smile, "like infatuation."
+
+Jack did not like the smile; he liked it even less than the remark. He
+smoked steadily for a few moments, and then he said,--
+
+"Well, mother, love is notoriously obstinate, you know. We shall not be
+able to take the same view of this subject: suppose we drop it."
+
+"Remember that this is your last evening at home, my son," said Mrs.
+Ford.
+
+"I do remember. Therefore I wish to avoid disagreement."
+
+There was a pause. The young man smoked, and his mother sewed, in
+silence.
+
+"I think my position, as Lizzie's guardian," resumed Mrs. Ford,
+"entitles me to an interest in the matter."
+
+"Certainly, I acknowledged your interest by telling you of our
+engagement."
+
+Further pause.
+
+"Will you allow me to say," said Mrs. Ford, after a while, "that I think
+this a little selfish?"
+
+"Allow you? Certainly, if you particularly desire it. Though I confess
+it isn't very pleasant for a man to sit and hear his future wife pitched
+into,--by his own mother, too."
+
+"John, I am surprised at your language."
+
+"I beg your pardon," and John spoke more gently. "You mustn't be
+surprised at anything from an accepted lover.--I'm sure you misconceive
+her. In fact, mother, I don't believe you know her."
+
+Mrs. Ford nodded, with an infinite depth of meaning; and from the
+grimness with which she bit off the end of her thread it might have
+seemed that she fancied herself to be executing a human vengeance.
+
+"Ah, I know her only too well!"
+
+"And you don't like her?"
+
+Mrs. Ford performed another decapitation of her thread.
+
+"Well, I'm glad Lizzie has one friend in the world," said Jack.
+
+"Her best friend," said Mrs. Ford, "is the one who flatters her least. I
+see it all, John. Her pretty face has done the business."
+
+The young man flushed impatiently.
+
+"Mother," said he, "you are very much mistaken. I'm not a boy nor a
+fool. You trust me in a great many things; why not trust me in this?"
+
+"My dear son, you are throwing yourself away. You deserve for your
+companion in life a higher character than that girl."
+
+I think Mrs. Ford, who had been an excellent mother, would have liked to
+give her son a wife fashioned on her own model.
+
+"Oh, come, mother," said he, "that's twaddle. I should be thankful, if I
+were half as good as Lizzie."
+
+"It's the truth, John, and your conduct--not only the step you've taken,
+but your talk about it--is a great disappointment to me. If I have
+cherished any wish of late, it is that my darling boy should get a wife
+worthy of him. The household governed by Elizabeth Crowe is not the home
+I should desire for any one I love."
+
+"It's one to which you should always be welcome, Ma'am," said Jack.
+
+"It's not a place I should feel at home in," replied his mother.
+
+"I'm sorry," said Jack. And he got up and began to walk about the room.
+"Well, well, mother," he said at last, stopping in front of Mrs. Ford,
+"we don't understand each other. One of these days we shall. For the
+present let us have done with discussion. I'm half sorry I told you."
+
+"I'm glad of such a proof of your confidence. But if you hadn't, of
+course Elizabeth would have done so."
+
+"No, Ma'am, I think not."
+
+"Then she is even more reckless of her obligations than I thought her."
+
+"I advised her to say nothing about it."
+
+Mrs. Ford made no answer. She began slowly to fold up her work.
+
+"I think we had better let the matter stand," continued her son. "I'm
+not afraid of time. But I wish to make a request of you: you won't
+mention this conversation to Lizzie, will you? nor allow her to suppose
+that you know of our engagement? I have a particular reason."
+
+Mrs. Ford went on smoothing out her work. Then she suddenly looked up.
+
+"No, my dear, I'll keep your secret. Give me a kiss."
+
+
+II.
+
+I have no intention of following Lieutenant Ford to the seat of war. The
+exploits of his campaign are recorded in the public journals of the
+day, where the curious may still peruse them. My own taste has always
+been for unwritten history, and my present business is with the reverse
+of the picture.
+
+After Jack went off, the two ladies resumed their old homely life. But
+the homeliest life had now ceased to be repulsive to Elizabeth. Her
+common duties were no longer wearisome: for the first time, she
+experienced the delicious companionship of thought. Her chief task was
+still to sit by the window knitting soldiers' socks; but even Mrs. Ford
+could not help owning that she worked with a much greater diligence,
+yawned, rubbed her eyes, gazed up and down the road less, and indeed
+produced a much more comely article. Ah, me! if half the lovesome
+fancies that flitted through Lizzie's spirit in those busy hours could
+have found their way into the texture of the dingy yarn, as it was
+slowly wrought into shape, the eventual wearer of the socks would have
+been as light-footed as Mercury. I am afraid I should make the reader
+sneer, were I to rehearse some of this little fool's diversions. She
+passed several hours daily in Jack's old chamber: it was in this
+sanctuary, indeed, at the sunny south window, overlooking the long road,
+the wood-crowned heights, the gleaming river, that she worked with most
+pleasure and profit. Here she was removed from the untiring glance of
+the elder lady, from her jarring questions and commonplaces; here she
+was alone with her love,--that greatest commonplace in life. Lizzie felt
+in Jack's room a certain impress of his personality. The idle fancies of
+her mood were bodied forth in a dozen sacred relics. Some of these
+articles Elizabeth carefully cherished. It was rather late in the day
+for her to assert a literary taste,--her reading having begun and ended
+(naturally enough) with the ancient fiction of the "Scottish Chiefs." So
+she could hardly help smiling, herself, sometimes, at her interest in
+Jack's old college tomes. She carried several of them to her own
+apartment, and placed them at the foot of her little bed, on a
+book-shelf adorned, besides, with a pot of spring violets, a portrait of
+General McClellan, and a likeness of Lieutenant Ford. She had a vague
+belief that a loving study of their well-thumbed verses would remedy, in
+some degree, her sad intellectual deficiencies. She was sorry she knew
+so little: as sorry, that is, as she might be, for we know that she was
+shallow. Jack's omniscience was one of his most awful attributes. And
+yet she comforted herself with the thought, that, as he had forgiven her
+ignorance, she herself might surely forget it. Happy Lizzie, I envy you
+this easy path to knowledge! The volume she most frequently consulted
+was an old German "Faust," over which she used to fumble with a battered
+lexicon. The secret of this preference was in certain marginal notes in
+pencil, signed "J.". I hope they were really of Jack's making.
+
+Lizzie was always a small walker. Until she knew Jack, this had been
+quite an unsuspected pleasure. She was afraid, too, of the cows, geese,
+and sheep,--all the agricultural _spectra_ of the feminine imagination.
+But now her terrors were over. Might she not play the soldier, too, in
+her own humble way? Often with a beating heart, I fear, but still with
+resolute, elastic steps, she revisited Jack's old haunts; she tried to
+love Nature as he had seemed to love it; she gazed at his old sunsets;
+she fathomed his old pools with bright plummet glances, as if seeking
+some lingering trace of his features in their brown depths, stamped
+there as on a fond human heart; she sought out his dear name, scratched
+on the rocks and trees,--and when night came on, she studied, in her
+simple way, the great starlit canopy, under which, perhaps, her warrior
+lay sleeping; she wandered through the green glades, singing snatches of
+his old ballads in a clear voice, made tuneful with love,--and as she
+sang, there mingled with the everlasting murmur of the trees the faint
+sound of a muffled bass, borne upon the south wind like a distant
+drum-beat, responsive to a bugle. So she led for some months a very
+pleasant idyllic life, face to face with a strong, vivid memory, which
+gave everything and asked nothing. These were doubtless to be (and she
+half knew it) the happiest days of her life. Has life any bliss so great
+as this pensive ecstasy? To know that the golden sands are dropping one
+by one makes servitude freedom, and poverty riches.
+
+In spite of a certain sense of loss, Lizzie passed a very blissful
+summer. She enjoyed the deep repose which, it is to be hoped, sanctifies
+all honest betrothals. Possible calamity weighed lightly upon her. We
+know that when the columns of battle-smoke leave the field, they journey
+through the heavy air to a thousand quiet homes, and play about the
+crackling blaze of as many firesides. But Lizzie's vision was never
+clouded. Mrs. Ford might gaze into the thickening summer dusk and wipe
+her spectacles; but her companion hummed her old ballad-ends with an
+unbroken voice. She no more ceased to smile under evil tidings than the
+brooklet ceases to ripple beneath the projected shadow of the roadside
+willow. The self-given promises of that tearful night of parting were
+forgotten. Vigilance had no place in Lizzie's scheme of heavenly
+idleness. The idea of moralizing in Elysium!
+
+It must not be supposed that Mrs. Ford was indifferent to Lizzie's mood.
+She studied it watchfully, and kept note of all its variations. And
+among the things she learned was, that her companion knew of her
+scrutiny, and was, on the whole, indifferent to it. Of the full extent
+of Mrs. Ford's observation, however, I think Lizzie was hardly aware.
+She was like a reveller in a brilliantly lighted room, with a
+curtainless window, conscious, and yet heedless, of passers-by. And Mrs.
+Ford may not inaptly be compared to the chilly spectator on the dark
+side of the pane. Very few words passed on the topic of their common
+thoughts. From the first, as we have seen, Lizzie guessed at her
+guardian's probable view of her engagement: an abasement incurred by
+John. Lizzie lacked what is called a sense of duty; and, unlike the
+majority of such temperaments, which contrive to be buoyant on the
+glistening bubble of Dignity, she had likewise a modest estimate of her
+dues. Alack, my poor heroine had no pride! Mrs. Ford's silent censure
+awakened no resentment. It sounded in her ears like a dull, soporific
+hum. Lizzie was deeply enamored of what a French book terms her _aises
+intellectuelles_. Her mental comfort lay in the ignoring of problems.
+She possessed a certain native insight which revealed many of the
+horrent inequalities of her pathway; but she found it so cruel and
+disenchanting a faculty, that blindness was infinitely preferable. She
+preferred repose to order, and mercy to justice. She was speculative,
+without being critical. She was continually wondering, but she never
+inquired. This world was the riddle; the next alone would be the answer.
+
+So she never felt any desire to have an "understanding" with Mrs. Ford.
+Did the old lady misconceive her? it was her own business. Mrs. Ford
+apparently felt no desire to set herself right. You see, Lizzie was
+ignorant of her friend's promise. There were moments when Mrs. Ford's
+tongue itched to speak. There were others, it is true, when she dreaded
+any explanation which would compel her to forfeit her displeasure.
+Lizzie's happy self-sufficiency was most irritating. She grudged the
+young girl the dignity of her secret; her own actual knowledge of it
+rather increased her jealousy, by showing her the importance of the
+scheme from which she was excluded. Lizzie, being in perfect good-humor
+with the world and with herself, abated no jot of her personal deference
+to Mrs. Ford. Of Jack, as a good friend and her guardian's son, she
+spoke very freely. But Mrs. Ford was mistrustful of this
+semi-confidence. She would not, she often said to herself, be wheedled
+against her principles. Her principles! Oh for some shining blade of
+purpose to hew down such stubborn stakes! Lizzie had no thought of
+flattering her companion. She never deceived any one but herself. She
+could not bring herself to value Mrs. Ford's good-will. She knew that
+Jack often suffered from his mother's obstinacy. So her unbroken
+humility shielded no unavowed purpose. She was patient and kindly from
+nature, from habit. Yet I think, that, if Mrs. Ford could have measured
+her benignity, she would have preferred, on the whole, the most open
+defiance. "Of all things," she would sometimes mutter, "to be patronized
+by that little piece!" It was very disagreeable, for instance, to have
+to listen to _portions_ of her own son's letters.
+
+These letters came week by week, flying out of the South like
+white-winged carrier-doves. Many and many a time, for very pride, Lizzie
+would have liked a larger audience. Portions of them certainly deserved
+publicity. They were far too good for her. Were they not better than
+that stupid war-correspondence in the "Times," which she so often tried
+in vain to read? They contained long details of movements, plans of
+campaigns, military opinions and conjectures, expressed with the
+emphasis habitual to young sub-lieutenants. I doubt whether General
+Halleck's despatches laid down the law more absolutely than Lieutenant
+Ford's. Lizzie answered in her own fashion. It must be owned that hers
+was a dull pen. She told her dearest, dearest Jack how much she loved
+and honored him, and how much she missed him, and how delightful his
+last letter was, (with those beautifully drawn diagrams,) and the
+village gossip, and how stout and strong his mother continued to
+be,--and again, how she loved, etc., etc., and that she remained his
+loving L. Jack read these effusions as became one so beloved. I should
+not wonder if he thought them very brilliant.
+
+The summer waned to its close, and through myriad silent stages began to
+darken into autumn. Who can tell the story of those red months? I have
+to chronicle another silent transition. But as I can find no words
+delicate and fine enough to describe the multifold changes of Nature,
+so, too, I must be content to give you the spiritual facts in gross.
+
+John Ford became a veteran down by the Potomac. And, to tell the truth,
+Lizzie became a veteran at home. That is, her love and hope grew to be
+an old story. She gave way, as the strongest must, as the wisest will,
+to time. The passion which, in her simple, shallow way, she had confided
+to the woods and waters reflected their outward variations; she thought
+of her lover less, and with less positive pleasure. The golden sands had
+run out. Perfect rest was over. Mrs. Ford's tacit protest began to be
+annoying. In a rather resentful spirit, Lizzie forbore to read any more
+letters aloud. These were as regular as ever. One of them contained a
+rough camp-photograph of Jack's newly bearded visage. Lizzie declared it
+was "too ugly for anything," and thrust it out of sight. She found
+herself skipping his military dissertations, which were still as long
+and written in as handsome a hand as ever. The "too good," which used to
+be uttered rather proudly, was now rather a wearisome truth. When Lizzie
+in certain critical moods tried to qualify Jack's temperament, she said
+to herself that he was too literal. Once he gave her a little scolding
+for not writing oftener. "Jack can make no allowances," murmured Lizzie.
+"He can understand no feelings but his own. I remember he used to say
+that moods were diseases. His mind is too healthy for such things; his
+heart is too stout for ache or pain. The night before he went off he
+told me that Reason, as he calls it, was the rule of life. I suppose he
+thinks it the rule of love, too. But his heart is younger than
+mine,--younger and better. He has lived through awful scenes of danger
+and bloodshed and cruelty, yet his heart is purer." Lizzie had a
+horrible feeling of being _blasee_ of this one affection. "Oh, God bless
+him!" she cried. She felt much better for the tears in which this
+soliloquy ended. I fear she had begun to doubt her ability to cry about
+Jack.
+
+
+III.
+
+Christmas came. The Army of the Potomac had stacked its muskets and gone
+into winter-quarters. Miss Crowe received an invitation to pass the
+second fortnight in February at the great manufacturing town of
+Leatherborough. Leatherborough is on the railroad, two hours south of
+Glenham, at the mouth of the great river Tan, where this noble stream
+expands into its broadest smile, or gapes in too huge a fashion to be
+disguised by a bridge.
+
+"Mrs. Littlefield kindly invites you for the last of the month," said
+Mrs. Ford, reading a letter behind the tea-urn.
+
+It suited Mrs. Ford's purpose--a purpose which I have not space to
+elaborate--that her young charge should now go forth into society and
+pick up acquaintances.
+
+Two sparks of pleasure gleamed in Elizabeth's eyes. But, as she had
+taught herself to do of late with her protectress, she mused before
+answering.
+
+"It is my desire that you should go," said Mrs. Ford, taking silence for
+dissent.
+
+The sparks went out.
+
+"I intend to go," said Lizzie, rather grimly. "I am much obliged to Mrs.
+Littlefield."
+
+Her companion looked up.
+
+"I intend you shall. You will please to write this morning."
+
+For the rest of the week the two stitched together over muslins and
+silks, and were very good friends. Lizzie could scarcely help wondering
+at Mrs. Ford's zeal on her behalf. Might she not have referred it to her
+guardian's principles? Her wardrobe, hitherto fashioned on the Glenham
+notion of elegance, was gradually raised to the Leatherborough standard
+of fitness. As she took up her bedroom candle the night before she left
+home, she said,--
+
+"I thank you very much, Mrs. Ford, for having worked so hard for
+me,--for having taken so much interest in my outfit. If they ask me at
+Leatherborough who made my things, I shall certainly say it was you."
+
+Mrs. Littlefield treated her young friend with great kindness. She was a
+good-natured, childless matron. She found Lizzie very ignorant and very
+pretty. She was glad to have so great a beauty and so many lions to
+show.
+
+One evening Lizzie went to her room with one of the maids, carrying half
+a dozen candles between them. Heaven forbid that I should cross that
+virgin threshold--for the present! But we will wait. We will allow them
+two hours. At the end of that time, having gently knocked, we will enter
+the sanctuary. Glory of glories! The faithful attendant has done her
+work. Our lady is robed, crowned, ready for worshippers.
+
+I trust I shall not be held to a minute description of our dear Lizzie's
+person and costume. Who is so great a recluse as never to have beheld
+young ladyhood in full dress? Many of us have sisters and daughters. Not
+a few of us, I hope, have female connections of another degree, yet no
+less dear. Others have looking-glasses. I give you my word for it that
+Elizabeth made as pretty a show as it is possible to see. She was of
+course well-dressed. Her skirt was of voluminous white, puffed and
+trimmed in wondrous sort. Her hair was profusely ornamented with curls
+and braids of its own rich substance. From her waist depended a ribbon,
+broad and blue. White with coral ornaments, as she wrote to Jack in the
+course of the week. Coral ornaments, forsooth! And pray, Miss, what of
+the other jewels with which your person was decorated,--the rubies,
+pearls, and sapphires? One by one Lizzie assumes her modest gimcracks:
+her bracelet, her gloves, her handkerchief, her fan, and then--her
+smile. Ah, that strange crowning smile!
+
+An hour later, in Mrs. Littlefield's pretty drawing-room, amid music,
+lights, and talk, Miss Crowe was sweeping a grand curtsy before a tall,
+sallow man, whose name she caught from her hostess's redundant murmur as
+Bruce. Five minutes later, when the honest matron gave a glance at her
+newly started enterprise from the other side of the room, she said to
+herself that really, for a plain country-girl, Miss Crowe did this kind
+of thing very well. Her next glimpse of the couple showed them whirling
+round the room to the crashing thrum of the piano. At eleven o'clock she
+beheld them linked by their finger-tips in the dazzling mazes of the
+reel. At half-past eleven she discerned them charging shoulder to
+shoulder in the serried columns of the Lancers. At midnight she tapped
+her young friend gently with her fan.
+
+"Your sash is unpinned, my dear.--I think you have danced often enough
+with Mr. Bruce. If he asks you again, you had better refuse. It's not
+quite the thing.--Yes, my dear, I know.--Mr. Simpson, will you be so
+good as to take Miss Crowe down to supper?"
+
+I'm afraid young Simpson had rather a snappish partner.
+
+After the proper interval, Mr. Bruce called to pay his respects to Mrs.
+Littlefield. He found Miss Crowe also in the drawing-room. Lizzie and he
+met like old friends. Mrs. Littlefield was a willing listener; but it
+seemed to her that she had come in at the second act of the play. Bruce
+went off with Miss Crowe's promise to drive with him in the afternoon.
+In the afternoon he swept up to the door in a prancing, tinkling sleigh.
+After some minutes of hoarse jesting and silvery laughter in the keen
+wintry air, he swept away again with Lizzie curled up in the
+buffalo-robe beside him, like a kitten in a rug. It was dark when they
+returned. When Lizzie came in to the sitting-room fire, she was
+congratulated by her hostess upon having made a "conquest."
+
+"I think he's a most gentlemanly man," says Lizzie.
+
+"So he is, my dear," said Mrs. Littlefield; "Mr. Bruce is a perfect
+gentleman. He's one of the finest young men I know. He's not so young
+either. He's a little too yellow for my taste; but he's beautifully
+educated. I wish you could hear his French accent. He has been abroad I
+don't know how many years. The firm of Bruce and Robertson does an
+immense business."
+
+"And I'm so glad," cries Lizzie, "he's coming to Glenham in March! He's
+going to take his sister to the water-cure."
+
+"Really?--poor thing! She has very good manners."
+
+"What do you think of his looks?" asked Lizzie, smoothing her feather.
+
+"I was speaking of Jane Bruce. I think Mr. Bruce has fine eyes."
+
+"I must say I like tall men," says Miss Crowe.
+
+"Then Robert Bruce is your man," laughs Mr. Littlefield. "He's as tall
+as a bell-tower. And he's got a bell-clapper in his head, too."
+
+"I believe I will go and take off my things," remarks Miss Crowe,
+flinging up her curls.
+
+Of course it behooved Mr. Bruce to call the next day and see how Miss
+Crowe had stood her drive. He set a veto upon her intended departure,
+and presented an invitation from his sister for the following week. At
+Mrs. Littlefield's instance, Lizzie accepted the invitation, despatched
+a laconic note to Mrs. Ford, and stayed over for Miss Bruce's party. It
+was a grand affair. Miss Bruce was a very great lady: she treated Miss
+Crowe with every attention. Lizzie was thought by some persons to look
+prettier than ever. The vaporous gauze, the sunny hair, the coral, the
+sapphires, the smile, were displayed with renewed success. The master of
+the house was unable to dance; he was summoned to sterner duties. Nor
+could Miss Crowe be induced to perform, having hurt her foot on the ice.
+This was of course a disappointment; let us hope that her entertainers
+made it up to her.
+
+On the second day after the party, Lizzie returned to Glenham. Good Mr.
+Littlefield took her to the station, stealing a moment from his precious
+business-hours.
+
+"There are your checks," said he; "be sure you don't lose them. Put them
+in your glove."
+
+Lizzie gave a little scream of merriment.
+
+"Mr. Littlefield, how can you? I've a reticule, Sir. But I really don't
+want you to stay."
+
+"Well, I confess," said her companion.--"Hullo! there's your Scottish
+chief! I'll get him to stay with you till the train leaves. He may be
+going. Bruce!"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Littlefield, don't!" cries Lizzie. "Perhaps Mr. Bruce is
+engaged."
+
+Bruce's tall figure came striding towards them. He was astounded to find
+that Miss Crowe was going by this train. Delightful! He had come to meet
+a friend who had not arrived.
+
+"Littlefield," said he, "you can't be spared from your business. I will
+see Miss Crowe off."
+
+When the elder gentleman had departed, Mr. Bruce conducted his companion
+into the car, and found her a comfortable seat, equidistant from the
+torrid stove and the frigid door. Then he stowed away her shawls,
+umbrella, and reticule. She would keep her muff? She did well. What a
+pretty fur!
+
+"It's just like your collar," said Lizzie. "I wish I had a muff for my
+feet," she pursued, tapping on the floor.
+
+"Why not use some of those shawls?" said Bruce; "let's see what we can
+make of them."
+
+And he stooped down and arranged them as a rug, very neatly and kindly.
+And then he called himself a fool for not having used the next seat,
+which was empty; and the wrapping was done over again.
+
+"I'm so afraid you'll be carried off!" said Lizzie. "What would you do?"
+
+"I think I should make the best of it. And you?"
+
+"I would tell you to sit down _there_"; and she indicated the seat
+facing her. He took it. "Now you'll be sure to," said Elizabeth.
+
+"I'm afraid I shall, unless I put the newspaper between us." And he took
+it out of his pocket. "Have you seen the news?"
+
+"No," says Lizzie, elongating her bonnet-ribbons. "What is it? Just look
+at that party."
+
+"There's not much news. There's been a scrimmage on the Rappahannock.
+Two of our regiments engaged,--the Fifteenth and the Twenty-Eighth.
+Didn't you tell me you had a cousin or something in the Fifteenth?"
+
+"Not a cousin, no relation, but an intimate friend,--my guardian's son.
+What does the paper say, please?" inquires Lizzie, very pale.
+
+Bruce cast his eye over the report. "It doesn't seem to have amounted to
+much; we drove back the enemy, and recrossed the river at our ease. Our
+loss only fifty. There are no names," he added, catching a glimpse of
+Lizzie's pallor,--"none in this paper at least."
+
+In a few moments appeared a newsboy crying the New York journals.
+
+"Do you think the New York papers would have any names?" asked Lizzie.
+
+"We can try," said Bruce. And he bought a "Herald," and unfolded it.
+"Yes, there _is_ a list," he continued, some time after he had opened
+out the sheet. "What's your friend's name?" he asked, from behind the
+paper.
+
+"Ford,--John Ford, second lieutenant," said Lizzie.
+
+There was a long pause.
+
+At last Bruce lowered the sheet, and showed a face in which Lizzie's
+pallor seemed faintly reflected.
+
+"There _is_ such a name among the wounded," he said; and, folding the
+paper down, he held it out, and gently crossed to the seat beside her.
+
+Lizzie took the paper, and held it close to her eyes. But Bruce could
+not help seeing that her temples had turned from white to crimson.
+
+"Do you see it?" he asked; "I sincerely hope it's nothing very bad."
+
+"_Severely_," whispered Lizzie.
+
+"Yes, but that proves nothing. Those things are most unreliable. _Do_
+hope for the best."
+
+Lizzie made no answer. Meanwhile passengers had been brushing in, and
+the car was full. The engine began to puff, and the conductor to shout.
+The train gave a jog.
+
+"You'd better go, Sir, or you'll be carried off," said Lizzie, holding
+out her hand, with her face still hidden.
+
+"May I go on to the next station with you?" said Bruce.
+
+Lizzie gave him a rapid look, with a deepened flush. He had fancied that
+she was shedding tears. But those eyes were dry; they held fire rather
+than water.
+
+"No, no, Sir; you must not. I insist. Good bye."
+
+Bruce's offer had cost him a blush, too. He had been prepared to back it
+with the assurance that he had business ahead, and, indeed, to make a
+little business in order to satisfy his conscience. But Lizzie's answer
+was final.
+
+"Very well," said he, "_good_ bye. You have my real sympathy, Miss
+Crowe. Don't despair. We shall meet again."
+
+The train rattled away. Lizzie caught a glimpse of a tall figure with
+lifted hat on the platform. But she sat motionless, with her head
+against the window-frame, her veil down, and her hands idle.
+
+She had enough to do to think, or rather to feel. It is fortunate that
+the utmost shock of evil tidings often comes first. After that
+everything is for the better. Jack's name stood printed in that fatal
+column like a stern signal for despair. Lizzie felt conscious of a
+crisis which almost arrested her breath. Night had fallen at midday:
+what was the hour? A tragedy had stepped into her life: was she
+spectator or actor? She found herself face to face with death: was it
+not her own soul masquerading in a shroud? She sat in a half-stupor. She
+had been aroused from a dream into a waking nightmare. It was like
+hearing a murder-shriek while you turn the page of your novel. But I
+cannot describe these things. In time the crushing sense of calamity
+loosened its grasp. Feeling lashed her pinions. Thought struggled to
+rise. Passion was still, stunned, floored. She had recoiled like a
+receding wave for a stronger onset. A hundred ghastly fears and fancies
+strutted a moment, pecking at the young girl's naked heart, like
+sandpipers on the weltering beach. Then, as with a great murmurous rush,
+came the meaning of her grief. The flood-gates of emotion were opened.
+
+At last passion exhausted itself, and Lizzie thought. Bruce's parting
+words rang in her ears. She did her best to hope. She reflected that
+wounds, even severe wounds, did not necessarily mean death. Death might
+easily be warded off. She would go to Jack; she would nurse him; she
+would watch by him; she would cure him. Even if Death had already
+beckoned, she would strike down his hand: if Life had already obeyed,
+she would issue the stronger mandate of Love. She would stanch his
+wounds; she would unseal his eyes with her kisses; she would call till
+he answered her.
+
+Lizzie reached home and walked up the garden path. Mrs. Ford stood in
+the parlor as she entered, upright, pale, and rigid. Each read the
+other's countenance. Lizzie went towards her slowly and giddily. She
+must of course kiss her patroness. She took her listless hand and bent
+towards her stern lips. Habitually Mrs. Ford was the most
+undemonstrative of women. But as Lizzie looked closer into her face, she
+read the signs of a grief infinitely more potent than her own. The
+formal kiss gave way: the young girl leaned her head on the old woman's
+shoulder and burst into sobs. Mrs. Ford acknowledged those tears with a
+slow inclination of the head, full of a certain grim pathos: she put out
+her arms and pressed them closer to her heart.
+
+At last Lizzie disengaged herself and sat down.
+
+"I am going to him," said Mrs. Ford.
+
+Lizzie's dizziness returned. Mrs. Ford was going,--and she, she?
+
+"I am going to nurse him, and with God's help to save him."
+
+"How did you hear?"
+
+"I have a telegram from the surgeon of the regiment"; and Mrs. Ford held
+out a paper.
+
+Lizzie took it and read: "Lieutenant Ford dangerously wounded in the
+action of yesterday. You had better come on."
+
+"I should like to go myself," said Lizzie: "I think Jack would like to
+have me."
+
+"Nonsense! A pretty place for a young girl! I am not going for
+sentiment; I am going for use."
+
+Lizzie leaned her head back in her chair, and closed her eyes. From the
+moment they had fallen upon Mrs. Ford, she had felt a certain
+quiescence. And now it was a relief to have responsibility denied her.
+Like most weak persons, she was glad to step out of the current of life,
+now that it had begun to quicken into action. In emergencies, such
+persons are tacitly counted out; and they as tacitly consent to the
+arrangement. Even to the sensitive spirit there is a certain meditative
+rapture in standing on the quiet shore, (beside the ruminating cattle,)
+and watching the hurrying, eddying flood, which makes up for the loss of
+dignity. Lizzie's heart resumed its peaceful throbs. She sat, almost
+dreamily, with her eyes shut.
+
+"I leave in an hour," said Mrs. Ford. "I am going to get ready.--Do you
+hear?"
+
+The young girl's silence was a deeper consent than her companion
+supposed.
+
+
+IV.
+
+It was a week before Lizzie heard from Mrs. Ford. The letter, when it
+came, was very brief. Jack still lived. The wounds were three in number,
+and very serious; he was unconscious; he had not recognized her; but
+still the chances either way were thought equal. They would be much
+greater for his recovery nearer home; but it was impossible to move him.
+"I write from the midst of horrible scenes," said the poor lady.
+Subjoined was a list of necessary medicines, comforts, and delicacies,
+to be boxed up and sent.
+
+For a while Lizzie found occupation in writing a letter to Jack, to be
+read in his first lucid moment, as she told Mrs. Ford. This lady's
+man-of-business came up from the village to superintend the packing of
+the boxes. Her directions were strictly followed; and in no point were
+they found wanting. Mr. Mackenzie bespoke Lizzie's admiration for their
+friend's wonderful clearness of memory and judgment. "I wish we had that
+woman at the head of affairs," said he. "'Gad, I'd apply for a
+Brigadier-Generalship."--"I'd apply to be sent South," thought Lizzie.
+When the boxes and letter were despatched, she sat down to await more
+news. Sat down, say I? Sat down, and rose, and wondered, and sat down
+again. These were lonely, weary days. Very different are the idleness of
+love and the idleness of grief. Very different is it to be alone with
+your hope and alone with your despair. Lizzie failed to rally her
+musings. I do not mean to say that her sorrow was very poignant,
+although she fancied it was. Habit was a great force in her simple
+nature; and her chief trouble now was that habit refused to work. Lizzie
+had to grapple with the stern tribulation of a decision to make, a
+problem to solve. She felt that there was some spiritual barrier between
+herself and repose. So she began in her usual fashion to build up a
+false repose on the hither side of belief. She might as well have tried
+to float on the Dead Sea. Peace eluding her, she tried to resign herself
+to tumult. She drank deep at the well of self-pity, but found its waters
+brackish. People are apt to think that they may temper the penalties of
+misconduct by self-commiseration, just as they season the long
+aftertaste of beneficence by a little spice of self-applause. But the
+Power of Good is a more grateful master than the Devil. What bliss to
+gaze into the smooth gurgling wake of a good deed, while the comely bark
+sails on with floating pennon! What horror to look into the muddy
+sediment which floats round the piratic keel! Go, sinner, and dissolve
+it with your tears! And you, scoffing friend, there is the way out! Or
+would you prefer the window? I'm an honest man forevermore.
+
+One night Lizzie had a dream, a rather disagreeable one,--which haunted
+her during many waking hours. It seemed to her that she was walking in a
+lonely place, with a tall, dark-eyed man who called her wife. Suddenly,
+in the shadow of a tree, they came upon an unburied corpse. Lizzie
+proposed to dig him a grave. They dug a great hole and took hold of the
+corpse to lift him in; when suddenly he opened his eyes. Then they saw
+that he was covered with wounds. He looked at them intently for some
+time, turning his eyes from one to the other. At last he solemnly said,
+"Amen!" and closed his eyes. Then she and her companion placed him in
+the grave, and shovelled the earth over him, and stamped it down with
+their feet.
+
+He of the dark eyes and he of the wounds were the two constantly
+recurring figures of Lizzie's reveries. She could never think of John
+without thinking of the courteous Leatherborough gentleman, too. These
+were the _data_ of her problem. These two figures stood like opposing
+knights, (the black and the white,) foremost on the great chess-board of
+fate. Lizzie was the wearied, puzzled player. She would idly finger the
+other pieces, and shift them carelessly hither and thither; but it was
+of no avail: the game lay between the two knights. She would shut her
+eyes and long for some kind hand to come and tamper with the board; she
+would open them and see the two knights standing immovable, face to
+face. It was nothing new. A fancy had come in and offered defiance to a
+fact; they must fight it out. Lizzie generously inclined to the fancy,
+the unknown champion, with a reputation to make. Call her _blasee_ if you
+like, this little girl, whose record told of a couple of dances and a
+single lover, heartless, old before her time. Perhaps she deserves your
+scorn. I confess she thought herself ill-used. By whom? by what?
+wherein? These were questions Miss Crowe was not prepared to answer. Her
+intellect was unequal to the stern logic of human events. She expected
+two and two to make five: as why should they not for the nonce? She was
+like an actor who finds himself on the stage with a half-learned part
+and without sufficient wit to extemporize. Pray, where is the prompter?
+Alas, Elizabeth, that you had no mother! Young girls are prone to fancy
+that when once they have a lover, they have everything they need: a
+conclusion inconsistent with the belief entertained by many persons,
+that life begins with love. Lizzie's fortunes became old stories to her
+before she had half read them through. Jack's wounds and danger were an
+old story. Do not suppose that she had exhausted the lessons,
+the suggestions of these awful events, their inspirations,
+exhortations,--that she had wept as became the horror of the tragedy.
+No: the curtain had not yet fallen, yet our young lady had begun to
+yawn. To yawn? Ay, and to long for the afterpiece. Since the tragedy
+dragged, might she not divert herself with that well-bred man beside
+her?
+
+Elizabeth was far from owning to herself that she had fallen away from
+her love. For my own part, I need no better proof of the fact than the
+dull persistency with which she denied it. What accusing voice broke out
+of the stillness? Jack's nobleness and magnanimity were the hourly theme
+of her clogged fancy. Again and again she declared to herself that she
+was unworthy of them, but that, if he would only recover and come home,
+she would be his eternal bond-slave. So she passed a very miserable
+month. Let us hope that her childish spirit was being tempered to some
+useful purpose. Let us hope so.
+
+She roamed about the empty house with her footsteps tracked by an unlaid
+ghost. She cried aloud and said that she was very unhappy; she groaned
+and called herself wicked. Then, sometimes, appalled at her moral
+perplexities, she declared that she was neither wicked nor unhappy; she
+was contented, patient, and wise. Other girls had lost their lovers: it
+was the present way of life. Was she weaker than most women? Nay, but
+Jack was the best of men. If he would only come back directly, without
+delay, as he was, senseless, dying even, that she might look at him,
+touch him, speak to him! Then she would say that she could no longer
+answer for herself, and wonder (or pretend to wonder) whether she were
+not going mad. Suppose Mrs. Ford should come back and find her in an
+unswept room, pallid and insane? or suppose she should die of her
+troubles? What if she should kill herself?--dismiss the servants, and
+close the house, and lock herself up with a knife? Then she would cut
+her arm to escape from dismay at what she had already done; and then her
+courage would ebb away with her blood, and, having so far pledged
+herself to despair, her life would ebb away with her courage; and then,
+alone, in darkness, with none to help her, she would vainly scream, and
+thrust the knife into her temple, and swoon to death. And Jack would
+come back, and burst into the house, and wander through the empty rooms,
+calling her name, and for all answer get a death-scent! These imaginings
+were the more creditable or discreditable to Lizzie, that she had never
+read "Romeo and Juliet." At any rate, they served to dissipate
+time,--heavy, weary time,--the more heavy and weary as it bore dark
+foreshadowings of some momentous event. If that event would only come,
+whatever it was, and sever this Gordian knot of doubt!
+
+The days passed slowly: the leaden sands dropped one by one. The roads
+were too bad for walking; so Lizzie was obliged to confine her
+restlessness to the narrow bounds of the empty house, or to an
+occasional journey to the village, where people sickened her by their
+dull indifference to her spiritual agony. Still they could not fail to
+remark how poorly Miss Crowe was looking. This was true, and Lizzie knew
+it. I think she even took a certain comfort in her pallor and in her
+failing interest in her dress. There was some satisfaction in displaying
+her white roses amid the apple-cheeked prosperity of Main Street. At
+last Miss Cooper, the Doctor's sister, spoke to her:--
+
+"How is it, Elizabeth, you look so pale, and thin, and worn out? What
+you been doing with yourself? Falling in love, eh? It isn't right to be
+so much alone. Come down and stay with us awhile,--till Mrs. Ford and
+John come back," added Miss Cooper, who wished to put a cheerful face on
+the matter.
+
+For Miss Cooper, indeed, any other face would have been difficult.
+Lizzie agreed to come. Her hostess was a busy, unbeautiful old maid,
+sister and housekeeper of the village physician. Her occupation here
+below was to perform the forgotten tasks of her fellow-men,--to pick up
+their dropped stitches, as she herself declared. She was never idle, for
+her general cleverness was commensurate with mortal needs. Her own story
+was, that she kept moving, so that folks couldn't see how ugly she was.
+And, in fact, her existence was manifest through her long train of good
+deeds,--just as the presence of a comet is shown by its tail. It was
+doubtless on the above principle that her visage was agitated by a
+perpetual laugh.
+
+Meanwhile more news had been coming from Virginia. "What an absurdly
+long letter you sent John," wrote Mrs. Ford, in acknowledging the
+receipt of the boxes. "His first lucid moment would be very short, if he
+were to take upon himself to read your effusions. Pray keep your long
+stories till he gets well." For a fortnight the young soldier remained
+the same,--feverish, conscious only at intervals. Then came a change for
+the worse, which, for many weary days, however, resulted in nothing
+decisive. "If he could only be moved to Glenham, home, and old sights,"
+said his mother, "I should have hope. But think of the journey!" By this
+time Lizzie had stayed out ten days of her visit.
+
+One day Miss Cooper came in from a walk, radiant with tidings. Her face,
+as I have observed, wore a continual smile, being dimpled and punctured
+all over with merriment,--so that, when an unusual cheerfulness was
+super-diffused, it resembled a tempestuous little pool into which a
+great stone has been cast.
+
+"Guess who's come," said she, going up to the piano, which Lizzie was
+carelessly fingering, and putting her hands on the young girl's
+shoulders. "Just guess!"
+
+Lizzie looked up.
+
+"Jack," she half gasped.
+
+"Oh, dear, no, not that! How stupid of me! I mean Mr. Bruce, your
+Leatherborough admirer."
+
+"Mr. Bruce! Mr. Bruce!" said Lizzie. "Really?"
+
+"True as I live. He's come to bring his sister to the Water-Cure. I met
+them at the post-office."
+
+Lizzie felt a strange sensation of good news. Her finger-tips were on
+fire. She was deaf to her companion's rattling chronicle. She broke into
+the midst of it with a fragment of some triumphant, jubilant melody. The
+keys rang beneath her flashing hands. And then she suddenly stopped, and
+Miss Cooper, who was taking off her bonnet at the mirror, saw that her
+face was covered with a burning flush.
+
+That evening, Mr. Bruce presented himself at Doctor Cooper's, with whom
+he had a slight acquaintance. To Lizzie he was infinitely courteous and
+tender. He assured her, in very pretty terms, of his profound sympathy
+with her in her cousin's danger,--her cousin he still called him,--and
+it seemed to Lizzie that until that moment no one had begun to be kind.
+And then he began to rebuke her, playfully and in excellent taste, for
+her pale cheeks.
+
+"Isn't it dreadful?" said Miss Cooper. "She looks like a ghost. I guess
+she's in love."
+
+"He must be a good-for-nothing lover to make his mistress look so sad.
+If I were you, I'd give him up, Miss Crowe."
+
+"I didn't know I looked sad," said Lizzie.
+
+"You don't now," said Miss Cooper. "You're smiling and blushing. A'n't
+she blushing, Mr. Bruce?"
+
+"I think Miss Crowe has no more than her natural color," said Bruce,
+dropping his eye-glass. "What have you been doing all this while since
+we parted?"
+
+"All this while? it's only six weeks. I don't know. Nothing. What have
+you?"
+
+"I've been doing nothing, too. It's hard work."
+
+"Have you been to any more parties?"
+
+"Not one."
+
+"Any more sleigh-rides?"
+
+"Yes. I took one more dreary drive all alone,--over that same road, you
+know. And I stopped at the farm-house again, and saw the old woman we
+had the talk with. She remembered us, and asked me what had become of
+the young lady who was with me before. I told her you were gone home,
+but that I hoped soon to go and see you. So she sent you her love"----
+
+"Oh, how nice!" exclaimed Lizzie.
+
+"Wasn't it? And then she made a certain little speech; I won't repeat
+it, or we shall have Miss Cooper talking about your blushes again."
+
+"I know," cried the lady in question: "she said she was very"----
+
+"Very what?" said Lizzie.
+
+"Very h-a-n-d----what every one says."
+
+"Very handy?" asked Lizzie. "I'm sure no one ever said that."
+
+"Of course," said Bruce; "and I answered what every one answers."
+
+"Have you seen Mrs. Littlefield lately?"
+
+"Several times. I called on her the day before I left town, to see if
+she had any messages for you."
+
+"Oh, thank you! I hope she's well."
+
+"Oh, she's as jolly as ever. She sent you her love, and hoped you would
+come back to Leatherborough very soon again. I told her, that, however
+it might be with the first message, the second should be a joint one
+from both of us."
+
+"You're very kind. I should like very much to go again.--Do you like
+Mrs. Littlefield?"
+
+"Like her? Yes. Don't you? She's thought a very pleasing woman."
+
+"Oh, she's very nice.--I don't think she has much conversation."
+
+"Ah, I'm afraid you mean she doesn't backbite. We've always found plenty
+to talk about."
+
+"That's a very significant tone. What, for instance?"
+
+"Well, we _have_ talked about Miss Crowe."
+
+"Oh, you have? Do you call that having plenty to talk about?"
+
+"We _have_ talked about Mr. Bruce,--haven't we, Elizabeth?" said Miss
+Cooper, who had her own notion of being agreeable.
+
+It was not an altogether bad notion, perhaps; but Bruce found her
+interruptions rather annoying, and insensibly allowed them to shorten
+his visit. Yet, as it was, he sat till eleven o'clock,--a stay quite
+unprecedented at Glenham.
+
+When he left the house, he went splashing down the road with a very
+elastic tread, springing over the starlit puddles, and trolling out some
+sentimental ditty. He reached the inn, and went up to his sister's
+sitting-room.
+
+"Why, Robert, where have you been all this while?" said Miss Bruce.
+
+"At Dr. Cooper's."
+
+"Dr. Cooper's? I should think you had! Who's Dr. Cooper?"
+
+"Where Miss Crowe's staying."
+
+"Miss Crowe? Ah, Mrs. Littlefield's friend! Is she as pretty as ever?"
+
+"Prettier,--prettier,--prettier. _Tara-ta! tara-ta!_"
+
+"Oh, Robert, do stop that singing! You'll rouse the whole house."
+
+
+V.
+
+Late one afternoon, at dusk, about three weeks after Mr. Bruce's
+arrival, Lizzie was sitting alone by the fire, in Miss Cooper's parlor,
+musing, as became the place and hour. The Doctor and his sister came in,
+dressed for a lecture.
+
+"I'm sorry you won't go, my dear," said Miss Cooper. "It's a most
+interesting subject: 'A Year of the War.' All the battles and things
+described, you know."
+
+"I'm tired of war," said Lizzie.
+
+"Well, well, if you're tired of the war, we'll leave you in peace. Kiss
+me good-bye. What's the matter? You look sick. You are homesick, a'n't
+you?"
+
+"No, no,--I'm very well."
+
+"Would you like me to stay at home with you?"
+
+"Oh, no! pray, don't!"
+
+"Well, we'll tell you all about it. Will they have programmes, James?
+I'll bring her a programme.--But you really feel as if you were going to
+be ill. Feel of her skin, James."
+
+"No, you needn't, Sir," said Lizzie. "How queer of you, Miss Cooper! I'm
+perfectly well."
+
+And at last her friends departed. Before long the servant came with the
+lamp, ushering Mr. Mackenzie.
+
+"Good evening, Miss," said he. "Bad news from Mrs. Ford."
+
+"Bad news?"
+
+"Yes, Miss. I've just got a letter stating that Mr. John is growing
+worse and worse, and that they look for his death from hour to
+hour.--It's very sad," he added, as Elizabeth was silent.
+
+"Yes, it's very sad," said Lizzie.
+
+"I thought you'd like to hear it."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+"He was a very noble young fellow," pursued Mr. Mackenzie.
+
+Lizzie made no response.
+
+"There's the letter," said Mr. Mackenzie, handing it over to her.
+
+Lizzie opened it.
+
+"How long she is reading it!" thought her visitor. "You can't see so far
+from the light, can you, Miss?"
+
+"Yes," said Lizzie.--"His poor mother! Poor woman!"
+
+"Ay, indeed, Miss,--she's the one to be pitied."
+
+"Yes, she's the one to be pitied," said Lizzie. "Well!" and she gave him
+back the letter.
+
+"I thought you'd like to see it," said Mackenzie, drawing on his gloves;
+and then, after a pause,--"I'll call again, Miss, if I hear anything
+more. Good night!"
+
+Lizzie got up and lowered the light, and then went back to her sofa by
+the fire.
+
+Half an hour passed; it went slowly; but it passed. Still lying there in
+the dark room on the sofa, Lizzie heard a ring at the door-bell, a man's
+voice and a man's tread in the hall. She rose and went to the lamp. As
+she turned it up, the parlor-door opened. Bruce came in.
+
+"I was sitting in the dark," said Lizzie; "but when I heard you coming,
+I raised the light."
+
+"Are you afraid of me?" said Bruce.
+
+"Oh, no! I'll put it down again. Sit down."
+
+"I saw your friends going out," pursued Bruce; "so I knew I should find
+you alone.--What are you doing here in the dark?"
+
+"I've just received very bad news from Mrs. Ford about her son. He's
+much worse, and will probably not live."
+
+"Is it possible?"
+
+"I was thinking about that."
+
+"Dear me! Well that's a sad subject. I'm told he was a very fine young
+man."
+
+"He was,--very," said Lizzie.
+
+Bruce was silent awhile. He was a stranger to the young officer, and
+felt that he had nothing to offer beyond the commonplace expressions of
+sympathy and surprise. Nor had he exactly the measure of his companion's
+interest in him.
+
+"If he dies," said Lizzie, "it will be under great injustice."
+
+"Ah! what do you mean?"
+
+"There wasn't a braver man in the army."
+
+"I suppose not."
+
+"And, oh, Mr. Bruce," continued Lizzie, "he was so clever and good and
+generous! I wish you had known him."
+
+"I wish I had. But what do you mean by injustice? Were these qualities
+denied him?"
+
+"No indeed! Every one that looked at him could see that he was perfect."
+
+"Where's the injustice, then? It ought to be enough for him that you
+should think so highly of him."
+
+"Oh, he knew that," said Lizzie.
+
+Bruce was a little puzzled by his companion's manner. He watched her, as
+she sat with her cheek on her hand, looking at the fire. There was a
+long pause. Either they were too friendly or too thoughtful for the
+silence to be embarrassing. Bruce broke it at last.
+
+"Miss Crowe," said he, "on a certain occasion, some time ago, when you
+first heard of Mr. Ford's wounds, I offered you my company, with the
+wish to console you as far as I might for what seemed a considerable
+shock. It was, perhaps, a bold offer for so new a friend; but,
+nevertheless, in it even then my heart spoke. You turned me off. Will
+you let me repeat it? Now, with a better right, will you let me speak
+out all my heart?"
+
+Lizzie heard this speech, which was delivered in a slow and hesitating
+tone, without looking up or moving her head, except, perhaps, at the
+words "turned me off." After Bruce had ceased, she still kept her
+position.
+
+"You'll not turn me off now?" added her companion.
+
+She dropped her hand, raised her head, and looked at him a moment: he
+thought he saw the glow of tears in her eyes. Then she sank back upon
+the sofa with her face in the shadow of the mantel-piece.
+
+"I don't understand you, Mr. Bruce," said she.
+
+"Ah, Elizabeth! am I such a poor speaker. How shall I make it plain?
+When I saw your friends leave home half an hour ago, and reflected that
+you would probably be alone, I determined to go right in and have a talk
+with you that I've long been wanting to have. But first I walked half a
+mile up the road, thinking hard,--thinking how I should say what I had
+to say. I made up my mind to nothing, but that somehow or other I should
+say it I would trust,--I _do_ trust to your frankness, kindness, and
+sympathy, to a feeling corresponding to my own. Do you understand that
+feeling? Do you know that I love you? I do, I do, I do! You _must_ know
+it. If you don't, I solemnly swear it. I solemnly ask you, Elizabeth, to
+take me for your husband."
+
+While Bruce said these words, he rose, with their rising passion, and
+came and stood before Lizzie. Again she was motionless.
+
+"Does it take you so long to think?" said he, trying to read her
+indistinct features; and he sat down on the sofa beside her and took her
+hand.
+
+At last Lizzie spoke.
+
+"Are you sure," said she, "that you love me?"
+
+"As sure as that I breathe. Now, Elizabeth, make me as sure that I am
+loved in return."
+
+"It seems very strange, Mr. Bruce," said Lizzie.
+
+"What seems strange? Why should it? For a month I've been trying, in a
+hundred dumb ways, to make it plain; and now, when I swear it, it only
+seems strange!"
+
+"What do you love me for?"
+
+"For? For yourself, Elizabeth."
+
+"Myself? I am nothing."
+
+"I love you for what you are,--for your deep, kind heart,--for being so
+perfectly a woman."
+
+Lizzie drew away her hand, and her lover rose and stood before her
+again. But now she looked up into his face, questioning when she should
+have answered, drinking strength from his entreaties for her replies.
+There he stood before her, in the glow of the firelight, in all his
+gentlemanhood, for her to accept or reject. She slowly rose and gave him
+the hand she had withdrawn.
+
+"Mr. Bruce, I shall be very proud to love you," she said.
+
+And then, as if this effort was beyond her strength, she half staggered
+back to the sofa again. And still holding her hand, he sat down beside
+her. And there they were still sitting when they heard the Doctor and
+his sister come in.
+
+For three days Elizabeth saw nothing of Mr. Mackenzie. At last, on the
+fourth day, passing his office in the village, she went in and asked for
+him. He came out of his little back parlor with his mouth full and a
+beaming face.
+
+"Good-day, Miss Crowe, and good news!"
+
+"_Good_ news?" cried Lizzie.
+
+"Capital!" said he, looking hard at her, while he put on his spectacles.
+"She writes that Mr. John--won't you take a seat?--has taken a sudden
+and unexpected turn for the better. Now's the moment to save him; it's
+an equal risk. They were to start for the North the second day after
+date. The surgeon comes with them. So they'll be home--of course they'll
+travel slowly--in four or five days. Yes, Miss, it's a remarkable
+Providence. And that noble young man will be spared to the country, and
+to those who love him, as I do."
+
+"I had better go back to the house and have it got ready," said Lizzie,
+for an answer.
+
+"Yes, Miss, I think you had. In fact, Mrs. Ford made that request."
+
+The request was obeyed. That same day Lizzie went home. For two days she
+found it her interest to overlook, assiduously, a general sweeping,
+scrubbing, and provisioning. She allowed herself no idle moment until
+bed-time. Then--But I would rather not be the chamberlain of her agony.
+It was the easier to work, as Mr. Bruce had gone to Leatherborough on
+business.
+
+On the fourth evening, at twilight, John Ford was borne up to the door
+on his stretcher, with his mother stalking beside him in rigid grief,
+and kind, silent friends pressing about with helping hands.
+
+    "Home they brought her warrior dead,
+    She nor swooned nor uttered cry."
+
+It was, indeed, almost a question, whether Jack was not dead. Death is
+not thinner, paler, stiller. Lizzie moved about like one in a dream. Of
+course, when there are so many sympathetic friends, a man's family has
+nothing to do,--except exercise a little self-control. The women huddled
+Mrs. Ford to bed; rest was imperative; she was killing herself. And it
+was significant of her weakness that she did not resent this advice. In
+greeting her, Lizzie felt as if she were embracing the stone image on
+the top of a sepulchre. She, too, had her cares anticipated. Good Doctor
+Cooper and his sister stationed themselves at the young man's couch.
+
+The Doctor prophesied wondrous things of the change of climate; he was
+certain of a recovery. Lizzie found herself very shortly dealt with as
+an obstacle to this consummation. Access to John was prohibited.
+"Perfect stillness, you know, my dear," whispered Miss Cooper, opening
+his chamber-door on a crack, in a pair of very creaking shoes. So for
+the first evening that her old friend was at home Lizzie caught but a
+glimpse of his pale, senseless face, as she hovered outside the long
+train of his attendants. If we may suppose any of these kind people to
+have had eyes for aught but the sufferer, we may be sure that they saw
+another visage equally sad and white. The sufferer? It was hardly Jack,
+after all.
+
+When Lizzie was turned from Jack's door, she took a covering from a heap
+of draperies that had been hurriedly tossed down in the hall: it was an
+old army-blanket. She wrapped it round her, and went out on the
+verandah. It was nine o'clock; but the darkness was filled with light. A
+great wanton wind--the ghost of the raw blast which travels by day--had
+arisen, bearing long, soft gusts of inland spring. Scattered clouds were
+hurrying across the white sky. The bright moon, careering in their
+midst, seemed to have wandered forth in frantic quest of the hidden
+stars.
+
+Lizzie nestled her head in the blanket, and sat down on the steps. A
+strange earthy smell lingered in that faded old rug, and with it a faint
+perfume of tobacco. Instantly the young girl's senses were transported
+as they had never been before to those far-off Southern battle-fields.
+She saw men lying in swamps, puffing their kindly pipes, drawing their
+blankets closer, canopied with the same luminous dusk that shone down
+upon her comfortable weakness. Her mind wandered amid these scenes till
+recalled to the present by the swinging of the garden-gate. She heard a
+firm, well-known tread crunching the gravel. Mr. Bruce came up the path.
+As he drew near the steps, Lizzie arose. The blanket fell back from her
+head, and Bruce started at recognizing her.
+
+"Hullo! You, Elizabeth? What's the matter?"
+
+Lizzie made no answer.
+
+"Are you one of Mr. Ford's watchers?" he continued, coming up the steps;
+"how is he?"
+
+Still she was silent. Bruce put out his hands to take hers, and bent
+forward as if to kiss her. She half shook him off, and retreated toward
+the door.
+
+"Good heavens!" cried Bruce; "what's the matter? Are you moonstruck?
+Can't you speak?"
+
+"No,--no,--not to-night," said Lizzie, in a choking voice. "Go away,--go
+away!"
+
+She stood holding the door-handle, and motioning him off. He hesitated a
+moment, and then advanced. She opened the door rapidly, and went in. He
+heard her lock it. He stood looking at it stupidly for some time, and
+then slowly turned round and walked down the steps.
+
+The next morning Lizzie arose with the early dawn, and came down stairs.
+She went into the room where Jack lay, and gently opened the door. Miss
+Cooper was dozing in her chair. Lizzie crossed the threshold, and stole
+up to the bed. Poor Ford lay peacefully sleeping. There was his old
+face, after all,--his strong, honest features refined, but not weakened,
+by pain. Lizzie softly drew up a low chair, and sat down beside him. She
+gazed into his face,--the dear and honored face into which she had so
+often gazed in health. It was strangely handsomer: body stood for less.
+It seemed to Lizzie, that, as the fabric of her lover's soul was more
+clearly revealed,--the veil of the temple rent wellnigh in twain,--she
+could read the justification of all her old worship. One of Jack's
+hands lay outside the sheets,--those strong, supple fingers, once so
+cunning in workmanship, so frank in friendship, now thinner and whiter
+than her own. After looking at it for some time, Lizzie gently grasped
+it. Jack slowly opened his eyes. Lizzie's heart began to throb; it was
+as if the stillness of the sanctuary had given a sign. At first there
+was no recognition in the young man's gaze. Then the dull pupils began
+visibly to brighten. There came to his lips the commencement of that
+strange moribund smile which seems so ineffably satirical of the things
+of this world. O imposing spectacle of death! O blessed soul, marked for
+promotion! What earthly favor is like thine? Lizzie sank down on her
+knees, and, still clasping John's hand, bent closer over him.
+
+"Jack,--dear, dear Jack," she whispered, "do you know me?"
+
+The smile grew more intense. The poor fellow drew out his other hand,
+and slowly, feebly placed it on Lizzie's head, stroking down her hair
+with his fingers.
+
+"Yes, yes," she murmured; "you know me, don't you? I am Lizzie, Jack.
+Don't you remember Lizzie?"
+
+Ford moved his lips inaudibly, and went on patting her head.
+
+"This is home, you know," said Lizzie; "this is Glenham. You haven't
+forgotten Glenham? You are with your mother and me and your friends.
+Dear, darling Jack!"
+
+Still he went on, stroking her head; and his feeble lips tried to emit
+some sound. Lizzie laid her head down on the pillow beside his own, and
+still his hand lingered caressingly on her hair.
+
+"Yes, you know me," she pursued; "you are with your friends now
+forever,--with those who will love and take care of you, oh, forever!"
+
+"I'm very badly wounded," murmured Jack, close to her ear.
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear boy, but your wounds are healing. I will love you and
+nurse you forever."
+
+"Yes, Lizzie, our old promise," said Jack: and his hand fell upon her
+neck, and with its feeble pressure he drew her closer, and she wet his
+face with her tears.
+
+Then Miss Cooper, awakening, rose and drew Lizzie away.
+
+"I am sure you excite him, my dear. It is best he should have none of
+his family near him,--persons with whom he has associations, you know."
+
+Here the Doctor was heard gently tapping on the window, and Lizzie went
+round to the door to admit him.
+
+She did not see Jack again all day. Two or three times she ventured into
+the room, but she was banished by a frown, or a finger raised to the
+lips. She waylaid the Doctor frequently. He was blithe and cheerful,
+certain of Jack's recovery. This good man used to exhibit as much moral
+elation at the prospect of a cure as an orthodox believer at that of a
+new convert: it was one more body gained from the Devil. He assured
+Lizzie that the change of scene and climate had already begun to tell:
+the fever was lessening, the worst symptoms disappearing. He answered
+Lizzie's reiterated desire to do something by directions to keep the
+house quiet and the sick-room empty.
+
+Soon after breakfast, Miss Dawes, a neighbor, came in to relieve Miss
+Cooper, and this indefatigable lady transferred her attention to Mrs.
+Ford. Action was forbidden her. Miss Cooper was delighted for once to be
+able to lay down the law to her vigorous neighbor, of whose fine
+judgment she had always stood in awe. Having bullied Mrs. Ford into
+taking her breakfast in the little sitting-room, she closed the doors,
+and prepared for "a good long talk." Lizzie was careful not to break in
+upon this interview. She had bidden her patroness good morning, asked
+after her health, and received one of her temperate osculations. As she
+passed the invalid's door, Doctor Cooper came out and asked her to go
+and look for a certain roll of bandages, in Mr. John's trunk, which had
+been carried into another room. Lizzie hastened to perform this task. In
+fumbling through the contents of the trunk, she came across a packet of
+letters in a well-known feminine handwriting. She pocketed it, and,
+after disposing of the bandages, went to her own room, locked the door,
+and sat down to examine the letters. Between reading and thinking and
+sighing and (in spite of herself) smiling, this process took the whole
+morning. As she came down to dinner, she encountered Mrs. Ford and Miss
+Cooper, emerging from the sitting-room, the good long talk being only
+just concluded.
+
+"How do you feel, Ma'am?" she asked of the elder lady,--"rested?"
+
+For all answer Mrs. Ford gave a look--I had almost said a scowl--so
+hard, so cold, so reproachful, that Lizzie was transfixed. But suddenly
+its sickening meaning was revealed to her. She turned to Miss Cooper,
+who stood pale and fluttering beside the mistress, her everlasting smile
+glazed over with a piteous, deprecating glance; and I fear her eyes
+flashed out the same message of angry scorn they had just received.
+These telegraphic operations are very rapid. The ladies hardly halted:
+the next moment found them seated at the dinner-table with Miss Cooper
+scrutinizing her napkin-mark and Mrs. Ford saying grace.
+
+Dinner was eaten in silence. When it was over, Lizzie returned to her
+own room. Miss Cooper went home, and Mrs. Ford went to her son. Lizzie
+heard the firm low click of the lock as she closed the door. Why did she
+lock it? There was something fatal in the silence that followed. The
+plot of her little tragedy thickened. Be it so: she would act her part
+with the rest. For the second time in her experience, her mind was
+lightened by the intervention of Mrs. Ford. Before the scorn of her own
+conscience, (which never came,) before Jack's deepest reproach, she was
+ready to bow down,--but not before that long-faced Nemesis in black
+silk. The leaven of resentment began to work. She leaned back in her
+chair, and folded her arms, brave to await results. But before long she
+fell asleep. She was aroused by a knock at her chamber-door. The
+afternoon was far gone. Miss Dawes stood without.
+
+"Elizabeth, Mr. John wants very much to see you, with his love. Come
+down very gently: his mother is lying down. Will you sit with him while
+I take my dinner?--Better? Yes, ever so much."
+
+Lizzie betook herself with trembling haste to Jack's bedside.
+
+He was propped up with pillows. His pale cheeks were slightly flushed.
+His eyes were bright. He raised himself, and, for such feeble arms, gave
+Lizzie a long, strong embrace.
+
+"I've not seen you all day, Lizzie," said he. "Where have you been?"
+
+"Dear Jack, they wouldn't let me come near you. I begged and prayed. And
+I wanted so to go to you in the army; but I couldn't. I wish, I wish I
+had!"
+
+"You wouldn't have liked it, Lizzie. I'm glad you didn't. It's a bad,
+bad place."
+
+He lay quietly, holding her hands and gazing at her.
+
+"Can I do anything for you, dear?" asked the young girl. "I would work
+my life out. I'm so glad you're better!"
+
+It was some time before Jack answered,--
+
+"Lizzie," said he, at last, "I sent for you to look at you.--You are
+more wondrously beautiful than ever. Your hair is brown,--like--like
+nothing; your eyes are blue; your neck is white. Well, well!"
+
+He lay perfectly motionless, but for his eyes. They wandered over her
+with a kind of peaceful glee, like sunbeams playing on a statue. Poor
+Ford lay, indeed, not unlike an old wounded Greek, who at falling dusk
+has crawled into a temple to die, steeping the last dull interval in
+idle admiration of sculptured Artemis.
+
+"Ah, Lizzie, this is already heaven!" he murmured.
+
+"It will be heaven when you get well," whispered Lizzie.
+
+He smiled into her eyes:--
+
+"You say more than you mean. There should be perfect truth between us.
+Dear Lizzie, I am not going to get well. They are all very much
+mistaken, I am going to die. I've done my work, Death makes up for
+everything. My great pain is in leaving you. But you, too, will die one
+of these days; remember that. In all pain and sorrow, remember that."
+
+Lizzie was able to reply only by the tightening grasp of her hands.
+
+"But there is something more," pursued Jack. "Life _is_ as good as
+death. Your heart has found its true keeper; so we shall all three be
+happy. Tell him I bless him and honor him. Tell him God, too, blesses
+him. Shake hands with him for me," said Jack, feebly moving his pale
+fingers. "My mother," he went on,--"be very kind to her. She will have
+great grief, but she will not die of it. She'll live to great age. Now,
+Lizzie, I can't talk any more; I wanted to say farewell. You'll keep me
+farewell,--you'll stay with me awhile,--won't you? I'll look at you till
+the last. For a little while you'll be mine, holding my hands--so--until
+death parts us."
+
+Jack kept his promise. His eyes were fixed in a firm gaze long after the
+sense had left them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the early dawn of the next day, Elizabeth left her sleepless bed,
+opened the window, and looked out on the wide prospect, still cool and
+dim with departing night. It offered freshness and peace to her hot head
+and restless heart. She dressed herself hastily, crept down stairs,
+passed the death-chamber, and stole out of the quiet house. She turned
+away from the still sleeping village and walked towards the open
+country. She went a long way without knowing it. The sun had risen high
+when she bethought herself to turn. As she came back along the
+brightening highway, and drew near home, she saw a tall figure standing
+beneath the budding trees of the garden, hesitating, apparently, whether
+to open the gate. Lizzie came upon him almost before he had seen her.
+Bruce's first movement was to put out his hands, as any lover might; but
+as Lizzie raised her veil, he dropped them.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Bruce," said Lizzie, "I'll give you my hand once more,--in
+farewell."
+
+"Elizabeth!" cried Bruce, half stupefied, "in God's name, what do you
+mean by these crazy speeches?"
+
+"I mean well. I mean kindly and humanely to you. And I mean justice to
+my old--old love."
+
+She went to him, took his listless hand, without looking into his wild,
+smitten face, shook it passionately, and then, wrenching her own from
+his grasp, opened the gate and let it swing behind her.
+
+"No! no! no!" she almost shrieked, turning about in the path. "I forbid
+you to follow me!"
+
+But for all that, he went in.
+
+
+
+
+THE FROZEN HARBOR.
+
+
+    When Winter encamps on our borders,
+        And dips his white beard in the rills,
+    And lays his shield over highway, and field,
+        And pitches his tents on the hills,--
+    In the wan light I wake, and see on the lake,
+        Like a glove by the night-winds blown,
+    With fingers that crook up creek and brook,
+        His shining gauntlet thrown.
+
+    Then over the lonely harbor,
+        In the quiet and deadly cold
+    Of a single night, when only the bright,
+        Cold constellations behold,
+    Without trestle or beam, without mortise or seam,
+        It swiftly and silently spread
+    A bridge as of steel, which a Titan's heel
+        In the early light might tread.
+
+    Where Morning over the waters
+        Her web of splendor spun,
+    Till the wave, all a-twinkle with ripple and wrinkle,
+        Hung shimmering in the sun,--
+    Where the liquid lip at the breast of the ship
+        Whispered and laughed and kissed,
+    And the long, dark streamer of smoke from the steamer
+        Trailed off in the rose-tinted mist,--
+
+    Now all is gray desolation,
+        As up from the hoary coast,
+    Over snow-fields and islands her white arms in silence
+        Outspreading like a ghost,
+    Her feet in shroud, her forehead in cloud,
+        Pale walks the sheeted Dawn:
+    The sea's blue rim lies shorn and dim,
+        In the purple East withdrawn.
+
+    Where floated the fleets of commerce,
+        With proud breasts cleaving the tide,--
+    Like emmet or bug with its burden, the tug
+        Hither and thither plied,--
+    Where the quick paddles flashed, where the dropped anchor plashed,
+        And rattled the running chain,
+    Where the merchantman swung in the current, where sung
+        The sailors their far refrain,--
+
+    Behold! when ruddy Aurora
+        Peeps from her opening door,
+    Faint gleams of the sun like fairies run
+        And sport on a crystal floor;
+    Upon the river's bright panoply quivers
+        The noon's resplendent lance;
+    And by night through the narrows the moon's slanted arrows
+        Icily sparkle and glance.
+
+    Flown are the flocks of commerce,
+        Like wild swans hurrying south;
+    The lighter, belated, is frozen, full-freighted,
+        Within the harbor's mouth;
+    The brigantine, homeward bringing
+        Sweet spices from afar,
+    All night must wait with her fragrant freight
+        Below the lighthouse star.
+
+    The ships at their anchors are frozen,
+       From rudder to sloping chain:
+    Rock-like they rise: the low sloop lies
+        An oasis in the plain.
+    Like reeds here and there, the tall masts bare
+        Upspring: as on the edge
+    Of a lawn smooth-shaven, around the haven
+        The shipping grows like sedge.
+
+    Here, weaving the union of cities,
+        With hoar wakes belting the blue,
+    From slip to slip, past schooner and ship,
+        The ferry's shuttles flew:--
+    Now, loosed from its stall, on the yielding wall
+        The steamboat paws and rears;
+    The citizens pass on a pavement of glass,
+        And climb the frosted piers.
+
+    Where, in the November twilight,
+        To the ribs of the skeleton bark
+    That stranded lay in the bend of the bay,
+        Motionless, low, and dark,
+    Came ever three shags, like three lone hags,
+        And sat o'er the troubled water,
+    Each nursing apart her shrivelled heart,
+        With her mantle wrapped about her,--
+
+    Now over the ancient timbers
+        Is built a magic deck;
+    Children run out with laughter and shout
+        And dance around the wreck;
+    The fisherman near his long eel-spear
+        Thrusts in through the ice, or stands
+    With fingers on lips, and now and then whips
+        His sides with mittened hands.
+
+    Alone and pensive I wander
+        Far out from the city-wharf
+    To the buoy below in its cap of snow,
+        Low stooping like a dwarf;
+    In the fading ray of the dull, brief day
+        I wander and muse apart,--
+    For this frozen sea is a symbol to me
+        Of many a human heart.
+
+    I think of the hopes deep sunken
+        Like anchors under the ice,--
+    Of souls that wait for Love's sweet freight
+        And the spices of Paradise:
+    Far off their barks are tossing
+        On the billows of unrest,
+    And enter not in, for the hardness and sin
+        That close the secret breast.
+
+    I linger, until, at evening,
+       The town-roofs, towering high,
+    Uprear in the dimness their tall, dark chimneys,
+       Indenting the sunset sky,
+    And the pendent spear on the edge of the pier
+       Signals my homeward way,
+    As it gleams through the dusk like a walrus's tusk
+       On the floes of a polar bay.
+
+    Then I think of the desolate households
+       On which the day shuts down,--
+    What misery hides in the darkened tides
+       Of life in yonder town!
+    I think of the lonely poet
+       In his hours of coldness and pain,
+    His fancies full-freighted, like lighters belated,
+       All frozen within his brain.
+
+    And I hearken to the moanings
+       That come from the burdened bay:
+    As a camel, that kneels for his lading, reels,
+       And cannot bear it away,
+    The mighty load is slowly
+       Upheaved with struggle and pain
+    From centre to side, then the groaning tide
+       Sinks heavily down again.
+
+    So day and night you may hear it
+       Panting beneath its pack,
+    Till sailor and saw, till south wind and thaw,
+       Unbind it from its back.
+    O Sun! will thy beam ever gladden the stream
+       And bid its burden depart?
+    O Life! all in vain do we strive with the chain
+       That fetters and chills the heart?
+
+    Already in vision prophetic
+       On yonder height I stand:
+    The gulls are gay upon the bay,
+       The swallows on the land;--
+    'Tis spring-time now; like an aspen-bough
+       Shaken across the sky,
+    In the silvery light with twinkling flight
+       The rustling plovers fly.
+
+    Aloft in the sunlit cordage
+       Behold the climbing tar,
+    With his shadow beside on the sail white and wide,
+       Climbing a shadow-spar!
+    Up the glassy stream with issuing steam
+       The cutter crawls again,
+    All winged with cloud and buzzing loud,
+       Like a bee upon the pane.
+
+    The brigantine is bringing
+        Her cargo to the quay,
+    The sloop flits by like a butterfly,
+        The schooner skims the sea.
+    O young heart's trust, beneath the crust
+        Of a chilling world congealed!
+    O love, whose flow the winter of woe
+        With its icy hand hath sealed!
+
+    Learn patience from the lesson!
+        Though the night be drear and long,
+    To the darkest sorrow there comes a morrow,
+        A right to every wrong.
+    And as, when, having run his low course, the red Sun
+        Comes charging gayly up here,
+    The white shield of Winter shall shiver and splinter
+        At the touch of his golden spear,--
+
+    Then rushing under the bridges,
+        And crushing among the piles,
+    In gray mottled masses the drift-ice passes,
+        Like seaward-floating isles;--
+    So Life shall return from its solstice, and burn
+        In trappings of gold and blue,
+    The world shall pass like a shattered glass,
+        And the Heaven of Love shine through.
+
+
+
+
+AT ANDERSONVILLE.
+
+
+Drake Talcott, a Union prisoner, marched with other prisoners
+seventy-five miles to Danville, on thirteen crackers. They travelled
+from there to Andersonville, six days by rail, on four crackers a day,
+and, as a consequence of the rations, came in due course of time to a
+general sense of emptiness, and an incorrigible tendency to think of
+roast beef, boiled chicken, fried oysters, and other like dainties; and
+many of the prisoners, after battling awhile with the emptiness and the
+mental tendency, fell down exhausted, and were stowed away in the wagons
+following on in the rear of the train. But Talcott, though with youth
+and the brawn and muscle and lusty craving vitality of an athlete
+against him in the cracker point of view, possessed likewise a mighty
+will, and a stubborn, tenacious endurance, nowise weakened by the
+discipline of two years of camp and battle; and not only marched with
+courage and elasticity, but actually set himself, out of the abundance
+of his resources, to spur the flagging spirits of his comrades, as they
+huddled in disconsolate confusion about the little station at
+Andersonville.
+
+"Boys," said our orator, "the Rebels keep their best generals for their
+Home Guard. Lee and Early, and the rest of the crew, are lambs and
+sucking doves to Generals Starvation, Wear-'em-out, and
+Grumble,--especially that last-named fellow, who is the worst of the
+three, because he comes under our own colors, and we feel shy about
+firing on our own men. I believe we are all too apt to think that
+muscles are the vital forces, and that man lives by beef; but, boys,
+muscles are only hammers, and it takes a thought to raise them; and
+though beef is good eating, and we should all like a slice uncommonly,
+let me tell you, when it isn't to be had, that _backbone_ is the next
+thing to it, and it is surprising how long a man can live on it. For it
+is the brain that is the commander-in-chief, and does the strategy and
+the planning for this precious life that we all set such store by,--the
+brain, that I used to think a lazy bummer, that lived at the stomach's
+expense; and when the quartermaster--that's the stomach--telegraphs up
+that he's fairly cleaned out, not a half-ration left, says our little
+commander, cool and calm, 'Serve out grit and backbone to the troops,
+and send out the senses on a scout.' And, men, if you've got the grit,
+and keep on the sharp look-out, you are likely to get on; but shut down
+on grumbling,--that's a luxury for fellows that get three meals a day;
+for while you are busy about that, Starvation and Wear-'em-out will sail
+in at you, and once you get weak in the knees, and limp in the back, and
+dizzy in the head, you're played out. Remember, we aren't going to Belle
+Isle. I don't know anything about Andersonville, but it can't be so bad
+as that hole."
+
+The men cheered. Up came an officer on the double-quick.
+
+"What's the row about now? You Yankees are always chattering like
+crows."
+
+"So you scarecrows come to look after us," retorted Drake, quick as
+light: at which poor piece of wit the soldiers were pleased to laugh
+vociferously,--the irritating laugh that assumes your defeat, without
+granting you a hearing,--before which the man in authority, not having
+the art of looking like a fool with propriety, retreated, reddening and
+snarling, but turned on the platform of the cars, and flung back this
+Parthian arrow at the laughing Yankees:--
+
+"You're a bad lot of men, saucy as the Devil; but I reckon you'll get
+the impudence taken out of you here, d----d quick!"
+
+"It is all you have left them to take, anyhow," said a voice,--and
+"That's so," chorused the crowd; and the whistle sounding, the Captain,
+whose reign was over, departed, hard-hit and growling, but left, so to
+speak, his sting behind him: for the last of his speech had one terrible
+merit,--it was true.
+
+The prisoners, over a thousand strong, were formed in line and ordered
+to march. As they tramped along the dusty road, they strained their
+eyes, eagerly, but furtively, for the first show of their prison. Seeing
+tents on the left, there was a little stir among them, but that proved
+to be a Rebel camp; then some one spied heights topped with cannon, and
+"Now," said they, "we are close upon it," and then stopped short for
+wonder, for here the road ended, ran butt against the wall of a huge
+roofless inclosure, made of squared pines set perpendicularly and close
+together in the ground.
+
+"Is it a pen?" asked one, doubtfully.
+
+"Yes, yours," retorted one of the guard, with a grin,--"the Stockade
+Prison."
+
+The word ran down the line like a shiver, and the men stood mute, eying
+each other doubtfully. And now, if I could, I would get at your hearts,
+you who read this, and you should not read mistily, and hold the story
+at loose ends as it were, but feel by the answering throb within
+yourselves what thoughts gnawed at the hearts of these men under their
+brave show of indifference: for though these be facts, facts written are
+disembodied, and, like spirits, have no power to speak to you, unless
+you give them the voice of your sympathy; and without that, I question
+which touches you most deeply, a thousand rats following the Pied Piper
+of Hamelin, and wondering, as he neared the wharves, where the Deuse
+they were going, or the thousand Union soldiers standing stunned before
+a gate from which should have wailed forth, as they filed through,
+"_Leave all hope behind!_"
+
+They were hardly in, when there was a scramble, and a cry of "Rations!"
+and came lumbering a train of wagons, bringing the day's supplies. There
+were at this time under torture twenty-eight thousand prisoners,--more
+than the population of Hartford; and as the Southern Confederacy, a
+Christian association, and conducting itself with many appeals to
+Christian principle, believes the wind is tempered to the shorn lamb,
+and so shears the Yankees as close as possible, these men had all been
+formally fleeced of such worldly gear as blankets, money, and extra
+clothing. Some further shearing there had been also, but irregular,
+depending chiefly on the temper of the captors,--stripping them
+sometimes to shirt and drawers, leaving them occasionally jacket and
+shoes; so now most were barefooted, most in rags, and some had not even
+rags. They had lain on the bare earth, sodden with damp or calcined into
+dust, and borne storm and heat helplessly, without even the shelter of a
+board, till they were burned and wasted to the likeness of haggard
+ghosts; most had forgotten hope, many decency; some were dying, and
+crawled over the ground with a woful persistency that it would have
+broken your heart to see; they were all fasting, for the day's rations,
+tossed to them the afternoon before, had been devoured, as was the
+custom, at a single meal, and proved scant at that; and they crowded
+wolfishly about the wagons, the most miserable, pitiable mob that ever
+had mothers, wives, and sisters at home to pray for them.
+
+The new comers looked on amazed, and "How about Belle Isle now?" they
+said bitterly to Drake. He, poor fellow, was having his first despondent
+chill, and sneering at himself for having it, after all his fine talk
+about "backbone"; and finding reasons for despair thicken, the harder he
+tried to make elbow-room for hope, till altogether confounded at the
+muddle, he flung up thought, with "Brain's full and stomach's empty, and
+it's ill talking between a full man and a fasting," and set about
+cooking his rations. "But first catch your hare," cries Mrs. Glass.
+Drake had his hare, such as it was, but found something quite as
+important lacking,--wood.
+
+"I say, my friend, where do we find fuel?" he asked of a man sitting
+quietly on the ground.
+
+"Where the Israelites found the straw for their bricks," was the answer.
+"There is no special provision made, unless it be an occasional permit
+to forage outside, under----Hold off there!--don't touch that, man,
+unless you want to be cooked yourself for supper!--that's the 'dead
+line'!"
+
+Drake drew back from a light railing running parallel with the
+inclosure, on which he had nearly laid his hand.
+
+"What the Deuse is the dead line?"
+
+"The new way to pay old debts, and put a Yankee out of the world cheap.
+Show so much as your little finger outside of that, and the guard nails
+you with a bullet; and as they like that sort of thing, they blaze away
+whenever they get a chance,--which is once or twice a day,--for our men
+expose themselves voluntarily. When Satan said, 'Skin for skin, yea, all
+that a man hath will he give for his life,' he hadn't invented the
+Stockade Prison."
+
+The man who said these things, in a quiet, unexcited way, as if
+discussing some abstraction of the schools, not murder, was too wan and
+wasted, too shrunken and despairing, to afford a guess as to what manner
+of man he might have been, and too unkempt and ragged for any inference
+concerning his rank, having neither jacket, cap, nor shoes, matted hair
+and beard, torn shirt and ragged trousers: but his look of resolved
+patience, and an occasional smile while he talked, sadder than tears,
+made Drake's stout heart twinge with pain. "A strong soul in a feeble
+body," he said to himself, as he walked on; and furthermore, "The man
+that can smile here like that is near heaven, and fit for it."
+
+Presently he came on a farmer selling wood by the stick, price in
+proportion to its size, and as many times its value as the Rebel, by
+his own showing, exceeds the Yankee. Drake had money, spite of shearing
+and searching. He had hidden it----But I forbear to tell of what
+ingenious shift he had availed himself, for I remember, that, spite of
+its well-known loyalty, the "Atlantic Monthly" runs the blockade. First
+he passed the man, prudence pulling him by the sleeve, and searched
+lynx-eyed for chips or twigs, over ground scoured daily, in such faint
+hope as his, by thousands; but he might as well have dragged a brook for
+the wreck of a seventy-four among its pebbles. Having wasted a precious
+half-hour of fading daylight, he came back to the dealer to find his
+stock on the rise; for the influx of new comers had produced an upward
+tendency in a market sensitive as that of Wall Street. Lest it should
+swell quite beyond the compass of his pocket, he made haste to
+buy,--scores of meagre wretches looking anxiously on. That pitiful sight
+made his heart sore again; and he hardly persuaded himself to take his
+wood and be off, till he remembered the poor fellow whom he had left
+resigned and hopeless, sitting quietly on the ground while all was eager
+stir about him, and hurried back to the spot where he had seen him to
+find him gone. He had crawled away, and was lost in that great throng.
+
+Not to be balked entirely, Drake shared his firing with those around
+him; and Virtue, in place of her usual promissory note, gave him his
+reward instantly, in the shape of a tin cup belonging to one of the
+party, and their sole cooking-utensil,--for the prison authorities
+furnish none. His rations--a day's rations, remember--were eight ounces
+of Indian meal, cob and kernel ground together, (as with us for pigs,)
+and sour, (a common occurrence,) and two ounces of condemned pork (not
+to appear again in our pages, as it proved too strong even for poor
+Drake's hunger). He brought water in the cup from a ditch that traversed
+the inclosure, and filtered it through a bit of cloth torn from his
+shirt; and the meal being mixed with this water, (salt was not even
+hinted at, the market price of that article being four dollars a pound
+at Andersonville,) it was placed on a strip of wood before the fire, to
+bake up to the half-raw point, that being the highest perfection
+attainable in Drake's kitchen: for a range and a steady heat find the
+baking of meal, so mixed, no easy matter. Eight ounces of meal make a
+cake six inches long, five broad, and half an inch thick: that is to
+say, Drake's dinner and supper for that day, and his breakfast and
+dinner for the next day, were in the mass six inches long, five inches
+broad, and half an inch thick. Give the figures an Indian-meal
+consistency, you who are not of that order of Stoics that endures its
+neighbor's sufferings without a groan. Try the experiment in your own
+kitchen. One baking will carry conviction farther than batches of
+statistics. Drake being famished chose to take four meals in
+one,--improvident man! That done, he went to bed: quite an elaborate
+arrangement, as practised among us, what with taking off of clothes, and
+possibly washing and combing, and pulling up of sheets and coverlets,
+and fitting of pillows to neck and shoulders; but nothing can be more
+simple than the way they do it there. You just lie down wherever you
+are,--and sleep, if you can. Drake could and did sleep most soundly.
+
+This was our hero's first taste of prison-life. But a little reading and
+much talk about camp-fires and behind earth-works--when there was a lull
+in the storm of shot and shell--had etched out for him certain crude
+theories, for which he was as ready to do battle as any other hot-headed
+lad of twenty-three. "Starvation is the masked battery that plays the
+Deuse with us all," he insisted; "and we must take that, or be taken
+out--feet foremost. As for your '_how_,' good Incredulity and Unbelief,
+where there is an end, and the will to reach it, the means are tolerably
+sure to be lying around loose somewhere." But examinations for
+candidates, and the hundred-pound hail, and the sharp beak of the ram
+for the untried monitor, are facts for theories; and without the proof
+of these, none of the three have the positive value of a skillet that
+has been tried. We have Drake's theory. Here are the facts.
+
+No cooking-utensils were allowed the prisoner; no blankets were allowed
+the prisoner; no shelter of any sort was allowed the prisoner; no tools
+or materials to construct a shelter were allowed the prisoner; no means
+of living as a civilized man were allowed the prisoner; no way of
+helping himself as a savage was allowed the prisoner. The rations were
+at all times insufficient, and frequently so foul that starvation itself
+could not swallow them: consequence, stomach and body weakened by a
+perpetual hunger, and in many cases utter inability to retain food, good
+or bad. More than that, the sluggish water-course that served as their
+reservoir crept across their pen foul and thick with the _debris_ of the
+Rebel camp above, and in the centre filtered through the spongy ground,
+and creamed and mantled and spread out loathsomely into a hateful swamp;
+and the fierce sun, beating down on its slimy surface, drew from its
+festering pools and mounds of refuse a vapor of death, and the prisoners
+breathed it; and the reek of unwashed and diseased bodies crowding close
+on each other, and the sickening, pestilential odor of a huge camp
+without sewerage or system of policing, made the air a horror, and the
+prisoners breathed it.
+
+Drake woke, stifling with the heat and horrible steam, and turning and
+throwing out his arm, only yet half awake, struck on something cold and
+stiff: the corpse of some poor fellow who had died there in the night
+beside him. Drake, in a two years' campaign, had grown familiar with
+death, but could not yet receive him as a bed-fellow, and scrambled up
+in sickening horror to a day in which there was no breakfast to eat, no
+arms to clean, no shoes to black, no dress to change, no work of any
+sort to do, no letters to write or hope for, no books to read, no dinner
+to prepare, at least till four P.M., when they served out
+rations,--nothing to fix the eye, or offer subject of thought, but the
+general and utter wretchedness. Nor could Drake and his fellows take
+refuge in that unconscious self-gratulation with which we see the
+miseries of our neighbors; for the future here threw shadows backward.
+That skeleton, (I use the word not in the exaggerated sense in which we
+are apt to apply it, but advisedly; and I mean a living human being,
+whose skin is literally drawn over hideously projecting bones, and who,
+having actually lost all rounding-out and filling of flesh, has grown
+transparent, so that by holding an arm in the light you may see the
+blood-vessels and the inner edges of the bones,)--this skeleton lying
+there was, perhaps, what Drake should be two months hence; those men
+quarrelling, hyena-like, for the "job" of burying their dead comrades,
+that scarred old man moaning for a compass, because he had lost his way
+and could not find the North, were not lower or more pitiful than Drake
+might yet be: for stout heart and brave blood and quick brain have no
+charm against famine, pestilence, and a steady pressure of misery in all
+possible forms.
+
+The majority of his comrades sank helplessly into this quaking bog. Out
+of fifty captured of his regiment, Williams, a delicate lad, sickened at
+once; Dean, a stout old Scotchman, was close on idiocy in a month;
+Allan, the color-bearer, was shot by the guard,--he had slipped near the
+dead line, and fallen with his head outside; fourteen were dead of
+disease; twelve more sank in rayless, hopeless apathy; and Drake--was
+busy on "A History of the Stockade Prison." The way in which he got the
+idea and his stationery is worth telling.
+
+There had fallen upon him a dread of motion,--a sombre endurance,--a
+discouraged sense of thirty thousand hopeless men dragging him down to
+despair,--a dark cloud that shut out God and home and help,--an
+inability to compose and fix his drowsy, reeling thought, that spun off
+dizzily to times at school, and love and laughter at home, and lapsed
+itself in forgetfulness, and ceased to be even dreamy speculation.
+Drake, in short, was going to the bottom with his theory about his neck,
+when a "Providence,"--the modern way of dodging an acknowledgment to
+God, whom, by the by, our poor boy had quite omitted in his little
+theory of self-preservation,--in the curious shape of an official
+blunder, stepped in to his rescue. A cook-house was in erection without
+the limits of their pen, and, though no carpenter, Drake was set with
+others to work under guard. The first glimpse of the open country,
+stretching away to meet the low horizon, brought back the half-forgotten
+thought of Freedom; and the very trail of her robe is so glorious, that
+even this poor savage liberty of rock and clod roused in him anew wit to
+devise and courage to endure. He worked then so merrily and with such
+good heart, that an admiring inspector more than hinted "at the pity it
+was to see a decent young fellow like him shut up in the pen yonder."
+
+"So I think," returned Drake, calmly, cutting away at his board.
+
+The official edged a little closer.
+
+"Why don't you come over to us, then? The Confederacy gives good wages.
+Our Government knows how to pay its men."
+
+"Right there!" retorted Drake. "The Confederacy pays its servants in
+death and ruin, which, as you say, are the just wages of a traitor. As
+for me, I want no more of Georgia soil than will make me a grave. That
+is as much as a man can own here now and be honest."
+
+It was then, from some occult connection of ideas too subtile for
+searching out, that he imagined, first, a history of the Stockade
+Prison. He secured a number of long, thin boards, and planed them
+smooth, for foolscap, pointed bits of wood for pens, manufactured his
+ink from the rust of some old nails, and made himself a knife by
+grinding two pieces of iron hoop one upon the other, and, his work on
+the cook-house at an end, set bravely about his history, when Fate
+nipped it, as she has done many a more promising one before it; for even
+when on the final flourish of his title, he heard a sound between a
+groan and a sigh, and, turning, saw Corny Keegan, a strapping Irishman,
+and sergeant in his regiment, lying near him. Drake put the tail on his
+_n_, and then some uneasy consciousness would have him look again over
+the edge of his board at the sergeant; for, though there were scores of
+men lying within view on the ground, there was something in the "give"
+and laxity of Corny's posture that augured ill for him in Drake's
+experienced eyes, and, laying the history aside, he went over and
+kneeled down beside him. The man's eyes were closed, and a dull,
+yellowish pallor had taken the place of the usual brick tint of his
+face. Drake essayed to lift his heavy head and shoulders; but Corny
+settled back again with a groan.
+
+"Och! wurra! Musther Talcott, lave me alone. It's dead I am, kilt
+intirely, wid the wakeness. Divil's the bit of wood I've had these two
+days, and not a cint or a frind to the fore, and I'm jist afther mixin'
+the male here with wather, thinkin' to ate it that way, but it stuck in
+me throat, and I'm all on a thrimble, and it's a gone man is Corny
+Keegan; though it's not fur meself that I'd make moan, sence it's aisier
+dyin' than livin', only the ould mother and Mary that'll fret
+and----Holy Mother! there comes the sickness, bad scran to it!"
+
+You see now how it happened unto the History of the Stockade Prison to
+vanish in smoke; for Drake, having neither wood nor the money to buy it,
+made a fire with his precious boards, and baked Corny's raw meal in a
+cake, which the poor fellow devoured with a half-starved avidity that
+made Drake ashamed of the reluctance with which he had offered up his
+sacrifice. A little corner of his cake Corny left untouched, saying,--
+
+"That's fur the poor crathur over beyant."
+
+"What poor creature?" asked Drake; but Corny's eyes were fixed on the
+pens and ink, and the sorry remains of his foolscap,--a half-strip of
+board.
+
+"Och! murther! Musther Talcott, and wuz it thim bits of board ye's
+writin' on? and ye's burned thim fur me, afther all the throuble ye took
+wid thim? and to think of the thick head of me, to ate up all that
+illigant histhry, when I'd heerd the boys talkin' on it, by the same
+token, and bad scran to me! The Lord be good to ye fur your kindness,
+Musther Talcott, and make your bed as soft as your heart is, and give ye
+a line in the Book of Life fur the one I've ate, and"----
+
+"But the poor creature, Corny."
+
+"Thrue for you; and I'm a baste fur forgettin' him, and him starvin' the
+while. It's jist Cap'n Ireland, if ye chance to mind him. He was the
+illigant officer and the kind-hearted man; and to see him now! If ye'll
+come away, Musther Talcott, I'm quite done wid the wakeness, and it's
+jist over here beyant that he's lyin', poor jontleman, that'll not be
+long lyin' anywhere out of his grave."
+
+Corny pointed, as he spoke, to a man, or, rather, a bundle of rags
+having some faint outlines of humanity, on the ground before
+them,--limbs out helplessly, face set and ghastly, hardly a stir among
+his tatters to assure them that he yet breathed; and Drake recognized
+with a thrill of horror, though more wan, more woful, more shadow-like,
+if possible, the man who had so moved his compassion on the night of his
+arrival. Keegan knelt beside him, and put his corner of cake to the
+sufferer's mouth, saying, "Ate a bit, Cap'n dear; thry now"; and then,
+seeing that the food rested on white and quiet lips,--"Cap'n, don't ye
+hear me? It's Corny, that spoke wid ye a while back. Saints be merciful
+to us, he's gone!"
+
+"He is not so happy," said Drake, savagely; "he has only fainted. He has
+days of such torture as this before him. It would be a mercy to him, and
+I'm not sure but good religion, to put him outside of the dead line. I
+wonder why they don't tie us to the cannon's mouth at once. Here! you!
+guard, there! holla!"
+
+This last was addressed to a soldier in the Rebel gray, who was
+proceeding leisurely past, but who, on hearing himself so
+unceremoniously summoned, turned and came slowly towards them.
+
+"Here is a man," said Drake, passionately, "who is dying, not because it
+pleases God to take him, but because it pleases you to starve him. We
+have no wood to make a fire, no food to give him, unless it is this
+scrap of meal that he cannot swallow; but you can save him, and will, if
+you are a man, and have a man's heart under that dress."
+
+The soldier stared, but, being a phlegmatic animal, heard him quietly to
+the end, and opened his jaws to answer with due deliberation.
+
+"If you don't like our rules, you shouldn't have come here, you know.
+And we haven't any orders about wood: you are to look out for
+yourselves. As for the man, if he's sick, why don't you take him to the
+stockade yonder, where the doctor is examining for admittance to the
+hospital?--though I don't see the use: he's too far gone."
+
+Drake and Corny lifted the poor wasted frame, that seemed all too frail
+to hold the nickering, struggling breath, and carried it to a small
+stockade crowded with men desirous to enter the hospital. The first
+assistant to whom they applied was a nervous porcupine, fretted with
+overwork, and repulsed them roughly.
+
+"What is the use of bringing a dead man here? We have enough living ones
+on hand."
+
+"Och, and that's no raison, sence it's aisy to see thim's the kind you
+like best," muttered Corny; but Drake silenced him hastily.
+
+"Keep a civil tongue, Corny. They're the masters here; and it will only
+be the worse for poor Ireland, if you anger them. Here's another; we'll
+try him."
+
+But Number Two was Sir Imperturbability, and, without even looking
+towards them, answered, in a hard, even tone, "Our number is filled; you
+are too late," and, without lifting an eyelash, went on with his work.
+
+Drake grew white to the lips. The great veins started out on his
+forehead, and his fingers worked nervously; but it was Corny's turn to
+interfere.
+
+"Musther Talcott, sure and ye'll not mind what that spalpeen's saying;
+and there's the docthor himself beyant, and a kind and pleasant
+jontleman he is. Jist lift the Cap'n, aisy now, and we'll see what the
+docthor'll say to him."
+
+For the third time, then, Drake made his appeal in behalf of the poor
+fellow at his feet. The doctor heard him kindly, but answered, as his
+assistant had done, that their number was full for the day, and was
+moving on, when Talcott caught him by the arm.
+
+"Doctor," he said, sternly, "one of your assistants refuses my comrade
+because he is a dying man; another tells me, as you have done, that your
+number is full for the day. Your own eyes can tell you, that, if not
+dying now, he will be before to-morrow, of want and exposure. I know
+nothing of your rules; but I do know, that, if my comrade's life is to
+be saved, it is to be saved _now_, and that you have the means, if means
+there are, for its salvation; and let the awful guilt of the cruelty
+that brought him here weigh down whose neck it will, as there is a God
+above us, I do not see how you can write yourself free of murder, or
+think your hands clean from blood, if you send him back to die."
+
+"God forbid! God forbid!" answered the doctor, shrinking from Drake's
+vehemence. "You are unjust, young man; it is not my will, but my power
+to help, that is limited. However, he shall not be sent back; we will do
+for him what we can, if I have to lodge him in my own house."
+
+"And didn't I tell ye the docthor was the kind jontleman?" cried Corny,
+joyfully. "Though the hospital is no sich great matther: jist a few
+tints; but thin he'll be gettin' a bed there, and belike a dhrap of
+whiskey or a sup of porridge: and if he gits on, it's you he has to
+thank for it; fur if it hadn't been fur your prachement, my sowl, the
+docthor would have turned him off, too; and long life to you, says Corny
+Keegan, and may you niver be needin' anybody's tongue to do the like fur
+you!"
+
+Drake made no answer; after the fever comes the chill, and he was
+thinking drearily of the smouldering "History," and of the intolerable
+leaden hours stretching out before him; but it was not in Corny's nature
+to remain silent.
+
+"It's the ould jontleman wid the scythe that takes us down, afther all,
+Musther Talcott; the hours and hours that we sit mopin', wid our fingers
+as limp as a lady's, and our stomachs clatterin' like an impty can, and
+sorra a thing to think of but the poor crathurs that's dead, rest their
+souls! and whin our turn's comin; and it's wishin' I am that it was in
+the days of the fairies, and that the quane of thim ud jist give us a
+call, till I'd ask her if she'd iver a pipe and its full of tobacky
+about her,--or, failin' that, if she'd hoppen to have a knife in her
+pocket, till I cut out the ould divil Jeff on the gallows, and give him
+what he'd git, if we iver put our hands on him."
+
+"A knife," repeated Drake, starting from his abstraction, and fumbling
+in his pocket, from which he drew an old bit of iron. "I am not the
+queen of the fairies; but with this you can hang Jeff and his cabinet in
+effigy, if you choose, and can find the material to carve."
+
+"Arrah, and that's aisy, wid illigant bones like these, that chips off
+like marble or wud itself; but I'm misdoubtin' I'm robbin' ye, Musther
+Talcott."
+
+"I have another," said Drake, producing it; and as he did so, there
+breathed upon him, like a breeze from home, a recollection of the dim
+light shining in an old library down on a broad-leaved volume resting on
+a carved rack,--of a brown-tressed girl who stood with him before it,
+her head just at his shoulder, looking at the cathedral on its page,--of
+the chance touch of a little hand on his,--of the brush of a perfumed
+sleeve,--of the flitting color in her clear cheek,--of a subtile magic,
+interweaving blush, perfume, picture, and thought of Alice. Dainty
+pinnacle and massive arch and carved buttress were photographed on his
+brain, and arch and pinnacle and buttress could be notched out in bone
+by his poor skill,--and if he died, some kindly comrade should carry it
+to Alice, and it should tell her what he had left unsaid,--and if he
+lived, he would take it to her himself, and it should serve him for the
+text of his story. That the carving of a design so intricate, on so
+minute a scale, must prove tedious argued in its favor; and putting off
+mourning weeds for his history, he took to this new love with a
+complacency that excited Corny's special admiration.
+
+"Sure, and it's a beautiful thing is religion; and the Divil fly away
+wid me, if I don't be afther gittin' it meself! Here's Musther Talcott:
+if he was fur carving a fort or a big gun, the eyes and the face of him
+would be little but scowls and puckers; and there he sits, though it's
+only the dumb likeness of a church that he's at, by the same token that
+it's no bigger than me thumb, and, by the howly piper, you'd think the
+light that flings away from the big colored windy down the church was
+stramin' in his face, he looks so paceful-like; and he no betther than a
+heretic nayther, though he's the heart of a good Catholic, as no one
+knows betther than meself."
+
+Indeed, Corny's gratitude never grew cold. Few sentences of his that did
+not end, like the one just quoted, in eulogiums on "Musther Talcott." If
+Drake was busy with his cathedral, there sat Corny, a few paces distant,
+hacking at Jeff Davis. If Drake, who had resolved himself into a sort of
+duo-decimo edition of the Sanitary Commission, was about his work of
+mercy, there was Corny, a shadow at his heels, bringing water, lifting
+the poor groaning wretches, and adding his word of comfort. "Cheer up,
+honey, and do jist as Musther Talcott says; for it's nixt to iverything
+that he knows, and thim things that he don't know isn't worth a body's
+attintion." And when Drake himself was ailing, it was Corny who tended
+him with terrified solicitude, foraged for his wood, and cooked his
+rations. "When Drake was ailing!"--that was often. His courage was
+undaunted, his hope perhaps higher, but he had grown perceptibly weak
+and languid; and there were days--many, alas!--when he lay quietly on
+the ground, giving an occasional lazy touch to his cathedral, while
+Corny, as he laughingly said, ruled in his stead.
+
+It was on one of these days that there arose a sudden stir and commotion
+throughout the camp, a deep and joyful hum, that went from mouth to
+mouth; and men were seen running hastily from all quarters, the rush
+setting towards the gate, and drawing in even the sick, who crawled and
+hobbled along with the stream, at the risk of being trampled by the
+excited throng, struggling and crowding on pellmell. While Drake looked
+on in surprise, Corny made his appearance, his eyes sparkling with
+pleasure.
+
+"News, Musther Talcott dear! an ye wuz dyin', here's news to put the
+strength in yer legs! Letthers from home, and they say there's five
+thousand on 'em; and there's an officer chap, wid a mouth like a thrap,
+countin' 'em as if he was a machine, for all the wuruld, and bad 'cess
+to him! wid the poor boys crowdin', and heart-famished for only a look
+at thim, the crumpled things, for it's batthered they is! and he, the
+spalpeen, won't let one of 'em touch 'em, and no more feelin' with him
+than if he was a gun, instead of the son of one; and I'm cock-sure I
+read yer name, Musther Talcott, and there's mine too on the back of a
+letther, and that's from Mary, hurra! and God bless her! and come,
+Musther Talcott, fur they'll be dalin' out the letthers or iver we get
+there."
+
+Drake rose at once; but a description of his sensations, as he hastily
+made his way towards the throng that surged about the imperturbable
+official like a sea, is beyond the power of words. The overwhelming
+surprise and joy of a man who in that evil den had almost forgotten home
+and the possibility of hearing from it, and his agonizing uncertainty,
+could be fathomed only by the poor wretches suffering like him, who
+anxiously pressed on the Rebel officer, and clutched at the letters,
+and fell back sick with impatience and suspense at his formal delay. At
+last he opened his grim jaws. The men listened breathlessly.
+
+"All right. Men, there is ten cents postage due on each letter."
+
+An instant's stunned pause, and then half a dozen voices speaking
+together: "Why, man, you must have had ten cents on each of these
+letters, before they crossed the lines"; and "How can _we_ pay postage?"
+"He _knows_ we have no money"; "What good will the bits of paper do him
+at all, at all?" But the man kept on like an automaton.
+
+"My orders are to collect ten cents on each letter; and I am here to
+obey orders, not to argue."
+
+Meanwhile those in the rear ranks had heard indistinctly or not at all,
+and pressed on those in front to know the meaning of the sudden
+recoil,--for the men had instinctively given back,--and being told,
+buzzed it on to those behind them; and there began in the crowd a low,
+deep hum, growing louder, as muttering rose to curses,--growing fiercer,
+for there is nothing half so savage as despair that has been fooled with
+a hope,--swelling into a wave of indignation that swept and swayed the
+whole throng with it, and seemed an instant to threaten and topple over
+the officer in their midst. But it came to nought. The prudent nudged
+their neighbors, "With the cannon, boys, they can rake us on all sides";
+and the angrier ones fell apart in little groups, and talked in
+whispers, and glared menacingly at the guard, but made no further
+demonstration. Those who were happy enough to possess the money received
+their letters: the feebler ones crawled away with tears furrowing their
+wan cheeks; and the unmoved official thrust the remaining letters of
+mother, father, wife, and children of these men into the bags before
+their longing eyes; and even while the miserable men flung themselves
+before him, and with outstretched hands tried to hold him back, the gate
+clanged after him.
+
+Drake, who long ago had spent his little hoard, had received this
+terrible blow in entire silence, and turned to go without comment or
+answer to Corny's vociferations. But eyes were dim, or head was reeling;
+for a few paces on he stumbled, and would have fallen over a soldier
+lying in his path, but for Corny, who was close behind him, and who at
+once assailed the man over whom Drake had tripped, and who still lay
+quietly, without even a stir or motion of his head.
+
+"Ye lazy spalpeen! what the Divil are ye stretched out there for, to
+break dacent folk's necks over the length of ye? Stir yourself, or
+I'll"----Then with a sudden and total change of tone, as he looked more
+closely into the quiet face, "The Saints pity us! it's Cap'n Ireland;
+and in the name of Hiven, how came yer Honor here on the----Och! Lord
+forgive me! Talking to a dead corpse! Och! wurra! wurra! Musther
+Talcott, it's dead he is, sure! kilt this time intirely!"
+
+"You may well say killed," said a soldier who had joined them. "If ever
+a man committed murder, then that man did that kicked him out of the
+hospital to die."
+
+"What is that?" demanded Drake, who had seemed in a sort of stupor, but
+roused out of it fiercely at the man's last words. "Do you know what you
+are saying?"
+
+"I think I ought," returned the soldier. "I was in the hospital at the
+time; I'm only just out; and I saw it myself. The assistant surgeon
+stops at his bed, where he laid only just breathing like, and says he,
+'What man is this? I've seen him before'; and says some one, 'His name
+is Ireland'; and says the surgeon, like a flash, 'Ireland? Ireland of
+the --th? Do you know what that is? It is a colored regiment, and this
+Abolition scoundrel is the captain of it. I knew I had seen him. Here!
+put him out; let him go and herd with the rest'; and when some one said
+he was dying any way, said the surgeon, with a string of oaths, 'Put him
+out, I tell you; the bed is too good for him'; and then, Sir, when the
+poor young gentleman, who was dizzy-like, and didn't understand, fell
+down beside the door, from weakness, that--that infernal brute kicked
+him, and swore at him, as vermin that cumbered the ground; and the men
+brought him away here, Sir, it's two days back, and he's just passed
+away"; and kneeling beside the body, and lifting the poor wasted hands,
+"I swear, if ever I get back, to revenge his death, and never to let
+sword or pistol drop while this cursed Rebellion is going on."
+
+"Amin!" said Corny, solemnly, and "Amen" formed itself on Drake's white
+lips; but by some curious mental process his thoughts would wander away
+from the stiffening body before him to a vision of home, and Sabbaths
+when sweet-toned bells called quiet families to church, and little
+children playing about the doorsteps, and peaceful women in sunny
+houses, and gay girls waving on men to battle through glittering
+streets, and prayers, and looks of love, and songs, and flowers, and
+Alice; and in on this rolled suddenly a sense of what was actually
+around him, as under a calm sky and out of a still sea swoops sometimes
+suddenly some huge wave in on the quiet beach. He saw about him rags,
+filth, men sick, men dying, men dead, men groaning, men cursing, men
+gibbering. There rose up before him the grim succession of days of
+hunger, pain, sorrow, and loneliness, already past; there came upon him
+a terrible threatening of days to come, yet worse,--without hope or
+relief, unless at the dead line. He rose, staggering, and with a wild
+and desperate look that startled Corny.
+
+"Fur the Lord's sake, wud ye desthroy yerself?" cried the faithful
+fellow, throwing his arms about him to hold him fast. "Och, honey! ye're
+a heretic, and the good Lord's a Catholic; but thin He made us all, and
+He has pity on the poor crathurs that's sufferin' here, or His heart's
+harder nor Corny's: the Saints forgive me fur such a spache! Pray,
+Musther Talcott, pray"----
+
+"Pray!" exclaimed Drake; "is there a God looking down here?"--and
+dropping on his knees, he gasped out,--
+
+"O God! if Thou dost yet hear, save me--from going mad!" and fell
+forward at Corny's feet, senseless.
+
+He was carried to the hospital, and lay there weeks, lost in the
+delirium of a fever; and every morning there peered in at the inner door
+of the stockade a huge shock of hair, and a red, anxious face, with,--
+
+"The top of the mornin' to ye, docthor, and it's ashamed I am to be
+afther throublin' ye so often; but will yer Honor plase to tell me how
+Musther Talcott is the day?"--and having received the desired
+information, Corny would take himself off with blessings "on his Honor,
+that had consideration for the feelings of the poor Irishman."
+
+One morning there was a change in the programme.
+
+"I have good news for you, Corny," said the kindly doctor. "Talcott is
+out of danger."
+
+"Hurray! and the Saints be praised fur that!" shouted Corny, cutting a
+caper.
+
+"But I have better news yet," continued the doctor, watching Corny
+closely. "His name is on the list of exchanged prisoners, and he will be
+sent home on Thursday next."
+
+Corny's face fell.
+
+"Is he, yer Honor?" very hesitatingly; and then, suddenly clearing up,
+"and hurra fur that, too! and I'm an ongrateful baste to be sorry that
+he's to be clear of this hole,--bad scran to it!--and long life till
+him, and a blessin' go wid him! and if"--choking--"we don't mate on
+earth, sure the Lord won't kape him foriver in purgatory, and he so kind
+and feelin' for the sick."
+
+The doctor could not suppress a laugh at this limited hope.
+
+"But, Corny, what if you are to be sent home too?"
+
+"Me?--and was it me yer Honor was sayin'? Och, Hivin bless ye fur that
+word!--and it's not laughin' at me is yer Honor? Sure ye'd niver have
+the heart to chate a poor boy like that. All the Saints be praised! I'm
+a man agin, and not a starvin' machine; and I shall see ye, Mary,
+mavourneen! but, och, the poor boys that we're lavin'! Hurra! how iver
+will I ate three males a day, and slape under a blanket, and think of
+thim on the ground and starvin' by inches!"
+
+During the remainder of his stay, Corny balanced between joy and
+his selfishness in being joyful, in a manner sufficiently
+ludicrous,--breaking out one moment in the most extravagant
+demonstration, to be twitched from it the next by a penitential spasm.
+As for Drake, hardly yet clear of the shadows that haunted his fever, he
+but mistily comprehended the change that was before him; and it will
+need weeks and perhaps months of home-nursing and watching before body
+and mind can win back their former strength and tone.
+
+Meanwhile, people of the North, what of the poor boys left behind at
+Andersonville, starving, as Corny said, by inches, with the winter
+before them, and their numbers swelled by the hundreds that a late Rebel
+paper gleefully announces to be on their way from more Northern prisons?
+
+
+
+
+DOCTOR JOHNS.
+
+
+VII.
+
+It was not easy in that day to bring together the opinions of a
+Connecticut parish that had been jostled apart by a parochial quarrel,
+and where old grievances were festering. Indeed, it is never easy to do
+this, and unite opinions upon a new comer, unless he have some rare gift
+of eloquence, which so dazes the good people that they can no longer
+remember their petty griefs, or unless he manage with rare tact to pass
+lightly over the sore points, and to anoint them by a careful hand with
+such healing salves as he can concoct out of his pastoral charities. Mr.
+Johns had neither art nor eloquence, as commonly understood; yet he
+effected a blending of all interests by the simple, earnest gravity of
+his character. He ignored all angry disputation; he ignored its results.
+He came as a shepherd to a deserted sheepfold; he came to preach the
+Bible doctrines in their literalness. He had no reproofs, save for those
+who refused the offers of God's mercy,--no commendation, save for those
+who sought His grace whose favor is life everlasting. There were no
+metaphysical niceties in his discourses, athwart which keen disputants
+might poise themselves for close and angry conflict; he recognized no
+necessities but the great ones of repentance and faith; and all the
+mysteries of the Will he was accustomed to solve by grand utterance of
+that text which he loved above all others,--however much it may have
+troubled him in his discussion of Election,--"whosoever _will_, let him
+come and drink of the water of life freely."
+
+Inheriting as he did all the religious affinities of his mother, these
+were compacted and made sensitive by years of silent protest against the
+proud worldly sufficiency of his father, the Major. Such qualities and
+experience found repose in the unyielding dogmas of the Westminster
+divines. At thirty the clergyman was as aged as most men of
+forty-five,--seared by the severity of his opinions, and the unshaken
+tenacity with which he held them. He was by nature a quiet, almost a
+timid man; but over the old white desk and crimson cushion, with the
+choir of singers in his front and the Bible under his hand, he grew into
+wonderful boldness. He cherished an exalted idea of the dignity of his
+office,--a dignity which he determined to maintain to the utmost of his
+power; but in the pulpit only did the full measure of this exaltation
+come over him. Thence he looked down serenely upon the flock of which he
+was the appointed guide, and among whom his duty lay. The shepherd
+leading his sheep was no figure of speech for him; he was commissioned
+to their care, and was conducting them--old men and maidens, boys and
+gray-haired women--athwart the dangers of the world, toward the great
+fold. On one side always the fires of hell were gaping; and on the other
+were blazing the great candlesticks around the throne.
+
+But when, on some occasion, he had, under the full weight of his office,
+inveighed against a damning evil, and, as he fondly hoped by the
+stillness in the old meeting-house, wrought upon sinners effectually, it
+was disheartening to be met by some hoary member of his flock, whom
+perhaps he had borne particularly in mind, and to be greeted cheerfully
+with, "Capital sermon, Mr. Johns! those are the sort that do the
+business! I like those, parson!" The poor man, humiliated, would bow his
+thanks. He lacked the art (if it be an art) to press the matter home,
+when he met one of his parishioners thus. Indeed, his sense of the
+importance of his calling and his extreme conscientiousness gave him an
+air of timidity outside the pulpit, which offered great contrast to that
+which he wore in the heat of his sermonizing. Not that he forgot the
+dignity of his position for a moment, but he wore it too trenchantly; he
+could never unbend to the free play of side-talk. Hence he could not
+look upon the familiar spirit of badinage in which some of his brethren
+of the profession indulged, without serious doubts of their complete
+submission to the Heavenly King. Always the weight of his solemn duties
+pressed sorely on him; always amid pitfalls he was conducting his little
+flock toward the glories of the Great Court. There is many a man
+narrowed and sharpened by metaphysical inquiry to such a degree as to
+count the indirection and freedom of kindly chat irksome, and the
+occasion of a needless blunting of that quick mental edger with which he
+must scathe all he touches. But the stiffness of Mr. Johns was not that
+of constant mental strain; he did not refine upon his dogmas; but he
+gave them such hearty entertainment, and so inwrapped his spirit with
+their ponderous gravity, that he could not disrobe in a moment, or
+uncover to every chance comer.
+
+It is quite possible that by reason of this grave taciturnity the
+clergyman won more surely upon the respect of his people. "He is
+engrossed," said they, "with greater matters; and in all secular affairs
+he recognizes our superior discernment." Thus his inaptitude in current
+speech was construed by them into a delicate flattery. They greatly
+relished his didactic, argumentative sermonizing, since theirs was a
+religion not so much of the sensibilities as of the intellect. They
+agonized toward the truth, if not by intense thinking, yet by what many
+good people are apt to mistake for it,--immense endurance of the prolix
+thought of others.
+
+If the idea of universal depravity had been ignored,--as it sometimes is
+in these latitudinarian days,--or the notion of any available or worthy
+Christian culture, as distinct from a direct and clearly defined agency,
+both as to time and force, of the Spirit, had been entertained, he would
+have lost half of the elements by which his arguments gained logical
+sequence. But, laboring his way from stake to stake of the old dogmas of
+the Westminster divines, he fastened to them stoutly, and swept round
+from each as a centre a great scathing circle of deductions, that beat
+wofully upon the heads of unbelievers. And if a preacher attack only
+unbelievers, he has the world with him, now as then; it is only he who
+has the bad taste to meddle with the caprices of believers who gets the
+raps and the orders of dismissal.
+
+Thus it happened that good Mr. Johns came to win the good-will of all
+the parish of Ashfield, while he challenged their respect by his
+uniform gravity. It is even possible that a consciousness of a certain
+stateliness and stiffness of manner became in some measure a source of
+pride to him, and that he enjoyed, in his subdued way, the disposition
+of the lads of the town to give him a wide pass, instead of brushing
+brusquely against him, as if he were some other than the parson.
+
+In those days he wrote to his sister Eliza,--
+
+     "We are fairly settled in a pleasant home upon the main street.
+     The meeting-house, which you will remember, is near by; and I
+     have, by the blessing of God, a full attendance every Lord's
+     day. They listen to my poor sermons with commendable
+     earnestness; and I trust they may prove to them 'a savor of
+     life unto life.' We also find the people of the town neighborly
+     and kind. Squire Elderkin has proved particularly so, and is a
+     very energetic man in all matters relating to the parish. I
+     fear greatly, however, that he still lacks the intimate favor
+     of God, and has not humbled himself to entire submission. Yet
+     he is constant in his observance of nearly all the outward
+     forms of devotion and of worship; and we hear of his charities
+     in every house we enter. Strange mystery of Providence, that he
+     should not long since have been broken down by grace, and
+     become in _all_ things a devout follower of the Master! I hope
+     yet to see him brought a humble suppliant into the fold. His
+     wife is a most excellent person, lowly in her faith, and
+     zealous of good works. The same may also be said of their
+     worthy maiden sister, Miss Joanna Meacham, who is, of a truth,
+     a matron in Israel. Rachel and myself frequently take tea at
+     their house; and she is much interested in the little family of
+     Elderkins, who, I am glad to say, enjoy excellent advantages,
+     and such of them as are of proper age are duly taught in the
+     Shorter Westminster Catechism.
+
+     "Deacon Tourtelot, another of our neighbors, is a devout man;
+     and Dame Tourtelot (as she is commonly called) is a woman of
+     quite extraordinary zeal and capacity. Their daughter Almira is
+     untiring in attendance, and aids the services by singing
+     treble. Deacon Simmons, who lives at quite a distance from us,
+     is represented to be a man of large means and earnest in the
+     faith. He has a large farm, and also a distillery, both of
+     which are said to be managed with great foresight and prudence.
+     I trust that the reports which I hear occasionally of his
+     penuriousness are not wholly true, and that in due time his
+     hand will be opened by divine grace to a more effectual showing
+     forth of the deeds of charity. I do not allow myself to
+     entertain any of the scandals which unfortunately belong more
+     or less to every parish, and which so interrupt the growth of
+     that Christian love which is the parent of all virtues; and I
+     trust that these good people may come in time to see that it is
+     better to live together in harmony than to foment those
+     bickerings which have led so recently to the dismissal of my
+     poor brother in the Gospel. Our home affairs are, I believe,
+     managed prudently,--the two servants being most excellent
+     persons, and my little Rachel a very sunbeam in the house."
+
+And the little sunbeam writes to Mrs. Handby at about the same date,--we
+will say from six to eight months after their entry,--
+
+     "Everything goes on _delightfully_, dear mamma. Esther is a
+     good creature, and helps me wonderfully. You would laugh to see
+     me fingering the raw meats at the butcher's cart to choose nice
+     pieces, which I really _can do_ now; and it is fortunate I can,
+     for the goodman Benjamin knows _positively nothing_ of such
+     things, and I am sure wouldn't be able to tell mutton from
+     beef.
+
+     "The little parlor is nicely furnished; there is an elegant
+     hair sofa, and over the mantel is the portrait of Major Johns;
+     and then the goodman has insisted upon hanging under the
+     looking-glass _my old sampler in crewel_, with a gilt frame
+     around it; on the table is the illustrated 'Pilgrim's Progress'
+     papa gave me, and a volume of 'Calmet's Dictionary' I have
+     taken out of the study--it is full of _such beautiful
+     pictures_,--and 'Mrs. Hannah More' in full gilt. The big Bible
+     you gave us, the goodman says, is too large for easy handling;
+     so it is kept on a stand in the corner, with the great
+     fly-brush of peacock's feathers hanging over it. I have put
+     charming blue chintz curtains in the spare chamber, and
+     arranged everything there very nicely; so that, _before a
+     certain event_, you must be sure to come and take possession.
+
+     "Last night we took tea again with the Elderkins, and Mrs.
+     Elderkin was as kind to me as ever, and Miss Meacham is an
+     excellent woman, and the little ones are loves of children; and
+     I wish you could see them. But you will, you know, _quite
+     soon_. Sometimes I fall to crying, when I think of it all; and
+     then the goodman comes and puts his hand on my head, and
+     says,--'Rachel! Rachel, my dear! is this your gratitude for all
+     God's mercies?' And then I jump up, and kiss his grave face,
+     and laugh through my tears. He is a dear good man. This is all
+     very foolish, I suppose; but, mamma, isn't it the way with all
+     women?
+
+     "Dame Tourtelot is a great storm of a creature, and she comes
+     down upon us every now and then, and advises me about the
+     housekeeping and the table, and the servants, and
+     Benjamin,--giving me a great many good hints, I suppose; but in
+     such a way, and calling me 'my child,' as makes me feel good
+     for nothing, and as if I were not fit to be mistress. Miss
+     Almira is a quiet thing, and has a piano. She dresses _very
+     queerly_, and, I have been told, written poetry for the
+     'Hartford Courant,' _over two stars_--* *. She seems a good
+     creature, though, and comes to see us often. The chaise is a
+     _great_ comfort, and our old horse Dobbins is a good, sober
+     horse. Benjamin often takes me with him in his drives to see
+     the parishioners who live out of town. He tells me about the
+     trees and the flowers, and a thousand matters I never heard of.
+     Indeed, he is a good man, and he knows a _world_ of things."
+
+The tender-hearted, kind soul makes her way into the best graces of the
+people of Ashfield: the older ones charmed with that blithe spirit of
+hers, and all the younger ones mating easily with her simple, outspoken
+naturalness. She goes freely everywhere; she is not stiffened by any
+ceremony, nor does she carry any stately notions of the dignity of her
+office,--some few there may be who wish that she had a keener sense of
+the importance of her position; she even bursts unannounced into the
+little glazed corner of the Tew partners, where she prattles away with
+the sedate Mistress Tew in good, kindly fashion, winning that stiff old
+lady's heart, and moving her to declare to all customers that the
+parson's wife has no pride about her, and is "a dear little thing, to be
+sure!"
+
+On summer evenings, Dobbins is to be seen, two or three times in the
+week, jogging along before the square-topped chaise, upon some highway
+that leads into the town, with the parson seated within, with slackened
+rein, and in thoughtful mood, from which he rouses himself from time to
+time with a testy twitch and noisy chirrup that urge the poor beast into
+a faster gait. All the while the little wife sits beside him, as if a
+twittering sparrow had nestled itself upon the same perch with some
+grave owl, and sat with him side by side, watching for the big eyes to
+turn upon her, and chirping some pretty response for every solemn
+utterance of the wise old bird beside her.
+
+
+VIII.
+
+On the return from one of these parochial drives, not long after their
+establishment at Ashfield, it happened that the good parson and his wife
+were not a little startled at sight of a stranger lounging familiarly at
+their door. A little roof jutted out over the entrance to the parsonage,
+without any apparent support, and flanking the door were two plank
+seats, with their ends toward the street, cut away into the shape of
+those "settles" which used to be seen in country taverns, and which here
+seemed to invite a quiet out-of-door gossip. But the grave manner of the
+parson had never invited to a very familiar use of this loitering-place,
+even by the most devoted of the parishioners; and the appearance of a
+stranger of some two-and-thirty years, with something in his manner, as
+much as in his dress, which told of large familiarity with the world,
+lounging upon this little porch, had amazed the passers-by, as much as
+it now did the couple who drove up slowly in the square-topped chaise.
+
+"Who can it be, Benjamin?" says Rachel.
+
+"I really can't say," returns the parson.
+
+"He seems very much at home, my dear,"--as indeed he does, with his feet
+stretched out upon the bench, and eyeing curiously the approaching
+vehicle.
+
+As it draws near, his observation being apparently satisfactory, he
+walks briskly down to the gate, and greets the parson with,--
+
+"My dear Johns, I'm delighted to see you!"
+
+At this the parson knew him, and greets him,--
+
+"Maverick, upon my word!" and offers his hand.
+
+"And this is Mrs. Johns, I suppose," says the stranger, bowing
+graciously, "Allow me, Madam"; and he assists her to alight. "Your
+husband and myself were old college-friends, partners of the same bench,
+and I've used no ceremony, you see, in finding him out."
+
+Rachel, eyeing him furtively, with a little rustic courtesy, "is glad to
+see any of her husband's old friends."
+
+The parson--upon his feet now--shakes the stranger's hand heartily
+again.
+
+"I am very glad to see you, Maverick; but I thought you were out of the
+country."
+
+"So I have been, Johns; am home only upon a visit, and hearing by
+accident that you had become a clergyman--as I always thought you
+would--and were settled hereabout, I determined to run down and see you
+before sailing again."
+
+"You must stop with me. Rachel, dear, will you have the spare room made
+ready for Mr. Maverick?"
+
+"My dear Madam, don't give yourself the least trouble; I am an old
+traveller, and can make myself quite comfortable at the tavern yonder;
+but if it's altogether convenient, I shall be delighted to pass the
+night under the roof of my old friend. I shall be off to-morrow noon,"
+continued he, turning to the parson, "and until then I want you to put
+off your sermons and make me one of your parishioners."
+
+So they all went into the parsonage together.
+
+Frank Maverick, as he had said, had shared the same bench with Johns in
+college; and between them, unlike as they were in character, there had
+grown up a strong friendship,--one of those singular intimacies which
+bind the gravest men to the most cheery and reckless. Maverick was
+forever running into scrapes and consulting the cool head of Johns to
+help him out of them. There was never a tutor's windows to be broken in,
+or a callithumpian frolic, (which were in vogue in those days,) but
+Maverick bore a hand in both; and somehow, by a marvellous address that
+belonged to him, always managed to escape, or at most to receive only
+some grave admonition from the academic authorities. Johns advised with
+him, (giving as serious advice then as he could give now,) and added
+from time to time such assistance in his studies as a plodding man can
+always lend to one of quick brain, who makes no reckoning of time.
+
+Upon a certain occasion Maverick had gone over with Johns to his home,
+and the Major had taken an immense fancy to the buoyant young fellow, so
+full of spirits, and so charmingly frank. "If your characters could only
+be welded together," he used to say to his son, "you would both be the
+better for it; he a little of your gravity, and you something of his
+rollicking carelessness." This bound Johns to his friend more closely
+than ever. There was, moreover, great honesty and conscientiousness in
+the lad's composition: he could beat in a tutor's window for the frolic
+of the thing, and by way of paying off some old grudge for a black mark;
+but there was a strong spice of humanity at the bottom even of his
+frolics. It happened one day, that his friend Ben Johns told him that
+one of the bats which had done terrible execution on the tutor's windows
+had also played havoc on his table, breaking a bottle of ink, and
+deluging some half-dozen of the tutor's books; "and do you know," said
+Johns, "the poor man who has made such a loss is saving up all his pay
+here for a mother and two or three fatherless children?"
+
+"The Deuse he is!" said Maverick, and his hand went to his pocket, which
+was always pretty full. "I say, Johns, don't peach on me, but I think I
+must have thrown that bat, (which Johns knew to be hardly possible, for
+he had only come up at the end of the row,) and I want you to get this
+money to him, to make those books good again. Will you do it, old
+fellow?"
+
+This was the sort of character to win upon the quiet son of the Major.
+"If he were only more earnest," he used to say,--"if he could give up
+his trifling,--if he would only buckle down to serious study, as some of
+us do, what great things he might accomplish!" A common enough fancy
+among those of riper years,--as if all the outlets of a man's
+nerve-power could be dammed into what shape the possessor would!
+
+Maverick was altogether his old self this night at the parsonage. Rachel
+listened admiringly, as he told of his travel and of his foreign
+experiences. He was the son of a merchant of an Eastern seaport who had
+been long engaged in the Mediterranean trade with a branch house at
+Marseilles; and thither Frank had gone two or three years after leaving
+college, to fill some subordinate post, and finally to work his way into
+a partnership, which he now held. Of course he had not lived there those
+seven or eight years last past without his visit to Paris; and his easy,
+careless way of describing what he had seen there in Napoleon's day--the
+fetes, the processions, the display--was a kind of talk not often heard
+in a New England village, and which took a strong hold upon the
+imagination of Rachel.
+
+"And to think," says the parson, "that such a people are wholly
+infidel!"
+
+"Well, well, I don't know," says Maverick; "I think I have seen a good
+deal of faith in the Popish churches."
+
+"Faith in images; faith in the Virgin; faith in mummery," says Johns,
+with a sigh. "'Tis always the scarlet woman of Babylon!"
+
+"I know," says Maverick, smiling, "these things are not much to your
+taste; but we have our Protestant chapels, too."
+
+"Not much better, I fear," says Johns. "They are sadly impregnated with
+the Genevese Socinianism."
+
+This was about the time that the orthodox Louis Empaytaz was suffering
+the rebuke of the Swiss church authorities for his "Considerations upon
+the Divinity of Jesus Christ." Aside from this, all the parson's notions
+of French religion and of French philosophy were of the most aggravated
+degree of bitterness. That set of Voltaire, which the Major, his father,
+had once purchased, had not been without its fruit,--not legitimate,
+indeed, but most decided. The books so cautiously put out of sight--like
+all such--had caught the attention of the son; whereupon his mother had
+given him so terrible an account of French infidelity, and such a
+fearful story of Voltaire's dying remorse,--current in orthodox
+circles,--as had caught strong hold upon the mind of the boy. All
+Frenchmen he had learned to look upon as the children of Satan, and
+their language as the language of hell. With these sentiments very
+sincerely entertained, he regarded his poor friend as one living at the
+very door-posts of Pandemonium, and hoped, by God's mercy, to throw
+around him even now a little of the protecting grace which should keep
+him from utter destruction. But though this was uppermost in his mind,
+it did not forbid a grateful outflow of his old sympathies and
+expressions of interest in all that concerned his friend. It seemed to
+him that his easy refinement of manner, in such contrast with the
+ceremonious stiffness of the New England customs of speech, was but the
+sliming over of the Serpent's tongue, preparatory to a dreadful
+swallowing of soul and body; and the careless grace of talk, which so
+charmed the innocent Rachel, appeared to the exacting Puritan a token of
+the enslavement of his old friend to sense and the guile of this world.
+
+Nine o'clock was the time for evening prayers at the parsonage, which
+under no circumstances were ever omitted; and as the little clock in the
+dining-room chimed the hour, Mr. Johns rose to lead the way from his
+study, where they had passed the evening.
+
+"It's our hour for family prayer," says Johns; "will you come with us?"
+
+"Most certainly," says Maverick, rising. "I should be sorry not to have
+this little scene of New England life to take back with me: it will
+recall home pleasantly."
+
+The servants were summoned, and the parson read in his wonted way a
+chapter,--not selected, but designated by the old book-mark, which was
+carried forward from day to day throughout the sacred volume. In his
+prayer the parson asked specially for Divine Grace to overshadow all
+those journeying from their homes,--to protect them,--to keep alive in
+their hearts the teachings of their youth,--to shield them from the
+insidious influences of sin and of the world, and to bring them in God's
+own good time into the fold of the elect.
+
+Shortly after prayers Rachel retired for the night. The parson and his
+old friend talked for an hour or more in the study, but always as men
+whose thoughts were unlike; Maverick filled and exuberant with the
+prospects of this life; and the parson, by a settled purpose, which
+seemed like instinct, making all his observations bear upon futurity.
+
+"The poor man has grown very narrow," thought Maverick.
+
+And yet Johns entered with friendly interest into the schemes of his
+companion.
+
+"So you count upon spending your life there?" says the parson.
+
+"It is quite probable," says Maverick. "I am doing exceedingly well; the
+climate, bating some harsh winds in winter, is enjoyable. Why shouldn't
+I?"
+
+"It's a question to put to your conscience," says Johns, "not to me. A
+man can but do his duty, as well there as here perhaps. A little graft
+of New Englandism may possibly work good. Do you mean to marry in
+France, Maverick?"
+
+A shade passed over the face of his friend; but recovering himself, with
+a little musical laugh, he said,--
+
+"I really can't say: there are very charming women there, Johns."
+
+"I am afraid so," uttered the parson, dryly.
+
+"By the way," said Maverick,--"you will excuse me,--but you will be
+having a family by and by,"--at which the parson fairly blushed,--"you
+must let me send over some little gift for your first boy; it sha'n't be
+one that will harm him, though it comes from our heathen side of the
+world."
+
+"There's a gift you might bestow, Maverick, that I should value beyond
+price."
+
+"Pray what is it?"
+
+"Live such a life, my friend, that I could say to any boy of mine,
+'Follow the example of that man.'"
+
+"Ah," said Maverick, with his easy, infectious laugh, "that's more than
+I can promise. To tell the truth, Johns, I don't believe I could by any
+possibility fall into the prim, stiff ways which make a man commendable
+hereabout. Even if I were religiously disposed, or should ever think of
+adopting your profession, I fancy I should take to the gown and
+liturgy, as giving a little freer movement to my taste. You don't like
+to think of that, I'll wager."
+
+"You might do worse things," said the parson, sadly.
+
+"I know I might," said Maverick, thoughtfully; "I greatly fear I shall.
+Yet it's not altogether a bad life I'm looking forward to, Johns: we'll
+say ten or fifteen more years of business on the other side; marrying
+sometime in the interval,--certainly not until I have a good revenue;
+then, possibly, I may come over among you again, establish a pretty home
+in the neighborhood of one of your towns; look after a girl and boy or
+two, who may have come into the family; get the title of Squire; give
+fairly to the missionary societies; take my place in a good big
+family-pew; dabble in politics, perhaps, so that people shall dub me
+'Honorable': isn't that a fair show, Johns?"
+
+There was a thief in the candle, which the parson removed with the
+snuffers.
+
+"As for yourself," continued Maverick, "they'll give you the title of
+Doctor after a few years!"--The parson raised his hand, as if to put
+away the thought.--"I know," continued his friend, "you don't seek
+worldly honors: but they will drift upon you; they'll all love you
+hereabout, in spite of your seriousness (the parson smiled); you'll have
+your house full of children; you'll be putting a wing here and a wing
+there; and when I come back, twenty years hence, if I live, I shall find
+you comfortably gray, and your pretty wife in spectacles, knitting
+mittens for the youngest boy, and the oldest at college, and your girls
+grown into tall village belles;--but, Johns, don't, I beg, be too strict
+with them; you can't make a merry young creature the better by insisting
+upon seriousness; you can't crowd goodness into a body by pounding upon
+it. What are you thinking of, Johns?"
+
+The parson was sitting with his eyes bent upon a certain figure in the
+green and red Scotch carpet.
+
+"Thinking, Maverick, that in twenty years' time, if alive, we may be
+less fit for heaven than we are to-day."
+
+There was a pitying kindliness in the tone of the minister, as he said
+this, which touched Maverick.
+
+"There's no doubt on your score, Johns, God bless you! But we must
+paddle our own boats: I dare say you'll come out a long way before me;
+you always did, you know. Every man to his path."
+
+"There's but _one_," said Johns, solemnly, "that leadeth to eternal
+rest."
+
+"Yes, I know," says Maverick, with a gay smile upon his face, which the
+parson remembered long after, "we are the goats; but you must have a
+little pity on us, for all that."
+
+With these words they parted for the night.
+
+Next morning, before the minister was astir, Maverick was strolling
+about the garden and the village street, and at breakfast appeared with
+a little bunch of violets he had gathered from Rachel's flower-patch,
+and laid them by her plate. (It was a graceful attention, that not even
+the clergyman had ever paid to her.) And he further delighted her with a
+description of some floral fete which he had witnessed at Marseilles, in
+the year of the Restoration.
+
+"They welcomed their old masters, then?" said the parson.
+
+"Perhaps so; one can never say. The French express their joy with
+flowers, and they bury their grief with flowers. I like them for it; I
+think there's a ripe philosophy in it."
+
+"A heathen philosophy," said the minister.
+
+At noon Maverick left upon the old swaying stage-coach,--looking out, as
+he passed, upon the parsonage, with its quaintly panelled door, and its
+diamond lights, of which he long kept the image in his mind. That brazen
+knocker he seemed to hear in later years, beating,--beating as if his
+brain lay under it.
+
+"I think Mr. Frank Maverick is a most charming man," said the pretty
+Mrs. Johns to her husband.
+
+"He is, Rachel, and generous and open-hearted,--and yet, in the sight
+of Heaven, I fear, a miserable sinner."
+
+"But, Benjamin, my dear, we are all sinners."
+
+"All,--all, Rachel, God help us!"
+
+
+IX.
+
+In December of the year 1820 came about a certain event of which hint
+has been already given by the party chiefly concerned; and Mrs. Johns
+presented her husband with a fine boy, who was in due time
+christened--Reuben.
+
+Mrs. Handby was present at this eventful period, occupying the
+guest-chamber, and delighting in all the little adornments that had been
+prepared by the loving hands of her daughter; and upon the following
+Sabbath, Mr. Johns, for the first time since his entrance upon the
+pastoral duties of Ashfield, ventured to repeat an old sermon. Dame
+Tourtelot had been present on the momentous occasion, with such a
+tempest of suggestions in regard to the wrappings and feeding of the new
+comer, that the poor mother had quietly begged the good clergyman to
+decoy her, on her next visit, into his study. This he did, and succeeded
+in fastening her with a discussion upon the import of the word
+_baptize_, in which he was in a fair way of being carried by storm, if
+he had not retreated under cover of his Greek Lexicon.
+
+Mrs. Elderkin had been zealous in neighborly offices, and had brought,
+in addition to a great basket of needed appliances, a silver porringer,
+which, with wonderful foresight, had been ordered from a Hartford
+jeweller in advance. The out-of-door man, Larkin, took a well-meaning
+pride in this accession to the family,--walking up and down the street
+with a broad grin upon his face. He also became the bearer, in behalf of
+the Tew partners, of a certain artful contrivance of tin ware for the
+speedy stewing of pap, which, considering that the donors were childless
+people, was esteemed a very great mark of respect for the minister.
+
+Would it be strange, if the father felt a new ambition stirring in him,
+as he listened from his study to that cry of a child in the house? He
+does feel it, and struggles against it. Are not all his flock his
+spiritual children? and is he not appointed of Heaven to lead them
+toward the rest which is promised? Should that babe be more to him than
+a hundred others who are struggling through life's snares wearily? It
+may touch him, indeed, cruelly to think it; but is not the soul of the
+most worthless person of his parish as large in the eye of the Master as
+this of his first-born? Shall these human ties supplant the spiritual
+ones by which we are all coheirs of eternal death or of eternal life?
+And in this way the minister schools himself against too demonstrative a
+joy or love, and prays God silently that His gift may not be a
+temptation.
+
+For all this, however, there is many a walk which would have been taken
+of old under the orchard trees now transferred to the chamber, where he
+paces back and forth with the babe in his arms, soothing its outcry, as
+he thinks out his discourse for the following Sabbath.
+
+In due time Mrs. Handby returns to her home. The little child pushes
+through its first month of venturesome encounter with the rough world it
+has entered upon bravely; and the household is restored to its uniform
+placidity. The affairs of the parish follow their accustomed course.
+From time to time there are meetings of the "Consociation," or other
+ministerial assemblages, in the town, when the parsonage is overflowing,
+and Rachel, with a simple grace, is compelled to do the honors to a
+corps of the Congregational brotherhood. As for the parson, he was like
+a child in all household matters. Over and over he would invite his
+brethren flocking in from the neighboring villages to pass the night
+with him, when Rachel would decoy him into a corner, and declare, with a
+most pitiable look of distress, that not a bed was unoccupied in the
+house. Whereupon the goodman would quietly take his hat, and trudge
+away to Squire Elderkin's, or, on rarer occasions, to Deacon
+Tourtelot's, and ask the favor of lodging with them one of his clerical
+brethren.
+
+At other times, before some such occasion of clerical entertainment, the
+little housewife, supported by Esther with broom and a great array of
+mops, would wait upon the parson in his study and order him away to his
+walk in the orchard,--an order which the poor man never ventured to
+resist; but, taking perhaps a pocket volume of Doddridge, or of
+Cowper,--the only poet he habitually read,--he would sally out with hat
+and cane,--this latter a gift of an admiring parishioner, which it
+pleased Rachel he should use, and which she always brought to him at
+such times, with a little childish mime of half-entreaty and
+half-command that it was not in his heart to resist, and which on rare
+occasions (that were subject of self-accusation afterward) provoked him
+to an answering kiss. At which Rachel:--
+
+"Now go and leave us, please; there's a good man! And mind," (shaking
+her forefinger at him,) "dinner at half past twelve: Larkin will blow
+the shell."
+
+The parson, as he paced back and forth under the apple-trees, out of
+sight, and feeling the need of more vigorous exercise than his usual
+meditative gait afforded, would on occasions brandish his cane and
+assume a military air and stride, (he remembered the Major's only too
+well,) getting in a glow with the unusual movement, and in the heat of
+it thanking God for all the blessings that had befallen him: a pleasant
+home; a loving wife; a little boy to bear the name, in which, with all
+his spiritual tendencies, he yet took a very human pride; health,--and
+he whisked his cane as vigorously as ever the Major had done his
+cumbrous sword,--the world's comforts; a congregation that met him
+kindly, that listened kindly. Was he not leading them in the path of
+salvation, and rejoicing in the leadership?
+
+And then, to himself,--"Be careful, careful, Benjamin Johns, that you
+take not too great a pride in this work and home of yours. You are but
+an instrument in greater hands; He doeth with you what seemeth Him best.
+Let not the enticements of the world be too near your thought." In this
+way it was that the minister pruned down all the shoots of his natural
+affections, lest they might prove a decoy to him, and wrapped himself
+ever more closely in the rigors of his chosen theology.
+
+As the boy Reuben grows, and gains a firmer footing, he sometimes
+totters beside the clergyman in these orchard walks, clinging blindly to
+his hand, and lifting his uncertain feet with great effort over the
+interrupting tufts of grass, unheeded by the minister, who is pondering
+some late editorial of the "Boston Recorder." But far oftener the boy is
+with the mother, burying his face in that dear lap of hers,--lifting the
+wet face to have tears kissed away and forgotten. And as he thrives and
+takes the strength of three or four years, he walks beside her under the
+trees of the village street, clad in such humble finery as the Handby
+grandparents may have bestowed; and he happens oftenest, on these
+strolls with Rachel, into the hospitable home of the Elderkins, where
+there are little ones to romp with the boy. Most noticeable of all, just
+now, one Philip Elderkin, (of whom more will have to be said as this
+story progresses,) only a year the senior of Reuben, but of far stouter
+frame, who looks admiringly on the minister's child, and as he grows
+warm in play frights him with some show of threat, which makes the
+little Reuben run for cover to the arms of Rachel. Whereat the mother
+kisses him into boldness, and tells him that Phil is a good boy and
+means no harm to him.
+
+Often, too, in the square-topped chaise, the child is seated on a little
+stool between the parson and his wife, as they drive away upon their
+visits to the outskirts of the parish,--puzzling them with those strange
+questions which come from a boy just exploring his way into the world of
+talk.
+
+"Benjamin," says Rachel, as they were nearing home upon one of these
+drives, "Reuben is quite a large boy now, you know; have you ever
+written to your friend, Mr. Maverick? You remember he promised a gift
+for him."
+
+"Never," said the minister, whose goodness rarely took the shape of
+letter-writing,--least of all where the task would seem to remind of a
+promised favor.
+
+"You've not forgotten it? You've not forgotten Mr. Maverick?"
+
+"Not forgotten, Rachel,--not forgotten to pray for him."
+
+"I _would_ write, Benjamin; it might be something that would be of
+service to Reuben. _Please_ don't forget it, Benjamin."
+
+And the minister promised.
+
+In the autumn of 1824,--the minister of Ashfield being still in good
+favor with nearly all his parishioners, and his wife Rachel being still
+greatly beloved,--a rumor ran through the town, one day, that there was
+serious illness at the parsonage, the Doctor's horse and saddle-bags
+being observed in waiting at the front gate for two hours together.
+Following close upon this, the Tew partners reported--having received
+undoubted information from Larkin, who still kept in his old
+service--that a daughter was born to the minister, but so feeble that
+there were grave doubts if the young Rachel could survive. The report
+was well founded; and after three or four days of desperate struggle
+with life, the poor child dropped away. Thus death came into the
+parsonage with so faint and shadowy a tread, it hardly startled one. The
+babe had been christened in the midst of its short struggle, and in this
+the father found such comfort as he could; yet reckoning the poor,
+fluttering little soul as a sinner in Adam, through whom all men fell,
+he confided it with a great sigh to God.
+
+It would have been well, if his grief had rested there. But two days
+thereafter there was a rumor on the village street,--flying like the
+wind, as such rumors do, from house to house,--"The minister's wife is
+dead!"
+
+"I want to know!" said Mrs. Tew, lifting herself from her task of
+assorting the mail, and removing her spectacles in nervous haste. "Do
+tell! It a'n't possible! Miss Johns dead?"
+
+"Yes," says Larkin, "as true as I live, she's dead"; and his voice broke
+as he said it,--the kind little woman had so won upon him.
+
+Squire Elderkin, like a good Christian, came hurrying to the parsonage
+to know what this strange report could mean. The study was unoccupied.
+With the familiarity of an old friend he made his way up the cramped
+stairs. The chamber-door was flung wide open: there was no reason why
+the whole parish might not come in. The nurse, sobbing in a corner, was
+swaying back and forth, her hands folded across her lap. Reuben,
+clinging to the coverlet, was feeling his way along the bed, if by
+chance his mother's hand might catch hold upon his; and the minister
+standing with a chair before him, his eyes turned to heaven (the same
+calm attitude which he took at his evening prayer-meeting) was
+entreating God to "be over his house, to strengthen him, to pour down
+his Spirit on him, to bind up the bruised hearts,--to spare,--spare"----
+
+Even the stout Squire Elderkin withdraws outside the door, that he may
+the better conceal his emotion.
+
+The death happened on a Friday. The Squire, after a few faltering
+expressions of sympathy, asked regarding the burial. "Should it not be
+on Sunday?"
+
+"Not on Sunday," says Mr. Johns; "God help me, Squire,--but this is not
+a work of necessity or mercy. Let it be on Monday."
+
+"On Monday, then," said Elderkin,--"and let me take the arrangement of
+it all off your thought; and we will provide some one to preach for you
+on the Sabbath."
+
+"No, Mr. Elderkin, no; I am always myself in the pulpit. I shall find
+courage there."
+
+And he did. A stranger would not have suspected that the preacher's wife
+lay dead at home; the same unction and earnestness that had always
+characterized him; the same unyielding rigidity of doctrine: "_Except ye
+repent, ye shall all likewise perish._"
+
+Once only--it was in the reading of the last hymn in the afternoon
+service--his voice broke, and he sat down half through. But as the song
+rose under the old roof of the meeting-house, his courage rose with it.
+He seemed ashamed of the transitory weakness. What right had he to bring
+private griefs to such a place? What right had the leader to faint, when
+the army were pressing forward to the triumph God had promised to the
+faithful? So it was in a kind of ecstasy that he rose, and joined with a
+firm, loud voice in the final doxology.
+
+One or two of the good old ladies, with a sad misconception of the force
+that was in him, and of the divine aid which seemed vouchsafed to him
+during the service, came to him, as he passed out, to give him greeting
+and a word of condolence. For that time only he passed them by, as if
+they had been wooden images. His spirit had been strained to its
+uttermost, and would bear no more. He made his way home with an
+ungainly, swift gait,--home to the dear bedside,--down upon his
+knees,--struggling with his weakness,--praying.
+
+At the tea-hour Esther knocked; but in vain. An hour after, his boy
+came,--came at the old woman's suggestion, (who had now the care of
+him,) and knelt by his side.
+
+"Reuben,--my boy!"
+
+"She's in heaven, isn't she, father?"
+
+"God only knows, my son. He hath mercy on whom He will have mercy."
+
+Small as he was, the boy flushed at this:--
+
+"I think it's a bad God, if she isn't in heaven.'
+
+"Nay, Reuben, little one, blaspheme not: His ways are not as our ways.
+Kiss her now, and we will sit down to our supper."
+
+And so they passed out together to their lonely repast. It had been a
+cheerful meal in days gone, this Sunday's supper. For the dinner, owing
+to the scruples of the parson, was but a cold lunch always; and in the
+excited state in which the preacher found himself between services,
+there was little of speech; even Reuben's prattle, if he ventured upon
+it, caught a quick "Hist!" from the mamma. But with the return of Esther
+from the afternoon Bible-class, there was a big fire lighted in the
+kitchen, and some warm dishes served, such as diffused an appetizing
+odor through the house. The clergyman, too, wore an air of relief,
+having preached his two sermons, and showing a capital appetite, like
+most men who have acquitted themselves of a fatiguing duty. Besides
+which, the parson guarded that old New England custom of beginning his
+Sabbath at sundown on Saturday,--so that, by the time the supper of
+Sunday was fairly over, Reuben could be counting it no sin, if he should
+steal a run into the orchard. Nay, it is quite probable that the poor
+little woman who was dead had always welcomed cheerily the opened door
+of Sunday evening, and the relaxing gravity, as night fell, of her
+husband's starched look.
+
+What wonder, if she had loved, even as much as the congregational
+singing, the music of the birds at the dusk of a summer's day? It was
+hard measure which many of the old divines meted out, in excluding from
+their ideas of worship all alliance with the charms of Nature, or indeed
+with any beauties save those which were purely spiritual. It is certain
+that the poor woman had enjoyed immensely those Sabbath-evening strolls
+through the garden and orchard, hand in hand with Reuben and the
+minister,--with such keen and exhilarating sense of God's goodness, of
+trust in Him, of hope, as was not invariably wakened by the sermons of
+her Benjamin.
+
+On the evening of which we speak, the father and son walked down the
+orchard alone. The birds sang their merriest as day closed in; and as
+they turned upon their walk, and the good man saw through the vista of
+garden and orchard a bright light flitting across an upper window of
+his house, the mad hope flashed upon him for an instant (such baseless
+fancies will sometimes possess the calmest minds) that she had
+waked,--his Rachel,--and was there to meet him. The next moment the
+light and the hope were gone. His fingers gave such a convulsive grip
+upon the hand of his little boy that Reuben cried out with pain, "Papa,
+papa, you hurt me!"
+
+The parson bent down and kissed him.
+
+
+
+
+ANCIENT MINING ON THE SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
+
+
+In the month of March, 1848, Samuel O. Knapp and J.B. Townsend
+discovered, from tracks in the snow, that a hedgehog had taken up his
+winter-quarters in a cavity of a ledge of rocks, about twelve miles from
+Ontonagon, Lake Superior, in the neighborhood of the Minnesota Copper
+Mine. In order to capture their game, they procured a pick and shovel,
+and commenced an excavation by removing the vegetable mould and rubbish
+that had accumulated about the mouth of what proved to be a small cavern
+in the rock. At the depth of a few feet they discovered numerous stone
+hammers or mauls; and they saw that the cavern was not a natural one,
+but had been worked out by human agency, and that the stone implements,
+found in great profusion in and about it, were the tools used in making
+the excavation. Further examination developed a well-defined vein of
+native copper running through the rock; and it was evidently with a view
+of getting this metal that this extensive opening had been made.
+
+This was the first instance where "ancient diggings"--as they are
+familiarly called in the Lake Superior region--were ever recognized as
+such; and this artificial cavern presents the most conclusive proofs
+that a people in the remote past worked those mines. Upon the discovery
+of this mine, attention was at once directed to numerous other cavities
+and depressions in the surface of the earth at this and other points,
+and the result was that nearly a hundred ancient pits were found, and in
+all of them mining-tools of various kinds. These ancient mines or pits
+are not restricted to one locality, but extend over the entire length of
+the copper region, from the eastern extremity of Keweenaw Point to the
+Porcupine Mountains, a distance of nearly one hundred miles.
+
+In some of the ancient diggings, the stone hammers have the marks of
+hard usage, fractured or battered faces, and a large proportion of them
+are broken and unfit for use; but in other pits the hammers are all
+sound, and many of them have the appearance of never having been used.
+These hammers, or mauls, which are of various sizes, and not uniform in
+shape, are water-worn stones, of great hardness, similar in all respects
+to those that are found in abundance on the shore of the Lake, or in the
+gravel-banks of that region. They are generally trap-rock, embracing the
+varieties of gray, porphyritic, hornblendic, sienitic, and amygdaloidal
+trap, and appear to have had no labor expended upon them except the
+chiselling of a groove around the middle for the purpose of attaching a
+withe to serve as a handle. In a few instances, I have noticed small
+hammers, usually egg-shaped, without a groove; and the battered or worn
+appearance at one end was all that induced the belief that they were
+ever used for hammering.
+
+These hammers are usually from six to eight inches in length, and from
+eight to twelve inches in circumference, and weigh from four to eight
+pounds; but I have measured specimens that were twenty-four inches in
+circumference at the groove, and would weigh thirty pounds. It seems
+hardly probable that one man could wield so ponderous a tool; and from
+the fact that some of the large mauls have two grooves around them, it
+is presumed that two men were employed in using them.
+
+Stone hammers are found in all the ancient diggings, and in some
+instances the number is almost incredible. From the pits near the
+Minnesota mines it is estimated that ten cart-loads have been removed; I
+was informed that a well there was entirely stoned up with them, and
+from the great number still remaining I am inclined to believe the
+report. A still greater number are said to have been found at the
+Mesnard and Pontiac Mines, in the Portage Lake district. Farther east,
+in the vicinity of the Cliff and Central Mines, they are also abundant;
+and it would seem, from the circumstance of their being invariably found
+in the pits, that the law among the ancient miners was similar to the
+one adopted by the adventurers in California a few years since, who
+established their claims by leaving their tools upon the land or in the
+pits where they were digging for gold.
+
+In addition to the stone implements, copper chisels, wedges, or "gads,"
+are often found in the abandoned mines; and in the vicinity, as well as
+in places more remote, other copper relics are found, consisting of
+knives, spear-points, and rings, like the bracelets of the present day.
+In a collection at the Douglas House, in Houghton, Portage Lake, are
+ornaments of this kind, and also some spear-heads, nicely wrought and
+similar in shape and size to the blade of a spontoon. But I have never
+seen a copper relic that had the appearance of having been melted. They
+invariably appear to have been cut and hammered into shape from a mass
+of native copper.
+
+Colonel Charles Whittlesey, of Cleveland, Ohio, who has examined these
+"ancient diggings," has several interesting relics, some of which he has
+figured and described in the thirteenth volume of the "Smithsonian
+Contributions to Knowledge." In the Vermont State Cabinet is a
+spear-head of native copper, about six inches long, which was found in
+Williston, Vermont, in 1843.
+
+It may be proper here to remark, that the copper in these relics is
+tougher than that which has been fused, and so is the native copper of
+Lake Superior; and occasionally in these copper relics blotches and
+grains of native silver are found. These circumstances serve to
+establish the fact, that the material of which the implements were made
+was obtained at Lake Superior; for there, and nowhere else in America,
+is native silver found in grains, and sometimes in considerable masses,
+imbedded in a matrix of native copper. I well remember, when a boy,
+reading an article relating to the "Lost Arts," in which the fact was
+stated, that a piece of metal consisting of pure copper and silver had
+been found in Hamilton County, Ohio, and that a copper knife had been
+found in one of the ancient mounds at Marietta, which had distinct
+blotches of pure silver in it. The writer of the article claimed that
+the people who manufactured that knife were in the possession of an art,
+now lost, by which copper and silver could be melted and
+indiscriminately mixed, but upon cooling would separate and remain
+distinct and pure, instead of forming an alloy. The discovery of native
+copper and silver similarly associated in the Lake Superior mines has
+not only destroyed this theory, but has established beyond a doubt the
+locality whence that copper knife, and other relics found in the ancient
+mounds and elsewhere, were obtained.
+
+Billets of wood that bear the marks of a tolerably sharp-cutting tool
+are often found in the old mines where water has been suffered to remain
+since their abandonment. In the Waterbury Mine wooden shovels were found
+about three and one half feet long, some of which were much worn upon
+the blade, and appeared as though they had been used for scraping
+together and throwing out the refuse rock and dirt from the mine.[A] At
+the same locality a wooden bowl was found, the side being so worn as to
+show conclusively that it had been used for baling water from the mine.
+Similar implements have been found at the mines in the Portage Lake and
+Ontonagon districts. When first found, these wooden implements appear
+sound, and being thoroughly saturated with water are heavy and can be
+handled without breaking; but when dried they often crack and warp so as
+to retain little of their original form and appearance. It is to be
+regretted that but few of these wooden relics were saved and properly
+preserved by those who found them. In a few instances the wooden withe
+or handle has been found attached to the hammers, but upon being dried
+they usually fall to pieces.
+
+At the Hilton Mine in the Ontonagon district, in October, 1863, as the
+men were removing the vegetable mould that had accumulated in one of the
+old pits, they found at the depth of about nine feet a leather bag,
+which was eleven inches long and seven inches wide. It was lying upon a
+mass of native copper which the ancient miners had unsuccessfully
+attempted to remove from its parent vein. The bag was in a remarkable
+state of preservation, the leather being quite pliable and as tough as
+sheepskin. It was made up with the hair inside, was sewed across the
+bottom and up one side with a leather string, and near the top holes
+were cut and a leather string inserted to close the mouth by drawing it
+together. The bag was empty, but from its appearance I judged that it
+had been used for transporting copper or other mineral,--the leather in
+places showing marks of much service, and the hair being almost entirely
+worn off. I was unable to determine what kind of skin it was, but
+inclined to the belief that it was from the walrus, as the short, stubby
+hairs more closely resembled those of that animal than of any other with
+which I am acquainted. At the time I saw the bag,--the day after it was
+discovered,--it was in the possession of C. M. Sanderson, Esq., the
+agent of the Knowlton Mine; but I hear it has since been taken to Boston
+and sold.
+
+In several of the ancient mines considerable masses of pure copper
+detached from the main lode have been found, which were left there by
+those who mined it. At the Central Mine, not far from Eagle Harbor, a
+mass of copper was found in one of these old pits that weighed forty-six
+tons. Every portion of the surface was smooth, and appeared as though it
+had been hammered by those who detached it from its original vein. In
+the Mesnard Mine, in the Portage Lake district, a detached mass of
+copper was found that weighed eighteen tons, hammered smooth like the
+mass before named.
+
+But the most interesting specimen was found in an old pit near the
+Minnesota Mine. In removing the accumulated leaves and vegetable mould,
+the workmen, at the depth of eighteen feet, discovered a mass of copper
+ten feet long, three feet wide, and more than a foot thick, weighing six
+tons. On removing the earth around the mass, it was found to rest upon
+skids, or timbers, piled up to the height of about five feet. These
+timbers, having been constantly covered with water, were in a good state
+of preservation, and at the ends showed plainly the marks of the tool
+used in cutting them. It was thought by those who saw the billets when
+they were plump, that they were a species of oak; but the few remaining
+pieces which I have seen were so cracked and shrivelled that I have been
+unable to form an opinion as to the kind of wood. This mass of copper,
+like all others found in those ancient pits, was divested of all its
+ragged points, and hammered perfectly smooth. There was nothing in its
+appearance to show that it had ever been cut from another mass; but upon
+clearing out the rubbish from the bottom of the mine, which was about
+twenty-six feet below the surface, a vein of pure metal was found from
+which this had evidently been taken.
+
+A few unfinished jobs have been found in these ancient pits, which throw
+some light upon the manner in which the work was carried on. In two
+instances there were projecting masses somewhat resembling urns, or
+inverted short-necked bottles, and completely smoothed by hammering,
+especially at the thinner portion or neck. It appears that the ancient
+miners first removed the rock from around the veins of copper. This was
+done by building fires upon or about it, and, when heated, crumbling it
+by throwing on water. By means of stone mauls the fragments were broken
+up and removed. When the vein was sufficiently exposed on all sides, a
+point was selected where the copper was thinner or narrower than the
+average of the vein. Here they commenced cutting off a mass, and by
+patient and long-continued hammering severed the two portions of the
+vein. In all the ancient mines which I have visited there is abundant
+evidence that fire was extensively used in the removal of rock; for not
+only do the rocks give proof of having been heated, but charcoal and
+ashes are invariably found at the bottom of all the rock excavations.
+
+In general, the mining was done by surface openings along the line of
+the outcrop of the vein; but occasionally adits are driven into the
+rock, similar to the one first discovered at the Minnesota Mine before
+alluded to.
+
+The surface mines are usually nearly filled with leaves and vegetable
+mould that have accumulated during the centuries that have elapsed since
+their abandonment, and till within a few years a heavy growth of timber
+covered the land; hence the numerous slight depressions that occurred
+along the line of the vein excited no suspicion that they were
+artificial excavations. By the closest observers they were regarded as
+natural depressions, caused either by the disintegration of the
+underlying rock or the peculiar manner in which the overlying drift was
+deposited. In many of these depressions, which have proved to be
+abandoned mines, trees of enormous size are found growing, some of which
+are ascertained, by counting their concentric rings, to be four hundred
+years old. At the Hilton Mine, directly over the leather bag before
+alluded to, there was a hemlock-tree about three feet in diameter. I
+noticed the stump of a tree nearly four feet in diameter in a gap near
+the Rockland Mine, where a hill had been actually cut asunder by these
+ancient miners, and a deep valley formed by the removal of the rock.
+Until very recently this valley was not recognized as an ancient mine;
+for, being ten rods in width, and cutting nearly at right angles across
+the strata of the rock that formed the hill, it was considered too
+extensive to have been made by human hands, and was supposed to be the
+result of natural causes. But about two years since, during a very dry
+time, a destructive fire swept through the woods, and so completely
+burned up all the vegetable matter accumulated there as to expose the
+underlying rock, and reveal its true character. After the fire had done
+its work, it was found that copper veins, which had been worked, ran
+through the rock in the gap, and that the great bank upon the south side
+of the hill, which was supposed to be a terraced gravel bank, proved to
+be a vast accumulation of "attle," or refuse stone, that had been taken
+from the artificial gap and deposited there. The stones forming this
+immense pile are generally small, and appear to have been broken up by
+heating to facilitate their removal from the mine, and possibly may have
+been again broken, with the hope of finding copper in them. In the midst
+of the pile I noticed several stone hammers, or mauls, some of them
+measuring twenty inches in girth around their grooves, and one I brought
+away weighing thirty pounds.
+
+When examining this locality, I was struck with a significant fact,
+tending to show the long time that must have elapsed since the
+abandonment of these mines. I noticed in many instances that the
+artificial groove around the hammers was nearly obliterated upon the
+upper side, while upon the lower side, less exposed to the abrading
+agency of the atmosphere and rains, the groove presented a comparatively
+fresh appearance, and even the slight markings made by the tool that cut
+them were quite distinct. When I removed the overlying rock, and found a
+grooved maul in a protected spot, the groove was generally as fresh as
+though it had been made but a few months before. The compact nature of
+the stone of which these hammers are made, and their ability to resist
+the action of weather and moisture, prove conclusively that much time
+has been required to disintegrate their surface so as to obliterate the
+artificial work which has been expended upon them.
+
+I feel unwilling to leave this subject without instituting an inquiry
+relative to the time when these mines were wrought, and the people who
+worked them. Many who have been taught to regard the present roving
+tribes of Indians as instinctively wise in matters of medicine and
+mining are ready to award to that race the credit of having worked these
+mines; but, inasmuch as even a traditional knowledge of their existence
+was unknown to the Indians at the time the Jesuit missionaries visited
+that region in the sixteenth century, we incline to the opinion that an
+other and distinct race worked them. I am unable to see why the
+descendants of a people residing in the same country, and subject to the
+same wants, should abandon the half-worked mines which their ancestors
+had opened, and even fail to hand down to their posterity a tradition of
+their existence. If copper was in such demand that the ancestors of the
+present race of Chippeways were induced to work so perseveringly to
+obtain it, why did not the children continue to work, at least enough to
+finish the jobs already commenced by their progenitors? We cannot
+consistently attribute the Herculean labor expended on these mines to
+the ancestors of the indolent race of North American Indians. We
+incline, rather, to the opinion that the miners were the mound-builders,
+who resided south of the mines, and ultimately found a home in Mexico.
+The condition in which the mines were left favors this theory; for in
+many instances unfinished jobs are found,--as in the case of the mass of
+copper upon skids at the Minnesota Mine, and the half-severed veins in
+other mines. May we not reasonably suppose that the miners came from the
+South and worked during the summer months, returning to their homes in
+winter? The circumstance that no traces of their habitations or
+burial-places have ever been discovered in the immediate vicinity of the
+mines leads to the inference that they came from a distance; and the
+fact that copper rings, chisels, and knives, and occasionally stone
+hammers, are found in the ancient mounds that extend in an unbroken line
+from Ohio to Mexico, induces the belief that the ancient miners and the
+ancient mound-builders were the same people.
+
+It is said that artificial mounds are found in British America; and I
+was informed of one upon the banks of the Ontonagon River, about six
+miles from its mouth, but was unable to visit the spot. It is well known
+that they are quite abundant in Wisconsin, and extend the entire length
+of the Mississippi Valley.
+
+It is a noticeable fact that as we proceed south we find the mounds
+generally larger and more symmetrical than those in more northern
+latitudes. It would seem that the people who constructed those in
+British America, in moving southward, (for we strongly suspect that this
+people originally crossed Behring's Strait from Asia,) improved in their
+style of building, and, on arriving at the Ohio River, had so far
+improved as to be able to construct those interesting works at Marietta,
+Moundville, and other points in that region. It was not till about the
+time they reached the Ohio Valley that they manufactured pottery. In
+that valley, and thence to Mexico, fragments of earthen ware are very
+common; and in the mounds entire vessels are not unfrequently found.
+Upon reaching Mexico, the mounds are seen to be still further improved
+in size and form, and specimens of ancient pottery are more abundant.
+The great mound or pyramid at Cholula, which is a fair type of the
+mounds in Mexico, is fourteen hundred and twenty-three feet square at
+the base, and one hundred and seventy-seven feet high, being larger than
+the celebrated pyramids of Egypt. This immense structure is said to have
+been built by the Toltecs, a people who, according to tradition, as
+communicated to the Spaniards, entered Mexico from the North in the year
+A.D. 648, and established their capital on the northern confines of the
+great valley of Mexico, at Tula, the remains of which city were visible,
+and a record made of them, at the time of the Conquest by Cortes.
+
+This people were said to have possessed a good knowledge of agriculture,
+and were well instructed in many useful mechanic arts. They mixed gold
+and copper, and were experts in working these metals. For a period of
+four hundred years they occupied the territory of Mexico or Anahuac; but
+secession, and the attendant evils of war, pestilence, and famine,
+greatly reduced their numbers, and the race disappeared from the land to
+give place to their successors, the Aztecs, who also emigrated from the
+North. Remnants of the Toltec race are said to have migrated still
+farther south, and to have spread over Central America; and the
+remarkable correspondence of dates inclines us to the belief that the
+famous Manco Capac, whom the Peruvians worshipped as the founder of
+their empire, may have been a wanderer from that once happy, but then
+unfortunate people. The useful arts, which he made known to the
+semi-barbarous people among whom he settled, instead of originating in
+the great luminary of the day, and being brought to earth by a "child of
+the Sun," as they were taught, are far more likely to have been
+cultivated by the Toltecs in the days of their prosperity, and, on the
+dissolution of their government, transmitted by those who, fearing the
+result, had fled and taken refuge with the credulous Peruvians. Whether
+the stupendous ruins of temples found at Mitla, Palenque, and Uxmal were
+the work of the Toltecs or the Aztecs, is immaterial. It is sufficient
+for the purposes of this paper to show that a people inhabited Mexico
+prior to and at the time of the Conquest, who were far in advance of the
+roving tribes of Indians that subsisted in the more northern and eastern
+portions of North America.
+
+At the time of the conquests of Mexico and Peru, numerous cities were
+found in those countries, and magnificent temples and palaces abounded,
+some of which were richly decorated with massive images of solid gold,
+others ornamented with fantastic and sometimes hideous figures carved
+out of the solid rock. But what is remarkable, no _iron_ implements were
+used, nor did the inhabitants have the least knowledge of its use,
+notwithstanding iron ore was plentifully distributed through the country
+in which they lives. Not a trace of iron has ever been found in those
+grand ruins of Yucatan visited by Stephens and Catherwood; nor do the
+ruins of the holy city, Cuzco, give evidence that implements of iron
+were used in its construction. But the people of these countries were
+acquainted with many of the metals, and the Spanish invaders found
+numerous silver, tin, and copper mines that had been worked by them. All
+the deep, winding galleries of these mines were driven without the aid
+of iron, steel, or gunpowder. It is said that an alloy of tin and copper
+was used for their edge-tools; and with the aid of a silicious sand or
+dust, they were enabled to cut and polish amethysts, emeralds, porphyry,
+and other hard substances. With these implements the elaborate carving
+in the stone temples of Palenque and the other ruined cities of Central
+America was executed. The great calendar-stone, which in 1790 was
+disinterred in the city of Mexico, was nicely wrought out of a block of
+dark porphyry, that is estimated to have weighed fifty tons, and must
+have been transported several leagues; for the nearest point where
+porphyry of that character is found is upon the shores of Lake Chalco,
+many miles distant from the city of Mexico. In the absence of iron, some
+tough metal would be in requisition for the tools and machinery
+necessary in the execution and removal of such a gigantic and elaborate
+work. In many abandoned quarries in Mexico and Central America
+unfinished blocks of granite and porphyry are found, which are supposed
+to have been the work of the Toltecs, and abandoned by them at the time
+of the invasion of the fierce Aztec. Assuming this to be the fact, we
+can readily conceive why the half-raised mass of copper in the Minnesota
+Mine should also be abandoned; for a people suddenly scattered as the
+Toltecs were--so suddenly as to leave temples half finished, and blocks
+of stone half hewn--would have no further use for copper tools; and
+hence the raw material would no longer have a value. In the abandoned
+quarries near Mitla, amid fragments of pillars and architraves and
+half-finished blocks of granite, copper axes, chisels, and wedges were
+found in abundance; but the same inordinate love of money that prompted
+adventurers to flock to Chiriqui, a few years since, to rob the ancient
+burying-grounds of their golden idols, induced others to search the old
+quarries and mines of Mexico and Central America, and take from them any
+relics that were intrinsically valuable.
+
+In Mexico, the mounds were built so that their summits were visible from
+every portion of the surrounding city, in order that the inhabitants
+might continually have in view the sacred fires that were ever kept
+burning on each side of the sacrificial altar. The same is strikingly
+true of the mounds at the West; for they are invariably placed so that
+their summits occupy a commanding position,--a circumstance that has
+induced many to suppose them to have been built for military purposes,
+and to have served as watch-towers. But when we reflect that the attacks
+of savage or half-civilized peoples are usually made in the night-time,
+we shall hardly suppose these structures were raised for any such
+purpose. The Pyramid of Cholula is composed of alternate layers of brick
+and clay, or possibly of burnt and unburnt brick; and others in Mexico
+are built of unburnt brick. Many of the mounds in the West are of
+clay,--perhaps of unburnt brick,--in situations where clay is not so
+abundant as other earths.
+
+I recollect visiting Circleville, Ohio, when it was really a
+_Circle_-ville. An octagonal court-house stood upon an ancient mound,
+and the dwellings and stores were built upon an ancient circular wall of
+earth that encompassed an area around the mound. South of this circular
+inclosure, and joining it, was a square inclosure of several acres,
+surrounded by a wall about ten feet high. What is remarkable, this
+square wall--and we presume the same is true also of the mound and
+circular wall--was built of clay, perhaps of unburnt brick, that must
+have been transported a considerable distance; for no clay exists upon
+that alluvial bottom, and the nearest point where it is found is three
+fourths of a mile distant, across a considerable creek. On a subsequent
+visit to this place, I found the people using the clay from the wall of
+the square inclosure for making brick, and streets had been cut across
+the circular inclosure, so that the city is no longer entitled to the
+name of Circleville. In many instances, the ruined cities of Central
+America have inclosures resembling those at Circleville, surrounding the
+Teocallis, or sacred temples, which almost invariably stand upon mounds,
+or, as they are commonly called, pyramids.
+
+With these many points of resemblance, the conclusion is irresistible,
+that the mounds of the West were but the germs of the more symmetrical
+pyramids of Mexico and Central America, and that the people who
+constructed them were, in intelligence and civilization, far in advance
+of the roving tribes of North American Indians who inhabited the country
+at the time of its discovery.
+
+If it be true, as tradition informs us, that the Toltecs were a
+cultivated race, even more advanced than the Aztecs who occupied Mexico
+at the time of the Conquest, we may reasonably suppose that a metal so
+valuable to them as copper would be in great demand, and that mines of
+it, even at a remote distance, would be worked by a people, the
+construction of whose religious temples and royal palaces, and, it would
+seem, their nationality even, depended upon its possession.
+
+Other evidence might be adduced to show that the extensive mining-pits
+on the shores of Lake Superior were not the work of the indolent and
+untutored race of Indians who now inhabit that region, nor of their
+ancestors, but of a people comparatively well acquainted with the
+mechanic arts. Our article, however, has already extended beyond the
+limits contemplated. I therefore leave the subject, with the hope that
+the few hints here thrown out may awaken other and abler minds to its
+investigation.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] See Col. Whittlesey's Report, Vol. XIII. _Smithsonian
+Contributions._
+
+
+
+
+TO A POET ON HIS BIRTHDAY,
+
+FEBRUARY 27.
+
+
+    O singer, musical and strong,
+      Why should a faint and faltering line
+    Seek through the happy realms of song
+      To celebrate thy voice divine?
+
+    The tribute bears its own reply,
+      And speaks for many a voiceless one,
+    Of hearts disburdened of a sigh
+      Wherever thy brave accents run;
+
+    And blessing brings for youthful hours,
+      When maidens dreamed their early dreams,
+    And boys awakened, crowned with flowers,
+      Plucked walking by thy sunlit streams;
+
+    For all of Nature's pictured calm,
+      The children's hour, the fireside scene,
+    For our frail lives' undying psalm,
+      And wandering sweet Evangeline;
+
+    Praises for all; yet first for thee,
+      O lover with the kindling eye!
+    Quick to discern the minstrelsy
+      Where planets sway and star-fires die.
+
+    O prophet of a nobler world!
+      Thy song shall cheer the hill and plain,
+    Till sunset's glowing wings are furled
+      On faded joys and vanished pain.
+
+
+
+
+NEEDLE AND GARDEN.
+
+THE STORY OF A SEAMSTRESS WHO LAID DOWN HER NEEDLE AND BECAME A
+STRAWBERRY-GIRL.
+
+WRITTEN BY HERSELF.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+My experience as a seamstress thus far subjected me to mere trials of
+temper, or mortifications of personal pride, but never to the calamities
+which sometimes fall so heavily on others in a like position. Hence,
+while spared the latter, I was too much disposed to magnify the former:
+for, let our trials be few and light as they may, we are generally prone
+to consider them the greatest that could befall. The griefs of others,
+their losses, their calamities, as has often been well said, we can all
+bear with surprising fortitude: it is only our own that we are disposed
+to regard as unendurable. But in this time of discouragement there were
+cases brought to my notice, the severity of which fairly humbled me in
+the dust, filling my heart with thankfulness at the exemption extended
+to us, and showing me that afflictions are really great or insignificant
+only by comparison.
+
+One sleety wintry night the low wail of a new-born infant was heard
+issuing from a bundle of ragged clothing which some poor creature had
+laid down on the doorstep of a house in a small by-street not many
+squares from our own. The house was occupied in part by a man named
+Varick, who had a wife and several children. This man had been an
+industrious mechanic, but had for two years been pursuing the downward
+path to ruin, a confirmed victim of the bottle. He had been forced by
+the destitution thus brought upon himself to abandon a snug abode in a
+decent street for the squalor of a rickety shell in a mean locality, and
+was now prostrate on his bed, dying of rapid consumption. By what
+mysterious providence a new-born babe should thus be sent to such a
+man's door is beyond my comprehension. But the wife of Varick, softer of
+heart than its mother, took in the shivering waif, adopted it in place
+of one only a few weeks older, which she had buried two days previous,
+and resisted all urgency of the few friends she had to send it to the
+almshouse.
+
+My mother had long known Mrs. Varick. She regarded her with great
+interest, and had frequently visited the family, watching the progress
+of her husband's decline, and sympathizing with her in her incessant
+labor as a seamstress. Varick did nothing but drink,--she did nothing
+but work. The trials, the sufferings, the absolute privations which she
+underwent for two years, it would be difficult to describe. Her domestic
+labors, with the care of a sick husband, watching him by night as well
+as by day, left her little time or energy to devote to the needle. Yet
+she toiled unceasingly for the shops. Scanty indeed were their prices,
+scantier were her earnings, and scantier still the daily fare which the
+poor needle-woman was able to set before her children. Many times they
+cried themselves to sleep with hunger. I doubt not that the dying
+husband shared in these privations, as well as suffered for want of many
+comforts which his situation demanded. Strangely enough, in the midst of
+this accumulated misery, the woman's heart went out with an
+unconquerable sympathy for the foundling so unexpectedly left at her
+door. So far from proving an additional incumbrance, it seemed to be a
+positive comfort.
+
+Hearing of the circumstance, my mother went immediately to see the
+family, taking me with her. They were quartered in a single large room
+of an old frame-house which was crowded with tenants of all
+descriptions. We found Varick on his bed, evidently very near his end.
+But, alas! the unhappy man, expressed the utmost horror of dying. He
+made no request for spiritual aid or counsel,--no mention of religion,
+no reference to eternity. The Saviour's name, or any allusion to the
+salvation which came by him, never passed his lips. Every thought was of
+the earth,--how to live, not how to die. I shuddered as I saw and heard
+him. At intervals he reached out his hand impatiently for a vial of
+medicine, then inquired when the doctor would come. His whole dependence
+was on the arm of flesh. Neither wife nor visitor ventured to direct his
+attention to the fact of his rapidly approaching end; for he was
+stubborn and repulsive. The door seemed to be shut, no more to be
+opened,--we could do nothing for him.
+
+Yet while this horrible scene was passing before us, there were loud
+noises in the next room, penetrating the thin board partition at the
+head of Varick's bed. A drunken brawl was going on, with oaths and
+imprecations that alarmed all but the sick man and his wife, with now
+and then a sharp pounding on the partition, as if some one's head were
+being violently beaten against it. Overhead another similar disturbance
+occurred. Then there was a crowd of squalid faces peering in at the
+windows at us; for decent visitors were rare in the depraved locality of
+that forlorn tenant-house. Altogether, the scene sickened and almost
+frightened me.
+
+My mother gave Mrs. Varick a basket filled with simple comforts she had
+brought with her; and we were about taking our leave, when the door
+opened, and a religious-looking man, dressed in black, entered the room,
+bowed to us, spoke familiarly to Mrs. Varick, and approached the bedside
+of the dying man. Presently he sank upon his knees, and in language most
+appropriate to the spiritual hardness and destitution of poor Varick,
+invoked the Throne of Grace in his behalf. Though the outcries and
+turmoil around and above were continued, yet I lost no word of this
+deeply affecting prayer. It touched my heart and heightened the
+solemnity of the occasion. My own supplications went up in silence to
+the mercy-seat on behalf of the dying man. I knew that my mother's would
+be equally fervent; and from the reverential responses of the sobbing
+wife, it was clear to me that hers were not withheld.
+
+She was standing very near to me when the minister rose to his feet.
+Turning to her, he said in a low voice,--
+
+"Madam, I perceive that you are to have a funeral here very shortly. I
+am an undertaker, and shall be glad to take charge of furnishing the
+coffin and whatever else may be needed."
+
+He put a card into her hand, and left us. I cannot describe the
+revulsion of feeling which this uncouth and abrupt transition from
+spiritual to carnal things occasioned in my mind. The shock was so
+violent as to dissipate at once the solemn impression which the man's
+excellent prayer had made. The heart-stricken wife could make no reply,
+except by tears. It was well that the dying man was unable to catch the
+mercenary drift of the religious exercises he had heard.
+
+That night he died. When we reached there the next morning, several of
+the low crowd who herded in other apartments of this great
+tenement-house were already offering to bargain with the widow for her
+husband's clothes. The thing was so inexpressibly shocking that my
+mother interposed and compelled them to desist and leave us alone. By
+degrees we learned more of the actual condition of the family. It
+appeared that Varick had in better days become a member of a beneficial
+society which allowed forty dollars to a widow for the funeral expenses
+of her husband. The harpies of the tenement-house had become acquainted
+with this circumstance, and while one set was seeking to obtain
+possession of the dead man's clothes, another was practising every art
+to steal from the widow the little beneficiary fund with which he was
+to be buried. Through all her difficulties the poor needle-woman had
+managed to pay the society's dues, foreseeing what the end would be, and
+she was now entitled to draw the forty dollars. My mother immediately
+obtained from her an order for the money, drew it, kept it from the
+rapacious set who watched for it, and made it an efficient means of
+immediate comfort.
+
+The ministerial undertaker was of course present at the funeral. He was
+evidently as keen after business as he was powerful in prayer. When the
+hour for moving from the house had arrived, he approached the widow and
+whispered to her that he could not think of letting the coffin leave the
+premises until some one had become surety for the payment of his bill!
+My mother and myself both sat near the widow, and heard this
+extraordinary and ill-timed demand. I was amazed and disgusted at the
+indecency of the man in not urging it at the proper time, and pressing
+it at so improper a one. But my mother told him to proceed, and that she
+would pay the bill.
+
+All these enormities were new things to me. I had seen nothing, I had
+imagined nothing, so every way terrible as came within my notice under
+the squalid roof of this poor needle-woman. But my mother had long been
+in the habit of penetrating into the abodes of the sick and destitute;
+and though shocked by the new combination of religion and trade which
+she here witnessed, yet she regarded it only as a fresh development of
+the selfishness and hypocrisy of human nature. This poor woman and her
+family must live. How, thought I, is she to do so in this season of
+declining prices of the only work she is able to perform? If she could
+survive such a crisis so uncomplainingly, and be willing to take to her
+bosom the helpless foundling left upon her doorstep, what cause was
+there for me to complain? Sorrows gathered all round her pathway, while
+only blessings clustered about mine. I learned a lesson of thankfulness
+that has never been forgotten.
+
+If there had been need of such exhibitions of positive distress as
+teachers of contentment, others were not wanting within my little
+circle. One of my cousins, a girl of my own age, ambitious to support
+herself, had been successful in obtaining a situation as saleswoman in a
+highly fashionable shop, where the most costly goods were sold in large
+quantities, and to which, of course, the most dashing customers
+resorted. I always thought her a truly beautiful girl. She was tall and
+eminently graceful, her face expressing the virtue and intelligence of
+her mind: for I cannot understand that true beauty can exist without
+these corresponding mental harmonies, any more than a shadow without the
+substance.
+
+My taste in such matters may be defective, because it lacks the
+cultivation which fashion gives. Such as I possess is altogether
+natural. To my primitive apprehension, therefore, the attractions of a
+finely formed neck or arm receive no addition from being encircled by
+chains of gold or bracelets of pearls. When charmed with the appearance
+of a beautiful woman in simple robes, who is there, if told that the
+profuse expenditure that would have been required to cover her with
+brilliants had been employed in charity,--that she had used it as a fund
+to relieve the wants of the needy, to minister to the sick, to comfort
+the widow, to support and educate the destitute orphan,--who is there
+that would not feel the loftier emotions of his nature mingling with his
+admiration?
+
+At home my cousin had been seated at her needle, but in her new
+employment she found herself compelled to stand. There was neither bench
+nor chair nor stool behind the counter, on which she could for a moment
+rest a body which had never been accustomed to so long-continued and
+unnatural a strain upon its powers. It was the peremptory order of the
+wealthy proprietor that no girl employed in the shop should on any
+occasion sit down. There were soft stools for the repose of customers
+who had money to spend, but not even a block for the weary saleswoman
+who had money to earn. The rich lady, who had promenaded the street
+until fatigued by the exertion of displaying her new bonnet over miles
+of pavement, came in and rested herself while pricing goods she did not
+intend to buy. There was a seat for all such. The unoccupied saleswoman
+had been seeking relief from the strain upon her muscles by leaning back
+against the shelves, but on the entrance of a customer she must be all
+obsequiousness. While she might have rested, she was unfeelingly
+forbidden to do so. Now the customer must be waited on, no matter how
+completely she may be overcome by fatigue or prostrated by lassitude.
+Either was sufficient to destroy her spirits; the combination of the
+two, springing from a fixed cause, was sure to undermine her health.
+
+My cousin suffered keenly from this almost unexampled cruelty. She came
+home at night worn out by the strain upon her muscular system. Her spine
+was the seat of a chronic uneasiness. All day she was upon her feet,
+being allowed no other rest than such as she might get by leaning
+against the shelving. At the week's end she was fairly overcome. Sunday
+was hardly a day of recreation, because she was rarely free from pain
+induced by this unintermitted standing. All this was suffered for the
+sum of four dollars a week. It is true that she had earned less at her
+needle, but then her health had been remarkable for its robustness. Her
+increased earnings now were the price of that health.
+
+Nor were others among the saleswomen less dangerously affected than
+herself. Some, of feeble organization, quickly broke down, under this
+unnatural discipline, and abandoned the shop, sometimes rendered
+temporary invalids, sometimes permanently disabled, while but few
+returned to fill their thankless places. Reading, while in the shop,
+whether employed or not, was out of the question, as that also was
+strictly prohibited. There was therefore no recreation either of body or
+mind, even when it might have been harmlessly permitted. It was either
+work or absolute idleness, but in no case rest or relaxation.
+
+Under this monstrous system of torture my cousin at length broke down so
+completely that she, too, was compelled to leave the establishment. Her
+resolute spirit led her to endure it too long. When she did give up, it
+was in the hope that entire rest would bring relief. But it never came.
+Her physical organization, strong as it was by nature, had been so
+deranged that recuperation was impossible. Medicine could do nothing for
+her. A curvature of the spine had been established,--she soon became
+unable to sit up,--and at this writing she lies comparatively helpless
+in her bed, still beautiful in her helplessness. Her health was
+permanently ruined by the barbarism of a man so destitute of sympathy
+for a working-girl as to deny her the cheap privilege of sitting down
+when she could do him no good by standing up. Yet the great
+establishment is still continued, with all its gorgeous display of
+plate-glass windows, its polished counters, its wealth of costly goods,
+and its long array of tortured saleswomen.
+
+These instances of complicated affliction among needle-women by no means
+embrace all that came under my notice. They were so numerous that it was
+impossible for me to avoid seeing and feeling that no such grief had
+been permitted to come over me. I trust that my heart was sufficiently
+grateful for this immunity,--for I became satisfied, that, if we were to
+thank God for all His blessings, we should have little time to complain
+of misfortunes. I know that I endeavored to be so. I labored to take a
+cheering view of what we then considered a very gloomy prospect. And
+this disposition to contrast our condition with that of others, while it
+taught me wisdom, brought with it a world of consolation. I saw that
+there was a bright side to everything,--that the sky was oftener blue
+than black; and my floral experiences in the garden taught me that it
+was the sunshine, and not the cloud, that makes the flower. It became
+my study to look only on the bright side of things, convinced, that, if
+the present were a little overcast, there was a future for us that would
+be all delightful. I was full of hope; and the eye of hope can discover
+a star in the thickest darkness, a rainbow even in the blackest cloud.
+
+Hence I went cheerfully to learn the art of operating a sewing-machine,
+in which I soon became so expert as to prove a profitable pupil. There
+were from a dozen to twenty learners beside myself, some few of whom
+were educated and agreeable girls, the daughters of families moving in
+genteel circles, who had come there with a sensible ambition to acquire
+a thorough knowledge of the art. With these I formed a very pleasant
+acquaintance, so that my apprenticeship of a few weeks, instead of being
+a dull and lifeless probation, calculated to depress my spirits, was
+really an agreeable episode in my quiet career, cheering by its new
+associations, and invigorating by reason of the unmistakable evidences
+occurring almost daily that a sewing-girl was probably the last machine
+whose labor was to become obsolete.
+
+The fame of these schools for female operatives went all over the
+country, and attracted crowds of visitors. Some of these were fine
+ladies of superficial minds, who came from mere curiosity, so as to be
+able to say that they had seen a sewing-machine. I was often struck with
+the shallow, unmeaning questions which these butterflies of fashion
+propounded to us. Some of them made the supercilious, but disreputable
+boast, that they had never taken a stitch in the whole course of their
+lives. But the great throng of inquirers consisted of women who had
+families dependent on their needles, and of young girls like myself,
+obliged also to depend upon the labor of their fingers. All such were
+deeply interested in the new art, and their inquiries were practical and
+to the point. They expressed the same astonishment, on seeing the
+rapidity with which the machine performed its work, that I had felt when
+first beholding it.
+
+With so great a throng continually around us, asking questions, stopping
+the machines to examine the sewing, and begging for scraps with a row of
+stitches made in them, which they might take away to inspect at leisure,
+as well as to exhibit to others, there were days when the pupils were
+able to produce only a very small amount of work. But we soon discovered
+that this deficiency made but little difference to our teacher. The
+school was in reality a mere show-shop, a place of exhibition
+established by the machine-makers, in which to display and advertise
+their wares more thoroughly to the public. We pupils were the
+unconscious mouthpieces of the manufacturers. We paid the teacher for
+the privilege of learning to work the machines, and the manufacturers
+paid her a commission for all that she disposed of. Between the two sets
+of contributors to her purse she must have done a profitable business.
+She was at no expense except for rent, as the manufacturers loaned her
+the machines, while we did all the work. She had more orders for the
+latter than we could get through with, as the demand from the tailors
+was so urgent as to show very plainly that the great proportion of all
+the future sewing was to be done by the machine instead of by hand.
+
+When I first went into this schoolroom I noticed a number of unemployed
+machines arranged in one part of it. After a week's apprenticeship, I
+observed some of them leaving the room every day, while new ones came in
+to occupy the vacant places. The first had been sold, the last were also
+to be disposed of, and this active sale continued as long as I remained.
+The fact was very apparent, that this public exhibition of the capacity
+of the new machine was operating on the community as the most efficient
+mode of advertising that could have been adopted. The machines went
+everywhere, over city and country, even at the monstrous prices demanded
+for them. Many fashionable ladies became purchasers, thinking, no doubt,
+that clothing could be made up by merely cutting it out and placing it
+before the machine.
+
+Thus the most ingeniously potent agencies were invoked to bring the new
+invention rapidly and extensively into use. Its real merit happened to
+be such that it fulfilled all the promises with which it had been
+presented to the public. Hence it became a fixture in every great
+establishment where sewing-women were usually employed. As the latter
+acquired a knowledge of the machine, each of these establishments became
+a school in which new hands were converted into skilful operatives,
+until the primary schools, like that where I had been instructed, were
+abandoned from lack of pupils.
+
+But I picked up a great many useful ideas at the school, besides
+acquiring, as already remarked, a new and assured confidence in the
+future prospects of the sewing-woman. It seemed clear to my mind, that,
+under the new order of things, the needle was still to be plied by her;
+whatever work it was to do would be superintended and directed by her.
+It was in reality only a new turn given to an old employment. Moreover,
+it struck me that more of it would be called for than ever, because I
+had noticed that the speed of the machine in making stitches had already
+led to putting treble and quadruple the usual number into some garments.
+Having achieved the useful, it was quickly applied to the ornamental.
+Clothing was not to be made up, in the future, as plainly as it had been
+in the past. Hence the prospect of more work being required involved the
+probability of a greater demand for female labor. But whether it was to
+be more remunerative,--whether the sewing-girl who might turn out ten
+times as much in a day as she formerly did would receive an increase of
+wages in any degree proportioned to the increase of work performed, was
+a problem which the future alone could solve. I did not believe that any
+such measure of justice would be accorded to her. It would be to the
+men, but not to the women. Yet I was willing to take the future on
+trust, for it now looked infinitely brighter than ever.
+
+Among the pupils of this school was a young lady of twenty, whose
+affable and sociable disposition won strongly on my admiration, while
+her robust good sense commanded my utmost respect. The machines we
+operated were close to each other, so that I had the good fortune to
+have constant opportunities of conversing with her. Her name was Effie
+Logan, and she was one of three daughters of a merchant who had acquired
+an ample competency. In company with his wife, he came once or twice a
+week to visit the school and see his daughter at work. With great
+consideration for me, Miss Effie introduced me to her parents, at the
+same time adding some highly complimentary explanations as to who I was,
+and how attentive I had been in teaching her to use the machine. This
+adoption of me as her friend established a sort of good feeling in the
+parents toward me, so that at each visit to the school they greeted me
+in a way so cordial as greatly to attach me to them. It was an
+unexpected kindness from an entirely new quarter, and increased my
+affection for Miss Effie.
+
+Her parents, it appeared, were having all their children taught an art
+or profession of some kind. One of the daughters, having a talent for
+drawing, was learning the art of engraving on wood. The youngest, being
+passionately fond of flowers, and possessed of great artistic genius,
+was a regular apprentice in an artificial-flower manufactory. Miss
+Effie, the eldest, had had her musical talent so cultivated under a
+competent master, that she was now qualified to act as organist in a
+church, or to teach a class of pupils at the piano; but not satisfied
+with this, she had insisted on being instructed in the use of the
+sewing-machine. Both she and her parents seemed so wholly free from the
+false pride which wealth so frequently engenders in the American mind,
+that she came, without the least hesitation, to a public school, and sat
+down as a learner beside the very humblest of us. When her parents came
+to inspect her work, I am certain they were gratified with all they saw
+of what she was doing.
+
+I confess that the whole conduct of this family was as great a surprise
+to me as it was a comfort and encouragement. Mrs. Logan always made the
+kindest inquiries about my parents, but in the politest way
+imaginable,--no impertinent questions, but such as showed that she felt
+some interest in me. I think that Effie must have spoken very favorably
+of me to her parents when at home, but I could not understand why, as I
+was not near so affable and pleasant in my manners as she was. But an
+intimacy had grown up between us; she had won my whole confidence; and
+as confidence usually begets confidence, so she probably took to me from
+the force of that harmony of thought and feeling which comes
+spontaneously from communion of congenial souls.
+
+One day the teacher of the school had been called out on other business,
+leaving me to attend to visitors and customers. The throng that morning
+was so great that it was full two o'clock before I found time to sit
+down, hungry enough, to the slight dinner I had brought with me in a
+little basket. I had taken only the first mouthful, when Miss Effie came
+in from dining at home. She drew her chair close up to me, her sweet
+face blooming with the roses of perfect health, and her bright eyes
+sparkling with animation and intelligence. Much as I admired and loved
+her, I thought she had never before looked so perfectly beautiful.
+
+"Lizzie," she said, taking in her hand a spool of cotton to adjust on
+her machine, "how I like this work! Pa intends to buy me a machine as
+soon as I have completed my apprenticeship here. He don't believe there
+is any real gentility in the idleness of a girl who, because she happens
+to be rich, or to have great expectations, chooses to do nothing but
+fritter away her time on company and parties and dress and trifles
+unworthy of a sensible woman. He has brought us all up to think as he
+does. He tells us that every woman should be so educated, that, if at
+any time compelled by reverse of fortune to support herself, she would
+be able to do so. Why, he made us all learn the old story of the
+Basket-Maker before we were ten years old. It was only last week that he
+said there was no knowing what might happen to us girls,--you know,
+Lizzie, there are three of us,--that some day we might possibly be
+married."
+
+I am sure that the faintest of all innocent blushes rose up from the
+half-conscious heart of the truly lovely speaker as she uttered the
+word, giving to her cheeks a tinge of crimson that added new beauty to
+the soft expression which her countenance habitually wore.
+
+"_Possibly_, did you say, Miss Effie?" I interposed. "You might have
+said _probably_,--but would have been nearer the truth, if you had said
+_certainly_."
+
+"Oh, Lizzie, how you talk!" she rejoined; and there was an unmistakable
+deepening of her blushes. But in a moment she resumed:--
+
+"Pa remembers how his mother was left a widow with five young children,
+but with neither trade nor money, and how both she and he had to
+struggle for a mere subsistence, she at keeping boarders, and he as
+apprentice to a mean man, who gave him only the smallest weekly
+pittance. He says that we shall never go out into the world as destitute
+of resources as his mother was, and so we all have what may really be
+called trades. My brother is in the counting-house, keeping the books,
+and is provided for. But you don't know how we have all been laughed at
+by our acquaintances, and sneered at by impudent people, who, though not
+at all acquainted with us, undertake to prescribe what we should and
+what we should not do. They call us work-women! With them, work of any
+kind is regarded as degrading, especially if done by a woman, and more
+especially if she is to be paid for it."
+
+"Ah, Miss Effie, you have touched the weak spot of our national
+character," I responded.
+
+"Yes," she resumed, "it is the misfortune of American women to entertain
+the idea that working for a living is dishonorable, and never to be
+done, unless one be driven to it by actual want. Why, even when
+positively suffering for want of food and fuel, I have known some to
+conceal or disguise the fact of their working for others by all sorts of
+artifice. To suffer in secret was genteel enough, but to work openly was
+disgraceful! A girl of my acquaintance was accidentally discovered to be
+selling her work at a public depository, and forthwith went to
+apologizing for doing so, as if she had been guilty of a crime, instead
+of having nobly striven to earn a living. The ridiculous pride of
+another seduced her into a falsehood: she declared that the work she had
+been selling for her own support was for the benefit of a church. This
+senseless pride exists in all classes. From the sham gentility it
+spreads to the daughters of workingmen. They are educated to consider
+work as a disgrace, and hence the idle lives so many of them lead. It is
+the strangest thing imaginable, that parents who rose from poverty to
+independence by the hardest kind of bodily labor should thus bring up
+their children. No such teaching was ever given to me. I can sit here at
+my machine, and look the finest lady of my acquaintance in the face. She
+may some day wish that she had been my fellow-apprentice."
+
+"Where do our girls learn this notion of its being disgraceful for a
+woman to support herself?" I inquired.
+
+"Learn it? It is taught them everywhere," she responded. "I sometimes
+think it is born with them. They drink it in with their mother's milk.
+They grow up with it as a daily lesson,--the lesson of avoiding work,
+and of considering it delicate and genteel and refined to say that they
+never cooked a meal, or swept the parlor, or took a stitch with the
+needle, actually priding themselves upon the amount of ignorance of
+useful things that they can exhibit. They make the grand mistake of
+assuming that sensible men will admire them for this display of folly.
+So they drag on until there occurs a prospect of marriage, when they
+suddenly wake up to a consciousness of their utter unfitness to become
+the head of a family. Why, I know at this moment a young lady of this
+description, who expects in a few months to become a wife, and whose
+cultivated ignorance of household duties is now the ridicule of her
+mother's cook and chambermaid. The prospect of marriage alarmed her for
+her total ignorance of domestic duties. She had never made her own bed,
+or dusted the furniture; and as to getting up a dinner, she knew even
+less than a squaw. She is now vainly seeking to acquire, within a few
+months, those branches of domestic knowledge which she has been a whole
+life neglecting and despising. She hated work: it was not genteel. Yet
+she is eagerly plunging into marriage with the first man who has offered
+himself, foolish enough, no doubt, to suppose that in her new position
+she will have even less to look after. Formerly, she did nothing: now,
+she expects to do even less.
+
+"But what," continued Miss Effie, "is this poor creature to do, if death
+or poverty or vice should overtake her husband, and she should be thrown
+on her own slender resources? She is driven, to seek employment of some
+kind,--to attend in a shop, (for somehow that is considered rather more
+genteel than, most other occupations,) or to sew, or to fold books, or
+do something else. But she knows nothing of these several arts; and
+employers want skilled labor, not novices. She once boasted that she had
+never been obliged to work, and now she realizes how much such absurd
+boasting is worth. What then? Why, greater privation and suffering,
+because of her total unfitness for any station in which she might
+otherwise, obtain a living,--the extremity of this destitution being
+sometimes such that she is driven to the last shame to which female
+virtue can be made to submit."
+
+"You say, Miss Effie, that these foolish lessons are taught by the
+mothers; but do the fathers inculcate no wiser ones? Have _they_ nothing
+to say as to the proper training of their daughters?" I inquired, deeply
+interested in all she said. She knew a great deal more than I did. And
+why should she not know more? Was she not full two years older?
+
+"The fathers do, in many cases, teach better lessons than these; but
+their good effects are too commonly neutralized by the persistent vanity
+and pride of the mothers. Even the fathers are too neglectful of the
+future welfare of their daughters. The sons are suitably cared for,
+because of the generally accepted understanding that every man must
+support himself. They are therefore trained to a profession, or to some
+useful branch of business. But the daughters are expected to be
+supported by their future husbands, hence are taught to wait and do
+nothing until the husbands come along. If these conveniences should
+offer within a reasonable time, and do well and prosper, the result is
+agreeable enough. But no sort of provision is made for the husband's not
+showing himself, or, if he does, for his subsequent loss by death, or
+for his turning out either unfortunate or a vagabond. Even the
+daughter's natural gifts, often very brilliant ones, are left
+uncultivated. If she has a talent for music, she receives only a
+superficial knowledge of the piano, instead of such an education as
+would qualify her to teach. No one expects her to work, it is true; but
+why not fit her for it, nevertheless? Another develops a talent for
+nursing, the rare and priceless qualification of being efficient in the
+sick-room. Why not cultivate this talent, and enlarge its value by the
+study of medicine? The parents are rich enough to give to these talents
+the fullest development. They do so with those of their sons; why refuse
+in the case of their daughters? Our sex renders us comparatively
+helpless, excluding us from many avenues to profitable employment where
+we should be at all times welcome, if the unaccountable pride of parents
+did not shut us out by refusing to have us so taught that we could enter
+them. The prejudice against female labor begins with parents; and the
+unreflecting vanity and rashness of youth give it a fatal hold on us. My
+parents have never entertained it. They have taught us that there is
+more to be proud of in being dependent solely on our own exertions than
+in living idle lives on either their means or those of any husband who
+may happen to have enough of his own."
+
+"It is very odd, Miss Effie," I replied, "for you to entertain these
+opinions, they are so different from those of rich people; and it is
+very encouraging to me to hear you express them. But I should have
+expected nothing less noble from you, you are so good and generous."
+
+"Why, Lizzie, what do you mean?" she exclaimed. "It is not goodness, but
+merely common sense. What brought me here to be a pupil in this school?
+Not the desire to do good to others, but to improve myself,--a little
+selfishness, after all."
+
+"But," I inquired, "will this unnatural prejudice against the
+respectability of female labor ever die out? You know that I am to be a
+sewing-girl, not from choice, like you, but from necessity. You learn
+the use of a machine only as a prop to lean upon in a very remote
+contingency; I, to make it the staff for all my future life. You will
+continue to be a lady,--indeed, Miss Effie, you never can be anything
+else,--but I shall be only a sewing-girl. The prejudice will never
+attach to you, but it will always cling to me. How cruel it seems that
+the world should consider as ladies all who can afford to be idle, and
+all working-women as belonging to a lower class, because God compels
+them to labor for the life He has given them!"
+
+"Dear Lizzie," she exclaimed, in tones so modulated to extreme softness
+as to show that her feelings had been deeply touched both by the matter
+and the manner of my inquiry, "you must banish all such thoughts from
+your mind. For His own wise purposes, God has placed you in a position
+in which you have a mission of some kind to fulfil. That position is an
+honorable one, because it requires you to labor, and it is none the less
+honorable because others are not required to do so. They also have their
+several missions, which we cannot understand. If it be regarded as mean
+for women to work, it is in the pride of man that so false a standard of
+respectability has been set up, not in the word or wisdom of God. To
+which shall we pay the most respect? The former, we know, brings
+constant bitterness; the latter, we know equally well, is unchangeably
+good. As it is our duty to submit to it here, so, through the Saviour,
+is it our only trust hereafter. It is not labor that degrades us, but
+temper, behavior, character. If all these be vicious, can mere money or
+exemption from labor make them respectable? You know it cannot.
+
+"You," she continued, in a tone so impressive, that, even amid the
+clatter of twenty machines around me, not a word was lost,--"you may be
+sure that this prejudice against women working for their own support
+will never die out. It is one of those excrescences of the human mind
+that cannot be extirpated. It is a distortion of the reasoning faculty
+itself, unworthy of a sensible person, and is generally exhibited only
+by those who, while boasting of exemption for themselves, have really
+little or nothing else to boast of. It is the infirmity of small minds,
+not a peculiarity of great ones. Prejudices are like household vermin,
+and the human mind is like the traps we set for them. They get in with
+the greatest facility, but find it impossible to get out. Beware of
+entertaining them yourself, Lizzie. Shun everything like repining at
+what you call your position as a sewing-girl. Take care of your
+conscience, for it will be your crown. Labor for contented thoughts and
+aspirations, for they will bring you rest. Your heart can be made happy
+in itself, if you so choose, and your best happiness will always be
+found within your own bosom."
+
+"Do not misunderstand me, Miss Effie," I replied; "I was not repining,
+but merely asking an explanation. My mother has sought to teach me not
+only contentment, but thankfulness for for my condition."
+
+"Indeed," she responded, "both you and I have abundant cause for
+thankfulness to God for the multitude of mercies He is extending to us.
+You know how this poor girl behind us, Lucy Anderson, is situated,"
+raising her hand and pointing over her shoulder toward a thin, pale girl
+of seventeen, who was working a machine.
+
+"I do not know her history," I answered.
+
+"Well," said Miss Effie, "that girl's mother was a washerwoman." She did
+the heavy washing for a very rich man's family. They put her into an
+open shed, on a cold, damp pavement. This work she had been doing for
+them for several years, in the same bleak place, and in all weathers.
+While warm and comfortable herself, the pampered mistress of the family
+gave no thought to the dangerous exposure to which she subjected this
+slave of the washtub. Thus working all day, in thin shoes, on damp
+bricks, and while a penetrating easterly rain was falling, the poor
+woman was next morning laid up with the worst form of rheumatism.
+Medicine and nursing were of no avail. She became bedridden,--the
+disease attacked all the joints of her frame, ossification succeeded,
+and in the end she was unable to move either her body or limbs. Every
+joint was stiff and rigid. The vital organs alone were spared. For
+twelve years she has been in that condition,--she is so now,--my mother
+saw her only yesterday. Can you imagine anything more terrible? Poor,
+dependent on her daily earnings, with young children around her, and a
+widow, only think of her agonies of mind and body! Yet, among the vital
+powers still left to this afflicted woman, was the power to approach the
+Throne of Grace in prayer so acceptable that the answer was that peace
+which passeth all understanding. The body had been disabled; but the
+mind had been quickened to a new and saving activity, she had drawn
+nearer to God."
+
+What could I do but listen in mute attention to this heart-awakening
+recital? I looked round at Lucy Anderson in lively sympathy with what I
+had heard. How little did her appearance give token of the deep domestic
+grief that must have settled upon her young heart! How deceptive is the
+human countenance! Though pale and fragile, yet her face sparkled with
+cheerfulness.
+
+Miss Effie went on with her story; she was mistress of the art of
+conversation; and conversation is sometimes a serious matter; for there
+are persons with whom an hour's talk would weaken one more than a day's
+fasting, but not so with Miss Effie. She resumed by saying,
+
+"Would you believe that the rich family in whose service this poor
+washerwoman destroyed her health have never called, nor even sent, to
+know how she was getting on? When she first failed to take her usual
+two-days' stand at the washtub, they inquired the reason of her absence,
+but there all concern ended. They sought out a new drudge; the gap was
+filled to their liking, and the world moved on as gayly as aforetime.
+They gave up no personal ease or comfort that they might see or minister
+to the suffering woman ; they denied themselves no luxury for her sake.
+Yet the money they spent in giving a single party would have kept this
+family for a twelvemonth. The cost of their ostentatious greenhouse
+would have paid for a nurse, and educated the two orphan boys until able
+to go to trades. They had seen these twin boys tied to the washtub in
+their own bleak shed, that the mother might pursue her labor without
+interruption; yet as they gave no thought to the widow, so the orphans
+never intruded on their recreations. Now, Lizzie, such people are
+unprofitable servants in the sight of God. And if the ostrich were to
+strip off their feathers, the silkworm their dresses, the kid their
+gloves, and the marten demand his furs, what would be their state in the
+sight of man? Bare unto nakedness! This unlawful love for lawful things
+is one of the besetting snares of the great enemy of souls."
+
+If I had ever been addicted to repining, or had had no lessons to teach
+me how wrong the habit was, here was a new one to induce contentment.
+But I had been preserved from all such temptations. The strong good
+sense displayed by Miss Logan in our frequent conversations not only
+informed my understanding on a variety of subjects, but gave my thoughts
+a new turn, and powerfully encouraged me to perseverance. She infused
+into me new life and cheerfulness. Such women are the jewels of society.
+Their strong minds, regulated by a judicious education at the hands of
+sensible parents, become brilliant as well as trustworthy guides to all
+who may be fortunate enough to come within the circle which they
+illuminate. It is such women that have been, and must continue to be,
+the mothers of great men. Mind must be transmissible by inheritance, and
+chiefly from the mother; else the histories of statesmen, heroes, and
+distinguished men in the various walks of life, would not so uniformly
+record the virtues of the women from whose maternal teachings their
+eminence was to be traced.
+
+The company of sewing-girls collected together in this school-room was
+of course a very miscellaneous one. The faces were changing almost
+daily, some by expiration of their apprenticeship, and some by being
+sent away as troublesome, incompetent, or vicious. All who left us had
+their places immediately filled from a list of candidates which the
+teacher had in a book, so that, while one throng of learners was
+departing, another was entering. If one could have gone into the
+domestic history of all the girls who came and went even during my short
+stay, he would have found some experiences to surpass anything that has
+ever occurred to me. I do not know how it happened, but most of these
+girls were quite desirous of making my acquaintance, and of their own
+motion became extremely sociable. I was sociable in return, from an
+instinct of my nature. I never lost anything by thus meeting them
+halfway in the endeavor to be polite and affable, but on the contrary
+learned much, gained much, and secured invaluable friends. Nor did I
+ever repel the amicable approaches even of the most humble, as I very
+early discovered that none were so ignorant as not to be able to
+communicate some little item of knowledge to which I had been a
+stranger.
+
+There was a lady among these pupils who was in many respects very
+different from all the others. I think her age must have been at least
+thirty-five. I did not ask if it were so; and as she never mentioned it
+herself, that circumstance was hint enough for me to remain silent. I
+never could understand why so many women are so amusingly anxious to
+conceal their age, sometimes becoming quite affronted when even a
+conjecture is hazarded on the subject. This lady was unmarried; perhaps
+that may have been one reason for her unwillingness to speak of her age.
+But was not I unmarried, and what repugnance have I ever felt to avowing
+mine?
+
+However, Miss Hawley was extremely sociable with me, though certainly
+old enough to be my mother, and made me the depositary of many incidents
+in her life. She was the eldest of three sisters, all orphans, all
+unmarried, all dependent on themselves for a living, and all, at one
+time, so absurdly proud, that, in the struggle to keep up appearances,
+and conceal from their acquaintances the fact that they were doing this
+or that thing for a maintenance, they subjected themselves to privations
+which embarrassed much of their efforts, while they failed to secure the
+concealment they sought. Though women of undoubted sense and excellent
+education, yet they acted as foolishly as the ostrich, which, when
+hunted to cover, thrusts his head into a bush, and is weak enough to
+think that his whole body is concealed, when it stands out not only a
+target, but a fixed one, for the hunter's rifle. So these women took it
+for granted, that, if they ran to the cover of a chamber from which all
+visitors should be excluded, their acquaintances would be ignorant of
+how they occupied their time, or by what means they lived.
+
+Yet they could not fail to be aware that everybody who knew anything of
+them knew their history also,--that it was notorious that their father,
+a merchant, had died not worth a cent, and that they had been compelled
+to abandon the fine house in which he had kept up a style so expensive
+as greatly to increase the hardship of their subsequent destitution.
+Like a thousand others, he had lived up to the limit of his income. No
+doubt, all of them might have been well married, but for the lavish
+habits as to fashion and expenditure in which they indulged themselves.
+These might be afforded by their father so long as his annual gains
+continued large. But the many worthy young men who visited and admired
+them refused to entertain the idea of marriage with girls whose mere
+personal outfit cost a sum equal to the year's salary of a first-class
+clerk, or the annual profits of one who had just commenced business for
+himself. They held that the girl whose habits were so expensive should
+bring with her a fortune large enough to support them, or remain as she
+was, taking the sure consequences on her own shoulders, and not throwing
+them on theirs. They were in fact afraid of girls who manifestly had no
+prudence, no economy, and who appeared to be wholly unconscious that the
+only admiration worth securing is that of the good and wise.
+
+But the vices of the old mode of living clung to them in their new and
+humbler abode, keeping them slaves to a new set of appearances. They had
+never done any work of consequence, hardly their own sewing. What was
+even worse, they had been brought up to consider work, for a lady,
+disgraceful. Women might work, but not ladies; or when the latter
+undertook it, they ceased to be such, and certainly so, if working for a
+living. No pride could have been more tyrannous or absurd than this.
+For a whole year after their father's death, it ruled them with despotic
+supremacy. They prided themselves on doing nothing, and subsisted on the
+sale of trinkets, jewelry, and books, which they had acquired in palmier
+days. The circle of acquaintances for whose good opinion they submitted
+to these humiliating sacrifices knew all the while that the life they
+were living was a sham; but they themselves seemed wholly unconscious of
+it, as well as of the light in which it was regarded by those about
+them.
+
+Why should such a woman come to a school like this, where a willingness
+to work was a condition of admission, and that work to be done in
+public? What could bring about so strange a reversal of thought and
+habit? One of her sisters had recently died, after a protracted illness,
+during which her heart had been mercifully smitten with a conviction of
+the hollowness and sinfulness of her previous life. Its idle, trifling,
+aimless tendency had been set before her in all its emptiness. She saw
+that she had been living without God, bound up in the love of temporal
+things, and so effectually ensnared by worldly pride that her whole fear
+had been of man, instead of her Creator. Thus in mercy called to
+judgment, that grace, of whose saving efficacy we have the divine
+assurance, brought repentance of sin, and led her to the Saviour, and,
+abasing herself at his cross, the heavy burden was lifted from her
+heart. Her condemnation of the frivolous lives that she and her sisters
+had been leading was so earnest and impressive, that, aided by the
+continual prayers of a truly contrite heart for pardon for herself and
+awakened consciences for them, they also were brought to Christ. This
+mighty transformation accomplished, her mission seemed to be fulfilled,
+and she passed into the unseen world in peaceful assurance of
+forgiveness and acceptance. Thus, though our lots are cast in places
+seemingly diverse and barren, each has his own specific duty to perform,
+some appointed mission to fulfil, though exactly what it is may not be
+apparent to us. As fellow-workers in the world, if we make it our chief
+study to do the Master's will, that which is thus required of us will in
+His own time so unfold itself to our spiritual understanding that we
+cannot be deceived respecting it.
+
+I am satisfied that between the functions of life, as developed in the
+material and moral world, there is an analogy as instructive as it is
+beautiful. It overcomes external circumstances by the power of an
+invisible law. Philosophers have discovered that the human body
+maintains a uniform temperature, whether it shiver in the snow-hut of
+the Esquimaux, or drip with perspiration in the cane-fields of the
+tropics. But let life depart, and it falls to that of the surrounding
+objects. Decay immediately begins. So, when religious vitality is
+maintained in the heart, the corrupting influences of the world remain
+inoperative. This vitality having been infused into the heart of Miss
+Hawley, the fervor of her spirit rose to a higher temperature than that
+of all surrounding objects. She could no longer assimilate with them.
+
+If her strong personal pride, her obsequious deference to appearances
+and the opinion of the world, were henceforth overcome or kept in
+subjection, it was only as she took up the cross in obedience to the
+convictions of duty. She told me it was the hardest trial of her life to
+come to this public school; it was the greatest cross to her natural
+affections she had ever experienced. But the bitterness of the cup had
+now measurably passed away from her. Strength came with animating
+promptitude as the answer to prayer. Her spiritual life became more
+healthy and vigorous as her approaches to the mercy-seat were humble and
+frequent. Cheerfulness became an ever-present attendant. She had put all
+pride behind her, and because of her abasement had risen above the
+world. Henceforth she was to support herself by her own acknowledged
+labor. She had been so changed by the grace of God in her heart, that
+she regarded with astonishment the secret insincerities she had
+formerly been guilty of in seeking to conceal the extent of the
+necessity to which she had been reduced. I have never seen nor heard of
+her since I left the school; but the remembrance of her subdued and
+patient spirit cannot soon be effaced.
+
+How true it is, as some one has beautifully said, that infinite toil
+would not enable us to sweep away a mist, but that by ascending a little
+we may often look over it altogether,--and that so it is with our moral
+improvement! We wrestle fiercely with vicious habits that would have no
+hold on us, if we ascended to a higher moral atmosphere. Another has
+declared that at five years of age the father begins to rub the mother
+out of his child; that at ten the schoolmaster rubs out the father; that
+at twenty a trade or a profession rubs out the schoolmaster; that at
+twenty-five the world rubs out all its predecessors, and gives a new
+education, till we are old enough and wise enough to take religion and
+common sense for our pastors, when we employ the rest of our lives in
+unlearning what we have previously learned.
+
+The contrast between the two ladies with whom I was thus fortunate
+enough to become intimately acquainted was so remarkable that it could
+not fail to make an impression on me. It was evident that education, the
+training which each had received at the parental fireside, had led them
+into widely divergent paths of thought and conduct. Both were possessed
+of sterling good sense; both had lived in affluence; both, so far as
+mere school-learning was concerned, had been thoroughly educated. Had
+Miss Logan received the same training as Miss Hawley, it may be fairly
+assumed that she would have fallen a victim to the same pride and folly;
+and had the latter been trained at home as carefully and as sensibly as
+the former, who can doubt, that, with the same substratum of good sense,
+she would have proved as great a comfort to herself and as shining an
+example to others? I am sure it was a lesson to me, convincing me anew,
+that, where faith and works do not go together, both are wanting, and
+that, if they once part company, each of them must die.
+
+When, at the termination of my brief apprenticeship, the time came for
+me to leave the school and to part from Miss Effie,--she to go to her
+elegant home, I to the little old brick house in the fields, and with
+prospects so entirely different from hers,--I am sure it was the hardest
+trial I had yet been called upon to bear. I should never see her again.
+I had no longings for the life she led; for as yet I had harbored no
+other thought than that of perfect contentment with my own. But her
+society was so delightful, the tone of her mind so lofty, her
+condescension so grateful, her whole manners so captivating, that I
+looked upon her as my guide, philosopher, and friend, and I cried
+bitterly when I left her.
+
+
+
+
+MEMORIES OF AUTHORS.
+
+A SERIES OF PORTRAITS FROM PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE.
+
+
+MISS LANDON.
+
+With unmingled pain I write the name of Laetitia Elizabeth Landon,--the
+L. E. L., whose poems were for so long a period the delight of all
+readers, old and young.
+
+We were among the few friends who knew her intimately. But it was not in
+her nature to open her heart to any one; her large organ of
+"secretiveness" was her bane; she knew it and deplored it; it was the
+origin of that misconception which embittered her whole life, the
+mainspring of that calumny which made fame a mockery and glory a deceit.
+But I may say, that, when slander was busiest with her reputation, we
+had the best means to confute it,--and did. For some years there was not
+a single week during which, on some day or other, morning or evening,
+she was not a guest at our house; yet this blight in her spring-time
+undoubtedly led to the fatal marriage which eventuated in her mournful
+and mysterious death.
+
+The calumny was of that kind which most deeply wounds a woman. How it
+originated, it was at the time, and is of course now, impossible to say.
+Probably its source was nothing more than a sneer, but it bore Dead-Sea
+fruit. A slander more utterly groundless never was propagated. It broke
+off an engagement that promised much happiness with a gentleman, then
+eminent, and since famous, as an author: not that _he_ at any time gave
+credence to the foul and wicked rumor; but to _her_ "inquiry" was a
+sufficient blight, and by _her_ the contract was annulled.
+
+The utter impossibility of its being other than false could have been
+proved, not only by us, but by a dozen of her intimate friends, whose
+evidence would have been without question and conclusive. She was living
+in a school for young ladies: seen daily by the ladies who kept that
+school, and by the pupils. In one of her letters to Mrs. Hall, she
+writes, "I have lived nearly all my life, since childhood, with
+the same people. The Misses Lance were strict, scrupulous, and
+particular,--moreover, from having kept a school so long, with habits of
+minute observation. The affection they feel for me can hardly be
+undeserved. I would desire nothing more than to refer to their opinion."
+Dr. Thomson, her constant medical friend and adviser, testified long
+afterwards to her "estimable qualities, generous feelings, and exalted
+virtues." It would, indeed, have been easy to obtain proof abundant; but
+in such cases the very effort to lessen the evil augments it; there was
+no way of fighting with a shadow; it was found impossible to trace the
+rumor to any actual source. Few then, and perhaps none now, can tell how
+deeply the poisoned arrow entered her heart. If ever woman was, Laetitia
+Landon was, "done to death by slanderous tongues."
+
+I have touched upon this theme reluctantly,--perhaps it might have been
+omitted altogether,--but it seems to me absolutely necessary, in order
+to comprehend the character of the poet towards her close of life, and
+the secret of her marriage, which so "unequally yoked" her to one
+utterly unworthy.
+
+Here is a passage from one of her letters to Mrs. Hall,--without a
+date,--but it must have been written in 1837, when she was suffering
+terribly under the blight of evil tongues:--
+
+"I have long since discovered that I must be prepared for enmity I have
+never provoked, and unkindness I have little deserved. God knows, that,
+if, when I do go into society, I meet with more homage and attention
+than most, it is dearly bought. What is my life? One day of drudgery
+after another; difficulties incurred for others, which have ever pressed
+upon me; health, which every year, by one severe illness after another,
+shows is taxed beyond its strength; envy, malice, and all
+uncharitableness: these are the fruits of a successful literary career
+for a woman."
+
+She was slow to believe that false and bitter words could harm her. At
+first they seemed but to inspire her with a dangerous bravery in her
+innocence, and to increase a practice we always deplored, of saying
+things for effect in which she did not believe. It was no use telling
+her this; she would argue that a conversation of facts would be as dull
+as a work on algebra, and that all she did was to put her poetry into
+practice. In these moods you might as well attempt to imprison a sunbeam
+as keep her to matter-of-fact; and the misery was, that gradually the
+number of detractors increased, who caught up these "effective" scraps,
+and set them in circulation.
+
+She was not more than fifteen years old when the letters "L. E.
+L."--appended to some verses in the "Literary Gazette"--riveted public
+attention; and when it became known that the author was scarcely in her
+teens, a full gush of popularity burst upon her that might have turned
+older heads and steadier dispositions. She became a "lion," courted and
+flattered and feted; yet never was she misled by the notion that
+popularity is happiness, or lip-service the true homage of the heart.
+
+She was residing at Old Brompton, when her first poem appeared in the
+"Literary Gazette," which Mr. Jerdan had not long previously
+established. It would be difficult to conceive the enthusiasm excited by
+the magical three letters appended to the poems, whenever they appeared.
+Mr. Jerdan was a near neighbor of the Landons, and he thus refers to
+their residence at Old Brompton:--
+
+"My cottage overlooked the mansion and grounds of Mr. Landon, the father
+of 'L. E. L.,' at Old Brompton, a narrow lane only dividing our
+residences. My first recollection of the future poetess is that of a
+plump girl, grown enough to be almost mistaken for a woman, bowling a
+hoop round the walks, with a hoop-stick in one hand and a book in the
+other, reading as she ran, and as well as she could managing both
+exercise and instruction at the same time."
+
+She was born on the 14th of August, 1802, at Hans Place, Chelsea, where
+her father, a junior partner in the prosperous house of Adair,
+army-agents, then resided. And in that locality, with few brief
+intervals, the whole of her life was passed.
+
+When we first knew her, in 1825, she lived with her grandmother in Sloane
+Street; subsequently she was a boarder in the school-establishment
+of the Misses Lance, at No. 22, Hans Place, the house in which she had
+been a pupil when but six years old; and here she was residing up to
+within a few months of her marriage, when, in consequence of the
+retirement of the Misses Lance, she became an inmate in the family of
+Mrs. Sheddon.
+
+Her grandmother's grave was, if I recollect rightly, the third that was
+made in the graveyard of Holy Trinity, Brompton. Her lines on this "new"
+churchyard will be remembered. I attended the old lady's funeral, Mrs.
+Hall having received from Miss Landon this letter:--
+
+"I have had time to recover the first shock,--and it was great weakness
+to feel so sorry, though even now I do not like to think of her very
+sudden death. I am thankful for its giving her so little confinement or
+pain; she had never known illness, and would have borne it
+impatiently,--a great addition to suffering. I am so very grateful to
+Mr. Hall, for I really did not know what to do. Her funeral is fixed for
+Friday; the hour will be arranged to his and Mr. Jerdan's convenience."
+
+Mrs. Hall supplies me with the following particulars concerning her
+early acquaintance and intercourse with Miss Landon.
+
+"I forget how it came about, but my husband was introduced to a certain
+little Miss Spence, who, on the strength of having written something
+about the Highlands, was most decidedly BLUE, when blue was by no means
+so general a color as it is at present. She had a lodging of two rooms
+in Great Quebec Street, and '_patronized_' young _litterateurs_,
+inviting them to her 'humble abode,' where tea was made in the bedroom,
+and where it was whispered the butter was kept cool in the
+wash-handbasin! There were 'lots' of such-like small scandals about poor
+Miss Spence's 'humble abode'; still people liked to go; and my husband
+was invited, with a sort of apology to poor me, who, never having
+published anything at that time, was considered ineligible; it was 'a
+rule,' and Miss Spence, in her 'humble abode,' lived by rule.
+
+"Of course I had an account of the party when Mr. Hall came home. I
+coveted to know who was there, and what everybody wore and said. I was
+told that Lady Caroline Lamb was there, enveloped in the folds of an
+ermine cloak, which she called a 'cat-skin,' and that she talked a great
+deal about a periodical she wished to get up, to be called 'Tabby's
+Magazine'; and with her was an exceedingly haughty, brilliant, and
+beautiful girl, Rosina Wheeler,--since well known as Lady Bulwer
+Lytton,--and who sat rather impatiently at the feet of her eccentric
+'Gamaliel.' Miss Emma Roberts was one of the favored ladies, and Miss
+Spence (who, like all 'Leo-hunters,' delighted in novelty) had just
+caught the author of 'The Mummy,' Jane Webb, who was as gentle and
+unpretending then as she was in after-years, when, laying aside romance
+for reality, she became a great helper of her husband, Mr. London, in
+his laborious and valuable works. When I heard Miss Benger was there, in
+her historic turban, I thought how fortunate that I had remained at
+home! I had always a terror of tall, commanding women, who blink down
+upon you, and have the unmistakable air about them of 'Behold me! have I
+not pronounced sentence upon Queen Elizabeth, and set my mark on the
+Queen of Scots?' Still, I quite appreciated the delight of meeting under
+the same roof so many celebrities, and was cross-questioning my husband,
+when he said, 'But there was one lady there whom I promised you should
+call on to-morrow.'
+
+"Imagine my mingled delight and dismay!--delight at the bare idea of
+seeing _her_, who must be wellnigh suffocated with the perfume of her
+own 'Golden Violet,' the idol of my imagination,--dismay! for what
+should I say to her? what would she say to me?
+
+"And now I must look back,--back to the 'long ago.'
+
+"And yet I can hardly realize the sweep of years that have gone over so
+many who have since become near and dear to us. At that first visit, I
+saw Laetitia Landon in her grandmamma's modest lodging in Sloane
+Street,--a bright-eyed, sparkling, restless little girl, in a pink
+gingham frock,--grafting clever things on commonplace nothings,
+frolicking from subject to subject with the playfulness of a spoiled
+child,--her dark hair put back from her low, but sphere-like forehead,
+only a little above the most beautiful eyebrows that a painter could
+imagine, and falling in curls around her slender throat. We were nearly
+of the same age, but I had been almost a year married, and if I had not
+supported myself on my dignity as a married woman, should have been more
+than nervous, on my first introduction to a 'living poet,' though the
+poet was so different from what I had imagined. Her movements were as
+rapid as those of a squirrel. I wondered how anyone so quick could be so
+graceful. She had been making a cap for grandmamma, and would insist
+upon the old lady's putting it on, that I might see 'how pretty it was.'
+To this grandmamma (Mrs. Bishop) objected,--she 'couldn't' and she
+'wouldn't' try it on,--'how could Laetitia be so silly?'--and then
+Laetitia put the great beflowered, beribboned thing on her own dainty
+little head, with a grave look, like a cloud on a rose, and folding her
+pretty little hands over her pink frock, made what she called a 'Sir
+Roger de Coverley' curtsy, skipping backwards into the bedroom, and
+rushing in again, having deposited out of sight the cap she was so proud
+of constructing, took my hands in hers, and asked me 'if we should be
+friends.'
+
+"'Friends!' I do not think that during the long intimacy that followed
+that child-like meeting, extending from the year '26 to her leaving
+England in '38, during which time I saw her frequently every day, and
+certainly every week,--I do not think she ever loved me as I loved
+her,--how could she?--but I was proud of the confidence and regard she
+did accord me, and would have given half my own happiness to shelter her
+from the envy and evil that embittered the spring and summer-time of her
+blighted life. It always seemed to me impossible not to love her, not to
+cherish her. Perhaps the greatest magic she exercised was, that, after
+the first rush of remembrance of all that wonderful young woman had
+written had subsided, she rendered you completely oblivious of what she
+had done by the irresistible charm of what she was. You forgot all about
+her books,--you only felt the intense delight of life with her; she was
+penetrating and sympathetic, and entered into your feelings so entirely
+that you wondered how 'the little witch' could read you so readily and
+so rightly,--and if, now and then, you were startled, perhaps dismayed,
+by her wit, it was but the prick of a diamond arrow. Words and thoughts
+that she flung hither and thither, without design or intent beyond the
+amusement of the moment, come to me still with a mingled thrill of
+pleasure and pain that I cannot describe, and that my most friendly
+readers, not having known her, could not understand.
+
+"When I knew her first, she certainly looked much younger than she was.
+When we talked of ages, which we did the first day, I found it difficult
+to believe she was more than seventeen,--she was so slight, so fragile,
+so girlish in her gestures and manners. In after-days I often wondered
+what made her so graceful. Her neck was short, her shoulders high. You
+saw these defects at the first glance, just as you did that her nose was
+_retrousse_, and that she was underhung, which ought to have spoiled the
+expression of her mouth,--but it did not; you saw all this at once, but
+you never thought about it after the first five minutes. Her complexion
+was clear, her hair dark and silken, and the lashes that sheltered her
+gray eyes long and slightly upturned. Her voice was inexpressibly sweet
+and modulated, but there was a melancholy cadence in it,--a fall so full
+of sorrow that I often looked to see if tears were coming: no, the smile
+and eyes were beaming in perfect harmony, but it was next to impossible
+to believe in her happiness, with the memory of that cadence still in
+the ear.
+
+"Like all workers I have known intimately, she had a double existence,
+an inner and an outer life. Many times, when I have witnessed her
+suffering, either from those spasmodic attacks that sapped the
+foundation of her life, or from the necessity for work to provide for
+the comforts and luxuries of those who never spared her, I have seen her
+enter the long, narrow room that opened on the garden at Hans Place, and
+flash upon a morning visitor as if she had not a pain or a care in the
+world, dazzling the senses and captivating the affections of some new
+acquaintance, as she had done mine, and sending them away in the firm
+belief of her individual happiness, and the conviction that the
+melancholy which breathes through her poems was assumed, and that her
+real nature was buoyant and joyous as that of a lark singing between
+earth and heaven! If they could but have seen how the cloud settled down
+on that beaming face, if they had heard the deep-drawn sigh of relief
+that the little play was played out, and noted the languid step with
+which she mounted to her attic, and gathered her young limbs on the
+common seat, opposite the common table, whereon she worked, they would
+have arrived at a directly opposite and a too true conclusion, that the
+melancholy was real, the mirth assumed.
+
+"My next visit to her was after she left her grandmamma's, and went to
+reside at 22, Hans Place. Miss Emma Roberts and her sister at that time
+boarded in Miss Lance's school, and Miss Landon found there a room at
+the top of the house, where she could have the quiet and seclusion her
+labor required, and which her kind-natured, but restless grandmother
+prevented. She never could understand how 'speaking one word to Letty,
+just one word, and not keeping her five minutes away from that desk,
+where she would certainly grow humped or crooked,' could interfere with
+her work! She was one of those stolid persons who are the bane of
+authors, who think nothing of the lost idea, and the unravelling of the
+web, when a train of thought is broken by the 'only one word,' 'only a
+moment,' which scatters thoughts to the wind,--thoughts that can no more
+be gathered home than the thistledown that is scattered by a passing
+breeze.
+
+"She continued to reside in that unostentatious home, obedient to the
+rules of the school as the youngest pupil, dining with the children at
+their early hour, and returning to her sanctuary, whence she sent forth
+rapidly and continuously what won for her the adoration of the young and
+the admiration of the old. But though she ceased to reside with her
+grandmother, she was most devoted in her attentions to her aged
+relative, and trimmed her caps and bonnets and quilled her frills as
+usual. I have seen the old lady's borders and ribbons mingled with pages
+of manuscript, and known her to put aside a poem to 'settle up'
+grandmamma's cap for Sunday. These were the minor duties in which she
+indulged; but her grandmother owed the greater part, if not the entire,
+of her comfort to the generous and unselfish nature of that gifted girl.
+Her mother I never saw: _morally_ right in all her arrangements, she was
+_mentally_ wrong,--and the darling poet of the public had no loving
+sympathy, no tender care from her. L. E. L. had passed through the
+sufferings of a neglected childhood, and but for the love of her
+grandmother she would have known next to nothing of the love of
+motherhood. Thus she was left alone with her genius: for admiration,
+however grateful to a woman's senses, never yet filled a woman's heart.
+
+"When I first knew her, and for some time after, she was childishly
+untidy and negligent in her dress: her frocks were tossed on, as if
+buttons and strings were unnecessary incumbrances,--one sleeve off the
+shoulder, the other on,--and her soft, silky hair brushed 'any how': but
+Miss Emma Roberts, whose dress was always in good taste, determined on
+her reformation, and gradually the young poet, as she expressed it, 'did
+not know herself.' I use the epithet 'young,' because she was
+wonderfully youthful in appearance, and positively as she grew older
+looked younger,--her delicate complexion, the transparent tenderness of
+her skin, and the playful expression of her child-like features adding
+to the deception.
+
+"I was one day suddenly summoned to Hans Place, and drawn into a
+consultation on the important subject of a fancy-ball, which Miss Landon
+and Miss Emma Roberts had 'talked over' Miss Lance to let them give to
+their friends. They wished me to appear as the 'wild Irish girl,' or the
+genius of Erin, with an Irish harp, to which I was to sing snatches of
+the melodies. Miss Spence was there in consultation, as she 'knew
+everybody.' She congratulated me on my _debut_ as an authoress, (I had
+recently published my first book, 'Sketches of Irish Character,') and
+politely added, 'Now you are one of us, I shall be happy to receive you
+at my humble abode.'
+
+"I begged to decline the proposal concerning the wild Irish girl and the
+Irish harp, but agreed to carry a basket of flowers. Certainly the
+_fete_-givers worked 'with a will,' turned the great house 'out of
+windows,' converting the two school-rooms, big and little, into a
+ball-room, and decorating it richly with green leaves and roses, real
+and artificial. I congratulated them on the prospect. 'Yes,' said Miss
+Landon, 'the mechanical getting-up is all very well; I wish all that is
+termed "dashing" did not lie in the tomb of the Duchess of Gordon. A
+quadrille is but still life put into motion. Our faces, like our
+summers, want sunshine. Old Froissart complained in his day, that the
+English, after their fashion, "_s'amusent moult tristement_." A
+ball-room is merely "Arithmetic and the use of figures taught here." A
+young lady in a quadrille might answer,--"I am too busy to laugh,--I am
+making my calculations." And yet ours is not a marrying age; the men
+have discovered that servants and wives are _so_ expensive,--still a
+young lady's delight in a ball, if not _raisonnable_, has
+always--_quelque raison!_ and I am determined, if I die in the cause,
+that ours shall be a success!' Her conversation was always epigrammatic.
+
+"It seems absurd that a ball should be the first great event of my
+literary life. There I saw for the first time many persons who became in
+after-years intimate friends, and whose names are now parts of the
+history of the literature of their country. 'Mr.' Edward Bulwer, then on
+the threshold of fame, 'came out' in military uniform. L. E. L. assured
+me he was very clever, had written a novel, and 'piles of poetry,' and
+would be wonderful soon, but that he was much too handsome for an
+author; at which opinion, little Miss Spence, in a plum-pudding sort of
+turban, with a bird-of-paradise bobbing over the front, and a fan even
+larger than poor Lady Morgan's, agitated her sultana's dress, and
+assured me that 'nothing elevated the expression of beauty so much as
+literature,' and that 'young things, like many of the present company,
+would not look as well in ten years!' Mr. Bulwer was certainly
+pronounced by the ladies the handsomest youth in the room. The gentlemen
+endeavored to put him down as 'effeminate,' but all in vain. They called
+him 'a fair, delicate, very, _very_ young man,'--'a boy,' in fact. I
+remember wondering at the searching expression of his large, wandering,
+bluish eyes, that seemed looking in and out at everybody and at
+everything. The lady of his love was there, and she ought to have been
+dressed as the Sultana poor Miss Spence burlesqued. Nature had bestowed
+on her an Oriental style of beauty, and she would have come out well in
+Oriental costume; but she chose the dress of a Swiss peasant, which,
+being more juvenile, brought her nearer to her lover's age. She
+certainly was radiantly beautiful. She had a mouth like 'chiselled
+coral,' and eyes fierce as an eagle's or tender as a dove's, as passion
+moved her. Her uncle, Sir John Milly Doyle, then an old man of mark in
+the military world, was naturally proud of his beautiful charge, and
+companioned her that evening.
+
+"Miss Benger's turban was a formidable rival to that of Miss Spence. The
+historian was long and lanky, according to the most approved historical
+fashion; consequently her turban was above the crowd, while poor Miss
+Spence's was nearly crushed by it, and was all too frequently shoved on
+one side by the whirling dancers. At last, in despair, she donned a
+handkerchief, tying it under her chin, and wherever she went she wished
+the gentle-hearted Miss Webb to follow, appealing after this fashion to
+the merry crowd:--'Please let me pass; I am Miss Spence, and this lady
+is Miss Webb, author of "The Mummy,"--"The Mummy," Sir.' But Miss Webb
+effected her escape; and the last time I saw little Miss Spence that
+evening, she had scrambled up into one of those so-called
+'education-chairs,' in which poor girls were compelled to sit bolt
+upright for several hours of the day, by way of keeping their shoulders
+flat and strengthening their spine.
+
+"I remember 'Father Prout of Watergrass Hill' that evening,--then a
+smooth-faced, rosy-cheeked young man. Jane and Anna Maria Porter joined
+the party late in the evening. They came from Esher, and, though not in
+direct fancy-dresses, added to the effect of the gathering. Jane was
+dressed in black, which was only relieved by a diamond sparkling on her
+throat. Her sweet, melancholy features and calm beauty contrasted well
+with the bright sunshine of her sister's round, girlish face. She was
+dressed in white, soft blue gauze floating round her like a haze. L. E.
+L. (who personated a flower-girl in a white chip hat) called the sisters
+'the Evening and Morning Stars.' I was so proud of a compliment Jane
+paid me on my new dignity of authorship,--a compliment from the author
+of the 'Scottish Chiefs,'--the book that in childhood I had read
+stealthily by moonlight, coiled up in my nursery-window, just near
+enough to the sea to hear its music, while the fate of Sir William
+Wallace made my heart pant and my tears flow!
+
+"I saw there for the first time Julia Pardoe. She had just returned from
+Portugal, and was escorted by her little, round father, the Major. She
+was then in her dawn of life and literature, having published two
+volumes about Portugal,--a pretty little fairy of a girl, with a wealth
+of flaxen hair, a complexion made up of lilies and roses, with tiny feet
+in white satin _bottines_ with scarlet heels, and a long, sweeping veil
+of blue gauze spangled with silver stars. I think she dressed as some
+Portuguese or Spanish character; for I remember a high comb in her hair.
+I can only now recall her floating about under the blue gauze veil.
+
+"I remember one group of Quakers among the glittering throng, who looked
+sufficiently quaint to attract attention, while the matron of the party
+said clever, caustic things, differing in quality as well as quantity
+from the sparkling, playful jests and repartees, that, as the evening
+passed, were flung about by Mr. Jerdan, the popular editor of the
+'Literary Gazette,' the oracle of that time, and stammered forth by Dr.
+Maginn. "The Doctor" and Mr. Jerdan and Theodore Hook entered together,
+three men of mark, from whom much was expected--after supper.
+
+"The Quaker matron was Mrs. Trollope, a portly lady, of any age between
+thirty and forty, staid and sedate, as became her character, and
+attentive to her 'thees' and 'thous,' which lent their cloak for plain
+speaking, of which she was not chary. She frequently admonished her
+daughters--perhaps adopted for the evening--against the vanities by
+which they were encompassed on every side,--satirizing and striking
+home, but never exhibiting ill-temper or actual bitterness. The
+character was well sustained throughout the evening, and occasioned
+quite as much fear as fun. When Theodore Hook asked her, according to
+the fashion of those days, to take wine with him, she answered, 'Friend,
+I think thou hast had enough already, and so have I.' There was nothing
+particularly wise or witty in the words; but their truth was so evident,
+and the manner in which they were spoken so clear and calm, that they
+were followed by a roar of laughter that for a little time upset the
+mighty humorist, though, in the extempore song in which he rallied, he
+did not forget that
+
+    'He had just received a wallop
+    From the would-be Quaker Trollope.'
+
+"We enjoyed most thoroughly the intercourse commenced thus early in our
+married life with the spirits of our time; and I remember entering into
+grave debate with L. E. L. whether it would be possible for _us_ to give
+a party that might be, as it were, the shadow of hers. A fancy-ball was
+out of the question. We proposed a _conversazione_, with first-rate
+music; but in that Miss Landon could not sympathize. 'It was all very
+well,' she said; 'I had a talent for listening; she had not; and if I
+must have music, let there be a room where the talkers could congregate,
+and neither disturb others nor be themselves disturbed.' The only thing
+she disliked in dancing was the trial of keeping time; and to do this,
+she was obliged to count.
+
+"The _conversazione_ was determined on, and the invitations issued; and
+then my husband and I began to count the cost. Of course, if done, it
+must be well done. The method was not clear; it was very cloudy; and
+there was only one way to make it clear. We were but 'children of a
+larger growth,' and we had a 'money-box,'--not one of those pretty cedar
+inventions, with a lock and key and a slit in the cover, that we now use
+at bazaars, but a big, shapeless, roundabout thing of earthen-ware, with
+a slit in the middle. We had intended its contents should gratify
+another fancy, but now it would be the very thing to sacrifice; so we
+locked ourselves into the drawing-room, placed the box on the
+hearth-rug, and in a moment the brown roundabout was smashed,--and there
+was quite a heap of silver, and a little brightening of gold! _We_ had
+never put in any gold. We were astonished, and counted our treasure with
+great delight. My husband accused me of conveying the gold by some
+cunning art into the box; and _I_ was indignant that he should have done
+so without my knowledge. A quarrel was imminent, when we thought perhaps
+it was the hand of the dear mother that had dropped in the gold. Yes,
+that was her _ruse_; and we would have it that the party cost us
+_nothing_, because the contents of the money-box never had been counted
+on: it was a treasure-trove,--nothing more. We were particularly anxious
+to be thought _prudent_; and, in our triumph, (for the party, every one
+said, was a brilliant success,) we communicated the fact to L. E. L.
+that the party had cost nothing! She laughed, and determined to set up a
+money-box, on her own account; but, poor girl, her money was anticipated
+by her dependants before she received it.
+
+"I remember once meeting her coming out of Youngman's shop, in Sloane
+Street, and walking home with her. 'I have been,' she said, 'to buy a
+pair of gloves,--the only money spent on myself out of the three hundred
+pounds I received for "Romance and Reality."' That same day she spoke of
+having lived in Sloane Street when a child. Her mother's _menage_ must
+have been curiously conducted; for I remember her saying, 'On Sundays my
+brother and myself were often left alone in the house with one servant,
+who always went out, locking us in; and we two children used to sit at
+the open parlor-window to catch the smell of the one-o'clock dinners
+that went past from the bake-house, well knowing that no dinner awaited
+us.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the zenith of her fame, and towards her terrible close of life, the
+personal appearance of Miss Landon was highly attractive. Though small
+of stature, her form was remarkably graceful; and in society she paid
+special attention to dress. She would have been of perfect symmetry,
+were it not that her shoulders were rather high.
+
+There were few portraits of Miss Landon painted, although she was
+acquainted with many artists, and had intense love of Art. Her friend
+Maclise painted her three or four times; but I know of no other
+portraits of her, except that by Mr. Pickersgill, which I always thought
+the most to resemble her, albeit the likeness is not flattering.
+
+She first met the Ettrick Shepherd at our house. When Hogg was presented
+to her, he looked earnestly _down_ at her, for perhaps half a minute,
+and then exclaimed, in a rich, manly, Scottish voice, "Eh, I did na
+think ye'd been sae bonnie. I've said mony hard things aboot ye. I'll do
+sae na mair. I did na think ye'd been sae bonnie."
+
+Mrs. Opie, who also met her at our dwelling, paid her a questionable
+compliment,--that she was "the prettiest butterfly she had ever seen":
+and I remember the staid Quaker shaking her finger at the young poetess,
+and remarking, "What thou art saying thou dost not mean."
+
+Miss Jewsbury, (the elder sister of the accomplished authoress,
+Geraldine,) whose fate somewhat resembled her own, said of her, "She was
+a gay and gifted thing"; but Miss Jewsbury knew her only "in the
+throng."
+
+In short, I have rarely known a woman so entirely fascinating as Miss
+Landon; and this arose mainly from her large sympathy. She was playful
+with the young, sedate with the old, and considerate and reflective with
+the middle-aged. She could be tender and she could be severe, prosaic or
+practical, and essentially of and with whatever party she happened to be
+among. I remember this faculty once receiving an illustration. She was
+taking lessons in riding, and had so much pleased the riding-master that
+at parting he complimented her by saying,--"Well, Madam, we are all born
+with a genius for something, and yours is for horsemanship."
+
+One of the many writers who mourned her wrote,--"Apart from her literary
+abilities and literary labors, she was, in every domestic relation of
+life, honorable, generous, dutiful, self-denying,--zealous,
+disinterested, and untiring in her friendship."
+
+Her industry was wonderful. She was perpetually at work, although
+often--nay, generally--with little of physical strength, and sometimes
+utterly prostrated by illness. Yet the work _must_ be done, as her poems
+and prose were usually for periodical publications, and a given day of
+the month it was impossible to postpone.
+
+Poetry she wrote with great ease and rapidity. In one of her letters to
+Mrs. Hall she says,--"I write poetry with far more ease than I do prose.
+In prose, I often stop and hesitate for a word; in poetry, never. Poetry
+always carries me out of myself. I forget everything in the world but
+the subject that has interested my imagination. It is the most subtile
+and insinuating of pleasures; but, like all pleasures, it is dearly
+bought. It is always succeeded by extreme depression of spirits, and an
+overpowering sense of bodily fatigue." And in one of her letters to me,
+she observes,--"Writing poetry is like writing one's own native
+language, and writing prose is like writing in a strange tongue." In
+fact, she could have improvised admirable verses without hesitation or
+difficulty.
+
+She married Mr. Maclean, then Governor of the Gold Coast[B],--a man who
+neither knew, felt, nor estimated her value. He wedded her, I am
+convinced, only because he was vain of her celebrity; and she married
+him only because he enabled her to change her name, and to remove from
+that society in which just then the old and infamous slander had been
+revived. There was in this case no love, no esteem, no respect,--and
+there could have been no discharge of duty that was not thankless and
+irksome.
+
+They were married a fortnight, at least, before the wedding was
+announced, even to friends. A sad story was some time afterwards
+circulated,--the truth of which I have no means of knowing,--that Mr.
+Maclean had been engaged to a lady in Scotland, which engagement he had
+withdrawn, and that she was in the act of sealing a letter to him when
+her dress caught fire, and she was burnt to death.
+
+The last time I saw L. E. L. was in Upper Berkeley Street, Connaught
+Square, on the 27th of June, 1838, soon after her marriage, when she was
+on the eve of her fatal voyage. A farewell party was given to some of
+her friends by Mrs. Sheddon, with whom she then boarded,--the Misses
+Lance having resigned their school. When the proper time arrived, there
+was a whisper round the table, and, as I was the oldest of her friends
+present, it fell to my lot to propose her health. I did so with the
+warmth I felt. The chances were that we should never meet again; and I
+considered myself free to speak of her in terms such as could not but
+have gratified any husband,--except the husband she had chosen,--and
+sought to convey to Maclean's mind the high _respect_, as well as
+affection, with which we all regarded her. The reader may imagine the
+chill that came over the party when Maclean rose to return thanks. He
+merely said, "If Mrs. Maclean has as many friends as Mr. Hall says she
+has, I only wonder they allowed her to leave them." One by one the
+guests rose and departed, with a brief and mournful farewell. Probably
+not one of them all ever saw her again.
+
+She sailed with her husband for Africa on the 5th of July, 1838. On the
+15th of August she landed, and on the 15th of October she was
+dead!--dying, according to a coroner's jury, "of having incautiously
+taken a dose of prussic acid."
+
+The circumstances of her death will be forever a mystery; for her
+husband has since "died and made no sign"; but no one ever heard of her
+having had this horrible medicine in her possession. Dr. Thomson, who
+made up her medicine-chest, and who had been her attendant for many
+years, declared he never prescribed it for her; and it was next to
+impossible she could have possessed it. To the various rumors that arose
+out of her death I do not allude. I do not believe she committed
+suicide; nay, I am sure she did not, although I know she was most
+wretched in her mournful banishment, most miserable in her changed
+condition, and that, if her past years had been gloomy, her future was
+very dark; but I believe that poison in some shape--not from the small
+vial which it was _said_ was found in her hand--was administered by the
+African woman who is known to have been her predecessor,--one of those
+
+          "Children of the South
+    With whom revenge is virtue."
+
+The following letter from L. E. L. was received by Mrs. Hall on the 3d
+of January, 1839. It is without a date. On the 1st we had heard of her
+death. It was a "ship-letter," but the mark of the place at which it was
+posted is indistinct.
+
+     "MY DEAR MRS. HALL,--I must send you one of my earliest
+     epistles from the tropics; and as a ship is just sailing, I
+     will write, though it can only be a few hurried lines. I can
+     tell you my whole voyage in three words,--six weeks'
+     sea-sickness; but I am now as well as possible, and have been
+     ever since I landed. The castle is a very noble building, and
+     all the rooms large and cool, while some would be pretty even
+     in England. That where I am writing is painted a deep blue,
+     with some splendid engravings; indeed, fine prints seem quite a
+     passion with the gentlemen here. Mr. Maclean's library is
+     filled up with bookcases of African mahogany, and portraits of
+     distinguished authors. I, however, never approach it without
+     due preparation and humility, so crowded is it with scientific
+     instruments, telescopes, chronometers, barometers, gasometers,
+     etc., none of which may be touched by hands profane. On three
+     sides, the batteries are dashed against by the waves; on the
+     fourth is a splendid land view. The hills are covered to the
+     top with what we should call wood, but is here called bush.
+     This dense mass of green is varied by some large, handsome,
+     white houses belonging to different gentlemen, and on two of
+     the heights are small forts built by Mr. Maclean. The
+     cocoa-trees with their long fan-like leaves are very beautiful.
+     The natives seem to be obliging and intelligent, and look very
+     picturesque with their fine dark figures, with pieces of the
+     country cloth flung round them. They seem to have an excellent
+     ear for music: the band plays all the old popular airs, which
+     they have caught from some chance hearing. The servants are
+     very tolerable, but they take so many to work. The prisoners do
+     the scouring, and fancy three or four men cleaning a room that
+     an old woman in England would do in an hour,--besides the
+     soldier who stands by, his bayonet drawn in his hand. All my
+     troubles have been of a housekeeping kind, and no one could
+     begin on a more plentiful stock of ignorance than myself.
+     However, like Sindbad the Sailor in the cavern, I begin to see
+     daylight. I have numbered and labelled my keys, (their name is
+     Legion,) and every morning I take my way to the store, give out
+     flour, sugar, butter, etc., and am learning to scold, if I see
+     any dust or miss customary polish on the tables. I am actually
+     getting the steward of the ship, who is my right hand, to teach
+     me how to make pastry. I will report progress in the next. We
+     live almost entirely on ducks and chickens; if a sheep be
+     killed, it must be eaten the same day. The bread is very good,
+     palm wine being used for yeast; and yams are an excellent
+     substitute for potatoes. The fruit generally is too sweet for
+     my liking; but the oranges and pine-apples are delicious. You
+     cannot think the complete seclusion in which I live; but I have
+     a great resource in writing, and I am very well and very happy.
+     But I think even more than I expected, if that be possible, of
+     my English friends."
+
+    Your truly affectionate
+
+    L. E. MACLEAN.
+
+
+
+She had signed her name "L. E. Landon," but had erased "Landon," and
+written in "Maclean," adding, "How difficult it is to leave off an old
+custom!"
+
+Poor girl! She thus fulfilled her own mournful prediction, though
+speaking of another:--
+
+    Where my father's bones are lying,
+      There my bones will never lie!
+
+       *   *   *   *
+
+    Mine shall be a lonelier ending,
+      Mine shall be a wilder grave,
+    Where the shout and shriek are blending,
+      Where the tempest meets the wave:
+    Or perhaps a fate more lonely,
+      In some drear and distant ward,
+    Where my weary eyes meet only
+      Hired nurse and sullen guard.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[B] She was married on the 7th of June, 1838, to Mr. Maclean, at St.
+Mary's, Bryanston Square,--her brother, the Rev. Whittington Landon,
+officiating. The bride was given away by her long and attached friend,
+Sir Bulwer Lytton.
+
+
+
+
+OUR OLDEST FRIEND.
+
+READ TO "THE BOYS OF '29," JAN. 5, 1865.
+
+
+    I give you the health of the oldest friend
+    That, short of eternity, earth can lend,--
+    A friend so faithful and tried and true
+    That nothing can wean him from me and you.
+
+    When first we screeched in the sudden blaze
+    Of the daylight's blinding and blasting rays,
+    And gulped at the gaseous, groggy air,
+    This old, old friend stood waiting there.
+
+    And when, with a kind of mortal strife,
+    We had gasped and choked into breathing life,
+    He watched by the cradle, day and night,
+    And held our hands till we stood upright.
+
+    From gristle and pulp our frames have grown
+    To stringy muscle and solid bone;
+    While we were changing, he altered not;
+    We might forget, but he never forgot.
+
+    He came with us to the college class,--
+    Little cared he for the steward's pass!
+    All the rest must pay their fee,
+    But the grim old dead-head entered free.
+
+    He stayed with us while we counted o'er
+    Four times each of the seasons four;
+    And with every season, from year to year,
+    The dear name Classmate he made more dear.
+
+    He never leaves us,--he never will,
+    Till our hands are cold and our hearts are still;
+    On birthdays, and Christmas, and New-Year's too,
+    He always remembers both me and you.
+
+    Every year this faithful friend
+    His little present is sure to send;
+    Every year, wheresoe'er we be,
+    He wants a keepsake from you and me.
+
+    How he loves us! he pats our heads,
+    And, lo! they are gleaming with silver threads;
+    And he's always begging one lock of hair,
+    Till our shining crowns have nothing to wear.
+
+    At length he will tell us, one by one,
+    "My child, your labor on earth is done;
+    And now you must journey afar to see
+    My elder brother,--Eternity!"
+
+    And so, when long, long years have passed,
+    Some dear old fellow will be the last,--
+    Never a boy alive but he
+    Of all our goodly company!
+
+    When he lies down, but not till then,
+    Our kind Class-Angel will drop the pen
+    That writes in the day-book kept above
+    Our lifelong record of faith and love.
+
+    So here's a health in homely rhyme
+    To our oldest classmate, Father Time!
+    May our last survivor live to be
+    As bald, but as wise and tough as he!
+
+
+
+
+EDWARD EVERETT.
+
+
+At the funeral of Mr. Everett, on the 19th of January, the persons who
+acted as pall-bearers, and accompanied the body to the grave, had been
+appointed to that service by the government of the city of Boston.
+
+They represented respectively the Commonwealth, the City, the Supreme
+Bench, the University, the American Academy, the Historical Society, the
+Public Library, the Union Club, and the United States Army and Navy. The
+officers of the Army and Navy highest in rank on this station
+represented these services; the other organizations were represented, in
+each case, by their highest officers.
+
+The Governor received at the same time the following despatch:--
+
+"It is impracticable for the President and the Cabinet to leave the
+capital to attend the funeral.
+
+"The President of the United States and the heads of departments tender
+to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts their condolence on the lamented
+death of Edward Everett, who was worthy to be enrolled among the noblest
+of the nation's benefactors."
+
+Why do you call that man a private citizen, to whom every officer in the
+Nation, in the Commonwealth, and in the City, unites in paying homage?
+Why do you select the leading man in every class of service to be
+present to represent you at his open grave?
+
+The true answer to these questions, and the true explanation of the
+universal feeling expressed in public and in private when he died, are
+not found without reference to some traits of moral constitution, to
+which it is well, I believe, to call attention now. To those traits of
+character,--as shown through life,--rather than to specific gifts of
+intellectual power, is Mr. Everett's singularly varied success to be
+ascribed. You may say, if you please, that it requires a very rare
+mental genius and even very rare physical endowment to carry out the
+behests of such resolution as I am to describe. This, of course, is
+true. But unless you have the moral determination which compels your
+vivid mind to plan, and your well-built machine to work for you, you get
+no such life. The secret--if it is to be called such--of this wonderful
+life, is the determination to do the special thing which at the moment
+is to be done. Mr. Everett was no admirer of Carlyle. But long before
+Carlyle began to tell men "to do the thing that came next them," Mr.
+Everett had been doing it, with a steady confidence that he could do it.
+Now the things that come next men in America are very various. That is
+the reason why he has been doing very various things. That is the reason
+why President and Cabinet, Navy and Army, University, Bench, and
+Academy, City and Commonwealth, meet, by their first representatives, at
+his grave, in recognition of specific service of the most eminent
+character which he has rendered to each of them, and which it would be a
+shame for them to fail to own.
+
+In a little sketch of his college life, which he once sent me, there is
+an estimate--made at the age of sixty-one--of his own standing when he
+was a Sophomore, in comparison with some of his classmates. Some of
+those he names have passed on before him; two of them remain with us, to
+be honored always for the fruits of that scholarship which he observed
+so young. I think there can be nothing wrong in publishing a
+recollection, which, by accident, gives a hint as to the method of his
+own after-life to which I have alluded.
+
+"I was considered, I believe, as taking rank among the few best scholars
+of the [Sophomore] class, although there was no branch in which I was
+not equalled--and in several I was excelled--by some of my classmates,
+except perhaps Metaphysics. Thus, I was surpassed by Cooper in Latin,
+but he was wholly deficient in Mathematics, and regarded with pity, not
+altogether unmixed with contempt, all who had a taste for that study.
+Story, a brother of Mr. Justice Story, excelled me in Greek, but he
+neglected everything else, and seemed to get at the Greek rather by
+intuition than study. Fuller, Gray, and Hunt were my superiors in
+Mathematics; but in other studies I was the rival of Fuller, and Hunt
+made no pretensions to general scholarship;--for the branch in which he
+excelled he had a decided genius. Gilman was a more practised writer
+than I; so was Damon; and Frothingham greatly excelled me in speaking,
+and was in everything a highly accomplished scholar. If I had any strong
+point, it was that _of neglecting no branch_ and _doing about equally
+well in all_."
+
+He had occasion enough to show in all life that it is a very strong
+point, this "of neglecting no branch, and doing equally well in all."
+And in his estimates of other men, I think,--though he was more
+charitable in his judgments than any man I have ever known,--he always
+had latent the feeling that men could do almost anything they really
+resolved to do. You could never persuade him that a public speaker could
+not learn to speak well. He did not pretend that all men could speak
+equally well, but he really thought that it was the duty of a man, who
+meant to speak in public, to train himself, in voice, in intonation, in
+emphasis, so as to speak simply, and without attracting attention to any
+failure. He thought any man could do this as truly as any man could
+acquire a good handwriting. And any one who knew him knows that he
+considered this art as easily attained as the arts by which we clean our
+faces or our hands.[C]
+
+Starting upon life with this principle, that he would do what had to be
+done,--if nobody else appeared to do it,--and that he could do it,
+too,--he soon found himself with work enough on his hands. English's
+flippant attack on the New Testament Scriptures appeared while Mr.
+Everett was minister of Brattle-Street Church. Because it appeared, he
+considered it his place to defend the New Testament against that
+specific attack; and he did it. The "Defence of Christianity," which he
+then published, is of value, chiefly as a piece of controversy belonging
+to the history of opinion in this neighborhood at that moment.
+Controversy has long since taken other grounds. For that purpose, at
+that moment, the book did its work completely. It exhausted the points
+which Mr. English raised, and exhausted them in a way which required
+very patient study. Mr. Everett once said that to compile the chapter on
+the quotations of the Old Testament by the New Testament writers, he
+went through the whole of the Mischna in the edition of Surenhusius, in
+six volumes folio. This chapter, I may say in passing, is the chapter of
+most permanent value in the "Defence." Now this "Defence," the work of a
+boy of twenty years of age, was written in the midst of the demands made
+upon the popular preacher in one of the largest parishes in Boston, in a
+few months' time,--sent to the printer chapter by chapter. And Mr.
+Everett said of it, in after-life, that, if it did not seem like
+affectation, he would say that it was relaxation from the work he was
+doing in the pulpit. I have no doubt it was. I have no thought that he
+was specially fitted for that work. It illustrates rather his moral
+force of determination. He thought that particular charge of Mr.
+English's ought to be answered. Nobody else answered it. And therefore
+he did it himself. He knew he could do it, if it must be done. If he had
+not prepared for it, he must prepare for it then.
+
+But the reader will observe, I hope, that he does not in the "Defence"
+attempt anything else than the task he had assigned. Here is no general
+Apology. It is no discussion of the Evidences. It is a specific
+duty,--which he had assigned to himself,--cleanly, neatly, and
+thoroughly done. He knew what he was going to do, when he began; and he
+knew, when he had finished what he could do. His victories, his life
+through, will all be found, I think, to illustrate that sort of steady,
+but determined resolution,--determined, in the sense that, before he
+began, the bounds were established for the work which was to be done.
+
+When he went to Congress, for instance, in 1824, he had been widely
+known, in this part of the country at least, as a scholar who had
+travelled in Europe, and as one of the leaders in the movement in favor
+of the Greeks. Very naturally, Mr. Taylor appointed him on the Committee
+on Foreign Relations, and in that capacity he served all the time he was
+in the House. "I devoted myself," he said of that part of his life,
+"mainly to the discharge of that part of the public business which was
+intrusted to me"; that is, to the foreign relations. There were enough
+other interests in those years to which he might have devoted himself.
+But this was the sub-department which had been assigned to him, and
+therefore he devoted himself to it. If it had been Indian Affairs, or
+the Militia, he would have devoted himself to either of those; and I
+think he would have distinguished himself in either of them as much as
+he did in the other.
+
+In this connection, it is to be observed, that, though few men worked as
+rapidly or as easily as he, this same moral determination appeared in
+the resoluteness with which he refused to do anything till he was
+satisfied with his own preparation. The thing might not require any, and
+then he made none. But if it was an occasion which he thought deserved
+preparation, no haste nor pressure nor other excuse availed to induce
+him to attempt what he had not made the fit preparation for. I think
+nothing really made him so indignant with us who were his juniors, as
+that we would half do things, instead of taking time to do them as well
+as we could. Yet, when the necessity came, he could achieve things that
+no other man would have dreamed of on such short notice. There are
+stories of his feats in this way which need not be repeated here.
+
+I have heard people speak of his political life, especially of late
+years, as if it were a great riddle; and, in eulogies on him since his
+death, I find men speaking as if he underwent some great revulsion of
+character when Fort Sumter was attacked in 1861. I think there is no
+such mystery about it. The secret--if secret it is to be called--of his
+politics was blazoned in almost every speech he ever made, if people
+could only train themselves to think that a public man really believes
+what he says. It was this, that at heart he believed in the people. He
+believed they had virtue enough and good sense enough to carry them
+through any difficulty they would ever get into. He did not believe in
+total depravity. He did not, therefore, believe in theirs. And when he
+had any appeal to make to the people, he appealed to their supposed
+virtue, and not to their supposed vices,--he spoke to their good sense,
+and not to their folly. Mr. Emerson says somewhere, that he gave people
+no new thoughts. I do not think this is true. It is, however, very
+certain that he gave them no _buncombe_. He believed in them, in their
+good sense, and in their average virtue. He knew that everything
+depended on them. He was eager to educate the people, therefore, and all
+the people. He did not believe it possible to educate any of them too
+well. And if you had asked him, the day he died, what had been the
+central idea of his life, he would have said it was the education of the
+people. His life was full of it. His speeches were full of it. Nothing
+so provoked him as any snobbism which wanted to hinder it. When he was
+President of the College,--I think in 1848,--there was a black boy in
+the High School at Cambridge, fitting for college. Some gentlemen in
+Alabama, who had sons there, or on their way there, wrote to Mr. Everett
+to remonstrate against the boy's entering. He replied, that the College
+was endowed to educate all comers; that, if the black boy could pass his
+examination, as he hoped he could, he would be admitted; and that, if,
+as they seemed to suppose, all the white students withdrew, the College
+would then be conducted on its endowments for the black boy alone. And
+that was no exceptional reply. It was his way of looking at such things.
+
+Now it is very true that a man like that makes no demagogue appeals to
+the people. He will not be apt to ally himself with any specially
+radical party. He will never say that an unwashed man has as good chance
+for godliness as a washed man, because he will not believe it. He will
+never say that an ignorant man's vote is as good as a sensible man's,
+because he will not believe that. But in any question where the rights
+of men are on one side and the rights of classes on the other, he will
+pronounce for the rights of men. Accordingly, his verdict was stiffly
+against the Missouri Compromise in 1820 and 1821. He said it was unwise
+and unjust. When, in 1836, it came time, under that Compromise, to admit
+the State of Arkansas,--the next Slave State after Missouri,--he said
+that we were not bound to admit her with slavery, that the Compromise
+was not binding, and never could be made binding; it was unwise and
+unjust. Because he had said so, he considered himself estopped from
+saying that it was binding, and sacred, and inviolable, and all that, in
+1854, when the rest of us made it into a new-found palladium of liberty.
+He would not argue the Nebraska question on the Compromise, but on the
+original principles of the popular rights involved. It is the same
+confidence in the people which shines through the letter to Baron
+Huelsemann, which he wrote at the request of Mr. Webster, and through his
+answer to the proposal of the Three Powers that we should guaranty Cuba
+to Spain. It may be necessary for popular freedom that Spain shall not
+have Cuba. The same thing is in all his reviews of the Basil Halls and
+other travellers. I do not suppose he liked a dirty table-cloth better
+than Mrs. Trollope did. I do not suppose he liked a Virginia fence
+better than Cobbett did. But he knew that table-cloths could be washed,
+and Virginia fences changed in time for hedges and walls. And he was
+willing to wait for such changes,--even with all the elegance people
+talk of,--if he were sure that the education of the people was going
+forward, and the lines of promotion were kept open.
+
+When, therefore, the issue of 1861 came, there was no question, to
+anybody who knew him well, where he would stand. He would stand with the
+democratic side against the aristocratic side. And the issue of this war
+is the issue between democracy and oligarchy. Persons who did not
+believe in the people did not stand on the democratic side. Persons who
+thought a republican government had been forced on us by misfortune, and
+that we must simply make the best of it, did not stand there. They did
+not believe that this time the people could get through. So they thought
+it best to stop before beginning. He knew the people could go through
+anything. So he thought it best to hold firm to the end.
+
+Some of the most amusing of the details of his early life, which, with
+his wonderful memory, he was rather fond of relating, belong to his
+experiences in education.
+
+Here is his account of his first attendance at the central town-school
+of Dorchester, after he had left a dame-school.
+
+"In this school, on first entering it, I was placed at the bottom of the
+lowest class; but even that was a position beyond my previous
+attainments. Unable to spell the words which formed the lesson, I used,
+when they came down to me from the boy above, to say just what he did,
+not being far enough advanced to insinuate a blunder of my own. But in
+the course of a few months I made great progress. In writing I was
+rather forward. I can remember writing 1799 at the bottom of the page in
+my copybook; and this is the oldest date which as a date I can
+recollect. I was then five years old.[D] My father having, as a reward
+for my improvement, promised me a boughten 'writing-book,' as it was
+called, instead of a sheet of paper folded at home, with which children
+usually began, the brilliant prospect melted me almost to tears.
+
+"Each boy in those days provided his own 'ink-horn,' as it was called.
+Mine was a ponderous article of lead, cast by myself at the kitchen
+fire, with a good deal of aid from the hired man who was employed in the
+summer to work the little farm. For pens we bought two goose-quills
+fresh from the wing, for a cent; older boys paid that sum for a single
+'Dutch quill.'...
+
+"In the year 1802, a new district school-house was built near our
+residence, to which I was transferred from the school on the
+meeting-house hill. It was kept by Mr. Wilkes Allen, afterwards a
+respectable clergyman at Chelmsford. I was now between eight and nine
+years old. My eldest brother had left school, and was in a counting-room
+in Boston; my second brother had entered college; and as we were, almost
+all of us little folks at Mr. Allen's, I was among the most advanced. I
+began the study of arithmetic at this time, using Pike as the text-book.
+I recollect proceeding to the extraction of the cube-root, without the
+slightest comprehension of the principle of that or any of the simplest
+arithmetical operations. I could have comprehended them, had they been
+judiciously explained, but I could not penetrate them without aid. At
+length I caught a glimpse of the principle of decimals. I thought I had
+made a discovery as confidently as Pythagoras did when he demonstrated
+the forty-seventh proposition of the first book of Euclid. I was
+proportionately annoyed when I afterwards discovered that I had been
+anticipated in finding out that 'a decimal is a fraction whose
+denominator is a unit with as many ciphers annexed as the numerator has
+places,' or rather in finding out precisely what this meant."
+
+He entered college in 1807, and thus describes his first experiences
+there.
+
+"I was thirteen years old in April, and entered a Freshman the following
+August, being the youngest member of my class. I lived the first year
+with my classmate, Charles P. Curtis, in a wooden building standing at
+the corner of the Main and Church Streets. It was officially known as
+the 'College House,' but known by the students as 'Wiswall's Den,' or,
+more concisely, 'The Den,'--whether from its comfortless character as a
+habitation or from some worse cause I do not know. There was a tradition
+that it had been the scene of a horrid domestic tragedy, and that it was
+haunted by the ghosts of the Wiswalls; but I cannot say that during the
+twelvemonth I lived in 'The Den' this tale was confirmed by my own
+experience.
+
+"We occupied the southwest corner-chamber, up two flights of stairs,--a
+room about fourteen feet square, in which were contained two beds and
+the rest of our furniture, and our fuel, which was wood, and was kept
+under the beds. Two very small closets afforded a little additional
+space; but the accommodations were certainly far from brilliant. A good
+many young men who go to college are idlers; some, worse than idlers. I
+suppose my class in this respect was like other classes; but there was a
+fair proportion of faithful, studious students, and of well-conducted
+young men. I was protected in part, perhaps, by my youth, from the
+grosser temptations. I went through the prescribed studies of the
+year--which were principally a few books of Livy and Horace for the
+Latin, and 'Collectanea Graeca Majora' for the Greek--about as well as
+most of the class; but the manner in which the ancient languages were
+then studied was deplorably superficial. It was confined to the most
+cursory reading of the text. Besides the Latin and Greek languages, we
+had a weekly recitation in Lowth's English Grammar, and in the Hebrew
+Grammar, _without points_; also in Arithmetic and History, the last from
+Millot's Compend as a text-book. In all these branches there was an
+entire want of apparatus; and the standard, compared with that which now
+exists, was extremely low. And yet, in all respects, I imagine a great
+improvement had taken place, in reference to college education, on the
+state of things which existed in the previous generation. The intense
+political excitement of the Revolutionary period seems to have unsettled
+the minds of men from the quiet pursuits of life."
+
+Reminiscences like these of his own lead one to speak of his memory,
+which was of all kinds, and wonderful in all. His memory for things was
+as remarkable as that for words,--a parallel I have known in very few
+men. In this double memory lay his power, which often excited the
+surprise of other speakers, of introducing into a discourse which he had
+written out, and, as men said, committed to memory, a passage purely
+extempore, so precisely that no patch could be observed at the
+junctures. The truth is, that it was not a matter of much account with
+him whether he had written out a statement of a fact or not. He was sure
+of the fact. And in simple narrative he was as willing to use extempore
+language as language prepared. Mr. Emerson says, in some not very
+flattering criticisms on him,--"It was remarked, for a man who threw out
+so many facts, he was seldom convicted of a blunder." I do not think he
+had any system of training memory, beyond that of using it and calling
+on it pitilessly, which is, I believe, the central rule regarding it.
+
+Here is a curious story of a feat of memory, in his sketch of his
+Sophomore year.
+
+"I have mentioned Metaphysics as a study in which I succeeded. I mean,
+of course, only that I prepared myself thoroughly in the text-books.
+Watts's Logic was the first book studied in this branch,--not a very
+inviting treatise, compared with that of Archbishop Whately, but easily
+comprehended, and not repulsive. The account of the syllogistic method
+amused me; and the barbarous stanza describing the various syllogistic
+modes and figures dwelt for a long time in my memory, and has not wholly
+faded away. Locke's 'Essay concerning Human Understanding' came next.
+This was more difficult. I recollect we used to make sport of the first
+sentence in the 'Epistle to the Reader,' which was, 'I here put into thy
+hands what has been the diversion of some of my idle and heavy hours: if
+it has the good luck to prove so of any of thine, and thou hast but half
+so much pleasure in reading as I had in writing it, thou wilt as little
+think thy money, as I do my pains, ill bestowed.' I cannot say that we
+any of us derived much diversion from it; but I overcame its difficulty
+by the resolute purpose to accomplish whatever was required. We recited
+from it three times a day, the four first days of the week, the
+recitation of Thursday afternoon being a review of the rest. We were
+expected to give the substance of the author's remarks, but were at
+liberty to condense them, and to use our own words. Although the style
+of Mr. Locke is not remarkably compact, it required a greater maturity
+of mind than is possessed by many boys of fourteen to abridge his
+paragraphs, or state his principles or their illustrations more
+concisely than he does himself. I had at that time a memory which
+recoiled from nothing; and I soon found that the shortest process was to
+learn the text by heart nearly _verbatim_. I recollect particularly, on
+one occasion of the review on Thursday afternoon, that I was called upon
+to recite early, and, commencing with the portion of the week's study
+which came next, I went on repeating word for word and paragraph after
+paragraph, and finally, not being stopped by our pleased tutor,[E] page
+after page, till I finally went through in that way the greater part of
+the eleven recitations of the week. The celebrated passage on the Memory
+happened to be included. A portion of it, after the lapse of forty-seven
+years, remains in my recollection as distinctly as it did the day after
+I learned it. I refer to the passage beginning, 'Thus the ideas, as well
+as children, of our youth often die before us; and our minds represent
+to us those tombs to which we are approaching, where, though the brass
+and marble remain, yet the inscriptions are effaced by time, and the
+imagery moulders away.'
+
+"I may observe, that, beautiful as is this language beyond anything else
+in the work of Locke, it will not stand the test of criticism. There is
+no resemblance between what befalls the ideas and the children of our
+youth; and supposing there were such a resemblance, there is not the
+slightest analogy between the premature decease of the ideas and the
+children of our youth and the disappearance of monumental inscriptions
+and imagery from the brass and marble of tombs. But I feel ashamed of
+this attempt to pick flaws in this beautiful passage."
+
+But I must not dwell on these reminiscences. I am tempted to refer any
+reader interested in his work in the education of the people to an
+article on that subject in the seventh volume of Mr. Barnard's "Journal
+of Education."
+
+I once heard him say that the mental faculty which had been of most use
+to him and had given him most pleasure was his facility in acquiring
+language. He said this on occasion of a visit to a county prison, where
+they had taken him to the cell of a person whom no one could understand.
+I think he had been called a Greek; but he proved to be an Italian. Mr.
+Everett was then Governor of the Commonwealth, and this was an official
+visit. It was a pretty illustration of republican institutions, that
+this poor prisoner in his solitude should first hear his own language
+from the chief magistrate. Mr. Everett addressed him first in the
+language of his supposed country,--I think in Greek,--and changed to
+Italian, when the prisoner spoke to him. He spoke French, German,
+Italian, and the Romaic with ease. He read the whole Hebrew Testament in
+his youth, and in Germany made considerable progress in Arabic; but I do
+not think that he kept up his Oriental languages in later years. He was
+fond of exercising himself in the other languages named, and almost
+always had some stated correspondence on his hands in each of them.
+
+Unless he really loved correspondence, as some men do, I believe, I
+cannot conceive that even so conscientious a man as he should have kept
+his correspondence in such perfect order, answered letters of every kind
+so faithfully, so fully, and so agreeably. The last day of his life, a
+sick man as he was, he seems to have written a dozen letters. Everybody
+had an answer, and a kind one. He was, I think, the last man living who
+courteously acknowledged printed documents. Certainly there is no one
+left to do so among men whose habits I have heard of. But he would not
+fail in any kindness or courtesy. At times his correspondence rose into
+a position of real dignity. Thus, after Fort Sumter, while we still
+carried the Rebels' mails for them, he wrote steadily through all his
+working-hours of every day to his Southern correspondents, who were
+sending him all sorts of Billingsgate. And he wrote them the truth. "It
+is the only way they see a word of truth," he said. "Look at that
+newspaper, and that, and that." Till the mails stopped, they had not to
+blame him, if they were benighted. I wish that series of letters might,
+even now, be published separately.
+
+In such duties, coming next his hand, he spent a busy life. Every life
+has a dream, a plan, of what we are going to do, when we can do what we
+will. I think his was the preparation of his work on International Law.
+As I have said, it became his duty to study this as early as 1825. I
+remember hearing him speak of his plans regarding it in 1839. He set his
+work aside, most unwillingly, when, in face of his own first
+determination and the advice of his best friends, he became President of
+Harvard College. As soon as he was released from that position he turned
+to it again. During this last winter he had hoped to deliver at the Law
+School a course of lectures on the subject; and a part of these are
+certainly in form ready for delivery. But from this thread, or this
+dream, the demands of present duty have constantly called him away. He
+has done, from day to day, what had to be done, rather than what he
+wanted to do. A better record this, though men forget him to-morrow,
+than the fame of any Grotius even, if Grotius had not deserved like
+praise, better than the fame of any book-man of them all.
+
+The brave man,--and he was a brave man, though in personal intercourse
+he was really shy,--the brave man, who, with all his might, and all
+God's strength assisting, will lend body and mind to such daily duty for
+other men, earns his laurels, when he wins them, in more fields than one
+or two. It is because Mr. Everett so lived, that in his death his memory
+receives such varied honors. He had served the Navy; the last
+interruption to his favorite study had been the devotion of the autumn
+months to the great charity which builds the Sailors' Home. He had
+served the Army, not merely by sending a son into it,--by "personal
+representatives," I know not how many, whose bounties he had paid,--but
+by the steady effort in all the charities for the wounded, and by the
+counsel, private as often as public, for which every department of the
+State turned to him. He had served the Union, all men know how. He had
+served the Bench, not simply as a student of the branch of law which he
+had chosen to illustrate, but in the steady training of the people to
+the sacredness of law. He had insisted on the higher education of the
+people; and so had fairly won the honors of the Academy, in those early
+days when men believed that there were Moral Sciences, and did not
+debase the name of Science by confining it to the mere chaff of things
+weighed and measured. His studies of History are remembered, for some
+special cause, in almost every Historical Society in the land. He had
+served the University in every station known to her constitution. He was
+in the service of the City in that Public Library of which he was, more
+than any man, the founder, which completes her system of universal
+education. He had served the State as her chief magistrate. And in every
+work of life he served the Nation as her first citizen. These varied
+lines of duty--in which "he neglected no branch, but did about equally
+well in all"--were fitly called to men's memories, as they saw the
+circle of distinguished friends and fellow-laborers who met around his
+grave.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[C] "For if one has anything worth writing, it is really worth while to
+write it so it can be read."--_Address at Barre._
+
+[D] In another scrap of his reminiscences, he says: "The oldest
+political event of which I have any recollection is that of the _quasi_
+French War of 1798. This I remember only in connection with the family
+talk of the price of flour, which it was said would cost twenty dollars
+a barrel. As we used principally brown bread, this was of less
+consequence; although the price of Indian corn and meal was probably
+increased also."
+
+[E] Mr. Hedge, with whom this was a favorite passage.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES OF A PIANIST.
+
+
+II.
+
+Written without method, dotted down carelessly and _currente calamo_ on
+the leaves of my pocket-book, the notes I now publish were never
+intended to be read by any one but myself. A wanderer for many long
+years, I have contracted the habit of making daily memoranda of the
+fleeting, evanescent impressions of my travels, and thus giving them a
+more tangible form. These notes, drawn up hastily and for myself alone,
+have no literary merit whatever, but they most unequivocally tell the
+truth. Is this an adequate compensation for the numerous negligences of
+style which criticism may discover in them? You answer my question
+affirmatively, my dear M----. Be that as it may, these reminiscences of
+travel have often solaced the ennui and fatigue of my erratic life. In
+writing of the present, the bitterness of the past vanished; and again,
+if the present were tedious or fraught with care, I reverted to the
+sunny pages of the time that is no more, and revived the sweet emotions
+of the long-forgotten past.
+
+Under your patronage I now place these poor leaves. They have been the
+partners of my joys and my griefs, of my toils and my leisure, during
+the last three years that have whirled me relentlessly in that most
+monotonous, yet agitated circle, yclept "a life of concerts." Should you
+find evidence too flagrant, even for your prepossessed eyes, of the
+inexperience of my pen, bear in mind, I pray you, that I am but a
+musician, and only a pianist at that.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_January, 1862._ Once more in New York, after an absence of six
+years!--Six years madly squandered, scattered to the winds, as if life
+were infinite, and youth--eternal! Six years, in the space of which I
+have wandered at random beneath the blue skies of the tropics, yielding
+myself up indolently to the caprice of Fortune, giving a concert
+wherever I happened to find a piano, sleeping wherever night overtook
+me, on the green grass of the savanna, or under the palm-leafed roof of
+a _veguero_, who shared with me his corn-_tortilla_, coffee, and
+bananas, and thought himself amply renumerated, when, at dawn, I took my
+departure with a "_Dios se lo pague a V._" (May God reward you!) to
+which he responded by a "_Vaya V. con Dios!_" (God be with you!)--these
+two formulae constituting, in such unsophisticated countries, the entire
+operation, so ingeniously perfected by civilized nations, which
+generally is known by the name of "settling the hotel-bill." And when at
+last I became weary of the same horizon, I crossed an arm of the sea,
+and landed on some neighboring isle, or on the Spanish Main. Thus, in
+succession, I have visited all the Antilles,--Spanish, French, English,
+Dutch, Swedish, Danish; the Guianas, and the coasts of Para. At times,
+having become the idol of some obscure _pueblo_, whose untutored ears I
+had charmed with its own simple ballads, I would pitch my tent for five,
+six, eight months, deferring my departure from day to day, until finally
+I began seriously to entertain the idea of remaining there forevermore.
+Abandoning myself to such influences, I lived without care, as the bird
+sings, as the flower expands, as the brook flows, oblivious of the past,
+reckless of the future, and sowed both my heart and my purse with the
+ardor of a husbandman who hopes to reap a hundred ears for every grain
+he confides to the earth. But, alas! the fields, where is garnered the
+harvest of expended doubloons, and where vernal loves bloom anew, are
+yet to be discovered; and the result of my double prodigality was, that
+one fine morning I found myself a bankrupt in heart, with my purse at
+ebb-tide.
+
+Suddenly disgusted with the world and with myself, weary, discouraged,
+mistrusting men, (ay, and women, too,) I fled to a desert on the extinct
+volcano of M----, where, for several months, I lived the life of a
+cenobite, with no companion but a poor lunatic, whom I had met on a
+small island, and who had attached himself to me. He followed me
+everywhere, and loved me with that absurd and touching constancy of
+which dogs and madmen alone are capable. My friend, whose insanity was
+of a mild and harmless character, fancied himself the greatest genius in
+the world. He was, moreover, under the impression that he suffered from
+a gigantic, monstrous tooth. Of the two idiosyncrasies, the latter alone
+made his lunacy discernible,--too many individuals being affected with
+the other symptom to render it an anomalous feature of the human mind.
+My friend was in the habit of protesting that this enormous tooth
+increased periodically and threatened to encroach upon his entire jaw.
+Tormented, at the same time, with the desire of regenerating humanity,
+he divided his leisure between the study of dentistry, to which he
+applied himself in order to impede the progress of his hypothetical
+tyrant, and a voluminous correspondence which he kept up with the Pope,
+his brother, and the Emperor of the French, his cousin. In the latter
+occupation he pleaded the interests of humanity, styled himself "the
+prince of thought," and exalted me to the dignity of his illustrious
+friend and benefactor. In the midst of the wreck of his intellect, one
+thing still survived,--his love of music. He played the violin, and,
+strange as it may appear, although insane, he could not understand the
+so-called _music of the future_.
+
+My hut, perched on the verge of the crater, at the very summit of the
+mountain, commanded a view of all the surrounding country. The rock upon
+which it was built projected over a precipice, whose abysses were
+concealed by creeping plants, cactus, and bamboos. The species of
+table-rock thus formed had been encircled with a railing and transformed
+into a terrace, on a level with the sleeping-room, by my predecessor in
+this hermitage. His last wish had been to be buried there; and from my
+bed I could see his white tombstone gleaming in the moonlight, a few
+steps from my window. Every evening I rolled my piano out upon the
+terrace, and there, facing the most incomparably beautiful landscape,
+all bathed in the soft and limpid atmosphere of the tropics, I poured
+forth on the instrument, and for myself alone, the thoughts with which
+that scene inspired me. And what a scene! Picture to yourself a gigantic
+amphitheatre hewn out of the mountains by an army of Titans: right and
+left, immense virgin forests, full of those subdued and distant
+harmonies which are, as it were, the voices of Silence; before me, a
+prospect of twenty leagues, marvellously enhanced by the extreme
+transparency of the air; above, the azure of the sky; beneath, the
+creviced sides of the mountain sweeping down to the plain; afar, the
+waving savannas; beyond them, a grayish speck (the distant city); and
+encompassing them all, the immensity of the ocean, closing the horizon
+with its deep blue line. Behind me was a rock on which a torrent of
+melted snow dashes its white foam, and there, diverted from its course,
+rushes with a mad leap and plunges headlong into the gulf that yawns
+beneath my window.
+
+Amid such scenes I composed "Reponds-moi la Marche des Gibaros,"
+"Polonia," "Columbia," "Pastorella e Cavaliere," "Jeunesse," and many
+other unpublished works. I allowed my fingers to run over the keys,
+wrapped up in the contemplation of these wonders, while my poor friend,
+whom I heeded but little, revealed to me, with a childish loquacity, the
+lofty destiny he held in reserve for humanity. Can you conceive the
+contrast produced by this shattered intellect, expressing at random its
+disjointed thoughts, as a disordered clock strikes by chance any hour,
+and the majestic serenity of the scene around me? I felt it
+instinctively. My misanthropy gave way; I became indulgent towards
+myself and mankind, and the wounds of my heart closed once more. My
+despair was soothed, and soon the sun of the tropics, which tinges all
+things with gold, dreams as well as fruits, restored me with new
+confidence and vigor to my wanderings.
+
+I relapsed into the life and manners of these primitive countries; if
+not strictly virtuous, they are, at all events, terribly attractive.
+Existence in a tropical wilderness, in the midst of a voluptuous and
+half-civilized race, bears no resemblance to that of a London cockney, a
+Parisian lounger, or an American Quaker. Times there were, indeed, when
+a voice was heard within me that spoke of nobler aims. It reminded me of
+what I once was, of what I yet might be, and commanded imperatively a
+return to a healthier and more active life. But I had allowed myself to
+be enervated by this baneful languor, this insidious _far niente_, and
+my moral torpor was such that the mere thought of reappearing before a
+polished audience struck me as superlatively absurd. "Where was the
+object?" I would ask myself. Moreover, it was too late; and I went on
+dreaming with open eyes, careering on horseback through the savannas,
+listening at break of day to the prattle of the parrots in the
+guava-trees, at nightfall to the chirp of the _grillos_ in the
+cane-fields, or else smoking my cigar, taking my coffee, rocking myself
+in a hammock,--in short, enjoying all the delights that are the very
+heart-blood of a _guajiro_, and out of the sphere of which he can see
+but death, or, what is worse to him, the feverish agitation of our
+Northern society. Go and talk of the funds, of the landed interest, of
+stock-jobbing to this Sybarite, lord of the wilderness, who can live all
+the year round on luscious bananas and delicious cocoa-nuts, which he is
+not even at the trouble of planting,--who has the best tobacco in the
+world to smoke,--who replaces to-day the horse he had yesterday by a
+better one chosen from the first _caballada_ he meets,--who requires no
+further protection from the cold, than a pair of linen trousers, in that
+favored clime where the seasons roll on in one perennial summer,--who,
+more than all this, finds at eve, under the rustling palm-trees, pensive
+beauties eager to reward with their smiles the one who murmurs in their
+ears those three words, ever new, ever beautiful, "_Yo te quiero_."
+
+Moralists, I am aware, condemn this life of inaction and mere pleasure;
+and they are right. But poetry is often in antagonism with virtuous
+purposes; and now that I am shivering under the icy wind and dull sky of
+the North,--that I must needs listen to discussions on Erie, Prairie du
+Chien, Harlem, and Cumberland,--that I read in the papers the lists of
+the killed and wounded,--that havoc and conflagration, violence and
+murder, are perpetrated all around me,--I find myself excusing the
+half-civilized inhabitant of the savanna, who prefers his poetical
+barbarism to our barbarous progress.
+
+Unexpectedly brought back to the stern realities of life by a great
+affliction, I wished to destroy every link that connected me with the
+six years I had thrown away. It was at this period that Strakosch wrote
+to me, offering an engagement for a tour of concerts through the United
+States. I hesitated an instant; one sad look was cast upon the vanished
+days, I breathed a regret, and--signed. The dream was over; I was saved;
+but who could say, if, in the rescue, youth and poetry had not perished?
+Poetry and youth are of a volatile mood,--they are butterflies. Shut
+them up in a cage, and they will dash their delicate wings to pieces
+against its bars. Endeavor to direct them as they soar, and you cramp
+their flight, you deprive them of their audacity,--two qualities which
+are often to be met with in inexperience, and the loss of which--am I
+wrong in saying so?--is not always compensated by maturity of talent.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHIMNEY-CORNER.
+
+III.
+
+
+LITTLE FOXES.--PART II.
+
+It was that Christmas-day that did it; I'm quite convinced of that; and
+the way it was is what I am going to tell you.
+
+You see, among the various family customs of us Crowfields, the
+observance of all sorts of _fetes_ and festivals has always been a
+matter of prime regard; and among all the festivals of the round ripe
+year, none is so joyous and honored among us as Christmas.
+
+Let no one upon this, prick up the ears of Archaeology, and tell us that
+by the latest calculations of chronologists our ivy-grown and
+holly-mantled Christmas is all a hum,--that it has been demonstrated, by
+all sorts of signs and tables, that the august event it celebrates did
+not take place on the 25th of December. Supposing it be so, what have we
+to do with that? If so awful, so joyous an event ever took place on our
+earth, it is surely worth commemoration. It is the _event_ we celebrate,
+not the _time_. And if all Christians for eighteen hundred years, while
+warring and wrangling on a thousand other points, have agreed to give
+this one 25th of December to peace and good-will, who is he that shall
+gainsay them, and for an historic scruple turn his back on the friendly
+greetings of all Christendom? Such a man is capable of rewriting
+Milton's Christmas Hymn in the style of Sternhold and Hopkins.
+
+In our house, however, Christmas has always been a high day, a day whose
+expectation has held waking all the little eyes in our bird's nest, when
+as yet there were only little ones there, each sleeping with one eye
+open, hoping to be the happy first to wish the merry Christmas and grasp
+the wonderful stocking.
+
+This year our whole family train of married girls and boys, with the
+various toddling tribes thereto belonging, held high festival around a
+wonderful Christmas-tree, the getting-up and adorning of which had kept
+my wife and Jennie and myself busy for a week beforehand. If the little
+folks think these trees grow up in a night, without labor, they know as
+little about them as they do about most of the other blessings which
+rain down on their dear little thoughtless heads. Such scrambling and
+clambering and fussing and tying and untying, such alterations and
+rearrangements, such agilities in getting up and down and everywhere to
+tie on tapers and gold balls and glittering things innumerable, to hang
+airy dolls in graceful positions, to make branches bear stiffly up under
+loads of pretty things which threaten to make the tapers turn bottom
+upward! Part and parcel of all this was I, Christopher, most reckless of
+rheumatism, most careless of dignity, the round, bald top of my head to
+be seen emerging everywhere from the thick boughs of the spruce, now
+devising an airy settlement for some gossamer-robed doll, now adjusting
+far back on a stiff branch Tom's new little skates, now balancing bags
+of sugar-plums and candy, and now combating desperately with some
+contumacious taper that would turn slantwise or crosswise, or anywise
+but upward as a Christian taper should,--regardless of Mrs. Crowfield's
+gentle admonitions and suggestions, sitting up to most dissipated hours,
+springing out of bed suddenly to change some arrangement in the middle
+of the night, and up long before the lazy sun at dawn to execute still
+other arrangements. If that Christmas-tree had been a fort to be taken,
+or a campaign to be planned, I could not have spent more time and
+strength on it. My zeal so far outran even that of sprightly Miss
+Jennie, that she could account for it only by saucily suggesting that
+papa must be fast getting into second childhood.
+
+But didn't we have a splendid lighting-up? Didn't I and my youngest
+grandson, little Tom, head the procession magnificent in paper
+soldier-caps, blowing tin trumpets and beating drums, as we marched
+round the twinkling glories of our Christmas-tree, all glittering with
+red and blue and green tapers, and with a splendid angel on top with
+great gold wings, the cutting-out and adjusting of which had held my
+eyes waking for nights before? I had had oceans of trouble with that
+angel, owing to an unlucky sprain in his left wing, which had required
+constant surgical attention through the week, and which I feared might
+fall loose again at the important and blissful moment of exhibition: but
+no, the Fates were in our favor; the angel behaved beautifully, and kept
+his wings as crisp as possible, and the tapers all burned splendidly,
+and the little folks were as crazy with delight as my most ardent hopes
+could have desired; and then we romped and played and frolicked as long
+as little eyes could keep open, and long after; and so passed away our
+Christmas.
+
+I had forgotten to speak of the Christmas-dinner, that solid feast of
+fat things, on which we also luxuriated. Mrs. Crowfield outdid all
+household traditions in that feast: the turkey and the chickens, the
+jellies and the sauces, the pies and the pudding, behold, are they not
+written in the tablets of Memory which remain to this day?
+
+The holidays passed away hilariously, and at New-Year's I, according to
+time-honored custom, went forth to make my calls and see my fair
+friends, while my wife and daughters stayed at home to dispense the
+hospitalities of the day to their gentlemen friends. All was merry,
+cheerful, and it was agreed on all hands that a more joyous holiday
+season had never flown over us.
+
+But, somehow, the week after, I began to be sensible of a running-down
+in the wheels. I had an article to write for the "Atlantic," but felt
+mopish and could not write. My dinner had not its usual relish, and I
+had an indefinite sense everywhere of something going wrong. My coal
+bill came in, and I felt sure we were being extravagant, and that our
+John Furnace wasted the coal. My grandsons and granddaughters came to
+see us, and I discovered that they had high-pitched voices, and burst in
+without wiping their shoes, and it suddenly occurred powerfully to my
+mind that they were not being well brought up,--evidently, they were
+growing up rude and noisy. I discovered several tumblers and plates with
+the edges chipped, and made bitter reflections on the carelessness of
+Irish servants; our crockery was going to destruction, along with the
+rest. Then, on opening one of my paper-drawers, I found that Jennie's
+one drawer of worsted had overflowed into two or three; Jennie was
+growing careless; besides, worsted is dear, and girls knit away small
+fortunes, without knowing it, on little duds that do nobody any good.
+Moreover, Maggie had three times put my slippers into the hall-closet,
+instead of leaving them where I wanted, under my study-table. Mrs.
+Crowfield ought to look after things more; every servant, from end to
+end of the house, was getting out of the traces; it was strange she did
+not see it.
+
+All this I vented, from time to time, in short, crusty sayings and
+doings, as freely as if I hadn't just written an article on "Little
+Foxes" in the last "Atlantic," till at length my eyes were opened on my
+own state and condition.
+
+It was evening, and I had just laid up the fire in the most approved
+style of architecture, and, projecting my feet into my slippers, sat
+spitefully cutting the leaves of a caustic review.
+
+Mrs. Crowfield took the tongs and altered the disposition of a stick.
+
+"My dear," I said, "I do wish you'd let the fire alone,--you always put
+it out."
+
+"I was merely admitting a little air between the sticks," said my wife.
+
+"You always make matters worse, when you touch the fire."
+
+As if in contradiction, a bright tongue of flame darted up between the
+sticks, and the fire began chattering and snapping defiance at me. Now,
+if there's anything which would provoke a saint, it is to be jeered and
+snapped at in that way by a man's own fire. It's an unbearable
+impertinence. I threw out my leg impatiently, and hit Rover, who yelped
+a yelp that finished the upset of my nerves. I gave him a hearty kick,
+that he might have something to yelp for, and in the movement upset
+Jennie's embroidery-basket.
+
+"Oh, papa!"
+
+"Confound your baskets and balls! they are everywhere, so that a man
+can't move; useless, wasteful things, too."
+
+"Wasteful?" said Jennie, coloring indignantly; for if there's anything
+Jennie piques herself upon, it's economy.
+
+"Yes, wasteful,--wasting time and money both. Here are hundreds of
+shivering poor to be clothed, and Christian females sit and do nothing
+but crochet worsted into useless knicknacks. If they would be working
+for the poor, there would be some sense in it. But it's all just alike,
+no real Christianity in the world,--nothing but organized selfishness
+and self-indulgence."
+
+"My dear," said Mrs. Crowfield, "you are not well to-night. Things are
+not quite so desperate as they appear. You haven't got over
+Christmas-week."
+
+"I am well. Never was better. But I can see, I hope, what's before my
+eyes; and the fact is, Mrs. Crowfield, things must not go on as they are
+going. There must be more care, more attention to details. There's
+Maggie,--that girl never does what she is told. You are too slack with
+her, Ma'am. She will light the fire with the last paper, and she won't
+put my slippers in the right place; and I can't have my study made the
+general catch-all and menagerie for Rover and Jennie, and her baskets
+and balls, and for all the family litter."
+
+Just at this moment I overheard a sort of aside from Jennie, who was
+swelling with repressed indignation at my attack on her worsted. She sat
+with her back to me, knitting energetically, and said, in a low, but
+very decisive tone, as she twitched her yarn,--
+
+"Now if _I_ should talk in that way, people would call me _cross_,--and
+that's the whole of it."
+
+I pretended to be looking into the fire in an absent-minded state; but
+Jennie's words had started a new idea. Was _that_ it? Was that the whole
+matter? Was it, then, a fact, that the house, the servants, Jennie and
+her worsteds, Rover and Mrs. Crowfield, were all going on pretty much as
+usual, and that the only difficulty was that I was _cross_? How many
+times had I encouraged Rover to lie just where he was lying when I
+kicked him! How many times, in better moods, had I complimented Jennie
+on her neat little fancy-works, and declared that I liked the social
+companionship of ladies' work-baskets among my papers! Yes, it was
+clear. After all, things were much as they had been; only I was cross.
+
+_Cross._ I put it to myself in that simple, old-fashioned word, instead
+of saying that I was out of spirits, or nervous, or using any of the
+other smooth phrases with which we good Christians cover up our little
+sins of temper. "Here you are, Christopher," said I to myself, "a
+literary man, with a somewhat delicate nervous organization and a
+sensitive stomach, and you have been eating like a sailor or a
+ploughman; you have been gallivanting and merry-making and playing the
+boy for two weeks; up at all sorts of irregular hours, and into all
+sorts of boyish performances; and the consequence is, that, like a
+thoughtless young scapegrace, you have used up in ten days the capital
+of nervous energy that was meant to last you ten weeks. You can't eat
+your cake and have it too, Christopher. When the nervous-fluid source of
+cheerfulness, giver of pleasant sensations and pleasant views, is all
+spent, you can't feel cheerful; things cannot look as they did when you
+were full of life and vigor. When the tide is out, there is nothing but
+unsightly, ill-smelling tide-mud, and you can't help it; but you can
+keep your senses,--you can know what is the matter with you,--you can
+keep from visiting your overdose of Christmas mince-pies and candies and
+jocularities on the heads of Mrs. Crowfield, Rover, and Jennie, whether
+in the form of virulent morality, pungent criticisms, or a free kick,
+such as you just gave the poor brute."
+
+"Come here, Rover, poor dog!" said I, extending my hand to Rover, who
+cowered at the farther corner of the room, eying me wistfully,--"come
+here, you poor doggie, and make up with your master. There, there! Was
+his master cross? Well, he knows it. We must forgive and forget, old
+boy, mustn't we?" And Rover nearly broke his own back and tore me to
+pieces with his tumultuous tail-waggings.
+
+"As for you, puss," I said to Jennie, "I am much obliged to you for your
+free suggestion. You must take my cynical moralities for what they are
+worth, and put your little traps into as many of my drawers as you
+like."
+
+In short, I made it up handsomely all around,--even apologizing to Mrs.
+Crowfield, who, by the bye, has summered and wintered me so many years,
+and knows all my airs and cuts and crinkles so well, that she took my
+irritable unreasonable spirit as tranquilly as if I had been a baby
+cutting a new tooth.
+
+"Of course, Chris, I knew what the matter was; don't disturb yourself,"
+she said, as I began my apology; "we understand each other. But there is
+one thing I have to say; and that is, that your article ought to be
+ready."
+
+"Ah, well, then," said I, "like other great writers, I shall make
+capital of my own sins, and treat of the second little family fox; and
+his name is--"
+
+
+IRRITABILITY.
+
+Irritability is, more than most unlovely states, a sin of the flesh. It
+is not, like envy, malice, spite, revenge, a vice which we may suppose
+to belong equally to an embodied or a disembodied spirit. In fact, it
+comes nearer to being physical depravity than anything I know of. There
+are some bodily states, some conditions of the nerves, such that we
+could not conceive of even an angelic spirit confined in a body thus
+disordered as being able to do any more than simply endure. It is a
+state of nervous torture; and the attacks which the wretched victim
+makes on others are as much a result of disease as the snapping and
+biting of a patient convulsed with hydrophobia.
+
+Then, again, there are other people who go through life loving and
+beloved, desired in every circle, held up in the church as examples of
+the power of religion, who, after all, deserve no credit for these
+things. Their spirits are lodged in an animal nature so tranquil, so
+cheerful, all the sensations which come to them are so fresh and
+vigorous and pleasant, that they cannot help viewing the world
+charitably and seeing everything through a glorified medium. The
+ill-temper of others does not provoke them; perplexing business never
+sets their nerves to vibrating; and all their lives long they walk in
+the serene sunshine of perfect animal health.
+
+Look at Rover there. He is never nervous, never cross, never snaps or
+snarls, and is ready, the moment after the grossest affront, to wag the
+tail of forgiveness,--all because kind Nature has put his dog's body
+together so that it always works harmoniously. If every person in the
+world were gifted with a stomach and nerves like his, it would be a far
+better and happier world, no doubt. The man said a good thing who made
+the remark that the foundation of all intellectual and moral worth must
+be laid in a good healthy animal.
+
+Now I think it is undeniable that the peace and happiness of the
+home-circle are very generally much invaded by the recurrence in its
+members of these states of bodily irritability. Every person, if he
+thinks the matter over, will see that his condition in life, the
+character of his friends, his estimate of their virtues and failings,
+his hopes and expectations, are all very much modified by these things.
+Cannot we all remember going to bed as very ill-used, persecuted
+individuals, all whose friends were unreasonable, whose life was full of
+trials and crosses, and waking up on a bright bird-singing morning to
+find all these illusions gone with the fogs of the night? Our friends
+are nice people, after all; the little things that annoyed us look
+ridiculous by bright sunshine; and we are fortunate individuals.
+
+The philosophy of life, then, as far as this matter is concerned, must
+consist of two things: first, to keep ourselves out of irritable bodily
+states; and, second, to understand and control these states, when we
+cannot ward them off.
+
+Of course, the first of these is the most important; and yet, of all
+things, it seems to be least looked into and understood. We find
+abundant rules for the government of the tongue and temper; it is a
+slough into which, John Bunyan hath it, cart-loads of wholesome
+instructions have been thrown; but how to get and keep that healthy
+state of brain, stomach, and nerves which takes away the temptation to
+ill-temper and anger is a subject which moral and religious teachers
+seem scarcely to touch upon.
+
+Now, without running into technical, physiological language, it is
+evident, as regards us human beings, that there is a power by which we
+live and move and have our being,--by which the brain thinks and wills,
+the stomach digests, the blood circulates, and all the different
+provinces of the little man-kingdom do their work. This something--call
+it nervous fluid, nervous power, vital energy, life-force, or anything
+else that you will--is a perfectly understood, if not a definable thing.
+It is plain, too, that people possess this force in very different
+degrees: some generating it as a high-pressure engine does steam, and
+using it constantly, with an apparently inexhaustible flow; and others
+who have little, and spend it quickly. We have a common saying, that
+this or that person is soon used up. Now most nervous, irritable states
+of temper are the mere physical result of a used-up condition. The
+person has overspent his nervous energy,--like a man who should eat up
+on Monday the whole food which was to keep him for a week, and go
+growling and faint through the other days; or the quantity of nervous
+force which was wanted to carry on the whole system in all its parts is
+seized on by some one monopolizing portion, and used up to the loss and
+detriment of the rest, Thus, with men of letters, an exorbitant brain
+expends on its own workings what belongs to the other offices of the
+body: the stomach has nothing to carry on digestion; the secretions are
+badly made; and the imperfectly assimilated nourishment, that is
+conveyed to every little nerve and tissue, carries with it an acrid,
+irritating quality, producing general restlessness and discomfort. So
+men and women go struggling on through their three-score and ten years,
+scarcely one in a thousand knowing through life that perfect balance of
+parts, that appropriate harmony of energies, that make a healthy, kindly
+animal condition, predisposing to cheerfulness and good-will.
+
+We Americans are, to begin with, a nervous, excitable people. Multitudes
+of children, probably the great majority in the upper walks of life, are
+born into the world with weaknesses of the nervous organization, or of
+the brain or stomach, which make them incapable of any strong excitement
+or prolonged exertion without some lesion or derangement; so that they
+are continually being checked, laid up, and invalided in the midst of
+their drugs. Life here in America is so fervid, so fast, our climate is
+so stimulating, with its clear, bright skies, its rapid and sudden
+changes of temperature, that the tendencies to nervous disease are
+constantly aggravated.
+
+Under these circumstances, unless men and women make a conscience, a
+religion, of saving and sparing something of themselves expressly for
+home-life and home-consumption, it must follow that home will often be
+merely a sort of refuge for us to creep into when we are used up and
+irritable.
+
+Papa is up and off, after a hasty breakfast, and drives all day in his
+business, putting into it all there is in him, letting it drink up brain
+and nerve and body and soul, and coming home jaded and exhausted, so
+that he cannot bear the cry of the baby, and the frolics and pattering
+of the nursery seem horrid and needless confusion. The little ones say,
+in their plain vernacular, "Papa is cross."
+
+Mamma goes out to a party that keeps her up till one or two in the
+morning, breathes bad air, eats indigestible food, and the next day is
+so nervous that every straw and thread in her domestic path is
+insufferable.
+
+Papas that pursue business thus day after day, and mammas that go into
+company, as it is called, night after night, what is there left in or of
+them to make an agreeable fireside with, to brighten their home and
+inspire their children?
+
+True, the man says he cannot help himself,--business requires it. But
+what is the need of rolling up money at the rate at which he is seeking
+to do it? Why not have less, and take some time to enjoy his home, and
+cheer up his wife, and form the minds of his children? Why spend himself
+down to the last drop on the world, and give to the dearest friends he
+has only the bitter dregs?
+
+Much of the preaching which the pulpit and the Church have levelled at
+fashionable amusements has failed of any effect at all, because wrongly
+put. A cannonade has been opened upon dancing, for example, and all for
+reasons that will not, in the least, bear looking into. It is vain to
+talk of dancing as a sin because practised in a dying world where souls
+are passing into eternity. If dancing is a sin for this reason, so is
+playing marbles, or frolicking with one's children, or enjoying a good
+dinner, or doing fifty other things which nobody ever dreamed of
+objecting to.
+
+If the preacher were to say that anything is a sin which uses up the
+strength we need for daily duties, and leaves us fagged out and
+irritable at just those times and in just those places when and where we
+need most to be healthy, cheerful, and self-possessed, he would say a
+thing that none of his hearers would dispute. If he should add, that
+dancing-parties, beginning at ten o'clock at night and ending at four
+o'clock in the morning, do use up the strength, weaken the nerves, and
+leave a person wholly unfit for any home duty, he would also be saying
+what very few people would deny; and then his case would be made out. If
+he should say that it is wrong to breathe bad air and fill the stomach
+with unwholesome dainties, so as to make one restless, ill-natured, and
+irritable for days after, he would also say what few would deny, and his
+preaching might have some hope of success.
+
+The true manner of judging of the worth of amusements is to try them by
+their effects on the nerves and spirits the day after. True amusement
+ought to be, as the word indicates, recreation,--something that
+refreshes, turns us out anew, rests the mind and body by change, and
+gives cheerfulness and alacrity to our return to duty.
+
+The true objection to all stimulants, alcoholic and narcotic, consists
+simply in this,--that they are a form of overdraft on the nervous
+energy, which helps us to use up in one hour the strength of whole days.
+
+A man uses up all the fair, legal interest of nervous power by too much
+business, too much care, or too much amusement. He has now a demand to
+meet. He has a complicate account to make up, an essay or a sermon to
+write, and he primes himself by a cup of coffee, a cigar, a glass of
+spirits. This is exactly the procedure of a man who, having used the
+interest of his money, begins to dip into the principal. The strength a
+man gets in this way is just so much taken out of his life-blood; it is
+borrowing of a merciless creditor, who will exact, in time, the pound of
+flesh nearest his heart.
+
+Much of the irritability which spoils home happiness is the letting-down
+from the over-excitement of stimulus. Some will drink coffee, when they
+own every day that it makes them nervous; some will drug themselves with
+tobacco, and some with alcohol, and, for a few hours of extra
+brightness, give themselves and their friends many hours when amiability
+or agreeableness is quite out of the question. There are people calling
+themselves Christians who live in miserable thraldom, forever in debt to
+Nature, forever overdrawing on their just resources, and using up their
+patrimony, because they have not the moral courage to break away from a
+miserable appetite.
+
+The same may be said of numberless indulgences of the palate, which tax
+the stomach beyond its power, and bring on all the horrors of
+indigestion. It is almost impossible for a confirmed dyspeptic to act
+like a good Christian; but a good Christian ought not to become a
+confirmed dyspeptic. Reasonable self-control, abstaining from all
+unseasonable indulgence, may prevent or put an end to dyspepsia, and
+many suffer and make their friends suffer only because they will persist
+in eating what they know is hurtful to them.
+
+But it is not merely in worldly business, or fashionable amusements, or
+the gratification of appetite, that people are tempted to overdraw and
+use up in advance their life-force. It is done in ways more insidious,
+because connected with our moral and religious faculties. There are
+religious exaltations beyond the regular pulse and beatings of ordinary
+nature, that quite as surely gravitate downward into the mire of
+irritability. The ascent to the third heaven lets even the Apostle down
+to a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him.
+
+It is the temptation of natures in which the moral faculties predominate
+to overdo in the outward expression and activities of religion till they
+are used up and irritable, and have no strength left to set a good
+example in domestic life.
+
+The Reverend Mr. X. in the pulpit to-day appears with the face of an
+angel; he soars away into those regions of exalted devotion where his
+people can but faintly gaze after him; he tells them of the victory that
+overcometh the world, of an unmoved faith that fears no evil, of a
+serenity of love that no outward event can ruffle; and all look after
+him and wonder, and wish they could so soar.
+
+Alas! the exaltation which inspires these sublime conceptions, these
+celestial ecstasies, is a double and treble draft on Nature,--and poor
+Mrs. X. knows, when she hears him preaching, that days of miserable
+reaction are before her. He has been a fortnight driving before a gale
+of strong excitement, doing all the time twice or thrice as much as in
+his ordinary state he could, and sustaining himself by the stimulus of
+strong coffee. He has preached or exhorted every night, and conversed
+with religious inquirers every day, seeming to himself to become
+stronger and stronger, because every day more and more excitable and
+excited. To his hearers, with his flushed sunken cheek and his
+glittering eye, he looks like some spiritual being just trembling on his
+flight for upper worlds; but to poor Mrs. X., whose husband he is,
+things wear a very different aspect. Her woman and mother instincts tell
+her that he is drawing on his life-capital with both hands, and that the
+hours of a terrible settlement must come, and the days of darkness will
+be many. He who spoke so beautifully of the peace of a soul made perfect
+will not be able to bear the cry of his baby or the pattering feet of
+any of the poor little Xs., who must be sent
+
+    "Anywhere, anywhere,
+    Out of his sight";
+
+he who discoursed so devoutly of perfect trust in God will be nervous
+about the butcher's bill, sure of going to ruin because both ends of the
+salary don't meet; and he who could so admiringly tell of the silence of
+Jesus under provocation will but too often speak unadvisedly with his
+lips. Poor Mr. X. will be morally insane for days or weeks, and
+absolutely incapable of preaching Christ in the way that is the most
+effective, by setting Him forth in his own daily example.
+
+What then? must we not do the work of the Lord?
+
+Yes, certainly; but the first work of the Lord, that for which provision
+is to be made in the first place, is to set a good example as a
+Christian man. Better labor for years steadily, diligently, doing every
+day only what the night's rest can repair, avoiding those cheating
+stimulants that overtax Nature, and illustrating the sayings of the
+pulpit by the daily life in the family, than to pass life in exaltations
+and depressions.
+
+The same principles apply to hearers as to preachers. Religious services
+must be judged of like amusements, by their effect on the life. If an
+overdose of prayers, hymns, and sermons leaves us tired, nervous, and
+cross, it is only not quite as bad as an overdose of fashionable folly.
+
+It could be wished that in every neighborhood there might be one or two
+calm, sweet, daily services which should morning and evening unite for a
+few solemn moments the hearts of all as in one family, and feed with a
+constant, unnoticed daily supply the lamp of faith and love. Such are
+some of the daily prayer-meetings which for eight or ten years past have
+held their even tenor in some of our New England cities, and such the
+morning and evening services which we are glad to see obtaining in the
+Episcopal churches. Everything which brings religion into habitual
+contact with life, and makes it part of a healthy, cheerful average
+living, we hail as a sign of a better day. Nothing is so good for health
+as daily devotion. It is the best soother of the nerves, the best
+antidote to care; and we trust erelong that all Christian people will be
+of one mind in this, and that neighborhoods will be families gathering
+daily around one altar, praying not for themselves merely, but for each
+other.
+
+The conclusion of the whole matter is this: Set apart some provision to
+make merry with _at home_, and guard that reserve as religiously as the
+priests guarded the shew-bread in the temple. However great you are,
+however good, however wide the general interests that you may control,
+you gain nothing by neglecting home-duties. You must leave enough of
+yourself to be able to bear and forbear, give and forgive, and be a
+source of life and cheerfulness around the hearthstone. The great sign
+given by the Prophets of the coming of the Millennium is,--what do you
+suppose?--"He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and
+the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the
+earth with a curse."
+
+Thus much on avoiding unhealthy, irritable states.
+
+But it still remains that a large number of people will be subject to
+them unavoidably for these reasons.
+
+_First._ The use of tobacco, alcohol, and other kindred stimulants, for
+so many generations, has vitiated the brain and nervous system, so that
+it is not what it was in former times. Michelet treats of this subject
+quite at large in some of his late works; and we have to face the fact
+of a generation born with an impaired nervous organization, who will
+need constant care and wisdom to avoid unhealthy, morbid irritation.
+
+There is a temperament called the HYPOCHONDRIAC, to which many persons,
+some of them the brightest, the most interesting, the most gifted, are
+born heirs,--a want of balance of the nervous powers, which tends
+constantly to periods of high excitement and of consequent
+depression,--an unfortunate inheritance for the possessor, though
+accompanied often with the greatest talents. Sometimes, too, it is the
+unfortunate lot of those who have not talents, who bear its burdens and
+its anguish without its rewards.
+
+People of this temperament are subject to fits of gloom and despondency,
+of nervous irritability and suffering, which darken the aspect of the
+whole world to them, which present lying reports of their friends, of
+themselves, of the circumstances of their life, and of all with which
+they have to do.
+
+Now the highest philosophy for persons thus afflicted is to understand
+themselves and their tendencies, to know that these fits of gloom and
+depression are just as much a form of disease as a fever or a toothache,
+to know that it is the peculiarity of the disease to fill the mind with
+wretched illusions, to make them seem miserable and unlovely to
+themselves, to make their nearest friends seem unjust and unkind, to
+make all events appear to be going wrong and tending to destruction and
+ruin.
+
+The evils and burdens of such a temperament are half removed when a man
+once knows that he has it and recognizes it for a disease, when he does
+not trust himself to speak and act in those bitter hours as if there
+were any truth in what he thinks and feels and sees. He who has not
+attained to this wisdom overwhelms his friends and his family with the
+waters of bitterness; he stings with unjust accusations, and makes his
+fireside dreadful with fancies which are real to him, but false as the
+ravings of fever.
+
+A sensible person, thus diseased, who has found out what ails him, will
+shut his mouth resolutely, not to give utterance to the dark thoughts
+that infest his soul.
+
+A lady of great brilliancy and wit, who was subject to these periods,
+once said to me, "My dear Sir, there are times when I know I am
+possessed of the Devil, and then I never let myself speak." And so this
+wise woman carried her burden about with her in a determined, cheerful
+reticence, leaving always the impression of a cheery, kindly temper,
+when, if she had spoken out a tithe of what she thought and felt in her
+morbid hours, she would have driven all her friends from her, and made
+others as miserable as she was herself. She was a sunbeam, a life-giving
+presence in every family, by the power of self-knowledge and
+self-control.
+
+Such victories as this are the victories of real saints.
+
+But if the victim of these glooms is once tempted to lift their heavy
+load by the use of _any stimulus whatever_, he or she is a lost man or
+woman. It is from this sad class more than any other that the vast army
+of drunkards and opium-eaters is recruited. The hypochondriacs belong to
+the class so well described by that brilliant specimen of them, Dr.
+Johnson,--those who can practise ABSTINENCE, but not TEMPERANCE. They
+cannot, they will not be moderate. Whatever stimulant they take for
+relief will create an uncontrollable appetite, a burning passion. The
+temperament itself lies in the direction of insanity. It needs the most
+healthful, careful, even regime and management to keep it within the
+bounds of soundness; but the introduction of stimulants deepens its
+gloom almost to madness.
+
+All parents, in the education of their children, should look out for and
+understand the signs of this temperament. It appears in early childhood;
+and a child inclined to fits of depression should be marked as a subject
+of the most thoughtful, painstaking physical and moral training. All
+over-excitement and stimulus should be carefully avoided, whether in the
+way of study, amusement, or diet. Judicious education may do much to
+mitigate the unavoidable pains and penalties of this most undesirable
+inheritance.
+
+The second class of persons who need wisdom in the control of their
+moods is that large class whose unfortunate circumstances make it
+impossible for them to avoid constantly overdoing and overdrawing upon
+their nervous energies, and who therefore are always exhausted and worn
+out. Poor souls, who labor daily under a burden too heavy for them, and
+whose fretfulness and impatience are looked upon with sorrow, not anger,
+by pitying angels. Poor mothers, with families of little children
+clinging round them, and a baby that never lets them sleep; hard-working
+men, whose utmost toil, day and night, scarcely keeps the wolf from the
+door; and all the hard-laboring, heavy-laden, on whom the burdens of
+life press far beyond their strength.
+
+There are but two things we know of for these,--two only remedies for
+the irritation that comes of these exhaustions: the habit of silence
+towards men, and of speech towards God. The heart must utter itself or
+burst; but let it learn to commune constantly and intimately with One
+always present and always sympathizing. This is the great, the only
+safeguard against fretfulness and complaint. Thus and thus only can
+peace spring out of confusion, and the breaking chords of an overtaxed
+nature be strung anew to a celestial harmony.
+
+
+
+
+THE POPULAR LECTURE.
+
+
+The popular lecture, in the Northern States of America, has become, in
+Yankee parlance, "an institution"; and it has attained such prevalence
+and power that it deserves more attention and more respect from those
+who assume the control of the motive influences of society than it has
+hitherto received. It has been the habit of certain literary men, (more
+particularly of such as do not possess a gift for public speech,) and of
+certain literary magazines, (managed by persons of delicate habit and
+weak lungs,) to regard and to treat the popular lecture with a measure
+of contempt. For the last fifteen years the downfall of what has been
+popularly denominated "The Lecture System" has been confidently
+predicted by those who, granting them the wisdom which they assume,
+should have been so well acquainted with its nature and its adaptation
+to a permanent popular want as to see that it must live and thrive until
+something more practicable can be contrived to take its place. If
+anything more interesting, cheaper, simpler, or more portable can be
+found than a vigorous man, with a pleasant manner, good voice, and
+something to say, then the popular lecture will certainly be superseded;
+but the man who will invent this substitute is at present engaged on a
+new order of architecture and the problem of perpetual motion, with such
+prospect of full employment for the present as will give "the lecture
+system" sufficient time to die gracefully. An institution which can
+maintain its foothold in the popular regard throughout such a war as has
+challenged the interest and taxed the energies of this nation during the
+last three years is one which will not easily die; and the history of
+the popular lecture proves, that, wherever it has been once established,
+it retains its place through all changes of social material and all
+phases of political and religious influence. Circumstances there may be
+which will bring intermissions in its yearly operations; but no instance
+can be found of its permanent relinquishment by a community which has
+once enjoyed its privileges, and acquired a taste for the food and
+inspiration which it furnishes.
+
+An exposition of the character of the popular lecture, the machinery by
+which it is supported, and the results which it aims at and
+accomplishes, cannot be without interest to thoughtful readers.
+
+What is the popular lecture in America? It will not help us in this
+inquest to refer to a dictionary; for it is not necessary that the
+performance which Americans call a lecture should be an instructive
+discourse at all. A lecture before the Young Men's Associations and
+lecture organizations of the country is any characteristic utterance of
+any man who speaks in their employment. The word "lecture" covers
+generally generically all the orations, declamations, dissertations,
+exhortations, recitations, humorous extravaganzas, narratives of travel,
+harangues, sermons, semi-sermons, demi-semi-sermons, and lectures
+proper, which can be crowded into what is called "a course," but which
+might be more properly called a bundle, the bundle depending for its
+size upon the depth of the managerial purse. Ten or twelve lectures are
+the usual number, although in some of the larger cities, beginning early
+in "the lecture season," and ending late, the number given may reach
+twenty.
+
+The machinery for the management and support of these lectures is as
+simple as possible, the lecturers themselves having nothing to do with
+it. There are library associations or lyceum associations, composed
+principally of young men, in all the cities and large villages, which
+institute and manage courses of lectures every winter, for the double
+purpose of interesting and instructing the public and replenishing their
+treasury. The latter object, it must be confessed, occupies the
+principal place, although, as it depends for its attainment on the
+success of the former, the public is as well served as if its
+entertainment were alone consulted. In the smaller towns there are
+usually temporary associations, organized for the simple purpose of
+obtaining lecturers and managing the business incident to a course. Not
+unfrequently, ten, twenty, or thirty men pledge themselves to make up
+any deficiency there may be in the funds required for the season's
+entertainments, and place the management in the hands of a committee.
+Sometimes two or three persons call themselves a lecture-committee, and
+employ lecturers, themselves risking the possible loss, and dividing
+among themselves any profits which their course may produce. The
+opposition or independent courses in the larger cities are often
+instituted by such organizations,--sometimes, indeed, by a single
+person, who has a natural turn for this sort of enterprise. The
+invitations to lecturers are usually sent out months in advance, though
+very few courses are definitely provided for and arranged before the
+first of November. The fees of lecturers range from fifty to a hundred
+dollars. A few uniformly command the latter sum, and lecture-committees
+find it for their interest to employ them. It is to be presumed that the
+universal rise of prices will change these figures somewhat.
+
+The popular lecture is the most purely democratic of all our democratic
+institutions. The people hear a second time only those who interest
+them. If a lecturer cannot engage the interest of his audience, his fame
+or greatness or learning will pass for nothing. A lecture-audience will
+forgive extravagance, but never dulness. They will give a man one chance
+to interest them, and if he fails, that is the last of him. The
+lecture-committees understand this, and gauge the public taste or the
+public humor as delicately as the most accomplished theatrical manager.
+The man who receives their invitation may generally be certain that the
+public wish either to see or hear him. Popularity is the test. Only
+popularity after trial, or notoriety before, can draw houses. Only
+popularity and notoriety can pay expenses and swell the balance of
+profit. Notoriety in the various walks of life and the personal
+influence of friends and admirers can usually secure a single hearing,
+but no outside influence can keep a lecturer permanently in the field.
+If the people "love to hear" him, he can lecture from Maine to
+California six months in the year; if not, he cannot get so much as a
+second invitation.
+
+One of the noticeable features of the public humor in this matter is the
+aversion to professional lecturers,--to those who make lecturing a
+business, with no higher aim than that of getting a living. No calling
+or profession can possibly be more legitimate than that of the lecturer;
+there is nothing immodest or otherwise improper in the advertisement of
+a man's literary wares; yet it is true, beyond dispute, that the public
+do not regard with favor those who make lecturing their business,
+particularly if they present themselves uninvited. So well is this
+understood by this class of lecturers that a part of their machinery
+consists of invitations numerously signed, which invitations are written
+and circulated by themselves, their interested friends, or their
+authorized agents, and published as their apology for appearing. A man
+who has no other place in the world than that which he makes for himself
+on the platform is never a popular favorite, unless he uses the platform
+for the advocacy of some great philanthropic movement or reform, into
+which he throws unselfishly the leading efforts of his life. Referring
+to the history of the last twenty years, it will readily be seen that
+those who have undertaken to make lecturing a business, without side
+pursuit or superior aim, are either retired from the field or are very
+low in the public favor. The public insist, that, in order to be an
+acceptable lecturer, a man must be something else, that he must begin
+and remain something else; and it will be found to-day that those only
+who work worthily in other fields have a permanent hold upon the
+affections of lecture-going people. It is the public judgment or caprice
+that the work of the lecturer shall be incidental to some worthy
+pursuit, from which that work temporarily calls him. There seems to be a
+kind of coquetry in this. The public do not accept of those who are too
+openly in the market or who are too easily won. They prefer to entice a
+man from his chosen love, and account his favors sweeter because the
+wedded favorite is deprived of them.
+
+A lecturer's first invitation, in consonance with these facts, is almost
+always suggested by his excellence or notoriety in some department of
+life that may or may not be allied to the platform. If a man makes a
+remarkable speech, he is very naturally invited to lecture; but he is no
+more certain to be invited than he who wins a battle. A showman gets his
+first invitation for the same reason that an author does,--because he is
+notorious. Nearly all new men in the lecture-field are introduced
+through the popular desire to see notorious or famous people. A man
+whose name is on the popular tongue is a man whom the popular eye
+desires to see. Such a man will always draw one audience; and a single
+occasion is all that he is engaged for. After getting a place upon the
+platform, it is for him to prove his power to hold it. If he does not
+lecture as well as he writes, or fights, or walks, or lifts, or leaps,
+or hunts lions, or manages an exhibition, or plays a French horn, or
+does anything which has made him a desirable man for curious people to
+see, then he makes way for the next notoriety. Very few courses of
+lectures are delivered in the cities and larger villages that do not
+present at least one new man, who is invited simply because people are
+curious to see him. The popular desire is strong to come in some way
+into personal contact with those who do remarkable things. They cannot
+be chased in the street; they can be seen only to a limited extent in
+the drawing-room; but it is easy to pay twenty-five cents to hear them
+lecture, with the privilege of looking at them for an hour and
+criticizing them for a week.
+
+It is a noteworthy fact, in this connection, that, while there are
+thousands of cultivated men who would esteem it a privilege to lecture
+for the lecturer's usual fee, there are hardly more than twenty-five in
+the country whom the public considers it a privilege worth paying for to
+hear. It is astonishing, that, in a country so fertile as this in the
+production of gifted and cultivated men, so few find it possible to
+establish themselves upon the platform as popular favorites. If the
+accepted ones were in a number of obvious particulars alike, there could
+be some intelligent generalizing upon the subject; but men possessing
+fewer points of resemblance, or presenting stronger contrasts, in style
+of person and performance, than the established favorites of
+lecture-going people, cannot be found in the world; and if any
+generalization be attempted, it must relate to matters below the surface
+and beyond the common apprehension. It is certain that not always the
+greatest or the most brilliant or the most accomplished men are to be
+found among the popular lecturers. A man may make a great, even a
+brilliant speech on an important public question, and be utterly dreary
+in the lecture-room. There are multitudes of eloquent clergymen who in
+their pulpits command the attention of immense congregations, yet who
+meet with no acknowledgment of power upon the platform.
+
+In a survey of those who are the established favorites, it will be found
+that there are no slaves among them. The people will not accept those
+who are creed-bound, or those who bow to any authority but God and
+themselves. They insist that those who address them shall be absolutely
+free, and that they shall speak only for themselves. Party and sectarian
+spokesmen find no permanent place upon the platform. It is only when a
+lecturer cuts loose from all his conventional belongings, and speaks
+with thought and tongue unfettered, that he finds his way to the popular
+heart. This freedom has sometimes been considered dangerous by the more
+conservative members of society; and they have not unfrequently managed
+to get the lectures into their own hands, or to organize courses
+representing more moderate views in matters of society, politics, and
+religion; but their efforts have uniformly proved failures. The people
+have always refused to support lectures which brought before them the
+bondmen of creeds and parties. Year after year men have been invited to
+address audiences three fourths of whom disagreed utterly with the
+sentiments and opinions which it was well understood such men would
+present, simply because they were free men, with minds of their own and
+tongues that would speak those minds or be dumb. Names could be
+mentioned of those who for the last fifteen years have been established
+favorites in communities which listened to them respectfully, nay,
+applauded them warmly, and then abused them for the remainder of the
+year.
+
+It is not enough, however, that a lecturer be free. He must have
+something fresh to say, or a fresh and attractive way of saying that
+which is not altogether new. Individuality, and a certain personal
+quality which, for lack of a better name, is called magnetism, are also
+essential to the popular lecturer. People desire to be moved, to be
+acted upon by a strong and positive nature. They like to be furnished
+with fresh ideas, or with old ideas put into a fresh and practical form,
+so that they can be readily apprehended and appropriated.
+
+And here comes the grand difficulty which every lecturer encounters, and
+over which so many stumble into failure,--that of interesting and
+refreshing men and women of education and culture, and, at the same
+time, of pleasing, moving, and instructing those of feebler acquirements
+or no acquirements at all. Most men of fine powers fail before a popular
+audience, because they do not fully apprehend the thing to be done. They
+almost invariably write above the level of one half of their audience,
+and below the level of the other half. In either event, they fail, and
+have the mortification of seeing others of inferior gifts succeed
+through a nicer adaptation of their literary wares to the wants of the
+market. Much depends upon the choice of a subject. If that be selected
+from those which touch universal interests and address common motives,
+half the work is done. A clear, simple, direct style of composition, apt
+illustration, (and the power of this is marvellous,) and a distinct and
+pleasant delivery, will do much to complete the success.
+
+It is about equally painful and amusing to witness the efforts which
+some men make to write down to the supposed capacity of a popular
+audience. The puerilities and buffooneries that are sometimes undertaken
+by these men, for the purpose of conciliating the crowd, certainly amuse
+the crowd, and so answer their end, though not in a way to bring
+reputation to the actors. No greater mistake can possibly be made than
+that of regarding an American lecture-going audience with contempt.
+There is no literary tribunal in this country that can more readily and
+justly decide whether a man has anything to say, and can say it well,
+than a lecture-audience in one of the smaller cities and larger
+villages of the Northern States. It is quite common to suppose that a
+Western audience demands a lower grade of literary effort, and a rougher
+style of speech, than an Eastern audience. Indeed, there are those who
+suppose that a lecture which would fully meet the demands of an average
+Eastern audience would be beyond the comprehension of an average Western
+audience; but the lecturer who shall accept any such assumption as this
+will find himself very unpleasantly mistaken. At the West, the lecture
+is both popular and fashionable, and the best people attend it. A
+lecturer may always be certain, then, that the best he can do will be
+thoroughly appreciated. The West is not particularly tolerant of dull
+men; but if a man be alive, he will find a market there for the best
+thought he produces.
+
+In the larger cities of the East, the opera, the play, the frequent
+concert, the exhibition, the club-house, the social assembly, and a
+variety of public gatherings and public excitements, take from the
+lecture-audiences the class that furnishes the best material in the
+smaller cities; so that a lecturer rarely or never sees his best
+audiences in New York, or Boston, or Philadelphia.
+
+Another requisite to popularity upon the platform is earnestness. Those
+who imagine that a permanent hold upon the people can be obtained by
+amusing them are widely mistaken. The popular lecture has fallen into
+disrepute with many worthy persons in consequence of the admission of
+buffoons and triflers to the lecturer's platform; and it is an evil
+which ought to be remedied. It is an evil, indeed, which is slowly
+working its own remedy. It is a disgraceful fact, that, in order to draw
+together crowds of people, men have been admitted to the platform whose
+notoriety was won by the grossest of literary charlatanism,--men whose
+only hold upon the public was gained by extravagances of thought and
+expression which would compromise the dignity and destroy the
+self-respect of any man of character and common sense. It is not enough
+that these persons quickly disgust their audiences, and have a brief
+life upon the list. They ought never to be introduced to the public as
+lecturers; and any momentary augmentation of receipts that may be
+secured from the rabble by the patronage of such mountebanks is more
+than lost by the disgrace they bring and the damage they do to what is
+called "The Lecture System." It is an insult to any lyceum-audience to
+suppose that it can have a strong and permanent interest in a trifler;
+and it is a gross injustice to every respectable lecturer in the field
+to introduce into his guild men who have no better motive and no higher
+mission than the stage-clown and the negro-minstrel.
+
+But the career of triflers is always short. Only he who feels that he
+has something to do in making the world wiser and better, and who, in a
+bold and manly way, tries persistently to do it, is always welcome; and
+this fact--an incontrovertible one--is a sufficient vindication of the
+popular lecture from all the aspersions that have been cast upon it by
+disappointed aspirants for its honors, and shallow observers of its
+tendencies and results.
+
+The choice of a subject has already been spoken of as a matter of
+importance, and a word should be said touching its manner of treatment.
+This introduces a discussion of the kind of lecture which at the present
+time is mainly in demand. Many wise and good men have questioned the
+character of the popular lecture. In their view, it does not add
+sufficiently to the stock of popular knowledge. The results are not
+solid and tangible. They would prefer scientific, or historical, or
+philosophical discourses. This conviction is so strong with these men,
+and the men themselves are so much respected, that the people are
+inclined to coincide with them in the matter of theory, while at the
+same time they refuse to give their theory practical entertainment. One
+reason why scientific and historical lectures are not popular is to be
+found in the difficulty of obtaining lecturers who have sufficient
+ingenuity and enthusiasm to make such lectures interesting. The number
+of men in the United States who can make such lectures attractive to
+popular audiences can be counted on the fingers of a single hand. We
+have had but one universally popular lecturer on astronomy in twenty
+years, and he is now numbered among the precious sacrifices of the war.
+There is only one entirely acceptable popular lecturer on the natural
+sciences in New England; and what is he among so many?
+
+But this class of lectures has not been widely successful, even under
+the most favorable circumstances, and with the very best lecturers; and
+it is to be observed, that they grow less successful with the increasing
+intelligence of the people. In this fact is to be found an entirely
+rational and competent explanation of their failure. The schools have
+done so much toward popularizing science, and the circulating-library
+has rendered so familiar the prominent facts of history, that men and
+women do not go to the lecture to learn, and, as far as any appreciably
+practical benefit is concerned, do not need to go. It is only when some
+eminent enthusiast in these walks of learning consents to address them
+that they come out, and then it is rather to place themselves under the
+influence of his personality than to acquire the knowledge which he
+dispenses. Facts, if they are identified in any special way with the
+experience and life of the lecturer, are always acceptable; but facts
+which are recorded in books find a poor market in the popular
+lecture-room. Thus, while purely historical and scientific lectures are
+entirely neglected, narratives of personal travel, which, combine much
+of historical and scientific interest, have been quite popular, and,
+indeed, have been the specialties of more than one of the most popular
+of American lecturers, whose names will be suggested at once by this
+statement.
+
+Twenty years ago the first popular lectures on anatomy and physiology
+were given, and a corps of lecturers came up and swept over the whole
+country, with much of interest and instruction to the people and no
+small profit to themselves. These lectures called the attention of
+educators to these sciences. Text-books for schools and colleges were
+prepared, and anatomy and physiology became common studies for the
+young. In various ways, through school-books and magazines and
+newspapers, there has accumulated a stock of popular knowledge of these
+sciences, and an apprehension of the limit of their practical
+usefulness, which have quite destroyed the demand for lectures upon
+them. Though a new generation has risen since the lecture on anatomy and
+physiology was the rage, no leaner field could possibly be found than
+that which the country now presents to the popular lecturer on these
+sciences. These facts are interesting in themselves, and they serve to
+illustrate the truth of that which has been stated touching lectures
+upon general historical and scientific subjects.
+
+For facts alone the modern American public does not go hungry. American
+life is crowded with facts, to which the newspaper gives daily record
+and diffusion. Ideas, motives, thoughts, these are always in demand. Men
+wish for nothing more than to know how to classify their facts, what to
+do with them, how to govern them, and how far to be governed by them;
+and the man who takes the facts with which the popular life has come
+into contact and association, and draws from them their nutritive and
+motive power, and points out their relations to individual and universal
+good, and organizes around them the popular thought, and uses them to
+give direction to the popular life, and does all this with masterly
+skill, is the man whose houses are never large enough to contain those
+who throng to hear him. This is the popular lecturer, _par excellence_.
+The people have an earnest desire to know what a strong, independent,
+free man has to say about those facts which touch the experience, the
+direction, and the duty of their daily life; and the lecturer who with
+a hearty human sympathy addresses himself to this desire, and enters
+upon the service with genuine enthusiasm, wins the highest reward there
+is to be won in his field of effort.
+
+The more ill-natured critics of the popular lecturer have reflected with
+ridicule upon his habit of repetition, A lecturer in full employment
+will deliver the same discourse perhaps fifty or a hundred times in a
+single season. There are probably half a dozen favorite lectures which
+have been delivered from two hundred to five hundred times within the
+last fifteen years. It does, indeed, at first glance, seem ridiculous
+for a man to stand, night after night, and deliver the same words, with
+the original enthusiasm apparently at its full height; and some
+lecturers, with an extra spice of mirthfulness in their composition,
+have given public record of their impressions in this respect. There
+are, however, certain facts to be considered which at least relieve him
+from the charge of literary sterility. A lecture often becomes famous,
+and is demanded by each succeeding audience, whatever the lecturer's
+preferences may be. There are lectures called for every year by
+audiences and committees which the lecturer would be glad never to see
+again, and which he never would see again, if he were to consult his own
+judgment alone. Then the popular lecturer, as has been already
+intimated, is usually engaged during two thirds of the year in some
+business or profession whose duties forbid the worthy preparation of
+more than one discourse for winter use. Then, if he has numerous
+engagements, he has neither time nor strength to do more than his
+nightly work; for, among all the pursuits in which literary men engage,
+none is more exhaustive in its demands upon the nervous energy than that
+of constant lecturing. The fulfilment of from seventy-five to ninety
+engagements involves, in round numbers, ten thousand miles of
+railroad-travel, much of it in the night, and all of it during the most
+unpleasant season of the year. There is probably nothing short of a
+military campaign that is attended by so many discomforts and genuine
+hardships as a season of active lecturing. Unless a man be young and
+endowed with an extraordinary amount of vital power, he becomes entirely
+unfitted by his nightly work, and the dissipation consequent upon
+constant change of scene, for consecutive thought and elaborate
+composition.
+
+It is fortunate for the lecturer that there is no necessity for variety.
+The oft-repeated lecture is new to each new audience, and, being
+thoroughly in hand, and entirely familiar, is delivered with better
+effect than if the speaker were frequently choosing from a
+well-furnished repertory. It is popularly supposed that a lecturer loses
+all interest in a performance which he repeats so many times. This
+supposition is correct, in certain aspects of the matter, but not in any
+sense which detracts from his power to make it interesting to others. It
+is the general experience of lecturers, that, until they have delivered
+a discourse from ten to twenty times, they are themselves unable to
+measure its power; so that a performance which is offered at first
+timidly and with many doubts comes at length to be delivered
+confidently, and with measurable certainty of acceptance and success.
+The grand interest of a lecturer is in his new audience, in his
+experiment on an assembly of fresh minds. The lecture itself is regarded
+only as an instrument by which a desirable and important result is to be
+achieved; and familiarity with it, and steady use in its elocutionary
+handling, are conditions of the best success. Having selected the
+subject which, at the time, and for the times, he considers freshest and
+most fruitful, and with thorough care written out all he has to say upon
+it, there is no call for recurrence to minor themes, either as regards
+the credit of the lecturer or the best interests of those whom he
+addresses.
+
+What good has the popular lecture accomplished? Its most enthusiastic
+advocates will not assert that it has added greatly to the stock of
+popular knowledge, in science or art, in history, philosophy, or
+literature; yet the most modest of them may claim that it has bestowed
+upon American society a permanent good of incalculable value. The
+relentless foe of all bigotry in politics and religion, the constant
+opponent of every form of bondage to party and sect, the practical
+teacher of the broadest toleration of individual opinion, it has had
+more to do with the steady melioration of the prejudices growing out of
+denominational interests in Church and State than any other agency
+whatever. The platform of the lecture-hall has been common ground for
+the representatives of all our social, political, and religious
+organizations. It is there that orthodox and heterodox, progressive and
+conservative, have won respect for themselves and toleration for their
+opinions by the demonstration of their own manhood, and the recognition
+of the common human brotherhood; for one has only to prove himself a
+true man, and to show a universal sympathy with men, to secure popular
+toleration for any opinion he may hold. Hardly a decade has passed away
+since, in nearly every Northern State, men suffered social depreciation
+in consequence of their political and religious opinions. Party and
+sectarian names have been freely used as reproachful and even as
+disgraceful epithets. To call a man by the name which he had chosen as
+the representative of his political or religious opinions was considered
+equivalent to calling him a knave or a fool; and if it happened that he
+was in the minority, his name alone was regarded as the stamp of social
+degradation. Now, thanks to the influence of the popular lecture mainly,
+men have made, and are rapidly making, room for each other. A man may be
+in the minority now without consequently being in personal disgrace. Men
+of liberal and even latitudinarian views are generously received in
+orthodox communities, and those of orthodox faith are gladly welcomed by
+men who subscribe to a shorter creed and bear a broader charter of life
+and liberty. There certainly has never been a time in the history of
+America when there was such generous and general toleration of all men
+and all opinions as now; and as the popular lecture has been universal,
+with a determined aim and a manifest influence toward this end, it is
+but fair to claim for it a prominent agency in the result.
+
+Another good which may be counted among the fruits of the popular
+lecture is the education of the public taste in intellectual amusements.
+The end which the lecture-goer seeks is not always improvement, in any
+respect. Multitudes of men and women have attended the lecture to be
+interested, and to be interested intellectually is to be intellectually
+amused. Lecturers who have appealed simply to the emotional nature,
+without attempting to engage the intellect, have ceased to be popular
+favorites. So far as the popular lecture has taken hold of the
+affections of a community, and secured its constant support, it has
+destroyed the desire for all amusements of a lower grade; and it will be
+found, that, generally, those who attend the lecture rarely or never
+give their patronage and presence to the buffooneries of the day. They
+have found something better,--something with more of flavor in the
+eating, with more of nutriment in the digestion. How great a good this
+is those only can judge who realize that men will have amusements of
+some sort, and that, if they cannot obtain such as will elevate them,
+they will indulge in such as are frivolous and dissipating. The lecture
+does quite as much for elevated amusement out of the hall as in it. The
+quickening social influence of an excellent lecture, particularly in a
+community where life flows sluggishly and all are absorbed in manual
+labor, is as remarkable as it is beneficent. The lecture and the
+lecturer are the common topics of discussion for a week, and the
+conversation which is so apt to cling to health and the weather is
+raised above the level of commonplace.
+
+Notwithstanding the fact that a moiety, or a majority, of the popular
+lecturers are clergymen, the lecture has not always received the favor
+of the cloth. Indeed, there has often been private and sometimes public
+complaint on the part of preachers, that the finished productions of the
+lecturer, the results of long and patient elaboration, rendered doubly
+attractive by a style of delivery to be won only by frequent repetition
+of the same discourse, have brought the hastily prepared and plainly
+presented Sunday sermon into an unjust and damaging comparison. The
+complaint is a strange one, particularly as no one has ever claimed that
+the highest style of eloquence or the most remarkable models of rhetoric
+are to be found in the lecture-hall. There has, at least, been no
+general conviction that a standard of excellence in English and its
+utterance has been maintained there too high for the comfort and credit
+of the pulpit. It is possible, therefore, that the pulpit betrays its
+weak point, and needs the comparison which it deprecates. A man of
+brains will gratefully receive suggestions from any quarter. That
+impulses to a more familiar and direct style of sermonizing, a brighter
+and better elocution, and a bolder utterance of personal convictions,
+have come to the pulpit from the platform, there is no question. This
+feeling on the part of preachers is by no means universal, however; for
+some of them have long regarded the lecture with contempt, and have
+sometimes resented it as an impertinence. And it may be (for there shall
+be no quarrel in the matter) that lecturers are quacks, and that
+lectures, like homoeopathic remedies, are very contemptible things; but
+they have pleasantly modified the doses of the old practice, however
+slow the doctors are to confess it; and so much, at least, may be
+counted among the beneficent results of the system under discussion.
+
+Last in the brief enumeration of the benefits of the popular lecture, it
+has been the devoted, consistent, never tiring champion of universal
+liberty. If the popular lecturer has not been a power in this nation for
+the overthrow of American Slavery,--for its overthrow in the
+conscientious convictions and the legal and conventional fastnesses of
+the nation,--then have the friends of oppression grossly lied; for none
+have received their malicious and angry objurgations more unsparingly
+than our plain-speaking gentleman who makes his yearly circuit among the
+lyceums. No champion of slavery, no advocate of privilege, no apologist
+for systematized and legalized wrong has ever been able to establish
+himself as a popular lecturer. The people may listen respectfully to
+such a man once; but, having heard him, they drop him forever. In truth,
+a man cannot be a popular lecturer who does not plant himself upon the
+eternal principles of justice. He must be a democrat, a believer in and
+an advocate of the equal rights of men. A slavery-loving,
+slavery-upholding lecturer would be just as much of an anomaly as a
+slavery-loving and slavery-singing poet. The taint so vitiates the whole
+aesthetic nature, so poisons the moral sense, so palsies the finer
+powers, so destroys all true sympathy with universal humanity, that the
+composition of an acceptable lecture becomes impossible to the man who
+bears it. The popular lecture, as it has been described in this article,
+has never existed at the South, and could not be tolerated there. Until
+within three years it has never found opportunity for utterance in the
+capital of the nation; but where liberty goes, it makes its way, and
+helps to break the way for liberty everywhere.
+
+It is a noteworthy fact, that the popular lecturer, though the devoted
+advocate of freedom to the slave, has rarely been regarded as either a
+trustworthy or an important man in the party which has represented his
+principles in this country. He has always been too free to be a
+partisan, too radical and intractable for a party seeking power or
+striving to preserve it. No party of any considerable magnitude has ever
+regarded him as its expositor. A thousand times have party-speakers and
+party-organs, professing principles identical with his own, washed their
+hands of all responsibility for his utterances. Even now, when the
+sound of falling shackles is in the air, and the smoke of the torment of
+the oppressor fills the sky, old partisans of freedom cannot quite
+forget their stupid and hackneyed animosities, but still bemoan the
+baleful influence of this fiery itinerant. Representative of none but
+himself, disowned or hated by all parties, acknowledging responsibility
+to God and his own conscience only, he has done his work, and done it
+well,--done it amid careful questionings and careless curses,--done it,
+and been royally paid for it, when speakers who fairly represented the
+political and religious prejudices of the people could not have called
+around them a baker's dozen, with tickets at half-price or at no price
+at all.
+
+When the cloud which now envelops the country shall gather up its
+sulphurous folds and roll away, tinted in its retiring by the smile of
+God beaming from a calm sky upon a nation redeemed to freedom and
+justice, and the historian, in the light of that smile, shall trace home
+to their fountains the streams of influence and power which will then
+join to form the river of the national life, he will find one, starting
+far inland among the mountains, longer than the rest and mightier than
+most, and will recognize it as the confluent outpouring of living,
+Christian speech, from ten thousand lecture-platforms, on which free men
+stood and vindicated the right of man to freedom.
+
+
+
+
+THE HOUR OF VICTORY.
+
+
+    Meridian moments! grandly given
+    To cheer the warrior's soul from heaven!
+    God's ancient boon, vouchsafed to those
+    Who battle long with Freedom's foes,--
+    Oh, what in life can claim the power
+    To match with that divinest hour?
+
+    I see the avenging angel wave
+    His banner o'er the embattled brave;
+    I hear above Hate's trumpet-blare
+    The shout that rends the smoking air,
+    And then I know at whose command
+    The victor sweeps the Rebel land!
+
+    Enduring Valor lifts his head
+    To count the flying and the dead;
+    Returning Virtue still maintains
+    The right to break unhallowed chains;
+    While sacred Justice, born of God,
+    Walks regnant o'er the bleeding sod.
+
+
+
+
+THE CAUSES OF FOREIGN ENMITY TO THE UNITED STATES.
+
+
+The hostility of foreign governments to the United States is due as much
+at least to dread of their growing power as dislike of their democracy;
+and accordingly the theory of the Secessionists as to the character of
+our Union has been as acceptable to the understandings of our foreign
+enemies as the acts of the Rebels against its government have been
+pleasing to their sympathies. They well know that a union of States
+whose government recognized the right of Secession would be as weak as
+an ordinary league between independent sovereignties; and as the rapid
+growth of the States in population, wealth, and power is certain, they
+naturally desire, that, if united, these States shall be an aggregation
+of forces, neutralizing each other, rather than a fusion of forces,
+which, for general purposes, would make them a giant nationality.
+Accordingly, centralized France reads to us edifying homilies on the
+advantages of disintegration; and England, rich with the spoils of
+suppressed insurrections, adjures us most plaintively to respect the
+sacred rights of rebellion. The simple explanation of this hypocrisy or
+irony is, that both France and England are anxious that the strength of
+the United States shall not correspond to their bulk. The looser the tie
+of union, the greater the number of confederacies into which the nation
+should split, the safer they would feel. The doctrine of the inherent
+and undivided sovereignty of the States will therefore find resolute
+champions abroad as long as it has the most inconsiderable faction to
+support it at home.
+
+The European nations are kept in order by what is called the Balance of
+Power, and this policy they would delight to see established on this
+continent. Should the different States of the American Union be
+occupied, like the European states, in checking each other, they could
+not act as a unit, and their terrific rate of growth in wealth and
+population, as compared with that of the nations across the Atlantic,
+would not excite in the latter such irritation and alarm. The magic
+which has changed English abolitionists into partisans of slaveholders,
+and French imperialists into champions of insurrection, came from the
+figures of the Census Reports. It is calculated that the United States,
+if the rate of growth which obtained between 1850 and 1860 is continued,
+will have, forty years hence, a hundred millions of inhabitants, and
+four hundred and twenty thousand millions of dollars of taxable
+wealth,--over three times the present population, and over ten times the
+present wealth, of the richest of European nations. It is probable that
+this concrete fact exerts more influence on the long-headed statesmen of
+Europe than any abstract dislike of democracy. The only union which they
+could bring against such a power would be a league, a confederacy, a
+continuous and subsisting treaty, between sovereign powers. Is it
+surprising that they should wish our union to be of the same character?
+Is it surprising that the contemplation of a government, whether
+despotic or democratic, which could act directly on a hundred millions
+of people, with the supreme right of taxing property to the amount of
+four hundred and twenty billions of dollars, should fill them with
+dismay?
+
+The inherent weakness of a league, even when its general object is such
+as to influence the passions of the nations which compose it, is well
+known to all European statesmen. The various alliances against France
+show the insuperable difficulties in the way of giving to confederacies
+of sovereign states a unity and efficiency corresponding to their
+aggregate strength, and the necessity which the leaders of such
+alliances are always under of expending half their skill and energy in
+preventing the loosely compacted league from falling to pieces. The
+alliance under the lead of William III. barely sustained itself against
+Louis XIV., though William was the ablest statesman in Europe, and had
+been trained in the tactics of confederacies from his cradle. The
+alliance under the lead of Marlborough owed its measure of success to
+his infinite address and miraculous patience as much as to his
+consummate military genius; and the ignominious "secession" of England,
+in the treaty of Utrecht, ended in making it one of the most conspicuous
+examples of the weakness of such combinations. When the exceptional
+military genius, as in the case of Frederick and Napoleon, has been on
+the side of the single power assailed, the results have been all the
+more remarkable. The coalition against Frederick, the ruler of five
+millions of people, was composed of sovereigns who ruled a hundred
+millions; and at the end of seven years of war they had not succeeded in
+wringing permanently from his grasp a square mile of territory. The
+first coalitions against Napoleon resulted only in making him the master
+of Europe; and he was crushed at last merely by the dead weight of the
+nations which the senselessness of his political passions brought down
+upon his empire. Indeed, the trouble with all leagues is, that they are
+commanded, more or less, by debating-societies; and a debating-society
+is weak before a man. The Southern Confederacy is a confederacy only in
+name; for no despotism in Europe or Asia has more relentless unity of
+purpose, and in none does debate exercise less control over executive
+affairs. All the powers of the government are practically absorbed in
+Jefferson Davis, and a rebellion in the name of State Rights has ended
+in a military autocracy, in which all rights, personal and State, are
+suspended.
+
+Now, as it is impossible for European governments to combine efficiently
+against such a colossal power as the United States promise within a few
+generations to be, provided the unity of the nation is preserved with
+its growth, they naturally favor every element of disintegration which
+will reduce the separate States to the condition of European states.
+Earl Russell's famous saying, that "the North is fighting for power, the
+South for independence," is to be interpreted in this sense. What he
+overlooked was the striking fact which distinguishes the States of the
+American Republic from the states of Europe. The latter are generally
+separated by race and nationality, or, where composed of heterogeneous
+materials, are held together by military power. The people of the United
+States are homogeneous, and rapidly assimilate into American citizens
+the foreigners they so cordially welcome. No man has lifted his hand
+against the government as an Irishman, a Frenchman, a German, an
+Italian, a Dane, but only as a slaveholder, or as a citizen of a State
+controlled by slaveholders. The insurrection was started in the interest
+of an institution, and not of a race. To compare such a rebellion with
+European rebellions is to confuse things essentially distinct. The
+American government is so constituted that nobody has an interest in
+overturning it, unless his interest is opposed to that of the mass of
+the citizens with whom he is place on an equality; and hence his treason
+is necessarily a revolt against the principle of equal rights. In
+Europe, it is needless to say, every rebellion with which an American
+can sympathise is a rebellion in favor of the principle against which
+the slaveholders' rebellion is an armed protest. An insurrection in
+Russia to restore serfdom, an insurrection in Italy to restore the
+dethroned despots, an insurrection in England to restore the Stuart
+system of kingly government, an insurrection anywhere to restore what
+the progress of civilization had made contemptible or accursed, would be
+the only fit parallel to the insurrection of the Southern Confederates.
+The North is fighting for power which is its due, because it is just and
+right; the South is fighting for independence, in order to remove all
+checks on its purpose to oppress and enslave. The fact that the power
+for which the North fights is a very different thing from the power
+which a European monarchy struggles to preserve and extend, the fact
+that it is the kind of power which oppressed nationalities seek in their
+efforts for independence, only makes our foreign critics more
+apprehensive of its effects. It is a dangerous power to them, because,
+founded in the consent of the people, there is no limit to its possible
+extension, except in the madness or guilt of that portion of the people
+who are restive under the restraints of justice and impatient under the
+rule of freedom.
+
+It would be doing cruel wrong to Earl Russell's intelligence to suppose
+that he really believed what he said, when he drew a parallel between
+the American Revolution and the Rebellion of the Confederate States, and
+asserted that the right of the Southern States to secede from the
+American Union was identical with the right of the Colonies to sever
+their connection with Great Britain. We believe the Colonies were right
+in their revolt. But if the circumstances had been different,--if since
+the reign of William III. they had nominated or controlled almost every
+Prime Minister, had shaped the policy of the British Empire, had enjoyed
+not only a representation in Parliament, but in the basis of
+representation had been favored with a special discrimination in their
+favor against Kent and Yorkshire,--if both in the House of Lords and the
+House of Commons they had not only been dominant, but had treated the
+Bentincks, Cavendishes, and Russells, the Montagus, Walpoles, and Pitts,
+with overbearing insolence,--and if, after wielding power so long and so
+arrogantly, they had rebelled at the first turn in political affairs
+which seemed to indicate that they were to be reduced from a position of
+superiority to one of equality,--if our forefathers had acted after this
+wild fashion, we should not only think that the Revolution they achieved
+was altogether unjustifiable, but we should blush at the thought of
+being descended from such despot-demagogues. This is a very feeble
+statement of the case which would connect the Revolt of the American
+Colonies with the Revolt of the American Liberticides; and Earl Russell
+is too well-informed a statesman not to know that his parallel fails in
+every essential particular. He threw it out, as he threw out his
+sounding antithesis about "power" and "independence," to catch ears not
+specially blessed with brains between them.
+
+But European statesmen, in order to promote the causes of American
+dissensions, are willing not only to hazard fallacies which do not
+impose on their own understandings, but to give aid and comfort to
+iniquities which in Europe have long been antiquated. They thus tolerate
+chattel slavery, not because they sympathize with it, but because it is
+an element of disturbance in the growth of American power. Though it has
+for centuries been outgrown by the nations of Western Europe, and is
+repugnant to all their ideas and sentiments, they are willing to give it
+their moral support, provided it will break up the union of the people
+of the States, or remain as a constantly operating cause of enmity
+between the sections of a reconstructed Union. They would tolerate
+Mormonism or Atheism or Diabolism, if they thought it would have a
+similar effect; but at the same time they would not themselves legalize
+polygamy, or deny the existence of God, or inaugurate the worship of the
+Devil. Indeed, while giving slavery a politic sanction, they despise in
+their hearts the people who are so barbarous as to maintain such an
+institution; and the Southern rebel or Northern demagogue who thinks his
+championship of slavery really earns him any European respect is under
+that kind of delusion which it is always for the interest of the plotter
+to cultivate in the tool. It was common, a few years ago, to represent
+the Abolitionist as the dupe or agent of the aristocracies of Europe. It
+certainly might be supposed that persons who made this foolish charge
+were competent at least to see that the present enemy of the unity of
+the American people is the pro-slavery fanatic, and that it is on his
+knavery or stupidity that the ill-wishers to American unity now chiefly
+rely.
+
+For the war has compelled these ill-wishers to modify their most
+cherished theory of democracy in the United States. They thought that
+the marvellous energy for military combination, developed by a democracy
+suddenly emancipated from oppression, such as was presented by the
+French people in the Revolution of 1789, was not the characteristic of a
+democracy which had grown up under democratic institutions. The first
+was anarchy _plus_ the dictator; the second was merely "anarchy _plus_
+the constable." They had an obstinate prepossession, that, in a settled
+democracy like ours, the selfishness of the individual was so stimulated
+that he became incapable of self-sacrifice for the public good. The ease
+with which the government of the United States has raised men by the
+million and money by the billion has overturned this theory, and shown
+that a republic, of which individual liberty and general equality form
+the animating principles, can still rapidly avail itself of the property
+and personal service of all the individuals who compose it, and that
+self-seeking is not more characteristic of a democracy in time of peace
+than self-sacrifice is characteristic of the same democracy in time of
+war. The overwhelming and apparently unlimited power of a government
+thus _of_ the people and _for_ the people is what the war has
+demonstrated, and it very naturally excites the fear and jealousy of
+governments which are based on less firm foundations in the popular mind
+and heart and will.
+
+It is doubtless true that many candid foreign thinkers favor the
+disintegration of the American Union because they believe that the
+consolidation of its power would make it the meddlesome tyrant of the
+world. They admit that the enterprise, skill, and labor of the people,
+applied to the unbounded undeveloped resources of the country, will
+enable them to create wealth very much faster than other nations, and
+that the population, fed by continual streams of immigration, will also
+increase with a corresponding rapidity. They admit, that, if kept
+united, a few generations will be sufficient to make them the richest,
+largest, and most powerful nation in the world. But they also fear that
+this nation will be an armed and aggressive democracy, deficient in
+public reason and public conscience, disposed to push unjust claims with
+insolent pertinacity, and impelled by a spirit of propagandism which
+will continually disturb the peace of Europe. It is curious that this
+impression is derived from the actions of the government while it was
+controlled by the traitors now in rebellion against it, and from the
+professions of those Northern demagogues who are most in sympathy with
+European opinion concerning the justice and policy of the war. Mr.
+Fernando Wood, the most resolute of all the Northern advocates of peace,
+recommended from his seat in Congress but a month ago, that a compromise
+be patched up with the Rebels on the principle of sacrificing the negro,
+and then that both sections unite to seize Canada, Cuba, and Mexico. The
+kind of "democracy" which Mr. Jefferson Davis and Mr. Fernando Wood
+represent is the kind of democracy which has always been the great
+disturber of our foreign relations, and it is a democracy which will be
+rendered powerless by the triumph of the national arms. The United
+States of 1900, with their population of a hundred millions, and their
+wealth of four hundred and twenty billions, will, we believe, be a power
+for good, and not for evil. They will be strong enough to make their
+rights respected everywhere; but they will not force their ideas on
+other nations at the point of the bayonet; they will not waste their
+energies in playing the part of the armed propagandist of democratic
+opinions in Europe; and the contagion of their principles will only be
+the natural result of the example of peace, prosperity, freedom, and
+justice, which they will present to the world. In Europe, where power
+commonly exists only to be abused, this statement would be received with
+an incredulous smile; but we have no reason to doubt, that, among the
+earnest patriots who are urging on the present war for Liberty and Union
+to a victorious conclusion, it would be considered the most commonplace
+of truths.
+
+
+
+
+REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.
+
+
+     _The Seer, or Commonplaces Refreshed._ By LEIGH HUNT. In Two
+     Volumes. Boston: Roberts Brothers.
+
+Among the books most prized, in our modest private book-room, are some
+which bear the delicate and graceful autograph of Leigh Hunt, having
+floated from his deserted library to these American shores. There is the
+Apollonius from which came the text of his poem of "The Panther";--this
+is his mark against the legend, on page sixty-nine; and here is the old
+engraving of Apollonius, which he no doubt inserted as a frontispiece to
+the book. Here again is his copy of Rousseau's "Confessions," Holyoake's
+translation, annotated through and through with Hunt's humane and
+penetrating criticisms on nature with which his own had much in common,
+though purer and sweeter. This volume of Milton's "Minor Poems" was his
+also, with the rich and varied notes of Warton, the edition of whose
+literary charms he somewhere speaks with such delight. Here also is
+Forster's "Perennial Calendar," a book of rural gossip, such as Leigh
+Hunt thoroughly enjoyed; and this copy of Aubrey de Vere's Poems was a
+present from the author. Above all, perhaps, one dwells with interest on
+a volume of Hennell's "Christianity and Infidelity," riddled through and
+through by pen-and-ink underscorings, extending sometimes to every line
+upon a page. The book ends with a generous paragraph in assertion of the
+comfort and sufficiency of Natural Religion; and after it comes, written
+originally in pencil, then in ink again, always with the same firm and
+elegant handwriting, the indorsement, "Amen. So be it. L. H. July 14th,
+1857." This was written in his seventy-third year, two years before his
+death, and this must have been about the time of Hawthorne's visit to
+him. Read the "Amen" in the light of that beautiful description of
+patient and frugal old age, and it is a touching and noble memorial.
+
+Americans often fancied that they noticed something American in Leigh
+Hunt's _physique_ and manners, without knowing how near he came to
+owning a Cisatlantic birth. His mother was a Philadelphian; and his
+father, a West-Indian, resided in this country until within a few years
+of his death. It is fitting, therefore, that our publishers should keep
+his writings in the market, and this is well done in this handsome
+edition of "The Seer." These charming essays will bear preservation;
+none are more saturated with cultivated taste and literary allusion, and
+in none are more graceful pictures painted on a slighter canvas. If
+there is an occasional impression of fragility and superficiality, it is
+yet wholly in character, and seems not to interfere with the peculiar
+charm. Hunt, for instance, writes a delightful paper on the theme of
+"Cricket," without ten allusions to the game, or one indication of ever
+having stopped to watch it. He discourses deliciously upon Anacreon's
+"Tettix,"--the modern Cicada,--and then calls it a beetle. There is apt,
+indeed, to be a pervading trace of that kind of conscious effort which
+is technically called "book-making," and one certainly finds the
+entertainment a little frothy, at times, compared with the elder
+essayists. Nevertheless, Leigh Hunt's roses always bloom, his breezes
+are always "redolent of joy and youth," and his sunny spirit pervades
+even a rainy day. Chaucer and Keats never yet have found a more delicate
+or discriminating critic; and his paper on Wordsworth, beside the fine
+touches, has solider qualities that command one's admiration. The
+personal memorials of the author's literary friends have a peculiar
+charm to us in this land and generation, for whom Hazlitt and Keats are
+names almost as shadowy and romantic as Amadis or Lancelot; but best of
+all is his noble tribute to Shelley. After speaking (Vol. II. p. 38) of
+the deep philanthropy which lay beneath the apparent cynicism of
+Hazlitt, he thus continues:--"But only imagine a man who should feel
+this interest too, and be deeply amiable, and have great sufferings,
+bodily and mental, and know his own errors, and waive the claim of his
+own virtues, and manifest an unceasing considerateness of the comforts
+of those about him, in the very least as well as greatest
+things,--surviving, in the pure life of his heart, all mistake, all
+misconception, all exasperation, and ever having a soft word in his
+extremity, not only for those who consoled, but for those who distressed
+him; and imagine how we must have loved _him_. It was Mr. Shelley."
+
+Such an epitaph writes the character not only of him who receives the
+tribute, but of him who pays it. And if there ever lived a literary man
+who might fitly claim for his funeral stone the inscription, "Lord, keep
+my memory green," it was the sweet-tempered, flower-loving Leigh Hunt.
+
+
+_Christ and his Salvation._ In sermons variously related thereto. By
+HORACE BUSHNELL. New York: Charles Scribner.
+
+These sermons are distinguished from the ordinary discourses of the
+pulpit by being the product not merely of religious faith and feeling,
+but of religious genius. They embody the thought and experience of a
+life, and the ideas they inculcate are not so much the dogmas of a sect
+as the divinations of an individual. "This is Christianity as it has
+been verified in my consciousness," might be taken as the motto of the
+volume. The result is, that the collection is an addition to religious
+literature, and will be read with satisfaction for its stimulating
+effect on the religious sense by hundreds who may disagree with its
+direct teachings.
+
+The two most striking and characteristic sermons in the volume are the
+first and the last, respectively entitled, "Christ waiting to find
+Room," a masterly analysis of the worldliness of the so-called Christian
+world, and "Heaven Opened," a plea equally masterly for the existence in
+man of a supernatural sense to discern supernatural things. Between
+these come the sermons entitled, "The Gentleness of God," "The Insight
+of Love," "Salvation for the Lost Condition," "The Bad Mind makes a Bad
+Element," and "The Wrath of the Lamb," which illustrate so well the
+union in Dr. Bushnell's mind of practical sagacity and force of thought
+with keenness and reach of spiritual vision, that we select them from
+the rest as particularly worthy of the reader's attention. Indeed, to
+have written these discourses is to have done the work of a ministry.
+
+The peculiarity of the whole volume, and a singular peculiarity in a
+collection of sermons, is the absence of commonplace. The writer's
+method is to bring his mind into close contact with things instead of
+phrases,--to think round his subject, and think into his subject, and,
+if possible, think through his subject to the law on which it depends;
+and thus, when his thinking results in no novelty of view, it is still
+the indorsement of an accepted truth by a fresh perception of it. Truths
+in such a process never put on the character of truisms, but are as
+vital to the last observer as to the first. There is hardly a page in
+the volume which is not original, in the sense of recording original
+impressions of objects, individually seen, grasped, and examined. There
+are numerous originalities of a different kind, which may not be so
+pleasing to some classes of Christians,--as when he aims to show that an
+accredited spiritual form does not express a corresponding spiritual
+fact, or as when he splits some shell of creed which imprisons rather
+than embodies the kernel of faith, and lets the oppressed truth go free.
+
+This power of penetrating thought, so determined as at times to wear a
+look of doggedness,--this analysis which shrinks from no problems, which
+is provoked by obstacles into intenser effort, and which is almost
+fanatical in its desire to get at the idea and reason of everything it
+probes,--is relieved by a richly sympathetic and imaginative
+nature,--indeed, is so welded with it, that insight and analysis serve
+each other, and cool reason gives solidity to ecstatic experience.
+Perhaps as a seer Dr. Bushnell may be more certain of recognition than
+as a reasoner. Whatever may be thought of the orthodoxy of the doctrines
+he has rationalized, there can be no doubt as to the reality of the
+spiritual states he has described. His intellectual method may be wrong
+or incomplete, but it in some way enables him to reach the substance of
+Christian life and light and love and joy. There are passages in the
+volume which are all aglow with the sacred fire of that rapture which
+rewards only those souls that soar into the regions where the objects
+that kindle it abide; and this elevation which touches ecstasy, this
+effluence from the spiritual mood of the writer, is not limited to
+special bursts of eloquence, but gleams along the lines of many a
+clinching argument, and flashes out from many an uncadenced period.
+
+The style of the book is what might be expected from the character of
+the author and the processes of his thinking. The mental state dictates
+the form of the sentence and the selection of the words. Thought and
+expression, so to speak, breed in and in. There is a certain roughness
+in the strength of the man, which is ever asserting itself through his
+cultured vigor; and in the diction, rustic plainness of speech
+alternates with the nomenclature of metaphysics, rugged sense with
+lifting raptures, and curt, blunt, homely expression with vivid,
+whatever may be his form of words, he always loads them with meaning,
+and with his own meaning. He is not a fluent writer, but his resources
+of expression ever correspond to his richness of thought. And if his
+style cannot be said to bend gracefully to the variations of his
+subject, it still bends and does not break. In felicity and originality
+of epithet, the usual sign of a writer's genuineness of perception, he
+is excelled by no theologian of the time. He also has that power of
+pithy and pointed language which so condenses a statement of a fact or
+principle that it gives forth the diamond sparkle of epigram. The effect
+of wit is produced while the purpose is the gravest possible: as when he
+tells some brother religionists, who base their creeds on the hyperboles
+of Scripture, that they mistake interjections for propositions,--or as
+when he reproves those pretenders to grace who count it apparently "a
+kind of merit that they live loosely enough to make salvation by merit
+impossible."
+
+The animating spirit of the volume is a desire to bring men's minds into
+contact with what is vital in religion, and this leads to many a sharp
+comment both on the dogmatism of sects and the rationalism of critics.
+Dr. Bushnell always seeks that in religion which not merely illumines
+the mind, but invigorates the will. It is not the form of a doctrine,
+but the force in the believer, which engages his attention. In pursuing
+this method he displays alternately the qualities of an interpreter and
+of an iconoclast; but his object is the same, whether he evolves
+unexpected meanings from an accredited dogma, or assails the sense in
+which it is generally received. And so tenacious is his hold on the life
+of Christianity, and so vivid his mode of presenting it, that both
+dogmatist and rationalist must feel, in reading his volume, that he has
+given its proper prominence to much in Christianity which their methods
+tempt them to overlook.
+
+
+     _The Morrisons, a Story of Domestic Life._ By MRS. MARGARET
+     HOSMER. New York: John Bradburn.
+
+Full of improbabilities, and becoming lurid with domestic tragedies at
+the end, this story has yet a sincerity and earnestness of style that
+may entitle it to be called respectable, among the mass of American
+stories. Novels are being sold by the five thousand which have far less
+ability in characterization or in grouping. The persons remain in one's
+memory as real individuals, which is saying a good deal; the dialogue,
+though excessive in quantity, is neither tame nor flippant; and there is
+an attractive compactness in the plot, which is all comprised within one
+house in an unknown city. But this plot soon gets beyond the author's
+grasp, nevertheless; she creates individualities, and can do nothing
+with them but kill them. The defects, however, are those of
+inexperience, the merits are the author's own. The value of her next
+book will probably be in inverse ratio to the success of this: should
+this fail, she may come to something; should this succeed, there is
+small hope for her.
+
+
+     _Studies for Stories._ By JEAN INGELOW. Boston: Roberts
+     Brothers.
+
+These narratives are probably called "Studies for Stories," as the
+catalogue of the Boston Public Library is called an "Index to a
+Catalogue": this being a profession of humility, implying that a proper
+story, like a regular catalogue, should be a much more elaborate affair.
+Nevertheless, a story, even if christened a study, must be criticized by
+the laws of stories and no other.
+
+Tried by this standard, we must admit that Miss Ingelow's prose, though
+possessing many merits, has not quite the charm of her verses. With a
+good deal of skill in depicting character, and with a style that is not
+unpleasing, though rather formal and old-fashioned, she has no serious
+drawback except a very prominent and unpleasant moral tendency, which
+is, indeed, made so conspicuous that one rather resents it, and feels a
+slight reaction in favor of vice. One is disposed to apply to so
+oppressively didactic an author the cautious criticism of Talleyrand on
+his female friend,--"She is insufferable, but that is her only fault."
+For this demonstrativeness of ethics renders it necessary for her to
+paint her typical sinners in colors of total blackness, and one seldom
+finds, even among mature offenders, such unmitigated scoundrels as she
+exhibits in their teens. They do not move or talk like human beings, but
+like lay figures into which certain specified sins have been poured.
+This is an artistic as well as ethical error. As Porson finely said to
+Rogers, "In drawing a villain, we should always furnish him with
+something that may seem to justify him to himself"; and Schiller, in his
+aesthetic writings, lays down the same rule. Yet this censurable habit
+does not seem to proceed from anything cynical in the author's own
+nature, but rather from inexperience, and from a personal directness
+which moves only in straight lines. It seems as if she were so
+single-minded in her good intents as to assume all bad people equally
+single-minded in evil; but they are not.
+
+Thus, in "The Cumberers," the fault to be assailed is selfishness, and,
+in honest zeal to show it in its most formidable light, she builds up
+her typical "Cumberer" into such a complicated monster, so stupendous in
+her self-absorption, as to be infinitely less beneficial to the reader
+than a merely ordinary inconsistent human being would have been. The
+most selfish younger sister reading this story would become a Pharisee,
+and thank God, that, whatever her peccadilloes, she was not so bad as
+this Amelia. "My Great-Aunt's Picture" does the same for the vice of
+envy; "Dr. Deane's Governess" for discontent, and so on; only that this
+last story is so oddly mixed up with English class-distinctions and
+conventionalisms that one hardly knows when the young lady is supposed
+to be doing right and when doing wrong. The same puzzle occurs in the
+closing story, "Emily's Ambition," where the censurable point of the
+aspiration consists in being dissatisfied with the humbler vocation of
+school-teaching, and in pining after the loftier career of milliner,
+which in this community would seem like turning social gradations
+upside-down.
+
+By far the ablest of the five "studies," at least in its opening, is the
+school-story of "The Stolen Treasure," which, with a high-flown name,
+and a most melodramatic and commonplace ending, shows yet great power in
+the delineation and grouping of characters. The young school-girls are
+as real as those of Charlotte Bronte; and although the typical maidenly
+desperado is present,--lying and cheating with such hopeless obviousness
+that it seems as if they must all have had to look very hard the other
+way to avoid finding her out,--yet there is certainly much promise and
+power in the narrative. Let us hope that the modesty of the title of
+this volume really indicates a lofty purpose in its author, and that she
+will learn to avoid exaggeration of character as she avoids exaggeration
+of style.
+
+
+     _Collection De Vries._ German Series. Vols. I.-X. Boston: De
+     Vries, Ibarra, & Co.
+
+The present high price of imported books, which is stimulating our
+publishers to rival their English compeers in typographical triumphs, is
+also creating an important class of German reprints, to which attention
+should certainly be called. Until lately the chief business in this line
+has been done by Philadelphia houses, but we now have editions from
+Boston publishers which surpass all predecessors in accuracy and beauty.
+Indeed, the average issues of the German press abroad do not equal these
+in execution; and though the books issued are thus far small, yet the
+taste shown in the selection gives them a peculiar value.
+
+First comes Hans Andersen's ever-charming "Picture-Book without
+Pictures,"--tales told by the Moon, as she looks in at the window of a
+poor student. There is also a separate edition of this little work,
+issued by the same house, with English notes for students, by Professor
+Simonson of Trinity College.
+
+Next comes "Prinzessin Ilse," a graceful little story by Von Ploennies,
+almost as charming as "Undine,"--with its scene laid in the Hartz
+Forest, by the legend-haunted Ilsenstein. Then follows a similar wreath
+of fancies, called "Was sich der Wald erzaehlt," by Gustav zu Putlitz, in
+which fir-trees and foxgloves tell their tales, and there are sermons
+in stones and all the rest of it. Why is it that no language but the
+German can possibly construct a _Maehrchen_, so that Englishmen and
+Americans grow dull, and Frenchmen insufferable, whenever they attempt
+that delicious mingling of the ideal and the real?
+
+Then we have two of the most popular novelettes of Paul Heyse, "Die
+Einsamen" and "Anfang und Ende,"--two first-class aesthetic essays by
+Hermann Grimm, on the Venus of Milo and on Raphael and Michel
+Angelo,--and two comedies by Gustav zu Putlitz. There is also Von
+Eichendorff's best novel, which in Berlin went through four editions in
+a year, "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts," or "Memoirs of a
+Good-for-Nothing,"--and, finally, Tieck's well-known story of "The
+Elves," and his "Tragedy of Little Red Riding-Hood."
+
+Among these various attractions every reader of German books will
+certainly find something to enjoy; and these editions should be
+extensively used by teachers, as the separate volumes can be easily
+obtained by mail, and the average cost of each is but about half a
+dollar. We hope yet to see editions equally good of the complete works
+of the standard German authors, printed in this country and for American
+readers. Under present circumstances, they can be more cheaply produced
+than imported.
+
+
+     _Reynard the Fox._ A Burlesque Poem, from the Low-German
+     Original of the Fifteenth Century. Boston: De Vries, Ibarra, &
+     Co.
+
+The mocking legends of the Wolf and the Fox were wielded without mercy
+by many mediaeval satirists, against the human animals of those species,
+then prevailing in courts and cloisters. But the jokes took their most
+permanent form in the fable of "Reyneke de Vos," first published in the
+year 1498. Written in Low-German by Nicholas Bauman, under the pseudonym
+of Hinrek van Alkmer, the satire did a similar work to that done by
+Rabelais, and Boccaccio, and Piers Plowman. It has since been translated
+into many languages, and as Goethe at last thought it worth putting into
+German hexameters, one may still find it worth reading in English
+Hudibrastic rhymes. The present attractive edition is a reprint of the
+paraphrase of Von Soltau, published at Hamburg in 1826,--though, for
+some reason, this fact is not stated in the present issue. New or old,
+the version is executed with much spirit, and is, to say the least,
+easier reading than Goethe's hexameters.
+
+
+     _The Cradle of Rebellions: A History of the Secret Societies of
+     France._ By LUCIEN DE LA HODDE. New York: John Bradburn.
+
+The translator of this sharp and pungent sketch of the later French
+revolutionists is understood to be General John W. Phelps of Vermont,--a
+man whose personal services, despite some eccentric traits, will give
+him an honorable place in the history of these times. It is possible
+that readers may not agree with him in his estimate of the dangers to be
+incurred by American institutions from secret societies. They are a
+thing essentially alien to our temperament. The Southern plotters of
+treason were certainly open enough; it was we who were blind. The
+"Know-Nothing" movement was a sort of political carnival, half jest,
+half earnest, and good for that trip only. If anything could have
+created secret societies, it would have been the Fugitive-Slave-Law
+excitement: that, indeed, produced them by dozens, but they almost
+always died still-born, and whatever was really done in the
+revolutionary line was effected by very informal cooperation.
+
+Indeed, even the French nation is, by its temperament, less inclined to
+deep plotting than any nation of Southern Europe, and as De la Hodde
+himself admits, "not one of our revolutions during the last sixty years
+has been the work of conspirators." "There is but one maker of
+revolutions in France, and that is Paris,--idle, sophistical,
+disappointed, restless, evil-minded Paris. We all know her." "Of one
+thing we may rest assured: the greater part of our revolutions signify
+nothing." And this has been notoriously true since the days of the
+Fronde.
+
+Yet the moral of the book is not without value, and its historic
+interest is considerable, taken in connection with the other memoirs of
+the same epoch. The style is rather piquant, and the translation good,
+though a little stiff. The writer is an Orleanist, and thinks the
+Revolution of 1848 a mere whim of the populace, favored by a "vertigo"
+on the part of Louis Philippe. It was "an incomprehensible
+contingency,--sovereign power giving way to a revolt, without the test
+of a combat."
+
+The book was first published under the Republic, to which the author
+professes due loyalty. He suggests, however, that, as no one is required
+by duty to fall in love with a very ugly woman who may have been imposed
+on him in marriage, so he is not yet very much smitten with the
+Republic. But he is ready to respect the dame, if she proves to deserve
+it, as a legitimate connection.
+
+
+     _Cape Cod._ By HENRY D. THOREAU. Boston: Ticknor and Fields.
+
+Cape Cod is photographed at last, for Thoreau has been there. Day by
+day, with his stout pedestrian shoes, he plodded along that level
+beach,--the eternal ocean on one side, and human existence reduced to
+its simplest elements on the other,--and he pitilessly weighing each.
+His mental processes never impress one with opulence and luxuriance, but
+rather with a certain sublime tenacity, which extracts nutriment from
+the most barren soil. He is therefore admirably matched against Cape
+Cod; and though his books on softer aspects of Nature may have a
+mellower charm, there is none in which the very absence of mellowness
+can so well pass for an added merit.
+
+No doubt there are passages which err upon the side of bareness. Cape
+Cod itself certainly errs that way, and so often does our author; and
+when they are combined, the result of desiccation is sometimes
+astounding. But so much the truer the picture. If Vedder's "Lair of the
+Sea-Serpent" had the rank verdure of the "Heart of the Andes," the
+kraken would still be as unimpressive on canvas as in the newspapers. No
+one ever dared to exhibit Cape Cod "long, and lank, and brown" enough
+before, and hence the value of the book. For those who insist on
+_chlorophylle_, is there not "Azarian"? If the dear public will tolerate
+neither the presence of color in a picture, nor its absence, it is hard
+to suit.
+
+Yet it is worth remembering, that Thoreau's one perfect poem,--and one
+of the most perfect in American literature,--"My life is like a stroll
+upon the beach," must have been suggested by Cape Cod or some kindred
+locality. And it is not the savage grandeur of the sea alone, but its
+delicate loveliness and its ever-budding life, which will be found
+recorded forever in some of these wondrous pages, intermixed with the
+statistics of fish-flakes and the annals of old men's diseases.
+
+But in his stern realism, the author employs what he himself calls
+"Panurgic" plainness of speech, and deals with the horrors of the
+sea-shore as composedly as with its pearls. His descriptions of the
+memorials of shipwrecks, for instance, would be simply repulsive, but
+that his very dryness has a sort of disinfectant quality, like the air
+of California, where things the most loathsome may lie around us without
+making the air impure.
+
+He shows his wonted formidable accuracy all through these pages, and the
+critic feels a sense of bewildered exultation in detecting him even in a
+slip of the pen,--as when in the note on page 228 he gives to the town
+of Rockport, on Cape Ann, the erroneous name of Rockland. After this
+discovery, one may dare to wonder at his finding a novelty in the
+"Upland Plover," and naming it among the birds not heard in the interior
+of the State, when he might be supposed to have observed it, in summer,
+near Mount Wachusett, where its wail adds so much, by day or night, to
+the wildness of the scenery. Yet by the triviality of these our
+criticisms one may measure the astonishing excellence of his books.
+
+This wondrous eye and hand have passed away, and left no equal and no
+second. Everything which Thoreau wrote has this peculiar value, that no
+other observing powers were like his; no one else so laboriously
+verified and exhausted the facts; and no other mind rose from them, at
+will, into so subtile an air of meditation,--meditation too daring to be
+called devout, by church or world, yet too pure and lofty to merit any
+lower name. Lycidas has died once more, and has not left his peer.
+
+Cape Cod does not change in its traits, but only in its boundaries, and
+this book will stand for it, a century hence, as it now does. It is the
+Cape Odyssey. Near the end, moreover, there is a remarkable chapter on
+previous explorers, which shows, by its patient thoroughness, and by the
+fearless way in which the author establishes facts which had eluded
+Hildreth and Bancroft, that, had he chosen history for his vocation, he
+could have extracted its marrow as faithfully as that of his more
+customary themes. Yet the grand ocean-pictures which this book contains
+remind us that it was the domain of external Nature which was his
+peculiar province; and this sublime monotone of the surges seems his
+fitting dirge, now that--to use the fine symbol of one who was his
+comrade on this very excursion--his bark has "sunk to another sea."
+
+
+
+
+RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.
+
+Christus Judex. A Traveller's Tale. By Edward Roth. Philadelphia. F.
+Leypoldt. 16mo. pp. 78. 90 cts.
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+Essays on Social Subjects. From the "Saturday Review." Boston. Ticknor &
+Fields. 16mo. pp. 351. $1.75.
+
+History of the Anti-Slavery Measures of the Thirty-Seventh and
+Thirty-Eighth United States Congresses, 1861-1864. By Henry Wilson.
+Boston. Walker, Wise, & Co. 12mo. pp. 384. $1.75.
+
+The Complete Works of the Most Reverend John Hughes, D. D., Archbishop
+of New York. Comprising his Sermons, Letters, Lectures, Speeches, etc.
+Carefully compiled and edited from the Best Sources. By Laurence Kehue.
+Volume I. New York. The American News Company. 8vo. pp. ix., 674. $5.00.
+
+The Poems of Bayard Taylor. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 32mo. pp. 419.
+$1.50.
+
+The Rival Belles; or, Life in Washington. By J.B. Jones, Author of "Wild
+Western Scenes," etc. Philadelphia, T. B. Peterson & Brothers. 16mo. pp.
+270. $2.00.
+
+The Devoted Bride. By St. George Tucker. Philadelphia. T. B. Peterson &
+Brothers. 16mo. pp. 370. $2.00.
+
+Introduction to the Study of International Law; designed as an Aid in
+Teaching and in Historical Studies. By Theodore D. Woolsey, President of
+Yale College. New York. Charles Scribner. 8vo. pp. 441. $3.50.
+
+Essays, Moral, Political, and AEsthetic, By Herbert Spencer. New York. D.
+Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 386. $2.00.
+
+Christ and His Salvation: in Sermons variously related thereto. By
+Horace Bushnell. New York. Charles Scribner. 12mo. pp. 456. $2.00.
+
+Oswald Cray. By Mrs. Henry Wood. Philadelphia. T. B. Peterson &
+Brothers. 8vo. pp. 377. $2.00.
+
+Rules of Law for the Carriage and Delivery of Persons and Property by
+Railway. With the Leading Railway Statutes of Illinois, Indiana,
+Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and the United States. Prepared
+for Railway Companies and the Legal Profession. By Charles C. Bonney,
+LL. D., Member of the Illinois Bar. Chicago. E. B. Myers. 8vo. pp. 267.
+$3.00.
+
+The Poems, Sacred, Passionate, and Humorous, of Nathaniel Parker Willis.
+New York. Clark & Maynard. 18mo. pp. xiv., 370. $1.50.
+
+Margaret's Secret, and its Success. By Mrs. Carey Brock, Author of
+"Working and Waiting," etc. Philadelphia. W. J. & A. Martien. 12mo. pp.
+340. $1.50.
+
+Joseph the Jew. A Tale founded on Facts. By the Author of "Mary
+Mathieson." Philadelphia. W. J. & A. Martien. 12mo. pp. 303. $1.50.
+
+Dora Darling; or, The Daughter of the Regiment. Boston. J. E. Tilton &
+Co. 16mo. pp. 370. $2.00.
+
+Mary and Frank; or, A Mother's Influence. By the Author of "Blind
+Nelly." Philadelphia. W. J. & A. Martien. 16mo. pp. 108. 50 cts.
+
+The Blade and the Ear. Thoughts for a Young Man. By A. B. Muzzey.
+Boston. W. V. Spencer. 16mo. pp. iv., 233. $1.25.
+
+The Hero-Boy; or, The Life and Deeds of Lieutenant-General Grant. By
+Rev. P.C. Headley, Author of "Napoleon," etc. New York. W. H. Appleton.
+16mo. pp. xii., 340. $1.50.
+
+The Patriot Boy; or, The Life and Career of Major-General Ormsby M.
+Mitchel. By Rev. P. C. Headley, Author of "Napoleon," etc. New York. W.
+H. Appleton. 16mo. pp. 278. $1.50.
+
+Hand-Book of Hygienic Practice; intended as a Practical Guide for the
+Sick-Room. Arranged alphabetically, with an Appendix, Illustrative of
+the Hygeio-Therapeutic Movements. By R. T. Trall, M. D. New York. Miller
+& Wood. 12mo. pp. 300. $2.00.
+
+How Charley Helped his Mother. By Ruth Buck. Philadelphia. W. J. & A.
+Martien. 16mo. pp. 195. 90 cts.
+
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+Martien. 16mo. pp. 201. $1.00.
+
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+Author, by Dr. R. Shelton Mackenzie. Philadelphia. T. B. Peterson &
+Brothers, 12mo. pp. 432. $2.00.
+
+Mother Michel and her Cat. By Emile de la Bedollierre. Translated from
+the French, by Fanny Fuller. Philadelphia. F. Leypoldt. 16mo. pp. 104.
+90 cts.
+
+Jennie's Bible Verses. By Catherine M. Trowbridge. Philadelphia. W. J. &
+A. Martien. 16mo. pp. 153. 75 cts.
+
+The Poor Weaver's Family. A Tale of Silesia, From the German. By Mrs.
+Sarah A. Myers. Philadelphia. W. J. & A. Martien. 16mo. pp. 121. 60 cts.
+
+The Correlation and Conservation of Forces: A Series of Expositions, by
+Professor Grove, Professor Helmholtz, Dr. Mayer, Dr. Faraday, Professor
+Liebig, and Dr. Carpenter. With an Introduction and Brief Biographical
+Notices of the Chief Promoters of the New Views. By Edward L. Youmans,
+M. D. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. xlii., 438. $2.00.
+
+Library of Travel and Adventure. Vol. I., Fast in the Ice; Vol. II.,
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+Appleton & Co. 16mo, pp. 176, 169, 177. $1.50.
+
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+16mo. pp. 128, 192, 208, 205, 206, 199. $3.00.
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+
+The Lost Love. By the Author of "John Drayton." Philadelphia. T. B.
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+Philadelphia. T. B. Peterson & Brothers. 12mo. Paper. pp. 262. 50 cts.
+
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+Appleton & Co. 16mo. pp. xviii., 295. $2.00.
+
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+
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+
+Young America. A Poem. By Fitz-Greene Halleck. New York. D. Appleton &
+Co, 16mo. pp. 49. 50 cts.
+
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+
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+
+The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed. Revised and Enlarged Edition.
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+
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+
+The Miner-Boy and his Monitor; or, The Career and Achievements of John
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+
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+
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+
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+T. B. Peterson & Brothers, 12mo. pp. 370. $2.00.
+
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+"Photographs of Paris Life," etc. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp.
+viii., 329. $1.50.
+
+Eye, Ear, and Throat Diseases; Bronchitis, Catarrh, Asthma. A Book for
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+Philadelphia. Published by the Author. 12mo. pp. 147. $1.00.
+
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+
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+Boston. J. E. Tilton & Co, 12mo. pp. 381. $1.75.
+
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+Observations on Heavy Ordnance, Fortifications, etc. By Q. A. Gillmore,
+Major of Engineers, Major-General of Volunteers, and Commanding General
+of the Land Forces engaged. With the Official Reports of Chief of
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+Engraved Views. Published by Authority. New York. D. Van Nostrand. 8vo.
+pp. 354. $10.00.
+
+The Yankee Boy from Home. New York. James Miller. 12mo. pp. xx., 318.
+$1.50.
+
+The Brother's Secret. By William Godwin, Jr. Philadelphia. T. B.
+Peterson & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 268. $2.00.
+
+The Musical Host. Vol. I. New York. James W. Fortune. 4to. pp. 196.
+$3.50.
+
+Collection De Vries. Vols. I.-X. I. Andersen, Hans Christian, Bilderbuch
+ohne Bilder. 40 cts. II. Prinzessin Ilse. Ein Maerchen aus dem
+Harzgebirge, von. L. v. Ploennies. 50 cts. III. Putlitz, G. zu, Was sich
+der Wald erzaehlt. 50 cts. IV. Heyse, Paul, Die Einsamen. Eine Novelle.
+40 cts. V. Heyse, Paul, Anfang und Ende. Eine Novelle. 40 cts. VI.
+Grimm, Herm., Die Venus von Milo; Rafael und Michel Angelo. Zwei Essays.
+75 cts. VII. Putlitz, Badekuren. Ein Lustspiel. 40 cts. VIII. Putlitz,
+Das Herz vergessen. Ein Lustspiel. 40 cts. IX. Eichendorff, Aus dem
+Leben eines Taugenichts. 75 cts. X. Tieck, Ludwig, Die Elfen; Das
+Rothkaeppchen. Zwei Novellen. 50 cts. Boston. De Vries, Ibarra, & Co.
+12mo. Paper. $4.50.
+
+Reynard the Fox. A Burlesque Poem from the Low-German Original of the
+Fifteenth Century. Boston. De Vries, Ibarra, & Co. 12mo. pp. 202. $2.00.
+
+The Cradle of Rebellions. A History of the Secret Societies of France.
+By Lucien de la Hodde. New York. John Bradburn. 8vo. pp. xvi., 479.
+$3.50.
+
+Life and Adventures of Tom Bowling. By Captain Chamier, R. N.
+Philadelphia. T. B. Peterson & Brothers. 8vo. Paper. pp. 191. 75 cts.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No.
+89, March, 1865, by Various
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