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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Tom Watson's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 3, May 1905 - -Author: Various - -Editor: Tom Watson - -Release Date: April 19, 2022 [eBook #67876] - -Language: English - -Produced by: hekula03 and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images - made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE, VOL. -I, NO. 3, MAY 1905 *** - -Transcriber’s Notes: - - Underscores “_” before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_ - in the original text. - Equal signs “=” before and after a word or phrase indicate =bold= - in the original text. - Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals. - Antiquated spellings have been preserved. - Typographical errors have been silently corrected. - - - - -=“TOM WATSON”= - is the one historian through whom we get the point of - view of the laborer, the mechanic, the plain man, in a - style that is bold, racy and unconventional. There is - no other who traces so vividly the life of a _people_ - from the time they were savages until they became the - most polite and cultured of European nations, as he - does in - -=THE STORY OF FRANCE= - - In two handsome volumes, dark red cloth, gilt tops, price $5.00. - - “It is well called a story, for it reads like a - fascinating romance.”—_Plaindealer_, Cleveland. - - “A most brilliant, vigorous, human-hearted story - this: so broad in its sympathies, so vigorous in - its presentations, so vital, so piquant, lively and - interesting. It will be read wherever the history of - France interests men, which is everywhere.”—_New York - Times’ Sat. Review._ - -=NAPOLEON= - =A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE, CHARACTER, STRUGGLES - AND ACHIEVEMENTS.= - - Illustrated with Portraits and Facsimiles. - Cloth, 8vo, $2.25 net. (Postage 20c.) - - “The Splendid Study of a Splendid Genius” is the - caption of a double-column editorial mention of this - book in _The New York American and Journal_ when it - first appeared. The comment urged every reader of that - paper to read the book and continued: - - “There does not live a man who will not be enlarged - in his thinking processes, there does not live a boy - who will not be made more ambitious by honest study of - Watson’s Napoleon * * * - - “If you want the best obtainable, most readable, most - intelligent, most genuinely American study of this - great character, read Watson’s history of Napoleon.” - -=“TOM WATSON”= - in these books does far more than make history as - readable as a novel of the best sort. He tells the - truth with fire and life, not only of events and - causes, but of their consequences to and their - influence on the great mass of people at large. They - are epoch-making books which every American should - read and own. - - Orders for the above books will be filled by - TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE, 121 West 42nd Street, New York City. - - - - - TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE - THE MAGAZINE WITH A PURPOSE BACK OF IT - =May, 1905= - - _Politics and Economics_ _Thomas E. Watson_ 257 - _Public Ownership in Chicago—A Bitter Attack Upon the - South—Remember the Rascals—Introductory to a Letter from - a Boy—An Educational Department—Editorial Comment._ - _The Lady’s Slipper_ _Cyrus Townsend Brady_ 273 - _Populism_ _Charles Q. De France_ 305 - _Secretary People’s Party National Committee_ - _To Roosevelt_ 307 - _The Regalia of Money_ _Alexander Del Mar_ 308 - _The Open Door of the Constitution_ _Frederick Upham Adams_ 312 - _To One Departed_ _Bernard P. Bogy_ 317 - _Pole Baker_ (Chapters IV-VII) _Will N. Harben_ 318 - _The Conservative of Today_ _John H. Girdner, M.D._ 330 - _A Character Study of Byron and Burns_ _Elizabeth Bailey Traylor_ 333 - _The Man With White Nails_ _Captain W. E. P. French, U.S.A._ 336 - _Organization and Education_ _Wharton Barker_ 342 - _The Panic of 1893_ _W. S. Morgan_ 345 - _The Cradle of Tears_ _Theodore Dreiser_ 349 - _The Racing Trust_ _Thomas B. Fielders_ 350 - _Dependence_ _Reginald Wright Kauffman_ 357 - _What Buzz-Saw Morgan Thinks_ 358 - _The Heritage of Maxwell Fair_ (Chapters VIII-X) _Vincent Harper_ 361 - _Money and Prices_ _E. L. Smith_ 372 - _The Say of Reform Editors_ 373 - _News Record_ 377 - _Toll_ _Joseph Dana Miller_ 384 - - Application made for entry as Second-Class Matter at - New York (N. Y.) Post Office, March, 1905 - Copyright, 1905, in U. S. and Great Britain. - Published by TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE, - 121 West 42d Street, N. Y. - - TERMS: $1.00 A YEAR; 10 CENTS A NUMBER - - - - - TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER - - - How to Overthrow Plutocracy - -Several million people in the United States are in substantial accord -with the demands of the People’s Party. A majority of all voters would -welcome Government Ownership of Railroads and other public utilities. The -recent great victory in Chicago for Municipal Ownership demonstrates this -fact. What Chicago has done locally can be accomplished in the nation—and -WILL be done as soon as the people overcome - - Political Inertia - -With many the voting habit becomes fixed after one or two elections. The -ordinary man keeps on “voting ’er straight” long after he has discovered -that his party’s actions are out of joint with his own views. Party -“regularity” commands the average man’s support long after he KNOWS his -party is headed wrong. Some really great men, even, have placed party -“regularity” before principle. - - A Great Light - -on the correct principle of organization is to be found in that admirable -work by George Gordon Hastings, - - The First American King - -A dashing romance, in which a scientist and a detective of today wake up -seventy-five years later to find His Majesty, Imperial and Royal, William -I, Emperor of the United States and King of the Empire State of New York, -ruling the land, with the real power in the hands of half a dozen huge -trusts. Automobiles have been replaced by phaërmobiles; air-ships sail -above the surface of the earth; there has been a successful war against -Russia; a social revolution is brewing. The book is both an enthralling -romance and a serious sociological study, which scourges unmercifully the -society and politics of the present time, many of whose brightest stars -reappear in the future under thinly disguised names. There are wit and -humor and sarcasm galore—a stirring tale of adventure and a charming love -story. - - Hon. Thomas E. Watson says: - -“I read ‘The First American King,’ and found it one of the most -interesting books I ever opened. Mr. Hastings has not only presented a -profound study of our social and economic conditions, but he has made the -story one of fascination. It reminds me at times of Bellamy’s ‘Looking -Backward,’ but the story is told with so much more human interest, the -situations themselves are so much more dramatic, that it impresses me -very much more favorably than any book of that kind I have ever known.” - -Interesting as the story is as a romance and as a critical sociological -study, one of its vitally important points is - - How to Organize - - =Mr. Hastings says:= - -“It has been suggested,” continued General Mainwarren, “that a wise -course for patriotic leaders of your day would have been to have -abandoned the hope of converting and securing the grown voters as -a body. It would have been best for them, at a given time, to have -said: ‘Beginning from today, we will pay no attention to any male who -is more than fifteen years of age and who is now, or within the next -six years will be, entitled to a vote. But we will direct all efforts -to an entirely new body of suffragists.’ They should then have turned -their attention to the _women of the land_, to the mothers of future -generations of voters. It has been said that ‘Every woman is at heart a -royalist.’ It could with equal truth be said: ‘Every woman is by nature -a politician.’ ... Look at the influence exerted politically by various -women of whom history speaks.” - - This Is the Key-Note of Success - -For fifteen years the People’s Party, in season and out of season, has -preached “Equal Rights to All, Special Privileges to None.” It has -persistently demanded that government shall attend to public matters, -and that private business shall be conducted by individuals with the -least possible interference—and absolutely no favoritism—by government. -It has continually demanded public ownership and government operation -of railroads and other public utilities. It has urged the initiative, -referendum and the recall; a scientific money system; the abolition -of monopoly in every form. Millions of voters—as the Chicago election -clearly indicates—are in accord with the People’s Party; but heretofore -the voting habit, the “vote ’er straight” political insanity, has kept -them in political slavery. - - Educate the Boys - -Let us train up a new generation of voters—without diminishing our -efforts to break up old party habits—who will have the courage of -conviction and correct ideas regarding politics and economics. Let us -interest the mothers, so we can have the boys taught to cast their first -votes on the side of Justice. Habit will then keep them voting right. - - Let Us Begin Now - -Mr. Hastings’s book is a thought-provoker. It combines romance with -sociology and teaches while entertaining. With “The First American King” -and TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE in another 100,000 homes, our first great step -will be taken toward overcoming plutocracy. With this end in view, we -have made arrangements whereby we can offer a dollar book, 350 pages, and -a dollar magazine one year, 128 pages monthly, both for only $1.50. - - Tom Watson’s Magazine and The First American King $1.50 - -In order to treat all alike, the book will be sent postpaid to any -present subscriber of TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE on receipt of 60 cents. -No person not a subscriber can buy “The First American King” of us -for a cent less than $1.00. If you have not already subscribed for -the magazine, send us $1.50 today for this attractive combination, -and expedite the work of building up the People’s Party of the future. - -Address all orders to - - TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE, 121 West 42d Street, New York - - - - - =_TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE_= - - VOL. I MAY, 1905 No. 3 - - - - - _Politics and Economics_ - - BY THOMAS E. WATSON - - - _Public Ownership in Chicago_ - -Several weeks ago, in an interview published in the New York _World_, I -expressed the opinion that the principle of public ownership of public -utilities was stronger than any political party. - - * * * * * - -The recent victory won by it in Chicago makes the truth of that statement -apparent. - - * * * * * - -Here was a city which a few months ago gave the Republican ticket the -enormous majority of 60,000. So far as parties are concerned, the -Republican Party stands precisely where it stood when Roosevelt won that -triumph. So far as the Democratic Party is concerned, it has not budged -an inch from the ground which it occupied when it met its Waterloo in the -November elections. What is it, then, which gave to the candidate of the -minority party a decisive success, so soon after an overwhelming defeat? -Evidently, it was _the principle which he represented_. - -The National Democratic Party has never declared itself in favor of -public ownership. The National Republican Party has never done so. _The -People’s Party is the only National organization which has proclaimed and -battled for the principle which was involved in the Chicago election._ - -So far back as 1890 the People’s Party of the state of Georgia, and of -other states, grew tired of the deceptive compromise called _Public -Control_; threw it aside as a failure; boldly advanced to the more -radical ground of _Public Ownership_, and formed its line of battle. -In spite of abuse, ridicule and defeat, our party has never faltered -in its steady advocacy of the principle which at that time met the -aggressive opposition of both the Democratic and Republican Parties. -_In the campaigns made by Mr. Bryan he stood for no such principle as -this._ In the campaign led by Belmont and Parker and Gorman in 1904 -_the Democratic Party stood for no such principle as this_; nor has the -Republican Party ever dared to proclaim itself in favor of such robust -radicalism. Therefore, it is folly to say that the victory won in the -Chicago election is a Democratic victory. It is misleading to say that -this election illustrates the fact that “the Democratic Party always wins -when it is Democratic.” The principle of public ownership has never been -a part of the political stock in trade of the Democratic Party. Therefore -the principle of public ownership of public utilities cannot be classed -as Democratic, if we use the term in the partisan sense which attaches to -it. _The principle of public ownership is Populistic_, and it is merely -rendering to the pioneers of that movement simple justice when we say -that the Chicago election, which wiped out party lines and gave to the -people and to the principle a magnificent victory, _should redound to the -credit of those much-abused and misrepresented men who thirteen years ago -unfurled that particular flag and began to fight beneath it_. - -The people of Chicago evidently grew tired of being plundered; grew -ashamed of their own political imbecility; grew ashamed of their own -municipal cowardice. Roused to action by a few magnetic leaders who -were not afraid and who were not to be sidetracked by hypocritical -compromises, they marshaled their strength and demonstrated how easy -it is for the masses to throw off the yoke of those who plunder them -under forms of law. Nobody ever doubted for a moment that the people -of Chicago, in the main, were honest, courageous, public-spirited, -but they had submitted so long to the initiative and the domination -of a few organized rascals who intrenched themselves in places of -power, safeguarded by legislation, that it seemed wellnigh hopeless to -expect them ever to revolt. The fact that they have revolted, and have -reversed the results achieved at the November election, gives another -illustration of what I said in the first issue of this magazine, namely, -that _the election of 1904_, properly construed, _was so encouraging to -the reformers as to become an inspiration_. It was pointed out that the -victory of Douglas in Massachusetts, of Folk in Missouri, of La Follette -in Wisconsin, each of whom was known as a reformer, could be construed -in no other way than that the people were tired of party names, of party -traditions, of party machines and party hypocrisy, and _were determined -to go to the support of any man and any principle which promised them -the relief which they so much needed_. The triumph of Judge Dunne, the -Democrat, following so speedily upon the heels of an adverse vote against -Judge Parker, the Democrat, absolutely clinches the truth of what I said, -namely, that _the only party, the only principle, the only sentiment -which grew stronger by the campaign of 1904 was that of_ RADICALISM. - - * * * * * - -Why shouldn’t the lesson of the Chicago election be taken to heart by -every great city and every small town in this Republic? If the people of -Chicago can turn the rascals out, the people of New York can turn the -rascals out, the people of Philadelphia can turn the rascals out. Talk -about vested rights and charters which grant monopolies! Nobody wants to -confiscate property or violate contracts, no matter how ill-judged those -contracts may have been. But we say this: Just as private property was -assessed and taken under the principle of Eminent Domain, in order that -corporations should construct their railways, their telegraph lines, -their telephone lines, so the same principle of Eminent Domain can be -applied to return to the people what was taken away from the people. -Assess these properties at a fair valuation, pay honestly and fully what -they are worth, then take them over for the public to be operated for the -benefit of the public. The law of Eminent Domain can be applied to all -sorts of property, real and personal, the tangible thing called an acre -of ground and the intangible thing called a charter. - - * * * * * - -Consider this Chicago election in the broad National point of view. How -can it give any encouragement to Mr. Roosevelt, who is still tinkering -and pottering at the worn-out fabric of _Governmental control_? How can -it give any encouragement to the Democratic Party, which has nothing in -its platform which can be twisted into a declaration in favor of that -thing which Chicago has just done? So far from being a vindication of the -Democratic attitude, as expressed in all of its National platforms, it -is a rebuke to the timid, weak-kneed, short-sighted leaders of National -Democracy. The vindication is to those men, who, in the years gone by, -proclaimed the principles, preached the gospel, scattered the literature, -endured the odium, fought the battle, bore the heat and burden of the -day, and are now in this late hour looking up, elated, joyful, exultant, -happy, that at last the smile of success has rested upon the earnest, -untiring efforts which have gone so long without recognition and reward. - -The victor in the Chicago election was _the great Populist Principle_, -PUBLIC OWNERSHIP! - - - _A Bitter Attack Upon the South_ - -Ever since the close of the Civil War there has been a growing sentiment -on both sides of Mason and Dixon’s line in favor of mutual forbearance, -the purpose being to speed the day when the North and South shall become -reconciled. - -In the South no speaker will now add to his popularity or influence by -reckless abuse of the North. - -We had supposed that the North was equally tired of the speaker or writer -who puts the torch to sectional prejudice or who wantonly inflicts upon -the South a blow which he must realize will arouse angry resentment. - -When the last gun was fired at Appomattox, the biggest, bravest, best -hearted men on each side united in the effort to stem the tide of -sectional hatred and to knit together the bonds of brotherly love. - -General Grant, by his magnanimity at the surrender, set a sublime -standard. - -General Lee, by his noble advice and example, gave the South a lesson -whose influence for good cannot be overestimated. - -Horace Greeley, when he volunteered to sign the bond of Jefferson -Davis, and Senator L. Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, when he pronounced a -magnificent memorial address upon Charles Sumner in the Senate, were but -following the illustrious precedents of Grant and Lee. - -Later, there came the mission of Henry Grady and of John B. Gordon, upon -the one side, and the conciliatory words and deeds of William McKinley on -the other. - -Nor should we forget the fine tribute paid to Southern character and -courage in the writings of Theodore Roosevelt, who as President has -honored the sons of Stonewall Jackson, Jeb Stuart and General Beauregard, -and who, in one of his latest appointments, has given preference to -General Rosser, the youngest of the Confederate brigadiers. - -The battle-scarred veterans of the North have been meeting in memorable -reunions the survivors of those who followed Johnston and Forrest and -Jackson and Lee; and the most touching and inspiring scenes have been -witnessed at these encampments where the South and the North recognized -each other’s honesty, valor and generosity, and each section vied with -the other in the glorious work of harmonizing the nation. - -At the grave of General Grant it was the presence of our Southern -soldier, John B. Gordon, which testified to the North the sympathy of the -South. - -And only a few days ago President Roosevelt inquired diligently into -the circumstances of the widowed Mrs. Gordon to know whether or not an -appointment as Postmaster for the city of Atlanta would be acceptable to -her. - -During the Spanish war the South sprang into the ranks under the old -flag, at the tap of the drum, and the blood of a Southern boy was the -first that was shed in the conflict. - -It was the ranking cavalry leader of the expiring Confederacy who -steadied the lines before Santiago, prevented a retreat, and brought from -Mr. Roosevelt the manly acknowledgment that to General Joseph Wheeler, -more than to any other man, was due the fact that we won the victory. - -It was a Southern boy who took his life in his hands in the effort to -block the Spanish harbor, and worthily earned the title of “The Hero of -the _Merrimac_.” - -It is sad to think that all this patriotism may not have made a deep -impression upon the country. - -It is sad to realize that the work of such men as Alexander H. Stephens, -Benjamin H. Hill, Senator Lamar, Thomas Nelson Page and Henry W. Grady -has left so much still to be done before that man, North or South, who -endeavors to inflame the passions of the sections shall be made to -feel that he has excited for himself the contempt and disgust which he -deserves. - -In a recent issue of the New York _Independent_ comes Albert Bushnell -Hart, Professor of History at Harvard University, distilling as much -bitterness and gall as ever fell from the lips of John J. Ingalls or -Thaddeus Stevens. - -He writes an article called “Conditions of the Southern Problem,” and -a more thoroughly exaggerated and libelous contribution to public -discussion has not been made during the last twenty years. - -The average reader will get some idea of the value of Mr. Hart’s -conclusions when he comes upon the sober statement that “white -mountaineers (of the South) have been known _to take their children out -of school because the teacher would insist that the world is round_.” - -Who stuffed Dr. Hart with that old joke? - -What credit does he do to himself when he shows to the world that he -accepts such worn-out jests as facts? - -Does he not know that there are plenty of wags all over the world—even in -Pullman cars—who take a delight in playing upon the credulous? - -He will meet men who will tell him that in certain backwoods communities -“the people don’t know that the war is over,” or he will be told that in -some mountain counties “they are still voting for Andrew Jackson.” - -But would Professor Hart take such statements for anything but jokes? - -Doesn’t he know that the jest about the rural belief that the world is -flat instead of round belongs to the same gray-haired family? - -Even a professor of history should learn that there is just as great a -difference between jokes and facts as there is between facts and jokes. - - * * * * * - -Professor Hart says that “in a few communities, notably South Carolina, -the poor whites have unaccountably discovered that if they will always -vote together they always have a majority, and they keep a man of their -own type in the United States Senate. In most other states, however, -politics is directed by intelligent and honorable men.” - -Isn’t this a rippingly reckless arraignment of the entire state of South -Carolina? Does the Professor of History at Harvard mean to say that -the politics of South Carolina is directed by men less intelligent and -honorable than those of “_most other states_”? - -If so, upon what ground does he base the accusation? - -As a matter of fact, the poor whites do not control South Carolina. It is -_the middle class_ whites who control South Carolina, and who elected Ben -Tillman to the United States Senate. - -Of course, Professor Hart intended to give Senator Tillman a side-wipe of -special vigor, and he did it, striking the whole state at the same time -he struck Tillman. But to what extent was the blow deserved? Ben Tillman -may, or may not, be an ideal Senator. He may, or may not, be an ideal -leader. Opinions differ about that, even in South Carolina. - -But why should a Northern writer select a Southern senator and a Southern -state to be held up in this insulting manner to public odium? In what -respect does Tillman’s record in the Senate, for honesty and ability, -compare unfavorably with that of Quay of Pennsylvania, Platt of New -York, Aldrich of Rhode Island, or Gorman of Maryland? Each one of those -senators has been basely subservient to thievish corporations, and has -helped them to fatten on national legislation at the expense of the great -body of the people. - -Can Dr. Hart say that of Ben Tillman? I defy him to do it. - - * * * * * - -Dr. Hart asks, “Why should the negro expect protection _when the white -man is powerless against any personal white enemy who chooses to shoot -him down in the street_, when not one white murderer in a hundred is -punished for his crime?” - -Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart is evidently thinking about the case of James -Tillman, of South Carolina, who shot down in the street Editor Gonzales, -and who was acquitted, on his trial. - -By all sane persons it is admitted to be utterly unfair to judge the -entire South, or North, by any one case, or by any one crime. - -It is useless to argue the guilt or innocence of James Tillman; but we -all know that human nature is prejudiced by political feeling; and none -will deny that the feud between Tillman and Gonzales was a political -feud. The killing was a political killing. In a case like that the action -of court and jury will be influenced by political feeling, whether the -result be right or wrong. - -Has Albert Bushnell Hart never heard of a political feud in any other -part of the world than the South, and has he never known political -feeling to protect one who was prosecuted for a crime? Has he never known -of instances in Northern cities where prisoners at the Bar apparently -owed their salvation to _secret societies_ of any sort—or _to political -pull_ of any sort? - -It has not been so very long since Edward S. Stokes met James Fisk on the -staircase, in the Grand Central Hotel, in New York City, _and shot him -down_. - -One might think this amounted to about the same thing as the shooting -down of a personal enemy on the street. - -Fisk died, as Gonzales died. Stokes was tried, as Tillman was tried. -Stokes was not hanged in New York any more than Tillman was hanged in -South Carolina. - -Will Dr. Hart please furnish an explanation which will not fit the South -Carolina case as snugly as it fits the New York case? - - * * * * * - -Professor Hart asks, “Why should the Northern people believe that the -South means well by the negro when such a man as Governor Vardaman, of -Mississippi, brutally threatens him and his white friends in the North?” - -_When and where has Governor James K. Vardaman “brutally threatened the -negro and his Northern friends”?_ - -Governor Vardaman, not many days ago, _risked his political life_, to -say nothing of personal danger, _to protect a negro from a white mob_. -Perhaps every white man in the mob had voted for Vardaman, and was his -personal and political friend; yet, although it was generally believed -that the negro was guilty of a heinous offense, this Governor, who has -been singled out for abuse, did not hesitate one moment to jeopardize his -whole political future by throwing around the hunted negro the official -protection of the law. - -No matter how much Governor Vardaman may be mistaken in some of his -views, and some of his utterances, no man ought now to deny that he -possesses personal and political courage, or that his respect for law is -of that high character which proclaims, “_The color of a man’s skin shall -not be the measure of his legal rights_.” - - * * * * * - -Furthermore, Dr. Hart says, “in one respect the poor whites are terrible -teachers to the negroes; they are an ungovernable people and _do not -allow themselves to be punished for such peccadillos as murder_.” - -O Mr. Professor of History at Harvard! has your blind passion against -the South lost you to all sense of proportion in the making of public -statements? - -If the poor whites of the South “do not allow themselves to be punished -for such little things as murder,” why do they go to the penitentiary at -all? - -You will find a sufficient number of poor whites in the penitentiaries of -the South—are they there just for the fun of it? - - * * * * * - -Speaking of the negro, Dr. Hart again says, “he may not murder or -assault, or even speak saucily to a white person, on most dreadful -penalties. Partly for self-protection, still more from a feeling of race -supremacy, it is made a kind of _lèse-majesté_ for a negro to lay hands -on a white man; even to defend his family or his own life, the serpent -must not bite the heel of the chosen people.” - -What utter disregard of facts! - -Let me cite a few cases which come within my personal knowledge. - -In McIntosh County, Georgia, one of the most prominent white planters -was deputized by the sheriff to arrest a negro who had been engaged in a -riot. The white man authorized to arrest the negro went to his house and -called for him at night. The negro refused to come out. The deputy forced -his way in, and the negro shot him dead. There were three negroes in the -house, all participating in resisting the officer. - -The white man’s court acquitted _two_ of the negroes, and sent _one_ up -for ten years. - -In the penitentiary of Georgia, at this time, are some white men serving -out their terms at hard labor for an outrage committed on a negro man in -one of the country counties near Atlanta. - -A white man, by the name of Alec Harvill, belonging to the class of poor -whites, was tried for murder in one of the Piedmont counties for which -Mr. Hart has such a contempt, and was convicted. - -He is now serving a term in the penitentiary, as he has been doing for -the last five or six years. - -How was he convicted? _Upon the testimony of a single negro witness._ -Nobody saw the alleged crime, or pretended to have seen it, except this -negro boy. - -And yet the white judge and the white jury believed the negro in -preference to the father or mother of the accused. - -In another of the Piedmont counties of Georgia a white man outraged a -negro woman. - -Within the last ninety days that criminal has been tried by a white judge -and jury—the prosecution being pushed by the state of Georgia through her -Attorney-General. - -The lower court convicted the criminal, the Supreme Court has affirmed -the finding, and the white man will have to meet the penalty of the law -for his violation of a negro woman. - -Several years ago a white man named Robinson, living in Waynesboro, Ga., -killed a negro. - -The white man had cursed a negro woman, who had “put in her mouth” while -he was holding a conversation with a negro man. - -When Robinson cursed the woman the deceased threw off his coat and rushed -at Robinson, exclaiming, “I won’t stand that!” - -Robinson backed, saying, “Don’t come on me! Stand back!” - -The negro continued to advance; Robinson drew his pistol and shot his -assailant. - -Robinson was tried, convicted and sent to the penitentiary. - -In Wilkes County, Ga., a convict boss whipped a negro convict who sulked -and wouldn’t work. The negro had a bad character, and was serving -sentence for a grave offense. - -The whipping may possibly have caused the negro’s death, though there was -much testimony to the effect that he died from natural causes. - -At any rate, a white judge and jury convicted the boss who inflicted the -whipping, and he had to serve his time in the penitentiary. Robert Cannon -was his name. - -In another instance I myself furnished the evidence of maltreatment of -a negro convict in the Georgia penitentiary, and, the facts being made -known to the Governor of Georgia, a fine of $2,500 was imposed on the -Convict Lessee Company. - -The Governor was General John B. Gordon. - -The name of the negro convict was Bill Sturgis. - -Examples like these could be multiplied indefinitely from Georgia and -every Southern state. - - * * * * * - -Another astonishing fact is related by Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart. - -“The most intelligent white people admit the fact that they are _trying -to keep the negro down_ because otherwise _the lowest white men will -marry negro women_.” - -Now, where on earth did Dr. Hart get _that_? - -Does not Dr. Hart know that the antipathy between the negro and the poor -white is, and always has been, greater than the antipathy between the -negro and the property-owning white? - -Does not Dr. Hart himself, in another part of his article, express the -belief that a dangerous antagonism exists between _the poor whites_ and -the negro? - -Does Professor Hart believe that the true reason why the Southern people -wish _to maintain white supremacy_ is to keep poor _whites from marrying -negro women_? Does he not realize that he makes himself a laughing-stock -when he gives his name to a statement of that kind? _No white man, rich -or poor, wants a negro woman_ FOR A WIFE! - -Dr. Hart may put that down as a proposition which is absolutely true. - -There are many white men, unfortunately, who establish relations of -_concubinage_ with negro women, and this crime is frequently punished in -the Southern courts; but where is the evidence that white men wish to -take negro wives? - -If that inclination is so strong, so ungovernable as to become the motive -of the South in maintaining white supremacy, _it should be capable of -proof_. Now, where is the proof? _Produce it, Dr. Hart!_ - -The simple truth of the matter is that Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart has -allowed himself to be stuffed with a whole lot of nonsense upon a subject -which he does not understand. - - * * * * * - -Now for a parting quotation from this precious article of Harvard’s -professional historian: - -“Good people (in the South) rarely make much distinction between the man -who is guilty and the man who looks like a criminal; between shooting -him down in the street or burning him at the stake; between burning -the guilty man or his innocent wife; between the quiet family inferno -with only two or three hundred spectators and a first-class, advertised -_auto-da-fé_ with special trains, and the children of the public schools -in the foreground.” - -There you have it, in all its true amplitude and _animus_! - -“The _good people_” of the South do not strive, according to Dr. Hart, to -draw the line of distinction between the man who is guilty and the man -who simply _looks_ guilty. They establish no real distinction between -the guilty man and his innocent wife. It makes no difference to these -“good people” whether they have a quiet family inferno, with two or three -hundred spectators, or the first-class, advertised burning, when special -trains are run and the public-school teachers give the children a recess -in order that they may attend the exhibition! - -If that is not mere partisanship, frothing at the mouth, what is it? - -It certainly cannot be seriously taken as a truthful summing up of a -general situation. - -An irresponsible stump-speaker, in the reckless rush of a hot political -campaign, would have better sense than to deal in hyperbole in that -furious fashion. - -But when a man of Dr. Hart’s standing publishes stuff like this it does -harm. It misleads the North and arouses passionate indignation in the -South. - -When Dr. Hart does work of that wild sort he is no longer a historian; he -is simply an incendiary. He is a child _playing with fire_. - -If I were to apply to the North the same measure which Professor Hart -has applied to the South, could I not convict the “good people” of _his_ -section, as he has convicted “the good people” of _mine_? - -Are “the good people” of the entire North to be held up as utterly -lawless, making a jest of “_such peccadillos as murder_,” because of the -late doings at Wilmington, Del., or at Springfield, O.? - -Has Indiana had no lynchings; has Colorado had no carnival of crime? - -James Tillman, of South Carolina, “shot down in the street” a mortal -political foe who had, beyond all question, given him great provocation. - -I do not say that James Tillman was justified in his act—I merely say -that he had provocation, great provocation. - -He was acquitted, _but he was not sent to Congress_. - -He left the court-room a broken, chastened man; and is now leading a life -of sobriety, industry and rectitude. - -Not many years ago, _on a Sunday morning_, a saloon-keeper and his son, -in the city of Boston, Mass., beat down a drunken man who had broken a -window-pane of said saloon—_beat him down on the streets, and kicked him -to death after he was down_. - -Apparently the man’s sole offense was that he had broken a pane of glass -and refused to pay for it. - -The saloon was open in violation of law. - -The glass was broken by a man too drunk to know what he was doing. - -And the two men of Boston fell upon the helpless, drunken wretch, _and -kicked him to death in the streets_. - -Was Massachusetts and all the North condemned for _that_? - -What became of the homicides? - -One received a nominal punishment, which was not a real punishment; and -the other boasts that he was never punished at all. - -Where was the boast made? - -In the House of Representatives of the United States—_for Boston, Mass., -actually sent to Congress the man who had helped to kick another man to -death in the streets_! - -His name? John A. Sullivan. I beg pardon—it is, - - _The Honorable John A. Sullivan._ - -South Carolina is far behind Massachusetts—_she has not yet sent James -Tillman to Congress_. - - * * * * * - -In the name of the Good God who made us all—are we _never_ to hear the -last of these bitter revilings of the South? - -Are we _never_ to reach the Era of Good Feeling for which so many strong -men have toiled, so many pure women have prayed? - -Will the blind Apostles of Hate _never_ “Let us have Peace”? - -Shall the marplot and the bigot and the partisan and the Pharisee -_forever_ be able to thwart the nobler efforts of nobler men? - -Shall Ransy Sniffle _always_ succeed in embroiling those who want to be -friends? - -When I think of Abraham Lincoln—magnanimous, broad, far-seeing, praising -the Confederates who had stormed the heights at Gettysburg, calling upon -the band to play “Dixie” on the night following Lee’s surrender—and then -contemplate this narrow, spiteful, out-of-date Professor of History at -Harvard, I realize more than ever how much the South lost when a madman -assassinated the statesman _who had her blood in his veins, sympathy for -her in his heart, and a knowledge of her in his mind_. - -In vain will Congress return the battle-flags of the Lost Cause, in vain -will the McKinleys and the Roosevelts labor for the Era of Good Feeling, -if the violent partisans of the North, playing into the hands of the -almost obsolete fire-eaters of the South, give to sectional hatreds a new -lease of life. - - - _Remember the Rascals_ - -The law provides that a Congressman shall be paid a salary of $5,000 -per year; and in order that the compensation shall be _equal_, among -members, the Government pays their traveling expenses. Otherwise the -Representative who comes from the Pacific coast to the Capital, paying -his way, would realize very much less on his salary than a Representative -from Maryland or Virginia. - -The cost of travel was greater in the olden days than now, and the -free pass had not then become one of the devil’s favorite inventions. -Consequently, the lawmakers declared that the taxpayers should furnish -_twenty cents per mile_ to meet the expenses of the Representative in -going from his home to the post of duty. - -Inasmuch as every member of Congress—occasional cranks excepted—now rides -on the free passes, the mileage has become a considerable addition to the -salary. - -A member who lives west of the Mississippi will find his pay increased a -sixth, or a fifth, according to the distance from the Atlantic seaboard; -while the delegate who comes from Hawaii will pocket considerably more -than $2,000 for the alleged cost of getting to Washington. - -So far, good. Everybody knows that Congressmen do _not_ pay their way, -and everybody knows that mileage no longer has any honest foundation; but -we’ve got used to the grab, and we let it go, as inevitable, with a weary -sigh of hopeless disgust. - -But the Congress which recently adjourned broke all previous records and -gave the country a new chapter in the record of brazen dishonor. - -Previous to the meeting of the regular session there had been an extra -session. This held on till the regular session began. There was no -interval between the two. So far as time was concerned, the one ran into -the other. Hence, no member went home from the extra session and came -back to the regular session. - -There was absolutely no “recess” at all—_not a minute_ between the one -session and the other. - -Now, behold the evil influence of a bad example. - -The President got the idea that while there was no _actual_ recess -between the two sessions of Congress, there was a “_constructive_” recess. - -The Mephistopheles who whispered this baleful advice in the ear of Mr. -Roosevelt was a better friend to the appointees who were to benefit -by it—General Wood and Dr. Crum, for example—than they were to the -President. The members of Congress were not slow to reason the case to -this effect: - -If there has been such a _recess_ as to give General Wood a promotion in -the army, and to Dr. Crum a fat office in the revenue service, then it -has been a recess _for all purposes_. - -“If the President can fill offices upon a supposed recess, we can fill -our pocket with mileage upon the same supposition. - -“The whole thing being imaginary, that theory which puts Wood higher -up on the pay-roll, and which puts a negro in the Custom House at -Charleston, will also imagine that we went home during the supposed -recess, and that we have just returned from Georgia, Alabama, Wisconsin, -California and the state of Washington. It’s a poor rule that won’t work -both ways.” - - * * * * * - -The law clothes the President with the power to make recess -appointments—which rids him of the necessity of consulting the Senate. -In this instance, he created a recess in his mind, when none existed in -fact, and the result was good for Wood and Crum. - -The imaginary recess having been created by the President, the members of -the Lower House took an imaginary trip home during the imaginary recess, -and then proposed that they be paid their imaginary expenses, not in -imaginary money, but in hard cash. - -Therefore, sixty-odd Republicans and forty-odd Democrats, _and two Union -Labor men_, voted to give themselves $190,000 of the people’s money to -pay for _imaginary journeys made during an imaginary recess_. - -It is doubtful if a more shameless attempt to steal from the public -treasury has ever been attempted. - -The Senate killed the measure, not because the Senate itself is so -pure and honest—for it isn’t—but because it could safely rebuke the -House—which it despises—and pose as Watch-dog of the Treasury, without -loss to itself. - - * * * * * - -The people are entitled to know the names of the rascals who tried to -steal $190,000 of their money. - -Tennessee will not be shocked to know that “Slippery Jim” Richardson -voted for the grab. - -She may be shocked to know that Brownlow did the same thing—Brownlow, the -son of the famous Parson. - -South Carolina may be astonished to learn that on the roll of dishonor -are the names of Aiken and Legare. - -Virginia will see that she has been misrepresented by the vote of -Maynard. - -Louisiana will find three of her votes on the shameful list—Pujo and -Broussard and Davey. - -The Democracy of Missouri may feel indignant at the vote of Hunt, and -Mississippi at that of Hill. - -As the list of names is printed elsewhere, it is not necessary to -particularize further; but I note one thing with special interest. - -The Massachusetts Congressman who was selected by the enemies of W. R. -Hearst to attack him on the floor of the House gave the country a chance -to learn who was the cleaner, better man. - -_Hearst did not vote for the steal; Sullivan, of Massachusetts, did!_ - -The people of Georgia may wish to know where Congressman Bartlett was -when the vote was being taken. His name is not recorded against the -steal. Nor is that of Brantley or that of Adamson. - -_Where were they?_ - -These three gentlemen are paid $15,000 per year to stay in their places -and safeguard the rights of the people who elected them. - -Where were these three Georgians when this piece of rascality was being -put through the House? If they were necessarily absent why did they not -arrange “pairs,” and thus give their votes to defeat the robbers? _Did -they_ DODGE? - -If so, _Why?_ - -Alabama will want to know where Bankhead and Wiley were; Texas will ask -explanations of Stephens; Tennessee of Sims; Kentucky of Hopkins and -Stanley. - - * * * * * - -Every man who voted for the mileage grab, or who dodged the vote, _should -be marked for political punishment by the constituency which he betrayed_. - - - _Introductory to a Letter from a Boy_ - -As a rule, I do not help schoolboys in writing their speeches or in -preparing for debates. In fact, I make it a rule _not_ to do so. - -It is best for the boy to dig his own bait. The sooner he learns to rely -upon himself, the better. In that way only will he become _strong_. - -But sometimes I break my own rules—for the sake of variety, perhaps—and I -did it not long ago when a certain college in Georgia took as a subject -for debate the proposition: - -“_Resolved_, That the South should have supported Watson in the last -Presidential election.” - -Of course, there were but two names to be considered in the -discussion—Watson and Parker. - -Teddy wasn’t in it at all. And that is a queer thing, too, for about -one-third of the white people of Georgia believe just as Teddy does -about the money question, the Tariff system, the Panama business, the -Philippine policy, the big navy project, the Railroad rate reduction, and -so forth and so on. - -But they wouldn’t vote for Teddy to save his life. - -And why? - -They have a distinct presentiment that if they should vote for a man like -Roosevelt they would never dare to go to sleep again lest they wake up -next morning and find niggers sitting at the breakfast-table on the level -of social equality. - -Consequently, Roosevelt didn’t cut any ice in the schoolhouse debate. - -Parker and I—we had it all to ourselves. Good-natured people will not -begrudge this honor to Parker and me, I am sure, for we are clearly -entitled to something, and Teddy has just about carried off everything -else. He can afford to be generous, and to let two of his late -competitors wear the laurels in a college debate away down in Georgia. - -Whether Parker coached the boys on his side I am not informed. - -If he didn’t, they must have had a tough job getting up “points.” It is a -task at which the average boy would need prompt and patient assistance. - -Perhaps, W. J. B. was appealed to. At all events, he should have been. -The Nebraska Talk-Factory turns out quite a variety of finished product, -and the kind of garment it wove for the adornment of Parker, late in the -last campaign, was a marvel in its way—especially when one considers how -suddenly the machinery had to be readjusted to fill that particular order. - -As to myself, I frankly confess that I “suspended the rules” and gave my -champion some “points.” This was wrong, but human. - -Had I known that the judges presiding over the debate were two Democrats -and a Republican, I would have furnished points to the Parker side, also. -Then my champions would have come out ahead. - -My private opinion is that I could have coached the Parker champions -in such a way that even a pied-piper tribunal, composed of two Georgia -Democrats and a New York Republican, would have had to call in a fourth -man to know how to decide. - -Provided, _always_, that W. J. B. had stayed out of it. - -Of course, when _he_ butts in, nobody can say what may happen. - -Well, the boys debated, the judges decided, and Parker won out. - -The remainder of the story is related by the ingenuous youth who fought -for me in that contest, and I am going to give you his letter just as he -wrote it. - - THE LETTER - - MANASSAS, GA., March 13, 1905. - - _Hon. T. E. Watson, Thomson, Ga._ - - MY DEAR SIR: On the fourth of January you were so kind as - to send me a few very strong points for my speech. About - the same time Hon. Jas. K. Hines also sent me some points. - - Our debate was postponed until the tenth inst. For I was - sure we would need ample time to prepare for such a fight - as we would have to make. - - In my letter to you I mentioned the opposition which I - thought we would have to encounter, and the amount of - interest that would be manifested in such a subject. - - In this I was not disappointed or mistaken. - - The badges were eagerly sought all day previous to the - debate, and the Watson badges were worn by quite a number. - - The Auditorium was filled with people. The rostrum was - covered with an arch, coming from either side of the stage, - made of ribbon. - - Half of the arch was made of the Watson colors, and half of - the Parker colors. - - As I entered town that afternoon I heard a little boy cry, - “Hurrah for Tom Watson!” This alone paid me for the effort - and work on the debate. - - To secure impartial judges was the one thing dreaded from - the start, and in this we made a miserable failure. - - Two Democrats and a Republican were the best we could do. - Or at least the third man came from New York. - - My colleague opened with a strong speech. Before the first - on the negative side finished, all my fear had vanished, - and I was really anxious to have my say. - - The chairman reprimanded some little boys for bumping their - heads, a few moments before I began. I opened by saying - that I wanted one of those little boys to bump his head as - much as he liked because I heard him cry, “Hurrah for Tom - Watson!” Turning to the audience, I asked all the little - girls to remember that little boy at the proper time. Then - I carried the little fellow step by step from the Claxton - Institute to the President’s chair on the People’s Party - Platform. - - Our speeches over, the committee retired for consultation. - - Our opponents looked the worst whipped of any I ever saw. - - The audience began to call for Watson badges to take the - place of their Parker ones. - - It is generally very much out of place for anyone to accuse - a committee of a wrong decision on purpose, but the case - was so plain that I do not hesitate to say that their - decision was based on the condition of their hearts before - they heard our speeches. - - But many were on our side. One of the Emory College boys, - a very prominent physician and a strong Democrat, and - brother-in-law to one of the committee, was outspoken in - saying that the affirmative side won. - - I never cared for the decision being given against me so - little as I did this time, for everyone, almost, in the - audience knew the right. - - Our debate no doubt resulted in waking up the people to - some degree, for our opponents could only eulogize you. - - Ever rest assured of my highest appreciation of the points - sent me. - - Wishing that you may live long to continue your fight for - the many against the few, I am, - - Very respectfully yours, - - S. B. MCCALL. - -A missive like the foregoing is decidedly interesting to me, and the -spirit moves me to say certain things to my correspondent, which I do, in -manner and form following, to wit: - - A LETTER TO A BOY - - MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND: I do not know you personally, have - never grasped your hand and looked into your eyes, but your - letter makes me think well of you. - - In the first place, it discloses the fact that after all - your careful preparation for the debate, _you made an - extemporaneous speech_. Good. No one can be a debater on - any other terms. It is possible that one may be an orator - and be unable to leave the written form, but the gift of - extemporaneous expression _is absolutely essential to a - debater_. - - _To think on one’s legs_—that’s a gift; and it seems that - you have it. - - * * * * * - - Again, I learn from your letter that you _knew_ you had on - your hands a hard task in maintaining the unpopular side of - the debate, and that you did not shrink from the burden. - Good again. That’s the way to become a _man_. The boy who - is ever on the lookout for the easy job, the popular side, - and who runs away from obstacles or opposition, will always - remain a boy—and not much of a boy at that. - - There is but one rule for you if you want to be a - man—absolutely but one—and that is to do your level best - to reach a clear, correct idea of what is right, and then - stick to it and fight for it, in spite of the “world, the - flesh and the devil.” - - This rule will make you enemies, and will give you just - about as many hard knocks as are needful to your health, - but if you want to be a _man_, that’s the price you’ve got - to pay. - - * * * * * - - You say you found difficulty in securing impartial judges. - - Well, I should think so. - - The “impartial judge” is one of those pleasing fancies with - which we amuse ourselves, for the reason that we can’t help - it. We have got to get decisions some way or other, and we - don’t quite like the idea of settling grave questions by - spitting at a mark, or of guessing whether it is heads or - tails in the tossing of a coin—therefore, we resort to “the - impartial judge.” - - It is one of the jokes of Christian civilization which - nobody laughs at because we have agreed that it is not a - joke. - - Just between me and you, the “impartial judge” is brother - to the “non-partisan editor,” and twin-brother to the - “disinterested office-seeker.” - - * * * * * - - You say that it is generally wrong to criticize the conduct - of those who make decisions. - - You are mistaken about that. It is generally the proper - thing to do. And it is often the _only_ thing you can do. - True, it is not as much satisfaction as we are entitled to, - but it’s something. - - What would baseball be, if we couldn’t cuss the umpire? - - How could lawyers who lost their cases blow off the - indignation, if they couldn’t cuss the judge? - - * * * * * - - You state that you were not cast down by the decision which - went against you. Right. Why should you be? - - Whatever was _true_, previous to the decision, was _true_ - afterward. - - And there’s where our political leaders fall down. - - They go about the country telling the people that a certain - candidate for office is “unfit for the nomination,” and - after he is nominated the same politicians claim that the - _nomination_ makes him fit. - - How can a _nomination_ make a bad man good? - - That’s a deferred question which W. J. B. will answer some - day or other, and you will then see it done to the queen’s - taste. - - * * * * * - - Evidently you are not discouraged by the fact that you - went up against a tribunal which wouldn’t yield to reason, - eloquence, fact or fancy—a tribunal which had made up its - mind before its members heard your speech. Right again. - It’s your _duty_ to furnish the convincing argument; it is - _not in your power_ to supply judges with minds open to - conviction. - - Bigger men than you have run up against immovable obstacles - of that kind. - - Consider W. J. B., for instance. He found, in New England, - a lot of tribunals, the low, the high and the middle, which - were not to be convinced that he, W. J. B., was entitled to - $50,000 that old Mr. Bennett _thought_ he was leaving to - our Nebraska friend by will. - - You and I would think that as the money belonged to - Bennett, and Bennett had declared in writing that W. J. B. - should have it, the judges would not interfere. - - But they _did_. No amount of eloquence, of the best W. J. - B. sort, could budge them an inch. Our Nebraska friend got - knocked out all along the line. - - Did it cast him down? - - Not in the least. He is as cheerful—not to say saucy—as you - are over _your_ little tumble. That is just the way to be: - but one should always try to get some _lesson_ out of one’s - defeats, so that one will know better how to do next time. - - If you should ask W. J. B. what lesson he has learned from - that series of knockdowns in the New England courts, he - would answer: “The next time a benevolent Yankee comes - to my house, and offers to make me a bequest of $50,000, - I will take him out and introduce him to a safe and sane - lawyer who knows how to draw a will.” - - * * * * * - - Cultivate what is _best_ in your character and mind. - - Do not _imitate_ anybody. - - Study good models for the purpose of making the best - possible man out of _yourself_. - - Develop your _pride_—not your vanity, conceit or egotism. - - Be too proud to stoop to anything mean. - - Associate with the _best_ people. If among your companions - there are those whose talk or conduct is vile, weed them - out from your life. - - I feel deeply on this point, and I repeat, WEED THEM OUT. - - Cultivate the honesty which makes a man what he _appears_ - to be. - - Don’t be a sham. - - Be a reality—as earnest, powerful and fearless as is - possible to your nature. - - When defeat knocks you down, don’t lie there. As soon as - you get your breath back, rise, brush the dust off, and go - up against the enemy again. - - Reach a clear conception of what you want to do, and _can_ - do; be sure that this is something noble in itself—then - hammer away with all your might, _and keep hammering_. - - Remember that modesty is almost as becoming to a man as to - a woman, but that _humility_ has no place in man’s relation - to man. - - If you are not as good as any other man, it’s your fault. - - The world, and all its rewards, are as much yours as - anybody’s. - - But remember this also: the race _is_ to the swift, and the - battle _is_ to the strong, USUALLY. - - If you would win the race, _be swift_; if the battle, _be - strong_. - - - _An Educational Department_ - -There are thousands of boys and girls, some in schools and colleges, some -not, who are anxious to learn, to develop themselves and to RISE. - -Many, many things they yearn to know which the class-room teachers do not -teach. - -Many a subject they are eager to study, if somebody will but show the way. - -Often there are speeches to be made, essays to be written, debates to be -prepared, and the boys and girls simply do not know how to start about it. - -For instance, they are suddenly required to speak or write on the -question: - -“Should the Government own and operate the railroads?” - -They have never read anything about it, perhaps. Therefore they inquire: - -“Where can we get some literature on the subject?” - -These young people do not want someone else to write their speeches or -essays; they want nothing more than to be told where to get the materials -to work with—the data upon which to construct their own argument. - -When I was a boy I felt the need of that kind of help very keenly. - -How was I to know what books contained the information sought? - -Who could tell me? - -I soon found that teachers did not love to be bored by inquiries of that -character, and therefore I had to browse around in the library at random -for what was wanted. - -If the book needed was there, I generally found it, after wasting much -time in the search. - -If it was not there, as frequently happened, I was at my row’s end. I had -to debate without the full preparation which should have been made. - -To help out many a student who may be troubled as I used to be, I -am going to improvise and conduct in this magazine a modest little -_Educational Department_. - -Primarily it is meant for _the young people_. But the rule will be made -as flexible as I feel like making it. - -Age limits are not fair—no matter whether Osler was joking or not. - -It is not my plan or purpose to write anybody’s speech or essay; but, -where there is a subject of real importance to be discussed by word or -pen, I am willing to _direct the preparation_ of the student by telling -him or her where the necessary information can be had. - -It would perhaps not be improper for me to suggest some general ideas on -the subject to be discussed—these ideas to be worked out and put in form -by the student. - -Often I might render good service to the boys and girls by telling them -where the books they need can be bought at the lowest price. - -It took me many years to learn how to buy books, and it is a thing worth -knowing—unless you have more money than I ever had. - -The letters written to me in this department will be published as -written; but the names of the writers will be withheld. - -Therefore, no correspondent need be embarrassed in making inquiries. - -My replies will be given in the magazine. - -Hereafter all letters asking for information—historical, literary, -political, economic—will be answered through the EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT. - -P. S.—Students are requested not to ask help on this subject, viz.: - -“_Resolved_, That there is more happiness in the pursuit than in the -possession.” - -Those whose duty it is to maintain “_the pursuit_” will please consult -Mr. Bryan; those who sustain “_the possession_” are referred to Mr. -Roosevelt. - - - _Editorial Comment_ - -Those orthodox partisan editors who sneered at my comment on W. R. Hearst -as a man who _did_ things while others were talk—talk—talking, will -please study the election returns from Chicago and hand me out revised -opinions. - -That was a Hearst fight, and Hearst himself was personally in the thick -of it. He said little and accomplished much. - -Would _still_ like to swap a score or two of mere talkers like—well, no -matter—for another such myth as Hearst. - - * * * * * - -A wise man—and his name is Dennis—has an article in the April number -of _Everybody’s_ to prove that free trade has created in England that -poverty-stricken mass of humanity which he includes under the general -name of “Hooligan.” - -According to Mr. Robert Hunter, the Hooligans of the United States -aggregate 10,000,000—and we haven’t had any free trade, either. - -Evidently the wise Mr. Dennis has not located the true cause of poverty -in England. - -It was famine, and the high price of bread, which forced Sir Robert Peel -to abandon protection and to carry free trade into effect. - -Bread was cheapened and the cost of living reduced. - -Did _that_ inflict such great misery upon the poor? - -If the wise Mr. Dennis will study the subject more thoroughly he will -probably reach the conclusion that poverty in England is the product -of land monopoly, a vicious financial system and a governmental -establishment in which a lot of hereditary bloodsuckers prey upon the -body politic. - -Free trade is the law of nature; it never did, and never can produce -national misery, poverty or decadence. - - * * * * * - -If the wise Mr. Dennis will study the subject thoroughly he will discover -that the Corn Laws of 1815 were passed for the purpose of giving special -benefits to the landlords of Great Britain. By the poor the act was -regarded as such a direct attack upon themselves—such a barefaced -design to make them pay higher prices for the necessaries of life—that -resistance to the law grew riotous and had to be put down by force. - -Says Justin McCarthy, the historian: - -“The poor everywhere saw the bread of their family threatened, saw the -food of their children almost taken out of their mouths, and they broke -into wild extremes of anger.” - -But the soldiers were called out, the riots put down, and a sufficient -number of the poor hanged to quell the remainder. - -_Thus_ the land monopolists of Great Britain—many of whose titles to -their enormous holdings are tainted with all manner of fraud and wrong -enforced and odious law which robbed the poor to benefit the rich. - -In 1817 the troops were used again to crush the laborers who were crying -out against oppression. - -In 1819 soldiers were used once more. - -Then the submission of despair brought quiet times until 1830, when -the people again attempted to throw off the hateful yoke of barbarous -laws. In the House of Commons Sir Francis Burdett denounced the Duke of -Wellington as - -“_Shamefully insensible to the suffering and distress which were -painfully apparent throughout the land._” - -“O’Connell declared that many thousands of persons had to subsist in -Ireland _on three half-pence per day_.” - -A tolerably successful workingman sometimes got sixty-five cents a week, -and the price of the four-pound loaf was _twenty-five cents_. - - * * * * * - -From 1830 to 1836 matters went from bad to worse. Business was depressed, -trade stagnant, poverty severe in many parts of the country. - -In 1838 a crisis came. Three-fifths of the manufacturing establishments -of Lancashire shut down. Thousands of workmen were thrown adrift, -moneyless, foodless, desperate. - -It was then that three great men, Cobden, Bright and Villiers, seized -the leadership of Discontent and began the famous crusade against -_Protection_, as typified in the Corn Laws of Great Britain. “Vested -interests,” of course, raised the usual howl. - -The land monopolists stubbornly closed up in lines of sullen opposition -to reform. They beat off every attack, pocketing year after year the -famine prices which the people were compelled to pay for bread. - -Suddenly, in the summer of 1845, a cold, wet, sunless season fell -upon the British Isles and the whole potato crop of Ireland—the sole -dependence of the vast majority of the Irish people—rotted. - -The food of Ireland was gone; in her poverty she could not pay the -English landlord’s price for bread, and the Corn Laws forbade her buying -the cheap bread of America and Continental Europe. - -It was _then_ that Lord John Russell attacked the whole system of -_Protection_ as “_the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the -source of bitter divisions among classes_, THE CAUSE OF PENURY, FEVER AND -CRIME AMONG THE PEOPLE.” - -It was _then_ that the great Tory Minister, Sir Robert Peel, followed -the promptings of his heart and determined that the people should have -cheaper food. - -He abolished the Corn Laws, and conferred inestimable blessings upon the -common people of his country. - -The noble act cost him his political life—for that was the penalty which -outraged land monopoly, led by Disraeli, inflicted upon its former chief. - - * * * * * - -The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846. - -Mr. Dennis comes along and tells us that _Free Trade_ is responsible for -“Hooligan”—for poverty in England. - -Mr. Rider Haggard—now in this country in the interest of Hooligan—ought -to know as much about the poor of Great Britain as Dennis knows. - -What does Rider Haggard say? - -That the present deplorable condition of the English poor _began with_ -1874. - -How, then, can that condition be connected with the Corn Law repeal? - -May it not be logically connected with legislation of more recent date? - -Or may it not be connected with economic developments elsewhere? - -Tremendous changes in the conditions of people in Europe and America -have been brought about by financial legislation much more nearly -contemporaneous with 1874 than the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. - -Then, again, the vast addition to the wheat and corn areas in the United -States alone have had a mighty influence on prices in Great Britain. - -It may be that rents are so high in England that the tenant farmer finds -it impossible to pay his tribute to the land monopolist, compete with -American grain fields, and have anything left for himself. - -Indeed, Mr. Haggard states that one of the reasons why the agricultural -laborer is so disheartened in England is that _there is no chance for him -to become the owner of land_. - - * * * * * - -An exchange says: - -“The headmaster of an English school says he read Roosevelt’s inaugural -to his boys and asked them where it was found. Unanimously they answered, -‘Jowett’s translation of Thucydides.’ Whereupon the headmaster gives -us parallel columns to show that Pericles said it all before, on an -occasion somewhat similar. But Teddy is too honest to crib; he was -deceived by his clerk on oratory. Let it go at that.” - -If it is true that Mr. Roosevelt _did_ use one of the speeches of -Pericles as an inaugural address, Mr. Bryan may wish he had not been -so quick with the announcement that it was a poor speech. Pericles is -generally considered to have been an orator who would have compared not -unfavorably with W. J. B. himself. - - * * * * * - -The India-rubber qualities of the Monroe Doctrine are being made manifest -with a vengeance. - -Once we understood it to mean, in a general way, that Europe must “Hands -off”—no more conquest, colonization, or extension of the European system -to the American Continent. - -By Mr. Cleveland, England was told, with firmness, that she couldn’t -steal Venezuela’s land, even though the theft consisted of the simple -device of moving the boundary line. - -With Mr. Roosevelt’s advent to power comes a decidedly new chapter in the -evolution of the Monroe Doctrine. - -We are to assume a sort of Trusteeship for adjacent governments. - -We must see to it that they conduct themselves decently and in order. -They must pay their debts to citizens of other countries and behave -themselves generally in a way that meets our approval. - - * * * * * - -Mr. Roosevelt, in advancing the Monroe Doctrine to this extent, has -undertaken a big contract for this country. - -If we are to be the Policeman for South America, Santo Domingo, Cuba, -Mexico and Central America, we must, first of all, have a powerful navy. - -This is clear to everybody. - -What is not so clear is that a powerful standing army will inevitably -follow—_as sure as fate, it will follow_. - - * * * * * - -For it is certain that a natural result of our hectoring, bulldozing, -overlord attitude toward countries like those mentioned will make them -our bitter enemies. South America already hates us, and has cause to hate -us. - -The manner in which we sanctioned the collection of claims against -Venezuela, by the warships of Europe will not be forgotten. - -This feeling will be intensified by Mr. Roosevelt’s recent utterances, -and will spread through all the peoples affected by it. - -If we are to compel these governments to knuckle down to every Asphalt -Trust, or other speculative syndicate, which enters the country for the -purpose of exploitation, the time will certainly come when our attempts -to make them conform to our standard of what is decent and orderly in -dealing with plundering corporations will be resisted. - -What then? - -Our navy can bombard the cities of the coast, but will our marines leave -the ships and defeat the land forces of the interior? - -Evidently not. - -What, therefore, must we do? - -Send army against army, as we shall have sent navy against navy. - -Consequently the same policy which logically requires a powerful navy -will likewise require a powerful standing army. - -_And our masters know it!_ - - * * * * * - -Mr. Roosevelt: - -Do _you_, also, laugh at young Garfield? - -_Please_ don’t give us any more of that silly boy. - - * * * * * - -More than one-half the voters of Colorado cast their ballots for Alva -Adams, candidate for Governor. - -But Adams did not get the place. - -Less than half the voters supported James Peabody, and Peabody acted as -Governor for one day. - -Not a soul voted for Jesse McDonald for Governor, yet Jesse gets the -whole term of office, excepting the one day given to Peabody. - -The voters of Colorado evidently enjoy self-government about as much as -it can be enjoyed. - - - - - _The Lady’s Slipper_ - - BY CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY - _Author of “The Two Captains,” “The Corner in Coffee,” “A - Little Traitor to the South,” “The Southerners,” etc._ - - - I - - THE SLIPPER IS SOUGHT - -What happened to me the night before? I was not certain as to details, -but I recalled the main facts with singular distinctness. I had lost -every coin that I possessed. A hasty search of my pockets in the morning -disclosed the absence even of that one louis which, on account of -its markings, I had resolved never to part with, save in the gravest -emergency. I was stripped bare, “down to a gant-line,” as old Bucknall -would have said. That much was obvious. I had possessed no jewels save -the ring I had filched when I took the Frenchman’s purse. That, too, was -gone. I suppose I played it away with the rest. - -I still had my sword. It was a serviceable blade, which I had purchased -with the Frenchman’s money so soon as I arrived in Paris. A gentleman and -his sword, backed by a stout heart—well, one might be in worse plight. -But as I thought about the night before I seemed to remember—and here -was where I was not quite clear—that I had affixed my name to certain -pieces of paper, I. O. U.’s! To what amount I was obligated by these -transactions I did not know. But whether it was for one franc or a -thousand, I was unable to discharge the debt. My creditors must give me -time or—They were a jolly lot, those Frenchmen, and I had held up my end -as long as the gold pieces lasted. America had taken no disgrace from my -ability to stand in a game and win or lose like a gentleman. True, it -was generally the latter that fell to my play. - -Now I was sick of it all! I hated wine and women and play. I wished, as -never before, that I were on the deck of a stout ship again, with the -new flag, the Stars and Stripes, fluttering from the gaff-end and the -breath of the salt wind in my face. This and a tidy Englishman of equal -force under our lee. Gods! That was a man’s work and a man’s place. This -drifting around from one gambling resort to another in Paris, with a -crowd of roysterers—and worse—this night after night at the tables—bah, I -had had enough of it! - -It was a life I had never fancied, and if Dr. Franklin had been at home I -had never entered upon it. After I escaped from the British prison-ship, -and after I took that Englishman’s purse on the highway—only he turned -out to be a Frenchman, but it was then too late for me to alter my -intention to provide myself with the sinews of war—and after I managed to -get to Paris and found our Ambassador gone to Holland or Spain or some -other outlandish country, what was I to do? With plenty of money, no -occupation, no ship, nor any present chance of getting one, no friends, -and a reckless, adventurous disposition, I fell in with a fast set, and -this was the outcome. - -I could not find her either, although I swear I searched high and low -and spent not a little of the proceeds of my highway robbery in trying -to run her down. There was no use in going over all this. I got up from -the couch on which I had thrown myself dressed as I was, staggered over -to the table, splashed my face with water and caught a glimpse of myself -in the little mirror that hung on the wall. Worn, haggard, bloodshot—my -own father would scarce have known me. I was ashamed, bitterly so. I had -never been a gambler or a drinker, and I vowed that I would never be -again. I had played the fool once and I did not propose to do it a second -time. Yet these interesting resolutions were forced into the background -by the demands of my present situation. - -What was I to do? Breakfast! I loathed the idea. Still, I must eat to -live. I hadn’t a cent with which to bless myself. What was the date? It -was the tenth—no, the eleventh—of the month. Dr. Franklin would be back -on the thirteenth. Once I could get speech with him all would be well, -but how was I to exist until then? - -I sat down by the window and tried to think of some device. God knows my -situation was critical, but I declare that I could only think of her! -Perhaps my inability to find her—for she had vanished as completely as if -the earth had opened and swallowed her—had made me reckless, careless, -a willing prey to the knaves who had brought me to this pass. I will -admit, even then, that I loved her. I closed my eyes and I could see -her as I saw her that evening outside of Paris. I could hear her scream -in the hands of those ruffians. I went over the whole thing as I had -done a thousand times. My rush at the villains! I was a pretty hand at -cudgel-playing as well as a good swordsman, for I had no weapon but a -stout stick. - -The first fellow I caught fairly on the head, and he dropped like a -felled bullock. I put my hand up and could feel a little partially healed -scar along my cheek where the bullet of the one-eyed scoundrel cut a lock -of hair and grazed me. He got a crack on his pistol arm which put him -out of action. I could still see his face, convulsed with pain and rage, -his one eye shooting fire at me as he retreated before me. The other -rascal was a coward, for he fled immediately. I shall never forget the -look on Mademoiselle’s face when she thanked me! They had torn her mask -off when they had dragged her from her horse. I found it again and also -managed to catch her horse. - -Although I was dressed like a French peasant I think she realized that I -was of gentle blood. She was surprised at the ease with which I mounted -her on her horse, and when she gave me that louis—my hand went to my -breast. Yes, it still hung there! I hadn’t gambled that away, thank -God!—and, as I promptly returned her another, she seemed to understand. I -wonder what she did with hers? She told me that I had not only saved her -from assault but that I had done more, I had saved the honor of France, -and that she would some day prove her gratitude. Then she galloped away -from me and left me standing staring in the road like a fool, madly in -love with her! - -Aye, this evidenced my folly, I will admit, but as they say here, “What -would you?” She was the first lady I had seen in three years of cruising, -and such a woman! If you had seen her you would have understood. How I -had searched for her! Blue eyes, dark hair; tall, exquisitely molded, -graceful figure; dainty hands and feet—this vague description might have -fitted any woman or a million, and she was one of that million. It was no -use. I should never see her again, and if I saw her now, disgraced as I -was, I must avoid her. So absorbed was I in these miserable musings that -I hadn’t heeded a tap at the door. - -“_Ma foi!_” cried a rather shrill, metallic voice as a man opened the -door and stepped within. “My dear friend, I have rapped several times, -and so I took the liberty....” - -“Oh, come in by all means, Monsieur du Trémigon,” I replied, rising and -welcoming the newcomer, although with no great cordiality. - -He was the hatefulest of all the crowd with whom I had cast my lot since -I had been in Paris, and I more than suspected it was to him that I had -passed those little pieces of paper which began more and more definitely -to impress themselves upon my recollection. - -“I suppose,” I said, “that you have come to settle our accounts of last -night, Monsieur?” - -“There is no haste about that,” he returned politely enough, “but since -you insist, as well now as any other time.” - -“I shall be honest with you, Marquis,” I returned bluntly; “I’m afraid I -shall have to ask your indulgence for a short time.” - -He drew from his pocket a package of papers and laid them on the table. -I took them up as I spoke, and although I am no great hand at figures, -I saw that the total was appalling. My heart sank, but I flatter myself -that I displayed as equable a demeanor as the man opposite me. It has -always been my practice to put a bold face on everything. - -“Pray give yourself no uneasiness whatever about these little matters,” -said the Marquis in his most genial manner—and the more gentle and kindly -he was, strange to say, the more I hated him! “Or rather,” he continued, -interrupting me as I began to speak, “I can show you a way to discharge -them with little difficulty to yourself, and that immediately.” - -“Show me that way!” I cried. “I will avail myself of it at once. To tell -you the truth, I am sick of the life I have led in this city.” - -“I thought,” said du Trémigon, smiling meaningly, “that you were scarcely -suited for——” - -“What do you mean?” I cried, glad for the chance to vent my indignation -upon someone. “Didn’t I bear myself like a gentleman?” - -“Oh, quite so, entirely so. You misapprehend me, my dear Burnham,” he -protested. - -“Well, I dare say you are right,” I replied carelessly, too troubled to -quarrel, “I am a sailor. The sea is my world. I am at home there or on -my father’s plantation in the Carolinas. But this is nothing to you. The -point is, I am in your debt.” - -“This ring, Monsieur,” said the Marquis, lifting his hand. “Do you know -whose it is?” - -“Yours, I suppose, since you won it,” I replied. “It was mine.” - -“Pardon me, it was originally mine.” - -“What!” - -“Mine.” - -“Then you are——?” - -“The gentleman whose purse you kindly relieved him of a few weeks ago in -England.” - -“Impossible!” I cried. - -“Impossible, but true, Monsieur. I recognized you when I met you last -week at Varesi’s”—the name of a popular gambling resort—“I wasn’t quite -sure, however. At least, I had no proof until last night. This ring? You -remember taking it?” - -“Oh, perfectly,” I said. - -“And this louis?” He pulled out the curiously marked coin. “A pocket -piece I have had for a long time. I should know it among a thousand.” - -“You have established your case,” I answered defiantly. “You understand -that I am no common thief or highwayman? I am an American naval officer. -Serving under Cunningham on a privateer, I was captured, thrown into -prison, escaped. Being penniless in the enemy’s country I determined to -take the purse of the first traveler who came along. I took you for an -Englishman. When I knew you were French, it was too late. I can only say -that I will give you another I. O. U. for all that I have despoiled you -of, and so soon as I can communicate with America you shall have the -money.” - -The Marquis showed his white teeth in a grin—how I loathed him!—waving -his hands as he did so. - -“As to that, we will discuss it presently. Meanwhile, what did you do -with the papers you robbed me of in England?” - -“Tore them to pieces and scattered them in the first river I crossed.” - -“Damnation!” cried the man. “I could stand the loss of the money, but the -loss of those papers wellnigh ruined me!” - -“How so?” - -“I was carrying some secret despatches to the British Government, in -spite of the war, and your blundering made me fail in my mission.” - -“Blundering!” I cried. - -“Pray be calm, Monsieur,” he exclaimed; “the word may have been -ill-advised, but you will recognize that some consideration is due me.” - -He looked meaningly at the little pile of notes. I followed his glance, -snatched up another piece of paper, scribbled a line on it and added it -to the heap. - -“That covers your loss, including the ring.” - -“Monsieur Burnham,” said the Marquis, “are you aware of the exceedingly -difficult position into which you have got yourself?” - -“I should say I am! Being absolutely without funds, I am forced to -ask total strangers to accept my bare word that I will discharge my -obligations so soon as I hear from America. This, with the seas swarming -with British ships, may be a matter of months.” - -“There is your Ambassador. He knows you, doubtless?” - -“Dr. Franklin doesn’t know me from Adam. He’s a Philadelphia Quaker, and -I am from North Carolina. He has never seen me, nor I him. He knows my -father and family, though. If there were any of our officers in the city, -if Commodore Jones or Dick Dale had only returned from Texel, I should be -all right, but as it is, I am completely at your mercy.” - -I hated to say that word, but there was no help for it. The Marquis bowed -gracefully. - -“Your remark is singularly accurate, Monsieur. At my mercy!” - -He opened his mouth and tapped his white teeth with two of his white -fingers. I wanted to choke him. Why, I could not say, for he had been -considerate, and I owed him a lot of money. I had robbed him in England, -and, besides, I had put him to serious inconvenience. - -“At my mercy,” he repeated, nodding. - -“I have admitted that fact,” I said sharply. “I do not see that it is -necessary to remind me of it again.” - -“Oh, pardon me. You Americans are so impetuous. Cultivate calmness, my -friend—English phlegm, if you will. It is a most valuable asset in any -game.” - -“That’s as may be, Marquis, but I play no more games with you.” - -“Pardon me again,” he returned coolly; “we play yet one more hand, -Monsieur, and I have the deal.” - -“What are you driving at?” - -“I told you there was a way by which you could discharge your -obligations.” - -“Declare it then, and let us close this transaction!” - -“You are doubtless unaware, and I speak to you in confidence, that my -large estates are greatly encumbered. I have a passion for play. I do -not always enjoy the fortune I have had with you, and—” He laughed as he -spoke. “In short, I find myself in very straitened circumstances.” - -“I suppose you want your money and want it quick?” I burst out. “I can -understand and I promise you——” - -“There you go again, Monsieur. I want money, it is true. I was born -wanting money, I have lived wanting money, and, I suppose, I shall die -wanting money.” - -You won’t have any use for it after that, I thought, but all I said was: -“Proceed, Monsieur.” - -“You are doubtless unaware, also, that Mademoiselle Gabrielle de Rivau, -Comtesse de Villars in her own right, granddaughter of the Duc de -Rivau-Huet, is my cousin?” - -“I have never heard of the young lady, but I recognize the honor of the -relationship,” I said coldly. - -The Marquis was not devoid of wit. His eye flashed, but he proceeded -deliberately: - -“Quite so. Her grandfather is my grandfather also. She is one of the -richest women in France. Our respective parents arranged a marriage -between us when we were children. The carrying out of that contract -depends entirely on three people, the young lady, the Duc de Rivau-Huet -and myself. It was stipulated that no constraint was to be used, -and that, when she reached her twentieth year, she was to give her -consent without pressure, freely and willingly. If she did so, and her -grandfather interposed no objection, and I desired it, we were to be -married. If not”—he shrugged his shoulders—“I lose.” - -“Lose what?” - -“The lady and, incidentally, her fortune.” - -I confessed to a very languid interest in the love affairs of the Marquis -and the lady, but for politeness’ sake I asked him another question. - -“Permit me, since you have broached the subject, does the lady consent or -refuse?” - -“She consents, but the Duke refuses.” - -“Ah!” - -“But I hope that his refusal is not irrevocable.” - -“For your sake I trust so,” I replied. “Yet I fail to see how this -concerns me.” - -“You shall learn directly. Mademoiselle de Villars is one of the Queen’s -maids of honor. She usually resides at the Court at Versailles. For this -week, however, she is on leave of absence, I have learned, and is in -residence at the Hôtel de Rivau-Huet in Paris.” - -“Yes?” I said interrogatively. I was beginning to have some curiosity as -to whither all this tended. - -“As I said, the Duke seems insensible to the advantage of an alliance -with me.” - -No wonder, I thought, but I took good care not to voice my feelings. - -“I have decided to compel him to consent.” - -“And Mademoiselle de Villars?” I questioned suspiciously. - -“She also wishes it. I may say”—he simpered disgustedly—“she is more -anxious than I.” - -“Monsieur du Trémigon,” I said sternly, repressing with difficulty an -inclination to kick him, “do you assure me of the truth of what you have -said?” - -“Certainly.” - -“On your word of honor as a gentleman?” - -“As a gentleman and as a noble of France, Monsieur.” - -I ought to have known, but I did not, and there seemed to be nothing for -me to do but accept his statement. - -“How do you propose to get the Duke’s consent?” I asked. - -“There is a way to apply pressure to him, Monsieur, which will ... let us -say ... induce his consent.” - -“You wish to compromise her in her grandfather’s eyes?” I said, fathoming -his meaning at last. - -“Exactly.” - -“But with her consent....” - -“Your intuition does you credit.” - -“That’s more than your intention does you,” I burst out scornfully. - -“I can afford to indulge you in these little pleasantries, my friend,” he -returned, with an evil look, “because....” - -“Why?” I cried. - -“Because I intend that you shall be my agent in the little process.” - -“You are reckoning without your host, Monsieur,” I said quickly. I was -boiling with rage. - -“But not without my servant, Monsieur.” - -“Servant?” I raged. - -“Yes. Do you realize that I have but to place these things in the hands -of the authorities to have you clapped into prison?” - -“I have been in prison before and got out. I can stand it again—for the -sake of a woman.” - -“You will doubtless get out of the prison into which I shall put you, -but it will be to go to the hangman, or to the headsman if you can prove -your gentle blood.” - -“What!” - -“You forget that little transaction in England. You are a highway robber! -I have evidence enough to convict you beyond doubt.” - -“The French Government would never....” - -“The French Government is angry enough over the loss of those papers, and -the punishment for highway robbery is death,” he sneered. - -“My God!” I cried. - -“’Tis useless to appeal to Him,” mocked du Trémigon. “Rather do you fall -back on your mother-wit—if you have any—to help you.” - -“What do you wish me to do?” I asked desperately. - -“’Tis very simple. We are about the same height and build. We do not look -unlike——” - -“You flatter me!” - -“’Tis the fact that does that,” he replied, bowing deeply. “In the dusk -you can easily pass for me, especially if you wear a familiar suit of my -clothes. I will get you into the grounds of the Hôtel de Rivau-Huet below -Mademoiselle’s apartments. The building is vine-covered. Being a sailor -you can easily scale the wall and enter her chamber. You are to bring me -thence some article of personal wearing apparel—say a slipper, or a ring, -or——” - -“Is that all?” - -“That’s all.” - -“Why don’t you do it yourself?” - -“It is hardly necessary to enter upon that, Monsieur.” - -“If I am to do the thing,” I replied hotly, “I must know everything.” - -“Well, then, the Duc de Rivau-Huet has threatened me with imprisonment if -he catches me in his hôtel again.” - -“And you wish me to take that risk?” - -The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders. - -“I am to do this at the peril of my life?” - -“It seems to me,” said the Marquis equably, “that your life is forfeit -if you don’t do it, and——” - -“Enough!” I answered. “I am in your power. When I made the serious -mistake of taking you for a gentleman I began my ruin. I’m sorry I didn’t -kill you in England. I suppose there’s no help for it. I must do the -work. When do you wish this adventure undertaken?” - -“Tonight. If you will come to my rooms, I will fit you out, give you the -plan of the hôtel and make all other arrangements.” - -“And those papers?” - -“They shall be returned to you when you place what you secure from the -room in my hands.” - -“What assurance have I as to that?” - -“The word of a gentleman.” - -“In your case I prefer something else.” - -The Marquis flushed angrily. Why he controlled himself I do not know, -unless it was because he was so desperately anxious to carry out his plan -and I was his only instrument. - -“What do you propose?” he asked. - -“To go before a notary and draw up an agreement, leaving the papers in -his hands, including the ring and the coin, and a signed statement, -acquitting me of complication in the robbery. These papers he is to give -to me in the morning, if I succeed. Furthermore, I won’t go into the -matter without the assistance of an old sailor with whom I cruised.” - -“Take as many assistants as you please, Monsieur,” said the Marquis; “and -now we will go to my apartments. Will you honor me?” - -He rose and offered me his arm. - -“I have to do your dirty work,” I replied, “and that obliges me to walk -by your side, I suppose, but it doesn’t compel me to take your arm.” - -My soul revolted against carrying out my part of the plot, even though by -so doing I was obliging a lady. True, she might be—and if his words were -true, she was—in love with du Trémigon, but I was sure she could not know -him as I knew him. Besides, what were the love affairs of the Marquis -and his cousin to me? I had no personal interest in either of them. - -All I had to do was to fetch a slipper or some personal belonging from -her chamber, as she herself desired. The long and short of it was that I -was resolved to do it. I had to! - - - II - - THE SLIPPER IS FOUND - -From some servant in the Duc de Rivau-Huet’s hôtel, du Trémigon had -learned that the Comtesse de Villars was to be from home that night. He -arranged to have me passed through the gate. After that I was to look -out for myself. The Duke’s hôtel, which was surrounded by ample grounds, -was just outside the city walls. The Marquis told me that, dressed in -his clothes and with a cloak he was accustomed to wear, I should very -well pass for him, and that in all probability no one would molest me -unless I fell in with Éspiau, the Duke’s body-servant, or some of the -upper officers of the household. The domestics were well affected toward -him, and as all the world loves a lover, they would be disposed rather to -encourage than to hinder. - -Du Trémigon, with singular parsimony, I thought, had designed a rather -shabby suit for my use. I insisted upon seeing his wardrobe and selected -the handsomest garments he possessed. He protested, but vainly, for I -said that I must be dressed like a gentleman. He pointed out that I would -probably tear and certainly soil his court suit in climbing. I returned -that if I carried out his enterprise and won him a rich wife he could -well afford to lose a suit, whereas if I were caught and shot it would be -some consolation to me to know that I was well dressed for dying. - -I took a sword from the rare collection of weapons which he had in his -apartments. I may not be much of a card player, but I pride myself that I -know a weapon, and I chose a blade that I could depend upon. I got two -pistols for myself and two for worthy Master Bucknall. Bucknall was an -old shipmate of mine. I knew I could depend upon him. We had fought side -by side on several cruises, and although he had not been with me when -I was captured, he had appeared in Paris after a shipwreck in which he -had been picked up by a French frigate. I found him penniless, and, of -course, took care of him, intending to take him with me when I saw Dr. -Franklin and arranged to go back to America. The Marquis had him fetched -from his lodging, and I explained the whole situation to the worthy -seaman. - -Bucknall was to remain concealed in the grounds beneath Mademoiselle’s -room while I was within. I didn’t care to be taken in the rear, and I -knew if an alarm were given, that Bucknall would keep a way of escape -open for me as long as he could. To him I gave my sword and pistols. - -I had studied a plan of the chateau and I knew the lay of the land -and the position of the chambers perfectly. A bath, a rest and a meal -completed my preparations. No, I forget one thing. I knew that many a -door that will not open to iron and steel is facile to a golden key, and -I made du Trémigon provide me with a rouleau of louis. He did it with an -ill grace. In the first place he had none too many, and, in the second, I -suppose, he thought he had laid out enough in the adventure. I insisted, -however, giving him in lieu thereof another signed paper to add to his -collection. This and the visit to the notary, where I saw things made -secure from my point of view, filled the day. - -At eight o’clock we sallied forth. Du Trémigon had furnished us with a -couple of horses. We had no difficulty passing the gates—he had provided -us with the password—and finding the Duke’s mansion. The Marquis did not -accompany us. He intended to give out that he had paid a visit to the -Countess in her chamber, and in proof of it was to exhibit her slipper. -The Countess, being at a masked ball where no one could recognize her -for hours, could not disprove his statement. Of course, if anybody saw -him elsewhere his plan would fail, so he was to lie close and await our -return. - -When we came near the place I left the horses in care of an innkeeper to -whom du Trémigon had recommended me. I gave instructions to have them -ready for instant service at any time. I expected that we would be back -before midnight. Then Bucknall and I walked boldly down the road toward -the gate of the mansion. Du Trémigon had told us that his servant was -one-eyed, so Bucknall was disguised by a patch over one eye, which gave -him great inconvenience, by the way, and at which, sailor-like, the old -sea-dog growled mightily. I drew the Marquis’s cloak up around my neck, -pulled my hat down, and assumed as well as I could his mincing gait and -manner. In the dark we might well pass for du Trémigon and his servant. -The porter at the gate was expecting us. He made no difficulty about -passing us through. Then we were left to shift for ourselves. - -The night was dark and chill. There were no dogs in the yard. The Duke -kept his hounds in the country. No one disturbed us as we made our way -cautiously along the wall under the trees to the window of the Countess’s -apartment. A few lights showed here and there through the different -openings on this side of the house. Among them a faint illumination came -from the window beneath which we stood. I looked at it with interest. It -seemed that no one could be in the room. The light was probably a single -candle, left burning in case of need. This agreed with our information. - -Making sure that no one saw us, we crossed the grass and stopped under -the window. The house was an old one. There were buttresses against the -wall, and the one nearest the Countess’s window was in a dilapidated -condition. A vine ran all over this side of the building. I was always -active and I had not dissipated in Paris long enough to have lost my -nerve. I glanced upward. It would not be difficult. If the vine held—and -its stem was as thick as my wrist—the ascent would be easy. Wrapping my -cloak around me so as to protect du Trémigon’s clothes, and with a word -of caution to Bucknall, whom I saw secreted comfortably in the black -recess between the buttress and the wall, I quickly made my way up. So -long as I had the assistance of the buttress it was nearly as easy as -walking up a stair, or as simple as climbing the battens on the side of -a ship. The last yard was more difficult, but I managed it with a few -scratches and with a minimum of noise. - -I had no opportunity to peer into the room or see what was before me. -I reached the sill, threw my leg over it and stepped quietly within. I -stood by the window listening. Neither from outside nor inside was there -any sound. I had been unobserved. - -Satisfying myself on this point, I stepped back from the window to avoid -the line of light and looked about me. The room appeared to be a woman’s -sitting-room. There was an air of refinement, of grace and culture about -it that made me sure. There were books on the table, pictures on the -walls, a piece of some sort of needlework thrown carelessly on a chair. -Several doors opened from the room. According to the plan, that on the -right should be the Countess’s boudoir, and beyond that her bedchamber. I -stepped softly across to this door. I listened. There was no one in the -other room apparently. I turned the handle carefully and entered. - -Just beyond me was the door of the bedroom. Repeating my performance, I -walked over to it and listened. No one was there. I opened the door and -looked in. Like the others this room was lighted by a single candle. Like -the others, it was unoccupied. - -It was quite evident that du Trémigon’s informant was correct. The -Countess was out. Her maid, who should have been on guard, had taken -advantage of her mistress’s absence to go off on a little jaunt of -her own, I supposed. I closed the door of the bedroom softly and began -a hasty examination of the boudoir. A dress lay across a chair. A -magnificent costume, it seemed to me. - -A pair of shoes—a ravishing pair of tiny shoes—stood on the floor at the -bottom of the gown. These might do. But no, they had not been worn; they -were entirely new. Du Trémigon had insisted upon something personal and -familiar. I walked over to the dressing-table, which was covered with a -mass of silver and porcelain. They bore the de Villars crest, but so did -a number of things in du Trémigon’s own home. None of them would answer. - -I remembered the room contained a closet. Nerving myself further, I -opened the nearest door. On the floor, confronting me, lay a pair of -small, worn, blue satin slippers with red heels. They were slightly -shaped to the feet of the wearer from long usage. There were no other -feet in the world that could wear those slippers, in all probability. I -stooped and picked one up. It would serve admirably. - - - III - - THE SLIPPER IS RENOUNCED - -With the slipper still in my hand, I turned to find myself confronting a -woman! - -She was standing at the door leading to the antechamber. How long she had -been there I knew not. Indeed, after the first start of surprise, I had -room for but one thought. The woman was she whom I had rescued on the way -to Paris, with whom I had fallen madly in love! For whom I had sought -high and low—whom I had prayed that I might see again. - -She was looking at me composedly from under level brows. I observed that -her hand was on the bell-cord. - -“Monsieur,” she said—and oh, how well I remembered her voice—“if you -move, or make a sound, I pull the bell. My servants are within a -moment’s call. You will be overpowered immediately.” - -“Mademoiselle,” I returned, disguising my natural voice as well as I -could and thanking the Lord that my French was perfect, and that in the -dim light, she did not recognize me apparently, “I am at your service.” - -“I wish,” she continued, “to talk with you. The situation amuses me.” - -She spoke as she might in the presence of some new spectacle. Her manner -assured me that her interest in me was entirely impersonal. She was tired -and bored. This was a new experience apparently which she wished to -make the most of. I could think of nothing adequate to say, so I bowed -profoundly. - -“What is your name and what are you doing here?” - -“My name, Mademoiselle, matters nothing.” In my agitation I forgot, and -spoke in my natural voice. She started as she lifted the candle and -looked keenly at me. - -“Why!” she exclaimed, “’tis the man of the highway!” - -I do not know whether I was glad or sorry to hear her say those words. At -first I thought to deny it, but somehow it was impossible. - -“You have discovered me, Mademoiselle,” I said. - -“Then you were masquerading as a sailor. Now——” - -She looked me over from head to heel, and I have been told since that -I made a brave appearance. Du Trémigon had displayed excellent taste -in clothing, and this was his handsomest suit. I stood proudly erect, -putting a bold face on the situation, with one hand upon my sword, my -hat in the other, which also held the slipper, as if I were about to be -presented to the King. - -“Now,” she said, “you are masquerading as a gentleman.” - -“Pardon, Mademoiselle,” I returned, “I am a gentleman”—she put up her -hand, but I would not be denied—“masquerading as a ... thief.” - -I blessed her in my heart for her hesitation over that word. - -“Is it because you have stolen the Marquis du Trémigon’s clothes?—for I -believe, if I am not mistaken, they are his.” - -“Your observation does you infinite credit, Mademoiselle.” - -“I thought so. Is it for that reason you are masquerading as a thief?” - -“Because I have come here without regard to clothes to—” I protested. - -“To take my jewels?” she interrupted. - -“Mademoiselle!” I cried, starting back, the blood flaming in my face -again. “You think——” - -“I think nothing, Monsieur. I discover a strange man in my apartments -at night. He says that he is masquerading as a thief. What else am I to -infer?” - -I was dumb before her merciless logic. - -“Mademoiselle,” I began desperately, “I deeply regret——” - -“So, too, do I. I knew—at least I thought I knew, on that day, the day -you did me such brave service—that you were a gentleman, in spite of what -you wore, yet—well, I see I was deceived.” - -“Don’t say that!” I protested again. - -“Why not, Monsieur?” - -“Mademoiselle, I am here in defiance of every rule of propriety, I will -admit. You may well think me a thief,” I began, with passionate haste, -“but I am only following your example.” - -“How, sir?” she exclaimed. - -“You, too, are not guiltless of robbery.” - -“What do you mean?” she asked, indignantly drawing herself up. - -Oh, how magnificent she looked! I wanted to throw myself at her feet and -confess everything, but I did not—then. - -“You have stolen my heart, Mademoiselle.” - -“And you came to look for it in my jewel-case?” She laughed somewhat -contemptuously. - -“I have come for yours in exchange,” said I; although I had a neat -opening in her question, I judged it best to let it pass. - -“Monsieur!” - -“I am a poor sailor, Mademoiselle, but I have sought you throughout the -land. I babbled everywhere as I ran of blue eyes, dark hair, a witching -face. I found you—nowhere!” - -There was a ring of truth in these words—although of course it did not -explain my presence there—that I believe influenced her. - -“’Tis impossible, Monsieur—” she began at last. - -“Look into the glass, Mademoiselle, and see how believable it is,” I -broke in. - -“That you should have come here on such an errand and——” - -“I would go to the end of the world if I might find you there, -Mademoiselle,” I boldly said, taking a step nearer to her. - -“Monsieur!” she cried, clutching the bell-rope once more. “Pray keep your -distance.” - -“I am content merely to look at you,” I said, stopping short instantly. - -“Monsieur, on your word of honor as a—” She paused. - -“As a thief?” I questioned. - -“As a gentleman,” she said softly, and I could have kissed her feet for -that. “Did you come here for me?” - -“Mademoiselle,” I said, “it is a long story. You have honored me by your -conversation. You found something gentle in me on the road and in spite -of appearances—that are so grievously against me now—you have reposed a -certain degree of confidence in me. Will you allow me to tell you briefly -who and what I am?” - -“I am anxious to learn it.” - -“Will you not be seated? You may release the bell-rope, on my word, -without danger. I would rather die than harm you. Indeed, my greatest -ambition is to devote my life to your service.” - -“Fine words, Monsieur, and such as I have often heard from other -cavaliers.” - -“I doubt it not, Mademoiselle. Such beauty of person and grace of mind as -yours cannot remain unchallenged. This shall be my excuse.” - -“No more of this, if you please, but of yourself.” It was ineffable -condescension, and you may imagine how I appreciated the honor. - -“My name is Francis Burnham. My family on the distaff side is -French—Huguenot. The blood, I believe, is noble. My great-grandfather -was an English gentleman. My father met my mother in North Carolina. The -acreage my father owns is equal to a French county.” - -“You are an American, then?” - -“I have that honor. I am also an officer in the American Navy. My country -is ill provided with warships. Many naval officers have been forced to -accept positions in privateers. I was a lieutenant in Captain Gustavus -Cunningham’s privateer ship, the Revenge. We were captured by a British -frigate and taken to a British prison-ship. I escaped thence and was on -my way to Paris, to see Dr. Franklin, when I had the good fortune to -be of some slight service to you. That gold piece you gave me, I have -it here.” I saw her hand involuntarily move to her breast and my heart -leaped as it assured me that she also had retained and cherished the coin -I had forced upon her. “I have loved you ever since I saw you that day, -Mademoiselle. I have sought you in vain only to find you tonight.” - -“That, Monsieur,” she said quietly, “does not yet explain your presence -here.” - -I was dumb again. - -“How did you discover my abode?” - -I could make no reply. - -“How did you learn my name?” - -Unthinking, I answered: - -“I do not know your name at this moment.” - -“I am Gabrielle de Rivau, Comtesse de Villars.” - -“Great heavens!” I exclaimed. - -Would you believe it? It had not occurred to me for a moment that this -was she! I had jumped to the conclusion that she was perhaps some friend -of the Countess’s. I had never dreamed that fate could deal me so sorry -a trick as to involve me in such a part against the woman I adored. “Are -you the Comtesse de Villars?” - -“I am.” - -“I did not know.” - -“Monsieur Burnham, you are full of mystery.” - -“I have told you nothing but the truth, Mademoiselle.” - -“Yes, but not all of it. Is it not so?” - -I was silent. - -“Monsieur, do you not realize that I have committed a great imprudence in -allowing you to converse with me here alone, under such circumstances? -That my duty should be to pull the bell and hand you over to the Duke’s -retainers for punishment? That you owe much to my forbearance?” - -“I realize all that you say, Mademoiselle, and I am filled with shame.” - -“Why, then, are you here? What are you doing in the Marquis du Trémigon’s -clothing? What is that you hold?” I thoughtlessly lifted my hand. “My -slipper!” she exclaimed, flushing in her turn. “You have been in my -closet yonder. What does it all mean?” - -“I will speak!” I replied desperately, resolved to make a clean breast of -the whole affair. “I am in the power of the Marquis du Trémigon. I owe -him money.” - -“Heaven help you!” - -“I am surprised to hear you say that!” I exclaimed in amazement. - -“Monsieur,” she said quickly, disregarding my remark, “my purse is on the -table. Let me discharge my obligation. Take what you will.” - -“Mademoiselle, for God’s sake, think not so unkindly of me! He threatened -me with imprisonment for debt. That is nothing, a mere bagatelle. I could -have borne that without hesitation. I have broken prison before.” - -“Well?” - -“There is more. When I escaped from the British prison-ship I was -penniless; alone in England. I halted the first traveler I met, thinking -to despoil the enemy for my needs as an act of war. That traveler -happened to be the Marquis du Trémigon. I met him afterward at—at places -where they play in Paris,” I went on. “He won all my money, a ring I had -taken from him and a coin which bore certain markings. These things were -proofs positive. He threatened to charge me with highway robbery. The -punishment is death. I pleaded with him, promising to repay him if he -would give me time. Our minister is absent, Commodore Paul Jones not in -Paris. I was desperate. I loved life, Mademoiselle, for it held you as a -possibility.” - -“But that you should come here, Monsieur? How does that——?” - -“Hear me, Mademoiselle. The Marquis du Trémigon has informed me of the -nature of the agreement regarding your proposed marriage.” - -“And what did Monsieur du Trémigon say as to that?” - -“That by the terms of the contract three people must consent willingly -before the marriage can take place.” - -“Three, Monsieur?” - -“He said so.” - -“And those are?” - -“Yourself, your grandfather and himself.” - -Her lip curled. - -“Proceed, Monsieur. This is most interesting.” - -“He said further that you were—forgive me—anxious to marry him.” - -I could see Mademoiselle clench her hand. I could mark the flash of her -eye. - -“That he was anxious to marry you, but that your grandfather refused -his consent. And that, with your approval, he had arranged to”—it was -a deeply humiliating thing to say with her standing before me like an -outraged goddess, but I had to go on—“to compromise you with him so that -your grandfather would no longer withhold his consent.” - -“And you were to be the means whereby this plan was to be carried out?” - -“To my shame I admit it. I agreed to come here and take some article -belonging to you of a personal character.” - -“My slipper?” - -“That or whatever else I could secure. I wore his clothes because he -wished the servants to recognize them, and thus be prepared to swear that -he was with you.” - -“’Tis a pretty plot for a gentleman!” - -“Mademoiselle, to my sorrow and regret, I acknowledge it. Yet I beg to -assure you that not even the fear of imprisonment or death would have -made me consent, had I not believed that I was doing a lady a service.” - -“Do you think you do any lady a service by forcing her into the arms of -Marquis du Trémigon?” - -“But if she loves him?” - -“Monsieur,” she said hotly, “she hates him!” - -“Is it possible?” - -“You have been grossly deceived. The only consent necessary to the -marriage is my own. My grandfather has not withheld his consent. He has -left it entirely to me.” - -“You, Mademoiselle?” I exclaimed, my heart leaping at the thought that -she did not love that villain. - -“I have refused and shall refuse. The whole plan is an attempt to -compromise me, to force my consent.” - -Into what a scheme had I been betrayed! The sweat rose to my forehead. - -“Mademoiselle,” I cried, “for God’s sake acquit me of any such dishonor!” - -“I do, Monsieur, freely.” - -“I shall go back to du Trémigon and explain my appearance to him -immediately. I shall compel him to give me satisfaction for this -insult—an insult to you as well as to me. Your quarrel with him shall be -mine. He will trouble you no more,” I added significantly. - -“Your plan is vain, Monsieur. I know the Marquis du Trémigon. You will -find him surrounded by such a force as will paralyze your efforts. He -will refuse to fight with you.” - -“At least I shall have the satisfaction of telling him what I think, and -I shall go to prison if necessary.” - -“I would not have you suffer on my account, Monsieur.” - -“Mademoiselle, you are kindness itself. I deserve nothing whatever at -your hands. If you could only believe in me, in my love for you, a little -before I go——” - -“Monsieur, the circumstances are very unusual. That day you so bravely -rescued me from those scoundrels and treated me with such chivalry, I -knew you were not of the common people. Your dress indicated that, but my -heart—my mind, that is—told me otherwise.” - -Her voice faltered, but she looked at me clearly with those glorious eyes -of hers. - -“But when I found you here and thought you meant to degrade me, to force -me into the arms of that villain——” - -“Mademoiselle!” I protested, “you cannot accuse me as I do myself. At -least I can make amends now.” - -“But is there nothing I can do for you?” she asked. - -“Nothing. The papers, the obligations, the evidence against me, are in -the hands of a notary. If he does not hear from the Marquis and myself -tomorrow, he has orders to hand the packet to the Chief of Police.” - -“What do you propose to do, sir?” - -“To warn you. Beware of du Trémigon. Although he has failed in this -instance, he will surely strive again to compromise your honor. There -will be one ray of comfort in my soul, that I have again been able to -render some slight assistance to you. And I cherish the hope, if you -think of me at all, that you will bear in mind that I love you.” - -“But, Monsieur——” - -“Mademoiselle, if I had met you under happier circumstances, I should -have made it my prayer to live for you. Now at least I can die for you, -and I trust that my death will redeem this disgrace upon my name.” - -I laid the little slipper softly on the table. I kissed it tenderly, -reverently, before I put it down. I stepped nearer to her. She stood, as -if paralyzed, gazing upon me. There was a flush in her cheeks; her bosom -heaved. I sank at her feet and took her hand. It was icy cold. Mine was -burning. I kissed it fervently and rose. - -“Farewell,” I said, and then heard sounds, footsteps in the hall, a knock -at the door of the anteroom through which I had to pass in order to make -my escape. - - - IV - - THE SLIPPER IS BESTOWED - -I made a swift movement toward the door, intending to rush to the window, -no matter who barred the way. I reached for my sword as I did so. Quick -as I was, Mademoiselle was quicker. Although her face had gone white at -the noise, she had instantly begun to sing—strange action, for which I -could then see no excuse. Still lilting lightly a charming little air, -she stood between me and the door. - -“Not that way!” she whispered in the breaks of the song. “It would be -death. In there.” - -She pointed toward her bedroom. The knocking was resumed, this time more -loudly. A voice cried: - -“Countess Gabrielle!” - -Her check of me had spoiled my chance. There was nothing but obedience. -I slipped into the bedroom and closed the door. The song broke off -suddenly. I could hear distinctly all that was said. Mademoiselle raised -her voice, crying: - -“Who is there?” - -“Your grandfather,” was the answer. - -“Enter, Monsieur.” - -“The door is locked.” - -How I blessed that lock! So, I doubt not, did Mademoiselle. She went -slowly to the antechamber, fumbled at the lock a few moments, and opened -the door. I heard two people enter. - -“Wait, Messieurs!” cried Mademoiselle as she caught sight of the second -visitor. “I was preparing to retire.” With marvelous quickness she -had taken off her bodice after I had entered the bedroom, and was -bare-necked and armed before her grandfather. She hastily slipped on a -dressing-robe and once more turned to him. - -“’Tis only Éspiau,” said the Duke quickly. - -“I am very glad indeed,” said Mademoiselle, with a gay little laugh, “for -you caught me quite unaware.” - -“Was I mistaken or was there a tremble in her voice? Her situation -was grave. Had the Duke discovered me, he would have killed me out of -hand, unless I inflicted a like penalty upon him, which, under the -circumstances, never entered my mind. - -“I thought,” continued the old Duke as he entered the boudoir, “that I -heard voices.” He looked around suspiciously. - -“You did, Monsieur,” answered the Countess. - -“Great heavens!” thought I, “are you about to betray me?” - -“Whose?” went on the old man again. - -“Mine; I was singing.” - -She began that little song, the music of which I shall never forget, -although I am no great hand at carrying a tune. - -“Humph!” said the old man. “You did not go to the masked ball?” - -“No, Monsieur, I was tired. I have been reading in the library and have -but recently come here.” - -“There was no one in the anteroom when you entered?” - -“No one, sir.” - -“Have you been in the room beyond since you came up?” - -“Not yet.” - -“Éspiau!” - -“Monsieur le Duc!” - -“Examine yonder chamber. It may be some thief has concealed himself -there.” - -The Duke turned his head away to survey the room and Mademoiselle shot -one glance, pregnant with agony and entreaty, at the old servant. He had -been as a father to her from childhood—indeed, he had been her father’s -foster-brother. - -“Very well, Monsieur le Duc,” answered the servant. - -I heard him crossing the room. What should I do? There was no place of -concealment. The window happened to be barred, else I should have thrown -myself from it. Should I fall upon him and run my sword through him? I -drew the weapon, without making a sound, and waited. The door opened -slowly and only partially, Éspiau saw me at once. He put his finger to -his lips and closed his eyes. - -“I see no one, Monsieur le Duc,” he said, turning his head. - -“Examine thoroughly,” returned the old man. - -Éspiau stepped into the room, looked under the bed, shook the curtains, -making a deal of noise as he moved about, managing to say to me: - -“Silence, as you value your life!” - -Presently he returned to the others. I breathed a long sigh of relief. I -remember wiping the sweat from my brow. - -“Monsieur le Duc was doubtless mistaken,” said the old man quietly. - -“Yes,” said the Duke; “I’m glad of it. Times are in such disorder. There -are many masterless men about, and your apartment is easy of access from -the garden. I must change it, Countess.” - -“At your pleasure, grandfather,” said Mademoiselle, and then she actually -began to sing that little love song again. The courage of that girl was -superb! It made me love her more madly than before. - -“I am glad to find you home,” said the Duke, “for I have brought you -some papers which require your signature. I intended to leave them until -morning, but unless you feel inclined to retire——” - -“No, Monsieur, I never felt so wide awake in my life,” answered -Mademoiselle. - -“Good! I will leave them here then. Éspiau will explain them to you, and -we can finish the discussion in the morning. I am tired and feel the need -of rest. Good night.” - -“Good night, grandfather,” said Mademoiselle; “may you rest well.” - -“Good night, my child,” said the old man, relaxing for the moment the -formality of his address as he took her hand, drew her toward him, -pressed a kiss upon her forehead, bowed to her as to a queen and walked -away. - -The two left within the boudoir moved not until the echo of the Duke’s -footsteps died away in the distance of the corridor. - -“Mademoiselle,” at last began Éspiau in a voice in which sorrow and -affection strove for the mastery. - -“Judge me not,” said Mademoiselle quickly. - -“Who is that man?” - -I thought now it was time for me to make my entrance. I opened the door, -therefore, and presented myself. - -“My name is Francis Burnham, my good fellow. I am an officer in the -American Navy.” - -“How came you here and what would you do?” - -“That scoundrel du Trémigon sent him here to compromise me,” the Countess -interposed. - -“The dastard!” exclaimed the servant. - -“But Monsieur did not think it was I,” continued Mademoiselle. “You -remember when I went on that errand for Her Majesty the Queen?” I started -at this. Éspiau nodded. “This gentleman had the good fortune to save me -from capture then. I should have been robbed of those papers. I found him -here this evening. He had abjured his errand and was upon the point of -departure when——” - -“My friend,” I interrupted, “what Mademoiselle says is absolutely true, -and I believed, furthermore, that I was doing her a service.” - -“I need not your assurance for that, Monsieur,” said the old man proudly; -“the house of de Rivau does not lie.” - -“I wish the same might be said of the house of du Trémigon; but be that -as it may, I am not anxious to forfeit any man’s good-will.” - -“Not even that of a servant?” he interrupted. - -“Not even that. It was a case of life or death for me. I am in du -Trémigon’s power. Not knowing that it was Mademoiselle—for I did not -learn until this evening that she was Comtesse de Villars—I came. I am -sorry. I am going back to give myself up to the Marquis. You may guess -what that will mean.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Before I go, allow me -to express my gratitude for your forbearance. You have saved my life. The -Duke would have killed me, for I should have made no resistance.” - -“It was death for me to see you there, to suspect—but Mademoiselle will -forgive me——” - -“There is no need, my good Éspiau,” said the Countess, extending her hand. - -The old man kissed it like a gentleman. Indeed, I dare say, compared -to du Trémigon, and others that I had met in Paris, he was as fine a -gentleman as any of them. - -“I should like to shake you by the hand,” I said. - -“Monsieur honors me,” said Éspiau. - -I didn’t know whether there was sarcasm in his voice or not, but we shook -hands vigorously. - -“Mademoiselle,” I continued, turning to her, “there is but one thing for -me to do.” - -“What is that?” - -“To wish you farewell and to go as I came.” - -“Wait,” said Mademoiselle, her hand on her breast. “I have something to -say to you.” - -“At your service, Mademoiselle.” - -“Éspiau, can you trust me further?” - -“In everything, Mademoiselle,” said the old man. - -He was a well-trained fellow, with as much tact as discretion. He bowed -to me, and I swear I couldn’t help it, I returned his bow as if he had -been an equal, and he marched out of the room as stately as a grenadier. - -“Is there no way,” began the Countess hastily, “for you to escape du -Trémigon?” - -“None.” - -“I have money.” - -“Mademoiselle,” I cried, “I shall take nothing from this room but the -recollection of your kindness, the consciousness of your worth, the sense -of your beauty.” - -“But you will be imprisoned!” - -“I have had this hour of freedom. The rest is nothing.” - -“They will put you to death.” - -“Without you, I do not care to live.” - -“_Mon Dieu_, what shall I do?” - -“If you could say—if you could let me believe—it will be but for a short -time—that, were the circumstances other than they are, you might perhaps -have cared for me, it will lighten the hours and give me something sweet -to dwell upon. It will make me indifferent to any fate.” - -“Monsieur—I—I—” she faltered, her face aflame. She buried it in her hands. - -I sank on my knee and seized the hem of her gown. Then I felt her hands -upon my head. I rose to my feet. I don’t know how or why, but I swept her -to my breast in an embrace. Her lips met mine. - -“No more,” she said, pushing me away. “I have gone too far already. You -must not go to him now.” - -“I am in heaven already, Mademoiselle, and death cannot alter the fact -that you return my love.” - -“But you will not go to him?” - -“I must.” - -“No!” - -She stooped, and before I knew what she was about, she took off one of -her dainty slippers—warm from her little foot—and placed it in my hand. - -“Give that to him,” she said; “you will be free and I shall know how to -protect myself.” - -“Mademoiselle!” - -“In pity leave me! Go!” - -I could not resist that. Besides, after a warning cough Éspiau thrust his -head through the door and said quickly: - -“Someone comes! You must hasten!” - -I kissed her hand, and with one backward glance tore myself away. - - - V - - THE SLIPPER IS RETURNED - -To scramble down the ivy was the work of a few seconds. The faithful -Bucknall was waiting. Without a word we bounded across the park and the -bribed turnkey let us out. As for me I was treading on air. I had never -been so happy since I was a boy. Never would she have given me that -little slipper, against which my heart throbbed madly, if I had been -indifferent to her. Did I intend to give it to du Trémigon? Never! I -should let him do his worst. Something would happen. I should get out of -it in some way. - -When we reached the inn we found our horses ready. After we were safely -mounted old Bucknall broke the silence. - -“Did ye git it, yer honor?” asked the old sailor. - -“Get it, Bucknall? Do you remember me telling you of the lady whom I -saved from highwaymen on the road to Paris?” - -I had to tell someone. It would have killed me not to have been able -to confide in a soul, and Bucknall was faithful and devoted beyond the -ordinary. - -“I remembers it well, sir.” - -“She was the lady in the house yonder.” - -“You don’t say so, sir!” - -“I love her, Bucknall!” - -“Then ye didn’t git it?” said the old salt coolly. - -“Get it? Of course, I got it. It’s in my waistcoat, over my heart.” - -“You’ll give it to the Markis?” - -“Never! I’ll keep it until the day of my death.” - -“That’s likely to be pretty soon, yer honor, if wot ye say is true.” - -“I can’t help that. I wouldn’t give it to that lying hound to purchase my -life. When I die I wish it buried with me.” - -And then I told him squarely what a scoundrel the Marquis was and how he -had befooled me about Mademoiselle’s desires. - -“Wot are ye goin’ to do, ef I might ax yer honor?” - -“I’m going to du Trémigon and tell him I refuse to do his bidding and let -him do his worst.” - -“Wot’ll he do?” - -“Clap me into prison, I suppose.” - -“Hadn’t we better cut an’ run fer it right now?” - -“I can’t. He has my word of honor that I would report the success or -failure of my mission.” - -“I guess he ain’t troublin’ hisself about honor, is he?” - -“I suppose not.” - -“W’y should you, sir?” - -“That’s the disadvantage a gentleman labors under in dealing with a -scoundrel.” - -“I see. Hev ye thought that ye’ll be sarched by the police an’——?” - -“By Jove!” I interrupted. “That’s so.” - -“An’ wot ye’ve got’ll be tuk from ye?” - -This was a new complication. I had no doubt in that case that the slipper -would eventually fall into the hands of du Trémigon and my sacrifice -would avail nothing. What was to be done? I could think of nothing. I -had no friends in Paris whom I could trust except this humble sailor. -Unless I gave the slipper to him I should have to throw it away. In truth -I should never have taken it. It was a mad impulse that possessed the -Countess to give it me. - -“Bucknall,” I said at last, “you are right. I cannot keep this slipper.” - -“I think not, sir.” - -“There is no one that I know in Paris to whom I can intrust it but you.” - -“I reckon not, sir.” - -“Here it is,” I said. I am not ashamed to say that I kissed it before I -gave it to the sailor. It was dark and he could not see, but if it had -been broad daylight I should not have cared. - -“Wot am I to do with it, sir?” - -“I want you to do it up carefully in a package. Put the best wrappings -about it and tie it up shipshape. Leave it at the American minister’s -for Dr. Franklin when he comes back, which should be tomorrow or next -day. You can get someone there to address it to my father’s plantation.” - -I gave him the address and made him repeat it many times until he had it -letter-perfect. - -“Now,” I said, “you must leave me and shift for yourself. Here”—I reached -my hand in my pocket and took out the money that du Trémigon had given -me. I might as well be hanged for an old sheep as a lamb, I reasoned, and -I passed it all over to the faithful sailor. “You speak passable French,” -I continued—he had picked up enough of the language in his Mediterranean -cruises to make himself understood—“keep yourself close until you see the -American minister. Tell him of my plight and perhaps he may be able to do -something. At any rate see that he forwards the package. You need not say -what’s in it.” - -“What about my hoss, sir?” - -“Give me the rein.” - -“An’ I thanks God to get off’n him,” returned Bucknall, sliding to the -ground with great alacrity. “And, harkee, Master Burnham, ye ain’t seen -the last of me, yet, sir. I’ve got a few idees in my ol’ head, sir, an’ -don’t you git ready for death too suddint like.” - -He turned and was gone. - -A short time brought me to du Trémigon’s house. He was waiting for me, -wellnigh consumed with anxiety and curiosity. I do not care to go into -the details of our interview that night. Suffice it to say, I felt -entirely free to express my opinion of him and that I did so without let -or hindrance. Of course, he carried out his part of the program, and at -daybreak I found myself in prison facing charges of highway robbery and -debts amounting to many thousand francs. - -But I was happy. I had hope of the love of the Countess and I didn’t -care a rap for anything else. I felt that somehow, in some way, I should -manage to get out. I was the most cheerful prisoner under such a heavy -charge that ever occupied a cell. - -Confinement, I will admit, was a little wearing upon me. The first day -passed, and then a second, without a sign from anybody. My examination -was set for the morrow. The turnkey who brought me my supper slipped me -a note. I was hungry enough—for the prison fare was scanty—but the note -claimed my attention. It was in a woman’s hand, of course, and could come -only from her, although it bore no crest and was not signed. - - The turnkey and the under-governor of the jail are bribed. - Tonight, after supper, you will be removed to another cell. - This overlooks the street. The bars of the window have been - arranged so that they will come out at a touch. When the - clock in the nearby church strikes twelve, a messenger and - a horse will await you in the alley. - -The note stopped there, and then a few words had been added apparently as -an afterthought: - - These presents from one who cares much what happens to you. - -If you have been in a like situation you can guess what happened then. -When I was calmer I put the note carefully in my pocket and fell to -my supper. I knew that I should need all my strength, and I was of a -practical turn of mind even in the midst of my most romantic dreams. I -had scarcely finished the poor provender when the turnkey re-entered. -He was followed by a couple of other officials. The turnkey in a harsh -manner, as if to impress the others, although he winked knowingly at me, -said: - -“By the order of the commandant you are to be transferred to another -cell.” - -“I do not wish to be transferred,” I returned hotly, to keep up the -deception; “this cell suits me very well, and I am satisfied to remain -here.” - -“Your wishes are not consulted in this matter,” he returned roughly. - -“You villain!” I cried, menacing him. - -“Have a care,” he answered; “if you don’t go peaceably we’ll have to take -you by force. Here, men!” - -His two assistants stepped forward. I concluded that I had done enough, -so, grumbling mightily, and giving evidence of my displeasure, I suffered -them to lead me to the other cell, where I was soon locked in for the -night. With what impatience I waited for the appointed hour! - -At the first stroke of the bell I was at the window. The bars came out in -my hand. Someone had chiseled out the mortar and replaced it with putty. -I gained the sill and dropped. It was a long fall, but I was delighted -when I alighted upon a truss of hay, which had evidently been thrown at -the foot of the wall on purpose to receive me. I scrambled up and looked -about. A man approached me. He had a weapon. I was without arms, and -although I stood ready to spring, I had no doubt he was a messenger. - -“Monsieur Burnham?” he asked. - -“The same.” - -“Come with me.” - -I followed him down the narrow street on tiptoe. So far as I could see it -was entirely deserted. The street opened upon a little park or square. -Under the trees I made out horses. There were three of them. A figure sat -upon one. My heart leaped into my mouth as I discerned it to be a woman. -One of the horses was turned over to me. My conductor took the third, -first handing me a hat and cloak. Then he turned and, indicating that we -should follow, made his way into the street. On account of the lateness -of the hour, and the fact that the jail was in a remote and unfrequented -portion of the town, the street was dark and empty. We passed a lantern -presently and its rays fell upon the woman who had persistently avoided -conversation with me. Under this light, although she wore a mask and was -shrouded in a cloak, I knew that it was the Countess. Nothing could stop -me then. I swung my horse in toward hers and laid my hand on her arm. - -“Mademoiselle,” I said, “it is to you that I owe my freedom.” - -“Not yet,” she replied, but she did not shake off my hand, and we rode -side by side, the horses going at a good pace. - -“First, you gave me something to live for—” I said. - -“That was?” - -“Yourself. Now you give me life to enjoy you.” - -“Monsieur,” she said, dodging the issue, “we have but little time to -converse. I learned of your plight——” - -“How, Mademoiselle?” - -“From your servant, an ancient sailor. He followed you, learned where you -were imprisoned, and immediately sought me.” - -“How did he get access to you?” - -“He had a—talisman, Monsieur, that insured him an immediate hearing.” - -I was completely puzzled, but Mademoiselle gave me no time for thought. -She went on hurriedly: - -“I bribed the commandant and turnkey. I provided these horses. The man -ahead of us is——” - -“Éspiau!” I exclaimed. - -“Yes. He will conduct you out of France.” - -“And you came, Mademoiselle——??” - -“To say farewell.” - -“Never!” I cried. “I will leave France, Mademoiselle, but not alone.” - -“You mean?” - -“I take you with me.” - -“Impossible!” - -“But do you not love me?” She was silent. “Would you have done all this -for me if you had not?” I persisted. - -“Gratitude, Monsieur, for services rendered, and——” - -“Nonsense!” I said, laughing, “you know that you care. Why, I have lived -in the prison upon the memory of that——” - -“You are cruel, Monsieur.” - -“Is it cruel for a man who loves a woman to take the woman, if she loves -him, away with him?” - -I was young and reckless. I didn’t care what happened. I swung my horse -in closer to hers and slipped my arm around her. She struggled, but in -despite of her struggles I kissed her. Her head sank on my shoulder. - -“Don’t!” she whispered. “You are so strong. I cannot let you go——” - -That was a wise pair of horses, for they stopped while I poured out -my soul to her there and then. What her answer might have been I know -not. Yet I was prepared to take her away by force when we were suddenly -alarmed by Éspiau. He had ridden ahead a few paces; now he came back on -the run. - -“Soldiers!” he said hastily. “The King’s guard! We must flee!” - -“Monsieur,” said the Countess, quickly releasing herself and thrusting a -little parcel into my hand, “here is the talisman. Go! unless you wish to -disgrace me. Éspiau and I will remain here.” - -She had right on her side. We must not be found together. To assist in -the escape of a prisoner, charged with a capital offense, was a serious -matter. I swerved my horse and started away. But I had not gone ten paces -before a heavy hand seized my horse’s bridle and a stern voice bade me -stand in the King’s name. Lights appeared on the instant and I saw that -I was surrounded. I cast one glance backward at the Countess and Éspiau. -They, too, had been arrested. It was a trap! The whole party had been -caught. Back of the men who had stopped us I noticed a single horseman. - -“Have you got him?” he said as he drew near. - -“Yes, Monsieur le Duc.” - -I recognized his voice. It was Mademoiselle’s grandfather! - -“Take him to my house,” said the old man shortly. - -The next moment du Trémigon spurred through the throng. It was he who -with the remainder of the King’s guard had apprehended Mademoiselle and -Éspiau. He shot one venomous glance at me, in which triumph was mingled -with hate, and approached the Duke, whispering a few words. I saw the -old man start violently; a look of anger and dismay crossed his face—the -Marquis spoke earnestly for a moment or two. The Duke nodded—unwillingly, -I thought. The next moment he left us and rode forward with du Trémigon -to the side of his granddaughter. I stared after them in despair. - -“Where am I to be taken?” I asked one of the officers commanding the -escort that had seized me. - -“Back to prison.” - -“And not to the Duke’s house?” - -“An oubliette will doubtless be safer and more comfortable quarters for -Monsieur,” said the captain politely, giving the order to march. - - * * * * * - -Fortune had been both kind and unkind to me once more. On the whole I -judged, as I lay in the darkness of the damp, wretched dungeon from -which no escape seemed possible, that the balance was on the side of -kindness. I had had a breath of fresh air. I had further evidence that -the woman I loved loved me. I had come near to freedom with her. And -I had the talisman which Bucknall had shrewdly used to gain access to -her. I could feel it in the darkness, for I had unwrapped it. It was the -slipper—my lady’s slipper that had caused all the trouble! As I pressed -it passionately to my lips I felt the crackle of paper inside. A letter! -What would I have given for a light by which to read it! - -Ah, yes, things looked black to me, but I blessed fortune nevertheless—on -my own account, that is. I was filled with anxiety as to what would -happen to the Countess between her grandfather and du Trémigon. There -was one other matter, which gave me grave concern. When du Trémigon -rode up to the Duke he had been followed by a servant on horseback, a -particularly vicious-looking man with one eye. The light was not clear -and I was not able to see distinctly. Yet I recognized him. Where I had -met him, under what circumstances, I could not at first decide, but in -the darkness of that dungeon all came back to me. He was the man whose -wrist I had broken with my cudgel, when Mademoiselle had been attacked. -He was evidently the leader of that assault upon her. She had spoken of -the Queen’s despatch. Could it be that du Trémigon had instigated the -attack? It must have been the case. I decided that the fact itself was of -great importance, and that possibly I might use it in case of necessity. - - - VI - - THE SLIPPER GOES TO COURT - -I got through the night somehow. The next morning—I knew it was morning, -because some faint light had filtered through a slit near the roof, the -most eventful day in my life, which had not been without its surprising -incidents—was ushered in by a visit from the commandant of the prison. -Why he honored me with his personal attention was not obvious, though I -learned later that it was on account of an order of the Queen. Curtly -enough he bade me follow him, which I did, nothing loth. Anything was -better than the cursed oubliette. - -I fancy that I must have presented rather a sorry figure, for he was -good enough to show me into a small room where there were some toilet -conveniences, and I made myself as presentable as possible. Fortunately, -my clothes—I had resumed my own, when I returned to du Trémigon—were of -good material and a perfect fit, and I was rather proud of my figure, -too. While there I read the note in the slipper. It was small, like the -container, but very sweet to me: - - Monsieur, [it said], to see you again I come with Éspiau - tonight. I bid you an eternal farewell and write what I - dare not speak—I love you! - -An eternal farewell, eh? I would have something to say about that, I was -resolved. - -My hat and cloak—that Mademoiselle had provided me with the night -before—were fetched, and after a good breakfast, which seemed to have -been brought from his own table, he conducted me to a closed carriage and -I was driven a long distance through the country, arriving at last at a -place that I afterward found to be Versailles. - -I tried several times to converse with my guards, but neither would talk -to me. I resigned myself to whatever was coming, therefore, and busied -myself with thoughts of Mademoiselle. I had been to Versailles seeking -Dr. Franklin, but had never seen the royal palace. Consequently I did not -recognize it when the carriage stopped and I was led forth. I supposed -that it might be one of the residences of the great Duc de Rivau-Huet. - -Before I had time to speculate, however, I was blindfolded and led -through numberless corridors, up and down flights of stairs, in rooms and -out in bewildering succession. I made no resistance. It would have been -useless, and the officers who brought me thither informed me that no harm -was intended. Finally we stopped, hands fumbled at the bandage, and I -opened my eyes to find myself in a magnificent apartment—an antechamber -of some sort, evidently. It was void of people, save ourselves and a -sentry in the uniform of the Swiss Guards at the door at the farther end. - -Running my hand through my hair with the natural instinct of a young man, -and shaking myself as if to free my person by the motion, at a gesture -from my guide I stepped boldly to the door. The Swiss presented arms, the -official tapped on the door and stepped back, a voice I recognized bade -me enter, and in another moment I was in the presence of Mademoiselle. -She was standing near the door. I took one step toward her and fell on my -knees, when a scandalized voice exclaimed in my ear: - -“Monsieur, do you not see the Queen?” - -“I do,” I answered, without taking my eyes off Mademoiselle, “and I kneel -to her with all the homage of my heart.” - -Mademoiselle blushed vividly and stepped aside. - -“She means the Queen of France, Monsieur,” she said softly. - -As I knelt there, my eyes fell upon a young woman—she was only -twenty-four—seated farther off at the opposite side of the room, a -beautiful woman with a fresh, sweet, innocent face, with nothing -especially regal about her, that I could see. I knew in a moment that -this was Marie Antoinette. Such was my astonishment, however, that I -remained kneeling, my mouth open, in great surprise. Her Majesty was -pleased to laugh. She laughed as merrily as a girl. - -“Make your homage to the Queen of France, Monsieur,” exclaimed the -elderly woman who had spoken to me first, evidently one of the great -ladies of the Court. - -“Your Majesty,” I replied, finding my wits at last, “I knelt as every -gentleman should, to the queen of his heart, and when she stepped aside -and revealed to me the queen of all hearts, I was unable to rise.” - -“Perhaps, Monsieur, you have sufficiently recovered now to approach more -nearly the throne,” she said, pleased at my compliment. - -She extended her hand to me. I got to my feet, knelt again before her -and kissed it. Queens are always beautiful, but I swear I would rather -have kissed Mademoiselle’s hand at any hour. However, I reflected that -the honor of America was in a measure committed to me, and I think I bore -myself worthily. - -“Rise, Monsieur,” said the Queen graciously; “the Comtesse de Villars”—I -suppose it is bad manners to look at one woman when another woman is -speaking to you, especially if that woman be of royal blood, but I could -not help turning my head at her words. - -There stood Mademoiselle more beautiful than ever. Indeed, I have -observed that she always looks better the more beautiful her background, -and Marie Antoinette might be Queen of France, but she was only a -background to Mademoiselle that morning. - -“Mademoiselle de Villars tells me that you have rendered me a great -service.” - -“If to love Mademoiselle de Villars,” I began, “with all my heart and -soul, be to render Your Majesty a service——” - -“Nay, nay, not that way. I fear you would fain rob me of my fairest maid -of honor.” - -“It ill becomes a gentleman to contradict a lady,” I replied quickly. - -Again the Queen laughed. I was lucky evidently. - -“What I meant, Monsieur, was that Mademoiselle de Villars tells me that -you saved her from assault, capture, I know not what, on the highroad -some ten days ago.” - -“Your Majesty, I had that good fortune.” - -“Mademoiselle de Villars was on my errand. There were papers I did -not care to intrust to any save the most intimate hand, which she was -bringing back to me.” - -“I perfectly understand, Your Majesty.” - -“I will not disguise the fact that had these papers fallen into the -possession of an enemy——” - -“The Marquis du Trémigon?” I interrupted. - -“Du Trémigon?” cried Mademoiselle. - -“Why he, Monsieur?” asked the Queen. - -“It was he who instigated the assault upon Mademoiselle, I am convinced.” - -“How know you this?” - -“One of the ruffians who menaced the lady was one-eyed. He wore a patch -over his face. I was lucky enough to break his wrist with my cudgel.” - -“A strange weapon for a gentleman,” said Her Majesty. - -“It is honored above my sword, in that it hath served Mademoiselle,” I -answered. - -“You have a French twist to your tongue,” said the Queen. “Proceed.” - -“I recognized the man in the Marquis du Trémigon’s following last night, -Your Majesty.” - -“I know whom he means, Madame; I saw him, too,” said Mademoiselle. “I -heard Monsieur du Trémigon call him Babin. Strange to say, I did not -recognize him before.” - -“That agrees perfectly with my recollection, Madame. I remember that the -man who ran away that day on the road called him by that name.” - -“And you think the Marquis du Trémigon wanted these papers?” continued -the Queen. - -“I am sure of it, Madame.” - -“But why?” - -“Your Majesty knows that he is a suitor for the hand of Mademoiselle de -Villars. He hoped doubtless that if he could get the papers he might—” -I hesitated. It was an ugly word to say, yet the Marquis du Trémigon -had shown himself to me in his true colors, and I knew there was no -knavery he would stop at. “He hoped to influence you, and, through -you, Mademoiselle. By the terms of her father’s will she must consent -willingly to the marriage, else the contract is void.” - -“You seem to know a great deal about the affairs of Mademoiselle, -Monsieur.” - -“I intend, with your permission, Madame, to know everything about them in -the future.” - -The Queen smiled. - -“He is droll, this cavalier. He speaks like a Frenchman, and wooes like -an American.” - -“Have I your permission, Madame?” asked Mademoiselle. - -“Certainly, my dear.” - -“It was the Marquis du Trémigon who betrayed us last night,” she said, -turning to me. - -“Another score to be settled between us,” I said under my breath. - -“He has a creature in his pay in my grandfather’s house, and through -him he learned my plan. He laid a very clever trap. Although he could -have stopped me at any time, he allowed us to go on, that we might be -caught in the act. Now he hopes to win my grandfather’s consent to this -marriage, and perhaps by that means force it upon me.” - -“You shall never marry him,” I said, utterly oblivious of everything, -everybody, except Mademoiselle and that fact. - -“And why not, pray, Monsieur?” asked the Queen. - -“Because, Your Majesty, I shall marry her myself.” - -“Indeed!” - -“The word of a gentleman, Madame,” I said. - -“But are you a gentleman?” asked Marie Antoinette. There was an accent -of raillery in her voice that robbed the question of its sting. “One -day you masquerade as a sailor. The next day you enter Mademoiselle’s -apartments”—she knew all, then!—“as a thief. Today you stand before me as -a criminal.” - -“I plead guilty to every charge, Madame. I am a sailor, I am a thief. -Last night I would have stolen——” - -“What, Monsieur?” - -“Mademoiselle.” - -“From her grandfather?” - -“From the throne itself, Your Majesty,” I replied fervently. - -Again the Queen smiled. - -“Enough, Monsieur,” she said, rising; “I have exerted myself in your -favor. I had an order from the King to bring you here. I have requested -the Duc de Rivau-Huet to consign Mademoiselle to my care. I wished to -thank you for the service you have done me—to ask you to wear this in -memory of my gratitude.” - -She drew a rarely beautiful diamond ring from her finger and extended it -to me. I kissed the hand and slipped the ring upon my little finger. - -“Your Majesty overwhelms me,” I said. - -“The reward scarcely equals your merit, Monsieur, and it does not even -approach your assurance.” - -“Mademoiselle would make a craven bold, Madame.” - -“Doubtless,” said the Queen. “And now we have the honor to wish you a -safe return to America.” - -I looked at Mademoiselle. She had turned deathly pale. Her eyes were -filled with tears. Before my glance she lowered her head. My resolution -was taken at once. - -“But, Your Majesty, I am not going back to America.” - -“How, Monsieur! You contradict the Queen?” - -“At least, I am not going back alone,” I added respectfully. - -“Monsieur, believe me,” the Queen rejoined earnestly, “it is impossible. -The Duc de Rivau-Huet would never consent. He is one of the great nobles -of France. You——” - -“I am a criminal, Madame, and respect no conventions save those dictated -by my own heart.” - -I could swear that Mademoiselle gave me one grateful glance. - -“Is that the custom of America?” asked the Queen. - -“Of the world, Madame. When one loves as I, there is but one custom.” - -“That is?” - -“To give oneself to one’s mistress and to take her for his own.” - -The situation was becoming impossible. It was fortunately saved for me by -the entrance of an equerry. - -“Your Majesty”—he stopped and bowed low—“Monsieur le Marquis du Trémigon -would like the honor of an audience.” - -“Monsieur,” said the Queen, turning to me, “you still persist in this mad -resolution?” - -“Madame, I am determined in it. There is but one voice that can send me -to America—alone.” - -“And that voice.” - -“Is Mademoiselle’s.” - -“Speak to him, Gabrielle,” said the Queen. - -Mademoiselle turned and looked at me. Her lips formed a word; she drew -her breath sharply in, but no sound came. - -“With reverence to Your Majesty, that word Mademoiselle cannot say.” - -“Why not, Monsieur?” - -“Because she loves me,” I answered confidently. - -The Queen looked from one to the other of us. I only looked at -Mademoiselle. She could not sustain the concentrated force of two such -stares as ours. She hid her face in her hands. - -“_Ma foi_,” said Marie Antoinette, with one of those quick changes of -mood which made her so fascinating, “it is even so. Before two such -lovers, I may be pardoned if I forget that I am a queen and remember only -that I am a woman.” - -“May God bless Your Majesty for that!” I cried enthusiastically. “Does it -mean——?” - -“That I am on your side, Monsieur? Satisfy me of what has been told me of -yourself this morning and we shall see.” - -The look that she gave me spoke volumes. I was speechless with happiness. -To satisfy her, everyone, of my position would be easy. If only I could -get word to Dr. Franklin. He had been a friend of my father in the -colonies. He knew many people I knew, and if that mad little Scotsman -were here he would be on my side. The Queen gave me no time for reply, -for she turned to the equerry and said: - -“I will see Monsieur du Trémigon. But wait one moment. Before he is -admitted, I wish you to go into that room, Monsieur Burnham. Leave the -door open and stand behind the arras. You”—she turned to the elderly -lady, who had discreetly withdrawn to the embrasure, and had been -carefully studying the landscape during the interview between the Queen, -Mademoiselle and myself—“Madame, will you ask the Duc de Rivau-Huet to -come into the small room where Monsieur Burnham goes and wait there until -I call him forth? Tell him I beg him on no account to give note of his -presence until he is summoned. Now”—she turned to the equerry—“bring -hither the Marquis du Trémigon.” - -I bowed low to Her Majesty and lower to Mademoiselle, and entered the -apartment the Queen had indicated. The Duc de Rivau-Huet had evidently -been waiting, for a moment later he entered under the guidance of the -messenger and stood by my side. He did not know me, of course, but we -bowed to each other profoundly and then waited quietly. - -A moment later we heard the Queen speaking. - -“Monsigneur du Trémigon,” she began, “you wish to see me?” - -“Madame, it is the constant wish of every gentleman in France.” - -“Prettily said, Monsieur, and, as it happens, I also wish to see you.” - -“Your Majesty honors me.” - -“You come at an opportune time, therefore.” - -“Any time that I can be of service to Your Majesty is opportune,” he -answered—the clever villain had a glib tongue, as he had a fine taste in -clothes, I could but admit. “I wish that Your Majesty,” he continued, -“could give me back my remark.” - -“And what was that, Monsieur?” - -“That every woman in France might wish to see me.” - -“That would be an embarrassment of riches.” - -“I should be satisfied if the one nearest Your Majesty cherished that -desire.” - -He shot one glance at the Countess. I could see them by moving the -hangings slightly, and I didn’t scruple to look. The old Duke stood like -a stone, wondering why he had been brought here, and as yet unable to -comprehend the situation. - -“You said that you wished to see me, Monsieur?” asked the Queen, -disregarding his last remark. - -“My desire gives place to Your Majesty’s.” - -“And my will claims precedence of yours, Monsieur. Proffer your petition.” - -“Your Majesty, I love devotedly the Comtesse de Villars. We were -betrothed in childhood. The time for the carrying out of the contract our -fathers made has arrived. I crave Your Majesty’s influence to persuade -Mademoiselle de Villars to honor me.” - -There was a certain amount of truth in the rascal’s words. I wondered if -he really loved her a little bit, or whether it was only to get her money. - -“But Mademoiselle de Villars doesn’t love you, Monsieur.” - -“With Your Majesty’s aid I trust I shall be able to teach her to do so.” - -“I fear that task is beyond you or me, Monsieur du Trémigon.” - -“Permit me in Your Majesty’s own interest to dispute that assertion.” - -“How now, Gabrielle?” said the Queen, turning to Mademoiselle. - -“I hate him!” she cried. I could see du Trémigon wince. - -“You hear, Monsieur?” - -“I hear, Madame, but”—he tore off the disguise now and spoke with savage -firmness—“Mademoiselle must marry me.” - -“Must, sir! These are strange words to use to your queen.” - -“I speak to a woman now,” answered the Marquis. - -“Explain yourself.” - -“Mademoiselle is seriously compromised.” - -I could see the Countess start and clench her hands. The Queen motioned -her to remain silent. - -“How is that, Monsieur?” she asked quietly. - -“She received me alone in her apartments the night before last.” - -“You coward!” cried Mademoiselle. - -“Patience, Gabrielle,” said Marie Antoinette quickly. “You have proofs of -that assertion, sir?” - -From where I stood with a backward glance I could see the old Duke. -He had his hand on his sword, his face was as white as death. He was -perfectly rigid. He had been told to remain where he was, however, until -he was summoned, and he would not move. - -“You have witnesses?” continued the Queen. - -“I have. I was seen to go through the gate at eleven o’clock. I climbed -to Mademoiselle’s window by the ivy. I remained in her apartment one -hour. It was this suit that I now wear in which I presented myself to -Mademoiselle.” He turned swiftly to the Countess. “Does not Mademoiselle -recognize it?” he said, with a triumphant leer. - -She shuddered away from him. And indeed it was the one I had worn! - -“You do recognize it, Gabrielle?” asked the Queen. Mademoiselle said -nothing, but it was quite evident that she did. - -“Your story,” said the Queen composedly, turning to the Marquis, “is most -interesting, Monsieur, if it could be believed.” - -“Out of consideration to one of your maids of honor”—I could have killed -him at the hateful emphasis he laid on that last word—“I hope I may be -spared the pain of public testimony.” - -“You give me your word of honor that three nights ago you were in -Mademoiselle’s apartments?” - -“I do.” - -“Your word of honor as a gentleman?” - -“Your Majesty has said it.” - -“Oh, this is infamous—infamous!” cried Mademoiselle. - -“And you, Countess, what do you say?” continued the Queen. - -“It is a falsehood, a dastardly falsehood!” - -A look of relief swept over the old Duke’s face then. His apprehension -gave place to a growing anger. I could realize how hard it was for him to -remain quiet beyond that curtain. As for me I would have given everything -on earth to go out and kill du Trémigon. - -“You do not wish to marry this man—pardon, this gentleman—Gabrielle?” -asked Marie Antoinette. - -“I would rather kill myself!” - -“Monsieur du Trémigon,” said the Queen, “have mercy!” - -“Madame, love has no mercy. I am passionately devoted to Mademoiselle.” - -“And is that why,” asked Marie Antoinette, with a swift change of -manner, “that you set your man, Babin, and two other ruffians to attack -Mademoiselle on the road to Paris ten days ago?” - -She drove her queries home with the directness of sword-thrusts. The -Marquis gasped, fell back, utterly dismayed. He moistened his lips and -strove to speak. - -“I—I—I do not know what Your Majesty means—” he faltered. “I had a -servant called Babin in my employ, but I have discharged him.” - -“You did not know,” said the Queen pitilessly, “that Mademoiselle was -carrying papers of infinite concern to me? Relying on your sense of -honor”—she smiled mockingly—“I tell you the truth. They were letters that -I had written years ago—silly, foolish letters, which yet might have -given me trouble. Mademoiselle volunteered to get them and bring them to -me. And you, Monsieur du Trémigon, having learned this in some way—oh, I -have fathomed the whole procedure,” she went on, rising and confronting -him. “You thought to get me in your power and force a consent from -Mademoiselle through her love for me!” - -“Madame, I am innocent. I know no more about this than you have told me. -Babin has not been in my service for months. I know nothing about the -letters.” - -“Do you swear it?” - -“I swear it!” - -The Queen struck a bell on the table at my side. The equerry presented -himself. - -“Is Monsieur Éspiau there?” she asked. - -“Yes, Your Majesty.” - -“Admit him.” - -In another moment the old servant of the Duke entered and fell on his -knees before the Queen. - -“Rise, my friend,” she said, with that gentle grace, that benignity, that -ought to have endeared her to the whole of France, high and low, rich and -poor; “were you at the Hôtel de Rivau-Huet on last Wednesday night?” - -“Yes, Your Majesty.” - -“Were you in the apartments of the Comtesse de Villars?” - -“I was, Your Majesty.” - -“Between the hours of eleven and twelve?” - -“Yes, Your Majesty.” - -“Was the Marquis du Trémigon there?” - -“No, Your Majesty.” - -“And you would believe a servant’s word before mine?” said du Trémigon -furiously. - -“We shall see. Call Monsieur Burnham,” she said to the attendant. - -I did not wait to be called. I was through the door in an instant. Du -Trémigon started with additional surprise when he saw me. - -“What do you know of this charge of the Marquis du Trémigon?” asked the -Queen after I had saluted her. - -“Your Majesty, I know that the Marquis du Trémigon was in his hôtel -between the hours of eight in the evening and one in the morning. By -no possibility could he have been in the apartment of Mademoiselle de -Villars. Furthermore, the man Babin was in his employ yesterday.” - -“You hound!” cried du Trémigon, and then I stepped close to him. He -shrank back. I stepped nearer. The Queen might have interfered, but I -rather think she enjoyed it. - -“You know,” I said, frowning at him, “that you were not in the apartments -of the Comtesse de Villars on that evening or any other evening.” He -opened his mouth as if to speak. “Not a word or I’ll kill you where you -stand!” - -“Your Majesty,” he cried, dexterously avoiding me, “will you condemn me -on the words of a lackey and a criminal?” - -I started toward him again, but the Queen raised her hand. She looked at -the equerry again, an old and trusted attendant, upon whom she could rely. - -“The Duc de Rivau-Huet”—she pointed to the door—“bring him here.” - -The Duke was almost as quick as I. The curtain was torn aside and he came -in erect, with his hand on his sword. - -“Your Majesty.” He bowed low before her, a graceful and gallant old -gentleman. - -“Monsieur le Duc,” said the Queen, extending her hand to be kissed, -“you are ever welcome. As the head of the house to which the Marquis du -Trémigon belongs. I wish you to hear his charges and his denials, that -you may judge him accordingly.” - -“I have heard, Your Majesty,” said the Duke, “and give me leave to say I -need neither the evidence of Éspiau nor of this gentleman—whoever he may -be—to convince me that the Marquis du Trémigon has lied.” - -“And I tell you,” burst out the Marquis, “that this man is a common -thief, a highway robber and—” He pointed to me. - -“Have a care, Monsieur,” said Marie Antoinette quickly; “highway robbery -is a grave accusation. Was it on the road to Paris that he committed this -highway robbery? This is a most serious indictment. Look again. Think! Do -you press the charge? Do you really mean it?” - - - VII - - THE SLIPPER FINDS ITS WEARER - -“His Majesty the King!” cried an usher at the great door, throwing it -open. “His Excellency, the Minister of the United States, Dr. Franklin, -Commodore John Paul Jones, Monsieur Bucknall, sailor,” he added. - -Into the room came the King of France, a stout, heavy-set, rather -stupid-looking young man. Following him I saw the familiar figure—I had -seen many portraits of him in public print—of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. By -his side—and it was a good sight for any eyes—walked the handsome little -daredevil of a Scotsman in his naval uniform, looking as cocky as if he -had been strutting on his own quarter-deck. And then—did my eyes deceive -me?—came the rolling form of worthy Master Bucknall. I blessed that man -in my heart. He had brought Mademoiselle to my assistance in the prison -and now he had completed his work by looking up Dr. Franklin and the -rest. Where he had found the Commodore I did not know. - -I had heard he had recently arrived at L’Orient, but not that he had come -to Paris. - -“Madame,” said the King, approaching the Queen who courtesied deeply -before him, “I wish you good morning. Ah, Duke, I am always glad to see -you. Mademoiselle de Villars, you are fit to stand before Her Majesty, -and I could pay you no higher compliment.” - -I was amazed to hear this fat, commonplace, prosy-looking man speak so -pleasantly, but in sooth Mademoiselle, with her cheeks flushed, a little -sparkle of tears in her eyes, her head thrown back—well, any man of taste -would have recognized which was Queen of Love and Beauty in that room. -The King bowed shortly and coldly to du Trémigon and looked with some -interest at me. - -“Monsieur,” said the Queen to her husband, “will you allow me to present -to you Monsieur Burnham, an American naval officer?” - -I bowed low before the King. France was our ally and we hoped much from -her, and although we in America had cut kings and queens out of our -books, I felt it necessary for me to be politic. - -“Dr. Franklin, you are always welcome,” continued the Queen, “even though -you do come garbed in sober gray to our gay Court.” - -“Your Majesty,” returned the old Quaker gallantly, “I wear gray that it -may contrast the better with the high color of my admiration for the -Queen of France.” - -“And this is our old friend, the Commodore. We are glad to have you back -at Versailles after your splendid fighting, Monsieur,” said the Queen, -dimpling with pleasure at Dr. Franklin’s compliment and giving her hand -to Paul Jones, who had waited with ill-concealed impatience for this -recognition of his rank and station. - -“To see you again, Your Majesty,” began the doughty little Captain, with -a shade too much fervor, I thought, “is better fortune than to capture a -ship like the _Serapis_.” - -“You must tell me about that action, Monsieur.” - -“I shall be pleased to attend upon Your Majesty at any time for that or -any other purpose,” he replied. “And if it were necessary to secure -entrance to your levee, _I_ would cheerfully engage to capture another -British frigate.” - -The Queen laughed kindly at the little Captain, and then she stared -toward Bucknall, who stood shifting from one foot to another, twisting -his hat in his hand. She was a good-hearted woman and would fain neglect -no one—not even the humblest. - -“And who is this?” she asked. - -“Madame, give me leave,” I interposed. “He is a sailor to whom I owe -life, liberty and—love!” - -“Looks he not like a cupid’s messenger?” queried Her Majesty, smiling, -and then the King broke in. - -“Have you sent for the prisoner, Madame?” - -“Your Majesty, he is here?” - -“What, this gentleman?” - -The Queen bowed. - -“What have you to say for yourself, sir?” the King asked me. - -“Much, Your Majesty. I am an American naval officer, as Commodore Paul -Jones can bear witness.” - -“’Tis true, Your Majesty. He sailed with me on the _Alfred_, and a better -officer I did not have, and I say it who have a right to testify.” - -“Good,” said the King. “Proceed, Monsieur.” - -“I was captured with Captain Cunningham in the _Revenge_.” - -“Give me a fleet, Your Majesty,” interrupted Commodore Jones, “and we’ll -stop all that.” - -The King smiled and nodded to me. - -“I escaped from a British prison-ship, robbed a gentleman in England, got -money from him, came to France hoping to find Dr. Franklin or Commodore -Jones. Neither was in Paris. I lost my money, fell into the hands of an -enemy, and was lodged in jail, whence I have been this morning brought -here by Her Majesty’s gracious interference.” - -“How did you lose your money?” asked the King, quite as a father might -have spoken to his son. There was something pleasant about the plain, -homely man. I hesitated not a moment. - -“I am sorry to say, Sire, that I gambled it away.” - -The King shook his head. - -“I can make good your loss,” he said; “but play is the curse of the young -nobles of my Court, and of all strangers who come to Paris, as well.” - -“Your Majesty is most kind. When I can hear from America I shall be able -to discharge all my obligations, and I wish to say to Your Majesty and -before you all”—all meant Mademoiselle—“that I shall eschew play in the -future.” - -“There were charges against you of highway robbery, I believe?” - -“On information laid by me, Your Majesty,” broke in du Trémigon. - -“But Monsieur du Trémigon withdraws the charges now. Highway robbery! It -hath an ugly sound,” said the Queen. “How is that, Monsieur du Trémigon?” - -I never saw such a look of baffled rage and hatred as that on du -Trémigon’s face. He was completely powerless. The evidence against him -was too strong. He tried to speak, but there was no help for it. He bowed -at last. - -“I am too much of a gentleman”—I have always been suspicious of a man who -protests his quality overmuch, by the way—“to contradict the Queen of -France.” - -“Good,” said the King. “But there were some papers?” - -“Monsieur du Trémigon lost them, unfortunately,” again interposed the -Queen. - -“Very careless, I’m sure,” commented the King severely. - -“I,” volunteered Dr. Franklin, “will be surety for Monsieur Burnham’s -debts to the Marquis du Trémigon.” - -“The word of a gentleman so vouched for is sufficient,” said the Marquis, -raging in his heart, but helpless. - -“I’d rather pay him the money, doctor, and owe it to you,” I said softly -to Dr. Franklin. - -“Is it a great sum, lad?” whispered the Quaker aside. “Our exchequer is -running low. And, hark ye, that highway robbery in England. ’Tis hardly a -crime of which you could be convicted in France.” - -Now, why had neither I nor anyone else thought of that! - -“We will attend to the debt,” said the King, after a momentary -consultation with the Queen. “Now, gentlemen, no more of this.” - -Of course when he put on his royal look and said that, there was nothing -more for me to do. - -“Pardon, Your Majesty,” said the Duc de Rivau-Huet, who had noted all -that had occurred with ill-concealed impatience. “Monsieur du Trémigon -has another announcement to make.” - -“What is that, Duke?” asked the King. - -“Your Majesty is doubtless aware that my son and the father of the -Marquis du Trémigon entered into a contract that their children should be -married at a suitable age, provided they were both willing to carry out -the agreement?” - -“I have heard so,” answered the King. - -“The Marquis du Trémigon wishes, in the presence of these witnesses, to -renounce all pretension to the hand of Mademoiselle de Villars.” - -“Your Majesty,” protested the Marquis in one last desperate attempt to -gain his end, “Monsieur le Duc mis——” - -“I believe I am not mistaken, Monsieur,” said the Duke, very stately and -magnificent, with his hand on his sword—my heart went out to him—looking -hard at the Marquis. - -“I am sure,” added the Queen in her silvery voice—and you would have -thought she were conferring the greatest favor in her power upon the -wretched du Trémigon—“that the Duke is right. Monsieur du Trémigon,” she -went on, with a woman’s spitefulness—but indeed I could not blame her, -“is no more desirous of marrying Mademoiselle de Villars than he is of -pressing the charge of highway robbery against Monsieur Burnham.” - -Du Trémigon could not trust himself to speak again. He clenched his hands -and bowed low before the Queen. - -“Furthermore,” continued the Duke imperturbably, “Monsieur du Trémigon -wishes Your Majesty’s permission to withdraw from Paris and retire to his -estates.” - -“As the Marquis pleases,” said the King indifferently. - -Had I been King I should have been consumed with curiosity to know what -this was all about, but His Majesty cared little about it, apparently, -for after turning his back on du Trémigon, who backed out of the room, he -said to Dr. Franklin: - -“Now that we have settled this affair, doctor, I want you to look at a -lock in my cabinet that interests me greatly. Gamain brought it today. -Its mechanism is curious and complex. It will interest a scientific man -like yourself, I am sure.” - -“I shall be glad to attend Your Majesty.” - -“Give me leave, Sire,” again said the Duc de Rivau-Huet. “Your Majesty,” -continued the old man, standing very erect, “the Marquis du Trémigon -averred that he was in my granddaughter’s apartments until a late hour -the other night.” - -“It is false,” said the Queen. - -“Madame, I know that. What I wish to know is, who was there?” - -“Monsieur! Before them all!” exclaimed Mademoiselle, startled beyond -measure by this surprising development. This unlucky speech in itself was -a confession. - -“The King is the fountain of nobility in the land,” continued the Duke, -striving to regain his composure. “You are a maid of honor to the Queen, -Mademoiselle. That gentleman”—he pointed to me—“heard the accusation -and denied it. These are his friends. Here is some mystery. I wish an -explanation.” - -“But, Duke—” began the King, with a puzzled look. - -“I crave Your Majesty’s pardon. Even royalty may give place to the -feelings of a grandsire. Will you allow me to conduct this affair in my -own way?” - -“Go on,” said the King. - -“I am satisfied that the Marquis du Trémigon, whom I shall see later, -with the King’s permission——” - -“I will give you a _lettre de cachet_ to the Bastile for him, if you -like.” - -“Thank you, Sire. Monsieur du Trémigon was not there, but I insist -someone was, and I demand to know who.” - -No one spoke for a moment. - -“Éspiau, you know?” - -“I have nothing to say, Monsieur le Duc,” replied the old servant, -turning pale. - -“Will no one tell me?” cried the old man, grief in his heart, appeal in -his tones, shame in his bearing. - -“I will,” I said boldly; “I was there.” - -“You, sir!” - -“Even I, Monsieur.” - -“How dared you? What do you mean?” He put his hand to his heart. I -was nearest him. I stretched out my arm to help him, but he thrust me -away. “Answer!” he cried, imperiously forgetful of the King, the Queen, -everybody. - -“It is very simple,” I replied quietly. “On my approach to Paris I had -the good fortune to be of assistance to Mademoiselle.” - -“In what capacity?” - -“She was set upon by three ruffians. I drove them off.” - -“Whereabouts?” - -I was ignorant of the road, but Mademoiselle came to my rescue. - -“Near Paris, on the Versailles road, Monsieur.” - -“Where was your escort?” queried the Duke. - -“I was alone.” - -“Alone on the Versailles road?” - -“In my service, Duke,” said the Queen softly. - -“Pardon, Your Majesty. That is sufficient. Proceed, Monsieur.” - -“I fell in love with your granddaughter.” - -“How dared you, sir; a beggarly——?” - -“Monsieur Burnham’s patrimony includes rich land enough to make a county -in France,” deftly put in Dr. Franklin at this juncture. - -“But in America—” said the Duke scornfully. - -“The finest land the sun ever set on, Monsieur,” broke in Commodore Jones -hotly. - -The King waved his hand for silence, and the Duke turned to me again. - -“I sought your granddaughter far and wide, and at last found her at the -Hôtel de Rivau-Huet.” - -I had a hard task to keep to the truth and yet make a satisfactory story. - -“And was it at her invitation you entered her apartment?” - -“Monsieur le Duc!” exclaimed the King hastily, in warning. - -“Grandfather!” cried the girl, recoiling from the outrageous accusation. - -“Sir!” I replied, with spirit, “the question is an insult to your blood! -I came unexpectedly, unknown, unwelcome—like a thief in the night.” - -“You dared——?” - -“It was a prank, a foolish trick; I have no excuse but my passion.” - -“And you were alone with my granddaughter?” - -“I was there, Monsieur le Duc,” said Éspiau. - -“Then tell me the truth now, unless you forget your ancient fidelity,” -exclaimed the Duke, turning to the unhappy servant. “You saw this -gentleman there?” - -I shook my head at him, but he was looking at Mademoiselle. Disregarding -my warning glance, she nodded. The seal upon the servant’s lips was -broken. - -“Yes, Monsieur le Duc,” he said. - -“And where was he?” - -“In Mademoiselle’s—” he hesitated. - -“Speak!” thundered the old man. - -“Bedchamber, Monsieur.” - -“_Mon Dieu!_” cried the Duke, his composure giving way at last. He -put his face in his hands with a movement singularly like that of -Mademoiselle a short time before. - -Is it that Master Shakespeare in great crises voices the universal cry -of the human heart? For like the father of Hero in “Much Ado About -Nothing”—and indeed the whole affair was somewhat similar in my mind—the -Duke finally broke forth: - -“‘Hath no man here a sword for me?’” - -I have not the sentence exactly, but I give the sense of it, and I pitied -him from the bottom of my heart. But the love of the young is often cruel -to the old. - -“My grandfather! my grandfather!” cried Mademoiselle, sinking to his -feet, “think not bitterly of me! This gentleman has told the truth. I had -but spoken a few words to him when you came. He did me a great service. I -concealed him.” - -“Why?” groaned the Duke. - -“I was afraid that you would kill him.” - -“Afraid? What is he to you?” - -It was a dreadful situation for a young girl. She had never told me in -so many words, although I was sure of it in my own mind, and to have to -declare it before all these men was indeed hard. Yet with a heroism for -which I can never be sufficiently grateful she said it. - -“I love him!” - -“You love him!” exclaimed her grandfather in amazement. - -“Monsieur le Duc de Rivau-Huet,” I cried in my turn, springing to her -side, lifting her up, and slipping my arm about her waist, “I have the -honor to ask you to give me the hand of your granddaughter in marriage.” - -“She is a countess of France,” replied the Duke. “The best blood in the -land flows in her veins, Monsieur.” - -“I have some indifferent good in my own veins, Monsieur le Duc,” I -asserted, naming some of my mother’s people. - -“Is this true, Monsieur?” - -“I vouch for it,” said Paul Jones. - -“Your Majesty,” said the Duke, turning to the King, but he got no help -there. - -“If you will give your consent, Duke,” said Louis, “I shall not withhold -mine. Indeed, under the circumstances—”He paused significantly. - -The Duke groaned and the gracious Queen came to our rescue again. - -“Monsieur le Duc,” she said, stepping near him and laying her hand on his -arm, “think! Monsieur Burnham is a gallant gentleman. As good blood as -any in France flows in his veins. In America they have no kings, but they -are all princes. His Majesty in his kindness consents. This will cement -the union between the two countries against England, which is so dear to -think of. Will you sacrifice your pride if I ask you, and bless the pair -who love each other?” - -“Madame, it is as you will,” he faltered. “I had cherished other dreams. -Still, there can be no higher degree than that of gentleman, after all. -No, though he sit upon a throne.” - -“The royalty of virtue, the royalty of honor, the royalty of courage,” -said Dr. Franklin kindly, “make this marriage not an unequal one.” - -“I am an old man,” continued the Duke; “this has been hard on me. Let the -young love have its way.” - -“And you will forgive me?” pleaded Mademoiselle, approaching him nearer. - -“Your Majesty will permit me?” asked the Duke. He took her in his arms -and pressed a kiss upon her forehead and blessed her. - -“Sir,” he said, turning to me and bowing, “I hope to know more of you -before I commit this child to your keeping.” - -“Now that all is settled for the second time,” said the King, greatly -relieved. “Dr. Franklin, Commodore, and you, Duke, will you come with me?” - -“We attend Your Majesty.” - -The four gentlemen bowed low before the Queen. The King bowed to me, Dr. -Franklin and Commodore Jones shook my hand. Our kindly minister made an -appointment to meet me later in the palace. - -“You were lucky,” he said. - -Indeed I realized that, for I replied: “Thanks to you and the Commodore.” - -“Nay,” said the Quaker, smiling, “thanks to Mademoiselle herself, and to -your own ready wit.” - -Then they left us alone with the Queen and Bucknall. - -“It strikes me,” said Her Majesty, looking at the old sailor, “that -nobody has said anything about the part you have played in this affair.” - -“Aye, aye, mum,” began the sailor in great confusion, “w’ich I means yer -honor——” - -“‘Mum’ is delightful,” laughed Marie Antoinette. - -“I was at me wit’s end wot course to lay this mornin’, an’ w’en as luck -would hev it I run into Commodore Jones in the street, jist in from -L’Orient—he never forgits a shipmate, ma’am, no matter how humble—an’ I -ups an’ told him about Mr. Burnham. He fetched me to Dr. Franklin, an’ -you knows the rest, Yer Ladyship.” - -“I shall not forget you,” said the Queen, lifting a well-filled purse -from the table and putting it in Bucknall’s hand. The old sailor was not -without a streak of gallantry. - -“It’s the hand wot gives it, lady,” he said, “wot makes me wally it -more’n the gold pieces.” - -“You will await Monsieur Burnham without the door,” she said, dismissing -him graciously. - -“Monsieur Burnham,” she began as we three were alone, “you are a thief -after all. You have stolen the fairest jewel of my Court. I ought to be -angry with you, but—I am not.” - -“I thank Your Majesty.” - -“You will be very good to this daughter of France in your own land?” - -“Madame, I will cherish her as the King his crown. Nay,” I added quickly, -“as I would cherish Your Majesty were I the King.” - -“You pay me in pretty speeches.” - -“They come, Madame, from my heart of hearts. After my country and my -wife, my sword is yours.” - -She was gone. Of course I took Mademoiselle in my arms, and this time -there was no hesitation on her part in returning my ardent caresses. I -do not know what we said or what happened. After a space—how long or how -short I cannot tell, for I took no notice of time or place—I said that -while we each had the gold pieces I regretted that I had no ring to slip -on her finger, nothing of my own to give her to bind the engagement. Of -course I could not give her the Queen’s diamond—yet! She was very close -to me and doubtless could feel what was in my breast-pocket. - -“You have one thing,” she replied demurely, “that you could slip on.” - -“What is that?” - -“Have you forgotten the talisman?” - -“The talisman?” I cried. - -I am stupid sometimes, not often, and I was thinking so hard of her that -I did not catch her meaning at first. - -“That which Master Bucknall brought you—that I gave back to you.” - -“Oh!” said I; “the slipper saved my life; it gave me hope.” - -“And hope gave you assurance?” - -“And assurance won me you.” - -She drew herself away and sat down in the Queen’s chair, and no royal -person ever became it so well as she. Then she fumbled at her shoe a -moment, and thrust out one dainty stockinged little foot at me. - -“You might put it on,” she whispered, blushing vividly. - -I am not ashamed to say that I kissed that foot before I covered it with -my lady’s slipper. - - - - - _Populism_ - - BY CHARLES Q. DE FRANCE - _Secretary People’s Party National Committee_ - - -Populism is a term at which many eminently respectable but sadly -misinformed persons shy, like the staid old farm horse when he first -encounters an automobile on the road to town. They regard it as -synonymous with Socialism, anarchy, bomb-throwing, nihilism and half a -dozen other real or fancied evils. That it is simply a short expression -for progressive, radical or Jeffersonian Democracy has never occurred to -them. - -Populism is a term which well illustrates the growth of language, the -evolution by which circumlocution is avoided and clearness of expression -attained. Yet, at the same time, it is an apt illustration of the power -of a subsidized press to create an erroneous public opinion. - -Back in the early ’90s, when the People’s Party was being organized in -a number of Western States, there was considerable discussion as to -whether it should be regarded as a political organization on the usual -lines, or whether it should be a sort of league of independent voters, -free to choose and vote for such candidates, on any ticket, as might seem -best fitted to represent the interests of the different organizations of -farmers and wage-workers out of which the People’s Party finally evolved. - -The Omaha National Convention in 1892 settled the question in favor -of regular party organization. It is true that there were intended -to be points of difference between the People’s Party machinery and -that of either old party; but these points were minor rather than -fundamental. The delegate convention was retained—which, to my mind, was -the one mistake made at Omaha. Until some system of direct nominations -is adopted, whereby every elector may have a vote direct—and not by -delegate, who may misrepresent him—I fear that as our party grows in -strength we shall more and more be called upon to combat the same -influences which dominate both the old parties. However, this is -digression. - -With the advent of the People’s Party a difficulty was found in -describing a member of that party. A member of the Republican Party is, -of course, a Republican; and a member of the Democratic Party is called a -Democrat—but how designate one affiliated with the People’s Party? - -The omnipresent and omniscient newspaper reporter, as usual, solved the -difficulty. His agnosticism applies to nothing except the word “fail.” -And with him circumlocution and criminality are almost synonymous. -It would never do to be ringing the changes on “an adherent to the -People’s Party,” or “one affiliated with the People’s Party”; hence, it -was not long before we began to see the word “Populist” used in verbal -descriptions of what the cartoonist invariably depicted as a “one-gallus” -man, armed with fork or rake, and blessed with a hirsute adornment truly -Samsonian. - -Applied as a term of reproach, yet responding to the inexorable law which -compels men to follow along the lines of least resistance, the word -“Populist” came to stay. It stuck, just as the term “Methodist” did—or -“Christian,” for that matter. From “Populist,” descriptive of the man, -to “Populism,” designating his political belief, was an easy step—and -now, after fifteen years of abuse, ridicule, vituperation and gross -misrepresentation, the great middle class is just beginning to get a -clearer view and to discover that Populism is the only logical answer to -the question, “What shall we do to be saved from economic ruin?” - -Populism is neither Socialism nor anarchism. It is neither idealistic -nor materialistic. It is neither collectivistic nor individualistic. It -is essentially eclectic. It recognizes the good in all the schools of -political and economic thought and attempts to eliminate the weak or -bad—but refuses to be bound by any. - -Populism recognizes the fact that we must work with the world as it -is now—and not as some Utopian dreamer conceives it ought to be. It -recognizes the fact that private ownership of productive property is not -only the rule all over the world—but also that the people like it. It -recognizes the Socialists’ “economic determinism”—that man’s economic -needs usually dominate when they clash with his ideals—yet is not -unmindful of the fact that all progress is the result of ideals forcing a -change in the environment. Were it not so, man would still be an arboreal -ape, chattering aloft in some palm tree. - -Populism recognizes that man is a social animal, yet combats Socialism -for subordinating the individual to the collectivity, and combats anarchy -for subordinating the collectivity to the individual. It is the golden -mean between these extremes. - -Although Populism lays no claim to being either a “science” or a -“philosophy,” yet it has the only definite program of any party today -before the American people. It has a yard-stick by which all things may -be measured, whether they be burlap, fustian, woolen, silk or some new -weave of spider-web. This yard-stick is— - -EQUAL RIGHTS TO ALL, SPECIAL PRIVILEGES TO NONE. - -Every fair-minded man is willing to have his economic cloth measured by -that yard-stick. Only avaricious rogues object. - -The Republican Party is committed to the practice of giving special -privileges to a favored few. It is essentially a party of paternalism. -The protective tariff is paternalistic. The railroad franchise is -paternalistic, and land grants, and bonds, and subsidies. The national -banking laws are paternalistic—and so, too, deposits of public revenues, -and rentals on public buildings sold but never paid for. The net effect -of all Republican legislation is to arm the possessors of great wealth -with some sort of taxing power, whereby they may absorb still more wealth -without rendering an equivalent. Incidentally, it is true, some measure -of prosperity may come to the more humble possessors of property—but the -general trend is beyond question plutocratic. - -The so-called Democratic Party need not be considered here. It has no -fixed policy for more than eight years at a time—except to be “agin’ the -government.” It is the party of negation. - -The Socialist Party presents the anomaly of a party with an elaborate -“scientific” system of societary evolution, an excellent interpretation -of history, and forecast of the supposedly final form which society will -assume—yet without a program or hint of the specific manner in which -industry will be carried on under “the collective ownership of all the -means of production and distribution, with democratic management by -the workers engaged in each industry.” It is admitted that we have no -right to ask for prophecies—but we have a right to see a rough draft -at least of the new building which is to be erected after the social -revolution has torn down the old edifice. It is true that a few so-called -Socialist papers pretend to tell us what will be “under Socialism”—vague, -Utopian—pardon the term—“pipe dreams”; but none of them will give -even an outline sketch of how collective industry might be carried on, -preferring to hide behind the excuse that “we’ll cross that bridge when -we reach it.” Alas! The bridge might happen to be washed out by the -floods of social revolution. - -Being an extreme on the side of materialism as opposed to idealism, or -collectivism as opposed to individualism, Socialism is quite impossible -as a scheme of government. Besides, the “materialistic conception of -history,” upon which Socialism bases its prediction of the co-operative -commonwealth, is not wholly scientific, because it fails to consider -what changes may be wrought by invention. In a general way, it may be -said that the invention of gunpowder destroyed feudalism, and that the -discovery of steam power and its application to manufacturing broke up -the guild system of masters, journeymen and apprentices, and ushered in -the present wage system. Who has the hardihood to prophesy what an Edison -may not do in the years to come, or to foretell what the effect may be? - -The program of Populism is at once radical and conservative. It is -radical, because it goes to the root of the difficulty and will effect -a profound change. It is conservative, because it will enable the -great mass of wealth producers to conserve what they now have and what -they produce in future, by exempting them from the legalized robberies -committed by railroads, banks, trusts and other forms of predatory wealth. - -Populism, recognizing the institution of private property, and the -people’s veneration and love for it, looks back over history’s pages and -sees two things which, up to the recent past, have always been regarded -as prerogatives of the state. One is the coinage, issue and control of -money; the other, the ownership and control of highways. - -Under the term “money” we may properly include all those modern -makeshifts which are armed with partial legal-tender power, or even those -without such power, if they generally perform the offices of money. -Without discussing it in detail—because thousands of volumes have been -written upon the subject without exhausting it—it seems quite certain -that if Congress is to really exercise its right—and undoubted duty—“to -coin money and regulate the value thereof,” there can be no “free” -coinage of either gold or silver; and the Government must go into the -banking business. - -Under the term “highways” we may properly include railroads, canals, -telegraphs, telephones, expresses—in short, all means of transportation -and communication. - -Most of the trust oppressions grow directly out of private ownership -of the means of transportation and transmission of intelligence—the -highways—and the private issue of money. Populism asks that these great -evils be corrected—and that the individual be allowed to conduct his own -private business with the least possible interference by government. -There will always be work for the reformer; but wisdom dictates that the -greatest evils be first eliminated, so that many of a minor character may -be allowed to correct themselves. - - - - - _To Roosevelt_ - - - Our hero is a man of peace, - Preparedness he implores, - His sword within its scabbard sleeps, - But, mercy! how it snores! - - - - - _The Regalia of Money_ - - BY ALEXANDER DEL MAR - - [Mr. Del Mar’s career as a financial writer covers a period - of more than half a century. He was the financial editor - of the Washington _National Intelligencer_, the New York - _Daily American Times_, _Hunt’s Merchants’ Magazine_, _The - Social Science Review_, _The Leader_, _The Commercial - and Financial Chronicle_, and other journals of national - importance. After filling the offices of Director of the - Bureau of Statistics, Commerce and Navigation, Commissioner - to Italy, Holland and Russia, member of the United States - Monetary Commission, etc., he devoted his leisure to a - “History of Money in the Principal States of the World,” - “The Science of Money,” and other works relating to this - great subject, all of which have secured the approval - of the critical press of Europe and America and passed - through repeated editions, both in English and other - languages.—EDITOR.] - - -In the recent Presidential election the People’s Party inserted in -its platform a principle of such transcendent importance that, were -it generally understood, had its operation been brought home to the -great mass of the people, could its far-reaching consequences have been -portrayed so that everybody might observe them, it would have dwarfed -every other issue on that occasion presented to the country. As it was, -nobody, except the few gallant leaders of the People’s Party, paid the -least attention to it, and the election was decided upon other grounds. - -That principle concerned the Regalia of Money, which the People’s -platform demanded should be restored to its rightful owners, the -Government, the people of the United States. It can be demonstrated that, -had this been done, many of the vexed questions before the country, such -as the Monopolization of Industries, the Financial Trusts, the Municipal -Ownership of Public Utilities, etc., would have been placed in a fair -way of settlement. - -In a series of magazine articles, which contain much that has the -appearance of being exaggerated, untrue and vindictive, but which -also contain much that is true and susceptible of verification, Mr. -Thomas Lawson has been arousing the public to a sense of the dangers of -the Financiers’ System, the System by which the banks, the insurance -companies, the trusts and the Stock Exchange are employed by so-called -Captains of Industry to despoil the people. After explaining how the game -is conducted, he shows that even those who refrain from gambling on the -Stock Exchange, and who may have no financial transactions beyond keeping -a bank account or insuring their lives, are drawn into it, against their -knowledge and will, and robbed of all the fruits of their labor and -abstinence. - -Lawson began his articles by accusing certain persons and putting up -bluffs; a mode of argument which he soon found was not convincing. He now -perceives that the fault lies in the System, and that at the bottom of -the System lies the subject of Money. The whole series of transactions -which, he alleges, have in the course of a few years taken several -thousand millions out of the pockets of the masses and transferred them -into those of a few cunning and unscrupulous operators, hung upon this -single question: Shall the Government of the United States exercise -its Regalia of Money or not? Mr. Lawson keeps up the interest of his -readers by promising them a remedy for the disorders he describes. Should -the remedy not include the regulation of Money, I hazard nothing in -predicting that it will prove an entire failure and delusion. - -What is the Regalia of Money? Is it some new-fangled notion about the -coinage, some argument which turns upon the obscure meaning of Value, -some phase of the tiresome Silver Question? Nothing of the kind. The -Regalia of Money is a prerogative of government, familiar to every -jurisconsult; a well-known, clearly defined and necessary attribute of -Sovereign Power. It is laid down in all the great law books, in Budelius, -Grotius, Puffendorf, Vattel, Molinæus, Grimaudet, Wheaton, Martens, -and a host of other authorities. It is described as “a power which the -state reserves to itself, for its own safety and welfare”; the power -to create money, give it denomination and control its issues. Like the -power to make war, peace and treaties, and to establish uniform weights -and measures, it is called regalia, because it belongs to and must be -exercised alone by sovereign states, as a prerogative which is necessary -to their welfare, and essential to their autonomy, dignity and authority. - -When the American Republic was established the Regalia of Money was -exercised by all of the Colonies which united to form the Federation, -whereupon, and as a matter of necessity, they all surrendered it to the -general Government, which, under the Constitution, alone has the power to -issue money and regulate its value or denominations. It was a misfortune -that when the Union was formed it was so poor that it was obliged to -tolerate the issuance of money by a private corporation, the Bank of -Pennsylvania. Out of that bank grew all of the so-called state banks -of a subsequent period, and out of those state banks, during the Civil -War, grew all of the so-called National banks. Every one of these banks, -both “state” and “National,” were all, and are yet, private banks, their -titles in every case being misnomers. It is not intended to say a word -against banks as guardians and lenders of money; on the contrary, they -are recognized as highly useful and even indispensable institutions. As a -rule, they are conducted by respectable and honorable men, and it cannot -be disputed that they have done much to promote the progress of industry -and the prosperity of trade. Whether they would have done more or less -in these directions had they not been permitted to usurp the Regalia -of Money, which act forms no necessary part of a banking business, it -is not proposed to discuss. Said Mr. Jefferson: “I have ever been the -enemy of banks; not of those discounting for cash, but of those foisting -_their own money_ into circulation, and thus banishing _our_ cash.” What -influence, whether for good or evil, which this usurpation of the Regalia -exercised in his day it is now too late to examine. - -But the time has come when the relinquishment of the Regalia to the banks -can no longer be tolerated. The bankers have had a century of profitable -innings; the people now demand theirs. The state laws of incorporation -are so contradictory, loose and pliable that there have grown up under -them companies and institutions so constituted that, in combination -with banks usurping the Regalia, it is in their power—and this is what -Mr. Lawson has shown very effectively—to strip the nation over and over -again of its earnings, and eventually to absorb its entire wealth. It -is scarcely too much to say that unless the United States Government -resumes this Regalia, and absolutely prohibits the circulation of any -money, whether of metal or paper, not of its own immediate issuance, we -will find ourselves in the course of very few years hopelessly in debt to -a band of absentee millionaires, who, having shown us their heels, will -next show us their teeth. - -It is not alone the people who are in danger of being impoverished by -the System, it is not alone that the Government will be jeopardized; -it is also that the banks, the insurance companies and numerous other -classes of trade corporations will themselves be drawn into the nets -that are being spread for them, nets strewn with their own bird-lime, -and delivered over to the scheming millionaires who are preparing to -plunder them. Mr. Lawson wholly neglects this phase of the subject. His -ardor is all for the dear people, to arouse whose righteous indignation, -he informs us, he is expending a fortune. Such reckless munificence, -on the part of a man who ostentatiously advertises himself as the -manager or director of several corporations, goes far toward indicating -the correctness of our position. It is not doubted that Mr. Lawson -sympathizes with the people and is anxious to point out the dangers -that threaten them. On the other hand, it cannot be supposed that he is -indifferent to the fate of the banks and other companies with which he is -connected. The fact is that, having thoroughly skinned the people, the -Captains of Industry are now prepared to skin the corporations, and that -it is going to skin them with weapons plucked from its victims. These -weapons are the notes which the banks have issued in defiance of the -Regalia of Money. - -The banks will perhaps more fully appreciate the sort of people they are -dealing with if we interpolate at this point a few words touching their -humanity. The principal, almost the sole lever with which the Captains -of Industry are “working” this nation, is the issue of “National” -bank-notes, and the elastic feature conferred upon it by law. This system -was established by Salmon P. Chase, ex-Governor of Ohio, ex-Senator of -the United States, then Secretary of the Treasury, and afterward Chief -Justice of the United States; a man of the highest integrity, and perhaps -for that reason wholly incapable of coping with Mr. John Thompson and the -other Chevaliers of Industry of the last generation. It will naturally be -supposed that had this class of men the slightest taint of humanity they -would at least have taken care to honor the memory of their principal -benefactor. Well, we will show you how they did it. Judge Chase, after -serving his country in many capacities during a long lifetime, expired -in poverty and in debt; his daughter died of grief and starvation; his -grandchildren are at present living in very humble circumstances; his -personal effects, his books, even the petty keepsakes and trinkets of his -children, were exposed to the gaze of the vulgar and sold at a public -auction in New York to satisfy his creditors, the rapacious Captains of -Industry; while the body of this great but guileless man lies today in an -obscure churchyard, without a tombstone over it. Such is the humanity of -the Captains of Industry. - -It is an essential part of the merry game which these Captains are -permitted to play that they shall always have in their hands the means -alternately to inflate and contract the currency, at any given point, -say, for example, New York. With the mints restricted to the coinage -of metal for private persons, and the hands of the Government tied -to a fixed issue of greenbacks, while their own hands are free, the -mischievous elasticity which they employ for the success of their -operations is easily acquired by getting command of the principal banks -of issue. The moment they press their fingers on this button the market -immediately responds by throwing its stocks overboard; and the moment -they release the button, up rise the stocks again. It is by means of this -simple mechanism that the public has been plundered, and that it is now -planned to plunder the companies. That there is no longer any art in the -trained motorman’s vocation is proved by the small wages he commands. -The art is in providing the power and controlling the mechanism which -drives the cars. In the Captains-of-Industry game the power is derived -from the elastic bank issues: the mechanism consists of certain banks and -insurance companies and the Stock Exchange. Given the power and mechanism -which these establishments furnish, any bandit could work the game and -have plenty of leisure to spare. The System is automatic. - -In contemplating this scene of legalized robbery, euphemistically termed -“finance,” it will not do to lose our heads. There are banks and banks, -there are insurance companies and insurance companies, there are trade -corporations and trade corporations. They are not all alike. Some are -in the game, as vassals and creatures of the Captains; some are in it, -hoping, alas! but vainly, to outlive the Captains and profit by their -fall; while others are out of it altogether; good, sound companies, -safely managed and cautious to avoid contamination. The banks and other -companies last named will not suffer from collapse, they will always -continue to be solvent; but they will suffer from a forced conservatism -and from an unduly small share of business, until our deluded people wake -up and smash some furniture, or until the banks themselves recognize -the dangerous part which their own issues play in this pandemonium of -rascality. They will then be glad voluntarily to surrender them into the -hands of the Government. - -If now it be asked in what manner will the opportunities of the Captains -for robbing the community be restrained or curtailed by substituting -Government money for bank-notes, the reply is that the beneficial effects -of such restraint will not arise so much from a difference in the money -as from a difference in the power to issue or retire it. And in a future -article will be shown, by practical examples, the difference between the -working of an elastic currency when such elasticity is controlled by the -Government, and when it is controlled, as it now is, by the Chevaliers of -Industry. - - * * * * * - -“My agency in procuring the passage of the National Bank Act was the -greatest financial mistake of my life. It has built up a monopoly that -affects every interest in the country. It should be repealed. But before -this can be accomplished the people will be arrayed on one side and -the banks on the other in a contest such as we have never seen in this -country.” - - HON. SALMON P. CHASE. - - * * * * * - -“If it is possible to inaugurate a greater system of robbery of the -people’s money [than the state banks], that system has been inaugurated -in the present system of national banks. The money lost by the people -under the old system of state banks is a mere bagatelle when compared to -that which has been and will be taken from them under the present system -of national banks.” - - HON. JAMES G. BLAINE (1880). - - * * * * * - -“Attempts to monopolize wheat, copper, sugar and other commodities have -been dealt with by writers and politicians as conspiracies against -society. - -“But the monopolization of money, the medium of exchange, is strangely -regarded as essential to the welfare of society. - -“And yet money monopoly is a monopoly of not merely one, but of all -commodities.” - - ARTHUR KITSON. - - - - - _The Open Door of the Constitution_ - - THE NECESSITY FOR AMENDMENTS AND OUR FAILURE TO REVISE THAT - DOCUMENT BY THE METHOD SUGGESTED BY ITS FOUNDERS - - BY FREDERICK UPHAM ADAMS - _Author of “The Kidnapped Millionaires,” “John Burt,” “Colonel - Monroe’s Doctrine” and “The Shades of the Fathers”_ - - -The men who builded the Constitution were consumed by no senseless -adulation of their own handicraft. They were not possessed of the -delusion that they were inspired, neither did they dream that future -generations would search the record of their quarrels and selfish -compromises for the key which would enable them to solve problems as -they arose. They planned a document for the regulation of a people whom -they believed unfitted for more than a small share in the affairs of -government. They were not blind to its imperfections, but they assumed -that those who came after them would have the sense to remedy defects as -they developed under the operation of the system then timidly launched. - -There is this justification for the worship of the founders of the -Constitution, viz., they had the common sense to revise and modify their -governmental charter so as to conform to new conditions—a trait or an -instinct of which hardly a trace remains in their descendants. - -In the popular parlance of those days the proposed Constitution was -called “The New Roof,” and its founders urged the people to get under -it and keep out of the rain. It is difficult to address an appeal to a -people which prefers to venerate that roof on account of its antiquity, -rather than to repair the innumerable leaks and fissures due to decay and -to the gales and storms of more than a hundred years. - -The man who venerates any work of human origin is an ass. His asininity -is exactly in degree with the smallness of the objects selected for -his veneration. The man who humbly lowers his eyes in contemplation of -a political constitution proclaims a lack of mental breadth fitted to -comprehend humanity or to understand the plain lessons of history, and -he has insulted the one entity worthy of veneration—the Maker of the -Universe. - -In a preceding article I proved that the framers of the Constitution -distrusted the people almost to the point of hatred, and that they -deliberately planned to design a document which would give them the -semblance of popular rule but none of its substance. This is an -unquestioned historical fact. Its declaration may seem startling to those -who are confronted with the unvarnished truth for the first time, but -they will find it refreshing to study the real history of those days, -rather than ignorantly to worship demigods who never existed. - -Immutable laws cannot be coexistent with progress. We should study the -past, not for the purpose of supinely imitating it, but with a view of -profiting by its mistakes. That government is best which avoids the -pitfalls of the past, exists for those who live today, and erects no -barriers for the generations that will follow. - -For the benefit of those who still cling to the belief that -constitutional wisdom had its birth with Washington and his compatriots, -I take the liberty of quoting a few extracts from letters written by the -Father of his Country before and after the constitutional convention had -finished its labors. These utterances of Washington are trite and easily -understood, and since their authenticity is unquestioned, they possess as -much of inspiration as any wisdom coming from him or his colleagues. - -These extracts are contained in letters written by Washington to leading -men of that period, urging them to give their support to the adoption of -the new Constitution, and he pinned his faith to one argument, as you -shall see. I commend to all idolaters of that document a careful reading -of Washington’s opinion of it, and his advice to them. - -Shortly before the convention met he wrote a letter to John Jay, bearing -the date of March 10, 1787. The convention assembled May 14 of that year. -In that letter Washington said: - -“Notwithstanding the boasted virtue of America, it is more than probable -we shall exhibit the last melancholy proof that mankind _are not -competent to their own government without the means of coercion in a -sovereign_.” - -There is no occult meaning hidden in these words. Washington had no -faith in the capacity of the people to govern themselves, and did not -hesitate to say so. In this, as I proved in a preceding article, he was -in accord with the overwhelming majority of the delegates who composed -that convention. The question I desire to ask is this: Was Washington -inspired when he wrote those lines to John Jay, and if not, when did his -inspiration begin? - -Let us see what he wrote after the convention had finished its work. On -January 12, 1788, he wrote to Mr. Charles Carter as follows: - -“I am not a blind admirer (for I saw its imperfections) of the -Constitution to which I have assisted to give birth; but I am fully -persuaded it is the best that can be obtained at this day, and that it -is it or disunion before us. When the defects of it are experienced, a -constitutional door is open for amendments.” - -There is nothing evasive about this, but those who now repeat such -sentiments are suspected of treason by fools, and of a lack of patriotism -by unthinking conservatives. On February 7, 1788, Washington wrote to -Lafayette and said: - -“Should the Constitution which is now offered to the people of America be -found on experiment less perfect than it can be made, a constitutional -door is left open for its amelioration.” - -We have made that experiment. Have we found the Constitution perfect? -Where is that “constitutional door,” and why do we not open it? - -Writing from Mount Vernon in October, 1787, to Henry Knox, Washington -said: - -“Is there not a constitutional door open for alterations and amendments? -Is it not likely that real defects will be as readily discovered after as -before trial? Will not our successors be as ready to apply the remedy as -ourselves, if occasion should demand it? To think otherwise will, in my -opinion, be ascribing more love of country, more wisdom and more virtue -to ourselves than I think we deserve.” - -Dear Shade of Washington! You may have been inspired, but you were not -able to foresee the bigotry, the ignorance and the cowardice of your -descendants. In the language of Cicero, “we are so tied to certain -beliefs that we are bound to defend even those we do not approve.” We -are like the fools Montaigne describes, “who do not ask whether such and -such a thing be true, but whether it has been so and so understood.” We -know that the Constitution is full of errors, but all that we ask is -that we may be given the wisdom so to interpret it as to suffer as few -discomforts from its perpetual operation as possible. In the language of -Seneca, we believe in “not only a necessity of erring, but we have a -love of error.” - -One more of the innumerable quotations of like purport from George -Washington will be sufficient. On November 10, 1787, he wrote from Mount -Vernon to Bushrod Washington and said: - -“The people (for it is with them to judge) can, as they will have the -advantage of experience on their side, decide with as much propriety on -the alterations and amendments which are necessary as ourselves. I do -not think we are more inspired, have more wisdom or possess more virtue -than those who will come after us. The power under the Constitution will -always be with the people.” - -I have been a fairly zealous student of American history, yet I have -never seen these quotations from the writings of George Washington in -print outside of the huge compilation of his documents and letters to -be found in well-ordered reference libraries. Certain it is that our -school children are not taught that such characters as Washington doubted -the absolute perfection of the Constitution. Certain it is that not one -man in ten thousand in the United States ever has had an opportunity to -consider our Constitution in the light of the facts presented in this -paper and in the one which preceded it. - -The truth is that the people of the United States are unfamiliar not -only with the history of the formation of the Constitution, but the vast -majority of them do not know what it contains. Many of them confound the -Declaration of Independence with the Constitution. What is the “Open -Door” in the Constitution to which Washington repeatedly refers? - -Before considering that, let us list a few of the abuses which the more -thoughtful admit exist under our Constitution. Ignoring all of lesser -importance I will name four, any one of which constitutes a menace to the -perpetuation of free government. These are as follows: - -First, the election of a President and Vice-President under the absurd -and antiquated method provided by the Constitution, in which citizens -vote for electors, and the decision is made by the unit vote of states, -irrespective of the majorities cast. Under this grotesque system it -has repeatedly happened that candidates obtaining an actual majority -of the votes cast have been defeated by the minority. There is not one -valid argument in favor of the continuance of this unrepublican and -undemocratic elective monstrosity. - -Second, the election of senators by the state legislatures, a system -which is the fountain-head of the corruption of American politics, and -which has given us a Senate, a large percentage of whose members owe -their selection to selfish private interests. The error of this system -has been so conclusively shown that there is no honest defense for it. -The founders of the Constitution designed it for the purpose of making -the Senate the citadel of patriotic wealth; it has degenerated into -a chamber in which the admitted representatives of vested interests -defend their masters against fair legislative enactments, and force -unfair compromises on the popular branch which constitutes the House of -Representatives. - -Third, the equal representation of unequal states in the Senate. This -vicious compromise was made in the constitutional convention as the -price of the perpetuation of slavery. There was no justification for it -even at a time when this nation was no more than a federation of states. -Washington, Madison, Randolph, Morris, Franklin and every broad-minded -man in that convention protested against it, and their fame is tarnished -because they finally submitted to so cowardly and unfair a compromise. -Now that the logic of events has made this a nation, despite the -restrictive clauses of the Constitution, the dual participation of an -unrepresentative Senate is so grotesque that its continuance is fraught -with a danger which at any time is likely to precipitate civil war, -in the event that at some crucial moment this body shall exercise its -constitutional powers combined with those it has arrogated. - -Unless the Constitution be entirely repealed, there is no way by -amendment to deprive any state of its equal representation in the Senate. -It is too much to expect that all of the corrupt boroughs which now hold -the undeserved dignity of statehood will relinquish the selfish advantage -bequeathed them by the unwisdom of the forefathers, but it is possible -to make amendments to the Constitution which will reduce the Senate of -the United States to a state of harmless inefficiency. It is possible to -preserve its form and extract its substance, and the people should set -about the task with no qualms of conscience. Great Britain showed the -way when she boldly reduced her House of Lords to a condition of docile -vassalage to the popular branch of her Parliament, and she was aroused -to this righteous act of retaliation by abuses which were of small -consequence compared to those from which we have tamely suffered. It is -possible, under the Constitution, to strip the Senate of its legislative -power, permitting it to retain its feature of unequal representation, and -reserving for it a chamber in which those who wish for the honor can keep -up the pretense of governmental power and prestige. - -Fourth, the specific enumeration and limitation of the powers and -functions of the Federal Judiciary, including the Supreme Court of the -United States and all other courts authorized by Congress. This is the -paramount subject for constitutional amendment or revision. The founders -of our Government did not contemplate any such grant of power as now is -wielded by the courts. There is nothing in the document itself which -warrants the prerogatives which have been assumed by the courts, and -the records of the speeches and the proceedings in the constitutional -convention when the judiciary was under consideration contain no hint -that they were to be granted the power to annul a law passed by Congress -and signed by the President of the United States. Years passed before -the Supreme Court dared attempt such a step, and when it did Jefferson -scornfully ignored its mandate. Presidents as late as Lincoln have -declined to acquiesce in the interference of the Federal Courts, but -slowly and insidiously this branch of the Government has reached out and -grasped power, until today it is supreme in fact as well as in name. - -The Supreme Court is the creature of the Presidents and is subject to -the direction of Congress, yet it has arrogated to itself the power of -overriding the will of the entire people as recorded by its Congress -and affirmed by its chief executive. If they are doing this without -warrant of the Constitution, the day will come when, in the inevitable -conflict between the court and the Congress or the President, or both -combined, there will be precipitated a question which will rend the -country with civil war. If they do this under the implied authority of -the Constitution, that document should be amended so as to preclude -their future interference with laws passed by Congress and signed by the -President. - -As we exist today we are not a republic or a democracy, neither have we -a representative form of government. We are a “judiciary”—if one may -coin such a word. Ours is the only country on earth where an elective -or appointed judge presumes to wield the most autocratic power of the -absolute monarch, viz., the veto of a law passed and demanded by the -people. We have become so accustomed to this that we do not properly -realize what it means. We teach ourselves to acknowledge the “sacredness -of the judiciary” and to bow in humble contrition to any mandate -thundered from the Bench. We assent to the insane doctrine that there is -not enough of wisdom in a House of Representatives elected by 17,000,000 -voters, combined with the check of an ultra-conservative Senate chosen -by forty-five state legislatures, and indorsed by the judgment and -responsibility of a President, to incorporate for our government a law -until such law has been affirmed by the majority of a Supreme Court. - -If there be sense in this dogma, I am unable to see why it is not equally -just that a minority of the Supreme Court should not be empowered to -annul laws. Why does the Supreme Court cling to the inconsistent theory -that its majority possesses as much wisdom as its minority? - -In a series of articles which I am now preparing, I am attempting to -discuss certain of these questions with as much frankness as I possess; -but the purpose of this paper, and the one which preceded it, is to -call attention to “the unopened door in the Constitution”—the one which -Washington repeatedly referred to in the passages from which I have -quoted. It is a difficult matter to arouse public attention to any single -amendment, no matter how important the subject may be. There is a reason -for this. - -The people instinctively know that no one amendment can redress the -ills which now exist. They do not know how to go about a crusade for -constitutional reform, and most of them probably imagine that there is -no way in which it can be done. There is a way, a simple, practical -and legal way, and the political party which takes advantage of it and -conducts an intelligent campaign in its behalf will sweep all before it. - -Here is “The Open Door of the Constitution of the United States,” as -contained in Article V of that document: - - The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall - deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this - Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures - of two-thirds of the several states, _shall call a - convention for proposing amendments_, which, in either - case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part - of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of - three-fourths of the several states, _or by conventions - in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of - ratification may be proposed by the Congress_; provided - that no amendment which may be made prior to the year 1808 - shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses of - the Ninth Section of the First Article; and that no state, - without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage - in the Senate. - -There is a door as wide as that of a church. It is the most liberal and -democratic feature of a document filled with restrictions, and Washington -and others were justified in assuming that we would have the sense to -walk through it, rather than to attempt to get in by scaling the walls -and crawling through a steeple window. - -Our alleged progressive political platforms are of no value without a -demand for the revision of the Constitution of the United States along -some such lines as I have attempted to outline. It is idle to expect the -people to rally to the support of any reform, however badly needed, so -long as they have valid reasons to believe there is likelihood that a -bill in its behalf will meet the fate of the lamented income tax law. Why -ask them to shoot in the air when so broad a target is before them? - -The wise thing to do is to attack boldly the unfair provisions of -the Constitution, and attack it with a fair weapon fashioned by the -Constitution. Such a campaign possesses all the elements of strength and -strategy. You are safe from the attacks of those who ever hide behind the -alleged sanctity of that document. You can turn their own weapons against -them. You are standing on the Constitution. You are following to the -letter the advice and wishes of Washington and others of his day. - -The bulls and excommunications of the courts need not dismay you. Are not -they the creatures of the Constitution? Does anyone deny that there is a -possibility that the courts have gone beyond their constitutional powers? -Is it not within the province of the free people to amend a constitution -by constitutional means? - -Again, a movement for any one of the reforms which are now pressing to -the fore would appeal with irresistible force to its advocates if they -knew that success at the polls would incorporate its provisions in the -organic law of the land. Those who believe that the best interests of -the nation will be conserved by more just systems of taxation, by direct -legislation, by the control or ownership of the means of transportation -and other measures in line with the logic of events, would know that -they were not fighting in vain if a victory with the ballot meant a -legislative victory. - -I hold that the “Open Door” offers not only the one way to popular -triumph, but that success by it is certain and not difficult of -attainment. Our national structure totters because of an antique and -crumbling foundation. Rebuild it! - - - - - _To One Departed_ - - - Sitting, apart in the café, under a glare of light, - Surrounded by wealth and beauty, I ponder here tonight. - ’Tis down in old New Orleans and the Carnival is in sway, - There are music, jest and laughter—the revelry of the gay. - - While sitting here alone, dear, midst all this merry throng, - The band begins to play, dear, our old, best loved song; - They call it, dear, “Love’s Old Sweet Song,” and oh, it brings to me - A longing deep to lay me down and rest, sweetheart, by thee. - - I listen to the music and hear the chattering throng, - There steals o’er me a wondrous spell, again I hear the song - _As sung by you_, in the long ago, whose sweetness was so brief, - And now, alone, I sit here with your memory and my grief. - - I have wandered over many lands in search of something true, - And now I know, my darling, I found it but in you. - I’ve searched afar for sweet content, and sought in vain for rest, - I know I ne’er could find it, dear, save on thy faithful breast. - - Amidst this scene of life and mirth it is for you I crave, - I seem to stand a thousand miles away, beside your grave, - And see the stars that o’er it, there, a gentle vigil keep, - And kiss the flowers that wave o’er you, my sweetheart, in your sleep. - - So, sitting here, surrounded thus by joy and beauty rare - With much to bring me happiness, and much to banish care, - I know that now and evermore, I’ll always love you best, - And learn to lie beside you, dear, to sleep—to sleep and rest. - - My eyes grow dim with longing; my heart grows numb with pain; - I feel that you are waiting, dear, to clasp me once again. - My soul pines for the journey’s end, when I, too, shall be free, - And I’ll lie down to sleep, love, in the last long sleep, near thee. - - BERNARD P. BOGY. - - - - - _According to Garfield_ - - -STELLA—Would you marry a poor man? - -BELLA—Yes, I would marry a beef magnate who only made two per cent. - - - - - _Pole Baker_ - - BY WILL N. HARBEN - _Author of “The Georgians,” “Abner Daniel,” etc._ - - - SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS - - In a small Georgia town a friendship has grown up between - Pole Baker, reformed moonshiner and an unusual and likable - character, and young Nelson Floyd, who was left as a baby in - a mountain cabin by an unknown woman just before her death. - Floyd, in the face of many trials and temptations, has worked - his way up in the world and made a man of himself. Jeff Wade - appears at the store, in which Floyd has become a partner, - to avenge on him a rumored injustice to Wade’s sister. Pole - Baker’s tact prevents a duel by making Floyd see that the - unselfish course is for him to avoid a meeting. Cynthia - Porter comes to the store, alarmed for Floyd’s safety. On his - way home to his family Pole falls a victim to his besetting - sin of drink. - - - CHAPTER IV - -It was Sunday morning a week later. Springtown’s principal church -stood in the edge of the village, on the red clay road leading up the -mountainside, now in the delicate green of spring, touched here and there -by fragrant splotches of pink honeysuckle and white, dark-eyed dogwood -blossoms. The building was a diminutive affair, with five shuttered -windows on either side, a pulpit at one end and a door at the other. -A single aisle cut the rough benches into two halves, one side being -occupied by the men and the other by the women. The only exception to -this rule was a bench set aside, as if by common consent, for Captain -Duncan, who always sat with his family, as did any male guests who -attended service with them. - -The Rev. Jason Hillhouse was the regular pastor. He was under thirty -years of age, very tall, slight of build and nervous in temperament. -He wore the conventional black frock coat, high-cut waistcoat, black -necktie and gray trousers. He was popular. He had applied himself closely -to the duties of his calling and was considered a man of character and -worth. While not a college graduate, he was yet sufficiently well-read -in the Bible and religious literature to suit even the more progressive -of mountain churchgoers. He differed radically from many of the young -preachers who were living imitations of that noted evangelist, the Rev. -Tom P. Smith, “the whirlwind preacher,” in that he was conservative in -the selection of topics for discourse and in his mild delivery. - -Today he was at his best. Few in the congregation suspected it, but if -he distributed his glances evenly over the upturned faces, his thoughts -were focussed on only one personality—that of modest Cynthia Porter, who, -in a becoming gray gown, sat with her mother on the third bench from the -front. Mrs. Porter, a woman fifty-five years of age, was very plainly -attired in a homespun dress, to which she had added no ornament of any -kind. She wore a gingham poke-bonnet, the hood of which hid her face -even from the view of the minister. Her husband, old Nathan Porter, sat -directly across the aisle from her. He was one of the roughest-looking -men in the house. He had come without his coat, and wore no collar or -necktie, and for comfort, as the day was warm, he had even thrown off the -burden of his suspenders, which lay in careless loops about his hips. -He had a broad expanse of baldness, to the edge of which hung a narrow -fringe of white hair, a healthful, pink complexion and blue eyes. - -When the sermon was over and the doxology sung, the preacher stepped down -into the congregation to take the numerous hands cordially extended to -him. While he was thus engaged old Mayhew came from the amen corner on -the right, and nodded and smiled patronizingly. - -“You did pretty well today, young man,” he said. “I like doctrinal talks. -There’s no getting around good, sound doctrine, Hillhouse. We’d have -less lawlessness if we could keep our people filled plumb full of sound -doctrine. But you don’t look like you’ve been eating enough, my boy. Come -home with me and I’ll give you a good dinner. I heard a fat hen squeal -early this morning, as my cook jerked her head off. It looks a pity to -take life on a Sunday, but if that hen had been allowed to live, she -might have broken a commandment by hunting for worms on this day of rest. -Come on with me.” - -“I can’t, Brother Mayhew; not today, thank you.” The young man flushed as -his glance struggled on to the Porters, who were waiting near the door. -“The fact is, I’ve already accepted an invitation.” - -“From somebody with a girl in the family, I’ll bet.” Mayhew laughed as -he playfully thrust the crooked end of his walking-stick against the -preacher’s side. “I wish I knew why so many women are dead set on getting -a preacher in the family. It may be because they know they will be -provided for after some fashion or other by the church at large, in case -of death or accident.” - -The preacher laughed as he moved on, shaking hands and dispensing cheery -words of welcome right and left. Presently the way was clear and he found -himself near Cynthia and her mother. - -“Sorry to keep you standing here,” he said, his color rising as he took -the girl’s hand. - -“Oh, it doesn’t matter at all, Brother Hillhouse,” the old woman assured -him. “I’ll go on an’ overtake Mr. Porter; you and Cynthia can stroll -home by the shadiest way. You needn’t walk fast; you’ll get hot if you -do. Cynthia, I won’t need you before dinner. I’ve got everything ready, -with nothing to do but lay back the cloth and push the plates into their -places. I want Brother Hillhouse just to taste that pound cake you made. -I’m a good hand at desserts myself, Brother Hillhouse, but she can beat -me any day in the week.” - -“Oh, I know Miss Cynthia can cook,” said the minister. “At the picnic at -Cohutta Springs last week she took the prize for her fried chicken.” - -“I told you all that mother fried that chicken,” said the girl -indifferently. She had seen Nelson Floyd mounting his fine Kentucky horse -among the trees across the street, and had deliberately turned her back -toward him. - -“Well, I believe I _did_ fix the chicken,” Mrs. Porter admitted, “but -she made the custards and the cake and icing. Besides, the poor girl was -having a lot of trouble with her dress. She washed and did up that muslin -twice—the iron spoiled it the first time. I declare I’d have been out of -heart, but she was cheerful all through it. Here comes Nathan now. He -never will go home by himself; he is afraid I’ll lag behind and he’ll get -a late dinner.” - -“How are you today, Brother Porter?” Hillhouse asked as they came upon -the old man under the trees, a little way from the church. - -“Oh, I’m about as common,” was the drawling answer. “You may notice that -I limp a little in my left leg. Ever since I had white swellin’ I’ve had -trouble with that selfsame leg. I wish you folks would jest stop an’ take -a peep at it. It looks to me like the blood’s quit circulatin’ in the -veins. It went to sleep while you was a-talkin’ this mornin’—now, I’ll -swear I didn’t mean that as a reflection.” - -He paused at a fallen tree, put his foot upon it and started to roll up -the leg of his trousers, but his wife drew him on impatiently. - -“I wonder what you’ll do next,” she said reprovingly. “This is no time -and place for that. What would the Duncans think if they was to drive by -while you was doing the like of that on a public road? Come on with me, -and let’s leave the young folks to themselves.” - -Grumblingly Porter obeyed. His wife walked briskly and made him keep pace -with her, and they were soon several yards ahead of the young couple. -Hillhouse was silent for several minutes, and his smooth-shaven face was -quite serious in expression. - -“I’m afraid I’m going to bore you on that same old line, Miss Cynthia,” -he said presently. “Really, I can’t well help it. This morning I fancied -you listened attentively to what I was saying in my sermon.” - -“Oh, yes, I always do that,” the girl returned, with an almost -perceptible shudder of her shoulders. - -“It helped me wonderfully, Miss Cynthia, and once a hope actually flashed -through me so strong that I lost my place. You may have seen me turning -the pages of the Bible. I was trying to think where I’d left off. The -hope was this: that some day, if I keep on begging you, and showing my -deep respect and regard you will not turn me away. Just for one minute -this morning it seemed to me that you had actually consented, and—and the -thought was too much for me.” - -“Oh, don’t speak any more about it, Mr. Hillhouse,” Cynthia pleaded, -giving him a full look from her wonderful brown eyes. “I have already -said all I can to you.” - -“But I’ve known many of the happiest marriages to finally result from -nothing but the sheer persistence of the man concerned, and when I think -of _that_—and when I think of the chance of losing you, it nearly drives -me crazy. I can’t help feeling that way. You are simply all I care for on -earth. Do you remember when I first met you? It was at Hattie Mayfield’s -party, just after I got this appointment; we sat on the porch alone and -talked. I reckon it was merely your respect for my calling that made you -so attentive, but I went home that night out of my head with admiration. -Then I saw that Frank Miller was going with you everywhere, and that -people thought you were engaged, and, as I did not admire his moral -character, I was very miserable in secret. Then I saw that he stopped, -and I got it from a reliable source that you had refused him because you -did not want to marry such a man, and my hopes and admiration climbed -still higher. You had proved that you were the kind of a woman for a -preacher’s wife—the kind of woman I’ve always dreamed of having as my -companion in life.” - -“I didn’t love him, that was all,” Cynthia said calmly. “It would not -have been fair to him or myself to have received his constant attentions.” - -“But now I am down in the dregs again, Miss Cynthia.” Hillhouse gave a -sigh. It was almost a groan. - -She glanced at him once and then lowered her eyes half fearfully. And, -getting his breath rapidly, the preacher bent more closely over her -shoulder, as if to catch some reply from her lips. She made none. - -“Yes, I’m in the dregs again—miserable, afraid, jealous! You know why, -Miss Cynthia. You know that any lover would be concerned to see the girl -upon whom he had based his every hope going often with Nelson Floyd. Of -all men, he——” - -“Stop!” The girl paused, turned upon him suddenly and gazed at him -steadily. “If you have anything to say about him don’t say it to me. He’s -my friend, and I will not listen to anything against those I like.” - -“I’m not going to criticize him.” Hillhouse bit his white, unsteady lip. -“A man’s a fool who tries to win by running down his rival. The way to -run a man up in a woman’s eyes is to openly run him down. Men are strong -enough to bear such things, but women shelter them like they do their -babies. No, I wasn’t going to run him down, but I am afraid of him. When -you go out driving with him, I——” - -Again Cynthia turned upon him and looked at him steadily, her eyes -flashing. “Don’t go too far; you might regret it,” she said. “It is an -insult to be spoken to as you are speaking to me.” - -“Oh, don’t, don’t! You misunderstand me,” protested the bewildered lover. -“I—I am not afraid, you understand, of course, I’m not afraid you will -not be able to—to take care of yourself, but he has so many qualities -that win and attract women that—Oh, I’m jealous, Miss Cynthia, that’s -the whole thing in a nutshell! He has the reputation of being a great -favorite with all women, and now that he seems to admire you more than -any of the rest——” - -The girl raised her eyes from the ground; a touch of color rose to -her cheeks. “He doesn’t admire me more than the others,” she said -tentatively. “You are mistaken, Mr. Hillhouse.” - -He failed to note her rising color, the subtle eagerness oozing from her -compact self-control. - -“No, I’m not blind,” he went on, blindly building up his rival’s cause. -“He admires you extravagantly—he couldn’t help it. You are beautiful, -you have vivacity, womanly strength and a thousand other qualities that -are rare in this section. Right here I want to tell you something. I -know you will laugh, for you don’t seem to care for such things, but -you know Colonel Price is quite an expert on genealogical matters. He’s -made a great study of it, and his chief hobby is that many of these -sturdy mountain people are the descendants of fine old English families, -from younger sons, you know, who settled first in Virginia and North -Carolina, and then drifted into this part of Georgia. He didn’t know of -my admiration for you, but one day at the meeting of the Confederate -Veterans at Springtown he saw you on the platform with the other ladies -and he said: ‘I’ll tell you, Hillhouse, right there is a living proof of -what I have always argued. That daughter of Nathan Porter’s has a face -that is as patrician as any woman of English royal birth. I understand,’ -the Colonel went on, ‘that her mother was a Radcliff, which is one of the -best and most historic of the Virginia families, and Porter, as rough as -he is, comes from good old English stock.’ Do you wonder, Cynthia, that -I agree with him? There really is good blood in you. Your grandmother is -one of the most refined and elegant old ladies I have ever met anywhere, -and I have been about a good deal.” - -“I am not sure that Colonel Price is right,” the girl said. “I’ve heard -something of that kind before. I think Colonel Price had an article in -one of the Atlanta papers about it, with a list of old family names. My -father knows little or nothing about his ancestry, but my grandmother -has always said her forefathers were wealthy people. She remembers her -grandmother as being a fine old lady, who, poor as she was, tried to make -her and the other children wear their bonnets and gloves in the sun to -keep their complexions white. But I don’t like to discuss that sort of -thing, Mr. Hillhouse. It won’t do in America. I think we are what we make -ourselves, not what others made of themselves. One is individuality, the -other imitation.” - -The young man laughed. “That’s all very fine,” he said, “when it was your -forefathers who made it possible for you to have the mental capacity -for the very opinion you have expressed. At any rate, there is a little -comfort in your view, for if you were to pride yourself on Price’s -theories, as many a woman would, you would look higher than a poor -preacher with such an untraceable name as mine. And you know, ordinary as -it is, you have simply got to wear it sooner or later.” - -“You must not mention that again,” Cynthia said firmly. “I tell you, I am -not good enough for a minister’s wife. There is a streak of worldliness -in me that I shall never overcome.” - -“That cuts me like a knife,” said Hillhouse. “It cuts because it -reminds me of something I once heard Pole Baker say in a group at the -post-office. He said that women simply do not like what is known as a -‘goody-goody’ man. Sometimes as coarse a man as Pole hits the nail of -truth on the head, while a better educated man would miss and mash his -thumb. But if I am in the pulpit, I’m only human. It seemed to me the -other day when I saw you and Nelson Floyd driving along up the mountain -that the very fires of hell itself raged inside of me. I always hold -family prayer at home for the benefit of my mother and sister, but that -night I cut it out and lay on the bed rolling and tossing like a crazy -man. He’s handsome, Miss Cynthia, and he has a soft voice and a way of -making all women sympathize with him—why they do it I don’t know. It’s -true he’s had a most miserable childhood, but he is making money hand -over hand now and has everything in his favor.” - -“He’s not a happy man, Mr. Hillhouse, in spite of his success. Anyone who -knows him can see that.” - -“Oh, I suppose he broods over the mystery that hangs over his childhood,” -said the preacher. “That’s only natural for an ambitious man. I once knew -a fellow like that, and he told me he never intended to get married on -that account. He was morbidly sensitive about it, but it is different -with Floyd. He does know his name, and he will, no doubt, discover his -relatives some day. But it hurts me to see you with him so much.” - -“Why, he goes with other girls,” Cynthia said, her lips set together -tightly, her face averted. - -“And perhaps you know, Miss Cynthia, that people talk about some of the -girls he has been with.” - -“I know,” said the girl, looking at him with an absent glance. “There -is no use going over that. I hear nothing all day long at home except -that—that—that! Oh, sometimes I wish I were dead!” - -“Ah, that hurts worse than anything you have ever said!” declared the -minister in a tone of pain as he stroked his thin face with an unsteady -hand. “Why should a beautiful, pure, human flower like you be made -unhappy because of contact with a human weed——?” - -“Stop, I tell you! Stop!” The girl stared at him with flashing eyes. “I -am not going to have you talk to me as if I were a child. I know him -as well as you do. You preach all day long that a person ought to be -forgiven of his sins, and yet you want to load some of them down with -theirs—that is, when it suits you. He has as good a right to—to—to reform -as anyone, and I, myself, have heard you say that the vilest sin often -purifies and lifts one up. Don’t get warped all to one side. I shall not -respect your views any more if you do.” - -Hillhouse was white in the face and trembling helplessly. - -“You are tying me hand and foot,” he said, with a groan. “If I ever had a -chance to gain my desires, I am killing them, but God knows I can’t help -it. I am fighting for my life.” - -“And behind another’s back,” added the girl firmly. “You’ve got to be -fair to him! As for myself, I don’t believe half the things that the -busybodies have said about him. Let me tell you something.” - -They had come to a little brook which they had to cross on brown, almost -submerged stepping-stones, and she paused, laying her small hand on his -arm, and said portentously: “Nelson Floyd has been alone with me several -times and has never yet told me that he loved me.” - -“I’m not going to say what is in my mind,” Hillhouse said, with a cold, -significant sneer on his white lip, as he took her hand and helped her -across the stream. - -“You say you won’t?” Cynthia gave him her eyes wonderingly, almost -pleadingly. - -“That is, not unless you will let me be plain with you,” Hillhouse -answered; “as plain as I’d be to my sister.” - -They walked on side by side in silence, now very near her father’s house. - -“You may as well finish what you were going to say,” the girl gave in, -with a sigh of resignation tinged with a curiosity that devoured her -precaution. - -“Well, I was going to say that, if what I have gathered here and there -is true, it is Nelson Floyd’s favorite method to _look_, do you -understand?—to _look_ love to the girls he goes with. He has never, it -seems, committed himself by a scratch of a pen or by word of mouth, and -yet every silly woman he has paid attention to, before he began to go -with you, has secretly sworn to herself that she was the world and all to -him.” - -Cynthia’s face became grave. Her glance went down and for a moment she -seemed incapable of speech. Finally, however, her color rose and she -laughed defiantly. - -“Well, here is a girl, Mr. Hillhouse, who will not be fooled that way, -and you may rely on that. So, don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of -myself.” - -“I’ve no doubt you will,” said the preacher gloomily. - -“Yes, you’ll see that I can,” Cynthia declared with animation. “There’s -mother on the porch. Good gracious, do change the subject. If she sets -in on it, I’ll not come to the table. She likes you and hates the ground -Nelson Floyd walks on.” - -“Perhaps that, too, will be my damnation,” Hillhouse retorted. “I know -something about human nature. I may see the day that I’d be glad of a -doubtful reputation.” - -He caught her reproachful glance at this remark as he opened the gate for -her and followed her in. Porter sat on the porch in the shade reading a -newspaper, and his wife stood in the doorway. - -“Run in and take off your things, Cynthia,” Mrs. Porter said, with a -welcoming smile. “Brother Hillhouse can sit with your pa till we call -dinner. I want you to help me a little bit. Your grandmother is lying -down, and doesn’t feel well enough to come to the table.” - -When the women had gone in, and the preacher had seated himself in a -rough, hide-bottomed chair near his host, Porter with a chuckle reached -down to the floor and picked up a smooth stick about twenty inches long, -to the end of which was attached a piece of leather about three inches -wide and four inches long. - -“That’s an invention o’ mine,” Porter explained proudly as he tapped -his knee with the leather. “Brother Hillhouse, ef you was to offer me a -new five-dollar note fer this thing, an’ I couldn’t git me another, I’d -refuse p’int-blank.” - -“You don’t say,” said Hillhouse, concentrating his attention on the -article by strong effort; “what is it for?” - -“I don’t know any other name fer it than a ‘fly-flap,’” said Porter. “I -set here one day tryin’ to read, an’ the flies made sech a dead set at my -bald head that it mighty nigh driv’ me crazy. I kept fightin’ ’em with -my paper an’ knockin’ my specs off an’ losin’ my place at sech a rate -that I got to studyin’ how to git out of the difficulty, fer thar was -a long fly spell ahead of us. Well, I invented this thing, an’ I give -you my word it’s as good fun as goin’ a-fishin’. I kin take it in my -hand—this way—an’ hold the paper too, an’ the minute one o’ the devilish -things lights on my scalp I kin give a twist o’ the wrist an’ that fly’s -done fer. You see, the leather is too flat an’ soft to hurt _me_, an’ I -never seen a fly yit that was nimble enough to git out from under it. -But my fun is mighty nigh over,” Porter went on. “Flies has got sense; -they profit by experience the same as folks does. At any rate, they seem -to know thar’s a dead-fall set on my bald spot, an’ they’ve quit tryin’ -to lay their eggs in the root-holes _o’_ my hair. Only now and then a -newcomer is foolhardy an’ inclined to experiment. The old customers are -as scared o’ my head as they are of a spider-web.” - -“That certainly is a rare device,” said Hillhouse. “I don’t know that I -ever heard of one before.” - -“I reckon not,” the farmer returned placidly. “Somebody always has to -lead out in matters of improvement. My wife an’ daughter was dead set -agin me usin’ it at fust. They never looked into the workin’ of it close, -an’ thought I mashed my prey on my head, but thar never was a bigger -mistake. The flap don’t even puncture the skin, as tender as their hides -are. I know, beca’se they always fall flat o’ their backs an’ kick -awhile before givin’ up.” - -At this moment Mrs. Porter came to the door and announced that dinner was -ready. - - - CHAPTER V - -Pole Baker decided to give the young people of the neighborhood a -corn-shucking. He had about fifty bushels of the grain, which he said had -been mellowing and sweetening in the husk all the winter, and, as the -market had advanced from sixty to seventy-five cents, he decided to sell. - -Pole’s corn-shuckings were most enjoyable festivities. Mrs. Baker usually -had some good refreshments and the young people came from miles around. -The only drawback was that Pole seldom had much corn to husk, and the -fun was over too soon. The evening chosen for the present gathering was -favored with clear moonlight and balmy weather. When Nelson Floyd walked -over, after working an hour on his books at the store, he found a merry -group in Pole’s front yard. - -“Yo’re jest in time,” Pole called out to him as he threw the frail gate -open for the guest to pass through. “I was afeard thar was a few more -petticoats than pants to string around my pile o’ corn, but you’ll help -even up. Come on, all of you, let’s mosey on down to the barn. Sally,” -he called out to his wife, a sweet-faced woman on the porch, “put them -childern to sleep an’ come on.” - -With merry laughter the young men and girls made a rush in the direction -of the barn. Nelson Floyd, with a sudden throbbing of the heart, had -noticed Cynthia Porter with the other girls, and as he and Baker fell in -behind, he asked: - -“Who came with Cynthia Porter, Pole?” - -“Nobody,” said Baker. “She come over jest ’fore dark by the short cut -through the meadow. I’ll bet a hoss you are thinkin’ o’ gallivantin’ ’er -back home.” - -“That’s what I came for,” said Floyd, with a smile. - -“Well, I’m sorry, for this once,” said Pole, “but I cayn’t alter my plans -fer friend or foe. I don’t have but one shuckin’ a year, an’ on that -occasion I’m a-goin’ to be plumb fair to all that accept my invite. You -may git what you want, but you’ll have to stand yo’r chance with the -balance. I’ll announce my rules in a minute, an’ then you’ll understand -what I mean.” - -They had now reached the great cone of corn, heaped up at the door of -the barn, and the merrymakers were dancing around it in the moonlight, -clapping their hands and singing. - -“Halt one minute!” Pole called out peremptorily, and there was silence. -“Now,” he continued, “all of you set down on the straw an’ listen to my -new rules. I’ve been studyin’ these out ever since my last shuckin’, an’ -these will beat all. Now, listen! Time is a great improver, an’ we-all -don’t have to shuck corn jest like our granddaddies did. I want to make -this thing interest you, fer that pile o’ corn has to be shucked an’ -throwed into the barn ’fore you leave yo’r places.” - -“Well, I wouldn’t preach a sermon fust,” laughed Mrs. Baker as she -appeared suddenly. “Boys an’ gals that git together fer a good time don’t -want to listen to an old married man talk.” - -“But one married man likes to listen to _that woman_ talk, folks,” Pole -broke in, “fer her voice makes sweet music to his ear. That’s a fact, -gentlemen an’ ladies; here’s one individual that could set an’ listen to -that sweet woman’s patient voice from dark to sunup, an’ then pray fer -more dark an’ more talk. I hain’t the right sort of a man to yoke to, -but she is the right sort of a woman. They hain’t all that way, though, -boys, an’ I’d advise you that are worthy of a good helpmeet to think an’ -look before you plunge into matrimony. Matrimony is like ice, which, -until you bust it, may cover pure, runnin’ water or a stagnant mud-hole. -Before marriage a woman will say yes an’ no as meek as that entire bunch -of females. Sugar wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but when she hooks her -fish she’ll do her best to make a sucker out’n it ef it’s a brook trout -at the start. I mean a certain _kind_ of a woman now, but, thank the -Lord, He made the other sort, too, an’ the other sort, boys, is what you -ort to look fer. I heard a desperate old bach say once that he believed -he’d stand a better chance o’ gettin’ a good female nature under a homely -exterior than under a pretty one, an’ he was on the rampage fer a snaggle -tooth; but I don’t know. A nature that’s made jest by a face won’t endure -one way or another long. Thar’s my little neighbor over thar; ef she -don’t combine both a purty face an’ a sweet, patient nature I’m no judge.” - -“Hush, Pole; Cynthia don’t want you to single her out in public that -a-way,” protested Mrs. Baker. - -“He’s simply bent on flattering more work out of me,” responded Cynthia, -quite adroitly, Floyd thought, as he noted her blushes in the moonlight. -“We are waiting for your rules, Mr. Baker.” - -“Yes,” spoke up Floyd, “give us the rules, and let us go to work, and -then you can talk all you want to.” - -“All right, here goes. Now, you are all settin’ about the same distance -from the pile, an’ you’ve got an equal chance. Now, the fust man or woman -who finds a red ear of corn must choose a partner to work with, an’, -furthermore, it shall be the duty o’ the man to escort the gal home, an’, -in addition to that, the winnin’ man shall be entitled to kiss any gal -in the crowd, an’ she hereby pledges herself to submit graceful. It’s a -bang-up good rule, fer them that want to be kissed kin take a peep at the -ear ’fore it’s shucked, an’ throw it to any man they select, an’ them -that don’t kin hope fer escape from sech an awful fate by blind luck.” - -“I think myself that it would be an awful fate to be kissed by a man you -didn’t care for,” laughed Mrs. Baker. “Pole has made his rules to suit -the men better than the women.” - -“The second rule is this,” added Pole, with a smile, “an’ that is, that -whoever finds a red ear, man or woman, I git to kiss my wife.” - -“Good, that’s all right!” exclaimed Floyd, and everybody laughed as they -set to work. Pole sat down near Floyd, and filled and lighted his pipe. -“I used to think everything was fair in a game whar gals was concerned,” -he said in an undertone. “I went to a shuckin’ once whar they had these -rules, an’ I got on to exactly what I see you are on to.” - -“Me? What do you mean?” asked Floyd. - -“Why, you sly old dog, you are not shuckin’ more than one ear in every -three you pick up. You are lookin’ to see ef the silk is dark. You have -found out that a red ear always has dark silk.” - -Floyd laughed. “Don’t give me away, Pole. I learned that when old man -Scott used to send me out on frosty mornings to feed the cattle.” - -“Well, I won’t say nothin’,” Pole promised. “Ef money was at stake, -it ’ud be different, but they say all’s fair whar war an’ women is -concerned. Besides, the sharper a man is the better he’ll provide fer -the wife he gits, an’ a man ought to be allowed to profit by his own -experience. You go ahead; ef you root a red ear out o’ that pile, old -hog, I’ll count you in.” - -Pole rose and went round the other side of the stack. There was a soft -rustling sound as the husks were torn away and swept in rising billows -behind the workers, and the steady thumping of the ears as they fell -inside the barn. - -There was a lull in the merriment and general rustle, and Floyd heard -Hattie Mayhew’s clear voice say: “I know why Cynthia is so quiet. It’s -because there wasn’t somebody here to open with prayer.” - -Floyd was watching Cynthia’s face, and he saw it cloud over for a -moment. She made some forced reply which he could not hear. It was Kitty -Welborn’s voice that came to him on her merry laugh. - -“Oh, yes; Cynthia has us all beaten badly!” said that little blonde. “We -wore our fingers to the bones fixing up his room. Cynthia didn’t lay her -hand to it, and yet he never looks at anyone else while he is preaching, -and as soon as the sermon is over he rushes for her. They say Mr. Porter -thinks Mr. Hillhouse is watching him, and has quit going to sleep.” - -“That’s a fact,” said Fred Denslow as he aimed a naked ear of corn at -the barn door and threw it. “The boys say Hillhouse will even let ’em -cuss in his presence, just so they will listen to what he says about Miss -Cynthia.” - -“That isn’t fair to Miss Cynthia,” Nelson Floyd observed suddenly. “I’m -afraid you are making it too hot for her over on that side, so I’m going -to invite her over here. You see, I have found the first red ear of corn, -and it’s big enough to count double.” - -There was a general shout and clapping of hands as he held it up to -view in the moonlight. He put it into the pocket of his coat as he rose -and moved round toward Cynthia. Bending down to her, he said: “Come on; -you’ve got to obey the rules of the game, you know.” - -She allowed him to draw her to her feet. - -“Now fer the fust act!” Pole Baker cried out. “I hain’t a-goin’ to have -no bashful corn-shuckers. Ef you balk or kick over a trace, I’ll leave -you out next time, shore.” - -“You didn’t make a thoroughly fair rule, Pole,” said Floyd. “The days of -woman slavery are past. I shall not take advantage of the situation.” - -Everybody laughed as Floyd led her round to his place and raked up a pile -of shucks for her to sit on. - -“Well, there ought to have been another rule,” laughed Fred Denslow, “an’ -that to the effect that if the winning man, through sickness, lack of -backbone or sudden death, is prevented from takin’ the prize, somebody -else ought to have a chance. Here I’ve been workin’ like a cornfield -nigger to win, and now see the feller heaven has smiled on throwin’ that -sort of a flower away. Good gracious, what’s the world comin’ to?” - -“Well, I’ll have _mine_,” Pole Baker was heard to say, and he took his -little wife in his arms and kissed her tenderly. - - - CHAPTER VI - -Refreshments had been served, the last ear of corn was husked and thrown -into the barn, and they had all risen to depart, when Hillhouse came down -the path from the cottage. He was panting audibly, and had evidently been -walking fast. He shook hands hurriedly with Pole and his wife, and then -turned to Cynthia. - -“I’m just from your house,” he said, “and I promised your mother to come -over after you. I was afraid I’d be late. The distance never seemed so -long before.” - -“I’m afraid you _are_ too late,” said Floyd, with a cold smile. “I was -lucky enough to find the first red ear of corn, and the reward was that I -might take home anyone I asked. I assure you I’ll see that Miss Cynthia -is well taken care of.” - -“Oh! I—I see.” The preacher seemed stunned by the disappointment. “I -didn’t know; I thought——” - -“Yes, Floyd has won fast enough,” said Pole, “an’ he’s acted the part -of the gentleman all through.” Pole explained what Floyd had done in -excusing Cynthia from the principal forfeit he had won. - -Hillhouse seemed unable to reply. The young people were moving toward the -house, and he fell behind Floyd and his partner, walking along with the -others and saying nothing. - -It was a lonely, shaded road which Floyd and Cynthia traversed to reach -her house. - -“My luck turned just in the nick of time,” Floyd said exultantly. “I went -there, little girl, especially to talk with you, and I was mad enough to -fight when I saw how Pole had arranged everything. Then by good fortune -and cheating I found that red ear; and—well, here we are. I never wanted -to see anyone so badly in my life. Really, I——” - -“Stop, don’t begin that!” Cynthia suddenly commanded, and she turned her -eyes upon him steadily. - -“Stop? Why do you say that?” - -“Because,” retorted she, “you talk that way to all the girls, and I don’t -want to hear it.” - -Floyd laughed. “You know I mean what I say,” he replied. “You know it; -you are just talking to hear your sweet, musical voice. Keep on; I could -listen all night.” - -“Well, I’m sure I don’t like you when you speak that way,” the girl said -seriously. “It sounds insincere—it makes me doubt you more than anything -else.” - -“Then some things about me don’t make you doubt me,” he said, with -tentative eagerness. - -She was silent for a moment, then she nodded her head. “I’ll admit that -some things I hear of you make me admire you—that is, in a way.” - -“Please tell me what they are,” he said, with a laugh. - -“I’ve heard, for one thing, of your being very good and kind to poor -people—people that Mr. Mayhew would have turned out of their homes for -debt if you hadn’t interfered.” - -“Oh, that was only business, little girl,” Floyd laughed. “I can simply -see farther than the old man can. He thought they never would be able to -pay, but I knew they would some day, and, also, that they would come up -with the back interest.” - -“I don’t believe it!” the girl said firmly. “Those things make me rather -like you, while the others make me—they make me—afraid.” - -“Afraid? Oh, how absurd—how very absurd!” They had reached a spring which -flowed from a great bed of rocks in the side of a rugged hill. He pointed -to a flat stone quite near it. “Do you remember the first time I ever had -a talk with you? It was while we were seated on this rock.” - -She recalled it, but only nodded her head. - -“It was a year ago,” he went on. “You had on a pink dress and wore your -hair like a little girl, in a plait down your back. Cynthia, you were -the prettiest creature I had ever seen. I could hardly talk to you for -wondering over your dazzling beauty. You are even more beautiful now; you -have ripened physically and mentally—grown to be a wonderful woman.” - -He sat down on the stone, still holding to her hand, and drawing her -toward him. - -She hesitated, looking back toward Baker’s cottage. - -“Sit down, little girl,” he entreated her. “I’m tired. I’ve worked hard -all day at the store, and that corn-shucking wasn’t the best thing to -taper off on.” - -She hesitated an instant longer, and then allowed him to draw her down -beside him. - -“There, now,” he said, “that’s more like it.” He still held her hand; it -lay warm, pulsating and helpless in his strong grasp. - -“Do you know why I did not kiss you back there?” he asked suddenly. - -“I don’t know why you didn’t, but it was good of you,” she answered. - -“No, it wasn’t,” he laughed. “I don’t want credit for what I don’t -deserve. I simply put it off, little girl—I put it off. I knew we would -be alone on our way home, and that you would not refuse me.” - -“But I shall!” she said. “I’m not going to let you kiss me here -in—in—this way.” - -“Then you’ll not be keeping your part of the contract,” he said, -tightening his grasp on her hand. “I’ve always considered you so fair in -everything; and, Cynthia, you don’t know how much I want to kiss you. -No, you won’t refuse me—you can’t!” His left arm was behind her, and it -encircled her waist. She made an effort to draw herself erect, but he -drew her closer to him. Her head sank upon his shoulder and lay there -while he pressed his lips to hers. - -Then she sat up, and firmly pushed his arm down from her waist. - -“I’m sorry I let you do it,” she said, under her breath. - -“But why, darling?” - -“Because I’ve said a thousand times that I would not; but I have—I -_have_, and I shall hate myself always.” - -“When you have made me the happiest fellow in the state?” Floyd said. -“Don’t go!” he urged. - -She had risen and turned toward her home. He walked beside her, suiting -his step to hers. - -“Do you remember the night we sat and talked in the grape-arbor at your -house?” he asked. “Well, you never knew it, but I’ve been there three -nights within the last month, hoping that I’d get to see you by some -chance or other. I always work late on my accounts, and when I am through -and the weather is fine, I walk to your house, climb over the fence, -slip through the orchard, and sit in that arbor, trying to imagine you -are there with me. I often see a light in your room, and the last time -I became so desperate that I actually whistled for you. This way.” He -put his thumb and little finger between his lips and made an imitation -of a whippoorwill’s call. “You see, no one could tell that from the real -thing. If you ever hear that sound from the grape-arbor, you’ll know I -need you, little girl, and you must not disappoint me.” - -“I’d never respond to it,” Cynthia said firmly. “The idea of such a -thing!” - -“But you know I can’t go to your house often, with your mother opposing -my visits as she does, and when I’m there she never leaves us alone. No, -I must have you to myself once in awhile, little woman, and you must help -me. Remember, if I call you, I’ll want you badly.” - -He whistled again, and the echo came back on the still air from a nearby -hillside. They were passing a log cabin which stood a few yards from the -roadside. - -“Budd Crow moved there today,” Cynthia said, as if desirous of changing -the subject. “He rented twenty acres from my father. The White Caps -whipped him a week ago, for being lazy and not working for his family. -His wife came over and told me all about it. She said it really had -brought him to his senses, but that it had broken her heart. She cried -while she was talking to me. Why does God afflict some women with men of -that kind, and make others the wives of governors and Presidents?” - -“Ah, there you are beyond my philosophic depth, Cynthia! You mustn’t -bother your pretty head about those things. I sometimes rail against -my fate for giving me the ambition of a king, while I do not even know -who—But I think you know what I mean!” - -“Yes, I think I do,” said the girl sympathetically, “and some day I -believe all that will be cleared up. Some coarse natures wouldn’t care a -straw about it, but you _do_ care, and it is the things we want and can’t -get that count.” - -“It is strange,” he said thoughtfully, “but of late I always think of -my mother as being young and beautiful. I think of her, too, as being -well-bred and educated. I think all those things without any proof even -as to what her maiden name was or where she came from—Are you still -unhappy at home, Cynthia?” - -“Nearly all the time,” the girl sighed. “As she grows older my mother -seems more faultfinding and suspicious than ever. Then she has set her -mind on my marrying Mr. Hillhouse. They seem to be working together to -that end, and it is very tiresome to me.” - -“I’m glad you don’t love him,” Floyd said. “I don’t think he could make -anyone of your nature happy.” - -The girl stared into his eyes. They had reached the gate of the -farmhouse, and he opened it for her. - -“Now, good night,” he said, pressing her hand. “Remember, if you ever -hear a lonely whippoorwill calling, that he is longing for companionship.” - -She leaned over the gate, drawing it toward her till the latch clicked in -its catch. She was thinking of the hot kiss he had pressed upon her lips, -and what he might later think about it. - -“I’ll never meet you there at night,” she said firmly. “My mother does -not treat me right, but I shall not do that when she is asleep. You may -come to see me here once in awhile if you wish.” - -“Well, I shall sit alone in the arbor,” he returned, with a low laugh, -“and I hope your hard heart will keep you awake.” - -She opened the front door, which was never locked, and went into her room -on the right of the little hall. The night was very still, and down the -road she heard Floyd’s whippoorwill call growing fainter and fainter as -he strode away. She found a match and lighted the lamp on her bureau, and -looked at her reflection in the little oval-shaped mirror. Instinctively -she shuddered and brushed her lips with her hand as she remembered his -embrace. - -“He’ll despise me,” she muttered. “He’ll think I am weak like all the -rest, but I am not. _I am not!_ I’ll show him that he can’t—and yet”—her -head sank to her hands, which were folded on the top of the bureau—“I -couldn’t help it. My God, I couldn’t help it! I must have wanted—no, I -didn’t. I didn’t!” - -There was a soft step in the hall. The door of her room creaked like the -low scream of a cat. A figure in white stood on the threshold. It was -Mrs. Porter in her nightdress, her feet bare, her iron-gray half-twisted -hair hanging upon her shoulders. - -“I couldn’t go to sleep, Cynthia,” she said, “till I knew you were safe -at home.” - -“Well, I’m here all right, mother; so go back to bed, and don’t catch -your death of cold.” - -The old woman moved across the room to Cynthia’s bed and sat down on it. -“I heard you coming down the road and went to the front window. I had -sent Brother Hillhouse for you, but it was Nelson Floyd who brought you -home. Didn’t Brother Hillhouse get there before you left?” - -“Yes, but I had already promised Mr. Floyd.” - -The old woman met her daughter’s glance steadily. “I suppose all I’ll do -or say won’t amount to anything. Cynthia, you know what I’m afraid of.” - -Cynthia stood straight, her face set and white, her great dreamy eyes -flashing. - -“Yes, and that’s the insult of it, mother. I tell you, you will drive me -too far. A girl at a certain time of her life wants a mother’s love and -sympathy; she doesn’t want threats, fears and disgraceful suspicions.” - -Mrs. Porter covered her face with her bony hands and groaned aloud. - -“You are confessing,” she said, “that you are tied an’ bound to him by -the heart, and that there isn’t anything left for you but the crumbs he -lets fall from his profligate table.” - -“Stop!” Cynthia sprang to her mother and laid her small hand heavily on -the thin shoulder. “Stop! You know you are telling a deliberate—” She -paused, turned and went slowly back to the bureau. “God forgive me! God -help me remember my duty to you as my mother. You’re old; you’re out of -your head!” - -“There, you said something.” The old woman had drawn herself erect and -sat staring at her daughter, her hands on her sharp knees. “You know my -sister Martha got to worryin’ when she was along about my age over her -lawsuit matters, and kept it up till her brain gave way. Folks always -said she and I were alike. Dr. Strong has told me time after time to -guard against worry, or I’d go out and kill myself as she did. I haven’t -mentioned this before, but I will now. I can’t keep down my fears and -suspicions while the very air is full of that man’s doings. He’s a devil. -Your pretty face has caught his fancy, and your holding him off, so far, -has made him determined to crush you like a plucked flower. Why don’t he -go to the Duncans, and the Prices, and lay his plans? Because the men -of those families shoot at the drop of the hat. He knows your pa is not -of that stamp, and that you haven’t any men kin to defend our honor. He -hasn’t any of his own; nobody knows who or what he is.” - -“Mother!” Cynthia’s tone had softened. Her face was filling with sudden -pity for the quivering creature on the bed. “Mother, will you not have -confidence in me? If I promise you faithfully to take care of myself -with him, and make him understand what and who I am, won’t that satisfy -you? Even men with bad reputations have a good side to their natures, -and they often reach a point at which they reform. I well know there are -strong women and weak women. Mother, I’m not a weak woman. As God is my -judge, I’m able to take care of myself. It pains me to say this, for you -ought to know it; you ought to feel it, see it in my eye and hear it in -my voice. Now, go to bed and sleep. I’m really afraid you may lose your -mind, since you told me about Aunt Martha.” - -The face of the old woman changed; it lighted up with hope. - -“Somehow, I believe what you say,” she said, with a faint smile. “Anyway, -I’ll try not to worry any more.” She rose and went to the door. “Yes, -I’ll try not to worry any more,” she repeated. “It may all come out -right.” - -When she found herself alone Cynthia turned and looked at her reflection -in the glass. - -“He didn’t once tell me in so many words that he loved me,” she said. “He -has never used that word. He has never said that he wanted to mar—” She -broke off, staring into the depths of her own great, troubled eyes. “And -yet I let him kiss me—_me_!” A hot flush filled her neck and face and -spread to the roots of her hair. Then suddenly she blew out the light and -crept to her bed. - - (_To be continued._) - - - - - _The Conservative of Today_ - - BY JOHN H. GIRDNER, M.D. - - -Ever since we have had a record of the human race it has been divided -into two parties, the _conservative_ and the _radical_. These two parties -have ever battled with each other for possession of the world. Strictly -speaking, all history—sacred and profane—is nothing else than a record of -this world-old struggle. - -“That which _is_, was made by God,” cries the conservative. - -“God is leaving _that_ and is entering _this other_,” replies the radical. - -These have been the battle-cries of mankind all down the ages. The -conservative has always been the stand-patter. He has been always on the -defensive, explaining, apologizing, opposing and pleading that change -would result in deterioration. The conservative must bear the vice, the -sins and crimes of the society of his time, and, bending under the load, -piteously pleads for delay, for compromise. He preaches the pusillanimous -doctrine of “let us bear the evils we already have rather than fly to -those we know not of.” Conservatism never made an invention, wrote a -poem, painted a picture nor breathed a prayer that rose above the roof. - -Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was a conservative. He stood pat on keeping the -Hebrew nation in slavery, against the radicalism of Moses. The Roman -empire was conservative. It stood pat on its pagan worship, against the -radicalism of the new religion. The scientific world stood pat on the -then accepted doctrine that the “sun do move,” against the radicalism -of Galileo that it is the earth that does the moving. King George was -a conservative. He stood pat on America’s remaining a British colony, -against the radicalism of Washington and the Continental Congress. The -French King, Louis XVI, was a conservative, and stood pat against the -radicalism of the people of France when they demanded liberty and bread. -The Czar of Russia and his titled aristocracy are conservatives. They are -standing pat against progress, enlightenment and justice among the masses -of the people of that unhappy country. But it is about the conservatives -of our own country that I want to write. I want to say a word about our -own stand-patters. - -Webster’s Dictionary says that a _conservative_ is, “One who desires -to maintain existing institutions and customs.” A conservative in the -United States today, then, is a man who wants the Beef Trust to continue -to force the farmer to accept its price for his cattle, and the consumer -to pay its price for dressed beef. A conservative is a man who wants -the railroads to continue giving rebates to favored shippers, and to -hold them from unfavored shippers. A conservative is a man who wants -the United States Senate to continue to be composed of men who do not -represent the masses of the people of their respective states, but -who represent the corporations. For instance, a conservative in New -York State is a man who wants Chauncey M. Depew and Thomas C. Platt to -continue in the United States Senate. - -Depew represents the Vanderbilt system of railroads, while Platt -represents the United States Express Company. The two will oppose any -legislation which interferes with the income of their corporations, never -mind what the people of the state or nation want. The people have for -years wanted a parcels post in this country. England and other countries -have it, but we cannot. Why? Because Platt is in the Senate, and also -in the parcel-carrying business. You, Mr. Conservative, put him in the -Senate and you keep him there. - -We have what is called a protective tariff in this country. It is a -law which, in the name of _protecting_ the workingman, _robs_ him and -every other consumer. If you are a conservative, you are in favor of -maintaining this law. - -The tariff schedule was drawn up by a committee of Congress _behind -closed doors_. That is, the doors were closed on those who have to _pay_ -the tariff, but open to those who were to be _benefited_ by it. The -committee sent for the manufacturers of the various necessary articles -which people use, and asked _them_ how much of a tax _they wanted_ on -similar articles made abroad. And the manufacturers wrote these schedules -for the committee, and they were adopted. Notice, the consumers, the -people who have to pay the tariff, were not invited to appear before this -committee. Only the manufacturers, who are the beneficiaries, were taken -into counsel. - -If you are a conservative—that is, if you are a stand-patter, you are in -favor of continuing and “maintaining” this “mother of trusts.” - -Sometimes laboring-men become dissatisfied with their wages, or the -number of hours they are made to work, and they exercise their God-given -right to cease work, or go on strike. Then the corporations rush to the -courts and secure injunctions, restraining the strikers from doing all -sorts of things. In some instances these injunctions are obtained and -served on the strikers before any of the acts from which the injunctions -restrain them have been committed or attempted. Special deputy sheriffs -and Pinkerton men are hurried to the scene of the strike. The state -militia is ordered out, and in one instance Federal troops were sent -to Chicago. At Homestead the hired deputy-sheriff-Cossacks shot down -peaceable workmen, just as real Cossacks shot down the peaceable -workmen who marched with Father Gapon in the streets of St. Petersburg -recently—and for no better reason. Martial law has been declared, -court-martial has been substituted for trial by jury. The right of -habeas corpus has been suspended. Members of labor unions have been -thrown into prison without trial; others have been torn from their homes -and deported to other states without process of law, and bull pens -established for guarding prisoners. These things have been happening in -the United States for years. In each instance it was claimed that such -arbitrary measures were necessary to preserve order, keep the peace, -protect the property of the corporations, and to enforce the injunctions -issued by the courts—_when these injunctions were directed against the -laboring or producing class_. Now see how differently things work when a -corporation is at the dangerous end of an injunction gun. - -The United States Federal Court, through Judge Grosscup, of Chicago, -issued on February 18, 1903, an injunction restraining the Beef Trust -from continuing to do certain things. The Beef Trust paid _no_ attention -to this injunction. It went right on doing these same things, just as if -Judge Grosscup had not issued his injunction. It went right on despoiling -the bank accounts of the consumers of beef and the raisers of cattle. -No special deputy sheriffs were sworn in, no state militia was ordered -out, no Federal troops were sent to Chicago or anywhere else to enforce -obedience to _this_ injunction. Armour, Swift and Morris, the men said -to be at the head of the Beef Trust, were not arrested. No bull pen was -established. Nobody was deported. - -This is the existing custom of enforcing and _not_ enforcing Federal -Court injunctions. Now if you are a conservative, you are, according to -Webster, one who desires to “maintain” this custom. - -At the present time the lighting corporation, the railroad corporation, -the telephone corporation and the city or municipal corporation are all -exploiting the people of New York City as they have never been exploited -before. - -Never in the history of New York have its public servants been -so absolutely and completely _owned_ by so-called public service -corporations as at present. These corporations have literally taken -over the people’s municipal corporation, merged it with their own and -impressed their management upon it. For instance, Dr. Darlington, -President of the Health Department, goes to Washington to urge Congress -to pass a law to destroy dirty money, because it is a means of -conveying disease germs. But he does not destroy or clean the filthy -disease-bearing car straps in New York. Why? Because August Belmont -and H. H. Vreeland won’t let him. Darlington is in the position of the -Irishman who would free Ireland but for the police. The people want the -signs, slot machines, etc., put out of their Subway stations, but they -can’t get it done. Why? Because the Interborough Corporation is stronger -than the municipal corporation. The people’s public servants in New York -City have become the servants of the public service corporations. - -It does seem that even men who call themselves conservatives in New York -would rise up next fall and stamp the life out of this condition. - - - - - _Casus Belli_ - - -“Now, the trusts—” began the patent-churn man, addressing the -washing-machine agent. “The trusts, let me tell you, are——” - -“Here, now, gentlemen!” remonstrated the landlord of the tavern at -Polkville, Ark. “That’s what the fight here yesterday started about; and -it’s goin’ to cost me three or four dollars for new window glass, alone!” - - - - - _A Character Study of Byron and Burns_ - - BY ELIZABETH BAILEY TRAYLOR - - -These names are live wires in the lands of the Scotch heather and the -English rose, and equally so here by the red hearts of the watermelons -and the snow showers of the cotton-fields of the Southern States. One -often hears it said of those devoted brotherhoods—the Burns Clubs and the -Scotch Societies—“Their Bible is Robbie Burns.” Frank Stanton has a large -hearing when he sings: - - We’ll slip away from our today - Of wonder and of worry, - To where, in meadows of the may, - He whistled “Annie Laurie.” - To meet him in some gabled inn, - And pass the rare decanter, - Or in some ingle nook begin - A race with “Tam o’Shanter.” - -To a large coterie of kindred spirits the name of Byron evokes a pageant -of ideas pulsating with life’s strongest emotions. It is told of a -pleasure club that they recently abandoned the books of the day and read -the poet exhaustively and with great enthusiasm—no slight tribute to his -genius in a time of unremitting demand for that which is palpitant with -the breath of today’s life. A learned minister from his pulpit says: -“‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ is a marvel of diction and technique, -and no divine has approached the narrative in its exact correspondence to -Holy Writ.” - -A bare sketch of these two philosophers may suggest to book-lovers in -general the particular period of the culture-epochs dominating each -career, and discover some of the forces of heredity and environment which -produced these characters, vibrant with full, fresh, free life, or reveal -to readers equipped by psychical research for judgment how it was that -these natures furnished the battleground for so fierce a conflict of -good and evil forces. - -According to Carlyle, the father of Burns was a “man of thoughtful, -intense character, possessing some knowledge and open-minded for more, -of keen insight and devout heart, friendly and fearless; a fully -unfolded man seldom found in any rank of society.” Of his ancestry we -know nothing. The father of Byron was an Englishman, from a line of -illustrious ancestors reaching back to the days of William the Conqueror. - -The mother of Burns, devout of heart and calm of mind, brightened the -lives of her children with the ballads of her beloved Scotland. The -mother of Byron would smother him with kisses one moment, and the next -call him a lame brat. - -Both poets spent their early youth in Scotland, where the record of -their school days is still preserved in their respective parishes. Burns -read with equal avidity Taylor’s devotional works, Locke, Pope, Milton, -Thomson and Young. He never minded work, if knowledge was the reward. -Byron was devoted to the reading of history and poetry, and was at the -head of many college rows. When, in conformity to the custom of the -school, the order was so inverted as to make the boy of highest rank -change places with the lowest, the teacher would call out to Byron: “Now, -George, let us see how quick you will be foot again.” - -Each had a favorite family servant. Byron wrote often to his old nurse -of his triumphs in London. Burns says many of his songs were inspired -by an old servant, Jenny Wilson, as she repeated her endless collection -of songs and stories of devils, ghosts, fairies, witches, warlocks, -kelpies, elf-candles and enchanted dragons. - -Lady Blessington wrote of Byron’s appearance: “He is not tall, as I had -fancied him. His appearance is, however, highly prepossessing; his head -is finely shaped and the forehead open, high and noble, his eyes are -gray and full of expression, his mouth is the most remarkable feature, -the upper lip of Grecian shortness and the corners descending, the lips -full and finely cut. In speaking, he shows his teeth very much, and they -are white and even, but I observed that even in his smile—he smiles -frequently—there is something of a scornful expression that is evidently -natural. His countenance is full of expression and changes with the -subject of conversation; it gains on the beholder the more it is seen, -and leaves an agreeable impression. His voice and accent are peculiarly -agreeable, clear, harmonious and so distinct that, though his general -tone in speaking is rather low than high, not a word is lost.” - -Burns, tall, well formed and graceful, was always a charming presence. -The beautiful and all-accomplished Duchess of Gordon said that Burns was -the most fascinating guest she ever saw entertained. - -Speaking of the portrait by Alexander Nasmyth, Sir Walter Scott says: -“This is the best likeness of Burns, but his features, as I remember -them, were still more massive and imposing than they are represented -in this picture. There was a strong expression of shrewdness in -his lineaments, the eyes alone indicating the poetic character and -temperament. They were large and dark and literally glowed when he spoke -with feeling or interest. I never saw such eyes in any other head.” - -Attired always in the tip of the fashion, Byron was a drawing-room dude -in the smart set of London. The dress of Burns was coarse and homely, -made from his own sheep, carded by his own fire. His plaid was red and -white, woven with great pride by his mother and sister. His home and the -homes of his friends, were low-thatched cottages, consisting of kitchen -and bedrooms, with floors of kneaded clay. - -If the former set a fashion for collars which lasts to this good day, the -latter has left us the Tam-o’-Shanter hat. - -Burns was essentially musical, having begun his career by setting music -to the verses of another. - -Byron, in a luxurious salon, wooed and won a woman of fashion. Burns -gives this account of his courtship with Highland Mary, - - Who was snatched away in beauty’s bloom: - -“We plighted our troth on the Sabbath to make it more sacred, seated by -a running brook, that Nature might be a witness, over an open Bible, to -show we remembered God in the compact.” - -After a second edition of “Poems by an Ayrshire Plowman,” Burns spent the -winter in Edinburgh, where he was the lion of the elegant coteries of the -city. - -Lords, ladies, men of letters, all with manners highly polished by -attrition, found in him a barbarian who was not barbarous. As the poet -met in at least one lord feelings as natural as those of a plowman, so -they met in a plowman manners worthy of a lord. - -Dugald Stewart writes: “His manner was easy and unperplexed; his address -was perfectly well-bred and elegant in its simplicity; he felt neither -eclipsed by the titled nor embarrassed before the learned and eloquent, -but took his station with the ease of one born to it.” - -Each poet had a brief political career. As exciseman for several years -it was necessary for Burns to ride over two hundred miles per week, thus -coming constantly in contact with the people. In this public service he -made a record for being thorough, correct and at the same time humane. - -Byron made as serious an effort in politics as was possible to his -impetuous and headlong nature. After many hindrances he was granted a -seat in the House of Lords. He traveled awhile, and, returning, made two -or three speeches before the House. Between times he would correct the -proof-sheets of “Childe Harold.” The publication of this poem put an end -to his parliamentary ambitions. “When ‘Childe Harold’ was published,” -he says, “no one ever afterward thought of my prose, nor indeed did I.” -However, he also says, “I would not for the world be like my hero.” - -Each spent much time alone with Nature, drinking from the exhaustless -fountain of her varied life. Each loved her most in her wildest, -fiercest moods. Power—they loved it, worshiped it; they felt it in them -and all around them. It was the necessary food for their strenuous, -tempest-tossed souls. Burns loved to walk on the sheltered side of a -forest and listen to a storm rave among the trees. Better still, he loved -to ascend some eminence and stride along its summit amid the flashes of -the lightning and howls of the tempest: “Rapt in enthusiasm, I seemed to -ascend to Him who walks on the wings of the wind.” Byron - - Made him friends of mountains, stars; - But the Quick Spirit of the universe - -spoke to him best through Nature’s most stupendous form, the turbulent, -merciless ocean. - -Byron reveled in the glories of more climes; Burns saw the marvels of -more kingdoms, for he understood the language of the daisy and the mouse. -The self-negating love, the exultant pride the Peasant Poet felt for his -own bonnie Scotland, the English Peer lavished upon a foreign land. Burns -said if he ever reached heaven, he would ask nothing better than just a -Highland welcome. - -Burns, in his innate appreciation of the dignity of humanity, is -something of a Siegfried, with the fearless spirit of the forest vocal -with the song of birds, the aroma of blossoming shrubs, the play of the -waterfall and the restful stretch of meadows with their daisies and -heather. - -Byron, in the desolation of his youth, in his extremes of laughter and -tears, in his yearning for sympathy, in his broodings over the mysteries -of life, played the character of Hamlet with the world for a stage, -leaving a kindred problem for the wonder of mankind. - -Many of Byron’s shorter poems are from Bible stories and characters, -and it is wonderful how his brilliant genius caught and reproduced both -spirit and story. Burns gives us his thought of a religious life in that -sweetest pastoral poem in all literature, “The Cotter’s Saturday Night.” - -In the last few months of his life he did much to reproduce it in his own -life, holding family prayer with such earnestness as to bring his hearers -to tears over the penitence for sins and hope in the mercy of God. - -In these poets the perceptive faculties roamed at will over a wide -field of human activities, and voiced their impressions with a witchery -of language which has hardly a parallel. The work of both men was -revolutionizing in its effects. Burns found his countrymen in bondage to -the fear of wraiths, hobgoblins and kindred spirits, and he was a mighty -power in their deliverance. Taine estimates that he was as great a force -in Scotland as the Revolution in France. - -Byron is believed largely to have influenced the revolutionary movement -in Germany. He gave a direct stimulus to the liberators of Italy, and -ended his life in a heroic struggle for the liberties of Greece. - -If Byron’s literary work is more resplendent and daring, Burns’s seems -fresher from the varied living forces about us. If Byron’s is a circlet -of sapphires, Burns’s is that same circlet transmuted by the alchemy of -human sympathy to a wreath of never-fading violets. - -When we remember that these colossal figures passed off the stage of life -after thirty-seven short years, when we get a suggestion of the difficult -circumstances and terrible temptations that encompassed their stormy -young lives, we may well leave their failings to God, who alone is their -moral Judge. It may be His compassion for them is commensurate with the -powers with which He endowed them. - - - - - _The Man With White Nails_ - - BY CAPTAIN W. E. P. FRENCH, U.S.A. - - -My wife brought me the case and the client, and, strict candor compels -me to say, I was not particularly grateful for either. The case was a -curiously involved combination of an over-indulgent, invalid mother; -a shrewd, selfish and unscrupulous son; a trained nurse, rather -worse than she should have been; a cleverly drawn but very unjust -will; an exceedingly large estate mostly in investment securities; a -husband-deserted daughter with two small children and “an annual income -of nothing to keep ’em on”; a witness who would undoubtedly be “agin the -government,” and one other person whose testimony might, or might not, be -favorable to the prosecution, but who had apparently vanished bodily from -the face of the earth. The client was a pretty, gentle little creature, -crushed under a load of trouble much too big for her, quite pathetic in -her helplessness, and shrinking and rather indifferent about her own -claims, but with an almost fierce mother-instinct over the rights of her -babies. - -How the partner of my joys and sorrows discovered these wronged mites of -humanity is immaterial—she has a keen scent for injustice or oppression -of any kind—but she rounded them up, brought them to my office, and said -I was to take the case. I never appeal from the decision of my supreme -court, so I said, “Certainly.” - -First she took me aside and gave me an _ex parte_ and rather highly -colored statement of the facts in the affair, explaining that her -protégée was diffident and reticent, unless stirred up about the -children, and perorating with the remark, “You will find, John, that my -meek-looking lamb is quite a ferocious animal when roused.” Then she went -over to the other woman, kissed her, gave the boy a pile of my cherished -law-books to use as building-blocks, took the tiny girl on her lap, -hitched her chair a bit closer to the mother and said, “Now, my dear, you -tell John everything, just as you told it to me, and he will fix it all -up for you.” - -A tolerable portion of my fairly large practice has consisted, and, I -fancy, will continue to consist, of charity cases brought to me by my -wife. They have, of course, seldom or never been profitable; they have -cost time, work, worry and money, have occasionally been paid in the base -coin of ingratitude, and without them we should have had a much larger -bank account. But the warmest-hearted and most generous woman I have ever -known likes me to help those she thinks are wronged, and it is little -enough for me to do for her dear sake. - -My small, scared client attracted me from the first, and my dusty legal -heart ached over her sad story. Her mother had never cared much for -her and had lavished love and money on her brother. She had married -unfortunately, while scarcely more than a child. The estrangement with -her mother had increased, and her brother had craftily widened the -breach. This last fact I had much trouble to elicit, and wormed it out of -her piecemeal. - -After three years of neglect and ill-treatment, her husband had deserted -her and run away with another woman—incidentally, her best friend—leaving -her almost destitute. When she recovered from an attack of brain fever -she found a letter from her brother awaiting her, in which he announced -the death of their mother, his marriage to the trained nurse who had -taken care of the mother in her last illness, and their exodus to Europe. -He inclosed a copy of the will, which left everything unreservedly -to him, and said that his attorney would communicate with her. The -man-of-the-law came in person, and stated that he was empowered to pay -her a hundred dollars a month, so long as she did not attempt litigation. - -The will was witnessed by the doctor and the trained nurse, and the -doctor was, to all intents, beyond discovery. - -It was, on its face, a probable case of undue influence and, perhaps, -mental aberration. But how prove either, without the doubly expert -testimony of the missing physician, who, it appeared, was the only -person, except the son and the nurse, that had seen the invalid during -the last year of her life? - -It was a significant fact that the daughter’s name was not mentioned in -the instrument; and I suspected collusion on the part of the medical -gentleman with the beneficiary and the woman who would share the profits -of the criminal enterprise. My poor little client had seen the doctor -once only when she was vainly endeavoring to gain access to her mother, -and described him as a very fine-looking man on the sunny slope of forty, -with wavy blond hair and pointed beard, a suave and kindly manner, a -charming voice and singularly handsome hands. - -The bill of items would have fitted tolerably a dozen men of my -acquaintance, and I said as much, asking her, as an afterthought, how she -came to notice his hands. Someone has said that the gist of a woman’s -letter is in the postscript, and the large majority of women that have -employed me as counsel have invariably reserved the leading and important -facts of their cases until the last. This client was no exception to the -rule; but when the dramatic little body had finished personating the -missing man, I would have known him as far as I could see him among ten -thousand, unless he were asleep or quite still; for she had cleverly -imitated a man whose restless hands were ever in motion as he talked, -and who glanced at them with covert satisfaction every few seconds. This -singular trick, the descriptive factors in his personal equation, and -the name he had signed—which, she assured me, was undoubtedly his own—as -witness to the signature of the testatrix were about all the additional -information I could extract from her, except that she had refused her -brother’s proposition and was ready to fight to the bitter end for her -children’s rights, though she had to beg or steal the money to pay court -and counsel. - -I waived retainer and took the case on contingent fee, which, after -the little grass widow had left, I told my wife, in gentle irony, I -would divide with her; but that she must not squander it on yachts and -four-in-hands, because these big paying cases are pretty rare—fortunately. - -That good woman received my ironic suggestion with her usual placidity, -and said: “Very well, my dear; I shall certainly hold you to your promise -of division, and I have a premonition that we shall win the suit. Mark -my words! I don’t want a yacht, but I shall buy that lovely Goldsborough -place and spend my declining years looking at the river-view from that -glorious, wide piazza.” - -I had not the slightest hope of success, for even if the witness could be -found, I had no doubt that he was a scamp and in the brother’s pay. - -A letter to a friend and fellow-attorney in the city where the mother -had died brought this reply: The man I wanted to find had been a general -practitioner there for some years; he had had a very large practice -and the liking and respect of the community; but both had fallen away -from him from two very odd causes; one, that he had suddenly become -exceedingly untrustworthy and unreliable, in fact, a phenomenal and -outrageous liar; and the other, that he had unaccountably taken to the -habitual wearing on every possible or impossible occasion, professional -or social, of white kid gloves or long white gauntlets, bringing these -ghostly hands to the bedside of patients, or hovering with them over the -operating-table. It began to be noised abroad that Dr. Bently, which was -his name, was unsound in his mind, was suffering from some dreadful, -contagious disease which had broken out in his hands, and that the truth -was not in him. My informant added that shortly after the death of Mrs. -Johnstone, my small client’s mother, the doctor had taken himself, his -gauntlets and his marvelous mendacity to New York, but that his present -whereabouts were unknown to the writer. - -The detective agency in New York, of which I next inquired, sent me word -that there was no such name as Bernard Brice Bently in the directory or -in any way on record as a physician or surgeon in that city. All this -took time, and, meanwhile, I had advertised vainly in prominent papers -all over the country and had had an agent interview many of the doctor’s -old acquaintances. The man had disappeared, and within a very narrow -limit of time the will would be admitted to probate. - -Just at this time another legal matter required my presence in New York, -and, when I reached there, the engrossing nature of my business drove -most other matters out of my head. After several days of close and -confining work, I finished taking the depositions I needed, and purposed -to return home that evening. It occurred to me that a pleasant way of -spending my remaining hours in town would be to take a stroll through -Central Park, which I had not seen in years—not, in fact, since I had -been a student in Columbia Law School. - -I walked from the Fifty-ninth Street entrance as far as the Museum, which -is about opposite Eighty-second Street, and had sat down to rest near the -obelisk. It was a magnificent late spring day, and I was lazily enjoying -the beauty of the place and watching the passing show, when a man on the -next bench attracted my attention by springing to his feet and gazing -eagerly and fiercely beyond me and up the drive. If ever ferocious desire -and intent to kill were written on a human face it was on his. - -Instinctively I glanced in the direction he was looking and saw a -steam runabout, with one man in it, approaching smoothly and not very -rapidly. I turned back instantly and sprang at the would-be assassin, -whose pistol was out and pointed, but I was too late. There was a flash -and a report, and I could see the hammer of the self-cocker rising for -a second shot, when I struck him a left-hander. I do not often have -occasion to hit a man, but when I do he usually falls. As he went down -the weapon spoke again, but I knew that that bullet went wide. The fellow -was game, though, and determined, for his back had scarcely touched the -ground before he rolled on his side and fired twice at the man in the -locomobile. The fifth chamber of the revolver he let me have, as I flung -myself down on him, and the subsequent proceedings were blank, the ball -having grazed my temple and stunned me. - -When I came to I was lying on a leather couch in a very handsomely -appointed doctor’s office. My head was bound up, and I was a bit sick -and dizzy. I suppose I had half swooned again, when I was roused by a -soft touch on my wrist, and looking down I saw the most beautiful and -the whitest man’s hand I have ever seen. But, white as it was, the fine, -filbert-shaped nails were whiter still. They were absolutely milky, and -the half-moons had the ghostly whiteness and lustre of pearls. I was both -startled and fascinated. Surely no living flesh was ever that color, and -no human being with blood in him ever had such nails. Was it the hand of -a corpse? No, it was warm, and, as I looked, the fingers bent and sought -my pulse. A deep, musical voice broke the silence: - -“Ah, we are all right now, thank God! How do you feel, friend? Drink -this.” The speaker, holding a tumbler, came in front of me, and I saw a -handsome man with clean-shaven face, black, wavy hair and beautiful but -rather wild-looking eyes. - -“Thank you,” I said as I took the glass and obediently drained it; “I -feel somewhat as though I had been trifling with a steam-hammer. But I -shall be all right presently.” - -“Of course you will,” he assured me heartily. “You were struck a glancing -blow on the head by the bullet of that poor, half-crazed Pole, who, the -police say, thought I was a Russian duke. The only ill consequence of -your noble act will be an honorable scar, to remind you how gallantly you -risked your life to save a total stranger’s. My dear friend—if you will -allow a friendless man to call you so”—here the charming voice grew as -sweet and vibrant as an organ note—“it was the bravest and most generous -act I ever knew. I cannot thank you adequately, but I hope it may be -given me to serve you some time, and should you ever need a friend’s -purse, his hand or his life, mine are yours.” - -I endeavored to deprecate the value of my interference and to moderate -his expressions of gratitude; but he would have none of it, and, -leaping to his feet, began to pace to and fro, expatiating upon what he -extravagantly termed my bravery and unselfishness, and insisting upon his -tremendous obligation to me. He was manifestly in earnest; but all at -once habit asserted itself, the ruling passion came to the fore, and a -trifle “light as air” made “confirmation strong as proof of Holy Writ.” -When he first began to move a memory flashed over me, but, as those -beautiful, restless white hands added their evidence, assurance became -doubly sure. I could see my demure, pretty little client impersonating -this man, and I knew, despite the dyed hair and the shaven beard, that -I had found the missing witness. But I had found something else. I had -found a man suffering from a chronic dementia. Whether his derangement -was general or merely monomania, I was at a loss to determine. If the -former, he was not competent as a witness for either side. If the latter, -the special form and degree of alienation might or might not militate -against his testimony. - -I was impelled to take him unawares, and so I said suddenly: “Dr. Bently, -do you remember Mrs. Abbott, the daughter of your former patient, Mrs. -Johnstone, of Laneville?” - -If he started or showed surprise or annoyance, it was imperceptible; but -he glanced with smiling complaisance at his nails as he came over to -me, and, touching my forehead, remarked, with most irritating suavity: -“My dear fellow, I fear you are feverish. My name is Charles Chester -Chickering. I never was in Laneville, I never had a patient named -Johnstone, and I have no recollection whatever of anyone by the name of -Abbott.” - -He looked straight at me as he uttered these falsehoods, and his tone was -like velvet. There was the flicker of an amused smile on his mouth, but -his eyes were hard and cold as blued steel, the contracted pupils shining -like black pinheads. I stared back at him, and presently he shifted his -gaze from my face to his own right hand, which he was holding out in -front of him, and again that abominable, self-satisfied smirk appeared. -I was filled with boundless contempt for this man I had almost begun to -pity, and as I rose from the couch and began to speak I could fairly -taste the bitterness of the words I flung at him: - -“Dr. or Mr. Bernard Brice Bently, Charles Chester Chickering—or whatever -your infernal, alliterative _alias_ may be—I deeply regret that I should -have saved you from the death I have no doubt you richly deserved, and I -earnestly hope that you may be punished for your crime of helping to ruin -a poor little woman and two innocent children. And, by the living God! I -will do all in my power to bring you to——” - -He interrupted me eagerly, wonderingly, protestingly. “What is that you -say? Mrs. Abbott and her children living? Why, that scoundrel Johnstone -and that she-devil of a nurse swore to Mrs. Johnstone and me that all -three of them were dead and buried!” - -Hope came to life again in my heart. It was a mistake, after all, and -this man could and would rectify it. He had been deceived and had -witnessed the document in good faith. I had commenced an apology when he -uttered a violent exclamation, and, holding the backs of his hands in -front of his face, scrutinized his nails with rapt intensity. - -His very lips grew livid, the eyes he turned on me were those of a -madman, and, snarling like a wolf, he screamed: “See what you have -done! Look at my nails!” and thrust his pallid fingers forward for my -inspection. - -On the polished, snowy surface of every nail was a bright pink fleck -or spot of about the bigness and shape of a ladybug; but I was barely -conscious of these rosy marks on the intense whiteness of the uncanny -things, for I suppose the smart rap of that pistol bullet and this man’s -extraordinary sayings and doings had upset my fairly choleric temper, and -I was literally beside myself with uncontrollable rage and indignation. - -“Damn you and your dead nails!” I shouted back at him. “You cowardly liar -and thief, you are Johnstone’s accomplice, and I will tear the truth out -of you if I have to kill you to do it.” - -We were glaring at each other like wild beasts, and, before the words -were fairly out of my mouth, we sprang forward, our hands clutching -hungrily at each other’s throats in the fierce desire to strangle which -comes to men and the other brutes that slay when anger and hate have -reached the last and deadly stage. An undercut would have driven him -back, but I wanted his windpipe and he wanted mine, and each of us was -sick to have the other at close quarters, so a blow would not have been -fair play. We were well matched. I was sure of that as we grappled. We -swayed and strained, and I could feel the blood running down my face -when my wound reopened; but the end came quickly, and, as we crashed to -the floor, he was underneath, and my hands flew up eagerly and clenched -under his chin. Ah! the savage joy of it! - -But why did he not struggle? What trick was this? Good God, had the fall -killed him? How white he was! And he had been crimson a second ago. -The revulsion of feeling turned me sick. Was I a murderer? I let go my -hold, leaped to my feet and threw a pitcher of ice water on his head and -face. He gasped, opened his eyes and regarded me calmly and quietly. Was -it only a moment ago that those calm, sad eyes had been narrow rims of -blue around intensely black, distended pupils that had in them the dull -red glare of blood-lust? Now they were soft and human, and the light of -sanity was in them. - -“My friend,” he said gently—what a superb voice he had, and how the deep, -rich, mellow tones brushed away anger, hatred and fear—“my friend, I owe -you my life twice. First, you saved it; now, you spare it. And I owe you -more than life. I owe you my restoration to reason, to perfect sanity. -For I have been bitten by a mania so wild, so strange, so improbable -that no man save you who have seen it would believe in its existence. -‘Like cures like.’ It came through a fall and a shock. It has been cured -through a fall and a shock. You were right. I _was_ a liar. The greatest -on earth, I believe, and I gloried in it, and hated to tell a truth lest -it should bring a pink spot on my nails. No, don’t lift me up.” - -I had attempted to raise him and had blurted out a word or two of shame, -sympathy and pity. - -“I prefer to lie here while I tell you the story,” he went on. “You -have no cause to be ashamed; it was simple self-defense on your part, -for I should probably have killed you in my paroxysm. Besides, you do -not realize what you have done for me. But I thank you for your kindly -sympathy; it is not wasted, believe me. Now, if you will do me a favor, -watch my nails, and, if they become normal, tell me. But, first, put one -of those wet compresses on your wound and slip the bandage over it. You -will forgive me by and bye for fighting with a guest to whom I owed so -much. I was not responsible.” - -I hastened to reassure him, and he resumed: - -“Before I begin my own weird tale, let me relieve your mind about that -poor, wronged, sensitive child, Mrs. Abbott. I will go back with you -to Laneville, and we will break that will wide open. There will be no -trouble about it. Johnstone is a whelp, his wife is a criminal, and I -can put them both behind the bars. That little woman shall be righted, -if it takes my entire fortune to do it. Now, listen. A trifle over a -year ago, getting out of my phaeton, I fell, struck my head and was out -of my mind for some weeks. When I regained health and strength I found -that my injury had left me with the most unthinkable hallucination that -ever crept into a human brain. Subconsciously, I knew it was a vicious -delusion, but I took the same delight in it that a patient partly in the -control of delirium sometimes takes in the absurdities he utters. - -“You know the little white marks on the nails which, as children, we used -to say came from telling lies? Well, my mania was that if I told nothing -_but_ lies, lied constantly and consistently, I could turn mine entirely -white. I tried and I succeeded. The will, obeying a diseased mind, plays -queer pranks. I was partly proud of the result of my experiment, partly -ashamed of it. So I took to wearing gloves and gauntlets most of the -time. I began to get a reputation as a phenomenal liar. Once I overheard -a man say, ‘Dr. Bently says it is so? Then that settles it; it’s a lie -that would turn Beelzebub green with envy. Why, I wouldn’t believe the -doctor if he swore to anything on seventeen cubic miles of Bibles in the -original Hebrew.’ - -“I could have hugged him with grateful delight. But friends and -practice dropped away. People began to look at me askance, and before -Mrs. Johnstone died she was about the only patient of our class I had -left. The street urchins used to yell at me, ‘Hallo, Ananias! where’s -Sapphira?’ and ‘Berny Bently; or, The Hidden Hand.’ So I came here and -hid myself in this great city, where no one cares for anything but money -and would make much of a rich man if he had claws, hoofs, horns and a -tail all white as snow or black as ink.” - -While he spoke I had watched his nails closely and curiously, and the -pink spots had spread and spread, slowly but surely, until the normal, -healthy color had come back to them. I told him, but he never looked at -them. Instead, he got up, came over to me, took my two hands in his and -said slowly and reverently: “Thank God and you, dear friend, I am cured!” -His splendid eyes were filled with tears, and his exquisite voice was -solemn and broken with emotion. My own eyes were rather misty, but then -they were never much good; and, for a lawyer, I was quite moved. I gave -him my friendship then and there, and I have never regretted it. - - * * * * * - -Two weeks later, starting from my own home, where Mrs. Abbott and Bently -had been our most welcome guests, we all went to Laneville, where we met -Mr. and Mrs. Johnstone, whom we had summoned back by cable. They made us -but little trouble, being cowards as well as scoundrels. Mrs. Abbott, -however—good, kindly, generous little soul—was so unfeignedly sorry for -her unworthy brother that she wished to let him have the lion’s share of -the big property; but we overruled the soft-hearted child-woman and made -her take her full share. I had the pleasure, subsequently, of expressing -to Mr. Johnstone exactly what I thought of him, and I had considerable -difficulty in restraining the doctor from giving him a beating. - -Not long after I began divorce proceedings for Mrs. Abbott, but her -rascally husband saved her and me the annoyance of going into court by -opportunely and thoughtfully dying. - -My fee was the largest I have ever received from an individual client, -and, in some extenuation for accepting such a small fortune, I would like -to say that it was fairly forced on me by the grateful little creature I -love as though she were my own child. - -My wife promptly demanded, and got, her little commission of one-half, -and said she was the best drummer of practice and big-paying clients that -any lawyer ever had. She is, God bless her! And, by the way, we live in -the Goldsborough house, and my dear lady spends a good part of her time -on the piazza she bought with her half of my fee. - -Oh, yes! I forgot to mention that Mrs. Abbott’s name is now Bently. They -call her husband “the good physician” in our town, and his word is as -good as any man’s bond. The doctor has lost interest in his hands, but -his sweet and devoted little wife admires them extravagantly. They are -still very handsome, but brown as berries, and his nails are as pink as -yours or mine. - - - - - _Organization and Education_ - - BY WHARTON BARKER - - -The cardinal tenets of the People’s Party were declared by the -founders of the Republic, established by the War of the Revolution and -guaranteed to our people by the Constitution of the United States. So, -by proclaiming for rule of justice, liberty and equality of opportunity, -not of greed, man was made the master and money the servant. Those who -believe in government of, by and for the people, who believe that the -people are fitted to govern themselves, capable of discerning that which -is good for them and that which is not, must approve the contention the -People’s Party makes; must oppose the aggression of concentrated capital; -must see the need of immediate independent political action outside and -apart from both Republican and Democratic Parties, both dominated by the -money cliques. - -The money oligarchy, now in control of all lines of finance, -transportation, distribution and of most lines of production, works -for the profit of the few to the great detriment of the many. These -plutocrats control a slavish metropolitan press, in order that the masses -of our people may be governed for the benefit of the few. - -If this control is to stand, if millions of people are to slave for a -few thousand, it is necessary that the many have no direct hand in their -own government, that the many delegate to representatives their power, -and that such representatives should be influenced so as to become the -representatives of the few. The people must have only the semblance of -power, the representatives the real power, in order that governing may be -carried on for the advantage of the rulers, not of the ruled. - -So we have nominating conventions run by political bosses, legislative -bodies taking orders from agents of the money cliques, who purchase -franchises for railway lines and for other public utilities; election -laws that make independent voting almost impossible. - -Until we have direct nominations the people will be the willing or -unwilling tools of the men who dictate nominations, and they must make -choice between the candidates set up for them. For years the Republican -and Democratic politicians who run conventions have been the agents of -the money oligarchy that deals in and fattens upon all kinds of public -franchises. So the plutocrats make of our Government an instrument for -the oppression of the many and the enrichment of the few. In order to -promote the governing of our people by the few and for the few, promote -legislation that will impoverish and weaken the many but aggrandize -the few in riches and power, it is necessary that law-making should be -intrusted to representatives; that these representatives should be put -more and more out of touch with the people and more in touch with the -few; that these representatives should be removed further and further -from responsibility to the people; that their doings should be hidden and -not subject to review. - -So we have demands for extended terms of office; we have opposition -to the election of President and senators by popular vote; we have -opposition to the selection of Federal judges other than by appointment -of the President and Senate; we have, above all, opposition to direct -popular voting upon questions of public policy, upon granting public -franchises. - -The referendum is opposed because it would make all laws passed by -legislative bodies subject to review and reversal by a high court, the -court of the whole people entering verdict through the ballot-box. There -is little outward opposition to the principle of direct legislation. -There is much covert opposition from the money oligarchy and much plainer -opposition born of ignorance from the body of the people. - -Those who oppose direct legislation hold that the people are not fitted -to govern themselves, that the few are fitted by divine law to rule, that -the many are condemned to be ruled for the benefit of the few by a law -equally divine. This is the law of kings; it is not the law of democracy. -He who holds it is false to our theory of government, is no better than a -monarchist. - -Give us direct legislation, such as the initiative and referendum -would establish, and there will be an end to sale of franchises by -representatives and no laws will be enacted to rob the people of their -rights and property. The place to begin with direct voting is in -nomination of all candidates for public office—a People’s Party must -abolish all delegate conventions for making nominations and platforms; -must adopt direct voting for candidates and for declarations of -principles; must have voting precinct clubs for party management. The -district and subdivision plan of organization adopted by the Cincinnati -convention of 1900 is the best plan of organization heretofore proposed, -and it should be put into immediate operation unless a better plan can be -proposed without delay, for it will insure rule of the people in party -management and destroy the power of the political boss who goes into -politics for profit. - -If the People’s Party will at once declare for a rank-and-file plan of -organization and management we will see a rush to arms in all states, -for in all the rule of the boss, serving the money oligarchy, is most -offensive. The time has come for such a People’s Party; there is no place -for a People’s Party run on the lines of the Republican and Democratic -Parties. - -The day of the hero-led party has passed. The great majority Mr. -Roosevelt received is no evidence to the contrary, for more than three -million citizens out of seventeen million abstained from voting at the -last election. Organization and education of the body of the people -must come through voting precinct organizers and educators—of course -the printed matter must for economy be prepared and sent out from -central offices, from national headquarters, but no proper, no effective -distribution of it can be made except by the precinct organizers. - -If the people are to win a national victory there must be from three to -five honest, able, aggressive, patriotic men in each of the one hundred -thousand voting districts of the country working by day and by night. -These men must awaken their immediate neighbors to a lively appreciation -of the wrongs they suffer and point out the way to re-establishment of -their rights, the way to restoration of justice, liberty and equality of -opportunity. When such an army is in the field the people will defeat the -money oligarchy, but not before. - -At the election of 1904, I repeat, three million citizens refused to -vote because they would not stultify themselves by voting for either -Roosevelt or Parker, both candidates of the plutocrats. At least two -million citizens voted for Roosevelt because they wished to destroy -the Democratic Party, a party for years without fixed principles. -These five million citizens, together with the eight hundred thousand -citizens who voted for Debs, Watson and Swallow, represented the reform -and dissatisfied vote of the country—five months since. The action of -the Beef Trust, of the Railroad Combination and of allied interests, -all in control of twenty men, and the now openly declared purpose of -President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay to establish in foreign affairs an -American-British alliance, alarm many millions of our citizens as they -have not been alarmed before. - -A new epoch in our country opens now, for people and plutocrats are in -a death struggle. The principle the People’s Party stands for is that -man is the master, money the servant. The question—is the People’s Party -equal to the duty of the time?—must be answered at once. If it goes into -the campaign immediately with a voting precinct organization such as was -declared for by the Cincinnati convention of 1900, the answer will be -affirmative. - -The cardinal tenets of the party of the people are: - -1. Brotherhood of man, love, justice, liberty and equality of opportunity. - -2. Government by the people—the recognition of the right of the people to -rule themselves by establishment of direct legislation, the initiative -and the referendum. - -3. Honest money—national money, not bank money—that will serve creditor -and debtor alike; that will insure stability of prices, thus be an honest -measure of value, and thereby encourage honest industry and discourage -speculation. - -4. Nationalization of railroads and other monopolies that must be public -rather than private monopolies. - -5. Prevention of overcapitalization of all corporations, of overcharge -for services rendered the public by such corporations. - -6. Abolition of industrial trusts, those that exist because of tariff -protection and those that exist because of freight discriminations -whether by rebates, special rates or otherwise. - -7. Taxation that will tax every man according to his accumulated -wealth—tax property, not man; collect state and municipal taxes by direct -tax on the accumulated wealth of society assessed at actual cash value; -collect national taxes by a direct tax on the earnings of accumulated -wealth, whether large or small. Have only direct taxes, for indirect -taxes cover injustice and extravagance. - -8. Foreign policy that will keep our country out of all entangling -alliances with European and Asiatic countries, and strengthen our -economic relations with all American countries that have different soil, -climate and products from those of the United States. - -These are the demands of the People’s Party, the cardinal principles -for which that party contends. They are all simple, easily understood, -and must have approval of a great majority of the American people when -brought to them for consideration by a party of the rank and file, -controlled by the people themselves, not dictated to by the money -oligarchy; by a party that stands for the interests of the many, not -of the few. I close, as I began, by saying we need organization and -education. - - - - - _The Panic of 1893_ - - BY W. S. MORGAN - - - Hon. THOMAS E. WATSON, - _Thomson, Ga._ - -MY DEAR SIR—I have your letter containing communications from James R. -Branch, Secretary of the American Bankers’ Association, New York City, -and Jno. D. Reynolds, President of First National Bank, of Rome, Ga., in -which they deny the authenticity of the Panic Bulletin published in my -contribution to the March issue of your magazine. - -I remember when the Bulletin was first made public I asked a friend, a -president of the Citizens’ National Bank, of Fort Scott, Kan., a man with -whom I was intimately connected in business for ten or twelve years, if -such a circular had been issued. He replied that he had received a number -of circulars covering the propositions therein contained, and that likely -he had received that one. This incident, and the fact that the Bulletin -had been published from time to time for years and I had not seen its -authenticity questioned, and furthermore that its suggestions were in -line with the events of that date, led me to believe that it was genuine. - -However, the authenticity of the circular was not the subject matter of -the article which provoked these denials. My indictment of the National -Bankers was not merely for issuing the Bulletin, but for doing the things -it suggested. Messrs. Branch and Reynolds have ignored the indictment -and attacked the witness. But there are other witnesses that can’t be -demolished. - -After Mr. Cleveland had sent Henry Villard and Don M. Dickinson to -Washington, in the winter of 1893, and failed to secure from the -Fifty-second Congress the repeal of the purchasing clause of the Sherman -law, the National Bankers began to show their hand. - -It was seen that no ordinary pressure on Congress would secure the -demonetization of silver. It was claimed that the Panic Bulletin was -issued March 8, just four days after Cleveland’s second inauguration. - -What was the program laid down in the Panic Bulletin? - - 1. The interests of the National Banks require immediate - financial legislation. - - 2. Silver, silver certificates and Treasury notes must be - retired and National Bank-notes, upon a gold basis, be made - the only kind of paper money. - - 3. Bonds required to be issued as a basis for the bank-note - circulation. - - 4. Pressure must be brought upon the people, especially in - sections of the country where the free silver sentiment was - strong. Circulation to be reduced, loans called in, credit - refused and general distrust spread broadcast through the - land. - - 5. Demand for an extra session of Congress to repeal the - purchasing clause of the Sherman law. - -This was the program laid down by the Bulletin. Did it agree with the -action of the National Bankers? We shall see. - -On the 11th of April, 1893, Grover Cleveland appointed Conrad C. Jordan -to be Assistant Treasurer of the United States. - -In this capacity Jordan had control of the Sub-Treasury at New York. -The Sub-Treasury is the great business establishment of the Federal -Government. It is one of the associated banks of New York City. - -Jordan was a banker, the President of the Western National, of New York -City, and was recommended for the position by the New York National Bank -Presidents. He was the go-between—the link which connected the National -Bankers with Cleveland and the Federal Government. - -His nomination was confirmed on the 15th day of April, and on the 20th he -was in Washington with his bond and conferring with Cleveland. - -From that hour things moved with wonderful rapidity. - -Jordan left Washington on the 21st, arrived in New York at 5.30 in the -afternoon, went directly to the Chase National Bank, No. 15 Nassau -Street, where he met Henry W. Cannon, President of the Chase National -Bank, and J. Edward Simmons, President of the Fourth National, two of the -most active and influential of those who controlled the associated banks -and who constitute the “New York National Bank Ring.” - -It must have been an important meeting, for that night Cannon left New -York for Washington on a midnight train, arriving in Washington Saturday -morning, April 22, and while there had interviews with Grover Cleveland. -On the morning of April 22 Jordan was sworn into office, and his first -act, official or semi-official, was to arrange for a meeting with certain -National Bank Presidents in the afternoon. - -I can give you the names of most of the National Bank Presidents who -met Jordan that afternoon. The meeting was said to be informal, and its -proceedings were carefully guarded. But it was of such importance that -Jordan went to Washington on a late evening train to make a report of its -proceedings. - -It was generally believed at the time, and there is little doubt of its -truth, that Jordan was simply given the office to mask his character as -confidential agent between Grover Cleveland and the New York National -Bank Presidents. - -After a conference with Cleveland on Sunday morning, April 23, Jordan and -Cannon returned to New York, arriving there late in the evening. Before -leaving Washington Jordan wired certain National Bank Presidents to meet -him at a private house uptown. - -What happened at that meeting we can only surmise. I mention it to show -the connection between the National Bank Presidents and Grover Cleveland. - -The next morning, April 24, Jordan was at his desk. One of the first -things he did was to notify the National Bank Presidents and officers -of trusts and other companies to meet him that day at the Sub-Treasury. -This also was a dark-lantern meeting, and no one would give out the -proceedings. But what followed shortly afterward, and the action taken -by those who attended that meeting, justifies the belief that that -convention was called for the purpose of arranging a concerted attack -upon the national industries, agriculture, commerce, property and social -order of the American people—the assault to be directed by the New York -National Bank Presidents—as the swiftest and surest means of forcing -Congress to repeal the silver law—to give the country Cleveland’s -“Object-Lesson.” - -Nine National Bank Presidents met John G. Carlisle at the Williams House -on April 27, presumably to complete the arrangements for the attack. No -doubt Cleveland had approved the conclusions reached on the 24th, and -sent Carlisle to sanction them. - -Carlisle’s meeting with the Bank Presidents that day was, as you know, -a subject of much newspaper comment. The meeting was said to have been -one of “effusive cordiality,” and, in view of the events which quickly -followed, there is little doubt but what it partook of the nature of “two -hearts that beat as one.” - -It was there that the National Bankers proposed an issue of bonds. But -Carlisle, like a young girl, although keen to marry, intimated that it -was “too sudden.” - -This was the last of the series of meetings between the Government -officials and the National Bank Presidents preceding the panic. - -Everything was now ready to give the country the “Object-Lesson.” - -Within the next forty-eight hours the worst financial calamity that ever -befell the people was to break upon them. - -At this time there was nothing in the industrial situation to precipitate -a panic. Prices had been low for several years, and there was none of the -spirit of speculation which usually precedes a panic. - -Cleveland himself volunteered to say: “Our unfortunate financial plight -is not the result of untoward events, nor of conditions relating to our -natural resources, nor is it traceable to any of the afflictions which -frequently check national growth and prosperity. With plenteous crops, -with abundant promise of remunerative production and manufacture, with -unusual invitation to safe investment and with satisfactory assurance to -business enterprise, suddenly financial distrust and fear have sprung up -on every side.” - -Thus the people and all those engaged in industrial and productive -enterprises are exonerated. - -Who are the guilty persons? - -The men who did just what that Panic Bulletin describes. - -The bankers who demanded the practical demonetization of silver; who -demanded a special session of Congress to secure it; who called in their -loans and reduced their circulation; who demanded and secured the issue -of bonds, and who now demand the retirement of the greenbacks. - -Messrs. Branch and Reynolds and other National Bank advocates may be able -to repudiate the Panic Bulletin, but they cannot successfully deny that -every feature of the program it contained was carried out in detail by -the men who practically control the National Bank system. - -Four days after the Williams House meeting at which Secretary Carlisle -was present, the New York banks began to call in their loans with brutal -vindictiveness. - -We are not left to conjecture the effect of such a policy on the New York -Exchange. By the 5th of May the strain had become intense. The New York -_Tribune_ of May 6, referring to the condition of the market, said: “The -enormous losses of the last week, the utter demoralization of the buying -power in the market and the practical paralysis of credit, promised a -liquidation that, unless stayed, would have swept them all off their -feet.” - -On May 7 the same paper said: “The effort of the Administration to bring -the South and West to a full realization of the inevitable consequences -of compulsory purchases of silver bullion has brought distress and -perhaps ruin to many innocent persons—but there is no reason to suppose -that it will be relaxed.” - -Within ten days from the time of the Williams House meeting between -Cleveland’s Secretary of the Treasury and the National Bank Presidents -the panic had spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and for forty days -it continued with unabated fury. On the 9th of May several Western banks -were forced to close their doors. - -“There is no lack of pressure,” said the New York _Tribune_ on the 22d of -May. - -On the 6th of June—six weeks after the Williams House meeting—the New -York _Sun_, in its money article, said: “The Presidents of the New York -National Banks think that the so-called “Object-Lesson” has been carried -far enough. They see nothing to be gained by a further shrinkage of -values and unsettling of credits.” - -It is useless for me to detail the results of the panic. - -From May 9 to 30, inclusive, sixty banks were forced to suspend, and -fifty-eight of them were in the doomed section—the South, West and -Northwest. - -From the time of the Williams House meeting, April 27, to December 30, -1893, a period of eight months, more than fifteen thousand bankruptcies -and suspensions had occurred. Over six hundred banks had been driven to -the wall, and the loss to the country in round numbers was SEVEN HUNDRED -AND FIFTY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. - -But the National Bank Presidents had won their fight. They had carried -out the program laid down in the Panic Bulletin, an extra session of -Congress had been called and the purchasing clause repealed. - -That the “Object-Lesson” was intended for the West and South is evidenced -by the records. Out of 169 banks failing from March 5 to August 4, five -only were in Eastern States, forty-eight in Southern and 151 in Western -states—Dunn’s Report. - -Dunn’s Report for July 21, 1893, says: “A large proportion of the -suspended Colorado banks and mercantile institutions will pay in full and -resume business, inability to borrow money on or sell ample collateral -alone being the cause of the Denver banks closing their doors.” - -No doubt the panic reached proportions not at first intended by the -National Bank Presidents and threatened their own financial standing, -as Mr. Branch suggests is the case in time of panics. But they had a -remedy, no doubt decided upon beforehand. While they refused credit to -the Southern and Western banks, they issued Clearing House certificates -to the extent of $63,152,000 to themselves, an act which was in violation -of the law. - -There is so much evidence obtainable to the effect that the National -Bankers are guilty of every count in the indictment contained in the -Panic Bulletin that a book could be filled with it. - -In a speech in the United States Senate August 25, 1893, Senator David -B. Hill, referring to the bankers, said: “They inaugurated the policy of -refusing loans to the people even upon the best security, and attempted -in every way to spread disaster broadcast throughout the land. These -disturbers—the promoters of public peril—represented largely the creditor -class, the men who desire to appreciate the gold dollar in order to -subserve their own selfish interests, men who revel in hard times, men -who drive harsh bargains with their fellow-men regardless of financial -distress. It is not strange that the present panic has been induced, -intensified and protracted by reason of these malign influences. Having -contributed much to bring about the present exigency, these men are now -unable to control it. They have sown the wind, and we are now all reaping -the whirlwind together” (_Congressional Record_, Vol. XXV, Part I, p. -865). - -August 8, 1893, Senator Teller said, in a speech in the United States -Senate: - -“It is the height of folly that this is a panic caused by distrust of -the currency.” On the 29th of the same month the Senator from Colorado, -referring to the Williams House meeting of Secretary Carlisle with -the New York National Bank Presidents, said: “It is a most remarkable -interview; it will go far to support the charges which I am not going to -make on my own authority, but which I am going to make upon the authority -of others, that this panic is a bankers’ panic, brought by the action -of the New York banks, and brought about for distinct purposes, which -purposes were practically avowed on the 27th of April. The same things -have been reiterated by the financial papers, and the policy is still -continued up to the present hour. It had two objects in view. One was to -secure from the United States a large issue of bonds, and the other to -secure the repeal of the much-abused Sherman law.” - -The records show that the bankers accomplished both of these objects. -They secured the repeal of the purchasing clause, and afterward the issue -of $262,000,000 in bonds. - -In the same speech Senator Teller said: “There are many banks in the -West, and some that I know of, which shut their doors because they could -not draw the money that they had on deposit in New York” (_Congressional -Record_, Vol. XXV, Part I, p. 1022). - -In its issue of August 20, 1893, the Chicago _Inter-Ocean_ said: - -“When the future historian tells the world of the great financial panic -of 1893, he will say: ‘In the winter and spring months of that year the -New York bankers and financiers sowed the wind, and in the summer months -reaped the whirlwind.’ - -“We know of no arrangement of words that can more graphically describe -the action of the New York financiers and the results of that action. -Colonel Ingersoll, early in the season of disturbance, properly called -this a ‘bankers’ panic.’ Nor are the New York bankers alone to blame. -Those of Boston and Philadelphia come in for their share.” - -But it is useless for me to continue to pile up testimony to further -sustain my contention. Whether the Panic Bulletin is a “canard” or not, -its suggestions were carried into effect. The bankers opposed silver, -and, for the purpose of having the law providing for its issue repealed, -they precipitated the panic and used the methods described in the -Bulletin to accomplish their ends. They are opposed to greenbacks, and -if necessary will, I have no doubt, precipitate another panic in order -to have them retired. And it all goes to show that the control of the -currency should be taken out of their hands. - - W. S. MORGAN. - - _Hardy, Ark._ - - - - - _The Cradle of Tears_ - - BY THEODORE DREISER - _Author of “Sister Carrie”_ - - -There is a cradle within the door of one of the great institutions of New -York before which a constantly recurring tragedy is being enacted. It is -a plain cradle, quite simply draped in white, but with such a look of -cozy comfort about it that one would scarcely suspect it to be a cradle -of sorrow. - -A little white bed with a neatly turned-back coverlet is made up within -it. A long strip of white muslin, tied in a tasteful bow at the top, -drapes its rounded sides. About it, but within the precincts of warmth -and comfort, of which it is a fort, spreads a chamber of silence—a quiet, -solemn, plainly furnished room, the appearance of which emphasizes the -peculiarity of the cradle itself. - -If the mind were not familiar with the details with which it is so -startlingly associated, the question would naturally arise as to what it -was doing there—why it should be standing there alone. No one seems to -be watching it. It has not the slightest appearance of usefulness, and -yet there it stands, day after day, and year after year—a ready prepared -cradle and no infant to live in it. - -And yet this cradle is the most useful and, in a way, the most inhabited -cradle in the world. Day after day, and year after year, it is the -recipient of more small wayfaring souls than any other cradle in the -world. In it the real children of sorrow are placed, and over it more -tears are shed than if it were an open grave. - -It is the place where annually 1,200 foundlings are placed, many of them -by mothers who are too helpless or too unfortunately environed to be -further able to care for their child, and the misery which compels it -makes of the little open crib a cradle of tears. - -The interest of this particular cradle is, that it has been the silent -witness of more truly heartbreaking scenes than any other cradle since -the world began. For nearly thirty-five years it has stood where it does -today, ready-draped, open, while as many thousand mothers have stolen -shamefacedly in and, after looking hopelessly about, have laid their -helpless offspring within its depths. - -For thirty-five years, winter and summer, in the bitterest cold and the -most stifling heat, it has seen them come—the poor, the rich; the humble, -the proud; the beautiful, the homely—and one by one they have laid their -children down and brooded over them, wondering whether it were possible -for human love to make so great a sacrifice and yet not die. - -And then when the child has been actually sacrificed, when by the simple -act of releasing their hold upon it and turning away they have actually -allowed it to pass out from their love and tenderness into the world -unknown, this silent cradle has seen them smite their hands in anguish -and yield to such voiceless tempests of grief as only those know who have -loved much and lost all. - -The circumstances under which this peculiar charity comes to be a part -of the life of the great metropolis need not be rehearsed here. The -heartlessness of men, the frailty of women, the brutality of all those -who sit in judgment in spite of the fact that they do not wish to be -judged themselves, is so old and so commonplace that its repetition is -almost a weariness. - -Still the tragedy repeats itself, and year after year, and day after -day the unlocked door is opened and dethroned virtue enters—the victim -of ignorance and passion and affection, and a child is robbed of an -honorable home. - - - - - _The Racing Trust_ - - BY THOMAS B. FIELDERS - - -The only Trust that has the sincere and earnest and unfaltering support -of the daily press is the most audacious, the most grasping, the most -immoral of all trusts. This is the Racing Trust. There are hundreds of -trusts in this country. All corporations that have eliminated or lessened -competition to a marked degree are called trusts. It is asserted, -commonly, that such combinations are against the laws of the states that -form the Union and are in opposition to the Federal Constitution. If the -Beef Trust or the Sugar Trust or the Standard Oil Trust have advocates -among the daily newspapers of the country, these advocates are not -earning their salt, to say nothing of their salaries. The only support -they have the courage to give is silence. Yet it has to be proven that -these trusts have infringed the law. - -In the case of the Racing Trust there is no doubt. There is none to deny -that it is an absolute monopoly. It conducts business in open defiance -of the law and the Constitution. It has the avarice of a miser, and the -impudent shamelessness of a courtezan. All who will help to fill its -maw are received with open arms. Lacking morals, it expects none of its -patrons. Within its portals the scum of humanity is made as welcome as -the cream. It has its rules, but these are without and beyond the law, -though, curiously, they are enforced by so-called guardians of the law. -The Beef Trust, by its rapacious methods, may make vegetarians; the -Racing Trust makes outcasts, who, sometimes, rise to the dignity of -convicts. The Beef Trust shuns advertisement; the Racing Trust welcomes -it. Any reputable undertaking must pay heavily for the support of the -press; the Racing Trust gets such support in columns per day for a -ridiculously small subvention. The press poses as a teacher of morality. -In the case of the Racing Trust it plays the part of a panderer without -getting the price insisted upon by that unutterable in any other walk of -life. - -Americans believe that they possess a quality of humor that is far -superior to that which bears the hall-mark of any other nationality. -’Tis a comfortable belief, for it enables them to live cheerfully under -conditions which would not be tolerated elsewhere. There are several -kinds of humorists among us, and of these the men who make inadequate -laws, or laws which they know will be broken, and the men who break them -and go unpunished are worthy of more and of a different sort of attention -than they receive. People growl at the Beef Trust on account of the high -prices of beef, though Mr. Garfield, who was instructed by the President -to investigate that Trust, has said that its profits are only moderate. - -What of the profits of the Racing Trust? Monte Carlo is described -invariably as the most delectable gold mine in the world. In ordinary -gold mines the vein may be “pinched out”; in Monte Carlo it runs on -forever. Games made by gamblers for gamblers are called games of chance. -There is little humor in your gambler, else he would recognize the -absence of chance. Many thousands have tried to “break the bank” at Monte -Carlo. Nobody has succeeded, for while play is conducted there honestly, -the games are of the “sure thing” variety, as the percentage is always -in favor of the bank. But the shareholders of the Casino at Monte Carlo -are satisfied with twenty per cent. per annum on their investment and, -sometimes, get less. And let it be remembered that in conducting their -business they do not break the law. - -The Racing Trust would scorn to accept anything so paltry as twenty per -cent. on its investment, yet it is a law-breaker for seven months of the -year, on six days of the week, and in the course of time, doubtless, will -break it on the seventh day of the week also. - -Laws against gambling have existed from time beyond count, just as they -have existed against murder and other crimes against public welfare. The -Constitution of the state of New York prohibited all kinds of gambling -until 1887. In that year the Legislature passed the “Ives Pool bill.” -Ives was a member of the Legislature from this city. Except that he -piloted this particular bill through a legislature which was paid to -adopt it, his name would have been forgotten. The bill called by his -name suspended the provisions of the Penal Code relating to gambling at -race-tracks. It limited racing between May 15 and October 15. It limited -racing upon any track to thirty days. It permitted bookmaking upon the -tracks. In return for enormous privileges the racing associations were -to pay to the state five per cent. of their gross receipts. The law -confined gambling to the tracks, and in order to take full advantage -of it, and also, of course, to improve the breed of racing stock, -philanthropists of the convict stripe opened tracks where racing was -conducted at night as well as by day, in winter as well as in summer. The -manner in which racing was conducted became a public scandal. The horse -was the principal factor, and, generally, was used as a means to an end. -There were, of course, owners and trainers and jockeys who were honest, -even under the Ives Pool law, but these were very much in a minority. -The “sport” reeked with dishonesty. Horses were “pulled,” trainers and -jockeys were “stiffened.” Some of the racing officials not only winked -at “crookedness,” but took part in it. Unless the starter of those days -had a piece of every “good thing,” it did not “come off” if he could -prevent it. None talked of the improvement “of the breed” except with -tongue in cheek. “Jobs” were discussed, after the event, as if they had -been meritorious performances. When these were the work of trainers and -jockeys the bookmakers were derided; when they were planned and realized -by bookmakers the latter were cursed. There was much cursing in those -days, as there was much reason for it, but the profanity was not due to -the failure of honest, but dishonest effort. Women as well as men were -allowed to bet, and the race-tracks were hotbeds of debauchery. The great -body of those who were interested in racing was beyond the pale. The -refuse of the country camped in New York while the orgy lasted, and so -obnoxious did these bandits make themselves that an organized effort was -made to induce the constitutional convention which met in 1895 to cleanse -the state of the filth which was bred by the Ives Pool law. - -This convention appointed a committee, whose duty it was to prepare an -address to the people of the state. The address dealt with the work of -the convention. The committee called attention to the anti-gambling -amendment adopted by the convention in the following language: “The -passion for gambling to which the system of lotteries formerly ministered -has found fresh opportunity under the so-called Ives Pool bill, and, -under color and pretext of betting upon horse races, is working -widespread demoralization and ruin among the young and weak throughout -the community. We have extended the prohibition against lotteries so as -to include pool-selling, bookmaking and other forms of gambling. It is -claimed that this provision will array in opposition to the proposed -Constitution a great and unscrupulous money power; but we appeal to the -virtue and sound judgment of the people to sustain the position which we -have taken.” - -This address was signed by Messrs. Joseph H. Choate (Ambassador to -England), Elihu Root, H. T. Cookinham, Elon R. Brown, Chester B. -McLaughlin, Milo M. Acker, Daniel H. McMillan and M. H. Hirschberg. - -The anti-gambling amendment, which was adopted by the convention with -only four dissenting votes, was as follows: - -“The delegates of the People of the state of New York, in convention -assembled, do propose as follows: - -“Section 10 of Article I of the Constitution is hereby amended so as to -read: ‘No law shall be passed abridging the right of the people peaceably -to assemble and to petition the Government or any department thereof; -nor shall any divorce be granted otherwise than by judicial proceedings; -_nor shall any lottery or the sale of lottery tickets, pool-selling, -bookmaking or any kind of gambling hereafter be authorized or allowed -within this state, and the Legislature shall pass appropriate laws to -prevent offenses against any of the provisions of this section_.’” - -The “great and unscrupulous money power” to which Mr. Choate and his -associates alluded was that of the racing associations. Their power was -felt in the convention, and some of those who discussed the amendment -prior to its adoption claimed that it was offered at the suggestion of -one set of gamblers (poolroom keepers) against another set of gamblers -(the racing associations). This was true enough. The racing associations -were as grasping then as they are now. Their members claimed that the -poolroom was a nefarious and demoralizing influence. Why? Because it -prevented the racing associations from having a monopoly of the petty as -well as the big gamblers’ money—of the cash of those who had not time to -go to the races as well as of those who were unable to go. The engines -of the law were stoked up and run full tilt against the poolrooms at -the behest of the racing associations; therefore, in self-defense, the -poolroom keepers were anxious that all gamblers should be placed on the -same level; hence the anti-gambling amendment to the Constitution. Mr. -Telusky, who offered the amendment as a resolution, said that if any -member of the convention “can name one man in the state of New York -that is in the bookmaking business that is not a thief, a blackguard -or an ex-convict, I will withdraw my resolution. I say, Mr. President, -every bookmaker in the state of New York, no matter where he comes from, -is nothing but an ex-convict, a cracksman, a pickpocket, a thief of -the lowest character, and these men come here and desire to shut this -(amendment) out because the Legislature of a few years ago legalized a -certain kind of gambling, and they are trying to protect them.” - -Mr. Edward Lauterbach paid his compliments to the racing associations in -plain language. “Their nefarious establishments,” he said, “have been -erected from Montauk Point to Niagara Falls, and the state treasury has -received and distributed to the county fairs a few miserable shekels, -which it has reserved as its share of the plunder. _Why, for every dollar -that the state has received, it has expended ten dollars to support those -who have become inmates of its prisons by reason of the weak policy so -pursued._ You are all familiar with the terrible temptation of this -alluring vice. The passion of gambling is pandered to in this fashion in -the most insidious manner. Exaggerated accounts of great winnings are -presented to the readers of every journal. Tens of thousands of young men -and women have been hurled to their ruin through the instrumentality of -the state that should have protected them. Gambling has already been made -unlawful. If anyone desires to legalize any one branch of gambling by the -suggestion of proposed amendment (to the anti-gambling amendment), let -us say to him, Never. Let us pass this amendment, so that, once enacted -into a law, it may carry out its beneficent purpose and not prove a sham -and a deceit. Just as it was as reported let us have this amendment—no -subterfuge, no change, no alterations; make no halfway work. Sweep the -whole brood together—gamblers, pool-sellers, bookmakers, all the racing -fraternity—into oblivion forever. Pass this amendment now, as it is, -unaltered and unchanged. True horse fanciers—the Bonners, the Lorillards, -the Belmonts, the Keenes and the rest—will thank you for the protection -you thus afford to their legitimate pursuit. Only the gambler, who should -be a pariah and an outcast, and not the state’s associate, will have -cause for regret.” - -It was said at the time that the racing associations and the bookmakers -had collected a fund of $700,000, and intended to use it in buying enough -votes in the convention to defeat the anti-gambling amendment. Who said -it? The newspapers. True? Not at all likely. The racing associations -were able to raise such a fund, but would have got little assistance -from the bookmakers. The latter were an asset of the racing associations -and knew it; they must be taken care of. ’Twas said, when Mr. Jerome was -at Albany championing the Dowling bill, that the gamblers of New York -had contributed $100,000 for the purchase of the Black Horse Cavalry -in the Legislature. The press gave Troy as the headquarters of the -gamblers’ committee. There was no such committee. The gamblers of New -York, including Canfield, who had more at stake than any other gambler, -did not contribute a dollar for the purpose of killing the Dowling bill. -The latter was passed with surprising ease in Assembly and Senate, and -had become a law before the “clever division” had begun to think of the -possibility of such a result. This law, in the hands of Mr. Jerome, has -proved rather embarrassing to the gambling fraternity, and may give him -an opportunity of distinguishing himself in a manner after his own heart -before many weeks have passed. - -The anti-gambling amendment to the Constitution was ratified by a popular -majority of nearly 90,000 votes. Some of the voters believed, doubtless, -that it would eliminate betting on race-tracks. These forgot that the -amendment was of little worth unless the Legislature made such gambling -an offense and also made a punishment to fit the offense. The Legislature -which followed the adoption of the Constitution was “open to reason.” -How much money was required to salve its conscience I do not know, but -the manner in which it replied to the demand of the popular vote shows -that it was dishonest. By the anti-gambling clause of the Constitution -it was ordered to “pass appropriate laws to prevent offenses against any -of the provisions of this section.” Instead of obeying such mandate it -adopted the Percy-Gray law, which makes gambling in poolrooms a felony -and gambling on race-tracks a misdemeanor. In other words, if the keeper -of a poolroom takes a bet on a horse race he commits a felony and can be -sent to jail, for according to the law he has committed a penal offense, -whereas if a bookmaker accepts your money on the same race he does not -commit a felony and you are at liberty to publish yourself as a poor sort -of creature by attempting to recover your money by civil action. Class -legislation? It looks like it. But class legislation is unconstitutional. -That is the general opinion, but in this particular case many thousands -of dollars have been spent in an effort to discover whether or not the -present racing law is unconstitutional, and the dollars have been thrown -away. - -The situation would be amusing did it not demonstrate the power of money. -To the average mind it would seem as if the constitutional convention had -barred all kinds of gambling, particularly gambling on race-tracks. Yet, -under the fostering care of the Racing Trust, the volume of gambling at -race-tracks is at least thrice as great today as it was in 1895. Before -the convention met the Racing Trust was permitted to do business for five -months in the year; now it does business for seven months. Under the -Ives Pool law, which was wiped out as vicious, the tracks were limited -to thirty days of racing; now the Jockey Club does as it pleases in the -matter of dates. Under a law which is, upon its face, unconstitutional -because it discriminates, the Racing Commission, a state institution, has -the power to issue or refuse licenses. The Racing Commission is under the -control of the Jockey Club, and the latter is the ruler of the racing -associations. The Jockey Club, of which Mr. August Belmont is the head, -is lord of all it surveys in the metropolitan circuit, to say nothing of -the Bennings race-track, in which a majority of the stock is owned by -Mr. Belmont. Racing began at Bennings on March 23, and its dates are not -included in the seven months of racing in the metropolitan circuit. - -In this circuit there are seven tracks, not counting the Buffalo track, -which is controlled by the Racing Trust. The track at Morris Park, the -most picturesque race-course in the United States, has been relegated -to obscurity, as it was not owned by the Racing Trust, but was leased -at an annual rental of $45,000. Belmont Park, which is owned by Mr. -August Belmont, the head of the Racing Trust, has taken its place. The -associations which are controlled by the Racing Trust are capitalized as -follows: - - Westchester Racing Association (Belmont Park) $1,500,000 - Queens County Jockey Club (Aqueduct) 700,000 - Metropolitan jockey Club (Jamaica) 550,000 - Coney Island Jockey Club (Sheepshead Bay) 525,000 - Brooklyn Jockey Club (Gravesend) 500,000 - Brighton Beach Racing Association 300,000 - Buffalo Racing Association 200,000 - Saratoga Association for the Improvement - of the Breed of Horses 50,000 - ---------- - Total $4,325,000 - -These figures were obtained from the Secretary of State, the Hon. John -F. O’Brien. In any calculations that may be made the capitalization -of Belmont Park should be eliminated and the rental of Morris Park, -$45,000, substituted for $1,500,000, in order to show how thriving a -concern the Racing Trust is. It will be understood, of course, that the -capitalization of these concerns may be a trifle, just a trifle, higher -than the actual value of the said tracks and appurtenances, except in the -case of the Saratoga track, which was built solely “for the improvement -of the breed of horses.” - -For the right to do business on these tracks the Racing Trust pays, or is -supposed to pay, to the state five per cent. upon the gross earnings of -said tracks. Among the duties of the Racing Commission is the supervision -of these receipts. The commission consists of Messrs. August Belmont, -John Sanford and E. D. Morgan. Mr. Belmont is the president of the -Westchester Racing Association (Belmont Park), and the largest owner of -stock in the Racing Trust. Mr. Sanford is the power at Saratoga, and -does not race until the season opens at the Spa. Attached to the Racing -Commission is a State Inspector of Races. Until he was appointed to a -position in the Internal Revenue Department the place was filled by -Charles W. Anderson, a colored man. Reports of gross receipts are made -to the State Comptroller by the racing associations and by the State -Inspector of Races. It is not impossible that the latter official takes -such figures as are offered to him, and it is difficult to imagine that -he ever objected to them on the score of inaccuracy or any other score. - -The reports of gross receipts made by the members of the Racing Trust to -the State Comptroller for the years 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1904 are -as follows (the figures were obtained from the State Comptroller, the -Hon. Otto Kelsey): - - 1900. 1901. 1902. - Coney Island Jockey Club $494,895.06 $640,327.97 $820,184.18 - Brooklyn Jockey Club 474,887.88 593,472.72 761,394.65 - Brighton Beach 307,311.30 407,611.75 502,940.25 - Westchester 323,041.23 432,187.86 571,178.79 - Saratoga 137,248.21 272,612.24 359,342.40 - Metropolitan - Queens 164,555.14 225,417.69 324,177.82 - Buffalo 62,519.80 - ------------ ------------- ------------- - Totals $1,901,938.82 $2,571,630.23 $3,401,737.89 - - 1903. 1904. - Coney Island Jockey Club $903,128.84 $854,421.20 - Brooklyn Jockey Club 790,054.07 731,559.26 - Brighton Beach 559,348.00 626,837.10 - Westchester 623,131.27 566,143.62 - Saratoga 439,649.49 393,550.09 - Metropolitan 355,270.70 307,396.03 - Queens 282,900.88 218,729.16 - Buffalo 60,857.63 106,489.05 - ------------- ------------- - Totals $4,014,340.88 $3,805,125.51 - -The reader will notice the exactness with which the racing associations -make up their gross receipts—the “twenty cents” of the Coney Island -Jockey Club, the “nine cents” of the Saratoga “Association for the -Improvement of the Breed of Horses,” and so on. The reader will notice, -also, that the gross receipts for last year were $209,215.37 less than -those of 1903, though the press was unanimous in declaring that last -year’s racing was the greatest, which means the most profitable of all -years. The five per cent. paid to the state last year by the Racing Trust -amounted to $190,256.27. This five per cent. is “the penny in the dollar” -alluded to by Mr. Edward Lauterbach in his address to the constitutional -convention. But ridiculously small as it is, why does the Racing Trust -give it to the state? Simply as a sop to the rural legislator and his -constituents. The dweller in cities may lack some or many of the virtues, -but when it is necessary to find the highest plane of parsimonious -hypocrisy one must needs pay a visit to the rural districts. This five -per cent., which smacks so much of Iscariot’s thirty pieces of silver, -is divided among such agricultural societies as give annual fairs, and -to farmers’ institutes. Ostensibly it is intended for the improvement -of agriculture; in reality much of it is given as purses for trotting -races at the said county fairs. Without the support of the rural element -the Racing Trust would not have succeeded in getting the adoption of the -Percy-Gray racing law. - -The profits of the Racing Trust are enormous. Take the Coney Island -Jockey Club, for instance. Mr. Leonard Jerome, who was a sportsman who -never made money out of sport, built the Sheepshead Bay track at a -cost of $125,000. The grounds of the Coney Island Jockey Club belong -to the people and were filched from them by an act of the Legislature. -Improvements were made since the track was built, but the actual legal -belongings of the Coney Island Jockey Club are worth far less than the -amount of the capital stock, which is $525,000. The gross receipts of -the club for last year, as reported to the State Comptroller, were -$854,421.20. Of what did these consist? It was said that the attendance -on “big days” last year numbered from 40,000 to 50,000. Put it at 35,000, -and the money taken in for admission, boxes and clubhouse seats and boxes -and for “field” admissions would amount to about $80,000. Then there are -the bookmakers. On more than one day last year there were 120 members of -the Metropolitan Turf Association in the ring. They paid $57 each for the -privilege of “laying the odds.” Back of them were a hundred layers who -paid $37 each. There were fifty others who paid $27, and as many more who -paid $17 each. Programs to the number of 40,000 at ten cents each make -$400. Then there are the bar and restaurant privileges, the commissioners -and many other means of income, so that the income of one such day could -not be less than $100,000. - -There were thirty days of racing at Sheepshead Bay last year. -The attendance, according to the daily press, was “enormous,” -“record-breaking,” “large” or “highly satisfactory.” The “highly -satisfactory” days were the smallest of the season, which shows the -difference between English as it is understood by “sporting” writers in -the daily press and those who are able to distinguish the difference -between fact and fancy. If the average daily attendance were not more -than 12,500, it and the other sources of revenue would mean about $35,000 -per day. - - Thirty days’ racing at $35,000 per day $1,050,000 - Expenses of all kinds at $10,000 per day 300,000 - -------- - Balance in favor of the club $750,000 - -The sum of $10,000 per day will cover all the expenses, including added -money, at Sheepshead Bay. According to such calculation and taking the -club’s figures of gross receipts as correct, the result would be like -this: - - Receipts for thirty days’ racing $854,421.20 - Expenses for thirty days’ racing at $10,000 per day 300,000.00 - ----------- - Balance in favor of the club $554,421.20 - -These figures show that the profits of the Coney Island Jockey Club for -_thirty days_ of racing are more than the full amount of its capital -stock. Some years ago, when racing was conducted on a smaller scale, this -stock paid 56 per cent. per annum. Unless a lot of money is packed away -in a reserve fund, the stock should pay dollar for dollar now, and the -state still gets the “penny in the dollar.” - -Much of the income was contributed by the chief factors at a -race-course—the men who own and race horses; and one of the most -interesting features of a race meeting, to members of the Racing Trust, -is the fact that the men who own the horses are racing for money -contributed, in great part, by themselves. The money added by the racing -associations is often less than the amounts furnished by owners of -horses that have been entered for a race. Much stress is laid upon the -fact that $2,601,160 was won in purses last year on the tracks of the -metropolitan circuit and Bennings. This amount, large as it may seem, was -so distributed that very few owners paid much more than expenses, while a -far larger number lost much money. Four hundred and thirty-eight stables -or owners were among the winners, and a glance at the following table -will show that the losers were in a large majority. - - OWNERS AND WINNINGS - - Herman B. Duryea $200,043 - James R. Keene 164,940 - E. R. Thomas 151,210 - Sydney Paget 133,441 - Newton Bennington 104,210 - John A. Drake 99,480 - S. S. Brown 82,472 - R. T. Wilson, Jr. 69,115 - John E. Madden 55,830 - Goughacres Stable 50,084 - Thomas Hitchcock, Jr. 44,540 - W. B. Jennings 34,605 - M. L. Hayman 34,330 - John Sanford 33,435 - W. B. Leeds 32,320 - L. V. Bell 31,520 - J. W. Colt 23,130 - Waldeck Stable 23,050 - M. Corbett 22,445 - J. L. McGinnis 21,400 - Andrew Miller 20,155 - Frank Farrell 19,980 - W. C. Daly 18,495 - “Mr. Cotton” 18,135 - “Mr. Chamblet” 17,605 - P. Lorillard 17,290 - J. E. Widener 16,970 - C. F. Fox 16,810 - A. L. Aste 16,705 - S. Deimel 16,605 - J. McLaughlin 16,490 - E. W. Jewett 16,165 - August Belmont 15,745 - Columbia Stable 15,317 - W. Lakeland 15,220 - Boston Stable 14,765 - H. T. Griffin 14,555 - F. R. Hitchcock 14,405 - J. G. Greener 14,200 - Albemarle Stable 12,895 - T. L. Watt 12,755 - E. E. Smathers 12,695 - N. Dyment 11,900 - U. Z. De Arman 11,080 - Oneck Stable 10,600 - John J. Ryan 10,515 - W. M. Sheftel 10,515 - W. L. Oliver 10,425 - P. J. Dwyer 10,382 - Joseph E. Seagram 9,305 - Mrs. J. Blute 9,305 - David Gideon (9 horses) 9,230 - H. C. Schulz 8,910 - W. F. Fanshawe 8,775 - J. L. Holland 8,765 - C. E. Rowe 8,475 - F. R. Docter 8,440 - J. W. Schorr 8,295 - R. H. McCarter Potter 8,060 - National Stable 7,805 - J. C. Yeager 7,720 - H. J. Morris 7,600 - Fairview 7,405 - T. D. Sullivan 7,335 - Frederick Johnson 7,260 - Chelsea Stable 7,090 - -In addition to the foregoing, 155 stables won between $1,000 and $7,000 -each. Some of these stables had as many as a dozen starters who “figured -in the money.” Stables or owners to the number of 217 won between $100 -and $1,000 each. Of this number fifty-four were in the $100 class. The -average winnings for the 438 stables were $5,938, which sum tells a -doleful tale for a majority of them, as the expenses of one thoroughbred -and its owner for a year cannot well be squeezed into $5,938, unless the -horse’s diet is restricted to hay and the owner lives at a Mills hotel. -Mr. Keene’s winnings were $164,940. That amount about paid his racing -expenses for the year. - -All of which, I think, goes to prove that the Racing Trust is more -anxious to make and increase enormous profits than to improve the -breed of horses. And everybody is aware that such enormous profits are -made only by violation of the Constitution of the state, and that, -while gambling in poolrooms and elsewhere has been made difficult and -dangerous, no effort has been made by the authorities to interfere with -it on the tracks of the Racing Trust. - - - - - _Dependence_ - - - Not that there are not “other eyes - In Spain” as bright as yours can be, - But that no eyes in all the world - Can ever seem as bright to me. - - Not that there are not lips as sweet - Kissed daily by each separate wind, - But that no other lips to me - Can seem so sweet, can be so kind. - - Sweetheart, I own myself your slave - Because you own yourself my thrall; - I—with so little, dear, to give; - You—who so gladly give me all. - - REGINALD WRIGHT KAUFFMAN. - - - - - _What Buzz-Saw Morgan Thinks_ - - BY W. S. MORGAN - - -Paternalism is preferable to infernalism. - -When the gentleman with the cloven hoof collects what is coming to him -there won’t be many bag barons left. - -The Beef Trust does business on a sliding scale; the price they pay -slides down, and the price they sell at slides up. - -A pauper lives off the public, and so do those who make their money -through special privileges granted them by law. - -As Bryan is losing prestige with the people he is becoming more popular -with the plutocrats. - -The United States Senate should be rechristened and called the -Corporations’ Cuckoo’s nest. - -The way to make the cuss-toady-ans of public interests more amenable to -our will is to have ready an Imperative Mandate lariat. - -Yes, the trusts are in the people’s pasture, and they got in over -Republican and Democratic fences. - -It is better that a whole lot of business shall be “hurted” than that the -trusts should continue to rob the people and be a standing menace to free -government. - -The Governor of Kansas is right; building a state refinery is not -Socialism; it is competition, just what the Populists stand for. - -The trusts also have “big sticks.” - -The Standard Oil Company has outlawed itself and ought to be “swatted” -off the face of the earth. - -The bandit bag barons are going to have some hard sledding from now on. - -If the concentration of wealth means the destruction of the republic, -then the people have a right to stop the concentration of wealth. - -The fact that the trusts are now in control of the railroads is another -reason why the Government should own them. - -An economic principle that does not rest upon a moral basis should -receive no support from honest men. - -Every applicant for a special legalized privilege is an enemy to good -government. - -It is the men who are always hammering at the doors of legislation for -special privileges that want “something for nothing.” - -The greatest power in the world is that which controls the volume of -money, and the Republicans are talking about turning that power over to a -few private buccaneers. - -When the very rich men are called by their right names there will not be -such a scramble to get rich. - -It is to be hoped that in this fight with the trusts and railroad -corporations that “big stick” of Teddy’s will not prove to be a stuffed -club. - -If Uncle Sam wants to mix his credit with anybody’s let him mix it with -that of the farmers. Their security is better than bonds. - -More that half of the men in the United States Senate wear corporation -collars. - -If all the big thieves were sentenced to jail we should have to turn the -little thieves out in order to make room for them. - -I challenge anyone to point out a single instance in this country where -the national bankers have made a recommendation in the interests of the -people. It is always a jug-handled proposition in their favor. - -One of the biggest pieces of foolishness in this old world of ours is for -Uncle Sam to make free money for the bankers to loan, and then borrow -that same money for his own use. - -Unless there is some change made in the manner of selecting United States -senators, that body of corporation attorneys would better be abolished. - -So insignificant was the last Presidential candidate of the Democratic -Party that a great many voters have already forgotten his name. - -The country is now ready for the election of United States senators by -the people instead of the corporations, but that body of august lawmakers -will block every effort in that direction. - -If there is no other way to prevent corporations from violating the law -they should be denied its protection, just like other outlaws. A dose of -that kind of medicine would soon bring them to their milk. - -The decision of the North Sea Commission seems to be based upon the -principle (if it has a principle) that a naval commander has a right to -fire at anything that frightens him. - -If the packers didn’t steal their immense fortunes from the people, whom -did they steal them from? - -A “reasonable rate,” as interpreted by the railroad companies, is all the -honey except barely enough to keep the bees from starving to death. - -There has already been a good deal of water squeezed out of Standard Oil -stock; now, if some process can be brought forward that will squeeze the -water out of the oil the company sells, it will be better yet. - -The great trusts have shown that they have no regard for “vested -rights.” They have “frozen out” the smaller concerns without mercy. Why, -then, should they object to a little of the “freezing” process, if the -Government or states decide to go into the oil business on their own -account? - -If the Socialists insist on turning the world over at one flip, like -turning a pancake, before they can start the show, they are following -a mighty cold trail. If they are willing to go by the usual road of -evolution there is no reason why they and the Populists should not work -together, for awhile at least. - -The man who is wholly controlled by sentiment is not fit to vote. Voting -is a business proposition and demands both intelligence and good judgment. - -It seems to be the policy of lawmakers in this country to grant special -privileges to the rich and powerful, and to permit them to impose upon -the weak, and this condition will remain just so long as men will submit -to being robbed. - -The men who prate most about “vested rights” and “law and order” are the -ones who violate them most. - -When the Government thought the express companies were charging -the people too much for the transmission of money it went into the -money-order business itself. What was the result? Why, the express -companies had to come to the rate established by the Government or get -none of the business. It was purely a matter of business, and that’s the -way to do it. - -It was the “battle-scared” bag barons that discredited government paper -money during the Civil War between the states. Yet it is from these men -that we hear most about “national honor” and “public credit.” They are -the same class of men of whom honest old Abe Lincoln said: “They ought to -be hanged”; and the country would have fared better ever since if they -had been. - -Nearly every civilized nation in the world owns all or a part of its -system of railroad and telegraph lines, and they have no disposition to -turn them over to private corporations. The United States alone permits -a few wealthy buccaneers to levy taxes on the people which no government -would dare do. An increase of three cents per bushel on corn alone means -a tax of fifty millions of dollars to the men who produce that cereal. - -Until recently the national bankers paid the Government one per cent. on -the money the Government loaned them. Then they claimed that it was too -much to pay for the use of the money and the credit of the Government, -and Congress reduced the rate to one-half of one per cent. But the banker -has no conscientious scruples about loaning this money to the people at -eight and ten per cent. - -The railroad companies admit that they violate the law by granting -rebates, but set up the claim that if they did not do it they would lose -their share of the traffic. It is a very singular plea. It is not half as -just as the one that a man steals because he is hungry, or because his -wife and children are suffering for the necessaries of life. “We violate -the law because somebody else does,” say the railroad companies. Suppose -that every criminal would set up the same excuse for the commission of -crime. And ordinary criminals have a better right to make that plea in -palliation for their crime than the trusts and corporations have. If, as -they admit, the railroad managers are so dishonest that one must violate -the law because another does, if there is no way to restrain them except -to turn the whole matter over to them, and permit them to pool their -earnings so that one thief can watch the other thieves, it is about time -to abolish the whole system of private ownership and for the Government -to take charge of the lines of transportation. The railroad companies -make out the worst kind of a case against themselves. They admit that -there are enough law-breakers among them to demoralize the whole system. - -The public has heard a good deal about legislation that would discourage -capital from being invested in the state enacting the legislation. It has -been said that the passage of laws calculated to regulate the business -of large corporations would have the effect of driving them away. Kansas -just now is giving us an object-lesson along this line. The laws recently -passed by the Legislature in that state are perhaps the most drastic in -their nature ever passed by any state for the control and regulation -of corporations, yet the prospect is that more capital will go to that -state than ever before. Although the state is now engaged in building an -oil refinery, there are several other independent refineries projected, -with a good prospect for more to come. It is evident that capital has -not as much to fear from the people, when it is legitimately invested -and operated, as it has from the arrogant aggressions of such enormous -concerns as the Standard Oil Company that will brook no competition. If -capital will be satisfied with a fair profit it has nothing to fear from -the people, while, on the other hand, independent concerns that operate -legitimately in any line of business have much to fear from the great -trusts that have been built up through favors granted them by railroads -and municipalities. - - - - - _Flying the Kite_ - - -HUDSON—Do you think they will be able to get along on $10,000 a year? - -BUDSON—They ought to. With that much money they should manage to run in -debt for another ten thousand. - - * * * * * - -The rich man may defy the laws of the land and keep out of prison, but -when he gets dyspepsia from eating things out of season he realizes that -he can’t defy the laws of nature. - - - - - _The Heritage of Maxwell Fair_ - - BY VINCENT HARPER - _Author of “A Mortgage on the Brain”_ - - - SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS - - Maxwell Fair, an Englishman who has amassed a colossal - fortune on ’Change, inherits from his ancestors a remarkable - tendency to devote his life to some object, generally a - worthy, if peculiar one, which is extravagantly chivalrous. - The story opens with Fair and Mrs. Fair standing over the - body of a man who has just been shot in their house—a - foreigner, who had claimed to be an old friend of Mrs. Fair. - Fair sends her to her room, saying: “Leave everything to me.” - He hides the body in a chest, and decides to close the house - “for a trip on the Continent.” Fair tells the governess, Kate - Mettleby, that he loves her; that there is no dishonor in - his love, in spite of Mrs. Fair’s existence, and that, until - an hour ago, he thought he could marry her—could “break the - self-imposed conditions of his weird life-purpose.” They - are interrupted before Kate, who really loves him, is made - to understand. While the Fairs are entertaining a few old - friends at dinner, Kate, not knowing that it contains Mrs. - Fair’s blood-stained dress, is about to hide a parcel in the - chest when she is startled by the entrance of Samuel Ferret, - a detective from Scotland Yard. He tells her that he, with - other detectives, is shadowing the foreign gentleman who - came to the Fair house that day and has not yet left it. He - persuades Kate to promise that she will follow the suspect - when he leaves the house and then report at Scotland Yard. As - soon as Ferret is gone she lifts the lid off the chest, drops - the package into it, and, with a shriek, falls fainting to - the floor. Mr. and Mrs. Fair run to her aid. On being revived - Kate goes to Scotland Yard, where, in her anxiety to shield - Maxwell Fair from suspicion, she inadvertently leads the - detectives to think that a crime has been committed at the - Fair house. The two detectives are piecing together the real - facts from the clues she has given, when Ferret is summoned - to the telephone by his associate Wilson, whom he had left on - guard in the home of the Fairs. - -“Hello, Wilson!” He began speaking to his distant lieutenant. “Yes—yes. -No? By George! Yes, yes. Good, good! With you in ten minutes.” - -He hung up the receiver and to Sharpe’s impatient gesture replied: -“Wilson says the quarry is up. Mendes the Cuban has just left the house, -with Thorpe following to see where he goes. And now there’s the very -devil to pay. Wilson is hot on the trail. So I’m off.” - -“If anything goes wrong, call me up,” said Sharpe, keenly enjoying the -play of the big fish that he would have safely landed by a day or two. - -“Right you are! Ta, ta!” - -Ferret lost no time in reaching the Fair mansion. The guests were still -at dinner and he could see no trace of excitement from without. Wilson -reported in detail the sudden appearance of the Cuban, his hurried flight -up the street with Thorpe at his heels—and all quiet inside. - -“Who the devil fired that shot, and at whom was it fired, and what did -pretty Kate mean by her stammering protests that no crime had been done? -Was the saucy little minx deeper after all than they thought?” asked -Ferret of himself. He must have a good look at that library—that was the -key to the thickening mystery. So he stole up the stairs, but before he -could investigate the fatal library he heard the family coming up from -dinner and fled to the attic, passing Kate’s door, which stood ajar, and -through which he saw her on her knees with her face buried on the bed. - - - CHAPTER VIII - -As those whose memories run back thirty years know, Sir Nelson Poynter -owes his baronetcy to his financial ability and the fact that he made -his huge fortune honestly and always stood ready to sacrifice himself at -times of threatened panic on ’Change. Essentially a “City man,” when he -became a country gentleman he established himself in Surrey, where he -could keep an eye on Capel Court and reach the office in a little time. - -To Drayton Hall, his princely mansion, it might be objected that it -was a trifle too pretentious, with its battlements and towers, but no -fault could be found either with its hospitality or with the kindly old -gentleman and dear old lady who dispensed it. A week-end at Drayton was -always charming. - -On the terrace at Drayton on the day following that on which so much had -transpired at Fair’s town house, Travers was smoking and reading the -paper, when Allyne sauntered out of a window and approached him. - -“What! Not gone to church with the rest, Travers?” he said reprovingly. - -“Dry up, idiot!” replied Travers, not looking up from his paper. “Church? -Why, hang it, did you ever hear the curate here read? He’s the worst I -ever heard—except the vicar himself. And their sermons—lord! I wonder -where Poynter ever unearthed these two mummies.” - -“Oh, come, I say; no heresy now,” protested Allyne, sitting on the -balustrade of the terrace. “But, I say, old chap,” he added, knocking the -newspaper out of Travers’s hand, “what a funk poor Fair has got into! -What the deuce is in the wind, anyway?” - -“Give it up,” answered Travers, growing serious at once; “but I know one -thing. You and I have some decidedly nasty experience of some sort in -store for us tonight, see if we haven’t. You are going up to town with -him this afternoon, he tells me. So am I.” - -“Yes,” answered Allyne, also grown serious; “he wants us to spend the -night with him in Carlton House Terrace—going over his papers, that sort -of thing. The poor devil is regularly bowled over for some reason. Queer -turn for him to take—the coolest man I ever met, you know. I’m half -inclined to believe that the speculative strain of the last year has been -too much for him—in fact, that his mind is threatened; I do indeed.” - -“Nonsense!” exclaimed Travers impatiently. “And for heaven’s sake, don’t -let him suspect that you feel in any such way about it! Why, man, he -cares no more about the ups and downs on ’Change than you care about -my books. I was with him the day he dropped eighty thousand pounds in -Kaffirs a few years ago, and I could not get him to care about it as much -as he should have done, for it was no laughing matter with him at that -time. No, Allyne, my boy, Fair’s troubles are not financial—and as for -women——” - -“Yes, that’s the difficulty,” broke in Allyne. “If it were almost any -other man, one might say, ‘Find the lady in the puzzle’; but Fair is an -iced edition of Sir Galahad. But whatever it is, he has a horror of some -kind eating out that big, warm, pure heart of his. And, Travers, old man, -we must get at the truth tonight and save him.” - -“Right you are,” answered Travers heartily; “but I have my doubts as to -our ability to get inside of him. He’s so beastly—But hush—here they come -from church.” - -As he spoke Fair and Lady Poynter strolled quietly up the gravel path -toward the terrace, followed shortly by Sir Nelson, who was pointing out -his splendid flowers to Mrs. March. - -“Good morning,” said Travers and Allyne in concert, rising to meet them. - -“You naughty boys,” scolded little old Lady Poynter, shaking a finger at -the unregenerate pair. “Not at church—and such a lovely sermon, too!” - -“All about loving one another,” commented Mrs. March, coming up. “Lovely? -I should say so.” - -“And delivered in a voice of tepid silk,” remarked Fair, with so much -spirit that Travers and Allyne looked at each other relieved. - -“By Jove, you know, the vicar’s voice is a bit trying after the first -five minutes, is it not?” said Sir Nelson, who invariably slumbered after -the period he mentioned, during the sermon. - -“Well, trying or not, we all eat, do we not?” remarked Lady Poynter. -“So I’m off to hurry luncheon, for I want you all to drive over to the -Derwents’ this afternoon, and I can’t persuade Mr. Fair to stop tonight. -In half an hour—and till then be good.” - -The good old soul went away into the house to stir up the servants, and -Sir Nelson, taking Fair’s arm, said: “Fair, what was it you wanted to -say?” - -“Ah, yes,” answered Fair, smiling; “if Mrs. March will forgive me for -leaving her to be bored by these two schoolboys, I’ll have a little chat -with you, Sir Nelson, in the library.” - -“Pray don’t mind me,” jauntily returned Mrs. March. “I am going to send -Mr. Allyne off to the church to fetch my prayer-book, which I left there, -and Mr. Travers and I always get on famously. Trot away, all of you.” - -“Come on, Fair,” growled Sir Nelson, pulling at Fair’s sleeve. “Allyne, -you seem to be in luck—it’s only two miles to the church! Come, Fair.” - -They walked along the terrace, and Allyne, glaring at Mrs. March, vaulted -over the balustrade and began the hot walk to the parish church through -the park. - -When he was out of sight Travers ventured to turn to Mrs. March, who -had remained annoyingly silent, although, he felt, she must know, after -receiving his letter by the hands of her maid that morning, that his -reason for desiring to see her was as great as his diffidence in stating -it. - -He looked long at her and wondered how she could be so cruel—and so -beautiful. At last she looked up at him as if only now realizing that he -was there. - -“Now, my dear Dick, we can have our little say without any such -ridiculous rendezvous as you suggested in your overwrought note. What -seems to weigh upon us? Tell me—that is, if you think you must.” - -“Mrs. March—” he began, but she stopped him with a protesting hand. - -“Mrs. March?” she complained, with a delightful little contraction of -her brows. “I thought we had agreed that I was to be the Dorothy of our -childhood?” - -“If you like,” he answered, saying to himself that if she knew what -was in his mind and intended to deny him, then the cruelty of her -present tormenting winsomeness was beyond belief. No. She could not be -so base—she must know what he was about to say to her. But failure had -grown into the very marrow of his bones, so it was with unspeakably -hopeless hope that he went on. “If you like. Well, Dorothy, it will be -no news to you—this that I am now to tell you—I love you. I am sure you -must have known this for a long time. You have also known, I trust, why -I have remained silent. I had the best possible of all reasons for not -speaking—I was a beggar without a penny, without a lucrative calling and -without prospects.” - -“Oh, Dick, Dick,” Mrs. March broke in, taking his hand in both of hers; -“are you going to spoil our dear old partnership in this way? I’m so -sorry! Be a dear, good boy, tell me of your new play. Have you finished -it yet? I’m sure it will prove a tremendous success.” - -“No,” he returned rather sharply, “no; you must hear me, Dorothy. No man -can associate with you long without growing to think of you as a woman -altogether different from others. You are the cleverest woman in London. -You fascinate because you puzzle and mystify men. Even women cannot -resist you. They are attracted to you much as the men are—because they -do not comprehend you, because they find you different. But, Dorothy, my -love for you draws its inspiration from a source wholly unguessed by your -other friends. I love you because you are the one woman in my world who -sees the pathos and the meaning of life—my life and any life that fails -and drowns and dies in the rush and the madness of existence. I have -discovered the real you—the you behind the clever, fashionable, worldly -Mrs. March—and I claim you by right of discovery.” - -“Why, Dick, what nonsense!” she cried, with a not very successful effort -to smile down the tears that his searching look and his throbbing words -had brought to those great hazel eyes of hers. “What nonsense! I am -only an ambitious woman of the world, happy in the possession of social -influence. I am hard and cold and calculating—and anyhow, really, dear, -dear boy, you must not think of this any more. I mean it.” - -“To some you may seem worldly,” he went on, ignoring her protest; “but I -know you. And I was forgetting to justify myself by telling you that I -now have the right to speak. I am no longer penniless, Dorothy. I am now -in a position to ask you to share my life on the plane to which you are -accustomed. Will you listen?” - -“I must not—I cannot—don’t be cruel, Dick,” she answered. “And aren’t you -a bit hard on me when you imply that I would listen to you now, but that -I would not have done so when you were poor? Am I so mercenary?” - -“No,” he said warmly; “but I should have despised myself had I spoken -when I had not the means to support you. Dorothy, my love for you began -the night you had that poor Bohemian boy play the violin at your little -party. The idiots who crowded your rooms gambled all the time the -marvelous lad was playing; but I saw you whisper to him when he finished -one sublime number, and noted how his thin, white face lighted up with -gratitude and hope at whatever it was you said to him. Well, you know -he died of consumption in my chambers a few months afterward. Among his -papers I found the letter you wrote him inclosing ten pounds. That letter -revealed you to me. It was glorious! It was you! From that time I have -loved you with a love passing the love of women. Poverty, which until -that time had seemed rather a welcome refuge and protection to me, now -became a hell, for it alone barred me from the hope of speaking to you. -But today I am a comparatively rich man. Dorothy, be my wife.” - -“Oh, Dick, Dick, this is awful—don’t!” she cried, shrinking from him. -“Pray, pray, stop—really you must not go on!” - -But Travers had waited too long and too yearningly for this hour to be -lightly deterred from stating his whole case. So he proceeded eagerly: -“You heard last night of Fair’s phenomenal success? Well, he told me -after you had gone that it had also made me rich. Some time ago he bought -my poor father’s library from me—more to assist me than from any need -of those particular books—and I left the money with him for investment. -He now tells me that he bought Empire Mines shares with it and that my -profits amount to fifty thousand pounds sterling. Of course I thought -that this was merely a bit of his wonderful generosity and altogether -an afterthought—the result of that erratic and impulsive unselfishness -which puzzles all who know him—but he assures me that he can prove from -his broker’s books that he bought stock for my account at the time that -he purchased his own, before it was at all certain that it would turn out -such a staggering success. At all events, there the money is to my credit -at Burton’s bank.” - -“Oh, I am so glad, dear fellow!” cried Mrs. March. “What a king he is!” - -“Isn’t he? A knight, a brother—one in a million!” - -“Well, Dick,” went on Mrs. March after her first flush of pleasure and -surprise, “I can’t tell you how I rejoice with you in this great good -fortune; but truly, dearest friend, our love can never be more than that -of two tried old friends who have known each other always. So be good.” - -“Only one thing can ever make me believe that love like mine will be -denied,” replied Travers with great intensity; “I shall press my sacred -claim, Dorothy, until you tell me that there is another whom you love.” - -Mrs. March waited in evident distress for a few moments, and then, -speaking very low and painfully: - -“Poor old Dick, it hurts me terribly to wound you—but, Dick, there is -another. I am not free.” - -“Good God!” leaped from the man’s lips as he started forward with the -iron entering his soul. “Mrs. March—with all my heart I beg you to forget -me and my mad words of this day. I—I—I— Good-bye!” - -“God bless you!” she murmured, crushed by his suffering. “And, Dick, of -course I have told you this in confidence.” - -“Certainly,” he answered, raising his hat and moving toward the house. At -the window of the library he stopped, and then came slowly back to where -she stood thinking. “Tell me one thing more. Dorothy, it is not this -clown Allyne, is it?” - -Mrs. March thanked him with her eyes for this bit of humor, which she -knew must have cost him much, and exclaimed, with an effort to meet his -own pleasantry: “Heavens! No!” - -“Thank goodness for that,” replied Travers, with a sickly smile. “I could -not have borne that,” and he rushed off into the house to face final -failure on the one only day when success seemed to have dawned dimly with -more of promise than had ever shone in the east of his hope. - - - CHAPTER IX - -Freddy Allyne, as he was called by his friends, whose name was legion, -prided himself upon having established a reputation for levity, when his -real character was that of a philosopher strongly inclined to pessimism. -On no one did he enjoy palming a false idea of himself more than on -himself. Life has many of these jesters whose motley serves but poorly -to hide from others, and not at all from themselves, the fact that this -fool is as wise as some whom he could mention and whom it is the delight -of his soul to play with as he chooses. Between him and the clever woman -who was now standing on the terrace at Drayton Hall there had always -been kept up a particularly active warfare, for Mrs. March was the one -woman in London who did not fear him, and, while this nettled him and -sometimes seriously annoyed him, it fascinated and led him on. A score of -times the wise had foretold a speedy match between these two, who were -never so widely parted at a dinner-table but they pursued each other -without quarter to the very finish of an argument. - -Until quite recently Mrs. March herself had vaguely but persistently -assumed that Allyne would declare himself sooner or later, and at that -time had somewhat doubted her ability to deny the man whose brilliant -intellect, generous impulses and fundamentally noble nature had come to -mean more to her than she dared or wished to allow herself to realize. -But some little time before this Allyne observed that a change had come -to pass and that she held herself distinctly aloof from him whenever -they were alone, and had even gone so far as to refuse to be at home to -him unless she was certain that others would be by. He interpreted this -departure as evidence of her feeling that the time had arrived when their -friendship must go further—or safeguard itself by greater restraint. - -From a safe distance in the park he had watched her as she and Travers -talked—with not the remotest notion of the subject they were discussing. -When at last he saw Travers raise his hat formally and retire into the -house, and Mrs. March remain leaning against the parapet on the terrace, -he thought the hour had come. - -“What? Back so soon?” cried Mrs. March, seeing him coming across the -stretch of lawn toward her. “You do walk fast, don’t you?” - -“The church was shut,” replied Allyne, with his customary bantering tone -and approaching close to her. “Yes, the church was shut, and I fed the -swans in the pond instead.” - -“But you surely have not walked four miles and fed swans all in ten -minutes?” asked Mrs. March, clearing for action, and keenly appreciating -the relief that this diversion afforded to the strain of the past few -minutes. - -“Oh, dear me, no,” drawled Allyne innocently. “You see, I remembered that -they always shut churches after service, so I knew that this one would be -shut. Awfully pretty swans of Poynter’s, too. Ever seen them? They float -about the pond like a lot of duchesses in a drawing-room—and fight over -the crumbs like them, also.” - -“And you didn’t fetch my prayer-book, after all?” she inquired -reprovingly. “You _are_ a devoted squire of dames, I must say!” - -“It was of my devotion to the fair in general and to you in particular -that I came back to speak,” he began, unable, in spite of his firm -resolution, to approach the subject except with his usual air of -audacious impertinence and frivolity. “You must have observed that I -bestow my society upon you in a way that causes half the beauties of -the gay world of which I am so conspicuous an ornament fairly to die of -jealousy. Well, my dear Mrs. March, I do so because you are the only -woman who does not bore me too much. Point by point as our acquaintance -grew I came to feel that you are as free from disqualifying features as -any woman can be—in short, you know, I’ve almost made up my mind to think -fairly well of you.” - -Then followed an interview the like of which it is safe to say has never -been heard before or since. In substance and seriousness it was the same -as Travers’s, for Allyne, too, had been suddenly made independent by -Fair’s investment of a small sum intrusted to him, but it was, on the -surface, only a remarkable example of his characteristic nonsensical -raillery and light chaffing. That the result was the same as it had been -in Travers’s case may be inferred from the fact that when he left her -with a painful effort at nonchalance he turned and came back to her to -say: - -“Tell me just one thing. It’s not that grave-digger, Dick Travers, is it?” - -Mrs. March jumped at the immense relief of being able to laugh at this -fling, and fairly shouted: “No—horrors!” - -“Thank heaven for that!” returned Allyne. “Now I sha’n’t have to commit -suicide.” - -With one of his inimitable grimaces, he hurried into the house and she -did not see the solitary tear that trickled down his cheek when he shut -himself into his room and threw a pillow at his image in the mirror, -crying: “You old fool!” - -Mrs. March stood where he had left her, and her sense of humor mercifully -prevented her dwelling on the unhappy side of the situation. And it was -not until years afterward, when all three could bear to speak of it, that -she related to both of them what had occurred. - -“Truly Englishmen bear off the palm,” she mused after the first shock -had passed. “All other men lay their hearts at a woman’s feet—but an -Englishman condescends to let her know that he doesn’t mind allowing her -to use his name if she has a mind to do so! Well, Baggs, was he there?” - -Her last words were addressed to her maid, who had been watching for an -opportunity to approach her mistress for some minutes. - -“Yes, ma’am,” she answered. “But I had to wait a little while before the -gentleman came. Here is a letter, ma’am.” - -“And what was the gentleman like?” asked Mrs. March, taking the letter. - -“He were a dark, foreign gentleman, ma’am, with a black mustache. He -spoke Eyetalian lovely, ma’am—just lovely!” - -Mrs. March laughed at Baggs’s discriminating appreciation of well-spoken -Italian, and then remarked carelessly: “It must have been Mr.—But there, -I haven’t told you his name, have I? Did the gentleman send any message -by you—verbally, I mean?” - -“Oh, yes, ma’am,” replied Baggs with embarrassment. “He said as how he -embraced your feet, ma’am, and kissed your footsteps, ma’am, and—beg -pardon, ma’am—the gentleman kissed me, too, ma’am, he did.” - -“You mustn’t mind that, you know, Baggs,” answered Mrs. March, smiling. -“You know, foreign ways are different from ours.” - -“They are, ain’t they just, ma’am?” assented Baggs, remembering some -other things which she did not think it necessary to report—as well as -a more palpable evidence which she did not mind mentioning. “They is -different, as you say, ma’am, for the gentleman gave me a sovereign.” - -“That was good of him,” remarked Mrs. March. “You shall have another -sovereign to put on top of that one. You will find my purse on my -dressing-table—help yourself.” - -“Oh, thank you, thank you, ma’am,” blurted out Baggs, wondering if her -lady were just right in the head. - -“But see here, Baggs,” said Mrs. March as the maid was about to obey her -last command and go and find the purse; “Baggs, you have been doing a -great many confidential things for me lately. Don’t lose your head and -make yourself ridiculous now. I have done nothing about which I might -not have the whole world hear. If I were engaged in anything wrong or -unseemly, do you think for a moment that I would be such a fool as to -make my servants my confidants? No. So remember that if you speak of -my affairs to anyone, you will simply lose your place and your good -character, and not inconvenience me in the least possible degree. Now do -you understand me?” - -“I understand you, ma’am, perfect,” replied Baggs, mentally calculating -whether her mistress took her for an absolute donkey or was merely joking. - -“I’m glad you do understand—that will do,” said Mrs. March, and Baggs -with a courtesy disappeared into the house. - -The instant that she found herself alone Mrs. March tore open the letter -feverishly. She started violently at once, and when she steadied herself -enough to finish reading it she fell back upon the garden seat, where -she sat in manifest consternation and doubt. For some moments she seemed -to be in the clutches of a horrible anxiety which baffled all effort to -decide upon action of any sort. Then she heard voices approaching, jumped -up, tearing the letter nervously into two or three pieces which fell upon -the seat beside her, and ran into the house. - - - CHAPTER X - -The voices that had frightened Mrs. March off were those of Sir Nelson -and Maxwell Fair, who now came round the corner of the tower, with heads -bowed in very earnest talk. The elder man had been the most intimate -friend of the younger man’s father, and on the death of the latter Sir -Nelson had assumed an informal guardianship of the erratic and wilful -son. But while others were disappointed and baffled during the earlier -years of Maxwell Fair’s manhood, Sir Nelson Poynter swore by him and -predicted that all would be well in time. Fully had Maxwell Fair’s more -recent career justified the confidence of his father’s old friend. - -It was with the shock of surprise, as well as the natural sorrow of a -friend, that Sir Nelson had just been hearing Fair speak in indefinite -terms of some impending catastrophe that was to terminate in blight his -brilliant and successful life. - -“By Jove, my boy,” Sir Nelson was saying as they reached the terrace -and began pacing up and down, “it distresses me unspeakably to hear -your father’s son talking in this way. Of course, I shall do all I -can—whatever you may ask of me—but don’t you think that you should make a -clean breast of everything? It is nothing new to see a Fair acting from -some high, compelling motive, which strikes us ordinary men as quixotic, -but your fathers always did whatever they did in the open. They may have -been enthusiasts and unpractical crusaders, but nobody could complain -that they fought under a mask. Their object may sometimes have seemed -chimerical, but in the struggle to reach it they wore their coat-of-arms -where men could see it, and proclaimed their principles with trumpet -blasts. Out with it, man! What in God’s name is it all?” - -“I thank you, Sir Nelson,” quietly replied Fair, taking up his argument -and appeal at the point where Sir Nelson had interrupted him. “You -have relieved my mind by consenting to act as my executor. You will, -I think, find my affairs in tolerably good order. Everything goes to -Miss Mettleby—everything, so there will be little to do in the way of -settlement.” - -“To Miss Mettleby?” exclaimed Sir Nelson, confronting Fair with perfect -consternation and disapproval. “To Miss Mettleby, you say? She is your -children’s governess, is she not? My God, boy, there has been no—your -wife and children, you know! What will be thought of this?” - -“I have settled five hundred thousand pounds on Mrs. Fair and the -children—long ago, as I think you know, so I can leave the rest to Miss -Mettleby with justice and propriety,” answered Fair calmly. - -“What if you have?” cried out Sir Nelson, growing vexed at the fellow’s -amazing stubbornness and lack of decency, as he thought. “What if you -have settled a considerable sum on your family? Do you suppose you can -leave the bulk of your estate to a dependent girl, a young woman in your -employ, without causing no end of evil surmises and comment reflecting on -your memory—yes, and the young person’s honor? What can you mean by such -a mad determination? Come, be reasonable, I beg of you. Make a suitable -provision for this girl, if you think it due her for her faithful service -in your family, but, for heaven’s sake, don’t leave the poor child a -legacy of defamation, as you most certainly will, if you persist in -carrying out such a preposterous course.” - -“By the time that you come to settle my estate, sir, I shall have become -an object too contemptible for even malice to stoop to notice,” replied -Fair, poking his stick into the gravel and giving his words the tone -that meant that he had thought out all the objections which his old -friend had raised. - -They walked back and forth once or twice before Sir Nelson responded with -a laugh, which he tried to make genuine: “My word, what arrant nonsense -we have been talking anyhow! Settling your estate, eh? Why, bless us all, -I shall have been under the chancel stones twenty years before you retire -from business to begin to enjoy middle age in the country. Come, come, -dear fellow, pull yourself together, do!” - -“Ah, my best of friends,” answered Fair, with a voice full of sincerest -love and respect, but also of firmness and stem determination. “You -ought to know my father’s son better than to suppose that anything can -swerve me from a purpose once it has become a fixed idea—but,” he added, -suddenly turning to the old man with great tenderness, “by all that is -rational, I do suppose that it is unfair to keep you in the dark in this -way. I think that I should tell you plainly what is in my heart.” - -“Depend upon it, Maxwell, it will be best for both of us if you will tell -me fully and honestly—everything,” eagerly returned Sir Nelson, slapping -Fair on the back in that hearty, old-fashioned way of his. “Come, now, -what the devil ails you?” - -“Well, then, sir,” said Fair, taking Sir Nelson’s arm and pushing him -back toward the seat, “sit down while I tell you—I am too nervous to do -so.” - -The old man sat as he was requested, and watched his young friend as he -walked up and down before him, formulating his ideas in order to present -them clearly and consecutively. It was some time before Fair had so far -shaped his thoughts as to be willing to speak. But when he had done so he -stopped on his next turn in front of Sir Nelson and said very quietly: - -“Now I am ready. In carrying out the one compelling and absorbing purpose -of my life I have been made the most wretched and most misunderstood of -men. I have sternly brushed aside love, hope, joy—everything which means -life to a passionate and intense nature like my own. But this is an old -story. I had come to think that the dwarfing and cramping restraints of -my self-imposed life-work were second nature—more, that the life I was -leading was the only life possible to me. I would have died fighting for -the triumph of my idea—they would have found my body in the last trench -after the battle was done, and nobody had been the wiser, no one would -ever have known what a falsely-true life had been mine, had not this last -horrible sacrifice been required by the insatiable purpose which has -sucked away my life. - -“I had asked for nothing from fate, but the right to live and die with -my secret unbetrayed. I had begged of God nothing more than that I be -suffered to seal with my death the loyalty to poor Janet that I had -striven to make of my whole life. But no. Even this beggarly scrap of -comfort has been denied to me—and by the most unspeakable irony of fate, -I find myself confronted with the damnable necessity of throwing away all -these dumb years of denial and self-effacement in order to do Janet and -the children the only service which still remains possible for me to do. -Is it not horrible, Sir Nelson? I had thought to make my life of some -little good by offering it to protect a woman and her children—and now, -lest they be buried by my own ruin, I must undo everything that I have -done during all these years.” - -He paused and looked at his old friend, who showed a growing concern that -indicated he began really to believe Fair had lost his reason. - -“Sir Nelson, I see that you do not comprehend me—perhaps I am beginning -at the wrong end. Yes, I am, of course. Let me give you some concrete -facts before asking you to follow me. Well, then, I tell you that I, your -old friend’s son, the man whom you have helped and watched over, as if -I were your son—I, Sir Nelson, have committed a crime against society, -against nature, against life!” - -“Crime?” exclaimed the old Baronet, springing to his feet and grasping -Fair’s hand, thoroughly convinced that he was acting under some mental -and nervous excitement that had proved too much for his reason. “Crime? -Good God, boy, you are mad! I can’t believe this—I do not believe it!” - -“Wait, wait,” pleaded Fair, again forcing Sir Nelson to the seat, and -trying to speak with the utmost composure. “Do not misunderstand me, -sir. If I had told you that I had wilfully and deliberately violated my -conscience or done some blackguardly thing, I should hope that nothing -would induce you to believe me. I have done this awful thing, of which I -now confess that I am guilty, with a clean heart—if you can understand -me. Society must and assuredly will wreak its sudden and fatal vengeance -upon me for my crime, but I want you, sir, to believe that when men are -reviling me for my act I shall be flinging that very deed at the feet of -my eternal Judge and asking Him to accept it in atonement for my blackest -faults—and if God fails to accept this thing that I have done, then am I -damned indeed forever. But you do not understand me?” - -“On my word, I do not!” answered Sir Nelson, filled with very serious -misgivings. “You are ill—dangerously ill.” - -“On the contrary,” replied Fair spiritedly, “I was never better in my -life. My mind was never so clear as it is at this moment. Listen, Sir -Nelson. When this crime is made public—which will be tomorrow in all -likelihood—I want you to shield Mrs. Fair and the children by announcing -that Janet is not my wife, that I never married her—and that the poor -children are not my children at all. Do this—it is the truth—and save -innocent beings from the disgrace of being thought to be my flesh and -blood.” - -In spite of his efforts during this speech, Fair had yielded to the -intoxication of his sublime grief, and when he ceased speaking he was -holding the old man’s hand and the tears were streaming down his face. - -“I sha’n’t put up with this,” declared Sir Nelson with much sternness, -rising like a very determined man. “I shall have Sir Porter Hope down by -special train at once. You are bad, on my honor, very bad indeed.” - -“Spare Sir Porter Hope an unnecessary journey,” answered Fair, having -regained control of himself. He went on laughingly: “I tell you, I am -perfectly well. Have you a cigar? Thanks.” - -He lighted the cigar, which poor old Sir Nelson was only too eager to -give him as an evidence that the fellow was not totally mad, and with -great deliberation puffed it slowly and carelessly, making rings of the -smoke and praising the quality of the tobacco. Not until he had got him -back to calmness and some measure of reassurance did he permit Sir Nelson -to resume the discussion of the question which both of them felt was the -last one they would ever discuss—the final question of Fair’s complex and -much agonized life. - -“But in heaven’s name,” began Sir Nelson, pulling Fair down on the seat -beside himself, “what is the meaning of all this? Think what rubbish you -have been asking me to believe. Janet not your wife? The children not -your children? You don’t want me to believe this! You don’t ask me to -believe that Janet is your——” - -“No!” roared Fair, jumping up and with so much warmth that Sir Nelson -was frightened; “no!—and don’t say the word either! On my honor as a -gentleman, I tell you, sir, that no daughter in her father’s house, no -sister under her brother’s roof, was ever safer, purer, more sacredly -held than Janet has been under mine. Her children have had more than a -father’s care and love from me, and it is only to save them all from the -disgrace and odium which will attach henceforth to my name that I now ask -you to proclaim the truth—to publish the fact that my polluting blood -does not run in their veins.” - -“But,” protested the Baronet, with manifest disgust and irritation, -“what can be the explanation of this amazing state of affairs? If she is -not your wife—and not——” - -“Don’t say it!” again commanded Fair. “I tell you, sir, I am not in a -mood to be exasperated just now—and the very word would madden me when I -think of what that woman has been to me and I to her.” - -Sir Nelson always afterward remembered how noble and elated by an almost -supernatural uplift Fair had appeared as he stood there, warning him not -to profane the tabernacled secret of his life. The old man’s heart went -out to the tortured and defiant fellow. - -“Never fear, dear boy,” he began with a feeble voice; “I shall not speak -or think it of her. But you ought to help me to speak the truth of all -this madness by telling me just what it is.” - -Fair was deeply moved by his old friend’s sorrow and unwonted display of -feeling, so he sat down by him and warmly shook his hand. After a few -moments of quiet, he said in low, firm, deliberate tones: - -“Sir Nelson, pardon my weakness in showing you my heart just now, but -the fact is, sir, that I have been under a strain—and on that one point -I have always been naturally sensitive. I owe you an apology also for -delaying to advise you fully and without emotion of the exact situation -in which I now find myself inextricably placed. Let me tell you the whole -story. It will seem incredible to you—until you recollect that I am the -son of my father and that my heritage was what you alone know that it -was.” - -Sir Nelson blew his nose, and finding nothing particular to say, blew -it again; and Fair saw something over the terrace wall that took his -attention until the dear old chap said with considerable heartiness in -his voice again: “All ready, dear boy—forgive an old fellow—who loves you. - -“I first met Janet in Rio Janeiro, at which port her father was British -Consul, and I was happily able to take the unfortunate gentleman for -a long cruise on my yacht when his health broke down. He died on the -yacht and we buried him at sea. Janet returned to England, and, although -I loved her madly, I did not speak, because that wretched Buda-Pesth -escapade of mine was still unsettled. So I completely lost sight of Janet -and the years passed. - -“Six years ago I was in a small South American seaport acting as consul -for Jack Trowbridge, who was down with yellow fever. One day when I was -lazily killing time—and big flies—in the dusty, stuffy little consulate, -Janet, whom I, of course, thought in England, and whom I had not seen for -so long, came in. - -“She was a wreck. She had a boy of two or three years clinging to her -skirts and a child in her arms. You may imagine, sir, my awful shock on -seeing her thus. Her story was short. She had married a Cuban planter of -very large fortune in Jamaica, and after two years of suspicion and dread -and suffering she had learned that the scoundrel had deceived her, that -he had a wife living in Cuba, and that, in consequence, she had no legal -or other claim upon him. She was penniless. Hearing that I was cruising -in those parts, she learned through the British consuls at different -places just where I then was, and she turned to me. I made investigation -and found the damnable story told her by her supposed husband only too -true. His wife in Cuba was his only lawful wife—and Janet was a nameless -and helpless victim of his lust and perfidy. I cabled for my yacht, which -was being renovated at New York, and soon had Janet and her two children -on their way to England. - -“I scarcely saw them during the long and bitterly sad voyage, but at -night, as I stood at my trick at the wheel, and in the warm, dull days -as I sat smoking in silence on deck, a thought grew and grew upon me. -The little boat tossing about on the limitless waste of waters seemed -to become the symbol of my aimless, drifting, worthless life. And then, -one glorious tropical night, with the great stars burning sublimity and -eternity into my heart, the blood of all my fathers seemed to rush hot -and quick and insistent through all my being. I had it! I had at last -found the Purpose, the Object, the Aim for which my life yearned, the -Thing in waiting, for which all the common interests and passions of -young men had failed to hold me, the One Thing, which, by absorbing my -life, by becoming my way of defying and despising the world, would prove -me my father’s son. - -“The next day I told Janet. We were standing alone looking out over the -sea—and to both of us it seemed that the sea and life and eternity were -alike trackless and tending nowhither. I told her, Sir Nelson, that she -should not land in England the outcast, nameless victim of a blackguard’s -infamy, but as my proclaimed wife. Her children would never know that -they were fatherless. I had been away from home so long that I could get -myself believed when I returned with a wife and family—and the world -would never know that I was a wretched man cut off by a vow like a monk’s -vow from the joys and the heart of life. That is all, Sir Nelson; that is -all.” - -“All! All!” exclaimed Sir Nelson, grasping Fair’s hand and wringing it -hotly. “My God, man, I never heard of anything quite so great! My word, -sir, if you were not Tom Fair’s son, I could not believe such a sacrifice -of one’s life possible!” - -“It is never difficult to do what one’s nature demands,” replied Fair -quietly, adding with less calmness: “But it is hard to see that all these -years of work are to come to naught. My life has been wasted.” - -“Not at all,” retorted the old man eagerly. “Crime? Crime, you say. By -gad, boy, I’ll make you prove yourself guilty in a court of law—and if -you do, then we will all know that you are off your head!” - -“The proofs of my guilt will not be far to seek,” answered Fair, with a -disheartening coolness and an air of ghoulish certainty. - - (_To be continued._) - - - - - _Money and Prices_ - - BY E. L. SMITH - - -Money is a creation of law. - -Money is a measure of valuable things or services. - -Money is a measure of constant and ever-varying capacity. - -Money is not value in itself. - -The divisor measures the dividend by division. - -Money measures property by division. - -If the divisor increases as fast proportionately as the dividend, the -quotient will remain the same. - -When the amount of money increases as fast proportionately as the -property to be measured or divided, the average of prices will remain on -a level; and, although there will be constant fluctuations in price among -the different articles to be measured or divided, the average purchasing -or measuring power of the measure or the unit of value will remain the -same. - -When the divisor increases faster proportionately than the dividend, the -quotient will become smaller. - -When the quantity of money increases faster than the property or things -to be measured or divided, the average of prices will rise. - -When the average of prices rises, the measuring or purchasing power of -the unit of value becomes less. - -When the average of prices rises, there is inflation of the money or -currency. - -When the quantity of property increases faster proportionately than the -amount of money, the average of prices will fall. - -When the average of prices falls, the money or currency is contracted. - -All business interests are either produce interests or moneyed interests. - -A produce interest is an interest in which the owner receives his pay for -his labor and the use of his capital in produce. - -A moneyed interest is an interest in which the owners of the business -receive their pay for their labor and the use of their capital in money. - -A farm is a produce interest. - -A railroad is a moneyed interest. - -If the owners of a produce interest wish any money, they sell their -produce and buy money. - -If the owners of a moneyed interest wish any produce, they sell their -money and buy produce. - -When prices rise produce interests gain. - -When produce interests gain, moneyed interests lose. - -When prices fall, moneyed interests gain. - -When moneyed interests gain, produce interests lose. - -Moneyed interests and produce interests cannot both gain or both lose at -the same time. - -When prices are falling, money can be hoarded without loss. - -When prices are rising, money cannot be hoarded without loss. - -A hoarded dollar has never yet paid for a single day’s work. - -If produce interests had not first existed, moneyed interests never could -have existed. - -_An honest dollar is a dollar that is willing to help produce something._ - - - - - _The Say of Reform Editors_ - - -Until the people who want reform get together in an organization all -of whose members are substantially agreed, and with this organization -elect a President and Congress, they will never get from under the -heel of monopoly. Nothing can be done in a party which contains the -monopolists.—_The Missouri World._ - - * * * * * - -The United States produces 319,000,000 metric tons of coal a year, -worth at the mines $485,000,000, and costing consumers nearly a billion -dollars.—_Exchange._ - -That little item of 515 millions, absorbed mostly by the big corporations -that own the railroads, is the people’s tribute to Our “_Chevaliers -d’Industrie_.” When you come to think of it, aren’t we a nation of -bloomin’ chumps?—_The American Standard._ - - * * * * * - -_Teacher_—Johnny, how many legs has an octopus? - -_Johnny_—Seven. - -_Teacher_—Why, Johnny, you ought to know better than that. The meaning of -the word shows that it has eight. - -_Johnny_—I know it used to have, but that was before dad was -elected to the legislature. I heard him say he pulled a leg off the -octopus.—_Wetmore’s Weekly._ - - * * * * * - -Under government ownership alone will it be possible to make railroad -rates which shall be just to all the people, and this is now being -generally recognized.—_The Augusta Tribune._ - - * * * * * - -What means this general onslaught, all along the line of the plutocratic -press, upon one William Randolph Hearst, Democratic Congressman and late -candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency? Republican -and Democratic advocates of plutocracy vie with each other in the work -of sticking pins into Mr. Hearst. Have these great newspapers been -informed that Mr. Hearst is sincere, is honest, in his fight against the -trusts? If so, their spontaneous and unanimous attempt to disarm him can -be accounted for. The man who attempts to tear down the screen which is -held up, mainly by these great newspapers, between the people and their -despoilers, is sure to get the vials of their wrath poured out upon his -head.—_The Dalton Herald._ - - * * * * * - -One of these days there will be two Republican Parties: one for -government ownership of the Kansas oil refinery and one against it. -Which are you going to stay with?—_Smith Center (Kan.) Messenger._ - - * * * * * - -People of similar interests should flock and work together, regardless -of party name or of past differences, either fancied or real. The -railroad people work together for their own interests; and their -party affiliations have been and will be according to railroad -interests, regardless of party name. So with corporationists in -general, capitalists, etc. Then why do not _the people_ unite according -to their interests? The people of New Zealand did, and routed the -capitalists.—_The Medical World._ - - * * * * * - -During the big coal strike, when Saint Baer was obdurate, Mr. Roosevelt -threatened him with government ownership if he did not give in to the -strikers. - -The threat was a regular pivot blow to Baer, as good as any Professor -Donovan will teach Mr. Roosevelt. Baer cried foul, but he went down and -out all the same. - -The lesson from America of how to knock out an obstinate coal-mine -capitalist was not lost on the German Kaiser. Germany, too, has its -coal-mine Baers, and a big coal strike is now on. - -The Emperor has not only threatened the owners with government ownership -of mines, but has gone to the extent of asking his bankers if Germany -would have any trouble in floating the $250,000,000 in bonds to make the -purchase.—_Wilshire’s Magazine._ - - * * * * * - -Emancipate the farmer from the thraldom of manipulated markets and the -advice of his dear friends who know so much better than he does what he -ought to do.—_The Southern Mercury._ - - * * * * * - -Bishop Berkeley’s poem being translated into Japanese, they pondered -for awhile on the words: “Westward the course of empire takes its way,” -then the little cherry blossom worshipers shouldered their knapsacks -and started after the setting sun. At last accounts they had got as far -as Tie Pass. None of them showed any intention of stopping there. How -much further their empire will take its way nobody knows.—_The Nebraska -Independent._ - - * * * * * - -That labor and culture should go together, that sweat and science should -walk hand in hand, that art and harvest work should know each other for -brothers, or that the sense of beauty and the capacity to dig a ditch -should unite in the same personality, seems impossible to all those whose -capacities are of the hothouse variety, and who feel “lifted up above -common things by reason of their refinement.” But the changing order, -which is making or shaping a world of reality to take the place of the -world of seeming, is bringing just this thing to pass; and the time is -not far distant when the gardener’s shears and apron will be in the -possession of the man who writes art criticism, while the man who paints -masterpieces will often be seen building fences. The “superior person” -will then be chiefly interesting as an exotic, to be studied and duly -ticketed as “rare” by those who have blood in their veins. Work is the -very soul of life; and the idler, cultivated or other, has not lived in -the past, does not live in the present, nor will he live in the future. -When art and work are one and indivisible we shall not even ask for -philosophers to compensate us for the illusions of life. Then the common, -transfigured, will satisfy our every need.—_Tomorrow._ - - * * * * * - -No real battle between public rights and special privileges ever comes -on in simple or unmistakable form. The crucial question is always so -complicated with other issues as to bewilder men of the best intentions -and of good judgment who happen to be interested on the right side of -those other issues. It is upon bewilderments like these that conscious -advocates of privilege depend for dividing the forces of their enemy when -such a division becomes vital to them.—_The Chicago Public._ - - * * * * * - -It was an ill-advised move when Oklahoma joined the crusade against -Standard Oil. Mr. Rockefeller may decide not to give her statehood.—_The -South McAlester (I. T.) Capital._ - - * * * * * - -Recent reports of big industrial concerns show that they are having a -good business year, thirty-seven companies paying dividends in March -aggregating $24,000,000, compared with $21,800,000 last year and -$19,800,000 the year before.—_From weekly circular letter of Henry Clews, -Banker, No. 35 Wall Street, New York, dated March 4, 1905._ - -Yes, the trusts are doing well. It is easy for anybody to make money if -he controls the buying and selling price of an article the people must -have. It may be a little surprising, though, to some, to learn that the -trusts are faring even better now than heretofore.—_The Missouri World._ - - * * * * * - -We wish well of every public man who resolutely tries to do his duty. It -matters not what political party he may affiliate with, if he is a friend -of the people, we give him our word of encouragement and Godspeed. Among -Democrats we find some notable examples of progressive statesmanship -and some advocates of reform. The Republican Party is not without some -public men whose works and words give evidence of a desire to stand for -the best type of popular government. Yet every reformer in the Republican -or Democratic Party has to spend too much time, energy and ammunition in -fighting the enemies within the ranks of his own party. Mr. Bryan will -wear his life out in trying to overcome his enemies in the so-called -Democratic Party just as John P. Altgeld wore his life away. Governor La -Follette always has war on his hands with the corporation element in his -own party. And now that Mr. Roosevelt has outlined a radical course, he -is beset by powerful opposition from high-up Republican politicians who -represent special interests. He will not succeed in accomplishing much -so long as all his energy is taken up in fighting the enemy at home. -The very logic of events will force the radical reformers all into one -party, and then the people will have something to hope for.—_The Kansas -Commoner._ - - * * * * * - -Politeness is the external part of gentility, but it is often the -principal weapon of rascality. A rude rascal is never as dangerous as a -polite one.—_The Seattle Patriarch._ - - * * * * * - -Kansas will find it a big job fighting the Standard Oil trust, so long -as the trust is in the national banking business and controls the means -of transportation. Still, the people of Kansas, co-operating through -their state government, can make it hot for the trust. The state can put -$20,000,000 into the fight, and with this sum can build railroads, lay -pipe lines and establish dozens of oil refineries. Twenty million dollars -is a big sum, but is no more than the people of Kansas pay in national -taxes every two years.—_The Missouri World._ - - * * * * * - -The magazines and big dailies are doing the country a great service. They -have writers of ability; apparently these have long chafed under the -galling chains of party manacles and are now glad to be free—glad to try -their strength and exercise their taste and talents. Populists should -secure every advantage possible, strengthen their organizations, keep -these patriots closely in touch, and at every possible point be ready -should a reaction come. - -Again and again we have seen great waves of reform sweep over the land, -and again and again we have seen the monopolists catch a second breath, -spit on their hands and tie these good men down with party thongs and -convention rules and resolutions. - -Once we felt sure of McKinley and Garfield. Tom Ewing, Carlisle, McLean, -Voorhees, David Davis, hundreds and hundreds of the brightest men in the -land came to the front for a time and then dropped back when a reaction -came. - -Some of this reaction is due to the lack of true patriotism, to a lack of -courage, fortitude; but whatever the cause may be, Populists should be -prepared for the back-set and save as much advantage as possible. At the -present every man is our friend. Almost without an exception the great -statesmen and editors are with us. For the time being party lines are -wiped out, Democrat or Republican, North or South. - -Populist, put your best foot forward! You have pointed the way, the crowd -has taken the road, now be kind, be true, speak carefully—do your level -best.—_The Joliet News._ - - * * * * * - -The President does not want to injure the “System”; he only wants it to -“tote fair.” - -But the “System” does not want to “tote fair.” Its authors did not create -it for any such commonplace purpose, and they will resist to the bitter -end the endeavor of the President to halt the exploitation of the people -by the trusts and combines. - -What may grow out of this resistance by the “System”? - -A split of the Republican Party into two factions—into the “square deal” -Republicans and the “System” Republicans.—_Berlin (Pa.) Record._ - - * * * * * - -As long as boys read every week that John Doe or Richard Roe has made a -fortune in one day cornering wheat or corn, or some other commodity, the -gambling instinct in the young will hardly subside. Take away Mr. Doe’s -profession by law.—_The Smith Center (Kan.) Messenger._ - - * * * * * - -THE MILEAGE ROLL OF DISHONOR - -VOTED AYE - -MEMBERS TO RETIRE - - _Republicans_ _Democrats_ _Union Labor_ - - Daniels, Cal. Bell, Cal. Livernash, Cal. - Davis, Minn. Breazeale, La. Wynn, Cal. - Hunter, Ky. Dinsmore, Ark. - Kyle, O. Dougherty, Mo. - Morgan, O. Emerich, Ill. - Smith, N. Y. Foster, Ill. - Spalding, N. D. Griffith, Ind. - Van Voorhis, O. Hughes, N. J. - McAndrews, Ill. - Miers, Ind. - Richardson, Tenn. - Rider, N. Y. - Robb, Mo. - Robinson, Ind. - Shober, N. Y. - Shull, Pa. - Snook, O. - Wilson, N. Y. - - Total 8 Total 19 Total 2 - -MEMBERS RETURNED - - _Republicans_ _Democrats_ - - Adams, Wis. Aiken, S. C. - Beidler, O. Broussard, La. - Bishop, Mich. Davey, La. - Brandegee, Conn. Fitzgerald, N. Y. - Brooks, Col. Goulden, N. Y. - Brown, Wis. Hill, Miss. - Brownlow, Tenn. Hunt, Mo. - Burke, S. D. Legare, S. C. - Cromer, Ind. McDermott, N. J. - Crumpacker, Ind. McNary, Mass. - Cushman, Wash. Maynard, Va. - Draper, N. Y. Pujo, La. - Dresser, Pa. Rainey, Ill. - Fordney, Mich. Ryan, N. Y. - Gardner, N. J. Sullivan, Mass. - Gillett, Cal. - Graff, Ill. - Grosvenor, O. - Howell, N. J. - Howell, Utah. - Hull, Iowa. - Humphrey, Wash. - Jones, Wash. - Knopf, Ill. - Lorimer, Ill. - Loudenslager, N. J. - McCleary, Minn. - Mann, Ill. - Marshall, N. D. - Martin, S. D. - Minor, Wis. - Overstreet, Ind. - Patterson, Pa. - Rodenberg, Ill. - Sherman, N. Y. - Smith, Iowa. - Snapp, Ill. - Southard, O. - Southwick, N. Y. - Sterling, Ill. - Sulloway, N. H. - Tawney, Minn. - Wachter, Md. - Weems, O. - - Total 44 Total 15 - -DODGED - - _Republicans_ _Democrats_ - - Harrison, N. Y. - Scudder, N. Y. - - Total Total 2 - - Birdsall, Iowa. Adamson, Ga. - Bonynge, Col. Bankhead, Ala. - Conner, Iowa. Bartlett, Ga. - Dovener, W. Va. Brantley, Ga. - Hamilton, Mich. Gilbert, Ky. - Hemenway, Ind. Goldfogle, N. Y. - Kennedy, O. Hopkins, Ky. - Lafean, Pa. Ruppert, N. Y. - Landis, Ind. Sims, Tenn. - Miller, Kan. Stanley, Ky. - Zenor, Ind. Stephens, Tex. - Wiley, Ala. - - Total 11 Total 12 - -GRAND TOTAL—GRABBERS AND DODGERS - - Republicans 63 Democrats 48 Union Labor 2 - - —_Collier’s Weekly._ - - * * * * * - -The industrial barons pay the same sum for a large as a small cotton -crop. Just enough to keep the planters’ help alive.—The _Appeal to -Reason._ - - * * * * * - -Alarmists who are forever crying about “the dangers of Socialism” remind -one of that Scripture that tells of the fellow who “fleeth when no man -pursueth.” There are comparatively few Socialists in the country. And if -certain reforms are consummated there will be a less number. And there -are mighty few Socialists who are “dangerous.” - -In this connection may be noted an incident that occurred during the -Cooper Union lecture course at New York City. It was claimed that the -audiences, judged by their applause, were Socialistic. So a vote was -taken. In one audience of 1,200 people there were less than twenty -Socialists. Then this question was put to the audience: “Those who -believe the time has come for the community to assert a larger control -over the public enterprises, such as the trusts, railroads and public -utilities, please rise.” The entire audience arose. - -There are no “dangerous classes” in such an audience—a typical, -intelligent public gathering. “The people will wobble right.” The people -are discovering the wrongs in government and they are finding that they -themselves are largely to blame for these wrongs. They find that they -have neglected their rights. They have conferred special privileges. -They have permitted aggressions. It is largely their own fault. They are -beginning to see that. They want to correct their mistakes. They will -correct them. - -And those who cry “wolf” when the people are trying to get back their own -are more dangerous than any others.—_The Buffalo Times._ - - * * * * * - -“Populist” is from the Latin word _populus_, meaning the people. -“Populite,” which is used to a considerable extent in the South instead -of Populist, is also from the Latin word populus. The original meaning of -the words “populist,” “democrat” and “republican” is substantially the -same.—_The Missouri World._ - - * * * * * - -Without vision a people perishes. The need for “seers” is greatest in a -democracy where autocracy fails and the people must fall back upon broad -instincts, intuitive reasoning and average intelligence. The poet-seer -is the highest type of the visionary. His message comes in the form of -rhythmic speech which has the widest carrying capacity. Poets, however, -do not come into the world by accident. The poet comes only after -preparation is made and reception is assured. For support he can depend -no longer upon an indulgent king or upon patrons. Today the people stand -in place of these. But as yet the collective mind has not worked out the -problem of protection in spiritual properties. This is one of the main -problems America has to meet: to create and sustain a race of poet-seers -which will stand in right relation to the people and move in these broad -lands as broad as they.—_Tomorrow._ - - * * * * * - -Monett, the Ohio lawyer, began the prosecution of the Standard Oil trust -when the Government was fostering the trusts and the courts knocked him -out. Now the Government begins to make signs that it is against the -trusts and another case has been begun in Ohio. The courts will change -their sides. Monett was downed by Rockefeller, beaten by the courts, and -kicked out of the Republican Party. A nod from the President changed the -whole situation.—_The Nebraska Independent._ - - * * * * * - -Despite the fact that the Czar refused to permit a delegation of workmen -to present a petition to him, he, realizing the havoc that had been -wreaked upon the people, finally consented to have a delegation call upon -him and present their grievances. It may be true that the delegation -was not those chosen by the men engaged in the original movement, but -it is also true that even for appearance’ sake he had to go through the -formality of receiving a delegation of workmen, and, at least to that -degree, the new departure has been recognized. - -It is also of interest to know that, though the Russian workmen have -had no organization, yet their strike has been declared at an end by -agreement, and that they are now engaged in the selection of their -representatives in a mixed commission to determine the following -questions: A shorter workday, an increase in wages, the right to -organize, and assemblage and freedom of speech. - -Jointly, the people insist that the government shall be based upon -justice and the participation of the people therein, regardless of their -station in life, equality before the law, inviolability of domicile, -the freedom of association, of speech and of the press, and compulsory -education. - -Thus, after all, out of the strikes of the Russian workmen, though many -of their dear ones have been killed and mutilated, their blood has -sanctified their cause and will make for the good, the progress and the -uplifting of all the people of Russia.—_American Federationist._ - - * * * * * - -A revolution is on, and the attacking party has inscribed the Populist -principles upon its banners. The attacking party is not insurgents or -rebels. It is in power, the Government, the whole thing. Never before -has the prospect seemed at all discouraging for Standard Oil raids, Beef -Trust schemes and kindred despoliation of the land and the fulness and -the people thereof. Everything worth considering is now consolidated -against the robbers. Have good cheer, Populists. The day is breaking. Up -and don your armor. Whet your battle-axe.—_The Joliet News._ - - * * * * * - -He alone is great who can suggest a thought in such a way that the other -man believes he originated it—_The Philistine._ - - * * * * * - -A Wall Street victim, after squandering his own money and his wife’s, -committed suicide, and yet some of the New York clergymen who are so -active in denouncing the small gambling houses have not a word to say -against the New York Stock Exchange which slays its tens of thousands -where the small gambling houses slay their thousands.—_The Commoner._ - - * * * * * - -The spirit of Populism has reasserted itself and taken the Sunflower -State by storm. - -The shots fired by the Kansas Legislature, forced from it by a determined -demand of the people, at the trusts and monopolies have been heard around -the world. They sounded the death-knell of plutocracy in America. - -Aimed at the Standard Oil octopus, these shots hit every political -and commercial scoundrel in the United States. The special privileged -class have been dealt a blow which staggers their fabric from centre to -circumference. - -This is the beginning of the end of corrupt government. The people who -do the labor and produce the wealth of the world will be deceived and -plundered no longer. The revolution is on and it can’t be checked.—_The -Dalton (Ga.) Herald._ - - - - - News Record - - FROM MARCH 7 TO APRIL 7, 1905 - - - _Government and Politics_ - -March 7.—George B. Cortelyou takes the oath of office as -Postmaster-General and announces that he will resign as Chairman of the -Republican National Committee. - - The special session of the United States Senate considers the - Santo Domingo treaty. - - Senator Elkins, Chairman of the Senate Railroad Committee, - announces that hearings on the freight-rate question will be - held during the recess, beginning in April. - - Charles H. Treat, of New York, is appointed United States - Treasurer. - -March 8.—The Senate confirms the President’s diplomatic and consular -appointments, chief of which are those of Whitelaw Reid as Ambassador -to Great Britain, Robert S. McCormick to France, George V. L. Meyer to -Russia and Edwin H. Conger to Mexico. - - President Roosevelt announces his intention of appointing - ex-Representative F. C. Tate, a Georgia Democrat, United States - District Attorney. - - Senator Hemenway, former Chairman of the House Appropriations - Committee, figures a national deficit of $18,000,000 for the - coming year; while Representative Livingstone (Dem.) says it - will reach $93,000,000. - -March 9.—Commissioner of Commerce James R. Garfield spends the day in the -New York offices of the Standard Oil Company, investigating books and -reports. - - The Rev. Dr. Newman Smyth, of New Haven, Conn., states before a - legislative committee that the sum of $150,000 was expended in - the recent senatorial fight resulting in the election of Morgan - G. Bulkeley. - -March 10.—To avoid legislative investigation, the New York Telephone -Trust agrees to reduce its tolls 20 per cent. - -March 12.—Government agents unearth great coal land frauds in Utah. - -March 13.—The United States Supreme Court decides that the peonage laws -are constitutional. - -March 14.—The President is informed that the treaty with Santo Domingo, -which has been radically amended by the special session of the Senate, -stands no chance of receiving the two-thirds vote necessary to its -approval by that body, as all the Democrats oppose it and some of the -Republicans are lukewarm. - - The New York State Senate passes resolution directing an - investigation of the Gas Trust. - -March 15.—Agreement is reached that the Santo Domingo treaty is to be -neither ratified nor rejected at the special session of the Senate, but -is to be left over to the next session. - - Governor James B. Frazier, of Tennessee, is elected United - States Senator to succeed William B. Bates, deceased. - - Harry S. New, of Indiana, is made Vice-Chairman and Acting - Chairman of the Republican National Committee. - -March 16.—Secretary Taft states that the Administration policy is -indefinite retention of the Philippine Islands and that independence -cannot come during this generation. - - The Colorado Legislature votes to seat James H. Peabody (Rep.) - as Governor, unseating Alva Adams (Dem.), whose majority on the - face of the returns was over 9,000. Peabody promises to resign - and let the Lieutenant-Governor occupy the office. - - A New York legislative committee is appointed to investigate - the Gas Trust. - - Senator Morgan, of Alabama, attacks the treaty with Santo - Domingo, charging that it was brought about through an improper - understanding between William Nelson Cromwell, a New York - lawyer, and President Morales of Santo Domingo. - -March 17.—Mrs. Ella Knowles Reader, of New York, asserts that the present -situation in Santo Domingo is due to the interference of President -Roosevelt to prevent her plans for forming a treaty. - - Governor Peabody of Colorado resigns and is succeeded by - Lieutenant-Governor Jesse F. Macdonald. - - The Attorney-General of Missouri begins proceedings against the - Standard Oil Trust. - - Senator Carmack, of Tennessee, predicts war between the United - States and Japan over the Philippines. - -March 18.—The Missouri senatorial deadlock is broken by the election of -Major William Warner (Rep.) to the United States Senate. - - The special session of the United States Senate adjourns - without a vote on the Santo Domingo treaty. - - Edwin V. Morgan, of New York, is appointed Minister to Corea. - -March 20.—By the order of a special Grand Jury, a Beef Trust -investigation is started in Chicago. - -March 21.—In John D. Rockefeller’s home, North Tarrytown, N. Y., his -candidate for Mayor is overwhelmingly defeated by a butcher. - -March 23.—Truman H. Newberry, of Detroit, is appointed Assistant -Secretary of the Navy. - - The Delaware Legislature adjourns without electing a United - States Senator. - - The Maryland Supreme Court orders the Governor to submit the - constitutional amendment for negro disfranchisement to popular - vote. - -March 25.—The Government declares its intention to prosecute the Santa Fé -Railroad for giving rebates. - -March 28.—President Roosevelt decides to accede to the request of the -Santo Domingo Government to appoint an agent to collect the revenues of -that country. - - The Federal Grand Jury sitting at Louisville, Ky., indicts that - city on four counts for peonage. - - Dr. Washington Gladden, Moderator of the Congregational Church, - enters formal protest against the Board of Missions accepting - the $100,000 gift from John D. Rockefeller. In spite of this - and other objections, the board accepts the donation. - -March 29.—The President requests the resignation of all members of the -Panama Canal Commission, also of General George W. Davis, Governor of the -Canal zone. The request is complied with immediately. - - W. E. Gould, of Baltimore, is appointed American agent to - collect customs in Santo Domingo. - - The general counsel of the Panama Railroad Company purchases - for the Government all but five of the outstanding shares of - the company. - -March 30.—The United States Government sends another warship to Santo -Domingo. - - President Roosevelt appoints Judge Charles E. Magoon, of - Nebraska, Governor of the Panama Canal zone. - - The Federal Grand Jury investigating the Beef Trust at Chicago - indicts T. J. Connors, an Armour director, for tampering with - Government witnesses, and it is reported that other indictments - of prominent trust officials will follow. - -March 31.—The investigation of the Gas Trust in New York discloses that -the value shown on the books is over $15,000,000 more than that listed -for taxation. The secretary of the company says he cannot explain the -discrepancy. - -April 1.—The Nebraska Legislature passes the Junkin Anti-Trust bill, -aimed at the beef packers. - - Theodore P. Shonts, President of the Clover Leaf Railroad, is - appointed Chairman of the new Panama Canal Commission. - -April 2.—Former Senators Frank J. Cannon and Thomas Kearns, of Utah, -declare war on the Mormon Church. Mr. Cannon denounces President Smith as -a “traitor.” - -April 3.—The President completes the new Panama Canal Commission and -designates salaries as follows: Theodore P. Shonts, Chairman, salary, -$30,000; Charles E. Magoon, Governor of the Canal zone, salary, $17,500; -John F. Wallace, Chief Engineer, salary, $25,000; Rear-Admiral Mordecai -F. Endicott, Chief of the Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks, salary, $7,500; -Brigadier-General Peter F. Haines, U.S.A., retired, salary, $7,500; -Colonel O. M. Ernst, U.S.A., salary, $7,500; Benjamin F. Harrod, of New -Orleans, salary, $7,500. - - President Roosevelt starts on a two months’ outing, his trip to - include a reunion of his old Rough Rider regiment and hunting - excursions in Texas and Colorado. He states that he leaves - Secretary of War Taft “sitting on the lid.” - - Charles H. Moyer, President of the Western Federation of - Miners, sues ex-Governor James H. Peabody and others for - $300,000 for false imprisonment during the Colorado strike. - -April 4.—At a municipal election in the city of Chicago Edward F. Dunne -(Dem.) is elected Mayor over John M. Harlan (Rep.) by a majority slightly -exceeding 24,000, thus reversing the immense majority of over 60,000 by -which Theodore Roosevelt carried the city five months ago. The issue in -the campaign just closed was that of municipal ownership of the traction -lines, Judge Dunne standing for immediate city ownership of these -utilities. - - Rolla Wells (Dem.) is re-elected Mayor of St. Louis by small - plurality. - - President Roosevelt is given an ovation in Louisville and other - cities on his way to Texas. - - - _General Home News_ - -March 7.—The strike continues on the New York Subway and Elevated -railways. The Subway trains are run intermittently by “strike-breakers,” -resulting in one accident, seriously injuring over a score of people. - -March 8.—The Mayor of New York offers to arbitrate the Subway strike. The -workingmen accept the offer, but the company declines. - - The Standard Oil Company, in retaliation for adverse - legislative action in Kansas, refuses to admit low-grade oil - from that state to its pipe lines, thus shutting off from the - market three-fourths of the output. - -March 9.—After a conference of national labor leaders, Warren E. Stone, -national head of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, declares the -New York Subway and “L” strike unauthorized, and advises the men to -return to work. He is supported in this by National Chief Mahon, of the -Amalgamated Street Railway workers. This practically ends the strike, -though the local unions still hold out. - - For the first time in the history of medicine New York surgeons - succeed in grafting a finger cut from the hand of one person - onto the hand of another. - -March 10.—The will of William F. Milton, of New York, gives to Harvard -University the sum of $1,000,000. James C. Carter’s will gives $2,000,000 -to the same institution. - - Whitelaw Reid announces his retirement as editor of the New - York Tribune. - -March 11.—The New York Subway and “L” strike is officially declared -ended. The company announces that it will take back no motormen over -forty years of age. - - Mrs. Cassie L. Chadwick, the notorious “frenzied financier,” - who raised millions on forged notes bearing the signature - of Andrew Carnegie, is found guilty after a short trial in - Cleveland, O. - -March 13.—Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, -says that he will investigate the charge that the New York Subway and “L” -strike was sold out. - - President Roosevelt addresses the National Congress of Mothers - at Washington and denounces race suicide. - - The defection of one of the large mills threatens to dissolve - the Paper Trust. - - The independent packing companies, with Schwarzschild & - Sulzberger, of Chicago, in the lead, organize to expose and - fight the Beef Trust. - - Justice Kelly, of the New York Supreme Court, orders trial of - the suit brought by Hon. W. R. Hearst against the Gas Trust. - -March 14.—Nineteen persons are killed in a New York tenement house fire. - - The war in the Equitable Life Assurance Society is settled by - the factions agreeing on a plan to mutualize the company. - - The Mormon Church excommunicates ex-United States Senator Frank - J. Cannon, of Utah, because of editorials in the Salt Lake - Tribune, of which Mr. Cannon is editor. - -March 15.—A bull market in cotton is started by Daniel J. Sully, one day -after he is released from bankruptcy. - - Andrew Carnegie declares that a Pan-American railroad would - be more effective for defense than all the battleships we can - build. - -March 17.—Secretary of State John Hay sails on a European trip in an -impaired state of health. - - President Roosevelt addresses the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick - in New York, after the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the - history of the city. - -March 19.—Twenty-four men are killed in a mine explosion near Thurmond, -W. Va. - - The Panama Canal Commission issues a long statement denying - charges made against the body relating to the sanitation of the - Isthmus. - - Senator Thomas H. Carter, head of the Government commission, - reports charges of wholesale bribery in connection with the - giving out of awards by the St. Louis World’s Fair officials. - - John D. Rockefeller, George J. Gould and other prominent men - are reported to be implicated in the Utah coal land frauds. - -March 20.—Over one hundred workmen are killed and wounded by a boiler -explosion in a shoe factory at Brockton, Mass. - - Three thousand men are thrown out of work by the shut-down of - one of the Havemeyer sugar refineries at Brooklyn, N. Y. - -March 21.—Twenty-seven New England Congregational clergymen enter -vigorous protest against the acceptance of a $100,000 gift from John D. -Rockefeller to the Board of Missions of that church. - -March 22.—It is given out at Denver that the strike and contest over the -governorship have cost the state of Colorado $2,000,000. - - More than 11,000 immigrants land at Ellis Island, New York, in - two days, thus breaking all former records. - -March 23.—The Wyoming court decides against granting a decree of divorce -to Colonel William F. Cody (“Buffalo Bill”). - - The ship with which Lieutenant Robert E. Peary will make - another attempt to reach the North Pole is launched at - Bucksport, Me., and is christened the _Roosevelt_. - -March 25.—A plan to merge the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with -Harvard University is made public in Boston. - - The New York Central Railroad announces that in the near future - it will supplant all its steam locomotives with electric motors. - -March 27.—Mrs. Cassie L. Chadwick is sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. - - Gessler Rosseau is found guilty at New York of having sent an - infernal machine to blow up the steamship _Umbria_. - - Andrew Carnegie announces that henceforth he will give - donations to small colleges in preference to founding libraries. - -March 28.—Governor Joseph W. Folk of Missouri, at a speech in New York, -declares that bribery is treason, and says that his state is leading a -movement to make it odious throughout the country. - -March 29.—A disastrous fire over 100 feet underground is caused by a -wreck in the New York Subway. - -March 30.—The New York legislative committee investigating the Gas Trust -develops the fact that the company has been paying 10 per cent. dividends -on watered stock. - - Charges are made that James H. Hyde, First Vice-President of - the Equitable Life Assurance Society, used company funds in - paying expenses of spectacular balls of last winter; also his - private servants. - - President Mellen, of the New York, New Haven & Hartford - Railroad Company, tells a legislative committee that great - abuses have grown up in the railroad business, and says that - there should be stricter state and Government control. - -March 31.—Harry N. Pillsbury, the American chess champion, attempts -suicide at Philadelphia, but is prevented. - - Henry H. Rogers, of the Standard Oil Company, issues a defense - of John D. Rockefeller’s gift to missions, and incidentally - attacks ministers and deacons and defends railroad rebates to - his company. - -April 1.—A mysterious epidemic of spinal meningitis, or “spotted fever,” -is ravaging New York and other cities and baffles the medical profession. -Over a thousand deaths have occurred since the first of the year. - - Mr. and Mrs. J. Morgan Smith, brother-in-law and sister of the - notorious Nan Patterson, are located in Cincinnati, and letters - are secured which, it is said, will have an important bearing - on the trial of the actress for the murder of the bookmaker, - “Cæsar” Young. - - In the Equitable Life Assurance Society war James H. Hyde, the - First Vice-President, denies the charges made against him and - retains Elihu Root, Samuel Untermeyer and others as counsel. - He announces that if President Alexander wants a fight he can - have it. The State Insurance Department of New York takes a - hand in the case, and an investigation of the company’s affairs - is ordered. The Alexander forces charge that loans have been - made out of the association’s funds to Edward H. Harriman, of - the U. P. R. R., that the dinner to French Ambassador Cambon - was paid from the company’s money, and that Vice-President - Hyde has usurped the President’s functions. Chairman John D. - Crimmins, of the committee of policyholders for mutualizing the - society, announces that the Hyde faction has conceded all the - committee’s demands and that the Alexander people alone stood - in the way. For this reason Mr. Crimmins, who was understood - heretofore to stand with Alexander, refuses to go further in - what he terms the personal fight on Hyde. - - President Samuel Gompers, of the American Federation of Labor, - sends out a warning to the members that the Socialists are - attempting to disrupt the organization. - - In the Gas Trust inquiry an official of the company admits that - there is $12,000,000 watered stock in the corporation. - - At a meeting of the National Association of State Dairy and - Food Departments being held in Chicago, J. M. Hurty, Secretary - of the Indiana Board, states that 455,000 babies were killed - last year by adulteration of milk and other infants’ foods. - - A threatened coal strike in Pennsylvania is averted by the - granting of the wage scale of last year. - -April 2.—H. Rider Haggard, in an interview given to the New York -_Journal_, says that the poor of America are as miserable as those of -England. - -April 3.—Fifty men are entombed in a mine explosion at Zeigler, Ill. Most -of them are believed to have been killed. - -April 4.—Vice-President Hyde, of the Equitable Life, accuses President -Alexander of being in a conspiracy to ruin the company, and cites as one -of his proofs the fact that Second Vice-President George E. Tarbell, -one of Alexander’s supporters, disposed of his interests in the company -before beginning the present fight. - -April 5.—J. G. Phelps Stokes, the New York millionaire philanthropist, -announces that he is soon to marry a poor East Side settlement worker, -the daughter of a Russian Jew. - -April 6.—In a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Equitable Life -Assurance Society, Vice-President James H. Hyde wins a virtual victory -at all points over President Alexander. The Hyde-Crimmins two-year -mutualization plan is adopted and Hyde committees are appointed to -investigate the affairs of the company. - - S. C. T. Dodd, chief solicitor of the Standard Oil Company, - defends John D. Rockefeller from the attacks of Congregational - ministers and others, which he terms “vile” and “doubly vile.” - - - _The Russo-Japanese War_ - -March 7.—General Kuropatkin stubbornly resists the Japanese advance about -Mukden, but the day generally goes against him. Fighting is heaviest west -and northwest of Manchurian capital. - -March 8.—The Japanese crush the Russian eastern wing and cut off General -Rennenkampf’s division. They also continue vigorous attacks on the west -and northwest and reach a position directly north of Mukden. - - General Kuropatkin retreats from his southern and centre - positions on the Shakhe River, abandoning siege guns and - burning stores. - - It is reported that the Russian Baltic fleet starts on its - return, having gone no farther east than Madagascar. - -March 9.—General Kuroki drives the Russians from Fushun and terrific -fighting continues all about Mukden. Marshal Oyama reports the cutting -of the railroad between Mukden and Tieling. The Japanese, after several -fierce onslaughts, succeed in taking a hill considered the key to the -Manchurian capital, and Oyama predicts that Mukden will fall tomorrow. - -March 10.—At ten o’clock in the morning the Japanese capture Mukden, -and General Kuropatkin begins a demoralized retreat to the Northwest, -battling to save a remnant of his once great army. This is made the more -difficult by the almost complete circle that the forces of Marshal Oyama -have made about the Russians. Great numbers of prisoners, and immense -quantities of guns, ammunition, food and other supplies, fall into the -hands of the victors. - - Count Tolstoi writes to the London _Times_ denouncing this as - a “reckless, disgraceful, cruel war instigated by a score of - immoral individuals.” - -March 11.—General Kuropatkin reports that the remnants of his armies -are retreating on Tieling. They are still harassed by Japanese attacks. -The Russians have lost considerably more than 100,000 men. The battle -of Mukden, which has ended in such a disastrous Russian defeat, is the -greatest in history, having lasted twelve days and having involved nearly -1,000,000 men. It marks Field Marshal Oyama as one of the world’s great -commanders. - -March 12.—The Russian losses in the battle of Mukden are now placed at -about 150,000; Japanese losses at about 40,000. - - It is reported that the Czar will send another army to the Far - East and will order the Baltic squadron to go forward and give - battle to Admiral Togo. - -March 13.—The main body of the Russian troops reach Tie Pass, hard -pressed by their foes. General Kuropatkin reports 50,000 wounded in the -past few days. Marshal Oyama reports the country swept clear of Russians -for a distance of twenty-five miles north of Mukden. - -March 14.—The Russian War Council in session with the Czar votes to -continue the war. - - Despite a repulse south of Tie Pass, the Japanese continue a - rearguard attack on the retreating Russians. - -March 15.—A Japanese fleet of twenty-two warships going westward is -sighted off Singapore, India. - -March 17.—The Czar curtly dismisses General Kuropatkin from his command, -and promotes Lieutenant-General Linevitch, heretofore at the head of the -first army, to be Commander-in-Chief of all the forces in Manchuria. - - The Russian War Council decides to place a new army of 450,000 - men in the field, and orders the Baltic squadron to proceed on - its way to the East. - - The Russian army, having abandoned Tie Pass, continues its - flight northward, harassed by Japanese attacks from all sides. - -March 19.—The Russians are still retreating and Kai-Yuan and Fakoman are -occupied by the Japanese. - -March 21.—General Kuropatkin returns to the front to accept a -subordinate command under General Linevitch. - -March 22.—All the Russian ministers but two are now said to favor peace. - -March 24.—The Russian troops halt for a short rest at a point -seventy-four miles north of Tie Pass. The Japanese armies are believed to -be executing another flanking movement. - -March 25.—It is given out from St. Petersburg that the Russians have sent -800,000 men to the front since the beginning of the war. - -March 28.—The Japanese again attack the rearguard of the retreating -Russians. General Oku reports that the spring thaws make the movements of -both armies difficult. - - It is no longer denied that the Russian Government is moving - for peace. - -March 29.—A court-martial is designated to try General Stoessel, it being -customary in Russia to so try any officer that surrenders. - - All Europe shows eagerness to invest in the new Japanese bonds. - -March 30.—Both Russia and Japan deny that they are making any efforts to -bring about peace. - - General Linevitch issues an address to his troops, closing with - the words, “May God help you in the coming battle.” - - The Japanese continue their flanking movement and skirmishes - occur between them and the Russian outposts. - -March 31.—General Sakharoff, former Chief of Staff, quits the Russian -army because of a quarrel with General Linevitch. General Stakelburg also -leaves, the reason assigned being ill health. - - The Russian Baltic fleet, which left Madagascar on March 16, is - reported in bad condition. - -April 3.—A bomb explosion at Harbin destroys seventy-five persons and an -immense amount of Russian supplies. - - Prince Ouktomsky, deposed from the command of the Port Arthur - squadron, reaches St. Petersburg and demands a court-martial. - -April 6.—Both the Russian Baltic fleet and the Japanese fleet under -Admiral Togo are reported approaching each other in the vicinity of the -China Sea. - - - _General Foreign News_ - -March 7.—Practically half of the workingmen of St. Petersburg are on -strike. The situation continues grave, though quiet, at Warsaw and at -other points in Russia. - - Hon. George Wyndham, Chief Secretary for Ireland, resigns from - the British Ministry. - -March 8.—The peasant revolt in outlying Russian provinces is rapidly -spreading. - - Men at the Russian naval dockyard go on strike. - - China decides to build immediately the Kalgan Railway and to - place it under a Chinese engineer, which is regarded as an - anti-Russian move. - - On a fiscal policy division forced by Winston Churchill in - the British House of Commons the Government is sustained by a - majority of 42. - - Both Premier Balfour and Joseph Chamberlain deny that they are - protectionists. - -March 9.—Russia pushes troops toward her Indian frontier, in evident -opposition to Great Britain’s moves in Thibet, Persia and other Central -Asiatic territory. - - The plague in India kills 34,000 in one week. - -March 10.—It is reported that the Russian revolutionists have agreed to a -general uprising on May 1. - - The rioting of the Russian peasants continues, and great - destruction of property is reported from Tchemigoff, Orel and - Hursk. - -March 14.—French bankers refuse to negotiate a loan to Russia until more -is known of the intentions of the Russian Government. - - The Canadian authorities serve notice on polygamous Mormons - that they must either leave the country or be prosecuted. - - Russian peasants pillage the estate of the late Grand Duke - Sergius in the Dimitrov district. - - The peasant uprisings spread to the northwest provinces of - Vilna and Kovno. - -March 16.—William Marconi, the inventor, is married to Beatrice O’Brien, -sister of Lord Inchiquin. - -March 17.—Mobilization orders lead to renewal of strikes in Russian -Poland. - - France complains to the United States of the infringement of - the rights of the French Cable Company in Venezuela. - -March 19.—An international conference at Vienna considers the proposal to -form a World’s Chamber of Agriculture. - -March 20.—Governor Miasoredeff, of Viborg, one of the Russian provinces -of Finland, is shot and seriously wounded by a fifteen-year-old boy who -proclaims himself a “revolutionist.” - -March 21.—After a great debate in the French Chamber of Deputies, a -motion to postpone the bill separating church and state is defeated by a -vote of 363 to 40. - -March 22.—Many peasants are killed and wounded by Russian troops in the -provinces of Kutno and Ostrow. - - The British House of Commons condemns the proposal of a - protective tariff by a vote of 254 to 2. - -March 23.—It is announced in the British Parliament that up to March 11 -of this year there have been 346,000 deaths from the plague in India. - - President Morales of Santo Domingo declares that unless the - treaty with the United States is ratified there will be a - revolution in that country. - -March 24.—President Castro of Venezuela curtly declines to arbitrate the -asphalt controversy with the United States. - -March 25.—Under a tentative arrangement made with President Morales of -Santo Domingo, the revenues of that country will be collected by an agent -named by President Roosevelt. - -March 26.—Baron von Molken, chief of the Warsaw police, is severely -wounded by a bomb which destroyed his carriage. - - Internal disturbances are again on the increase throughout - Russia. - - It is announced that King Alfonso of Spain is to marry the - Princess Patricia of England. - -March 27.—Warehouses and shops at Yalta, Russia, are pillaged and burned -by rioting mujiks. - -March 29.—The Swiss Bundesrath rejects the commercial treaty with the -United States owing to amendments made to that instrument by the United -States Senate. - -March 30.—President Castro of Venezuela turns on his accusers and states -that he has documentary evidence that both the French Cable Company and -the American Asphalt Company are in league with the revolutionists. - - Emperor William of Germany sails for Morocco. - - Several prominent “terrorists” are arrested in St. Petersburg, - among them being two women. - - Peasant outbreaks continue in Russia and the Kharkoff district - is laid waste. - - Another meeting of the Zemstvo representatives is called at St. - Petersburg for the end of April. - - The Italian Ambassador states that Italy would have taken - drastic measures to collect her debt from Santo Domingo, had - President Roosevelt not taken the matter in hand. - -March 31.—Emperor William at Tangier gives assurance that Germany will -protect the integrity of Morocco and maintain the “open door.” - - President Arnal, of the highest court of Venezuela, declares - that the French Cable Company has forfeited its contract. - - The agrarian risings in Russia reach such proportions as to - overshadow the war. They render further mobilization of troops - impossible. - - An important group of the Russian clergy declares for the - separation of church and state. - -April 1.—The Federal District Court of Venezuela charges General Francis -V. Greene, an official of the New York and Bermudez Asphalt Company, -with having given $130,000 to the rebels in the Matos revolution against -President Castro. - - Camille Flammarion, the celebrated French astronomer, predicts - a hot summer because of the sun spots. - - The _Victorian_, the first turbine steamer to cross the - Atlantic, makes the trip in a little less than eight days. - - The Police Commissioner of Lodz, Russian Poland, is severely - wounded by a bomb explosion. - -April 2.—Four persons are killed and forty injured in renewed riots at -Warsaw. - -April 4.—Severe earthquakes in Northern India cause much loss of life and -damage to cities. - - H. B. Irving, son of Sir Henry Irving, wins a triumph in London - in his first appearance, playing Hamlet. - -April 5.—A Russian medical congress at Moscow adopts peace resolution and -favors a constitution and other radical demands. - - A newly appointed member of the British Cabinet is defeated for - re-election to Parliament in a district that has not before - gone Liberal in twenty years. Winston Churchill says it is the - beginning of the end of the present Government. - -April 6.—King Edward of England and President Loubet of France meet -in extended interview at Paris. This is regarded as significant in -strengthening the understanding between France and England relating to -Morocco and as being a counter move to Emperor William’s assurance of -political integrity of that country. - - The reform movement increases throughout Russia. - - - _Obituary_ - -March 7.—John H. Reagan, former United States Senator and State Railroad -Commissioner, dies at his home in Texas, aged 87. - - Albert M. Palmer, veteran theatrical manager, dies at his home - in New York, aged 66. - -March 8.—Henry A. Barclay, prominent New York business and race-track -man, dies at his home, aged 60. - - Rear-Admiral Edwin S. Houston, United States Navy, dies at - Lausanne, Switzerland, aged 60. - -March 9.—William Brimage Bate, United States Senator from Tennessee and -former Governor and Major-General, C.S.A., dies in Washington, aged 78. - -March 12.—Caleb Huse, foreign purchasing agent for the Confederate -Government, dies at the age of 75. - -March 14.—Henry R. Reed, millionaire sugar merchant, of Boston, aged 62, -dies under mysterious circumstances in a New York hotel. - - Henry Cyril Paget, Marquis of Anglesey, dies at Monte Carlo, - aged 30. - -March 16.—Meyer Guggenheim, prominent New York capitalist and head of -the Smelter Trust, dies at Palm Beach, Fla., aged 78. - -March 17.—Lot Thomas, former Congressman from Iowa, dies at the age of 61. - - Charles C. Cole, former Supreme Court Justice, District of - Columbia, dies at Washington, aged 64. - -March 18.—General Joseph R. Hawley, former United States Senator from -Connecticut, dies at the age of 78. - - Cyrus G. Luce, once Governor of Michigan, dies at the age of 80. - -March 22.—M. Antonin Proust, French author and former member of Gambetta -Cabinet, dies at Paris. - - Rev. Dr. Elmer H. Capen, former President of Tufts College, - dies at the age of 76. - -March 24.—Jules Verne, the celebrated novelist, dies from a stroke of -paralysis at Amiens, France, aged 76. - - Señor Manuel de Aspiroz, Mexican Ambassador to the United - States, dies at Washington, aged 68. - -March 29.—Jacob L. Greene, President of the Connecticut Mutual Life -Insurance Company, dies at his home in Hartford, aged 67. - - William Hammond, a prominent real estate man of Boston, Mass., - commits suicide in the Hotel Astor, New York. - -March 30.—Hugo Jacobson, the American representative of a French steel -firm, commits suicide at the Hotel Breslin, New York. - -March 31.—The Dowager Duchess of Abercorn, grandmother of the Duke of -Marlborough, dies at London, aged 92. - - William H. Muker, once well-known American actor, dies at New - Rochelle, N. Y., aged 83. - - Dr. William Bodenhamer, once family physician of Commodore - Vanderbilt, dies at New Rochelle, N. Y., aged 97. - -April 1.—James M. Seymour, former mayor of Newark, N. J., and Democratic -candidate for Governor, dies at the age of 67. - -April 2.—William F. Potter, President of the Long Island Railroad -Company, dies of spinal meningitis, aged 50. - -April 4.—William H. Delius, son-in-law of Chief-Justice Fuller, of the -United States Supreme Court, dies by suicide at Chicago, aged 53. - - Bishop Alphonse Favier, Catholic Apostolic Vicar to China, dies - at Pekin, aged 68. - - - - - _Toll_ - - - One fashions beauty into form, to shapes most wondrous fair; - There comes a stranger to his door and claims an equal share - - Another plants the seed and sees the harvest spring—that day - Comes one whose face he does not know, and takes a third away. - - A little child, whose plaintive mouth has never learned to laugh, - Sits stringing beads—to her appears the man who claims his half. - - A woman with her needle sits—and one stitch out of three - She takes for him whose face perhaps her eyes shall never see. - - And where the mighty merchant ships in the great harbors wait— - His is the service of the crews and his the share of freight. - - And who is he, who walks abroad in all his pomp and pride, - Who takes his toll, and nothing gives, and will not be denied? - - A wondrous miracle is he—but not of God because, - He can be banished as he came—by simple change of laws. - - The laws that give to manikin dominion of the sod, - Appareled him in majesty, and made him as a god. - - Oh, sad the tale and grim the tale, that now is almost told, - And but a little while, and then—the stupid drama’s old! - - But strange we’ll seem to future times, with our fantastic tricks, - Who worshiped God one day in seven and cheated Him in six! - - JOSEPH DANA MILLER. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE, VOL. 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