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diff --git a/old/69218-0.txt b/old/69218-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 468af01..0000000 --- a/old/69218-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3973 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The worship of the golden calf, by -Charles Sheldon French - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The worship of the golden calf - A story of wage-slavery in Massachusetts - -Author: Charles Sheldon French - -Release Date: October 23, 2022 [eBook #69218] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Steve Mattern, David E. Brown, 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 THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN -CALF *** - - - - - - _The_ Worship _of - The_ Golden Calf. - - A Story _of_ - Wage-Slavery - _in_ Massachusetts. - - _By - Charles Sheldon French._ - - DALTON, MASS.: - C. Sheldon French, Publisher, - 35 John Street. - - PITTSFIELD, MASS.: - William J. Oatman, Printer, - 536 North Street. - 1908. - - - - - COPYRIGHT, - 1908, - BY CHARLES SHELDON FRENCH. - - - NOTE. Since Chapter VIII was written Massachusetts law has been so - amended that $10,000, instead of $5,000, may now be collected for - a human life lost through the negligence of a railroad or street - railway corporation. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - -The snows had begun to disappear from the far-famed valleys of -Berkshire; the mountain-tops and slopes were still white; in the -softening air was the promise of the return of birds and flowers; -Nature was relenting from her winter harshness, but man was less kindly -than Nature. - -On Beauna Vista, one of the hillocks rising slightly above the level -of the Housatonic Valley, the day’s work was done, and John Wycliff, -a farm-laborer, was awaiting the pay for his last month’s work before -returning home. - -There was nothing prepossessing about Wycliff’s appearance. Short of -stature, minus one eye which he had lost in an encounter with the -Indians, with a bent nose, a souvenir of a cattle-stampede on the -plains,--he was tough and wiry as a lynx, and his features betrayed -almost as little emotion as that animal. - -His experience had been largely of a kind to make him suspicious of -his fellows, and alert for self-defence. He had knocked about the -East in a variety of occupations, and in the West had been editor, -cow-boy and gold-miner. He had seen varying fortunes, having been -once part owner of a gold mine. He had lost all and was now a common -laborer again. Although he still retained his interest in the mine, it -was considered worthless. He had hopes that sometime it might become -valuable again through the invention of cheaper methods of separating -the gold from the rock. - -Jacob Sharp, the farm-superintendent, was, in appearance, a typical -Yankee. He was tall and angular, with blue eyes, which sometimes -kindled with a kindly light, but which oftener showed a steely luster -suggesting something of the serpent. The nose was the most prominent -feature. It was large and sharply defined, and he had a habit, when -excited, of blowing it vigorously. - -On this occasion a trumpet-like blast first warned John Wycliff that -Boss Sharp had something on his mind. He blew his nose loudly several -times, while the blue eyes seemed to retreat more deeply into their -sockets and to give out a snaky leer. After an unusually loud blast, -which testified to the healthy condition of his lungs, he pulled some -bank-notes from his pocket. - -“Twenty-five dollars,” he said, handing the notes to Wycliff. “I have -retained five dollars for Mr. Bothan on the bill which you owe him.” - -“But you agreed to pay me thirty-five dollars per month,” replied -Wycliff. “I am very poorly situated at this time for losing any part of -my earnings. I should be glad to pay all my debts in full at once, but -at present my wages will barely supply the necessities of life for my -family.” Then, turning to Mr. Bothan, who stood near by, he continued, -“Both law and gospel make it a man’s first duty to provide for his -family. Besides, you should have no preference over my other creditors.” - -But the words were wasted. Wycliff might as well have appealed to -the flint boulders on the mountain side. Sharp insisted that he had -agreed to pay him only thirty dollars per month, and he also insisted -on paying five dollars of that sum to Richard Bothan on Wycliff’s debt. -He even threatened to discharge Wycliff if the latter should take -advantage of the Bankruptcy Law and thus place Mr. Bothan on a level -with other creditors. Wycliff received twenty-five dollars and walked -away. - -Mr. Sharp then passed a five dollar note to Mr. Bothan, who returned -him one of smaller denomination with the remark, “Here’s a dollar for -collecting.” - -The men then separated, unconscious that there had been any witness -of their conversation. Only a few steps distant, where a rustic -watering-trough was hidden from sight by a clump of low hemlock bushes, -two horseback-riders, a lady and a gentleman, had paused to let their -horses drink. - -“What a spectacle that is!” exclaimed the gentleman; “Congressman -Baldwin, one of the owners of this farm, belongs to the national -legislative body which passed the Bankruptcy Law, and here we see his -foreman threatening to discharge a workman for accepting the benefits -of that law. The law is designed to relieve those who are unable to -pay their debts. Congressman Baldwin is sworn to uphold the law. His -foreman, Jacob Sharp, is doing his best, in this instance, to destroy -the law. I don’t believe David Baldwin, the Congressman, would feel -very proud of his foreman if he witnessed this scene.” - -“Would his brother and partner, Zechariah Baldwin, approve of it?” -asked the lady. - -“I cannot say,” replied the gentleman. “Zechariah Baldwin has less -sense of justice or love for his workmen than his brother David. But -this is a mean act, at any rate. Mr. Sharp has no moral or legal rights -to withhold the workman’s wages and it is contemptible at this time, -because Mr. Wycliff has a child very sick and needs every dollar he can -earn. I am surprised that such a man as Sharp, who is notorious for -cheating his workmen, should hold so high a position in the church.” - -“It is much easier to criticise the church than to help in the good -work which the church is doing,” answered the lady tartly. - -“We have a right to criticise the church if she fails to take up the -work which the Master left for her to do;” replied the gentleman, but -the lady was offended, and the remainder of the journey was passed in -silence. - -Meanwhile John Wycliff found little to comfort him on his return home. - -“Robert has been growing worse all day;” were the first words of -his wife: “The Doctor gives very little encouragement. He says that -to-night will decide and that he is so frail and sensitive that we must -gratify all his whims. Whatever he wants we must promise to get it for -him. The Doctor says we must not cross him the least bit in any of his -wishes.” - -The wife and mother--a slight, sensitive thing--dropped upon her knees, -buried her face in the bed-clothes, and prayed for her son in words -which reached no ear but the Almighty’s. Then she lay down upon a -couch, exhausted by days and nights of watching. - -The mother slept. The boy lay for the most part quietly, his spirit -fluttering as lightly as a butterfly’s wing between life and death. The -father sat beside the crib where his child lay, and watched his every -movement, bending down frequently and placing his ear close to the -little sufferer’s face, to learn if he were still breathing. Once he -woke his wife hurriedly, thinking that the end had come. But life still -lingered. - -There was a distant rumble of wheels. John Wycliff recognized the sound -of that vehicle, and it made him for the moment desperate. Some of -the rough points of his Western life had ingrained themselves in his -nature, and one characteristic memento of that strenuous time was at -hand in a bureau-drawer. - -He glanced at his wife. She was in a sound sleep. He bent down and -caught the sound of the boy’s breathing. Then he sprang to the bureau -and rushed, coatless and hatless, into the street. - -Jacob Sharp was alone on his way to the mid-weekly evening prayer -meeting. When he came into the shaft of light thrown from the sick-room -window, his horse was grasped by the bridle, while a low voice said: -“Pay me the wages you defrauded me of!” and a pistol gleamed in Sharp’s -face. - -“Be quick!” the voice added, as Mr. Sharp’s right hand went up, as was -his habit when excited, to blow his nose. The hand dropped quickly to -his pocket, and a ten-dollar note was handed over. - -“Take legal action about this if you choose, Mr. Sharp,” said Wycliff. -“I can land you in prison and for more than one offense.” - -“Say nothing, and I will say nothing;” replied Sharp as he drove on. -Wycliff’s challenge uncovered a chapter in Sharp’s history which he had -fancied covered up and which he did not wish exposed. This adventure -filled only a very brief time, and again Wycliff was by the bedside. - -The little lips moved feebly. He placed his ear close to them. - -“Pop--will I--have--pony--cart--heaven?” - -It was with great difficulty that he gathered the words. Heaven! What -did he know about heaven? What did he care about it if such men as -Jacob Sharp and Richard Bothan were its representatives here on earth? -But he answered instantly, recalling the doctor’s warning, and bending -close to the child’s ear: - -“Yes, you will have everything you want there.” - -And then, very slowly and very feebly--so slowly and so feebly that -his coarse senses could hardly be sure of the scarcely whispered -words--came the “Pop--will I--ever--have--pony--cart--here?” - -There was but an instant’s hesitation, as the father recalled his -inability to fulfil his promise, and he replied, watching his child’s -face as the fluttering spirit caught the meaning: - -“Yes, Robbie, if you will stay with us you shall have a pony and a -cart.” - -This had been the height of the child’s desire, his highest idea of -happiness, his heaven--to have a pony and a cart. In sight of the other -shore, and with voices, perhaps, which his father’s coarse ear could -not hear, calling him thither, he was willing to stay on this side if -his desire might be gratified. - -The father thought he saw the slightest trace of a smile on the thin -face. The boy slept. More than once there were brief intervals when the -father could not detect his son’s breathing, but as the hours wore away -there seemed to be a gain. - -Meanwhile the father’s memory was busy. As a lightning-flash, in the -night, for an instant illuminates the entire landscape, so his son’s -question flashed his whole life in review before him. He recalled the -day, when, with high ideals, he had pledged himself to Christ in the -little country meeting-house, and the church had pledged friendship -to him. Later some of these comrades in the church had defrauded -him of all he possessed. To-day the worst enemies of himself and of -every other workingman in the town of Papyrus, were pillars in the -fashionable church of that place. These things stood out in bold relief -to-night, as bold as the mountain’s rugged outline when the lightning’s -flash illumines it. - -“The First Church of Papyrus,” Wycliff had once said to Deacon Surface, -“does not stand for righteousness. It will whitewash any wrong done -by its wealthy members. Our pastor is eloquent in condemning the -disfranchisement of the negroes of the South, but does not say one word -to condemn the disfranchisement of mill-hands in Papyrus. Employees in -the Baldwin Mills are prevented from voting appropriations for schools, -roads, street-lights, and other public benefits in their own town. To -be consistent, you should place the sign of the Almighty Dollar on the -pinnacle of your beautiful church, and inscribe over the altar these -words: ‘The rich can do no wrong.’” - -Deacon Surface, who belonged, body and soul to the Baldwins, had -been horrified at Wycliff, whom he regarded as little better than an -infidel. Wycliff regarded Deacon Surface and his kind, as followers of -the Master only for the ‘loaves and fishes.’ - -But the night wore away. The boy was better. The mother was worn out, -and Wycliff remained at home to care for his wife and child. - -Jacob Sharp was an early caller. - -“Your position will be open to you, at thirty-five dollars per month, -whenever you can come back;” he said. - -But Wycliff was never to return. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -“Good afternoon, Mr. Moriarty.” - -It was Deacon Surface who spoke, a gentleman who owed such influence -as he possessed to the fact that he was an agent of the Baldwins, -collecting their rents, superintending in a general way some of their -enterprises, and administering their local charities. - -He was a man of excellent intentions, but shallow. One of his best -friends thus described him:--“The Deacon has as many sides as a barrel. -He doesn’t want to make any enemies, but when he is cornered, he will -roll toward the money every time. If the Deacon were a judge, and a -man were brought before him charged with stealing one hundred dollars, -and the charge were proved, he would order the money divided equally -between the thief and his victim. That is just about his idea of -justice.” - -The Deacon’s critics, if put in his place, would perhaps do no better -than he. Being the personal and confidential agent of the Baldwins, he -must accept their ideas of right and wrong, adopt their conscience, as -it were, or else surrender a fat job such as seldom comes to a man of -common ability. - -“The top of the afternoon to you!” replied the Irishman addressed, -whose traits were quite different from the Deacon’s. - -“Of course you are going to vote for Jacob Sharp for Selectman,” -remarked the Deacon. - -“The divil a bit will I vote for Jake Sharp for any office, Deacon -Surface.” - -“Indeed, Mr. Sharp is a fine Christian gentleman.” - -“Do yez call the likes of old Jake Sharp, the slave-driver, a fine -Christian gentleman? A liar, a thief, and a murderer is what he is.” - -Good Deacon Surface was shocked. - -“Those are pretty hard names to apply to a neighbor, Mr. Moriarty. I -think you would find it very difficult to prove that Mr. Sharp is what -you call him.” - -“Indade I would not,” replied the indignant son of Erin. “A liar? Did -he ever pay a man the wages he agreed to? Not if he could help it. -Didn’t young Mike Silk knock him down flat in his tracks before Old -Sharp could remember that he promised to pay him two dollars a day in -haying? He remembered it all right after Mike flattened him. Oh, it’s a -bad memory he has, all right. - -“A thief? Sure it’s yourself he was after st’aling a shovel from. And -sure it’s your own memory needs bracing up, too. It’s your own shovel -he was st’aling, whittling off your name and branding on his own with -a red-hot iron. Forgot all about it, have yez? Do yez forget the time -when he stole his own daughter’s money, that he was guardian for, and -lost it, and the poor girl was nigh going crazy over it? It’s surely a -poor memory ye has, Deacon Surface. - -“A murderer? I haven’t forgotten the day when he hurried young Pat -Flynn in the hay-field till the poor fellow dropped dead by the side -of me with sun-stroke. I niver shall forget it in this world. And -when David Baldwin, the Congressman, asked Sharp why did he hurry the -lad such a hot day, wasn’t the old villain after saying it was liquor -that killed him? And the poor lad never tasted liquor. If that wasn’t -murder, what would yez call it? An awful poor memory yez have, all at -once, Deacon Surface. - -“And ye’ve forgot, too, how old Sharp sold the dis’ased meat in the -city, haven’t yez? Ye’ve forgot intirely how two children were killed -by that same meat, so the doctors said? And that is what yez call a -fine Christian gentleman in the First Church, is it?” - -“But the meat charge was never proved,” protested Deacon Surface. - -“And it’s yerself knows as well as anybody why it wasn’t -proved--because Zach Baldwin wanted it hushed up. It can be proved -to-day if John Wycliff and meself, and one other man I could name, were -called as witnesses.” - -Deacon Surface realized that he was not gaining ground, and changed his -tactics. - -“You had work on Congressman Baldwin’s new streets at Maple Heights, -last fall, did you not?” - -“Indade I did, and I earned ivery cint I got, too, so I did, Deacon -Surface.” - -“But there will be no work at Maple Heights this year unless Mr. Sharp -is elected Selectman.” - -“Maple Heights may go to Perdition. I’ll not vote for old Jake Sharp if -I niver get another day’s work from the Baldwins. The likes of yerself -cannot drive Dave Moriarty one inch. Ye may stand there and threaten -till doomsday. I’ll not vote for that slave-driver, Sharp. He ought to -be behind the bars.” - -Deacon Surface moved on, to appeal to workmen who would “hear to -reason,” as he expressed it. - -As for David Moriarty, he hurried over to his neighbor, John Wycliff, -to tell him of this latest game of the Baldwins. He had barely left -Wycliff’s, to return, when Hugh Maxwell called to see John Wycliff. - -This gentleman was fully as easy and gracious in his manner, fully as -well qualified to get through the world without provoking opposition, -as Deacon Surface; but, unlike the Deacon, he had to depend upon his -own resources, with no millionaires to back him. He had a good business -as a retail merchant, and in building up his trade had won many friends -and very little enmity. Mere formalities over, Mr. Maxwell asked: - -“What would be my chances in a campaign against Jacob Sharp?” - -“If it were a perfectly fair election, they ought to be the very best,” -replied Wycliff. “The workingmen, who form the large majority of the -voters of Papyrus, are favorable to you. But Mr. Sharp is the -candidate of the millionaire paper-makers, and they practically own the -town. You know the methods which the Baldwins will use as well as I -do. Coaxing and threatening, of the kind which Deacon Surface knows so -well how to use, will have their effect. Any employee of the Baldwins -who openly advocates your election will lose his job. The Baldwins are -already promising employment if you are defeated, and threatening to -take away employment if you are elected. Work on the new streets at -Maple Heights, will not be the only job held up to the unemployed as -a bribe and a threat in this election. The cry is already raised by -the Baldwin agents: ‘Elect Sharp, and the Baldwins will build a sewer -for Papyrus; defeat Sharp, and the Baldwins will defeat the sewer.’ -This cowardly sort of bribery and threat is permitted by Massachusetts -Law, and the Baldwins know full well how to use it. Still, if you wish -to run against Sharp for Selectman, I will place your name before the -voters of Papyrus, through the columns of the Elmfield _Star_.” - -Wycliff obtained from Hugh Maxwell a few facts which he needed, and -his caller departed; not, however, without leaving a ten-dollar note, -in appreciation of the service which Wycliff was to undertake for -him. Wycliff then attended to household duties, and performed little -services for the sick ones, who were improving very slowly. - -Then he wrote a letter to the _Star_, advocating Hugh Maxwell’s -election as Selectman. The task was a pleasant one. He mentioned -Mr. Maxwell’s lifelong residence in Papyrus; his courtesy,--“He is -always and everywhere a gentleman;” his honesty,--“Who ever heard -Hugh Maxwell’s word questioned in the smallest particular?”--his -qualifications for office from a business point of view,--“The man -who has built up, from nothing, a good business of his own, has some -qualities needed in the public service;” his popularity,--“He has the -good will alike of the employer and the workingman.” - -Experience had taught Wycliff the folly of exaggeration, and his -nomination of Hugh Maxwell for Selectman was recognized by readers of -the _Star_ as a correct description of the man, and not overdrawn. - -Wycliff’s home duties were interrupted in the evening by another -aspirant for political honors--Herman Schuyler, an extensive farmer, -and also a dealer in a variety of goods. In one respect Schuyler was -the only honest man of means in Papyrus. He had broken all known -records by appearing at the office of the assessors of Papyrus, and -demanding that ten thousand dollars be added to his assessed valuation. - -“I am worth fifty thousand dollars,” he had said to the Assessors. -“My property will sell for that, to-day. I am not so mean as to be -unwilling to pay a tax on every dollar God has given me.” - -Herman Schuyler was the most liberal employer in the town of Papyrus. -It was not unusual for him to pay a higher wage to a workman than had -been agreed upon, if the workman earned it. But he was accustomed to -giving orders, and having them obeyed promptly. He wanted a -service from Wycliff, and he called for it very much as he would have -ordered a roast or steak at the butcher’s. - -“I want to run for Assessor. I want you to write a letter to the _Star_ -in my favor. I want you to write it, because there is nobody, not even -Congressman Baldwin himself, who can put words together as you can. -Understand, now, I am not asking you to vote for me. A man has got -pretty low down, in my own opinion, when he will ask another man to -vote for him. I want my name placed before the voters in the columns of -the _Star_, and I ask you to do it, very much as I would ask a lawyer -to make out a mortgage or a deed for me.” - -The speaker was a heavy, square-built man, clad to-night, as he usually -was at this season, in a bearskin coat, which he did not remove. When -he made a point, in speaking, the square jaws closed like a trap, and -he brought a muscular fist down heavily upon the arm of the rocker in -which he was seated. - -“Well, Mr. Schuyler,” Wycliff replied at length, “I will do my best for -you, and it will be a congenial task. Everything that I know of you is -in your favor; but I fear that your very honesty will be used against -you. Our leading citizens do not want a thoroughly honest man in the -office of Assessor. They want the property of the town assessed at only -a fraction of its true value, so that the town will not have to bear -its just share of state and county taxes. It is strange that men who -are leaders in the church and in society, will argue the longest for a -dishonest valuation.” - -“If I am elected Assessor,” exclaimed Schuyler, and he brought his fist -down upon the rocker-arm so that everything about him shook, “I shall -be true to my oath. It is strange, as you say, that Christian men will -defend the violation of an oath. Every assessor swears that he will -‘neither overvalue nor undervalue’ property for taxation.” - -Then Schuyler presented to Wycliff certain facts which he wished -embodied in the letter:--How he came to Papyrus forty years before, -with only a dollar in his pocket, and had built up his present fine -property by industry and fair dealing. - -“I tell you what,” he said, as his hearer excused himself to perform -some service for the sick ones, “You write the letter to-morrow, when -you have leisure. I’ll drive over in the evening and get it. By the -way, how’s your coal-bin?” - -“Pretty low,” replied Wycliff. - -“Very well,” said Schuyler, “I’ll send a ton to-morrow and a receipt by -the driver. Good night.” - -And out into the night went this last candidate for political honors. - -“A pretty good day financially, my dears,” said Wycliff, as he kissed -his wife and son, and made everything secure for the night. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -“John, do you know where Pulpit Rock is?” - -“Indeed I do. It’s two or three miles into the Wilderness.” - -“How near can you drive to it?” - -“Perhaps within a quarter of a mile. - -“There’s an old wood-road, which perhaps runs as near as that to Pulpit -Rock. - -“The road is very rough, gullied out by water. There might be some -danger of breaking a carriage in it.” - -“Never mind. I’ll run the risk. Be ready in fifteen minutes.” - -It was black-eyed Eva Baldwin who gave the order, and within an hour -they had left the public highway, and were following the ancient and -unused wood-road through the Wilderness. The wheel of the buckboard -bounded high over stones that blocked the way, and then dropped as -suddenly into deep holes worn by the freshets. The riders often dodged -or bent low to avoid being brushed from their seats by branches of -trees. It was very far from being a pleasant ride, but never a word of -complaint from the lady. - -She was anxious to secure the earliest blossoms of the fragrant -trailing arbutus, to grace the pulpit on the morrow. - -She might send some rare and costly flowers from the greenhouse, but -every one of the Baldwin greenhouses would contribute to the decoration -of the church, and she, being fond of wild flowers and of nature at -first hand, wished to bring something direct from the Wilderness. - -Eva Baldwin was a sister of David and Zechariah Baldwin, and was worth -a couple of millions easily, but she never realized how poor she was -until the eloquent young clergyman, the Reverend Ralph Cutter, came to -preach at the First Church. - -“Many a poor girl,” she said to an intimate friend, “is richer than I -am, in the love of a good honest man.” - -If the Reverend Ralph Cutter had made any advances in her direction, -he would have been met, frankly and honestly, by a good true woman. -She admired the new preacher the moment she first saw him, and that -admiration grew with every service of his which she attended, and with -every opportunity for becoming acquainted with him. - -The coachman noticed the fire in the black eyes, as she alighted. - -“You see that path?” he asked. “It leads through a hemlock grove, over -a flint ledge, and into a little valley beyond. Pulpit Rock is across -the valley from the ledge. The earliest arbutus is found across the -valley, on the slope below Pulpit Rock, among scattered bushes. Shall I -help you?” - -“Oh, no; I’ll find it easily,” she replied, and taking the basket which -the coachman handed her, she followed the path, humming a favorite -song, and was soon out of sight in the hemlocks. - -On that same Saturday morning the Reverend Ralph Cutter entered the -Wilderness from the opposite direction. Perhaps none of those who -listened to the impassioned and earnest appeals of the young minister, -knew that he helped to keep both his spiritual life and his oratorical -powers at white heat by this weekly journey to the Wilderness, where he -spent an hour in secret prayer and in speaking to the rocks and trees -from the text he was to use on the morrow. - -Leaving the public road, he made his way through the Wilderness, along -a path not very well marked, through somber groves of pine and hemlock, -through other groves of red oak, rock-maple and beech, across brooks, -among large flint boulders, and through tracts where the wood had been -cut off, and the thorny blackberry canes had taken its place. Part of -the way the snow still covered the ground, and part of the way the -floor of the Wilderness was carpeted with the blooms of the hepatica, -or liverwort, with here and there an early blossom of the trailing -arbutus. - -He made the same journey each Saturday, that he might be alone for -secret prayer, where he expected no interruption and also where he -might, in the freedom of the Wilderness, give the morrow’s sermon. I -do not mean that he would use the same words on Sunday that he hurled -at the white birch trees and flint boulders on Saturday. But the ideas -would be the same. He never used any written sermon. - -One of his deacons once said of him:--“He seems to have everything -connected with his subject so completely under his control, that he has -only to reach out and grasp the idea that comes next, and hurl it at -you with the force and speed of a thunderbolt. We used to have sleepy -hearers. I have seen no one nodding under Ralph Cutter’s preaching. We -used to have complaints from people who were hard of hearing. Ralph -Cutter seems to think it is a part of his business to make the people -hear.” - -How much of Ralph Cutter’s power on Sunday was due to his hour of -prayer in the Wilderness, and to his Saturday sermon to the crags and -bushes from Pulpit Rock, I cannot tell. - -He was heavy-hearted to-day, and the first words which were echoed -back to him by the flint ledge across the valley were these:-- - -“This is my farewell to you. There are people in this church who -attempt to dictate what I shall say from this pulpit. Not only do they -attempt to dictate what I shall say here, but they attempt to dictate -my actions outside. They tell me that I must not exercise the right, -belonging to every citizen, of expressing my opinions in private or -public, on questions of public policy. - -“There is no person on this earth rich enough, or powerful enough, to -dictate what I shall say, or what I shall not say, as a preacher of the -gospel. You may have this pulpit, and you may secure, to fill it, some -one who will be your slave; but I will wear no other bonds than those -of the Master, whether in the pulpit or out, and no man, even though he -be a thousand times a millionaire, will shape my words or actions, as a -minister of the gospel, or as a private citizen.” - -There was much in Ralph Cutter’s mind that did not find expression -in words. He had been disgusted with the First Church in Papyrus, or -rather with its bosses, before he had been with it a fortnight. Only -the magical charm of a pair of black eyes, and the lovable personality -behind them, had made life in the Paper Town endurable to him. Recently -Zechariah Baldwin had given the young preacher plain notice that if he -continued to occupy the pulpit of the First Church, he must cut out -some of his pet hobbies from future sermons. He must cease to meddle -with the relations between labor and capital, both in the pulpit and -out--and, in short, he must omit everything which could possibly offend -the Honorable Zechariah. This dictation the young preacher positively -refused to submit to. - -He tried to imagine the changed attitude of the people toward him at -the close of to-morrow’s sermon. There would be faces averted from him -which had always before been friendly. There would be hands withheld -which had always before sought his in friendly greeting. - -There was one peculiarly sharp thorn in this thorny affair. How he -wished that those searching black eyes did not belong to a member of -the “Royal Family”, as the Baldwin family was sometimes called. - -Nature was not disturbed by his eloquence. A hawk sailed with unmoved -wings, in mighty circles, high above him. The noisy blue jays were -mobbing an owl in the oak grove close by. The blossoms of the trailing -arbutus were as lavish of their fragrance as if no one in the world -were troubled, or perplexed, or in love. - -All unconscious that any human being was within hearing, the preacher -continued:-- - -“When I first came to Papyrus I delivered a sermon against the -disfranchisement of negroes at the South. After the service a -workingman asked me why I did not ask a full and free ballot for -the white paper-maker of Massachusetts, as well as for the negro -cotton-planter of Mississippi? I was much surprised when the workman -told me that mill-hands in Papyrus, who are legal voters, do not have a -full vote in town-government, and cannot secure it. - -“I have since investigated actual conditions here, and find that the -Papyrus mill-hand, even if he owns his home, cannot vote appropriations -for schools, highways, street-lights, sewers, and other public -improvements for which he is taxed. The mill-hand, it is claimed, -is given two hours in which to attend town-meeting. That period of -two hours always includes the dinner-hour. The trip to and from the -town-hall, in some cases, takes nearly the whole of the two hours. - -“TWO HOURS for the rightful monarch of Papyrus to say how the town -shall be governed! A two-hour limit to prevent the real creator of all -your wealth from saying how that wealth shall be taxed! TWO HOURS limit -for a free citizen of the grand old Commonwealth of Massachusetts -on Town-Meeting-Day--the day that taught New England to be free! In -reality, not two hours, not one hour. Barely time for the rightful -monarch to mark a ballot for town-officers and return to the mill, -while the usurper remains and dictates what sums shall be spent by the -town for schools, highways and other needs. - -“I have consulted one of the best lawyers in the state. He says: ‘The -Commonwealth of Massachusetts does not guarantee to its mill-hands, -who may be legal voters, the right to vote in town-affairs. The paltry -two-hour provision only makes a farce of free government in mill-towns. -It does not apply to town-meetings. In some towns the workman’s full -rights are secured by shutting down the mills on town-meeting day, -and in others by holding the business meeting, for appropriations, -in the evening. But where the town authorities and the employers, as -in Papyrus, are both opposed to allowing the mill-hands to vote on -appropriations, they have no legal remedy. The political leaders, or -bosses, of the State have been asked to correct the law, but they say -the matter is of no importance,--as if anything could possibly be more -important than the principle of equal rights, upon which our nation is -founded.’” - -“And this,” shouted the speaker in the Wilderness, “this is the -boasted equal rights of Massachusetts. I do not wonder that you, -manufacturers of Papyrus, are ashamed,--so ashamed that you have -forbidden me to mention this subject in the pulpit,--so ashamed that -you have muzzled every newspaper within fifty miles, even the usually -independent Springdale _Democrat_. You ought to be ashamed. The State -of Massachusetts, which disfranchises its own workmen, while demanding -political equality for the Southern negro, ought to be ashamed.” - -Soon after Miss Baldwin left the coachman heard a voice, and fearful -for her safety, hurried to the ledge, where he saw and heard the -speaker. He did not stay long, but long enough to learn that it was -the minister’s farewell, and a very unusual discourse. - -“My last word to you,” rang out the powerful voice across the valley, -“shall be in favor of a pure church. Ask on the street, for the worst -libertines and adulterers in town, the wreckers of happy homes, the men -whose social life is a stench,--and members of this church, protected -by their wealth, will be pointed out to you. Search for the employers -most unjust to their workmen, and you will find them sheltered by this -church. My parting advice is, to purify your church,--to drive out -of it the thieves and adulterers, or to cease calling it a church of -Christ.” - -The lady returned with a basket of arbutus, but there was no song on -her lips, and the fire had burned out of the black eyes. - -“John,” she said, “drive me to the home of the Widow Fordyce. She is -sick and may be glad of these flowers.” - -To an acquaintance, that evening, the coachman said:--“If you want to -hear Reverend Ralph Cutter’s farewell and the greatest sermon ever -preached in Papyrus, go to the First Church to-morrow.” - -The news spread rapidly, and Ralph Cutter was surprised when he met a -congregation for which the building could not furnish standing-room. -But even those in the street heard him. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -Conditions improved steadily with the Wycliffs. Mrs. Wycliff and Robert -were both gaining slowly, but surely. From various sources, some of -them unexpected, came sufficient income to pay all bills promptly when -due. Wycliff had dabbled in literature since boyhood, and his income -from this source, though small, was helpful. - -While he was still at home, helping about the house, and frequently -consulted by Hugh Maxwell, and by those whose political fortunes were -linked with his, a stranger called. He was a keen-looking man, who -wasted no time in ceremony. - -“John Wycliff, I believe?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“I am Wilfrid Terry, of the Elmfield _Star_. We are not satisfied with -our sales in Papyrus. We sell only a thousand papers here, whereas -we ought to sell fifteen hundred. We are told that you have had -experience in newspaper work, and a gentleman who is acquainted with -your former work, thinks you could bring our sales in Papyrus up to -what they ought to be.” - -“I don’t believe that I could work for you.” - -“Indeed, and why not?” - -“As I have learned it, good journalism is no respecter of persons. I -could not, or rather I would not, work under your system, which tells -the truth about the poor man, but conceals the truth about the rich -man.” - -“I don’t understand you.” - -“I can tell you in a way that you will understand,” replied Wycliff -sharply: “When Rudolph Hartland, a small contractor, had trouble with -his workmen, and a dozen of them went on a strike, you devoted columns -of valuable space to the occurrence; but when hundreds of employees in -the Liberty Mill of the Baldwin Paper Company, struck against a cut in -wages, your paper never mentioned it. Here was an important event, in -which the public had a vital interest, but you would not allow any -reference to it in the paper. You have never allowed the facts to be -presented in your publication regarding the partial disfranchisement -of workingmen in Papyrus, by which all mill-hands are prevented from -having any voice in town-government, except to vote for town-officers, -being shut out from voting for appropriations. Only a short time ago -you refused to publish Reverend Ralph Cutter’s farewell sermon, the -most notable sermon, perhaps, ever preached in Papyrus. Why have you -refused publicity to these things, which the people want to know, and -which the people are entitled to know? Simply because you are afraid -of offending the Baldwins. You ought to wear a brass collar, with your -owner’s name on it.” - -John Wycliff’s voice and features were not expressive. He could never -have been an actor. But he was getting waked up, and a little light -was creeping into his one lonesome, dull gray eye. Such expression as -there was in his features was of loathing and contempt. He looked as -if he would have been glad to take up his visitor with a pair of tongs, -deposit him gently in some out-of-the-way place, and cover him up so -that he would not offend the senses of decent people. - -“I didn’t come here to listen to abuse of this kind,” exclaimed Terry -angrily. - -“Never mind what you came here for,” retorted Wycliff. “If you stay -around me you will hear a grain of truth occasionally. There may be -something to be said for a man like Deacon Surface, who serves the -devil for a fat salary, but you serve him for nothing. The Baldwins -despise you, as such men always despise their slaves, and the public -despises you, too. And what do you get out of it? You complain that you -are selling only one thousand papers in Papyrus. Why not give the facts -that the people are entitled to know, and sell fifteen hundred?” - -Terry was angry, but the money was what he was after, and possibly -Wycliff was right, after all, in what he said. - -“Let’s talk business,” he said. “Come out to Lawyer Sturgis’ office -to-morrow, and we’ll sign an agreement. If you can bring our -circulation in Papyrus up to fifteen hundred copies, you shall have -fifteen hundred dollars a year, and one year’s salary guaranteed. You -shall handle the Papyrus news and comment upon it as you see fit, so -long as you do not render the publisher of the paper liable to an -action at law. If we differ on this point, Lawyer Sturgis’ decision -shall be final.” - -“It’s a bargain,” said Wycliff, and his caller departed. - -The details were arranged, and contract signed, the next day. A few -evenings later Wycliff was sitting in what he humorously called his -“office.” It contained a few books, mostly for reference, a convenient -desk, a small safe, a stuffed cougar, or mountain lion, from the -Rockies, and a mounted moosehead from Maine--all of these things being -reminders of more prosperous times. Frowning upon all, and seemingly -out of place, was a good likeness of Congressman Baldwin, of whom -Wycliff had been a great admirer. - -Answering a timid knock, Wycliff found a fellow-laborer at the door, -a weak-minded French Canadian, a mere boy, who went by the name of -“Half-witted Joe.” - -“How do you do, Joe?” he asked when his old comrade was seated. - -“Mad.” - -“What is the trouble?” - -“Mr. Sharp no pay me. He say me no worth ten dollars.” - -“Did he pay you anything?” - -“Yes, five dollars for clothes.” - -“You worked one month?” - -“Yes, he promise me ten dollars and board.” - -“I heard him.” - -“Me get up early; me work late--eight o’clock, sometimes. Me work hard. -Mr. Sharp say me no earn only five dollars. Damn.” - -“What will you do?” - -“Me go home, Canada.” - -“Have you money enough to take you home?” - -“No. Me sell watch, five dollar.” - -He exhibited a watch, for which Wycliff thought he could safely pay -that amount, and he handed Joe the money. - -“Thank,” said Joe, as he stepped over the threshold, “Me fix old Sharp.” - -“Don’t hurt Mr. Sharp,” Wycliff cautioned him. “Mr. Sharp has a good -wife, and good children. Besides, you would go to prison.” - -The tone of his visitor changed. He seemed to realize that he had -blundered in making the threat. - -“Me no hurt Mr. Sharp,” he finally promised, and then he went out into -the darkness. - -“Don’t lose your money,” was Wycliff’s parting advice. - -When he was out in the night again, Joe’s anger kindled anew, as he -remembered the farm-superintendent’s injustice. Although Wycliff’s -warning prevented him from doing Sharp bodily harm, he was still bent -on revenge. Revenge was still the uppermost idea in Half-Witted Joe’s -unbalanced mind, as he approached Beauna Vista, and the dark night had -its strong influence upon his thought and purpose. - -He glanced in at the farm-house windows. The family and the farm-hands -were busy reading. Mr. Sharp, he knew, had gone to a public meeting. -The coast was clear. He stole around to the side of the barn farthest -from the house. He went through an unused stable, to where the lower -part of a great mow of hay was exposed. - -There was the flash of a match, the sudden darting upward of the flames -on the edge of the hay-mow, and then Joe hurried out through the yard, -across the meadow, and reaching the railroad track, followed it to the -edge of a piece of woods. - -Here he halted, cowering in some bushes, and looked. He saw the light -gleam from the big barn-doors, saw the flames break through the roof, -saw the inmates of the house rush out, and heard the alarm sounded -from farm-house to farm-house. Soon a neighboring farmer rushed past -Joe, on his way to the fire, and as the flames now lit up the landscape -all around, Joe realized that he might be discovered, and passed on. -But while he looked, he feasted his eyes as greedily as a former savage -might have done, on the destruction of a pioneer home. - -“Me fix you, Jake Sharp,” he said, in a whisper, as he shook his fist -in farewell at Beauna Vista. He did not realize that the loss fell upon -others, and not upon Sharp. An hour later he was aboard a train on his -way to Canada. - -The farm-building which is fired is usually doomed. It could not be -otherwise on this occasion, when the flames had their start in a -forty-ton mow of hay, dry as tinder. - -The farm-laborers first saved the horses. Their next move was -such as might have been expected from excited men, unused to such -emergencies--they began dragging out the vehicles, until Mrs. Sharp, -with more forethought than the men, exclaimed: “The cows! the cows -next!” - -“But we cannot get at the door of the cow-stable,” the laborers -protested. - -“Take crowbars and break in the side of the barn!” she ordered, and -under a woman’s direction the work of rescue went on. - -The fire-department of Papyrus responded tardily, owing to distance, -and could do but little, except to protect the farm-house. Finally, as -the glowing pageant lit up the landscape for miles in every direction, -half the men of Papyrus were on the scene, but could do nothing -except listen to the crackle of burning timbers, and the bellowing of -imprisoned and roasting cattle. - -John Wycliff knew very well that the Baldwins would not wish the -story of the relations of Jacob Sharp and Half-Witted Joe published, -but he considered that the public was entitled to know it. The story -of the poor Canadian boy, and his treatment by Jacob Sharp, was told -in the _Star_ as graphically as the story of the fire itself. In -his narrative Wycliff made a clear distinction between known facts -regarding the fire, and mere suspicions or rumors. - -The _Tribune_, the _Star’s_ Elmfield rival, the property of Congressman -Baldwin, made this announcement:-- - -“Not a clue is obtainable regarding the origin of the fire. Mr. Sharp, -the foreman of Beauna Vista, is a man who always keeps the good will -of his employees, so that not a shadow of suspicion can lie in that -direction.” - -This way of dealing with news was entirely in harmony with the usual -policy of the Baldwins, where their own interests were involved. -There were several persons who were angry at the course taken by the -_Star_. The Baldwins were angry, partly because they regarded it as an -intrusion upon their private affairs and partly because the fire-story -had dealt Sharp a hard blow in his fight for the office of Selectman. - -As for Sharp, he threatened various things, but his own attorney told -him to “pocket his wrath and say nothing,” as he could not maintain an -action against the _Star_. - -Terry was happy, as the sales of the _Star_, in Papyrus, had been -lifted between two and three hundred, and the increase promised to -prove permanent. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -“How are you and the lad, this morning, Mrs. Wycliff?” asked that good -neighbor, Mrs. Clyde. - -“Getting along nicely, thank you, and very glad to see you,” replied -Mrs. Wycliff. “But how does it happen that you are not working to-day?” - -“The strike. Haven’t you heard of the rag-cutters’ strike? Three -hundred rag-cutters walked out of the Baldwin Mills an hour ago.” - -“I didn’t know that the Baldwins ever had a strike in their mills.” - -“They don’t often have one, and when they do, the world at large does -not know about it, they have such a strong grip on the newspapers about -here. My son, Tom, works on the Springdale _Democrat_, and he has told -me a lot about these things. Springdale is about fifty miles from here, -and the _Democrat_ pretends to be an independent newspaper, and yet it -never prints any news from Papyrus which can possibly hurt Congressman -Baldwin. Some years ago, Tom began work as correspondent here for the -_Democrat_, and there was a big strike here, in the Liberty Mill, which -belongs to the Baldwin Paper Company. Tom didn’t know any better then, -and he sent them a long article about the strike. Not a word of it was -printed, and the editor wrote Tom that they never printed any news of -that kind about the Baldwins. Then the other Springdale paper, the -_Universe_, is owned by Congressman Baldwin; so, of course, that does -not print a word regarding troubles in the Baldwin Mills.” - -“But what was the cause of the strike to-day?” inquired Mrs. Wycliff. - -“There were a good many things that had something to do with it,” -replied the neighbor, “but fines were the worst.” - -“Fines! Do you have to pay fines?” asked Mrs. Wycliff. - -“Yes, in this way. Perhaps you do not understand how fast we have to -work to earn what we get. We earn about one dollar per day, and to do -this we must cut in the neighborhood of one hundred and twenty-five -pounds of rags. Now, in cutting these rags, if we overlook a button, or -a bit of rubber, we are fined a pound of rags.” - -“That is, if you put in a piece of cloth having a button on it, no -matter how small, you must cut an extra pound of rags, to punish you -for overlooking that button. Am I right?” - -“Yes, you have it exactly right, and it’s just the same if I put in a -piece of cloth which has a bit of rubber in it. And here, see here is -a bit of cloth that came back to me this morning,--just this little -bit of a letter, sewed into the cloth.” And she showed Mrs. Wycliff a -bit of white cloth, on which was a small initial, such as is used in -marking garments. - -“There are hundreds of pieces and consequently hundreds of motions we -must make in cutting one pound of rags, for which we receive less than -a cent. Working so rapidly as we are obliged to do, to accomplish -our day’s task, is it any wonder that a piece of cloth, containing a -button, or a bit of rubber, slips through our fingers unnoticed now and -then?” - -“And this is what the strike is about?” - -“Yes, this is the main thing. We are willing to pay something of a fine -for failure to notice rubber and buttons, but we think that the fine is -now too heavy. There are some other things we don’t like--some brutal -bosses, not fit to drive oxen, let alone women. Our scythes are often -poorly ground. The Baldwins seem to think anything is good enough for -a woman to cut one hundred and twenty-five pounds of rags a day on. -Sometimes it is very dark for our work.” - -“Is no light furnished at such times?” - -“Never. The office force, or other departments of the mill, may have -lights at noon of a cloudy day, but we are of no account. It is often -too warm in our room. We don’t need much heat because we have plenty of -exercise. We must be kept too warm on account of the ‘lookers over,’ -who don’t have much exercise, except when they jump up on the tables, -to get away from a mouse.” - -“Couldn’t the ‘lookers over’ have a separate room, which could be -kept warm enough for them, so that your room could be cooler and more -comfortable for you?” - -“I don’t know. If the matter of fines is made right, we will say -nothing about the rest. When we make complaints, we are usually told -that the Baldwins could get machines to cut rags, cheaper than we cut -them, and that they only hire us out of charity.” - -“I am surprised at the way the rag-cutters are treated,” said Mrs. -Wycliff; “I have always heard that the Baldwins were very generous.” - -“They are generous,” replied her visitor, “but they are not just. There -is an old saying, ‘Be just before you are generous,’ which, if lived -up to in Papyrus, would make a wonderful difference in favor of the -working class. How have the Baldwins made their millions? Of course -the whole world knows that they make a very high grade of paper. It -is said that this is due, in some measure, to the pure water found in -Papyrus, which is the gift of God. Then, too, it is claimed that Mack -Baldwin laid the foundation of the Baldwin millions by manipulations -in Wall Street, during the Civil War. But some of those millions are -the fruit of low wages. If the Baldwins pay twenty-five cents a day -less than a fair wage, to two thousand hands, three hundred days in a -year, what is the result? It’s a yearly saving of one hundred and fifty -thousand dollars, of money due the laborer, is it not? Then, perhaps, -the Baldwins may spend fifteen thousand dollars a year in pensions to -a very few, and in charity to the working class. Nothing can exceed -the cleverness of the Baldwins, in making one dollar in charity, look -bigger to the laborer, than ten dollars in wages withheld. I think -the time is coming when the law will require the accounts of all such -concerns as the Baldwin Paper Company, to be as open as town accounts, -and then the lion’s share of profits will go to the laborer. But I -guess you have had all the rag-room and paper-mill you want for one -day.” - -“No, I have been very much interested, and I wish you women might get -justice,” replied Mrs. Wycliff. “I think there cannot be any harder -or more disagreeable work in the mill than yours, and I wish that you -might have better pay and kinder treatment. The Baldwins are well able -to pay. I hear that this new library that Zechariah Baldwin is giving -to the city of Elmfield will cost a half a million dollars.” - -“Yes, I try to restrain my anger, as a Christian woman should,” said -Mrs. Clyde, “but my blood boils every time I see that building. We -poor women must slave in Zack Baldwin’s rag-room, and the money which -ought to go to the mill-help, in higher wages, is given, with a great -flourish of trumpets, to the city of Elmfield, which is already rich -enough. As to our work. If we try to work a bit faster than usual, -we are liable to get cut on the scythes, and there’s many a terrible -gash been got in the rag-room. Then how often do you hear of contagious -diseases spread by the rags of a paper-mill. - -“The worst slap the Baldwins ever got was from a wealthy Southern lady, -who visited their mills last summer. She said to Zack Baldwin:--‘The -slaves on my father’s plantation in Georgia, were treated with more -consideration, and were more contented and happy at their work than -your rag-cutters. But the slave-holding system was wrong, and it fell. -I think also, the system under which you Northern millionaires eat the -apple, and give your employees the core, is wrong and will fall, too,’ -But I have stayed too long.” And Mrs. Clyde vanished. - -John Wycliff sat in his den, within easy ear-shot, and the pith of the -women’s talk was woven into his account of the strike, for the _Star_. - -More than two thousand copies of the _Star_ were sold that day in -Papyrus, and its circulation was raised permanently to a point near -those figures. - -The Honorable Zechariah Baldwin was furious when he read the _Star’s_ -account of the strike. Never before had a local newspaper dared to -print the news of a Baldwin strike, much less to hold those “captains -of industry” up to public criticism, as it had done to-day. - -But Terry was happy. He had sold extra thousands of his paper, the -largest edition ever sold of a Berkshire newspaper, and scores of -citizens, in all walks of life, had congratulated him on his bravery in -defying the Baldwins. - -The most important result of the _Star’s_ article was that it was -copied, more or less fully, by other papers throughout the country, -owing to Congressman Baldwin’s prominence as a public man. A strike -in his mills is not a good asset for a Congressman, and David Baldwin -telegraphed his brother, from Washington, to grant the rag-cutters’ -demands immediately. Zechariah Baldwin reluctantly complied with the -order sent by wire. - -The Honorable Zechariah Baldwin appeared, a very angry man, at the -office of the _Star_. - -“I want you to discharge that Wycliff,” was his first greeting to Mr. -Terry, the proprietor. - -“How long have you owned this office, that you assume to run my -business?” rejoined Mr. Terry. - -“But you know that we’re not used to being treated as the _Star_ -treated us yesterday,” protested the paper-manufacturer. - -“Then the best thing that you can do is to get used to it,” retorted -the publisher, who was now beginning to get angry on his own account. -“You’ve been treated as if you were superior beings, but you are no -better than other people. I have been suppressing the truth about you -millionaires for years, and losing thousands of dollars by doing so. -I might have sold thousands of copies of the _Star_, in Papyrus and -throughout the county, had I not truckled to you Baldwins, like a dog, -instead of being a man. Hereafter the truth is to be published about -you, just the same as about other folks, and Wycliff is under contract -to do it for a year. He is recommended as being entirely competent to -deal with such cases as yours. Perhaps I shall go out and tell you how -to run your mills. There’s the door, Zack Baldwin,” and the proprietor -of the _Star_, now thoroughly angry, motioned the millionaire out. - -But the lord of Papyrus, although more surprised than he had been -before in years, was not to be thus easily thwarted. - -“What will you take for your newspaper--for the entire plant?” he -asked, in a more conciliatory tone. - -“Twenty-five thousand dollars,” replied the publisher, immediately, -naming a price so far beyond its true value that he felt sure it would -be declined. - -“A pretty steep price, isn’t it?” asked Baldwin. - -“Who asked you to buy?” retorted Terry. - -“Come over to Lawyer Stimson’s and draw the writings,” said the -paper-manufacturer, withdrawing. - -Next day John Wycliff received this note:-- - - “MY DEAR WYCLIFF: - - “You’re a jewel. I’ve sold the _Star_ to Zack Baldwin for $25,000. - (It’s actual value is around $15,000.) I didn’t even sign the usual - agreement, not to engage in the same business again in the same city. - - “Enclosed you will find check for $1,500, according to agreement by - which I guaranteed you one year’s salary. - - “When I first met you, I thought you were a discourteous crank, - but my finances and my self-respect were both badly in need of the - rebuke which you gave me. Your way of dealing with such cattle as the - Baldwins beats mine out of sight.” - - “Yours always, - WILFRID TERRY.” - - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -“Where are you going, pop?” asked Robert, as Mr. Wycliff drove into the -yard, with a horse and carriage, one fine morning. - -“Going to take you and ma for a little ride into God’s country,” -replied the father. - -“But I thought everywhere was God’s country,” replied the little fellow -in surprise. - -“Surely,” replied the father. “All this beautiful world is the Lord’s, -but He seems to have given the greater part of the land about here to -the Baldwins, or perhaps it would be more nearly correct to say that -He has allowed them to grab it. I expect to take you to-day to see a -place, which seems to me to be more especially God’s country, because -He has not allowed one man, or one family, to get possession of all of -it.” - -“And you think it is a better country?” - -“Indeed I do, in some respects.” - -After passing out of the paper-manufacturing village of Papyrus, -eastward, they came to a big, deserted, wooden mill, with many -tumble-down houses near it. - -“Say, pop, what village is this?” - -“Sodom.” - -“And what is that old stone mill beyond?” - -“That is Gomorrah.” - -“Quite a place for Bible names,” broke in Mrs. Wycliff. “Those ruins of -another old stone mill, also broken down and deserted, I suppose are -Babylon?” - -“Exactly so, my dear, and farther up stream we shall pass Tyre and -Sidon, also broken down and deserted. This entire river-valley along -here is often called the Valley of Desolation.” - -“Who owns it?” asked Mrs. Wycliff. - -“The Baldwins, who bought it, for a very little, from the Quiet Valley -Woolen Company.” - -“Why don’t the Baldwins build paper-mills here?” - -“I cannot tell you. It has always seemed to be the Baldwin policy -to build up the other end of the town, at the expense of this end. -Certainly the Baldwins have played the part of the ‘dog in the -manger,’ in regard to East Papyrus. They will neither build mills here -themselves, nor will they sell the property so that anyone else can -build here. The Wessons, who own the paper-mills at Papyrus Center, -would have built mills here, giving employment to a large number of -people, if they could have secured the property. The Baldwins have -already made plans for robbing East Papyrus of her water-power, which -is all that this end of the town has left.” - -“But how can they do that?” - -“Very easily. The water-power can be transformed into electricity, -and then the electricity can be transferred by wire, to the Baldwin -Mills, at the west end of the town. The plans are already made. It will -increase the dividends of the Baldwin Mills, which already pay enormous -profits, but it makes the prospect for rebuilding East Papyrus much -blacker than before.” - -“But wouldn’t it be better for the town of Papyrus to have all its -mills rebuilt and running at a fair profit, than to have a part of them -running at an immense profit?” protested Mrs. Wycliff. - -“Certainly; it is not the good of the town, but the enrichment of the -Baldwins, which is to be considered. These shrewd financiers rarely -spend a dollar, unless they feel sure that it will come back, leading -several other dollars with it.” - -“But they gave that beautiful big building to the town, pop,” put in -Robbie. - -“Yes. It cost the Baldwins one hundred thousand dollars, and it has -cost the town twice that.” - -“How is that, pop?” - -“In taxes lost. The Assessors say:--‘we must tax the Baldwins lightly, -because they are so generous to the town.’ Some of the Baldwin -properties are not assessed for more than one-third value, an enormous -loss to the town in taxes.” - -Soon they left the valley, and began to climb the mountain, still going -eastward. - -“Wild flowers, pop. Please hold up, and let me get some.” The boy -soon returned to the carriage, with his hands full of the blossoms -of the coltsfoot, white, blue, and yellow violets, bell-flowers, and -wake-robins. As they ascended the mountains, they found the trailing -arbutus and the spring-beauty, which had bloomed earlier in the valleys. - -A beautiful farm was reached. - -“Who owns this?” asked Mrs. Wycliff. - -“Thomas Bothan. He has retired from business, and spends some of his -time here. I hope I may find him.” Then, for the first time, he told -his wife of the last day at Beauna Vista,--how Sharp and Bothan had -conspired to keep back a part of his wages on Bothan’s old debt. He had -not dared to tell her at the time. - -He soon found Mr. Bothan. - -“I want a receipt in full,” he said, as he produced the money due -Bothan, and then, taking leave of him, he added:--“The last debt I owe -will be paid to-day, and I have paid every debt as fast as I was able -to do so. You would have received yours just as promptly, had you not -tried to take the bread away from my family to get it.” - -For a distance their route lay through a grand old forest of large -trees. The boy was jubilant as he saw, first a striped squirrel, then a -red one, then a gray, and then:-- - -“Oh, look quick, pop; what was that? It looked like a squirrel, but it -flew, or rather it sailed, from one tree to another.” - -“A flying squirrel.” - -“And there’s a rabbit. Oh, now I begin to see why you call this God’s -country.” - -About noon they reached their destination, the farm of Phillips Porter, -in Sprucemont, where they were expected, and where a substantial meal -was awaiting them. - -“You have been very patient with me,” said Wycliff, as he paid Porter -about one hundred dollars, the last debt he owed. Mr. Porter told again -to-day, (and he seemed to enjoy telling it,) the story of how he came -to leave Papyrus. - -“It was many years ago, and Mack Baldwin, father of the present -generation of paper-makers, was in control, although Zechariah and -David were young men then, just learning the business. The Baldwins -were not then so completely in control of the town of Papyrus as they -are now. Captain Bolton Wesson, who built the paper-mills at Papyrus -Center, was a broader and better man than Mack Baldwin, and the two -were often opposed to one another in town-affairs. - -“Captain Wesson wanted the town-hall located at the Center, the natural -and proper place for it, but Mack Baldwin demanded that it be built at -the West End, the part of the town which he owned. At the approaching -town-meeting, every employee of Mack Baldwin was warned to vote for -locating the hall at the West End. At the town-meeting Baldwin had -spotters to take the names of any of his employees who voted against -him. I was working in his mill then, but I voted for building the hall -at the Center. Next morning I was called into the mill-office, where -I met Mack Baldwin and his sons, Zechariah and David. David is the -present Congressman. - -“Mack Baldwin handed me my pay, at the same time calling me a vile -name. Now, in those days I had never met a man who could handle me,--” - -“They are not plenty, even now,” said Wycliff, interrupting him. - -“Perhaps not; but in those days I looked at such things in a different -light from what I do now. Since then I have learned the gospel of -forbearance, and to-day I almost despise mere brute force; but in those -days I did not allow anyone to call me a vile name, and Mack Baldwin -had scarcely spoken the word when he lay on the floor at my feet. The -two sons interfered, but they followed their father in double-quick -time. I had the three wolves in a heap, in their own den, in much less -time than I am telling you of it. Then the book-keepers interfered and -followed their employer.” - -“But I was terribly frightened when I heard of it,” said his wife. “I -thought Phillips would have to go to jail. We were only engaged then.” - -“Of course I was arrested,” continued Mr. Porter, “and taken before the -district court at Elmfield. Judge Tuttle, who presided over that court, -had been a colonel in the Union army, and lost a leg at Gettysburg. -He despised Mack Baldwin, who made a million out of the government’s -distress, by gambling in stocks in Wall Street. The Judge listened -patiently while all the evidence was given, although there seemed to -me to be a far-away look in his eyes, as if he were thinking of the -days when he and Captain Wesson were fighting for the Union, while Mack -Baldwin was making a fortune out of the war at home. - -“‘Mack Baldwin,’ said the Judge, ‘you discharged the accused because -he did not vote as you ordered him to, did you not?’ Baldwin could -not deny it. ‘And you called him a vile name, to boot?’ continued the -Judge. Baldwin admitted it. - -“‘Discharged,’ thundered Judge Tuttle, as if he were again giving -orders on the battle-field, and picking up his hat and cane, he stumped -out of the courthouse to dinner, while there were roars of applause in -the room which he had left. - -“Captain Wesson was in the courtroom, so as to go bail for me if -necessary, and I never saw a man more pleased than he was. He offered -me work, if I wanted, but the girl I had left behind me, here in the -country, didn’t want to live in Papyrus, so I bought this farm, and -I have never been sorry I did so. We are comfortably off here, and -I do not have to ask how I shall vote. Many of the mill-hands in -Papyrus are little better than slaves when it comes to voting. Under -the Australian ballot, they may vote for the men they prefer for -town-officers, but not for town-appropriations and other measures, -without making themselves liable to the wrath of their employers. The -Baldwins never ceased their ancient policy of discharging and driving -out of town, if possible, any of their workmen who opposed their policy -in town-affairs by voice or vote.” - -In the afternoon the entire party of Porters and Wycliffs drove to -Twin Mountain, near by, there being a wood-road, almost to the summit, -nearly as good as the average mountain highway. - -Sixty miles eastward was Mount Wachusett, seen to-day very dimly, and -only visible at all in the clearest weather. Nearer, guarding the -Connecticut Valley, were Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke. - -“Say, pop, what mountain is that? It looks like a pyramid from here.” - -“That is Monadnock. What state is it in, Robbie?” - -“In New Hampshire,” answered the boy, proud to exhibit his knowledge -of the geography of the states hereabouts. - -“And there, very dim, scarcely more than a blue line in the west, are -the Catskills and Adirondacks. I don’t believe you remember where they -are.” - -“Surely I do. What did I go to school for? They are in New York.” - -“And that beautiful mountain close by. Can you tell the name of the -highest mountain in our own state?” - -“Greylock, or Saddle Mountain.” - -“We have a view here of portions of New York, Connecticut, New -Hampshire and Vermont, besides a large portion of Massachusetts.” - -“And this mountain-top is to be sold very cheap,” said Mr. Porter. “Mr. -Daniels, the owner, is in California, in poor health, and has directed -me to sell it for fifteen hundred dollars. There are three hundred -acres in the farm, one hundred acres being heavy wood and timber, one -hundred and fifty acres pasture, and fifty acres good tillage land. The -house is comfortable, and the barn excellent. But I hardly need to tell -you, as you are familiar with farms about here. Only for its location, -so far from railroad, it would bring many times the price asked. As -it is, it is the best bargain I know of. I would be glad to pay two -hundred and fifty dollars for fifty acres of the pasture, which joins -mine, but I don’t want the whole.” - -“What do you say, ma?” asked Wycliff of his wife. “It’s the best -bargain I’ve heard of in many a day. We’re not obliged to live on it, -you know, we can rent it.” - -“Buy it if you think best,” replied his wife. “We may be glad to use it -for a summer home, if we are prospered.” - -“I’d like to live here the whole year,” said Robbie. “It must be fine -coasting here in the winter.” - -“We get snow in July from the Bear’s Den,” said Mrs. Porter. - -“I will take the farm at fifteen hundred dollars, and you may have the -fifty-acre tract on your own terms,” said Wycliff. - -Just then Robbie, who had wandered a few rods in advance of the rest -of the party, came running back. - -“Oh, ma, come quick! Here are some deer, just like those we used to -see on Mrs. Colt’s grounds, in Hartford. Pop is right. This is God’s -country, all right.” - -Sure enough, there at the foot of the bluff were a half dozen of the -beautiful creatures. - -“They seem to understand that the law protects them,” said Mrs. Porter. -“Sometimes they come into the barnyard with the cattle.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - -“Zechariah, I want you to give Joel Byron his old place in the mill. I -do not approve of discharging workmen for their politics.” - -“I shall do no such thing, Sister Eva. Byron was not discharged for -his politics, but for attempting to create discontent among his -fellow-workmen.” - -“The petition to the Selectmen, which Byron circulated, asking for an -evening session of town-meeting, was a perfectly respectful one, was it -not?” - -“If you mean respectful to the Selectmen,--yes; if you mean respectful -to us,--_no_!” - -“How so?” - -“We, who own the town, ought to say what its taxes should be. Our -employees, who pay only poll taxes, should not vote taxes for us to -pay. If the appropriations for town expenses were made at an evening -session, as they are in some Massachusetts towns, our workmen could -vote, and load us down with taxes. Under Massachusetts law, mill-hands -can remain away from their work only _two hours_. This law does not -apply to town-meeting, but we give our workmen the benefit of it. Our -workmen can come and vote for town-officers by secret ballot, and get -back to the mills within the two hours. After they are safely away from -town-meeting, and at work again, we pass the appropriations.” - -“You don’t believe in popular government, then?” - -“I don’t believe that a man who pays only two dollars tax, should be -the equal of one who pays ten thousand dollars taxes, when it comes to -voting appropriations.” - -“But what would become of popular government, and of our free -institutions, if your ideas prevailed?” - -“I don’t know and I don’t care. You have about as much sense as a hen, -Eva, when it comes to business.” - -“Have I? Very well. I have about as much influence as a hen, if you -please, in the management of the Baldwin Mills, although my father -left me a two-million-dollar interest in these mills. Now, Zechariah, -I have been a mere cipher in this business long enough. There is a -New York gentleman who will gladly pay me every dollar my interest in -the Baldwin Mills is worth. He will not be a cipher in the concern -as I have been, and he has opinions of his own as to the rights of -workingmen. He will not see his employees’ interests trodden under foot -without uttering a protest which will be heard, not only throughout the -State, but throughout the Nation. - -“I give you fair warning. One week from to-day, unless you and David -make a fair division of the property with me, I shall deed my interest -in the Baldwin Mills to the New Yorker. Don’t say I didn’t give you -fair warning. You will have a partner, if I sell out, who will be able -to protect both himself and his workmen. We’ll see whether I have as -much sense as a hen in this business.” - -The black eyes snapped fiercely, and Eva Baldwin swept out of the room -without giving her brother a chance to reply. He immediately summoned -David home from Washington. The Congressman had often made peace -between his brother and sister, but he found it impossible to patch up -any kind of a truce this time. In vain he made promises. - -“You’ve made promises before, David Baldwin, and then you’ve let -Zechariah cheat the workingmen out of their votes again, just the same -as before. You’re standing before the country as the workingman’s -friend, when really you are an impostor. Some day the country will -find you out. The man who stands by and sees his workmen defrauded of -the right to vote appropriations for their own homes, is just as big a -villain as the man who does the dirty work himself.” - -These were Eva Baldwin’s plain words. Only one day was left of her -week’s notice, and still no agreement. - -“You are not going to carry out your threat, are you Eva?” asked the -Congressman. - -“It is not a threat. I am simply not going to be a partner in this -iniquity any longer. If I sell out it will be to a man who thinks as I -do about the workman’s rights. I’m ready to draw the papers.” - -“I think it is a bad move, both for you and for us,” was the brother’s -reply; “but you have the advantage of us. Of course we cannot admit -a stranger to ownership in the Baldwin Mills, so we make this -proposition: Calling your interest two millions, we will give you the -Liberty Mill, at one and one-half million dollars, and pay you the -balance.” - -This offer was accepted and Eva Baldwin became owner of the Liberty -Mill. - -Town-meeting day arrived. The movement for an evening session had -apparently died. - -Back of the town-hall was the office of Ford Hulbert, auctioneer and -real estate agent. On the morning of town-meeting Hulbert’s front -entrance was closed, locked, and a curtain drawn. In the rear his -office opened upon a long alley running back to an unfrequented street -called Back Lane. Had anyone watched Back Lane that morning from -daylight to ten o’clock, he would have seen an occasional lonely voter -pass quietly along the street, up the long alley, and into the rear -door of Hulbert’s office. They did not attract suspicion. One by one -they passed in, like flies into a trap, but none of them came out. - -Ten o’clock came. In the town-hall less than twenty voters were -present, mostly Baldwin sympathizers. Every word spoken was heard in -Hulbert’s office. - -“The time has arrived for calling this meeting to order,” said the town -clerk, who then read the warrant. - -“Prepare your ballots for a moderator,” commanded the Clerk. But now -the rear door opened, and in filed forty voters from Hulbert’s office. -After the choice of a moderator and a few minor town-officers, Mr. -Hulbert arose and said:-- - -“I move that this meeting, except the balloting for town-officers, be -adjourned to seven-thirty o’clock this evening.” - -“I second the motion,” said John Wycliff. - -A chorus of objections arose from the Baldwin party. - -“Question!” shouted Hulbert with his auctioneer’s lungs. “A motion to -adjourn, Mr. Moderator, is not debatable.” - -“Question! question! question!” the forty followers yelled, at the top -of their lungs. - -“Right you are; a motion to adjourn is not debatable,” said the -Moderator, as soon as he could make himself heard. “You hear the -motion; all in favor of adjourning this meeting to seven-thirty o’clock -this evening, will signify it by saying _Aye_; contrary minds, _No_. It -is a vote.” - -“Disputed! disputed!” the Baldwin forces yelled, as they now saw other -voters coming, and hoped for reinforcements by delay. - -“All in favor of this motion raise your right hands,” said the -Moderator. “I see forty-two hands. Now all opposed, raise your right -hands. I see seventeen hands. The motion is carried. This meeting is -adjourned until seven-thirty o’clock this evening.” - -The trap of Ford Hulbert’s setting had sprung neatly, and caught the -Baldwins napping. It had been customary to adjourn until two o’clock, -hence the small number present, and the ease with which Hulbert’s -strategy succeeded. For the first time in many years the mill-hands -would have a chance to vote on the money to be spent for their schools, -highways, and other expenses. - -At the evening session Zechariah Baldwin took the floor, and said: - -“It was a mean, contemptible trick to adjourn town-meeting to this -hour. No decent man would take part in such a game.” - -Ford Hulbert sprang to his feet. - -“Mr. Moderator: There is _one_ gentleman by the name of Baldwin, whom -we all delight to honor. Let us hear from our Congressman.” - -Amid cheers the Congressman rose and said: “I am satisfied with this -arrangement if it meets the popular will. Let us get to business.” - -He was too wise to show the anger which he felt. - -The business of the town-meeting was marked out by a committee -consisting of all the larger property-owners in the town, and one -common laborer. It was through this “Financial Committee” that the -Baldwins largely controlled town-meeting, and the one lonely laborer -showed how lightly they esteemed the class that had made them wealthy. - -To-day the improvement of a certain street, the home of laborers, was -under discussion. Sheriff Burse, an agent of the Baldwins, arose, and -in a husky voice, like the whisper of the wind thro’ the pine woods, -said that the Financial Committee did not approve the appropriation. -True, a dozen vehicles had been overturned on that street recently, -but, according to the Sheriff, it was the fault of the drivers. The -matter was considered settled, when a sleepy-looking little man arose -and addressed the Chair. - -“Uncle Jerry Barnaby,” whispered the crowd. “There’ll be fun now.” - -Uncle Jerry was the wit of the town. It is hard to define wit. In Uncle -Jerry’s case his appearance had much to do with the laughter which -greeted him. He was a sad-looking, wild-eyed little man, whose “little -body,” as he expressed it, “was tired carrying around his big brain.” - -“Mr. Moderator.” - -“Mr. Barnaby.” - -“It is true, as Sheriff Burse has said, that a man may drive through -Hodgson Street safely. By using great care, by dodging rocks and -sand-banks, and by the special favor of Divine Providence, he may live -to drive through that street; but I would advise him, before attempting -it, to place a good big insurance on his life, and to kiss his wife and -children farewell. As has been said, Mr. Moderator, a man may drive -through Hodgson street safely; a perfectly sober man may drive through -a wood-lot, but--” - -In the uproar which followed, Uncle Jerry never finished his sentence. -It was voted to repair Hodgson Street. - -The secret balloting, during the day, elected Hugh Maxwell Selectman, -and the Baldwins failed in their efforts to force Jacob Sharp upon the -voters. - -There was a proposition to increase the pay of the police from two -dollars to two dollars and a half per night. There was much opposition -to the increase, its general drift being that the policemen were -already well paid, when Uncle Jerry was again recognized by the -Moderator. Congressman Baldwin frowned, and a reflection of his frown -was seen upon the face of the Moderator, who was obliged to recognize -the mirth-provoking Barnaby. - -He immediately began a somewhat rambling oration, which he had been -declaiming in his own house for weeks, and which was intended to set -forth the faithful services of the policemen. The audience was soon -convulsed with laughter, and it was impossible for the Moderator to -check him, as almost everybody in the hall was encouraging him by -laughter and applause. - -Uncle Jerry was thoroughly in earnest. He could see no occasion for -mirth. - -“When all sounds of industry are stilled,” said Uncle Jerry, “when the -fond mother lies asleep with the darling babe on her bosom,--” - -“Speak on the question, Mr. Barnaby!” roared the Moderator. - -“I am speaking on the question, Mr. Moderator--when the demon tongues -of fire leap up in the basement, and threaten your lovely home, -threaten to envelop in their horrible embrace all that you hold dearest -on earth,--that fond wife and loving mother and that darling infant on -the mother’s breast,--” - -“Come to the point, Mr. Barnaby!” - -“I am coming to the point, Mr. Moderator, just as fast as I can, but -you make me lose my place. When the devouring flames, Mr. Moderator, -threaten to embrace that fond wife and loving mother and darling infant -on the mother’s breast,--it is the watchful eye of the vigilant -policeman, Mr. Moderator--,” - -The allusion to the “vigilant policemen” of Papyrus was the last straw. -The audience reveled in such a fit of uncontrolled laughter that Uncle -Jerry never proceeded further. Meanwhile the friends of the policemen -thought it a favorable time to take a vote. - -“Question!” shouted one. - -“Question!” echoed a hundred. The policemen won. - -The most important question taken up was that of a sewer. Physicians -and others testified to the wretched sanitary conditions which made -Papyrus one of the most unhealthy towns in the state, for the lack of -a sewer. Deacon Surface, the most adroit speaker in Papyrus, answered -them. He said that the taxes were too high. At the proper time the “men -who owned the town” would be ready for a sewer, but not yet. He omitted -to say that the Baldwins paid taxes on less than half the true value of -their property in Papyrus. He omitted to say, also, that the Baldwins -had recently given to the city of Elmfield, for something much less -needed than a sewer, a larger sum than it would cost to build several -sewer-systems for Papyrus. The Deacon’s speech was eloquent, polished, -and well-rounded--a beautiful bubble, needing only the pinpoint of -truth to explode it. Ford Hulbert was just thinking it his duty to -apply the pin to the bubble, when the irrepressible Barnaby rose. - -“Mr. Moderator,” piped the wild-eyed little man. - -“Mr. Barnaby,” groaned the Moderator. - -“Mr. Moderator. I want to congratulate Deacon Surface on making the -most eloquent speech I have ever heard in this hall. Among all the -facts which he gave us, it is strange that he overlooked one fact--one -cold, scientific truth--bearing on the question.” - -“What is it?” asked a hundred voices. Even Deacon Surface arose, turned -toward Uncle Jerry, and joined in the question. Then, when you could -have heard a pin drop, and the silence was becoming oppressive, the -piping voice said:-- - -“One cold, scientific fact, Mr. Moderator, just as true as the facts he -gave us,--the moon is made of green cheese, Mr. Moderator.” - -Deacon Surface collapsed with his bubble argument, while the audience -went wild. But the sewer was lost. The employees of Zechariah and David -Baldwin, in a matter involving so large an outlay, dared not openly -vote against their masters. - -Not until we have the secret ballot for measures, as well as for men, -will there be political freedom in Massachusetts towns. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -John Wycliff’s den had become well known as a resort for workingmen, -and people in other walks of life were occasionally to be found in -consultation with him. Ford Hulbert, a real estate and insurance agent, -was an occasional caller. - -“You knew Wells Boardman, who was recently killed in an accident on the -Papyrus Electric Street Railway?” asked Hulbert. - -“Yes, very well; an old neighbor when we lived out in the country. His -daughter, Lena, was one of the best girls I ever met. Her laugh would -do one more good than medicine sometimes. A half hour with her was a -sure cure for the blues.” - -“I don’t need to tell you much about her, then.” - -“No, you do not. I have known her from the cradle up. A better girl or -woman was never raised on the hills. She was a rollicking, laughing, -singing sunbeam, and never a thought of wrong in it all. Many a heart -has been tangled in those brown curls of hers, though. It seems strange -to me now, as I look back, that I was not one of the victims; but, -then, we were too much like a sister and brother for that.” - -There was a pause, broken by Mr. Hulbert. - -“She made an early and unfortunate marriage, I believe?” - -“Yes; she left the hills, and came down into this dull valley. She -brought the sparkle of the mountain brook, and the melody of the -bobolinks with her. Wherever she went there was a ripple of laughter, -a burst of sunshine, a peal of music. Such a girl could not be -without admirers. She had plenty of them. And then,--what did she do? -Deliberately picked out the worst one in the whole lot,--a drunken -libertine, a man with whom scarcely any other respectable woman would -be seen crossing the street.” - -“Why did she do it?” - -“I cannot tell. Some thought it was because he had more money than her -other admirers, but that may have been unjust to her. Whatever the -reason, she had plenty of reason to regret her decision when it was too -late.” - -“And then?” queried Hulbert, as Wycliff remained silent for several -minutes, and showed no disposition to resume the conversation. - -“Just what might have been expected. The scoundrel cared nothing for -her and was soon running after other women, just as though he had no -wife, to whom he had vowed fidelity. They had children,--two of them, -and she remained several years for her children’s sake. But it became -more than flesh and blood could endure. He was continually abusing her, -in the hope that she would leave him. When I was a boy I heard of a -man who turned his son out of doors, and then whipped him for leaving -home. Lena’s husband was just about as consistent as that. He treated -her so contemptibly, that if she had not left him, she must have gone -crazy. Then he said that his wife ‘could not have had much love for the -children, else she would not have left them;’--the lying wretch. I have -lived in places where he would have had a coat of tar and feathers.” - -“And then?” pursued Mr. Hulbert, who seemed anxious to have Wycliff -continue. - -“Well, not exactly what the villain had been planning for. He expected -to secure a divorce for desertion, and to marry another woman who had -attracted his wandering affections, but his wife secured the divorce, -and the care of the children.” - -“And now,” said Hulbert, in a low tone of voice, “an honest man who -actually loves her, will find it very difficult to convince her of his -loyalty to her.” - -Wycliff glanced up quickly. - -“You are an admirer of Lena?” - -“Yes, but we had a break. We had a falling-out the evening you left -Beauna Vista. We were watering our horses, sheltered from your sight -by the hemlock bushes. I made a remark about Mr. Sharp, in connection -with the church, which offended her.” - -“Yes, she is very loyal to the church; but the church has hardly kept -its pledges to her in her trouble. I did not know that there were any -disinterested witnesses of my difference with Sharp, else I might have -proceeded differently.” - -“But now I must do my errand,” resumed Hulbert. “I came to see you -because Miss Boardman could not come, and she wishes your advice. -Zechariah Baldwin, for the Papyrus Electric Street Railway Company, -has offered her three thousand dollars in settlement for her father’s -death.” - -“The company acknowledges its liability, then?” - -“Yes; the only question is as to the amount which shall be paid.” - -“Isn’t Congressman Baldwin a stockholder in the company?” - -“Yes; he is the heaviest stockholder.” - -“Of course, you know that the State of Massachusetts, some years ago, -obeying the demands of the railroad corporations, which were killing -a great many people, made a law that not more than five thousand -dollars could be collected for a human life, lost through the fault of -a railroad corporation. It’s an infamous law, but it’s there, all the -same.” - -“Miss Boardman wants your advice as to whether she shall accept the -three thousand dollars.” - -“Has she called upon Congressman Baldwin?” - -“No, and she will not do so. She has too much independence for that. -She will not go to him.” - -“Tell Lena not to be in a hurry, to wait a few days, and I will see if -I can do anything for her.” - -“All right; if you can help her any she will do the fair thing by you. -She ought to receive much more than they offer her. Good night.” - -Wycliff sat alone some time after his visitor had gone, looking into -the fire, and thinking of many things. One of his long-cherished -idols had been gradually dethroned. He had been, before coming to -Papyrus, a great admirer of Congressman Baldwin. It was hard for him -to give up his political idol, but he had seen the workingmen of -Papyrus defrauded of their votes, and Congressman Baldwin a silent and -satisfied witness of the robbery. One word from Congressman Baldwin, -who was the political boss of the State, would have blotted from the -statute books of Massachusetts the damnable “Five-Thousand-Dollar -Law;” but Congressman Baldwin never spoke the word. Instead, his -puppets at Boston voted to retain the law, which shielded railroad and -street railway corporations from just punishment for deaths caused by -them, and robbed families of their victims. Wycliff himself, by David -Baldwin’s orders, had been blacklisted in all the Baldwin industries. -The spotless Deacon Surface had notified every concern controlled by -the Baldwins not to give employment to John Wycliff. This was more -than his idolatry would bear. A man will forgive many things, but ought -he to forgive the man who tries to take the bread away from his family? - -John Wycliff looked up at the face of Congressman Baldwin, on the wall -opposite. He arose and took down the portrait. - -“What on earth are you doing, John?” asked his wife, summoned from -another room by the noise of breaking glass and splintering wood. - -Bare feet came pattering down the stairs from the chamber above. - -“Say, pop; what’s up?” - -“Robbie, what did the Israelites do every time they got a chance? What -did the Lord have to punish them for, very often?” - -“Worshipping idols.” - -“And once in a while, after being punished enough, what would they do?” - -“Burn up their idols.” - -“That’s right. That’s what I’ve been doing. Now I’ll kiss you both if -you’ll clear out, and leave me alone, to write.” - -He then wrote a letter to an old friend and schoolmate, now an editor -in Charleston, South Carolina. From that letter the following is -extract taken:-- - - “You have frequently requested me to write something for your - paper, a request which I have been very slow to comply with. I do - not suppose you wish me to write your editorials, and the enclosed - article is only intended as a hint of the way in which I would use - the facts referred to.” - -Within a week the whole country echoed with the first public attack -ever made upon Congressman Baldwin. The attack was made by a -Charleston, South Carolina, newspaper, and every political paper in the -country was immediately drawn into the combat, either as an assailant -or defender of the Congressman. Congressman Baldwin in a public -speech, had commented bitterly upon the cheapness of human life in the -South; and now every Southern newspaper, and many of their Northern -sympathizers, were revenged upon him. The following paragraphs from -the Charleston paper formed the key-note of their attack:-- - - “We have listened, and so has the rest of the country, while this - immaculate and infallible Baldwin upbraided us for the cheapness - of a human life in the South. What is the value of human life in - Congressman Baldwin’s own model town of Papyrus, in the model state - of Massachusetts? Congressman Baldwin’s trolley company takes the - life of a man earning fifteen hundred dollars a year, and in full - payment for that life, it offers the victim’s family three thousand - dollars. The Savings Banks offer the safest investment for widows - and orphans. Should they accept, they would receive from the savings - bank, at three and a half per cent.,--one hundred and five dollars a - year. - - “To sum up the case: Congressman Baldwin’s railway takes a life worth - fifteen hundred dollars a year to the victim’s family, and offers - that family one hundred and five dollars a year in full settlement. - And yet Congressman Baldwin says that human life is cheap,--in the - South. Under Massachusetts law a railway company cannot be obliged to - pay more than five thousand dollars for taking a human life, while - under a just law, like that of New York, a railroad corporation has - been compelled to pay one hundred thousand dollars for a human life, - lost through its negligence. A jury awarded that sum against the New - York Central for a victim of the Park Avenue tunnel disaster of 1902. - - “Congressman Baldwin is the political boss of his state, and - responsible for that law which says to all the world that - Massachusetts has no man whose life is worth more than five thousand - dollars. Yet South Carolina once had slaves whose masters would not - part with them for that sum. The explanation is simple. Baldwin has - millions in railroads. - - “One more item and we are done. Baldwin and other Massachusetts - statesmen declaim loudly against negro disfranchisement in the South: - ‘Consistency is a jewel.’ Baldwin’s own mill-hands cannot vote on - town-appropriations. Under the Massachusetts law they must stay in - the mills and add to the Baldwin millions, while he ‘runs the town.’ - Southerners say the black man is not fit to run the State. Baldwin of - Massachusetts says his white mill-hands are not fit to run the Town. - And he has Massachusetts law with him. ‘People who live in glass - houses should not throw stones.’” - -For weeks David Baldwin was the recipient of more unfriendly criticism -than any other public man in Washington. The humble cause of all this -trouble rolled his one gray eye, saying:-- - -“Blacklist me again for telling the truth, will you? Shut your eyes -again, while your workmen’s votes are stolen, Dave Baldwin!” - -Long before the battle was over the Congressman became very weary of -it, and sent the following directions to his brother, Zechariah:-- - -“Pay Wells Boardman’s daughter twenty thousand dollars. Charge five -thousand dollars to Papyrus Electric Railway, and balance to me.” - -The news of this generous payment was spread throughout the country, -and took the edge off the criticism of Baldwin. - -“Is that you, Lena?” asked Mrs. Wycliff, one evening. - -“I think it is,” was the answer. “Here’s a check for a thousand -dollars, for your husband. Tell him he has earned it. I have said all -along that John could make the Baldwins toe the mark. He is almost the -only one about here who is not afraid of them, and he is the only one -who hits them in the only place where they feel it,--in the newspapers. -They don’t care anything about right and wrong, God, man or the devil, -but they don’t like to have their injustice shown up in the newspapers, -or in the courts. They don’t fear God, or His Word, or the Judgment -Day, but they are afraid of newspapers and courts. I don’t care for the -twenty thousand dollars myself, but with the income from it I can give -my boys a good education. Tell John I hear that Zack Baldwin will give -a thousand dollars to get him out of town. This thousand is for him to -stay.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - -A frequent caller at the Wycliff home was “Uncle Jerry” Barnaby. He -was always welcome, being an old friend, the acquaintance between -the two families dating back to the time when both occupied farms in -Sprucemont--the little hill-town, richer in broad views and fresh air -than in salable commodities. - -“Oh, I was a king, then!” said Uncle Jerry. “Only think of those -beautiful fields of grass and grain that I used to have.” - -“And how much labor you spent in getting out the rocks and improving -the land, before you could have those crops,” replied Mrs. Wycliff. - -“Yes, I was the first farmer in all that region to use dynamite, both -on my farm and on the highways. Oh, I was a king then; king of my -own farm, anyway. And now I am a slave to these sleek villains, the -Baldwins. The tears come to my eyes whenever I think of those old -times; and of those sleek cattle that had been petted so much by my -wife and the girls that it seemed like sacrilege to sell them; they -seemed to belong to the family.” And Uncle Jerry burst into tears at -his own recital of former glories. - -“To think that I should have come to this,” exclaimed Uncle Jerry. -“To be a slave,--a poor, despised, down-trodden slave for the -Baldwins,--and I used to be a king of two hundred acres in Sprucemont. - -“And those colts, the beautiful creatures. When I went into the pasture -they would come up to me and lay their noses on my cheeks, and almost -talk to me. How many colts I have raised to be fine horses, and sold -for good prices, and my wife and daughters could always ride anywhere -they chose, and to-day--” and Uncle Jerry could not proceed for some -minutes for sobbing. - -“To-day,” he continued, at length, “My poor dear girl is pining away -for the fresh air. I heard yesterday that Zack Baldwin had an old -horse that he was going to kill. I might have known that I would be -refused, but I was thinking only of my poor dear girl, and I went and -begged him to let me have the old horse. I promised him it should never -do anything but draw the poor girl the little way she is able to ride.” - -“Didn’t he let you have it?” asked Mrs. Wycliff, full of sympathy. - -“Of course not. It wouldn’t make any big sound, you know, like giving -a half a million dollars to a library. It might, possibly, have saved -my daughter’s life. He ordered the horse taken out and shot before my -eyes. I felt as if those shots sounded my daughter’s doom. I might have -known that a man who would discharge me for getting the policemen’s pay -raised, would refuse me an old horse which might save my daughter’s -life.” - -“Did he discharge you for that?” - -“Surely. He came to me after town-meeting, and said:--‘A man who works -against my interests in town-meeting will never get another day’s -work from me. I have no use for such men as you and Wycliff. He got -offended at me once before. It was a year ago. Fifty of us were making -a lawn for him. He paid us only a dollar and a half a day, although -everybody else about here was paying a dollar and three-quarters for -that kind of work. I circulated a petition, which most of the workmen -signed, asking for one dollar and seventy-five cents per day, and -presented the petition to Zack Baldwin. He finally agreed to split -the difference with us, and pay us a dollar and sixty-two and a half -cents a day, but he was revenged on us. Those who refused to sign the -petition were given work much longer than the rest. That is the Baldwin -brand of Christianity,--paying lower wages than other employers pay, -and discharging those who ask for fair wages; and at the same time -making princely gifts to public libraries and other institutions. It -was because outside work was dull, just then, that Zack Baldwin took -advantage of us, to get our work at less than market price.’” - -“But I thought,” said Mrs. Wycliff, “that Zechariah and David Baldwin -were in company.” - -“They are,--in the mills. Congressman Baldwin isn’t a bit better than -Old Zack, the old Shylock. The man who shuts his eyes to tyranny isn’t -a bit better than the tyrant. Since town-meeting I’ve had to walk three -miles up to the Wendell Farm, for work. These little hands were not -made for handling heavy stone.” And he exhibited a pair of hands almost -as small and fine as a lady’s. - -“You look like a light and feeble man to walk six miles and handle -stone all day, and you must be getting a little too old for hard work. -How old are you, Uncle Jerry?” - -“I can’t tell. I’ve even written back to the old country,--I was born -in Ireland,--and tried to find out, but I think the records must -have been destroyed. I could not get any information about it. I -can remember once shaking hands with Abraham Lincoln, in the city of -Hartford. That is a landmark in my life. I was grown up then and able -to do a man’s work.” - -John Wycliff arose, took down a volume from his bookcase, and examined -it a moment. - -“Lincoln was in Hartford on the fifth day of March, 1860, and, I think, -never at any other time. Very likely you are about sixty-five years old -now.” - -“What is the matter with your daughter?” asked Mrs. Wycliff. - -“I cannot tell you, because the doctors cannot tell me. It seems to be -a sort of melancholy.” - -“What caused it?” - -“Well, there’s a point I don’t like to speak of.” - -“Don’t mention it, then. Please forgive me for asking.” - -“After all, it doesn’t matter, seeing there are no strangers here;” and -Uncle Jerry lowered his voice and looked inquiringly toward the doors. - -“There is no one except ourselves within hearing,” said Mrs. Wycliff, -reassuringly. - -“It was years ago, but after you left the hills,” continued Uncle -Jerry, in a low voice. “Pet,--that’s what we called her,--was gay as -a bird till then. Pet got acquainted with a fine young man up in the -country,--a fine fellow he was every way. I’d say that if ’twas the -last thing I was to say in this world. Never a likelier fellow ever -grew up on the hills, if I do say it. Well, he took a liking to our -Pet, and I guess there was as much love on Pet’s part as on his.” - -Uncle Jerry paused. After a little Mrs. Wycliff ventured to ask: - -“Why didn’t they marry?” - -“Well, you see,--” and Uncle Jerry’s voice dropped lower still. “I said -he was as fine a fellow as ever grew up on the hills, and I wouldn’t -take it back if it was to be the last thing I ever said, but--he was a -Protestant.” Uncle Jerry was silent a few moments. - -“Looking back now, it seems to me that we were both, Pet’s mother -and I, willing to ruin Pet for life rather than have her marry a -Protestant. While I cannot say positively that this is the reason for -Pet’s long sickness, yet of one thing I am certain--she has not been -like her former self since that time.” - -“But what became of him?” - -“He went away, to the West it was believed. No one on the hills, so -far as I know, has heard from him since. But this whole subject is -one which I do not like to think about, much less talk about. I have -learned one lesson, and a pretty costly one,--when God has taught two -persons to love one another no one should be guilty of keeping them -apart.” - -“And here am I,” continued Uncle Jerry piteously, “Sixty-five years -old, at least, discharged by those sleek villains, the Baldwins, -because I dared to champion the policemen, and obliged to walk six -miles a day to work, and then,--only think of it,--this slender body -and these weak hands to build stone wall all day. The only work I can -get to do with these little hands is to lift and tug at heavy stone -all day. Merciful God! What shall I do? I can’t stand this work a great -while. My back is almost broken. These thin arms are as sore as boils. -These little hands are covered with blisters. And my poor, dear girl -pining for the fresh air. That horse that Zack Baldwin ordered shot -to-day, might have saved my daughter’s life. What does he care? He will -kill me, in time, too, for I can’t walk six miles and build stone wall -all day, and follow it up a great while.” And Uncle Jerry paced the -floor in agony, his face drawn and white, and wringing his small, thin -hands. - -“You have a fine house, Uncle Jerry,” said Mrs. Wycliff. - -“Yes; but we can’t eat or drink it, or if we could, how long would it -last? If I began to use up the value of my home how long would it be -before I should be ‘on the town?’” - -“But I mean could you not rent furnished rooms?” - -“No; Pet is so nervous I can hardly live with her myself, much less -have strangers in the same house with her. We try to economize, but -economy is difficult to practice with sickness. There is only one thing -I can do. I must sell my place, and buy a little farm back in the -country again. I was born under king-rule. I am not going to die under -it.” - -“But you are not able to do the work on a farm,” protested Mrs. -Wycliff, “or even if you are able to do it to-day you will not be able -to do it long. Your wife and daughters used to help you a great deal on -the farm. They are not able to do it now. I think I know of a better -arrangement.” - -“What is it?” asked Uncle Jerry, much as a drowning man might grasp at -a straw. - -“You have a good house, which would bring you in a large rent. Then you -could get a job at superintending a small farm. You would not need to -work, yourself, any more than you felt able to.” - -“Who would give old Jerry Barnaby a job as a farm boss, especially when -he could not get a recommend from the Baldwins? Don’t try to fool a -poor old man. It’s cruel, and besides it isn’t like you, either, John -Wycliff.” And Uncle Jerry looked reproachfully at the younger man. - -“It’s no fooling, Uncle Jerry,” said Wycliff rising, and placing his -hands on Barnaby’s shoulders. “Do you know the Twin Mountain Farm?” - -“Every rod of it.” - -“Now, if you are not too steep with your price, you can take charge -of that farm. You will have your fuel, vegetables, meat, maple -sugar--indeed, most of your living off the farm. You will not need a -very big cash salary, along with your rent, to take care of you and -your family in good shape, and your wife and daughter will have a horse -to drive whenever they wish.” - -“Who owns the place?” asked Barnaby. - -“A one-eyed crank named Wycliff.” - -“Do you own that place? Well, we shan’t have any trouble about the -price, if you think I can fill the bill.” - -“Yes, yes, Uncle Jerry. Come around in the morning and we will make -a bargain in five minutes. Then we will drive off and buy stock and -tools.” - -“Very well. I must get home and tell Pet and her mother. We are willing -to shake the dust of Papyrus off our feet any day.” - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - -Eva Baldwin was the most independent, the most democratic, and the most -religious member of the Baldwin family. I use the word religious in -its most practical sense. The Baldwins were all religious; they were -all church-members; they all had the outside, the husk, the wrapper, -of religion. With them, a costly house of worship, a silver-tongued -preacher, the repetition of some high-sounding passages from God’s Word -and the payment of a certain amount of money for church expenses--these -things constituted religion. - -The Baldwins, when it came to religion, were like a certain boy, who -went chestnutting. He had never seen a chestnut, and he eagerly filled -his basket with the great prickly burs, which the frost had opened, but -never noticed the nuts themselves, which lay hidden under the leaves. - -The Baldwins were very religious,--but if the Christ had come into -Papyrus, the town which belonged to them, they would have given Him -twenty-four hours notice to get out. He was a disturber in the vales -of Judea, and He would have been too radical for the Lords of the -Berkshire Hills. It would have become the painful duty of the round -and sleek Deacon Surface, and the gaunt and spectral Sheriff Burse, on -notice from the Baldwins, to order Him out. - -But Eva--black-eyed Eva--differed from her kindred. She was not -satisfied with the husk of Christianity. She was a constant thorn -in the side of her brother, Zechariah, and in a less degree of her -brother, David, the Congressman. Even between these two there was -a great gulf. The Congressman believed in equal rights, except at -home, and for his own workmen. None of the devices, some of them of -almost Satanic ingenuity, by which the mill-hands of Papyrus were -prevented from enjoying their just share in town-government, none -of these devices, I say, could have succeeded, without Congressman -Baldwin’s approval, through his confidential agent, the hundred-faced, -oily-tongued Deacon Surface. None of these devices for stealing the -workman’s vote won Eva Baldwin’s approval. - -In looking--and she had not far to look--for worthy objects upon which -to bestow her help, in a practical and sensible way, Eva Baldwin had -long since found in Sprucemont, that little “deserted town” on the -mountain-tops, an outlet for some of her benevolent impulses and -surplus funds. A few generations ago Sprucemont had been one of the -most prosperous towns on the hills, but influences which it would take -too long to describe here had brought her very low, both in population -and wealth. The church in Sprucemont had long since ceased to be -self-supporting, and was dependent upon the generosity of Eva Baldwin -and others of her kind. - -To awaken the interest of natives of the town who had removed, to stir -the pride of those remaining, and to attract buyers for the abandoned -farms, a celebration was planned in honor of the town’s settlement. For -such an occasion it was only natural that the most distinguished native -of the town, Reverend Ralph Cutter, filling a pulpit in Springdale, -should be selected as the principal speaker. - -The day came. Up the long hills toward Sprucemont Center climbed -teams and vehicles of various descriptions. The newest automobile, -the stylish and luxurious up-to-date carriage with liveried driver -and sleek, well-groomed pair, and the pleasure-seeker’s four-horse -tally-ho, these shared the mountain road with ancient specimens of the -carriage-makers’ art, broken and repaired with conspicuous lack of -skill, and drawn by animals to whom the currycomb and oat-bin seemed -alike strangers. Between these extremes were the comfortable and tidy -conveyances of the middle classes. - -It was a perfect June day. The rock maples, the red beeches and the -various birches were in their full summer luxuriance, and their light -green foliage contrasted prettily with the darker, more somber shades -of the spruce, the hemlock, and the balsam fir. The verdure of mowlands -and pastures was sprinkled with the commonplace buttercups and daisies, -while the roadside thickets were eloquent to the eye with the pink and -white blossoms of the mountain laurel. - -The forests echoed with the silver bell of the wood thrush, while the -rollicking, bubbling melody of the bobolink, and the clear, sweet -whistle of the meadow lark filled every wayside field. - -The ancient meeting-house, where the services were held, was a fine -specimen of old style, country church architecture. It had been built, -nearly a century before, to accommodate eight hundred people, but the -population of the town, had dwindled to half that number. - -“The strength of the hills is His also.” - -It was with these words of the Psalmist that Reverend Ralph Cutter -began his review of the town’s history. No one seemed to realize that -he spoke an hour. A library has been written about the best way to -hold the attention of an audience. It might all be boiled down to -this:--“Have something to say worth saying, and then say it in a way -worth hearing.” Ralph Cutter knew his subject thoroughly. He could -only give an outline of it in the time allotted to him; but, as little -ten-year-old Jimmy Stetson said, “When Mr. Cutter tells an Indian story -you feel as though the Red Skins were skulking around the church, and -when he talks about bears you almost expect to hear ’em growl.” - -“Aunt Lyddy” Buxton, who came early and had a seat near the pulpit, -said:--“That’s the first time I have heard a minister in a year, -although I go to church every Sunday. Thank God there’s now and then a -minister who thinks it a part of his duty to make people hear.” - -“That’s the minister I always like to hear,” said Farmer Gray. “I don’t -have to go to a dictionary to find out what he means, and it’s all -good, sober, solid sense, every word he has to say.” - -The speaker did not occupy a minute more than the time allotted to -him. For a minister, or any other speaker, to take time which belonged -to others, Ralph Cutter considered no better than any other kind of -stealing, and he never practiced it. He always kept within his allotted -time. He had saved a few minutes in which to consider the future of the -town. - -“Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and every hill shall -be made low.” - -“I understand these words of Isaiah,” he said, “to be prophecy full -of blessing to us all. These hills shall be brought low--that is to -say, they shall be more easily reached. Not only this, but the working -people in the cities shall be able to reach them. The time is coming, -when the poorest one of our millions of laborers shall be able to -enjoy a summer vacation, with his family, on these hills, or at the -sea-shore, or wherever else on God’s beautiful earth he chooses to -spend it. The multitudes, now scarcely earning their daily bread, -shall not always toil to maintain the few in idleness and luxury. The -good things, the best things of God’s bountiful earth shall be within -reach of the toiling masses, not occasionally and sparingly, but at all -times and in generous measure. The workman shall enjoy the full fruit -of his labors. There shall be no idlers, as now, to fatten upon the -laborers’ toil. God has provided an abundance for all His children, and -the avarice of the few shall not always keep his gifts away from the -many. - -“Perhaps you will call this socialism, but it is Christianity also. -I believe, in practice, we have scarcely learned the a b c of -Christianity. I am not attacking the rights of property. I have no pet -theories to advance. The present system, which allows one man to pile -up hundreds of millions by getting control of steel or oil, while the -working multitude are little better than slaves--this system, I say, -cannot endure. It must fall. When we have learned, by experience, what -true Christianity means, it may be that we shall get back very near to -the starting-point of Christianity, when the disciples had all things -common. - -“Every mountain and hill shall be brought low--brought within reach of -the toiling hosts of the valley. All these abandoned acres shall be -tilled again. This temple shall again be filled with glad worshippers, -as of old. The electric railway, which is leveling the hills -everywhere, shall bring to these beautiful heights the tired and dusty -dwellers in the city, for summer rest. This leveling process shall -benefit the dwellers and toilers in the vales. Already the farm-house -feels the throbbing life of the city, through the telephone and the -daily mail. This is only the beginning. No one knows what the end may -be.” - -It was an eloquent address; eloquent in its pictures of history; -eloquent in its present comfort; eloquent in its promise for the -future, and it had a fitting and appreciative word for those outside -the town who had kept the fires of religion burning on this ancient -altar. It had none of the marks of much of our present oratory--no -foreign phrases; no words difficult to understand; no carefully poised -periods; no words dropped nearly to a whisper. The prize pupil in -elocution sometimes cannot be heard in the rear of the hall, while the -speaker who makes himself clearly heard in all parts of the house goes -home without even honorable mention. While mere noise is not oratory, -yet Daniel Webster, Charles Sumner and George William Curtis always -made themselves heard. The speaker’s concluding words were:-- - -“Let us be true to the God of our fathers, and the God of our fathers -shall bless us.” - -There was not a more interested listener than Eva Baldwin. All the old -feeling which she had experienced during the speaker’s stay in Papyrus, -and which she had tried to suppress since, came rushing back. She -thought: “Why could not God have given to me to be the help-meet of -such a man, even if He gave my millions to some one else?” - -As for Ralph Cutter, he had been unjust to Miss Baldwin in allowing her -wealth to place a barrier between them. The sight of her to-day fanned -into flame again the old fires of his admiration, and he more than half -resolved to seek an opportunity of renewing her acquaintance. - -After the exercises, which closed early, several small parties visited -Twin Mountain, which was near by. One of the parties included Reverend -Ralph Cutter and another included the Baldwins. For a moment, and only -for a moment, the parties met. The minister and the heiress saluted -each other cordially and lingered after their parties had separated. -She expressed regret that he had left Papyrus. He expressed regret that -it had seemed best for him to leave, and then, something in her eyes -seeming to warrant it, he added: - -“I had hoped to become better acquainted with you, had I remained.” - -“Did I place any obstacles in the way of our further acquaintance? -I certainly did not intend to do so,” she replied, and there was no -mistaking the frank, honest meaning in the black eyes. - -“No, you did not. May I correspond with you?” - -“Certainly.” She was laughing now; a laugh of relief and pleasure. “But -do not forget, when circumstances permit, that a face to face meeting -is a long way ahead of a letter.” - -But the parties to which they belonged were getting farther and farther -apart. - -“You might return home with us,” she suggested. “You could take an -evening train for Springdale.” And he very gladly assented. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - -It would be unjust in this narrative to class David Baldwin, the -Congressman, with his brother, Zechariah. David meant to be just. -Whatever of justice there was in the relations of the Baldwins to their -workmen was usually credited by the workmen to Congressman Baldwin, and -probably they were right. Such reforms as had been granted in the mills -had usually been secured by appealing from Zechariah, the resident -manager, to David, whose public duties kept him much of the time in -Washington. David Baldwin was generous. If there was anything of the -“milk of human kindness” in the treatment of the Baldwin workmen it was -due largely to David. - -Zechariah Baldwin was generous when he thought his generosity would -make a big display, and be heralded in the public press. In the -church and in the press, especially the religious press, the name of -Zechariah Baldwin was acclaimed loudly as a philanthropist. In private -circles, particularly among his own workmen, in those small circles -where the laborer dared to speak his honest feelings, he was oftener -spoken of as a “skinflint,” or simply a “skin,” a term in common use -which is full of meaning, and that not of the best kind. Zechariah -Baldwin was the last to raise the wages of his help and the first to -cut them down. - -David Baldwin was rarely known, where the decision lay with himself -alone, to refuse any reasonable request of a workingman. While his -public gifts were not as large, nor trumpeted as loudly as his -brother’s, still, the unfortunate employee or neighbor who needed -help, knew where to get it. But David was absent much of the time, -either in Washington, performing his official duties as Congressman, -or attending to large financial interests outside of Papyrus. Hence -it happened that Zechariah Baldwin was usually the boss of Papyrus -and political independence was not tolerated among the workmen. Few -workingmen had ever remained long in Papyrus after showing in any way -their independence of the Baldwins. - -Zechariah Baldwin defended the position of the paper manufacturers in -this way: - -“We have built up the town; we own it and we claim the moral right to -drive out of it any man who is offensive to us. That one-eyed Wycliff -is a mischief-maker and trouble-breeder and he has got to get out.” - -But Wycliff did not get out. He did not even promise to get out. He -seemed to have no intention of getting out. The methods which usually -succeeded in driving a workingman out of town--blacklisting him in -all the Baldwin industries and warning other employers not to hire -him--these methods had failed utterly in the case of John Wycliff. - -“We cannot tolerate him much longer,” said Zack Baldwin. Certainly not. -Where one workingman dares to do his own thinking and to express his -own opinions there is danger that others will catch the distemper. What -if they should form a union and demand the same wages paid elsewhere -for the same work? Such a thing was not to be thought of for an instant. - -“We must fight the devil with fire,” said Zack Baldwin. Accordingly he -offered a few Papyrus roughs a large sum if they would drive Wycliff -out of town. He was not particular as to the means employed, so long as -they avoided publicity and arrest. Zack Baldwin’s own son, Jehu, might -be classed with other Papyrus roughs, in spite of a thin veneer of -polished manners, which high society and the schools had given him. It -is highly probable that the means employed to rid the town of Wycliff -might have been violent but for an unexpected incident. - -Zechariah Baldwin met an old acquaintance from the West at the Taconic -House, the only hotel in Papyrus, and, of course, the property of the -Baldwins. - -“How do you do, Colonel Lathrop?” exclaimed the Lord of Papyrus, -effusively. - -“That you, Baldwin?” replied the Westerner; “you have a delightful town -here.” - -“So we think;” and the little millionaire paper-maker rubbed his hands -in self-congratulation; “but we have a few evil-minded cranks among us -who think they could improve matters. However, I think the boys will -drive out the worst one within a week.” - -“Who is he? Who would think of finding fault with such a paradise as -this?” pursued the Colonel. - -“No one but a fool--a crank named Wycliff. There he is now, cleaning -the street, with the rest of Maxwell’s gang--a job just suited to him, -except that he ought not to have any employment at all in a decent -town.” - -“Wycliff? Wycliff? John Wycliff?--One-eyed Wycliff?” - -“Yes, that’s the man. Do you know him?” asked the little man in -surprise. - -“I rather think I do,” replied Colonel Lathrop, pulling out his wallet, -“and here’s a hundred dollars that says you don’t drive John Wycliff -out of Papyrus, and that if you try it you’ll have the biggest job -for the Coroner you ever had in Berkshire. What! Won’t put up the -money?” and the big ranchman looked down on the little millionaire with -contempt. - -“There’s no blood in your neck, is there!” - -The dapper little churchman was shocked that anyone should expect him -to do such a vulgar, unchristian thing as to bet, but he controlled -himself long enough to ask:-- - -“What do you know of Wycliff?” - -“Oh, not much,” sneered the big fellow, “except that he is the most -stubborn cuss, and can shoot the straightest and quickest of any man I -ever knew.” Then, as the little man waited, he continued:-- - -“He was a cow-boy on my ranch. One day the Indians tried to stampede -his herd. There were seven red devils, and he all alone against them. -We found four ‘good Indians,’ Indians that would never steal any more -cattle, one just dying, and two had returned to the reservation to -report that Wycliff was ‘bad medicine.’ We found Wycliff, nearly dead, -with one eye shot out, behind a breastwork of dead cattle.” - -The big ranchman did not attempt to disguise his contempt for the -little man, and without a word of farewell, he strode down into the -dirt of the street, to greet his former employee. Meanwhile one of the -loungers at the hotel had overheard the Colonel’s story. Before night -it was repeated, with numerous additions, all through Papyrus, and all -the Baldwins’ money would not have hired the biggest bully in the town -to approach John Wycliff with evil intent. - -The ranchman stepped up to Hugh Maxwell, who was overseeing the work, -saying:-- - -“I want to borrow one of your men--Wycliff--for awhile, if I may do -so.” - -“All right,” was the reply. “Only return him in good condition.” - -Then the two walked off down the street, and the Colonel told Wycliff -of his conversation with Zechariah Baldwin. - -“I’m not afraid of anything in that direction,” replied Wycliff. “I -am blessed with lots of good friends in Papyrus, and one of Zack -Baldwin’s own gang gave away the whole plot to me. I have friends in -Zack Baldwin’s own house. I have taken all the precautions I care -to. I have sent away my wife and child, for the present, up into the -country. Such of our household goods as are valuable merely for their -associations--our pictures, my mounted cougar, everything which money -could not replace--all these things I have taken to a neighbor’s. -As for me, I don’t know as I should live a week if some one did not -threaten to injure me.” And Wycliff laughed. - -“I came to town,” said Colonel Lathrop, “to see about your share in -the Rattlesnake. I hope you haven’t sold it.” - -“No. When I lost my property I tried to sell it, but could not get an -offer. I have felt that sometime it might become of value, perhaps -through cheaper methods of mining.” - -“You know Walker Nichols, the mining expert?” - -“By reputation. Yes.” - -“He thinks that by the practice of new economies in mining, which -will lessen our expenses considerably, we may be able to operate -the Rattlesnake Mine at a small profit. Then there is always the -possibility of striking a richer vein. Shall I go ahead? You will not -need to advance anything.” - -“Certainly.” - -“You remember Mr. Baxter?” - -“Yes; ‘Old Sunshine,’ the boys used to call him.” - -“He has great faith that we shall strike something better if we open up -the Rattlesnake again. His opinion ought to be worth something. He was -a ‘forty-niner,’ has worked in the mines ever since, and has made and -lost fortunes in them.” - -Colonel Lathrop withdrew, and John Wycliff returned to his work. - -Zechariah Baldwin, although temporarily thwarted in his plans to rid -the town of Wycliff, was by no means inclined to give up his efforts. -He had an abundance of resources and expedients, and when one failed he -was not usually long in finding another. - -Wycliff’s family had been sent up to Sprucemont, where they were the -guests of their old friends, the Porters. One night, soon after their -departure, Wycliff, who had retired, was awakened by a lusty rap at the -door. - -“Who’s there?” he shouted, throwing up his chamber window. - -“Not too loud, John,” came the answer from a suppressed voice. - -“That you, Dan? Wait a minute till I let you in.” - -“No; I can’t stop. There’s a big game on foot. Jehu Baldwin will fire a -revolver through his Uncle David’s bedroom window. Then he will run in -the middle of the street to your house, where he will take to the grass -and throw the weapon upon your lawn.” - -“To-night?” - -“Yes; just after midnight. But I must get back.” - -Congressman Baldwin was the idol of the masses, and if it could -be made to appear that Wycliff had assaulted him there would be a -riot, and the victim of its fury would be fortunate if he escaped -alive. Frontier methods would not avail at this crisis. Wycliff was -somewhat resourceful himself. He got his camera and prepared for a -flashlight photograph. He had been writing a magazine article on the -whippoorwill--(one of these birds sang in the lilacs every night)--and -he had the materials ready for a flashlight of the bird, to illustrate -his article. He would now use them to photograph a different object. -He set his camera so that it would sweep the highway, and waited under -cover of the midnight darkness. - -The town clock struck for twelve. A thunder-shower was coming up. There -was an occasional flash and roar from the cloud. The whippoorwill sang -in the lilacs. There were pistol-shots down the road, and then the -sound of running footsteps. They drew nearer until they were directly -in front of Wycliff. The flashlight did its work. Wycliff boarded a -trolley-car for Elmfield, carrying the precious camera, and leaving -this notice on his front door:-- - - “_Gone to visit my old friend, Sheriff Coggswell, at the Jail._ - - “_JOHN WYCLIFF._” - - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - -On that same evening mentioned in our last chapter there was a social -gathering at Farmer Porter’s, in Sprucemont. It was a festival known -among the Green Mountain farmers as a “sugar-eat,” but it was held very -much out of season. Maple sugar is usually made during the months of -February or March. The sap drawn from the rock-maple, or sugar-maple -trees is boiled until it reaches a consistency which is called wax. Tin -pans are pressed full of snow, and the maple wax, dipped boiling from -the kettles, is poured upon the snow. The wax hardens upon the snow, -and is then esteemed the greatest delicacy of country epicures. - -For many years Farmer Porter had treated his neighbors to an annual -sugar-eat; not in winter or spring, but in midsummer, the snow being -obtained from the cave on Twin Mountain, known as the “Bear’s Den.” -On this occasion, besides his country neighbors, there were present -some friends from Papyrus, Ford Hulbert and Lena Boardman, and John -Wycliff’s wife and child. Uncle Jerry Barnaby was a neighbor, and was -present with his wife and daughter. - -The farmers, and their wives, daughters, mothers and sweethearts for -miles around, thronged the hospitable home of Daniel Porter. In the -old-fashioned fireplace in the kitchen, on a stout iron crane, hung -the ancient copper kettle filled with maple syrup. A crackling wood -fire kept the syrup leaping and dancing, until it was boiled down -thick enough to “stand,” or harden, upon the snow. A number of experts -decided this point, and when, according to their verdict, it was just -brittle enough, the boys brought in the pans of snow which they had -secured from the cave. - -The guests were seated at long tables, each group of two or three -having a pan of snow, on which the maple wax had been poured in -fanciful figures, which were gathered off the snow and eaten with -forks. There was a moment’s hush, as the preacher arose and invoked -the Lord’s blessing upon the occasion. Then began a season of social -intercourse and merry-making. - -An outburst of laughter from all occasionally testified to a fresh -triumph of Uncle Jerry’s wit and called attention anew to the pale -young woman beside him. There was circulated among a few near friends a -photograph of a young man, a Westerner apparently, and it was whispered -about that he was a prosperous ranchman and lumberman, and that he -would soon return to revisit the home of his youth. The picture, and -the neighborly remarks called forth by it, brought a momentary color to -the pale face by Uncle Jerry’s side. - -Old neighbors and friends were no less interested in Miss Boardman, -whose girlhood had been spent among them, and who was here to-night, -accompanied by Ford Hulbert, the Papyrus real estate agent. If Lena -Boardman were at all observant, she must have noticed the respect -shown her companion by all present, and the slightest inquiry would -have revealed the fact that he was universally respected in the little -farming community. - -It was a weird occasion, for the snows of winter and the sweets of -spring contrasted strangely with the warmth of the midsummer evening, -and it was soon over. The last sentiment expressed at the tables, as -the party broke up, was this of Uncle Jerry: “Our Berkshire women,--God -bless ’em,--the sweetest things of God’s creation.” - -Lena Boardman and Ford Hulbert had come on horseback, a favorite method -of travel with them, and as soon as the party began to break up they -returned to Papyrus in the same way they had come. Down the long slopes -the riders cantered, sometimes through deep woods, sometimes in the -open. It was quite dark, but where the riders could not be sure of -their way the horses could be trusted to find it. - -An owl shouted his greeting from the tall spire of a spruce tree. -The hurried whistle of a whippoorwill rang out from a thicket of wild -cherry bushes. Up from the deep aisles of a hemlock woods came the -snarl of a wildcat. - -The roadside bushes had a spicy breath. A minty fragrance was wafted -from the brookside. From fields freshly cut came the scent of hay newly -mown. - -Hulbert reined up his horse, and stopped his companion’s, also. - -“Lena,” he said, “haven’t I been on probation long enough? You have -known for a long time that I love you. How long are you going to hold -me off at arm’s length?” - -“A burnt child dreads the fire,” replied his companion. “I said yes -once, to my sorrow. I don’t want to be hasty again.” - -“I don’t like to be compared to Clif Borden,” he replied. “If you made -a bad choice once, I don’t know who was to blame for it but yourself. -You knew the man, or you ought to have known him; you knew, or you -ought to have known, for your friends told you, that Borden had no -respect for any woman, and no respect for virtue. You went into the -fire, as you express it, with full knowledge of the risk you were -running. I have served a good long apprenticeship for your hand. You -ought to know, also, whether I am an honorable man. It is a long time -since I first asked you to be my wife. Don’t be in a hurry about -answering. I shall never ask you again.” And Hulbert’s horse resumed -its canter down the mountain road. - -There was just the least bit of the coquette about Lena Boardman. She -had fully decided to accept Ford Hulbert, but she wanted to play him -for awhile yet. - -A thunder-shower was coming up rapidly in the south, and the blackness -there was crossed by zig-zag chains of light. - -The hoof-beats were out of harmony with the music of the mountain -brook. Lena thought of the little spring near Phillips Porter’s, where -the brook started. The little stream seemed uncertain, at first, which -way to go. Soon it left the level meadow of its parent spring, and came -to the steep hillside. It rippled and sparkled and tumbled alongside -the mountain road for miles. Then another brook tumbled into it. Then -the larger stream splashed noisily down the mountain till it joined the -river. The river knew where to go. It took a strong dam to stop it and -make it turn the mill-wheel. - -Lena thought of the time when she had first met Hulbert. She remembered -that spring of admiration for the big, handsome, courteous fellow, whom -everybody respected, and who ought not to be dishonored by mention at -the same time with the libertine whom she had married. She knew that he -loved her, and she knew that her own love had grown, like the mountain -brook, till it was too strong to be turned aside. - -During the remainder of the ride Lena was considering how she might -most easily surrender. They reached her own door, where Ford helped her -to alight. Just then a number of pistol-shots rang out at a little -distance down the street, but he paid little attention to them, for her -arms were reached out toward him. She spoke but one word,--“Ford,”--but -it was enough. - -A few minutes later, when Hulbert remounted his horse, a -lightning-flash made the street below brighter than noonday, and -showed to Hulbert and his companion Jehu Baldwin hurrying past, pistol -in hand. Perhaps they would have thought more of this, had they not -noticed by another flash, illuminating a verandah across the street, -the parting of Eva Baldwin and Ralph Cutter. - -Riding his own horse, and leading the one his companion had ridden, -Hulbert hurried away to escape the shower. His home was a large farm, -quite away from the village. - -Next morning, upon taking up a daily paper, he was quite surprised -at the headlines reproduced on the following page from the Elmfield -_Star_:-- - - _SHOTS FIRED AT DAVID BALDWIN_ - - _John Wycliff the Man Who Committed the Assault._ - - _WYCLIFF’S DWELLING DESTROYED_ - - _By a Papyrus Mob--He Gives Himself Up to Sheriff Coggswell._ - -He did not stop to read further, but mounted his horse, and was soon at -Congressman Baldwin’s office. - -“I guess we are rid of John Wycliff for awhile,” remarked the -Congressman. - -“See here, Dave Baldwin, your nephew, Jehu, fired those shots, and I’ll -give you just ten minutes in which to call your dogs off from Wycliff. -If you don’t do it in that time I’ll telegraph the truth about this -affair to a New York paper which you cannot command.” - -“How do you know that Jehu did it?” asked the Congressman. - -“Because I saw him coming from this direction, the pistol still in his -hand, shortly after I heard the shots.” - -“Why have you waited until now before saying a word?” - -“I did not suspect anything wrong until I saw this morning’s paper. -There is at least one crisis in a man’s life when he is too full of -satisfaction himself to suspect anyone of wrong-doing.” - -Just then the telephone bell rang. - -“Is this David Baldwin?” - -“Yes. Who is this?” - -“This is Ralph Cutter at Springdale. I am sorry for you in your -experience of last night. If you will excuse an old-fashioned country -expression, you are barking up the wrong tree. You are entirely wrong -in your charge against Wycliff. Your nephew, Jehu, is the real culprit. -I heard the shots, and was just taking leave of your sister, when a -flash of lightning showed Jehu distinctly, in the middle of the street, -and the weapon still in his hand. Probably it was very dull of me, -but I never thought anything was wrong. When a man has just found the -greatest blessing of his life he may be forgiven for being dull to -common things.” - -“It seems to me that Cupid was working overtime last night,” remarked -the Congressman to himself. - -“I do not wish to make public what I know about Jehu Baldwin,” -continued the voice from Springdale, “because I think that some older -person put up the job, and has used Jehu merely as a tool; but unless -you shall promptly withdraw your charge against Wycliff, justice will -compel me to make a public announcement.” - -“The charge will be withdrawn at once,” replied the Congressman. - -Baldwin then rang up the jail at Elmfield. - -“Is this Sheriff Coggswell?” - -“It is.” - -“This is David Baldwin. Is Wycliff under arrest?” - -“He is not. He is my guest. I shall not arrest him unless the law -compels me to do so, as I have full proof of his innocence, and of Jehu -Baldwin’s guilt. I have a witness who can’t be bribed or brow-beaten, -and whose testimony would stand against all the Baldwins that ever -lived.” - -[Congressman Baldwin and Sheriff Coggswell were political enemies.] - -“A pretty good witness that. Who is he?” - -“I have no right to tell. You’ll know soon enough.” - -“I withdraw my charge against Wycliff,” concluded Baldwin. And Ford -Hulbert withdrew. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - -Deep down in a narrow gorge echoed the sound of the miner’s pick. - -“Mr. Baxter,” said Colonel Lathrop, one of the owners of the -Rattlesnake Mine, “this is too hot a place for an old man like you. If -you are determined to work as long as you live I’ve got other jobs that -are easier for you than swinging a pick-axe in this heat all day. You -know you are not obliged to work. I’ll see you and your wife well taken -care of as long as you live. You’ve done your share of the world’s -work. When a man reaches seventy-five he ought to rest.” - -“I enjoy working,” replied “Old Sunshine.” That was the name he was -best known by among his fellow-laborers. “It’ll be time enough for me -to stop work when I have to. Even if I have done work enough, I have -not worked for you so long that you can afford to pension me off.” - -“Never mind that. I would enjoy paying you your wages better if you -would quit mining. If you are bound to stick to the mines, why not -work in the ‘drift’ with the boys, where the sun cannot hit you? It’s -fearfully hot out here.” - -“Now don’t worry any more about me,” said Old Sunshine, laughing. -“Don’t you see I’m only prospecting? I want to find out what is under -the face of this cliff.” - -“Well, promise me you will quit at four o’clock, anyway, Baxter.” - -And Old Sunshine reluctantly promised. - -“McDonald,” said the Colonel to the foreman, as he was leaving the -mine: “Don’t forget that Old Sunshine is a privileged character. I -don’t want him to work, and had rather pay him for resting. He has been -in the mines over fifty years,--was a forty-niner,--but if he’s bound -to work let him take his own time, and come and go when he pleases. -Give him full time, anyway.” - -“Aye, aye, sir,” replied the boss. “Nobody will interfere with Old -Sunshine. He does more work now than some of the young fellows, if he -is seventy-five.” - -Old Sunshine had had a checkered career. More than once he had been -wealthy, and that wealth, which sometimes comes suddenly in the mines, -had flown as suddenly as it came. Had he known the right time to stop, -to turn his mining investments into other and more stable securities, -he might be living in luxury on his interest money. As it was, he was -dependent upon his day’s wages at seventy-five, and partly because of -his independent spirit, and partly from his robust health and love of -work, he refused to let Colonel Lathrop make life easier for him. - -It was two o’clock. Still the clink of Old Sunshine’s pick sounded -steadily in the gulch. The other miners were working in the drifts or -levels. Still the torrid heat rained down upon the solitary miner, upon -the heated rocks, and upon the rattlesnakes, the original settlers and -owners of the gulch. - -Soon Old Sunshine’s practiced eye told him that he was reaching a -richer rock than before. Near the foot of the bank he was gradually -uncovering a broad band of dull yellow. He knew what that meant,--one -of the richest veins he had ever seen in his half-century of -gold-mining. Another man would have dropped his pick and called the -other miners to witness his discovery. But not a word from Old Sunshine. - -It was three o’clock. He began to wield the pick-axe higher up the -bank. The material there was soft or “rotten rock,” and at four o’clock -he had his rich find at the base of the cliff completely hidden from -sight with the worthless rock which he had loosened from above. - -“I promised the Colonel I’d quit at four o’clock,” he said to the boss -who passed just then. “I suppose I must keep my word.” - -“Aye, aye, that’s all right, Old Sunshine; perfectly right. You’ve had -a scorcher here to-day,” replied the boss, without a suspicion of the -wealth which lay near him. Old Sunshine never gave him a hint of his -find. - -Then began the weary climb out of the gorge. This was the point at -which Old Sunshine most realized that he was well on the down-hill side -of life. He could still do a fair day’s work, but he could not, as -formerly, do a day’s work and still have a large reserve of strength -left over. He climbed awhile, and then sat down to rest. Then he -climbed again. Occasionally a serpent made way for him, shaking his -rattles, more as a warning than a threat. He reached his own cabin at -last. - -“What brings you home so early?” asked his wife. - -“The Colonel made me promise to quit early. He don’t like to have me -work. He says he would take care of us and I guess he would, but I -don’t like to let him. Please get me a lunch and then I must go down -and see the Colonel.” - -“What? Walk six miles to-night?” - -“Yes, I can do it; it may make a big difference to the Colonel. After -he went home I struck a rich vein, and I want him to know it as soon -as possible. The other miners do not know it. Do not tell them. I -think the vein runs off across the old ‘Dead Open and Shut’ claim. The -Colonel can buy that claim for a few thousand dollars now, but after -this strike gets noised abroad he may not be able to buy it at all. If -I can give the Colonel warning so he can buy the Dead Open and Shut -claim cheap, and if he makes a good thing out of it, then I can accept -a pension from him, not as charity, but as my just due. Don’t expect me -till morning. Good night.” - -Luckily for the old man his journey was almost all down hill. The -whole country thereabouts was a desert for the want of water. In those -small sections where irrigation had been employed the land was very -productive. - -Old Sunshine plodded on. The sands were hot. The air was hotter. There -was little beside his path to attract attention except here and there a -cactus plant. Beyond the distant mountains, across the valley, the sun -was setting in glory. The memory of the past years, of fortunes he had -made and lost, came to him again. It was because these memories did not -make him gloomy and sour, but because his hopeful nature triumphed over -them, that he had won the title of Old Sunshine, and none of earth’s -monarchs had a grander title. - -It began to grow dark in the desert, but the western mountain-tops were -still glorious. And then there came to the old man the words which had -cheered him so often: - -“At evening time it shall be light.” - -The day of his life had been full of storms. Would its evening be -peaceful and light? - -Steady plodding brought him to Emerald Valley, or as it was better -known, Lathrop’s Miracle, a desert like the rest until the Colonel’s -enterprise had made it a paradise. He had dug a canal, tapping the -river miles above, and the water had turned the desert into a very -Eden of luxuriance. Everything which the Colonel could grow brought -a high price in the near-by mining camps. He had spent many thousands -of dollars in this private enterprise of changing the desert into a -garden, and his efforts had met the success which they deserved. Every -dollar spent by Colonel Lathrop in irrigation had returned to him -leading others with it. - -The Colonel and his family were at their evening meal. - -“If here isn’t Old Sunshine!” exclaimed little Daisy Lathrop. - -“Have you walked all the way from the Rattlesnake?” asked the Colonel. -“Nothing wrong at the mine, I hope. Make room at the table, children, -for Mr. Baxter.” - -“Nothing wrong, Colonel--but can I see you alone a few minutes?” - -“Certainly. Come this way.” The Colonel led the way to a room which was -both office and library to him. - -“What’s up?” he asked. - -“I struck a rich vein after you left, but I managed to keep it hidden -from the other men. I believe the vein runs off across the old Dead -Open and Shut claim. I thought perhaps you would like to buy that claim -before the public gets wind of the strike.” - -Old Sunshine then exhibited specimens of the gold which he had found. - -“Of course I can’t say how far the vein extends. You will have to take -your chances on that, but it is the richest vein I have ever seen in -all my fifty years of mining.” - -“You’re a brick, Old Sunshine. I’ll close a bargain for the Dead Open -and Shut to-night if I can. Winklereid tried to sell it to me to-day -for ten thousand dollars. Here, Martha,” he called to his wife, “please -take the best care you can of our friend here. He must be pretty well -used up.” - -In five minutes the Colonel was astride his best horse and galloping -toward the village. He dismounted in front of the real estate office, -hitched his horse, stood still a moment to cool down and to brush off -the appearance of hurry and excitement, and then entered. He seated -himself leisurely and began exchanging banter with the loungers in the -office. - -Presently Mr. Winklereid, the real estate dealer, spoke to him: - -“Here’s Mr. Hammersley, who has just bought the Coyote Mine. I hope -he may make a million out of it. And this man,” continued Winklereid, -waving his hand toward Colonel Lathrop, “can make more money out of -desert land and river water than anyone else in the state can make out -of gold-mining.” - -“All joking aside,” replied Colonel Lathrop, “irrigation is a dead sure -thing when compared with gold-mining, which is scarcely better than a -lottery.” - -“The Colonel,” pursued Mr. Winklereid, “is the father of irrigation in -this state. For that reason, among others, his name is being pressed -upon Governor Brown for appointment to the United States Senate, to -succeed Senator Smith, who died the other day.” - -The Colonel did not want to talk politics. After wishing Mr. -Hammersley success, he said:-- - -“Now, Winklereid, watch out for a little place for me, near the -village. I want a place where a man of seventy-five can spend his -remaining days in ease and comfort.” - -“I’ve got it now,” replied Winklereid. “The very thing, snug and tidy, -in good repair, right in the village, convenient to everything.” - -“Hold it for me till we can look at it. I’m in a hurry to-night.” And -the Colonel seemed on the point of leaving. - -“You’d better take me up on that Dead Open and Shut bargain, Colonel. -It’s worth more to you than anyone else.” - -“Haven’t I enough invested in desert rocks already?” asked the Colonel. -“Besides,” he continued, “Wycliff is my mining partner. I want him to -share my chances of making a dollar at mining. But for his bravery I -might be poor to-day. How soon do you want your money?” - -“Pay me any sum you please to-night, and I’ll give you a bond for a -deed before you leave the office.” - -“Here’s five hundred dollars I took in for cattle to-day. I’ll pay you -the rest in thirty days. Is that satisfactory?” - -“Perfectly.” - -Half an hour later the Colonel was galloping toward home with the -precious bond in his pocket. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - -Sheriff Coggswell’s family apartments were in the front part of the -jail building, and here he entertained his old friend, Wycliff, until -the notice came from Congressman Baldwin that he made no charge against -him. Wycliff then thanked the Sheriff and his family, and walked out -upon the streets of Elmfield, a free man. - -At the gateway of the jail-grounds he was met by a messenger from -Papyrus bearing a telegram from Colonel Lathrop:-- - -“Rich vein struck at the Rattlesnake. Syndicate offers one million for -mine. Full particulars by letter.” - -Wycliff’s acquaintances--and he had many among all classes in -Elmfield--were surprised at seeing him at large, and congratulations -and inquiries were of frequent occurrence. But he saw something which -made him, for the moment, unconscious of the attentions of friend or -foe,--a pretty pony, drawing a cart in which were several children. - -Wycliff stopped suddenly. His memory went back to a scene in a -sick-room not many months before, and to a promise which he had -forgotten. For a time he had been unable to keep the promise. Recently -he had been able to keep his promise, but had forgotten it. He wandered -down the main street of Elmfield, and then off down a side street, to a -livery and sale stable. - -“Do you keep those little ponies, such as children drive?” he asked the -proprietor, an old acquaintance. - -“No, there is too little call for them, but I order them when wanted. -Do you want one?” - -“Yes, a perfectly gentle and safe one, as my boy is not very strong. -I am going over to Cook’s for a cart, and to Brandon’s for a harness. -Please send the pony to Brandon’s to be fitted with a harness; get the -cart, and send the outfit to my place, ready for use.” - -When these purchases had been made, Wycliff called upon his attorney, -Lawyer Sturgis. An hour later Sheriff Coggswell was posting up a notice -of attachment in the Monadnock, the principal hotel of Elmfield. -As Zechariah Baldwin owned both the Elmfield _Star_ and the Hotel -Monadnock, the hotel could be lawfully attached for the misdeeds of the -newspaper, while Massachusetts Law in a measure protects the newspaper -plant from attachment. - -“What does this mean?” asked the manager of the hotel. - -“It means,” replied the smiling sheriff, “that those who dance must pay -the fiddler,” and straightway he started for the “Paper Town,” to serve -personal notice upon the Lord of Papyrus himself. Sheriff Coggswell was -the only Berkshire officer who was independent of the Baldwins--the -only one who did not acknowledge the political authority of Congressman -Baldwin, the political boss of the County and State. Consequently he -fully enjoyed the present situation. - -The case against Zechariah Baldwin came up in the Superior Court, a -little later, for trial. Wycliff, the plaintiff, was ready to proceed -with the case. The defendant, through his attorney, pleaded for delay. - -Judge Selden, after hearing both attorneys patiently, ordered an -immediate trial. - -“The defendant in this case,” said the Judge, “has, through his -newspaper, charged the plaintiff with a very serious crime--assault -with intent to kill. If he had sufficient evidence to warrant him in -making such charge, in such a public manner, he has sufficient evidence -for defending this action, without delay.” - -Then Baldwin’s attorney, Lawyer Stimson, requested time to effect a -settlement out of court. This was granted. - -Only the attorneys for the two parties met. There was good reason for -this, since a meeting of the principals would only have resulted in -a wordy encounter, with nothing accomplished at last in the way of -settlement. One could scarcely imagine any business of this nature -accomplished between two men who so thoroughly detested one another as -did Zechariah Baldwin and John Wycliff. Nor would the settlement have -fared any better if the Baldwin end of the negotiations had been left -with Deacon Surface, since Wycliff regarded him as an arch-hypocrite, -and he, in his turn, was looked upon as an outlaw by the Deacon. - -“Well, Sturgis,” began the attorney for Baldwin, “your client seems to -value his reputation pretty highly. It is not often that an attachment -for one hundred thousand dollars is placed in an action of this kind.” - -“You forget, Stimson,” Lawyer Sturgis replied, “that these millionaires -think a good deal of themselves, whatever value the public may set -upon them. Since Wycliff is rated a millionaire, I presume he regards -himself as not being on the bargain-counter any longer, but fit to -have his reputation rated with that of the Baldwins. In the famous -Apthorp case you pleaded, with abundant reason, that the reputation of -a millionaire was worth more than that of a poor man.” - -Then, seeing a puzzled expression on the face of his brother attorney, -Lawyer Sturgis continued:-- - -“Perhaps you have not read all the latest news from the gold fields. -The syndicate has raised its offer for the Rattlesnake Mine to two -million dollars.” - -“But how does that affect this question?” asked Stimson, who was still -in the dark. - -“John Wycliff is a half owner in the Rattlesnake mine.” - -“That makes a difference.” - -“Wycliff would prefer to have this case go to court. He would like to -show up these immaculate Baldwins--these Christian philanthropists--in -their true attitude toward labor. Only one reason impels him to -a private settlement. Jehu Baldwin, who would be shown up as the -principal transgressor, is little more than a boy, and less to blame -than his father who set him on,” said Sturgis. - -“But,” protested Stimson, “are you not taking a great deal for granted -on very slight evidence?” - -“By no means,” replied Sturgis. “We have full proof of every step of -this whole crime, from the time when Zechariah Baldwin, on his own -premises, persuaded his son Jehu to set this trap for Wycliff, until -the instant when Jehu Baldwin threw his pistol upon Wycliff’s lawn. A -kind Providence, more than his own exertions, has placed full proof in -my client’s possession. You and I, Stimson, are both too old, and have -won too honorable a place at the Berkshire Bar to indulge in a game of -bluff, and I have something here which will convince you that I am not -bluffing.” - -He opened his safe, and took from it a photograph. - -“Do you recognize anything in that picture?” - -“Yes, that is Dobbs’ Corner, in Papyrus. The guide-board tells the -story. ‘Elmfield, six miles; Sprucemont, nine miles; Wendell, five -miles.’ And that old elm--there’s no mistaking that. I was out there -in my auto yesterday.” - -“But the person?” - -“Looks like Jehu Baldwin, surely, and the pistol still in his hand. -But here’s an important point which you might be troubled to prove. -How can you prove that this flashlight--for a flashlight photo it is, -evidently--was taken on the night which you claim? If we assert that it -was secured on some other night than the one of the riot, you cannot -prove that it was taken on that identical night.” - -“Easily enough, Stimson. Do you see nothing else in the picture?” - -“Yes, some sort of a machine, or wagon, with the word ‘Vesuvius’ on it.” - -“Very well,” laughed Sturgis, “that new Vesuvius road machine spent -only that one night in Papyrus. It was taken on trial, proved -unsatisfactory, and was next day returned to Elmfield and exchanged for -another.” - -“But you are not going to exact the whole pound of flesh, the whole -hundred thousand?” asked Lawyer Stimson. - -“Not if you will do the fair thing. If the _Star_ will publish a -suitable retraction of its charge against Wycliff, and an admission -that the attack upon Congressman Baldwin was part of a conspiracy to -drive Wycliff out of town, then we will cut our claim to ten thousand -dollars. Otherwise we shall insist on the whole sum.” - -“I think Zack Baldwin had rather pay the whole demand than to make the -acknowledgement you ask,” said Stimson. - -“So do I,” responded Sturgis. “I never knew a Baldwin to acknowledge -an injustice he had done, or to make any compensation for it unless -obliged to do so by law, and being multi-millionaires, they cannot -usually be compelled to do justly. Senator Dawes, the greatest advocate -that ever faced a Berkshire jury, in describing a particularly mean -man, once coined the expression, ‘natural cussedness.’ I suppose that -the orthodox term, ‘total depravity,’ would have sounded more smoothly, -but smoothness was not what the great Senator was after. When I think -of the great conspiracy against my client I cannot help using the words -of the Senator. Natural cussedness is a proper term to apply to the -meanness of Zack Baldwin. The words fit.” - -“You are rather uncharitable toward my client, are you not?” asked -Stimson, laughing, and stepping to a window. Lawyer Sturgis’ office was -on the upper floor of the highest block in the city of Elmfield, and -commanded a fine view of the city. - -“Come here, Sturgis,” said the other, and Sturgis stepped to the -window. “There is a side of Zechariah Baldwin’s character which you do -not appreciate. There is the finest gift ever made to the city. Who -gave that splendid building to Elmfield?” - -Before them stood the Elmfield Public Library, given to the city by the -Honorable Zechariah Baldwin and representing, with its contents, an -expenditure of more than half a million dollars. - -“You will probably think me a crank, Stimson,” Sturgis replied, “but I -believe the half million dollars put into that building had better have -gone to the Baldwin employees. One thousand each, in cash or in a home, -to five hundred workmen, would have done more good than half a million -in this palatial building, in my way of thinking. It would be nearer -just. - -“The very fact that the Baldwins have been able, through the labor -of others, in the paper industry, to pile up millions and tens of -millions, for themselves and their descendants, while incidentally -giving a few millions in so-called charity, this very fact, I say, is -evidence that they might have paid their workmen more liberally. I tell -you, Stimson, the time is coming, though you and I may not live to -see it, when the lion’s share of the profits in any industry will go, -not to the employer, but to the worker. To accomplish this it may be -necessary for the government to become the employer.” - -“Isn’t that socialism?” asked the smiling Stimson of his brother of -the Bar. - -“I believe that there is something vitally wrong,” replied Sturgis, -“in a system which permits the employer to pile up millions, tens of -millions, and even hundreds of millions of dollars, while the workman, -who is making these millions for him, often receives only a bare -living, and frequently has nothing left for old age. With apologies -to Patrick Henry, if this be socialism, make the most of it. Let me -remind you of a very prominent illustration of our present system. -Our government framed its tariff laws for the special benefit of -the iron and steel industry, it being claimed that such laws would -especially benefit the workingmen in that industry. Who received the -benefit? More than two hundred millions of dollars were piled up in -the hands of one man, who is now trying to unload these millions upon -the public libraries of the country. Without denying the benefit of -public libraries, that two hundred millions should most of it have -gone to the workingmen who created that wealth. Give the workingmen -of America their just dues, and there will be no need of private gifts -to libraries. Every community will be abundantly able to build its own -library, and that will be better than accepting gifts from men whose -wealth rightly belongs to the people.” - -“Would you deny the right of private property?” asked Stimson. - -“The right of private property, when grossly abused, must give way to -something higher,--the public good.” - -“If I stay longer I shall miss another appointment,” said Stimson. -“Your client will probably receive a check soon.” And Stimson withdrew. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - -John Wycliff had made his plans for remaining in Papyrus. Zechariah -Baldwin had paid the full amount of John Wycliff’s legal demands. The -latter, through the agency of his friend, Ford Hulbert, had purchased -the Van Alstyne estate, comprising the old Van Alstyne homestead, -numerous tenements located in different parts of the town, and several -hundred acres of land on the outskirts of the town. It was the largest -piece of real estate in Papyrus, except the Wesson Mills, which the -all-devouring Baldwins had not secured. - -Scarcely had Wycliff moved his family into the old Van Alstyne -homestead, when all his plans were upset by a letter from Colonel -Lathrop, proposing that he remove to Emerald Valley, and giving very -substantial reasons for such proposal. The Colonel wrote in part:-- - -“Senator Smith recently died, and Governor Brown offers me the -appointment to the U. S. Senate until the Legislature meets, when it -is reasonably sure that it will elect me for the remainder of Senator -Smith’s unexpired term. Of course you will see the wisdom of having -one of the owners of the Rattlesnake Mine resident here. I am not a -statesman. I am not much of a politician, except that, in a large -measure, I have footed the bills of my party here. My claims upon the -people are two: First, as the father of irrigation in this region. -Second, in partnership with yourself, as one of the owners of the -leading gold mine in this section. - -“I should like to spend a year in the Millionaires’ Club, at -Washington, and obtain the title of U. S. Senator for my old age. The -Rattlesnake Mine, which now includes the Dead Open and Shut, is forging -rapidly to the front of all gold-mining properties in the West, and -there is scarcely a doubt that after I have completed the late Senator -Smith’s term, you could be elected to succeed me. Money makes senators, -and this is as true of the East as of the West in these days. - -“I remember, as a young man, you used to be proud of New England. You -used to speak of the New England love of fair play, and you would grow -eloquent in praise of the New England conscience. Haven’t you had -enough of New England fair play? Do you want more of it? - -“I saw a leading Abolitionist dragged through the streets of Boston. I -learned then where the New England conscience was, and is. It was, and -is, inside the New England pocket-book. Had slavery been profitable in -New England we should not have had the Civil War, and slavery would -still be an American institution. I fought in that war, but I cannot -close my eyes to the truth. There were soldiers under my command, who, -as Northern laborers, were more to be pitied than the slaves on the -better class of Southern plantations. - -“I remember a young man--(do you remember him?)--who was a great -admirer of the Springdale _Democrat_, which has been called the -New England Bible. It is eloquent, in season and out of season, in -advocating equal rights for the Southern negro and the Filipino, but -never asks equal rights for the mill-hands of Papyrus. It does not -hesitate to criticise the President of the United States, but its -millionaire idol, Congressman Baldwin, is exempt from criticism. Can -you defend this course? - -“Let me urge one consideration which cannot fail to have weight with -you. Your physician will tell you, much better than I can, that your -son’s chances of living to a vigorous manhood will be much improved -by coming here. Here, in all probability, he would reach a rugged -maturity, and here is the mining property with which he should become -familiar, as he must some day, in the natural course of events, bear a -part in its management.” - -Wycliff had scarcely finished reading this letter to his wife, when she -said:-- - -“There are Eva Baldwin and Ralph Cutter, apparently coming here.” Only -a few days before had the newspapers announced the couple’s engagement. - -“I am told,” said Miss Baldwin, “that you own the territory to -the northward, known as the Wilderness. There are reasons, purely -sentimental, why I would like to purchase a portion of it, including -Pulpit Rock. Would you sell it?” - -“I had not intended to sell,” replied Wycliff. “I had thought of making -a sheep-range of it. At the same time I intended making paths through -it, as our Robert needs just the exercise which he could get there. -However, if the possession of a portion of it would give pleasure to -you, I suppose that I ought to sell, provided my wife agrees.” - -“I have no objection,” said Mrs. Wycliff. “It seems to me that the -Wilderness is large enough to accommodate both of us.” - -“We shall probably soon go West for a time,” said Wycliff, “but my -agent, Ford Hulbert, will attend to the matter. I think that you and -he will have no difficulty. I believe the day will come, although not -in our time, when there will be no private ownership of land, it is -subject to so many abuses.” - -“Amen,” exclaimed Ralph Cutter. “I believe that the Lord made this -earth for the enjoyment of all his people, not to have its blessings -monopolized by a favored few. Government ownership of land must come, I -believe, although you and I will probably not live to see it.” - -A little later Miss Boardman and Ford Hulbert drove up. “I don’t know -what you will think of Lena,” said the gentleman. “She seems to be -getting ambitious, wants me to buy of you one of the peaks of Twin -Mountain for a summer residence. I am afraid you will not care to sell.” - -“It seems likely,” said Wycliff, “that we shall go west to look after -our mining property, leaving everything here in your care. I hope we -may be able to return occasionally. If we ever build on Twin Mountain, -I think one peak will be ample for our use, will it not?” he asked, -addressing his wife. - -“I hope we may be able to spend some time here each summer,” Mrs. -Wycliff replied. “If we ever do build on Twin Mountain it will be very -pleasant to have you there for neighbors.” - -When they had gone Uncle Jerry Barnaby came to give an account of his -stewardship of Twin Mountain Farm. He seemed to be hardly the same -person as the woe-begone, long-faced man they had once known. - -“How is your daughter?” asked Mrs. Wycliff. - -“You never saw such a change in anyone,” said Uncle Jerry. “Pet is -hardly the same woman that she was when she left Papyrus.” - -“What has done it? Our mountain air?” - -“I don’t wish to run down our mountain air; the fact is, I’ve seen -the time when you couldn’t run it down with an express train. But -givin’ the mountain air all the credit that belongs to it, still it’s -those letters from Oregon that have saved Pet. It’s the old, old -story,--‘’Tis love that makes the world go ’round.’ - -“When that first letter came to Pet, from ’way up in the great -Northwest, it made a little spot of color on Pet’s cheeks just about as -big as the first bit of color that shows in a rosebud, and that spot, -or that pair of spots, have been growin’ bigger ever since till now the -roses are pretty much full-blown.” - -“When is he coming?” - -“In a fortnight.” - -“And then?” - -“They will be married, and go to his home in the Oregon woods. Pet -always did like the woods, and she’ll have woods a plenty there. He has -hundreds of acres of forest.” - -“Pop,” said Robbie later, as he climbed on to his father’s knees, by -the window, “see that pretty pony and little cart coming down the -street. Say, Pop, when I was so sick did you promise me a pony and a -cart, or did I dream it?” - -“I promised,” replied the father, but now the pony and cart were at the -door. - -Still later a very tired boy was resting comfortably in his kind -father’s arms. - -“Pop,” he said, “are we really and truly rich?” - -“It looks like that,” replied the father, “but I was rich before.” - -“How is that?” asked the boy. - -“Please bring me that old scrap-book, Robbie.” - -The boy brought it, and the father read aloud these lines:-- - - “_I have thought myself poor since God withheld - From me His lands and gold, - Forgetting that some of his gifts excelled - Mere wealth a thousand fold._ - - “_For what is the wealth of the teeming fields - Beside thy love, wife mine? - And measured by joy a child’s love yields - What worth is a golden mine?_” - - -THE END. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORSHIP OF THE GOLDEN -CALF *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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