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diff --git a/old/50087.txt b/old/50087.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 40ab912..0000000 --- a/old/50087.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3124 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Turning of Griggsby, by Irving Bacheller - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Turning of Griggsby - Being a Story of Keeping up with Dan'l Webster - -Author: Irving Bacheller - -Illustrator: Reginald Birch - -Release Date: September 30, 2015 [EBook #50087] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TURNING OF GRIGGSBY *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - - -THE TURNING OF GRIGGSBY - -Being a Story of Keeping up with Dan'l Webster - -By Irving Bacheller - -Illustrated By Reginald Birch - -Harper & Brothers Publishers New York And London - -MCMXIII - - -[Illustration: 0002] - - -[Illustration: 0014] - - -[Illustration: 0017] - - -THE TURNING OF GRIGGSBY - - - - -CHAPTER I - -IT was a wonderful thing to see the way he rose and stepped forward, -and stood before the people, and their cheering was like the shout of -winds in a forest." So spake our old schoolmaster, Appleton Hall, as he -told us of Daniel Webster and the famous Bunker Hill address. - -His black eyes glowed as he went on: "There was something grand in the -look of the man, for he was tall and strong-built, and stood straight -as an arrow, and his soul was in his face. A godlike and solemn face it -was, like that of St. Paul, as I think of him after reading the twelfth -chapter of Romans. He had a wonderful authority in his face, and what a -silence it commanded after that first greeting had passed, and before he -had opened his mouth to speak. My eyes grew dim as I looked at him. He -wore a blue coat, with bright brass buttons on it, and a buff waistcoat, -and his great black-crested, swarthy head was nobly poised above his -white linen. His dark eyes were deep set under massive brows. Now -comes the first sentence of that immortal speech. His voice is like a -deep-toned bell as he speaks with great deliberation the opening words: -'This uncounted multitude before me and around me proves the feeling -which the occasion has excited.' - -"Near him, and looking into his face, were two hundred veterans of the -Revolution, some in their old uniforms, many crippled by wounds and bent -by infirmities. - -"It was a mighty thing to hear when he looked into their faces and -said: 'Venerable men, you have come down to us from a former generation. -Heaven has bountifully lengthened out your lives that you might behold -this joyous day.' - -"Well I remember how, when he had ceased, the people were still for half -a moment dreading to break the spell. Suddenly they were like a sea in a -wind, although many held their places and were loath to go, and lingered -awhile talking of the speech, and I among them. And I saw the vast crowd -slowly break and go drifting away by thousands, and I fancied that some -of the men held their heads a bit higher, and that certain of those near -me were trying the Websterian tone. Since then that tone and that manner -have become as familiar as the flag. At the inn I heard much talk of -the great man--idle words which one may hear to this day and be none the -wiser, but possibly much the worse for it. - -"Some said that he always took a tumbler of brandy before he made a -speech; but I observed that these gossipers had the odor of rum about -them. There was, too, a relish of Me and Dan'l in all their talk. -However, the tradition has come down to us, and had its effect in the -life of this village, and of others like it. However well you may do, -young men, there will be those seeking ever to pull you down to their -level, and if they cannot move your character they will attack your -reputation." - -I have often thought of these words of the schoolmaster. They showed me -some of the curious monkey traits of man. Through them I began to know -Griggsby, to which I had lately come. I suddenly discovered that I was -living in the Websterian age, and a high-headed, reverberating time it -was. - -But, first, let me introduce myself. People have always called me -"Havelock, of Stillwater," though I am plain Uriel Havelock. I have -little in my purse, but there are treasures in my memory, and I am -trying here to give them to the world with all my joyous thoughts about -them and never a feeling of ill will. - -I write of that time when the fame of Webster was on every lip, although -his soul had passed some twenty years before. All through the North, -from the Atlantic to far frontiers beyond the Mississippi, men in beaver -hats and tall collars were playing Daniel Webster. They dressed as he -had dressed, and had his grand manners, while their diaphragms were -often sorely strained in an effort to deliver his deep, resounding -tones. The peace of most farms and villages was disturbed by Websterian -shouts of ready-made patriotism from the lips of sires and sons. - -Webster was a demi-god, in the imagination of the people, with a voice -of thunder and an eye to threaten and command. Countless anecdotes -celebrated his wit, his eloquence, and his supposed capacity for -stimulants. He was not the only man of that period who suffered from the -inventive talent of his successors. Powers of indulgence and of reckless -wit were conferred upon them in a way to excite the wonder and emulation -of the weak. Daniel Webster especially had been a martyr to such -flattery. He never deserved it. Wearied by his great labors, he may now -and then have resorted to stimulants; but his reputation as an absorber -of strong drink is a baseless fabrication. Those brimming cups of his -have been mostly filled with fiction. - -Nevertheless, he was handed down to posterity as a product of genius -and stimulation--a sublime toper. In that capacity he filled a long-felt -need of those engaged in the West Indian trade and the innkeepers. In -those days, it should be remembered, an inn-keeper was a man of some -account. With that imaginary trait of greatness at the fore, the -resounding Websterian age began. - -When still a boy I left home and went to live in Griggsby. It was -a better place to die in; but that does not matter, since, going to -Griggsby to live, I succeeded. At school among my fellow-students was -a boy I greatly envied. Bright and handsome, as a scholar he was at -one end of the class, and I at the other; and that was about the way -we stood in local prophecy. I wonder when people will learn that -scholarship should not be the first, or even the second, aim of a -schooling. For it is not what the mind takes in that makes the man, but -what the mind gives out; it is not the quantity of one's memories, but -the quality of one's thoughts. Character makes the man and also the -community. It was character that made Griggsby, and Griggsby in turn -made characters. - -Old John Henry Griggs was the first sample of its finished product. -He had been keeping up with Webster, as he thought, ever since he left -school, and in that effort was both a drunkard and a "distinguished -statesman." Though he modestly disclaimed these great accomplishments, a -majority of his fellow-citizens conferred them upon him. The result was -a public peril. - -Among the students at school was a girl that I loved. Her name was -Florence Dunbar, which had a fine sound, while mine, like many other -names of Yankee choosing, was a help to humility and a discouragement -to pride. Then, again, Florence was rich and beautiful, while I was poor -and plain. She had come to Griggsby from the West, where her father -had gone in his youth and had made a fortune. They had sent her and her -brother back to the old home to be educated. I had come to Griggsby from -a stumpy farm on the edge of the forest ten miles away. - -Now, this plainness of mine, I soon discovered, was largely due to my -mother's looking-glass, aided and abetted by untiring efforts on the -part of all the family to keep me humble. I often wondered how it -came about that I was the only one in the house whose looks were a -misfortune. It did not seem just that I should be singled out to carry -all the ugliness for that generation of Havelocks. I would not have -minded a generous share, but it seemed to me that I was the only one who -had been hit by the avalanche. One day I confided to my elder brother -this overwhelming sense of facial deformity. To my surprise, he assured -me that I had a face to be proud of, while his had kept him awake -of nights and caused him to despise himself. That exchange of views -increased our confidence in ourselves a little, if not our knowledge. By -and by a neighbor moved into that lonely part of the world where we were -living. I shall never forget the day I went to play with the strange -children, and especially the moment when I stood before their -looking-glass combing my hair. To my joy and astonishment, I saw a new -face, of better proportions and smaller defects, and with only one twist -in it. I tarried so long at the glass that the mother of the family -smiled and said that she feared I was a rather foolish boy. - -When I went home I proceeded with as little delay as possible to my -mother's looking-glass, where I found the long, gnarled face of old -with its magnified freckles. I wondered at this difference of opinion -regarding my personal appearance between the two glasses, but with noble -patriotism decided that my mother's mirror was probably right. As a -discourager of sinful pride that gilt-bound, oval looking-glass was -a great success. It lengthened the face and enlarged every defect; it -crumpled the nose and put sundry twists in the countenance. There have -been two ministers and three old maids in our family, and in my opinion -that looking-glass did it. Of course, other things helped, but the glass -was mainly responsible. I myself would have been a minister if it had -not fallen to my lot to break a yoke of steers, and that saved me. In -the course of this task I acquired an accomplishment inconsistent with -the life of a clergyman. I kept it long enough to trim the beech trees -about my father's house, and it lasted through many calls to repentance. -Then, too, my father discovered that I had an unusual talent for lying. -He did his best to destroy it, and would have succeeded if he had not -appealed to the wrong side of me--a side which never had much capacity -for absorbing information. Now as the cow jumped over the moon in my -story book, I could not understand why it should be thought wicked for -her to jump over the stable in my conversation. But my story lacked -verisimilitude. It wouldn't do. Indeed, for a time I felt as if the cow -had landed on me. It was a great monopoly that controlled the output of -the human imagination, those days, and while most of my elders were in -it, as I knew, they wouldn't give me a chance. I persevered. It cost me -great pain, but I persevered. My father lost heart and consulted with -the Rev. Appleton Hall, who was principal of the village school at -Griggsby, and he undertook to make a man of me. That was how I came to -go there, and to live in a small room rudely furnished by my father, -where I did my own cooking. The school principal began to call me -"Havelock of Stillwater," Stillwater being our township in the woods, -and others followed his example. Mr. Hall did not waste any time in -trying to convince me that lying produced pain. I knew that. He took the -positive side of the proposition and soon taught me that the truth pays. - -In the main, the looking-glasses of Griggsby were kind to me, and the -weight of evidence seemed to indicate that my face was not a misfortune, -after all. Still, I had no conceit of it. - -The big buildings of the town, the high hats and "lofty" manners of the -great men, excited my wonder and admiration. At first they were beyond -my understanding, and did not even amuse me. - -I had a profound sense of inferiority to almost every one I met, and -especially to Florence Dunbar. I suppose it was a part of that ample -gift of humility which had been pounded into my ancestors and passed on -to me with the aid of the beech rod, the looking-glass, and the shrill -voice of Elder Whitman in the schoolhouse. For a long time my love for -Florence was a secret locked in my own breast. - -Summer had returned to the little village in the hills, and one Saturday -in June I gathered wild flowers in the fields and took them to Florence. -She received them with a cry of joy, and asked me to show her where they -grew; so away we went together into the meadows by a wayside, and, when -our hands were full, sat under a tree to look at them. Then, poor lad! -I opened my heart to her, and I remember it was in full bloom. I shall -never forget the sweet, girlish frankness with which she said: - -"I'm sorry, but I cannot love you." - -"I didn't think it would be possible," I said. - -"Oh yes, it would be _possible_," she explained; "but, you see, I love -another." - -I remember well how her frankness hurt me. I turned away, and had -trouble to breathe for a moment. She saw the effect of her words, and -said, by way of comfort: "But I think you're very, very nice; Henry -likes you, too." - -Henry was her brother and my chum at school. - -"I wish you would tell me what to do with him," she went on, after -a moment. "He's drinking, and behind in his work, and I am terribly -worried." - -"It's nothing to worry about," I said, though not in perfect innocence. -"All great men drink--it helps 'em stand the strain, I suppose." - -"Havelock, you talk like a child," she answered. "These leading men -are leading us in the wrong direction. You boys think that they are so -wonderful you begin to take after them. Look at Ralph. He's going to the -bad as fast as possible. I'd pack up and go home with Henry if--" - -Her eyes filled with tears. I sat silent and full of shame, and quite -aware of her secret. She loved Ralph Buckstone, the good-looking son of -the great Colonel. - -"You love him, don't you?" I said, sorrowfully. - -She smiled at me through a spray of clover blossoms with cheeks as red -as they, but made no answer. - -At that moment Colonel Buckstone himself came galloping along on his big -black horse, shotgun in hand, with two hounds at his heels. He pulled up -with a knowing look, shook his head, and then rode away with only a wave -of his hand. - -Florence and I rose and walked along in silence for a while, then she -said: - -"I'm sorry for you, and I will never tell what you have told me, never." - -"And I will never tell what you have told me," I said. - -"I'm willing you should tell _him_," she answered. "He may as well know, -even if he doesn't care." - -Temptation beset me even then, but in those first months my natural -innocence was like a shield. By and by I began to feel the weight of it, -and to lighten the load a little. That wonderful comedy which was being -enacted in the life around me had begun to excite my interest when I -went home to work in the fields for the summer. - -I returned to school in the autumn, a big swarthy youth of seventeen. -Before the end of that year the first of these many adventures of mine -opened the gate of a better life before me. - -It was a day in December. Henry and Florence Dunbar, Ralph Buckstone, -and I were skating on the lake. The ice was new, and bent a little under -our feet as we flew, out on the glassy plain in pursuit of Florence, -more daring and expert than the rest of us. The day was cloudless, -and the smooth lake roof shone in the sunlight. An hour later we were -returning, with Florence a hundred or more feet ahead of us, when I -heard the snap of the breaking ice and saw her go down like a stone -falling through a skylight. I skated straight for the break, and, taking -a deep breath, crashed among the broken slabs of ice and down into cold, -roaring water. My hand touched something, and I seized it--her coat, -as I knew by the feeling. Then came that little fraction of a minute -in which one must do the right thing and do it quickly. I could see, -of course, and could hear the shouts of the boys, the click of skates -passing near, and the stir of the shattered ice. That saved us, that -sound of the wavering ice. I made for it, got my hand through, and -caught a shinny stick in the hands of Henry Dunbar, who was lying flat -near the edge of the break. There we hung and lived until the boys came -with a pole and got us out. Chilled? No. I was never so hot in my life -until I began to feel the wind. - -One day soon after that my father came into the village and said that -I was to board at the house of Mr. Daniel W. Smead, have three square -meals a day, and a room with four windows and a stove in it. Poor lad! I -did not know until long after that Florence and Henry paid the bill. -My father said that he had sold the big Wilkes mare and her foal, and I -supposed that that accounted for his generosity. - -Florence would have it that I had saved her life, although the truth is -that if I had not gone down after her one of the other boys would have -done so, I am sure, or she might even have reached the air alone. How -she pitied me after that! Almost every day she tried to show me her -gratitude with some little token--a flower, a tender word or look, or -an invitation to supper. I loved her with all the steadfastness of the -true-born Yankee, but it seemed to me now that my love was hopeless. I -could never ask her to marry me, for how could she say no to me with all -that burden of gratitude in her heart? How could I have got an honest -answer if I had been unfair enough to ask it? - - - - -CHAPTER II - -MR. DANIEL WEBSTER SMEAD had five children and a wife, who did all the -work of the household. He was an auctioneer, a musician, and a horseman. - -When I went to begin my life in his house, it was he who opened the -door. He was coatless, collarless, and in dirty linen. - -"I am Uriel Havelock," I said. - -"Havelock of Stillwater," said he. "I salute you. How is your health?" - -"Pretty good," I said. - -"Walk right into the drawin'-room, an' draw yer jade knife an' go to -whittlin' if ye want to." - -The drawing-room wrung a smile from my sad face. It was the plainest of -rooms, decorated with chromos, mottos in colored yams, and with faded -wall paper. On the floor was a worn and shabby carpet; and some plain, -wooden chairs; a haircloth sofa, with its antimacassar and crocheted -cushion, completed the furnishings. The woodwork, the windows, and all -the appointments of the room were noticeably dean. A ragged-looking -Newfoundland dog came roaring in upon me. - -"Leo, Leo, be still, or I'll subject you to punishment," said Mr. Smead. - -"Is He full-blooded?" I asked. - -"As full-blooded as Col. Sile Buckstone, an' that's sayin' a good deal." - -"Good watch dog?" - -"Sets an' watches the scenery all day." He opened the stairway door -and called: "Mrs. Smead! Oh, Mrs. Smead! A noble guest is under our -battlements." - -There was a sound of footsteps on the floor above, and in a moment a -pale, weary woman, followed by three boys from seven to twelve years of -age, each in patched trousers, came down the stairway. The woman shook -my hand and said that she was glad to see me, although I had never -beheld a face so utterly joyless. - -The master of the household kept up a running fire of talk. Addressing -the children, he said: - -"Dan'l, Rufus, Edward, salute the young gentleman." They had been named -after the great orators Webster, Choate, and Everett. - -As they timidly shook my hand their father observed: "These boys have -ascended from Roger Williams, Remember Baker, an' General Winfield -Scott. If they look tired, excuse them; it's quite a climb." - -The eldest boy showed me to my room, and so began my life at Smead's. -Distressed with loneliness, I walked about the village for hours that -afternoon, and on my return had time only to wash my face and comb my -hair, when a bell summoned me to supper. - -Mr. Smead was considerably dressed up in clean linen, a prodigious -necktie, and a coat of black broadcloth. His wife wore a dean calico -dress, with a gold-plated brooch at her throat. - -"I wish the girls were here," said Smead. - -"They are out in the country teaching school," Mrs. Smead explained; -"they want to help their father." - -"Beautiful girls," said their father--"tall, queenly, magnificent, -talented. By force of habit I was about to ask, 'How much am I bid?'" - -"How do you like Griggsby?" Mrs. Smead inquired of me, as though wishing -to change the subject. - -"I do not call it a very pretty place," I said, still loyal to -Stillwater. - -"An' you wouldn't be a pretty place if you were the mother of so many -orators an' statesmen," said Smead. "You would be a proud but a worn -an' weary place. There would be dust an' scratched-up gravel in your -immediate vicinity, an' you wouldn't care. Don't expect too much o' -Griggsby. It is a Vesuvius of oratory, sir. It is full of high an' grand -emotions, mingled with smoke an' fire an' thunder an' other accessories, -includin' Smeads. It is the home an' birthplace of the Griggses. There -was the Hon. John Henry Griggs, once the Speaker of our Lower House an' -a great orator. By pure eloquence one day he established the reputation -of an honest man, his greatest accomplishment, for as an honest man -there were obstacles in his way. It didn't last long, that reputation; -it had so much to contend with. He never gave it a fair chance. By an' -by it tottered an' fell. Then he established another with some more -eloquence. He was the first Dan'l Webster of Griggsby--looked like him, -dressed like him, spoke like him, drank like him. Always took a tumbler -of brandy before he made a speech, an' say, wa'n't he a swayer? The way -he handled an audience was like swingin' a cat by the tail. He kep' 'em -goin'; didn't give 'em time to think. It wouldn't have been safe. As -a thought-preventer John Henry beats the world! The result was both -humorous an' pathetic." - -Mr. Smead, with the voice of Stentor at the gates of Troy, delivered a -playful imitation of the late John Henry. - -"You're quite an orator," I said. - -"Oh, I can swing the cat a little," said he. "Ye ought to hear me talk -hoss or tackle the old armchair at an auction sale. It would break a -drought. So much for the Smeads. As to the other great folks, Senator -John Griggs, a distinguished member of our Upper House, is also a son of -Griggsby, not so great as his father, but a high-headed, hard-workin', -hand-engraved, full-tinted orator. He has a scar on his face three -inches long that he got in a political argument. Flowers of rhetoric -grow on him as naturally as moss on a log. - -"Years ago he convicted a man of murder here with oratory--made the jury -weep till they longed for blood an' got it. Bill Smithers loaded himself -to the muzzle with rum an' oratory for the defense. Nobody did any -work on the case. The oratory of Griggs was keener than the oratory -of Smithers--more flowery, more movin'. It fetched the tears, an' -conviction came with them. Of course, Griggs had the body of the victim -on his side. Smithers roared an' wept for half a day. The jury had been -swung until it was tired. It clung to the ground with tooth an' nail. -The fountain of its tears had gone dry. The prisoner was convicted, -slain by oratory--pure oratory, undefiled by intelligence; an' years -after he was put in his grave a woman confessed that she had committed -the crime. Oh, Griggs is a wonder. He's another D. W., but he's a -good-hearted man. I heard him say that he had rebuilt the church of -his parish with his earnings at poker. That's the kind of man he -is--reckless, but charitable. Everybody calls him John. They say that -whisky has no effect on him. It is like water pouring on a rock. It only -moistens the surface. - -"Then there is Col. Silas Buckstone, our Congressman, whose home is -also in Griggs--by, another D. W., a man of quality an' quantity, great -length, breadth, an' thickness, with a mustache eight inches long an' -a voice that can travel like a trottin'-hoss. A man of a distinguished -presence an' several distinguished absences. - -"Yes, I regret to say that he goes on a spree now an' then. It's a pity, -but so often the case with men o' talent--so awfully often. About twice -a year the Colonel slides off his eminence, an' down he goes into the -valley o' the common herd with loud yells o' joy. Once he slid across a -corner o' the valley o' death, but that didn't matter. What's the use o' -havin' an eminence unless you're to enjoy the privilege of slidin' -down it when ye want to? It was his eminence. While his spree lasts the -Colonel buys everything in sight until his money is gone. Then some one -has to go an' tow him back to us. Once he returned the proud owner of a -carload of goats an' a millinery store." - -Mr. Smead also told me of the two judges, Warner and Brooks, the ablest -members of the county bar, who, it seems, were always wandering toward -the dewy, meadowy path of dalliance. He said that sometimes they hit -the path, and sometimes the path hit them and left some bruises. They -enjoyed the distinctions of being looked up to and of being looked down -upon. - -"Of course, there are able men in the village who are addicted to -sobriety," he went on. "Some of them have tried to reform, but, alas! -the habit of sobriety has become fixed upon them--weak stomachs, maybe. -They have to worry along without the stamp o' genius, just commonplace, -every-day-alike men. Nobody takes any notice of 'em. Once a prominent -citizen denounced one o' them on the street as a damn little-souled, -conscientious Christian who could get drunk on a thimble o' whisky. It -was one o' the first indictments against virtue on record. - -"'Ha! I see that you are sober,' said John Griggs to a constituent -whom he met in the street one day. I will forgive you, but don't let it -happen again. Think of the obscurity that awaits you and of the example -you are setting to the young. Think of Deacon Bradley and Priscilla -Perkins. Sir, if you keep on you will be wrecked on the hidden reefs of -hopeless sobriety.'" - -Dan'l Webster laughed for a minute and continued: "Griggsby is the home -and Paradise of the rural hoss-trader, whose word is as good as his -hoss, and who never fools anybody except when he is telling the truth. -One of 'em was sued for sellin' a worthless hoss. His defense was that a -man who traded with him took his life in his hands, an' everybody ought -to know it; an' the justice ruled that there were certain men that it -was a crime to believe, an' that he who did it received a natural and -deserved punishment." - -So in his curious way, which was not to be forgotten, he described -this heroism of the human stomach, this adventurous defiance of God and -nature. In those callow days that view appealed to my sporting instinct. - -"You see, the stamp of genius is on all our public men," Mr. Smead -continued. "They all wear the scarlet blossom of capacity on their -noses. The scarlet blossom an' the silver tongue go hand in hand, as it -were." - -Mr. Daniel Webster Smead was, indeed, a singular man. He had little -learning, but was a keen observer. Ever since his boyhood he had browsed -in good books, notably those of Artemus Ward and Charles Dickens. The -Websterian thunder did not appeal to him, but he had cultivated certain -of the weaknesses which he had vividly described. He had a massive -indolence and a great fondness for horses. He was drunk with hope all -the time, and now and then sought the stimulation of beer. Hopes and -hops were his worst enemies. When he talked people were wont to laugh, -but every one said that Smead did not amount to anything. However, if -all the other leading lights of the village had conferred their brains -jointly on one man, he would not have been more than knee-high to the -mental stature of Smead. He was a man of wide talent--a kind of human -what-not. He could do many things well, but accomplished little. - -In fact, Mr. Smead was an ass, and he knew enough to know that he was -an ass, which of itself distinguished him above all the citizens of -Griggsby. He was drifting along in the bondage of custom; and he knew -it, and laughed at his own folly. - -As we rose from the table he said, in a little aside to me: "In the -morning I'll show you a hoss an' a fool, an' both standard-bred an' in -the two-thirty list." - -I spent the evening in my own room with a book, and when I came down in -the morning I saw Mr. Smead entering the gate in a shining red road cart -behind a horse blanketed to his nose, and in knee and ankle boots. I -hurried to the stable, where Mr. Smead stood proudly, with a short whip -in his hand, while the boys were removing the harness and boots from a -big, steaming stallion. - -"There is Montravers--mark of two twenty-nine an' a half," said he, -glibly. "By Bald Eagle out of Clara Belle, she by George Wilkes, he by -Hambletonian X.; his dam was Queen Bess by Wanderer, out of Crazy Jane, -she by Meteor. I expect him to transport me to the goal of affluence." - -[Illustration: 0055] - -Two of the boys were deftly scraping Montravers's sides, while the -third sponged his mouth and legs. Then the youthful band fell to with -rubbing-cloths, backed by terrible energy, on the body of the big horse. - -"The fathers of this village all have to be helped," said Mr. Smead; -"they're so busy with one thing or another, mostly another. Ye can't be -a Dan'l Webster an' do anything else." - -This matter of "helpin' father" seemed to me to be rather arduous. As -the horse grew dry the boys grew wet. Perspiration had begun to roll -down their faces. - -"The trottin'-hoss is the natural ally of the orator an' the -conversationalist," said Mr. Smead. "He stimulates the mind an' -furnishes food for thought. A man who has owned a trotter is capable -of any feat of the imagination, an' some of our deepest thinkers have -graduated from the grand stand an' the sulky. Everybody goes in for -trotters here. - -"John Griggs an' Colonel Sile an' Horace Brooks an' Bill Warner, all -have their trotters. If a farmer gets some money ahead he buys a trotter -an' begins to train for speed an' bankruptcy. It helps him to a sense o' -grandeur an' distinction. If there's anything else that can be done with -money, he don't know it. His boys look like beggars, an' his hoss looks -like a prince; just like mine. I told ye I'd show ye a fool, an' here -I am--a direct descendant of Thankful Smead by Remember Baker. But I -really have a prize in this animal. I expect to sell him for big money." - -Soon we heard the voice of Mrs. Smead at the back door. - -"Boys, where are you?" she called. - -"Helpin' father," answered Daniel, the eldest of them. - -"Well, breakfast is waiting," said she, with a touch of impatience in -her tone. "You must be getting ready for school." - -"He'll do now," said Smead. "Put on the coolin' sheet an' walk him for -ten minutes." - -A big, spotless sheet blanket was thrown over the shiny, silken coat of -the horse, and Rufus began to walk him up and down the yard while the -rest of us went in to breakfast. - -There was a pathetic contrast which I did not fail to observe, young as -I was, between the silken coat of the beast and the faded calico dress -of the woman; between his lustrous, flashing eyes and hers, dull and -sad; between his bounding feet and hers, which moved about heavily; -between the whole spirit of Montravers and that of Mrs. Smead. I saw, -too, the contrast between the splendid trappings of the stallion and the -patched trousers of the boys. I wondered how the boys were going to be -cooled off. They simply took a hurried wash in a tin basin at the back -door and sat down at the table in damp clothes. We could hear timid -remarks in the kitchen about a worthless horse, about boys who would be -late to school, and the delayed work of the day. - -"If that hoss could only keep up with my imagination!" said Smead, -mournfully. - -"Dan'l, you must take care of the horse yourself in the morning," said -Mrs. Smead. - -"But my imagination keeps me so busy, mother," said he. "Montravers -works it night an' day. It don't give me any sleep, thinkin' o' the -wealth that's just ahead of us. It pants with weariness. Almost every -night I dream of tossin' a whole basket of gold into my wife's lap an' -sayin', 'There, mother, it's yours; do as you like with it.'" - -She made no reply. That gold-tossing had revived her hope a little and -pacified her for the moment. - -Such was a sample day in the life of the Smeads when Dan'l Webster was -at home. Every night and morning the boys were helping father by rubbing -the legs and body of the stallion. I soon acquired the habit, partly -because I admired the splendid animal, partly to help the boys. I had -never rubbed a horse's legs before, and it appealed to me as a new form -of dissipation. - -We were all helping father while the mother worked along from dawn till -we had all gone to our beds--all save the head of the house. He spent -his evenings reading, or in the company of the horsemen at the Palace -Hotel. - -I was now deeply interested in my school work. One night I had sat late -with my problems in algebra, and lay awake for hours after I went to -bed. The clock struck twelve, and still I could hear Mrs. Smead rocking -as she sewed downstairs. By and by there were sounds of Mr. Smead -entering the front door. Then I heard her say: "Dan'l, you promised me -not to do this again. The boys are growing up, and you must set them a -better example." - -She spoke kindly, but with feeling. "Mother, don't wake me up," he -pleaded. "I've enjoyed an evening of great pride an' immeasurable -wealth. They've been praisin' my hoss, an' two men from New York are -comin' to buy him. I'm a Croesus. For the Lord's sake, lemme go to bed -with the money!" - -I lay awake thinking what a singular sort of slavery was going on in -that house. - -What a faithful, weary, plodding creature the slave was! She reminded me -of those wonderful words which my mother had asked me and my sister to -commit to memory: - -"Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee: -for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge: -thy people shall be my people and thy God my God. Where thou diest will -I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me and more, also, -if aught but death part thee and me." - -Thy God shall be my God, indeed, even though He be nothing better than a -highbred stallion! - - - - -CHAPTER III - -IN a way Henry Dunbar was like Texas, whence he had come with his -sister Florence to go to school in Griggsby. Colonel Buckstone had often -referred to him as "The Lone Star." He was big, warm-hearted, and brave, -could turn a hand-spring, and was the best ball-player at the academy. -He could also smoke and chew tobacco. - -"Have a chew?" he asked, the first day we met. - -I confessed with shame that I was not so accomplished. - -"If you get sick, take some more," he said. "That's the only way. -Everybody chews that is anybody." - -It was almost true. Many of the leading men went about with a bulge on -one side of their faces. An idea came to me. I would show Henry that I -had at least one manly accomplishment. So I conducted him to the Smead -stable and began rubbing a leg of Montravers. Henry was impressed; -he wanted to try it, and did, and thereby the horse got hold of his -imagination also. - -Next morning at daylight we went down to the fairground to see -Montravers driven. There were other horses at work, and the shouts -of the drivers and the swift tattoo of the hoofs quickened our pulses -before we could see the track. The scene, so full of life and spirit, -thrilled us. It was fine bait for boys and men. In our excitement we -thought neither of school nor of breakfast. - -By and by the leading citizens began to arrive in handsome runabouts and -to take their places on the grand stand. - -"That's Colonel Sile Buckstone," Henry whispered. - -There was no mistaking the Colonel's bovine head and scarlet blossom. -His voice roared a greeting to every newcomer. His son Ralph, our -schoolmate, arrived with his father, and joined us down by the wire. -Senator Griggs, Judge Warner, and a number of leading merchants had also -arrived. These men had what was called a fine "delivery." Most of them -sat in broadcloth and silk hats, expectorating with a delivery at once -exact and impressive. There was the resounding Websterian tone coupled -with a rustic swagger and glibness that could be found in every country -village. What vocal and pedestrial splendor was theirs as they rose and -strode to the sulky of Montravers, who had finished a trial heat! Much -of the splendor had been imported from the capitals by Smithers, Brooks, -and Buckstone; but more of it was natural Websterian effulgence. - -Mr. Smead was right; the trotter was indeed the friend and ally of -the "conversationalist." How well those high-sounding names fitted the -Websterian tone--Montravers, Hambletonian, Abdallah, Mambrino Chief. -And so it was with all the vivid phrases of the racetrack. The sleek, -high heads and spurning feet of the horses seemed to stimulate and -reflect the Websterian spirit. When a man looked at one of those horses -he unconsciously tightened his check rein. If his neck was a bit weary, -he felt for his flask or set out for the Palace Hotel. - -Those great men complimented Mr. Smead on his horse, and the Senator -bet a hundred dollars with the Congressman that Montravers would win his -race. - -"Let us bet on that horse," said Henry to me; "we can't lose." - -I confessed with some shame that I did not know how to bet. - -"That's easy," said Henry. "I'll show you how when the time comes." - -Then we went round among the stables. - -What a center of influence and power was that half-mile track and the -stables about it. It was a primary school of crime, with its museum of -blasphemy and its department of slang and lewdness. What a place for the -tender soul of youth! - -There were the sleek trotters passing in and out, booted for their work. -In the sulkies behind them were those cursing, kinglike, contemptuous -jockeys, so sublime and exalted that they were even beyond the reach of -our envy. There were the great prancing, beautiful stallions, and the -swipes--heroic, foul-mouthed, proud, free, and some of them dog-faced. -Scarred, sniffing bulldogs were among them, spaniels with grace locks -on their brows, sleek little fox terriers, and now and then a roaring -mastiff. How we envied them! We became their willing slaves, we boys of -the school, fetching water and sweeping floors for the sacred privilege -of rubbing a horse's leg. In the end some had been kicked out of the -stables, but they did not mind that. What was that if they could only -play swipes and rub a horse's leg? It only heightened their respect and -their will to return. - -As my life went on I saw how these leading lights of Griggsby shone, -like stars, above the paths of the young who were choosing their way. - -We boys began to think that greatness was like a tree, with its top in -the brain and its roots in the human stomach, and that the latter needed -much irrigation. It seemed to us that poker, inebriety, slangy wit, and -the lavish hand were as the foliage of the tree; that fame, wealth, -and honor were its fruit; that the goat, the trot-ting-horse, and the -millinery store were as birds of the air that sometimes lit in its -branches. - -We boys were wont to gather in an abandoned mill near the Smead -house, on the river bank, after school, for practice in chewing and -expectoration, and to discuss the affairs of the village. - -One day Henry Dunbar and Ralph Buckstone had a little flask of whisky, -which they had stolen from the coat pocket of old Thurst Giles as he lay -drunk in the lumber yard. Henry held it up and gave us an able imitation -of John Griggs in the bar-room of the Palace Hotel, through the open -door of which we boys had witnessed bloody and amusing episodes. - -"Gentlemen, here's to the juice of the corn," he began, in the swelling -tone of Griggs. "The inspiration of poetry, the handmaid of eloquence, -the enemy of sorrow, the friend of genius, the provoker of truth." - -It was rather convincing to the youthful mind, coming as it did from the -lips of the great Griggs. We wondered how it was that old Thurst -Giles and Billy Suds, and other town drunkards, had failed to achieve -greatness. They were always soaked; Ralph said that the juice did not -have a fair chance in such men, that they were too poor and scrawny, and -their stomachs too small. They lacked capacity. It was like putting seed -in thin soil. Everybody knew that John Griggs could drink a whole big -bottle and walk off as if nothing had happened. - -Henry Dunbar said that a man had to have money and clothes and a good -voice, and especially a high hat, as well as whisky and cigars, to -amount to anything. - -Tommy West thought that the failure of Thurst and Billy was due to the -fact that they were dirty and mean, and could not make a speech. In his -view, also, they didn't shave often enough. If a man used whisky just -for the sake of keeping up appearances, it was all right; but if he used -it to get drunk with, it made him just naturally comical. - -Parents, ministers, and Sunday schools were temporary obstacles to -the wearing of beaver hats, the carrying of gold-headed canes, and the -driving of fast horses. It would not do for a boy to be swelling around -bigger than his father, but when we had become large and strong and -worthy, the beaver and its accompaniments would be added unto us. Some -of us got the idea--although none of us dared to express it--that our -fathers were not so great or so grand as they might be, and we thought -we knew the reason. Luckily, from this last of our secret sessions I -went home sick, convinced that a humble life was best for me. - -The next day Florence sent a note to my room, saying that she wished to -see me. We went out for a walk together. - -"I'm going to look after you," she said. "You haven't any mother here, -and you need me. You've simply _got_ to behave yourself." - -She stopped, faced me, and stamped her pretty foot on the ground, and -there were tears in her blue eyes. She turned me about and took my arm -and held it dose against her side as we walked on in silence. - -"I don't know how--that's what's the matter with me," I said, -helplessly. - -"Don't worry," she answered. "I'm only a girl, but I can give you -lessons in the art of being a gentleman if--if necessary. I owe much to -you, Havelock, and I can't forget it. I shall not let you be a fool." - -"I can't help it," I said. - -"Then _I'll_ try to help it," she answered. "At least, I'll make it hurt -you." - -I did my best after that--not very well, I fear, but my best, all things -considered--and kept my heart decently clean for her sake. More than -once I wept for sorrow over my adventure through the ice, for it had -made me give her up. - -That night I told Ralph that Florence loved him, and how I knew. It was -a sublime renunciation. After all, what is better than the heart of a -decent boy? I wish it were mine again. - -"I love her, too," he said, "but I haven't dared to tell her of it. I'm -going to see her now." - -After that Ralph was a model student and a warm friend of mine. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -FAIR-TIME had arrived. The Smead boys had worked every night and -morning on the legs and body of that splendid horse. His coat was satin, -and his plumes were silk when he went out of the stable. He returned -dripping with sweat and foam. - -I wonder what Daniel Webster Smead would have accomplished with those -boys if they had had the care and training of his "hoss." But they -were only descended from Thankful Smead and Remember Baker and Winfield -Scott, and what was that in comparison with the blood of Hambletonian -X.? - -I gave to Henry, to be wagered, a part of the money which my father had -provided for the term's expenses. Henry promised that he would surely -double it, and that is what happened. Montravers won, our pockets bulged -with money, but the horse did not sell. A buyer from New York made an -offer, which was refused. Mr. Smead informed us that the buyer had said -that if Montravers showed that he could repeat his performance the -price was not too high. Hope realized maketh the heart strong; and our -imaginations, lighted by the gleam of gold, worked far into the night -after full days of labor. - -The next week the stallion was entered at Diddlebury. Henry and I were -going over to get rich. Early in the morning of the race we skipped -school and took a train to Diddlebury. Such riches have never come to -me as we had in our minds that morning. We considered what we should do -with the money. I secretly decided that I would buy a diamond ring for -Florence Dunbar, his sister, and that, if there were any money left, I -would give it to my mother. - -Henry had his mental eye on a ranch in Texas, near his father's--not a -very big one--he explained to me. As Henry knew the art of betting, I -gave all my money to him, except a dollar and fifty-four cents. - -We spent the morning at the stables by the track, and endured a good -deal of abuse from the swipe boys, who looked down upon us from that -upper level of horsedom. We knew it was justified, and made only a -feeble response. We stood near with eyes and ears of envy while they -jested with many a full round oath of their night's adventures. And I -remember that one of them called to me: - -"Here, sonny, keep away fr'm that mare's legs. She'll kick a hole in ye. -If she don't I will. Come, now, take a walk. Run home to yer mammy." - -That was the mildest brand of scorn which they ladled out to us when -we tried to show our familiarity with the "trottin'-hoss." We found the -stall of Montravers, but the trainer would not have us there despite our -friendship for the owner. Driven by the contempt of our superiors -from this part of the grounds, we haunted the rifle ranges and the -gingerbread and lemonade stalls until the grand stand was thrown open. -Henry left me for a while, and on his return said that he had wagered -all our money on Montravers. I sat in a joyful trance until the bell -rang. - -The race began with our favorite among the five leaders of a large -field. Suddenly the sky turned black. Montravers had broken and begun -bucking, and acted as though he wanted to kick. He fell far behind, and -when the red flag came down before him and shut him out of the race, -I had to believe it, and could not. It was like having to climb a tree -with a wolf coming, and no tree in sight. - -Now, the truth is, Montravers might have won, but his driver sold the -race, as we were to learn by and by--sold it for ten dollars and two -bottles of whisky. He pulled and bedeviled the horse until the latter -showed more temper than speed. The horse made every effort to get free -and head the procession. He was on the square, that horse, but the -ten-dollar man kept pulling. The horse was far more decent, more honest, -more human than his driver; but the latter blamed the horse, and the -New-Yorker got him for a thousand dollars less than he would have had to -pay by any other method. - -The ten-dollar man proved to be one of the few philanthropists in -Griggsby. He became one of the great educators of the village. He -stood by the gate that opened into the broad way of leisure. His cheap -venality was like a dub in his hands, with which he smote the head of -the fool and turned him back. If he had been a hundred-dollar man, the -farms of the county would have gone to weeds. - -Henry and I had only twenty-four cents between us. We met Mr. Smead -coming from the stables. He was awfully cut up, in spite of that happy -way he had of taking his trouble. We soon saw that something like an -earthquake had happened to him. - -"My education is complete," said he, sadly. "I have got my degree; it -is D.F. I have honestly earned it, and shall seek new worlds to conquer. -The man who mentions hoss to me after this day shall perish by the sword -of my wrath." - -He carried his little driving-whip in his hand. - -"I have sold everything but this whip," he added; "I keep that as a -souvenir of my school days. Boys, are you ready to join me in a life of -industry?" - -"We are," said both of us, in concert. "Then, in the language of D. -Webster, follow me, strike down yon guard, gain the highway, an' start -for a new destination. Boys, we will walk home; let us shake from our -feet the dust of Diddlebury." - -"We have got to walk," said Henry. "We lost every dollar we had on the -race." - -"We are all of equal rank," said Smead, with a smile. "I will share with -you my distinction. There is enough of it for all of us. Evenly divided, -it should satisfy the ambition of every damn fool in Vermont. Now let -us proceed to the higher walks of life, the first of which shall be the -walk to Griggsby." - -The sun was low when, beyond the last house in the village of -Diddlebury, we came out on the turnpike with our faces set in the -direction of Griggsby, nine miles away--and destinations far better and -more remote. - -Henry and I were weary, but the talk of Smead helped us along. - -By and by he said: "Boys, as workers of iniquity we are failures; let us -admit it. For the weak the competition is too severe. The ill-trained, -half-hearted, third-rate, incompetent criminal is no good. He is -respected neither by God, man, nor the devil. Let's be respectable. -If we must have something for nothing, let's go to cuttin' throats, or -boldly an' openly an' without shame go into the railroad business. Then -we might have our mansions, our horses, an' our hounds. Whether we died -in bed or on the gallows, we should be honored in song an' story, like -Captain Kidd." - -He gaily sang a verse of the ballad, very familiar in the days of which -I am telling: - - "Jim Fisk was a man, wore his heart on his sleeve, - - No matter what people might say, - - And he did all his deeds--both the good and the - - bad-- - - In the broad, open light of the day. - - If a man was in trouble Jim helped him along - - To drive the grim wolf from the door; - - He often did right, and he often did wrong, - - But he always remembered the poor. - -"That's the thing!" he went on. "Cut the throats of the people, grab a -million, an' throw back a thousand for charity. - -"As it is, we are neither fish, flesh, nor fowl. Satan scorns our aid. -I, for one, resent it. After all, a man of my gifts an' attainments -deserves some recognition. Le's resign our commissions in his army an' -go in for reform. - -"Le's take up the idee o' givin' somethin' fer somethin', an' see how -that 'll work. In my opinion, it 'll pay better. For one thing, we -shall not have much competition in Griggsby. Of course, there are -the churches, but they are busy with the sins of the Philistines an' -Amalekites an' the distant heathen. - -"Satan has made Griggsby his head-quarters as bein' more homelike than -any other part of the universe. That is the place to begin operations. -We'll be lonesome an' unpopular, but we'll raze hell--I mean, of course, -that we'll cause it to move from Griggsby. There is nothing else for us -to do. We are driven to it. Griggsby is untouched; it is virgin soil. As -we have been coming along I have been counting on my fingers the young -men of good families who under my eye have gone down to untimely an' -dishonored graves in that little village. There are twenty-six that -I can think of who have followed the leading lights to perdition. Of -course, there are more, but that is enough. It's a ghastly harvest, -boys. First, we will attack the leading lights; we will put them out." - -Henry and I were rather deeply impressed by this talk, so new, so -different, so suited to our state of mind. It hit us straight between -the eyes. - -I was in a bad way, and dreadfully worried, without a cent for books or -tuition or spending money, or the courage to appeal to my father. - -"I've got some money in my pocket, boys," he went on. "If I could only -buy _The Little Corporal_ [our weekly paper] it would be just the jaw bone -with which to slay the Philistines. Wholesome publicity is the weapon we -need. With it we could both demolish an' build up." - -Black clouds had covered the sky, and now we were walking in darkness, -with a damp wind coming out of the west. We were some miles from the -village of Griggsby when a drenching rain began to fall. We could see a -light in a window close by the road, and we made for it. - -A woman timidly opened the door as we rapped. Smead knew her. - -"Sorry to trouble you, Mrs. Bradshaw," said he. "Where is Bill?" - -"He an' Sam Reynolds went over to Diddlebury Fair," said she. - -"Well, it is time the prize pumpkins were rollin' home," said Smead; -"but I'm 'fraid _we_ have rolled about as far as we can tonight. A heavy -rain has set in, an' we're nearly wet through." - -"We ain't much to offer you," said the woman, "but if one o' you can -sleep with the hired man there's a bed for the other two upstairs." - -"Do you think the hired man would sleep with me?" asked Smead, in -playful astonishment. - -"I guess so," said the woman. - -"Well, if you don't think he'd be offended, if he wouldn't git mad an' -throw me out, I'd take it as a great compliment to sleep with the hired -man." - -The woman put aside her sewing, rose wearily, lit a candle, and went -upstairs to make the bed for Henry and me. She moved heavily in big -shoes. Her face was pale and care-worn, her hands were knotted with -toil. She was another slave. - -"Her girl is away teaching school," Smead explained to us. "One boy has -worked his way to the grave--worn out as ye'd wear out a hoss. Another -is working his way through college." - -We went to bed, but my sorrows kept me awake. Henry and I discussed -them in whispers for half an hour. He said that he felt sure his sister -Florence could lend us some money. Their bank account was in her name. - -He fell asleep by and by, but I lay thinking of Florence and of my -folly. I could hear Mrs. Bradshaw singing softly downstairs as she -rocked in her sewing-chair. Near midnight I heard a carriage, and soon -there was an entrance at the front door. Then I heard the woman speak in -a low tone, and the angry answer of the man. - -Had it come to this, he said, with an oath. A man couldn't do as he -liked in his own house? He would see. Then he proceeded to break the -furniture. Oh, the men were always at the bat in those days, and the -women chasing the ball! - -When we left in the morning, on a muddy road, Mr. Smead said to us: - -"That man is another Simon Legree. The women are mostly slaves about -here. If they could have their way, how long do you suppose the leading -lights would be leading us? What would become of the trottin'-hoss an' -the half-mile road to bankruptcy, an' perdition an' the red noses? - -"Now, look at me. I went an' grabbed the earnings o' my wife an' -children an' staked 'em on a hoss. Not that I've anything agin the hoss; -hosses would be all right if it wa'n't for their associatin' with men. -You put a five-thousan'-dollar hoss in the company of a ten-dollar man, -an' the reputation o' the hoss is bound to suffer. If it's hard on a -hoss, it's harder on a woman. - -"Boys, I shall not buy the _Corporal._ I shall give every dollar in my -pocket to Mrs. Smead an' throw in myself. It ain't much, but it may be -more." - -That week he lettered a placard with great pains, and had it framed and -hung in the "drawing-room," and it said: - -_Proclamation of D. W. Smead:_ - -_In the name of God, amen. I hereby declare my wife to be a free woman -and entitled to the rights of a human being in my home; the same right -that I have to be wise or foolish. She shall have a part of the money -that she earns by her own labor, and the right to rest when she is -weary, and to enjoy a share of my abundant leisure. All persons are -warned against harboring or trusting me any further at her expense._ - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE physical as well as the mental and moral boundaries of the -community of Griggsby, in northern New England, were fitted to inspire -eloquence. The town lay between two mountain ranges crowned with -primeval forests, and near the shore of a beautiful lake, with the -Canadian line a little north of it. There lived among us a lawyer from -the state of Maine who had sung of its "forests, lakes, and rivers, and -the magnificent sinuosities of its coast," but he had been silenced by -Colonel Buckstone's "towering, cloud-capped, evergreen galleries above -the silver floor of our noble lake." - -There were also our mental and moral boundaries; on the east, hard times -and history; on the west, the horse-traders of York State, mingled with -wild animals and backed by pathless woods; on the north, the Declaration -of Independence; on the south, the Democratic party; while above was a -very difficult heaven, and beneath a wide open and most accessible hell. - -Our environment had some element that appealed to every imagination, and -was emphasized by the solemn responsibilities of the time. Our ancient -enemies in the South had begun to threaten the land under the leadership -of Seymour and Blair. The oratory of New England was sorely taxed. - -My own imagination had been touched by all these influences, and by -another--the dear and beautiful girl of whom I have said not half -enough. There was no flower in all the gardens of Griggsby so graceful -in form or so beautiful in color as Florence Dunbar. I felt a touch of -the tender passion every time I looked into her eyes. No, she was not -of the "sweet Alice" type; she was too full-blooded and strong-armed for -that. She never entered a churchyard without being able to walk out of -it, and if she had loved "Ben Bolt" she would have got him, to his great -happiness and advantage. She was a modest, fun-loving, red-cheeked, -sweet-souled girl, with golden hair and hazel eyes, and seventeen when -first I saw her. Candor compels me to admit that she had a few freckles, -but I remember that I liked the look of them; they had come of the wind -and the sunlight. - -The father of my chum Henry and his sister Florence had gone West from -Griggsby with his bride in the early fifties, and had made a fortune. -Florence and her brother had grown up on a ranch, and had been sent back -to enjoy the educational disadvantages of Griggsby. They could ride -like Indians, and their shooting had filled us with astonishment. With -a revolver Florence could hit a half dollar thrown in the air before it -touched the ground. - -Her brother Henry was two years older, and as many inches taller than -I, and always in my company, as I have said. He had begun to emulate the -leading lights of the neighborhood. He and Ralph Buckstone, the handsome -and gifted son of the great Colonel, were friends and boon companions. - -Having been chastened by misfortune, like the great Dan'l Webster Smead, -and being in dire need of money, Henry and I went straight to Florence's -room the morning of our return from the horse races at Diddlebery, and -confessed our ruin and the folly that had led to it. Henry urged me to -do it, and said that he would do all the talking, for I told him that I -would ask no favor of Florence--coward that I was. - -She was kind, but she added to our conviction of guilt a sense of idiocy -which was hard to bear. I secretly resolved to keep my brain unspotted -by suspicion thereafter, whatever might happen to my soul. We gladly -promised to be good. We would have given our notes for a million acts of -virtue. - -"We are for reform," I assured her. "Henry and Mr. Smead and I have had -a long talk about ourselves and the village. We are going to do what we -can to improve the place. He spoke of buying _The Little Corporal_ and -drowning out the gamblers and drunkards with publicity." - -"That would be fun!" she exclaimed. "I will write to my father about -that. Maybe it's lucky after all that you have had this trouble. I am -grateful to you, Havelock, and I am going to help you, but you--" She -hesitated, and I was quick to say: "I will not take your help unless you -will let me return the money. I can work Saturdays in the mill and do -it." - -"Oh, don't think of it again!" she said, with sympathy. - -"I must think of it," was my answer, "and with God's help I will not be -so unfair to you again." - -She did not know how deeply I felt the words, and added: - -"I am afraid that Mr. Hall may send you both home." - -That, indeed, was our great fear. - -I have tried to make it dear that there were some good men in Griggsby; -and I must not fail to tell of one of them, the Rev. Appleton Hall, head -of the academy, a plain, simple, modest citizen. What a splendid figure -of a man he was--big, strong-armed, hard-handed, with black eyes and a -beautiful, great head crowned with a wavy mass of blonde hair. That and -its heavy, curling beard were as yellow as fine gold. What a tower of -rugged strength and fatherly kindness! We loved the touch of his hand -and the sound of his voice--when we did not fear them. As he stood with -his feet in the soil of his garden and his collar loose at his throat he -reminded me of that man of old of whom it was written: "A thousand shall -fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not -come nigh thee." - -He fought against the powers of darkness for the sake of the boys. He -was handicapped; he could not denounce the great men of the village by -name as pestilential enemies of decency and order. Perhaps that should -have been done by the churches. Old "App" Hall, as some called him, -warned and watched us; but, with his rugged figure, his old-fashioned -clothes, and his farmer dialect, he had not the appeal--the darling -appeal of Websterians like Griggs and Colonel Buckstone. However, there -was something fatherly about him that made it easy to confess both our -truancy and our money loss. Of course, he forgave us, but with stern -advice, which did not get under our jackets, as had that of Dan'l -Webster Smead. He said we were fools; but we knew that, and would have -admitted more. - -I began to attend to business as a student, but Henry went on with his -skylarking. Dan'l Webster Smead went to work buying produce for the -Boston market, and spent every evening at home. He got his wife a -hired girl, and the poor woman soon had a happier look in her face. -The children wore new clothes, and a touch of the buoyant spirit of the -racer Montravers, now cast out of his life, soon entered the home of -Smead. - -Ralph Buckstone and I had become the special favorites of Appleton -Hall. Florence had managed to keep me out of mischief for some time. -Naturally, my love for her had led to the love of decency and honor, -which meant that I must do the work set before me and keep on fairly -good terms with myself. It was Florence, I am sure, who had had a like -effect upon Ralph. We took no part, thereafter, in the ranker deviltry -of the boys and did fairly good work in school. - -One evening Ralph came to my room and told me that he had had a quarrel -with his father. It seemed that a clever remark of Florence about the -last spree of the Colonel had reached his ears. The Colonel, boiling -with indignation, had made some slighting reference to her and all other -women in the presence of his son. High words and worse had followed, -in the course of which the sacred, gold-headed cane of the Colonel, -presented to him by the Republican electors of the town, had been -splintered in a violent gesture. The cane had been used, not for -assault, but for emphasis. Ralph had been blamed by the Colonel for the -loss of his temper and the loss of his cane. The great man might have -forgiven the former, but the latter went beyond his power of endurance. -So he turned the boy out of doors, and Ralph came directly to my -room, where his father found and forgave him with great dignity in the -morning, and bade him return to his home. - -There was some drunken brawling in the streets by night, and now and -then a memorable battle, followed by prosecution and repairs. About then -Appleton Hall gave a lecture on the morals of Griggsby, which was the -talk of the school and the village for a month or more. In it were the -words about Daniel Webster and the first Bunker Hill oration which I -quoted at the beginning of this little history. People began to wake up. - -Our preachers came back from Samaria and Egypt, "from Africa's sunny -fountains and India's coral strands," and began to think about Griggsby. -At last they seemed to recognize that foreign heathens were inferior to -the home-made article; that they were not to be compared with the latter -in finish and general efficiency. They turned their cannons of oratory -and altered the range of their fire. A public meeting was held in the -town hall, and the curses of the village were discussed and berated. -A chapter of the Cadets of Temperance was organized, and Ralph and I -joined. We carried torch lights in a small procession led by Samantha -Simpson, and cheered and shouted and had a grand time; but we failed to -overawe the enemy. Nothing resulted that could be discerned by the -naked contemporary eye save the ridicule that was heaped upon us. If one -wanted to create a laugh in a public speech he would playfully refer -to the Cadets of Temperance. Good people were wont to say, "What's the -use?" - -The people are a patient ox. A big woolen mill polluted the stream that -flowed through the village. It was our main water supply. The people -permitted the pollution until the water was not fit to use. Then they -went back to the wells and springs again. There was some futile talk -about the shame of it. Letters of complaint were printed in _The Little -Corporal_, our local paper. By and by a meeting was held and a committee -appointed to see what could be done. They made sundry suggestions, most -of which were ridiculed, and the committee succeeded only in getting -themselves disliked. - -As a matter of fact, the leading merchants and lawyers, and even the -churches, derived a profit from the presence of the woolen mill. Then, -too, about every man in Griggsby had his own imperishable views, and -loved to ridicule those of his neighbor. Indolence, jealousy, and -conceit were piled in the path of reform, which was already filled with -obstacles. - -Now, in those evil days a thing happened which I wish it were not my -duty to recall. Unpleasant gossip had gone about concerning Florence and -me. As to its source I had my suspicions. Colonel Buckstone had seen -us sitting together by the roadside adjoining the meadow where we -had gathered flowers. To Colonel Buckstone that was a serious matter, -especially in view of the fact that Florence had expressed strong -disapproval of his general conduct. Men like him are ever trying to hold -the world in leash and to pull it back to the plane of their own morals. - -Griggsby was like most country towns. The county fair had passed; the -trotters had retired; Colonel Buckstone had not slid off his eminence -for some time, and the material for conversation had run low; somebody -had to be sacrificed. The inventive talent of the village got busy. -It needed a gay Lothario, and I was nominated and elected without -opposition, save that of my own face. It ought to have turned the tide, -but it did not. My decency was all assumed. At heart I was a base and -subtle villain. - -Florence naturally turned to me for advice, and I felt the situation -bitterly. - -"You poor thing!" said she, with a tearful laugh. "I'm sorry for you, -but don't worry. Your honor shall be vindicated." - -"I'll fight the Colonel," I said. - -"You shall not fight him," said she. "Go and fight somebody else. I want -to save _him_ for myself." - -That is the way she took it, bravely, calmly. She did not ask any one to -be sorry for her. A less courageous spirit would have given up and -gone home in disgust; but she stood her ground, with the fatherly -encouragement of Appleton Hall, and stored the lightning that by and by -was to fall from her hand upon the appalled citizens of Griggsby. - -I was at work in my room one evening when Dan'l Webster Smead came to my -door. - -"Florence Dunbar and a friend have called to see you," he said. "They -are waiting in the parlor." - -I went down to meet them at once. Florence and Miss Elizabeth Collins, -Colonel Buckstone's stenographer, rose to greet me. - -Neither I nor any other man knew at that time that Florence had done -her family a great favor when the Collins home had been threatened by -a mortgage. Years after it helped me to understand the conduct of -Elizabeth. In a moment I had heard their story. - -Before going home that evening the Colonel had dictated a letter to -Roswell Dunbar, Florence's father, calculated to fill his mind with -alarm and cause him to recall her from Griggsby. Miss Collins had left -the office with her employer, who had put the letter with others in his -overcoat pocket, intending to mail them in the morning, the post office -having closed for the night. She said that the Colonel had been imbibing -freely that day and had gone to the Palace Hotel for supper. - -"I have decided to start for home in the morning," said Florence. "I -must reach there before the letter does, and probably I shall not come -back." - -"Don't go," I said. "I'll attend to the letter." - -"How?" she asked. - -"I don't know, but in some way," I said, with the strong confidence of -youth in its own capacity. "I only ask that you give me permission to -consult my friend Dan'l Webster Smead in strict confidence. It won't -do to let the Colonel drive us out of town. He is the one to be driven -out." - -Florence agreed with me, and I walked home with the girls, and left them -in a better frame of mind. - -I asked Smead to come to my room with me, and laid the facts before him. -He sat smoking thoughtfully, and said not a word until I had finished. -Then he said in that slow drawl of his: - -"I take it that you are willing to suffer, if need be, for the sake of -decency and fair women." - -"I am," was my response. - -"Then again I ask you to follow me," he said, rising; and together we -left his house as the old town dock was striking nine; Mr. Smead wore -his great overcoat with its fur collar and cuds. - -"The Colonel has often admired it," said he. "He's a great swapper when -he's drinking, and perhaps--" - -"I shall fight the Colonel, if necessary," I suggested. - -"Hush, boy! Let us first try eloquence," said he. "It is only the vulgar -mind that resorts to muscle when the tongue may do as well. Eloquence, -my dear boy, is the jimmy of Griggsby; it is also the gold brick, the -giant powder, the nitroglycerin of Griggsby. Let us see what it can -accomplish." We went on in silence, and soon heard sounds of revelry -in a bar-room. We stopped and listened a moment, after which he led me -farther up the street. - -"The Colonel began to slide from his eminence to-day," my companion -whispered. "I doubt not he is still sliding, and what I hope to hear are -sundry deep-voiced remarks about the 'witchin' hour of night."' - -We came soon to the lighted windows of the Palace Hotel, through which a -loud and mirthful joy floated into the still night. We listened again. I -could hear the rumbling words, "When churchyards yawn and graves give up -their dead." - -"Those graves and churchyards are counterfeit," Smead whispered. "They -have not the Buckstonian ring to them. Let's go in for a minute." - -We entered. About the stove in the office was the usual crowd of -horsemen with meerschaum pipes. I took the only vacant chair by the side -of a maudlin old soldier who did chores for his keep, and who addressed -me with incoherent mumbles. The air was heavy with tobacco smoke and the -odor of rum and molasses. "Rat" Emerson, a driver, was telling how he -had worn out a faster horse than his in the scoring and won a race. -Through the open door of the bar-room I could see a man with his glass -raised, and hear him saying in a stentorian tone: - -"Ye call me chief, and ye do well to call him chief who for twelve -long years has met upon the arena every shape of man or beast the broad -empire of Rome could furnish, and who never yet lowered his arm." - -This tournament of orators was interrupted by Smead, who was suddenly -and almost simultaneously embraced by every member of the group, while -the barkeeper was preparing to minister to his needs. - -"Again I am in the grasp of the octopus of intemperance," I heard Smead -say, whereat the others roared with laughter. - -Soon he disengaged himself, and I saw him speaking to the bartender. In -a moment he came out, and we left the place together. - -"Colonel Buckstone is taking the nine-thirty train to St. Johnstown," he -whispered. "We must hurry and get aboard. There is yet time." - -We ran to the depot and caught the train. Colonel Buckstone sat near -the center of the smoking-car with Thurst Giles, a town drunkard, of -Griggsby. Fortunately, we got a seat just behind them. I remember that, -of the two, Thurst was much the soberer. Shabby and unshaven, he was an -odd sort of extravagance for the imposing Colonel to be indulging in. -The latter was arrayed in broadcloth and fine linen, and crowned with a -beaver hat. - -"Giles, I like you," said Buckstone, in a thick, maudlin voice; "but, -sir, I feel constrained to remind you that in the matter of dress and -conduct you are damnably careless. You, sir, are in the unfortunate -position of a man climbing to a great height. You are all right as long -as you do not look down." - -Giles laughed, as did others near them. - -"But be of good cheer," the Colonel went on, as he passed him a roll -of greenbacks. "I appoint you Chancellor of the Exchequer, and shall at -once look after the improvement of your person. All I demand of you is -that you pay the bills and keep sober, sir. Do not worry about me, -but rest assured that I can drink enough for both of us, and that your -occupation as paymaster will be sufficient." - -A fanner with a long beard was passing down the aisle of the car. - -"My friend, your beard annoys me," said the Colonel. "Are you much -attached to it?" - -"No; it's attached to me," the farmer answered, as he stopped and looked -at the statesman in a flurry of laughter. - -"If you don't mind, sir, I presume that it wouldn't hurt the feelings -of your beard to part with you. Please have it removed. It makes me -nervous." - -"I'll have it cut and boxed and shipped to you," said the farmer. - -"Giles, give the gentleman ten dollars, and take his note payable in -whiskers," the statesman directed. - -At the next station a number entered the car, and among them was -the Websterian form of John Henry Griggs, with its stovepipe hat and -gold-headed cane. - -"Hello, Senator. Would you allow me to look at your hat?" the Colonel -demanded of him. - -"Certainly," said the gentleman addressed, as he laughingly passed his -beaver to the Colonel, having halted by the seat of the latter. - -The Colonel examined it critically, and asked, "How much will you take -for it?" - -"Well, to-night it's a pretty valuable hat," said the other. "I wouldn't -care to take less than twenty-five dollars for it." - -"And it is easily worth that to my needy friend here, who seeks -admittance to the higher circles of society," the Colonel answered. -"Giles, you will kindly settle with the Senator." - -Giles paid for the hat, and was promptly crowned with it, to the great -amusement of every occupant of the car. The big beaver came down upon -his ears and settled until its after part rested on his coat collar. The -Colonel passed his gold-headed cane to his new friend, singing as he did -so: - - "He often did right, and he often did wrong, - - But he always remembered the poor." - -When the noisy laughter had subsided he shrewdly remarked to the passive -Giles: - -"Now, sir, you have the prime essentials of respectability." - -"I feel like a d--fool," Giles protested. - -"Never mind your feelings," said the Colonel. "Take care of your looks, -and your feelings will take care of themselves." - -At the next station a man entered the car leading a lank hound. - -"How much for your dog?" the Colonel demanded. - -"Ten dollars." - -"Make it fifteen, and I'll take him. I don't want a dog that's worth -less than fifteen dollars." - -"All right!" - -"Mr. Giles, kindly settle with the gentleman." - -The hound was paid for, and Giles promptly took possession of him. - -"That is the Colonel's way of advertising," Smead whispered to me. "When -he buys anything of a farmer he always overpays him, and the farmer -never ceases to talk about it." - -In the lull that followed Smead rose and showed himself to the Colonel. - -"Ha! There is Senator Smead and his famous overcoat," was Buckstone's -greeting. - -"That coat has always worried me. In all my plans for the improvement of -Griggs-by that overcoat has figured more or less. What will you take for -it?" - -Smead drew off his coat, which had a rolling collar of brown fur. - -"I should not care to sell it," said Smead, "but I will trade even for -yours." - -"Anything for the good of the old town," said the obliging Colonel, as -they exchanged overcoats. - -In a moment each had put on his new coat. - -"Here, I don't want your gloves," said Buckstone, as he drew them out of -a side pocket. - -I observed that Smead had been feeling the contents of his coat. - -"Keep them," said he. "You shall have all that my coat contained, and I -shall claim all that was in yours." - -The train entered the depot at St. Johnstown. - -The Colonel and his new secretary followed the crowd to the station -platform. Giles, in big boots and patched and threadbare garments, his -big beaver hat resting on his ears, with the Colonel's bag in one hand -while the other held his gold-headed cane and the leash of the lank and -wistful hound, was an epic figure. - -[Illustration: 0113] - -I doubt if Colonel Buckstone could have had a more able assistant in -the task which lay before him that night, for in his lighter moods the -Colonel was a most industrious merrymaker. We saw them buying another -dog on the station platform, and presently they started for an inn, with -two quarreling dogs and the bag and the gold-headed cane and the beaver -hat, all in the possession of the faithful Giles. - -"I have secured the letters," said Smead. "As I suspected, they were in -a pocket of this overcoat, and we can return to Griggsby by the midnight -train; you must never tell what you know of this--not a word, not a -syllable. He will land in New York in a day or two--always points that -way when he's drinking--and will not think of the letter for weeks, -anyhow. Tell Florence to write to her father and explain the Colonel's -rage. That will take the edge off his razor." - -I promised, and we were soon riding back to Griggsby. It was a sleepless -but a happy and wonderful night for me and Mr. Smead. - -Early in the morning he went to the dormitory with a note that I had -written to Florence. When I met her she took my hand, but did not speak. -I knew why. For a long minute we walked together in silence; then she -said, rather brokenly: "Havelock, you are the most wonderful boy that I -ever met, and I owe you everything. What _can_ I do for?" - -The words were a new blow to me, for, as the read will understand, they -put her farther away. - -"Please take that back," I said, almost woefully. "Please do not think -that you owe me anything. I don't want you to feel that way. I didn't--" - -I was about to say that it was not I who had obtained the letter from -the Colonel, but I halted, suddenly remembering my promise. - -"You strange, modest boy!" she exclaimed. "Don't you want me to be -grateful to you?" - -"Florence," I said, with all the seriousness of my nature, "I'd almost -rather you'd hate me." - -I have never forgotten the look in her face then, and how quickly it -changed color. A sorry fool I was not to have understood it; but, then, -what did I know about women? She, too, knew as little of the heart of a -Puritan lad who had grown up in the edge of a wilderness. - -A few days later the ragged Giles walked into Griggsby with a battered -beaver hat on his head and a gold-headed cane in his left hand, while -with his right he wielded a bull whip over the backs of a pair of oxen -which the Colonel had purchased. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -DAN'L WEBSTER SMEAD was right. Colonel Buckstone went to New York, and -Ralph joined him there. Weeks passed, and they were still absent. Then -the truth came to me and to Florence in a letter from Ralph, which she -asked me to read. It ran as follows: - -"Dearest Florence,--I'm having a hard time with the governor. I want you -to know that I do not believe a word of all I've heard about you, and -that I shall never care about anybody else. I'm going to England with my -aunt. Dad suddenly decided that for me here in New York, and we've had -an awful row. It seems as if I ought to be there with you, but I can't. -Luck is against me. I should have to walk to Griggsby and go to work for -my living, for I should have no home. Don't worry; everything will come -out all right. Dad says I may write to you and come home in a year. What -do we care what people say so long as we are true to each other, which -I will always be. Dad says that Henry is leading me astray. What do you -think of that?" - -Then he added his signature and his London address. - -The girl was game. Her eyes flashed with indignation. - -"Never mind," said she; "my turn will come by and by." - -She said that she had written to Ralph; and I knew, without saying -it, that he would receive no letter from her, for I suspected that the -cunning old politician would have laid his plans to discourage him -with her silence. Two other letters came from Ralph, the last of which -complained of what he called "her indifference"; and, although I wrote -him, as did she, again and again, I happen to know that Ralph looked in -vain for a letter. - -Yes, it was the old, old plan, and easier managed in those days, when -England was very far from us and one who had crossed the ocean was a -curiosity. - -"Ralph ain't the right timber for a hero," said Smead, as we sat -together one day. "He won't do." - -"Why not?" I asked. - -"Too easily bamboozled. For one thing, a hero has got to be bigger than -his father, especially when his father is only knee-high to a johnny -cake. If I were young an' full o' vinegar, I'd jump in an' cut him out." - -I made no answer. - -"You're a good jumper," he suggested; "why don't ye jump for this big -prize? The girl has beauty an' character an' wit an' wealth. Don't be -afraid; hop in an' take her." - -"It's impossible," I said. "She don't care for me; but that's only one -reason." - -"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. - -"She told me so," I insisted. - -"Young man, I maintain that a lady cannot lie; but it ain't always best -to believe her. You didn't expect that she was goin' to toss her heart -into your lap at the first bid, did ye? They don't do that, not if they -'re real cunnin'. They like to hang on to their hearts an' make ye bid -for 'em. They want to know how much you'll give; and they're right, -absolutely right. It's good business. A girl has to be won." - -I sat in a thoughtful silence, and Smead went on. - -"It's a kind of auction sale. 'How much am I bid?' the girl says with -her eyes. You say, I offer my love.' It isn't enough. You offer houses -an' lands. Still she shakes her head no. By an' by you speak up with a -brave voice, an' offer the strong heart of a hero an' a love as deep an' -boundless as the sea, an' you mean every word of it. That fetches her. -You see, love is the biggest thing in a woman's life--or in the world, -for that matter. So you've got to say it big an' mean it big. Feeble -words an' manners won't do when you're tellin' the best girl in the -world how ye love her. Now, you've got the goods--the hero's heart an' -all. Why don't ye offer 'em?" - -I wish I had told him why, but I did not. In the first place, I knew -that I was no hero; and, again, I was like most Yankee boys of that -time--I could not bear any tempting of my heart's history. It was full -of deep sentiment, but somehow that was awfully sacred to me. Then, too, -I was not much of a talker. I could not have said those pretty things to -Florence. My words had never been cheapened by overuse, and I had quit -lying, and any sort of hyperbole would have made me ashamed of myself. - -I decided to leave school soon, and go to New York to seek my fortune. -So I should have done but for my next adventure. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THERE were days when there was a mighty ferment in the systems of -Griggsby. - -On a gray, chilly Saturday in the early autumn the village was full of -farmer folk who had come to market their produce. With these people and -the mill hands, Saturday was apt to be a busy day, with all doors open -until eight or nine o'clock. Most of the farmers went home in good order -after their selling and buying. Some, however, proceeded to squander the -proceeds and went home reeling in their wagons, with horses running and -lathering under the whip. - -Late in the afternoon Henry Dunbar and I were walking down the main -street when we saw a crowd gathering and heard an outburst of drunken -profanity. We ran with the crowd, which was surrounding the town bully, -a giant blacksmith, of the name of Josh, noted for his great strength -and thunderous voice, and a farmer from an Irish neighborhood above the -village. Both had been drinking, and the blacksmith was berating the -farmer. We mounted a wagon that stood near, where we could see and hear. -The blacksmith had rolled up his right shirt sleeve to the shoulder, and -stood with his huge arm raised as the foul thunder of his wrath broke -the peace of the village. - -The farmer rushed in, striking with both fists. Josh seized him about -the shoulders, and the two wrestled for a moment, then fell, the farmer -underneath. Josh held him by his hair and ears, and was banging his head -on the stone pavement. It was now like a fight between bulldogs; blood -was flowing. The farmer had the blacksmith's thumb between his teeth, -and the latter was roaring with pain. There were loud cries of "Stop -it!" Two bystanders were tugging at the great shoulders of Josh. - -Henry and I leaped from the wagon, pushed our way through the crowd, -and, seizing the blacksmith by his collar, broke their holds with -a quick pull and brought Josh's neck to the ground. The farmer was -surrounded and pushed away, while the mighty Josh made for me. I was -minded to run away, but how could I, after all that Smead had said to -me? I expected to be killed, but I could not run away. So I did a -thing no man had ever done before when the great Josh was coming. I ran -straight at the giant and, as I met him, delivered a blow, behind -which was the weight and impulse of my body, full in the face of that -redoubtable man. It was like the stroke of a hundred-and-sixty-pound -sledge hammer. The man toppled backward and fell into a cellarway, -head foremost, burst the door at the foot of the stairs, and stopped -senseless on the threshold of a butcher's shop. It was a notable fall, -that of this town bully, and his pristine eminence was never wholly -recovered. Henry, too, was set upon by rowdy partisans, and was -defending himself when the town constable reached the battlefield and -arrested Josh and the farmer and me for a breach of the peace. But the -incident was not closed. - -Friends of the fighters began to discuss the merits of the men and their -quarrel in the bar-rooms and stable yards of Griggsby. Feeling ran high, -and there was noisy brawling in the streets. - -Soon after nightfall a fight began in a bar-room between the two -factions represented by farmer boys and horse-rubbers, and was carried -into the back yard; and while it lasted one young man was kicked in the -chest until he was nearly dead. Word ran through the town that a murder -had been committed. The Websterian age of Griggsby had come to its -climax, and naturally. - -Next day Henry was arrested for his part in the affray. His father, who -happened to be in Boston at the time, was summoned by a telegram from -Florence. He came, and the result of his coming was the purchase of -_The Little Corporal_ for his daughter. I sat with him and his son and -daughter when Dan'l Webster Smead told him the story of that day with -the insight of a true philosopher. - -"The old town is in a bad way," said Dunbar, when the story was -finished. - -"But it can be set right," said Smead, "an' you're the man to do it." - -"How?" - -"Buy _The Little Corporal_ for your daughter, an' we'll do the rest," -said Smead. - -Mr. Dunbar shook his head. "I'd rather she'd marry some fine young -fellow and settle down," said he. - -"What's the matter with her doin' both?" Smead asked. - -"Give me the _Corporal_, and I'll attend to the young fellow," said -Florence. - -"Well, if you'll agree to help her in both enterprises," said Dunbar to -Smead, "I'll buy the paper. But you and Havelock must agree to help with -the newspaper, and make no important contracts without my consent." - -So I agreed to work for the _Corporal_, and changed my plan of leaving -Griggsby. - -Immediately I began to suffer an ill-earned and unwelcome adulation. The -Dan'l Websters touched their hats when I passed, and one likened me to -Achilles; small boys followed me in the streets and gazed into my face. -Fortunately, my alleged crimes were soon forgotten. That is one -curious thing about the Yankees: they will use a lie for conversational -purposes, but they never believe it. They rarely love a man until -they have taken him apart and put him together again by the surgery of -conversation. They want to know how he stands it. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -GOOD food, and plenty of it, was required to maintain the talents for -leisure, racing, and Websterian grandeur that distinguished the men -of Griggsby. As a rule, the women, therefore, were overworked. Men who -could not afford the grandeur or the sport indulged in dreams of it, and -surrendered their lives to inelegant leisure. Some left their farms and -moved into the village to make Dan'l Websters of their sons. Some talked -of going West, where the opportunities were better. You could hear men -in blue denim dreaming of wealth on the pavements and cracker barrels of -Griggsby, while their wives battled with poverty at home. - -Wifehood was still a form of bondage, as it was bound to be among a -people who for generations had spent every Sabbath and the beginning -and the end of every other day with Abraham and his descendants. Their -ideals and their duties were from three to four thousand years apart--so -far apart that they seldom got acquainted with one another. Among the -highest of their ideals was Ruth, of the country of Moab. Did she not -touch her face to the ground to find favor with the man she loved? Did -she not glean in the fields till even, and thresh out her bundles, and -then lie down at the feet of Boaz? - -In love and fear the wives of the Yankees were always gleaning. They -found a certain joy in trouble. Sorrow was a form of dissipation -to many, disappointment a welcome means of grace, and weariness a -comforting sign of duty done. Their fears were an ever-present trouble -in time of need. They were three--idleness, God, and the poorhouse. -Whatever the men might do or fail to do in Griggsby, it was the part of -the women to work and save. They squandered to save; squandered their -abundant strength to save the earnings of the family, the souls of -husbands, sons, and daughters, the lives of the sick. If ever they -thought of themselves it was in secret. Their hands were never idle. - -The Yankee was often an orator to his own wife at least, and had -convinced his little audience of one of two things, either that he had -achieved greatness or was soon to be crowned. The lures of politics, -invention, horsemanship, speculation, religion, and even poesy, led -their victims from the ax and the plow. In certain homes you found -soft-handed, horny-hearted tyrants of vast hope and good nature, and -one or more slaves in calico. In my humble opinion, these willing -slaves suffered from injustice more profound than did their dark-skinned -sisters of the South. - -You might see a judge or a statesman strutting in purple and fine linen, -or exchanging compliments in noble rhetoric at a mahogany bar, while his -aproned wife, with bare arms, was hard at work in the kitchen, trying -to save the expense of a second hired girl. And you would find her -immensely proud of her rhetorical peacock. His drinking and his maudlin -conduct were often excused as the sad but inevitable accessories of -Websterian genius. - -But the Websterian impulse had begun to show itself in a new generation -of women. It flowered in resounding rhetoric. - -Now and then Florence Dunbar called at the home of the Smeads, and -had learned to enjoy the jests of Dan'l, and especially his talk about -social conditions in Griggsby. It was there that she got the notion of -buying the _Corporal_ and hiring Smead to help her reform the place. - -One evening a number of my schoolmates were asked to meet the daughters -of Smead, who had attended the normal school before going out to teach. - -"Ruth, won't you get up and give us a piece?" Mrs. Smead asked one of -her daughters. - -"Mince, apple, or pumpkin, mother?" Dan'l W. inquired, playfully. - -"Oh, stop your joking!" said Mrs. Smead. - -The young lady stepped to the middle of the floor, after the fashion of -Charlotte Cushman in the sleep-walking scene of "Lady Macbeth." She -gave us Warren's "Address," trilling her (r's) and pronouncing "my" like -"me." - -"There's the makin' of another D. W.," said Smead, soberly. - -Ruth did not get the point, and he went on. "She makes the boys and -girls roar like cottage organs up there at the red school-house. They -know how to work every stop in the organ, too--patriotic defiance, king -hatred, sorrow, despair, torpid liver, pious rant. They need two more -stops on the organ, humor and sanity." - -Betsey, the younger sister of Ruth, would not speak "a piece," and I -was glad of it. She sat by me and modestly told of her work, and now and -then gave me a look out of her lovely blue eyes that would have moved -the heart of a stone. What a mouth and face she had, what a fair, full, -soft crown of hair! What a slim, inviting waist! And I liked her; that -is the most I can say of it. Soc Potter, another schoolmate of those -days, was said to be in love with her and to have the inside track. - -Two other young ladies possessed by the demon of elocution shook out -a few faded rags of literature with noble gestures and high-flavored -tones. Yet these ladies of Griggsby were content with the intoxication -of whirling words, while their husbands, sons, and brothers indulged in -feelings of grandeur not so easily supported. But I do not wish you -to forget that the women were always busy. If it had not been for them -Griggsby would long ago have perished of dignity and indolence, or of -that trouble which the Germans call _katzenjammer_. - -To sum up, the women stood for industry, the men sat down for it; the -women worked for decency, and every man recommended it to his neighbor. -But the women had no voice in the government of the town. - -A year had passed since Ralph's departure. For months no word from him -had come to me, or to Florence, as she informed me. - -"I'm very sorry," I said, as we were walking together.. - -"I'm afraid I'm not," she surprised me by saying. - -I turned and looked into her eyes. - -"For a long time I've been trying to make a hero of Ralph, but it's hard -work," she went on; "I fear it's impossible." - -"Why?" - -"He doesn't help me a bit; he doesn't give me any material to work -with." - -There was a moment of silence, in which the girl seemed to be trying to -hold her poise. Then she added. - -"Either he doesn't care or he is very easily fooled." - -I said nothing, but I heartily agreed with her. - -Congress had adjourned, and the Colonel had returned to his native -haunts with all his Websterian accessories. There were moral weather -prophets in Griggsby who used to say, when the Colonel came back, that -they could tell whether it was going to be a wet or a dry summer by the -color of his nose and the set of his high hat. "Wet" was now the general -verdict as he strode down the main street swinging his gold-headed cane. - -On a lovely May day I tramped off into the country to attend Betsey -Smead's last day of school and to walk home with her. The latter was the -main part of it. She was glad to see me, and I enjoyed the children, and -the songs of the birds in the maples of the old schoolyard. - -In the middle of the afternoon a stern-faced old man with a hickory cane -in his hand entered the schoolhouse, and Betsey hurried to meet and kiss -him. Then she helped him to a seat at the teacher's desk. He was stoutly -built, and wore a high collar, a black stock, and a suit of faded brown. -There was a fringe of iron-gray hair above his ears, with tufts of the -same color in front of them. The rest of his rugged, deep-lined face was -as bare as the top of his head. His stem, gray eyes quizzically regarded -the girl and the pupils. - -"Describe the course of the Connecticut River," he demanded of a member -of the geography class. - -To my joy, the frightened girl answered correctly. - -"Very well, very well," said he, loudly, as though it were a matter of -small credit, after all. - -A member of the first class in arithmetic was not so fortunate. To him -he put a problem. - -"Go to the blackboard," the old gentleman commanded. "A man had three -sons--put down three, if you please. - -"To A he willed half his property, to B a quarter, and to C a sixth. -Now, his property consisted of eleven sheep. The sons wished to divide -the sheep without killing any, so they consulted a neighbor. The -neighbor came with one of his own sheep and put it in with the -eleven, making twelve in all. Then he gave one-half to A, making six; -one-quarter to B, making three; one-sixth to C, making two--a total of -eleven--and drove back his own sheep. Now, tell me, young man, what is -the matter with that problem--tell me at once, sir." - -The boy trembled, looked stupidly at the blackboard, and gave up. - -"Huh! that will do," snapped the old gentleman. - -Here was the grand, stentorian method applied to geography and -mathematics. - -At last school was dismissed. The tears of the children as they parted -with Betsey seemed to please the old gentleman. His face softened a -little. - -"Ah, you'll make a good mother, Betsey," he said, rather snappishly, as -he came down from his seat, drawing his breath at the proper places of -punctuation and touching his right leg as though he had a pain in it. -"Do ye know how to work, eh?" - -"I've always had to work," said Betsey. - -"That's good, that's good!" the old man exclaimed. "Your grandmother was -a good woman to work." - -"Grandfather, this is Mr. Havelock," said Betsey, as she presented me. - -"How d' do?" snapped the old gentleman, looking sharply into my face. -Then he turned to Betsey and said: "Don't be in a hurry to get married. -There are plenty of fish in the sea, girl--plenty of fish. Huh! Tell -your father that I am very much pleased with the last news of him--very -much pleased; but I shall not trust him again--never, nor any of them -except you." - -A man was waiting for him in a buggy outside the door. I withdrew a -little, and waited while Betsey spoke with the old gentleman. The girl -joined me as her grandfather drove away, and together we walked down the -hills to Griggsby, that lovely afternoon of the early summer. We talked -of many things, and always when I have thought of that hour I have heard -the hum of new life in ponds and marshes and seen the light of a day's -end glowing on windows, woods, and hills, and felt the joy of youth -again. - -"You are a friend of Florence Dunbar," said Betsey, as we were crossing -a field. "She has told me lots about you." - -"I fear that I'm not much of a success either as a subject or a -predicate," I said. - -"She thinks you are a great hero, and there are others who think it, -too." - -I blushed and stumbled a little in trying to say: - -"Well--it--it isn't my fault. I've--I've done my best to--to keep her -from making any mistake." - -"We've been hoping that you and she would make a match," the little -school teacher went on. - -"It's--it's impossible," I said, bitterly. - -"Impossible? Why?" - -"Well, she--she feels so horribly grateful to me that--that if I asked -her to be my wife, I--I suppose she would think it her duty to say yes." - -Betsey laughed, and we walked along in silence for half a minute. Then -she stopped, and her glowing eyes looked into mine as she said, very -soberly: - -"Havelock, you're a strange boy. I don't want to spoil you, but I -think--well, I won't say what I think." - -So I never knew what she thought, but I well remember there were tears -in her eyes and mine as we walked in silence. She was the first to -speak. - -"If Florence said yes, it would be because she loves you," said Betsey. - -"But you do not know all that I know," was my answer. - -"I want to be decently modest, but I know some things that you do not," -she declared. - -Then, as if she dared go no further in that direction, she timidly -veered about. - -"I believe you are acquainted with Socrates Potter?" - -"Yes, and I like him. He can say such funny things." - -"Sometimes I fear that he hasn't a serious thought in his head." - -"Oh yes! He has at least one," I said. - -"Well, I should like to know what it is." - -"His thought of you." - -She blushed and looked away, and I could see that she was in quite a -flutter of excitement. - -Oh, what a day was that, and--we were in its last moments! - -We were nearing the village, and had begun to meet people, and, while we -had a little distance to go, our serious talk went no further. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -GRADUATION day had arrived, when Florence was to complete her course -at the academy. The best women, as though by general agreement, had -combined to right the wrong done her. No girl so noble and splendid -had ever stood on the platform of the old academy. She was the -valedictorian. Her gown was white, her voice music, while her form and -face would have delighted a sculptor. That very day she assumed control -of _The Little Corporal,_ and began her work, with Dan! Webster Smead as -associate editor. - -The first issue of the paper under its new management had an editorial -to this effect: - -Things are going to happen in Griggsby--things that have never happened -before in Griggsby or elsewhere. We have a large, distinguished, and -growing list of drunkards whose careers thus far have suffered from -neglect, concealment, and a general lack of appreciation. - - Full many a brawl of purest ray serene - - The dark, unfathomed depths of Griggsby bear; - - Full many a spree is born to blush unseen - - And waste its fragrance on the midnight air. - -It shall be so no longer. We propose to fathom the depths. Hereafter the -adventures of our merry gentlemen shall be duly chronicled, so that -the public may share their joy and give them credit according to their -deserts. - -We have a number of idlers and gamblers in Griggsby whose exploits have -also been shrouded in obscurity. They, too, may rejoice that at last -full justice is to be accorded them in this paper, so that their winning -and losing shall no longer be a subject of inaccurate knowledge. Some -are blamed who ought not to be blamed, and some are not blamed who ought -to be blamed, and there is no health in the present situation. - -We have a large number of young men who are looking to their elders for -an example worthy of emulation. _The Little Corporal_ will let its -light shine hereafter upon the example set by the elder generation of -Griggsby, to the end that none of it may be lost. - -We have seven saloons and three drug stores that have violated the law -with notable and unnoted persistence. They, too, may be assured that -their achievements will no longer be overlooked. - -But the biggest thing we have in Griggsby is a _conscience_. That, too, -may rejoice that its findings are no longer to be unknown and neglected. -It shall be busy night and day, and its approval shall be recorded with -joy and its condemnations with deep regret in the _Corporal_. But both -shall be duly signalized and set forth. - -It is recorded of Napoleon, who was himself known as the Little -Corporal, that one night, having found a sentinel asleep at his post, -he took the weapon of the latter and stood guard for him until he awoke. -That this paper will try to do for the conscience of Griggsby, when it -is weary and overworked. - -Well, things did begin to happen in Griggsby. The Mutual Adulation -Company that had paid its daily dividends in compliments and good wishes -at the bar of the Palace Hotel went out of business. The souls of the -leading citizens ceased to flow. The babbling brooks of flattery ran -dry. - -Among other items this appeared in the next number of the _Corporal_: - -Jerry McMann attacked his horse in the street the other day, and without -any provocation that the bystanders could observe beat him over the -head with the butt of his whip, for which he has had to pay the utterly -inadequate fine of five dollars. The _Corporal_ hereby adds to his fine -the distinction which his act has won. This beater of a helpless animal -is probably the most brutal man in the township, and the most arrant -coward. - -_The Little Corporal_ passed from hand to hand, and waves of joy and -consternation swept over the community. Thoughtful and worried looks -gathered under the hats of silk and beaver. Colonel Buckstone smote -the bar of the Palace Hotel and roared about the "Magna Charta of our -liberties," as he viewed his image in a mirror among the outlines of a -bird drawn in soap. - -Now, there lived in the village of Griggsby a certain lawyer of the name -of Pike--G. Washington Pike. He was the most magnificent human being -in that part of the country. He shone every day in broadcloth, a tall -beaver hat, and a stock and collar. He greeted one with a low bow and a -sweeping gesture of the right hand, and said "Good morning" as though -it were a solemn and eternal verity. His distinguished presence graced -every public occasion, and he was made up as the living image of Dan'l -Webster. At one time or another many who lived in the village had been -nudged by visitors from a distance and asked: "Who is that grand-looking -man?" It was a query not so easy to answer. He was a lawyer without -visible clients, whose wife was the leading dressmaker of Griggsby. - -I was sitting in the office of the _Corporal_ with Smead when the great -man entered, bowed low, and cut a scroll in the air with his right hand. - -"Good morning, Editor Smead," said he, oratorically. - -"Good morning, Mr. Pike," was the greeting of Smead. - -"On this occasion it is _Lawyer_ Pike, who presents his compliments to -_Editor_ Smead, and begs to confer with him on a matter of business," -said the great man. - -"Go ahead, _Lawyer_ Pike," said the editor. - -"While _Mr._ Pike has the highest personal regard for _Mr._ Smead, -_Lawyer_ Pike takes issue with _Editor_ Smead in behalf of his client, -Mr. Jeremiah McMann, and demands a retraction of certain words in the -_Corporal_ of last week, calculated to injure the reputation of said -McMann." - -Then the great Dan'l said: - -[Illustration: 0151] - -"_Editor_ Smead refuses the request of _Lawyer_ Pike, and suggests that -he and horse-killer McMann should join hands and jump into the air as -high as possible." - -And so ended the first bluff in the new life of Griggsby. - -A great public meeting was held in the town hall in support of the -candidacy of Colonel Buckstone for the post of consul at Hongkong. -The merchant princes and Daniel Websters, representing the beauty and -fashion of Griggsby, the women, representing its industry and sturdy -virtue, were on hand. So were many mill-workers and students from the -old academy. - -Judge Warner was chosen to preside, and opened the meeting with sober, -well-chosen words. Then followed a great and memorable tournament of the -D. W.'s. Floods of impassioned eloquence swept over the crowd and out -of the open windows, and at every impressive pause we could hear birds -chattering as they slipped from their perches in the treetops that -overhung the eaves. - -The great Bill Smithers was telling of the poor, barefooted boy who -came down from the hills long ago and bade fair to rise to the highest -pinnacle of statesmanship. - -Among other things he said: "Think of this poor boy, who used to -feed the chickens and milk the patient cow. Since then he has fed the -multitude of his fellow-citizens with political wisdom and milked the -great Republic for their benefit." - -He soared and roared in praise of the manly virtues of the Colonel. - -A stray cow began to bellow in the streets. Mr. Smithers, who was -speaking, paused to inquire if some one would please stop that beast. - -A voice in the gallery shouted, "Give the cow a chance." Another said, -"It's the cow that Sile milked." The crowd began to laugh and the -situation was critical; but, fortunately, the emotions of the cow -subsided. - -The Rev. Sam Shackleford turned himself into a human earthquake, and -tears rolled down his face while he told of the great talents and the -noble heart of his distinguished fellow-townsman. - -In due time Colonel Buckstone rose to acknowledge the kindness of his -fellow-citizens. - -He spoke of the affairs of his native town, and presently referred to -the newspaper, which had always been a power for good in the village. -He hoped that it would continue to be so, but had his fears. A certain -editorial had already injured the fair fame of Griggsby. There was not -a scintilla of evidence in support of its veiled and open charges, not -one. He challenged Mr. D. W. Smead to prove that Griggsby was any worse -than other communities. - -In the name of Heaven, what new assault was to be made upon the Magna -Charta of our liberties, secured by the blood of our fathers? He would -defend it. He served notice then and there that he would pour out his -life's blood, if need be, rather than see the liberties of the citizens -of Griggsby abated by one jot or tittle. No, he would rather see his -right arm severed from his body. - -That dear old Magna Charta was often on his lips. Indeed, the chart of -his liberties was so great and so threatening that Moses and the -prophets had to get out of its way. Every day he referred to "jots and -tittles" of abatement and absent "scintillas of evidence." - -He closed his address with this Websterian peroration: - -"When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in -heaven, may they not see him shining on the enslaved citizens of my -native town. Rather let their last feeble and lingering glance behold -them eating and drinking according to their needs and wishes, and in -the full enjoyment of every blessing that the Almighty has showered upon -us." - -These sentiments met with noisy approval. How often the eyes of the -great man were "turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven"! - -There was a call for Dan'l W. Smead. Mr. Smead rose from his seat in the -audience, went to the platform, and said: - -"I feel like Pompeii after the great eruption of seventy-nine a.d. I am -overwhelmed, but I propose to dig myself up and continue in business. -First, let me say that I am glad that Colonel Buckstone is likely to -enter the missionary field an' show the Christian virtues of New England -to the heathen of the Orient. I have long thought that it was a good -thing for him to do--a good thing for anybody to do. In my opinion, the -Colonel would soon take the conceit out of those foreign heathen. But -we need him here. We do not wish him to be plucked from the garden of -Griggsby. What, I ask you, what is to become of our own heathen if he -is removed from among them? Have not the press an' the pulpit already -threatened their sacred liberties? Who would remind us of those jots and -tittles of abatement, of those absent scintillas of evidence? It is too -bad that the palladium of our oratory is threatened. It must not be. -Think of the feelings of the sun in heaven if he were not again to be -beheld for the last time in the village of Griggsby! Of course, there -are other villages, but let it never be said that we have fallen behind -them. - -"When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in -heaven, may I not see him shining on a bereft an' joyful Griggsby; on -citizens who have ceased to weep except for sorrow, whose tears have -gone dry because the village pumps of oratory have failed them. God -forbid that I should behold him shining upon men of genius in bondage -or in exile! Rather let their last feeble and lingering glance see those -citizens eating and drinking, according to their needs and wishes, at -the Palace Hotel, while their wives are at work, according to their -habit, in the kitchen and the laundry." - -For a moment he was silenced by a storm of laughter. - -It was a death blow to the Dan'l Websters of Griggsby. Those hardened -criminals of the rostrum, who had long been robbing the people of their -tears, had themselves been touched. Their consciences were awakened. -They tumbled and fell. - -Bill Smithers, who had so highly praised his friend the Colonel on the -stage, said to a fellow-citizen after he had left the hall, "Well, after -all is said and done, what a d------d pirate Buckstone is!" - -That shows how sincere, how heartfelt was the loud-sounding oratory of -that time. - -Next day a stem and sorrowful silence fell upon Colonel Buckstone. -It boomed like an empty barrel at the slightest touch. Judge Brooks -ventured to ask him what was the matter. He smote the air with his fist, -muttered an oath, checked himself, shook his head, and said, in a tone -worthy of Edwin Forrest: - -"The evil days have come, sir. I tremble for Griggsby." - -Then he sadly strode away. - -Now, that morning, Colonel Buckstone had received a letter from the able -editor of the _Corporal_, in circumstances fraught with some peril to -myself. The letter ran about as follows: - -My dear Colonel,--I have undertaken to improve the morals of Griggsby, -and as a first step I shall insist upon your retirement from public -life. I inclose the proof of an article, now in type in this office, -in which, as you will observe, is a full and accurate review of your -career. In my opinion, this justifies my demand that forthwith you -resign your seat in Congress. If you fail to do so within one week from -date, I shall submit this article to the judgment of the electors of the -district; but I should like, if possible, to spare your family the pain -of that process. I can only leave you to choose between voluntary -and enforced retirement, with some unnecessary disgrace attending the -latter. I am sending this by Mr. Havelock, who is instructed to deliver -it to you, and only to you. - -Yours truly, - -Florence Dunbar. - -I had gone to work in the office of _The Little Corporal_, and had -delivered the message, of the nature of which I knew nothing. The -Colonel tore the envelope, grew hot with rage, struck at me with -his cane, and shattered the Ninth Commandment with a cannon shot of -profanity. - -I wondered what it was all about, and promptly decided that the -profession of journalism was too full of peril for me. - -"Ha, blackmailer!" he shouted. "Child of iniquity, I will not slay you -until you have taken my reply to your mistress, who is a disgrace to the -name of woman. Say to her that if she publishes the article, a proof of -which I have just read, I shall kill her, so help me God!" - -Yes, it was a kind of blackmail, but how noble and how absolutely -feminine. - -When I returned to the Colonel's office I knew what I was doing. It was -with a note which read as follows: - -_Dear Sir,--This is to advise you, first, that you cannot change my -purpose with cheap and vulgar threats; second, that resignation would -be an easier means of retirement, and probably less painful, than a -shooting-match with me._ - -_Yours truly,_ - -_Florence Dunbar._ - -The old bluff mill of his brain, which had won many lawsuits and jack -pots for the Colonel, had failed him for once. Its goods, the quality of -which had never been disputed, were now declared cheap and vulgar. - -He was comparatively calm until he had finished reading the note, when -the storm broke out again, and I fled before it. - -Well, next day a note of surprising politeness came from the Colonel. It -apologized for the haste and heat of his former message, and requested -an interview. Miss Dunbar was quick to grant his request, demanding that -the interview occur in her office, and in the presence of a witness -of her choosing, who could be trusted to divulge no part of the -conversation. The interview took place, and I was the chosen witness. - -The Colonel was calm under a look of injured innocence. - -"Young woman," he began, "let us be brief. You have it in your power to -ruin me. That I admit, and only that, and ask what you want me to do." - -"Resign," said she, firmly. "Mademoiselle, I have been foolish," said -the Colonel, "but my follies are those which, unfortunately, are shared -by many of my sex. I ask you to consider my family and my long devotion -to the interests of this community. If I resign with no apparent -reason, what will my constituents say, who are now being asked to sign -a petition in favor of my appointment to a consular position? My fondest -hopes will be crushed." - -Colonel Buckstone wiped his watery eyes with his handkerchief. - -Miss Dunbar spoke out with courage and judgment. - -"I don't want to be hard on you," she said. "There are two conditions -which would induce me to modify my demand. The first is that you turn in -and help us to improve the morals of this community." - -"I have always labored in that cause," said the Colonel, with a -righteous look. - -"But you have succeeded in concealing your efforts," she said. "You are -one of the leading citizens of Griggsby. All eyes are upon you. Your -example has a tremendous influence on the young men of this village. -Often you have a highly moral pair of lungs in your breast, but your -heart does not seem to agree with them. A man is known by his conduct, -and not by his words. By your conduct you teach the young men to buy and -sell votes, to go on sprees, to drink and gamble in public places, to -have little regard for the virtue and good name of woman." - -Then a thing happened which gave me new hope of the Colonel. It was the -first time that his jacket had been warmed, and it looked as though the -fire of remorse had begun to burn a little. - -"Young woman," he said, very solemnly, "if my humble example has been so -misunderstood, if my conduct has so belied the sentiments of my heart -as to create such an impression in the mind of the observer, I will -do anything in my power to make amends, and I will listen to any -suggestions you are good enough to offer." - -The suggestions were offered and accepted, and the sway of Buckstone was -at its end. - -"There is one other thing," said Miss Dunbar. "You have cruelly -misjudged my character, and there is one thing I shall ask you to do." - -"What is it?" - -"That you join Ralph in Europe, and see that he returns all my letters -within six weeks from date." - -"It was my plan to join him for a needed rest," said the Colonel, "and -you may be glad to know that I propose to bring him back with me." - -"What you propose to do with him is a matter of no interest to me," said -Florence. "I only demand the letters." - - - - -CHAPTER X - -I WAS discussing plans with Florence in her sanctum one afternoon, when -she said to me: - -"Uriel, you're a hummer. We can't get along without you. The advertising -has doubled, and it's due mostly to your efforts. Please consider -yourself married to this paper, and with no chance of divorce. I'll -treble your salary." - -"I couldn't help doing well with such a paper to work for," I said. -"There's no credit due me." - -"I don't agree with you. Of course, we've made a good paper. I thought -it was about time that the women, who did most of the work, had a voice -in the government of the village. Women have some rights, and I think -I've a right to know whether you still care for me or not." - -"Florence, I love you more than ever," I said. I rose and stepped toward -her, my face burning; and she quickly opened the gate of the railing, -went behind it, and held me back with her hand. - -"Havelock, you stupid thing!" said she. "What I want now is -eloquence--real, Websterian eloquence, and plenty of it." - -I stood like a fool, blushing to the roots of my hair, and she took pity -on me. - -"Bear in mind," said she, "that I am not the least bit grateful. I just -naturally love you, sir; that's the truth about it." Then my tongue was -loosed. I do not remember what I said, but it was satisfactory to her, -and right in the midst of it she unlocked the gate. - -We were both crying in each other's arms when there came a rap at the -door. - -"One moment," she called, as we endeavored to dry our eyes, while she -noisily bustled about the room. Then she opened the door, and there -stood Dan'l W. Smead. - -"Come in," said she; "and don't mind my appearance. I have just listened -to an address full of the most impassioned eloquence. It touched my -heart." - -Dan'l W. looked at us, smiled, and said with unerring insight, "I -presume it was an address to the electors of his home district." - -"It was," said she. - -"Did his eyes behold for the last time the sun in heaven?" - -"No, sir; they beheld it for the first time." - -"And it shines brighter than ever before on land or sea," I added. - -"He'll do," said Smead. "He has much to learn about the oratory and -politics of love; but I move that he be elected by osculation." - -"It has been accomplished," said Florence, as she covered her blushing -face. - -"But there were no tellers to record the vote," he insisted. - -We voted again. - -"God bless you both!" said Smead, with enthusiasm. - -He kissed her, gave me a little hug, and added: "Her father told me what -would happen, an' I believe he gave his consent in advance." - -"He did," said Florence. - -"Old boy, you've got a life job on your hands keepin' up with her. It -suggests an editorial." - -"How so?" Florence inquired. - -"It will run about like this," Dan! W. went on. "'The first occupation -of man was keepin' up with Eve. She got tired of seein' him lie in the -shade an' of hearin' him lie in the shade. So she contrived a situation -in which it was necessary for him to get busy; she got him a job. It -was no temporary thing; it was a real, permanent job. Many have tried to -resign an' devote their lives to rum, eloquence, an' trottin'-hosses. -We have seen the result in Griggsby. It is deplorable. _Little Corporal_ -calls them back to their tasks.'" - -We applauded his editorial. - -"Oh, I could compose an Iliad, now that I know you're both happy," said -he. - -"Betsey did it!" Florence exclaimed. "She gave me courage." - -"Poor Betsey!" said Dan'l W. "You know, her grandfather died a few weeks -ago an' left her his fortune, an' she's dreadfully grieved about it -because her beau, young Socrates Potter, has said that he would never -marry a rich woman. The boys are gettin' awfully noble an' inhuman. I'm -glad that Havelock has reformed." - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -THAT was the end of the interview, and of the Websterian age in -Griggsby. It still lives, the Websterian impulse; but, like many other -things, it has gone West, although there are certain relics of it in -every part of the land. Imaginary greatness now expresses itself in -luxury instead of eloquence here in the East, and every community is in -sore need of a Florence Dunbar. - -Our citizens had begun to fear and respect _The Little Corporal_. -Special officers with a commission from its editor paroled the streets. -Our leading lights ceased to enter the public bar-rooms. Midnight brawls -and revels were discontinued. The poker-players conducted their -game with the utmost secrecy and good order. The Young Men's Social -Improvement League was organized. New justices of the peace were -elected. The first time that Thurst Giles got drunk and beat his wife -he was promptly put in jail at hard labor for a long term, while the -man who had sold the whisky lost his license. A well-known and highly -respected inn-keeper, at whose bar a minor had bought drinks, was -compelled to give a bond against any repetition of the offense or take a -bitter and ruinous draft of publicity. - -Every week _The Little Corporal_ swept over the town like a wholesome -rain cloud, and refreshing showers of wit and lightning shafts of -ridicule fell out of it, and the people laughed and thought and -applauded. The poker sharp and the ten-dollar man were praised as -philanthropists, while the "trottin'-hoss" and the rum-scented brand of -Websterian dignity were riddled with good-natured wit, and people began -to look askance at them. The perennial springs of maudlin blasphemy and -obscenity had begun to dry up, and their greatness had departed. The -common drunkards moved out of the village. The resounding Websterian -coterie took their grog in wholesome fear and the strictest privacy. - -"How are you?" one was heard to ask another on the street. - -"Sir, I am well, but distressfully sober," said the man addressed. - -At fair-time the half-mile track was used only for a big athletic meet, -in which every large school in the county was represented. A company -of the best metropolitan players amused the people in a large, open -amphitheater, for which money had been raised by subscription. A -quartette from Boston sang between the acts. The grounds were well -policed; everything was done decently and in order.. The citizens of -Griggsby and its countryside found enlightenment and inspiration at the -fair. Every exhibit of drunkenness went to jail as swiftly as a team -of horses and ample help could take him there. The trotting farce was -abolished, and the ten-dollar man was out of employment, and no longer -the observed of all observers. That living fountain of blasphemy and -tobacco juice wandered among the cattle sheds and said the fair was a -failure, and went home heartsick and robbed of adulation. And a mere -slip of a girl had accomplished all this! - -Ralph Buckstone returned by and by, the harbinger of a new era. He -was like the wooden horse of the Greeks. He came full of enemies that -hastened the fall of Griggsby. He brought in the cigarette. Through him -the cocktail, the liqueur, and the cordial entered the gates and leading -citizens of the village. They were welcomed without suspicion and with -every evidence of regard. - -In a short time the flowers of rhetoric began to wither and die. -Compliments turned to groans. The leading citizens were in trouble. One -retired to Poland Springs, one to Arkansas, two to the old cemetery, and -one to a nearer hell of indigestion in his own bed. Dan'l W. Smead had -long since gone to his rest, with a name honored above all others in his -own county; for, having accomplished our purpose, we sold the _Corporal_ -to the man who had done much to make it. I qualified for the bar, and -we settled in New York, and our lives have been blessed with children, -great happiness, and a fair degree of success. - -Ralph left Griggsby, and broke down, and went a fast pace. I heard of -him, now and then, in the next few years. He had gone into journalism in -Boston, and it was rumored that he had made a handsome success. One day -a friend of us both said to me: - -"Ralph? Oh, he's getting on famously. He is a typical journalist; talks -like the first deputy of the Creator, and regards all things with a -knowing and indulgent tolerance." - -Well, on a day in June twenty years after my marriage, I was in court -in New York, conducting the defense of a millionaire in trouble. I -was examining a witness when the proceedings were interrupted by the -arraignment of a prisoner. The clerk read the charge; it was forgery, -and the man was Ralph Buckstone. An officer explained that he was a -gambler, and had never been arraigned before. Evidently, the prisoner -had no defense, and pleaded guilty, as I expected. - -Then the recorder said to him: "You understand, I presume, what is -involved in the step you are taking? Have you consulted counsel?" - -"There is no occasion for it," said Ralph. "At last I have decided to -speak and live the truth. I am guilty. I have been a weak and foolish -man, but what I have been, and what I am to be henceforth, all the world -is welcome to know. In my life hereafter there shall be no concealment, -and I hope never again to be ashamed of the truth about me." - -It was a great moment, and those were great words, simply and modestly -spoken, and they were the very words of old Appleton Hall. - -Deep under the weeds, in the neglected soil of his spirit, the good -seed had been lying all this long time. Now it had burst, and was taking -root, as though it had needed only the heat of his trouble. The face of -the old recorder shone with kindness; and I, remembering my promise and -the teaching of the old schoolmaster, was on my feet in a second. - -"Your Honor," I said, "I appear for the prisoner. There was a time long -ago when he and I were boys together. In the battles of our youth I -defended him, as I shall again. Since that far day I fear we have both -erred and strayed from the paths we had hoped to follow, for I do not -need to remind your Honor that life is full of things that trip and turn -one from his course, or how easy it is for men to lose their reckoning. -But we are going to do better; we are firmly resolved, and to-day we ask -you to help us. I promise full reparation to any who have suffered loss, -through his conduct, in the matter charged, and a bond in any reasonable -amount for his good behavior." - -Then the tide turned for Ralph Buck-stone. It is enough for me to say -that he faced about and became an able and successful author. - -Yes, there are still Daniel Websters in America, many of them; there are -Griggses and Griggsbys; but our Griggsby is a changed town. The seats -of leisure are now occupied by the ladies. They have suffered from -the angel theory, and it is their own fault. They look like birds of -paradise. I should like to see them give up sweetmeats and idleness, -jewels and ethereal raiment, and rejoin the human ranks, not as slaves, -but as real women, with a work to do and with all the rights they may -desire. - -In a recent humorous account of the old Cadets of Temperance Ralph -concluded with these words: - -"My subsequent career is well known, but, alas, poor Havelock!" - -THE END - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Turning of Griggsby, by Irving Bacheller - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TURNING OF GRIGGSBY *** - -***** This file should be named 50087.txt or 50087.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/0/8/50087/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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