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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8159d02 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69678 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69678) diff --git a/old/69678-0.txt b/old/69678-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6b2a4f4..0000000 --- a/old/69678-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9004 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memoirs of a millionaire, by Lucia -True Ames - -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: Memoirs of a millionaire - -Author: Lucia True Ames - -Release Date: January 1, 2023 [eBook #69678] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Richard Tonsing 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 MEMOIRS OF A -MILLIONAIRE *** - - - - - - MEMOIRS OF A MILLIONAIRE - - - BY - - LUCIA TRUE AMES - - AUTHOR OF “GREAT THOUGHTS FOR LITTLE THINKERS” - -[Illustration] - - BOSTON AND NEW YORK - HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY - =The Riverside Press, Cambridge= - 1889 - - - - - Copyright, 1889, - BY LUCIA TRUE AMES. - - _All rights reserved._ - - - _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ - Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. - - - - - Dedicated - - TO - - MY ONLY BROTHER, CHARLES H. AMES. - -Written for all men and women to whom the privilege of American -citizenship has been vouchsafed, and to whom the stewardship of wealth -has been entrusted. - -[Illustration] - - - - - EDITOR’S PREFACE. - - -Since the recent death of the noble woman whose name has become a -household word all over our land, and whose memoirs form the subject of -this volume, I have been repeatedly importuned to give to the public -some account of her remarkable life. - -It is too soon yet to present an adequate biography, and for such a task -I should consider myself entirely unfitted. I have, however, endeavored, -though somewhat hastily, to put together such material, chiefly -selections from newspaper reports, letters, and diaries, as shall throw -light upon the numerous projects that were the outcome of her thought -and generosity, and which in certain ways are unparalleled in the annals -of those whose wealth has been devoted to the cause of humanity. - -Cut off in the full ripeness of early womanhood, her work was -nevertheless accomplished, and millions shall in the ages to come reap -perennial harvests from the seed which in one short year her wisdom and -foresight sowed far and wide. - -The world at large will know somewhat of her work; but only to those who -knew her best, to whom she revealed the warmth and intensity of her -strong nature, can the full beauty of her life be known. - -The constant, subtle charm of her manner, now gracious and dignified, -now unconsciously naive and simple, only a master could portray. I must -content myself, therefore, with giving, in simplest words, but a few of -the many reminiscences that memory brings back of those moments which -may serve to make clear the thoughts and purposes that were the -mainspring of all her action, and which made her what she was, the -noblest woman I have ever known. - -I have hesitated about using the word “Memoirs” in the title of this -volume. That word has a somewhat doleful and funereal sound, suggestive -of anything but the bright, vigorous life of her who was so intensely -warm and alive. But perhaps there is no other word that so well -expresses what I have here put together, and so I leave it as I wrote it -first, “Memoirs of a Millionaire.” - - BOSTON, _June 7, 189–_. - - - - - MEMOIRS OF A MILLIONAIRE. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - The class of which I speak make themselves merry without duties. They - sit in decorated club-houses in the cities, and burn tobacco and play - whist; in the country they sit idle in stores and bar-rooms, and burn - tobacco, and gossip and sleep. They complain of the flatness of - American life; America has no illusions, no romance. They have no - perception of its destiny. They are not Americans.—EMERSON, _The - Fortune of the Republic_. - - -It was on the evening of election day that I first saw her. I had come -up from Salem to Boston, to spend the night and hear Booth and Barrett -the next day, and I had gone to dine at aunt Madison’s on Louisburg -Square. - -The lamps had not been lighted, and we were all sitting cosily around -the open grate after dinner, talking over the _matinée_, and jesting -with two or three of Will’s college friends who were there for the -evening, when the portière was noiselessly drawn aside, and Mildred -Brewster came in with a cheery good evening. - -I can recall now just how she looked, as, after the introductions were -over, she stood leaning on the back of aunt Madison’s chair, with the -ruddy glow of the firelight on her face, and her lithe figure dimly -outlined against the shadowy background. - -I did not notice her much at first, for, after her blithe greeting, on -seeing strangers she had drawn back into the shadow and sat so quietly -that I, carrying on a gay banter with the young men, had almost -forgotten her. - -I do not remember what was said at first. It did not make much -impression on me at the time, until, after a while, the talk grew a -little more serious, and the young men began to speak of their plans for -the future. They were all seniors, and each of them, except Will, had -plenty of money in his own right, with apparently nothing in life more -burdensome to do than to draw checks and order dinners at Young’s. - -They were a handsome trio, broad-chested, keen-eyed, clad in the -daintiest of linen from Noyes Brothers,—“the jolliest swells in the -class,” Will called them. - -Aunt Madison asked them, apropos of the election, how they had voted, -for they were all residents of Boston and had passed their majority. -They were evidently rather amused at the query, but each and all -politely replied that they hadn’t much enthusiasm about voting, and it -having been a rainy day, they had not taken the trouble to go to the -polls. - -“You see, the fact is,” said the young man with the blonde mustache whom -Will called Ned Conro, “voting is a confounded bore, any way.” - -“But of course you have an interest in national politics, if not in -municipal affairs?” said aunt Madison, inquiringly, as she looked up -from her knitting and beamed benevolently at the young man through her -gold-bowed spectacles. “I suppose you young men at Harvard, with all -your study of history and political economy, are wide awake about all -these things.” - -“Oh, we talk free trade and protection more or less, that is, the -fellows did who took that course of study last year. I don’t go in for -that sort of thing myself very much; my money isn’t in manufactures, and -I don’t care a continental about the tariff one way or the other. And as -for politics,—of course we all go in for the hurrah and fun in a -presidential campaign, but I don’t look forward to doing anything -further in that line after I graduate. It is all well enough for any one -who has a fancy for it and who wants to run for office, and that sort of -thing. But there can’t be more than two senators and one governor in a -state at a time, and anything less than that isn’t worth the trouble. - -“I’ve mighty little respect for any man who condescends to be a ward -politician. Boston is an Irish city, after all, though last year some of -the better class got their blood up and had a clearing out; but the game -isn’t worth the candle, and I, for one, am willing to let the Irish go -the whole figure if they wish to do it. We can’t get rid of them, and it -doesn’t pay to mix up with them. I don’t propose to vote to have my -father, or any other gentleman of good old New England stock, sit beside -some liquor-seller or grocer as common councilman or alderman.” - -“Neither do I,” ejaculated my _vis-à-vis_, whom Will had introduced as -Mr. Mather; “a fellow who begins to bother his head about all these -little twopenny municipal affairs only soils his hands for his pains, -and doesn’t improve matters one atom. It’s well enough to vote if one -wants to, but what does a single vote amount to? It counts no more when -cast by a Harvard professor than by some South Cove ‘Mick.’ Suppose Mr. -Smith and Mr. Brown are up for school committee; you don’t know a thing -about either of them, except that they are nominated by a set of rummies -and demagogues, or else by a lot of women or pious temperance cranks. -You are a professional man and your time is worth ten dollars an -hour,—you don’t care a fig about the whole school committee business -anyway; it’s the women’s affair—they can vote on that. Let them turn out -and manage it as they did last year, if they want to; but you can’t -expect a man to look after these matters, and be elbowed and hooted down -at the caucuses, if he has the tastes of a gentleman and all the -responsibilities of a profession or a large business on his shoulders.” - -“The fact is that in municipal matters the ballot ought to be put on a -property basis, and until that is done, I shall bother myself precious -little about it,” remarked the third young gentleman, twirling his seal -and addressing his three feminine listeners. - -I wondered why Mildred’s cheeks had grown so rosy and why her dark eyes -had such a gleam in them as she laid down the bit of embroidery on which -her fingers had been busy, and turned toward the speaker. “What a -profile!” I thought; “almost pure Greek, only the chin is a little too -square.” - -“The truth is,” the young man continued, “we have no great men now and -no great issues, unless you call all this frenzy about the school -question a great issue. We’ve got to come to see that the government has -no right to tax its citizens to teach history, anyway. It’s an -imposition to tax a man to send some one else’s child to a high school. -Let the state give a child the three R’s, and then if he wants to learn -about Tetzel or Luther, let his father pay to have him taught in his own -way. Politics is no profession for a young man. There’s no great amount -of money in it, unless you’re mighty shrewd, and tricky, too; and as for -fame, the man must be pretty thick-skinned who can stand the pelting -which every reputation gets nowadays, and not wince under it. For my -part, I think democracy is a good deal played out. It was all right so -long as men _were_ equal; but we’re getting about as stratified a -society now as there is anywhere in the Old World; and there’s no use in -the sentimental every-man-a-brother kind of talk. I don’t propose to -shake the greasy hand of any of these beastly foreigners that are coming -here and crowding us to the wall. I don’t grudge them the rights of -American citizenship; they may have it and welcome, if they want it; but -where they step in I step out. In fact, I think I shall settle down in -Paris or Florence for a while. There’s lots more fun for a fellow over -there.” - -There was more of this sort of talk. I watched Mildred’s face, and -noticed that her lips were twitching and her fingers playing nervously -with the fringe of a scarlet silk shawl which she wore. Evidently she -was under some stress of strong emotion, though for what reason I but -vaguely guessed. She had come out of the shadow, and stood tall and -stately, with her arm resting on the mantel and her eyes fixed on the -speakers with such a look as I had never before seen on any countenance. -There was anger and pity and contempt, strangely mingled, on her mobile -features. She had forgotten herself, and I think they were fairly -startled at the look they read in her tell-tale face. - -Will made an attempt to change the subject, but Mr. Mather broke in: -“You look as though you did not agree with us, Miss Brewster. Come, we -have monopolized the conversation so far, now tell us what _you_ think.” - -She did not speak at first, and there was an awkward silence for a -minute. When it was broken, her voice sounded so painfully hard and calm -in its effort not to tremble that I scarcely recognized it. - -“Within two weeks,” she said, speaking slowly, “I have sat for five -hours face to face with the leading anarchists of New England. I have -questioned them, and they have told me frankly of their doctrines, which -you already know, and which, I scarcely need to say, I heartily detest. -But I have not heard, either from the lips of these misguided men or -from any one for many months, anything which has so shocked and -surprised me as what I have just listened to here.” - -I felt that she was trembling as she spoke, but her voice was low and -quiet. - -She continued: “When one is filled with indignation and grief it is -difficult to speak justly and wisely, and therefore, if you will excuse -me, I think that I will not trust myself to say anything further.” - -“Good heavens!” cried Mr. Mather, staring at her in undisguised -amazement, while his companions glanced slyly at each other with faint -smiles and an evident endeavor to make the best of an embarrassing -situation. - -“I think, dear, you had better tell them what you are thinking of, lest -they misunderstand you; of course you don’t mean that they are worse -than anarchists,” said aunt Madison, gently. - -“No, not worse, but more to blame,” replied Miss Brewster, with -extraordinary candor, and then recollecting herself, a crimson tide -suddenly mantled her neck and cheek and brow, and she drew back again -into the shadow. - -“I beg your pardon,” she stammered; and then with a little forced laugh -she added, “you see, you oughtn’t to have tempted me to speak. I was -sure to give offense if I spoke my thoughts.” - -“Ah, but we can’t excuse you unless you go on,” said Ned Conro, -persuasively. “As for me, you have whetted my curiosity so that I shan’t -sleep a wink to-night,” he went on, with a twinkle in his eye, “unless I -know why my father’s son and heir, who has hitherto supposed himself to -be always on the side of law and order, is more to blame than these -foreign wretches who have come over here with the notion in their addled -heads that they are going to upset this nineteenth-century civilization -with a few ounces of dynamite.” - -Mr. Gordon echoed Mr. Conro’s request, while a quizzical smile played -around his lips, and I knew as well as if he had told me, that he was -saying to himself, “Gad, she’s a specimen! One of these cranky -women’s-righters, no doubt. How they do like to hold forth! These girls -always spoil a fellow’s fun with their high and mighty theories and -ideas.” And this son of a quadruple millionaire thrust his hands deep -into the pockets of his English trousers and stretched himself -comfortably to listen, with all the complacent condescension of a man to -whom twenty-two years of experience and masculine wisdom gave a -consciousness of virtuous superiority. - -The flush had faded from Mildred’s cheek, but I fancied from the look in -her eyes that she was in no mood to be trifled with; this was no mere -passing gust of passion. She had received a wound which had cut her to -the quick; for, as I afterwards learned to know, hers was one of those -rare natures, rare in men, rarer still in women, which scarcely feels a -personal slight, but to which a grand, absorbing idea is more real and -vital than all else, and which counts treason to this the unpardonable -sin. - -“If I speak, I must speak plainly,” said Mildred. “I have neither time -nor wit to clothe my thoughts in ambiguous, inoffensive words. Like -plain, blunt Antony, I can only ‘speak right on’ and say ‘what in my -heart doth beat and burn.’” - -“Good, I like that,” said Mr. Mather gravely, and there was an instant’s -silence, broken only by the chime of the cathedral clock as it struck -the hour. - -“I have been thinking,” said Mildred quietly, “of those words in that -record of the young Hebrew, who, it is said, sold his birthright for a -mess of pottage. I have been thinking also of those words of our own -Emerson: ‘We live in a new and exceptional age. America is another name -for Opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of -Providence in behalf of the human race.’ Perhaps you do not see the -connection between these two thoughts, but to me it seems very close. To -have for one’s inheritance the birthright of American citizenship seems -to me something so rich and precious that to despise it and ignobly sell -it,—not like Esau for the mess of pottage which could relieve his -hunger,—but to sell it to the stranger for the sake of gaining immunity -from responsibility, yes, more than that, throwing it away out of sheer -contempt for it and ingratitude for what it has done for one, this seems -to me the acme of cowardice and selfishness.” - -I noticed that Mr. Mather knit his brows at this, and I thought I -detected a slight flush in his cheeks, but perhaps it was only the -firelight. Mildred did not look up or hesitate, but went steadily on. - - “We sit here in the Promised Land - That flows with Freedom’s honey and milk; - But ’twas they won it, sword in hand, - Making the nettle danger soft for us as silk.” - -“Yes, they won it, not we; and we, the heirs of all the ages, for whom -the whole creation has groaned and travailed until now, we, the favored -children of the best age, the best land which history has known, we idly -fold our hands and let the wealth of all the past, which others have -toiled for and shed bloody sweat to gain, fall into our laps as a matter -of course, as if it were but the just due of such lordly creatures as -we. - -“Of what value, pray, is all our study of history if we have so little -realizing sense of its meaning, if we have no imagination to fill out -with quivering, throbbing life this record of the past, which shows what -mankind has been, and what, thank God, we have escaped? - -“Of what value are the sacrifices of those who at bitter cost bought us -our freedom and privilege, if we are so lost to all sense of honor as to -tacitly say, ‘everything has been done for us, to be sure, but we can’t -be expected to go out of our way to see that it is passed along to those -who are less favored’?” - -Mr. Mather made a gesture of dissent and looked up as if to speak; but -Mildred did not notice him. She was gazing with fixed eyes into the -shadows, and seemed to have forgotten her little audience and to be -addressing herself to an unnumbered throng of unseen listeners. Her -bosom heaved and her breath came and went quickly as she went on with -her relentless sarcasm. - -“Yes, our business as immortal sons of God is first of all to look out -for our precious selves. Let us all see to it that no annoying social or -economic questions shall disturb our minds. Let us not be distracted -from our culture and amusements by being forced to waste time in -settling the prosaic bread and butter problems of the ‘lower classes.’ -Let us wash our hands of all responsibility. Why should we hold -ourselves debtors either to the Greeks or to the barbarians? - -“Oh, we are not hard-hearted. We would live and let live. But we can -count it no part of our business to soil our fingers by lending a hand -to the poor wretch whose blind guide has led him into the miry ditch. - -“Let him who ‘despises his birthright’ just think for an instant what -citizenship on the continent of Europe means. You talk about finding -‘more fun’ in Paris and Vienna than here, yes, to be sure; for there you -have nothing to do but to skim the cream of everything and dream away -your youth surrounded by all that the thought of the ages and modern -science can devise to stimulate your already fastidious palate. But -suppose you were a _citizen_ of Germany or Austria or Russia, and must -spend from three to six of the best years of your life in active service -in the army; suppose you were taxed to the extent of over thirty per -cent. of your earnings like the people of Italy; suppose you knew that -your country was growing poorer and taxation was on the frightful -increase as is the case in continental countries; suppose you were taxed -to support a church in which you did not believe, and a government which -granted you no representation; suppose privilege and prejudice hung like -a millstone round every effort for your social advancement! - -“Why,” continued Mildred after a moment’s pause, “just imagine for an -instant all that is involved in the difference in comfort and mode of -life from the simple statement that during the ten years from 1870 to -1880, when the United States decreased its aggregate taxation nine per -cent., Germany increased hers over fifty per cent. Imagine, if you can, -what it means to the lives of millions of human beings when I say that -during a period when the wealth of Europe decreased per caput three per -cent. that of our country increased nearly forty per cent. - -“It is one thing, I have found, to travel in Europe untaxed, unmolested, -and unaffected by that gloomy war cloud which continually hovers over -every nation; where, even in times of peace, one man out of twenty-two -is withdrawn from productive industries to train himself to destroy his -fellow-beings. It is quite another thing to be an irresponsible -traveler, free to come and go and say what he pleases. - -“Let those who count their American citizenship of such slight worth -think what a delightful existence theirs would be if they were so -favored as to be one of the subjects of the Russian Tsar! Think of the -bliss of living in a land where one is never disturbed by the -encroachments of foreigners, or expected to attend caucuses and polls; -where, in fact, the less he knows about the government the better for -him and his! Fancy the pleasure in reading newspapers where the news of -the day is under such careful surveillance, through the kindness of the -censorship, that one is never disturbed by troublesome political -matters, and has always the calm consciousness that everything is going -well, although ninety per cent. of the hundred millions over whom the -Russian flag waves cannot write their names; where a man may not go from -one town to another without a passport; where for joining a club that -advocates a constitutional monarchy, as here you might join a club that -advocates Nationalism, you may be subject without a moment’s warning to -arrest and solitary confinement for a year or two without a trial! You -have read Kennan and Stepniak. You know these are hard facts. - -“So when I see men who have been ground between the millstones of caste, -priestcraft, and governmental oppression come here and turn against all -government, I have less contempt and more patience for them than for the -young men of our land, who owe almost every blessing that they enjoy to -this government, and who from mere indolence and apathy choose to allow -the demagogue and ignorant alien to shape its destiny. - -“You complain that we have a ‘stratified society.’ Are you not doing -your best to make it a stratified society and create a caste system when -you advocate a property qualification for the ballot, and would deny all -but the barest rudiments of education to the poor boy? One would think -that you had been brought up in a monarchy and did not realize that from -the people we must choose our legislators as well as our voters, and -that a system which can be tolerated in a country where rulers are -hereditary is most perilous for a government that is of ‘the people, by -the people, and for the people.’ - -“You say ‘there are no great men now,’ ‘no great issues.’ True, the war -is over, and Grant and Lincoln are dead, but - - ‘Life may be given in many ways, - And loyalty to truth be sealed - As bravely in the closet as in the field, - So bountiful is fate.’ - -“I do not doubt if our flag were openly dishonored you, too, would -spring to arms and give your life-blood as heroically as those who fell -at Manassas or in the Wilderness. - -“But how many young men have that kind of heroism that impels them to -devote their culture and ability to unostentatious, unceasing service to -the state, though it bring no glory or reward in fame or office? No, the -cowards are not so often to be found on the battlefield as at the -committee meeting and the caucus. - -“True, there seems to be nothing sublime in being a faithful health -commissioner, an Anthony Comstock, a General Armstrong, or a Felix -Adler; nothing glorious in busying one’s self with such prosy things as -labor statistics and tenement houses, with prison reform and sewage and -primary schools and ward politics. ’Tis a thankless task, and the large -per cent. of our Boston legal voters who did not vote yesterday -doubtless think, if they think at all, that even the casting of a ballot -once or twice a year is too great a sacrifice of their valuable time, -and more than ought to be expected of men whose private and social -interests are of far more importance than the welfare of the body -politic. - -“And as for caucuses, how preposterous to expect a man who has such -important matters as Art Club receptions, Psychical Research meetings, -and Longwood toboggan parties to attend, to spend one or two evenings a -year in the company of grocers and saloon-keepers, all for the sake of -defeating some lamplighter or pawnbroker who wants a nomination for the -city council! What difference does it make who is on the council, -provided taxes are not raised? - -“Yes,” continued Mildred, and a shade of melancholy replaced the quiet -scorn in her tone, “the last thing that you or they ever dream of is -that you have a debt to pay and are basely repudiating it.” - -The voice, whose tremor at last betrayed the intensity of the feeling -that had hitherto been carefully guarded, ceased, and suddenly starting -with a self-conscious look, and coloring deeply, Mildred glided softly -from the room. Aunt Madison followed her. - -The fire had burned low and the light was dim. The young men had -forgotten me in the sofa corner. - -There was not a word said for a minute or two as they sat looking into -the bed of coals and listening to the wind shuddering through the bare -branches of the elms outside. Mr. Mather sat leaning forward with his -elbows on his knees and his head on his hands; I could not see his face. -Presently he looked up and made a motion as if to speak, but apparently -he changed his mind, for he said nothing. At last Mr. Gordon’s voice -broke the silence. - -“I say, Madison,” he asked, with a studiously polite manner, “who is -this charming Miss Brewster who has favored us with the benefit of her -views?” - -“She is a sort of second cousin of my mother,” Will replied. “She has -just returned from abroad, and I haven’t seen much of her yet.” - -“Well,” rejoined the other, “with your permission, I will venture to say -that with all due respect to your mother’s second or third cousin, I -would as lief hear it thunder as to hear her talk. Why can’t a pretty -woman let well enough alone and not go into hysterics over what she -doesn’t know anything about? You would think, to hear her go on, that -the country was going to the devil, and that we were the cause of it.” - -“I wonder if all those facts about Russia and the thirty per cent. -taxation in Italy are really true,” interposed Mr. Conro, meditatively. -“She reeled off all those statistics like a schoolma’am saying dates.” - -“They are true if she says so, you can bet your life on that,” answered -Will, thoroughly nettled. “Being out at Cambridge most of the time, I -haven’t seen much of her, and I never heard her say so much on any -subject before to-night. I was about as much surprised as you were at -her coming out in that way; but if you and Gordon think she is the kind -of girl to go into hysterics over nothing, you are mightily mistaken. -Most people talk for the sake of talking, but I’ve seen enough of her to -know that when she says a thing it stands for something. What you said -hurt her in a way a fellow like you can’t understand. You’ve no interest -in a girl who has any notions beyond flattering you into thinking you -are the most stunning fellow going.” - -“Beg pardon,” drawled Gordon, “but”— - -“Hold on there,” interposed Mr. Mather, grimly; “you’ve said enough. -What she said was solid gospel, and you know it as well as I do.” - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - The books of Scripture only suffer from being subjected to - requirements which we have ceased to apply to the books of common - literature.—DEAN STANLEY, _History of the Jewish Church_. - - The Protestant Reformation shows how men tried to lodge infallibility - in the Bible.... The great point of our present belief is that there - is no such infallible record anywhere in church or council or - book.—PHILLIPS BROOKS, _Harvard Divinity Address, 1884_. - - - BOSTON, _Jan. 6._ 25 Louisburg Square. - -JESSIE DEAR,—I have been sitting for the last half hour in the broad, -cushioned window-seat of my cosy attic room, looking far out over the -mass of chimney-tops to the towers and spires beyond the hill and the -Public Garden. - -I love to sit here quietly on Sunday afternoons, and when the sunset -comes I throw aside my books and watch the shifting, brilliant colors -turning the blue Charles into a sheet of glimmering gold and dyeing with -rosy hues the snowy slopes of Corey Hill beyond. - -Have you been away so long as to have forgotten these dear old sights? -And do you recall that on this western slope of Beacon Hill from which I -write to you lived the hermit Blackstone of Shawmut, before Winthrop or -any Puritan had thought of settling Boston town? - -I like old places. I like to be on the oldest spot in this old, historic -town, as you may easily imagine, remembering all my antiquarian -enthusiasm when we were at school. Well, I have not outgrown it in the -least, in spite of all my modern radicalism about many things. - -I wonder, dear, what all these ten years have brought to you. I have -been sitting and thinking, as the sunset glow has faded in the western -sky, all its glory turning so soon to dull, cold gray, how in these few -minutes the past years seem typified. What glorious visions, what -radiant achievements illumined the heavens when we looked at them with -the eyes of eighteen! What would we not, what could we not, dream of -doing then? I remember how you vowed that I was a genius, and were sure -that ten years would not pass before I should win renown. And now, -to-night, on my twenty-eighth birthday, I sit here as dull and prosy and -commonplace a spinster as one can well find in this city of spinsters. - -After one is twenty-five and the birthdays begin to be a little -unwelcome, I suppose one is apt to be made a little morbid by them, -though I solace myself by thinking that since college girls in these -days rarely finish their studies before twenty-two, twenty-eight does -not seem so ancient as it was once thought to be. - -How strange that we should have known so little of each other, we who -vowed that “ocean-sundered continents” should never make our girlhood’s -love less warm! But after your change of name and transfer to the China -Mission, while I was at Smith College, I lost sight of you, and, missing -your letters, knew not where to write. So you will understand my long -silence and know that the Mildred of ten years ago is the same Mildred -to-day, only no longer a girl, but a woman. - -A woman, with many ambitions unsatisfied, with many heroes dethroned, -but with the same loves and hopes and fears, and with the same ideals, -although their attainment seems farther off with the growing years. - -I have slowly come to recognize and be reconciled to my mediocrity; to -know that I have not had a thought but has been common to humanity; that -I am no whit wiser or better than all my fellows; and that what you in -girlish enthusiasm flattered me into believing was creative power was -simply a capacity to appreciate and be moved by what was great. - -I have longed for power, but, believe me, not for name or fame. Simply -to have had the consciousness in myself that the world was better and -wiser for my having lived would have made all drudgery and toil a joy -and privilege. But the blessedness of giving and doing in a large -measure has not been granted to me. Not that I blame fate or -circumstance or environment. I have had health and freedom and friends; -no hindrances and no great sorrows since mother left me alone five years -ago. - -The failure lies with myself alone. Sometimes there has been an -unutterable loneliness and a longing for something, I know not what; but -I suppose it must be for the love which has not yet come to me, and -which now may never come. - -But I do not let that burden me overmuch. I have my daily task. I love -my work; and here, among my books, I thankfully count myself rich indeed -in the society of all the great and wise and good of whose treasures I -am the happy heir. I have traveled, too, and seen the Old World cities -and the castles, palaces, and ruins of which we used to dream. It was -not exactly the blissful experience I had fancied, for I was doomed to -be the companion of a stupid old dowager whose money bought my time and -service, and to whom I was useful as an interpreter of the arts and -languages with which she was unfamiliar. - -I saw a great deal and learned some things. It helped me a little -towards reaching that goal of culture at which I aim, whence I can truly -say that “I count nothing human foreign to me.” It helped to free me -somewhat from the narrowness of my age and environment. I have become a -little more of a Greek, a little less of a rugged Goth. Not that mere -travel did this; if my eyes had not begun to be opened before, I should -have seen nothing. I have verified nothing more thoroughly than -Emerson’s saying, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful -we must carry it with us or we find it not.” - -I miss the picturesqueness and the charm of the Old World life. I am -surprised to find how shocked and annoyed I am at the crudities and -Philistinism of which I was once oblivious. But, after all, I am glad to -be back; glad to be in the current of real life again, and to take my -share in it. It is worth something to live in a land where one does not -have to despise the men or pity the women; where a man is not ashamed to -be seen carrying his own baby; where a girl can walk the streets alone -and unmolested, and where a lady can earn her daily bread and be thought -a lady still. - -I have a quiet home with my mother’s cousin—“auntie,” I call her; and I -have settled down to steady work with a concert or play or toboggan -party to give it a little zest now and then. My classes take me to -Dorchester and Cambridge and Longwood. Once a week I meet a score or so -of our Boston society women in a Commonwealth Avenue drawing-room, who -manage, among their thousand and one lectures, lessons, and engagements -of every sort, to squeeze in an hour to hear me discourse on the topics -of the day, when I try to teach them about some phases of our nineteenth -century life of which they, like most women, know but little. As these -ladies include all shades of religious and political belief and -non-belief, I have to choose my words, as you may imagine. - -I write a little occasionally for the “Transcript” or “Woman’s Journal,” -or some other equally inoffensive and unremunerative sheet. I visit my -North Enders, and think I am doing God more service in trying to keep -some of my small Hibernians from being sent to the Reform School than I -ever used to accomplish in teaching Jewish history at the Mission. - -I have given up Sunday-school work. Not that I disbelieve in it, but I -find myself less and less able to adapt myself to the requirements of -superintendents and “lesson helps,” and my conscience now forbids me to -teach what I could once repeat so glibly and confidently. - -Yes, let me say it frankly,—though I fear it will greatly shock you, you -dear, pious soul,—I have gone over to the “New Theology,” and I have -gone so far and so irrevocably that but few of those churches where my -childhood’s faith is still believed dare open their doors to me. - -I wonder if you can conceive how painful it has been to me to find the -friends for whom I care most condemning as irreligious every thoughtful -man or woman who ventures to treat the Hebrew scriptures in a reasonable -way. - -My last Sunday-school class was in the home school, where I had bright -girls of sixteen. I did my best to make the Bible a living book to them, -to make them study the history of the Jews in the same natural and -enthusiastic way that they studied their Greek history at school, but I -soon found that they considered this sacrilegious. They looked at me -with cold, critical glances when I tried to spiritualize their “Gates -Ajar” idea of heaven. I found that they had gone home and told their -mothers that I did not believe in God or heaven or hell, and, to my -bitter mortification and dismay, they left me one by one until I was -alone. - -Doubtless I had little wisdom. I was trying to teach them in a few -months what it had taken me years of growth to reach. In trying to -disabuse them of their anthropomorphic notions of God, I had succeeded -in making Him only a nonentity to them. In taking away a literal Garden -of Eden and the serpent, and substituting a theory of evolution, I had, -in their imaginations, abolished all inspiration and moral -responsibility. Not that they were girls who troubled themselves very -much about such things; they could dance and flirt as well as the best; -but as for really daring to face the evidence on such matters, that was -wicked and dangerous, in their opinion. - -Nor was this all. One good old clergyman, to whose church I brought a -letter of recommendation, and who after my candid talk felt obliged to -deny me a welcome, said, with tears in his eyes, that he hoped my -mother’s prayers would save me. - -It made me feel forlorn and homesick for a while. I like the strength, -sincerity, and earnestness which the old faith gave, and I cannot -lightly break away from it. I hate the lukewarmness and apathy of many -of the more radical faith, and I cannot make up my mind to cast my lot -with them. Besides, I have a half fear that, after all, they have not -begun, even intellectually, to probe to the bottom these great historic -beliefs on which the church has stood for ages. I fear that they treat -them too cavalierly, too superficially. I find about as much intolerance -among the so-called liberals as among the conservatives. - -To me sin is not an ailment to be cured with sugared plums. The -Puritanism in me rebels at the weakness and flabbiness of many who have -left the old faith for a broader one. However much my mind is forced to -accept their doctrine, my sympathies abide with the men of moral -earnestness who still think it their business to be “saving souls.” - -To me the doctrine of the Trinity is something more than a mathematical -absurdity, as the men of one party say; and, on the other hand, -something more than an inscrutable mystery to be accepted without deep -philosophic study, as the men of the other party hold. - -I pity and long to help the poor souls groping for some solution of the -religious problems peculiar to our day. There are thousands of them—more -than any one knows—inside the fold of the church itself, fed, but not -nourished, and famishing for the kind of food which their good pastors -know not how to give. - -How many times I have gone to church bewildered, utterly wretched, my -soul crying out for the living God, and listened to a cheap, well-meant -discourse against “Ingersoll, Emerson, and all other unbelievers in the -inspired Word of God,” with an earnest exhortation to refrain at our -peril from “searching into what are the hidden mysteries.” - -I understood the preacher’s standpoint, poor soul! I respected him and -his effort, but oh, how helpless he was to do anything for me who could -detect the sophistry and lack of discrimination in all this talk! - -Oh, if I could help those who have been driven to question the whole of -truth, when they thus find out a part of it to have been crude or false! -And I pity almost as much the many timid ones who, like myself, are -longing to stay in the mother church, to that end being sorely tempted -to quibble with creeds, but who find no place either in or out of the -church which would exactly express their true religious attitude. - -How strange all this must seem to you, who used to feel that heaven and -earth might fall, but that I should never give up my faith. - -No, please God, I shall never give up faith, nor hold less faithfully to -the eternal verities which alone make life worth living. Never have I -felt more deeply than to-day the truth of the old words of the -catechism, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” -But I do not hold that keeping the faith is an adherence to any creed or -an absolute acceptance of any book, even if it be the Book of books. - -I have come to feel that the teaching of my childhood which made -historic facts, or what were assumed to be historic facts, of equal -importance with the eternal and immutable laws of moral and spiritual -growth,—I have come, I say, to feel that his was false. Ah me, the pity -of it! - -I write you all this because I want you to know the strongest reason -that has prevented me from following in your footsteps and, as I once -dreamed of doing, giving myself up either at home or abroad to the grand -missionary work which still seems to me the most satisfying kind of work -in the world. No, I cannot be a missionary; I think I shall never dare -to teach any one; I don’t know how; but, thank God, I have come to see a -little more clearly some truths to which I think it is possible for the -human mind to attain. The vision thus gained, though still at times a -fleeting one, has, I firmly believe, placed me forever beyond the reach -of the nightmare of doubts and mortal terrors which first assailed me -after I dared trust myself to think and question. - -No one, not bred in a New England home with all the Puritan traditions -imbibed with every breath, can realize the fever and despair that I have -felt more than once after I dared to think and face the result of my -thought. But that torture can never come again. Not that I have relapsed -into indifference or have heeded the pleadings of my devout friends to -“only believe,” that so I might dread my doubts as impious and accept -without question the creed of my fathers. No! Kant, Hegel, and Fichte, -Carlyle and Emerson, Robertson, Stanley, Phillips Brooks, and, more than -all, the unprejudiced study of the Bible itself, have kept me from that. - -I no longer tremble at the question whether the record of the miracles -be fact or no; it touches not my spiritual life. The baby born next door -yesterday is a greater miracle to me than Lazarus raised from the dead; -the morning’s breakfast turned into vital force that guides this hand as -marvelous as water changed to wine. Whether the resurrection of Jesus be -literal fact or not, it in no wise affects my immortality. My faith -rests on something surer than the accuracy of any historic fact. - -Are you shocked? Yes, doubtless, for so should I have been once. I do -not expect you to understand me yet, unless you too have been climbing -up to the light by the same path in which I have been led. You will -think that I have been venturing on dangerous ground, but I could not -write to you without granting your request to tell you how it was with -me in my inmost self. - -You ask whether I am married or am going to be. The first question I -have answered; as to the second, the most that I can say is that when a -woman has lived a dozen years beyond sweet sixteen and has never been -very deeply in love, it argues either that she has lived like a nun, or -something rather uncomplimentary to her heart, and that there is -precious little prospect of her ever finding the right one after that. - -They say no woman ever fails of some time having at least one suitor. -Well, I have had my one. A burly, broad-chested business man he was, -with very decided ideas about protection and mining stock, with a good -deal of amused wonder at my independence of thought and action, and a -chivalrous old-fashioned pity for gentlewomen who had to earn their -living. He felt pretty desperately when I said “no,” and I had to say it -three or four times before he could believe it, for he had been so sure -that a poor young creature like me must long for his strong arm and good -bank account to shield her from the “world’s cold blasts.” I did like -him, I confess, but not enough; not as I must love the one to whom I -would gladly, heartily, pledge my whole self for life. - -So, one bright spring day he sailed away for South America and never -returned. He married a Spanish wife, I hear, who will inherit his -millions, for he made shrewd investments and became enormously wealthy. -The “Herald” had a dispatch yesterday morning announcing his death from -sunstroke. It gave me a shock. Yes, he was a good man, and I did like -him; but I am glad I am not his widow in spite of his millions. - -We were talking at lunch to-day about wealth, and when I answered the -question “How much money would you wish for if you could have your -wish?” by saying “Twenty-five millions,” every one looked aghast. - -“What, _you_, Mildred, of all persons! Why, you never cared for diamonds -or horses or yachts or anything grand,” exclaimed one. - -“What in the world would you do with it?” asked another. “You couldn’t -spend half a million with your modest tastes, and the rest would be -simply a dead weight. You would be bored to death with lawyers and -beggars, and have brain fever in six weeks.” - -“Oh no,” interposed a third; “she would buy shoes for all the barefoot -children, and build colleges from Alaska to Key West.” - -“If you were like most people you would find it the hardest thing in the -world to spend your money wisely,” said auntie, sagely. - -So I kept my counsel and said nothing. I can’t help wishing, though, to -know what will become of these millions which I might have had by saying -that one little word five years ago. It seems to me I should not be -utterly at a loss to find some wise uses for them, and it would not be -by building colleges which are not needed, or by encouraging -pauperism.... - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - (Extract from the “Boston Herald.”) - - MILDRED’S MILLIONS.—BOSTON’S BEAUTIFUL BELLE FALLS HEIRESS TO A - FORTUNE ESTIMATED AT THIRTY MILLIONS! MISS MILDRED BREWSTER THE SOLE - HEIRESS. - - -When the rumor in yesterday’s South American despatches hinted that the -colossal fortune amassed by the late Mr. William Dunreath was, according -to his will, to be transferred _in toto_ to a Boston lady, when -moreover, on investigation, the name of the aforesaid lady was disclosed -by her lawyer, an enterprising representative of the “Herald” was not -long in finding his way to the residence of this favored daughter of -fortune. - -Two other journalists, with pencil and pad in readiness, arrived almost -simultaneously and were shown into the reception room. - -Miss Brewster was out. - -Would her ladyship soon return? - -That was doubtful. - -A skillful use of some of Uncle Sam’s coin, however, secured an “aside” -in the library with the sable domestic whose acquaintance with desirable -facts proved a godsend. - -“Was Miss Brewster young?” - -Certainly. She had just celebrated her twenty-fourth birthday, or, to -quote our informant more literally, “Yes, sah, she is done gone -twenty-fo’ shuah, fo’ I made her buffday cake.” - -“Was Miss Brewster handsome?” - -In response to this momentous question this jewel of a Chloe produced -from a corner of the library a photograph album containing two cabinet -photographs, taken in Boston and Paris respectively, and representing -one of the most attractive types of petite female beauty. One picture -was taken in a jaunty riding habit, displaying to good advantage a -slender, trim figure, with a graceful poise to a very pretty head, and a -pair of fascinating dark eyes looking frankly at you from under the -hat-brim. The other was in a white evening dress modestly covering the -sloping shoulders, the hair worn Pompadour, and no ornaments save -flowers. There was a delicacy and refinement indicated in the small ear -and sensitive mouth, which betokened generations of the best blood and -culture. It was gratifying to perceive that the enviable possessor of -one of the largest private fortunes in New England was evidently richly -endowed by nature with every charm which could lend grace to the -brilliant position in society that she without doubt is destined to -fill. - -The “Herald” representative inquired further as to the past history of -Miss Brewster, and learned that she was the only child of a physician, -was born in Cambridge, has spent some years in foreign travel and study -under the chaperonage of a distinguished leader of society, was -presented at the Court of St. James, and received marked attention from -some of the scions of the oldest and noblest houses of England. - -She is supposed to have had a small independent fortune of her own, but -having literary and philanthropic tastes, has quietly devoted herself to -study and works of charity, thus depriving society of one peculiarly -fitted to be one of its brightest ornaments. - -The connection between the defunct millionaire and the charming girl -upon whom he has lavished all his wealth seems hard to prove. From all -that could be learned, however, it seems conclusive that an engagement -existed between them, and that the death of Mr. Dunreath was a great -shock to the fortunate lady of his choice. In the absence of any family -or near relatives, Mr. D. being an only son and a bachelor, she will -find no one to dispute the will. This latter point was confirmed by her -lawyer, Mr. Kilrain, of No. 55 Pemberton Square, who, however, remained -very provokingly non-committal on all other points of interest, -intimating that he was thus obeying the instructions of his fair client, -who modestly wishes to avoid the sudden notoriety which her fortune will -necessarily bring upon her. - -A call on some of her co-workers in the Associated Charities revealed -the fact that Miss Brewster is ardently absorbed in her work, and has -been peculiarly successful in winning the hearts of the street _gamins_ -in her district. She is interested in various charities, and it is -anticipated that her increased wealth will not lessen the time nor the -interest which she has devoted to her various benefactions. - -It was intimated from one source that Miss Brewster holds very -pronounced views upon women’s rights, and will probably use a great part -of her wealth in advancing the cause of female suffrage, but this we are -loth to believe. - -(Extract from the “Boston Globe.”) - -... After waiting an hour and calling at three different times, the -representative of the “Globe” was finally so fortunate as to encounter -the fair lady in whom the public is now feeling so warm an interest. She -had just returned home, and was standing in the hall with her little -toque of wine-colored velvet still crowning her chestnut tresses, and -her tall, stately figure draped from head to foot in a fur-trimmed cloak -of the same shade. - -She received the “Globe” representative most courteously, ushering him -into a cosy little reception room, and meanwhile drawing off the _gants -de suede_ which encased her shapely hands. She seemed nervous and tired, -but had a brilliant color which deepened perceptibly when requested to -grant an interview. The involuntary look of surprise and _hauteur_ which -accompanied this only enhanced her beauty, but quickly recovering -herself she replied without embarrassment that there was nothing -whatever that she wished to state to the public. She had not been -apprised of the nature of the will until within three days. Since then -she had been overwhelmed with business arrangements, and was very tired -and wished to see only her intimate friends. - -One question, however, she so far forgot herself as to answer, namely, -as to whether she should change her residence. She replied that she -purposed soon to leave town for an indefinite period. A further question -designed to draw out some information regarding her acquaintance with -Mr. Dunreath, whom it is certain she has for a long time corresponded -with, met with no reply beyond “I will bid you good evening.” - -Miss Brewster is certainly a very prepossessing lady. In addition to her -beauty her voice is particularly well modulated and pleasing. She is -decidedly above the medium height, and has a queenly air combined with a -brisk, business-like manner, which gives evidence that she is at once a -lady and a shrewd woman of the world,—an indication of anything but the -helpless state into which most inexperienced women would have been -thrown at so sudden and astounding a change of fortune. - -In the gaslight and with such a color Miss Brewster had the appearance -of being not over twenty-three; we learn, however, on unquestioned -authority from a former schoolmate of hers, that she is just twenty-six, -having had a birthday last week. - -Miss Brewster is said to be a very devout church-woman of the -ritualistic type, and usually attends the Church of the Advent. - -The Hub is certainly to be commiserated at the prospect of so soon -losing a lady who would otherwise become one of its most admired belles -as well as a leader of its most cultured society, and we trust that her -stay though indefinite may not be prolonged. - - -Three of the one hundred and twenty-seven letters received by Miss -Brewster during the first week after the above newspaper extracts -appeared will serve as types of the whole. - -LETTER NO. I. - - JONESPORT, PA., _Jan. — 18—_ - - DEREST MISS BREWSTER HONORED MISS - -God has been verry bountiful too you truly and no doubt your kind heart -is greatful for all his Mercies and anxshus to do your part in relieving -the wos of humanity. Henceforth your couch is down and your pathway -strude with roses. You have more money than you know what too do with -and will take it kindly for me suggest a most useful and feesable way to -do the greatest good to the greatest number which is the Christian’s -vitle breath. My dorter Rose Ethel Bangs is just turned sixtine and is -as smart and handsum a girl as ever trod shu lether. She is awful -musicle and is just dying to get a chance to go to the Boston -Conservatory, she plays the banjo best of anybody in the county and has -given solo peices at some of the best concerts she plays the melodeon at -meeting and the best critics say her voice is amazing a professor from -Philadelfy said he had heard a great many voices but he never heard a -voice that was as strong as her voice. A yere’s residens in Boston would -complete her education she has a young gentleman second cousin who is -anxshus to show her about to see the sites and 300 dollers with what her -pa can raise would just about do the bizness now dear miss when you have -it in your pour to bestough such a blessing how can you refrane. We -shall bless you and my dorter will be a credit to you and a jewel in the -crown which our Heavenly father will bestough on all who remember the -proverb it is more blessed to give than to receive. - - Yours with love and regards - MRS. MATTIE T. BANGS. - -P. S. I send Bose Ethel’s tintype took when she was fourtine she wears -her hair up now. - -LETTER NO. II. - - NEW YORK, N. Y., —— Street. - - DEAR MISS BREWSTER: - -Permit me at this moment of your joy and unprecedented good fortune to -present to you my most heartfelt congratulations. - -Perhaps you may not recollect my humble self, as you always impressed me -with such a sense of awe and dignity that I dared not venture to -disclose to you the _profound_ admiration which I have always felt for -your _exalted_ character. - -Rarely have I known such a nature as yours. One so endowed with all the -charms and graces of a _goddess_ and a _saint_ it has never been my -fortune to meet. Do not think I am flattering you, _mon ange_; but ever -since the first moment when my eyes fell on your face suffused with dewy -tears, as you bade good-by to your native land, you have been the ideal -of my fondest dreams. - -I sailed with you on the steamer, like you bound for those shores of -mystery and delight which from childhood’s hour had haunted my -imagination, now _hélas!_ never to be revisited, for I—how can I say -it?—have been doomed by fate to lose _all_ that is most dear to me. - -I had kept my diamond earrings until the last, but yesterday even those, -my last precious treasures, had to be sacrificed. How can I relate to -you the story of our disgrace! - -A year ago papa failed, and we were obliged to leave our palatial home -on Fifth Avenue and betake ourselves to a small hotel on W. Ninth -Street. I nearly cried my eyes out. I spent days and nights in weeping -over our sad fortunes, and as one by one I was obliged to surrender the -darling treasures of happier days I felt that if this were to go on I -should either become a _hopeless wreck_ with shattered nerves and end my -days in a lunatic asylum, or else that rather than suffer the mental -torture which I had endured I should with my own hand take the life -which was a _curse_ to me. - -Everything has gone from bad to worse, though I have fought against fate -with all the passion of _desperation_. Our friends have deserted us; -that is, all the young society which I care about and really need to -keep up my spirits and make me cheerful. I can find no congenial society -in the class with whom I am doomed to associate, and so I keep my room, -and solace my sad hours with works of fiction, which for the time being -take me out of myself, and with fancy work, which is the one little link -that connects me with my happy past. - -But now a crisis has come in papa’s affairs. He is offered a position in -Jersey City, and compels us to go with him to this _odious_ place, to -live in a second or third rate boarding-house, away from everything that -makes life endurable. - -I _cannot_ do it. I should simply be burying myself alive. To one of my -sensitive temperament the shock would be too great, and I know that I -should become but a wreck of my former self. - -I have racked my brains and tossed on my sleepless pillow many a night, -endeavoring to solve the problem that is before me. - -This morning a ray of light dawned upon the gloom which has enshrouded -me. I picked up the morning paper and read the delightful announcement -of the good fortune which has come to you. My heart throbbed with -sympathetic joy, _mon amie_, to think that in this desolate world at -least one whom I loved was _completely_ happy. - -The report says that you are soon to go abroad. Like an inspiration the -thought came to me, “Oh, if only I could go with her as a _companion_!” -The thought fairly suffocated me. Once the idea of attempting to go as a -paid companion, of accepting money for services rendered, no matter how -valuable they might be, would have brought the blush to my cheek. But my -pride has been humbled, and though even now I could not do it for every -one, for _you_ whom I _adore_ it would seem no sacrifice but a -privilege. - -I could be of invaluable service to you in shopping and in visiting -galleries. I speak French perfectly, and could play whist or sing to you -when you are tired. I know how to arrange flowers, to design toilettes, -to order dinners, and can read aloud without fatigue. I could relieve -you of all care, and this you will certainly require, as so many new -cares have devolved upon you, and you must be distracted with all the -new things you have to order and to attend to. - -What steamer shall you take? I like the North German Lloyd best,—don’t -you? - -I can be ready at a moment’s notice. I await your answer in an _agony_ -of suspense. - - Yours devotedly, - M. JEANETTE MASON. - -LETTER NO. III. - - E. GAINSBOROUGH, VT. - - MISS BREWSTER: - -DEAR MISS,—No doubt you will be very much surprised to get a letter from -me for you don’t know me at all and I don’t know you at all and I -persume you are not used to getting letters from strangers. But you are -a rich kind lady and as a last resorse I turn to you for my heart is -bleeding and my friends can’t do no more for me. I am an inventor as you -will be surprised to learn. Ever since I was able to hold a jack knife -and whittle I have been whittling out things and making inventions. Some -folks say I am a genius and if I had my rights I should be rolling in -welth and be able to keep a horse and carriage. - -My inventions have been about all sorts of things. I almost got a patent -for a clothes-wringer but a mean sneak of a fellow stole it from me -taking the bread from my children’s mouths. My wife took in sewing and -washing and the children milked the cow and kept the garden running and -sometimes I got odd jobs. But a month ago Susie and Jimmie took sick -with scarlet fever and wife she was up with them night and day and she -took sick too and first Jimmie died and then Susie, and mother the next -day. - -I did the best I could and the neighbors was kind and came in spite of -its being so catching. - -But now there all gone and nobody but the baby and me is left. He had it -light and wan’t down but a day or two. I feel most crazy when I think of -it all and wonder what I’m going to do. The neighbors cooked up some -vittles for a few days but there poor too and I can’t count on them for -doing much. - -I’ve got to do something right off and I an’t a cent of money more than -enough to pay the postage of this letter. - -Last night when Mis deacon Allen went by with the newspaper she had got -to the P. O. she stopped and read me all about your getting rich so -sudden and she said to me brother Silas if I was you I’d just write to -that Miss Brewster and if she’s a woman with a heart in her she’ll feel -for that poor motherless little feller there a toddlin about, and you -with your hands tied sos you cant leave him a minute. I’d take him -myself said she if my hands wasnt tied too. Which is true enough for -shes five of her own and one adopted. - -Now Miss Brewster if you could take my baby for a while, his name is -Orlando and he is 18 months old and help me make a man of him and get on -my feet a little and carry out a scheme I’ve got for an improved churn -I’d thank you to my dying day. I aint a great hand at farm work for I -cut my foot in a mowing machine and have been lame ever since and my -hearing is bad. So you see there aint much I can do except invent and -sometimes if it want for the inventing I think Id rather die. But I do -feel sure sometime if I can only get a chance I can invent something -that will sell and then I can repay you. - -If you send for Orlie to go to Boston I must stay there too. I couldn’t -bear to be so far away from him. I should die of lonesomeness. Couldn’t -you get me a chance there? I am forty-six years old and a professor.[1] - - Yr. ob’t servant, - SILAS KITTREDGE. - -Footnote 1: - - Of religion.—ED. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - Notwithstanding all that England has done for the good of India, the - missionaries have done more than all other agencies combined.—LORD - LAWRENCE, in 1871. - - ... all this is very surprising when it is considered that five years - ago nothing but the fern flourished here; native workmanship taught by - the missionaries has effected this change; the lesson of the - missionaries is the enchanter’s wand.... I look back to but one bright - spot in New Zealand, and that is Waimate with its Christian - inhabitants.—CHARLES DARWIN, _Journal of Researches in Natural History - and Geology_. - - - EXTRACT FROM MISS BREWSTER’S DIARY. - -For the first time since the lawyer’s call a week ago I sit down to -collect my wits after this whirl of excitement, and, like the old woman -in the nursery rhyme, ask myself if it can be that I am really I. - -I am frightfully tired, and it may be childish to write this all out for -no one’s eye but my own. I cannot sleep, however, and I feel as if it -would be a relief and might cool the fever in my veins to calmly make a -record of some of the momentous events of these last few days. So many -things are crowding upon me that I fear my mind will be a chaos if I do -not attempt something like this to help me to quiet and arrange my -thoughts. - -When Mr. Kilrain came with the cablegram and letters, I neither laughed -nor cried nor fainted. I was perfectly calm. I did not realize it in the -least, just as a girl never realizes what it all means when she kneels -before the altar as a bride, or when she stands beside the dead white -face that she has loved. - -After the real meaning of the thing dawned upon me and I began to -comprehend that I, whose golden dreams had been quietly put aside -forever, was now actually to realize those dreams, to exchange prose for -poetry, and insignificance and uselessness for tremendous power such as -I had always longed for,—when the possibilities of it all came over me -and I saw that I could now actually build all my air castles on this -earth, besides doing many other things of which I have dreamed,—it gave -me at first a thorough ague fit, followed by a burning fever which -nothing could allay until I had seen my will written, signed, and -witnessed. - -Every one thought it such an odd thing for me to think of at first. -Auntie said, “Wait and take time to think it over, dear. You are -laboring under a nervous strain now; wait and rest and enjoy yourself a -little while. Go to Hollander’s and order a fine outfit. I will help you -find a French maid, for you will need one, of course; then travel after -that, if you like. Take time to make up your mind. It isn’t possible for -you to know how to spend such an enormous sum wisely without great -thought.” - -I could find no rest, however, until I had put beyond a peradventure the -danger of my dying and leaving nothing done towards carrying out all the -projects which have been so dear to me. - -My will is made, and though I may change it next week,—doubtless I shall -change it more than once as I get more wisdom,—I know that it is in the -main as I shall let it stand. - -Mr. Kilrain’s partner and uncle Madison start at once for South America -to look after my interests, and transfer my stocks and landed property -as soon as possible into our government and railroad bonds. I cannot -bear to feel that I am employing hundreds of people whom I do not know, -and who may suffer from the extortion of villainous agents and overseers -whom I cannot control. If I could go to South America myself, and if I -understood enough of business to administer my affairs personally, I -might, perhaps, do as much good by giving employment to great numbers of -people there, and treating them in a helpful Christian fashion, as by -anything that I can do at home. - -But it would take me ten years at least to learn the language and know -the people and the business merely in its outlines. My lawyers say it -would require half a dozen of the shrewdest men simply to make -investments and oversee the overseers, and I can foresee that a woman -dependent on lawyers and agents is in no wise to be envied. So I am -determined to free myself from these worries as to the details of making -money, and devote my whole energies to making this fortune, which has so -strangely fallen to me, tell for good in the future of our country. - -I am sure that nowhere else in Christendom can money be made to produce -such far-reaching results. Last night I lay awake for hours, planning -this work. My mind is made up. For the next few years I shall travel and -study, first, the resources and necessities of our own country, and -after that the social and economic questions in the Old World. Meanwhile -I shall begin to carry out some of my schemes at once, and not wait for -lawyers and trustees to squabble over my money after my death. - -As I am planning to leave Boston soon, I determined to meet some of the -people whom I have chosen as trustees of certain funds. Accordingly I -invited five people of different religious faiths, the broadest-minded -and most public-spirited persons known to me,—Revs. P—— B——, A—— McK——, -E. E. H——, P—— M——, and Mrs. A—— F—— P——. Not one of them had an inkling -as to what it was all about, or knew who were invited beside himself. -Mr. Kilrain was there in obedience to my request. I wished him to see -that everything was done legally, and, besides, to draw up all the -necessary papers. - -I fairly shivered with delight and excitement as they came in one by one -and I introduced myself to them, feeling very much like a young queen -who has just ascended a throne and summons her generals and wise -counselors to plan a campaign. - -I had a dainty lunch served in a cosy little parlor, and as soon as the -servants were gone I began, rather tremulously, it must be confessed, to -make my little speech. They all knew, of course, that they were invited -to give me counsel on some philanthropic matter, but further than that -they were in the dark. As nearly as I can remember this is what I said:— - -“You are all aware that I have asked the favor of your company to-day in -order to discuss a serious matter involving the expenditure of a large -sum of money. I wish to avail myself of the united wisdom of those -present to enable me to use for good and not for evil the enormous -wealth which has so suddenly dropped from the skies, as it were, into my -hands. - -“I count myself as simply a steward, and know well that before my own -conscience, if before no other tribunal, I shall be called to account -for my stewardship. - -“It is stated that one of the seven greatest sources of pauperism in -London is foolish almsgiving. I am perfectly aware that I may ‘give all -my goods to feed the poor,’ and do more harm by it than if I threw my -offerings into the Charles River. - -“I am convinced that if I would help any man I must do it by giving him -the means to help himself, and thus to retain or gain his self-respect. - -“My thoughts and affections go out most strongly to our own country, and -therefore most of my money is to be spent in it. I feel that by helping -to outline the new paths which multitudes are to follow here, I shall -best help the progress of humanity everywhere. But I am not so -narrowminded as to think it right to wait until we get all the -industrial schools and kindergartens that we need here, before we teach -the first elements of decency to our brothers and sisters in Africa and -every other stronghold of heathenism and savagery. My childhood was -spent with earnest people who were interested in the missionary work. As -a child, I read the ‘Missionary Herald,’ and gave my mite towards -building the Morning Star. - -“But of late years I have lived in a society whose sentiment has been -more than half contemptuous of foreign missions. ‘Let us civilize the -heathen at home,’ they say; ‘let us do the duty that lies nearest, and -not meddle with what is none of our business.’ - -“I am tired of this prating and ignorant talk by would-be cultured -people who know nothing of the real results of missionary work. They -find no fault with actresses or sea-captains or Bohemians who choose -exile for gain or pleasure, but they are always ready to cry out against -the folly of one who goes to teach men the alphabet, and tell women that -they are something more than beasts of burden or mere child-bearing -animals. - -“I am constantly meeting people who talk as if Buddhism contained all -that is of value in Christianity, and who actually scoff at any attempt -to disturb what they call the picturesque, simple faith of their carvers -of ivory bric-à-brac. - -“I revere Buddha. I do not ignore the fact that in all ages God has not -left himself without a witness, and that many seers and prophets have -led the nations toward the light. But I prefer the sunlight to the -twilight, and what vision of truth has come to me I would pass along to -others. Especially do I long to help the women. Sometimes their -degradation and helplessness appeals so powerfully to my imagination -that I feel that I must give my money and my time without stint, until -selfish, indifferent Christendom is forced to remember what is the true -condition of two thirds of the world.” - -I was trembling all over with nervous excitement, and, as usual, was so -absorbed in what I was saying as to quite forget to wonder what these -five people, so much older and wiser and more experienced than I, must -think of my sitting there and talking to them in this fashion. I am -dreadfully afraid it must have seemed conceited or audacious or -something of the sort. However, they knew nothing about me or my ideas, -and as it was quite necessary that they should understand my position -before they could give me any counsel, I proceeded to make it known. - -“I am not content,” I said, “with most methods that have been used. -Sectarianism, bigotry, and ignorance have often perverted the best -results. The good souls who fear to send a preacher, no matter how -devoted, unless he preach exactly their ‘ism,’ seem to me to be -retarding by many years the consummation so devoutly to be wished. The -most Christlike men whom I know could not be sent out as missionaries by -the American Board. I believe there are hundreds of ardent young souls -who would be led to offer themselves for work in foreign lands if the -restrictions of creed did not stand in the way. - -“Do not misunderstand me. I do not condemn creeds. Doubtless every one -who thinks must have some kind of a creed, however short it be. But in -the making of bequests, in endowments which are to help affect the -thought of future generations, it seems to me difficult to avoid -ultimate lawsuits, temptation to mental dishonesty, and infinite harm, -unless the founder works on the broadest principles and sees the work -begun in his lifetime. - -“I have written my will this week and have devoted a very large sum of -money for the establishment of a fund, the amount of which I shall not -at present name, to be used as follows:— - -“For the management and expenditure of this fund I have chosen five -trustees. These shall fill vacancies in their number as they occur from -death, resignation, incapacity, or whatever cause. One member, at least, -shall always be a woman, and as many as three Christian denominations -shall always be represented among the five trustees. - -“The fund shall be called the ‘Christian Missionary Fund,’ and the work -shall be, so far as the trustees are concerned, entirely unsectarian, -though always distinctly Christian and Protestant. - -“The fund shall be devoted to the following purposes: - -“First, for promoting the spiritual and mental, and thus indirectly the -material, welfare of the most helpless and degraded people on the globe. - -“Second, for promoting Christianity and education in lands like Japan, -where there is already an awakened aspiration for better things, and -hence the most immediate results may be anticipated. - -“Third, for promoting such measures as shall diminish the slave-trade -wherever it exists, and for preventing the liquor traffic between -civilized and barbarous nations, for instance, such as is now disgracing -and desolating the Congo State. - -“Any man or woman who applies to be sent out as preacher, teacher, or -agent, for promoting any of these ends, shall be accepted if he or she -give satisfactory evidence to the committee of being fitted to do -sufficiently helpful work in the positions to which they are assigned. -No acceptation of any creed shall be required of any applicant. After -being enrolled for the work, however, all shall be required to leave -detailed written statements of their religious beliefs. These are to be -kept on file for statistical purposes, together with the records of the -subsequent work of the candidates, their methods of labor, and the -results accomplished. - -“Every woman employed by the trustees shall receive the same salary as a -man would receive for doing the same work. In sending out preachers and -pastors no distinction shall be made in regard to sex. All women -desiring to preach and to administer the sacraments shall be authorized -to do so if possessed of proper qualifications.” - -In regard to that latter clause I had had considerable discussion with -auntie previous to convening the trustees. - -“Isn’t that a little odd?” she asked. “I am afraid some clergymen would -be shocked at that.” - -“Aunt Madison,” I said, “if it is desirable to have the sacraments of -communion or baptism celebrated at all, I can see no reason why they -cannot be done by a woman’s hand as well as by that of a man? If the -hand that made the bread does not desecrate it, why may not that same -hand break and pass it, provided it be done in a proper spirit? Is a -man’s hand any more sacred than a woman’s?” - -“Oh, it isn’t that,” said auntie, fidgeting a little; “but it is the -words and the service which go with it, of course.” - -“Certainly,” said I,—rather bluntly, too, I am afraid,—“and those words -consist of quotations from the words of Christ and Paul, and a prayer. I -see no reason why quotations and prayer uttered by a female voice may -not be just as acceptable to the Almighty as if spoken by a male voice. -(I hate those words ‘male’ and ‘female,’ but I thought it would help her -to see the absurdity of our conventional notions about such things.)” - -“Well, dear, perhaps so, if you look at it that way,” she said; “but -what do you think the apostles would have thought of such a thing?” - -“As a matter-of-fact,” said I, “the members of the early church, who ate -at one table, and had all things in common, and celebrated their Lord’s -death at the close of their meal in the simplest way in the world, -probably passed the cup from one to the other informally, and women as -well as men took part in what little service there was. It seems to me -in this age of common sense on other subjects it is time we had a little -more of it in religion.” - -How saucy that appears as I write it. I wonder if I am getting -dictatorial. - -I told the trustees, that, although their work as trustees was to be -entirely undenominational, and that they were to discourage any -sectarian work in whatever schools and churches might be established, -this was not to be interpreted to mean a refusal to send good men and -women, even if they held narrow sectarian views. I hold myself too -liberal to refuse to send any one who can do any good, even though he -hold mediæval views on eschatology. If a man can persuade a savage to -wash his face and stop beating his wife, I am willing to allow him his -cassock and crucifix and all the joys of a celibate High Churchism, so -long, at least, as he holds himself responsible to no other body than -the committee of my choosing. I have observed that a fair amount of -civilization, intelligence, and real Christianity can co-exist with a -very crude theology. So any good man who cares enough about helping his -fellow-men to work hard on a moderate salary, as an exile in a heathen -land, shall not be hindered from going until enough better men offer -themselves to take his place. - -I told my guests that I wished to begin the work at once. Without -stating whether or not they were the trustees referred to in my will, I -asked them to assume for the next three years the responsibility of -disbursing two hundred thousand dollars annually in the way I had -specified. I shall keep the money in my own hands so that they need not -be troubled about investments, and shall pay the amount in installments, -as they call for it. - -I requested them to do exactly as they thought best, without any more -reference to me than if I were dead, except when they came to any -misunderstanding in regard to the interpretation of my wishes as -expressed above. - -I shall have accurate reports of their proceedings, and thus be able to -rectify any point that is left obscure, or that is capable of abuse. - -I requested that my name should not be made known in connection with all -this. - -When I had finished there was a pause; then Dr. H—— in his genial way -began—But I can write no more to-night. - -(Extract from an editorial in the “Church Inquisitor.”) - -It is with feelings of mingled interest and alarm that we report as the -most notable of recent events in the religious world the announcement of -an enormous bequest for foreign missionary work. - -“Why alarm?” may be asked. But a careful reading of the provisions of -the bequest which we publish in another column will assure the reader -that the conditions under which it is given are unprecedented and allow -possibilities so dangerous as to create great anxiety in the minds of -those who are well grounded in the faith and zealous for the maintenance -of pure doctrine. As it is needless to say that in matters of such -moment we hold that the most stringent regulations and careful scrutiny -should be exercised, it is evident that the utter abolishing of all -tests, allowing the teaching of the most dangerous heresies by -Unitarians, Universalists, Spiritualists, Christian Scientists and what -not,—and this to be done in the name of Christian Missions,—is -startling, to say the least. - -It will be readily seen that to the mind of the untutored savage unable -to distinguish genuine Christianity from that which is spurious, and as -likely to accept the one as the other, the danger of confounding the two -to the discredit of all true piety will be great, if the restrictions -laid down in the bequest are to be binding. - -To be sure, the men and women sent out by this fund must be presumed to -possess a fair amount of intellect and moral character, though how their -spiritual condition is to be ascertained before hearing a statement of -their creed we fail to see. Doubtless something may be done in the way -of building up schools and supplementing the work of those whom our -Board sends to preach the gospel. For this we rejoice and give thanks. -Knowing the genuine Christian character of some members of the -committee, we are led to hope that they will deem no one fit to send out -as a proclaimer of the doctrines of Christianity who holds the evidently -loose views of the framer of this singular bequest. As only one of the -trustees is a Unitarian, and as Unitarians are proverbially indifferent -to foreign missions, it seems to leave considerable ground for the hope -that none of that sect will apply, or, if applying, will be sent. - -The donor’s name is withheld, but it is shrewdly surmised to be the late -Mr. Albert Danforth of Springfield, formerly a noted Free-thinker, but -who is said to have had a deathbed repentance and to have attempted to -appease his conscience by bestowing his vast wealth in the manner -described. In this case why his name should be withheld remains a -mystery. - -It will be noticed that another peculiar feature of the bequest is that -one trustee at least shall always be a woman. In the course of time -there is nothing to prevent all of them being women, as four of the five -appointed are known to be in favor of female suffrage. As the late Mr. -Danforth, among his other radical notions, held the same unscriptural -view of woman’s functions, the promotion of “women’s rights” views by -the endowment in question is to be feared. - -It is, perhaps, well enough to pay women in the mission field the same -sum as that given to men for the same work, though this possibly would -be too attractive an allurement for some unworthy persons who might -assume the sacred duties in question for the sake of the loaves and -fishes. But what seems especially unwise as well as wholly unscriptural, -and of which we feel compelled to assert our disapproval, is the -provision that women shall be permitted to administer the holy -sacraments. See Corinthians i. 14, 34, and xi. 3, 7. - -There seems to be no serious objection to women preaching to assemblies -of their own sex where male missionaries cannot be admitted; but that -such an extreme step should be taken as to desecrate and turn into a -farce the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper by allowing them -to be administered by a woman, is something that we must deplore. - -Were it not that most of the trustees appointed represent the new school -of thought, which seems to rely more on reason than on the Written Word, -we should wonder at their being able to satisfy their consciences if -they accept responsibilities encumbered by such restrictions. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - LETTER TO AN INTIMATE FRIEND. - - - FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL, NEW YORK, _February —, 18—._ - -MY DEAR ALICE,—I ran away from Boston without saying good-by to you. Dr. -Wesselhoeft predicted all sorts of horrors—hysterics, St. Vitus’s dance, -nervous prostration, and I don’t know what else, if I did not at once -get away from the hosts of people who drove me distracted with an -incessant ringing of the door-bell from breakfast until bedtime. I was -not aware that I had so many friends before. Every pupil I have ever -had, every passing acquaintance even, has felt it to be his or her -privilege and duty to call and congratulate me and bore me to death with -their ecstasies and flatteries. - -I rather liked it at first, I must confess. It was all so novel to me, -and it showed some of my acquaintances in an entirely new light, which, -I found, gave me an admirable opportunity for a study of character on -its drollest side. Whenever I entered the reception room and found it -lined with callers waiting all on tiptoe for my appearance, I really -felt like a president beset by office-seekers during his first month at -the White House. - -But a few days of all this rather nauseated me, and I thanked my fortune -that it had not come at my birth, but had allowed me to make many true -and tried friends before bestowing on me what I fear will now always -make me suspicious of a lack of disinterestedness in every new-comer. - -However, in leaving Boston and coming to New York I fancy that I have -only jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire, for letters pursue me -everywhere. I devote every forenoon to reading them and dictating -replies to my amanuensis. Many of them are applications for money or -help of some sort, some of them outrageous, and some very pitiful -indeed. I had one some days ago from a poor fellow in Vermont, who -fancied himself an inventor. He had just lost his wife and two children, -and implored me to “help him make a man” of the only little one left to -him. His letter sounded so forlorn that it went to my heart, so I sent -telegrams of inquiry about him to the postmaster and the minister in his -native town. They answered my questions satisfactorily, and I sent at -once for the man to come. - -Such a dazed, bewildered-looking creature as he was, to be sure, when he -stepped out of the carriage, which I had sent for him, and stumbled -clumsily up the steps with his baby, tied up in an old red shawl, in his -arms! - -He told me the simple story of his life, its little ambitions and narrow -outlook; of his conversion and his courtship, and of the horrors of -disease and death and poverty, to which his pinched face and trembling -hands bore witness. The boy was a pathetic little morsel of humanity, -and his sad little mouth won my heart. I have taken charge of the child, -and, please God, I will “make a man of him.” The father is quite unfit -for hard work, and what to do with him I did not know, when suddenly I -bethought myself of a magazine article which you loaned me some time -ago, apropos of “A Universal Tinker.” The man is clever with tools, I -hear, and just the one to do odd bits of mending and attending to the -thousand and one things which are always getting out of order about a -house. So I sent him with a letter to all my Back Bay friends, and eight -of them have offered to pay him five dollars a month each, on condition -that he keep everything in their establishments in repair. I have given -him a chest of tools, and have found a good home for him. A widow in -straitened circumstances, whom also I wish to help, but who will not -accept charity, is glad to receive him and his child into her family. -Really, the man seems already like another creature. He has taken on a -new look of self-respect and courage that makes his commonplace, -weather-beaten face fairly radiant. - -This whole experience has given me intense satisfaction. I had almost -made up my mind to pay no heed to these calls, which demand so much of -my time and prove, at least half of them, to come from frauds and -impostors. In fact, it was merely as an experiment, and chiefly to -indulge my curiosity, that I heeded this case. I am now determined to -have every appeal for help that seems at all deserving thoroughly -investigated, and I foresee that I shall be obliged to have more than -one agent to attend to it all. - -I had an extraordinary experience last night, of which I must tell you, -though my ears tingle yet at the thought of it. I wonder if this is a -foretaste of the penalties which I am doomed to pay for the sin of being -a great heiress. I had always wondered how rich women could endure to -make such a display of diamonds at parties and balls as to necessitate -their being dogged by private detectives everywhere. I always maintained -that a woman was an idiot who would thus let herself become such a slave -to her wealth. I was sure that any one who lived simply, and did not -care for show, could go alone where she pleased, and have no fears; but -my theories are getting sadly shaken. However, I am digressing. Now -about this affair last night. - -I received a beautifully written note the other day, delicately -perfumed, and bearing a seal stamped with a coat of arms, and signed -Manuel Altiova. The writer intimated that he had been a friend of Mr. -Dunreath, and had matters of importance to tell me. He begged the favor -of an interview. I surmised that he was a scamp, but, on the other hand, -thought it possible that he might be some titled wealthy Spaniard who -had met Mr. Dunreath in South America, and who could give me some -information about the locality of my possessions. So I had my amanuensis -send him a formal note in reply asking him to call on me last evening. - -I told my maid Hélène to remain in the next room with the door ajar, and -when his card was sent up, followed almost immediately by himself, I -arose to receive him with some curiosity. - -Tableau. Enter, with many bows, a tall, black-eyed man of perhaps -thirty-five, clad in faultless dress; in short, to all outward -appearance, an elegant Adonis. - -I let him tell his story, and said nothing for awhile. He professed to -have been most intimately acquainted with Mr. Dunreath, and produced a -photograph of him. Subsequently, he showed me some letters in Mr. -Dunreath’s handwriting referring to some dishonorable business -transactions by which Mr. D. had greatly augmented his fortunes, and for -which he would have suffered the full penalty of the law except for the -timely and most self-sacrificing intervention of his “noble and devoted -friend,” Manuel Altiova. - -I was thunderstruck. The hot blood mounted to my temples, and for a -moment everything seemed to reel before me. Was all my happiness a -dream? Was I then enjoying the ill-gotten gains of a swindler? I looked -at the letters. There could be no mistake about the handwriting. That -very forenoon, with my lawyer, I had been carefully examining a dozen -documents in that same queer crabbed hand, which I had known so well in -the days when I was a girl and had a lover. - -Five years ago it was, but it seemed fifty, as I sat there staring -dizzily at those letters and trying to realize that this man whom I had -loved almost enough to marry, this man whom I would have sworn was honor -itself, was false, basely false. Oh, it seemed a thing incredible; yet, -as I thought of how in these last few years for month after month -society has been shocked by the fall of those who have stood most high -in our esteem, yet who have been tempted to sell their souls for gold, I -believed it all. - -I remember thinking vaguely of how I must try to find out the men whom -Mr. Dunreath had defrauded, and return to them this money, which was -theirs, not mine. Then I roused myself and questioned him, trying to -appear as indifferent and non-committal as possible, though I could feel -my temples throbbing, and I knew my cheeks were hot. He answered my -questions without the slightest hesitation, giving names, dates, and -localities with startling readiness and apparent sincerity. He mentioned -various little peculiarities of Mr. Dunreath’s,—his never eating butter, -his being left-handed, and so on. - -At last I could ask no more. I felt as though I should suffocate. The -man went on talking, however, telling his own family history. His father -was a learned professor, his mother a lady of noble birth. He was born -at Barcelona, had been destined from childhood to take orders in the -Romish Church, and was finally disinherited by his stern father for his -avowed Protestant and Republican doctrines, to say nothing of his -refusal to wed the woman of his father’s choice when all hope of his -entering the church had been abandoned. With his own little private -fortune of twenty thousand dollars he had sailed for Brazil, and had -entered the service of Mr. Dunreath. Soon he became the devoted friend -of that gentleman, was intrusted with his confidence, and became -cognizant of all his affairs. Mr. Dunreath had fully expected to return -to him the thousands which he had so generously made over to the -officials in the nick of time, thus preventing the pursuit which would -have ended in his arrest and conviction, with the subsequent surrender -to the state of many of his millions. - -Mr. Altiova, or rather Señor as he called himself, presently let me -understand the chief purpose of his visit. As you will readily guess, he -desired me to pay him the sum which he had spent, namely, twenty -thousand dollars, all his little fortune. In another letter which he -produced, Mr. Dunreath had promised to return this sum doubled, and this -promise was in the act of fulfillment on the very day of the fatal -sunstroke. - -Señor Altiova modestly disclaimed any desire that this generous offer -should be fulfilled by Mr. Dunreath’s heirs, and declared that he would -be quite content to receive only the sum which he had spent. He paused -for my reply. Meanwhile I had been gradually collecting my wits, and was -able to control my voice enough to say that I must first consult with my -lawyer. - -“But, Miss Brewster,” he urged, “that, you see, is impossible. Will you -disclose Mr. Dunreath’s felony? Will you create a needless scandal and -lose your fortune? No; if you will but settle this little business with -me (the sum, of course, is but a mere bagatelle to a rich lady like -you), the secret will remain forever buried in my bosom, and no mortal -shall know what has passed between us. The moment you hand me your check -for twenty thousand dollars, payable to the bearer, that moment you -shall with your own hand burn these incriminating letters.” - -I reiterated that in spite of the danger of bringing ignominy upon the -name of my old friend, I should consult my lawyer before taking any -steps in the matter. - -“But I can’t wait,” he retorted almost fiercely, and there was a look in -his eyes which made me start. My heart rose. Could it be that those -terrible letters were only clever forgeries? He instantly recollected -himself, however, and his tone assumed a touch of pathos. - -“Miss Brewster,” he said, and there was a tremor in his voice as he -looked at me beseechingly; “my mother, whom I have not seen for years, -is dying. The physician gives her at most only a month to live. Unknown -to my father she has cabled me to return instantly. Ah, my sweet -mother,” he murmured, as if speaking to himself, while his eyes were wet -with unshed tears, “the moments are years until I see her. Oh, if I -should be too late! And then—who knows? perhaps,—yes,—perhaps, if I may -stand beside my mother’s deathbed, my stern old father may be reconciled -to me—may bid me stay, and I may have the unspeakable comfort of -sustaining his declining years.” - -I watched him keenly. If this were acting, it had been very good acting -until now. But these last few words had a false ring in them, which even -my unpracticed ear detected. With a mournful sigh he showed me two -miniatures painted on ivory, one the face of a handsome, dark-eyed -woman, the other that of a scholarly-looking man of middle age. These, -he said, were the portraits of his father and mother, and as he returned -the latter to its velvet case he pressed it tenderly to his lips. - -It was very touching, and I was half convinced, especially when my eye -fell again on that curious handwriting whose peculiarities I knew so -well. The man evidently saw that I was agitated and afraid that his -story might, after all, be true. He continued:— - -“But, Miss Brewster, I have no money. I arrived here last week from Rio -Janeiro. My father has disinherited me, as I have told you. My little -private fortune, my mother’s gift, which I could have doubled in a -year’s time by my investments, was all given to save my friend. Madame!” -he cried, “where is your sense of justice—simple justice—if you refuse -me the paltry sum which saved the reputation and wealth of the man whose -heiress you now are? You have his own confession here before you, signed -with his name. The evidence is unimpeachable. If I bring it into court, -it may cost you half your millions. Madame, the Urania sails to-morrow, -I must go. I must have money, the money you owe me. If you refuse”— - -I rose to bring this extraordinary interview to an immediate close. I -was shaking from head to foot and thankful beyond measure that Hélène, -who had doubtless heard the whole conversation, understood too little -English to realize its import. I was convinced that I had to deal with a -very shrewd, clever villain, who had worked up his facts most adroitly, -and was trying a desperate confidence game. But he was not to be gotten -rid of so easily. Suddenly falling upon one knee, he grasped my hand as -I stood before him and poured out a torrent of words, of which I -remember nothing, for I was too indignant and astounded even to think of -calling upon Hélène. We must have looked for all the world like the -tragic pictures in the “Police Gazette,” which my naughty youngsters -used to display behind my back at the Mission School. - -Suddenly I came to my senses. I don’t suppose the whole scene lasted -half a minute at most. Tearing my hand away, I was rushing for -Hélène,—who, as I learned afterward, was sound asleep, with the door -blown to,—when, as a last bit of desperation, what did this man do, but -snatch a dainty little pistol from his hip pocket, and before I could -scream or even gasp an articulate word he aimed it at his temples and -seemed about to fire. I can hardly tell what I did then. I believe I -screamed, and I must have rushed upon the madman, for the next instant I -found myself with the pistol in my hand trying to fire it up the -chimney, while the Señor lay prostrate apparently in a swoon. But the -pistol would not fire; evidently it was not loaded. I dropped it into -the smouldering ashes, and staggered into the next room, where my stupid -maid lay soundly sleeping on the sofa. Faint and trembling I dropped -into the nearest chair. I could not have walked six inches further, and -was too weak to attempt to arouse Hélène. On the whole, I was glad not -to do so, for she would have been too frightened to be of the least use. -Moreover, she would have raised the neighborhood with her shrieks, while -I should have been ready to die with mortification and disgust. - -In imagination I saw the lurid head lines of the next day’s columns of -society gossip and scandal. “Dunreath’s Defalcation!” “How it Horrifies -His Heiress!!” I saw myself posing as the heroine of a sixth-rate dime -novel; on whose pages alone, as I had always supposed, such experiences -as this ever took place. It did not take three seconds for all this to -flash through my brain and make the cold sweat stand out in drops upon -my forehead. - -Just then I heard a faint click, and summoning courage to look into the -drawing-room, what was my unutterable relief to find the room empty. The -wretch had vanished. To tell the truth, at that juncture I came about as -near verifying the doctor’s prediction in regard to hysterics as I ever -did in my life. - -Now for the sequel. This afternoon I received the following note, which -I inclose for your benefit. - - MISS BREWSTER. - - MADAM,—John I. Carrigain, alias Court Peperino, alias Dr. Kametski, - alias Manuel Altiova, aged thirty-four years and seven months, was - born in Manchester, England, of an English father and Portuguese - mother, received a good education, was arrested for forgery at the age - of nineteen, served out a sentence of five years, and on release was - sent to New York by a charitable agency. He was suspected of being - accessory to one of the largest swindling operations ever undertaken - in New York city, but as nothing could be proved, he was released from - custody and began operations in Chicago, obtaining money under various - false pretences. At first he met with great success, but was finally - convicted and sentenced to six years in the state prison. He was - released from Joliet six months ago, but, until your communication - last night, had not been known to be in New York. A person answering - his description was seen to take the northern express last evening - with a ticket for some point in Canada. The man is a clever forger, - and it would require an expert to detect his work. It has been - ascertained that Carrigain was assistant clerk for Mr. Dunreath for a - few months seven years ago, which accounts for some of his information - regarding the habits of that gentleman; and as for the handwriting and - the South American details, he is quite clever enough to have worked - those carefully up in the last few weeks. - - It is needless to say that his career will henceforth be closely - watched. - - Yours respectfully, - J. ALLISON, - _Pinkerton Detective_. - -By the way, Alice, I am having my portrait painted, full-length, in a -blue velvet tea gown. I give a sitting every other afternoon, and on -alternate days visit tenement houses, industrial schools, and Castle -Garden. I saw two thousand filthy Italians of the lowest kind land -yesterday. - -I have just come home from a tour through the Mulberry Bend where these -creatures herd together. I felt as if I were in Naples again. I thought -some parts of Boston were bad enough, but I never saw anything on this -side of the water equal to the horrible squalor and loathsomeness of -these places. - -I mean to take all your good advice about being calm, and trying not to -feel that it devolves upon me to settle all our social problems this -month. I know even better than you the complexity of the difficulties in -our congested city life. I have little hope of doing much for this -generation of pauperism and vice, but I am determined to do whatever my -money and good will can do for laying the foundation of better things in -the generation to come. - -I am going to begin with tenement houses, for there, I believe, lies the -root of half of the trouble. I suppose my friends will think that I am -getting to be a dreadful doctrinaire. Well, it can’t be helped. I was -predestined for that, I believe. My consolation is that you at least -will not be bored by all my plans and theories, and will warn me if I -get too rabid.... - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - -The night after I had first seen Mildred Brewster at aunt Madison’s I -lay awake for hours, feverishly tossing upon my pillow, and revolving -many thoughts. I then made one resolve. I would try to win the -friendship of this woman who had touched me, who had moved me in a way -that no one had ever done before. - -It was not so much by what she had said, for I had heard the same or -kindred thoughts expressed by other lips; but I had never before met a -woman so strong, well poised and thoughtful, a woman who united girlish -grace and charm with all the persistent ardor of one who, I was sure, -could not only die for an idea, but, what is far rarer, live for it day -by day and year by year, although forced to meet indifference and -coldness or the quiet contempt which cuts to the quick in every -sensitive nature. - -As I had sat by the firelight that night, watching the color come and go -in her face,—that changeful, eager face,—for the first time in a dreary -twelve-month I had felt my heart leap up with warmth and sympathy. From -a thoughtless, happy girlhood, from the life of a gay, pleasure-loving -young lady, I had been rudely summoned to face some of the bitterest -realities of life. No matter what they were. I am not writing about -myself. But though my life was still rich and full of opportunities, if -I had but known it, yet in my blindness and selfishness it had seemed -utterly wrecked to me. I had sunk into a dull, prosaic routine, and -under a proud mask of gay indifference was trying to hide a heart dead -to hope, ambition, and love. Yet, no! not dead to love, though I had -thought it so; but in the heart-hunger which was not satisfied, I was -fast becoming self-centred, cold, and cynical. - -Like a dreary desert the long years which must be lived stretched -desolately before me, and my only aim was to fill the minutes of each -day so full as to leave me no leisure for memory or thought. - -As I closed my eyes to sleep that night my last thought was, “Yes, I -_will_ know her. I _must_ know her. Oh, if I could only be like her, a -creature of thought and purpose, absorbed in some idea, caring for -something beside my wretched, silly self! Perhaps she can help me. I -will ask her. I can trust _her_.” - -I had been deceived in others; I had given my utmost trust to those who -had proved utterly unworthy, and in bitterness of spirit I had resolved -never to trust again, never to leave the gateway to my heart unguarded; -but now, before I knew it, the locks had yielded, and I stood with -lonely, outstretched arms, begging for love to enter in. After all, I -was still young, and very, very human. - -And love came. It came before my fallen pride had found words to ask for -it. I had something to live for now. _I had found a friend._ What -romance has ever been written that tells of woman’s love for woman? And -yet the world is full of it, despite the skeptics, and the Davids and -Jonathans find their counterparts in thousands of the unwritten lives of -women. Yes, I had found not a new acquaintance, but a warm heart-friend. -Thank God that she knew it and I knew it before the wealth which came so -fast upon the beginning of our friendship could create a gulf between -us, which, once established, my pride would never have allowed me to -cross. Mildred knew, she always knew, that I had loved her first, and -wanted her for herself alone. - -I knew, when the wealth came, that it would not make her any the less my -friend, but I was only one among her many friends. I knew that our paths -would be different now, and though she would always think kindly of me, -I could not expect to see and know her as I had fondly dreamed in the -first days of our friendship. - -“No, I can never return to her what she can give, what she has already -given to me; my little life can play but a small part in the large life -that has come to her,” I said drearily, as I turned back, after the -first shock of surprise, to readjust myself to the old routine of -thought and feeling, which, I had dared to hope, had been put behind me -forever. - -“Ah, well, I have made believe be happy before, I can do so again,” I -said to myself, grimly. - -But one day—how well I remember it—as I passed down Chestnut Street in -Salem noting the brilliant winter sunlight shining down from the -cloudless blue through the black lace work of branches high arching -overhead, and casting fantastic shadows on the brick walls of the -stately old mansions on either side, some one handed me a letter. This -is what it said:— - -... “You asked me to be your friend, you said I could help you, and now -I ask you to be my friend, to come here to this great city where I must -be for a time and help me. I felt brave and strong at first, I was not -afraid to be rich, but I begin to tremble now, to feel strangely weak -and girlish and unprotected; to feel, in short, that I need a friend, -that I need what I think you can be to me. After aunt Madison had been -with me only a few days she was obliged to return to Boston, leaving me -quite alone. Of course Madam Grundy says that I must have a chaperon, -but I do not want a chaperon, and I should be wretched with a -‘companion,’ perfunctorily trying to entertain me, learning all my plans -and secrets, and hypocritically assenting to everything I do and say. -No; I want an honest friend, one who knows the world as you do, who will -honestly speak her mind, who will take an interest in all my schemes, -and help to keep me from making blunders. - -“I believe I could talk more freely, think more clearly, and do better -work if you were beside me, your honest eyes looking into mine. For, let -me tell you the secret, dear, of what first drew me to you. You are most -strangely like the sister whom I lost years ago, and whose -companionship, if she had lived, would have made life so rich for me. I -feel myself so alone; never before have I had so keen a sense of -loneliness as now, here, in this modern Babylon, with my old life and -work abandoned, and the new perplexing life which my wealth has brought -me just begun. Like me, you are alone in the world, singularly alone; so -come and be to me what my little Ruby would have been. When you speak I -could almost believe that I hear her voice; when you look at me I see -her eyes again. Your face haunts me. Come to me and I shall feel that my -Ruby is with me again.” - -Standing in the sunshine beneath the old elms I read these loving words. -When I lifted my eyes again, the beautiful quaint old street was -suddenly transfigured. For months it had been to me but a bare -prison-house; now the sunshine was real sunshine, the sky was no longer -leaden, the world was, after all, a beautiful world, and I was glad to -live. - -So bidding farewell to quiet Chestnut Street and the staid, historic old -city, I went to the “modern Babylon” to meet Mildred, and the new life -began. As the days went on I perceived that she seemed to have a -feverish dread that she should die with her work undone. My constant -anxiety was that she would succumb to the fearful nervous strain which -her sudden accession to wealth and responsibility had brought upon her. -But nothing seemed to rest her or relieve her mind except the -accomplishment of some of the ends she had in view, and as every new -project was consummated, she showed a relief and delight that to the -average society woman would have appeared inexplicable and at the same -time amusing. - -“It seems to me,” said Mildred one day as we were strolling through the -park, after a morning on Cherry Street; “it seems to me that most people -have no imagination. It cannot be that all the pleasant, cultured people -whom one meets are so shamefully heartless and indifferent. They simply -have not the smallest realization of what is going on in this great -city, or any thought of their personal, individual responsibility about -it. They hear it all as a tale that is told. They have always heard it. -They are used to hearing it. From constant hearing it has become as -meaningless to them as the Lord’s Prayer has to most people. How many -who dare to say ‘Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven,’ ever -actually mean a word that they say, or lift a finger to bring it about?” - -We walked on in silence. Presently Mildred burst out again: - -“We are so apt to think that because we eat our three meals a day, and -can buy our opera tickets when we feel like it, that all the world is -doing well, and that if people are miserable it must somehow be their -own fault. - -“I am convinced that if any people ever needed missionary work, it is -the society belles and the well-bred, cultured men of the clubs, who -know so little and care still less for this vast multitude of the -ignorant and suffering and fallen here at their very doors, and who look -with calm indifference on these hideous sores upon our modern life. - -“I promise you, Ruby, after I get some of my irons out of the fire, I -mean to devote myself to a crusade to rescue what George Eliot calls the -‘perishing upper classes.’ - -“But ah,” she sighed, “it needs genius for that, and I have only money. -Oh, I would give half my millions if I had the scathing pen of a -Carlyle, or the power to plead for humanity like Mrs. Stowe or Walter -Besant or Dickens; if I could stir the hearts of the people with flaming -words that should help to sweep away the sloth, indifference, and -contemptible arrogance that makes one tenth of us forget that the other -nine tenths are our brothers and sisters!” - -“If every one were as self-sacrificing as you, Mildred”—I began; but she -interrupted me almost sternly. - -“Hush! never say that to me. What have I ever sacrificed? Nothing, -absolutely nothing. I have always had comforts; now I have everything -that heart can wish. In giving to others I deny myself nothing. Never -dare to let me for a moment imagine that I am doing anything more than -the simplest, most obvious duty. I must not cheat my conscience. I -should be the veriest hypocrite if I allowed myself to think that I am -generous. Is there anything generous in paying one’s debts, particularly -when one has not had to earn the money with which to pay them? - -“I have always observed,” she continued, “that a little decency in a -millionaire goes a long way. I am not above temptation, and I have -already discovered that I am in danger of coming to believe that my -simple good will, common sense, and capacity for sympathy are something -rare and remarkable. - -“Every one thinks to please me by telling me so. Do not let me deceive -myself. I have a clear vision now; help me to keep it and to be -faithful.” - -Mildred’s voice quivered, and she drew my arm in hers while we walked -back to our rooms in silence. - -“But the world is growing better, Mildred. Every intelligent person -admits that people are more kind and thoughtful than they used to be. No -one who has read history could deny it,” I resumed, as once more within -doors we sat down before the glowing grate to finish our talk. - -“You and I believe it, dear, because we believe in God, and because we -believe that this is God’s world and not the devil’s,” Mildred replied. - -“Half the women whom we saw parading their fine toilets this afternoon -believe it too, not because they know enough about history to see in it -the unfolding of the divine idea, but because they like to believe it; -because it makes them very comfortable to believe that by taking money -which some one else has earned and paying an annual fee out of it to -orphan asylums and hospitals, or to any outcome of our modern altruism, -they are thereby relieved from all further responsibility. - -“But here is an intelligent man,—an English university man, who has read -history as well as you and I, and he says it is false. This is what he -writes,” said Mildred, taking a thick letter from her writing-desk. She -held it unopened for a moment and continued: “I met him when I was in -England. We had many a talk in our rambles together at Kew and Hampstead -Heath. He is a friend of William Morris and like him a socialist of the -deepest dye. I don’t half accept the accuracy of all his statements, but -he is an honest man and a gentleman. I am glad to know him, for I cannot -afford to be ignorant of such a man’s views on our social problems, -however much I may dissent from them. Now let me read you his letter. - -... “You ask me to give you suggestions for the expenditure of your -wealth in benefiting humanity. This I must decline to do, my dear -friend. If I had your wealth I know what _I_ should do, or, at least, -what I ought to do, but _I_ am a socialist, and _you_ are not. I do not -believe in _laissez-faire_ as you do, and as a socialist I should use my -wealth and influence for a reorganization of society, not for a patching -up of what is at bottom false and rotten. Things are getting worse and -worse, and must continue to do so under the present social system. My -hope is that they will get so bad, so unutterably vile, that the people -will be compelled to throw aside their apathy and make a clean sweep. I -take no part in any of the hundred little schemes for ‘improving’ the -present system. I don’t want to improve the present system as you do. I -want to destroy it. - -“We improve things that are already fairly good and can be made better, -but we destroy whatever is thoroughly rotten; at least I think all -rational people do so. So far as the present order is at all bearable, -it is due to certain socialist innovations, such as interference with -the capitalist, trade unions, movements like that of the Irish against -the particular class of thieves called landlords, etc. - -“The people, the common people, who for centuries have silently suffered -and abjectly kissed the foot that kicked them and trod upon them, the -people, I say, are beginning to wake up. They are beginning to ask -questions, and they are questions which will have to be solved erelong, -even if it take another bloody French revolution to do it. I see no way -in which bloodshed is to be avoided. I look forward confidently to what -will seem to you very like a reign of terror ere this century closes. -Things must grow worse before they can get better. The crisis has not -come, but it is coming. Money has done much, but it cannot do -everything; the press will not always be bribed and muzzled as it is -to-day, nor Levi’s and Mulhall’s and Giffen’s statistics be doctored to -suit the capitalists who pay for them. The time is coming, Miss -Brewster, when the people _will be heard_; and _they will be heeded_, -for their words will be as short and sharp as fire and dynamite can make -them. - -“Do not think I am telling you of what I wish to see. I am telling you -of what I know will come. - -“The rich are not voluntarily going to heed the bitter cry of the -famishing, except in one way, the only way they have ever known, namely, -almsgiving. They will give alms because it is noble to be a benefactor, -because it appeases their consciences, because it might be made -extremely inconvenient for them if they did not. But they will not give -justice. Justice! they never learned the meaning of the word. - -“But some day these landed aristocrats ‘whose thin bloods crawl down -from some robber in a border brawl,’ who have never lifted their finger -to earn a penny in their lives, and who owe all that they have to these -same robber ancestors,—these people, I say, will some day be taught the -meaning of that same word ‘justice’ by some of the forty-five millions -of landless people in our little island. I shall not soon forget how -quickly the subscriptions for the poor went up a year or two ago, after -the riots. - -“You have no conception, Miss Brewster, you can have no conception, of -the state of things here at present. Six millions of our people are -living on the brink of pauperism. I tell you, when I sit down to my -omelette and toast in the morning and reflect that there are two hundred -thousand human beings within two miles of me who don’t know where they -are going to get their next meal, when I read of the hundreds of -children who habitually go to school without any breakfast, and who not -unfrequently faint dead away over their books, I tell you it doesn’t -make my own breakfast relish any better. - -“One night in the autumn, a year or two ago, I passed through Trafalgar -Square at twelve o’clock, and counted four hundred and eighty-three -homeless people lying out in the chill air upon the bare stones. Not one -of them had fourpence wherewith to pay for a night’s lodging. And this, -remember, was only one spot. - -“There were many others where a similar sight might have been seen. - -“‘Ah,’ but you say; ‘these are the dissolute and drunken, those who love -to be vagabonds.’ - -“I assure you that you are much mistaken. I have seen and talked with -thousands of these people, and a large number of them, probably a -fourth, are men from the country who can find no work there, and have -found none here—honest, hard-working British laborers. Two thirds of -these people are not vicious, or drunken, but they are out of work, they -are cold, they are hungry, they are naked, they are outcasts in this -Christian (?) land which has enough for all its children. All they ask -is work, hard work, dirty work, work for twelve hours a day, but that -they cannot get. Why? Because our accursed modern society is irrational, -wasteful, utterly selfish. Plenty of money, plenty of things worth -doing, plenty of men who would thank God if this work could be given -them to do; but what does our mad, maladjusted society say to them? -‘Emigrate! Clear the country! Away with you! We have no use for you.’ -Malthus was right, after all, and we must reverse Browning. - - ‘There’s no God in heaven; - All’s wrong with the world.’ - -“Do you know of the blacksmith women in the ‘black country’? I have -recently been there, giving some addresses. Oh, the hideousness of it -all, with its starving people, its wretched, stunted lives, its ghastly -ugliness, its brutalized men and women! One sees women, who should be at -home nursing their babies, standing on their feet from morning till -night doing the work of men, swinging the hammer amidst grime and soot -and incessant noise. And if one of them drops at her post from sheer -exhaustion, there is a fiendish clanging thing that bangs on the floor -and shakes every bone in the poor wretch’s body. - -“Mr. —— took Henry George to see the sight when he was here, and he told -me that George swore until he was black in the face. - -“Oh, I know you think I am a hot-head; you will say these are -exceptional cases. You will doubtless try to do what all the good rich -people do (I admit, you see, that there are _some_ good ones); you will -doubtless try to help palliate all these horrors. If you were here you -might build an old men’s home for the poor men to whom society has never -given a chance, who, through no fault of their own, have been forced -from their cradle to live in stifling attics or damp, unwholesome -hovels, breathing poison, working their fingers off to give their hungry -children bread. You might build a comfortable home where these decrepit, -useless old fellows might enjoy the food which you give in charity, wear -your charity uniform, and look forward to filling a pauper’s grave, as -does one in nine of all the people who die in London. Or you might build -a splendid marble palace of a hospital or asylum, and herd together vast -numbers of little boys or fallen women or cripples, and try in some big, -mechanical, institutional way to do with your pound of cure what an -ounce of prevention would have accomplished a thousand times better, if -it could have come in the way of justice, not charity. Charity! how I -loathe the word! It is the iron which sears the conscience of your rich -Christian as does nothing else. He thinks to buy heaven with that word. - -“I tell you, Miss Brewster, these people want what you and I want. They -want to preserve their self-respect, to have a chance once a week to -remember that they are human beings and not machines. They want to be -able in this Christian land to earn an honest living, to keep their -daughters from the streets, and to keep soul and body together without -sacrificing all decency and honor. - -“How much delicacy and fine moral sentiment, to say nothing of physical -comfort, do you suppose is to be had in the sixty thousand families of -London, each of which lives in one room? - -“Do you rich people suppose you are going to help this matter greatly by -leaving money in your wills to build asylums for the moral and physical -wrecks for which our incredible folly and selfish indifference is -responsible? - -“Your time will come; sooner or later you will find much the same -condition of things in your own great cities. Do not believe that in -some mysterious way—as your politicians and newspapers are trying to -teach you—you, in America, are different from us. - -“We are all in the same boat, because the structure of society is -everywhere the same. Money is literally king and god. It rules us -everywhere, and it is bringing about a state of things with which the -order imposed by a German Kaiser is a mild and beneficent régime. -Indeed, I am not sure but that the greatest social crash will come in -the United States, unless you soon come to recognize that a new order of -things must be brought about. You pride yourselves upon your universal -suffrage, but of what value is a vote to a poor man who must risk his -bread and butter if he dares to vote contrary to his employer’s wishes? -What avails universal suffrage when one third of your legislators can be -bought, and votes go to the highest bidder? No; universal suffrage is -totally inadequate to save us under the existing order of things. - -“I am a socialist simply because I am a rational human being, who knows -the facts; because I am—I venture to think—endowed with reason and -imagination. - -“I do not imagine, however, that socialism is going to produce any -perfect ideal order. I simply see that the economic order which has -sustained the civilized world for the past two or three hundred years is -now falling in pieces and must be replaced by something; that we are -approaching a period that will spell either socialism or chaos. - -“If unhappily chaos should come, it will be due to the opponents of -socialism, which is the only peaceful, rational method of social -organization under the new economic conditions, due to machine industry -and the contraction of the world by means of the great scientific -discoveries of our time. - -“If you want to see a fuller statement of my views and the grounds for -them, look at the article on Socialism in the ‘Forum’ last month. But we -socialists spend years in study, and we can’t give the results -adequately in a brief form. Miss Brewster, I feel that you are in -earnest, far more in earnest than most women whom I have met from your -country. I do not wonder that you are perplexed. I would not change -places with you. I would far rather have the sure conviction of the -truth as I see it, and be of little power in advancing the cause I -believe in, than to stand as you do, rich, powerful, overwhelmed with -responsibilities, not knowing how to use your power, and trying in vain -to patch up and prolong the existence of what is destined to be swept -away ere the next generation shall have come and gone. - -“Smile at my pessimism if you like; time will verify my words. If ever -you come to see this as I do, perhaps then I may suggest some things for -you to do with your millions.”... - -(Miss Brewster’s reply to the foregoing letter.) - -... “Your letter has deeply stirred me. Not that anything you say -surprises me, or is new to me; but behind the words, I know, are the -sad, dreadful facts for which they stand; and, being a creature endowed -with some imagination, I can in some measure realize what that simple -statement means, when you say that six millions of your people are on -the brink of pauperism. - -“Good God! what endless heartaches, what physical misery, what -degradation of mind and soul is implied in those few words! I am glad -you do not envy me my wealth. I am beginning to think that I am not so -much to be envied as I thought at first I might be. I have been amazed, -in these last few weeks, to learn from numberless sources of the -chagrin, disappointment, and perplexity of many rich men and women who -have thought to benefit the world by the ‘charity’ which you so despise. -They have put up great institutions, only to find that in many cases it -was the least helpful thing that they could do; that a large part of the -money was spent on taxes, insurance, agents, servants, go-betweens; -that, after all, when they had gathered their orphans or cripples or old -women together, they had brought about an utterly cheerless, artificial -state of things, and have proved that for the average human being with -natural human instincts the poorest home is often more preferable than -the most palatial asylum. - -“So, set your heart at rest. I am not going to spend my money in that -way. Whatever may be the political and social changes which will take -place in the next twenty years,—and doubtless they will be many and -great,—of one thing I am sure, no new condition of things can be made -permanent or harmonious except by means of two things. The first of -these is moral character. The second is intellectual insight into cause -and effect and relation. In any condition of things we must have -righteousness, and we must have trained minds. You will doubtless agree -with me that selfishness and ignorance are the two monster dragons that -are threatening now, as they always have done, to devour us, only we -should differ as to the way in which they are to be slain. You have a -definite theory as to how this is to be done, which I do not yet -thoroughly understand. I see your goal, but I do not understand how you -propose to reach it without doing away with individuality and crushing -out some of the deepest human instincts. True, many of our instincts are -brutish. There is still the tiger and the ape within us, which, as John -Fiske says, is our inheritance of ‘original sin’ from our brute -ancestors. I agree with you that such instincts must be eliminated, but -how? By dynamite, fear, revolution, legislation? - -“You are right: we may make the selfish fear, and that is often a very -salutary thing to do if nothing better can be done. A business man was -telling me only the other day of the different relations between -employers and employees in Fall River and other manufacturing places -since the strikes of the last few years. - -“But, after all, though fear and legislation can do something to convert -a brutal man into a decent man for a time, there must needs be something -else,—the gospel of love and humanity, which of his own free will he -must choose to accept and apply understandingly. - -“I shall not attempt to palliate any of the existing evils, nor, on the -other hand, shall I attempt to undermine our present social and -political system even if I could. Certainly I shall not try to do this -until I am very certain that I see the right method of substituting -something better in its place. - -“By the way, have you read Bellamy’s ‘Looking Backward’? It is very -suggestive, and Nationalization of Industries is getting to be more of a -fad in Boston than Esoteric Buddhism or Christian Science. Bellamy tells -us what we must try to attain; but, alas! he gives little hint of what -must be our first step toward the attainment. This is the problem which -you and I must help our generation to solve. - -“Go on with your socialistic schemes. I believe they contain a half -truth; at all events, to talk about them as you do will make people -think, for you speak from the deepest conviction. Out of all this _sturm -und drang_ period must surely come clear insight and right action: at -least I am optimist enough to hope so; and my work shall be to think out -the solution, as far as I may, but at all events to do what in me lies -to set people to thinking; to make life a little sweeter and better; to -infuse into it more hope for a few of my generation, and thus help to -make their children ready for the new order of things if it comes. - -“In this great city money flows like water. There are streets where, for -a mile, every house must be the home of a millionaire, for no one else -could afford to live in such a one. Yet, within two miles of these -palaces there is the direst want, the most frightful squalor, and the -problem of New York is fast getting to be like the problem of London. - -“Most of our women dabble a little in charity now and then. They get up -charity balls and fairs to satisfy their consciences in that way, and -flatter themselves when they spend their money lavishly in luxuries for -their own pleasure that they are giving employment to the poor and doing -God service. They will sometimes give their money; they will sometimes -give a little time to cut out garments at a sewing circle; but not one -in five hundred will give her personal service even for a half day a -week in coming face to face with those who need the help of her -intelligence and her human sympathy. - -“Of this I am convinced: men are never to be uplifted permanently, -except by human sympathy, intelligently directed and expressed, and by -personal contact with those who do not come to them to dole out -‘charity,’ but who come as brothers to lend them a helping hand. - -“There are a few who begin the work; there are fewer still who continue -it. The other day a gentleman, who is giving his life to the rescuing of -street children, told me of the faintheartedness of his voluntary -helpers, who come a half dozen Sundays to his mission, but who rarely -come longer when they discover that, to use his own coarse but forcible -words, which you will pardon my quoting verbatim, ‘_they must be willing -to pick lice off those children for Christ’s sake_.’... - -“Well, dear friend, we are both working in very different ways. You -would tear down; I would build up, or ‘patch up,’ as you say. Which of -us is the wiser, time will tell; but however differently we may labor, -it is for the same end after all that we are striving,—‘putting society -on a just and rational basis,’ as you would phrase it, or bringing God’s -kingdom upon earth, as the Christ called it,—and so I bid you -God-speed.”... - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - -One morning in April we had risen from a leisurely, late breakfast, a -luxury which, with our press of work, we did not often allow ourselves, -except when, as in this case, we had been up late the previous night. - -Hélène brought in the usual bulky bag of mail matter, and we settled -ourselves to our morning’s task, I taking charge of all letters that -were not of a private nature, and consigning to the waste basket -innumerable quires of paper devoted to more or less roundabout appeals -for aid, and lectures and advice _ad libitum_. - -Occasionally we stopped to read aloud to each other bits of the letters, -and discuss or laugh over their contents. This morning I remember I was -examining a document in regard to a prison reform society, containing a -request that Mildred would allow her name to be used as vice-president -of it, when an exclamation from her startled me into dropping the letter -and turning round. - -“Well, what now?” I asked, in response to the intimation from the -puckered forehead and pursed-up lips that something was the matter. -“Another love-sick poet? or is it a count this time? It must be time for -another suitor; you haven’t had an offer of marriage for at least ten -days, have you?” - -“Indeed, Ruby, this is no joke, I assure you,” replied Mildred, gazing -blankly at the letter in her hand. “It is from General Lawrence.” - -“What!” I exclaimed; “that distinguished-looking man who has written all -those books upon political economy? He talked with me in such an -entertaining way the other night and told the funniest stories. I was -afraid he would be awfully erudite and dry, but he wasn’t at all.” - -“No; he can be very entertaining,” sighed Mildred. “I have met him -several times since we have been in New York. He was a classmate of -papa’s at Yale and a gallant soldier in the war. Judge Matthews said he -thought him one of the clearest and ablest thinkers in the country, and -it seems that years ago he had achieved a European reputation.” - -“Yes,” I said, “I have seen his articles in the ‘Fortnightly’ and -‘Edinburgh’ reviews, and he spoke the other night as if he were well -acquainted with Browning and Froude and half of the literary people of -England.” - -“His wife wore fine sapphires, and I overheard her say that she was -devoted to German opera,” added Mildred, musingly. - -“Well, what of it?” I asked, much mystified at this apparently -irrelevant remark. - -“Why, only this,” answered Mildred, dryly; “this entertaining society -man, this famous political economist, writes to me this morning -piteously begging for an immediate loan of ten thousand dollars to keep -the sheriff out of his house.” - -“Heavens! Mildred. Why, I supposed he had enough money to live on,” I -cried, aghast. “He lives in one of those pretty two-thousand-a-year -apartments up by the park, does he not? I have heard people say what a -charming little home they had, and everything in such good taste. Pray -how have they managed it?” - -“Oh, in the simplest way in the world—on other people’s money,” replied -Mildred, with a shade of scorn in her tone. “The fact is, as all his -friends know, he is as poor as a church-mouse. But he has always been -accustomed to living well, and he has not the faintest idea of household -economy in spite of his fine theories of political economy. He is -generous and warm-hearted, and helped papa with a loan when he was in -college trying to live on three hundred a year, and I cannot forget a -kindness like that. Of course, it would be the easiest thing in the -world for me to give him the ten thousand outright. A loan would be a -gift for that matter, for he could never repay it, as his income is only -three thousand a year, I fancy, and his expenses are at least one or two -thousand more.” - -“Of course his wife must be the cause of all this,” I remarked. “Any -woman who will spend borrowed money on sapphires”— - -“Oh, they were probably heirlooms; she came of a rich family,” -interrupted Mildred. - -“No matter,” I continued; “any woman who will wear sapphires and has the -assurance to go to a dinner party with its attendant expenses of dress, -carriage, et cetera, when she cannot pay her debts and expects at any -minute to be sold out of house and home, is a woman who deserves to have -a pretty sharp lesson taught her, and I hope you will do it. Now, don’t -let those blue eyes of his and that majestic manner overawe you and -cajole you into feeling that you owe him a debt of gratitude to be paid -by getting him out of this emergency; for it will serve only to let him -teach his children that the highroad to comfort and ease is to go on the -principle that the public owes a genius a living.” - -“No, I do not mean to do that,” replied Mildred, thoughtfully; “but I -cannot let this disgrace come to them when I can help it as well as not, -and it is a rather awkward thing for me to dictate conditions to a man -who is old enough to be my father, one who has risked his life on many a -battlefield, and is a genius and a famous scholar. I cannot lay the -blame on his wife. She adores him, and he thinks her failures are better -than other people’s successes. The whole family in fact forms the most -genuine mutual admiration society. They seem utterly oblivious of the -fact that in letting their milkman’s bill go unpaid, and in giving their -children money to go riding in the goat carriage in the park, they are -doing anything dishonorable. - -“Every one who knows them says they have no more wisdom in bringing up -their children than two babies. They let them eat and drink what they -like, sit up as late as they like, and care more about their speaking -French and German well than about their knowing the multiplication -table, or anything practical. - -“If they were not such devout churchpeople, one would not be so amazed -at this extravagance,” ejaculated Mildred warmly, “though perhaps genius -may be pardoned for lacking common sense and common honesty,” she added, -grimly. - -Then rising, she continued, as she put on her hat and gloves: “I know -what I shall do. I have a scheme for helping him in a way that will be -something more than merely giving him immediate material aid. I know a -dear old lady who used to be papa’s friend and his, and I will go at -once to see her. She can tell me some facts that I need to know.” - -Two hours later, she had but just returned when the General called. - -He looked nervous and flushed, and I never saw Mildred seem more -embarrassed. In an adjoining room I awaited with some impatience the -close of the interview. - -At last she came into my room, and throwing herself down on the white -bear-skin rug before the grate, she exclaimed, with a little groan, -“There, I’ve done it, though it was the most painful thing I ever did in -my life. I felt that I must seem so mean and arrogant to make myself the -arbiter of the fate of a man like him, and to dictate terms which must -have been horribly humiliating. Think of my setting myself up to -instruct a man who has deserved the honor of the friendship of men like -Mazzini and Von Moltke and Carlyle and Sumner.” - -“How did you begin?” I queried, realizing for the first time what a -difficult thing this must have been to a generous-hearted girl like -Mildred. - -“Oh,” she said, “I began by reminding him of his kindness to papa, and -assuring him that I was ready and glad to be of assistance to him. He -looked so grateful that I found it almost impossible to screw up my -courage to continue. But, after stammering over it a minute, I put on a -bold front and went on to say that I felt it my duty to make my gift, -for it was to be a gift, not a loan, upon certain stringent conditions -in order that similar circumstances might not occur again. I would state -what they were, and then he might consult with his family and let me -know whether he would accept them or not. - -“He replied sadly, ‘I am in your hands, Miss Brewster. There is no -question of my volition in the matter.’ - -“It almost brought the tears to my eyes, Ruby, for he did look so grand -and noble, and it was so pathetic to think of a man of his powers forced -to humble himself before a girl like me. He said that for years this -shadow of debt had been over him, making life a purgatory for him, which -is true enough. I hear that he has long been borrowing from every one of -his own and his wife’s relatives, and has mortgaged everything they own, -even her jewels. One wonders what he can be made of to have endured such -shame and yet to have counted it less shame than to live in a small, -economical way within his income. But he spoke of his debts with all the -ingenuousness of a child, just as though they were an affliction sent by -Providence, for which he was in no wise responsible, and I really think -that he felt them so. - -“‘My first condition,’ I said, ‘is that you shall give me a full and -accurate statement of your financial affairs, including old debts which -are not pressing, insurance, mortgages, and everything of a money -nature.’ - -“Secondly, I asked that none of his children should receive private -lessons in dancing, French, or anything else, which were not paid for in -full in advance. I could see that this was a very bitter thing for the -General. One of his daughters is a girl of artistic talent, and he has -been giving her expensive lessons in painting, for which, as I knew, he -has never paid. - -“I asked General Lawrence pretty pointedly,” continued Mildred, “if, so -long as a fair education could be had in our schools without cost, he -felt justified in taking other people’s money to give his children -accomplishments.” - -“And pray what did he say to that?” I inquired. - -“Why, nothing,” answered Mildred. “He looked absolutely dazed, as if it -were a totally new idea. In fact, I do not think that it had occurred to -him that children could be brought up respectably without knowing French -and dancing. - -“I wanted to tell him,” said Mildred, “that I counted the best part of -my education to be the years that I spent studying geography and -arithmetic with both boys and girls, with white and black, with rich and -poor, with Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, in a public school, where -success was gauged by individual merit alone, and where we little bigots -and partisans learned to be tolerant and respectful toward one another. -One of the most salutary things I ever learned was that the son of a -ragpicker, in my class, was a better mathematician than I, and that a -mulatto girl across the aisle usually outranked me. - -“I told General Lawrence it was my firm conviction that his children -would be far more benefited by a few years’ study of ordinary English -branches with ordinary children than by anything else he could do for -them educationally, for I feared that they were growing up to know only -one side of life and only one class of people, and their knowledge and -sympathies would be narrow. He nodded assent, and I went on. - -“My third condition was, that he and his wife should sign a paper -promising for the next three years to allow no debts to any one but me, -or some agent authorized by me, to run beyond a month’s time. Any -failure to meet such debts promptly must be immediately reported to me -for settlement, for which I should take a mortgage on his furniture and -personal effects. - -“I told him that my intention was not merely to help his immediate and -pressing need, but to entirely free him from debt. Nevertheless, I was -unwilling to undertake this, unless he were ready to rigidly insist upon -living within his income, thus teaching his children some lessons of -self-sacrifice and thrift. I told him plainly that I was sure a little -different management would reduce his doctor’s bills, for I had reason -to think that his children’s constant ailing was due to the foolish way -in which they had been indulged. He looked amazed and annoyed at this, -and begged me to specify. - -“I replied, ‘Mrs. Lawrence herself told me of three parties which her -eight-year-old Gladys attended within a single week, and she afterwards -remarked incidentally that the child had a tendency to insomnia and -dyspepsia and was taking medicine all the time. Moreover, your older -daughter privately informed me that she had begun a diet of vinegar and -slate-pencils to reduce her plumpness. - -“‘No,’ I said, ‘I shall not presume to dictate to you as to the methods -which you are to pursue with your children. But I have seen them several -times and have an interest in them, and I believe that their character -will receive a permanent injury from the irregular life which they are -living and the false notions they have imbibed in regard to keeping up a -style which they cannot afford. So for their sake, and in addition to -paying all your debts, I am willing to send the oldest to good -boarding-schools where simple diet, regular hours, and systematic work -can help to make of them a stronger man and woman than there is prospect -of their becoming now.’ - -“I could see that it was terribly galling for him to have me sit there -and arraign him, as it were, for his conduct; but he clenched his teeth, -kept silence, and heard me to the end. Then he cleared his throat, and -after a moment said, hoarsely, without looking up: - -“‘Miss Brewster, you are very kind. With your permission I will call on -you to-morrow at eleven.’” - -The next morning, a half hour after the time appointed, General Lawrence -and his wife appeared, both looking as if they had passed a restless -night. Mrs. Lawrence, clad in an elegant gown, quite outshone Mildred, -who wore a quiet street costume of gray serge. That costly dress and the -queenly air of its owner nettled me. - -“Mildred,” I whispered, as she came back for a pencil, “do think twice -before you squander your thousands on saving those people from the just -penalty of their folly and sin.” - -“I am not thinking of them so much as of their children,” said she -gravely; “and it is far more folly than sin. Mrs. Lawrence is a Southern -woman, sweet-tempered and charming, but despising little economies as -petty Yankee meanness, and she will have to submit to receiving -instruction from me on that score, or else I shall let the sheriff -come.” - -But Mildred certainly did seem somewhat disconcerted when she learned -that the ten-thousand-dollar loan which had been asked for was less than -half of General Lawrence’s indebtedness. He confessed, she told me -afterward, that his expenses last year were over five thousand dollars, -while his receipts from his literary work, his sole income, were only -twenty-eight hundred. “We were obliged, actually obliged, to go into -society more or less on account of the General’s position,” said his -wife, apologetically. “General Lawrence is continually meeting important -people in the literary and political world, and can’t you see, my dear -Miss Brewster, how essential this is for his writing? And, of course, if -we are always well entertained ourselves, we have to treat people -decently when they come to see us. I have been my own seamstress, and -have economized in every way, but it is absolutely impossible for us to -live on three thousand a year. My husband’s writings would bring us -three times that if he could get what he deserves. But it is always so -with men of genius; their own generation never appreciates them,” she -added bitterly, while her husband fidgeted and took a turn around the -room. - -“Well, and what did you say to such rubbish as that?” I inquired of -Mildred. - -“I said,” answered she, “that Emerson and many others had found ‘plain -living and high thinking’ quite compatible, and that I thought a -residence in some suburban town would obviate the burdens of society, -and allow them to live within their income. At all events,” I said, -“although I stood ready to offer, as a gift, their entire immunity from -debt, this could not be done except by a strict construction of the -conditions which I had laid down. However, I offered General Lawrence an -opportunity to lay up a little money, telling him that I had various -projects in view, and should need the assistance of the pen of a ready -writer in carrying out many of them. I told him that I would put to his -credit in the bank ten dollars for every newspaper column which he would -write on subjects that I should give him: at the end of three years this -amount should be turned over to him, and meanwhile he must ‘cut his coat -according to his cloth,’ and manage in some way to live strictly within -his income.” - -“And what did Madam say to that?” I asked. - -“Oh, her pride kept the tears back; they both said nothing and signed -the papers; but I know that she must think me a hateful, close-fisted -Yankee, with no conception of granting a favor graciously and without -cruelly wounding the recipient’s feelings.” - -We saw very little of the Lawrences after this. It was understood that -little Gladys’s health required country air, and a cottage out of town -was engaged. The children were not sent to school, but kept up French -and read history and literature at home with their mamma, and although -they would have found it difficult to bound Missouri or do an example in -long division, they could talk glibly of Louis XI. and the Cid. - -Whether a beneficial reform was wrought in the domestic economy of the -family, I never knew, and I think Mildred had her doubts, though she was -not called upon to pay any more debts. - -We heard incidentally that the General’s cigar bills and physician’s -fees had not decreased, and that his last work on the Philosophy of the -Greek Tragedians had received unqualified praise from Professor Curtius. - -This little episode was only one of the many which marked our brief stay -in New York, and gave me an opportunity to study the many-sided -character of my friend. She had some aristocratic acquaintances in the -city who were only too happy to lionize her, and she was soon -overwhelmed with invitations to lunch parties, theatre parties, et -cetera, in which I was also kindly included. - -“You must go, dear; I want some one to back me up,” she used to say at -first. “I have courage enough to go into a pulpit and preach a sermon, -or to go down into the slums alone, or to do a thousand things which -would make most girls horrified, but I fairly shake in my shoes when I -have to be the target of the eyes of all these society women and -dollar-hunters. I know they would not care a jot for me were it not for -my money, and I cannot help thinking of it all the time. I feel -suspicious of every one in a way that makes me blush. - -“I can’t talk society small talk; I never could. I wonder how people -manage to do it and wax so eloquent over nothing,” she once said. “But I -suppose I must try to learn how,” she added, with a comical wry face. - -“Why try to learn, why not act your natural self?” I protested, for I -had quietly observed that Mildred’s simple and unaffected bearing and -transparent sincerity had proved far more attractive in society than the -persiflage and repartee of more brilliant women, though I knew that she -herself felt conscious of shyness and a sense that she was out of her -proper element. - -“Why not act my natural self?” repeated Mildred. “Because, my dear, I -like to be liked, and my natural, unconventional self would lead me to -talk of all sorts of things which society would not like. If I talked as -much as I wished to on the subjects that interest me most, I should be -voted a Boston bore, a woman with a mission, with hobbies, with -theories,—altogether a very unlikable person aside from my ducats.” - -“Nonsense, Mildred!” I cried. “I have seen a hundred times as much of -society as you have, and I can say that the greatest boon in the way of -novelty would be a little bit of the independence and freshness so -natural to you. You are a woman to whom real things mean something. You -are earnest. You like to talk about earnest things, and why should you -feel obliged to condescend to the level of society small talk and -meaningless compliments?” - -“Oh, I don’t propose to be a hypocrite,” said Mildred, with a little -amused laugh, at my unaccustomed vehemence in this line of thought. She -sat for a minute absently picking in pieces the Jacqueminot rose in her -corsage; then she said, “But you know, Ruby, there is such a thing as -being a doctrinaire and a dull dogmatist, and, on the other hand, being -full of tact and sympathy and wit, accomplishing the best results in an -indirect way, when no amount of direct preaching could do it. A woman of -character can make even her small talk a tremendous power if she only -knows how to go to work. - -“I want to be a power, I honestly confess that, but I have little -worldly wisdom, and I have much to learn. I have lived in a world of -books and ideas, and now I am thrown into this perplexing, brilliant, -kaleidoscopic world of society, and I feel as unsophisticated as a girl -of sixteen.” - -“But there is plenty of homage given you,” I remarked. “You were the -envy of every woman in the room the other night when Lord H—— took you -out to dinner.” - -“Homage to _me_? Homage to my money, you ought to say,” replied Mildred, -with a touch of bitterness, as she shook the rose-leaves from her lap -into the waste-basket. “I wore opals and satin, and am, as the papers -say, a ‘great catch;’ but how much attention do you suppose my lord -would have paid me six months ago if he had met me running down Joy -Street with my bag of books, to take a Cambridge car?” - -“But plenty of women are admired who are not rich,” I remarked; “it -doesn’t follow”— - -“No,” said Mildred, breaking in impetuously; “but women are not admired -for their real worth. It always used to madden me to see how the nice, -sensible girls, who really had original ideas and could say something -worth saying, were always left to be the wall-flowers. - -“Nine men out of ten actually like a little, helpless doll of a creature -who can talk by the hour and say nothing; and they don’t care for a -brave, self-helpful girl who has any independence of spirit, and who -does not flatter a man by demanding his attention and referring to his -opinion on every subject which requires more thought than crocheting or -tennis. - -“No,” after a moment’s pause. “Men do not find thoughtful women -interesting. I learned that long ago. I went to a mixed high school, and -when we young folks went on picnics or sleigh-rides, it was always the -poorest scholar in the class who had the smallest waist and wore the -most bracelets, a good-natured little society girl, who received the -most attention from the young men. But they were all callow boys, and I -did not think or care much about them. I knew a few men of the finest -sort who showed me what men could be, and I did not think then, what I -am coming to believe now, that many of the real gentlemen who mean to be -chivalrous, and who imagine that they give the highest honor to women, -actually admire the Howells-farce-type of woman above every other,—that -is to say, a pretty, prattling, conscientious, irrational little goose.” - -“I don’t know anything about Howells’s women,” said I, rather surprised -at this outburst; “and I didn’t suppose you ever condescended to -anything less than Hawthorne or George Eliot.” - -“Oh yes, I always read everything of Howells’s, though I abominate his -women. But he is so inimitably droll and bright, and then the local -Boston flavor of his stories is rather fascinating to a Bostonian, you -know.” - -“Very likely he does not admire his women himself; he may simply wish to -show up that type,” I suggested. - -“Yes, and a pretty common type I am finding it to be after all, though I -once used to scorn the idea,” said Mildred, despondingly. - -Then she added, as she nervously twirled the little silver Maltese -cross, the badge of the King’s Daughters, which she always wore, “I -suppose I have known as little and cared as little about men as any girl -who ever lived. But I have lived too much like a nun,” she sighed; “this -new life of these past few weeks has awakened me; I feel that I have -missed something. - -“I wish”— - -“Well, dear, what do you wish?” I asked, as she hesitated. - -“I wish,” said she decidedly, “that I could meet some thoroughly fine -men with brains and heart who liked me for myself, who liked what was -best in me. I honestly confess it is pleasant to be liked and sought -after, pleasanter than I used to think. I can see now how easy it is to -get one’s head turned.” Then, after a little pause: - -“But in society we can never be sure what the attraction is. Everything, -vulgarity, ignorance, immorality,—everything is pardonable with wealth.” - -“Hush, dear, you are getting desperate,” I said. “There are, no doubt, -many grades of New York society where all that may be pardoned on the -score of wealth; but you have not seen much of that, so far, and we have -met many really fine, cultivated people who have traveled and studied -and have real character. You spoke enthusiastically of the talk about -Art which you had the other night over in the bay window with Professor -Stuart and that English artist with all the letters after his name.” - -“Yes, indeed, they were as entertaining as possible, and gave me ideas I -had never thought of by myself; but then they were graybeards of fifty. -I was thinking of younger men whom one might”—and Mildred hesitated and -looked out of the window, blushing. - -“Why don’t you finish it,” I said mischievously; “whom one might marry?” - -But Mildred only laughed and said nothing. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - -One morning at breakfast, as we were sipping our chocolate, Mildred -cried out, “Oh, Ruby, I forgot to tell you! I am going to have a -symposium here to-night.” - -“A symposium!—of whom? and what is it all to be about? Let me hear your -latest scheme,” I queried, laying down my black Hamburgs and looking up -at her. Her face was very bright and animated, and the scheme, whatever -it was, evidently interested her considerably. - -Mildred leaned back in her chair and twirled the beautiful ruby ring -which she always wore. This ring had been her sister’s, and was an -heirloom; she rarely wore any other jewels, and when she was preoccupied -she had a habit of turning it round and round on her finger. - -“I mean,” said Mildred, “to get together all the wisdom on the tenement -house question that is available in New York and Brooklyn, and see what -the consensus of opinion is; and I am going to have my amanuensis take -notes for future reference. You know I have some coöperative theories of -my own in regard to the matter, and I wish to ascertain what these -practical workers think of them.” - -“Whom have you invited?” I inquired, beginning to be interested. - -“Oh, Professor Felix Adler, for one. He built those tenements that we -saw the other day down on Cherry Street, you remember, and he is also -very much interested in manual training. Then there is Mr. Pratt, who -founded that great Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, with all kinds of -industrial training and a free library and reading-room. Then—let me -see—I have invited Mr. Barnard of the Five Points House of Industry, -Mrs. Alice Wellington Rollins, who wrote ‘Uncle Tom’s Tenement,’ Mr. -Charles L. Brace of the Children’s Aid Society, most of the agents of -the model tenement houses that I have visited, several of the lady -visitors in the charity organizations, and one or two architects.” - -As it proved, however, not all who were invited came, but there were -enough to comfortably fill our pretty parlor. There were Jews and -Gentiles, radicals and high-churchmen, all interested in the same -subject, and many of them meeting each other for the first time. - -Mildred had chocolate and cakes and fruit served, and then proceeded to -business in the dignified, quiet way which so well became her. - -“I have asked you here this evening,” she said, “that I may get the -benefit of your united wisdom and experience. I seek enlightenment as to -the best way to solve the problem of the housing of the poor in a great -city. I wish to do something to make the conditions of existence a -little more bearable for some of the wretched creatures that I have been -seeing of late in such places as the Mulberry Street Bend, on Hester, -Forsyth, and Cherry streets, and a hundred other places. - -“For some years, in connection with the Associated Charity work of -Boston, I have visited poor families in the alleys of North Street, and -have made myself somewhat familiar with the problems that are besetting -us in the herding together of enormous numbers of people under -conditions that, I think I am safe in saying, never before existed. What -little I have seen in other cities is as nothing to what I find here. -And it is here in New York, where I am told you have the most thickly -populated square mile on the globe, and where the dregs from Castle -Garden remain, that I propose to do something. - -“As I have been about with your district visitors and have picked my way -among the garbage barrels and swarming mass of humanity in the Jewish -quarter, on their market day, I have wondered how it was possible for -morality to exist in the close personal contact and absolute want of -privacy which this lack of space necessitates. Now, tell me, what is to -be done to relieve this condition of things and permit those little -_gamins_ to grow up decent American citizens? Are things worse or are -they better than they used to be? I hear that a mint of money is spent -in charity, but I hear also that in the past one of the greatest causes -of pauperism has been found to be unwise philanthropy, and the more I -look into the question the more perplexed and uncertain I find myself. - -“What does your experience suggest?” asked Mildred, turning with one of -her winning smiles to a cheery-faced lady of perhaps fifty years of age, -who sat at her right. - -“That is a pretty hard question to answer,” was the reply. “I’ve been at -work for twenty-five years down on the East side near the river, and I -am free to say that I don’t see much improvement. Of course, things are -better in some ways; there is better sanitary inspection than there used -to be, and need enough there is of it too, with these filthy Italians -and Polish Jews who are pouring in here every week by the thousands. I -must say I haven’t much hope of them.” - -“Yes, of course; but haven’t you hope of the children?” inquired -Mildred, eagerly. - -“Yes, a little more hope for them, certainly,” responded the lady -somewhat dubiously, with a sigh that contrasted strangely with her -bright, hopeful face; “but I must say frankly, that the more I see of -the poor, the more hopeless I sometimes feel and the less able to make -generalizations and give advice. I used to think it a comparatively -simple thing, requiring merely money and hard work. Ten years ago I -could have given you advice very glibly, but I don’t feel so sure about -anything now; there are so many sides to everything, and so many -exceptions to every rule. - -“Of course, good tenement houses are a great thing, provided you can -have a janitor and a housekeeper to keep them in order. But the best -model tenement house in the world would be completely ruined if entirely -given over to the class of tenants I know about. They will just as -likely as not throw their ashes and garbage down the waste-pipes, and -pile all their bedding out on the fire-escapes, blocking them up so as -to make them almost useless in case of a fire. It requires the patience -of Job to deal with such people. They don’t care for your new -improvements, and they don’t propose to be restrained by any regulations -or rules. - -“As for the model tenement houses that we have, doubtless they are -excellent. But they don’t as a general thing reach the lowest class of -people, and in any event they are a mere drop in the bucket. There’s -just one consolation about it all, as I say to myself when I go -about,—these people have never been used to anything better, and they -don’t know how miserable they are.” - -“That is just what I think is the worst of it,” said Mrs. Rollins, as -the speaker paused. “The fact that they don’t know anything better, -don’t expect anything better, don’t want anything better, is the -frightful thing about it. As to whether things are getting better or not -I can’t say, but I know this, the tenement house has come to stay; it -cannot be eliminated from the modern problem of living. Thousands of our -well-to-do people are living in flats and suites simply to avoid the -burden and expense of having to entertain so much company, and these -buildings, like the Spanish flats or the Dacotah, are really only -another kind of tenement house. As I say, the tenement house has come to -stay. Separate houses for separate families are going to be fewer and -fewer in our large cities, where land is becoming more and more -valuable. The thing that remains for us to do is to build with more -skill and wisdom, so that while the separate house must more and more -give way, the home need not be sacrificed.” - -“Miss Brewster,” said a gray-bearded man whose name I did not learn, “as -to the question whether the charities and sanitary improvements of the -city have amounted to anything in the last twenty-five years, it seems -to me it is not well for us to rely wholly on personal impressions. -There are figures at command which can abundantly show that in two -respects at least—the lessening of the rates of mortality and the -reduction of arrests for crime—we have made an immense advance on -twenty-five years ago, in spite of the fact that the population has -nearly doubled. Permit me to state a few facts.” - -“Good; this is just what I want,” said Mildred with keen attention. - -He continued: “In 1864, when the sanitary examination of the city was -made, some wards were found to be peopled at the rate of 290,000 persons -to the square mile, while in the most densely populated part of London -the number was less than 176,000 to the square mile. To show what -sanitary regulations will do, let me say that the number of deaths in -London previous to a good sanitary government was one in twenty, and in -New York one in thirty-five, while after such regulations the number in -London was reduced to one in forty-five, and in New York to one in -thirty-eight and a half. - -“We think our tenement houses now are bad enough, but let me read you a -report of the condition of things in 1866. ‘At this time the cities of -New York and Brooklyn were filled with nuisances, many of them of years’ -duration. The streets were uncleaned; manure heaps, containing thousands -of tons, occupied piers and vacant lots; sewers were obstructed; houses -were crowded and badly ventilated and lighted; stables and yards were -filled with stagnant water, and many dark and damp cellars were -inhabited. The streets were obstructed, and the wharves and piers were -filthy and dangerous from dilapidation. Cattle were driven through the -streets at all hours of the day in large numbers. Slaughter houses were -open to the streets, and were offensive from the accumulated offal and -blood, or filled the sewers with decomposing animal matter. Gas -companies, shell-burners, and fat-boilers pursued their occupations -without regard to the public health or comfort, filling the air with -disgusting odors; and roaming swine were the principal scavengers of the -streets and gutters!’ - -“Moreover,” the gentleman continued, “owing to the general indifference -and ignorance concerning sanitary construction of houses, tenement -houses used often to be found having on one floor ten or twelve interior -rooms, with no means of ventilation or light except through other rooms; -and at night, when these rooms were occupied and the doors closed, one -may imagine the amount of poison which each person was compelled to -breathe. Now, all that has been remedied to a great extent. No such -houses are allowed to be built, and in lodging-houses there is a -wholesome regulation as to the number of cubic feet of air-space allowed -to each individual. Sanitary inspection is conducted by competent -officials at regular intervals. The public conscience has been aroused -in this matter. - -“As I look back thirty-five years, I find that among the better class of -people there is far more fastidiousness in regard to all matters of -personal cleanliness than there used to be. There are more bathing -facilities, a greater delicacy in manners at table, a greater tendency -to isolation and privacy in personal matters of the toilet, and so -forth, and therefore among every class of people a better sentiment in -regard to the enforcement of sanitary regulations than there used to be -when I was a boy. But those who are helping these things, although many -absolutely, are relatively pitifully few. Yet no one who knows the -condition of affairs twenty years ago can question that an advance has -been made. We are learning to organize charity better, we are spending -our efforts in more profitable directions, and we are training our -public not to increase pauperism by the old-fashioned, pernicious -methods of indiscriminate giving. In regard to the lessening of juvenile -crime I think Mr. Brace can give the most valuable opinion of any one -present.” - -All eyes were turned to Mr. Brace, and there was a hearty hand-clapping -as he prepared to speak. - -“Since 1852,” he said, “the society which I represent has been doing its -best to rescue the little wanderers of this city from lives of suffering -and degradation. The value of its work is too well known for me to -enlarge upon it. We are met here this evening to discuss tenement -houses, and I will therefore take the time to make only two or three -statements in reply to Miss Brewster’s inquiry as to whether the morals -of the community have improved, and whether charitable and reformatory -work is of much value. Now, in spite of the fact that the overcrowding -in the poor quarters is greater than ever, that the lowest of the -European population are pouring into our city to an alarming extent, -that our municipal government has often been notoriously corrupt, in -spite of all this, I say, by means of the efforts which have been put -forth, there has been a steady and most satisfactory decrease in crime -during all these years. Allow me to give you a few figures. In 1859 -there were more than five thousand five hundred commitments for female -vagrancy, and in 1886, notwithstanding the general increase in -population, there were less than two thousand five hundred commitments -for the same cause. In the eleven years preceding 1886, the decrease in -arrests for drunkenness among males was just about fifty per cent. I -will hand you a table, Miss Brewster, giving you the report of juvenile -crimes since 1875, and also the Police record containing the general -report for the city, the details of which you can read at your leisure. -I will simply say now that the net summing up of these reports shows a -remarkable decrease in crime of all sorts of twelve and a half per cent. -This, I think, will answer your question as to whether, on the whole, -our city is any better.” - -“There is another thing to be noticed,” said a little lady over in the -corner. “People of all classes think more of going into the country and -getting fresh air than they used to. Thousands of families who thirty -years ago would not have spent two or three weeks in the year out of the -city now think they must have two months at least. They have come to -consider this a necessity for themselves, and it makes them through -sympathy appreciate a little the needs of the very poor during the -fierce summer heat. The lovely charities of the Flower Mission, Country -Week, and the harbor excursions have grown out of this sympathy for -others. - -“I, for one, think that the world is far more kind and sympathetic than -it used to be, in all sorts of little ways, as is shown by the -multiplication of such societies as the ‘King’s Daughters’ and ‘Lend a -Hand’ clubs, by the increased tenderness with children, and prevention -of cruelty to animals. I don’t mean to say that people are much happier, -for they have a higher standard and are less content with objectionable -things than they used to be when I was a child forty years ago. But I -for one do not decry that kind of discontent with existing bad -circumstances. To me it seems to be only the precursor of reform. I do -not believe in encouraging the poor to be content with their lot. I -think, with Mrs. Rollins, that the worst thing possible is this fearful -apathy toward bad surroundings, of which one sees so much among our low -foreigners. The first thing to do in Americanizing them is to make them -discontented with living like the brutes.” - -“And what is the first step in that direction?” inquired Mildred, -thoughtfully. “Is it more legislation to regulate and limit this fearful -inflow of more people than we are able to cope with; or is it a large -concerted movement of capitalists to provide better tenements? Or is it -education and Christianization?” - -“As I hold, it is each and all of these,” said a blond-haired, keen-eyed -young man in the back part of the room, rising as he spoke and leaning -against the mantel. He spoke in a clear, crisp way which was pleasant to -hear. - -“Legislation is needed, after we first enforce the laws which we already -have; but it would hardly be worth while to petition for new ones when -we can make the old but little more than a dead letter. At present no -foreigner can be allowed by law to land who has not money enough to -support himself for a year; and yet how often is this law enforced? No; -as long as the pressure of taxation and the burden of a great standing -army exists in every country in Europe, as long as our unchristian -tariff prevents the natural inflow of foreign products and grinds down -the laborers of the old world, so long shall we be compelled to face -this problem of Americanizing two thirds of the population of our great -cities. We here in New York live in a foreign city. There are less than -fifteen per cent. of us whose parents were born in this country and bred -in its political, religious, and social traditions. One doesn’t realize -this in walking down Broadway or Fifth Avenue; but in some parts of the -city where most people do not often go, one would think himself in -Germany, or Italy, or Poland. - -“Now, you ask what is the first step toward Americanizing this foreign -element. _I_ say, education, Christianity, and better living. There -isn’t much use in trying to teach children when their stomachs are -empty; there is not much use in goody-goody Sunday-school talk without -the discipline in cleanliness, order, and industry which the day school -alone can compel; neither is there much use in giving these people -palaces to live in and supplying them with comforts and conveniences, -unless at the same time you bring some moral power to bear upon them, -while also helping them to a pretty good acquaintance with the three -R’s. You see, it works both ways. Clean and wholesome physical -surroundings create an opportunity for mental and spiritual growth, and -without the latter the former would not be appreciated or preserved.” - -“I quite agree with the last speaker,” said Professor Adler in his mild, -quiet way, contrasting with the briskness of the blond young man whose -common-sense talk had pleased us. “The supply of pure air, sanitary -regulations, and decent comforts must be the primary object of the -philanthropist who would solve the problem of the housing of the poor; -but it will avail little, unless it is invariably accompanied by -constant supervision, helpfulness, and sympathy. Every tenement house -should have a responsible resident agent,—not a mere perfunctory person -who shall issue orders and collect the rent, but one who in case of -sickness or trouble can give advice and help, and by living constantly -in friendly relations with tenants can initiate reforms in a wise way. -The stubbornness and conservatism of the ignorant in opposing what is -for their real good is one of the most surprising things we have to -contend with. One would think, for instance, that a coöperative grocery -store, situated in a tenement house, and giving good quality at as -reasonable prices as could be obtained elsewhere, would be an inducement -to the average tenant to buy. But so great is the suspicion that we are -trying to take advantage of them in some way, that they will often -prefer to go farther and pay more, simply to assert their independence.” - -“Do they take kindly to free kindergartens?” inquired Mildred. - -“Yes, when they come to understand them; but the announcement of a -kindergarten, free reading-room, and bath-rooms in connection with a new -tenement house rarely offers much inducement to the average laborer -looking for rooms. But a large room which can be used in the morning for -kindergarten purposes, and at other times for a gathering place for -clubs and singing-classes, is an invaluable thing in every large -tenement house. This gives a foothold for all kinds of work to be -conducted by young gentlemen and ladies who desire to uplift the youth -of these neighborhoods. Gymnastic classes and glee clubs form a sort of -neutral ground where all may meet on a common level, and where the -refinement, intelligence, and good breeding of those who are willing to -give their services once or twice a week will soon make itself felt. It -is not necessary that they should directly teach or preach; but if they -are well-bred, kind-hearted people, they will by their mere tones of -voice and their method of managing things exert a subtle influence which -in tune will give them the power to go further and attempt other things. - -“The quickest way to Americanize an ignorant foreigner is to give him -frequent object lessons in the shape of the best type of American -citizen.” - -“I think I understand you,” said Mildred, “and it is what I myself -thoroughly believe. The model tenement house question is not merely a -question of brick and stone, ventilation, bath-rooms, and four per -cent.; it is a question largely of providing the best means for -uplifting spiritually, mentally, and physically these swarming masses. -Speaking of four per cent., let me inquire whether tenement houses can -be considered a good money investment. Not that I, personally, am -anxious to make money out of them; but I suppose it goes without saying -that anything like this which does not pay a fair percentage, and is -really a charity, in the end tends to pauperize and is pernicious.” - -“Certainly,” replied Professor Adler; “and not only that, but most of -the poor are too proud to accept charity in that form, though, -inconsistently enough, they may be quite ready to accept it in other -ways. But anything which savors of an institution or charity, and that -puts them under obligations, is sure to fail. On the other hand, to hold -out to capitalists the idea that they had better put their money into -tenement houses because it is a good investment is something I do not -like to do. A man who wishes simply to make money would tell me that he -knows far better methods than mine, and would consider my advice an -impertinence. But every man, no matter how much of an egotist he may be, -likes to be thought unselfish, and if I can tell him that here is a -means of doing great good while at the same time he loses no money, then -he may listen to me. Money wisely put into tenements can provide for the -tenant far more advantages than he usually has; it can give light, air, -cleanliness, many conveniences in common with others, and yield to the -landlord four per cent. besides. Some good tenements pay six per cent., -but this is perhaps at a sacrifice of conveniences to the tenant, or is -due to some special reasons. However, as the security of the investment -is so great, four per cent. may be considered fair interest.” - -“Good; now as to the details,” said Mildred in her practical way. “I -want to tell you my scheme, and then let you criticise it to the utmost. -I suppose I was born with a bump for economy; at all events, nothing -tries me more than the excessive waste which I have seen around me all -my life. I don’t mean merely waste of money, but waste of time, waste of -energy and effort in every direction. Of course there is less of the -latter here than in the old world, for here Yankee ingenuity does not -have so hard a fight with prejudice, and every inventor of a -labor-saving machine is crowned with honor. Still, there is a terrible -amount of waste, especially in women’s work. I will not stop to speak of -all phases of it; but as I have observed men and women for years, and -have seen the suffering from needless backaches caused by climbing -stairs and doing housework in an unnecessarily hard way, as I have seen -the complexity and endless details of our modern life crowd out, in the -lives of all but the rich, the leisure which their children should have, -and which they need for their own self-development, I have racked my -brains to see what could be done to simplify the petty details of modern -housekeeping. - -“I believe that we are on the verge of a new era in this respect. The -prejudices of centuries must give way to the new requirements of a -civilization which will more and more create an urban population, and -also a higher standard of physical comfort. Now in this, time, strength, -and money must be better conserved, or we shall, as a nation, have -nervous prostration, I fear. - -“My only solution for this, or for a part of it at least, seems to me -coöperation, so that all shall get the greatest return for the least -outlay. I don’t mean for a moment that I believe hotel life or -boarding-house life to be the life of the family of the future. Heaven -forbid! That the privacy and seclusion of the individual and family -should be preserved is imperative. The home is the first consideration. -But that one’s food should be cooked, or one’s clothes made or washed, -inside the rooms occupied by the family, seems to me no essential -feature of the home, and I am convinced that where prejudice can be -removed, a great gain would be made by eliminating the first and last, -at least from the home of the city poor. - -“In regard to the value of a common laundry with set tubs, I think most -of you have found them successful. I have found only one person-an -attendant in the beautiful Astral flats of Green Point—who told me that -they were considered undesirable, as tending to encourage gossip and -quarreling. Now the dwellings which I mean to build are intended for a -lower class of people than any whom I have hitherto found occupying -model tenement houses. In those on Seventy-second Street, I was told -there were many mechanics earning three to four dollars a day. Such -people are not what I call poor, and I design my houses for people who -earn, at most, only half of that. I want to give them the greatest -possible return for their money, and at the same time make a fair per -cent. on the capital invested. The income thus derived I shall devote to -the erection of more houses. - -“I propose to make the buildings fairly fireproof, with iron staircases -and stone-paved halls. The interior walls will be of painted brick. Upon -the top of the house I propose to have a well-fenced, well-paved -playground, believing that the roof space which is so rarely utilized in -our great cities may be made of great service in this way. In most of -the tenement houses I find that the roof is not allowed to be used for -anything but drying clothes, the owners not caring to go to the extra -expense necessary to make it a perfectly safe place for children. But, -if it is all planned in the beginning, the expense will be comparatively -slight, and the open space thus provided will afford better air than any -interior court, and be, both physically and morally, a far safer place -than the street. By a simple arrangement of pulleys the drying clothes -can be elevated between strong, high posts quite above the heads of the -children, so that their play need not be interrupted. A stout wire -netting can be arranged to keep the clothes from blowing away. - -“On the upper floor of the house I shall have several store-rooms -adjoining a freight elevator and a kitchen. This will be connected with -every floor of the house by speaking-tubes and dumb-waiters, so that -meals can be cooked here for the whole number of tenants and delivered -hot when ordered. The charge will be simply for the cost of preparing -the food itself and the fuel; and as everything will be bought by the -quantity, the expense for each individual will be moderate. I believe -that thus, with proper arrangements, and suiting the food to the tastes -of the occupants, the whole question of the food supply may be solved, -and three women do the work of a hundred. How does this feature of the -house impress you?” - -As Mildred paused, three voices exclaimed in chorus,— - -“It would never work in the world!” “Perfectly impracticable!” “They -would not like it at all!” - -“Why not?” asked Mildred. - -“Well, first of all,” said a man who proved to be an agent in one of the -large model tenement houses, “what would all those women do if you take -away their work from them? They would be idle and shiftless, and just -spend their time in gossiping and quarreling. I know ’em.” - -“It seems to me,” said Mildred, rather tartly, “that if the average poor -man’s wife has not enough to do in washing, ironing, scrubbing, -sweeping, making and mending clothes for a household and attending to -her children, we need not feel any necessity laid upon us to fill up any -spare moment she may have for herself by an addition of needless work -for work’s sake. I know poor mothers in Boston who don’t get down so far -as the Common twice a year, who scarcely see a green tree from one -year’s end to another, who never think they can spare a moment’s time to -amuse their children, and who gladly turn the poor little ones into the -street to get them away from the hot cooking-stove which occupies the -best part of the only family living-room. It is to such mothers that I -would give a little freedom, and in time they will find something better -to do than quarreling and gossiping if they live in my tenements.” - -“But they will have to pay a little more for their food than if they -cooked it themselves. The wages of the cook must be paid, and even a -little more counts,” remonstrated another skeptic. - -“Not at all,” said Mildred, eagerly. “Think of the immense saving in -fuel to begin with. Why, most of these people, as you know well, buy -coal in small quantities, often by the hodful, paying for it at an -enormous rate when reckoned by the ton, to say nothing of the evil of -sending children out along the wharves to pick up dirty barrels and bits -of wood for kindling.” - -“But in winter they would need the fire just the same for warmth,” said -some one. - -“No; the whole house would have steam heat, thus making a valuable -saving of space as well, by doing away with the stove and place for -fuel. The halls of the model tenements now are heated by steam. I -estimate that the trifle extra which would be added to the price of the -room and the food would be no more than, probably not so much as, what -would be spent for food and fuel in the old way; for the poor that I -have known are the most extravagant people living. They buy a poor -quality of food at high rates, and through bad cooking and irregularity -of living waste and spoil much that they have. - -“Besides, I have had another thing in mind,—that is, the mothers who go -out to work by the day and have to let their children come home from -school to pick up any kind of cold dinner that they find, and who, so -far as my experience goes, invariably spend every cent they get upon -candy and innutritious cakes bought at the bakery.” - -“This is all a charming theory, Miss Brewster,” said a pale-faced lady -with auburn hair, who had hitherto remained silent; “but I am afraid -that until you have a more enlightened community to deal with it won’t -work. The conservatism, perhaps one might call it the stupidity, of the -lower classes is something we are fighting against all the time. Every -innovation has to be introduced with great caution in order not to -offend them. Strange as it may seem, these people who come from lands -where they have been down-trodden, with no privileges of any sort, -stickle more for their rights and independence, and are far less willing -to yield to restrictions than we. They don’t want to be ‘bossed.’ They -want to do as they please, even if they pay more for it and are not half -so well served. The idea of saving fuel and getting rid of the nuisance -of ash-barrels would not appeal to the low Italians. They cook their -little messes of macaroni over a few sticks, and would not dream of -using the fuel that an Irishman would require. - -“Let me tell you about a cheap lunch-room that was started as an -experiment some time ago. We gave good, nutritious food at the lowest -cost price, and what was the result? It remained on our hands, and we -could not sell it, and discovered to our surprise that the people for -whose advantage we had established it learned that if they waited until -the food was cold and ready to spoil they could come to the back door -and ask for it and get it for little or nothing. It would really have -been wiser to throw the food away. Yet the very same people who would do -this showed a decided pride when they suspected any supervision or -interference in their domestic affairs. A coöperative kitchen was -established in one of our tenement houses as an experiment, that is, a -range to be used in common, in order to save the fuel and heat in summer -of a fire in each separate room. But no one liked to use it. Each woman -was afraid of interfering or being interfered with.” - -“Naturally enough,” said Mildred; “and anything that should tend to mix -up families, where the yielding of personal preferences and ‘taking -turns’ is involved, would probably fail so long as human nature remains -human nature. I do not propose anything of that sort, you see.” - -“I think myself,” said Professor Adler, “that the idea is thoroughly -good, and if cautiously and wisely carried out would be a success. I -should like to see the experiment tried. I have all my life been -preaching coöperation, not only for the poor, but for ourselves as well, -but with small success.” - -“The chief objection, I suppose,” said Mildred, “is, that when food is -cooked in large quantities it never tastes so good. In time everything -seems to get a sort of boarding-house flavor, and individual tastes -cannot be consulted as in one’s own home. This may be made an objection -by the rich, but that a fastidiousness about a flavor should prevent -people from trying coöperation, who have all they can do to keep soul -and body together, seems to me more than ridiculous.” - -“It is more than ridiculous, and I for one have faith that people can be -taught to see it,” said the blond young man with the clear, crisp -speech. “The people who have lived in the model tenement houses have -already learned to use dumb-waiters, speaking-tubes, set tubs, -ash-shutes, and the like, and have seen the advantages of these modern -conveniences. Now, with patience on our part and a painstaking -explanation of your scheme, I think that they could be led to see the -saving in time, fuel, space, money, and quality of food as well as the -increased variety of food and cleanliness incident to an arrangement -such as you propose, and which I heartily hope you will carry out. The -thing to do, as Octavia Hill in her work in London has wisely taught us, -is to make sure that we put in the right sort of men and women to manage -such a place. As she once said, ‘We have more model tenements than we -know how to take care of. My present work is to train women who will go -down and oversee them.’ - -“If, beside the man who is employed to attend to the business part of it -and to see that the sanitary condition is good, you will also put in one -or two nice American women who will look after the families in a -friendly way, giving suggestions and advice with tact, and carefully -explaining the advantages of improvements, I will vouch for the success -of the experiment. If some object, there are enough people of common -sense in the city to fill one house at least.” - -“It seems to me,” said one speaker, “that we ought to be careful about -talking or even allowing ourselves to think of those whom we call the -‘lower classes’ as being essentially different from ourselves. They are -ignorant, of course, and dreadfully shiftless, some of them, but they -have the same instincts and affections as we, and I for one respect -their individuality and their privacy as I would our own. I shouldn’t -like to ask them to do anything I wouldn’t do myself under similar -circumstances. If _we_ aren’t ready for coöperation, how can we expect -them to be?” - -“I ask nothing of any one,” replied Mildred, “which I would not be glad -to do myself under the same conditions, or under better conditions. We -are learning to coöperate in a thousand ways of which our grandfathers -never dreamed. Under the pressure of new duties and interests which our -age has brought with it, we are learning to eliminate useless individual -work where combined work is better. The law of reciprocity is the divine -law. Wasteful individual effort belongs to the age of savagery. -Communism, the mingling of families, and absence of personal privacy can -never I am convinced be tolerated by civilized people; but coöperation -with one’s fellows in harnessing up the forces of nature to subserve our -material interests and leave man more free for the development of his -higher nature, seems to me the only rational thing for rational beings. -Any reluctance to see and accept this seems to me the result of -prejudice.” - -“I should put it even a little stronger than that,” said Professor -Adler, gently. “Under every objection which has been presented to me by -the friends with whom I have for years been laboring in this very line -of effort, I have felt that there was not mere prejudice but a real, -unconscious selfishness. All objections like the one you mention are -mere matters of detail which could be properly adjusted, and the freedom -of the wife from all petty details that eat up the greater part of her -life ought to more than compensate for the slight sacrifice of feeling -involved in doing an unaccustomed thing. I believe that we shall -gradually come to it; and meanwhile our boarding-houses and hotels will -shelter larger and larger numbers of women driven from housekeeping by -the weight of domestic cares. They will have lost their home in losing -their cook!” - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - - FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL. - -DEAR ALICE: What an age it seems since I left Boston and exchanged the -peace and quiet of my dear old attic room for all this turmoil and whirl -of excitement! I have done more thinking in the last two months than -ever before in my life, and sometimes I feel as though every idea had -been squeezed out of my brain. If it were not that I insist upon getting -some hours every week for a canter in the park, I fear I should be in a -state of nervous collapse. However, I am beginning to see my way clear, -and hope to get away in a month or so and be off to the West. Then when -I get a conscience tolerably clear I shall run riot like a school-boy -out of school. - -Just now I am buried deep in tenement house problems. I have had two or -three conclaves of all the wiseacres I could get together, and I have -been considering their criticisms and suggestions, until now the details -of my scheme are pretty nearly complete, and I sign the papers with my -architect and builder to-night. - -You know about the plan for coöperative cooking which I used to -discourse upon to you to your infinite amusement. Well, half of the -people here opposed it at first just as you did. They said, for one -thing, that no one under heaven would be able to provide the kind of -food that would suit all tastes. There would be Jews who would want to -have meat killed after their own fashion; the Italians would want horrid -messes of garlic; the Irish would find fault if they didn’t have the -finest white bread and the strongest of tea, and not a blessed one of -them would eat oatmeal, the coarse cereals, nutritious soups, or any of -the suitable things that they ought to eat. - -All of which is more or less true, as I had wit enough to know myself -beforehand; but I don’t mean to let it daunt me. I shall let all my -tenants have an Atkinson kerosene stove in their rooms, if they wish to -pay for it, and on this they can do an endless amount of cooking at a -trifling cost for fuel, and a great saving of space as well as of heat -in summer. - -I have engaged one of the graduates of Mrs. Lincoln’s cooking school to -take my first kitchen in charge. Meantime, until the buildings are -ready, I am going to send her to study the system of marketing and -cooking for hotels; also the kinds of food which each nationality likes, -and the methods of its preparation. - -The kitchen will be arranged under her special supervision. She will -engage her own assistants and be the responsible head. She will have a -schedule of cooked dishes, with prices of each displayed on a bulletin -in the corridors. Special dishes will be cooked by request, and orders -for food can be sent in the day before. Of course at first there may be -a little waste until she gets familiar with the people and can -anticipate their wants; but she is a smart Yankee girl, and has a -good-natured, merry way with her which I am sure will win recognition. I -have told her to make it her first point to please the people, and when -that is accomplished she can gradually teach them to drink milk instead -of tea, and to eat brown bread instead of soda crackers. - -One objection which was brought up was that children would have no -chance to learn cooking, never seeing their mothers cook; but I said, -that not one woman in ten of those I have in mind knows how to cook -either in a cleanly or economical way. They have but little variety in -their cooking, moreover, and I thought the loss of the instruction which -might be imparted would be largely counterbalanced by the knowledge -which would be gained as to what well-cooked food tasted like. - -The _modus operandi_ of getting the food will be something like this. At -half-past six, Biddy Flanigan, who has to go out scrubbing at seven -o’clock, will deposit a dime with her teapot and an empty dish in the -dumb-waiter; she will call up through the speaking-tube that she wants -tea, fried potatoes, and three rolls; and in about seventy seconds the -dish full of potatoes done to a turn, and not soaked in fat, and a pot -full of tea will be at her elbow. From these and the nice home-made -rolls, neither burned nor sour nor underdone, she and little Patsy and -Maggie will have a hot breakfast. - -Then Maggie will wash the dishes with the hot water running at the sink; -there will have been no ashes to dump, or clinkers to pick out; no fuel -to be brought, or fire made; and Biddy can put on her hood and depart, -knowing that the children will not open all the draughts and waste the -coal, or set themselves on fire, or let the fire go out, and come home -from school to a dinner of cold scraps, with the necessity of building -up the fire again at night. For with a nickel in the dumb-waiter at -noon, and a tin can containing two big bowls full of hot soup, the -children will be well provided for. - -I have some little plans for the arrangements of rooms which I hope will -work well. The beds of the tenement houses have always been a great -trouble to me. Of all clumsy and unsanitary arrangements for sleeping -when one is obliged to sleep with four or five others in a small room, -ordinary bedsteads seem to me the worst. Now in order to introduce all -the improvements that I want, I am obliged to economize space. The -people must be crowded together, there is no other way out of that; so, -for the children, I mean to put up single beds, berth-fashion, over each -other. Strong iron sockets fastened to the wall will hold an iron frame -on which a little mattress with bedclothes will be strapped. In the -daytime these will be turned up, one under the other, and hooked against -the wall, out of the way, and a neat little curtain fastened to the -upper one will hang down and conceal both as if they were a set of -hanging shelves. At night the youngster in the upper berth will be -protected from all danger of falling out by two or three leather straps -fastened on to the upper part of the berth and hooked firmly to the -lower edge of the framework. I have thought all the details out one by -one as various objections were made to my scheme. - -I think this plan a fine solution for the dirt and vermin question. -Besides, the mattresses, being so small, could be very much more easily -aired and turned than if they were larger. But an agent, to whom I -explained it, protested, saying she wouldn’t encourage such an idea at -all. “People ought to live properly, in regular fashion, and not get -used to putting up with any such makeshifts as that. It wouldn’t be -living naturally.” - -“You old bigot!” said I inwardly, “your grandmother, I suppose, would -have protested against sleeping-cars and elevators and dumb-waiters as -being unnatural and artificial!” - -I am amazed every day to see how densely stupid some sensible people -are. I know a Frenchwoman who has always slept at home on a bed four -feet high, canopied and enshrouded with curtains. It is half a day’s -work to make it, and she feels out in the cold and all forlorn when put -into one of our little, open, low, brass bedsteads. I suppose she would -think it quite as unhomelike and as demoralizing in its tendency as my -agent thought my berth beds would be. - -The other day I explained the idea to a poor woman in a tenement house, -who with the greatest difficulty was trying to sweep under two -good-sized bedsteads in a tiny room. At first she did not seem to -comprehend, but when she did, she smiled and nodded and said, “I like -that, Mees; easy to sweep; children no kick each other all time; my -children sleep four in one bed—too much kick and cry.” - -I have thought of another thing, that is, of having low, stationary -settees made in suitable places against the wall, and having the seat a -cover which would turn up on hinges, showing space underneath where -clothes and all sorts of things could be kept out of sight, instead of -being put into trunks or left to lie around in an untidy way. I shall -have no closets, as I find that space can be better saved and -cleanliness more readily enforced by building stationary wardrobes, each -with a drawer underneath and shelves above extending to the ceiling. -Closets, I find, are rarely swept. - -On these shelves, which can be protected by a curtain, things not in -frequent use can be laid away, and every inch of space to the ceiling -utilized. I know you will not approve of this. You think closets are a -_sine qua non_; all of which is well enough if you are dealing with -people who are sure to keep them swept clean, and where room is not so -precious. But in this case I am planning to economize space to the -utmost, and at the same time give the number of hooks for hanging -clothes that there is in the ordinary closet. - -The rooms are to be only seven feet high, thereby saving much space and -making it possible for me to put on another story to the building. -Without this, by the closest planning, I could not afford all the -conveniences that I want and get my four per cent. interest, which, for -the success of the experiment, I feel bound to make. - -Of course these low-studded rooms would give too little air were it not -that I have taken extraordinary pains about the ventilation. I have been -using all my feminine ingenuity to devise all possible means to provide -the greatest amount of comfort and convenience for the smallest possible -amount of money and space. Understand that I am aiming to provide a -decent home for the very poorest, who cannot afford to pay more than -five dollars a month for rent. I mean to give them as much room as they -have now in their dirty, dark alleys and attics, and in addition to -that, warmth, pure air, cleanliness, and the saving of countless steps. - -I find my architects strangely unsuggestive about all this; they have -not enough imagination to put themselves in the place of a tired -ignorant woman who has to spend all her life in two rooms with her -husband and four or five untidy, restless children. - -Knowing how much afraid of the dark many of my North End people used to -be, and remembering how they used to keep a lamp burning all night in -their sleeping-rooms, where the windows were shut tight, I have planned -to have the upper eight inches of the walls of the room bordering on the -hall, of glass, which can be opened like a transom, to admit air and -much light at night from the lights in the hall, which I shall myself -provide. I mean also to have in every room, fastened against the wall, a -stationary table that can be put up or let down like an ordinary -table-leaf. - -I am going to have some experienced woman oversee all these little -details, for I never yet saw a builder who could not learn a great deal -from a practical housekeeper. - -In the basement there are to be bath-rooms and a barber’s shop, while in -some part of the building I shall have a large room which can be divided -by sliding-doors. One part shall be a nursery, where mothers who want to -go out can leave their children in good charge for a trifling fee, and -the other half of the room shall be used as a kindergarten. - -In the evening these rooms will be occupied by the grown people for club -meetings and a reading-room. When desired, both rooms can be thrown -together for a lecture or entertainment. - -I have in mind sewing schools and gymnastic classes and all sorts of -good things, for which this will be the centre. - -I am more and more convinced that the quickest way to revolutionize -whatever needs revolutionizing in this world is to get at the hearts and -souls of people. Open a man’s heart, give him an idea, in other words, -convert him, and self-respect, industry, and good manners will soon -appear. - -I think I have found just the right man and woman to help me make my -scheme feasible. They are a couple about fifty years old, Pennsylvania -Quakers, whose daughter has just been graduated from Professor Adler’s -kindergarten training school, and who is bubbling over with zeal to -begin her work. All three are to live in the building and give their -whole time to the work that may be needed, each one having his or her -separate department to attend to, and being responsible for everything -in that department. For all this a good salary will be paid to each of -the three. - -I have found that my original plan has grown on my hands, and as it is -often easier to do a thing on a large scale than on a small one, I have -decided to put up four large buildings around a hollow square, each one -to contain one hundred sets of tenements of from one to four rooms. Each -house will accommodate perhaps four or five hundred people. Most of the -suites will contain two rooms suitable for a family of four. But I shall -have also many single rooms for bachelors, there being a good demand for -them, I find. - -You know my enthusiasm for our Puritan history. Behold my opportunity to -indulge my taste in that direction! I am going to christen these hobbies -of mine, so long a dream, now so soon to be materialized, by bestowing -upon them some good old names that ought never to be forgotten. These -four are to be called the “Pilgrim Homes.” One will be named Scrooby, -another Leyden, one Plymouth, and one the Mayflower. If these prove -successful I shall have four more, named Bradford, Brewster, Carver, and -Winslow. However, I must not romance, for that perhaps will be far in -the future. - -You have no idea of the endless details I have had to consider. I have -been over every single model tenement I could find in New York and -Brooklyn, which is not saying much, for there are not many. Now, -although not a stone is yet laid, I feel as if a load had rolled off my -shoulders and the thing were nearly complete. - -I shall watch with the greatest anxiety the outcome of this experiment. -If it can be shown, as I think it can, that the lowest poor can be -comfortably housed at the prices which they now pay for their wretched -slums, and if it can be demonstrated, as I think it can, that health and -happiness increase and vice decreases in proportion to the opportunity -which is offered for decent living, then I shall be ready to devote a -goodly number of my millions to what seems to me about the best use that -can be made of them. - -As soon as it can be fully proved just what needs to be done, if a state -or city loan can be obtained, I mean to try to persuade some of these -wealthy men and women whom I have been meeting of late to join with me -and engage in the work of tenement house reform on a gigantic scale. -There is no good reason why the crying evils which now exist should be -perpetuated another year. Since planning all this I have been greatly -interested to learn of what Glasgow has recently been doing in this -direction; buying up and destroying a mass of vile old rookeries, and -building sanitary homes for the poor in place of them. - -There is money enough, brains enough, and good will enough in this city -to abolish these hideous conditions of life by which thousands of lives -are wrecked every year. I am very doubtful about much state socialism; -but municipal socialism to this extent seems to me the only rational -thing in view of the present evils. A century hence we shall look back -with wonder that our mania for individualism and dread of governmental -interference should have led us to tolerate these things a day. I was -never more convinced of anything than of this, and never more terribly -in earnest about anything in my life. Meanwhile my agents are buying up -and cleansing some of the worst old tenement houses in the city, and I -am searching in every direction for the right person to put in charge of -them. I find that this is the most important feature of it all. There -must be constant, tireless supervision, and I find that it really pays -to give one good tenant his rent free on condition that he keep the -building clean and orderly. He must, of course, be one who has enough -moral power to enforce all necessary rules. - -These details must sound very prosaic to you, I fear, in comparison with -all the delightful things which you are studying; but just at present I -am finding the subject of dumb-waiters and ash-shoots quite as -fascinating as I ever used to find Correggios or cryptogamia. - -By the way, I am going to see a beautiful private car which is to be -sold. I am thinking of buying it and taking aunt Madison and some -delightful people whom I know on a trip to the Yellowstone Park and -Puget Sound this summer. What do you say to joining us? By the time you -have finished at the Annex you will be ready to drop, and will be quite -unfit to think of getting up your trousseau. Tell that impatient young -professor that he must wait for three months, and give you a chance to -know how sweet it is to get a love-letter when it comes three thousand -miles.... - - FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL, NEW YORK, _Apr. 10_. - - To CHAS. W. TURNER, ESQ., Boston, Mass. - -_Dear Sir_,—Your letter has come to hand with the inclosed deed for the -eight lots on Huntington Avenue, each twenty-three by one hundred feet. - -I will now write you in detail about the buildings which I wish to put -upon those lots. I want you to understand my plans exactly, together -with my reasons for them, as I shall ask you to take the responsibility -of carrying them out. - -I want to try an experiment that I have long had in mind. I hope to have -it pay a fair per cent. and at the same time serve as a hint toward the -solution of some of the difficulties in the problems of modern -housekeeping. - -For the last twenty years we have been blundering our way toward better -methods of meeting the exigencies of our modern city life, but with -indifferent success. - -However, one thing is certain. In our great cities, where land is -growing more and more expensive, and where people are swarming in -constantly increasing numbers, building their houses higher and higher -into the air, something must be done to readjust the methods of living, -if life is to remain anything but drudgery to a large majority of wives -and mothers. - -The modern system of “flats” is a step in the right direction, but thus -far it has meant cramped quarters, great expense, and many -disadvantages, and I am convinced that it is a long way from being the -city home of the future. - -What I propose is to put up some houses where all the rooms in each -suite of apartments shall be on the same floor, but which shall in no -other particular resemble any “flats” that I have seen. - -I have found none where the rooms were spacious and all directly lighted -and ventilated from the outer air, unless they were at a price quite -beyond the income of a man who must live on three thousand dollars’ -salary. Even the best I have seen, although they are elegantly frescoed -and finished, are sure to have some small dark rooms, and give much less -good space for living purposes than a house bearing the same rental. - -Now I think there is no reason for this,—that is to say, no necessary -reason; nothing more in fact than that the demand for “flats” exceeds -the supply, and landlords make more on an investment in that direction. - -The never ceasing trouble with servants, the burden of entertaining -company, the fearful strain of the stairs incident to living in a house -where there are only two good rooms on a floor,—all these and other -things are more and more compelling people of moderate means either to -board or live in a “flat,” where one servant can do the work for which, -in an ordinary house, two would be required. - -I think the continual increase of boarding-houses marks a sign of -decadence in American social and home life, and yet I do not blame -delicate women for longing for freedom from the details of work, which -is often done at a great disadvantage, and for immunity from the -back-breaking stairs and other things that are the cause of so much -invalidism. - -Seeing these domestic problems and the wear and tear of the nervous -system contingent on the ordinary methods of city housekeeping, I have -determined to try in this experiment to see if for a moderate cost, say -nine or ten hundred dollars rental, it may not be possible to supply a -family with twelve good-sized rooms all on one floor, and with the back -yard of a size which is usual to an ordinary house. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -One great objection to the ordinary flat is the absence of a back yard -where clothes can be dried, and children can play. Families with -children find but little freedom and comfort in the ordinary flat, and I -propose to remedy this in the simplest way in the world,—at least, it -seems perfectly simple and feasible to me. If the architect you engage -makes any objections to the scheme, let me know what they are. - -Taking the eight lots which you have purchased, each one hundred feet -deep, let us devote say sixty feet to the back yards. This will admit of -flowerbeds, and a little playground, a very important item with a mother -of young children. These dimensions are the same as those of hundreds of -South End lots and houses. - -Then there will be left for the building of the eight homes an area of -eight lots, each forty feet deep and twenty-three feet wide. - -According to our ordinary wasteful system in the building of houses -vertically there would be eight sets of stone steps, eight doors and -lobbies, and allowing four stories to each house, there would be four -halls and three staircases, one over the other, in each of the eight -houses. Each hall would involve more or less expense in carpeting, much -time in sweeping and keeping clean; and beside, much physical energy -would be wasted in simply getting from dining-room to parlor and from -parlor to bedroom. - -Now it seems to me that instead of building these eight houses side by -side vertically, like so many bricks set up on end, we can do much -better. We can abolish seven of our doorsteps and entrance ways and use -one entrance for all, making it thereby much handsomer, and, if we -choose, seven times more expensive. Then instead of eight times three -flights of stairs we shall have simply three, one over the other, in a -broad central hall which will run from the street to the back yard, -having four tenements on either side of it, one tenement for each story. -The floors separating the tenements will be made as impervious to sound -as the partitions in houses built in the usual vertical fashion. The -central hall can be divided into two parts: a front hall containing a -passenger elevator and a handsome flight of stairs, and a back hall with -another flight of stairs and another elevator, the latter for servants -and freight. With the same amount of money that would have been required -for building and carpeting the extra stairs, these halls and staircases -can be made handsomer and absolutely fireproof. On the top story, -instead of the inconvenient ladder and trap-door leading to the roof, -which is usual in our vertically built tenements, there can be a -comfortable staircase, covered at the point where it reaches the roof -and giving exit through a door upon the roof, which can be thoroughly -guarded by a parapet or iron fence, thus affording a safe playground for -children. - -This will cost something, of course, but no more I think than would be -expended in the ordinary, wasteful method of building to which we resort -at present. - -Now perhaps you will say that with the exception of the back yards this -is not different from the ordinary apartment hotel; but wait a bit. What -I propose to do is to give to each person a suite of rooms equal in -cubical contents to what he would have had in his vertical four-story -house, and I shall arrange these rooms so that he shall have a frontage -on the street, not of twenty-three feet, but of ninety-two feet minus -ten feet which he will allow for the central hall. As his neighbor -across the hall will have the same frontage and also allow ten feet for -the hall, the latter, you see, will be a spacious apartment twenty feet -in width. - -Think of a flat having eighty-two feet of front, and with a set of four -back yards at the rear of each home, which is an area of sixty by -eighty-two feet! To be sure each one cannot use all that area. He will -have only one fourth of it for his special use, but it will be worth -something to have all that space ostensibly his own, and the outlook a -little different from each room. - -Of course your first question will be as to how these yards are to be -reached. - -My first purpose is to have these eight families who dwell under the -same roof use nothing but their halls and staircases in common. So in -the basement each family shall have a space at the rear of the house, -twenty-three feet in width, each having its own exit into its own yard -from the laundry and store-rooms which will be situated there. In the -front part of the basement, where in the average Boston house the coal -and furnace are usually found, will be the heating appliances for the -whole building, and heat will be provided in the different stories as it -is in the ordinary hotel. - -There will be speaking-tubes, of course, connecting each laundry with -its kitchen above, so that the mistress on the fourth floor can -communicate with her Bridget in the laundry, and the only disadvantage -will be that once a week the Bridget living on the top story will have -to descend four flights in the elevator to reach her laundry instead of -running down one flight of stairs, as she would do in the house of the -ordinary type. - -Although I prefer to leave the arrangement of rooms in the suites to the -taste of the architect, I will inclose a plan—the simplest possible one -which, so far as I know, will be thoroughly convenient. The only -objection to it that I can discover is, that it is rather stiff and -monotonous; but, as the same thing must be said of our houses as at -present constructed, I do not think this a very formidable objection. -However, I send a second plan, which will show how it is possible to -introduce considerable variety in the arrangement of rooms. In this, as -you see, the parlor is placed at the end of the hall, and is -thirty-eight feet long, being lighted at both ends. If it should be -thought best, half of the suites, _i. e._, the four on one side of the -hall, can be built after this second plan. - -The central passage-way running between the rooms in each suite will -receive light through transoms and glass doors, and will be lighter than -the halls in the average city house. - -[Illustration] - -As the kitchen does not communicate with this central passage-way, the -odors of cooking will not be so likely to permeate the house as they -usually do in the average Boston house with a basement dining-room. - -If I have made myself clear, I think you will see that, according to -this extremely simple plan of construction, the chief advantages of the -average flat and the average separate block house may be combined, and -the disadvantages of each nearly eliminated. - -The care of the sidewalk, stairs, central hall, and the management of -the heating apparatus, will be in the charge of a janitor, as is -customary in the ordinary apartment hotel, thus almost doing away with -the work of one servant in each family. In addition to the great -advantage of having all the rooms on one floor, these rooms will be -larger and more airy than in the ordinary block house. Then, too, they -will not only be more in number than those in the average flat, but they -will be more than in the vertical house of the same cubical contents. -For the space heretofore devoted to stairs can now be utilized for -living-rooms, and by simply opening the doors and windows a draught of -air can sweep straight through from front to back of the house. There -will be neither dark rooms nor rooms opening into a dismal brick -air-well, as in most of our modern flats, and, consequently, none of -that cramped, confined feeling that one always experiences when going -into their tiny rooms which seem designed for a family of three members -only, and where children have no right to be. - -Now I propose to offer this horizontal dwelling, with its eighty-two -feet front, and its yard at the back, with all its economy of space and -expense and physical exertion, for _precisely the same rental_ that the -vertical house with its twenty-three feet of front would cost. - -And, as I want permanent tenants, and desire to make them practically -the same offer as a sale of the property would be, you may give, to any -one who desires it, a lease for fifteen or twenty years. - -Doubtless before that time has expired we shall come to see that our -methods of living must be modified still more, and separate kitchens and -laundries will be relegated to the country, while some system of -coöperation will come into vogue in our cities. If so, such a house as I -propose to build can be easily modified to suit the new order of things. -The kitchens above could be metamorphosed into bedrooms, and part of the -space in the basement turned into a cooking centre for all the families. - -If this experiment should prove a success,—and I can see no reason now -why it should not,—this will be but the beginning of what I intend to do -on a large scale. I think I can do no better service for the hurried, -overworked wives and mothers of our great cities, than to simplify and -lighten the burdens of housekeeping, by adding to their comfort without -adding to their expense. - -I want very little frescoing and gilding in these houses, but there must -be fire-escapes at the rear, and every device for convenience that is -available. - -In regard to their outward appearance I have but one suggestion to make. -I should like to have the windows very broad and very low. It has always -seemed to me ridiculous to note the pains which is taken to cut a hole -in the wall and then immediately cover up two thirds of it in the most -elaborate manner with lambrequins and two or three sets of curtains, all -of which are never raised above the middle sash except when the servant -washes the glass. If it is desirable to admit a little subdued light -near the top of the room, this might be done by a few panes of stained -or ground glass, which would not be covered by a curtain. On the -exterior the bricks or stone, arranged in the form of an arch over each -window, would add much to the beauty of effect. - -If a window were five feet wide by three and a half high, the top being -no more than six and a half feet from the floor, the curtain question -would be somewhat simplified and our rooms made sunnier and more -beautiful. However, I leave this to the architect to decide. - -You will, I think, get my idea from the accompanying sketches. - - Yours sincerely, - MILDRED BREWSTER. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - In achieving spiritual emancipation the mind must pass from - prescription to conscious reason, from mere faith to knowledge. There - must be nothing lost in the transition, only a gain in the form of - science to what was before held in the form of faith and tradition. - But this transition is the most painful one in history, although its - results are the most glorious.—WM. T. HARRIS, LL. D. - - -One evening Mildred and I had prepared for bed, and in our -dressing-gowns were sitting cosily before our open wood fire, watching -the flames dance and flicker and cast weird shadows on the wall. It had -been a hard day, the morning having been spent in writing and dictation -and in examining a half bushel of mail matter; the afternoon we had -spent in visiting tenement houses and industrial schools in Brooklyn. - -After dinner, however, I had beguiled Mildred into a merry hour over -some dashing Schubert duets, for music never failed to rest and soothe -her. Then, turning the lights down and drawing the _tête-à-tête_ before -the red glow of the firelight, we fell to talking, indulging in many -reminiscences of childish pranks and school-girl sentimentality. - -I had been bred outside of New England, and our lives had been wholly -unlike. Perhaps it was because we were so very unlike in many things -that we were more and more drawn to each other day by day, finding ever -new delight in exploring each other’s history and thoughts. - -I had seen more of the world, in a certain way, than Mildred,—that is, -more of society, in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. The -leisurely, easy-going life of a people to whom New England ideas and -“isms” were unknown had been the limits of my social, and -Presbyterianism and Episcopacy the limits of my spiritual, horizon. I -had scarcely dreamed of the existence of any other way of looking at -life among people in good society. - -A brisk canter on my red roan, with a gay company of young people, a -good dinner party, plenty of bouquets and dancing and young men, with -now and then a would-be-serious talk with some of the more -studiously-minded of them apropos of German poetry or Victor Hugo,—this -life I had known all about, and but little of any other. - -However, eight months previously, when reverses of fortune had cast my -fate in Salem, Massachusetts, among a family of Unitarians who had been -old-time abolitionists, and were now woman suffragists and zealous -reformers in every direction, my conception of life had enlarged a -little, and I was prepared not to be amazed at this radical, bookish -Boston girl who upset all my previous theories of what a charming woman -should be. - -She was charming; no one who had seen her sitting there, in her loose -gown of a delicate rose color, her dark wavy hair falling around her -shoulders as she gazed steadily into the glowing embers, her fine -features outlined by the firelight, but would have thought her so. We -had been laughing heartily over some droll accounts of my first New -England experiences and the horror which I had aroused in some precise -old maids by my frivolity, while I had been equally horrified by their -radical theology. I thought that it was wicked for them to read Renan, -and they thought it sinful for me to wear French corsets and moderately -high heels. - -After a time Mildred and I began to talk of love and lovers, as girls -will. I say “girls,” though I was six-and-twenty and she my senior. But -in New England, where late marriages are the rule and not the exception, -the term “girls,” as I have discovered, has an indefinite application. - -“Mildred, were you never in love?” I asked. - -I shouldn’t have dared quite so much as that, only somehow she had -invited my confidence, and I had told her all about my love affairs. I -couldn’t tell whether she blushed or not, for the firelight glowed on -her face. At first I thought that she was offended, for she waited a -minute before she answered, and we listened to the rain coming in great -gusts against the window pane, and the omnibuses rattling over the paved -street below. - -Mildred nestled a little closer to the fire and adjusted her cushions. -Then she said slowly, as she stretched out her slender fingers before -the blaze, “Why, yes, I suppose I really was in love, though I didn’t -know it at the time.” - -“Good heavens, Mildred, not with Mr. Dunreath!” I cried; “you told me -you never really cared for him.” - -“No, not with Mr. Dunreath,” replied Mildred quickly, and throwing her -head back she clasped her hands over her knee, swaying back and forth in -the firelight. Then she stopped again. I asked no more questions, for -there was a look in her eyes and a droop to the sensitive mouth which -meant I knew not what. Was it possible that this woman, who seemed so -enthusiastically absorbed in her plans and so cheerful and gay, was -really carrying about with her a secret heart-ache? I had watched her -curiously as we had been in society together, and had been amused at her -absolute lack of coquetry and matter-of-fact way of talking with -gentlemen, and, on the other hand, at her semi-consciousness that she -must try not to say too much about her theories and hobbies, and to -“learn to talk small talk,” as she said. I, who had had my fill of small -talk, and whom the late years were beginning to teach some serious -lessons, liked much better her simplicity and unusual earnestness about -things. Her bookishness, too, which at first I had rather dreaded, did -not mean pedantry or dullness. She had read but few books, she told me; -far less than I. She once showed me in her diary her list of books for -the past year. There were only six: Plato’s “Republic,” “Wilhelm -Meister,” Stanley’s “History of the Jews,” Thackeray’s “Newcomes,” Henry -George’s “Progress and Poverty,” and a volume of Fichte. - -“I like to be acquainted with the best people,” she once said; “there is -no reason why one should put up with the second-rate ones when one can -have the best.” - -“But it is not every one who can get the best society,” said I, not -understanding in the least what she meant. - -“Every one who can read can have the best friends of all ages,” she -replied. And they were her friends. But I am digressing. - -“I will tell you all about it,” said Mildred, with her eyes still fixed -on the coals. “There is no reason why I should not, though I never told -any one before, and I have hardly acknowledged it to myself. I think I -was in love; yes, I think I really was—in love. - -“It happened in this way. I had gone down to the Fitchburg station to -take the early morning train for Concord. By the way, were you ever at -Concord?” she asked abruptly. - -“What?” I answered, “Concord, New Hampshire?” - -“No, our own Massachusetts Concord; the Concord of Emerson and Hawthorne -and Thoreau and the Alcotts. I had been there but once before, but since -that time it has been a sort of Mecca of mine, and I have made many a -pilgrimage there. - -“I was going out to the Concord School of Philosophy, not, however, for -any special reason. I didn’t know and didn’t care to know anything about -philosophy, but I thought it might be fun to see for once the -long-haired men and short-haired women congregate and talk, as the -papers said, about the ‘thisness of the then and the whichness of the -where.’ Besides, I wanted to visit Hawthorne’s grave. I was full of his -romances then. - -“At the station I met my bosom-friend Julia Mason. ‘How fortunate!’ she -exclaimed. ‘Here is my cousin, bound for the Summer School, too. You -must philosophize together.’ She introduced us to each other, and then -hastened to take her own train, while the young man and I made our way -together to the express train for Concord. - -“He pleased my fancy at once. I was just at the age when a girl always -sees a possible lover in every handsome young man whom she chances to -know. Not that the thought occurred to me then, for he was far from -being the ideal lover whom I had dreamed of marrying. My lover must -combine all the graces of an Alcibiades with the virtues of a Bayard, a -knight _sans peur et sans reproche_, with classic features, curling -locks, and a voice and smile that should melt the very stones.” - -“You matter-of-fact old Mildred,” I laughed. “To think of your ever -being so romantic!” - -She smiled a little as she unclasped her hands from her knee and leaned -back. - -“Yes,” she said, “I had my dreams once.” - -Then she continued: - -“He was older than I, twenty-five, perhaps; tall, broad-shouldered, a -manly man every inch of him; a little clumsy and awkward at first, and -lacking in all the manifold little attentions which girls like. He did -not offer to carry my bag, I observed, and he entered the car-door -first. He was certainly not in the least like the courteous, gallant -knight of my girlish fancy. - -“But presently, as he began to talk in an animated way, his frank blue -eyes lighted up and lent to his by no means classic features a wonderful -charm. We got well acquainted on the short journey. He, it seems, had, -like myself, been at Concord only once before. It was on that raw, cold -day in ’75, when I, a young school-girl, with my mother, and he a -Phillips Academy boy, had, unknown to each other, essayed to board the -train in that same frightfully thronged station, and go to the -Centennial celebration. - -“I told him of my droll experience, wedged in between a dozen men and -women in the smoking-car. He, it seems, was not so fortunate as I, for -he took no lunch, and, like thousands of others who could buy nothing -for either love or money, almost starved. I told him about our -experience: how we marched with the women assembled at the town hall, -led by a lady with a little flag, around the road to the tent on Battle -lawn; how there we were nearly annihilated by the throng, and how at -last by some good fortune I was borne up to the platform’s very edge, -and stood there within a few feet of Grant and all his cabinet, and with -Curtis, Emerson, and Lowell all within arm’s reach. - -“How my heart beat at the sight of those faces! I have seen many famous -sights since, but nothing that ever stirred my blood like that,” said -Mildred, with glowing eyes. “I was scarcely more than a child, Ruby, but -I stood there for two mortal hours, unable to move forward or backward, -to right or left, quivering from head to foot with enthusiasm and -excitement. That day my American patriotism was born. I had studied a -little text-book at school, and learned names and dates; but not until -under the spell of Curtis’s eloquence, and face to face with the men -whose fathers had shed their blood in the brave fight one hundred years -before, did I begin to realize what it all meant. I remember -particularly a little old man with weather-beaten face, clad in a simple -suit,—his ‘Sunday best,’—who stood beside me listening with eager, -upturned face, his blue eyes filled with unshed tears. I could see his -lips quiver; and once, as if carried away by the fervor of his emotion, -he grasped my arm with his brown, withered hand and whispered huskily, -‘Little girl, when you get as old as I be, you’ll understand what all -this means.’ - -“Since then,” said Mildred gravely, “the words ‘my country’ have meant -something new to me. A distinctly new idea took hold of me, an idea that -some time I hope to make blossom into deeds.” - -I confess I was getting a little impatient for an account of the -love-making, and this did not sound much like it. But after musing a -bit, Mildred continued: - -“This little experience which my companion and I had in common made us -quickly acquainted. He frankly told me of his college life and of -himself. He had been studying for the ministry, he said, though whether -he was to be a clergyman or not I inferred was somewhat doubtful. - -“We passed Walden Pond, gleaming like silver in the sunshine, and he -talked of Thoreau, whom he seemed to know well, though I had at that -time read nothing of him. Presently we rolled up to the Concord station, -and while a crowd of people alighted and took the ‘barge,’ we went down -one of the long, shady streets, bordered by tall hedges and -close-clipped lawns, with comfortable, roomy mansions set back from the -street; past the little gem of a town library, on its carpet of emerald -green; past the cluster of shops and the cool-plashing fountain, and -down the famous old road which saw the redcoats’ flight, and which Hosea -Biglow, you remember, says he ‘most gin’ally calls “John Bull’s Run.”’ - -“Such a lovely, quiet old street! Dear, you must see it some day—with -the broad, green meadow lands on one side, and the hill crowned with -trees and vines on the other. - -“‘Along this ridge lived Hawthorne’s Septimius Felton,’ said my -companion. - -“‘And here,’ said I, as we passed a tiny antique house on the hillside -with curtains drawn, and no path through the grass that surrounded -it,—‘here, I am positive, an old witch with a black cat must have lived -a hundred years ago.’ - -“We jested and laughed as we went merrily on. We were young and happy -that brilliant summer morning. I remember how every leaf sparkled with -the heavy dewdrops, and the air seemed to fairly intoxicate one like a -draught of wine. I was fairly brimming over with delight. - -“We passed the old-fashioned white house with green blinds, peeping out -from behind the pines, which I needed no one to tell me had been the -home of the Concord seer; and a little further on appeared the -brown-gabled house, nestled in a green hollow, and guarded by giant -elms, where the Little Women lived their charming life. Just within -these grounds stood the vine-covered Hillside Chapel, whither our steps -were tending. We had passed little groups on our way, and now and then -we caught a word of what they were saying; ‘first entelechy,’ ‘pure -subjectivity,’ the ‘_ding an sich_,’ and so on, which in my hilarious -mood served as a further theme for jest. - -“As we took our seats beneath the bust of Pestalozzi and beside the -comfortable arm-chair always reserved for Mrs. Emerson, I scanned the -audience closely. It was not a stylish one, and I felt a little inclined -to poke fun at some of the antiquated bonnets; but my attention was -attracted by the evident eagerness with which my new friend was studying -the face of the speaker. - -“He was a middle-aged man, with close-clipped gray beard and spectacles, -and a face that seemed to be the very personification of thought. The -subject of the lecture was Immortality. I listened, vainly trying to -understand, and feeling as though the essence of a thousand books was -being crowded into that quiet morning’s talk. I had heard that this man -was a German rationalist, and was undermining the foundations of -Christianity; therefore I had prepared myself to see a cynic or a -scoffer. I had thought that I would go, for once, to hear what he had to -say; just to have an idea as to what it was all about. I felt all the -excitement of doing something a little venturesome. - -“Dear me,” laughed Mildred; “how droll it all seems now, and what an -ignorant little bigot I must have been! - -“I tried to follow the speaker and to get some meaning from those quiet, -clear-cut sentences as they dropped from his lips, and slowly forced -upon my incredulous mind the conviction that here at least was one man -who spoke whereof he knew. I had never done so hard thinking in my life. -He was taking me into a field of thought of which I had never dreamed, -and I was as unable to follow his giant strides as a child to follow the -man in seven-league boots. My temples began to throb; in despair I gave -up the attempt, and fell to watching my companion as with bated breath -he followed the speaker. Only one thing I remember, and that because I -jotted it down on the back of an envelope at the time. He said, ‘The -standpoint of absolute personality is the one to be attained. On this -plane, freedom, immortality, and God are the regulative principles of -science as well as of life; and they are not only matters of faith, but -matters of indubitable scientific certainty.’ - -“The lecture was nearly two hours long, and there was to be a discussion -following it; but we were both exhausted with the mental strain, and -quietly slipped out into the summer sunshine. - -“My companion said nothing. He walked with head erect and long strides, -and I felt considerably piqued to find that he seemed utterly oblivious -of my presence. Presently he turned to me, and in a tone which almost -startled me exclaimed, ‘Thank God for that man! More than any other man -living or dead has he kept me from making utter shipwreck of my faith.’ -I was surprised at his earnestness and touched by the simple frankness -with which he had revealed to me, almost an utter stranger, his inmost -thoughts. - -“Again he seemed to forget me, and we paced on in silence, past the -fountain, under gigantic elms, past the ‘town toothpick,’ as the -æsthetic scoffers have dubbed the obelisk that commemorates the soldiers -of the war, and turned down the road by Hawthorne’s gray old manse and -through the avenue of pines, to where, stretching across the sluggish -stream, we saw the - - ... ‘bridge that arched the flood’ - -where - - ‘Once the embattled farmers stood, - And fired the shot heard round the world.’ - -“Here we stopped to rest a while, under the spreading boughs of a -pine-tree, beside the graves of the two British soldiers that fell in -the famous fight. We shared our sandwiches and bananas, and threw crumbs -to the saucy squirrels that darted from limb to limb above our heads; -and then, like two children, we trimmed our hats with daisies and -buttercups from the fields close by. I watched him closely, with the -pleasing consciousness that my pretty dress and new hat were noticed -with evident approval on his part. Evidently he was able to enjoy some -other things as well as philosophy; and when he shook back the thick -blonde hair which rose from his broad forehead in a sort of Rubenstein -mane, and tossed over into the fields a great stone that had fallen from -the wall, I began to query whether a young man with locks and sinews -like a young Norse god might not be a very fascinating type of hero. - -“But I was curious to know what he meant by ‘shipwreck of his faith.’ As -we picked up our various belongings (this time I noted that he asked for -my bag) and walked over through the woods to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, I -determined to probe him a little. - -“‘Mr. Everett,’ I began, ‘don’t you think, after all, that philosophy is -a rather dangerous thing for one to begin to study?’” - -I smiled mischievously as Mildred inadvertently disclosed the name which -hitherto she had adroitly concealed. She flushed a little, as if -annoyed. - -“After all,” she said, “you might as well know his name, for he has -gone, heaven knows where, and I shall never see him again.” - -A shade of sadness fell upon her face turned toward the firelight, but -she went quietly on: - -“He hesitated a moment before he answered, as if mentally to adjust -himself to my plane of ignorance. Then he asked, ‘And why dangerous, -Miss Brewster?’ - -“‘You know what I mean,’ said I, rather vexed at being obliged to put my -vague thoughts into words. ‘What good can all this theorizing and -speculation do? Don’t you think it would be a great deal better for all -these people here to spend their time in talking about something -practical? My feeling is, that people who begin to think and question -about God and immortality and such things, and aren’t satisfied with the -simple truths of the Bible, get to be skeptics before they know it, and -are ruined for life. My mother’s religion is good enough for me. If I -can live up to that I shall be satisfied, without racking my brains and -reasoning over things that God intended us to take on faith.’ - -“To tell the truth, this didn’t exactly represent my thought; but I had -often heard it said, and thought it sounded well. Besides, I was curious -to see what he would reply to it. - -“‘It would take hours to answer adequately what you have just said, Miss -Brewster,’ replied Mr. Everett; ‘but I will try to say something; for it -is precisely these same questions that I myself have been trying to -answer in the last few years.’ - -“We were climbing the little hill that like a crescent surrounded the -green hollow, where lie the sleepers in their last sleep. On the summit, -beneath the tall sighing pines, beside Emerson’s grave and within a -stone’s throw of the graves of Hawthorne and Thoreau, we sat down and -looked over the broad valley on the other side with the hills beyond. It -was so quiet, so peaceful, just where a tired soul would love to have -his last resting-place. - -“Mr. Everett was silent for a moment, as if to collect his thought; -then, not looking at me, but afar off at the glimpses of blue between -the swaying boughs, he began to speak, while I listened intently, every -word fairly burning itself upon my memory. I did not rest that night -until I had transmitted it all to my diary, to be read and reread over -and over again. - -“‘You say that your mother’s religion is good enough for you,’ he began. -‘Well, Miss Brewster, when I think of the love and devotion, of the -tender prayers and wise counsels that guided my boyish waywardness, when -I think of the saintliness and unselfishness of my own sainted mother, I -feel like saying that, too. If I could ever have one half her -spirituality and Christlikeness, I should count my life a grand success. -But I cannot say, and I know that truth and justice cannot compel me to -say, that my mother’s theology would be enough for me, for her life was -not the outcome of much in her theology. Her unquestioning faith in a -literal Adam and Eve had nothing to do with her sweetness and devotion -to duty. Nor was her unwavering belief in the sacredness of everything -in the sixty-six Hebrew and Christian books the cause of her infinite -patience and self-sacrifice. No; I want my mother’s religion, but I -cannot accept all of her theology. I should count it a sin against God -if I were to so stultify my intelligence as to do it. - -“‘You say, “Don’t you think all these people here had better be doing -something practical?” What is more practical, I ask you, than for a -human soul, to whom life is something more than meat and drink, to learn -of that which more than all else concerns that soul’s welfare? And what -can more help to this than the study of the wisest thought of all the -ages on just these very problems of life and death, things present and -things to come? As Novalis says, “Philosophy can bake no bread; but she -can procure for us God, Freedom, and Immortality.” I count that the most -practical as well as the most precious help that can be offered to any -questioning human soul who has come to see that man cannot live by bread -alone, and whose sorest need is to know the meaning and the end of this -life of ours.’ - -“‘But the Bible tells us that,’ I cried impatiently; ‘what more do we -need?’ - -“‘Perhaps you need nothing more,’ he answered quietly. ‘If so, well and -good. Clear insight is not essential to living a noble life. If you have -really grasped the spiritual meaning of Christianity it matters little -that you should hold it in a more naive and literal way than I am able -to. If in this age you can accept unquestioningly everything that has -been taught you, if you never have a doubt, I would be the last person -to raise one, for I know what mental misery would ensue in one educated -as you have been. But so long as your religious faiths have been -inherited, like your hair and eyes, and you have not examined them so as -to make them your own, pardon my saying that there is small virtue in -your holding them, and so far as your own thought goes you might as well -have been a Papist or a Mohammedan.’ - -“‘But what is the use of mental misery? Why should I encourage doubts -and unrest? Is it not far better to trust in God and not venture to -question all the strange things that he allows?’ - -“‘You ask two or three questions at once; let me take them one at a -time. Five years ago I asked just those same questions, and I know how -you feel.’ He spoke tenderly, and his voice comforted me. I was -beginning to get nervous and troubled and felt myself in deep waters. - -“‘No great thing is ever born into this world except by suffering. If we -are put here simply for pleasure, for calm content, for peace of mind, -let us banish all questioning and dread it as a precursor of the -nightmare. Yes, if immediate peace of mind is the primary consideration, -let us, like the ostrich, bury our heads in the sand, like the chicken -refuse to pick our way through the shell, and be turned out of our warm -corner into the bare, cold world outside. If peace of mind is our chief -aim, let us stop thinking once for all. It is dangerous. Yes, thinking -is always dangerous; dangerous to one’s love of ease and content with -existing ideas. The little shoot content with its environment in the -dark mould will never reach the sunlight until first it struggles upward -from the conditions that surround it. - -“‘Many a time in the last four years I have said to myself, in the night -of horror that swept over me, when I felt as if the foundations beneath -me had broken away, “whether the Bible be true, or life eternal, or God -a father, I do not know; but this one thing I do know: I must be true; I -must be unselfish; I must go on and seek the light;” and, thank God, I -have begun to find it at last.’ - -“Mr. Everett spoke with a quiet intensity of feeling that awed me. -However, I ventured to ask, rather timidly, ‘But you did find—you do -believe in the Bible now, don’t you?’ - -“‘That is a question which cannot be rightly answered by a “yes” or -“no,”’ he replied; ‘for neither answer would be true. I was brought up, -as perhaps you were, to look upon all these matters without the -slightest discrimination; to think a disbelief in Jonah’s whale -synonymous with the disbelief in the divine inspiration of any part of -the Bible; to think a disbeliever in the Bible necessarily a disbeliever -in God; and to count a disbeliever in immortality on a par with a -bigamist or a horse-thief. - -“‘When I dared trust myself to think and read this book, or rather -collection of books, with a calm, unprejudiced eye, I was amazed to find -how much I had been taught to claim for them which they never claim for -themselves. They became utterly new books to me, as if I had never read -them before; wonderfully rich and helpful and inspiring and full, as I -believe, of the truest religious inspiration, but not always a guide for -me in history and science, and not infallible as to fact. - -“‘Who shall find any authority for the doctrine that inspiration ceased -with the last one of those sixty-six books? No, Miss Brewster,’ said Mr. -Everett, looking at me earnestly, his shoulders thrown back, his head -erect, ‘God reveals himself to man to-day just as truly in this new -world as ever he did thousands of years ago to Hebrew seers. - -“‘You ask why I should crave any deeper reasons for my belief in God, -free will, and immortality than these writings give. Simply this: I -must. At first I fought against it, fearing it to be a temptation of the -devil. But I came to see that this fear, for me at least, was cowardice -and folly. The command was laid upon my soul to give an adequate reason -for the faith that I held, and I could not be recreant to this call of -conscience. I had been told to believe the Bible because it was God’s -Word, and then, following in a circle, to believe that there was a God -because God’s Word proved it. It did not take me long to see the -childishness of this, and though I put it off again and again, my -conscience would not be stilled until I had systematically set myself to -see whether or not anything could really be known, or whether inference, -conjecture, and hope were all that God had vouchsafed to the creature -made in his image. - -“‘I suppose few women ever feel this necessity. I do not say that it is -necessary for you or for any one to probe to the bottom of these things, -if you are content without doing so. I think, however, that it is of the -utmost importance for the thousand bewildered spirits in our day, who -long to know but who cannot themselves study, to come to see that -knowledge on the questions which are most vital to us all is to be had -by every rational being who has time and patience and follows the right -path of inquiry; and that in these matters, if we are willing to pay the -cost of time and labor, we may in truth see and know. - -“‘There are few who have the time or taste for any deep philosophic -study. There are fewer still who have any faith in the outcome of such -study, and of these few but a handful who get started on the right road -and persist until they attain results. Moreover, as truly in philosophy -as in religion must one be “born again”; and, unlike religious birth, it -cannot be instantaneous, for it is not a matter of will. It takes years -to bring about this new and deeper insight. - -“‘I rarely find a person whom I would advise to study philosophy, for -here, if anywhere, a little learning is a dangerous thing, and one is -maddened by the superficial talk of those who have not learned its -a-b-c, but yet presume to argue as if they had mastered everything from -Aristotle to Schelling. I have come to find that there are very few -people who even dream of what philosophy is. The average man fancies -that speculative philosophy must be simply guess-work or some vague -theorizing, unworthy of a Christian man who has any practical work to do -in this world in the way of earning his living and helping to hasten the -kingdom of God. - -“‘But the average Christian is largely materialistic in his thought. His -heaven, his hell, are localities; his God a huge, anthropomorphic being, -and the universe a kind of vast machine, guided by some external Power; -or a sort of precipitate or sediment, as it were, of the eternal -thought. - -“‘If this is true of a man who professes and in some measure accepts a -real spiritual faith, how much more true is it of the average worldly -man of common sense! He looks upon the ground he walks on as something -real. It is something that appeals to his senses, and he smiles with -calm contempt if you tell him that an idea is far more real than the -earth beneath his foot; that it is thought, and thought alone, that -sustains this planet; and that all the things that he considers real are -in fact mere passing phenomena, absolutely nothing in themselves, except -as they exist in relation to other things.’ - -“I looked up somewhat perplexed at this and was about to ask a question, -but Mr. Everett was too preoccupied with his own thought to notice this. -Leaning his head against a gray tree-trunk, he looked with absent eyes -far off at the purple hills. Presently he went on: - -“‘Just as the sensualist can never understand the spiritually-minded man -and his infinitely higher capacity for joy, so the man of mere _common_ -sense can never understand the man of philosophic insight, the man of -more than common sense, until he has been mentally born again, and has -transcended the materialistic phase of thought in which we all begin to -do our thinking, and which most of us never pass beyond. As said the man -whose dust lies at our feet, “Every man’s words, who speaks from that -life, must sound vain to those who do not dwell in the same thought on -their own part.”’ - -“‘But is it necessary to go through this tragic experience of which you -have spoken in order to reach right results?’ I asked. - -“‘Whether it be tragic or not depends upon the temperament and -traditions of the individual,’ he answered. - -“‘To me, brought up to know all that was possible of the loveliness of -Christian character, and taught to attribute it to a theology that was -more or less false, a change of belief was naturally almost as much to -be dreaded as a deterioration in moral character. From the cradle I was -destined for the missionary work; so you see that I had always the fear -of frustrating my parents’ most cherished hopes if I should deviate from -their standard of doctrine. In later years I gladly acquiesced in their -desire to see me in the ministry; it seemed to me, it still seems to me, -the most enviable life in the world.’ - -“I listened eagerly,” said Mildred, “as Mr. Everett said this. I, too, -had often thought of the missionary work, but I could not leave mother -then. - -“‘Well, Miss Brewster,’ Mr. Everett continued; ‘I was blessed or -afflicted, whichever you may please to call it, with a conscience which -would not let me rest content with tacit consent to what I came to see -was hardly more than a half truth, and my inward life since my senior -year at Yale three years ago has been, until recently, one of bitter -conflict. Night after night, after leaving the lecture-room at the -seminary, have I walked my floor until morning, too wretched to pray, my -brain half crazed with the ceaseless turmoil of my thoughts. “I have no -message to give to others,” I said, “for I am sure of nothing; no one is -sure of anything.” Like the sad Hindu king, I asked myself, - - “How knowest thou aught of God, - Of his favor or his wrath? - Can the little fish tell what the eagle thinks, - Or map out the eagle’s path? - - Can the finite the infinite seek? - Did the blind discover the stars? - Is the thought that I think a thought, - Or a throb of the brain in its bars?” - -“‘But at last help came, I have told you through whom, and now as I look -back upon it, I thank God for all that bitter experience. I know better -how to understand and sympathize with many a one whom I have found -struggling in the meshes of sophistry; earnest souls, who long for the -truth more than they long for life itself, and finding no one who can do -more for them than to simply say “Repent and believe.” - -“‘Not that I have learned much yet. I have only begun to get glimpses of -the truth. I feel sure of far less now than I did five years ago. But I -know this: I do know and see beyond peradventure that it is right to -probe to the uttermost the problems which confront me. I should have -been false to myself, unfaithful to my highest, truest instinct, if I -had listened to the tearful advice of my timid friends and turned my -back and shut my eyes to what God would reveal to me. I did not know -where I should be led; my knees knocked together with fear as I felt my -way through the gloom. But gradually, and chiefly from the writings of -that man whose teachings we heard this morning, have I learned not only -to believe, but to know the truths which he taught us to-day. Some men -call him skeptic, rationalist; at best they say, such talk must be -unpractical. Fools! not to know that to save a soul from hopeless -despair, to give life and health to an immortal spirit, is quite as -practical a thing as to pave streets and cut coats. - -“‘I look upon a true philosophy as the most completely useful thing in -the world.’ He stopped, and I looked up bewildered. - -“‘Useful?’ I asked. - -“‘Certainly; useful. Is not that useful which gives man a clear insight -into what must otherwise be forever obscure? Is it not useful to lift -him out of the domain of prejudice and mere opinion on vital matters, -and give him the key to the universe by making him to know the grounds -of his knowledge, of his being, and of his destiny?’ - -“‘But do you not believe in relying on faith at all? Do you accept -nothing that you do not understand?’ I asked. - -“‘I understand very few things that my reason compels me to accept,’ -answered Mr. Everett. ‘I do not understand the chemical change which -transmutes my food into living animal matter, and I do not understand a -million things which I believe. Certainly we must have faith. All -business and all life depends upon faith. But by faith I do not mean the -simple credulity of my childhood in everything that I was taught. By -faith I mean a steadfast reliance on what my reason tells me is true, -even though I have no immediate evidence of it, and imagination and -understanding fail to compass it. When I see the apparently useless -suffering and cruelty which the Supreme Power has permitted, I have -faith in his infinite goodness, not because any man or book has told me -that it is so, but because, thank God, I see that it is so; and it is -philosophic study alone which has made me see this. He who is afraid to -study and question into the nature of the universe “and trust the Rock -of Ages to his chemic test” is the man who has no true faith.’ - -“‘But after all,’ I said, ‘you must admit that the philosophers are but -little read. It is the practical, common-sense people of the world who -have done the work, and they have got on very well, too, without all -this theorizing.’ - -“‘There was never a greater mistake in the world,’ replied Mr. Everett -vehemently, too deeply in earnest to remember anything but the point -that he was trying to make. ‘The philosophers certainly have not been -widely read, but that by no means measures their influence. It is they -who have taught the teachers who have taught the masses, and as the -traveler knows perhaps nothing of the inventor of the engine which -carries him safely from one side of the continent to the other, and -makes life larger for him in a hundred ways, so we all, reaping every -day in every one of our human institutions the rich benefits which the -thinkers of the ages have bestowed upon us, say ungratefully that we owe -them nothing. We attribute all our speed to the visible engineer and -conductor who by another man’s genius have brought us to our -destinations.’ - -“‘Would you advise me to study philosophy?’ I inquired humbly, much -impressed with the point of his reply to what I had flattered myself was -a rather bright remark. - -“‘That depends,’ he said, ‘on what and how you study. If you wish to -study simply to be able to say or to feel that you have studied -philosophy, and can quote from this or that man, I advise you not to -study.’ - -“I must have flushed and looked a little hurt, for he quickly added, -‘Pardon me, Miss Brewster, I think that you are far too much in earnest -for that; but I have seen too many begin to read philosophy as a mere -amusement, a sort of fad, and with no real earnest purpose, learning -just enough to make them conceited or discouraged, and doing no good to -themselves or any one else, and bringing the study of philosophy into -disrepute. To me my philosophy has been a search for God, for truth. I -have studied for my soul’s sorest need, and in all my intellectual life -I have found nothing so satisfying, nothing that gives me such hope and -courage.’ - -“‘Should you advise me to begin with Herbert Spencer?’ I asked, thinking -that I would come to something definite. - -“‘No, as you value your power to grow. You are not ready for him yet. He -would fascinate you, and you could not refute his fallacies; but read -Plato, read Kant, Fichte, Hegel. Don’t begin with them, though. Read -first, perhaps, the “Introduction to Philosophy” by the man whom we -heard this morning. I will give you also an article of his which deals -with Spencer in a way that opened my eyes. - -“‘Don’t read much at a time, else it will utterly daunt you. Come back -to it again and again at intervals. You will be astonished to see your -growth. You will be surprised to find how digging at these tough -problems makes such mental muscle as renders other tasks easy. - -“‘It will open a new world to you; but you must have infinite patience. -I have made up my mind to that. I shall be more than thankful if in -twenty years I have mastered this book;’ and he drew a volume of Hegel -from his pocket. - -“The sun was sinking behind the trees as we rose to go homeward. -Stiffened with sitting so long, I tripped and fell. He sprang and caught -me in his great strong arms for one little moment; then—well—I trembled -a bit with the start it had given me, and finding that my foot had -really been hurt a little, I accepted his help as we descended the slope -and climbed upon the other side to the road again. It seemed very -pleasant to have his strong arm for a support. There had not been a word -of love, but his unaffected, frank talk had touched me as no compliments -or sentiment could ever have done. - -“I had thought his voice rather harsh at first when he spoke so -earnestly and vehemently, but it had grown very tender and quiet now, -and as we came back from the woods to civilization again we lapsed into -silence.” - -As Mildred ceased, the clock struck midnight. The noise outside had died -away, and the fire had burned low, too low for me to distinguish her -face clearly. - -“And was there no love-making at all?” I asked, much disappointed at the -prosaic ending of the little romance that I had been anticipating. A -talk on philosophy in a graveyard was not the kind of love-making that I -knew about, and I wondered if there ever were another girl like Mildred. - -“Oh, I didn’t say there was any love-making,” said Mildred rather dryly. -“I simply said that I think I really was in love.” - -“And is that all? Did you never see him again?” I persisted. - -“Yes, several times afterward,” she answered; “for I went regularly to -the school after that. At first I understood almost nothing, and much of -what he said was Greek to me. I met some delightful people there, but he -helped me more than any one else. He loaned me books, and we had many a -talk. - -“I felt that we were becoming fast friends, when suddenly he went West. -I received a note from him some months afterward, telling me that his -parents had died; but there was very little about himself. I heard -afterward that he was engaged; but after Julia died I lost all knowledge -of him. Probably he has forgotten me long ago, but I owe to that talk -the best things that have come to me since I was a woman. Yes, Ruby, -that first April-day and that second day in midsummer in old Concord are -the two red-letter days of my life.” - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - (Extract from the New York “Tribune.”) - - - BOOKS FOR THE MILLION! HELP FOR THOSE WHO WILL HELP THEMSELVES. - -It has been understood that Miss Mildred Brewster, the Boston heiress -and philanthropist who has recently been making such a sensation in New -York society, was quite inaccessible to reporters. But yesterday a -member of the “Tribune” staff was so fortunate as to gain a gracious -reception, and to learn certain facts which will be of great interest to -the public in general. - -Miss Brewster was found in her pretty parlor at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, -dressed to attend a reception, in an exquisite robe of golden-brown -velvet, simply made, and worn with a unique girdle and collar of - - RARELY BEAUTIFUL CAMEOS. - -Miss Brewster said that she was waiting for her carriage, but was not in -haste, and would be pleased to make an authentic statement in regard to -certain facts of which there had been vague rumors in the papers of -late. - -She began by saying that she supposed the newspapers would learn it -indirectly sooner or later, and therefore she might as well give the -facts so that they should be stated accurately. What followed will be -given as nearly as possible in Miss Brewster’s own words. - -“When I was a child,” she said, “I spent several years in some of the -frontier towns of our Western states, where my father was vainly seeking -for a climate which would prolong his life. I had an opportunity there -to observe many things which I have never forgotten. I understood them -but dimly then, but as I grew to womanhood in my New England home, -surrounded with the privileges and traditions of an older and more -distinctly American civilization, I often contrasted my life with what -it would have been had I grown up among the German farmers, rough -cowboys, greedy land speculators, and half-starved home missionaries, -who formed the chief part of the people whom we met in the little towns -along the railroad on the Western prairies. - -“I was too young to appreciate the value of the indomitable energy of -this pioneer work. I saw only the sordid, unpicturesque side of it then. - -“I hated the tornadoes and blizzards; I loathed the sloughs and muddy -streams—the everlasting dullness of the prairie and the prosaic struggle -for existence in the little clusters of board shanties or in the -isolated log cabins and dug-outs. I longed for the hills and granite -bowlders, for the great elms and sparkling streams of New England, and -for the refinements and conveniences of my Eastern home. - -“How well I recall the tired, overworked women, toiling over their -cooking-stoves, with no household conveniences, milking, churning, -mending, washing, feeding the pigs, selling eggs, and making themselves -prematurely old that their children might have a ‘better chance.’ - -“I remember, with my insatiable love of reading, how my first glance on -entering a house was in search of book-shelves. Many a time, though in -the house of a man owning hundreds of cattle and a thousand acres of -land, I have found no literature beyond a copy of the Bible but little -used, the State Agricultural or Mining Reports, or a stray copy of -‘Godey’s Lady’s Book.’ - -“But, as an offset to this prosaic life, I remember also, as I look back -upon it now, the hopefulness and cheerfulness, the ambition and -self-sacrifice, and the sturdy courage and self-reliance which all this -new Western life engendered. - -“There was much that was admirable about it all, and that gave promise -of the development of great men and women and a glorious future for that -part of our country. Yet I know that in many instances, except where a -colony of Eastern people had settled and put up their schoolhouse and -church before there was an opportunity to build a gambling den and -saloon, the early influences which shaped the future of the towns were -like the sowing of dragon’s teeth, which have brought forth, as I have -taken pains to learn, most deadly fruit. - -“It is more than sixteen years since I have been in the West, and I -intend now to revisit it. Of course I shall see an astonishing change. I -read of opera houses and electric lights in the places that I remember -as mere shabby settlements of a hundred shanties. But the same condition -of things that I knew then is still to be found in a thousand places -further west, or off the line of the main roads, and it will continue -for a half century to come. Hundreds of thousands of ignorant emigrants -are pouring into this land, with throngs of alert young business men -from the East, all making a breakneck race for wealth. They are buying -the - - LAST REMNANTS OF GOVERNMENT LAND, - -and are developing the material resources of the country at an amazing -rate. The shanties will give place to brick blocks, and the sloughs to -paved streets, soon enough. I am not concerned as to that. - -“The luxuries of civilization will come as rapidly as one could wish, -but it is the tendency of things in regard to the development of morals -and character that alarms me. When I learn that one third of our school -population in this land of boasted educational privileges is ignorant of -the alphabet, and that in the Rocky Mountain states and territories -there is one saloon for every forty-three voters; when I read how the -peasants of Europe are flocking by the hundred thousand to this fair -Western land, and I see the possibilities of the future for good or -evil, it wakens all my ardor and enthusiasm to be up and doing and -lending a hand to help shape its destiny. - -“There are many who, not falling under good influences at once, lapse -into a selfish indifference to everything but their own worldly -advancement if they do not retrograde morally. I do not mean that they -are heartless. They have, of course, the proverbial Western generosity -and frank cordiality, which is one of the finest things in the world and -is very genuine; but it is often coupled with an absolute contempt for -everything beyond that which will advance their purely material -interests. In short, they are ‘Philistines.’ - -“I have seen many Western men who have made their ‘pile,’ as they say, -who would find it absolutely impossible to believe in any one’s having -such a real, disinterested enthusiasm for art, or science, or literature -as would permit a man like Agassiz to say: - - ‘I HAVE NO TIME TO MAKE MONEY.’ - -“Do not misunderstand me. I would throw no slurs on Western men. There -are thousands in New England as all-absorbed in money-getting as they, -only there is this saving difference: Here, these men are, in spite of -themselves, under the influence of traditions and institutions founded -by better men than they; and there, they are the creators of the -traditions and institutions which are to be and which will of a surety -be no better than they choose to make them. - -“It is the early settlers that shape the future of the country. -Massachusetts, New Jersey, South Carolina are to-day what their first -settlers made them. - -“I believe in the New England principles, and in the men who sought New -England’s shores, not to find gold, to speculate in land, to buy bonanza -farms, but to found a commonwealth such as mankind had never seen, a -commonwealth whose corner-stones should be righteousness and ideas. - -“It is these New England principles that I would engraft upon that great -empire of the West, which to-day is so plastic in our hands, whose -future we, to-day, have power to shape, but which to-morrow we shall be -powerless to mould. - -“I would teach them that all their limitless material resources cannot -make them the real power in the land that little, sterile Massachusetts, -with her east winds and rocky soils, has been, unless they first plant -the seed that shall bring forth such men of character and thought as New -England has borne. - -“Why was it that so many of the men of this century, whom the nation -most delights to honor, Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Lowell, Bryant, -Whittier, Holmes, Beecher, Curtis, Garrison, Phillips, Webster, were -sons of this New England soil? - -“I know that I am saying nothing new. All this is very trite, as trite -as the Ten Commandments. It has been said a thousand times; yet half our -people do not know it or believe it, and serenely smile at what they -call our ‘Eastern egotism.’ I confess that we have quite too much of -that. I, for one, have almost as hearty a contempt as any of them for -the men who - - ... ‘sit the idle slaves of a legendary virtue - Carved upon their fathers’ graves.’ - -“Let no one think that I am boasting of the New England of to-day. I am -simply saying that the principles which have made her a power in this -nation are the principles by which, in East and West, in North and -South, this nation must rise, or without which she must fall. And if the -nation is to be saved, - - THE WEST - -must be saved. No man needs to be told that _there_ is to be the true -seat of empire. - -“To me, this present war, waged between the forces of good and evil, for -the conquest of this land, has an all-absorbing interest. Surely, as I -have said, this generation will not pass away before the fate—that is to -say, the influences which are chiefly to control the destinies of -millions yet unborn—of this great nation will be settled.” - -As Miss Brewster uttered these words her cheeks glowed, and her whole -frame seemed to quiver with the intensity of her feeling. She rose and -restlessly paced the floor as she continued: - -“I have said all this because I want it understood why I intend to -devote a large share of my property to sowing all over the West and -South the seeds of what I count as best, in the form of - - FREE READING-ROOMS AND CIRCULATING LIBRARIES. - -“I have been for some time carefully studying into this subject, and I -have learned some facts which are rather startling when one considers -the inference which must be drawn from them. - -“Let me give you a few of these facts,” said Miss Brewster, seating -herself at her desk and drawing some papers from a pigeon-hole. - -“Taking all the libraries which contain more than one thousand volumes, -and are absolutely free to every one, I find that in Massachusetts there -are two hundred, and in other New England states—and some of the Middle -states as well—a number approximating that. But what do I find in the -West and South? I find that Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, -Montana, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Washington and Dakota -territories, and New Mexico, have - - NOT ONE FREE GENERAL LIBRARY. - -I find that Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Colorado have -but one each; and that Louisiana and Maryland have none outside of the -one largest city in each. - -“Of course what I have said does not imply that there are no libraries -in the states referred to. But it does mean that there are but few, and -that those few are either subscription libraries or else belong to -schools or institutions, and are not open to the general public. - -“How is this all to be explained? Is it sufficient to say that the West -is young and that the South is poor and sparsely settled? The West is -young, indeed, but not too young to have magnificent opera houses, -hundreds of millionaires’ palaces, and, in many of the new cities, -richer clothes for every one and more of them than the average New -Englander thinks he can afford. - -“The South is poor, very poor, and very sparsely settled compared with -the North. But the fact that in those Southern states which I have -mentioned there is not one free library open to all, such as one may -find in scores of little villages in the North, is not due entirely to -poverty. - -“Even New York State, with her superior wealth and population, and with -an aggregate number of all kinds of libraries nearly as great as that of -Massachusetts, has - - NO MORE THAN THIRTY - -which are absolutely free and general as compared with the two hundred -such in Massachusetts. And Pennsylvania, with all her wealth and -numbers, shows no more than ten such libraries. - -“The farther one travels from New England, the more surely does one find -public sentiment indifferent to these matters, and whole communities -preferring to tax themselves for the adornment of their cities, rather -than to provide every poor man with books. Books are considered a -luxury, not a necessity; to be indulged in only by those who can afford -to pay for them. - - LEARNING FOR ALL - -was the idea of the men who made the North what it is. Learning for the -few was the idea of the men who made the South what it is. And the men -of this generation are reaping the harvest of the seed which those men -sowed. - -“Now I propose, as soon as practicable, to assist in putting into -several thousand little communities in the West and South either a free -reading-room or a free circulating library, or both, thinking that it -will be the best possible use to which money can be put. - -“Perhaps it may be wondered at that I do not spend these millions in the -direction of Home Missionary work. I have several reasons for not doing -so, although I am heartily in sympathy with it. Never was there nobler, -more self-denying and more fruitful labor than that of the overworked -men and women in the Home Missionary field. But, in the first place, -there are one hundred needed where one can be found to go. The religious -denomination in which I was reared graduates but about one hundred -students from all its theological seminaries every year, scarcely -enough, one would think, to supply the vacancies in the pulpits of the -East, to say nothing of the West, and I presume the same is nearly true -of other denominations which I should be quite as ready to help as my -own. - -“The library can never take the place of the church, but I am convinced -that in many communities the provision of a comfortable, tastefully -furnished room, filled with periodicals, giving to every one access to -the best literary, political, scientific, and religious thought of our -time, will do quite as much for the morals of a town as anything that -could be devised. - -“Unlike a church, it will be open every day in the week. It will be a -counter attraction to the street and the saloon, and if there is a -circulating library as well as a reading-room, it will serve to -stimulate and open a larger life to every one who takes a book from it. -The home missionary shall not be lacking, but she shall appear under the -guise of a librarian instead of a preacher. - -“In regions where there is a large proportion of foreigners, there shall -be books and periodicals in their native tongues. Few who have not -looked into the matter realize the terrible mental strain to the mind of -the immigrant from the disruption of old associations and the necessity, -in middle life, of adapting himself to utterly new conditions, in a land -where his language is unspoken. Many succumb to this, and the statistics -of the numbers of - - OUR FOREIGN-BORN INSANE - -are startling. - -“The same is true of the insanity caused among herders’ and farmers’ -wives by their dreary, isolated lives on the treeless plains. We -commonly think of people living close to nature and absorbed in simple -daily tasks as being exceptionally healthy and placid. But a visit to -our hospitals for the insane will tell a different story. The lonely -woman, with no outlook but the prairie’s level floor, to whom a new -book, a new picture, a new idea never comes, is, as statistics show, as -much in danger of losing her mind as the man on Wall Street whose life -is a fever of excitement. - -“Now, to these tired, lonely women, to the young girls who as soon as -they are well into their teens begin to think of marrying and abandoning -all study, to the young men so eager to make money that self-culture is -counted an unnecessary luxury, to the boys who spend their evenings -listening to the vulgar talk of the teamsters at the corner grocery, to -the ministers and teachers who find that their scant salaries permit of -none of the new books and papers which are essential to their mental -life,—to all these people I should like to give the blessing of books. - -“The offer of a ‘St. Nicholas’ or ‘Youth’s Companion,’ from a pleasant -librarian, will be quite as effectual to keep a boy off the street of an -evening as an invitation from a home missionary to go to a -prayer-meeting. And to the man who may never enter the building, the -sight, as he passes to his work every day, of a beautiful little temple -devoted to the things of thought, will serve all unconsciously to make -life seem a little cleaner and sweeter and more dignified than it would -be without it. - -“Now as to the details of this. In the first place, I propose to help -only those who are willing to help themselves. That is my principle of -work in most matters. - -“This is not a new scheme of mine. I have thought of it for years, but -it was until recently only a dream of which there was no prospect of -realization. Now, however, I have taken steps, which, whether I live or -die, will scatter all over the states and territories west of the -Mississippi and south of the Ohio little centres of learning, which will -reach far more people, and, I must again repeat, do far more good than -any other way possible. - -“I have appointed two gentlemen, and they are to select three other -trustees, two of whom are to be ladies, who will act with them -conjointly in the management of the fund. I shall leave them largely to -choose their own methods of work, but I have made some stipulations in -regard to the disposal of the amount. - -“No sum whatever is to be given unconditionally. Except for special -reasons, no amount shall ever be given for the establishment of a -library or reading-room which shall be less than fifty or more than ten -thousand dollars, and the amount given must in every case be - - DUPLICATED BY THE RECIPIENTS. - -“That is to say, if a little rural community of five hundred people out -in Nebraska is able to raise one hundred dollars as a nucleus for a -reading-room, I will give an equal amount. Some room over a store, -perhaps, or in the church vestry, will be rented. It will be fitted up -with chairs, tables, and lamps, which may be contributed by individuals -independently of the fund. Then the remainder may be spent in -periodicals and a few reference books, to be selected by a committee -appointed by the town and by the agent whom I shall employ to look after -all details of the work. - -“I have already engaged a dozen persons, New England teachers chiefly, -women whom I know, whose good sense and executive ability are to be -trusted, and I have apportioned out the localities in which they are to -work. The first duty of each one will be to put herself in communication -with the state superintendent of education, and to receive his -indorsement. Then she will make the announcement in all the leading -papers of the state or territory, that she is the trustees’ accredited -representative, and is authorized to make such arrangements as may be -deemed fitting for the establishment of free reading-rooms and libraries -in every township. Getting a list of such towns as have no provision of -this kind for books and reading, she will proceed to communicate, either -by letter or by personal interviews, with the clergymen, mayors, and -leading men of the town, and, where any apathy in the matter exists, -will endeavor to arouse interest and stimulate them to raise a fund. - -“Wherever there is an interest and a desire to take immediate advantage -of my proposal by erecting a building, the agent will join with the town -in deciding on the plan of construction, and in the selection of a lot, -insisting always that it shall be ample enough to allow of the addition -of more rooms to the building as the town grows. - -“All the details of the arrangements will be submitted to the head -committee in New York, thereby insuring the consideration of many -matters essential to the success of the scheme, which might be -overlooked by the average selectman, more skilled in raising grain and -killing hogs than in the science of library construction. - -“Of course all this will require tact as well as business-like habits on -the part of the agent, but I can rely on those I have engaged for these -qualities, and I will risk their success anywhere. I shall urge them to -encourage, wherever they can, the erection of a small hall in connection -with the library building, which may serve for lectures and meetings, -and by pleasant, dignified surroundings give a tone to the character of -the proceedings held in it, which might not be obtained elsewhere. - -“I shall insist on making the buildings as fireproof and as beautiful as -the money will allow. I want to make the Library the most attractive -place in town. - -“In farming communities, where houses are few and far between, and an -hour an evening at a central reading-room would be an impossibility, I -shall suggest a circulation of periodicals after the fashion of our -Eastern book clubs. - -“One great demand which will be made on us, and which we are not yet -ready to supply, is for good librarians. I wish to call the attention of -intelligent young women to this field of work which is about to be -opened to them, provided that they are fitted for it. - -“In these new libraries, I propose to provide the librarian at my own -expense for the first two years, thereby insuring the judicious -management and consequent popularity of the scheme. - -“A librarian who has the missionary spirit can have, in a small town, -about as christianizing an influence as a home missionary. She will make -the library a pleasant place, where quietness and good manners are the -rule, and every one is made to feel at home; she will offer wise -suggestions as to the selection of books, and give occasional talks on -authors and good literature. - -“I mean to send out strong, earnest, college-bred young women, who will -take a missionary view of their work, and make it a means of great good. -I shall pay them well, and, as their terms expire, shall transfer them -from one place to another to do pioneer work, varying their salary -according to the amount of work done. - -“My reason for choosing women for the work is, that I think them to be -more faithful and conscientious than men, as a rule, and to have more -tact and knowledge of detail. Besides, there are more capable women than -men who would be benefited by the money and experience. - -“I am especially interested in the success of my scheme in the South, -where a circulating library, open to every one without distinction of -race or sex, is an almost if not quite an unheard-of thing. - -“The scarcity of reading matter among both colored and white teachers, -to say nothing of other people, is something fairly startling, and my -agents in the Southern states will probably be compelled to adopt -somewhat different measures from those used in the West. - -“A circulation of magazines and papers will be necessary in sparsely -settled districts, where people would otherwise have to walk two or -three miles to get any benefit from a reading-room. - -“Suppose, for instance, there is a little community of fifty families, -both black and white, whose cabins and clearings are scattered over an -area five miles square. There are hundreds of such places in the South -where the people are completely out of the world, and where not one -adult in five sees a weekly paper regularly or could read it if he saw -it. To these people, up on the mountain sides, in the pine forests or on -the river-bottoms, my - - BRAVE NEW ENGLAND TEACHER - -will go. She will call them together and have a meeting. She will get -them to pledge, say fifty dollars a year, and to this she will add -another fifty. Half of this, perhaps, will go for periodicals, chiefly -illustrated weeklies and magazines, and the remainder will be paid to -some of the more enterprising who can read, and who will agree to hold -neighborhood meetings weekly. The blacks will be with the blacks, and -the whites with the whites, probably, and the reading matter will be -read aloud for the benefit of all. - -“Some responsible committee will take charge of the reception, -distribution, and preservation of the papers and magazines, and at the -end of the year they will, perhaps, be sold at auction among the -contributors to the fund. - -“If the reading matter were given outright there would be some chance -against the success of the plan. People care little for what costs them -nothing. But having had to sacrifice something to bring it about they -will think it worth something.” - -“What would you do, Miss Brewster,” the writer inquired, “in towns where -reading-rooms were open to both whites and negroes? Have you any idea -that the whites would tolerate being brought into contact with blacks on -a par in a public reading-room?” - -“Probably not,” replied Miss Brewster; “for racial animosity is still -pretty strong in most sections, I imagine. But the difficulty could be - - EASILY OBVIATED - -by allowing certain days or certain hours for one race and other days or -hours for the other race, so that all could be benefited without setting -prejudices too much at defiance.” - -At this juncture, Miss Brewster’s carriage being announced, the -extremely interesting interview was terminated. - - BUGGSVILLE, MO. - - DEAR FRIEND: The trustees told me that they thought you would be glad - to receive a letter from me, telling you something about my - experiences in addition to the official report, a copy of which they - will forward. - - Buggsville, as you already know, is the first town to put up a library - building with aid from the Western and Southern Library Fund. - Therefore I naturally feel considerable pride and interest in this, - the first-fruits of my labors, so far as the erection of a building is - concerned. - - I will say, by the way, however, that I have been very successful in - starting reading-rooms in the little villages, sixty-eight little - towns already having them well equipped and beginning to produce a - marked result. - - Three months ago we started a reading-room at Onetumka, ten miles from - here. The people were a rough, ignorant set, for the most part. A good - many foreigners are there, and a number of land speculators and some - mill hands, for they have a good water-power, and are already - beginning to do a little manufacturing. - - It was really one of the most hopeless places I have ever seen. The - bad element had got the upper hand from the first. There were five - saloons, and several low dance-halls and pool-rooms. There was no - resident minister, and they had preaching only once in two weeks by an - overworked Baptist preacher with much goodwill and little tact in - managing so difficult a community. - - I always make it a point to get the ministers to help me first of all, - but here it was useless. So I appealed to the school-teacher, the - doctor, and the mill-owner. The latter took little interest, although - I assured him that anything that could entice his workmen from the - saloon would make them serve him better. - - The little school-mistress talked to her children about it, but with - no success; the doctor was indifferent, and, as I had a more promising - field elsewhere, I stayed in the town only a few days. - - But presently the county papers began to be full of the library - business, and I was asked to speak here and there in the little - schoolhouses and churches. At first I trembled at facing an audience - of one or two hundred, but I had not been a schoolma’am for nothing, - and I soon got over that, at last finding myself no more afraid of - them than of my fifty boys and girls in the old school-room at home. - - I found that this was the best way to arouse interest. I gave them a - practical talk, told them about book clubs, Chatauqua circles and - other things, and suggested ways and means of raising money. Most of - them live pretty comfortably, but money is scarce, and I find that - most of the farms are mortgaged. Generally, however, I found some - degree of enthusiasm, especially among the women, when they learned - that after the first month it could be so arranged that the magazines - might be taken from the reading-room and circulated. - - You can’t imagine how many times I have heard some tired farmer’s wife - say, often with tears in her eyes, “Miss Martyn, this’ll be a godsend - to me. I never get time to go anywhere, or to sit down and read a - book; but if I could have that ‘St. Nicholas’ or ‘Wide Awake’ for the - children, or just sit down once in a while and read an article, or - simply look at those beautiful pictures in ‘Harper’s’ and ‘The - Century,’ I feel as though I shouldn’t get so discouraged with the - work.” - - “Sometimes I feel as if I was forgetting all I ever knew, and the - children are growing up so rough and don’t know about any other kind - of life,” they will say, in a troubled way, and I feel sorry enough - for them. In many cases these women before coming west have had good - educations, and this monotonous life, in which there is so little - mental stimulus, is terribly hard for them to bear. - - Well, after a while, Onetumka heard what the other towns near by were - doing, and one or two of the mill hands wrote me that they had been - around collecting money and had secured fifty dollars, beside gaining - the free use of a suitable room. So I went there and succeeded in - raising the sum to seventy-five dollars, to which I added as much - more. Then I managed to get the selection of the periodicals myself, - and excluded the “Police Gazette” and some others that had been asked - for. As there is a large number of Germans here, I subscribed for - several German publications; also for a generous list of illustrated - papers of a harmless sort, knowing that “Puck” and “Life” would be - better appreciated than the “Fortnightly” or the “Contemporary.” Then - I saw that a committee was appointed to provide voluntary service in - looking after the room and circulating the magazines. I arranged that - the reading-room should be open and some one in attendance on Sunday - afternoon and evening, as that is the time when the men have a little - leisure and the saloons do a great business. - - In no place has there been so marked a result as in Onetumka. A record - is kept of the attendance, and it has averaged seventy-five every day. - - “The reading-room is really a means of grace,” the minister writes. I - myself am aware of that, and shall not fail to keep them stimulated - until they have a good library. - - I started a reading-room at Buggsville during my first six weeks in - the state. Here I found good ground for work. Most of the people were - ambitious, and some of the young ladies had formed a Chatauqua circle, - the only one that I have found thus far. - - There were three little feeble churches, Methodist, Presbyterian, and - Baptist, each having about half a congregation, and each unable by - itself to support a minister decently. They were willing to make - sacrifices for the library, however. I suggested that while waiting - for the new building they should make use of the vestry of the - Methodist church. This is a large and well-lighted room, and at a - slight expense for shelves could accommodate as many books as we could - buy, and also serve excellently for a reading-room. I found, however, - that this aroused a good deal of sectarian feeling and would not do. - The Presbyterians and Baptists said that if their children should get - accustomed to going there during the week they would want to go there - on Sunday, and their own Sunday-schools would dwindle. In order to - leave their vestry to be used solely as a reading-room, I suggested - that the Methodist Sunday-school should meet at the Baptist church, - holding its session at an hour when the two Sunday-schools should not - conflict. But this, I discovered, was even worse in the minds of these - would-be Christians, who were so afraid of each other, and I found - that I was sowing discord instead of harmony. - - At this juncture, fearing to lose all help from me if they did not - bestir themselves, one man gave a lot 100 × 200 feet, on condition - that a building should be put up within a year; another who owned a - quarry offered stone for the building; the town voted to give one - thousand dollars, and the young people, thus encouraged, set to work - earnestly, and by fairs and entertainments added considerably more. I - cheered them on with the inspiriting assurance that every cent they - earned meant two for the library. The enthusiasm and good spirit, when - they got fairly at work, were marvelous, and the people were drawn - together in a way to make them forget their differences in their zeal - for the common good. - - I found a good deal of strong opposition to having the building open - on Sunday. I had asked that the reading-room might be open on Sunday - afternoons when there was no church service, knowing that this would - prevent a good deal of lounging on street corners, and, moreover, - subdue much disorder among a set of restless street youth who are fast - becoming a terror to the town; but after a great deal of discussion - and hot blood over the matter, the conservatives won the day. - - Yesterday the building was dedicated, and I was requested to give one - of the eight addresses on the great occasion. The whole town turned - out, and it was a gala day. The stores were closed, and after a grand - procession, led by a German band hired from a neighboring town for the - celebration, we proceeded to the library, which is really the most - beautiful building in Buggsville. - - Every one felt a pride and personal interest in it, from the two solid - men of the town who had given the land and the stone, and were - consequently the heroes of the day, down to the small boys and girls - who had all given their coppers. I felt that every one in town was my - friend, and as I rode in state in the procession in a mud-bespattered - buggy, the boys cheered, the bells rang, and I think every one felt - that a new era had begun. The farmers’ boys and their “best girls” - came in from all the country around, and I can’t describe to you all - the droll and pathetic sights I saw. - - I gave them a little talk on “Books and how to use them,” as short and - as sensible as I could make it. At its close a white-haired old man, - whom I had never seen before, came and took me by the hand, and said - in a simple, childlike way: “Miss Martyn, I want to ask you to tell - that rich young lady who has made this thing possible for us here - to-day that the blessing of an old man rests upon her. - - “I was born down in Maine, and never had much schooling. I came to - this part of the country fifty-five years ago. My folks were killed by - the Indians. It was mighty different here fifty-five years ago, I can - tell you, Miss Martyn; there were Indians all about then, and wolves - too. We had taken up government land, and after the old folks were - killed I kept on the place as long as I could stand it, for the - Indians had by that time been driven off, and there was no more - danger. It was awful lonesome, though. There wasn’t a soul within - twelve miles to speak to. Sometimes I thought I should go insane from - lonesomeness. - - “I had only two books,—my mother’s little Testament, and another book: - perhaps you’ve heard of it: ’twas ‘Locke on the Human Understanding.’ - Well, I’d always been fond of books. Somehow I never took to farming, - and sometimes I felt as if I’d give every acre I had for a new book, - or a newspaper that would tell me what was going on in the world; - something that would give me new thoughts; I was so tired of thinking - the old ones over and over. - - “The fellows who were my nearest neighbors weren’t my kind; they - hadn’t any books, and, if you’ll believe it, I’ve ridden many a time - fifty miles to get a newspaper a week old. - - “Well, at last I couldn’t stand it any longer. I was ashamed to ask - any woman to be my wife, and to come out and live in my dreary log - cabin, even if I’d known any woman to ask, but I didn’t. Unmarried - women were scarce in those days. At last I sold all the land for a - song,—I should have been rich now if I’d only kept it,—and I moved a - little nearer folks. - - “I knew my Bible, and at last, though I hadn’t much education, I began - to go around preaching. But a home missionary without a salary has not - much money or time for books; besides, before the railroad, I couldn’t - get books any way if I’d had money, and sometimes I—perhaps you won’t - believe it, ma’am, but I’ve actually cried for books, I felt so sort - of hungry and starved. I was thirty years old before, to my knowledge, - I ever saw a book of poetry. It was Longfellow’s. Well, ma’am, that - book—I can’t tell you”—and the old man’s blue eyes filled with tears - and his voice choked. - - His simple, genuine feeling was so sweet and so unexpected that it - fairly thrilled me. I think I never realized in my life before what - mental starvation must be to a sensitive spirit. When I took him by - the hand and led him around to see all the books nicely covered and - numbered on the shelves, he could only smile through his tears, and - touching them almost reverently, say, “Thank the Lord! I never - expected to live to see so many books. Thank the Lord!” - - I inquired afterwards who he was, but no one knew; they said he was a - stranger who had come there simply for the day. I am sorry to have - lost sight of him; he was a rare soul, I am sure. - - I did the best I could with the money that you sent as a special gift - for the first library. I sent to Houghton, Mifflin & Co., and bought - their large lithographs of the American poets, and had them nicely - framed in narrow oak frames, and hung around the reading-room, with a - little biographical sketch pinned up underneath each one. The rest of - the money I spent for a number of unmounted photographs from Soule’s, - which I taught the young people here to mount and arrange in home-made - frames. No doubt, most of them would have been much better pleased - with some cheap chromos, but I thought of what would please them best - ten years from now, and planned for that. - - They have already projected, at my suggestion, a course of reading in - the history of art; and whereas a year ago it would have been - impossible to get most of the young people to undertake anything - really serious, they now evidently consider it quite the thing. All - this greatly encourages me, especially as I see hopeful signs of the - good fashion spreading. - - This is a long letter, but I know your warm interest in all the - details of this work, so I make no apology, and congratulate myself - that you will consider it a signal success to have one building all - equipped and in running order in eight months from the time when you - indorsed the scheme. - - Ever yours faithfully, - HANNAH MARTYN. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - “Shall not that Western Goth of whom we spoke, - So fiercely practical, so keen of eye, - Find out some day, that nothing pays but God?” - (_Cathedral._) LOWELL. - - (Extract from the “Chicago Inter-Ocean.”) - - - GOOD CITIZENSHIP! HOW A BOSTON BEAUTY PROPOSES TO BRING IT ABOUT! - ANTIDOTE FOR ANARCHISM! - -In the arrival in our city last week of the rich Miss Brewster of -Boston, society has naturally felt a warm interest. First, because she -is young and charming; secondly, because she is reputed fabulously -wealthy; and thirdly, because she adds to these attractions a decided -mind of her own, which has fortunately turned itself in the direction of -alleviating some of the woes of human-kind. - -But the pertinacious reticence maintained by herself and the ladies and -gentlemen who are her traveling companions, and are understood to be _en -route_ for Alaska, has given our reporter more than one fruitless trip -to the Grand Pacific Hotel. It is currently rumored that more than one - - EUROPEAN CORONET - -has been laid at the feet of the bonny belle from Beacon Hill, but, like -the sensible little Puritan maiden that she is, she prefers to keep the -reins in her own hands a little longer, and her millions will not at -present pass to any of the bloated aristocracy of an effete despotism of -the Old World. - -It was ascertained yesterday from the waiters that the great parlors of -the hotel had been engaged by Miss Brewster for a large reception to -some of our most eminent citizens, chiefly in the clerical walks of -life. So a reporter in a ministerial rig presented himself, was -admitted, and taking refuge in a camp-chair at the rear of perhaps two -hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen, had a fair opportunity to report -proceedings. - -He soon discovered that the reception was nothing more than a business -meeting convened for the purpose of listening to some address or -discussion, the guests being seated facing a slightly raised platform. - -The assemblage seemed to be chiefly composed of gentlemen, and every -profession and sect was represented by some of its most eminent members. - -At precisely eight o’clock Miss Brewster, conducted by Rev. Dr. T——, -entered at a side door. They proceeded to the platform and took seats in -two velvet armchairs which were placed in readiness. - -Miss Brewster was simply dressed in white, with a corsage bouquet of -yellow roses and a yellow rose in her dark hair. - -As Dr. T—— rose to speak, the chatter ceased, and he said: - - “_Ladies and Gentlemen_: - - “Each one of you present has received a note of invitation requesting - your presence here this evening for the consideration of a plan which - shall be of benefit to our city. This plan, as it will be unfolded to - you - - BY ITS ORIGINATOR, - - will, I think, command your heartiest sympathy and coöperation. I - consider it a peculiar privilege to present to you this evening one - whose noble father was my valued friend, and who in her earliest years - was well known to me; and now that she returns to what was for a few - months the home of her childhood, it is with great pleasure that at - her request I have summoned here to-night so many representatives of - the thought and the moral force of this great city to listen to what - she has to propose, and in return to give her the benefit of their - united wisdom. - - “I have the honor to present to you Miss Mildred Brewster of Boston.” - -Every eye was fixed in admiration on the slender, girlish form that had -something queenly in its bearing, and there was a rustle of expectancy -as Dr. T—— ceased and Miss Brewster rose to speak. - -There was a slight tremor in her voice as with deepening color and -drooping eyes she uttered her first words. - -“Good friends,” she said, “I have asked you here to-night for a specific -purpose. - -“In the providence of God there has been placed in my hands within the -last few months the means to do much that for years I have felt ought to -be done, but have been powerless to do. And fearing lest my stewardship -be short, and I be called to give account and return with empty hands -and no fruit garnered, I have dared not delay, no, not for a day, except -to more seriously and wisely prepare for my task.” - -Miss Brewster gained courage as she proceeded, and in a clear, unshaken -voice continued: - -“In all lands on which the sun ever shone, probably there was never a -time when money wisely expended could set in play so many and such -powerful forces for good as it can do now and here. For here, in this -western land of unlimited possibilities, is the young giant born whose -savage strength may prove our nation’s weakness if we leave his infant -years to the guidance of his own wayward will. - -“Here, then, is the sorest present need in our land to-day, for here in -our hands lies the power to mould the influences which shall shape the -destiny of millions yet unborn. One hundred dollars now may prevent the -evil which, a century hence, one hundred thousand dollars could not -undo. - -“As I have driven about your magnificent boulevards and marked your -towers and palaces, I have been impressed even more than I expected to -be, and my expectations were great, with your wealth, and its solid, -satisfactory embodiment in enduring architecture and fine parks and -streets. But not only has your material advancement amazed me. I have -been most profoundly impressed with the seriousness of mind and the -depth of patriotic feeling that was shown in your notable celebration of -the centennial of the beginning of our constitutional government. - -“Historic old Boston, that of all other cities should have appreciated -the significance of the occasion, gave hardly a thought to the day. New -York gave herself to ostentatious pageantry and a glorification of -Washington alone; but in this new city of the West, unlinked by historic -ties with the past, have I found in press and people a deeper sentiment -and - - A MORE THOUGHTFUL READING - -of the lessons of the century. - -“I have been studying this wonderful city of yours that buys more of -Browning’s poems than any other city in the world, and is fast drawing -to itself not only the wealth and fashion of the land, but that culture -of which our older cities have fancied themselves the almost exclusive -possessors. - -“I have been looking at your schools, your churches, your -philanthropies, and, above all, at your poor, and that class from which -your - - ANARCHISTS AND CRIMINALS - -are recruited. - -“I have found, as I need not say, much to admire and much to deplore. -And it is to consider those tendencies which I deplore that I ask your -attention this evening. - -“Of all the dangers that threaten us as a nation, I find but two -unrepresented in this city, namely, Mormonism, and the amalgamation of -the white and other races. But against intemperance, licentiousness, -political corruption, and all the evils incident to a vast foreign -population, this city, with its numbers increasing by gigantic strides, -presents a field for work scarcely exampled on the continent. Not that -Chicago is a sinner above all other cities. In some respects, notably -its comparative freedom from the close crowding in tenement houses which -exists in New York, it is fortunate. - -“But, so far as I can learn, not another great city on the continent -contains so large a proportion of people of - - FOREIGN PARENTAGE. - -In driving through your beautiful avenues one can scarcely credit the -statement that only nine per cent. of your people are of strictly native -parentage; but in going through that section on the North side where -your Poles and Bohemians live—in seeing the Irish, Swedes, Germans, and -more recently the Italians, who are flocking to your city, one is made -to realize this in a measure. It is to this point that I chiefly wish to -call your attention. - -“This city is growing prodigiously; it is destined to grow. More and -more, as means of communication and transportation are increased, as you -well know, are the people of this age flocking to the cities. One -hundred years ago one in thirty lived in a city; now one in four is the -number which the census gives us. Especially is it true that foreigners -prefer city life. In far greater numbers proportionately to the native -population do they congregate in the centre of wealth, influence, and -political power, and often for the purpose of obtaining that political -power which through the negligence and indifference of our better class -of men is readily yielded to their demands. - -“Now that the municipal government in our great cities is largely in the -hands of the foreign-born, for which we have only ourselves to thank, we -are beginning to awaken to the fact, and the indignant cry ‘America for -Americans’ is heard. With this I cannot wholly sympathize. We have -opened our doors to the world, we have invited to our highest municipal -offices whoever could buy them, we have been eager to get rich, we have -had no time or interest in anything beyond satisfying our imperious -appetite for wealth and luxury and social position. - -“We have put behind us simplicity and calmness, the plain living and -high thinking which engendered all that we count best in our history, -and now we cry with ever-increasing wail, ‘Let us eat our cake and have -it.’ ‘Let us spend our whole life in selfish indifference to the public -weal; let us turn over our most sacred trusts into the hands of -ignorance and incompetence, and then let us reap what we have not sowed -and garner where we have not planted.’ - -“No, not America for the Americans, if it be such Americans! Rather let -those who have been willing slaves - - FEEL THE WHIP AND THE SHACKLES - -until they learn that justice and peace and righteousness within our -borders are not to be, except as the fruit of their love, their labor, -and their eternal vigilance. [Applause.] - -“No, not America for Americans, but America for American ideas and -institutions! And welcome be he, whether of our own land or any other, -who, seeing what God has destined this fair land to be as leader of the -nations, seeing it as its early Founders saw it, shall give heart and -brain and hand to purifying and redeeming it, lest indeed it be the land -of ‘Broken Promise.’ - -“I have nothing to say against foreigners as foreigners, but I look into -our criminal reports and find by a careful search that the proportion of -criminals to the foreign population is just about twice that to the -native. I learn that among our foreigners we find about two thirds of -our brewers, distillers, and liquor-sellers, and among these varied -nationalities, who have sustained the breaking up of old ties and -transplanting to utterly new conditions, a far greater tendency to -insanity than among the native stock. I see that the causes which tend -to immigration will in all probability continue, and the influx into our -great cities, especially your own favorably situated one, advance -indefinitely. Therefore, it has seemed to me that of all places in this -land Chicago was the best one in which to begin a concerted action for -the Americanization of its foreigners and for promoting the - - GOOD CITIZENSHIP - -of all its citizens whether native or foreign. It seems to me we must do -this in self-preservation. - -“In Boston, as you know, where we have had to learn some sad lessons -from our careless indifference in regard to municipal matters, we have -begun to arouse ourselves and have established a Society for Promoting -Good Citizenship whose object is to further in all thinking people, -mothers, voters, teachers, and students, a higher ideal of citizenship -and an active, unpartisan effort for its realization. - -“This work is done in various ways: by free lectures given by prominent -citizens, by suggestions for study in schools and colleges, and by the -encouragement of a deeper interest in the community in the study of -history, civil government, and political economy. The society is yet in -its infancy, and has thus far produced little perceptible effect; but, -in addition to the well-known Old South work in history, it shows a step -in the right direction. - -“Long before it was started it had been - - MY DREAM - -to see something of a similar tendency established in every large city -in our land, and it is because I wish to suggest to you certain measures -which have in view the attainment of good citizenship in your midst that -I am here to-night. - -“A Chicago gentleman recently said to me, ‘The fact is, we get careless -here. We are so busy about our own private affairs that we let our -voting go by for a year or two, till finally about once in seven years -things get so bad we can’t stand it, and then we all get mad and roll up -our sleeves and go in and have a general clearing out. After that, -things work well for a year or two, and then are as bad as ever.’ - -“I understand that at present you have a fairly good city government, -that your leading officials for the most part are not corrupt. But even -if this were sure of lasting, of what a thing to boast! - -“In the minds of too many I find the idea seems to prevail that so long -as taxation is not raised, and there is a police force competent to -quell turbulent strikers, and no infamous scandal at the City Hall, so -long there is nothing else to be done in the line of good citizenship -than to cast one’s vote, pay one’s taxes, and keep one’s sidewalk clean. - -“Now I hold that such a conception of the duties of citizenship is -unworthy a Christian and a patriot, and it is as Christians and patriots -that I am addressing you. - -“I am not here to remind you of the unequaled folly and expense of bad -government, and to point out to you the material benefits accruing to a -city where there is a pure and economical city government and an -incorruptible court. - -“I am not here to speak to you on the ground of mere utility and -expediency, though with a different audience such arguments might hold -the first place. But I speak to you as scholars, as men and women of -insight who need not to be reminded that the state, as one of the three -great human institutions by which civilized man has differentiated -himself from the savage, has higher functions than those which appeal -most forcibly to the ordinary man and woman of to-day. - -“We live in a - - MATERIALISTIC ATMOSPHERE, - -where the things of the senses allure far more than the things of -thought, where a man of ideals is laughed at by the majority as an -unpractical theorist, and shrewdness is esteemed the highest virtue. - -“I have been looking over your school reports and have been noting the -disproportionate number of girls who are graduated. - -“Your boys and young men are impatient for business. Even those in -well-to-do families leave school very early. I find that _ninety-two per -cent. of your children leave school before they ever study any text-book -of history_, and that seventy-five per cent. leave before they reach the -grade where a little historic information is given through the aid of -biographical sketches and stories. - -“Think of it! Seventy-five per cent., the majority of them our future -voters, who have never so much as heard of the Pilgrim Fathers or the -war of the Revolution, and who have far too feeble an educational -equipment to lead to much further study! - -“But even of those who have some smattering of history we find thousands -appearing at the polls every year, having heard a little of the cant and -the bluster of partisan politics, and having nothing more to fit them -for their duties as citizens in a land whose national and state and city -governments they have never studied. - -“Moreover, they have the wildest notions in regard to those great -questions of labor, wages, and reform which are agitating our country. -Such are the men who hold the ignoble conviction that every man is -selfish at heart, that to the victors belong the spoils, and that desire -for office is inevitably ambition for personal gain. - -“You have learned in the past somewhat of the cost to this city and -state of the presence of anarchists within your midst. But what are you -doing to make good citizens of the thousands of men, women, and children -who are said to be enrolled in anarchist Sunday-schools here in this -city? - -“What is being done to prevent the children of the mob that tears up -your horse-car tracks when you have a strike from following ten years -hence their fathers’ example? - -“But I am not speaking merely of rumsellers or anarchists, or of -ignorant foreigners or men who sell their votes. I am speaking of the -banker’s sons as well as the blacksmith’s. - -“There is among many of the hard-headed young business men of our time -whom I have met a - - TERRIBLE SKEPTICISM. - -They are skeptical of humanity, of virtue. There is a belief that every -man has his price, that politics is a machine, to be run for the benefit -of those who have it in charge. There is, even among honorable men, a -tendency to joke at public scandals, to sneer at Sunday-school politics -and womanish ideals. - -“Now, to me, this hard and cold skepticism betokens a rottenness and a -corruption in the body politic scarcely less terrible to contemplate -than the open, high-handed peculation which occasionally startles the -community and forms a nine days’ wonder. - -“For, as I need not say, a sick man is as sure to die from -blood-poisoning as from an open cancer. The latter may shock us more, -but the former is just as deadly. And the danger to this great city -to-day is not so much from the dynamite of the anarchist as from the -indifference and inactivity of the men and women who have your brains, -your wealth, your culture, and many of them your nominal Christianity. - -“Pardon me if I seem to be addressing you, my elders and betters, as if -I were presuming to tell you anything new or anything which you could -not state quite as forcibly as I may do. - -“It is not that I have anything new to say that I venture to speak thus, -but that I may clearly state my own position and grounds for action in -the matter which I shall soon present to you. - -“You have observed that I have used the more comprehensive term -‘citizen’ instead of ‘voter,’ and it is for this reason that I have used -it. The duties of the citizen apply to every one who is a recipient of -the benefits of the state, and this includes that half of the community -whom their own indifference and the - - PREJUDICES AND TRADITIONS - -of the majority of voters still exclude from their rightful share in -this matter of public housekeeping which we call municipal government. - -“It is the duty of the male citizen to vote, and not only to vote, but -to attend the caucuses which alone insure the possibility of having a -worthy candidate. It is also his duty to pay his taxes and keep his -sidewalk clean, but his duty does not end here. It is his imperative -duty as an honorable citizen to see that this subtle poison, which, bred -from germs of selfishness and ignorance, is creeping through the veins -of our people, shall be arrested ere a complete social upheaval teach us -the painful lesson that vigilance alone is the price of liberty. - -“It seems to me that the duty of the citizen is coextensive with life -and opportunity. It is not a duty which the man or woman of conscience -can lay aside between election days. The good citizen must be always a -refuter of error, an initiator of reform, in short, a person whose -conscience gives him no rest until what ought to be has been substituted -for what is. - -“The good citizen must, above all, have such a lofty conception of the -state and of statesmanship as shall lift it forever above the moral -plane where it has been allowed to rest by the average conscience dulled -to all the finer moral perceptions by the force of custom and -conventionality. - -“There are such citizens. I see many of them before me as I speak, but -that there shall be a thousand where there is now but one, am I here -to-night to speak to you. - -“And now, after this lengthy prelude, permit me to ask your attention to -the scheme which I suggest for helping to bring about in this city a -higher standard of good citizenship. Pardon a bit of personal -experience. - -“Scarcely a day goes by in which I am not importuned by various worthy -beggars to give thousands and even millions to endow this and that -college, hospital, and asylum. - -“The last project which was proposed to me was to put a million dollars -into a college to be devoted to fitting poor boys for the ministry free -of expense. And my importunate beggar was greatly offended when I said -that I should consider this one of the best means for promoting -hypocrisy and dependence, and that I thought a few scholarships wisely -distributed in colleges of repute would help the ministry more than a -million dollars expended chiefly on brick and mortar. - -“‘But what are you going to do with your money? Don’t you think you -ought to give it to the - - LORD’S POOR?’ - -I was asked with that delightful assumption of authority which certain -people who have the assurance of infallibly knowing the mind of the Lord -always adopt. - -“‘Certainly,’ I answered; ‘but the Lord has commissioned me to spend -what is intrusted to me where it will effect the best results, and I -prefer to put the next money that I spend into brains rather than into -bricks.’ - -“Now I propose to devote one hundred and fifty thousand dollars during -the next ten years to stimulating thought in this city in the direction -of Good Citizenship. [Applause.] - -“I shall ask a committee of twenty-five ladies and gentlemen, which you -shall choose from the number present, to select for me a man of ripe -experience, of scholarship, and disinterested devotion to the cause of -which I have spoken—a man of good presence and address, who can combine -the functions of business manager and orator, to whom I shall pay five -out of the fifteen thousand dollars which I propose to devote yearly for -the promotion of good citizenship in your city. - -“By the advice and consent of this same committee, which shall -constitute itself a board of directors, he shall spend the remaining ten -thousand for the best interests of the work in hand. - -“I put no restrictions on this expenditure and lay down no rules of -conduct beyond making the work of the organization absolutely unpartisan -and unsectarian. The superintendent elected by the directors shall be -free to use such methods as shall seem fit to him, being however held -responsible to the directors and removable at their option. - -“Although I leave everything to the judgment of the directors, I wish to -make a few suggestions which they are quite free to accept or reject. - -“First I suggest that for this work the city be divided into various -districts, and that each church constitute itself a centre for effective -work in some district, so that workers may be somewhat equally -distributed, and no part of the city neglected. These districts need not -be based necessarily upon the numbers of their inhabitants, but upon -their needs. - -“I would urge every minister either in or out of the pulpit, as he may -prefer, to make clear to his congregation the purpose of this -organization which is to be formed, and himself lead his people into -hearty coöperation with it. - -“I know that there are some well-meaning, religious people who might -object to this, dreading the preaching of politics from the pulpit and -the diversion of the attention of the young from strictly religious -work. They prefer to have everything pertaining to secular education -debarred from the church-building. - -“To me such people seem - - SADLY IRRELIGIOUS. - -I wonder that they can read their Bibles and fail to learn from the -examples of the Hebrew prophets what God would have man say concerning -the government and wise ordering of a backsliding people. Those brave -men of old were not afraid of preaching politics; and how can one, the -follower of him who taught us to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be -done on earth as it is in heaven,’ dare to make this but mere -lip-service? Surely they will be the first to give the influence of -their Christian manhood to bring that kingdom here and now in this city -of Chicago. The clergyman who fails to teach his people that God as -truly leads this nation now as in the days of old is recreant to his -trust, is unworthy of his calling, as it seems to me. - -“I would have our church vestries, which are closed and vacant a great -part of the week, thrown open at least one evening in a week for -discussions, lectures, debates, or small classes grouped together for -the study of subjects that will promote good citizenship. - -“I suggest that all classes of people, whether church-goers or not, who -are willing to join in this work, be divided into four sections. - -“First and largest of all would be the section containing those who know -little of American history, civil government, and political economy. -These would form themselves into bands for studying a well-selected -course of reading, beginning with elementary work, and proceeding from -such books as Mr. Dole’s ‘The Citizen and the Neighbor,’ to profound -works like Mulford’s ‘The Nation,’ or perhaps Hegel’s ‘Philosophy of -History.’ - -“I see no reason why with a proper system and the natural interest which -I think the subject will awaken there should not eventually result as -widespread and beneficent a work as that which the Chatauqua classes -have done. - -“There should be a secretary for each little centre of study to whom -reports of work should be made, and certificates or diplomas should be -bestowed by the directors on those who have successfully passed through -different courses. - -“I also suggest public debates and dissertations by members of both -sexes. It is not so difficult a matter as you may think to interest -young people in such work. I know of a teacher in Somerville, -Massachusetts, who for years has been the means of carrying on a -historical club of about seventy-five boys and girls under fifteen years -of age. These children meet regularly, conducting their meetings -themselves according to Cushing’s ‘Manual of Parliamentary Rules,’ and -girls as well as boys take part in a modest, fearless way. They get not -only much historical information on the subjects they discuss, but also -a very valuable discipline which renders them self-possessed in manner, -and discriminating in their thought, and is the best of training for -many duties of good citizenship. - -“All these results take time and patience and tact in the planners of -the classes, lest rivalry and jealousy and short-sightedness defeat the -end in view. But when a - - SCHEME IS ONCE THOUGHT OUT - -in its main features it is comparatively easy to follow, especially when -it is as flexible as the one I present to you, and when the leaders are -disinterested men and women. - -“The second of the four classes which I have suggested would contain a -much smaller number of persons, and would be those who have the time and -ability to teach. This would bring forth much latent talent for home -missionary work which does not find vent in our mission Sunday-schools. - -“The work should be especially prosecuted among the foreign population. - -“Let a course of say twenty-five weekly lectures be arranged to be -illustrated by the stereopticon, and treating in a simple way of the -growth of our nation from its beginning until the present time. I would -not have very much attention paid to the campaigns of the wars. It -matters little to the Bohemian who cannot read English or to the -Irishman who cannot write his name whether Braddock or King Philip -fought in the war of 1812 or not. - -“But it does matter that he should understand something of the early -life of the colonists, something of the dangers from which they fled, -the causes of the Revolution, the growth of slavery, the meaning of our -republican institutions, our great industrial development, and the -significance of such names as Franklin, Washington, Lincoln, Grant. - -“A cornet leading a chorus of school-children, who should sing national -airs, would add zest to such a lecture, the price of which should be -merely nominal. I think you will generally find it better to have a -price. - -“In such matters people usually undervalue and are a little suspicious -of what is given them freely. If a ticket costs ten cents, or if it is -given as a reward of merit to the children at school, it will be vastly -more appreciated. - -“These lectures would be given in English wherever possible, but in the -foreign districts of the city the same set could be given in -translations, the speaker being an intelligent man of the nationality of -the audience. - -“I think you will find it better among foreigners to give these lectures -in a hall rather than in a church, so as not to awaken religious -prejudices. With different speakers the same lectures and pictures can -be used in different parts of the city every evening in the week, thus -having six or seven - - SIMULTANEOUS COURSES - -of the same lectures. - -“After the completion of the first course much experience will have been -gained in the details of management, and other courses can be formed -illustrating the material resources, physical geography of our country, -and the biography and literature of our great men. - -“With a little music, plenty of pictures, and a speaker with a hearty, -ringing voice, I think there can be no question of winning attention -among these foreigners. After that, classes and clubs for reading and -discussion would easily follow. - -“I have spoken of two sections, the students and the teachers; the third -might comprise those who could give neither work nor study, but who -would give money. This money might go to any one of a dozen fields of -work which the organization would help support. - -“Each donor could specify the purpose for which he gives his money, -whether it be temperance-reform work, free kindergartens, industrial -schools, payment for detection and prosecution of law-breakers, or -general running expenses. You can readily see that although there may be -much voluntary, unpaid service, there will be great need of more money -than I have promised to contribute. - -“The fourth class would be one of the most important, comprising chiefly -the solid business men and practical, public-spirited women, such as I -have found here in your remarkably live Woman’s Club and other -organizations. These men and women would attend to such practical work -as is done by our Law and Order Leagues in the different states, -supplementing the often inefficient police service, and persistently -insisting that the existing laws _shall be enforced_. - -“This branch of the work alone would require more than one paid agent. -Another line of work for this fourth class of good citizens would be an -organized and ever-increasing vigilance in regard to the work of the -city’s servants, and the creation of a strong public sentiment which -shall demand a purer, cleaner press and a suppression of the vile -literature which is poisoning the imagination of thousands of our youth. - -“This class of workers would be the active agents of all reforms, and -unwavering in their efforts to make the primary meetings places where -the moral force and the intelligence of the city shall be most -powerfully felt. - -“Let me illustrate what I mean in speaking of the kinds of work which -this fourth class of workers can do to promote good citizenship. The -successful courses of lectures on history to young people under the -auspices of the - - COMMERCIAL CLUB - -which have been carried on here is just the kind of work which needs to -be done. The prizes for essays on historical subjects offered to the -school-children by the ‘Daily News’ is another good thing. The courses -of lectures by workmen and capitalists under the auspices of the Ethical -Culture Society is just the kind of work which I should like to see -multiplied a hundredfold. - -“All existing organizations for promoting the welfare of the community -can unite in this large organization without abandoning their own -methods and field of work. - -“Perhaps this scheme as I have outlined it may seem to you somewhat -utopian; but you will remember that what I have said is simply -suggestion. The methods I leave entirely to your own excellent judgment. -But whatever these may be, they will be watched with keen interest by -other cities to whom I shall make the same proposition that I have made -to you, provided that the results of your efforts shall justify my -action in this matter. - -“The little plan which I propose is - - ABSOLUTELY FLEXIBLE. - -One person or one circle may work in one way and one in another, each -according to his own tastes and opportunities. While any one of leisure -may belong to all four sections, no one need feel excluded from joining -in the general good work in some way, if he have but a dollar a year to -contribute, or but an hour a week for study or work. - -“May I not hope that the life and youth and moral power of Chicago will -join hand in hand in making this vast city great, not only in dimensions -and numbers and wealth, but great in that kind of greatness which alone -shall exalt a nation and give it memory. For - - ‘The envious Powers of ill nor wink nor sleep:— - Be therefore timely wise, - Nor laugh when this one steals and that one lies, - As if your luck could cheat those sleepless spies, - Till the deaf Fury comes your house to sweep.’” - -As Miss Brewster stood a moment with silently bowed head and then sank -into her chair there was a hush. Every one had been thrilled by the -clear, quiet, intense tones of her voice, and there was an instinctive -refrain from applause which marked the deep feeling which her words had -created. - -Dr. T—— rose to speak, but at this juncture the writer, whose office had -been discovered, was politely requested by an usher to withdraw. It was -subsequently learned, however, that a committee consisting of seven -ladies and eighteen gentlemen was elected from those present, and they -are to meet next week for selection of a superintendent, and to -establish their organization. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - -After leaving Chicago in June, we passed a wonderful fortnight among the -glories of the Yellowstone Park. Here Mildred seemed to throw off all -care, and to breathe freely for the first time in six months. - -After leaving the Park, some of our party were called back to the East, -but aunt, cousin Will, and Alice still accompanied us. - -On touching the Northern Pacific Railroad again our car was attached to -a train filled for the most part with immigrants. - -At the stations where stops were made we always alighted to take a -little exercise in walking up and down the platform, and to chat with -the Indians and half-breeds, who greatly interested Mildred. - -I must admit that for my part I found the wrinkled old crones and dirty -braves rather disgusting, though occasionally a few who still retained -their primitive adornments of vermilion paint and eagle’s feathers -furnished a bit of picturesqueness that was interesting. - -At one stopping-place, there being no Indians visible, we turned our -attention to the crowd of European peasants who poured out of the -immigrant cars, and strolling about among them we amused ourselves by -studying the stolid, square faces, and giving candy to the sturdy, -little flaxen-haired children who gazed in round-eyed wonder at us. - -Presently I saw that Mildred, who had slipped away from me, was holding -a hurried and earnest conversation with a sad-eyed little woman who with -quivering lips was telling the story of how her _Mann_ had died on the -voyage and been buried at sea, and how she was left to make the rest of -the long journey alone with her three helpless little ones. - -“It goes to my heart,” said Mildred as we returned to our car, “to think -of that woman and those poor, fatherless little things in this strange -land. Not one of the people with her is her friend and neighbor, and I -don’t know what is to become of her.” - -“How perfectly dreadful!” exclaimed Alice calmly as she scanned her -cards. - -“Gad, that’s tough!” ejaculated Will, and then we proceeded with our -whist, which had been interrupted by this little episode. - -I watched Mildred. I knew that this would not be the end of it with her, -though the others soon forgot about it. She played carelessly and was -beaten. She was thinking not of the game, but of the tired, -broken-hearted wife in the next car who had so courageously said good-by -to the Fatherland a month before with her brave Fritz, and must now end -the long, wearisome journey alone, poor and friendless. - -Presently she rose and left the car. - -“Let me go with you,” called Will, and followed her, while I lay down on -the sofa for a nap and knew nothing more until an hour later. Then I -waked to find Mildred kneeling by my side and smilingly patting my -cheeks. - -“What do you say to having an adventure, Ruby?” she asked. “I have a -capital scheme; just listen to it. Will and I have been to see that poor -little woman, and it is pathetic to see how she clings to us and looks -to us for assistance. She will be utterly helpless when she gets to the -end of her journey. Her passage is prepaid through, but that is all. She -has only three dollars left, and the agent who has all these people in -charge is a hard-faced man who cannot be trusted to concern himself in -the least about her. - -“She opened her whole heart to me while Will amused the children, and I -have learned all her simple little story. I hadn’t the heart to leave -her until I had promised to see her through to her journey’s end.” - -“But you forget, Mildred,” I cried astonished, and sitting up quickly; -“these people are all going to switch off at the Junction and go -twenty-five miles on another road. The conductor told us so, you know, -and we can’t follow them, for it would make us a day late in reaching -Tacoma, and auntie really must have her ulcerated tooth attended to.” -She had in fact hardly held her head up that day and was suffering -terribly. - -“Certainly,” said Mildred; “I have thought of all that, and it is all -arranged. Alice and Will are to go on with her in this car and take the -best of care of her, and if you will join Hélène [the maid] and me, we -will go with the immigrants and see little Frau Kopp well started in the -new home before we leave her. I consider it quite a fortunate -circumstance on the whole. I have wanted an excuse to mingle with the -people more and learn something further of frontier life than can be -seen from the windows of a parlor-car.” - -Will remonstrated vigorously, however. “See here, Mildred,” he said -seriously, “it will never do in the world for you to start off this way -at night into an unknown region, and ride in these wretched cars. Very -likely you will have to sleep on a straw bed in some vile little tavern -no one knows where. You can give this woman some money, and”— - -“I haven’t time to argue,” interposed Mildred, packing her bag. “I have -made up my mind to go. Don’t think me stubborn, but money can’t do for -that disconsolate, frightened little woman what I can do. She has not a -single friend; her baby is ill; some Yankee sharper would swindle her -out of her money; and, besides, I want to go. I want to know from -experience a little about the life of these people.” - -“Then if I can’t dissuade you I must go with you. Mother can”— - -“No, she can’t; and I can’t let you leave her, cousin Will,” replied -Mildred with quiet determination. “Nothing can possibly happen to us. We -are in a civilized land, and robbers are not wont to attack an immigrant -train. We shall not be hurt by ‘roughing it’ for twenty-four hours, and -if anything happens to delay us longer we will telegraph you.” - -“Let me go _instead_ of you,” insisted Will, still frowning upon the -project; “there is no need of you three interrupting your journey when I -can manage the affair perfectly well.” - -“But you don’t speak German and I do,” replied Mildred, decisively. - -There was nothing more to be said, and we bade them good-by, with no -misgiving on our part, and stepped into the uncomfortable, stuffy -immigrant cars. Mildred seated herself beside little Frau Kopp and held -in her lap chubby two-year-old Hans, dressed like a little old man in -the clumsy, German peasant fashion. Hélène and I meanwhile took turns in -occupying the only vacant seat in the car. The motley crowd of Swedes, -Norwegians, Danes, Germans, and Bohemians, who for five or six days and -nights had been traveling together in heat and discomfort, sat nodding -sleepily and apparently unexcited at the near approach of their long -journey’s end. - -All the afternoon it had looked lowering in the west, and as the dim -kerosene lamps were lighted one by one, we heard the dash of rain upon -the roof of the car, and by the flashes of lightning could discern with -our faces pressed close to the panes that we were just entering upon the -track of a storm. Trees were uprooted and lay in confusion beside the -track. But we could see little, and I gave scarcely a thought to it as I -sat on the hard, uncushioned seat, with my lap full of bags and wraps, -and watched Mildred a few seats in front of me as she talked cheerily to -the tired little children. Our destination was to be the little mining -town of Blivens, and we were to reach it at half-past eight. - -On we went whizzing through the darkness, the train rocking from side to -side, and the red-kerchiefed, brown faces of the women lighting up -picturesquely the dark mysterious shadows. We were about to reach our -destination, and I had just risen to rest my stiffened limbs, when -suddenly I was thrown headlong down the aisle, and a hideous grating, -jarring noise drowned every other sound. Then a sense of falling, -rolling, pitching, of absolute darkness, and of frightful pain. - -I lay I know not how long. One foot and hand were pinioned under -something hard and immovable, the other foot doubled under me, and my -head twisted awry and also immovable. I was lying between two bodies, -one above and one under me. Something warm was dripping down over my -face, and shrieks and dying groans rent the air. - -I was too stunned at first to think what it meant. I was conscious only -of pain, horrible pain, such as I had never dreamed of before. I could -not cry out, I could not move. Oh, would help never come? - -What was this horrible thing that had happened? A moment ago—no, was it -not an hour ago?—we were alive and well; and now? Oh, why had God let -this horrible thing happen? And Mildred—where was she? Perhaps she was -dead; and I should be dead too very soon, and nothing would matter much. - -I remember thinking then, strangely enough, “I am glad she has made her -will.” - -Suddenly a dull glow, a gleam of light, then a hoarse yell of despair -from a score of voices, “Da ist Feuer!” “_The train is on fire!_” - -My heart stopped beating. Were the horrors of a holocaust to be added to -this agony? - -Oh, the long, fearful minutes! A horrid glare lit up the blackness of -the night, and nearer, nearer crept the crackling flames! - -O Christ! will no one come to rescue us, will not the clouds in mercy -pour down their treasures to stop this demon flame! - -But no! The rain had ceased, and on, on, steadily on came the frightful -scorching flames. - -It was now as light as day. In the red glare I could see black figures -moving swiftly, men running wildly about and desperately pulling and -tearing at the splintered sides of the car. - -But oh, how feeble all their efforts! How utterly futile seemed all -human strength to cope with these frightful forces that held us -relentlessly in their grasp! - -“Well, it will soon be over, soon be over,” I groaned to myself. “The -torture shall not be long if with my free hand I can get a quicker -death,” I resolved in the desperation of my agony. - -It seemed hours to us wretches lying there ’twixt hell and heaven, but I -suppose it was only minutes. Then there was a cracking, a breaking. An -iron crowbar in the hands of a man had broken through the débris and was -lifting the frightful weight from my arm. - -I could see his face distinctly, as with the giant strength of a madman, -but with the clear eye of one who was a born general, he marshaled his -panic-stricken followers and bade them aid him. - -“Here, Jim,” he shouted hoarsely, his voice rising above the roar of the -flames, “hold on there! Now you and Tom and the rest, _pull!—pull as you -never pulled before_!” - -But it was all in vain; as well try to lift a mountain. - -“Take this child,” groaned a muffled voice at my side, and as the strong -arms of the stranger lifted little Hans limp and lifeless, and hastily -laid him in the soft dark mud behind him, I saw for the first time -Mildred’s white face beside me. - -“There ain’t no use, boss,” cried the men in a frenzy, and stopping to -wring their hands. “We can’t do nothing; _they’ve got to burn alive_!” - -“Then for God’s sake give me your pistol or your knife!” I cried -fiercely. - -“Yes, Mildred,” I protested, “it’s right, it’s right. If we must die, -let it be quickly, and not by inches.” - -But Mildred did not hear. She was looking at the stranger with wild, -staring eyes, and for an instant, as if paralyzed, he gazed at her. Then -a look of such agony as I never saw on a human face convulsed his -features, and he cried, “_Boys, once more! I must save this woman!_” and -while they stood wringing helpless hands, he, with knotted veins and -starting eyes, made one herculean effort, and Mildred was in his arms -and free. - -I saw them stagger and fall together, while the bright blood in a -crimson torrent poured from his lips and dyed her white, clinging hands. - -Then I knew nothing more. I have a vague recollection of a roar as of -Niagara filling my ears, a sense of being torn limb from limb, a -shuddering thought that this indeed was death and the end had come—and -then blackness. - -I knew not how many hours or days had passed. When I opened my eyes I -was lying on a hard straw bed on the floor of an unplastered attic room. -I could see nothing from where I lay but the corner of a window through -whose panes the sun streamed in, scarce hindered by the torn blue paper -curtain. It shone upon the gorgeous patchwork counterpane upon my bed. -It dazzled my eyes, which felt strangely weak. - -I tried to move, but could not stir; to speak, but could utter no sound. - -Presently, as I lay with closed eyes, I felt that some one had stooped -from behind and looked at me. Then I heard a husky whisper,— - -“She’s sleepin’ real nateral, don’t ye worry a mite. _She_’s agoin’ ter -git on, you can jest bet on that.” This was followed by a heavy tread -which jarred my head with every movement like that of a giant trying to -walk on tiptoe. There was a creaking of a door, then a slow, soft thump, -thump, thump down the uncarpeted stairs, and all was still. - -I lay quiet, wondering what it all meant. Where was I, and what could be -the matter? My head was confused. Was Mildred—hush, there was a voice -near by talking low; it seemed behind me. - -“But it was not so; how could you have thought it so?” - -The voice sounded like Mildred’s. It was weak and trembling. - -“I went East to find you after it was all over between Agnes and me, but -they said you were engaged, you had gone abroad. I could do nothing. I -came back; I had my work, and I tried to live.” - -The other voice I did not know; it was husky and broken. - -There was silence again, and I heard a bustling and tramping about -below, and outside the window locusts buzzing shrilly. - -Voices again. I could not but hear. It was Mildred’s voice. “But did you -love me then in the beginning?” - -There was no answer at first; then it came, a little stronger and -steadier than before. “I should have loved you then if I had dared, but -I was pledged to Agnes; she had promised to be my wife. There came a day -at Concord when I saw my danger. I knew that I must not dare to see you -again. I prayed that I might be kept from being false to the woman whom -I had asked to love me, so I went away and tried to forget. After all, I -had known you for only a few days, and I had known her from childhood. -She was true as steel. She trusted me; and when with her again I was -glad to find at last that life could still be rich and sweet, and I be -spared from baseness.” - -“Then why, why”—Mildred began; but she hesitated, and her voice died -away. - -“It came about in this way,” said the other voice after a pause. “I had -studied for the ministry, you know. Agnes had rejoiced to think that she -was to share my work. I had decided from the first to give myself to the -home mission work either in the far West or among the colored people at -the South. She was all enthusiasm and zeal. She was a noble woman; but -oh—well, it is a long story, a long story.” Another pause; then, “Do you -know how unjust and bitter a woman can be when she thinks that she alone -is intrusted with the decrees of the Almighty? - -“As her lover, I must be frank with her, I must conceal nothing. I told -her all, little by little, of what I had come to believe and see. It -only made her tremble with horror. She saw that I was not ready to -preach the gospel which she believed. She felt that I was going -no-whither. ‘You have denied God’s Word and made your reason your God,’ -she said. ‘I can never dare trust my future with you unless you promise -me once and forever to abandon reading these dreadful books which are -leading you farther and farther from the truth.’ - -“I tried argument, but it was of no avail. ‘I am no logician; I cannot -argue and reason with a college-bred man like you. You could readily -refute my simple talk to your own satisfaction,’ she said; ‘but all the -philosophy in the world cannot change my faith. My husband’s God must be -the one whom I serve.’ - -“I did not know how I had really loved her until I found I was breaking -her heart. It was pitiful. I tried to show her how I loved the same God -whom she served, but she said, while the tears choked her voice: - -“‘No, Ralph, let us not deceive ourselves; we look at the world in a -radically different way. There can be no compromises so long as this -exists.’ So we parted.” - -“And then you—you came here?” queried Mildred faintly. - -“Yes. My life at first seemed wrecked; but I had my work, and though I -could not ask any Missionary Board to send me out, I determined to come -alone and serve God, if not in the pulpit, then perhaps as well some -other way. - -“I came with the first miners. I lived with them and worked for them. I -helped them build their first log huts. I opened the first store here, -but as I sold no liquor it was hard to contend with the other shops -which soon were rivals of mine. - -“But I made enough to live on. That was all I cared for. I had come here -to save men, not to save money. - -“First I started a reading-room, here in my room. It was open to them -all, and after a while we had an evening class. Then I began a Sunday -school, and they all came at first just to oblige me because I asked -them, but afterwards because they liked it. Then at last I began a -regular Sunday service. - -“I love these rough fellows, and they have learned to love me. I do what -I can for them. I would not change my work for the richest parish in the -country. I have the satisfaction of knowing that I am helping to shape -the future of this whole region. - -“These men have loved me in a rough, hearty way, and I thank God for it, -for sometimes the loneliness has been terrible. - -“Agnes married a missionary and went to India, and after a while I saw -that it was best so, though it was bitter to me at first. - -“I felt that you, the only other woman for whom I ever had cared, had -forgotten me. I did not dare to think that you had remembered me, but I -could not rest until I knew. I made the long journey East. I felt that I -could not be denied until I had heard the final word from your lips. I -reached Boston the very day that you sailed from New York; and I heard -that you were to marry a rich man on your return. - -“Well, I tried to bear it as best I could. I came back to my work. After -the little glimpse of civilization and comfort that I had had, this -dreary little place seemed drearier still; but I had brought books with -me, and they helped me. - -“One day, as I sat here feeling lonely, wretched, forlorn, I picked up -my Thomas à Kempis, and suddenly a light seemed to break in upon me, and -I said, ‘O fool, you with strength and vigor and opportunities, you who -have the inherited wisdom of the world at your command, you the heir of -all the ages, the son of a King!—shall _you_ mourn and complain because -Heaven denies you one boon? When was it ever decreed that you should be -so favored above all other mortals as to be completely happy in this -world of pain? Should the servant be above his Master?’ - -“So then I tried to learn to be content. I found something better than -happiness,—it has been blessedness. - -“I study when I can. But I am studying humanity chiefly. I am learning -how to fill the needs of these brothers of mine. I am trying to show -them that there is something better than the gold which seems to them -the only thing worth working for. Yes, I love my work.” - -There was a note of exultation in the voice, weak though it was, which -thrilled me. I think I must have dozed, for the voices again sounded -faint and far away. Presently as I returned to consciousness I heard the -voice saying in little broken gasps of pain, “But oh, Mildred darling, -do you know what this means? Do you know what it means when you promise -to be willing to take me for better or for worse? You love books and -pictures and music and beauty. Can I consent to see you deprived of them -all, to share my lot? - -“You do not know me yet. You are grateful to me for saving you; but it -was simple humanity—humanity, nothing more. I was a fool to speak out as -I did just now; it was only my weakness and selfishness. No, I cannot -let you bind yourself yet; wait till you are well, till your friends -come. - -“You say they have wealth. What will they think of your giving them all -up to settle in this dismal place and be the wife of a man who has not -five hundred dollars in the world, and can offer you nothing but a life -of toil? - -“No, you shall be free. Forget that I dared to speak, that I dared for a -moment to think—What? Why—why, Mildred, you are laughing!” - -“Oh,” said Mildred in a different tone, “I—that is, I was only thinking -of _love in a cottage_. I am not afraid of being poor; I can work too.” - -“Ah, yes; but being poor in Boston, where you have the largest public -library in the world, and the free Lowell lectures, and a glorious -symphony concert now and then for only fifty cents, is one thing; and to -be poor here, to stand at the washtub, and to scrub and clean and bake -and mend, is quite another. There would be little call here for the work -which you love and can do so well. These rough, hard-working men have -little time or inclination to hear of Goethe or Dante. - -“It would be cruel for me to let these soft, white hands grow hard and -rough, to let your life which elsewhere could be so rich run to waste -here.” - -“Would it not be far more cruel,” asked Mildred tenderly, “to keep me -from the man I love?” - -“Mildred dear, I am awake,” I tried to say, for through my bewildered -brain the meaning of all this had begun to penetrate, and I realized for -the first time that I had been hearing what was too sacred for any other -ears than those of Mildred and her lover, Ralph Everett. - -But the words choked in my throat, there was only an inarticulate -murmur, and the voices ceased. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - “And a voice said in mastery while I strove, - Guess now who holds thee?— - ‘Death,’ I said; - But there the silver answer rang, - ‘Not Death, but Love.’” - SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE. - - -Some time elapsed ere I divined where we were, and then I discovered -that we had been carried to Mr. Everett’s house and were all lying in -the attic over the store. Mildred had been placed on his cot-bed by the -book-shelves, and he lay on a lounge a few feet distant. - -After a time my straw bed, which had been borrowed from a neighbor, was -turned about so that I could see them. I was too weak to talk, but I -loved to lie and look at them when the terrible pain gave me a moment’s -respite to think of anything beside my own woes. - -The little town was crowded; not a spare room but had been gladly given -up to the sufferers. - -Little by little I learned all that had happened. A tree had been -uprooted in the wild storm and had fallen across the track. The engine, -the baggage car, and the first car had been derailed. The loss of life -had not been great. Poor Hélène, the little German woman and her baby -were the only ones who had not been rescued. - -But in all the cottages around lay the helpless, wounded people, who had -come so far over land and sea only to meet this terrible fate. - -The telegraph lines had been thrown down in the storm, and it was two -days before word could be sent and the débris cleared away so that -trains could come from the west. The little German doctor who had set my -bones while I was unconscious, and had left medicine for us all, did not -appear but once or twice after the first call, for there were a score or -more of poor, maimed creatures, some of them his own countrymen, who -needed him even more sorely than we. - -What would have become of us during those three days of partial -unconsciousness and suffering and impatient waiting for our friends if -it had not been for “Jim”! - -Jim was a character. Not even the pain could so wholly banish my sense -of humor as to prevent my seeing that. - -I could not learn whether there was a woman in town or not, but I -afterwards heard that Jim had let it be understood that he was -commissioned by the “boss” to be his sole attendant, and warn every one -else to keep his distance. Half a dozen times a day the big, freckled, -red-haired fellow creaked up the stairs in his stocking feet, bringing -water and gruel and bouquets of gorgeous nasturtiums and crimson phlox -from his little garden patch across the way. Jim had an eye for the -beautiful, and thought it a pity that we should have nothing better to -look upon than the long rows of sombre books which lined one side of the -walls and formed Mr. Everett’s library. - -Accordingly the poor man had stripped his own bachelor premises of all -the precious adornments sent him by his sweetheart for the last three -Christmases. There was a gilded sugar-scoop tied with pink ribbons, and -a remarkable landscape painted on the concave surface of the interior. -There was also a rolling-pin with a covering of French blue plush, -adorned with gilded handles, and bearing on its surface a large -thermometer surmounted by a gilded spread eagle. - -These were especially devoted to my benefit, for which I was duly -appreciative. Over Mildred’s bed was hung a “God Bless Our Home,” -wonderfully worked in the national colors; and beside Mr. Everett’s sofa -was placed a gilded milking-stool of convenient height for holding vials -and glasses, the legs artistically interlaced with scarlet ribbons, and -the seat decorated with a painting, whether of Vesuvius in eruption or a -dish of crushed tomatoes, I was never quite sure. - -From the low window near which my bed was drawn Jim proudly pointed out -to me his own quarters opposite. The house was an unpainted wooden -structure of one story, and evidently possessed a slanting roof with -gables, though the architect had erected a sham façade which gave the -appearance, when one took a front view, of a house with a flat roof. - -Extending across the whole front of the house was a sign of unique -character painted in black on a pink ground, of which I subjoin an exact -copy. - - 1886. - FRANKLIN - PHILOSOPHIC - HERMITAGE - - INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC REPAIR SHOP. - CLOCKS, COOPERING, CHAIN SAWS FILED - TIN WARE, POLITICS & THEOLOGY TINKERED - HUZZAH FOR - THE UNION - LABOR PARTY. - -“Jim is an odd stick,” Mr. Everett once said with a feeble smile, as the -awkward fellow was heard anathematizing himself as he descended the -stairs after an accidental bang of the door, which made us all wince. - -“Jim is odd, but he has mighty good stuff in him. There isn’t anything -that fellow would not do for me, though when I first came here he was -pretty fiery; a regular dynamiter you would have thought. But since I -started the debating club, and got him to reading history a little, he -has calmed down a good deal, and has come to find that hard facts are -worth more than all his former rhetorical pyrotechnics about the -down-trodden workingman.” - -At last, with pale and terror-stricken faces, came aunt Madison and Will -and Alice with Dr. Ellsworth from Tacoma. Then ensued a new order of -things. Jim vanished, talking was forbidden, the noise everywhere -disappeared, and the clumsy carts passed silently beneath our window -over a thick bed of straw, while tall screens, improvised from sheets -and clothes-horses, separated us from each other the greater part of the -time. For there was not another room in town to be had, and the little -grocery below had been metamorphosed into sleeping apartments for our -four attendants. They alternately watched and slept. - -The new physician threw away the old medicines, substituted new ones, -and looked with grave anxiety on Mildred’s flushed face and bounding -pulse. She had no bones broken and but a slight wound, and had insisted -that my broken bones be set first. - -After the first shock, the excitement of meeting Mr. Everett and anxiety -for us all had sustained her, but now she was sinking fast. The delay in -attending to her at the beginning was telling upon her. Whether it was -the July heat, the sight of so many faces, and the necessary disturbance -when so many were forced to be in one room, I do not know, but as the -days went by none of us grew better. - -Mildred was too ill to be moved to her car. Mr. Everett, though in a -fair way to recover, was too weak to stir after his terrible hemorrhage -and the strain upon his whole system; while I could not endure to be -touched without extreme pain. So during the July days we lay there -together in the unfinished attic room, watching the doctor come and go, -and tended by loving hands that divided their ministrations and the -delicacies that they brought with the suffering ones who lay not far -distant. - -“Do everything for them that I would have had done,” were Mildred’s -words to cousin Will, which he understood as Mr. Everett did not. For no -one was allowed to tell him that this sweet girl lying there, who I -alone knew was his promised wife, was no longer the teacher whom he -thought her. - -But the doctor’s face looked graver and graver as the days wore on. He -sat up half the night with us, performing the combined duties of nurse -and physician. - -One morning, as he came in looking weary and jaded after but four hours’ -rest, he sat down by Mildred’s bed, with a face that in spite of his -habitual professional attempt at gayety could not conceal the gravest -concern. - -He felt her pulse and motioned furtively to aunt Madison, who stood with -brimming eyes studying his every motion. Mildred glanced up and read the -meaning of his look. She said nothing for a moment; then with an effort -to keep her voice steady she said, quietly, “Doctor, be honest with me: -shall I live?” - -“My dear, I”—and the doctor coughed and turned away his head; “I—we”—he -glanced at Mr. Everett, who with eyes that were blazing like coals in -their sockets had half risen on his elbow and seemed devouring every -word,—“my dear, I hope so.” - -“Yes, I understand,” replied Mildred calmly, after a searching look at -the physician’s half-averted face, “I understand, and I am not afraid; -but it is necessary that some things be done, and done quickly.” - -She lay a few moments quietly thinking. No one stirred or spoke, and the -silence was broken only by aunt Madison’s half-stifled sobs, as she -turned away to hide her emotion. Presently Mildred looked up. - -“Is there a lawyer in the village?” she asked. “I want to change my—that -is, I want to attend to a few little matters of business that must not -be left undone.” - -“No,” replied Mr. Everett huskily; “there was one who did a little -business, but he died a month ago.” - -Mildred said nothing for a few minutes, then looking up, with a pale -face and lips drawn tense, she said, “Auntie, I must be married to-day.” - -We all gave an involuntary cry. Mr. Everett drew his hand over his eyes. -Dr. Ellsworth and aunt Madison exchanged looks of amazement as if to -say, “Is the girl beside herself?” I alone understood what it all meant. - -“Yes, auntie,” Mildred continued. “I have not yet told you; I meant to, -by and by. I did not think it was to be here and now; I meant to have it -all so different; but my strength is going, I do not know whether I -shall—I dare not wait.” - -She gave a little gasp of pain, and was silent a moment; then she added, -in a voice which I could scarcely hear, “I have told Mr. Everett that I -love him. I have promised to be his wife.” - -No one spoke when Mildred had finished, and she lay with closed eyes, -while aunt Madison stood as if struck dumb, gazing incredulously from -one to the other. She had learned that they were old friends, that he -had saved her life; perhaps she had suspected more, but this sudden -announcement paralyzed her for a moment. - -Mr. Everett half rose again from his couch and leaned toward Mildred as -if to speak, but the words died on his lips, and he sank back exhausted -and lay motionless. - -Aunt Madison softly left the room, but soon returned, and kneeling by -Mildred’s side they whispered together. What was said I never knew, but -I was certain that Mildred’s thought was for Ralph’s inheritance. - -An hour later, another physician, who had been telegraphed for the -previous day, arrived. He stepped softly into the room, and for a long -time gazed intently at Mildred as she lay asleep, and then he slipped -out, and I heard faint murmurings of voices in the room below as the two -physicians held a consultation. - -“Oh, Mildred, my more than sister,” I inwardly groaned; “must I lie here -helpless and see your precious life going from us? Were you snatched -from the jaws of death but to fall back again a helpless victim? If this -must be, oh that we had died together before rescue came!” - -I had given my whole heart to this girl. I had loved her with a love -which made all other friendships of my life seem as nothing. In loving -her I felt that I had first learned what love meant, and my little, -petty life had been made deeper, broader, and full of hitherto -undreamed-of possibilities. - -The hours wore away, the hours of Mildred’s wedding-day. “Send Jim for -Mr. Lightfoot,” Mr. Everett had said to Will. “He will know where to -find him. He is the only regular clergyman within fifty miles.” - -He had been sent for post-haste, and that evening, just as the sun was -sinking in the west and lighting up in gorgeous splendor the little -attic where we lay, a tall, gray-haired man in a rusty, black -frock-coat, and with prayer-book in hand, climbed softly up the creaking -stairs and paused in the doorway, glancing in a tender, fatherly way at -the two pale faces which looked up to greet his coming. - -The windows were opened, and the blue paper curtains had disappeared to -be replaced by white muslin ones. A dozen pitchers were placed around -the room containing the brilliant wild flowers of the neighborhood that -had been sent in by Jim and his friends. A wreath of golden-rod and -purple asters at Jim’s desire was laid upon the white counterpane at -Mildred’s feet. For the news that there was for some strange reason to -be a marriage had spread like wildfire, and many a rough, sunburned man -had tapped softly at the door of the little shop to ask what it meant, -and beg Alice, who stood on guard, to be allowed to come up and stand, -if only in the doorway, and see the “boss” married. - -One day, a month later, Alice told me all about it. “You don’t suppose, -Miss, he’s agoin ter die?” asked one of them, as they stood around the -door in a quiet, awe-struck group. “I don’t know what we fellers ’ud -ever do without him,” he added huskily, as he drew the back of his grimy -hand across his eyes. - -“I don’t go much on religion,” said another, who sat on the doorstep -leaning his head in his hands; “but I’ll be blamed ef that ere feller, -with all his college larnin’ and soft-spoken ways, a-comin’ out here and -roughin’ it with us, and a-nursin’ and a-teachin’ and a-helpin’ of us -all,—I’ll be blamed if that ain’t the Christianest thing I ever see.” - -I did not wonder that these men loved their teacher. - -Ralph—I learned to call him that afterwards, so I call him so now, for -it seems more natural—Ralph Everett had a face such as one sees only -once or twice in a lifetime. I did not wonder that Mildred loved it so -that she kept awake to look at it as he slept. - -The forehead was broad and low, from which the brown hair rose thick and -abruptly, framing the strong, almost rugged face. The eyes—such eyes! -They were the frankest, truest eyes that ever glorified a human face. -Not even Mildred’s eyes were like those, although hers could sparkle or -command or grow wonderfully soft and tender. The chin and mouth were -hidden in a luxuriant blond beard, in which gleamed now and then a -silver thread. The broad chest, the sunburned face and hands which the -pallor of sickness was fast restoring to their pristine whiteness, all -evinced a strong, active life, strangely contrasting with the pitiful -helplessness which had now prostrated it. - -But surely strength and health would soon return; surely love would -triumph; and these two, so strangely reunited in the very jaws of death, -would some day make all previous joys as nothing to that deep, full, -complete satisfaction with which heaven should crown their lives; these -two, who seemed of all the world the ones most worthy of such -blessedness. - -I had dreamed it all out. Some beautiful day in the months to come I -should stand as bride’s-maid beside a happy, white-robed bride. There -would be flowers and music and smiles. There would be the strong, -gallant lover, the one man of all the world who was worthy to wed my -precious Mildred. The man whom she would always know had married her for -herself alone, a man whom wealth or happiness could not tempt, who -should nobly help her in the great work that she had set herself to do. - -To tell the truth, I had thought also, with almost a pang of jealousy, -what this would mean to me, and what my life would be without her. - -I could scarcely realize that now, here, in this brown, unplastered -attic room, in a dreary frontier mining town, with no music but the -chirping of the August crickets in the little field behind us, without -wedding-robe or wedding guests, my Mildred was to become a bride. - -They bolstered me up to see it all, as well as could be done with my -splintered leg and arm. I was trembling violently, and the doctor gave -me a sedative powder and sat by me with hand on my pulse. Ralph’s lounge -had been moved beside Mildred’s cot. His face was as deadly pale as her -own. - -“Mildred,” he whispered hoarsely,—they had not spoken to each other -since in the morning when she had said she would marry him,—“Mildred, -have you counted the cost? Think, darling, you may get well; do you -realize what you are doing?” - -“Yes, far better than you do,” she replied with a faint smile. - -The clergyman quietly took his place at the foot of the bed, and as the -solemn words of the Episcopal marriage service broke the silence, -Mildred, who had been lying with closed eyes, started visibly. She had -not before observed that the clergyman had a prayer-book. I could see -that she was greatly agitated, and instantly divined the cause. - -She had always declared that she would never under any conditions allow -herself to be married by that service. - -I knew her reasons for this and how strongly she felt about it, so I -understood what her consternation must be now. All this flashed through -my brain before the clergyman had read three lines. - -Then Mildred gave a little gasp. A crimson flush leaped into her cheeks, -and I knew her mind was made up. Instantly her voice broke in, strangely -clear and strong. - -“Please wait, sir,” she said. “I beg your pardon. I did not know this -service was to be used. I cannot be married by it. Can you not -substitute some other?” - -Every one but Ralph was thunderstruck; but they were getting inured to -surprises, and no one spoke while the clergyman, for a moment too -shocked to reply, gazed in blank amazement into Mildred’s earnest eyes. - -But Ralph understood, and said calmly, “No, dear, he cannot. I should -have thought of this before. I am not willing that you should promise -what this service contains. So, in the presence of God and of these -witnesses, we two alone will bind ourselves lawfully in the marriage -bond.” - -Then, holding Mildred’s right hand in his, while the minister stood -wonderingly aside, he said with clear, unshaken voice: - -“I take thee, Mildred, to be my lawful, wedded wife, to love and to -serve, to comfort and cherish, to honor and keep, so long as we both -shall live; and thereto, God helping, I plight thee my troth.” - -A deathly pallor had crept over Mildred’s face. Just then the last rays -of the setting sun for a moment streamed into the little room, -irradiating its bare walls, and transfiguring with magic light those two -faces on which we were gazing with breathless silence. - -Then, after a moment’s pause, Mildred with a great effort leaned an inch -nearer, and gently taking Ralph’s brown hand in both her slender white -ones, said, with blanched lips: - -“I take thee, Ralph, to be my lawful, wedded husband, to love and to -serve, to comfort and cherish, to honor and keep, so long as we both -shall live; and thereto, God helping, I plight thee my troth.” - -After the last words had died tremblingly away on Mildred’s lips, the -clergyman at a sign from her lifted his voice in prayer, while Alice -kneeled sobbing by the bedside, and over my eyes there came a mist. My -senses reeled, and I remember no more. - -Weeks afterward Alice told me that Mr. Lightfoot had gone away with a -fatherly benediction, and a purse the richer by a thousand dollars for -the marriage service which he did not perform. - -The days went by, and I knew but little. The tall, white screen shut out -everything from me. I was too weak to ask about Mildred, but I knew that -she had not left us. Surely God had been merciful. She was still to live -and love and bless the world. - -At last came a day,—it was the first day of September, I recall,—the -very day when we had planned to reach San Francisco on our return from -the Alaskan trip which we had contemplated; the screen was removed, and -Mildred and Ralph, still pale and wan, but with the glow of returning -health lighting up their happy faces, sat beside me and whispered words -of farewell. - -“Oh, Mildred, you did not die, you are alive,” I sobbed weakly, too -happy to keep the tears back. - -“Yes, darling,” she said, “for it was love that saved me. I had -something to live for, and I fought hard. Now I am to leave you for a -while. My husband and I” (how proudly she said that), “my husband and I -are going away.” - -“Her aunt Madison has kindly offered us her beautiful, private car, and -we are going away for a long rest before we come back to our work,” said -Ralph innocently, and I saw that for some reason Mildred had still kept -him ignorant of the fact that he had married a great heiress instead of -a poor teacher. “This is to be our honey-moon, you know,” he added, -looking at her with the lovelight shining in his eyes. “We are going -quietly. No one but Jim is to know of it, for the doctor says we must -spare ourselves the excitement of the good-byes which would have to be -said if the people knew we were going. The men have been clamoring for a -month to see me, and it has been hard for me to keep quiet and not let -them come.” - -“How would you feel,” asked his wife in a careless tone, “if you had -married a rich woman, who would ask you to go away and never come back -to work here again?” and Mildred, who was holding my hand, gave it a -mischievous little squeeze as she looked demurely out of the window and -awaited his reply. - -“I don’t know. I am afraid I could not quite forgive her unless she gave -me better work to do elsewhere. I could not be idle, you know, even with -you, darling,” he answered, smiling at the bright face beside him. - -“Ah, the world is large; there are many who need us; rich or poor, we -will find our work somewhere,” said Mildred softly, as if to herself. -Then as Jim’s steps were heard at the door she started. - -“Come, Ralph, one last look at your books and room, it may be long -before we return. Kiss Ruby, too; you must be her brother now, you -know.” - -Two warm kisses were on my cheek, then the door opened and shut, and -they were gone. - -Everything had been arranged for my comfort, and a month later, when I -was able to travel in a private car which Mildred had sent us, aunt and -Alice, cousin Will and I, were on the Northern Pacific Road again, bound -eastward. And with us went the motherless little Karl and Annchen to -find a new home and many friends. - -One day, as we were speeding along over the Dakota prairies, Alice and I -fell to talking as usual about the summer that was past and its strange, -strange ending. Suddenly Alice exclaimed, “But, Ruby, I never thought to -ask you before; _do_ you understand why Mildred, on her deathbed as we -supposed, should have stopped that minister? I thought I understood most -of her ideas, but _that_ was inexplicable to me.” - -“Yes, I understand it, I suppose, for I once had an argument with her -about it,” I replied. “I remember we had been to a stylish wedding at -Trinity. There were ten bridesmaids, and the bride was dressed like a -princess, and I remember how, as we drove away, Mildred exclaimed that -she would rather have been married in a print dress in a log-cabin and -promise what was honorable and true, than to have had the beautiful -display which this bride had, and make such promises as she had done. - -“‘It is the most beautiful service in the world,’ I stoutly maintained; -‘pray what can you object to in it?’ - -“‘In the first place, the giving away of the bride is a humiliating -thing,’ she said: ‘it is a relic of the feudal times, when a woman -actually _was_ given away. It implies dependence; a woman is thus simply -passed along from the guardianship of one man to that of another.’ - -“This was a novel idea which impressed me at first as being needlessly -crotchety. ‘Then, of course,’ I replied, ‘you object to the promise to -obey.’ - -“‘Certainly,’ said Mildred. ‘I should not respect myself if I could make -such a promise. Obedience implies authority, and a man and his wife are -equal. They do not stand in the relation of master and servant, employer -and employee, or parent and child.’ - -“‘Yes; but it doesn’t mean anything,’ I expostulated, ‘it is simply a -form.’ - -“‘So much the worse,’ was her uncompromising answer. ‘I will have no -idle forms, no humiliating promises which I should not intend to keep. -If I ever find the man whom I can marry, I think I shall love him enough -not to be selfish and willful, and he will love me enough to respect me -as his equal. There can be no question of authority and obedience in the -true marriage. - -“‘Then, moreover,’ she said, ‘I object to the man’s making the promise, -“With all my worldly goods I thee endow.” In nine cases out of ten he -does nothing of the sort, and the wife usually asks for every dollar -that she gets!’ - -“So you perceive that after hearing her say this I was not so much -astounded as the rest of you were,” I concluded. - -“Well,” said Alice, drawing a long breath and looking meditatively at -the diamond engagement-ring on her white finger, “I never in my life saw -such an extraordinary girl as Mildred. - -“Now, I have vowed that I would never be married but by that beautiful -time-honored service. Dear me! if we all took everything to heart as -literally as she does, what would become of society?” - -“It would probably learn to speak truth and not lies,” I answered. - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - -In the next few months I had many letters from Mildred and Ralph, -letters full of the warm interest in life which came with returning -health and were an index of unceasing thought and activity in numberless -directions. Scarcely a state or territory from Utah to Virginia was left -unvisited and unbenefited by their brief stay. - -Their course was not merely in the beaten track, a superficial glimpse -of the larger towns and fashionable resorts, but far away from railroads -and civilization. On horseback tours in forest and mountain regions they -passed from cabin to cabin among poor whites and blacks, studying the -people and their possibilities, the country and its resources. - -The letters which Mildred sent me during these months would fill half a -volume, but I can find space for only one extract from them. - -“Oh, my dear,” she once wrote, “I thought I knew before how much there -was that needed to be done, but I am finding every day, after all, how -little I actually realized the true state of things. It is not so much -the physical discomfort that appeals to my pity, as the apathy, the -ignorance and lack of ambition for anything better; the bitter religious -and political prejudices that still linger, and the spectacle of a -population increasing in numbers and increasing in illiteracy. - -“Of course there are thousands of exceptions to all these observations. -I am not pessimistic. - -“The South is awaking, is advancing rapidly in many ways, and, as I pass -swiftly from place to place and see new facts and phases of life, I am -constantly forced to reconsider and readjust my previous convictions. -Yet on the whole the main impression which I had in the beginning -survives. Here is a vast territory practically not so well known to us -Northerners as most European countries, and with a people who know us -far less than we know them; and here, as I am sometimes almost compelled -to believe, is the field for all my work and energy. - -“If I had twice my wealth, I believe I should spend half of it in the -South. I would engage a few thousand of the best of our ‘surplus’ women -of New England and scatter them through the length and breadth of this -Southern land, and set them at work doing some of the things which so -need to be done. - -“As it is, I have picked out certain strategic places where I shall put -a few at work, and for the boy or girl who is willing to study and not -afraid of manual labor, I have made a good education possible. - -“That is the most that can be done. Putting the right persons in the -right places is the best that I can do, and then they must do the rest. - -“As you know, I have never felt inclined to put my money into building -new institutions, thinking it best to work in other ways, or to help -sustain those institutions already established. But in these last months -my heart has gone out to the thousands of neglected little colored -children of the South who are orphans, and who in many places have not -even a county poorhouse to shelter them. - -“I am thinking of establishing an orphanage in every one of the Southern -states similar to the one at Chattanooga which I have recently visited. -I could talk to you for hours about that brave Northern woman, Mrs. -Steele, who has so nobly been giving her life to this work. - -“At first persecuted, ostracized, and despised, her building erected at -her own cost burned by incendiaries, she has gone unflinchingly on, -until now she has won the respect and has the aid of the best society in -Chattanooga. - -“She has rescued hundreds of poor little orphan waifs from the -chain-gang where they were put for petty offenses, and from the street -where they roamed, with no bed but the sidewalk and gutter. She has -clothed them, fed them, taught them, mothered them, and saved them. In -all the South I can hear of but one other colored orphanage, for I find -that the people for the most part are not yet ready to tax themselves -for the support of ‘little nigger brats.’” - -I did not see Mildred until February. She had telegraphed me to meet her -in New York, saying in her message that she and Ralph were about to go -abroad for four years. - -By this time I had thrown away my crutch and was myself again, and I -hastened to meet her, as she had appointed, at our old rooms at the -Fifth Avenue Hotel. - -She was out when I arrived, and I watched eagerly from the window for -her coming. Presently I saw her,—how vividly I recall the picture,—her -hand on her husband’s arm, tripping along briskly in the winter air, the -roses in her cheeks, her tall, slight figure clad in a trim suit of dark -green, her head surmounted by a soft toque of the same color, trimmed -with rich green holly-leaves and red berries. - -How beautiful she was! More beautiful than ever, I thought, as in -glancing up she caught a glimpse of me waiting, breathless, and threw me -a kiss with girlish glee. In a moment we were in each other’s arms. - -How tall and stalwart Ralph looked as he seized my hand in his strong -grasp! - -I remembered that Mildred had once likened him to a young Norse god, and -I did not wonder. As for Mildred, after the first greetings were over -and we had ensconced ourselves on a _tête-à-tête_ for an evening’s talk, -I soon perceived that a certain indefinable change had come over her. I -could hardly tell what it was at first. - -There was a vivacity and charm and sprightliness that I had never seen -before. I had always thought her charming, though perhaps a bit too -reserved and dignified. Some people had thought her cold, but I knew -better. Now all the latent passion and warmth of her nature had been -aroused, and I saw that she had possibilities of which I had not -dreamed. - -“What is it, Mildred?” I asked, after Ralph had left us alone. “Somehow -you seem—I scarcely know what to say—you seem so young and happy, as -if”— - -Mildred finished, “as if I had been drinking of the elixir of life and -had become a new creature. Yes, dear,” she added, “and so I have. Oh, I -am so happy, so unspeakably happy!” - -Then suddenly turning impulsively and throwing her arms around me, her -face shining with a new light, she exclaimed, “How I wish every one else -were as happy too. - -“Sometimes it seems as if it were too much, as if in this sorrowful -world I had no right to be so supremely happy. So often in these last -months,” she added musingly, “I have said to myself those lines that -seemed written for me alone: - - “‘The face of all the world is changed, I think, - Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul, ... - Betwixt me and the dreadful outer brink - Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink, - Was caught up into love and taught the whole - Of life in a new rhythm....’ - -“Yes,” continued Mildred after a little pause, and her eyes grew soft -and tender, “a year ago I thought that love would never come, and I now -sometimes tremble at the thought of what I came so near missing. I do -not know how, once having learned the blessedness of this love, I could -have courage to live if Ralph were taken and I left. Oh,” she added in a -broken whisper, as for a moment she bowed her head in her hands, “if -when death comes it will only mercifully take us both together.” Ah me! -How little we both dreamed in what way that prayer was to be answered. - -Presently she raised her head and continued, while her warm arms were -about me again and my head lay pillowed on her shoulder. “Ralph is so -kind, so good, so tender, so unselfish! Really, at first he seemed -almost sorry when I told him my secret and he learned that he had -married an heiress, as if he had lost the joy of working for me. How he -thanked me for keeping the secret! - -“And oh, Ruby, the thought of what he is makes me so ashamed of myself,” -added Mildred humbly. “I have come to see how far beyond anything that I -have done was his noble consecration of all his time and culture and -ability to enrich the lives of those rough frontier men, while I have -done nothing but sit in a velvet chair and sign cheques for money which -I did not earn, and could never spend on myself.” - -Then, after a pause: “Well, little sister,” she continued, “you do not -know, and I have no words to tell you, of my happiness. I never dreamed -of what I was losing in all those years before love came. I used to feel -so strong and self-contained and independent, and now, it is strange -enough, but I hardly know whether I have a mind of my own or not. If I -have, I cannot tell what it is until I have asked Ralph;” and she -laughed a happy laugh. - -“Oh, Mildred, to think that I should ever live to hear you say that!” I -exclaimed, laughing too. “And do you still want to vote and decline to -obey? Is your haughty spirit quelled, and have”— - -“Yes,” said Mildred, ambiguously. “Ralph is even more of a suffragist -than I, and declares that this nation has no right to call itself a -republic so long as one half of the people are disfranchised. And he -says the most splendid thing he ever saw a woman do was my stopping that -clergyman;” and she laughed again a ringing, girlish laugh. - -After a while we began to talk about Mildred’s plans for the future. - -“I want you to know everything, dear,” she said in her frank, confiding -way. “We are going away for four years, perhaps longer, for I want to -study many things, and I want to see Australia before I return—that is a -country with a future. - -“We must go now, though I leave so much which is only begun and to which -I wish to give my constant personal attention. But the mental strain -this year has been great. I could not live through another like it. We -both want to get far away from our responsibilities and possessions for -a while. I want to gain perspective, to have time for quiet thought and -study. - -“This was my plan from the first, as you know, and now it is imperative. -It is impossible for Ralph to write his book with the cares and -distractions which we are constantly having.” - -“His book?” I asked; “I had not heard of that. Pray what is it about?” - -“It is to treat of the colored races in our country. He has been -gathering the material for a long time, and it will be an exhaustive -work,” she answered. Then she added, “I, too, have a little book -planned, but of a very different sort.” - -“What! you, Mildred, an authoress!” I cried. “Shall you really write a -book?” - -“Oh, that is nothing nowadays, when authors are as plenty as cooks and -the world is flooded with literary rubbish,” answered Mildred rather -disdainfully. “Any scribbler can write a book. It takes neither wit nor -wisdom for that.” - -“Of course; but you are not a scribbler, and you won’t write rubbish,” I -retorted: “But tell me, what is it to be about? will it be a story?” - -“No,” she answered. “The public does not need any more stories, at least -mediocre ones, and mine could never be anything else. I trust that I -have too much self-respect left to be guilty of inflicting another -purposeless book on the world’s already overstocked supply. Besides, you -know, Howells says all the stories have been told.” - -“Then what is it?” I asked. “Is it sermons? or sonnets? or”— - -“No,” interposed Mildred; “it is _Suggestions_,—suggestions to the idle -and thoughtless, the rich and the unconsciously selfish. I am confident -that there are some tens of thousands of people in this country who are -tolerably well-meaning, who have a superfluity of leisure and wealth and -strength which they are letting run to waste because no one has -suggested to them what they might do. - -“Few people like to take the initiative. They wait for some one to plan -and organize and tell them definitely what to do. - -“My first intention is to suggest to them that they are peculiarly -privileged mortals, and that life is worth living only on the condition -that one does something with it. That they are sinners above all other -sinners since civilization began, if they let themselves be ignorant of -what they should know and indifferent to the evil which they should -help; the more their culture and ability the greater their debt. - -“I mean to suggest some very practical things which might be done, which -need to be done. There will be suggestions for those who have time and -no money, suggestions for those who have much money and no time, -suggestions for people who think they have neither time nor money, and -suggestions for developing influence and talent where there seems very -little to start with. - -“Not that these will all be particularly new or original. That is not -necessary. We heedless mortals need to have a wise thing said many times -and in many ways before it makes much impression. - -“I shall not attempt to suggest many new principles of work, but simply -to make many new applications of the old ones. - -“Oh, Ruby,” exclaimed Mildred, her mobile features glowing with the -enthusiasm of the thought, “what a metamorphosis of this planet we -little mortals might make if we all did, and did wisely, what it is -quite in our power to do!” - -“Such a book is a capital idea,” I exclaimed, much impressed with her -plan, “and it will have double weight because you have already provided -the most effective object lessons as illustrations of what might be -done.” - -“That is not exactly what I mean,” replied Mildred, shaking her head. -“No; few persons have it in their power to work in the way that I have -done on a large scale. I am not sure after all that this is what is most -needed. - -“Model tenement houses and libraries are not going to save people from -selfishness. There must be the tireless, personal, face-to-face and -hand-to-hand work of men and women who have come to know themselves as -their brothers’ keepers. Institutions and paid agents can never do this -work.” - -“But they can help enormously towards it,” I replied. - -“Certainly,” said Mildred; “they will organize and start the work; but -then it is all these people for whom I shall write my suggestions who -must do the rest of the work, and they alone can make it effective. - -“Now, for instance, here is a plan which Ralph and I have just been -working out. It is to help save the half-grown boys and girls who night -after night find their chief delight in strolling arm in arm through the -streets, with smoking, and vulgar jests and silly laughter. - -“You know well enough what the social dangers are to underpaid, -giddy-headed girls shut up all day in shop or factory and longing for -freedom and companionship. - -“Night after night have Ralph and I walked up and down watching them, -listening to their silly giggles and cheap talk, noting their tawdry -jewelry and ribbons and frowzy bangs. - -“How I pity them! I should so like to make life a little better worth -living for them. Who can blame them for not wanting, after a hard day’s -work, to stay in their crowded, noisy homes or dreary boarding-house -hall-bedrooms? - -“Everywhere that we have been we have made it a practice to visit the -dime museums and cheap theatres, and to study the amusements which these -young people crave! Everywhere I find it the same. - -“I used to know in a vague way about this night-side of things, but not -until recently have I realized the awful temptations which are besetting -these empty-headed girls who have no resources in themselves. - -“Free lectures, or concerts, or libraries have small charm for such as -they. They want to exercise, to flirt, above all to talk and laugh to -their heart’s content. - -“The churches do not meet more than one in a hundred of such girls and -not more than one in a thousand of such young men. They have no desire -to spend an evening at a prayer-meeting, they would feel out of place at -a church sociable, and they are too tired and unambitious to care for -any classes or study. - -“They want a good time; they want ‘fun,’ and they have no idea that it -can be found among members of their own sex alone. And in this their -instinct is half right. - -“These young people ought to exercise and have ‘fun,’ and they ought to -have it together. - -“There are various coffee-rooms for temperate men, and various girls’ -club-rooms for girls alone, but, so far as I know, scarcely a -respectable place in the whole city where an honest, self-respecting, -poor girl can go and be able to meet honorable young men, under the -protection of those who would see that her natural instincts were -gratified without sacrifice of her womanhood. - -“It is just such a place as this that we have decided to establish, a -social club for young men and women, where they may laugh and talk to -their heart’s content and have plenty of innocent fun.” - -“And fall in love with each other?” I inquired. - -“Certainly,” was the reply. “Why not? Does not all experience show it to -be impossible to purify society by breaking natural instincts or -ignoring them? Oh, my dear,” continued Mildred earnestly, “the pure love -of man and woman should be the most blessed thing in life, and I who -know the joy of this love would gladly keep these brothers and sisters -of mine from letting it be trodden in the mire, or on the other hand -slip forever out of their lives.” - -“But how can this be done?” I questioned skeptically. “By simply -substituting for the sidewalk a room in which to giggle and flirt?” - -“Listen,” said Mildred. “We shall not begin by building until the -experiment is assured, but we have already hired ten places in different -parts of the city, where, with the help of the ‘King’s Daughters’ and -the young people of the Society for Christian Endeavor, we shall begin -this work. - -“The first thing we did was to engage a kind-hearted, middle-aged -married woman to be the responsible head of each social club. She is to -see that pleasant pictures are hung upon the walls, that potted plants -are put into the windows, and everything made homelike and cosy and in -good taste. - -“There are to be no printed rules and mottoes hung around the wall, as -if it were an institution and we were trying to do the people good. They -would be suspicious of anything of that sort.” - -“How many rooms have you in each place?” I asked. - -“Oh, that varies,” answered Mildred. “In most of them there is a small -hall with waxed floor and piano to be used for dancing or singing -classes or debating clubs. There is another room for gymnastics, with -apparatus and a piano, where a competent person will direct, and -gradually insinuate various sensible ideas in regard to high heels, -tightlacing and a bad carriage, and try to make physical culture seem a -desirable thing. - -“There will be another room for quiet games like checkers and dominoes, -several bath-rooms, and a parlor where the girls can bring their fancy -work and receive their friends.” - -“But, Mildred,” I cried in alarm, “you will get a perfect mob, if you -are not careful. They will bang your piano to pieces, they will have -rude kissing games, the girls will waltz with men whom they never saw -before; and then, if you make rules and don’t let them have their own -way, they won’t come. I know the kind of people whom you want to help, -and they are the most independent creatures living.” - -“Ah, but wait a minute,” replied Mildred calmly. “The ‘mob’ are not to -be invited to pour in from the street. Each one must apply for a -membership ticket, give name and address, and wait a few days before it -is granted. There may be, perhaps, a slight nominal fee. They will -appreciate it more to have this little formality about it. Moreover, the -lady who is at the head of the club, and who will be a person of -character and tact, will have authority to exclude any unruly member. -Nothing will be said about rules. They will be received as if they were -of course expected to behave well. - -“Five or six of the ‘King’s Daughters’ have agreed to be in attendance -every night, with as many gentlemen who are their escorts. They will -play for dancing and gymnastics whenever it is needed. They will act as -daughters of a host and receive and introduce their guests. They will -join in the singing and the games and the conversation, and, with the -gentlemen whom they bring, will, I think, be far more effectual in -encouraging good manners than any number of rules. - -“Now that everything has been planned and the wherewithal provided, I -have had no difficulty in getting some hundreds of agreeable, well-bred -young ladies from the different churches who have each pledged -themselves to bring some gentleman to assist them and to give one -evening a week faithfully to the social club. - -“It is distinctly understood that there is to be no authority exercised -by them, no patronizing tolerated, and charity, and that other odious -word philanthropy, not so much as thought of. - -“All are to meet on the same footing, simply as young people who are met -to have a good time in an orderly, pleasant way. - -“At first there will doubtless be hoidenish manners, a good deal of -simpering and whispering and flat talk, which of course must be ignored. -But by and by the presence of ten refined, Christian young gentlemen and -ladies with tact and quick wit will make itself felt. There will be -charades and word games like twenty questions, and a hundred such merry -ways of passing the time, of which these girls have never dreamed. They -will go home with new ideas about dress and manners and ways of having a -good time. The veriest boor, who may begin by tipping back in his chair -and picking his teeth, will not fail to observe finally that if he -wishes to retain the respect of his ‘best girl’ his manners must conform -a little more to those of that young law student who spent half an hour -the other night showing her how to play parchesi, and then helped her on -with her waterproof, put up her umbrella for her, and bowed her a -pleasant good evening. - -“I assure you,” continued Mildred, “I have made the discovery that the -best way to turn a silly little chit into a self-respecting woman is for -a gentleman to treat her as if she were one. And the best way to make a -stupid clown appear at his best is for a young lady of tact to try to -draw him out. - -“But this is not all. There are endless things that such a club might -do. - -“I hope it will develop all sorts of latent talent and mutual -helpfulness, and lead the way to discussion, comparison, and emulation -in a thousand ways. - -“It will give each member an opportunity to make fifty acquaintances -where now he or she has but one,—Protestants and Catholics, Jews and -Gentiles, mechanics, factory operatives, shop-girls, bookkeepers, young -professional men, teachers, millionaires’ daughters, all meeting on the -simple ground of their youth and American citizenship, and giving each -other the pleasure of their company, the benefit of their experience. -And the rich will find that they get even more than they give.” - -“But, after all,” I urged, “can you make oil and water mix? Is this a -feasible scheme?” - -“That is to say,” answered Mildred, “can people of different social -rank, education, and employments meet socially with mutual profit and -pleasure? That, I am convinced, depends entirely upon the tact and -spirit of genuine friendliness which is exercised by those of the higher -rank. - -“Anything that is done perfunctorily is sure to fail, but genuine -interest will create genuine interest. It all depends, you see, upon my -helpers. Without them my money can do nothing. I can only organize; they -must execute. But I am convinced that it is an experiment worth trying.” - -“So you are contemplating a social revolution,” said I, as Mildred -paused, her cheeks glowing with the excitement of the thought. “Well, -sister mine, if ever one is brought about, I think it will be by your -way of doing, by trying to put the right people in the right place. -After all, I suppose this one little scheme of yours and Ralph’s, that -may help to start thousands of lives in a different direction, probably -costs no more to permanently endow than what some families would pay for -diamonds and horses and yachts for themselves alone.” - - -“By the way, Ruby,” asked Mildred the next day, as we sat sipping our -after-dinner coffee, while Ralph had gone out to see some lawyers, “do -you remember the first time I saw you, a little more than a year ago, at -aunt Madison’s?” - -“Remember? I wonder if I shall ever forget it, or what you said to those -three rich good-for-nothing”— - -“No,” broke in Mildred, “not ‘good-for-nothing,’ though I fear I thought -them so at the time. I fancy I must have spoken pretty savagely, didn’t -I?” Then, without waiting for an answer, she continued: “I felt sure, as -I thought it over afterwards, that they would hate me, that is, if they -took the trouble to think about me at all. But, do you know, I think it -really startled them into asking themselves some pretty plain questions. - -“It set them to thinking, and” —she continued with a laugh— “I verily -believe that I was in a measure the humble means of grace which brought -two of them to conviction of sin and led to their conversion. - -“Let me read to you part of a letter which cousin Will received and -which he forwarded to me,” said she, drawing an envelope from her -pocket. “It is from Ned Conro, the one with the blond mustache, you -remember. - -“He says,—let me see,”—and she glanced down the first page, and, turning -the leaf, read aloud:— - - “I began for the first time to do a little thinking that last six - months at Cambridge. - - “Somehow that cousin of yours had said something, that night I was at - your house, which kept running through my head and bothered me every - now and then. I began to wonder if I weren’t about as useless a lot as - a fellow with two millions in his own right and a prospective Harvard - sheepskin ever gets to be. - - “I had shirked all the work that I dared to. I divided my time, as you - know, pretty evenly between the Boston Theatre and Young’s Hotel. I - had no incentive to work, and did not propose to follow in your steps - and study a profession. I planned after I left college to go abroad - for some years. I had some vague notion of a trip to India and - tiger-hunting. At all events I meant to have good sport and plenty of - it too. - - “The last thing I thought of was giving up any fun to stay at home and - play the home missionary. But every time I had settled the matter - completely in my own mind, those stinging words of that girl would - come back and make my ears tingle:— - - “‘Oh, the last thing that you ever dream of is that you have a debt to - pay and are basely repudiating it.’ - - “I had thought that all poppycock when she said it, but when she got - her money and set to work practicing what she had preached, giving not - only her money but her whole time with her money, that just stumped - me. - - “One day I took up a New York paper giving an account of her great - library scheme. ‘There,’ said I, ‘Miss Brewster has done what no man I - ever heard of would have thought of doing.’ - - “A man, now, would have put up a stunning ten-million-dollar library, - with his name in gilt letters on the front of it. He would put half of - the money into the building and half of the remainder into rare books - which no one would look at once a year. It would be a grand thing, no - doubt, but how many people would it reach compared with those whom - Miss Brewster’s little libraries will stimulate and help? - - “Why, a library can change the future of a whole community! I tell - you, Miss Brewster has found where to sow her seed so that it will - bring forth a hundredfold. - - “I wondered what _I_ could do. I could throw away my money easily - enough, endow another chair at Harvard, erect another statue to some - one, build a hospital; but, after all, what was _I_ to do, provided - that I did anything? - - “Well, one day—it was Thursday afternoon—Mather said, ‘Conro, let’s go - into chapel and hear Brooks.’ So we went. I hadn’t been inside the - place for months. My set, you know, didn’t go in for that sort of - thing much. - - “Somehow, something Brooks said that afternoon stirred me up all over - again and set me to thinking. Mather and I didn’t say anything as we - came out, but I knew he too was thinking. - - “We started off on a walk, and after a while, as we tramped along down - past old John Harvard’s statue and on past the gymnasium, he threw - back his head and, clapping me on the shoulder, burst out, ‘I say, old - fellow, that man is a brick!’ - - “We turned down Craigie Street and sauntered on. Presently John Fiske - turned the corner and nodded in a jolly way over his glasses at us. - ‘Did you know, Conro,’ asked Mather, after we had passed out of - hearing, ‘that Fiske could read fifteen languages, and knew no end of - history and everything else, and had made his mark, before he was as - old as we are by some years?’ - - “I didn’t know it, but I hadn’t time to say so before I looked up and - saw just in front of us the gray beard and brown eyes of the man whom - I, for one, think to be the greatest poet America has ever had. - - “I had just got hold of Lowell last winter. Those lines of his which - Miss Brewster quoted to us had set me to looking him up, and I was - amazed to see how little I had known of his power. - - “Well, whether it was Miss Brewster, or Phillips Brooks, or these men, - the two best writers of English on the continent, and the thought of - what they had made their lives mean in the world of ideas, I don’t - know, but suddenly it all came over me, the thought of earnest lives - that stood for something, and my own confounded folly, and I broke out - for the first time: ‘I say, Mather, if a fellow has been a deuced fool - for the first twenty-two years of his life, what is he likely to be at - the end of the next twenty-two?’ - - “Mather evidently didn’t think that was a question which required an - answer, and we tramped along together in silence for a while longer. - Then he began, ‘Conro, didn’t what Brooks said to-day make you think - of that night last winter when that black-eyed girl over there at - Louisburg Square just laid us fellows out? - - “‘Gracious! how she did seem to take it all to heart, as if we had - committed the unpardonable sin, as Gordon said. Whew!—didn’t it make - him mad, though?—but—well—somehow I don’t know but she was more than - half right after all. - - “‘Some things she said have been running through my head lately: - “Never a time or place where heart and brains and hands could find - such work to do and reap such far-reaching results.... Everything has - been done for us, to be sure, but we can’t be expected to go out of - our way to see that it is passed along.”’ - - “Well, Madison, that was the beginning of it all; and then we talked, - and the long and short of it is, that Mather and I didn’t take long in - coming to the conclusion that if a fellow ever proposed to make - anything of himself, twenty-two or three wasn’t any too early to begin - to think about it. We mulled over it a while, until finally we struck - on a scheme. - - “Mather’s mother had come from the South, and he had some far-away - cousins there who had been the hottest kind of rebs. Perhaps that was - what suggested it to us; but at any rate we are in for it now, and - have given each other our word of honor to stick to it for three years - at least, and then—well, we shall see. - - “I had two millions and he eight hundred thousand. I have no family, - you know, and he has only married brothers and sisters; so we are free - on that score; and we have decided to put half of our fortunes into - buying up enough stock in a lot of Southern papers to give us - practical control of the country papers over a large area down here.” - -“He writes from some little town in Alabama,” said Mildred in -parenthesis. Then she continued: - - “We have brought with us five or six bright Harvard boys whom we know, - and whom we are going to work in as editors of dailies in strategic - places. Each fellow will also have general supervision of a dozen - small weekly papers scattered through the states here. - - “These papers form almost the sole outlook upon the world’s affairs - which the people down here ever get, and, with the exception of the - locals with which they are padded, are about as useful as Rollins’ - Ancient History. - - “Mather and I are hard at work studying local history and politics and - prejudices, and are planning some of the tallest kinds of innovations. - We haven’t shown our hand yet, of course, and it is generally - understood that we are here to invest in land. - - “Of course we shan’t make a cent out of it all—too many niggers, and - the whites are frightfully poor—can’t pay for and don’t want anything - better than they have; but, by Jove, if I don’t succeed in shaking up - some of these consummate old Bourbons down here by the end of the next - three years, then my name isn’t Edwin G. Conro!—that’s all. However, - they aren’t all such a bad lot.” - -“Well,” said Mildred, as she skimmed through the last page in silence -and slowly returned the letter to the envelope, “whether these aspiring -youths succeed in bringing the millennium down there by the time they -are twenty-five remains to be seen, but at all events they will learn -some things Harvard College has not yet taught them, and whether they -help those people much or not they have taken the first step to save -themselves.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - -“Mildred Brewster Everett, do you mean to say that you, a woman worth -your tens of millions, are going to come down to living again in a brick -block with little narrow rooms? Are you going to give up the splendid -library, the gallery of rare paintings, the grand music-room, the -conservatories and stables, and all the lovely things that you had -planned?” - -Mildred dropped her wax and seal, and turned from her writing-desk with -a gesture of mock despair, as I continued, somewhat vehemently and -without pausing for a reply:— - -“Have you forgotten all those magnificent halls, those terra-cottas and -mosaic floors and glorious painted windows? Think of the many times that -we have planned it all out, the baronial fireplaces with the spreading -elk antlers overhead, and the big tiger-skin rugs; and then the cosy, -cushioned window-seats and quaintly carved lattices, the great organ -with golden pipes, and the high, wind-swept turrets with winding stairs! - -“Last spring you were planning to bring all this about when the tenement -houses and more necessary things should be under way, and now,” I -continued crossly, “to think of your fancying that you are too poor to -build a beautiful house for yourself, when you have money enough to buy -houses for every one else!” - -I think that Mildred had a passion for noble architecture. Her keen eyes -would detect beauties or incongruities where my untrained sight -perceived nothing. - -“If a man writes a bad poem, I am not compelled to read it; if he paints -a bad picture, I need not see it more than once,” she was wont to say; -“but if he erects an ugly building in my city he hurts me every time I -walk the street, and I am helpless.” - -“When constructive beauty costs no more than this fantastic ugliness, -why must such an absurdity be inflicted upon a long-suffering public?” -she once asked in despair, as we were contemplating an expensive -monument to architectural stupidity. And she never tempered her scorn -when railing at the angular, parti-colored houses, run mad in the -direction of ostentatious eccentricities, which are fast displacing the -simple white dwellings with green blinds that, as she once declared, “at -least have the merit of being modest and wholesome, and do not outrage -all one’s sense of the fitness of things.” - -“Wait until I build my house; then you shall see,” she would exclaim, -with a decided little nod which carried the conviction, to one listener -at least, that she would some time show what money and brains combined -could do towards creating an ideal home. - -Many an hour, when driving about together, we had amused ourselves, in -the intervals of serious work, in planning the charming mansion which -she would build, and she had entered into it all with great zest. - -“My idea of a house,” she had said, “is to have it even more beautiful -without than within, so that every line may be a positive delight to the -many who can never look within its doors. Think what a boon to the -thousands who never step inside a church are those Back Bay towers and -steeples which I used to see from my attic window on the hill. - -“A poor man has no money for a concert of good music; he has no time for -a visit to an art museum to see a good picture or statue, or to go to a -library to read a great poem; but in sunlight and in moonlight, seven -days in the week, as he looks from his window or passes to his work, the -beauty wrought in stone is his; it costs him neither time nor money, and -consciously or unconsciously it appeals to him. His life is larger and -richer for it. - -“A walk across the Public Garden on a winter afternoon, with that -campanile and the spires near it looming large and dark against the -crimson glow in the west, has made me fresh and strong after many a -tired day,” she used to say. - -So it was settled that when the walls of the House Beautiful should be -reared, the first thought should be, not for its inmates, but for the -countless unknown passers-by. - -Then the next requirement was that it should have ample room for the -many guests whom its hospitable mistress would always have around her. -There was to be air and sunshine everywhere, and nothing too fine for -constant use. - -Unlike most women, Mildred had little fancy for beauty of the fragile -sort. Exquisitely painted sèvres which a careless touch might shiver to -atoms; cobweb lace that had cost the eyesight and health of other women; -tapestry which had swallowed up years of another’s life, only to be -inferior to a painting, and become food for moths,—all this she -obstinately refused to have. - -“I want beautiful things about me,” she said; “but beauty that is so -perishable as to be a constant care to the owner, or else to entail an -army of servants, is a luxury which I think no rational being can -afford. I shall have everything rich and strong and yet simple; there -shall be no satin, gilded-legged chairs, no elaborate dust-catching -carvings; no draperies and carpets that cannot bear the sun; but there -shall be noble statues, pictures by great masters, luxurious rugs and -divans, glorious color from jewelled windows and precious, many-hued -marbles. I do not want a palace with dreary suites of high-studded rooms -and frescoed ceilings, and I do not want a house that is nothing but a -crowded museum of bric-à-brac, like so many I see. No; my house shall be -a stately mansion with far-seeing towers and turrets, with cosy, -low-studded rooms and wainscoted walls, with pillared arcades and richly -carved stone balconies. All Spain and Venice and Nuremberg shall be -studied for hints of beauty, and it shall be a home, a perfectly ideal -American home; beautiful without and within; built to stand while -generations come and go, graced by children, pets, and flowers, and the -charming society of noble men and women.” - -Where this home was to be built had not yet been decided. Sometimes -Mildred would in imagination place it on some smooth, green slope on the -banks of the Hudson; sometimes among the elms on some hilltop -overlooking the golden dome on Beacon Hill, with a glimpse of blue sea -and white sails on the far horizon beyond. - -Of course I was to have the fun of helping to plan about it all, and -Mildred was to bring home hosts of treasures from Europe after her -sojourn abroad. But now, this morning, all this dream of the beauty that -was to be had been ended by what Mildred had been saying. - -“I have settled one hundred thousand dollars on Ralph,” she had said, -“for his own personal use. He would not accept any more, and I have -decided to set apart for myself the same sum. The interest on two -hundred thousand dollars ought, I think, to provide all the travel and -luxuries that two reasonable mortals need; and the rest of the money -which I had at first thought of spending on myself we are going to -devote to several things, rather better worth doing than building a -house, which not one in a hundred thousand could afford to maintain -after we have gone.” - -“But, Mildred,” I expostulated, “you have always asserted that it was -right to encourage art; that it was folly to refuse to buy a picture or -a jewel just because there were still starving people in existence -somewhere. I have heard you say repeatedly that money thus spent gave -employment to labor, encouraged art, and”— - -“Yes,” she interrupted, “that is true in a certain way, no doubt; but -listen: I have been thinking this over a great deal of late. Suppose now -that I spend half a million or so in employing a certain number of -people to make and furnish a magnificent house. Grant that it is a real -work of art, and will be a thing of beauty and a joy forever. My husband -and a score of friends and I enjoy it; the workmen are paid; ‘art is -encouraged.’ - -“Now suppose again that, instead of erecting an expensively beautiful -house for myself, I employ the same number of people to provide a -beautiful building which shall be for the use, in the course of its -existence, of scores of thousands whose eyes are inured to ugliness and -into whose lives a bit of beauty rarely comes. - -“Suppose that the spacious marble staircases, the tiles and wood -carvings and painted windows, are put where they shall awaken the -imagination and delight the soul of tired mothers and little children -who have known nothing beyond their narrow alley and grimy chimney-pots; -of girls who stand all day before a machine, or over a hot stove, and -who spend their money for the bits of tawdry finery which are the -nearest approach to beauty that their means can compass? Which building -would encourage art the most, think you? - -“Why, Ruby,” said Mildred, wheeling around from her desk, while I stood -opposing to her ardor a face of grim discontent; “do you fancy that I -could sit in my great, palatial house, remembering the sights that I -have seen this year in the one-roomed sod houses on bleak Western -prairies, in the dingy, cheerless cabins of the colored people at the -South, and in the vile-smelling tenements of this great city, and -satisfy my soul by saying that I gave employment to the men who did this -work for me? - -“Could I honestly call myself in any sense a follower of Him who had not -where to lay his head, and know that this wealth of beauty was kept for -me and a dozen or so cultivated people who need it scarcely more than I, -while a thousand beauty-loving natures were starving who might be fed by -my superabundance?” - -“Mildred, you are positively morbid,” I exclaimed, thoroughly vexed. “To -be sure, no one has a right to be selfish, to think of himself -first,—but that you have not done. You planned your house in the -beginning for the pleasure of others far more than for yourself. You -meant to make your home a perfect retreat for all the poor artists and -students and broken-down teachers that it could hold, and I say you are -making a great mistake if you think that you are going to serve humanity -better by building a big art museum down at the Mulberry Bend for the -benefit of the ragpickers and stevedores, than by giving the hospitality -of such a home as yours would be to those to whom it would be a rest and -an inspiration.” - -Mildred laughed heartily as I paused, and dropping upon the hassock -beside me, she drew me close to her, while I prepared to renew my -expostulations. - -“Not so fast, my dear,” she said, forestalling me. “Pray don’t imagine -that I am bereft of my senses, and propose to reform the slums by giving -them free access to a gallery of casts from the antique. It would -require a small army of policemen and scrubbing-women to preserve it in -decent condition, if the rabble were admitted indiscriminately, and I do -not propose to give people that form of beauty which they do not want -and could not possibly appreciate.” - -“But you blame all the rich, who, no matter how much they may give away, -still reserve enough to buy steam yachts and build fine houses and -indulge their æsthetic tastes to the extent of one thirtieth of their -fortune,” I said pettishly. - -“No,” said Mildred, slowly; “I do not blame them. I am not their judge. -I cannot speak for others: it is right, more than that, it is necessary, -that man should create beauty, for he cannot live by bread alone. - -“But I cannot help feeling that the beauty should be for all; should be -where all may see and enjoy it. The old Greeks were right about that, -when the temples, the agora, the gymnasia were consecrated to beauty, -and it was the glory of the rich to minister to the state and not spend -lavish sums in collecting private treasures. - -“No, dear. Once I thought to have all that was rich and fine, and that -could delight the eye, around me in my own home. I felt that I had a -right to it, provided that I thought of others first and most. But now I -see things differently. I wonder that I ever could have been so selfish. - -“Yes, Ruby,” she added, almost sternly, as she saw my look of protest, -“it was selfishness. I meant, in spite of all my giving, to sacrifice -nothing. But I have been trying these last few months,—yes, since that -time last summer when my power to make life better for others seemed -about to be forever taken from me,—I have been trying, and Ralph has -helped me, oh, so much, to look at all this short life of ours in its -beginning here on this little planet, as I shall look back upon it with -the eyes of eternity, when it has all gone into the irrevocable past. -How will it seem then, little sister, when all our foolish ambitions and -traditions and false social standards have been swept away? Shall I be -glad or sorry then, do you think, to remember that the one talent which -was placed in my hands was used to its utmost, that nothing was withheld -but what was needed to make me the better fitted for my work? Ah, when -my naked soul shall stand before the judgment bar of its own conscience -and the moral law, and hears the sentence, ‘This ought ye to have done, -and not to have left the other undone,’ what shall I plead in excuse?” - -Mildred’s voice had sunk almost to a whisper, and her eyes were filled -with unshed tears. We did not speak for a few moments. I felt a lump -rising in my throat and could only choke it down while I stroked the -dear head that lay warm against my arm. My foolish questionings were -stilled. The clear insight of this simple, true-hearted woman had -pierced through and through my flimsy protests, and I sat awed and -abashed. Presently she went on in her natural, common-sense way to -explain more definitely what she meant. - -“I mean to make a little more beauty in this world, if I can,” she said, -“and accomplish some more important things as well; but the art of all -arts which I shall try to learn and teach is the one which we Americans -most need to study, the art of simple living. - -“I shall have the pictures and the books, the statues and the music that -I love; but what matters it whether they are all in my own home or not, -or whether or not I seek them in galleries open to all alike? Not until -our glaring, stony streets are made less dreary by more trees and -fountains and statues, not until there is a little beauty for every one, -can I claim the moral right to spend a fortune on Meissoniers or ancient -Satsuma, for my own private delight. - -“For a long time I have been thinking of what could bring the greatest -stimulus and joy into the lives of the wretched poor in our great city; -the washerwomen and truckmen and foul-mouthed, dirty little street -_gamins_ whose highest bliss is reached with the attainment of a full -stomach and the sight of a street fight or a circus procession. It would -be folly to give them money outright; but here in amusements, just as I -have found it in regard to tenement houses and everything else, -coöperation is the key to success. - -“The gift of a Peabody Museum or a Hemenway Gymnasium does not offend -the pride or help to pauperize the Harvard student, nor do the Lowell -lectures make the most cultivated people of Boston count themselves -recipients of charity when they crowd the hall to hear Professor Morse -talk about Japanese pottery, or the Englishman Haweis discourse on -music. Money given like that, in a large way, in the enjoyment of which -all unite, never does the harm that the gift to the individual would -surely do. - -“Now, I propose to set up a counter-attraction to the delights of the -saloon and the dance-hall and the street; and I shall put it right where -it is most needed. There shall be one substantial, clean, beautiful -building, a beacon light of beauty and delight in a square mile of -dinginess and discomfort. - -“It shall be of brick, and I shall enjoin upon my architect to show what -beautiful lines and arches can be wrought in simple material. In a -street of ugly straight lines and right angles, this shall stand as an -object-lesson in the power of creating perpetual pleasure to the eye by -such simple devices as the substitution of the curve for the straight -line over door and window. - -“Then within there shall be a dozen immense rooms connected by -folding-doors, with sand heaps and swings and blocks for the delight of -the gutter child, too old to be in the cradle and too young to be in -school. From morning until night, if he behaves himself, he shall be -sheltered and warm and happy under the charge of some good woman. At -night these rooms shall be filled with older boys and girls learning the -use of tools, sawing, planing, hammering, and finding it better fun to -vent their energies in manufacturing something which they can take home -for their own use than in playing tag around the ash-barrels on the -corner.” - -“What, would you have boys and girls together?” I asked. - -“Certainly,” said Mildred; “they would be together on the street, and -why not here?” - -“But what is the use of a girl learning carpentering?” I asked. “I -should think she might much better learn sewing. Besides, girls can’t do -it, and I don’t believe they would like to, if they could.” - -“In regard to that, you don’t know those girls so well as I do. They -will sit by a smoky lamp in a close room and grow round-shouldered and -near-sighted in crocheting edging and working blue cats on cardboard; -but as to plain sewing, they think it a bore. After a day at school or -in the shop they don’t want to sit demurely on a bench and ‘backstitch’ -and sew ‘over and over.’ Then, too, a course in carpentry would do more -for them physically than a course at the gymnasium. There is no danger -that city girls will not walk enough at all times; what they lack is -development of arms and chest. Moreover, this is not an experiment. I -once visited a summer class in carpentering for girls at the Tennyson -Street school in Boston, and I can assure you I haven’t forgotten the -neat book-racks and little tables those girls of fourteen were making -for themselves, nor the good time they were having in doing it, either. -Such muscle as they were developing! However, there can be cooking -classes and sewing classes too, if they want them, though my House -Beautiful is not to be primarily a manual training school. The city may -provide that for the child; but I want to do what it cannot do, and that -is to give innocent amusement and a bit of beauty to lives that know -nothing of it. - -“So above these rooms is to be a great auditorium arranged like an -amphitheatre, and capable of seating comfortably three thousand people. -There shall be no cushions, and no need of them, for every seat shall be -planned with reference to the human figure, and will require no padding -to insure absolute comfort. - -“There shall be a golden-piped organ and ‘storied windows richly dight,’ -not casting a ‘dim religious light,’ but shedding warm, rich color upon -the thousand shabby coats and shawls gathered from the alleys and street -corners of a Sunday afternoon. Every night in the week, and all day on -Sunday, this is to be opened free to every man or woman who wants to sit -in a comfortable seat, see interesting pictures, hear sweet music, and -give tired nerves and body a respite from the noise and confusion of the -tenement and street.” - -“And what do you propose to give them,—symphony concerts, or Stoddard -lectures?” - -“Neither,” answered Mildred calmly, ignoring my attempt at sarcasm, -“though you have touched my idea. I mean to give them something as -nearly like it as possible. - -“There shall be simple talks on every conceivable subject that could -interest them which admits of illustration by the stereopticon. By the -aid of great pictures thrown upon the screen they shall travel over land -and sea. Then there shall be story nights, when a clear-voiced student -from the school of oratory will read stories to them. Think what it -would be to these men and women, half of whom cannot read or write, to -whose minds the facts of history and geography have no meaning, whose -knowledge of life is limited to a little village in the Old Country, a -steerage passage, and the crowded slums of New York; think what it would -be to them to step from the cold and dinginess without into a brilliant, -beautiful hall, with warmth and light and comfort insured for one hour -at least out of the twenty-four; and then to sit and listen to the -charming story of Little Lord Fauntleroy, or Robinson Crusoe, or to -thrilling stories of exploration and adventures. - -“The story or lecture shall last no more than an hour, as their -attention must be held, so that they will want to come again. Then those -who have heard enough may go, if they wish, and make room for others to -come in to listen to a half-hour concert. There will be no Brahm’s -symphonies, but there will be cornet solos of such classics as the -‘Swanee River,’ and ‘Home! Sweet Home!’ and a select orchestra of half a -dozen pieces will render Strauss waltzes, airs from ‘Pinafore,’ and the -like. - -“On Sunday, all day long, there shall be services of song led by the -great organ and a trained chorus. Not oratorio music, though a Handel -Largo or a ‘Lift Thine Eyes’ might sometimes be ventured on; but simple -devout church music, in which all who can may join. - -“Of course no preaching would be advisable, else the priests would -rapidly diminish the audience; but all the power of music shall be -brought to bear to uplift and beautify these poor, pinched lives and -bring a glimpse of sweetness and light into the prosaic details of their -daily struggle for existence. - -“The Romish church has always been wise enough to see the power of music -in swaying the emotions of the masses. It is time that we learned a -lesson from it.” - -“What shall you do with your other rooms on Sunday? Shall you let them -be vacant or permit the carpentering by the boys to go on below, while -their elders are hearing the music in the great hall above?” - -“Neither,” answered Mildred. The rooms shall all be open, but not for -work. The tables and tools will have disappeared, and settees will take -their places. In one room will be perhaps a debating club of young men, -discussing the last strike, and finding this a pleasanter place to meet -for that purpose than the street corner or the saloon. In the next room -will be a set of children clustered around a young lady who comes down -from Fifth Avenue and gives her Sunday evenings regularly to telling -stories to them. She is not a creature of my imagination, either, Ruby. -Last week I met her at a friend’s house. She came in flushed and radiant -from an hour’s romp with the children in the nursery. ‘I believe my one -talent must be story-telling,’ she said, as the children appeared on the -scene clamoring after her; and her mother fondly said, ‘Ah, there are no -stories like sister Helen’s, all the children think.’ - -“‘So,’ I thought, ‘that is just the girl I want. Her talent shall find a -larger field for development; she shall tell stories to forty children -instead of four.’ I told her my plan, and she almost cried with delight. -‘Oh, Mrs. Everett, do you really think that I could do any good in that -way? I never dreamed of it, and I should be so glad. I’ve always felt as -if I wanted to do something, but mamma won’t let me visit in the -Charities. She says I am too young. My eyes won’t admit of my reading to -the blind or sewing for the poor, and I began to think there wasn’t -anything that I could do.’ - -“I tell you, Ruby, I am finding every day dozens of girls like her, who -are only waiting for some one to say, ‘This is what you can do; here is -your work; here is the place; and here are the ones who need you.’ I am -beginning to learn that the putting of the right person in the right -place is the main thing, after all. The best thing that my money can do -is to make it possible for those who can give, to find those who need -just what they can give. - -“I shall find not only one charming story-teller, but a score, who will -meet their circles of little street Arabs week after week and month -after month, and if they are half as pretty and entertaining as the girl -I know, you may rest assured those youngsters will count it a privilege -to come. - -“Not every one will be admitted; a clean face and hands and good -behavior will be the prerequisite for retaining the ticket of membership -to all the classes. Then in another room will be a class of young people -listening to an emergency lecture, given by some bright, young medical -student, who will arouse their interest by objective illustrations, such -as the bandaging of sham wounds and the resuscitating of a person -supposed to be drowned. - -“In still another room, perhaps, some one will be reading the newspapers -aloud to a score of men who are enjoying their pipes. - -“All the rooms will be filled with men, women, and children, from nine -o’clock in the morning until ten at night; one set coming as another -goes; and each having one hour at least, in the day of rest, which shall -open to him a little larger outlook on life, and shall give him -something to look forward to through the six days of drudgery. - -“Of course all this will require a system and a plan; but I shall have -as few officials and as few restraints as possible. A neat, white-capped -woman, with her badge of authority, will, I think, be quite as efficient -as a big policeman; for any unseemly behavior will result in the -immediate surrender of the numbered metal check which will serve as a -card of entrance; and when admission is recognized as a privilege it -will be coveted. - -“No one will stay away because he is too shabby to come, and no one will -be made to feel that he has no right or share in it all; but every week -twenty-five thousand men, women, and children shall have one or two -hours of peace and happiness offered them, just because,—think of it, -Ruby,—just because I did not build the House Beautiful for myself.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - “And whether we shall meet again I know not, - Therefore our everlasting farewell take.” - JULIUS CÆSAR. - - -The days sped away all too fast, crowded full of work and talk and -earnest thought. I entered eagerly into all of Mildred’s plans; she -always knew that she could rely on me to do that, in spite of the -protestations and objections with which I generally greeted the first -announcement of each new scheme. I think she rather liked my objecting, -as it gave her so fine an opportunity to state her case clearly and -triumph over all obstacles. - -“Do be charitable and indulge my garrulous propensities a little,” she -would laughingly plead. “You may congratulate yourself that I was not -born a man,—such a stump orator as I should have made, with all my -hobbies!” - -In spite of her gayety and happiness, however, I could see that the -strain of attending to multitudes of things was beginning to tell, even -on her apparently boundless strength. The day before the last she was -with her lawyers, signing last papers, seeing that nothing was -neglected, no one forgotten. In the evening there was a farewell -reception for hosts of friends, at which all good-byes were said. - -“I want no one but you to see me sail, Ruby dear,” she said; and so the -hour of her departure was not announced. They had planned, first of all, -a sailing voyage to the West Indies, and thence they were to go to -Spain. - -“I can’t bear Europe just yet,” said Mildred. “I want to put letters, -despatches, and newspapers even, out of reach for a few weeks; to forget -immigrants, cooking schools, tenement houses, libraries, and lawyers, -and all the several problems that have been besetting me these last -bewilderingly busy months. - -“I must get time to stop and think. I want to sail idly through purple -tropic seas; to skirt the green shores of volcanic islands; I want to -feel for the time being that I have banished conscience and -responsibility; in fact,” she added, laughing, “I want to become a pagan -for a while, if I can.” - -“The most sensible thing that I ever heard you say,” I remarked with -decision. “If there ever was a girl who has earned a vacation, it is -you.” - -They were going on the Nanepashemet, manned by Captain Roberts, a -weather-beaten seaman of Marblehead, who twenty years ago had dandled -the little Mildred on his knee. He now counted it the greatest honor of -his life that she had not forgotten him, and that he had been invited to -take this bonny bride on his plain little sailing vessel. - -“Why, jest think of it, Miss,” he proudly remarked to me, “she might -jest as easy hev bought one of them crack steam yachts with fancy -fixins, and have gone in reg’lar Vanderbilt style. But it’s jest like -her, jest like her. She wa’n’t never one of the kind to make a splurge. -I knew when she got her money ’twouldn’t turn her head.” - -One day Ralph and I had been down to inspect the craft and attend to -certain alterations in the cabin which were to be made for the -accommodation of the two passengers, when the captain grew quite -communicative on his favorite theme. - -“I knew that little chick ’ud make something when she wa’n’t no higher -than that,” he remarked, holding his brown, tattooed hand about three -feet above the deck. - -“I didn’t cal’late on her turnin’ out so mighty rich, of course,” he -continued, meditatively, leaning against the rail and evidently pleased -to find an appreciative listener, “but I allus knew, by the way the -little thing kep’ askin’ questions about everything under heaven, that -she’d got a headpiece on her that ’ud make things spin one o’ these -days. Full o’ fun, too. She could swim like a duck, and row a boat with -them little pipe-stem arms of hers, and yet—wal—she was sort o’ -pious-like too, and allus askin’ me to tell her about my trips to the -East Injies, and whether I see any women a-throwin’ their babies to -crocodiles and a-bowin’ down to idols of wood and stone. - -“‘I tell you, Cap’n Roberts,’ that little thing ’ud say, a-settin’ there -in my boat, when her ma let me take her out,—‘I tell you, when I get to -be a grown-up woman I’m goin’ out there and just teach those people -better.’ - -“‘Did you ever hear about Judson?’ says she. ‘No,’ says I; ‘was he a -sea-cap’n?’ - -“‘He was a missionary,’ says she, real solemn; ‘a missionary; and that’s -what I’m going to be; and you’ll take me out there in your ship, won’t -you, cap’n?’ says she. ‘And oh, I’m goin’ to take a whole trunk full of -story-books for all those poor little girls that have to get married and -don’t have any.’ - -“Wal, wal,” he continued, as he filled his pipe, “she begun it young, ’n -I warn’t a mite surprised when I heerd she’d got her money and see what -she was a-beginnin’ to do for those nasty Italians down to the Mulberry -Bend. She never forgits anybody, Millie don’t. Excuse me, I s’pose I -orter say Mis’ Everett now. She’s been a-talkin’ to me about the -sailors; says when we git out to sea she wants a long talk with me about -’em; wants to know what they read, and everything of that sort.” - -“And that is the way she proposes to turn pagan,” I soliloquized. - -The last day had come, and we were on board the ship. Mildred, in her -long, gray ulster and bright steamer hood, paced the deck arm in arm -with me, taking her last look at the bridge, the towers and spires, the -bronze goddess looming up against the blue, and all the dear, familiar -sights. The sky was cloudless; the soft south-wind gently swelled the -white sails overhead; the sea, the fawning, treacherous sea, shone -brilliantly in the golden sunlight and seemed to murmur caressingly in -our ears, as if to beguile us to forget its cruel power hidden for the -time under this shining mask. - -We paced up and down in silence, breaking it now and then by trying to -say the last words, which were so hard to speak. Ralph had kindly gone -below, ostensibly to look after a hamper of fruit. There was a lump in -my throat; I could not speak. - -How was it that this woman, whom I had met but little more than a year -ago, had come to be nearer to me than any kith or kin? Life had -broadened, had grown rich, since her life had come into mine. In my -little narrow routine, fashioned according to the demands of society and -its conventionalities, I had never before dreamed of its possibilities. - -Mildred tried to talk, but I could not answer. At last, breaking down -completely, I sobbed out, “Oh, Mildred, Mildred, I _cannot_ let you go. -I have no one in the wide world but you. You will never, never come -back.” - -I had meant to be brave and not to sadden these last moments by my -selfish grief, but a sudden premonition of evil had taken hold of me. I -was not superstitious, but I felt a convulsive clutch at my heart as I -looked up into her beautiful dark eyes through the mist in my own. - -“Don’t be morbid, darling,” said she, trying to speak cheerfully, and -drawing my arm closer in her embrace. But her voice sounded to me -strange and far away. - -“There are few women ever blessed with such a sister as you have been to -me,” she said tenderly. “You alone among women have made me feel this -last year that you loved me for myself, and would have loved me just the -same were I the lonely teacher among my books instead of a favored, -flattered, rich woman. Others have given me adulation, you have given me -love. And now, dear, that you may know that I know how real a sister you -have been to me, until we meet again wear this for me.” - -I saw the red gleam of the rare jewel in her white hand, as over my -finger, held in her own warm grasp, she slipped the ruby ring, her dead -sister’s ring which I had always seen her wear. - -I said no word of thanks. I scarcely realized what she had done. I was -dumb with the misery of those moments—a death’s-knell seemed sounding in -my ears. - -We paced on again in silence, letting the precious moments pass. -Presently she said, as if in reply to the wild outburst of emotion which -had passed and left me numb and speechless, “Yes, dear, it may be as you -fear. Whether we meet again, God only knows. But whether it be you or I -that goes first into the great wonderful Beyond, of which we have so -often talked, I think we shall not be sorry, we shall not be afraid. - - “‘For from the things we see - We trust the things to be, - That in the paths untrod, - And the long days of God, - Our feet shall still be led, - Our hearts be comforted.’ - -“But life is sweet, oh, so sweet. I want to live, there is so much to -do,” said Mildred earnestly. Yet in a moment she added, hastily, “But -what folly for me to fancy that _I_ am needed to do the work. - - “‘Others shall sing the song, - Others shall right the wrong, - Finish what I begin, - And all I fail of, win.’” - -We said no more, but still paced the deck together, looking at sea and -shore and sunny sky, finding no words to tell of all that was in our -hearts. - -At last the signal was given, and the tug that was to carry me back to -the city steamed alongside. I knew that the moment of parting had come, -and, like an exile summoning all his fortitude to help him take bravely -the last step across the border line which divides him from home and -country, I said, calmly, “Well, dear,— - - “‘If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; - If not, why, then, this parting were well made.’” - -I felt her warm, red lips against my cheek. I heard Ralph’s strong “God -bless and keep you, little sister,” and then, almost before I knew it, I -had slipped over the vessel’s side, and they were gone. I saw them wave -a last adieu. I saw, as in a dream, the white-winged ship, bearing its -precious freight, sail out into the dazzling east, over the dimpling -sea, the shimmering, golden sea, the cruel, cruel sea. - - -There is no more to tell. The world knows the rest. Seven days of calm -weather, and then from the coral reefs of the southern sea to the rocky -headlands of the north, the storm-king raged. Madly the fierce Atlantic -lashed its waves on cliff and beach and sunken ledge, sending dumb -terror to the hearts that had seen their loved ones go down unto the sea -in ships. - -Somewhere on that wild waste of waters, whether in the chill, gray dawn -or in midnight blackness, amid the lightning’s flash and thunder’s -peal,—God only knows,—a little ship went down. And when the sharp, swift -summons came, two brave hearts went forth together into the great -Unseen, knowing of a surety that this, thank God, was not the end—only -the end of the beginning. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in - spelling. - 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. - 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - 4. 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font-weight:bold; } - .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } -</style> - </head> - <body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memoirs of a millionaire, by Lucia True Ames</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Memoirs of a millionaire</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Lucia True Ames</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 1, 2023 [eBook #69678]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF A MILLIONAIRE ***</div> - -<div class='tnotes covernote'> - -<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> - -<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class='titlepage'> - -<div> - <h1 class='c001'>MEMOIRS OF A MILLIONAIRE</h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>BY</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='xlarge'>LUCIA TRUE AMES</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'>AUTHOR OF “GREAT THOUGHTS FOR LITTLE THINKERS”</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i_title.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>BOSTON AND NEW YORK</div> - <div>HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY</div> - <div><span class='blackletter'>The Riverside Press, Cambridge</span></div> - <div>1889</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div><span class='small'>Copyright, 1889,</span></div> - <div><span class='small'><span class='sc'>By</span> LUCIA TRUE AMES.</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'><em>All rights reserved.</em></span></div> - <div class='c002'><span class='small'><em>The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.</em></span></div> - <div><span class='small'>Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div>Dedicated</div> - <div class='c003'>TO</div> - <div class='c003'>MY ONLY BROTHER, CHARLES H. AMES.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>Written for all men and women to whom the privilege of American -citizenship has been vouchsafed, and to whom the stewardship of -wealth has been entrusted.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/i_003.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> - <h2 class='c006'>EDITOR’S PREFACE.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Since the recent death of the noble woman whose -name has become a household word all over our -land, and whose memoirs form the subject of this -volume, I have been repeatedly importuned to give -to the public some account of her remarkable life.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It is too soon yet to present an adequate biography, -and for such a task I should consider myself -entirely unfitted. I have, however, endeavored, -though somewhat hastily, to put together such material, -chiefly selections from newspaper reports, -letters, and diaries, as shall throw light upon the -numerous projects that were the outcome of her -thought and generosity, and which in certain ways -are unparalleled in the annals of those whose -wealth has been devoted to the cause of humanity.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Cut off in the full ripeness of early womanhood, -her work was nevertheless accomplished, and millions -shall in the ages to come reap perennial harvests -from the seed which in one short year her -wisdom and foresight sowed far and wide.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>The world at large will know somewhat of her -work; but only to those who knew her best, to -whom she revealed the warmth and intensity of -her strong nature, can the full beauty of her life -be known.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The constant, subtle charm of her manner, now -gracious and dignified, now unconsciously naive -and simple, only a master could portray. I must -content myself, therefore, with giving, in simplest -words, but a few of the many reminiscences that -memory brings back of those moments which may -serve to make clear the thoughts and purposes that -were the mainspring of all her action, and which -made her what she was, the noblest woman I have -ever known.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have hesitated about using the word “Memoirs” -in the title of this volume. That word has a -somewhat doleful and funereal sound, suggestive -of anything but the bright, vigorous life of her -who was so intensely warm and alive. But perhaps -there is no other word that so well expresses what -I have here put together, and so I leave it as I -wrote it first, “Memoirs of a Millionaire.”</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Boston</span>, <em>June 7, 189–</em>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div>MEMOIRS OF A MILLIONAIRE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> -<p class='c008'>The class of which I speak make themselves merry without -duties. They sit in decorated club-houses in the cities, and burn -tobacco and play whist; in the country they sit idle in stores and -bar-rooms, and burn tobacco, and gossip and sleep. They complain -of the flatness of American life; America has no illusions, -no romance. They have no perception of its destiny. They are -not Americans.—<span class='sc'>Emerson</span>, <cite>The Fortune of the Republic</cite>.</p> - -<p class='c007'>It was on the evening of election day that I -first saw her. I had come up from Salem to -Boston, to spend the night and hear Booth and -Barrett the next day, and I had gone to dine at -aunt Madison’s on Louisburg Square.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The lamps had not been lighted, and we were all -sitting cosily around the open grate after dinner, -talking over the <i><span lang="fr">matinée</span></i>, and jesting with two or -three of Will’s college friends who were there for -the evening, when the portière was noiselessly -drawn aside, and Mildred Brewster came in with a -cheery good evening.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I can recall now just how she looked, as, after -the introductions were over, she stood leaning on -the back of aunt Madison’s chair, with the ruddy -<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>glow of the firelight on her face, and her lithe -figure dimly outlined against the shadowy background.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I did not notice her much at first, for, after her -blithe greeting, on seeing strangers she had drawn -back into the shadow and sat so quietly that I, -carrying on a gay banter with the young men, -had almost forgotten her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I do not remember what was said at first. It -did not make much impression on me at the time, -until, after a while, the talk grew a little more -serious, and the young men began to speak of their -plans for the future. They were all seniors, and -each of them, except Will, had plenty of money -in his own right, with apparently nothing in life -more burdensome to do than to draw checks and -order dinners at Young’s.</p> - -<p class='c005'>They were a handsome trio, broad-chested, keen-eyed, -clad in the daintiest of linen from Noyes -Brothers,—“the jolliest swells in the class,” Will -called them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Aunt Madison asked them, apropos of the election, -how they had voted, for they were all residents -of Boston and had passed their majority. -They were evidently rather amused at the query, -but each and all politely replied that they hadn’t -much enthusiasm about voting, and it having been -a rainy day, they had not taken the trouble to go -to the polls.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You see, the fact is,” said the young man with -the blonde mustache whom Will called Ned Conro, -“voting is a confounded bore, any way.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>“But of course you have an interest in national -politics, if not in municipal affairs?” said aunt -Madison, inquiringly, as she looked up from her -knitting and beamed benevolently at the young -man through her gold-bowed spectacles. “I suppose -you young men at Harvard, with all your -study of history and political economy, are wide -awake about all these things.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, we talk free trade and protection more or -less, that is, the fellows did who took that course -of study last year. I don’t go in for that sort of -thing myself very much; my money isn’t in manufactures, -and I don’t care a continental about the -tariff one way or the other. And as for politics,—of -course we all go in for the hurrah and fun in -a presidential campaign, but I don’t look forward -to doing anything further in that line after I graduate. -It is all well enough for any one who has a -fancy for it and who wants to run for office, and -that sort of thing. But there can’t be more than -two senators and one governor in a state at a time, -and anything less than that isn’t worth the trouble.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I’ve mighty little respect for any man who -condescends to be a ward politician. Boston is an -Irish city, after all, though last year some of the -better class got their blood up and had a clearing -out; but the game isn’t worth the candle, and I, -for one, am willing to let the Irish go the whole -figure if they wish to do it. We can’t get rid of -them, and it doesn’t pay to mix up with them. I -don’t propose to vote to have my father, or any -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>other gentleman of good old New England stock, -sit beside some liquor-seller or grocer as common -councilman or alderman.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Neither do I,” ejaculated my <i><span lang="fr">vis-à-vis</span></i>, whom -Will had introduced as Mr. Mather; “a fellow -who begins to bother his head about all these little -twopenny municipal affairs only soils his hands -for his pains, and doesn’t improve matters one -atom. It’s well enough to vote if one wants to, -but what does a single vote amount to? It counts -no more when cast by a Harvard professor than by -some South Cove ‘Mick.’ Suppose Mr. Smith and -Mr. Brown are up for school committee; you don’t -know a thing about either of them, except that -they are nominated by a set of rummies and demagogues, -or else by a lot of women or pious temperance -cranks. You are a professional man and -your time is worth ten dollars an hour,—you -don’t care a fig about the whole school committee -business anyway; it’s the women’s affair—they -can vote on that. Let them turn out and manage -it as they did last year, if they want to; but you -can’t expect a man to look after these matters, and -be elbowed and hooted down at the caucuses, if he -has the tastes of a gentleman and all the responsibilities -of a profession or a large business on his -shoulders.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The fact is that in municipal matters the ballot -ought to be put on a property basis, and until -that is done, I shall bother myself precious little -about it,” remarked the third young gentleman, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>twirling his seal and addressing his three feminine -listeners.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I wondered why Mildred’s cheeks had grown so -rosy and why her dark eyes had such a gleam in -them as she laid down the bit of embroidery on -which her fingers had been busy, and turned toward -the speaker. “What a profile!” I thought; -“almost pure Greek, only the chin is a little too -square.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The truth is,” the young man continued, “we -have no great men now and no great issues, unless -you call all this frenzy about the school question a -great issue. We’ve got to come to see that the -government has no right to tax its citizens to teach -history, anyway. It’s an imposition to tax a man -to send some one else’s child to a high school. Let -the state give a child the three R’s, and then if -he wants to learn about Tetzel or Luther, let his -father pay to have him taught in his own way. -Politics is no profession for a young man. There’s -no great amount of money in it, unless you’re -mighty shrewd, and tricky, too; and as for fame, -the man must be pretty thick-skinned who can -stand the pelting which every reputation gets nowadays, -and not wince under it. For my part, I -think democracy is a good deal played out. It -was all right so long as men <em>were</em> equal; but -we’re getting about as stratified a society now as -there is anywhere in the Old World; and there’s -no use in the sentimental every-man-a-brother kind -of talk. I don’t propose to shake the greasy hand -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>of any of these beastly foreigners that are coming -here and crowding us to the wall. I don’t grudge -them the rights of American citizenship; they -may have it and welcome, if they want it; but -where they step in I step out. In fact, I think I -shall settle down in Paris or Florence for a while. -There’s lots more fun for a fellow over there.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was more of this sort of talk. I watched -Mildred’s face, and noticed that her lips were -twitching and her fingers playing nervously with -the fringe of a scarlet silk shawl which she wore. -Evidently she was under some stress of strong -emotion, though for what reason I but vaguely -guessed. She had come out of the shadow, and -stood tall and stately, with her arm resting on the -mantel and her eyes fixed on the speakers with -such a look as I had never before seen on any -countenance. There was anger and pity and contempt, -strangely mingled, on her mobile features. -She had forgotten herself, and I think they were -fairly startled at the look they read in her tell-tale -face.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Will made an attempt to change the subject, -but Mr. Mather broke in: “You look as though -you did not agree with us, Miss Brewster. Come, -we have monopolized the conversation so far, now -tell us what <em>you</em> think.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>She did not speak at first, and there was an -awkward silence for a minute. When it was -broken, her voice sounded so painfully hard and -calm in its effort not to tremble that I scarcely -recognized it.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>“Within two weeks,” she said, speaking slowly, -“I have sat for five hours face to face with the -leading anarchists of New England. I have questioned -them, and they have told me frankly of -their doctrines, which you already know, and -which, I scarcely need to say, I heartily detest. -But I have not heard, either from the lips of these -misguided men or from any one for many months, -anything which has so shocked and surprised me -as what I have just listened to here.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I felt that she was trembling as she spoke, but -her voice was low and quiet.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She continued: “When one is filled with indignation -and grief it is difficult to speak justly and -wisely, and therefore, if you will excuse me, I think -that I will not trust myself to say anything further.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Good heavens!” cried Mr. Mather, staring at -her in undisguised amazement, while his companions -glanced slyly at each other with faint smiles -and an evident endeavor to make the best of an -embarrassing situation.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I think, dear, you had better tell them what -you are thinking of, lest they misunderstand you; -of course you don’t mean that they are worse than -anarchists,” said aunt Madison, gently.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, not worse, but more to blame,” replied -Miss Brewster, with extraordinary candor, and -then recollecting herself, a crimson tide suddenly -mantled her neck and cheek and brow, and she -drew back again into the shadow.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>“I beg your pardon,” she stammered; and then -with a little forced laugh she added, “you see, you -oughtn’t to have tempted me to speak. I was sure -to give offense if I spoke my thoughts.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Ah, but we can’t excuse you unless you go on,” -said Ned Conro, persuasively. “As for me, you -have whetted my curiosity so that I shan’t sleep a -wink to-night,” he went on, with a twinkle in his -eye, “unless I know why my father’s son and heir, -who has hitherto supposed himself to be always on -the side of law and order, is more to blame than -these foreign wretches who have come over here -with the notion in their addled heads that they are -going to upset this nineteenth-century civilization -with a few ounces of dynamite.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mr. Gordon echoed Mr. Conro’s request, while a -quizzical smile played around his lips, and I knew -as well as if he had told me, that he was saying to -himself, “Gad, she’s a specimen! One of these -cranky women’s-righters, no doubt. How they do -like to hold forth! These girls always spoil a fellow’s -fun with their high and mighty theories and -ideas.” And this son of a quadruple millionaire -thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his English -trousers and stretched himself comfortably to -listen, with all the complacent condescension of a -man to whom twenty-two years of experience and -masculine wisdom gave a consciousness of virtuous -superiority.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The flush had faded from Mildred’s cheek, but I -fancied from the look in her eyes that she was in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>no mood to be trifled with; this was no mere passing -gust of passion. She had received a wound -which had cut her to the quick; for, as I afterwards -learned to know, hers was one of those rare natures, -rare in men, rarer still in women, which scarcely -feels a personal slight, but to which a grand, absorbing -idea is more real and vital than all else, -and which counts treason to this the unpardonable -sin.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If I speak, I must speak plainly,” said Mildred. -“I have neither time nor wit to clothe my -thoughts in ambiguous, inoffensive words. Like -plain, blunt Antony, I can only ‘speak right on’ -and say ‘what in my heart doth beat and burn.’”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Good, I like that,” said Mr. Mather gravely, -and there was an instant’s silence, broken only by -the chime of the cathedral clock as it struck the -hour.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have been thinking,” said Mildred quietly, -“of those words in that record of the young Hebrew, -who, it is said, sold his birthright for a mess -of pottage. I have been thinking also of those -words of our own Emerson: ‘We live in a new -and exceptional age. America is another name -for Opportunity. Our whole history appears like -a last effort of Providence in behalf of the human -race.’ Perhaps you do not see the connection between -these two thoughts, but to me it seems very -close. To have for one’s inheritance the birthright -of American citizenship seems to me something so -rich and precious that to despise it and ignobly sell -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>it,—not like Esau for the mess of pottage which -could relieve his hunger,—but to sell it to the -stranger for the sake of gaining immunity from -responsibility, yes, more than that, throwing it -away out of sheer contempt for it and ingratitude -for what it has done for one, this seems to me the -acme of cowardice and selfishness.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I noticed that Mr. Mather knit his brows at this, -and I thought I detected a slight flush in his -cheeks, but perhaps it was only the firelight. Mildred -did not look up or hesitate, but went steadily -on.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“We sit here in the Promised Land</div> - <div class='line'>That flows with Freedom’s honey and milk;</div> - <div class='line'>But ’twas they won it, sword in hand,</div> - <div class='line'>Making the nettle danger soft for us as silk.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, they won it, not we; and we, the heirs of -all the ages, for whom the whole creation has -groaned and travailed until now, we, the favored -children of the best age, the best land which history -has known, we idly fold our hands and let the -wealth of all the past, which others have toiled for -and shed bloody sweat to gain, fall into our laps as -a matter of course, as if it were but the just due of -such lordly creatures as we.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of what value, pray, is all our study of history -if we have so little realizing sense of its meaning, -if we have no imagination to fill out with quivering, -throbbing life this record of the past, which shows -what mankind has been, and what, thank God, we -have escaped?</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>“Of what value are the sacrifices of those who -at bitter cost bought us our freedom and privilege, -if we are so lost to all sense of honor as to tacitly -say, ‘everything has been done for us, to be sure, -but we can’t be expected to go out of our way to -see that it is passed along to those who are less -favored’?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mr. Mather made a gesture of dissent and looked -up as if to speak; but Mildred did not notice him. -She was gazing with fixed eyes into the shadows, -and seemed to have forgotten her little audience -and to be addressing herself to an unnumbered -throng of unseen listeners. Her bosom heaved and -her breath came and went quickly as she went on -with her relentless sarcasm.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, our business as immortal sons of God is -first of all to look out for our precious selves. Let -us all see to it that no annoying social or economic -questions shall disturb our minds. Let us not be -distracted from our culture and amusements by -being forced to waste time in settling the prosaic -bread and butter problems of the ‘lower classes.’ -Let us wash our hands of all responsibility. Why -should we hold ourselves debtors either to the -Greeks or to the barbarians?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, we are not hard-hearted. We would live -and let live. But we can count it no part of our -business to soil our fingers by lending a hand to -the poor wretch whose blind guide has led him into -the miry ditch.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let him who ‘despises his birthright’ just -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>think for an instant what citizenship on the continent -of Europe means. You talk about finding -‘more fun’ in Paris and Vienna than here, yes, to -be sure; for there you have nothing to do but -to skim the cream of everything and dream away -your youth surrounded by all that the thought of -the ages and modern science can devise to stimulate -your already fastidious palate. But suppose -you were a <em>citizen</em> of Germany or Austria or Russia, -and must spend from three to six of the best -years of your life in active service in the army; -suppose you were taxed to the extent of over thirty -per cent. of your earnings like the people of Italy; -suppose you knew that your country was growing -poorer and taxation was on the frightful increase -as is the case in continental countries; suppose you -were taxed to support a church in which you did -not believe, and a government which granted you -no representation; suppose privilege and prejudice -hung like a millstone round every effort for your -social advancement!</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why,” continued Mildred after a moment’s -pause, “just imagine for an instant all that is involved -in the difference in comfort and mode of life -from the simple statement that during the ten years -from 1870 to 1880, when the United States decreased -its aggregate taxation nine per cent., Germany -increased hers over fifty per cent. Imagine, -if you can, what it means to the lives of millions -of human beings when I say that during a period -when the wealth of Europe decreased per caput -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>three per cent. that of our country increased nearly -forty per cent.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is one thing, I have found, to travel in Europe -untaxed, unmolested, and unaffected by that -gloomy war cloud which continually hovers over -every nation; where, even in times of peace, one -man out of twenty-two is withdrawn from productive -industries to train himself to destroy his fellow-beings. -It is quite another thing to be an irresponsible -traveler, free to come and go and say -what he pleases.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let those who count their American citizenship -of such slight worth think what a delightful -existence theirs would be if they were so favored -as to be one of the subjects of the Russian Tsar! -Think of the bliss of living in a land where one -is never disturbed by the encroachments of foreigners, -or expected to attend caucuses and polls; -where, in fact, the less he knows about the government -the better for him and his! Fancy the pleasure -in reading newspapers where the news of the -day is under such careful surveillance, through the -kindness of the censorship, that one is never disturbed -by troublesome political matters, and has -always the calm consciousness that everything is -going well, although ninety per cent. of the hundred -millions over whom the Russian flag waves -cannot write their names; where a man may not go -from one town to another without a passport; -where for joining a club that advocates a constitutional -monarchy, as here you might join a club that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>advocates Nationalism, you may be subject without -a moment’s warning to arrest and solitary confinement -for a year or two without a trial! You have -read Kennan and Stepniak. You know these are -hard facts.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“So when I see men who have been ground between -the millstones of caste, priestcraft, and governmental -oppression come here and turn against -all government, I have less contempt and more patience -for them than for the young men of our land, -who owe almost every blessing that they enjoy to -this government, and who from mere indolence and -apathy choose to allow the demagogue and ignorant -alien to shape its destiny.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You complain that we have a ‘stratified society.’ -Are you not doing your best to make it a -stratified society and create a caste system when -you advocate a property qualification for the ballot, -and would deny all but the barest rudiments of -education to the poor boy? One would think that -you had been brought up in a monarchy and did -not realize that from the people we must choose -our legislators as well as our voters, and that a -system which can be tolerated in a country where -rulers are hereditary is most perilous for a government -that is of ‘the people, by the people, and for -the people.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You say ‘there are no great men now,’ ‘no -great issues.’ True, the war is over, and Grant and -Lincoln are dead, but</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>‘Life may be given in many ways,</div> - <div class='line'>And loyalty to truth be sealed</div> - <div class='line'>As bravely in the closet as in the field,</div> - <div class='line'>So bountiful is fate.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“I do not doubt if our flag were openly dishonored -you, too, would spring to arms and give -your life-blood as heroically as those who fell at -Manassas or in the Wilderness.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But how many young men have that kind of -heroism that impels them to devote their culture -and ability to unostentatious, unceasing service to -the state, though it bring no glory or reward in -fame or office? No, the cowards are not so often -to be found on the battlefield as at the committee -meeting and the caucus.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“True, there seems to be nothing sublime in -being a faithful health commissioner, an Anthony -Comstock, a General Armstrong, or a Felix Adler; -nothing glorious in busying one’s self with such -prosy things as labor statistics and tenement -houses, with prison reform and sewage and primary -schools and ward politics. ’Tis a thankless -task, and the large per cent. of our Boston legal -voters who did not vote yesterday doubtless think, -if they think at all, that even the casting of a -ballot once or twice a year is too great a sacrifice -of their valuable time, and more than ought to -be expected of men whose private and social interests -are of far more importance than the welfare -of the body politic.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And as for caucuses, how preposterous to expect -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>a man who has such important matters as Art -Club receptions, Psychical Research meetings, and -Longwood toboggan parties to attend, to spend one -or two evenings a year in the company of grocers -and saloon-keepers, all for the sake of defeating -some lamplighter or pawnbroker who wants a nomination -for the city council! What difference does -it make who is on the council, provided taxes are -not raised?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes,” continued Mildred, and a shade of melancholy -replaced the quiet scorn in her tone, “the -last thing that you or they ever dream of is that -you have a debt to pay and are basely repudiating -it.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The voice, whose tremor at last betrayed the intensity -of the feeling that had hitherto been carefully -guarded, ceased, and suddenly starting with -a self-conscious look, and coloring deeply, Mildred -glided softly from the room. Aunt Madison followed -her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The fire had burned low and the light was dim. -The young men had forgotten me in the sofa -corner.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was not a word said for a minute or two -as they sat looking into the bed of coals and listening -to the wind shuddering through the bare -branches of the elms outside. Mr. Mather sat -leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and -his head on his hands; I could not see his face. -Presently he looked up and made a motion as if to -speak, but apparently he changed his mind, for he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>said nothing. At last Mr. Gordon’s voice broke -the silence.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I say, Madison,” he asked, with a studiously -polite manner, “who is this charming Miss Brewster -who has favored us with the benefit of her -views?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“She is a sort of second cousin of my mother,” -Will replied. “She has just returned from abroad, -and I haven’t seen much of her yet.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well,” rejoined the other, “with your permission, -I will venture to say that with all due respect -to your mother’s second or third cousin, I would -as lief hear it thunder as to hear her talk. Why -can’t a pretty woman let well enough alone and not -go into hysterics over what she doesn’t know anything -about? You would think, to hear her go -on, that the country was going to the devil, and -that we were the cause of it.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I wonder if all those facts about Russia and -the thirty per cent. taxation in Italy are really -true,” interposed Mr. Conro, meditatively. “She -reeled off all those statistics like a schoolma’am -saying dates.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“They are true if she says so, you can bet your -life on that,” answered Will, thoroughly nettled. -“Being out at Cambridge most of the time, I -haven’t seen much of her, and I never heard her -say so much on any subject before to-night. I -was about as much surprised as you were at her -coming out in that way; but if you and Gordon -think she is the kind of girl to go into hysterics -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>over nothing, you are mightily mistaken. Most -people talk for the sake of talking, but I’ve seen -enough of her to know that when she says a thing -it stands for something. What you said hurt her -in a way a fellow like you can’t understand. You’ve -no interest in a girl who has any notions beyond -flattering you into thinking you are the most stunning -fellow going.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Beg pardon,” drawled Gordon, “but”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Hold on there,” interposed Mr. Mather, grimly; -“you’ve said enough. What she said was solid -gospel, and you know it as well as I do.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The books of Scripture only suffer from being subjected to requirements -which we have ceased to apply to the books of common -literature.—<span class='sc'>Dean Stanley</span>, <cite>History of the Jewish Church</cite>.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The Protestant Reformation shows how men tried to lodge infallibility -in the Bible.... The great point of our present belief -is that there is no such infallible record anywhere in church -or council or book.—<span class='sc'>Phillips Brooks</span>, <cite>Harvard Divinity Address, -1884</cite>.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Boston</span>, <em>Jan. 6.</em> 25 Louisburg Square.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>Jessie dear</span>,—I have been sitting for the last -half hour in the broad, cushioned window-seat of -my cosy attic room, looking far out over the mass -of chimney-tops to the towers and spires beyond -the hill and the Public Garden.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I love to sit here quietly on Sunday afternoons, -and when the sunset comes I throw aside my books -and watch the shifting, brilliant colors turning the -blue Charles into a sheet of glimmering gold and -dyeing with rosy hues the snowy slopes of Corey -Hill beyond.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Have you been away so long as to have forgotten -these dear old sights? And do you recall that -on this western slope of Beacon Hill from which -I write to you lived the hermit Blackstone of -Shawmut, before Winthrop or any Puritan had -thought of settling Boston town?</p> - -<p class='c005'>I like old places. I like to be on the oldest spot -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>in this old, historic town, as you may easily imagine, -remembering all my antiquarian enthusiasm -when we were at school. Well, I have not outgrown -it in the least, in spite of all my modern -radicalism about many things.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I wonder, dear, what all these ten years have -brought to you. I have been sitting and thinking, -as the sunset glow has faded in the western -sky, all its glory turning so soon to dull, cold gray, -how in these few minutes the past years seem -typified. What glorious visions, what radiant -achievements illumined the heavens when we -looked at them with the eyes of eighteen! What -would we not, what could we not, dream of doing -then? I remember how you vowed that I was a -genius, and were sure that ten years would not pass -before I should win renown. And now, to-night, -on my twenty-eighth birthday, I sit here as dull -and prosy and commonplace a spinster as one can -well find in this city of spinsters.</p> - -<p class='c005'>After one is twenty-five and the birthdays begin -to be a little unwelcome, I suppose one is apt to be -made a little morbid by them, though I solace myself -by thinking that since college girls in these -days rarely finish their studies before twenty-two, -twenty-eight does not seem so ancient as it was -once thought to be.</p> - -<p class='c005'>How strange that we should have known so -little of each other, we who vowed that “ocean-sundered -continents” should never make our girlhood’s -love less warm! But after your change of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>name and transfer to the China Mission, while I -was at Smith College, I lost sight of you, and, missing -your letters, knew not where to write. So you -will understand my long silence and know that the -Mildred of ten years ago is the same Mildred to-day, -only no longer a girl, but a woman.</p> - -<p class='c005'>A woman, with many ambitions unsatisfied, with -many heroes dethroned, but with the same loves -and hopes and fears, and with the same ideals, although -their attainment seems farther off with the -growing years.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have slowly come to recognize and be reconciled -to my mediocrity; to know that I have not had -a thought but has been common to humanity; that -I am no whit wiser or better than all my fellows; -and that what you in girlish enthusiasm flattered -me into believing was creative power was simply a -capacity to appreciate and be moved by what was -great.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have longed for power, but, believe me, not for -name or fame. Simply to have had the consciousness -in myself that the world was better and wiser -for my having lived would have made all drudgery -and toil a joy and privilege. But the blessedness -of giving and doing in a large measure has not -been granted to me. Not that I blame fate or -circumstance or environment. I have had health -and freedom and friends; no hindrances and no -great sorrows since mother left me alone five years -ago.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The failure lies with myself alone. Sometimes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>there has been an unutterable loneliness and a -longing for something, I know not what; but I -suppose it must be for the love which has not yet -come to me, and which now may never come.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But I do not let that burden me overmuch. I -have my daily task. I love my work; and here, -among my books, I thankfully count myself rich -indeed in the society of all the great and wise and -good of whose treasures I am the happy heir. I -have traveled, too, and seen the Old World cities -and the castles, palaces, and ruins of which we used -to dream. It was not exactly the blissful experience -I had fancied, for I was doomed to be the -companion of a stupid old dowager whose money -bought my time and service, and to whom I was -useful as an interpreter of the arts and languages -with which she was unfamiliar.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I saw a great deal and learned some things. It -helped me a little towards reaching that goal of -culture at which I aim, whence I can truly say -that “I count nothing human foreign to me.” It -helped to free me somewhat from the narrowness -of my age and environment. I have become a -little more of a Greek, a little less of a rugged -Goth. Not that mere travel did this; if my eyes -had not begun to be opened before, I should have -seen nothing. I have verified nothing more -thoroughly than Emerson’s saying, “Though we -travel the world over to find the beautiful we must -carry it with us or we find it not.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I miss the picturesqueness and the charm of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>Old World life. I am surprised to find how shocked -and annoyed I am at the crudities and Philistinism -of which I was once oblivious. But, after all, I am -glad to be back; glad to be in the current of real -life again, and to take my share in it. It is worth -something to live in a land where one does not -have to despise the men or pity the women; where -a man is not ashamed to be seen carrying his own -baby; where a girl can walk the streets alone and -unmolested, and where a lady can earn her daily -bread and be thought a lady still.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have a quiet home with my mother’s cousin—“auntie,” -I call her; and I have settled down to -steady work with a concert or play or toboggan -party to give it a little zest now and then. My -classes take me to Dorchester and Cambridge and -Longwood. Once a week I meet a score or so of -our Boston society women in a Commonwealth -Avenue drawing-room, who manage, among their -thousand and one lectures, lessons, and engagements -of every sort, to squeeze in an hour to hear -me discourse on the topics of the day, when I try -to teach them about some phases of our nineteenth -century life of which they, like most women, know -but little. As these ladies include all shades of -religious and political belief and non-belief, I have -to choose my words, as you may imagine.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I write a little occasionally for the “Transcript” -or “Woman’s Journal,” or some other equally inoffensive -and unremunerative sheet. I visit my North -Enders, and think I am doing God more service -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>in trying to keep some of my small Hibernians -from being sent to the Reform School than I ever -used to accomplish in teaching Jewish history at -the Mission.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have given up Sunday-school work. Not that -I disbelieve in it, but I find myself less and less -able to adapt myself to the requirements of superintendents -and “lesson helps,” and my conscience -now forbids me to teach what I could once repeat -so glibly and confidently.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Yes, let me say it frankly,—though I fear it -will greatly shock you, you dear, pious soul,—I -have gone over to the “New Theology,” and I -have gone so far and so irrevocably that but few -of those churches where my childhood’s faith is -still believed dare open their doors to me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I wonder if you can conceive how painful it -has been to me to find the friends for whom I care -most condemning as irreligious every thoughtful -man or woman who ventures to treat the Hebrew -scriptures in a reasonable way.</p> - -<p class='c005'>My last Sunday-school class was in the home -school, where I had bright girls of sixteen. I did -my best to make the Bible a living book to them, -to make them study the history of the Jews in -the same natural and enthusiastic way that they -studied their Greek history at school, but I soon -found that they considered this sacrilegious. They -looked at me with cold, critical glances when I -tried to spiritualize their “Gates Ajar” idea of -heaven. I found that they had gone home and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>told their mothers that I did not believe in God or -heaven or hell, and, to my bitter mortification and -dismay, they left me one by one until I was alone.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Doubtless I had little wisdom. I was trying to -teach them in a few months what it had taken me -years of growth to reach. In trying to disabuse -them of their anthropomorphic notions of God, I -had succeeded in making Him only a nonentity to -them. In taking away a literal Garden of Eden -and the serpent, and substituting a theory of evolution, -I had, in their imaginations, abolished all inspiration -and moral responsibility. Not that they -were girls who troubled themselves very much -about such things; they could dance and flirt as -well as the best; but as for really daring to face -the evidence on such matters, that was wicked and -dangerous, in their opinion.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Nor was this all. One good old clergyman, to -whose church I brought a letter of recommendation, -and who after my candid talk felt obliged to -deny me a welcome, said, with tears in his eyes, -that he hoped my mother’s prayers would save me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It made me feel forlorn and homesick for a -while. I like the strength, sincerity, and earnestness -which the old faith gave, and I cannot lightly -break away from it. I hate the lukewarmness and -apathy of many of the more radical faith, and I -cannot make up my mind to cast my lot with them. -Besides, I have a half fear that, after all, they -have not begun, even intellectually, to probe to the -bottom these great historic beliefs on which the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>church has stood for ages. I fear that they treat -them too cavalierly, too superficially. I find about -as much intolerance among the so-called liberals -as among the conservatives.</p> - -<p class='c005'>To me sin is not an ailment to be cured with -sugared plums. The Puritanism in me rebels at -the weakness and flabbiness of many who have left -the old faith for a broader one. However much my -mind is forced to accept their doctrine, my sympathies -abide with the men of moral earnestness who -still think it their business to be “saving souls.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>To me the doctrine of the Trinity is something -more than a mathematical absurdity, as the men of -one party say; and, on the other hand, something -more than an inscrutable mystery to be accepted -without deep philosophic study, as the men of the -other party hold.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I pity and long to help the poor souls groping -for some solution of the religious problems peculiar -to our day. There are thousands of them—more -than any one knows—inside the fold of the church -itself, fed, but not nourished, and famishing for -the kind of food which their good pastors know -not how to give.</p> - -<p class='c005'>How many times I have gone to church bewildered, -utterly wretched, my soul crying out for the -living God, and listened to a cheap, well-meant discourse -against “Ingersoll, Emerson, and all other -unbelievers in the inspired Word of God,” with an -earnest exhortation to refrain at our peril from -“searching into what are the hidden mysteries.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>I understood the preacher’s standpoint, poor -soul! I respected him and his effort, but oh, how -helpless he was to do anything for me who could -detect the sophistry and lack of discrimination in -all this talk!</p> - -<p class='c005'>Oh, if I could help those who have been driven to -question the whole of truth, when they thus find out -a part of it to have been crude or false! And I -pity almost as much the many timid ones who, like -myself, are longing to stay in the mother church, -to that end being sorely tempted to quibble with -creeds, but who find no place either in or out of -the church which would exactly express their true -religious attitude.</p> - -<p class='c005'>How strange all this must seem to you, who used -to feel that heaven and earth might fall, but that I -should never give up my faith.</p> - -<p class='c005'>No, please God, I shall never give up faith, nor -hold less faithfully to the eternal verities which -alone make life worth living. Never have I felt -more deeply than to-day the truth of the old words -of the catechism, “Man’s chief end is to glorify -God and enjoy him forever.” But I do not hold -that keeping the faith is an adherence to any creed -or an absolute acceptance of any book, even if it -be the Book of books.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have come to feel that the teaching of my -childhood which made historic facts, or what were -assumed to be historic facts, of equal importance -with the eternal and immutable laws of moral and -spiritual growth,—I have come, I say, to feel that -his was false. Ah me, the pity of it!</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>I write you all this because I want you to -know the strongest reason that has prevented me -from following in your footsteps and, as I once -dreamed of doing, giving myself up either at home -or abroad to the grand missionary work which -still seems to me the most satisfying kind of work -in the world. No, I cannot be a missionary; I -think I shall never dare to teach any one; I don’t -know how; but, thank God, I have come to see a -little more clearly some truths to which I think -it is possible for the human mind to attain. The -vision thus gained, though still at times a fleeting -one, has, I firmly believe, placed me forever beyond -the reach of the nightmare of doubts and mortal -terrors which first assailed me after I dared trust -myself to think and question.</p> - -<p class='c005'>No one, not bred in a New England home with -all the Puritan traditions imbibed with every -breath, can realize the fever and despair that I have -felt more than once after I dared to think and face -the result of my thought. But that torture can -never come again. Not that I have relapsed into -indifference or have heeded the pleadings of my -devout friends to “only believe,” that so I might -dread my doubts as impious and accept without -question the creed of my fathers. No! Kant, -Hegel, and Fichte, Carlyle and Emerson, Robertson, -Stanley, Phillips Brooks, and, more than all, -the unprejudiced study of the Bible itself, have -kept me from that.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I no longer tremble at the question whether the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>record of the miracles be fact or no; it touches not -my spiritual life. The baby born next door yesterday -is a greater miracle to me than Lazarus raised -from the dead; the morning’s breakfast turned into -vital force that guides this hand as marvelous as -water changed to wine. Whether the resurrection -of Jesus be literal fact or not, it in no wise affects -my immortality. My faith rests on something surer -than the accuracy of any historic fact.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Are you shocked? Yes, doubtless, for so should -I have been once. I do not expect you to understand -me yet, unless you too have been climbing up -to the light by the same path in which I have been -led. You will think that I have been venturing on -dangerous ground, but I could not write to you -without granting your request to tell you how it -was with me in my inmost self.</p> - -<p class='c005'>You ask whether I am married or am going to -be. The first question I have answered; as to the -second, the most that I can say is that when a -woman has lived a dozen years beyond sweet sixteen -and has never been very deeply in love, it -argues either that she has lived like a nun, or -something rather uncomplimentary to her heart, -and that there is precious little prospect of her -ever finding the right one after that.</p> - -<p class='c005'>They say no woman ever fails of some time having -at least one suitor. Well, I have had my one. -A burly, broad-chested business man he was, with -very decided ideas about protection and mining -stock, with a good deal of amused wonder at my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>independence of thought and action, and a chivalrous -old-fashioned pity for gentlewomen who had -to earn their living. He felt pretty desperately -when I said “no,” and I had to say it three or four -times before he could believe it, for he had been so -sure that a poor young creature like me must long -for his strong arm and good bank account to shield -her from the “world’s cold blasts.” I did like -him, I confess, but not enough; not as I must -love the one to whom I would gladly, heartily, -pledge my whole self for life.</p> - -<p class='c005'>So, one bright spring day he sailed away for -South America and never returned. He married -a Spanish wife, I hear, who will inherit his millions, -for he made shrewd investments and became enormously -wealthy. The “Herald” had a dispatch -yesterday morning announcing his death from sunstroke. -It gave me a shock. Yes, he was a good -man, and I did like him; but I am glad I am not -his widow in spite of his millions.</p> - -<p class='c005'>We were talking at lunch to-day about wealth, -and when I answered the question “How much -money would you wish for if you could have your -wish?” by saying “Twenty-five millions,” every -one looked aghast.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What, <em>you</em>, Mildred, of all persons! Why, -you never cared for diamonds or horses or yachts -or anything grand,” exclaimed one.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What in the world would you do with it?” -asked another. “You couldn’t spend half a million -with your modest tastes, and the rest would be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>simply a dead weight. You would be bored to -death with lawyers and beggars, and have brain -fever in six weeks.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh no,” interposed a third; “she would buy -shoes for all the barefoot children, and build colleges -from Alaska to Key West.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If you were like most people you would find it -the hardest thing in the world to spend your -money wisely,” said auntie, sagely.</p> - -<p class='c005'>So I kept my counsel and said nothing. I can’t -help wishing, though, to know what will become of -these millions which I might have had by saying -that one little word five years ago. It seems to me -I should not be utterly at a loss to find some wise -uses for them, and it would not be by building colleges -which are not needed, or by encouraging pauperism....</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>(Extract from the “Boston Herald.”)</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c011'>MILDRED’S MILLIONS.—BOSTON’S BEAUTIFUL BELLE -FALLS HEIRESS TO A FORTUNE ESTIMATED AT -THIRTY MILLIONS! MISS MILDRED BREWSTER -THE SOLE HEIRESS.</p> - -<p class='c007'>When the rumor in yesterday’s South American -despatches hinted that the colossal fortune amassed -by the late Mr. William Dunreath was, according -to his will, to be transferred <i><span lang="la">in toto</span></i> to a Boston -lady, when moreover, on investigation, the name -of the aforesaid lady was disclosed by her lawyer, -an enterprising representative of the “Herald” -was not long in finding his way to the residence of -this favored daughter of fortune.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Two other journalists, with pencil and pad in -readiness, arrived almost simultaneously and were -shown into the reception room.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Miss Brewster was out.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Would her ladyship soon return?</p> - -<p class='c005'>That was doubtful.</p> - -<p class='c005'>A skillful use of some of Uncle Sam’s coin, however, -secured an “aside” in the library with the -sable domestic whose acquaintance with desirable -facts proved a godsend.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Was Miss Brewster young?”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>Certainly. She had just celebrated her twenty-fourth -birthday, or, to quote our informant more -literally, “Yes, sah, she is done gone twenty-fo’ -shuah, fo’ I made her buffday cake.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Was Miss Brewster handsome?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>In response to this momentous question this jewel -of a Chloe produced from a corner of the library -a photograph album containing two cabinet photographs, -taken in Boston and Paris respectively, -and representing one of the most attractive types -of petite female beauty. One picture was taken in -a jaunty riding habit, displaying to good advantage -a slender, trim figure, with a graceful poise to a -very pretty head, and a pair of fascinating dark -eyes looking frankly at you from under the hat-brim. -The other was in a white evening dress -modestly covering the sloping shoulders, the hair -worn Pompadour, and no ornaments save flowers. -There was a delicacy and refinement indicated in -the small ear and sensitive mouth, which betokened -generations of the best blood and culture. It was -gratifying to perceive that the enviable possessor -of one of the largest private fortunes in New England -was evidently richly endowed by nature with -every charm which could lend grace to the brilliant -position in society that she without doubt is destined -to fill.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The “Herald” representative inquired further as -to the past history of Miss Brewster, and learned -that she was the only child of a physician, was born -in Cambridge, has spent some years in foreign -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>travel and study under the chaperonage of a distinguished -leader of society, was presented at the Court -of St. James, and received marked attention from -some of the scions of the oldest and noblest houses -of England.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She is supposed to have had a small independent -fortune of her own, but having literary and philanthropic -tastes, has quietly devoted herself to study -and works of charity, thus depriving society of one -peculiarly fitted to be one of its brightest ornaments.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The connection between the defunct millionaire -and the charming girl upon whom he has lavished -all his wealth seems hard to prove. From all that -could be learned, however, it seems conclusive that -an engagement existed between them, and that the -death of Mr. Dunreath was a great shock to the -fortunate lady of his choice. In the absence of any -family or near relatives, Mr. D. being an only son -and a bachelor, she will find no one to dispute -the will. This latter point was confirmed by her -lawyer, Mr. Kilrain, of No. 55 Pemberton Square, -who, however, remained very provokingly non-committal -on all other points of interest, intimating -that he was thus obeying the instructions of his fair -client, who modestly wishes to avoid the sudden -notoriety which her fortune will necessarily bring -upon her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>A call on some of her co-workers in the Associated -Charities revealed the fact that Miss Brewster -is ardently absorbed in her work, and has been -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>peculiarly successful in winning the hearts of the -street <i><span lang="fr">gamins</span></i> in her district. She is interested in -various charities, and it is anticipated that her increased -wealth will not lessen the time nor the -interest which she has devoted to her various benefactions.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It was intimated from one source that Miss -Brewster holds very pronounced views upon women’s -rights, and will probably use a great part of -her wealth in advancing the cause of female suffrage, -but this we are loth to believe.</p> - -<p class='c005'>(Extract from the “Boston Globe.”)</p> - -<p class='c005'>... After waiting an hour and calling at three -different times, the representative of the “Globe” -was finally so fortunate as to encounter the fair lady -in whom the public is now feeling so warm an interest. -She had just returned home, and was standing -in the hall with her little toque of wine-colored -velvet still crowning her chestnut tresses, and her -tall, stately figure draped from head to foot in a -fur-trimmed cloak of the same shade.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She received the “Globe” representative most -courteously, ushering him into a cosy little reception -room, and meanwhile drawing off the <i><span lang="fr">gants -de suede</span></i> which encased her shapely hands. She -seemed nervous and tired, but had a brilliant color -which deepened perceptibly when requested to grant -an interview. The involuntary look of surprise -and <i><span lang="fr">hauteur</span></i> which accompanied this only enhanced -her beauty, but quickly recovering herself she replied -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>without embarrassment that there was nothing -whatever that she wished to state to the public. -She had not been apprised of the nature of the will -until within three days. Since then she had been -overwhelmed with business arrangements, and was -very tired and wished to see only her intimate -friends.</p> - -<p class='c005'>One question, however, she so far forgot herself -as to answer, namely, as to whether she should -change her residence. She replied that she purposed -soon to leave town for an indefinite period. -A further question designed to draw out some information -regarding her acquaintance with Mr. -Dunreath, whom it is certain she has for a long -time corresponded with, met with no reply beyond -“I will bid you good evening.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Miss Brewster is certainly a very prepossessing -lady. In addition to her beauty her voice is particularly -well modulated and pleasing. She is decidedly -above the medium height, and has a queenly -air combined with a brisk, business-like manner, -which gives evidence that she is at once a lady and -a shrewd woman of the world,—an indication of -anything but the helpless state into which most inexperienced -women would have been thrown at so -sudden and astounding a change of fortune.</p> - -<p class='c005'>In the gaslight and with such a color Miss Brewster -had the appearance of being not over twenty-three; -we learn, however, on unquestioned authority -from a former schoolmate of hers, that she is -just twenty-six, having had a birthday last week.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>Miss Brewster is said to be a very devout church-woman -of the ritualistic type, and usually attends -the Church of the Advent.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The Hub is certainly to be commiserated at the -prospect of so soon losing a lady who would otherwise -become one of its most admired belles as well -as a leader of its most cultured society, and we -trust that her stay though indefinite may not be -prolonged.</p> - -<p class='c007'>Three of the one hundred and twenty-seven letters -received by Miss Brewster during the first -week after the above newspaper extracts appeared -will serve as types of the whole.</p> - -<p class='c005'>LETTER NO. I.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Jonesport, Pa.</span>, <em>Jan. — 18—</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Derest Miss Brewster honored miss</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>God has been verry bountiful too you truly and -no doubt your kind heart is greatful for all his -Mercies and anxshus to do your part in relieving -the wos of humanity. Henceforth your couch is -down and your pathway strude with roses. You -have more money than you know what too do with -and will take it kindly for me suggest a most useful -and feesable way to do the greatest good to the -greatest number which is the Christian’s vitle -breath. My dorter Rose Ethel Bangs is just -turned sixtine and is as smart and handsum a girl -as ever trod shu lether. She is awful musicle and -is just dying to get a chance to go to the Boston -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>Conservatory, she plays the banjo best of anybody -in the county and has given solo peices at some of -the best concerts she plays the melodeon at meeting -and the best critics say her voice is amazing a professor -from Philadelfy said he had heard a great -many voices but he never heard a voice that was as -strong as her voice. A yere’s residens in Boston -would complete her education she has a young gentleman -second cousin who is anxshus to show her -about to see the sites and 300 dollers with what -her pa can raise would just about do the bizness -now dear miss when you have it in your pour to -bestough such a blessing how can you refrane. We -shall bless you and my dorter will be a credit to -you and a jewel in the crown which our Heavenly -father will bestough on all who remember the proverb -it is more blessed to give than to receive.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yours with love and regards</div> - <div class='line in16'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Mattie T. Bangs</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>P. S. I send Bose Ethel’s tintype took when she -was fourtine she wears her hair up now.</p> - -<p class='c005'>LETTER NO. II.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>New York, N. Y.</span>, —— Street.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Dear Miss Brewster</span>:</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>Permit me at this moment of your joy and unprecedented -good fortune to present to you my -most heartfelt congratulations.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Perhaps you may not recollect my humble self, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>as you always impressed me with such a sense of -awe and dignity that I dared not venture to disclose -to you the <em>profound</em> admiration which I have -always felt for your <em>exalted</em> character.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Rarely have I known such a nature as yours. -One so endowed with all the charms and graces of -a <em>goddess</em> and a <em>saint</em> it has never been my fortune -to meet. Do not think I am flattering you, <i><span lang="fr">mon -ange</span></i>; but ever since the first moment when my -eyes fell on your face suffused with dewy tears, as -you bade good-by to your native land, you have -been the ideal of my fondest dreams.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I sailed with you on the steamer, like you bound -for those shores of mystery and delight which from -childhood’s hour had haunted my imagination, now -<i><span lang="fr">hélas!</span></i> never to be revisited, for I—how can I say -it?—have been doomed by fate to lose <em>all</em> that is -most dear to me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I had kept my diamond earrings until the last, -but yesterday even those, my last precious treasures, -had to be sacrificed. How can I relate to you -the story of our disgrace!</p> - -<p class='c005'>A year ago papa failed, and we were obliged to -leave our palatial home on Fifth Avenue and betake -ourselves to a small hotel on W. Ninth Street. -I nearly cried my eyes out. I spent days and -nights in weeping over our sad fortunes, and as one -by one I was obliged to surrender the darling treasures -of happier days I felt that if this were to go -on I should either become a <em>hopeless wreck</em> with -shattered nerves and end my days in a lunatic asylum, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>or else that rather than suffer the mental torture -which I had endured I should with my own -hand take the life which was a <em>curse</em> to me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Everything has gone from bad to worse, though -I have fought against fate with all the passion of -<em>desperation</em>. Our friends have deserted us; that -is, all the young society which I care about and -really need to keep up my spirits and make me -cheerful. I can find no congenial society in the -class with whom I am doomed to associate, and so -I keep my room, and solace my sad hours with -works of fiction, which for the time being take me -out of myself, and with fancy work, which is the -one little link that connects me with my happy past.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But now a crisis has come in papa’s affairs. He -is offered a position in Jersey City, and compels us -to go with him to this <em>odious</em> place, to live in a -second or third rate boarding-house, away from -everything that makes life endurable.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I <em>cannot</em> do it. I should simply be burying myself -alive. To one of my sensitive temperament -the shock would be too great, and I know that I -should become but a wreck of my former self.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have racked my brains and tossed on my sleepless -pillow many a night, endeavoring to solve the -problem that is before me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>This morning a ray of light dawned upon the -gloom which has enshrouded me. I picked up the -morning paper and read the delightful announcement -of the good fortune which has come to you. -My heart throbbed with sympathetic joy, <i><span lang="fr">mon amie</span></i>, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>to think that in this desolate world at least one -whom I loved was <em>completely</em> happy.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The report says that you are soon to go abroad. -Like an inspiration the thought came to me, “Oh, -if only I could go with her as a <em>companion</em>!” The -thought fairly suffocated me. Once the idea of -attempting to go as a paid companion, of accepting -money for services rendered, no matter how valuable -they might be, would have brought the blush -to my cheek. But my pride has been humbled, -and though even now I could not do it for every -one, for <em>you</em> whom I <em>adore</em> it would seem no sacrifice -but a privilege.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I could be of invaluable service to you in shopping -and in visiting galleries. I speak French perfectly, -and could play whist or sing to you when -you are tired. I know how to arrange flowers, to -design toilettes, to order dinners, and can read -aloud without fatigue. I could relieve you of all -care, and this you will certainly require, as so many -new cares have devolved upon you, and you must -be distracted with all the new things you have to -order and to attend to.</p> - -<p class='c005'>What steamer shall you take? I like the North -German Lloyd best,—don’t you?</p> - -<p class='c005'>I can be ready at a moment’s notice. I await -your answer in an <em>agony</em> of suspense.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yours devotedly,</div> - <div class='line in12'><span class='sc'>M. Jeanette Mason</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>LETTER NO. III.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>E. Gainsborough, Vt.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Miss Brewster</span>:</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>Dear Miss</span>,—No doubt you will be very much -surprised to get a letter from me for you don’t know -me at all and I don’t know you at all and I persume -you are not used to getting letters from strangers. -But you are a rich kind lady and as a last resorse -I turn to you for my heart is bleeding and my -friends can’t do no more for me. I am an inventor -as you will be surprised to learn. Ever since -I was able to hold a jack knife and whittle I have -been whittling out things and making inventions. -Some folks say I am a genius and if I had my -rights I should be rolling in welth and be able to -keep a horse and carriage.</p> - -<p class='c005'>My inventions have been about all sorts of -things. I almost got a patent for a clothes-wringer -but a mean sneak of a fellow stole it from me -taking the bread from my children’s mouths. My -wife took in sewing and washing and the children -milked the cow and kept the garden running and -sometimes I got odd jobs. But a month ago Susie -and Jimmie took sick with scarlet fever and wife -she was up with them night and day and she took -sick too and first Jimmie died and then Susie, and -mother the next day.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I did the best I could and the neighbors was -kind and came in spite of its being so catching.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>But now there all gone and nobody but the baby -and me is left. He had it light and wan’t down -but a day or two. I feel most crazy when I think -of it all and wonder what I’m going to do. The -neighbors cooked up some vittles for a few days -but there poor too and I can’t count on them for -doing much.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I’ve got to do something right off and I an’t -a cent of money more than enough to pay the postage -of this letter.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Last night when Mis deacon Allen went by -with the newspaper she had got to the P. O. she -stopped and read me all about your getting rich so -sudden and she said to me brother Silas if I was -you I’d just write to that Miss Brewster and if -she’s a woman with a heart in her she’ll feel for -that poor motherless little feller there a toddlin -about, and you with your hands tied sos you cant -leave him a minute. I’d take him myself said she -if my hands wasnt tied too. Which is true enough -for shes five of her own and one adopted.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Now Miss Brewster if you could take my baby -for a while, his name is Orlando and he is 18 -months old and help me make a man of him and -get on my feet a little and carry out a scheme I’ve -got for an improved churn I’d thank you to my -dying day. I aint a great hand at farm work for -I cut my foot in a mowing machine and have been -lame ever since and my hearing is bad. So you -see there aint much I can do except invent and -sometimes if it want for the inventing I think Id -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>rather die. But I do feel sure sometime if I can -only get a chance I can invent something that will -sell and then I can repay you.</p> - -<p class='c005'>If you send for Orlie to go to Boston I must stay -there too. I couldn’t bear to be so far away from -him. I should die of lonesomeness. Couldn’t -you get me a chance there? I am forty-six years -old and a professor.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c012'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yr. ob’t servant,</div> - <div class='line in16'><span class='sc'>Silas Kittredge</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c005'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. Of religion.—<span class='sc'>Ed.</span></p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Notwithstanding all that England has done for the good of India, -the missionaries have done more than all other agencies combined.—<span class='sc'>Lord -Lawrence</span>, in 1871.</p> - -<p class='c010'>... all this is very surprising when it is considered that five -years ago nothing but the fern flourished here; native workmanship -taught by the missionaries has effected this change; the lesson -of the missionaries is the enchanter’s wand.... I look back -to but one bright spot in New Zealand, and that is Waimate with -its Christian inhabitants.—<span class='sc'>Charles Darwin</span>, <cite>Journal of Researches -in Natural History and Geology</cite>.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>EXTRACT FROM MISS BREWSTER’S DIARY.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>For the first time since the lawyer’s call a week -ago I sit down to collect my wits after this whirl -of excitement, and, like the old woman in the -nursery rhyme, ask myself if it can be that I am -really I.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I am frightfully tired, and it may be childish to -write this all out for no one’s eye but my own. I -cannot sleep, however, and I feel as if it would be -a relief and might cool the fever in my veins to -calmly make a record of some of the momentous -events of these last few days. So many things are -crowding upon me that I fear my mind will be a -chaos if I do not attempt something like this to -help me to quiet and arrange my thoughts.</p> - -<p class='c005'>When Mr. Kilrain came with the cablegram and -letters, I neither laughed nor cried nor fainted. I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>was perfectly calm. I did not realize it in the least, -just as a girl never realizes what it all means when -she kneels before the altar as a bride, or when she -stands beside the dead white face that she has loved.</p> - -<p class='c005'>After the real meaning of the thing dawned upon -me and I began to comprehend that I, whose golden -dreams had been quietly put aside forever, was -now actually to realize those dreams, to exchange -prose for poetry, and insignificance and uselessness -for tremendous power such as I had always longed -for,—when the possibilities of it all came over me -and I saw that I could now actually build all my -air castles on this earth, besides doing many other -things of which I have dreamed,—it gave me at -first a thorough ague fit, followed by a burning -fever which nothing could allay until I had seen -my will written, signed, and witnessed.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Every one thought it such an odd thing for me -to think of at first. Auntie said, “Wait and take -time to think it over, dear. You are laboring under -a nervous strain now; wait and rest and enjoy -yourself a little while. Go to Hollander’s and order -a fine outfit. I will help you find a French -maid, for you will need one, of course; then travel -after that, if you like. Take time to make up your -mind. It isn’t possible for you to know how to -spend such an enormous sum wisely without great -thought.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I could find no rest, however, until I had put beyond -a peradventure the danger of my dying and -leaving nothing done towards carrying out all the -projects which have been so dear to me.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>My will is made, and though I may change it -next week,—doubtless I shall change it more than -once as I get more wisdom,—I know that it is in -the main as I shall let it stand.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mr. Kilrain’s partner and uncle Madison start -at once for South America to look after my interests, -and transfer my stocks and landed property as -soon as possible into our government and railroad -bonds. I cannot bear to feel that I am employing -hundreds of people whom I do not know, and who -may suffer from the extortion of villainous agents -and overseers whom I cannot control. If I could -go to South America myself, and if I understood -enough of business to administer my affairs personally, -I might, perhaps, do as much good by giving -employment to great numbers of people there, and -treating them in a helpful Christian fashion, as by -anything that I can do at home.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But it would take me ten years at least to learn -the language and know the people and the business -merely in its outlines. My lawyers say it would -require half a dozen of the shrewdest men simply -to make investments and oversee the overseers, and -I can foresee that a woman dependent on lawyers -and agents is in no wise to be envied. So I am -determined to free myself from these worries as to -the details of making money, and devote my whole -energies to making this fortune, which has so -strangely fallen to me, tell for good in the future -of our country.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I am sure that nowhere else in Christendom can -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>money be made to produce such far-reaching results. -Last night I lay awake for hours, planning -this work. My mind is made up. For the next -few years I shall travel and study, first, the resources -and necessities of our own country, and after -that the social and economic questions in the -Old World. Meanwhile I shall begin to carry out -some of my schemes at once, and not wait for lawyers -and trustees to squabble over my money after -my death.</p> - -<p class='c005'>As I am planning to leave Boston soon, I determined -to meet some of the people whom I have -chosen as trustees of certain funds. Accordingly -I invited five people of different religious faiths, -the broadest-minded and most public-spirited persons -known to me,—Revs. P—— B——, A—— -McK——, E. E. H——, P—— M——, and Mrs. -A—— F—— P——. Not one of them had an -inkling as to what it was all about, or knew who -were invited beside himself. Mr. Kilrain was -there in obedience to my request. I wished him to -see that everything was done legally, and, besides, -to draw up all the necessary papers.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I fairly shivered with delight and excitement as -they came in one by one and I introduced myself -to them, feeling very much like a young queen who -has just ascended a throne and summons her generals -and wise counselors to plan a campaign.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I had a dainty lunch served in a cosy little parlor, -and as soon as the servants were gone I began, -rather tremulously, it must be confessed, to make -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>my little speech. They all knew, of course, that -they were invited to give me counsel on some philanthropic -matter, but further than that they were -in the dark. As nearly as I can remember this is -what I said:—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You are all aware that I have asked the favor -of your company to-day in order to discuss a serious -matter involving the expenditure of a large sum of -money. I wish to avail myself of the united wisdom -of those present to enable me to use for good -and not for evil the enormous wealth which has so -suddenly dropped from the skies, as it were, into -my hands.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I count myself as simply a steward, and know -well that before my own conscience, if before no -other tribunal, I shall be called to account for my -stewardship.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is stated that one of the seven greatest sources -of pauperism in London is foolish almsgiving. I -am perfectly aware that I may ‘give all my goods -to feed the poor,’ and do more harm by it than if -I threw my offerings into the Charles River.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am convinced that if I would help any man -I must do it by giving him the means to help himself, -and thus to retain or gain his self-respect.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“My thoughts and affections go out most -strongly to our own country, and therefore most of -my money is to be spent in it. I feel that by helping -to outline the new paths which multitudes are -to follow here, I shall best help the progress of -humanity everywhere. But I am not so narrowminded -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>as to think it right to wait until we get all -the industrial schools and kindergartens that we -need here, before we teach the first elements of -decency to our brothers and sisters in Africa and -every other stronghold of heathenism and savagery. -My childhood was spent with earnest people who -were interested in the missionary work. As a child, -I read the ‘Missionary Herald,’ and gave my mite -towards building the Morning Star.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But of late years I have lived in a society -whose sentiment has been more than half contemptuous -of foreign missions. ‘Let us civilize the -heathen at home,’ they say; ‘let us do the duty that -lies nearest, and not meddle with what is none of -our business.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am tired of this prating and ignorant talk by -would-be cultured people who know nothing of the -real results of missionary work. They find no fault -with actresses or sea-captains or Bohemians who -choose exile for gain or pleasure, but they are always -ready to cry out against the folly of one who -goes to teach men the alphabet, and tell women that -they are something more than beasts of burden or -mere child-bearing animals.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am constantly meeting people who talk as if -Buddhism contained all that is of value in Christianity, -and who actually scoff at any attempt to -disturb what they call the picturesque, simple faith -of their carvers of ivory bric-à-brac.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I revere Buddha. I do not ignore the fact -that in all ages God has not left himself without a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>witness, and that many seers and prophets have -led the nations toward the light. But I prefer the -sunlight to the twilight, and what vision of truth -has come to me I would pass along to others. Especially -do I long to help the women. Sometimes -their degradation and helplessness appeals so powerfully -to my imagination that I feel that I must -give my money and my time without stint, until -selfish, indifferent Christendom is forced to remember -what is the true condition of two thirds of the -world.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I was trembling all over with nervous excitement, -and, as usual, was so absorbed in what I was saying -as to quite forget to wonder what these five people, -so much older and wiser and more experienced -than I, must think of my sitting there and talking -to them in this fashion. I am dreadfully afraid -it must have seemed conceited or audacious or -something of the sort. However, they knew nothing -about me or my ideas, and as it was quite -necessary that they should understand my position -before they could give me any counsel, I proceeded -to make it known.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am not content,” I said, “with most methods -that have been used. Sectarianism, bigotry, and -ignorance have often perverted the best results. -The good souls who fear to send a preacher, no -matter how devoted, unless he preach exactly their -‘ism,’ seem to me to be retarding by many years -the consummation so devoutly to be wished. The -most Christlike men whom I know could not be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>sent out as missionaries by the American Board. -I believe there are hundreds of ardent young souls -who would be led to offer themselves for work in -foreign lands if the restrictions of creed did not -stand in the way.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Do not misunderstand me. I do not condemn -creeds. Doubtless every one who thinks must -have some kind of a creed, however short it be. -But in the making of bequests, in endowments -which are to help affect the thought of future generations, -it seems to me difficult to avoid ultimate -lawsuits, temptation to mental dishonesty, and infinite -harm, unless the founder works on the broadest -principles and sees the work begun in his lifetime.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have written my will this week and have devoted -a very large sum of money for the establishment -of a fund, the amount of which I shall not at -present name, to be used as follows:—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“For the management and expenditure of this -fund I have chosen five trustees. These shall -fill vacancies in their number as they occur from -death, resignation, incapacity, or whatever cause. -One member, at least, shall always be a woman, -and as many as three Christian denominations shall -always be represented among the five trustees.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The fund shall be called the ‘Christian Missionary -Fund,’ and the work shall be, so far as the -trustees are concerned, entirely unsectarian, though -always distinctly Christian and Protestant.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The fund shall be devoted to the following -purposes:</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>“First, for promoting the spiritual and mental, -and thus indirectly the material, welfare of the -most helpless and degraded people on the globe.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Second, for promoting Christianity and education -in lands like Japan, where there is already an -awakened aspiration for better things, and hence -the most immediate results may be anticipated.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Third, for promoting such measures as shall -diminish the slave-trade wherever it exists, and for -preventing the liquor traffic between civilized and -barbarous nations, for instance, such as is now disgracing -and desolating the Congo State.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Any man or woman who applies to be sent out -as preacher, teacher, or agent, for promoting any of -these ends, shall be accepted if he or she give satisfactory -evidence to the committee of being fitted -to do sufficiently helpful work in the positions to -which they are assigned. No acceptation of any -creed shall be required of any applicant. After -being enrolled for the work, however, all shall be -required to leave detailed written statements of -their religious beliefs. These are to be kept on file -for statistical purposes, together with the records -of the subsequent work of the candidates, their -methods of labor, and the results accomplished.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Every woman employed by the trustees shall -receive the same salary as a man would receive for -doing the same work. In sending out preachers -and pastors no distinction shall be made in regard -to sex. All women desiring to preach and to administer -the sacraments shall be authorized to do -so if possessed of proper qualifications.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>In regard to that latter clause I had had considerable -discussion with auntie previous to convening -the trustees.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Isn’t that a little odd?” she asked. “I am -afraid some clergymen would be shocked at that.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Aunt Madison,” I said, “if it is desirable to -have the sacraments of communion or baptism celebrated -at all, I can see no reason why they cannot -be done by a woman’s hand as well as by that -of a man? If the hand that made the bread does -not desecrate it, why may not that same hand -break and pass it, provided it be done in a proper -spirit? Is a man’s hand any more sacred than a -woman’s?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, it isn’t that,” said auntie, fidgeting a little; -“but it is the words and the service which -go with it, of course.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Certainly,” said I,—rather bluntly, too, I am -afraid,—“and those words consist of quotations -from the words of Christ and Paul, and a prayer. -I see no reason why quotations and prayer uttered -by a female voice may not be just as acceptable to -the Almighty as if spoken by a male voice. (I -hate those words ‘male’ and ‘female,’ but I -thought it would help her to see the absurdity of -our conventional notions about such things.)”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, dear, perhaps so, if you look at it that -way,” she said; “but what do you think the apostles -would have thought of such a thing?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As a matter-of-fact,” said I, “the members -of the early church, who ate at one table, and had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>all things in common, and celebrated their Lord’s -death at the close of their meal in the simplest -way in the world, probably passed the cup from -one to the other informally, and women as well as -men took part in what little service there was. It -seems to me in this age of common sense on other -subjects it is time we had a little more of it in -religion.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>How saucy that appears as I write it. I wonder -if I am getting dictatorial.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I told the trustees, that, although their work as -trustees was to be entirely undenominational, and -that they were to discourage any sectarian work in -whatever schools and churches might be established, -this was not to be interpreted to mean a refusal to -send good men and women, even if they held narrow -sectarian views. I hold myself too liberal to -refuse to send any one who can do any good, even -though he hold mediæval views on eschatology. -If a man can persuade a savage to wash his face -and stop beating his wife, I am willing to allow him -his cassock and crucifix and all the joys of a celibate -High Churchism, so long, at least, as he holds -himself responsible to no other body than the committee -of my choosing. I have observed that a -fair amount of civilization, intelligence, and real -Christianity can co-exist with a very crude theology. -So any good man who cares enough about helping -his fellow-men to work hard on a moderate salary, -as an exile in a heathen land, shall not be hindered -from going until enough better men offer -themselves to take his place.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>I told my guests that I wished to begin the -work at once. Without stating whether or not -they were the trustees referred to in my will, I -asked them to assume for the next three years the -responsibility of disbursing two hundred thousand -dollars annually in the way I had specified. I -shall keep the money in my own hands so that they -need not be troubled about investments, and shall -pay the amount in installments, as they call for it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I requested them to do exactly as they thought -best, without any more reference to me than if I -were dead, except when they came to any misunderstanding -in regard to the interpretation of my -wishes as expressed above.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I shall have accurate reports of their proceedings, -and thus be able to rectify any point that is left -obscure, or that is capable of abuse.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I requested that my name should not be made -known in connection with all this.</p> - -<p class='c005'>When I had finished there was a pause; then -Dr. H—— in his genial way began—But I can -write no more to-night.</p> - -<p class='c005'>(Extract from an editorial in the “Church Inquisitor.”)</p> - -<p class='c005'>It is with feelings of mingled interest and alarm -that we report as the most notable of recent events -in the religious world the announcement of an -enormous bequest for foreign missionary work.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why alarm?” may be asked. But a careful -reading of the provisions of the bequest which we -publish in another column will assure the reader -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>that the conditions under which it is given are unprecedented -and allow possibilities so dangerous as -to create great anxiety in the minds of those who -are well grounded in the faith and zealous for the -maintenance of pure doctrine. As it is needless -to say that in matters of such moment we hold -that the most stringent regulations and careful -scrutiny should be exercised, it is evident that the -utter abolishing of all tests, allowing the teaching -of the most dangerous heresies by Unitarians, -Universalists, Spiritualists, Christian Scientists and -what not,—and this to be done in the name of -Christian Missions,—is startling, to say the least.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It will be readily seen that to the mind of the -untutored savage unable to distinguish genuine -Christianity from that which is spurious, and as -likely to accept the one as the other, the danger of -confounding the two to the discredit of all true -piety will be great, if the restrictions laid down in -the bequest are to be binding.</p> - -<p class='c005'>To be sure, the men and women sent out by -this fund must be presumed to possess a fair -amount of intellect and moral character, though -how their spiritual condition is to be ascertained -before hearing a statement of their creed we fail -to see. Doubtless something may be done in the -way of building up schools and supplementing the -work of those whom our Board sends to preach -the gospel. For this we rejoice and give thanks. -Knowing the genuine Christian character of some -members of the committee, we are led to hope that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>they will deem no one fit to send out as a proclaimer -of the doctrines of Christianity who holds -the evidently loose views of the framer of this -singular bequest. As only one of the trustees is a -Unitarian, and as Unitarians are proverbially indifferent -to foreign missions, it seems to leave considerable -ground for the hope that none of that -sect will apply, or, if applying, will be sent.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The donor’s name is withheld, but it is shrewdly -surmised to be the late Mr. Albert Danforth of -Springfield, formerly a noted Free-thinker, but who -is said to have had a deathbed repentance and to -have attempted to appease his conscience by bestowing -his vast wealth in the manner described. -In this case why his name should be withheld remains -a mystery.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It will be noticed that another peculiar feature -of the bequest is that one trustee at least shall always -be a woman. In the course of time there is -nothing to prevent all of them being women, as -four of the five appointed are known to be in favor -of female suffrage. As the late Mr. Danforth, -among his other radical notions, held the same unscriptural -view of woman’s functions, the promotion -of “women’s rights” views by the endowment -in question is to be feared.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It is, perhaps, well enough to pay women in the -mission field the same sum as that given to men -for the same work, though this possibly would be -too attractive an allurement for some unworthy -persons who might assume the sacred duties in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>question for the sake of the loaves and fishes. -But what seems especially unwise as well as wholly -unscriptural, and of which we feel compelled to -assert our disapproval, is the provision that women -shall be permitted to administer the holy sacraments. -See Corinthians i. 14, 34, and xi. 3, 7.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There seems to be no serious objection to women -preaching to assemblies of their own sex where -male missionaries cannot be admitted; but that -such an extreme step should be taken as to desecrate -and turn into a farce the ordinances of baptism -and the Lord’s Supper by allowing them to -be administered by a woman, is something that we -must deplore.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Were it not that most of the trustees appointed -represent the new school of thought, which seems -to rely more on reason than on the Written Word, -we should wonder at their being able to satisfy -their consciences if they accept responsibilities encumbered -by such restrictions.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER V.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>LETTER TO AN INTIMATE FRIEND.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York</span>, <em>February —, 18—.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>My dear Alice</span>,—I ran away from Boston -without saying good-by to you. Dr. Wesselhoeft -predicted all sorts of horrors—hysterics, St. Vitus’s -dance, nervous prostration, and I don’t know -what else, if I did not at once get away from the -hosts of people who drove me distracted with an -incessant ringing of the door-bell from breakfast -until bedtime. I was not aware that I had so -many friends before. Every pupil I have ever -had, every passing acquaintance even, has felt it -to be his or her privilege and duty to call and congratulate -me and bore me to death with their ecstasies -and flatteries.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I rather liked it at first, I must confess. It was -all so novel to me, and it showed some of my acquaintances -in an entirely new light, which, I -found, gave me an admirable opportunity for a -study of character on its drollest side. Whenever -I entered the reception room and found it lined -with callers waiting all on tiptoe for my appearance, -I really felt like a president beset by office-seekers -during his first month at the White House.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But a few days of all this rather nauseated me, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>and I thanked my fortune that it had not come -at my birth, but had allowed me to make many -true and tried friends before bestowing on me what -I fear will now always make me suspicious of a -lack of disinterestedness in every new-comer.</p> - -<p class='c005'>However, in leaving Boston and coming to New -York I fancy that I have only jumped out of the -frying-pan into the fire, for letters pursue me everywhere. -I devote every forenoon to reading them -and dictating replies to my amanuensis. Many -of them are applications for money or help of some -sort, some of them outrageous, and some very pitiful -indeed. I had one some days ago from a poor -fellow in Vermont, who fancied himself an inventor. -He had just lost his wife and two children, and -implored me to “help him make a man” of the -only little one left to him. His letter sounded so -forlorn that it went to my heart, so I sent telegrams -of inquiry about him to the postmaster and -the minister in his native town. They answered -my questions satisfactorily, and I sent at once for -the man to come.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Such a dazed, bewildered-looking creature as he -was, to be sure, when he stepped out of the carriage, -which I had sent for him, and stumbled -clumsily up the steps with his baby, tied up in an -old red shawl, in his arms!</p> - -<p class='c005'>He told me the simple story of his life, its little -ambitions and narrow outlook; of his conversion -and his courtship, and of the horrors of disease -and death and poverty, to which his pinched face -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>and trembling hands bore witness. The boy was -a pathetic little morsel of humanity, and his sad -little mouth won my heart. I have taken charge -of the child, and, please God, I will “make a man -of him.” The father is quite unfit for hard work, -and what to do with him I did not know, when -suddenly I bethought myself of a magazine article -which you loaned me some time ago, apropos of -“A Universal Tinker.” The man is clever with -tools, I hear, and just the one to do odd bits of -mending and attending to the thousand and one -things which are always getting out of order -about a house. So I sent him with a letter to all -my Back Bay friends, and eight of them have offered -to pay him five dollars a month each, on condition -that he keep everything in their establishments -in repair. I have given him a chest of -tools, and have found a good home for him. A -widow in straitened circumstances, whom also I -wish to help, but who will not accept charity, is -glad to receive him and his child into her family. -Really, the man seems already like another creature. -He has taken on a new look of self-respect -and courage that makes his commonplace, weather-beaten -face fairly radiant.</p> - -<p class='c005'>This whole experience has given me intense -satisfaction. I had almost made up my mind to -pay no heed to these calls, which demand so much -of my time and prove, at least half of them, to -come from frauds and impostors. In fact, it was -merely as an experiment, and chiefly to indulge my -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>curiosity, that I heeded this case. I am now determined -to have every appeal for help that seems -at all deserving thoroughly investigated, and I -foresee that I shall be obliged to have more than -one agent to attend to it all.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I had an extraordinary experience last night, of -which I must tell you, though my ears tingle yet -at the thought of it. I wonder if this is a foretaste -of the penalties which I am doomed to pay for the -sin of being a great heiress. I had always wondered -how rich women could endure to make such -a display of diamonds at parties and balls as to necessitate -their being dogged by private detectives -everywhere. I always maintained that a woman -was an idiot who would thus let herself become -such a slave to her wealth. I was sure that any -one who lived simply, and did not care for show, -could go alone where she pleased, and have no -fears; but my theories are getting sadly shaken. -However, I am digressing. Now about this affair -last night.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I received a beautifully written note the other -day, delicately perfumed, and bearing a seal -stamped with a coat of arms, and signed Manuel -Altiova. The writer intimated that he had been a -friend of Mr. Dunreath, and had matters of importance -to tell me. He begged the favor of an interview. -I surmised that he was a scamp, but, on the -other hand, thought it possible that he might be -some titled wealthy Spaniard who had met Mr. -Dunreath in South America, and who could give me -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>some information about the locality of my possessions. -So I had my amanuensis send him a formal -note in reply asking him to call on me last evening.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I told my maid Hélène to remain in the next -room with the door ajar, and when his card was -sent up, followed almost immediately by himself, I -arose to receive him with some curiosity.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Tableau. Enter, with many bows, a tall, black-eyed -man of perhaps thirty-five, clad in faultless -dress; in short, to all outward appearance, an elegant -Adonis.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I let him tell his story, and said nothing for -awhile. He professed to have been most intimately -acquainted with Mr. Dunreath, and produced a -photograph of him. Subsequently, he showed me -some letters in Mr. Dunreath’s handwriting referring -to some dishonorable business transactions by -which Mr. D. had greatly augmented his fortunes, -and for which he would have suffered the full penalty -of the law except for the timely and most self-sacrificing -intervention of his “noble and devoted -friend,” Manuel Altiova.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I was thunderstruck. The hot blood mounted -to my temples, and for a moment everything seemed -to reel before me. Was all my happiness a dream? -Was I then enjoying the ill-gotten gains of a -swindler? I looked at the letters. There could -be no mistake about the handwriting. That very -forenoon, with my lawyer, I had been carefully -examining a dozen documents in that same queer -crabbed hand, which I had known so well in the -days when I was a girl and had a lover.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>Five years ago it was, but it seemed fifty, as I -sat there staring dizzily at those letters and trying -to realize that this man whom I had loved almost -enough to marry, this man whom I would have -sworn was honor itself, was false, basely false. -Oh, it seemed a thing incredible; yet, as I thought -of how in these last few years for month after -month society has been shocked by the fall of -those who have stood most high in our esteem, yet -who have been tempted to sell their souls for gold, -I believed it all.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I remember thinking vaguely of how I must try -to find out the men whom Mr. Dunreath had defrauded, -and return to them this money, which was -theirs, not mine. Then I roused myself and questioned -him, trying to appear as indifferent and non-committal -as possible, though I could feel my temples -throbbing, and I knew my cheeks were hot. -He answered my questions without the slightest -hesitation, giving names, dates, and localities with -startling readiness and apparent sincerity. He -mentioned various little peculiarities of Mr. Dunreath’s,—his -never eating butter, his being left-handed, -and so on.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last I could ask no more. I felt as though I -should suffocate. The man went on talking, however, -telling his own family history. His father -was a learned professor, his mother a lady of noble -birth. He was born at Barcelona, had been destined -from childhood to take orders in the Romish -Church, and was finally disinherited by his stern -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>father for his avowed Protestant and Republican -doctrines, to say nothing of his refusal to wed the -woman of his father’s choice when all hope of his -entering the church had been abandoned. With his -own little private fortune of twenty thousand dollars -he had sailed for Brazil, and had entered the -service of Mr. Dunreath. Soon he became the devoted -friend of that gentleman, was intrusted with -his confidence, and became cognizant of all his affairs. -Mr. Dunreath had fully expected to return -to him the thousands which he had so generously -made over to the officials in the nick of time, thus -preventing the pursuit which would have ended in -his arrest and conviction, with the subsequent surrender -to the state of many of his millions.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mr. Altiova, or rather Señor as he called himself, -presently let me understand the chief purpose -of his visit. As you will readily guess, he desired -me to pay him the sum which he had spent, namely, -twenty thousand dollars, all his little fortune. In -another letter which he produced, Mr. Dunreath -had promised to return this sum doubled, and this -promise was in the act of fulfillment on the very -day of the fatal sunstroke.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Señor Altiova modestly disclaimed any desire -that this generous offer should be fulfilled by Mr. -Dunreath’s heirs, and declared that he would be -quite content to receive only the sum which he had -spent. He paused for my reply. Meanwhile I -had been gradually collecting my wits, and was able -to control my voice enough to say that I must first -consult with my lawyer.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>“But, Miss Brewster,” he urged, “that, you -see, is impossible. Will you disclose Mr. Dunreath’s -felony? Will you create a needless scandal -and lose your fortune? No; if you will but -settle this little business with me (the sum, of -course, is but a mere bagatelle to a rich lady like -you), the secret will remain forever buried in my -bosom, and no mortal shall know what has passed -between us. The moment you hand me your -check for twenty thousand dollars, payable to the -bearer, that moment you shall with your own hand -burn these incriminating letters.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I reiterated that in spite of the danger of bringing -ignominy upon the name of my old friend, I -should consult my lawyer before taking any steps -in the matter.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But I can’t wait,” he retorted almost fiercely, -and there was a look in his eyes which made me -start. My heart rose. Could it be that those terrible -letters were only clever forgeries? He instantly -recollected himself, however, and his tone -assumed a touch of pathos.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Miss Brewster,” he said, and there was a -tremor in his voice as he looked at me beseechingly; -“my mother, whom I have not seen for years, is -dying. The physician gives her at most only a -month to live. Unknown to my father she has -cabled me to return instantly. Ah, my sweet -mother,” he murmured, as if speaking to himself, -while his eyes were wet with unshed tears, “the -moments are years until I see her. Oh, if I should -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>be too late! And then—who knows? perhaps,—yes,—perhaps, -if I may stand beside my mother’s -deathbed, my stern old father may be reconciled -to me—may bid me stay, and I may have the -unspeakable comfort of sustaining his declining -years.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I watched him keenly. If this were acting, it had -been very good acting until now. But these last -few words had a false ring in them, which even my -unpracticed ear detected. With a mournful sigh -he showed me two miniatures painted on ivory, one -the face of a handsome, dark-eyed woman, the -other that of a scholarly-looking man of middle -age. These, he said, were the portraits of his father -and mother, and as he returned the latter to its -velvet case he pressed it tenderly to his lips.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It was very touching, and I was half convinced, -especially when my eye fell again on that curious -handwriting whose peculiarities I knew so well. -The man evidently saw that I was agitated and -afraid that his story might, after all, be true. He -continued:—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But, Miss Brewster, I have no money. I arrived -here last week from Rio Janeiro. My father -has disinherited me, as I have told you. My little -private fortune, my mother’s gift, which I could -have doubled in a year’s time by my investments, -was all given to save my friend. Madame!” he -cried, “where is your sense of justice—simple justice—if -you refuse me the paltry sum which saved -the reputation and wealth of the man whose heiress -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>you now are? You have his own confession here -before you, signed with his name. The evidence is -unimpeachable. If I bring it into court, it may -cost you half your millions. Madame, the Urania -sails to-morrow, I must go. I must have money, -the money you owe me. If you refuse”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>I rose to bring this extraordinary interview to an -immediate close. I was shaking from head to foot -and thankful beyond measure that Hélène, who -had doubtless heard the whole conversation, understood -too little English to realize its import. I was -convinced that I had to deal with a very shrewd, -clever villain, who had worked up his facts most -adroitly, and was trying a desperate confidence -game. But he was not to be gotten rid of so easily. -Suddenly falling upon one knee, he grasped -my hand as I stood before him and poured out a -torrent of words, of which I remember nothing, for -I was too indignant and astounded even to think of -calling upon Hélène. We must have looked for all -the world like the tragic pictures in the “Police -Gazette,” which my naughty youngsters used to display -behind my back at the Mission School.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Suddenly I came to my senses. I don’t suppose -the whole scene lasted half a minute at most. -Tearing my hand away, I was rushing for Hélène,—who, -as I learned afterward, was sound asleep, -with the door blown to,—when, as a last bit of -desperation, what did this man do, but snatch a -dainty little pistol from his hip pocket, and before -I could scream or even gasp an articulate word he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>aimed it at his temples and seemed about to fire. -I can hardly tell what I did then. I believe I -screamed, and I must have rushed upon the madman, -for the next instant I found myself with the -pistol in my hand trying to fire it up the chimney, -while the Señor lay prostrate apparently in a swoon. -But the pistol would not fire; evidently it was not -loaded. I dropped it into the smouldering ashes, -and staggered into the next room, where my stupid -maid lay soundly sleeping on the sofa. Faint and -trembling I dropped into the nearest chair. I could -not have walked six inches further, and was too -weak to attempt to arouse Hélène. On the whole, -I was glad not to do so, for she would have been too -frightened to be of the least use. Moreover, she -would have raised the neighborhood with her -shrieks, while I should have been ready to die with -mortification and disgust.</p> - -<p class='c005'>In imagination I saw the lurid head lines of the -next day’s columns of society gossip and scandal. -“Dunreath’s Defalcation!” “How it Horrifies -His Heiress!!” I saw myself posing as the heroine -of a sixth-rate dime novel; on whose pages -alone, as I had always supposed, such experiences -as this ever took place. It did not take three seconds -for all this to flash through my brain and -make the cold sweat stand out in drops upon my -forehead.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Just then I heard a faint click, and summoning -courage to look into the drawing-room, what was -my unutterable relief to find the room empty. The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>wretch had vanished. To tell the truth, at that -juncture I came about as near verifying the doctor’s -prediction in regard to hysterics as I ever did -in my life.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Now for the sequel. This afternoon I received -the following note, which I inclose for your benefit.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-l c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Miss Brewster.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='sc'>Madam</span>,—John I. Carrigain, alias Court Peperino, -alias Dr. Kametski, alias Manuel Altiova, -aged thirty-four years and seven months, was -born in Manchester, England, of an English father -and Portuguese mother, received a good education, -was arrested for forgery at the age of nineteen, -served out a sentence of five years, and on release -was sent to New York by a charitable agency. He -was suspected of being accessory to one of the -largest swindling operations ever undertaken in -New York city, but as nothing could be proved, he -was released from custody and began operations in -Chicago, obtaining money under various false pretences. -At first he met with great success, but was -finally convicted and sentenced to six years in the -state prison. He was released from Joliet six -months ago, but, until your communication last -night, had not been known to be in New York. A -person answering his description was seen to take -the northern express last evening with a ticket for -some point in Canada. The man is a clever forger, -and it would require an expert to detect his work. -It has been ascertained that Carrigain was assistant -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>clerk for Mr. Dunreath for a few months seven -years ago, which accounts for some of his information -regarding the habits of that gentleman; and -as for the handwriting and the South American -details, he is quite clever enough to have worked -those carefully up in the last few weeks.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It is needless to say that his career will henceforth -be closely watched.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yours respectfully,</div> - <div class='line in16'><span class='sc'>J. Allison</span>,</div> - <div class='line in12'><em>Pinkerton Detective</em>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>By the way, Alice, I am having my portrait -painted, full-length, in a blue velvet tea gown. I -give a sitting every other afternoon, and on alternate -days visit tenement houses, industrial schools, -and Castle Garden. I saw two thousand filthy -Italians of the lowest kind land yesterday.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have just come home from a tour through the -Mulberry Bend where these creatures herd together. -I felt as if I were in Naples again. I thought some -parts of Boston were bad enough, but I never -saw anything on this side of the water equal to the -horrible squalor and loathsomeness of these places.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I mean to take all your good advice about being -calm, and trying not to feel that it devolves upon -me to settle all our social problems this month. I -know even better than you the complexity of the -difficulties in our congested city life. I have little -hope of doing much for this generation of pauperism -and vice, but I am determined to do whatever -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>my money and good will can do for laying the -foundation of better things in the generation to -come.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I am going to begin with tenement houses, for -there, I believe, lies the root of half of the trouble. -I suppose my friends will think that I am getting -to be a dreadful doctrinaire. Well, it can’t be -helped. I was predestined for that, I believe. My -consolation is that you at least will not be bored by -all my plans and theories, and will warn me if I -get too rabid....</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER VI.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The night after I had first seen Mildred Brewster -at aunt Madison’s I lay awake for hours, feverishly -tossing upon my pillow, and revolving many -thoughts. I then made one resolve. I would try -to win the friendship of this woman who had -touched me, who had moved me in a way that no -one had ever done before.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It was not so much by what she had said, for I -had heard the same or kindred thoughts expressed -by other lips; but I had never before met a woman -so strong, well poised and thoughtful, a woman who -united girlish grace and charm with all the persistent -ardor of one who, I was sure, could not only die -for an idea, but, what is far rarer, live for it day by -day and year by year, although forced to meet indifference -and coldness or the quiet contempt which -cuts to the quick in every sensitive nature.</p> - -<p class='c005'>As I had sat by the firelight that night, watching -the color come and go in her face,—that changeful, -eager face,—for the first time in a dreary twelve-month -I had felt my heart leap up with warmth and -sympathy. From a thoughtless, happy girlhood, -from the life of a gay, pleasure-loving young lady, -I had been rudely summoned to face some of the -bitterest realities of life. No matter what they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>were. I am not writing about myself. But though -my life was still rich and full of opportunities, if I -had but known it, yet in my blindness and selfishness -it had seemed utterly wrecked to me. I had -sunk into a dull, prosaic routine, and under a proud -mask of gay indifference was trying to hide a heart -dead to hope, ambition, and love. Yet, no! not -dead to love, though I had thought it so; but in -the heart-hunger which was not satisfied, I was fast -becoming self-centred, cold, and cynical.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Like a dreary desert the long years which must be -lived stretched desolately before me, and my only -aim was to fill the minutes of each day so full as to -leave me no leisure for memory or thought.</p> - -<p class='c005'>As I closed my eyes to sleep that night my last -thought was, “Yes, I <em>will</em> know her. I <em>must</em> know -her. Oh, if I could only be like her, a creature of -thought and purpose, absorbed in some idea, caring -for something beside my wretched, silly self! Perhaps -she can help me. I will ask her. I can trust -<em>her</em>.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I had been deceived in others; I had given my -utmost trust to those who had proved utterly unworthy, -and in bitterness of spirit I had resolved -never to trust again, never to leave the gateway -to my heart unguarded; but now, before I knew it, -the locks had yielded, and I stood with lonely, outstretched -arms, begging for love to enter in. After -all, I was still young, and very, very human.</p> - -<p class='c005'>And love came. It came before my fallen pride -had found words to ask for it. I had something to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>live for now. <em>I had found a friend.</em> What romance -has ever been written that tells of woman’s -love for woman? And yet the world is full of it, -despite the skeptics, and the Davids and Jonathans -find their counterparts in thousands of the unwritten -lives of women. Yes, I had found not a new -acquaintance, but a warm heart-friend. Thank -God that she knew it and I knew it before the -wealth which came so fast upon the beginning of -our friendship could create a gulf between us, -which, once established, my pride would never have -allowed me to cross. Mildred knew, she always -knew, that I had loved her first, and wanted her -for herself alone.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I knew, when the wealth came, that it would not -make her any the less my friend, but I was only -one among her many friends. I knew that our -paths would be different now, and though she -would always think kindly of me, I could not expect -to see and know her as I had fondly dreamed -in the first days of our friendship.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, I can never return to her what she can give, -what she has already given to me; my little life can -play but a small part in the large life that has come -to her,” I said drearily, as I turned back, after the -first shock of surprise, to readjust myself to the old -routine of thought and feeling, which, I had dared -to hope, had been put behind me forever.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Ah, well, I have made believe be happy before, -I can do so again,” I said to myself, grimly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But one day—how well I remember it—as I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>passed down Chestnut Street in Salem noting the -brilliant winter sunlight shining down from the -cloudless blue through the black lace work of -branches high arching overhead, and casting fantastic -shadows on the brick walls of the stately old -mansions on either side, some one handed me a -letter. This is what it said:—</p> - -<p class='c005'>... “You asked me to be your friend, you said -I could help you, and now I ask you to be my friend, -to come here to this great city where I must be for -a time and help me. I felt brave and strong at first, -I was not afraid to be rich, but I begin to tremble -now, to feel strangely weak and girlish and unprotected; -to feel, in short, that I need a friend, that -I need what I think you can be to me. After aunt -Madison had been with me only a few days she was -obliged to return to Boston, leaving me quite alone. -Of course Madam Grundy says that I must have -a chaperon, but I do not want a chaperon, and I -should be wretched with a ‘companion,’ perfunctorily -trying to entertain me, learning all my plans -and secrets, and hypocritically assenting to everything -I do and say. No; I want an honest friend, -one who knows the world as you do, who will honestly -speak her mind, who will take an interest in -all my schemes, and help to keep me from making -blunders.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I believe I could talk more freely, think more -clearly, and do better work if you were beside me, -your honest eyes looking into mine. For, let me -tell you the secret, dear, of what first drew me to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>you. You are most strangely like the sister whom -I lost years ago, and whose companionship, if she -had lived, would have made life so rich for me. I -feel myself so alone; never before have I had so -keen a sense of loneliness as now, here, in this modern -Babylon, with my old life and work abandoned, -and the new perplexing life which my wealth has -brought me just begun. Like me, you are alone -in the world, singularly alone; so come and be to -me what my little Ruby would have been. When -you speak I could almost believe that I hear her -voice; when you look at me I see her eyes again. -Your face haunts me. Come to me and I shall feel -that my Ruby is with me again.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Standing in the sunshine beneath the old elms -I read these loving words. When I lifted my -eyes again, the beautiful quaint old street was -suddenly transfigured. For months it had been to -me but a bare prison-house; now the sunshine was -real sunshine, the sky was no longer leaden, the -world was, after all, a beautiful world, and I was -glad to live.</p> - -<p class='c005'>So bidding farewell to quiet Chestnut Street and -the staid, historic old city, I went to the “modern -Babylon” to meet Mildred, and the new life began. -As the days went on I perceived that she seemed to -have a feverish dread that she should die with her -work undone. My constant anxiety was that she -would succumb to the fearful nervous strain which -her sudden accession to wealth and responsibility -had brought upon her. But nothing seemed to rest -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>her or relieve her mind except the accomplishment -of some of the ends she had in view, and as every -new project was consummated, she showed a relief -and delight that to the average society woman -would have appeared inexplicable and at the same -time amusing.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It seems to me,” said Mildred one day as we -were strolling through the park, after a morning on -Cherry Street; “it seems to me that most people -have no imagination. It cannot be that all the -pleasant, cultured people whom one meets are so -shamefully heartless and indifferent. They simply -have not the smallest realization of what is going -on in this great city, or any thought of their personal, -individual responsibility about it. They -hear it all as a tale that is told. They have always -heard it. They are used to hearing it. From constant -hearing it has become as meaningless to them -as the Lord’s Prayer has to most people. How -many who dare to say ‘Thy kingdom come, on -earth as it is in heaven,’ ever actually mean a word -that they say, or lift a finger to bring it about?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>We walked on in silence. Presently Mildred -burst out again:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We are so apt to think that because we eat our -three meals a day, and can buy our opera tickets -when we feel like it, that all the world is doing -well, and that if people are miserable it must somehow -be their own fault.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am convinced that if any people ever needed -missionary work, it is the society belles and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>well-bred, cultured men of the clubs, who know so -little and care still less for this vast multitude of the -ignorant and suffering and fallen here at their very -doors, and who look with calm indifference on these -hideous sores upon our modern life.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I promise you, Ruby, after I get some of my -irons out of the fire, I mean to devote myself to a -crusade to rescue what George Eliot calls the -‘perishing upper classes.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But ah,” she sighed, “it needs genius for that, -and I have only money. Oh, I would give half my -millions if I had the scathing pen of a Carlyle, or -the power to plead for humanity like Mrs. Stowe -or Walter Besant or Dickens; if I could stir the -hearts of the people with flaming words that should -help to sweep away the sloth, indifference, and contemptible -arrogance that makes one tenth of us -forget that the other nine tenths are our brothers -and sisters!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If every one were as self-sacrificing as you, -Mildred”—I began; but she interrupted me almost -sternly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Hush! never say that to me. What have I -ever sacrificed? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I -have always had comforts; now I have everything -that heart can wish. In giving to others I deny -myself nothing. Never dare to let me for a moment -imagine that I am doing anything more than the -simplest, most obvious duty. I must not cheat my -conscience. I should be the veriest hypocrite if I -allowed myself to think that I am generous. Is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>there anything generous in paying one’s debts, particularly -when one has not had to earn the money -with which to pay them?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have always observed,” she continued, “that -a little decency in a millionaire goes a long way. -I am not above temptation, and I have already discovered -that I am in danger of coming to believe -that my simple good will, common sense, and capacity -for sympathy are something rare and remarkable.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Every one thinks to please me by telling me -so. Do not let me deceive myself. I have a clear -vision now; help me to keep it and to be faithful.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred’s voice quivered, and she drew my arm -in hers while we walked back to our rooms in silence.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But the world is growing better, Mildred. -Every intelligent person admits that people are -more kind and thoughtful than they used to be. -No one who has read history could deny it,” I resumed, -as once more within doors we sat down before -the glowing grate to finish our talk.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You and I believe it, dear, because we believe -in God, and because we believe that this is God’s -world and not the devil’s,” Mildred replied.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Half the women whom we saw parading their -fine toilets this afternoon believe it too, not because -they know enough about history to see in it the -unfolding of the divine idea, but because they like to -believe it; because it makes them very comfortable -to believe that by taking money which some one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>else has earned and paying an annual fee out of it -to orphan asylums and hospitals, or to any outcome -of our modern altruism, they are thereby relieved -from all further responsibility.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But here is an intelligent man,—an English -university man, who has read history as well as -you and I, and he says it is false. This is what -he writes,” said Mildred, taking a thick letter from -her writing-desk. She held it unopened for a -moment and continued: “I met him when I was -in England. We had many a talk in our rambles -together at Kew and Hampstead Heath. He is a -friend of William Morris and like him a socialist -of the deepest dye. I don’t half accept the accuracy -of all his statements, but he is an honest man -and a gentleman. I am glad to know him, for I -cannot afford to be ignorant of such a man’s views -on our social problems, however much I may dissent -from them. Now let me read you his letter.</p> - -<p class='c005'>... “You ask me to give you suggestions for -the expenditure of your wealth in benefiting humanity. -This I must decline to do, my dear friend. -If I had your wealth I know what <em>I</em> should do, or, -at least, what I ought to do, but <em>I</em> am a socialist, -and <em>you</em> are not. I do not believe in <i><span lang="fr">laissez-faire</span></i> -as you do, and as a socialist I should use my -wealth and influence for a reorganization of society, -not for a patching up of what is at bottom false -and rotten. Things are getting worse and worse, -and must continue to do so under the present social -system. My hope is that they will get so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>bad, so unutterably vile, that the people will be -compelled to throw aside their apathy and make a -clean sweep. I take no part in any of the hundred -little schemes for ‘improving’ the present system. -I don’t want to improve the present system as you -do. I want to destroy it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We improve things that are already fairly good -and can be made better, but we destroy whatever -is thoroughly rotten; at least I think all rational -people do so. So far as the present order is at -all bearable, it is due to certain socialist innovations, -such as interference with the capitalist, trade -unions, movements like that of the Irish against -the particular class of thieves called landlords, etc.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The people, the common people, who for centuries -have silently suffered and abjectly kissed the -foot that kicked them and trod upon them, the -people, I say, are beginning to wake up. They are -beginning to ask questions, and they are questions -which will have to be solved erelong, even if it take -another bloody French revolution to do it. I see -no way in which bloodshed is to be avoided. I -look forward confidently to what will seem to you -very like a reign of terror ere this century closes. -Things must grow worse before they can get better. -The crisis has not come, but it is coming. Money -has done much, but it cannot do everything; the -press will not always be bribed and muzzled as it is -to-day, nor Levi’s and Mulhall’s and Giffen’s statistics -be doctored to suit the capitalists who pay for -them. The time is coming, Miss Brewster, when -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>the people <em>will be heard</em>; and <em>they will be heeded</em>, -for their words will be as short and sharp as fire -and dynamite can make them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Do not think I am telling you of what I wish to -see. I am telling you of what I know will come.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The rich are not voluntarily going to heed the -bitter cry of the famishing, except in one way, the -only way they have ever known, namely, almsgiving. -They will give alms because it is noble to be a -benefactor, because it appeases their consciences, -because it might be made extremely inconvenient -for them if they did not. But they will not give -justice. Justice! they never learned the meaning -of the word.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But some day these landed aristocrats ‘whose -thin bloods crawl down from some robber in a border -brawl,’ who have never lifted their finger to -earn a penny in their lives, and who owe all that -they have to these same robber ancestors,—these -people, I say, will some day be taught the meaning -of that same word ‘justice’ by some of the forty-five -millions of landless people in our little island. -I shall not soon forget how quickly the subscriptions -for the poor went up a year or two ago, after -the riots.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You have no conception, Miss Brewster, you -can have no conception, of the state of things here -at present. Six millions of our people are living -on the brink of pauperism. I tell you, when I sit -down to my omelette and toast in the morning and -reflect that there are two hundred thousand human -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>beings within two miles of me who don’t know -where they are going to get their next meal, when -I read of the hundreds of children who habitually -go to school without any breakfast, and who not unfrequently -faint dead away over their books, I tell -you it doesn’t make my own breakfast relish any -better.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“One night in the autumn, a year or two ago, I -passed through Trafalgar Square at twelve o’clock, -and counted four hundred and eighty-three homeless -people lying out in the chill air upon the bare -stones. Not one of them had fourpence wherewith -to pay for a night’s lodging. And this, remember, -was only one spot.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There were many others where a similar sight -might have been seen.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Ah,’ but you say; ‘these are the dissolute -and drunken, those who love to be vagabonds.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I assure you that you are much mistaken. I -have seen and talked with thousands of these people, -and a large number of them, probably a fourth, are -men from the country who can find no work there, -and have found none here—honest, hard-working -British laborers. Two thirds of these people are not -vicious, or drunken, but they are out of work, they -are cold, they are hungry, they are naked, they are -outcasts in this Christian (?) land which has enough -for all its children. All they ask is work, hard -work, dirty work, work for twelve hours a day, but -that they cannot get. Why? Because our accursed -modern society is irrational, wasteful, utterly selfish. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>Plenty of money, plenty of things worth doing, -plenty of men who would thank God if this work -could be given them to do; but what does our -mad, maladjusted society say to them? ‘Emigrate! -Clear the country! Away with you! We have -no use for you.’ Malthus was right, after all, and -we must reverse Browning.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘There’s no God in heaven;</div> - <div class='line'>All’s wrong with the world.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“Do you know of the blacksmith women in the -‘black country’? I have recently been there, -giving some addresses. Oh, the hideousness of it -all, with its starving people, its wretched, stunted -lives, its ghastly ugliness, its brutalized men and -women! One sees women, who should be at home -nursing their babies, standing on their feet from -morning till night doing the work of men, swinging -the hammer amidst grime and soot and incessant -noise. And if one of them drops at her post from -sheer exhaustion, there is a fiendish clanging thing -that bangs on the floor and shakes every bone in -the poor wretch’s body.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Mr. —— took Henry George to see the sight -when he was here, and he told me that George -swore until he was black in the face.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, I know you think I am a hot-head; you will -say these are exceptional cases. You will doubtless -try to do what all the good rich people do (I admit, -you see, that there are <em>some</em> good ones); you -will doubtless try to help palliate all these horrors. -If you were here you might build an old men’s -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>home for the poor men to whom society has never -given a chance, who, through no fault of their own, -have been forced from their cradle to live in stifling -attics or damp, unwholesome hovels, breathing -poison, working their fingers off to give their hungry -children bread. You might build a comfortable -home where these decrepit, useless old fellows -might enjoy the food which you give in charity, -wear your charity uniform, and look forward to filling -a pauper’s grave, as does one in nine of all the -people who die in London. Or you might build a -splendid marble palace of a hospital or asylum, and -herd together vast numbers of little boys or fallen -women or cripples, and try in some big, mechanical, -institutional way to do with your pound of cure -what an ounce of prevention would have accomplished -a thousand times better, if it could have -come in the way of justice, not charity. Charity! -how I loathe the word! It is the iron which sears -the conscience of your rich Christian as does nothing -else. He thinks to buy heaven with that word.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I tell you, Miss Brewster, these people want -what you and I want. They want to preserve -their self-respect, to have a chance once a week to -remember that they are human beings and not -machines. They want to be able in this Christian -land to earn an honest living, to keep their -daughters from the streets, and to keep soul and -body together without sacrificing all decency and -honor.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“How much delicacy and fine moral sentiment, to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>say nothing of physical comfort, do you suppose is -to be had in the sixty thousand families of London, -each of which lives in one room?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Do you rich people suppose you are going to -help this matter greatly by leaving money in your -wills to build asylums for the moral and physical -wrecks for which our incredible folly and selfish -indifference is responsible?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Your time will come; sooner or later you will -find much the same condition of things in your -own great cities. Do not believe that in some -mysterious way—as your politicians and newspapers -are trying to teach you—you, in America, -are different from us.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We are all in the same boat, because the structure -of society is everywhere the same. Money -is literally king and god. It rules us everywhere, -and it is bringing about a state of things with -which the order imposed by a German Kaiser is a -mild and beneficent régime. Indeed, I am not sure -but that the greatest social crash will come in the -United States, unless you soon come to recognize -that a new order of things must be brought about. -You pride yourselves upon your universal suffrage, -but of what value is a vote to a poor man who -must risk his bread and butter if he dares to vote -contrary to his employer’s wishes? What avails -universal suffrage when one third of your legislators -can be bought, and votes go to the highest -bidder? No; universal suffrage is totally inadequate -to save us under the existing order of things.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>“I am a socialist simply because I am a rational -human being, who knows the facts; because I am—I -venture to think—endowed with reason and -imagination.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I do not imagine, however, that socialism is -going to produce any perfect ideal order. I simply -see that the economic order which has sustained -the civilized world for the past two or three hundred -years is now falling in pieces and must be -replaced by something; that we are approaching a -period that will spell either socialism or chaos.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If unhappily chaos should come, it will be due -to the opponents of socialism, which is the only -peaceful, rational method of social organization -under the new economic conditions, due to machine -industry and the contraction of the world by -means of the great scientific discoveries of our -time.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If you want to see a fuller statement of my -views and the grounds for them, look at the article -on Socialism in the ‘Forum’ last month. But we -socialists spend years in study, and we can’t give -the results adequately in a brief form. Miss Brewster, -I feel that you are in earnest, far more in -earnest than most women whom I have met from -your country. I do not wonder that you are perplexed. -I would not change places with you. I -would far rather have the sure conviction of the -truth as I see it, and be of little power in advancing -the cause I believe in, than to stand as you do, -rich, powerful, overwhelmed with responsibilities, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>not knowing how to use your power, and trying in -vain to patch up and prolong the existence of what -is destined to be swept away ere the next generation -shall have come and gone.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Smile at my pessimism if you like; time will -verify my words. If ever you come to see this as -I do, perhaps then I may suggest some things for -you to do with your millions.”...</p> - -<p class='c005'>(Miss Brewster’s reply to the foregoing letter.)</p> - -<p class='c005'>... “Your letter has deeply stirred me. Not -that anything you say surprises me, or is new to -me; but behind the words, I know, are the sad, -dreadful facts for which they stand; and, being a -creature endowed with some imagination, I can in -some measure realize what that simple statement -means, when you say that six millions of your people -are on the brink of pauperism.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Good God! what endless heartaches, what physical -misery, what degradation of mind and soul is -implied in those few words! I am glad you do not -envy me my wealth. I am beginning to think that -I am not so much to be envied as I thought at -first I might be. I have been amazed, in these -last few weeks, to learn from numberless sources -of the chagrin, disappointment, and perplexity of -many rich men and women who have thought to -benefit the world by the ‘charity’ which you so -despise. They have put up great institutions, only -to find that in many cases it was the least helpful -thing that they could do; that a large part of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>money was spent on taxes, insurance, agents, servants, -go-betweens; that, after all, when they had -gathered their orphans or cripples or old women -together, they had brought about an utterly cheerless, -artificial state of things, and have proved that -for the average human being with natural human -instincts the poorest home is often more preferable -than the most palatial asylum.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“So, set your heart at rest. I am not going to -spend my money in that way. Whatever may be -the political and social changes which will take -place in the next twenty years,—and doubtless -they will be many and great,—of one thing I am -sure, no new condition of things can be made permanent -or harmonious except by means of two -things. The first of these is moral character. -The second is intellectual insight into cause and -effect and relation. In any condition of things we -must have righteousness, and we must have trained -minds. You will doubtless agree with me that -selfishness and ignorance are the two monster -dragons that are threatening now, as they always -have done, to devour us, only we should differ as -to the way in which they are to be slain. You -have a definite theory as to how this is to be done, -which I do not yet thoroughly understand. I see -your goal, but I do not understand how you propose -to reach it without doing away with individuality -and crushing out some of the deepest human -instincts. True, many of our instincts are brutish. -There is still the tiger and the ape within us, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>which, as John Fiske says, is our inheritance of -‘original sin’ from our brute ancestors. I agree -with you that such instincts must be eliminated, -but how? By dynamite, fear, revolution, legislation?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You are right: we may make the selfish fear, -and that is often a very salutary thing to do if -nothing better can be done. A business man was -telling me only the other day of the different relations -between employers and employees in Fall -River and other manufacturing places since the -strikes of the last few years.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But, after all, though fear and legislation can -do something to convert a brutal man into a decent -man for a time, there must needs be something -else,—the gospel of love and humanity, which of -his own free will he must choose to accept and -apply understandingly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I shall not attempt to palliate any of the existing -evils, nor, on the other hand, shall I attempt -to undermine our present social and political system -even if I could. Certainly I shall not try to -do this until I am very certain that I see the right -method of substituting something better in its -place.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“By the way, have you read Bellamy’s ‘Looking -Backward’? It is very suggestive, and Nationalization -of Industries is getting to be more of a -fad in Boston than Esoteric Buddhism or Christian -Science. Bellamy tells us what we must try -to attain; but, alas! he gives little hint of what -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>must be our first step toward the attainment. -This is the problem which you and I must help our -generation to solve.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Go on with your socialistic schemes. I believe -they contain a half truth; at all events, to talk -about them as you do will make people think, for -you speak from the deepest conviction. Out of all -this <i><span lang="de">sturm und drang</span></i> period must surely come -clear insight and right action: at least I am optimist -enough to hope so; and my work shall be to -think out the solution, as far as I may, but at all -events to do what in me lies to set people to thinking; -to make life a little sweeter and better; to -infuse into it more hope for a few of my generation, -and thus help to make their children ready -for the new order of things if it comes.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In this great city money flows like water. There -are streets where, for a mile, every house must be -the home of a millionaire, for no one else could -afford to live in such a one. Yet, within two -miles of these palaces there is the direst want, the -most frightful squalor, and the problem of New -York is fast getting to be like the problem of London.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Most of our women dabble a little in charity -now and then. They get up charity balls and -fairs to satisfy their consciences in that way, and -flatter themselves when they spend their money -lavishly in luxuries for their own pleasure that -they are giving employment to the poor and doing -God service. They will sometimes give their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>money; they will sometimes give a little time to -cut out garments at a sewing circle; but not one -in five hundred will give her personal service even -for a half day a week in coming face to face with -those who need the help of her intelligence and her -human sympathy.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of this I am convinced: men are never to be -uplifted permanently, except by human sympathy, -intelligently directed and expressed, and by personal -contact with those who do not come to them -to dole out ‘charity,’ but who come as brothers -to lend them a helping hand.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There are a few who begin the work; there are -fewer still who continue it. The other day a gentleman, -who is giving his life to the rescuing of -street children, told me of the faintheartedness of -his voluntary helpers, who come a half dozen Sundays -to his mission, but who rarely come longer -when they discover that, to use his own coarse but -forcible words, which you will pardon my quoting -verbatim, ‘<em>they must be willing to pick lice off -those children for Christ’s sake</em>.’...</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, dear friend, we are both working in very -different ways. You would tear down; I would -build up, or ‘patch up,’ as you say. Which of -us is the wiser, time will tell; but however differently -we may labor, it is for the same end after all -that we are striving,—‘putting society on a just -and rational basis,’ as you would phrase it, or -bringing God’s kingdom upon earth, as the Christ -called it,—and so I bid you God-speed.”...</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER VII.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>One morning in April we had risen from a leisurely, -late breakfast, a luxury which, with our press -of work, we did not often allow ourselves, except -when, as in this case, we had been up late the previous -night.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Hélène brought in the usual bulky bag of mail -matter, and we settled ourselves to our morning’s -task, I taking charge of all letters that were not of -a private nature, and consigning to the waste basket -innumerable quires of paper devoted to more -or less roundabout appeals for aid, and lectures -and advice <i><span lang="la">ad libitum</span></i>.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Occasionally we stopped to read aloud to each -other bits of the letters, and discuss or laugh over -their contents. This morning I remember I was -examining a document in regard to a prison reform -society, containing a request that Mildred would -allow her name to be used as vice-president of it, -when an exclamation from her startled me into -dropping the letter and turning round.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, what now?” I asked, in response to the -intimation from the puckered forehead and pursed-up -lips that something was the matter. “Another -love-sick poet? or is it a count this time? It must -be time for another suitor; you haven’t had an -offer of marriage for at least ten days, have you?”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>“Indeed, Ruby, this is no joke, I assure you,” -replied Mildred, gazing blankly at the letter in her -hand. “It is from General Lawrence.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What!” I exclaimed; “that distinguished-looking -man who has written all those books upon -political economy? He talked with me in such -an entertaining way the other night and told the -funniest stories. I was afraid he would be awfully -erudite and dry, but he wasn’t at all.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No; he can be very entertaining,” sighed Mildred. -“I have met him several times since we -have been in New York. He was a classmate of -papa’s at Yale and a gallant soldier in the war. -Judge Matthews said he thought him one of the -clearest and ablest thinkers in the country, and it -seems that years ago he had achieved a European -reputation.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes,” I said, “I have seen his articles in the -‘Fortnightly’ and ‘Edinburgh’ reviews, and he -spoke the other night as if he were well acquainted -with Browning and Froude and half of the literary -people of England.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“His wife wore fine sapphires, and I overheard -her say that she was devoted to German opera,” -added Mildred, musingly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, what of it?” I asked, much mystified at -this apparently irrelevant remark.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why, only this,” answered Mildred, dryly; -“this entertaining society man, this famous political -economist, writes to me this morning piteously -begging for an immediate loan of ten thousand dollars -to keep the sheriff out of his house.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>“Heavens! Mildred. Why, I supposed he had -enough money to live on,” I cried, aghast. “He -lives in one of those pretty two-thousand-a-year -apartments up by the park, does he not? I have -heard people say what a charming little home they -had, and everything in such good taste. Pray how -have they managed it?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, in the simplest way in the world—on -other people’s money,” replied Mildred, with a -shade of scorn in her tone. “The fact is, as all his -friends know, he is as poor as a church-mouse. But -he has always been accustomed to living well, and -he has not the faintest idea of household economy -in spite of his fine theories of political economy. -He is generous and warm-hearted, and helped papa -with a loan when he was in college trying to live -on three hundred a year, and I cannot forget a -kindness like that. Of course, it would be the easiest -thing in the world for me to give him the ten -thousand outright. A loan would be a gift for -that matter, for he could never repay it, as his income -is only three thousand a year, I fancy, and his -expenses are at least one or two thousand more.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of course his wife must be the cause of all -this,” I remarked. “Any woman who will spend -borrowed money on sapphires”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, they were probably heirlooms; she came of -a rich family,” interrupted Mildred.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No matter,” I continued; “any woman who -will wear sapphires and has the assurance to go to -a dinner party with its attendant expenses of dress, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>carriage, et cetera, when she cannot pay her debts -and expects at any minute to be sold out of house -and home, is a woman who deserves to have a -pretty sharp lesson taught her, and I hope you will -do it. Now, don’t let those blue eyes of his and -that majestic manner overawe you and cajole you -into feeling that you owe him a debt of gratitude -to be paid by getting him out of this emergency; -for it will serve only to let him teach his children -that the highroad to comfort and ease is to go -on the principle that the public owes a genius a -living.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, I do not mean to do that,” replied Mildred, -thoughtfully; “but I cannot let this disgrace come -to them when I can help it as well as not, and it is -a rather awkward thing for me to dictate conditions -to a man who is old enough to be my father, one -who has risked his life on many a battlefield, and is -a genius and a famous scholar. I cannot lay the -blame on his wife. She adores him, and he thinks -her failures are better than other people’s successes. -The whole family in fact forms the most genuine -mutual admiration society. They seem utterly oblivious -of the fact that in letting their milkman’s -bill go unpaid, and in giving their children money -to go riding in the goat carriage in the park, they -are doing anything dishonorable.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Every one who knows them says they have no -more wisdom in bringing up their children than -two babies. They let them eat and drink what -they like, sit up as late as they like, and care more -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>about their speaking French and German well than -about their knowing the multiplication table, or -anything practical.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If they were not such devout churchpeople, one -would not be so amazed at this extravagance,” ejaculated -Mildred warmly, “though perhaps genius -may be pardoned for lacking common sense and -common honesty,” she added, grimly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then rising, she continued, as she put on her hat -and gloves: “I know what I shall do. I have a -scheme for helping him in a way that will be something -more than merely giving him immediate material -aid. I know a dear old lady who used to be -papa’s friend and his, and I will go at once to see -her. She can tell me some facts that I need to -know.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Two hours later, she had but just returned when -the General called.</p> - -<p class='c005'>He looked nervous and flushed, and I never saw -Mildred seem more embarrassed. In an adjoining -room I awaited with some impatience the close of -the interview.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last she came into my room, and throwing -herself down on the white bear-skin rug before the -grate, she exclaimed, with a little groan, “There, -I’ve done it, though it was the most painful thing -I ever did in my life. I felt that I must seem so -mean and arrogant to make myself the arbiter of -the fate of a man like him, and to dictate terms -which must have been horribly humiliating. Think -of my setting myself up to instruct a man who has -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>deserved the honor of the friendship of men like -Mazzini and Von Moltke and Carlyle and Sumner.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“How did you begin?” I queried, realizing for -the first time what a difficult thing this must have -been to a generous-hearted girl like Mildred.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh,” she said, “I began by reminding him of -his kindness to papa, and assuring him that I was -ready and glad to be of assistance to him. He -looked so grateful that I found it almost impossible -to screw up my courage to continue. But, after -stammering over it a minute, I put on a bold front -and went on to say that I felt it my duty to make -my gift, for it was to be a gift, not a loan, upon -certain stringent conditions in order that similar -circumstances might not occur again. I would -state what they were, and then he might consult -with his family and let me know whether he would -accept them or not.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“He replied sadly, ‘I am in your hands, Miss -Brewster. There is no question of my volition in -the matter.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It almost brought the tears to my eyes, Ruby, -for he did look so grand and noble, and it was so -pathetic to think of a man of his powers forced -to humble himself before a girl like me. He said -that for years this shadow of debt had been over -him, making life a purgatory for him, which is true -enough. I hear that he has long been borrowing -from every one of his own and his wife’s relatives, -and has mortgaged everything they own, even her -jewels. One wonders what he can be made of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>to have endured such shame and yet to have -counted it less shame than to live in a small, economical -way within his income. But he spoke of -his debts with all the ingenuousness of a child, -just as though they were an affliction sent by Providence, -for which he was in no wise responsible, -and I really think that he felt them so.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘My first condition,’ I said, ‘is that you shall -give me a full and accurate statement of your financial -affairs, including old debts which are not pressing, -insurance, mortgages, and everything of a -money nature.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Secondly, I asked that none of his children -should receive private lessons in dancing, French, -or anything else, which were not paid for in full -in advance. I could see that this was a very bitter -thing for the General. One of his daughters is -a girl of artistic talent, and he has been giving her -expensive lessons in painting, for which, as I knew, -he has never paid.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I asked General Lawrence pretty pointedly,” -continued Mildred, “if, so long as a fair education -could be had in our schools without cost, he felt -justified in taking other people’s money to give his -children accomplishments.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And pray what did he say to that?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why, nothing,” answered Mildred. “He -looked absolutely dazed, as if it were a totally new -idea. In fact, I do not think that it had occurred -to him that children could be brought up respectably -without knowing French and dancing.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>“I wanted to tell him,” said Mildred, “that I -counted the best part of my education to be the -years that I spent studying geography and arithmetic -with both boys and girls, with white and black, -with rich and poor, with Protestants, Catholics, and -Jews, in a public school, where success was gauged -by individual merit alone, and where we little -bigots and partisans learned to be tolerant and respectful -toward one another. One of the most salutary -things I ever learned was that the son of a -ragpicker, in my class, was a better mathematician -than I, and that a mulatto girl across the aisle usually -outranked me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I told General Lawrence it was my firm conviction -that his children would be far more benefited -by a few years’ study of ordinary English branches -with ordinary children than by anything else he -could do for them educationally, for I feared that -they were growing up to know only one side of life -and only one class of people, and their knowledge -and sympathies would be narrow. He nodded assent, -and I went on.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“My third condition was, that he and his wife -should sign a paper promising for the next three -years to allow no debts to any one but me, or some -agent authorized by me, to run beyond a month’s -time. Any failure to meet such debts promptly -must be immediately reported to me for settlement, -for which I should take a mortgage on his furniture -and personal effects.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I told him that my intention was not merely to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>help his immediate and pressing need, but to entirely -free him from debt. Nevertheless, I was unwilling -to undertake this, unless he were ready to -rigidly insist upon living within his income, thus -teaching his children some lessons of self-sacrifice -and thrift. I told him plainly that I was sure a -little different management would reduce his doctor’s -bills, for I had reason to think that his children’s -constant ailing was due to the foolish way in -which they had been indulged. He looked amazed -and annoyed at this, and begged me to specify.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I replied, ‘Mrs. Lawrence herself told me of -three parties which her eight-year-old Gladys attended -within a single week, and she afterwards -remarked incidentally that the child had a tendency -to insomnia and dyspepsia and was taking -medicine all the time. Moreover, your older -daughter privately informed me that she had begun -a diet of vinegar and slate-pencils to reduce -her plumpness.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘No,’ I said, ‘I shall not presume to dictate -to you as to the methods which you are to pursue -with your children. But I have seen them several -times and have an interest in them, and I believe -that their character will receive a permanent injury -from the irregular life which they are living and -the false notions they have imbibed in regard to -keeping up a style which they cannot afford. So -for their sake, and in addition to paying all your -debts, I am willing to send the oldest to good boarding-schools -where simple diet, regular hours, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>systematic work can help to make of them a -stronger man and woman than there is prospect of -their becoming now.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I could see that it was terribly galling for him -to have me sit there and arraign him, as it were, -for his conduct; but he clenched his teeth, kept silence, -and heard me to the end. Then he cleared -his throat, and after a moment said, hoarsely, without -looking up:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Miss Brewster, you are very kind. With your -permission I will call on you to-morrow at eleven.’”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The next morning, a half hour after the time appointed, -General Lawrence and his wife appeared, -both looking as if they had passed a restless night. -Mrs. Lawrence, clad in an elegant gown, quite outshone -Mildred, who wore a quiet street costume of -gray serge. That costly dress and the queenly air -of its owner nettled me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Mildred,” I whispered, as she came back for a -pencil, “do think twice before you squander your -thousands on saving those people from the just -penalty of their folly and sin.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am not thinking of them so much as of -their children,” said she gravely; “and it is far -more folly than sin. Mrs. Lawrence is a Southern -woman, sweet-tempered and charming, but despising -little economies as petty Yankee meanness, -and she will have to submit to receiving instruction -from me on that score, or else I shall let the sheriff -come.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>But Mildred certainly did seem somewhat disconcerted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>when she learned that the ten-thousand-dollar -loan which had been asked for was less than half -of General Lawrence’s indebtedness. He confessed, -she told me afterward, that his expenses last year -were over five thousand dollars, while his receipts -from his literary work, his sole income, were only -twenty-eight hundred. “We were obliged, actually -obliged, to go into society more or less on account -of the General’s position,” said his wife, apologetically. -“General Lawrence is continually meeting -important people in the literary and political world, -and can’t you see, my dear Miss Brewster, how essential -this is for his writing? And, of course, if -we are always well entertained ourselves, we have -to treat people decently when they come to see us. -I have been my own seamstress, and have economized -in every way, but it is absolutely impossible -for us to live on three thousand a year. My husband’s -writings would bring us three times that if -he could get what he deserves. But it is always so -with men of genius; their own generation never appreciates -them,” she added bitterly, while her husband -fidgeted and took a turn around the room.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, and what did you say to such rubbish as -that?” I inquired of Mildred.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I said,” answered she, “that Emerson and -many others had found ‘plain living and high -thinking’ quite compatible, and that I thought a -residence in some suburban town would obviate -the burdens of society, and allow them to live within -their income. At all events,” I said, “although I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>stood ready to offer, as a gift, their entire immunity -from debt, this could not be done except by a strict -construction of the conditions which I had laid -down. However, I offered General Lawrence an -opportunity to lay up a little money, telling him -that I had various projects in view, and should need -the assistance of the pen of a ready writer in carrying -out many of them. I told him that I would -put to his credit in the bank ten dollars for every -newspaper column which he would write on subjects -that I should give him: at the end of three -years this amount should be turned over to him, -and meanwhile he must ‘cut his coat according to -his cloth,’ and manage in some way to live strictly -within his income.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And what did Madam say to that?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, her pride kept the tears back; they both -said nothing and signed the papers; but I know -that she must think me a hateful, close-fisted Yankee, -with no conception of granting a favor graciously -and without cruelly wounding the recipient’s -feelings.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>We saw very little of the Lawrences after this. -It was understood that little Gladys’s health required -country air, and a cottage out of town was -engaged. The children were not sent to school, but -kept up French and read history and literature at -home with their mamma, and although they would -have found it difficult to bound Missouri or do an -example in long division, they could talk glibly of -Louis XI. and the Cid.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>Whether a beneficial reform was wrought in the -domestic economy of the family, I never knew, and -I think Mildred had her doubts, though she was -not called upon to pay any more debts.</p> - -<p class='c005'>We heard incidentally that the General’s cigar -bills and physician’s fees had not decreased, and -that his last work on the Philosophy of the Greek -Tragedians had received unqualified praise from -Professor Curtius.</p> - -<p class='c005'>This little episode was only one of the many -which marked our brief stay in New York, and -gave me an opportunity to study the many-sided -character of my friend. She had some aristocratic -acquaintances in the city who were only too happy -to lionize her, and she was soon overwhelmed with -invitations to lunch parties, theatre parties, et -cetera, in which I was also kindly included.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You must go, dear; I want some one to back -me up,” she used to say at first. “I have courage -enough to go into a pulpit and preach a sermon, or -to go down into the slums alone, or to do a thousand -things which would make most girls horrified, -but I fairly shake in my shoes when I have to be -the target of the eyes of all these society women -and dollar-hunters. I know they would not care a -jot for me were it not for my money, and I cannot -help thinking of it all the time. I feel suspicious -of every one in a way that makes me blush.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I can’t talk society small talk; I never could. -I wonder how people manage to do it and wax so -eloquent over nothing,” she once said. “But I suppose -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>I must try to learn how,” she added, with a -comical wry face.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why try to learn, why not act your natural -self?” I protested, for I had quietly observed that -Mildred’s simple and unaffected bearing and transparent -sincerity had proved far more attractive -in society than the persiflage and repartee of more -brilliant women, though I knew that she herself -felt conscious of shyness and a sense that she was -out of her proper element.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why not act my natural self?” repeated Mildred. -“Because, my dear, I like to be liked, and -my natural, unconventional self would lead me to -talk of all sorts of things which society would not -like. If I talked as much as I wished to on the -subjects that interest me most, I should be voted a -Boston bore, a woman with a mission, with hobbies, -with theories,—altogether a very unlikable person -aside from my ducats.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Nonsense, Mildred!” I cried. “I have seen a -hundred times as much of society as you have, and -I can say that the greatest boon in the way of novelty -would be a little bit of the independence and -freshness so natural to you. You are a woman to -whom real things mean something. You are earnest. -You like to talk about earnest things, and -why should you feel obliged to condescend to the -level of society small talk and meaningless compliments?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, I don’t propose to be a hypocrite,” said -Mildred, with a little amused laugh, at my unaccustomed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>vehemence in this line of thought. She sat -for a minute absently picking in pieces the Jacqueminot -rose in her corsage; then she said, “But you -know, Ruby, there is such a thing as being a doctrinaire -and a dull dogmatist, and, on the other -hand, being full of tact and sympathy and wit, -accomplishing the best results in an indirect way, -when no amount of direct preaching could do it. -A woman of character can make even her small -talk a tremendous power if she only knows how to -go to work.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I want to be a power, I honestly confess that, -but I have little worldly wisdom, and I have much -to learn. I have lived in a world of books and -ideas, and now I am thrown into this perplexing, -brilliant, kaleidoscopic world of society, and I feel -as unsophisticated as a girl of sixteen.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But there is plenty of homage given you,” I -remarked. “You were the envy of every woman -in the room the other night when Lord H—— took -you out to dinner.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Homage to <em>me</em>? Homage to my money, you -ought to say,” replied Mildred, with a touch of bitterness, -as she shook the rose-leaves from her lap -into the waste-basket. “I wore opals and satin, -and am, as the papers say, a ‘great catch;’ but -how much attention do you suppose my lord would -have paid me six months ago if he had met me -running down Joy Street with my bag of books, -to take a Cambridge car?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But plenty of women are admired who are not -rich,” I remarked; “it doesn’t follow”—</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>“No,” said Mildred, breaking in impetuously; -“but women are not admired for their real worth. -It always used to madden me to see how the nice, -sensible girls, who really had original ideas and -could say something worth saying, were always left -to be the wall-flowers.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Nine men out of ten actually like a little, helpless -doll of a creature who can talk by the hour -and say nothing; and they don’t care for a brave, -self-helpful girl who has any independence of spirit, -and who does not flatter a man by demanding his -attention and referring to his opinion on every subject -which requires more thought than crocheting -or tennis.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No,” after a moment’s pause. “Men do not -find thoughtful women interesting. I learned that -long ago. I went to a mixed high school, and -when we young folks went on picnics or sleigh-rides, -it was always the poorest scholar in the class who -had the smallest waist and wore the most bracelets, -a good-natured little society girl, who received the -most attention from the young men. But they -were all callow boys, and I did not think or care -much about them. I knew a few men of the finest -sort who showed me what men could be, and I did -not think then, what I am coming to believe now, -that many of the real gentlemen who mean to be -chivalrous, and who imagine that they give the -highest honor to women, actually admire the Howells-farce-type -of woman above every other,—that -is to say, a pretty, prattling, conscientious, irrational -little goose.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>“I don’t know anything about Howells’s women,” -said I, rather surprised at this outburst; “and I -didn’t suppose you ever condescended to anything -less than Hawthorne or George Eliot.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh yes, I always read everything of Howells’s, -though I abominate his women. But he is so inimitably -droll and bright, and then the local Boston -flavor of his stories is rather fascinating to a Bostonian, -you know.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Very likely he does not admire his women himself; -he may simply wish to show up that type,” I -suggested.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, and a pretty common type I am finding -it to be after all, though I once used to scorn the -idea,” said Mildred, despondingly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then she added, as she nervously twirled the -little silver Maltese cross, the badge of the King’s -Daughters, which she always wore, “I suppose I -have known as little and cared as little about men -as any girl who ever lived. But I have lived too -much like a nun,” she sighed; “this new life of -these past few weeks has awakened me; I feel that -I have missed something.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I wish”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, dear, what do you wish?” I asked, as -she hesitated.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I wish,” said she decidedly, “that I could -meet some thoroughly fine men with brains and -heart who liked me for myself, who liked what -was best in me. I honestly confess it is pleasant -to be liked and sought after, pleasanter than I used -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>to think. I can see now how easy it is to get one’s -head turned.” Then, after a little pause:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But in society we can never be sure what the -attraction is. Everything, vulgarity, ignorance, immorality,—everything -is pardonable with wealth.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Hush, dear, you are getting desperate,” I said. -“There are, no doubt, many grades of New York -society where all that may be pardoned on the score -of wealth; but you have not seen much of that, so -far, and we have met many really fine, cultivated -people who have traveled and studied and have real -character. You spoke enthusiastically of the talk -about Art which you had the other night over in -the bay window with Professor Stuart and that -English artist with all the letters after his name.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, indeed, they were as entertaining as possible, -and gave me ideas I had never thought of by -myself; but then they were graybeards of fifty. I -was thinking of younger men whom one might”—and -Mildred hesitated and looked out of the window, -blushing.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why don’t you finish it,” I said mischievously; -“whom one might marry?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>But Mildred only laughed and said nothing.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>One morning at breakfast, as we were sipping -our chocolate, Mildred cried out, “Oh, Ruby, I forgot -to tell you! I am going to have a symposium -here to-night.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“A symposium!—of whom? and what is it all -to be about? Let me hear your latest scheme,” -I queried, laying down my black Hamburgs and -looking up at her. Her face was very bright and -animated, and the scheme, whatever it was, evidently -interested her considerably.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred leaned back in her chair and twirled -the beautiful ruby ring which she always wore. -This ring had been her sister’s, and was an heirloom; -she rarely wore any other jewels, and when -she was preoccupied she had a habit of turning it -round and round on her finger.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I mean,” said Mildred, “to get together all the -wisdom on the tenement house question that is -available in New York and Brooklyn, and see what -the consensus of opinion is; and I am going to -have my amanuensis take notes for future reference. -You know I have some coöperative theories -of my own in regard to the matter, and I wish to -ascertain what these practical workers think of -them.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>“Whom have you invited?” I inquired, beginning -to be interested.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, Professor Felix Adler, for one. He built -those tenements that we saw the other day down on -Cherry Street, you remember, and he is also very -much interested in manual training. Then there -is Mr. Pratt, who founded that great Pratt Institute -in Brooklyn, with all kinds of industrial training -and a free library and reading-room. Then—let -me see—I have invited Mr. Barnard of the -Five Points House of Industry, Mrs. Alice Wellington -Rollins, who wrote ‘Uncle Tom’s Tenement,’ -Mr. Charles L. Brace of the Children’s Aid Society, -most of the agents of the model tenement houses -that I have visited, several of the lady visitors in -the charity organizations, and one or two architects.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>As it proved, however, not all who were invited -came, but there were enough to comfortably fill our -pretty parlor. There were Jews and Gentiles, radicals -and high-churchmen, all interested in the same -subject, and many of them meeting each other for -the first time.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred had chocolate and cakes and fruit served, -and then proceeded to business in the dignified, -quiet way which so well became her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have asked you here this evening,” she said, -“that I may get the benefit of your united wisdom -and experience. I seek enlightenment as to the -best way to solve the problem of the housing of the -poor in a great city. I wish to do something to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>make the conditions of existence a little more bearable -for some of the wretched creatures that I have -been seeing of late in such places as the Mulberry -Street Bend, on Hester, Forsyth, and Cherry -streets, and a hundred other places.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“For some years, in connection with the Associated -Charity work of Boston, I have visited poor -families in the alleys of North Street, and have -made myself somewhat familiar with the problems -that are besetting us in the herding together of -enormous numbers of people under conditions that, -I think I am safe in saying, never before existed. -What little I have seen in other cities is as nothing -to what I find here. And it is here in New York, -where I am told you have the most thickly populated -square mile on the globe, and where the dregs -from Castle Garden remain, that I propose to do -something.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As I have been about with your district visitors -and have picked my way among the garbage -barrels and swarming mass of humanity in the -Jewish quarter, on their market day, I have wondered -how it was possible for morality to exist in -the close personal contact and absolute want of privacy -which this lack of space necessitates. Now, -tell me, what is to be done to relieve this condition -of things and permit those little <i><span lang="fr">gamins</span></i> to grow up -decent American citizens? Are things worse or -are they better than they used to be? I hear that -a mint of money is spent in charity, but I hear also -that in the past one of the greatest causes of pauperism -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>has been found to be unwise philanthropy, -and the more I look into the question the more perplexed -and uncertain I find myself.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What does your experience suggest?” asked -Mildred, turning with one of her winning smiles to -a cheery-faced lady of perhaps fifty years of age, -who sat at her right.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“That is a pretty hard question to answer,” was -the reply. “I’ve been at work for twenty-five -years down on the East side near the river, and I -am free to say that I don’t see much improvement. -Of course, things are better in some ways; there is -better sanitary inspection than there used to be, -and need enough there is of it too, with these filthy -Italians and Polish Jews who are pouring in here -every week by the thousands. I must say I -haven’t much hope of them.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, of course; but haven’t you hope of the -children?” inquired Mildred, eagerly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, a little more hope for them, certainly,” -responded the lady somewhat dubiously, with a -sigh that contrasted strangely with her bright, -hopeful face; “but I must say frankly, that the -more I see of the poor, the more hopeless I sometimes -feel and the less able to make generalizations -and give advice. I used to think it a comparatively -simple thing, requiring merely money and -hard work. Ten years ago I could have given you -advice very glibly, but I don’t feel so sure about -anything now; there are so many sides to everything, -and so many exceptions to every rule.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>“Of course, good tenement houses are a great -thing, provided you can have a janitor and a housekeeper -to keep them in order. But the best model -tenement house in the world would be completely -ruined if entirely given over to the class of tenants -I know about. They will just as likely as not -throw their ashes and garbage down the waste-pipes, -and pile all their bedding out on the fire-escapes, -blocking them up so as to make them almost -useless in case of a fire. It requires the patience -of Job to deal with such people. They don’t -care for your new improvements, and they don’t propose -to be restrained by any regulations or rules.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As for the model tenement houses that we -have, doubtless they are excellent. But they don’t -as a general thing reach the lowest class of people, -and in any event they are a mere drop in the -bucket. There’s just one consolation about it all, -as I say to myself when I go about,—these people -have never been used to anything better, and they -don’t know how miserable they are.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“That is just what I think is the worst of it,” -said Mrs. Rollins, as the speaker paused. “The -fact that they don’t know anything better, don’t -expect anything better, don’t want anything better, -is the frightful thing about it. As to whether -things are getting better or not I can’t say, but I -know this, the tenement house has come to stay; -it cannot be eliminated from the modern problem -of living. Thousands of our well-to-do people are -living in flats and suites simply to avoid the burden -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>and expense of having to entertain so much company, -and these buildings, like the Spanish flats or -the Dacotah, are really only another kind of tenement -house. As I say, the tenement house has -come to stay. Separate houses for separate families -are going to be fewer and fewer in our large -cities, where land is becoming more and more valuable. -The thing that remains for us to do is to -build with more skill and wisdom, so that while -the separate house must more and more give way, -the home need not be sacrificed.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Miss Brewster,” said a gray-bearded man -whose name I did not learn, “as to the question -whether the charities and sanitary improvements of -the city have amounted to anything in the last -twenty-five years, it seems to me it is not well for -us to rely wholly on personal impressions. There -are figures at command which can abundantly -show that in two respects at least—the lessening -of the rates of mortality and the reduction of arrests -for crime—we have made an immense advance -on twenty-five years ago, in spite of the fact -that the population has nearly doubled. Permit -me to state a few facts.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Good; this is just what I want,” said Mildred -with keen attention.</p> - -<p class='c005'>He continued: “In 1864, when the sanitary examination -of the city was made, some wards were -found to be peopled at the rate of 290,000 persons -to the square mile, while in the most densely populated -part of London the number was less than -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>176,000 to the square mile. To show what sanitary -regulations will do, let me say that the number of -deaths in London previous to a good sanitary government -was one in twenty, and in New York one -in thirty-five, while after such regulations the number -in London was reduced to one in forty-five, -and in New York to one in thirty-eight and a half.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We think our tenement houses now are bad -enough, but let me read you a report of the condition -of things in 1866. ‘At this time the cities of -New York and Brooklyn were filled with nuisances, -many of them of years’ duration. The streets -were uncleaned; manure heaps, containing thousands -of tons, occupied piers and vacant lots; sewers -were obstructed; houses were crowded and badly -ventilated and lighted; stables and yards were filled -with stagnant water, and many dark and damp cellars -were inhabited. The streets were obstructed, -and the wharves and piers were filthy and dangerous -from dilapidation. Cattle were driven through -the streets at all hours of the day in large numbers. -Slaughter houses were open to the streets, and were -offensive from the accumulated offal and blood, or -filled the sewers with decomposing animal matter. -Gas companies, shell-burners, and fat-boilers pursued -their occupations without regard to the public -health or comfort, filling the air with disgusting -odors; and roaming swine were the principal scavengers -of the streets and gutters!’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Moreover,” the gentleman continued, “owing -to the general indifference and ignorance concerning -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>sanitary construction of houses, tenement houses -used often to be found having on one floor ten or -twelve interior rooms, with no means of ventilation -or light except through other rooms; and at night, -when these rooms were occupied and the doors -closed, one may imagine the amount of poison -which each person was compelled to breathe. Now, -all that has been remedied to a great extent. No -such houses are allowed to be built, and in lodging-houses -there is a wholesome regulation as to the -number of cubic feet of air-space allowed to each -individual. Sanitary inspection is conducted by -competent officials at regular intervals. The public -conscience has been aroused in this matter.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As I look back thirty-five years, I find that -among the better class of people there is far more -fastidiousness in regard to all matters of personal -cleanliness than there used to be. There are more -bathing facilities, a greater delicacy in manners at -table, a greater tendency to isolation and privacy -in personal matters of the toilet, and so forth, and -therefore among every class of people a better sentiment -in regard to the enforcement of sanitary regulations -than there used to be when I was a boy. -But those who are helping these things, although -many absolutely, are relatively pitifully few. Yet -no one who knows the condition of affairs twenty -years ago can question that an advance has been -made. We are learning to organize charity better, -we are spending our efforts in more profitable directions, -and we are training our public not to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>increase pauperism by the old-fashioned, pernicious -methods of indiscriminate giving. In regard to the -lessening of juvenile crime I think Mr. Brace can -give the most valuable opinion of any one present.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>All eyes were turned to Mr. Brace, and there was -a hearty hand-clapping as he prepared to speak.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Since 1852,” he said, “the society which I represent -has been doing its best to rescue the little -wanderers of this city from lives of suffering and -degradation. The value of its work is too well -known for me to enlarge upon it. We are met -here this evening to discuss tenement houses, and -I will therefore take the time to make only two or -three statements in reply to Miss Brewster’s inquiry -as to whether the morals of the community have -improved, and whether charitable and reformatory -work is of much value. Now, in spite of the fact -that the overcrowding in the poor quarters is -greater than ever, that the lowest of the European -population are pouring into our city to an alarming -extent, that our municipal government has often -been notoriously corrupt, in spite of all this, I say, -by means of the efforts which have been put forth, -there has been a steady and most satisfactory decrease -in crime during all these years. Allow me to -give you a few figures. In 1859 there were more -than five thousand five hundred commitments for -female vagrancy, and in 1886, notwithstanding the -general increase in population, there were less than -two thousand five hundred commitments for the -same cause. In the eleven years preceding 1886, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>the decrease in arrests for drunkenness among -males was just about fifty per cent. I will hand -you a table, Miss Brewster, giving you the report -of juvenile crimes since 1875, and also the Police -record containing the general report for the city, -the details of which you can read at your leisure. -I will simply say now that the net summing up of -these reports shows a remarkable decrease in crime -of all sorts of twelve and a half per cent. This, I -think, will answer your question as to whether, on -the whole, our city is any better.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There is another thing to be noticed,” said a -little lady over in the corner. “People of all -classes think more of going into the country and -getting fresh air than they used to. Thousands of -families who thirty years ago would not have spent -two or three weeks in the year out of the city now -think they must have two months at least. They -have come to consider this a necessity for themselves, -and it makes them through sympathy appreciate -a little the needs of the very poor during the -fierce summer heat. The lovely charities of the -Flower Mission, Country Week, and the harbor -excursions have grown out of this sympathy for -others.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I, for one, think that the world is far more -kind and sympathetic than it used to be, in all sorts -of little ways, as is shown by the multiplication -of such societies as the ‘King’s Daughters’ and -‘Lend a Hand’ clubs, by the increased tenderness -with children, and prevention of cruelty to animals. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>I don’t mean to say that people are much happier, -for they have a higher standard and are less content -with objectionable things than they used to be -when I was a child forty years ago. But I for one -do not decry that kind of discontent with existing -bad circumstances. To me it seems to be only the -precursor of reform. I do not believe in encouraging -the poor to be content with their lot. I -think, with Mrs. Rollins, that the worst thing possible -is this fearful apathy toward bad surroundings, -of which one sees so much among our low foreigners. -The first thing to do in Americanizing them -is to make them discontented with living like the -brutes.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And what is the first step in that direction?” -inquired Mildred, thoughtfully. “Is it more legislation -to regulate and limit this fearful inflow of -more people than we are able to cope with; or is it -a large concerted movement of capitalists to provide -better tenements? Or is it education and -Christianization?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As I hold, it is each and all of these,” said a -blond-haired, keen-eyed young man in the back -part of the room, rising as he spoke and leaning -against the mantel. He spoke in a clear, crisp -way which was pleasant to hear.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Legislation is needed, after we first enforce -the laws which we already have; but it would -hardly be worth while to petition for new ones -when we can make the old but little more than a -dead letter. At present no foreigner can be allowed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>by law to land who has not money enough -to support himself for a year; and yet how often is -this law enforced? No; as long as the pressure -of taxation and the burden of a great standing -army exists in every country in Europe, as long as -our unchristian tariff prevents the natural inflow -of foreign products and grinds down the laborers -of the old world, so long shall we be compelled to -face this problem of Americanizing two thirds of -the population of our great cities. We here in -New York live in a foreign city. There are less -than fifteen per cent. of us whose parents were -born in this country and bred in its political, religious, -and social traditions. One doesn’t realize -this in walking down Broadway or Fifth Avenue; -but in some parts of the city where most people do -not often go, one would think himself in Germany, -or Italy, or Poland.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now, you ask what is the first step toward -Americanizing this foreign element. <em>I</em> say, education, -Christianity, and better living. There isn’t -much use in trying to teach children when their -stomachs are empty; there is not much use in -goody-goody Sunday-school talk without the discipline -in cleanliness, order, and industry which -the day school alone can compel; neither is there -much use in giving these people palaces to live in -and supplying them with comforts and conveniences, -unless at the same time you bring some -moral power to bear upon them, while also helping -them to a pretty good acquaintance with the three -<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>R’s. You see, it works both ways. Clean and -wholesome physical surroundings create an opportunity -for mental and spiritual growth, and without -the latter the former would not be appreciated -or preserved.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I quite agree with the last speaker,” said Professor -Adler in his mild, quiet way, contrasting -with the briskness of the blond young man whose -common-sense talk had pleased us. “The supply -of pure air, sanitary regulations, and decent comforts -must be the primary object of the philanthropist -who would solve the problem of the housing -of the poor; but it will avail little, unless it is -invariably accompanied by constant supervision, -helpfulness, and sympathy. Every tenement house -should have a responsible resident agent,—not -a mere perfunctory person who shall issue orders -and collect the rent, but one who in case of sickness -or trouble can give advice and help, and by -living constantly in friendly relations with tenants -can initiate reforms in a wise way. The stubbornness -and conservatism of the ignorant in opposing -what is for their real good is one of the -most surprising things we have to contend with. -One would think, for instance, that a coöperative -grocery store, situated in a tenement house, and -giving good quality at as reasonable prices as could -be obtained elsewhere, would be an inducement to -the average tenant to buy. But so great is the -suspicion that we are trying to take advantage of -them in some way, that they will often prefer to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>go farther and pay more, simply to assert their independence.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Do they take kindly to free kindergartens?” -inquired Mildred.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, when they come to understand them; but -the announcement of a kindergarten, free reading-room, -and bath-rooms in connection with a new -tenement house rarely offers much inducement to -the average laborer looking for rooms. But a -large room which can be used in the morning for -kindergarten purposes, and at other times for a -gathering place for clubs and singing-classes, is an -invaluable thing in every large tenement house. -This gives a foothold for all kinds of work to be -conducted by young gentlemen and ladies who desire -to uplift the youth of these neighborhoods. -Gymnastic classes and glee clubs form a sort of -neutral ground where all may meet on a common -level, and where the refinement, intelligence, and -good breeding of those who are willing to give -their services once or twice a week will soon -make itself felt. It is not necessary that they -should directly teach or preach; but if they are -well-bred, kind-hearted people, they will by their -mere tones of voice and their method of managing -things exert a subtle influence which in tune will -give them the power to go further and attempt -other things.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The quickest way to Americanize an ignorant -foreigner is to give him frequent object lessons in -the shape of the best type of American citizen.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>“I think I understand you,” said Mildred, “and -it is what I myself thoroughly believe. The model -tenement house question is not merely a question -of brick and stone, ventilation, bath-rooms, and -four per cent.; it is a question largely of providing -the best means for uplifting spiritually, mentally, -and physically these swarming masses. Speaking -of four per cent., let me inquire whether tenement -houses can be considered a good money investment. -Not that I, personally, am anxious to make -money out of them; but I suppose it goes without -saying that anything like this which does not pay -a fair percentage, and is really a charity, in the -end tends to pauperize and is pernicious.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Certainly,” replied Professor Adler; “and not -only that, but most of the poor are too proud to -accept charity in that form, though, inconsistently -enough, they may be quite ready to accept it in -other ways. But anything which savors of an institution -or charity, and that puts them under obligations, -is sure to fail. On the other hand, to -hold out to capitalists the idea that they had better -put their money into tenement houses because -it is a good investment is something I do not like -to do. A man who wishes simply to make money -would tell me that he knows far better methods -than mine, and would consider my advice an impertinence. -But every man, no matter how much -of an egotist he may be, likes to be thought unselfish, -and if I can tell him that here is a means of -doing great good while at the same time he loses -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>no money, then he may listen to me. Money -wisely put into tenements can provide for the tenant -far more advantages than he usually has; it -can give light, air, cleanliness, many conveniences -in common with others, and yield to the landlord -four per cent. besides. Some good tenements pay -six per cent., but this is perhaps at a sacrifice of -conveniences to the tenant, or is due to some special -reasons. However, as the security of the investment -is so great, four per cent. may be considered -fair interest.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Good; now as to the details,” said Mildred in -her practical way. “I want to tell you my scheme, -and then let you criticise it to the utmost. I suppose -I was born with a bump for economy; at all -events, nothing tries me more than the excessive -waste which I have seen around me all my life. I -don’t mean merely waste of money, but waste of -time, waste of energy and effort in every direction. -Of course there is less of the latter here than in the -old world, for here Yankee ingenuity does not have -so hard a fight with prejudice, and every inventor -of a labor-saving machine is crowned with honor. -Still, there is a terrible amount of waste, especially -in women’s work. I will not stop to speak of all -phases of it; but as I have observed men and women -for years, and have seen the suffering from needless -backaches caused by climbing stairs and doing -housework in an unnecessarily hard way, as I have -seen the complexity and endless details of our -modern life crowd out, in the lives of all but the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>rich, the leisure which their children should have, -and which they need for their own self-development, -I have racked my brains to see what could -be done to simplify the petty details of modern -housekeeping.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I believe that we are on the verge of a new era -in this respect. The prejudices of centuries must -give way to the new requirements of a civilization -which will more and more create an urban population, -and also a higher standard of physical comfort. -Now in this, time, strength, and money must -be better conserved, or we shall, as a nation, have -nervous prostration, I fear.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“My only solution for this, or for a part of it -at least, seems to me coöperation, so that all shall -get the greatest return for the least outlay. I -don’t mean for a moment that I believe hotel life -or boarding-house life to be the life of the family -of the future. Heaven forbid! That the privacy -and seclusion of the individual and family should -be preserved is imperative. The home is the first -consideration. But that one’s food should be -cooked, or one’s clothes made or washed, inside the -rooms occupied by the family, seems to me no essential -feature of the home, and I am convinced -that where prejudice can be removed, a great gain -would be made by eliminating the first and last, at -least from the home of the city poor.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In regard to the value of a common laundry -with set tubs, I think most of you have found -them successful. I have found only one person-an -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>attendant in the beautiful Astral flats of Green -Point—who told me that they were considered undesirable, -as tending to encourage gossip and quarreling. -Now the dwellings which I mean to build -are intended for a lower class of people than any -whom I have hitherto found occupying model tenement -houses. In those on Seventy-second Street, -I was told there were many mechanics earning -three to four dollars a day. Such people are not -what I call poor, and I design my houses for people -who earn, at most, only half of that. I want -to give them the greatest possible return for their -money, and at the same time make a fair per cent. -on the capital invested. The income thus derived -I shall devote to the erection of more houses.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I propose to make the buildings fairly fireproof, -with iron staircases and stone-paved halls. -The interior walls will be of painted brick. Upon -the top of the house I propose to have a well-fenced, -well-paved playground, believing that the -roof space which is so rarely utilized in our great -cities may be made of great service in this way. -In most of the tenement houses I find that the -roof is not allowed to be used for anything but -drying clothes, the owners not caring to go to the -extra expense necessary to make it a perfectly safe -place for children. But, if it is all planned in the -beginning, the expense will be comparatively slight, -and the open space thus provided will afford better -air than any interior court, and be, both physically -and morally, a far safer place than the street. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>By a simple arrangement of pulleys the drying -clothes can be elevated between strong, high posts -quite above the heads of the children, so that -their play need not be interrupted. A stout wire -netting can be arranged to keep the clothes from -blowing away.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“On the upper floor of the house I shall have -several store-rooms adjoining a freight elevator -and a kitchen. This will be connected with every -floor of the house by speaking-tubes and dumb-waiters, -so that meals can be cooked here for the -whole number of tenants and delivered hot when -ordered. The charge will be simply for the cost -of preparing the food itself and the fuel; and -as everything will be bought by the quantity, -the expense for each individual will be moderate. -I believe that thus, with proper arrangements, and -suiting the food to the tastes of the occupants, -the whole question of the food supply may be -solved, and three women do the work of a hundred. -How does this feature of the house impress -you?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>As Mildred paused, three voices exclaimed in -chorus,—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It would never work in the world!” “Perfectly -impracticable!” “They would not like it -at all!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why not?” asked Mildred.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, first of all,” said a man who proved to -be an agent in one of the large model tenement -houses, “what would all those women do if you -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>take away their work from them? They would -be idle and shiftless, and just spend their time in -gossiping and quarreling. I know ’em.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It seems to me,” said Mildred, rather tartly, -“that if the average poor man’s wife has not enough -to do in washing, ironing, scrubbing, sweeping, -making and mending clothes for a household and -attending to her children, we need not feel any -necessity laid upon us to fill up any spare moment -she may have for herself by an addition of needless -work for work’s sake. I know poor mothers -in Boston who don’t get down so far as the Common -twice a year, who scarcely see a green tree from -one year’s end to another, who never think they -can spare a moment’s time to amuse their children, -and who gladly turn the poor little ones into -the street to get them away from the hot cooking-stove -which occupies the best part of the only -family living-room. It is to such mothers that I -would give a little freedom, and in time they will -find something better to do than quarreling and -gossiping if they live in my tenements.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But they will have to pay a little more for -their food than if they cooked it themselves. The -wages of the cook must be paid, and even a little -more counts,” remonstrated another skeptic.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Not at all,” said Mildred, eagerly. “Think of -the immense saving in fuel to begin with. Why, -most of these people, as you know well, buy coal -in small quantities, often by the hodful, paying for -it at an enormous rate when reckoned by the ton, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>to say nothing of the evil of sending children out -along the wharves to pick up dirty barrels and -bits of wood for kindling.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But in winter they would need the fire just -the same for warmth,” said some one.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No; the whole house would have steam heat, -thus making a valuable saving of space as well, by -doing away with the stove and place for fuel. -The halls of the model tenements now are heated -by steam. I estimate that the trifle extra which -would be added to the price of the room and the -food would be no more than, probably not so -much as, what would be spent for food and fuel in -the old way; for the poor that I have known are -the most extravagant people living. They buy a -poor quality of food at high rates, and through -bad cooking and irregularity of living waste and -spoil much that they have.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Besides, I have had another thing in mind,—that -is, the mothers who go out to work by the day -and have to let their children come home from -school to pick up any kind of cold dinner that they -find, and who, so far as my experience goes, invariably -spend every cent they get upon candy and -innutritious cakes bought at the bakery.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This is all a charming theory, Miss Brewster,” -said a pale-faced lady with auburn hair, who had -hitherto remained silent; “but I am afraid that -until you have a more enlightened community to -deal with it won’t work. The conservatism, perhaps -one might call it the stupidity, of the lower -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>classes is something we are fighting against all the -time. Every innovation has to be introduced with -great caution in order not to offend them. Strange -as it may seem, these people who come from lands -where they have been down-trodden, with no privileges -of any sort, stickle more for their rights and -independence, and are far less willing to yield to restrictions -than we. They don’t want to be ‘bossed.’ -They want to do as they please, even if they pay -more for it and are not half so well served. The -idea of saving fuel and getting rid of the nuisance -of ash-barrels would not appeal to the low Italians. -They cook their little messes of macaroni over a -few sticks, and would not dream of using the fuel -that an Irishman would require.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let me tell you about a cheap lunch-room that -was started as an experiment some time ago. We -gave good, nutritious food at the lowest cost price, -and what was the result? It remained on our -hands, and we could not sell it, and discovered to -our surprise that the people for whose advantage -we had established it learned that if they waited -until the food was cold and ready to spoil they -could come to the back door and ask for it and -get it for little or nothing. It would really have -been wiser to throw the food away. Yet the very -same people who would do this showed a decided -pride when they suspected any supervision or interference -in their domestic affairs. A coöperative -kitchen was established in one of our tenement -houses as an experiment, that is, a range to be used -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>in common, in order to save the fuel and heat in -summer of a fire in each separate room. But no -one liked to use it. Each woman was afraid of -interfering or being interfered with.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Naturally enough,” said Mildred; “and anything -that should tend to mix up families, where the -yielding of personal preferences and ‘taking turns’ -is involved, would probably fail so long as human -nature remains human nature. I do not propose -anything of that sort, you see.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I think myself,” said Professor Adler, “that -the idea is thoroughly good, and if cautiously and -wisely carried out would be a success. I should -like to see the experiment tried. I have all my -life been preaching coöperation, not only for the -poor, but for ourselves as well, but with small success.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The chief objection, I suppose,” said Mildred, -“is, that when food is cooked in large quantities it -never tastes so good. In time everything seems to -get a sort of boarding-house flavor, and individual -tastes cannot be consulted as in one’s own home. -This may be made an objection by the rich, but -that a fastidiousness about a flavor should prevent -people from trying coöperation, who have all they -can do to keep soul and body together, seems to me -more than ridiculous.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is more than ridiculous, and I for one have -faith that people can be taught to see it,” said the -blond young man with the clear, crisp speech. -“The people who have lived in the model tenement -<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>houses have already learned to use dumb-waiters, -speaking-tubes, set tubs, ash-shutes, and the like, -and have seen the advantages of these modern conveniences. -Now, with patience on our part and a -painstaking explanation of your scheme, I think that -they could be led to see the saving in time, fuel, -space, money, and quality of food as well as the increased -variety of food and cleanliness incident to -an arrangement such as you propose, and which I -heartily hope you will carry out. The thing to do, -as Octavia Hill in her work in London has wisely -taught us, is to make sure that we put in the right -sort of men and women to manage such a place. -As she once said, ‘We have more model tenements -than we know how to take care of. My present -work is to train women who will go down and -oversee them.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If, beside the man who is employed to attend -to the business part of it and to see that the sanitary -condition is good, you will also put in one or -two nice American women who will look after the -families in a friendly way, giving suggestions and -advice with tact, and carefully explaining the advantages -of improvements, I will vouch for the success -of the experiment. If some object, there are -enough people of common sense in the city to fill -one house at least.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It seems to me,” said one speaker, “that we -ought to be careful about talking or even allowing -ourselves to think of those whom we call the ‘lower -classes’ as being essentially different from ourselves. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>They are ignorant, of course, and dreadfully -shiftless, some of them, but they have the -same instincts and affections as we, and I for one -respect their individuality and their privacy as I -would our own. I shouldn’t like to ask them to do -anything I wouldn’t do myself under similar circumstances. -If <em>we</em> aren’t ready for coöperation, -how can we expect them to be?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I ask nothing of any one,” replied Mildred, -“which I would not be glad to do myself under the -same conditions, or under better conditions. We -are learning to coöperate in a thousand ways of -which our grandfathers never dreamed. Under -the pressure of new duties and interests which our -age has brought with it, we are learning to eliminate -useless individual work where combined work -is better. The law of reciprocity is the divine law. -Wasteful individual effort belongs to the age of -savagery. Communism, the mingling of families, -and absence of personal privacy can never I am -convinced be tolerated by civilized people; but coöperation -with one’s fellows in harnessing up the -forces of nature to subserve our material interests -and leave man more free for the development of -his higher nature, seems to me the only rational -thing for rational beings. Any reluctance to see -and accept this seems to me the result of prejudice.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I should put it even a little stronger than that,” -said Professor Adler, gently. “Under every objection -which has been presented to me by the friends -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>with whom I have for years been laboring in this -very line of effort, I have felt that there was not -mere prejudice but a real, unconscious selfishness. -All objections like the one you mention are mere -matters of detail which could be properly adjusted, -and the freedom of the wife from all petty details -that eat up the greater part of her life ought to -more than compensate for the slight sacrifice of -feeling involved in doing an unaccustomed thing. -I believe that we shall gradually come to it; and -meanwhile our boarding-houses and hotels will -shelter larger and larger numbers of women driven -from housekeeping by the weight of domestic cares. -They will have lost their home in losing their -cook!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER IX.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r c002'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Fifth Avenue Hotel.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><span class='sc'>Dear Alice</span>: What an age it seems since I left -Boston and exchanged the peace and quiet of my -dear old attic room for all this turmoil and whirl of -excitement! I have done more thinking in the last -two months than ever before in my life, and sometimes -I feel as though every idea had been squeezed -out of my brain. If it were not that I insist upon -getting some hours every week for a canter in the -park, I fear I should be in a state of nervous collapse. -However, I am beginning to see my way -clear, and hope to get away in a month or so and -be off to the West. Then when I get a conscience -tolerably clear I shall run riot like a school-boy -out of school.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Just now I am buried deep in tenement house -problems. I have had two or three conclaves of -all the wiseacres I could get together, and I have -been considering their criticisms and suggestions, -until now the details of my scheme are pretty -nearly complete, and I sign the papers with my -architect and builder to-night.</p> - -<p class='c005'>You know about the plan for coöperative cooking -which I used to discourse upon to you to your -infinite amusement. Well, half of the people here -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>opposed it at first just as you did. They said, for -one thing, that no one under heaven would be able -to provide the kind of food that would suit all -tastes. There would be Jews who would want to -have meat killed after their own fashion; the Italians -would want horrid messes of garlic; the Irish -would find fault if they didn’t have the finest -white bread and the strongest of tea, and not a -blessed one of them would eat oatmeal, the coarse -cereals, nutritious soups, or any of the suitable -things that they ought to eat.</p> - -<p class='c005'>All of which is more or less true, as I had wit -enough to know myself beforehand; but I don’t -mean to let it daunt me. I shall let all my tenants -have an Atkinson kerosene stove in their rooms, if -they wish to pay for it, and on this they can do an -endless amount of cooking at a trifling cost for -fuel, and a great saving of space as well as of heat -in summer.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have engaged one of the graduates of Mrs. -Lincoln’s cooking school to take my first kitchen -in charge. Meantime, until the buildings are -ready, I am going to send her to study the system -of marketing and cooking for hotels; also the kinds -of food which each nationality likes, and the methods -of its preparation.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The kitchen will be arranged under her special -supervision. She will engage her own assistants -and be the responsible head. She will have a -schedule of cooked dishes, with prices of each displayed -on a bulletin in the corridors. Special -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>dishes will be cooked by request, and orders for -food can be sent in the day before. Of course at -first there may be a little waste until she gets familiar -with the people and can anticipate their wants; -but she is a smart Yankee girl, and has a good-natured, -merry way with her which I am sure will -win recognition. I have told her to make it her -first point to please the people, and when that is -accomplished she can gradually teach them to -drink milk instead of tea, and to eat brown bread -instead of soda crackers.</p> - -<p class='c005'>One objection which was brought up was that -children would have no chance to learn cooking, -never seeing their mothers cook; but I said, that -not one woman in ten of those I have in mind -knows how to cook either in a cleanly or economical -way. They have but little variety in their cooking, -moreover, and I thought the loss of the instruction -which might be imparted would be largely -counterbalanced by the knowledge which would be -gained as to what well-cooked food tasted like.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The <i><span lang="la">modus operandi</span></i> of getting the food will be -something like this. At half-past six, Biddy Flanigan, -who has to go out scrubbing at seven o’clock, -will deposit a dime with her teapot and an empty -dish in the dumb-waiter; she will call up through -the speaking-tube that she wants tea, fried potatoes, -and three rolls; and in about seventy seconds -the dish full of potatoes done to a turn, and not -soaked in fat, and a pot full of tea will be at her -elbow. From these and the nice home-made rolls, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>neither burned nor sour nor underdone, she and -little Patsy and Maggie will have a hot breakfast.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then Maggie will wash the dishes with the hot -water running at the sink; there will have been no -ashes to dump, or clinkers to pick out; no fuel to -be brought, or fire made; and Biddy can put on -her hood and depart, knowing that the children will -not open all the draughts and waste the coal, or set -themselves on fire, or let the fire go out, and come -home from school to a dinner of cold scraps, with -the necessity of building up the fire again at night. -For with a nickel in the dumb-waiter at noon, and -a tin can containing two big bowls full of hot soup, -the children will be well provided for.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have some little plans for the arrangements of -rooms which I hope will work well. The beds of -the tenement houses have always been a great -trouble to me. Of all clumsy and unsanitary arrangements -for sleeping when one is obliged to -sleep with four or five others in a small room, ordinary -bedsteads seem to me the worst. Now in -order to introduce all the improvements that I -want, I am obliged to economize space. The people -must be crowded together, there is no other -way out of that; so, for the children, I mean to put -up single beds, berth-fashion, over each other. -Strong iron sockets fastened to the wall will hold -an iron frame on which a little mattress with bedclothes -will be strapped. In the daytime these -will be turned up, one under the other, and hooked -against the wall, out of the way, and a neat little -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>curtain fastened to the upper one will hang down -and conceal both as if they were a set of hanging -shelves. At night the youngster in the upper -berth will be protected from all danger of falling -out by two or three leather straps fastened on to -the upper part of the berth and hooked firmly to -the lower edge of the framework. I have thought -all the details out one by one as various objections -were made to my scheme.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I think this plan a fine solution for the dirt and -vermin question. Besides, the mattresses, being -so small, could be very much more easily aired and -turned than if they were larger. But an agent, -to whom I explained it, protested, saying she -wouldn’t encourage such an idea at all. “People -ought to live properly, in regular fashion, and not -get used to putting up with any such makeshifts as -that. It wouldn’t be living naturally.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You old bigot!” said I inwardly, “your grandmother, -I suppose, would have protested against -sleeping-cars and elevators and dumb-waiters as -being unnatural and artificial!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I am amazed every day to see how densely -stupid some sensible people are. I know a Frenchwoman -who has always slept at home on a bed four -feet high, canopied and enshrouded with curtains. -It is half a day’s work to make it, and she feels out -in the cold and all forlorn when put into one of -our little, open, low, brass bedsteads. I suppose -she would think it quite as unhomelike and as demoralizing -in its tendency as my agent thought my -berth beds would be.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>The other day I explained the idea to a poor -woman in a tenement house, who with the greatest -difficulty was trying to sweep under two good-sized -bedsteads in a tiny room. At first she did not seem -to comprehend, but when she did, she smiled and -nodded and said, “I like that, Mees; easy to sweep; -children no kick each other all time; my children -sleep four in one bed—too much kick and cry.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have thought of another thing, that is, of having -low, stationary settees made in suitable places -against the wall, and having the seat a cover which -would turn up on hinges, showing space underneath -where clothes and all sorts of things could be kept -out of sight, instead of being put into trunks or -left to lie around in an untidy way. I shall have -no closets, as I find that space can be better saved -and cleanliness more readily enforced by building -stationary wardrobes, each with a drawer underneath -and shelves above extending to the ceiling. -Closets, I find, are rarely swept.</p> - -<p class='c005'>On these shelves, which can be protected by a curtain, -things not in frequent use can be laid away, -and every inch of space to the ceiling utilized. I -know you will not approve of this. You think -closets are a <i><span lang="la">sine qua non</span></i>; all of which is well -enough if you are dealing with people who are sure -to keep them swept clean, and where room is not so -precious. But in this case I am planning to economize -space to the utmost, and at the same time -give the number of hooks for hanging clothes that -there is in the ordinary closet.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>The rooms are to be only seven feet high, thereby -saving much space and making it possible for me -to put on another story to the building. Without -this, by the closest planning, I could not afford all -the conveniences that I want and get my four per -cent. interest, which, for the success of the experiment, -I feel bound to make.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Of course these low-studded rooms would give -too little air were it not that I have taken extraordinary -pains about the ventilation. I have been -using all my feminine ingenuity to devise all possible -means to provide the greatest amount of comfort -and convenience for the smallest possible -amount of money and space. Understand that I -am aiming to provide a decent home for the very -poorest, who cannot afford to pay more than five -dollars a month for rent. I mean to give them as -much room as they have now in their dirty, dark -alleys and attics, and in addition to that, warmth, -pure air, cleanliness, and the saving of countless -steps.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I find my architects strangely unsuggestive about -all this; they have not enough imagination to put -themselves in the place of a tired ignorant woman -who has to spend all her life in two rooms with her -husband and four or five untidy, restless children.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Knowing how much afraid of the dark many of -my North End people used to be, and remembering -how they used to keep a lamp burning all -night in their sleeping-rooms, where the windows -were shut tight, I have planned to have the upper -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>eight inches of the walls of the room bordering on -the hall, of glass, which can be opened like a transom, -to admit air and much light at night from the -lights in the hall, which I shall myself provide. I -mean also to have in every room, fastened against -the wall, a stationary table that can be put up or let -down like an ordinary table-leaf.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I am going to have some experienced woman -oversee all these little details, for I never yet saw -a builder who could not learn a great deal from a -practical housekeeper.</p> - -<p class='c005'>In the basement there are to be bath-rooms and -a barber’s shop, while in some part of the building -I shall have a large room which can be divided by -sliding-doors. One part shall be a nursery, where -mothers who want to go out can leave their children -in good charge for a trifling fee, and the other -half of the room shall be used as a kindergarten.</p> - -<p class='c005'>In the evening these rooms will be occupied by -the grown people for club meetings and a reading-room. -When desired, both rooms can be thrown -together for a lecture or entertainment.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have in mind sewing schools and gymnastic -classes and all sorts of good things, for which this -will be the centre.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I am more and more convinced that the quickest -way to revolutionize whatever needs revolutionizing -in this world is to get at the hearts and souls of -people. Open a man’s heart, give him an idea, in -other words, convert him, and self-respect, industry, -and good manners will soon appear.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>I think I have found just the right man and -woman to help me make my scheme feasible. They -are a couple about fifty years old, Pennsylvania -Quakers, whose daughter has just been graduated -from Professor Adler’s kindergarten training school, -and who is bubbling over with zeal to begin her -work. All three are to live in the building and -give their whole time to the work that may be -needed, each one having his or her separate department -to attend to, and being responsible for everything -in that department. For all this a good -salary will be paid to each of the three.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have found that my original plan has grown -on my hands, and as it is often easier to do a thing -on a large scale than on a small one, I have decided -to put up four large buildings around a hollow -square, each one to contain one hundred sets of -tenements of from one to four rooms. Each house -will accommodate perhaps four or five hundred -people. Most of the suites will contain two rooms -suitable for a family of four. But I shall have -also many single rooms for bachelors, there being a -good demand for them, I find.</p> - -<p class='c005'>You know my enthusiasm for our Puritan history. -Behold my opportunity to indulge my taste -in that direction! I am going to christen these -hobbies of mine, so long a dream, now so soon to -be materialized, by bestowing upon them some -good old names that ought never to be forgotten. -These four are to be called the “Pilgrim Homes.” -One will be named Scrooby, another Leyden, one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>Plymouth, and one the Mayflower. If these prove -successful I shall have four more, named Bradford, -Brewster, Carver, and Winslow. However, I must -not romance, for that perhaps will be far in the -future.</p> - -<p class='c005'>You have no idea of the endless details I have -had to consider. I have been over every single -model tenement I could find in New York and -Brooklyn, which is not saying much, for there are -not many. Now, although not a stone is yet laid, -I feel as if a load had rolled off my shoulders and -the thing were nearly complete.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I shall watch with the greatest anxiety the outcome -of this experiment. If it can be shown, as I -think it can, that the lowest poor can be comfortably -housed at the prices which they now pay for their -wretched slums, and if it can be demonstrated, as -I think it can, that health and happiness increase -and vice decreases in proportion to the opportunity -which is offered for decent living, then I shall be -ready to devote a goodly number of my millions to -what seems to me about the best use that can be -made of them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>As soon as it can be fully proved just what needs -to be done, if a state or city loan can be obtained, -I mean to try to persuade some of these wealthy -men and women whom I have been meeting of late -to join with me and engage in the work of tenement house -reform on a gigantic scale. There is no good -reason why the crying evils which now exist should -be perpetuated another year. Since planning all -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>this I have been greatly interested to learn of what -Glasgow has recently been doing in this direction; -buying up and destroying a mass of vile old rookeries, -and building sanitary homes for the poor in -place of them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There is money enough, brains enough, and good -will enough in this city to abolish these hideous -conditions of life by which thousands of lives are -wrecked every year. I am very doubtful about -much state socialism; but municipal socialism to -this extent seems to me the only rational thing in -view of the present evils. A century hence we -shall look back with wonder that our mania for individualism -and dread of governmental interference -should have led us to tolerate these things a day. -I was never more convinced of anything than of -this, and never more terribly in earnest about anything -in my life. Meanwhile my agents are buying -up and cleansing some of the worst old tenement -houses in the city, and I am searching in every direction -for the right person to put in charge of -them. I find that this is the most important feature -of it all. There must be constant, tireless supervision, -and I find that it really pays to give one -good tenant his rent free on condition that he keep -the building clean and orderly. He must, of course, -be one who has enough moral power to enforce -all necessary rules.</p> - -<p class='c005'>These details must sound very prosaic to you, -I fear, in comparison with all the delightful things -which you are studying; but just at present I am -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>finding the subject of dumb-waiters and ash-shoots -quite as fascinating as I ever used to find Correggios -or cryptogamia.</p> - -<p class='c005'>By the way, I am going to see a beautiful private -car which is to be sold. I am thinking of buying -it and taking aunt Madison and some delightful -people whom I know on a trip to the Yellowstone -Park and Puget Sound this summer. What do -you say to joining us? By the time you have finished -at the Annex you will be ready to drop, and -will be quite unfit to think of getting up your -trousseau. Tell that impatient young professor -that he must wait for three months, and give you a -chance to know how sweet it is to get a love-letter -when it comes three thousand miles....</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York</span>, <em>Apr. 10</em>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>To <span class='sc'>Chas. W. Turner, Esq.</span>, Boston, Mass.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><em>Dear Sir</em>,—Your letter has come to hand with -the inclosed deed for the eight lots on Huntington -Avenue, each twenty-three by one hundred feet.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I will now write you in detail about the buildings -which I wish to put upon those lots. I want -you to understand my plans exactly, together with -my reasons for them, as I shall ask you to take the -responsibility of carrying them out.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I want to try an experiment that I have long -had in mind. I hope to have it pay a fair per -cent. and at the same time serve as a hint toward -the solution of some of the difficulties in the problems -of modern housekeeping.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>For the last twenty years we have been blundering -our way toward better methods of meeting the -exigencies of our modern city life, but with indifferent -success.</p> - -<p class='c005'>However, one thing is certain. In our great -cities, where land is growing more and more expensive, -and where people are swarming in constantly -increasing numbers, building their houses higher -and higher into the air, something must be done to -readjust the methods of living, if life is to remain -anything but drudgery to a large majority of wives -and mothers.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The modern system of “flats” is a step in the -right direction, but thus far it has meant cramped -quarters, great expense, and many disadvantages, -and I am convinced that it is a long way from -being the city home of the future.</p> - -<p class='c005'>What I propose is to put up some houses where -all the rooms in each suite of apartments shall be -on the same floor, but which shall in no other particular -resemble any “flats” that I have seen.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I have found none where the rooms were spacious -and all directly lighted and ventilated from -the outer air, unless they were at a price quite beyond -the income of a man who must live on three -thousand dollars’ salary. Even the best I have -seen, although they are elegantly frescoed and finished, -are sure to have some small dark rooms, and -give much less good space for living purposes than -a house bearing the same rental.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Now I think there is no reason for this,—that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>is to say, no necessary reason; nothing more in -fact than that the demand for “flats” exceeds the -supply, and landlords make more on an investment -in that direction.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The never ceasing trouble with servants, the burden -of entertaining company, the fearful strain of -the stairs incident to living in a house where there -are only two good rooms on a floor,—all these and -other things are more and more compelling people -of moderate means either to board or live in a -“flat,” where one servant can do the work for -which, in an ordinary house, two would be required.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I think the continual increase of boarding-houses -marks a sign of decadence in American social and -home life, and yet I do not blame delicate women -for longing for freedom from the details of work, -which is often done at a great disadvantage, and for -immunity from the back-breaking stairs and other -things that are the cause of so much invalidism.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Seeing these domestic problems and the wear -and tear of the nervous system contingent on the -ordinary methods of city housekeeping, I have determined -to try in this experiment to see if for a -moderate cost, say nine or ten hundred dollars -rental, it may not be possible to supply a family -with twelve good-sized rooms all on one floor, and -with the back yard of a size which is usual to an -ordinary house.</p> -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_152.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> -</div> -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_153.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>One great objection to the ordinary flat is the -absence of a back yard where clothes can be dried, -and children can play. Families with children find -but little freedom and comfort in the ordinary flat, -and I propose to remedy this in the simplest way -in the world,—at least, it seems perfectly simple -and feasible to me. If the architect you engage -makes any objections to the scheme, let me know -what they are.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Taking the eight lots which you have purchased, -each one hundred feet deep, let us devote say sixty -feet to the back yards. This will admit of flowerbeds, -and a little playground, a very important -item with a mother of young children. These dimensions -are the same as those of hundreds of -South End lots and houses.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then there will be left for the building of the -eight homes an area of eight lots, each forty feet -deep and twenty-three feet wide.</p> - -<p class='c005'>According to our ordinary wasteful system in -the building of houses vertically there would be -eight sets of stone steps, eight doors and lobbies, -and allowing four stories to each house, there would -be four halls and three staircases, one over the -other, in each of the eight houses. Each hall -would involve more or less expense in carpeting, -much time in sweeping and keeping clean; and beside, -much physical energy would be wasted in simply -getting from dining-room to parlor and from -parlor to bedroom.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Now it seems to me that instead of building these -eight houses side by side vertically, like so many -bricks set up on end, we can do much better. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>We can abolish seven of our doorsteps and entrance -ways and use one entrance for all, making -it thereby much handsomer, and, if we choose, -seven times more expensive. Then instead of eight -times three flights of stairs we shall have simply -three, one over the other, in a broad central hall -which will run from the street to the back yard, -having four tenements on either side of it, one tenement -for each story. The floors separating the -tenements will be made as impervious to sound as -the partitions in houses built in the usual vertical -fashion. The central hall can be divided into two -parts: a front hall containing a passenger elevator -and a handsome flight of stairs, and a back hall -with another flight of stairs and another elevator, -the latter for servants and freight. With the -same amount of money that would have been required -for building and carpeting the extra stairs, -these halls and staircases can be made handsomer -and absolutely fireproof. On the top story, instead -of the inconvenient ladder and trap-door leading -to the roof, which is usual in our vertically built -tenements, there can be a comfortable staircase, -covered at the point where it reaches the roof and -giving exit through a door upon the roof, which can -be thoroughly guarded by a parapet or iron fence, -thus affording a safe playground for children.</p> - -<p class='c005'>This will cost something, of course, but no more -I think than would be expended in the ordinary, -wasteful method of building to which we resort at -present.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>Now perhaps you will say that with the exception -of the back yards this is not different from the -ordinary apartment hotel; but wait a bit. What -I propose to do is to give to each person a suite of -rooms equal in cubical contents to what he would -have had in his vertical four-story house, and I -shall arrange these rooms so that he shall have a -frontage on the street, not of twenty-three feet, -but of ninety-two feet minus ten feet which he will -allow for the central hall. As his neighbor across -the hall will have the same frontage and also allow -ten feet for the hall, the latter, you see, will be a -spacious apartment twenty feet in width.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Think of a flat having eighty-two feet of front, -and with a set of four back yards at the rear of -each home, which is an area of sixty by eighty-two -feet! To be sure each one cannot use all that area. -He will have only one fourth of it for his special -use, but it will be worth something to have all that -space ostensibly his own, and the outlook a little -different from each room.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Of course your first question will be as to how -these yards are to be reached.</p> - -<p class='c005'>My first purpose is to have these eight families -who dwell under the same roof use nothing but -their halls and staircases in common. So in the -basement each family shall have a space at the rear -of the house, twenty-three feet in width, each having -its own exit into its own yard from the laundry -and store-rooms which will be situated there. In -the front part of the basement, where in the average -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>Boston house the coal and furnace are usually -found, will be the heating appliances for the whole -building, and heat will be provided in the different -stories as it is in the ordinary hotel.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There will be speaking-tubes, of course, connecting -each laundry with its kitchen above, so that -the mistress on the fourth floor can communicate -with her Bridget in the laundry, and the only disadvantage -will be that once a week the Bridget -living on the top story will have to descend four -flights in the elevator to reach her laundry instead -of running down one flight of stairs, as she would -do in the house of the ordinary type.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Although I prefer to leave the arrangement of -rooms in the suites to the taste of the architect, I -will inclose a plan—the simplest possible one -which, so far as I know, will be thoroughly convenient. -The only objection to it that I can discover -is, that it is rather stiff and monotonous; but, -as the same thing must be said of our houses as at -present constructed, I do not think this a very formidable -objection. However, I send a second plan, -which will show how it is possible to introduce considerable -variety in the arrangement of rooms. In -this, as you see, the parlor is placed at the end of -the hall, and is thirty-eight feet long, being lighted -at both ends. If it should be thought best, half of -the suites, <em>i. e.</em>, the four on one side of the hall, -can be built after this second plan.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The central passage-way running between the -rooms in each suite will receive light through transoms and glass doors, and will be lighter than the -halls in the average city house.</p> -<div class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/i_156.jpg' alt='' class='ig001'> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>As the kitchen does not communicate with this -central passage-way, the odors of cooking will not -be so likely to permeate the house as they usually -do in the average Boston house with a basement -dining-room.</p> - -<p class='c005'>If I have made myself clear, I think you will -see that, according to this extremely simple plan -of construction, the chief advantages of the average -flat and the average separate block house may -be combined, and the disadvantages of each nearly -eliminated.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The care of the sidewalk, stairs, central hall, and -the management of the heating apparatus, will be -in the charge of a janitor, as is customary in the -ordinary apartment hotel, thus almost doing away -with the work of one servant in each family. In -addition to the great advantage of having all the -rooms on one floor, these rooms will be larger and -more airy than in the ordinary block house. Then, -too, they will not only be more in number than -those in the average flat, but they will be more -than in the vertical house of the same cubical contents. -For the space heretofore devoted to stairs -can now be utilized for living-rooms, and by simply -opening the doors and windows a draught of air -can sweep straight through from front to back of -the house. There will be neither dark rooms nor -rooms opening into a dismal brick air-well, as in -most of our modern flats, and, consequently, none -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>of that cramped, confined feeling that one always -experiences when going into their tiny rooms which -seem designed for a family of three members only, -and where children have no right to be.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Now I propose to offer this horizontal dwelling, -with its eighty-two feet front, and its yard at the -back, with all its economy of space and expense -and physical exertion, for <em>precisely the same rental</em> -that the vertical house with its twenty-three feet of -front would cost.</p> - -<p class='c005'>And, as I want permanent tenants, and desire to -make them practically the same offer as a sale of -the property would be, you may give, to any one -who desires it, a lease for fifteen or twenty years.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Doubtless before that time has expired we shall -come to see that our methods of living must be -modified still more, and separate kitchens and laundries -will be relegated to the country, while some -system of coöperation will come into vogue in our -cities. If so, such a house as I propose to build can -be easily modified to suit the new order of things. -The kitchens above could be metamorphosed into -bedrooms, and part of the space in the basement -turned into a cooking centre for all the families.</p> - -<p class='c005'>If this experiment should prove a success,—and -I can see no reason now why it should not,—this -will be but the beginning of what I intend to -do on a large scale. I think I can do no better -service for the hurried, overworked wives and mothers -of our great cities, than to simplify and lighten -the burdens of housekeeping, by adding to their -comfort without adding to their expense.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>I want very little frescoing and gilding in these -houses, but there must be fire-escapes at the rear, -and every device for convenience that is available.</p> - -<p class='c005'>In regard to their outward appearance I have -but one suggestion to make. I should like to have -the windows very broad and very low. It has always -seemed to me ridiculous to note the pains -which is taken to cut a hole in the wall and then -immediately cover up two thirds of it in the most -elaborate manner with lambrequins and two or -three sets of curtains, all of which are never raised -above the middle sash except when the servant -washes the glass. If it is desirable to admit a little -subdued light near the top of the room, this might -be done by a few panes of stained or ground glass, -which would not be covered by a curtain. On the -exterior the bricks or stone, arranged in the form -of an arch over each window, would add much to -the beauty of effect.</p> - -<p class='c005'>If a window were five feet wide by three and a -half high, the top being no more than six and a -half feet from the floor, the curtain question would -be somewhat simplified and our rooms made sunnier -and more beautiful. However, I leave this to -the architect to decide.</p> - -<p class='c005'>You will, I think, get my idea from the accompanying -sketches.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yours sincerely,</div> - <div class='line in12'><span class='sc'>Mildred Brewster</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER X.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>In achieving spiritual emancipation the mind must pass from -prescription to conscious reason, from mere faith to knowledge. -There must be nothing lost in the transition, only a gain in the -form of science to what was before held in the form of faith and -tradition. But this transition is the most painful one in history, -although its results are the most glorious.—<span class='sc'>Wm. T. Harris</span>, -LL. D.</p> - -<p class='c007'>One evening Mildred and I had prepared for -bed, and in our dressing-gowns were sitting cosily -before our open wood fire, watching the flames -dance and flicker and cast weird shadows on the -wall. It had been a hard day, the morning having -been spent in writing and dictation and in examining -a half bushel of mail matter; the afternoon we -had spent in visiting tenement houses and industrial -schools in Brooklyn.</p> - -<p class='c005'>After dinner, however, I had beguiled Mildred -into a merry hour over some dashing Schubert -duets, for music never failed to rest and soothe her. -Then, turning the lights down and drawing the <i><span lang="fr">tête-à-tête</span></i> -before the red glow of the firelight, we fell to -talking, indulging in many reminiscences of childish -pranks and school-girl sentimentality.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I had been bred outside of New England, and -our lives had been wholly unlike. Perhaps it was -because we were so very unlike in many things -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>that we were more and more drawn to each other -day by day, finding ever new delight in exploring -each other’s history and thoughts.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I had seen more of the world, in a certain way, -than Mildred,—that is, more of society, in Philadelphia, -Baltimore, and Washington. The leisurely, -easy-going life of a people to whom New -England ideas and “isms” were unknown had been -the limits of my social, and Presbyterianism and -Episcopacy the limits of my spiritual, horizon. I -had scarcely dreamed of the existence of any other -way of looking at life among people in good society.</p> - -<p class='c005'>A brisk canter on my red roan, with a gay company -of young people, a good dinner party, plenty -of bouquets and dancing and young men, with now -and then a would-be-serious talk with some of the -more studiously-minded of them apropos of German -poetry or Victor Hugo,—this life I had -known all about, and but little of any other.</p> - -<p class='c005'>However, eight months previously, when reverses -of fortune had cast my fate in Salem, Massachusetts, -among a family of Unitarians who had -been old-time abolitionists, and were now woman -suffragists and zealous reformers in every direction, -my conception of life had enlarged a little, and I -was prepared not to be amazed at this radical, -bookish Boston girl who upset all my previous theories -of what a charming woman should be.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She was charming; no one who had seen her -sitting there, in her loose gown of a delicate rose -color, her dark wavy hair falling around her shoulders -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>as she gazed steadily into the glowing embers, -her fine features outlined by the firelight, but -would have thought her so. We had been laughing -heartily over some droll accounts of my first -New England experiences and the horror which I -had aroused in some precise old maids by my frivolity, -while I had been equally horrified by their -radical theology. I thought that it was wicked for -them to read Renan, and they thought it sinful for -me to wear French corsets and moderately high -heels.</p> - -<p class='c005'>After a time Mildred and I began to talk of love -and lovers, as girls will. I say “girls,” though I -was six-and-twenty and she my senior. But in -New England, where late marriages are the rule -and not the exception, the term “girls,” as I have -discovered, has an indefinite application.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Mildred, were you never in love?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I shouldn’t have dared quite so much as that, -only somehow she had invited my confidence, and I -had told her all about my love affairs. I couldn’t -tell whether she blushed or not, for the firelight -glowed on her face. At first I thought that she -was offended, for she waited a minute before she -answered, and we listened to the rain coming in -great gusts against the window pane, and the omnibuses -rattling over the paved street below.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred nestled a little closer to the fire and adjusted -her cushions. Then she said slowly, as she -stretched out her slender fingers before the blaze, -“Why, yes, I suppose I really was in love, though -I didn’t know it at the time.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>“Good heavens, Mildred, not with Mr. Dunreath!” -I cried; “you told me you never really -cared for him.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, not with Mr. Dunreath,” replied Mildred -quickly, and throwing her head back she clasped -her hands over her knee, swaying back and forth -in the firelight. Then she stopped again. I asked -no more questions, for there was a look in her eyes -and a droop to the sensitive mouth which meant I -knew not what. Was it possible that this woman, -who seemed so enthusiastically absorbed in her -plans and so cheerful and gay, was really carrying -about with her a secret heart-ache? I had watched -her curiously as we had been in society together, -and had been amused at her absolute lack of coquetry -and matter-of-fact way of talking with gentlemen, -and, on the other hand, at her semi-consciousness -that she must try not to say too much -about her theories and hobbies, and to “learn to -talk small talk,” as she said. I, who had had my -fill of small talk, and whom the late years were beginning -to teach some serious lessons, liked much -better her simplicity and unusual earnestness about -things. Her bookishness, too, which at first I had -rather dreaded, did not mean pedantry or dullness. -She had read but few books, she told me; far less -than I. She once showed me in her diary her list -of books for the past year. There were only six: -Plato’s “Republic,” “Wilhelm Meister,” Stanley’s -“History of the Jews,” Thackeray’s “Newcomes,” -Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty,” -and a volume of Fichte.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>“I like to be acquainted with the best people,” -she once said; “there is no reason why one should -put up with the second-rate ones when one can -have the best.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But it is not every one who can get the best society,” -said I, not understanding in the least what -she meant.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Every one who can read can have the best -friends of all ages,” she replied. And they were -her friends. But I am digressing.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I will tell you all about it,” said Mildred, with -her eyes still fixed on the coals. “There is no reason -why I should not, though I never told any one -before, and I have hardly acknowledged it to myself. -I think I was in love; yes, I think I really -was—in love.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It happened in this way. I had gone down to -the Fitchburg station to take the early morning -train for Concord. By the way, were you ever at -Concord?” she asked abruptly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What?” I answered, “Concord, New Hampshire?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, our own Massachusetts Concord; the Concord -of Emerson and Hawthorne and Thoreau and -the Alcotts. I had been there but once before, but -since that time it has been a sort of Mecca of mine, -and I have made many a pilgrimage there.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I was going out to the Concord School of Philosophy, -not, however, for any special reason. I -didn’t know and didn’t care to know anything -about philosophy, but I thought it might be fun to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>see for once the long-haired men and short-haired -women congregate and talk, as the papers said, -about the ‘thisness of the then and the whichness -of the where.’ Besides, I wanted to visit Hawthorne’s -grave. I was full of his romances then.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“At the station I met my bosom-friend Julia -Mason. ‘How fortunate!’ she exclaimed. ‘Here -is my cousin, bound for the Summer School, too. -You must philosophize together.’ She introduced -us to each other, and then hastened to take her -own train, while the young man and I made our -way together to the express train for Concord.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“He pleased my fancy at once. I was just at -the age when a girl always sees a possible lover -in every handsome young man whom she chances -to know. Not that the thought occurred to me -then, for he was far from being the ideal lover -whom I had dreamed of marrying. My lover must -combine all the graces of an Alcibiades with the -virtues of a Bayard, a knight <i><span lang="fr">sans peur et sans -reproche</span></i>, with classic features, curling locks, and a -voice and smile that should melt the very stones.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You matter-of-fact old Mildred,” I laughed. -“To think of your ever being so romantic!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>She smiled a little as she unclasped her hands -from her knee and leaned back.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes,” she said, “I had my dreams once.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then she continued:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“He was older than I, twenty-five, perhaps; tall, -broad-shouldered, a manly man every inch of him; -a little clumsy and awkward at first, and lacking -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>in all the manifold little attentions which girls like. -He did not offer to carry my bag, I observed, and -he entered the car-door first. He was certainly -not in the least like the courteous, gallant knight -of my girlish fancy.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But presently, as he began to talk in an animated -way, his frank blue eyes lighted up and lent to his -by no means classic features a wonderful charm. -We got well acquainted on the short journey. He, -it seems, had, like myself, been at Concord only -once before. It was on that raw, cold day in ’75, -when I, a young school-girl, with my mother, and -he a Phillips Academy boy, had, unknown to each -other, essayed to board the train in that same -frightfully thronged station, and go to the Centennial -celebration.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I told him of my droll experience, wedged in -between a dozen men and women in the smoking-car. -He, it seems, was not so fortunate as I, for -he took no lunch, and, like thousands of others who -could buy nothing for either love or money, almost -starved. I told him about our experience: how we -marched with the women assembled at the town -hall, led by a lady with a little flag, around the -road to the tent on Battle lawn; how there we were -nearly annihilated by the throng, and how at last -by some good fortune I was borne up to the platform’s -very edge, and stood there within a few feet -of Grant and all his cabinet, and with Curtis, Emerson, -and Lowell all within arm’s reach.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“How my heart beat at the sight of those faces! -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>I have seen many famous sights since, but nothing -that ever stirred my blood like that,” said Mildred, -with glowing eyes. “I was scarcely more than a -child, Ruby, but I stood there for two mortal -hours, unable to move forward or backward, to right -or left, quivering from head to foot with enthusiasm -and excitement. That day my American patriotism -was born. I had studied a little text-book at -school, and learned names and dates; but not until -under the spell of Curtis’s eloquence, and face -to face with the men whose fathers had shed their -blood in the brave fight one hundred years before, -did I begin to realize what it all meant. I remember -particularly a little old man with weather-beaten -face, clad in a simple suit,—his ‘Sunday -best,’—who stood beside me listening with eager, -upturned face, his blue eyes filled with unshed -tears. I could see his lips quiver; and once, as -if carried away by the fervor of his emotion, he -grasped my arm with his brown, withered hand and -whispered huskily, ‘Little girl, when you get as -old as I be, you’ll understand what all this means.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Since then,” said Mildred gravely, “the words -‘my country’ have meant something new to me. -A distinctly new idea took hold of me, an idea that -some time I hope to make blossom into deeds.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I confess I was getting a little impatient for an -account of the love-making, and this did not sound -much like it. But after musing a bit, Mildred continued:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This little experience which my companion and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>I had in common made us quickly acquainted. He -frankly told me of his college life and of himself. -He had been studying for the ministry, he said, -though whether he was to be a clergyman or not I -inferred was somewhat doubtful.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We passed Walden Pond, gleaming like silver -in the sunshine, and he talked of Thoreau, whom -he seemed to know well, though I had at that time -read nothing of him. Presently we rolled up to -the Concord station, and while a crowd of people -alighted and took the ‘barge,’ we went down one -of the long, shady streets, bordered by tall hedges -and close-clipped lawns, with comfortable, roomy -mansions set back from the street; past the little -gem of a town library, on its carpet of emerald -green; past the cluster of shops and the cool-plashing -fountain, and down the famous old road which -saw the redcoats’ flight, and which Hosea Biglow, -you remember, says he ‘most gin’ally calls “John -Bull’s Run.”’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Such a lovely, quiet old street! Dear, you -must see it some day—with the broad, green -meadow lands on one side, and the hill crowned -with trees and vines on the other.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Along this ridge lived Hawthorne’s Septimius -Felton,’ said my companion.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘And here,’ said I, as we passed a tiny antique -house on the hillside with curtains drawn, and no -path through the grass that surrounded it,—‘here, -I am positive, an old witch with a black cat must -have lived a hundred years ago.’</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>“We jested and laughed as we went merrily on. -We were young and happy that brilliant summer -morning. I remember how every leaf sparkled with -the heavy dewdrops, and the air seemed to fairly -intoxicate one like a draught of wine. I was fairly -brimming over with delight.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We passed the old-fashioned white house with -green blinds, peeping out from behind the pines, -which I needed no one to tell me had been the -home of the Concord seer; and a little further on -appeared the brown-gabled house, nestled in a -green hollow, and guarded by giant elms, where the -Little Women lived their charming life. Just -within these grounds stood the vine-covered Hillside -Chapel, whither our steps were tending. We -had passed little groups on our way, and now and -then we caught a word of what they were saying; -‘first entelechy,’ ‘pure subjectivity,’ the ‘<i><span lang="de">ding an -sich</span></i>,’ and so on, which in my hilarious mood served -as a further theme for jest.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As we took our seats beneath the bust of Pestalozzi -and beside the comfortable arm-chair always -reserved for Mrs. Emerson, I scanned the audience -closely. It was not a stylish one, and I felt a little -inclined to poke fun at some of the antiquated bonnets; -but my attention was attracted by the evident -eagerness with which my new friend was studying -the face of the speaker.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“He was a middle-aged man, with close-clipped -gray beard and spectacles, and a face that seemed -to be the very personification of thought. The -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>subject of the lecture was Immortality. I listened, -vainly trying to understand, and feeling as though -the essence of a thousand books was being crowded -into that quiet morning’s talk. I had heard that -this man was a German rationalist, and was undermining -the foundations of Christianity; therefore -I had prepared myself to see a cynic or a scoffer. -I had thought that I would go, for once, to hear -what he had to say; just to have an idea as to what -it was all about. I felt all the excitement of doing -something a little venturesome.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Dear me,” laughed Mildred; “how droll it all -seems now, and what an ignorant little bigot I must -have been!</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I tried to follow the speaker and to get some -meaning from those quiet, clear-cut sentences as -they dropped from his lips, and slowly forced upon -my incredulous mind the conviction that here at -least was one man who spoke whereof he knew. I -had never done so hard thinking in my life. He -was taking me into a field of thought of which I -had never dreamed, and I was as unable to follow -his giant strides as a child to follow the man in -seven-league boots. My temples began to throb; -in despair I gave up the attempt, and fell to watching -my companion as with bated breath he followed -the speaker. Only one thing I remember, and that -because I jotted it down on the back of an envelope -at the time. He said, ‘The standpoint of absolute -personality is the one to be attained. On this -plane, freedom, immortality, and God are the regulative -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>principles of science as well as of life; and -they are not only matters of faith, but matters of -indubitable scientific certainty.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The lecture was nearly two hours long, and -there was to be a discussion following it; but we -were both exhausted with the mental strain, and -quietly slipped out into the summer sunshine.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“My companion said nothing. He walked with -head erect and long strides, and I felt considerably -piqued to find that he seemed utterly oblivious of -my presence. Presently he turned to me, and in a -tone which almost startled me exclaimed, ‘Thank -God for that man! More than any other man living -or dead has he kept me from making utter -shipwreck of my faith.’ I was surprised at his -earnestness and touched by the simple frankness -with which he had revealed to me, almost an utter -stranger, his inmost thoughts.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Again he seemed to forget me, and we paced -on in silence, past the fountain, under gigantic -elms, past the ‘town toothpick,’ as the æsthetic -scoffers have dubbed the obelisk that commemorates -the soldiers of the war, and turned down the -road by Hawthorne’s gray old manse and through -the avenue of pines, to where, stretching across the -sluggish stream, we saw the</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>... ‘bridge that arched the flood’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>where</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>‘Once the embattled farmers stood,</div> - <div class='line'>And fired the shot heard round the world.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“Here we stopped to rest a while, under the -spreading boughs of a pine-tree, beside the graves -<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>of the two British soldiers that fell in the famous -fight. We shared our sandwiches and bananas, and -threw crumbs to the saucy squirrels that darted -from limb to limb above our heads; and then, like -two children, we trimmed our hats with daisies and -buttercups from the fields close by. I watched -him closely, with the pleasing consciousness that -my pretty dress and new hat were noticed with evident -approval on his part. Evidently he was able -to enjoy some other things as well as philosophy; -and when he shook back the thick blonde hair -which rose from his broad forehead in a sort of -Rubenstein mane, and tossed over into the fields a -great stone that had fallen from the wall, I began -to query whether a young man with locks and -sinews like a young Norse god might not be a -very fascinating type of hero.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But I was curious to know what he meant by -‘shipwreck of his faith.’ As we picked up our various -belongings (this time I noted that he asked -for my bag) and walked over through the woods to -Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, I determined to probe -him a little.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Mr. Everett,’ I began, ‘don’t you think, after -all, that philosophy is a rather dangerous thing for -one to begin to study?’”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I smiled mischievously as Mildred inadvertently -disclosed the name which hitherto she had adroitly -concealed. She flushed a little, as if annoyed.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“After all,” she said, “you might as well know -his name, for he has gone, heaven knows where, -and I shall never see him again.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>A shade of sadness fell upon her face turned -toward the firelight, but she went quietly on:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“He hesitated a moment before he answered, as -if mentally to adjust himself to my plane of ignorance. -Then he asked, ‘And why dangerous, Miss -Brewster?’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘You know what I mean,’ said I, rather vexed -at being obliged to put my vague thoughts into -words. ‘What good can all this theorizing and -speculation do? Don’t you think it would be a -great deal better for all these people here to spend -their time in talking about something practical? -My feeling is, that people who begin to think and -question about God and immortality and such -things, and aren’t satisfied with the simple truths -of the Bible, get to be skeptics before they know -it, and are ruined for life. My mother’s religion is -good enough for me. If I can live up to that I -shall be satisfied, without racking my brains and -reasoning over things that God intended us to take -on faith.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“To tell the truth, this didn’t exactly represent -my thought; but I had often heard it said, and -thought it sounded well. Besides, I was curious to -see what he would reply to it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘It would take hours to answer adequately -what you have just said, Miss Brewster,’ replied -Mr. Everett; ‘but I will try to say something; for -it is precisely these same questions that I myself -have been trying to answer in the last few years.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We were climbing the little hill that like a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>crescent surrounded the green hollow, where lie -the sleepers in their last sleep. On the summit, -beneath the tall sighing pines, beside Emerson’s -grave and within a stone’s throw of the graves of -Hawthorne and Thoreau, we sat down and looked -over the broad valley on the other side with the -hills beyond. It was so quiet, so peaceful, just -where a tired soul would love to have his last resting-place.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Mr. Everett was silent for a moment, as if to -collect his thought; then, not looking at me, but -afar off at the glimpses of blue between the swaying -boughs, he began to speak, while I listened intently, -every word fairly burning itself upon my -memory. I did not rest that night until I had -transmitted it all to my diary, to be read and reread -over and over again.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘You say that your mother’s religion is good -enough for you,’ he began. ‘Well, Miss Brewster, -when I think of the love and devotion, of the tender -prayers and wise counsels that guided my boyish -waywardness, when I think of the saintliness -and unselfishness of my own sainted mother, I feel -like saying that, too. If I could ever have one half -her spirituality and Christlikeness, I should count -my life a grand success. But I cannot say, and I -know that truth and justice cannot compel me to -say, that my mother’s theology would be enough -for me, for her life was not the outcome of much -in her theology. Her unquestioning faith in a literal -Adam and Eve had nothing to do with her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>sweetness and devotion to duty. Nor was her unwavering -belief in the sacredness of everything in -the sixty-six Hebrew and Christian books the cause -of her infinite patience and self-sacrifice. No; I -want my mother’s religion, but I cannot accept all -of her theology. I should count it a sin against -God if I were to so stultify my intelligence as to -do it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘You say, “Don’t you think all these people here -had better be doing something practical?” What -is more practical, I ask you, than for a human soul, -to whom life is something more than meat and -drink, to learn of that which more than all else -concerns that soul’s welfare? And what can more -help to this than the study of the wisest thought -of all the ages on just these very problems of life -and death, things present and things to come? As -Novalis says, “Philosophy can bake no bread; but -she can procure for us God, Freedom, and Immortality.” -I count that the most practical as well as -the most precious help that can be offered to any -questioning human soul who has come to see that -man cannot live by bread alone, and whose sorest -need is to know the meaning and the end of this -life of ours.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘But the Bible tells us that,’ I cried impatiently; -‘what more do we need?’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Perhaps you need nothing more,’ he answered -quietly. ‘If so, well and good. Clear insight is -not essential to living a noble life. If you have -really grasped the spiritual meaning of Christianity -<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>it matters little that you should hold it in a more -naive and literal way than I am able to. If in this -age you can accept unquestioningly everything that -has been taught you, if you never have a doubt, -I would be the last person to raise one, for I know -what mental misery would ensue in one educated -as you have been. But so long as your religious -faiths have been inherited, like your hair and eyes, -and you have not examined them so as to make -them your own, pardon my saying that there is -small virtue in your holding them, and so far as -your own thought goes you might as well have -been a Papist or a Mohammedan.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘But what is the use of mental misery? Why -should I encourage doubts and unrest? Is it not -far better to trust in God and not venture to question -all the strange things that he allows?’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘You ask two or three questions at once; let me -take them one at a time. Five years ago I asked -just those same questions, and I know how you feel.’ -He spoke tenderly, and his voice comforted me. I -was beginning to get nervous and troubled and felt -myself in deep waters.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘No great thing is ever born into this world -except by suffering. If we are put here simply for -pleasure, for calm content, for peace of mind, let -us banish all questioning and dread it as a precursor -of the nightmare. Yes, if immediate peace of -mind is the primary consideration, let us, like the -ostrich, bury our heads in the sand, like the chicken -refuse to pick our way through the shell, and be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>turned out of our warm corner into the bare, cold -world outside. If peace of mind is our chief aim, -let us stop thinking once for all. It is dangerous. -Yes, thinking is always dangerous; dangerous to -one’s love of ease and content with existing ideas. -The little shoot content with its environment in -the dark mould will never reach the sunlight until -first it struggles upward from the conditions that -surround it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Many a time in the last four years I have said -to myself, in the night of horror that swept over -me, when I felt as if the foundations beneath me -had broken away, “whether the Bible be true, or -life eternal, or God a father, I do not know; but -this one thing I do know: I must be true; I must -be unselfish; I must go on and seek the light;” -and, thank God, I have begun to find it at last.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Mr. Everett spoke with a quiet intensity of feeling -that awed me. However, I ventured to ask, -rather timidly, ‘But you did find—you do believe -in the Bible now, don’t you?’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘That is a question which cannot be rightly -answered by a “yes” or “no,”’ he replied; ‘for -neither answer would be true. I was brought up, -as perhaps you were, to look upon all these matters -without the slightest discrimination; to think a disbelief -in Jonah’s whale synonymous with the disbelief -in the divine inspiration of any part of the -Bible; to think a disbeliever in the Bible necessarily -a disbeliever in God; and to count a disbeliever -in immortality on a par with a bigamist or a horse-thief.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>“‘When I dared trust myself to think and read -this book, or rather collection of books, with a -calm, unprejudiced eye, I was amazed to find how -much I had been taught to claim for them which -they never claim for themselves. They became -utterly new books to me, as if I had never read -them before; wonderfully rich and helpful and inspiring -and full, as I believe, of the truest religious -inspiration, but not always a guide for me in history -and science, and not infallible as to fact.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Who shall find any authority for the doctrine -that inspiration ceased with the last one of those -sixty-six books? No, Miss Brewster,’ said Mr. Everett, -looking at me earnestly, his shoulders thrown -back, his head erect, ‘God reveals himself to man -to-day just as truly in this new world as ever he did -thousands of years ago to Hebrew seers.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘You ask why I should crave any deeper reasons -for my belief in God, free will, and immortality -than these writings give. Simply this: I must. -At first I fought against it, fearing it to be a temptation -of the devil. But I came to see that this -fear, for me at least, was cowardice and folly. The -command was laid upon my soul to give an adequate -reason for the faith that I held, and I could -not be recreant to this call of conscience. I had -been told to believe the Bible because it was God’s -Word, and then, following in a circle, to believe -that there was a God because God’s Word proved -it. It did not take me long to see the childishness -of this, and though I put it off again and again, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>my conscience would not be stilled until I had systematically -set myself to see whether or not anything -could really be known, or whether inference, -conjecture, and hope were all that God had vouchsafed -to the creature made in his image.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘I suppose few women ever feel this necessity. -I do not say that it is necessary for you or for any -one to probe to the bottom of these things, if you -are content without doing so. I think, however, -that it is of the utmost importance for the thousand -bewildered spirits in our day, who long to know -but who cannot themselves study, to come to see -that knowledge on the questions which are most -vital to us all is to be had by every rational being -who has time and patience and follows the right -path of inquiry; and that in these matters, if we -are willing to pay the cost of time and labor, we -may in truth see and know.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘There are few who have the time or taste for -any deep philosophic study. There are fewer still -who have any faith in the outcome of such study, -and of these few but a handful who get started on -the right road and persist until they attain results. -Moreover, as truly in philosophy as in religion -must one be “born again”; and, unlike religious -birth, it cannot be instantaneous, for it is not a -matter of will. It takes years to bring about this -new and deeper insight.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘I rarely find a person whom I would advise to -study philosophy, for here, if anywhere, a little learning -is a dangerous thing, and one is maddened by -<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>the superficial talk of those who have not learned its -a-b-c, but yet presume to argue as if they had mastered -everything from Aristotle to Schelling. I -have come to find that there are very few people -who even dream of what philosophy is. The average -man fancies that speculative philosophy must -be simply guess-work or some vague theorizing, unworthy -of a Christian man who has any practical -work to do in this world in the way of earning his -living and helping to hasten the kingdom of God.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘But the average Christian is largely materialistic -in his thought. His heaven, his hell, are localities; -his God a huge, anthropomorphic being, and -the universe a kind of vast machine, guided by -some external Power; or a sort of precipitate or -sediment, as it were, of the eternal thought.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘If this is true of a man who professes and in -some measure accepts a real spiritual faith, how -much more true is it of the average worldly man -of common sense! He looks upon the ground he -walks on as something real. It is something that -appeals to his senses, and he smiles with calm contempt -if you tell him that an idea is far more real -than the earth beneath his foot; that it is thought, -and thought alone, that sustains this planet; and -that all the things that he considers real are in fact -mere passing phenomena, absolutely nothing in -themselves, except as they exist in relation to other -things.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I looked up somewhat perplexed at this and -was about to ask a question, but Mr. Everett was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>too preoccupied with his own thought to notice this. -Leaning his head against a gray tree-trunk, he -looked with absent eyes far off at the purple hills. -Presently he went on:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Just as the sensualist can never understand -the spiritually-minded man and his infinitely higher -capacity for joy, so the man of mere <em>common</em> sense -can never understand the man of philosophic insight, -the man of more than common sense, until he -has been mentally born again, and has transcended -the materialistic phase of thought in which we all -begin to do our thinking, and which most of us -never pass beyond. As said the man whose dust -lies at our feet, “Every man’s words, who speaks -from that life, must sound vain to those who do not -dwell in the same thought on their own part.”’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘But is it necessary to go through this tragic -experience of which you have spoken in order to -reach right results?’ I asked.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Whether it be tragic or not depends upon the -temperament and traditions of the individual,’ he -answered.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘To me, brought up to know all that was possible -of the loveliness of Christian character, and -taught to attribute it to a theology that was more -or less false, a change of belief was naturally almost -as much to be dreaded as a deterioration in -moral character. From the cradle I was destined -for the missionary work; so you see that I had always -the fear of frustrating my parents’ most cherished -hopes if I should deviate from their standard -<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>of doctrine. In later years I gladly acquiesced -in their desire to see me in the ministry; it seemed -to me, it still seems to me, the most enviable life -in the world.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I listened eagerly,” said Mildred, “as Mr. Everett -said this. I, too, had often thought of the -missionary work, but I could not leave mother -then.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Well, Miss Brewster,’ Mr. Everett continued; -‘I was blessed or afflicted, whichever you may -please to call it, with a conscience which would not -let me rest content with tacit consent to what I -came to see was hardly more than a half truth, -and my inward life since my senior year at Yale -three years ago has been, until recently, one of -bitter conflict. Night after night, after leaving -the lecture-room at the seminary, have I walked -my floor until morning, too wretched to pray, my -brain half crazed with the ceaseless turmoil of my -thoughts. “I have no message to give to others,” -I said, “for I am sure of nothing; no one is sure -of anything.” Like the sad Hindu king, I asked -myself,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“How knowest thou aught of God,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of his favor or his wrath?</div> - <div class='line'>Can the little fish tell what the eagle thinks,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Or map out the eagle’s path?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Can the finite the infinite seek?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Did the blind discover the stars?</div> - <div class='line'>Is the thought that I think a thought,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Or a throb of the brain in its bars?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>“‘But at last help came, I have told you through -whom, and now as I look back upon it, I thank -God for all that bitter experience. I know better -how to understand and sympathize with many a -one whom I have found struggling in the meshes -of sophistry; earnest souls, who long for the truth -more than they long for life itself, and finding no -one who can do more for them than to simply say -“Repent and believe.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Not that I have learned much yet. I have only -begun to get glimpses of the truth. I feel sure of -far less now than I did five years ago. But I know -this: I do know and see beyond peradventure that -it is right to probe to the uttermost the problems -which confront me. I should have been false to -myself, unfaithful to my highest, truest instinct, if -I had listened to the tearful advice of my timid -friends and turned my back and shut my eyes to -what God would reveal to me. I did not know -where I should be led; my knees knocked together -with fear as I felt my way through the gloom. -But gradually, and chiefly from the writings of that -man whose teachings we heard this morning, have -I learned not only to believe, but to know the -truths which he taught us to-day. Some men call -him skeptic, rationalist; at best they say, such -talk must be unpractical. Fools! not to know -that to save a soul from hopeless despair, to give -life and health to an immortal spirit, is quite as -practical a thing as to pave streets and cut coats.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘I look upon a true philosophy as the most -<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>completely useful thing in the world.’ He stopped, -and I looked up bewildered.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Useful?’ I asked.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Certainly; useful. Is not that useful which -gives man a clear insight into what must otherwise -be forever obscure? Is it not useful to lift him out -of the domain of prejudice and mere opinion on -vital matters, and give him the key to the universe -by making him to know the grounds of his knowledge, -of his being, and of his destiny?’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘But do you not believe in relying on faith at -all? Do you accept nothing that you do not understand?’ -I asked.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘I understand very few things that my reason -compels me to accept,’ answered Mr. Everett. ‘I do -not understand the chemical change which transmutes -my food into living animal matter, and I do -not understand a million things which I believe. -Certainly we must have faith. All business and -all life depends upon faith. But by faith I do -not mean the simple credulity of my childhood in -everything that I was taught. By faith I mean a -steadfast reliance on what my reason tells me is -true, even though I have no immediate evidence of -it, and imagination and understanding fail to compass -it. When I see the apparently useless suffering -and cruelty which the Supreme Power has permitted, -I have faith in his infinite goodness, not -because any man or book has told me that it is so, -but because, thank God, I see that it is so; and it -is philosophic study alone which has made me see -<span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>this. He who is afraid to study and question into -the nature of the universe “and trust the Rock of -Ages to his chemic test” is the man who has no -true faith.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘But after all,’ I said, ‘you must admit that the -philosophers are but little read. It is the practical, -common-sense people of the world who have done -the work, and they have got on very well, too, -without all this theorizing.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘There was never a greater mistake in the -world,’ replied Mr. Everett vehemently, too deeply -in earnest to remember anything but the point that -he was trying to make. ‘The philosophers certainly -have not been widely read, but that by no means -measures their influence. It is they who have -taught the teachers who have taught the masses, -and as the traveler knows perhaps nothing of the -inventor of the engine which carries him safely -from one side of the continent to the other, and -makes life larger for him in a hundred ways, so we -all, reaping every day in every one of our human -institutions the rich benefits which the thinkers of -the ages have bestowed upon us, say ungratefully -that we owe them nothing. We attribute all our -speed to the visible engineer and conductor who by -another man’s genius have brought us to our destinations.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Would you advise me to study philosophy?’ -I inquired humbly, much impressed with the point -of his reply to what I had flattered myself was a -rather bright remark.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>“‘That depends,’ he said, ‘on what and how you -study. If you wish to study simply to be able to -say or to feel that you have studied philosophy, -and can quote from this or that man, I advise you -not to study.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I must have flushed and looked a little hurt, -for he quickly added, ‘Pardon me, Miss Brewster, -I think that you are far too much in earnest for -that; but I have seen too many begin to read philosophy -as a mere amusement, a sort of fad, and -with no real earnest purpose, learning just enough -to make them conceited or discouraged, and doing -no good to themselves or any one else, and bringing -the study of philosophy into disrepute. To me my -philosophy has been a search for God, for truth. -I have studied for my soul’s sorest need, and in -all my intellectual life I have found nothing so -satisfying, nothing that gives me such hope and -courage.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Should you advise me to begin with Herbert -Spencer?’ I asked, thinking that I would come to -something definite.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘No, as you value your power to grow. You -are not ready for him yet. He would fascinate -you, and you could not refute his fallacies; but -read Plato, read Kant, Fichte, Hegel. Don’t begin -with them, though. Read first, perhaps, the “Introduction -to Philosophy” by the man whom we -heard this morning. I will give you also an article -of his which deals with Spencer in a way that -opened my eyes.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>“‘Don’t read much at a time, else it will utterly -daunt you. Come back to it again and again at -intervals. You will be astonished to see your -growth. You will be surprised to find how digging -at these tough problems makes such mental muscle -as renders other tasks easy.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘It will open a new world to you; but you -must have infinite patience. I have made up my -mind to that. I shall be more than thankful if in -twenty years I have mastered this book;’ and he -drew a volume of Hegel from his pocket.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The sun was sinking behind the trees as we -rose to go homeward. Stiffened with sitting so -long, I tripped and fell. He sprang and caught -me in his great strong arms for one little moment; -then—well—I trembled a bit with the start it -had given me, and finding that my foot had really -been hurt a little, I accepted his help as we descended -the slope and climbed upon the other side -to the road again. It seemed very pleasant to have -his strong arm for a support. There had not been -a word of love, but his unaffected, frank talk had -touched me as no compliments or sentiment could -ever have done.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I had thought his voice rather harsh at first -when he spoke so earnestly and vehemently, but it -had grown very tender and quiet now, and as we -came back from the woods to civilization again we -lapsed into silence.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>As Mildred ceased, the clock struck midnight. -The noise outside had died away, and the fire had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>burned low, too low for me to distinguish her face -clearly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And was there no love-making at all?” I -asked, much disappointed at the prosaic ending of -the little romance that I had been anticipating. A -talk on philosophy in a graveyard was not the kind -of love-making that I knew about, and I wondered -if there ever were another girl like Mildred.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, I didn’t say there was any love-making,” -said Mildred rather dryly. “I simply said that I -think I really was in love.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And is that all? Did you never see him -again?” I persisted.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, several times afterward,” she answered; -“for I went regularly to the school after that. At -first I understood almost nothing, and much of -what he said was Greek to me. I met some delightful -people there, but he helped me more than -any one else. He loaned me books, and we had -many a talk.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I felt that we were becoming fast friends, when -suddenly he went West. I received a note from -him some months afterward, telling me that his -parents had died; but there was very little about -himself. I heard afterward that he was engaged; -but after Julia died I lost all knowledge of him. -Probably he has forgotten me long ago, but I owe -to that talk the best things that have come to me -since I was a woman. Yes, Ruby, that first April-day -and that second day in midsummer in old Concord -are the two red-letter days of my life.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER XI.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>(Extract from the New York “Tribune.”)</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>BOOKS FOR THE MILLION! HELP FOR THOSE WHO WILL HELP THEMSELVES.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>It has been understood that Miss Mildred Brewster, -the Boston heiress and philanthropist who has -recently been making such a sensation in New -York society, was quite inaccessible to reporters. -But yesterday a member of the “Tribune” staff -was so fortunate as to gain a gracious reception, and -to learn certain facts which will be of great interest -to the public in general.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Miss Brewster was found in her pretty parlor at -the Fifth Avenue Hotel, dressed to attend a reception, -in an exquisite robe of golden-brown velvet, -simply made, and worn with a unique girdle and -collar of</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>RARELY BEAUTIFUL CAMEOS.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>Miss Brewster said that she was waiting for her -carriage, but was not in haste, and would be -pleased to make an authentic statement in regard -to certain facts of which there had been vague -rumors in the papers of late.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She began by saying that she supposed the newspapers -<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>would learn it indirectly sooner or later, and -therefore she might as well give the facts so that -they should be stated accurately. What followed -will be given as nearly as possible in Miss Brewster’s -own words.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“When I was a child,” she said, “I spent several -years in some of the frontier towns of our -Western states, where my father was vainly seeking -for a climate which would prolong his life. I -had an opportunity there to observe many things -which I have never forgotten. I understood them -but dimly then, but as I grew to womanhood in my -New England home, surrounded with the privileges -and traditions of an older and more distinctly -American civilization, I often contrasted my life -with what it would have been had I grown up among -the German farmers, rough cowboys, greedy land -speculators, and half-starved home missionaries, who -formed the chief part of the people whom we met -in the little towns along the railroad on the Western -prairies.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I was too young to appreciate the value of the -indomitable energy of this pioneer work. I saw -only the sordid, unpicturesque side of it then.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I hated the tornadoes and blizzards; I loathed -the sloughs and muddy streams—the everlasting -dullness of the prairie and the prosaic struggle for -existence in the little clusters of board shanties or -in the isolated log cabins and dug-outs. I longed -for the hills and granite bowlders, for the great -elms and sparkling streams of New England, and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>for the refinements and conveniences of my Eastern -home.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“How well I recall the tired, overworked women, -toiling over their cooking-stoves, with no household -conveniences, milking, churning, mending, washing, -feeding the pigs, selling eggs, and making -themselves prematurely old that their children -might have a ‘better chance.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I remember, with my insatiable love of reading, -how my first glance on entering a house was -in search of book-shelves. Many a time, though -in the house of a man owning hundreds of cattle -and a thousand acres of land, I have found no literature -beyond a copy of the Bible but little used, -the State Agricultural or Mining Reports, or a -stray copy of ‘Godey’s Lady’s Book.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But, as an offset to this prosaic life, I remember -also, as I look back upon it now, the hopefulness -and cheerfulness, the ambition and self-sacrifice, -and the sturdy courage and self-reliance which -all this new Western life engendered.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There was much that was admirable about it all, -and that gave promise of the development of great -men and women and a glorious future for that part -of our country. Yet I know that in many instances, -except where a colony of Eastern people had settled -and put up their schoolhouse and church before -there was an opportunity to build a gambling -den and saloon, the early influences which shaped -the future of the towns were like the sowing of -dragon’s teeth, which have brought forth, as I have -taken pains to learn, most deadly fruit.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>“It is more than sixteen years since I have been -in the West, and I intend now to revisit it. Of -course I shall see an astonishing change. I read -of opera houses and electric lights in the places -that I remember as mere shabby settlements of a -hundred shanties. But the same condition of -things that I knew then is still to be found in a -thousand places further west, or off the line of the -main roads, and it will continue for a half century -to come. Hundreds of thousands of ignorant emigrants -are pouring into this land, with throngs of -alert young business men from the East, all making -a breakneck race for wealth. They are buying -the</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>LAST REMNANTS OF GOVERNMENT LAND,</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>and are developing the material resources of the -country at an amazing rate. The shanties will give -place to brick blocks, and the sloughs to paved -streets, soon enough. I am not concerned as to -that.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The luxuries of civilization will come as rapidly -as one could wish, but it is the tendency of things -in regard to the development of morals and character -that alarms me. When I learn that one -third of our school population in this land of -boasted educational privileges is ignorant of the -alphabet, and that in the Rocky Mountain states -and territories there is one saloon for every forty-three -voters; when I read how the peasants of Europe -are flocking by the hundred thousand to this -<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>fair Western land, and I see the possibilities of the -future for good or evil, it wakens all my ardor and -enthusiasm to be up and doing and lending a hand -to help shape its destiny.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There are many who, not falling under good -influences at once, lapse into a selfish indifference -to everything but their own worldly advancement -if they do not retrograde morally. I do not mean -that they are heartless. They have, of course, the -proverbial Western generosity and frank cordiality, -which is one of the finest things in the world and -is very genuine; but it is often coupled with an absolute -contempt for everything beyond that which -will advance their purely material interests. In -short, they are ‘Philistines.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have seen many Western men who have -made their ‘pile,’ as they say, who would find it -absolutely impossible to believe in any one’s having -such a real, disinterested enthusiasm for art, or -science, or literature as would permit a man like -Agassiz to say:</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>‘I HAVE NO TIME TO MAKE MONEY.’</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“Do not misunderstand me. I would throw no -slurs on Western men. There are thousands in -New England as all-absorbed in money-getting as -they, only there is this saving difference: Here, -these men are, in spite of themselves, under the influence -of traditions and institutions founded by -better men than they; and there, they are the creators -of the traditions and institutions which are to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>be and which will of a surety be no better than -they choose to make them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is the early settlers that shape the future of -the country. Massachusetts, New Jersey, South -Carolina are to-day what their first settlers made -them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I believe in the New England principles, and -in the men who sought New England’s shores, not -to find gold, to speculate in land, to buy bonanza -farms, but to found a commonwealth such as mankind -had never seen, a commonwealth whose corner-stones -should be righteousness and ideas.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is these New England principles that I -would engraft upon that great empire of the West, -which to-day is so plastic in our hands, whose -future we, to-day, have power to shape, but which -to-morrow we shall be powerless to mould.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I would teach them that all their limitless material -resources cannot make them the real power -in the land that little, sterile Massachusetts, with -her east winds and rocky soils, has been, unless -they first plant the seed that shall bring forth such -men of character and thought as New England has -borne.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why was it that so many of the men of this -century, whom the nation most delights to honor, -Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Lowell, Bryant, -Whittier, Holmes, Beecher, Curtis, Garrison, Phillips, -Webster, were sons of this New England soil?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I know that I am saying nothing new. All this -is very trite, as trite as the Ten Commandments. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>It has been said a thousand times; yet half our -people do not know it or believe it, and serenely -smile at what they call our ‘Eastern egotism.’ I -confess that we have quite too much of that. I, for -one, have almost as hearty a contempt as any of -them for the men who</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>... ‘sit the idle slaves of a legendary virtue</div> - <div class='line'>Carved upon their fathers’ graves.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“Let no one think that I am boasting of the New -England of to-day. I am simply saying that the -principles which have made her a power in this -nation are the principles by which, in East and -West, in North and South, this nation must rise, -or without which she must fall. And if the nation -is to be saved,</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>THE WEST</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>must be saved. No man needs to be told that -<em>there</em> is to be the true seat of empire.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“To me, this present war, waged between the -forces of good and evil, for the conquest of this -land, has an all-absorbing interest. Surely, as I -have said, this generation will not pass away before -the fate—that is to say, the influences which -are chiefly to control the destinies of millions yet -unborn—of this great nation will be settled.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>As Miss Brewster uttered these words her cheeks -glowed, and her whole frame seemed to quiver with -the intensity of her feeling. She rose and restlessly -paced the floor as she continued:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have said all this because I want it understood -<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>why I intend to devote a large share of my -property to sowing all over the West and South -the seeds of what I count as best, in the form of</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>FREE READING-ROOMS AND CIRCULATING LIBRARIES.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“I have been for some time carefully studying -into this subject, and I have learned some facts -which are rather startling when one considers the -inference which must be drawn from them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let me give you a few of these facts,” said -Miss Brewster, seating herself at her desk and -drawing some papers from a pigeon-hole.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Taking all the libraries which contain more -than one thousand volumes, and are absolutely free -to every one, I find that in Massachusetts there are -two hundred, and in other New England states—and -some of the Middle states as well—a number -approximating that. But what do I find in the -West and South? I find that Virginia, Kentucky, -Alabama, Arkansas, Montana, Arizona, Idaho, -Oregon, Nevada, Washington and Dakota territories, -and New Mexico, have</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>NOT ONE FREE GENERAL LIBRARY.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>I find that Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Mississippi, -and Colorado have but one each; and that Louisiana -and Maryland have none outside of the one -largest city in each.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of course what I have said does not imply that -there are no libraries in the states referred to. But -<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>it does mean that there are but few, and that those -few are either subscription libraries or else belong -to schools or institutions, and are not open to the -general public.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“How is this all to be explained? Is it sufficient -to say that the West is young and that the -South is poor and sparsely settled? The West -is young, indeed, but not too young to have magnificent -opera houses, hundreds of millionaires’ palaces, -and, in many of the new cities, richer clothes -for every one and more of them than the average -New Englander thinks he can afford.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The South is poor, very poor, and very sparsely -settled compared with the North. But the fact -that in those Southern states which I have mentioned -there is not one free library open to all, -such as one may find in scores of little villages in -the North, is not due entirely to poverty.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Even New York State, with her superior wealth -and population, and with an aggregate number of -all kinds of libraries nearly as great as that of -Massachusetts, has</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>NO MORE THAN THIRTY</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>which are absolutely free and general as compared -with the two hundred such in Massachusetts. And -Pennsylvania, with all her wealth and numbers, -shows no more than ten such libraries.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The farther one travels from New England, -the more surely does one find public sentiment indifferent -to these matters, and whole communities -<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>preferring to tax themselves for the adornment of -their cities, rather than to provide every poor man -with books. Books are considered a luxury, not a -necessity; to be indulged in only by those who can -afford to pay for them.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>LEARNING FOR ALL</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>was the idea of the men who made the North what -it is. Learning for the few was the idea of the -men who made the South what it is. And the -men of this generation are reaping the harvest of -the seed which those men sowed.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now I propose, as soon as practicable, to assist -in putting into several thousand little communities -in the West and South either a free reading-room -or a free circulating library, or both, thinking that -it will be the best possible use to which money can -be put.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Perhaps it may be wondered at that I do not -spend these millions in the direction of Home Missionary -work. I have several reasons for not doing -so, although I am heartily in sympathy with it. -Never was there nobler, more self-denying and -more fruitful labor than that of the overworked -men and women in the Home Missionary field. -But, in the first place, there are one hundred needed -where one can be found to go. The religious denomination -in which I was reared graduates but -about one hundred students from all its theological -seminaries every year, scarcely enough, one would -think, to supply the vacancies in the pulpits of the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>East, to say nothing of the West, and I presume the -same is nearly true of other denominations which -I should be quite as ready to help as my own.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The library can never take the place of the -church, but I am convinced that in many communities -the provision of a comfortable, tastefully furnished -room, filled with periodicals, giving to every -one access to the best literary, political, scientific, -and religious thought of our time, will do quite as -much for the morals of a town as anything that -could be devised.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Unlike a church, it will be open every day in the -week. It will be a counter attraction to the street -and the saloon, and if there is a circulating library -as well as a reading-room, it will serve to stimulate -and open a larger life to every one who takes a -book from it. The home missionary shall not be -lacking, but she shall appear under the guise of a -librarian instead of a preacher.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In regions where there is a large proportion of -foreigners, there shall be books and periodicals in -their native tongues. Few who have not looked -into the matter realize the terrible mental strain to -the mind of the immigrant from the disruption of -old associations and the necessity, in middle life, -of adapting himself to utterly new conditions, in a -land where his language is unspoken. Many succumb -to this, and the statistics of the numbers of</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>OUR FOREIGN-BORN INSANE</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>are startling.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>“The same is true of the insanity caused among -herders’ and farmers’ wives by their dreary, isolated -lives on the treeless plains. We commonly -think of people living close to nature and absorbed -in simple daily tasks as being exceptionally healthy -and placid. But a visit to our hospitals for the insane -will tell a different story. The lonely woman, -with no outlook but the prairie’s level floor, to -whom a new book, a new picture, a new idea never -comes, is, as statistics show, as much in danger of -losing her mind as the man on Wall Street whose -life is a fever of excitement.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now, to these tired, lonely women, to the young -girls who as soon as they are well into their teens -begin to think of marrying and abandoning all -study, to the young men so eager to make money -that self-culture is counted an unnecessary luxury, -to the boys who spend their evenings listening to -the vulgar talk of the teamsters at the corner grocery, -to the ministers and teachers who find that -their scant salaries permit of none of the new books -and papers which are essential to their mental life,—to -all these people I should like to give the blessing -of books.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The offer of a ‘St. Nicholas’ or ‘Youth’s Companion,’ -from a pleasant librarian, will be quite as -effectual to keep a boy off the street of an evening -as an invitation from a home missionary to go to a -prayer-meeting. And to the man who may never -enter the building, the sight, as he passes to his work -every day, of a beautiful little temple devoted to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>the things of thought, will serve all unconsciously -to make life seem a little cleaner and sweeter and -more dignified than it would be without it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now as to the details of this. In the first -place, I propose to help only those who are willing -to help themselves. That is my principle of work -in most matters.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This is not a new scheme of mine. I have -thought of it for years, but it was until recently -only a dream of which there was no prospect of -realization. Now, however, I have taken steps, -which, whether I live or die, will scatter all over -the states and territories west of the Mississippi -and south of the Ohio little centres of learning, -which will reach far more people, and, I must again -repeat, do far more good than any other way possible.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have appointed two gentlemen, and they are -to select three other trustees, two of whom are to -be ladies, who will act with them conjointly in the -management of the fund. I shall leave them -largely to choose their own methods of work, but I -have made some stipulations in regard to the disposal -of the amount.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No sum whatever is to be given unconditionally. -Except for special reasons, no amount shall ever be -given for the establishment of a library or reading-room -which shall be less than fifty or more than -ten thousand dollars, and the amount given must -in every case be</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>DUPLICATED BY THE RECIPIENTS.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“That is to say, if a little rural community of -five hundred people out in Nebraska is able to -raise one hundred dollars as a nucleus for a reading-room, -I will give an equal amount. Some room -over a store, perhaps, or in the church vestry, will -be rented. It will be fitted up with chairs, tables, -and lamps, which may be contributed by individuals -independently of the fund. Then the remainder -may be spent in periodicals and a few reference -books, to be selected by a committee appointed -by the town and by the agent whom I shall employ -to look after all details of the work.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have already engaged a dozen persons, New -England teachers chiefly, women whom I know, -whose good sense and executive ability are to be -trusted, and I have apportioned out the localities -in which they are to work. The first duty of each -one will be to put herself in communication with -the state superintendent of education, and to receive -his indorsement. Then she will make the -announcement in all the leading papers of the state -or territory, that she is the trustees’ accredited representative, -and is authorized to make such arrangements -as may be deemed fitting for the establishment -of free reading-rooms and libraries in every -township. Getting a list of such towns as have no -provision of this kind for books and reading, she -will proceed to communicate, either by letter or by -personal interviews, with the clergymen, mayors, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>and leading men of the town, and, where any -apathy in the matter exists, will endeavor to arouse -interest and stimulate them to raise a fund.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Wherever there is an interest and a desire to -take immediate advantage of my proposal by erecting -a building, the agent will join with the town in -deciding on the plan of construction, and in the -selection of a lot, insisting always that it shall be -ample enough to allow of the addition of more -rooms to the building as the town grows.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“All the details of the arrangements will be submitted -to the head committee in New York, thereby -insuring the consideration of many matters essential -to the success of the scheme, which might be -overlooked by the average selectman, more skilled -in raising grain and killing hogs than in the science -of library construction.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of course all this will require tact as well as -business-like habits on the part of the agent, but I -can rely on those I have engaged for these qualities, -and I will risk their success anywhere. I -shall urge them to encourage, wherever they can, -the erection of a small hall in connection with the -library building, which may serve for lectures and -meetings, and by pleasant, dignified surroundings -give a tone to the character of the proceedings held -in it, which might not be obtained elsewhere.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I shall insist on making the buildings as fireproof -and as beautiful as the money will allow. I -want to make the Library the most attractive -place in town.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>“In farming communities, where houses are few -and far between, and an hour an evening at a -central reading-room would be an impossibility, I -shall suggest a circulation of periodicals after the -fashion of our Eastern book clubs.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“One great demand which will be made on us, -and which we are not yet ready to supply, is for -good librarians. I wish to call the attention of intelligent -young women to this field of work which -is about to be opened to them, provided that they -are fitted for it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In these new libraries, I propose to provide -the librarian at my own expense for the first two -years, thereby insuring the judicious management -and consequent popularity of the scheme.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“A librarian who has the missionary spirit can -have, in a small town, about as christianizing an -influence as a home missionary. She will make -the library a pleasant place, where quietness and -good manners are the rule, and every one is made -to feel at home; she will offer wise suggestions as -to the selection of books, and give occasional talks -on authors and good literature.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I mean to send out strong, earnest, college-bred -young women, who will take a missionary -view of their work, and make it a means of great -good. I shall pay them well, and, as their terms -expire, shall transfer them from one place to another -to do pioneer work, varying their salary -according to the amount of work done.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“My reason for choosing women for the work -<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>is, that I think them to be more faithful and conscientious -than men, as a rule, and to have more -tact and knowledge of detail. Besides, there are -more capable women than men who would be benefited -by the money and experience.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am especially interested in the success of my -scheme in the South, where a circulating library, -open to every one without distinction of race or -sex, is an almost if not quite an unheard-of thing.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The scarcity of reading matter among both -colored and white teachers, to say nothing of other -people, is something fairly startling, and my agents -in the Southern states will probably be compelled -to adopt somewhat different measures from those -used in the West.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“A circulation of magazines and papers will be -necessary in sparsely settled districts, where people -would otherwise have to walk two or three miles -to get any benefit from a reading-room.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Suppose, for instance, there is a little community -of fifty families, both black and white, -whose cabins and clearings are scattered over an -area five miles square. There are hundreds of -such places in the South where the people are -completely out of the world, and where not one -adult in five sees a weekly paper regularly or could -read it if he saw it. To these people, up on the -mountain sides, in the pine forests or on the river-bottoms, -my</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>BRAVE NEW ENGLAND TEACHER</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>will go. She will call them together and have a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>meeting. She will get them to pledge, say fifty -dollars a year, and to this she will add another -fifty. Half of this, perhaps, will go for periodicals, -chiefly illustrated weeklies and magazines, -and the remainder will be paid to some of the -more enterprising who can read, and who will -agree to hold neighborhood meetings weekly. The -blacks will be with the blacks, and the whites with -the whites, probably, and the reading matter will -be read aloud for the benefit of all.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Some responsible committee will take charge -of the reception, distribution, and preservation of -the papers and magazines, and at the end of the -year they will, perhaps, be sold at auction among -the contributors to the fund.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If the reading matter were given outright -there would be some chance against the success of -the plan. People care little for what costs them -nothing. But having had to sacrifice something -to bring it about they will think it worth something.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What would you do, Miss Brewster,” the writer -inquired, “in towns where reading-rooms were open -to both whites and negroes? Have you any idea -that the whites would tolerate being brought into -contact with blacks on a par in a public reading-room?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Probably not,” replied Miss Brewster; “for -racial animosity is still pretty strong in most sections, -I imagine. But the difficulty could be</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>EASILY OBVIATED</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>by allowing certain days or certain hours for one -race and other days or hours for the other race, so -that all could be benefited without setting prejudices -too much at defiance.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>At this juncture, Miss Brewster’s carriage being -announced, the extremely interesting interview -was terminated.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Buggsville, Mo.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c010'><span class='sc'>Dear Friend</span>: The trustees told me that they -thought you would be glad to receive a letter from -me, telling you something about my experiences in -addition to the official report, a copy of which they -will forward.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Buggsville, as you already know, is the first -town to put up a library building with aid from -the Western and Southern Library Fund. Therefore -I naturally feel considerable pride and interest -in this, the first-fruits of my labors, so far -as the erection of a building is concerned.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I will say, by the way, however, that I have been -very successful in starting reading-rooms in the little -villages, sixty-eight little towns already having -them well equipped and beginning to produce a -marked result.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Three months ago we started a reading-room at -Onetumka, ten miles from here. The people were -a rough, ignorant set, for the most part. A good -many foreigners are there, and a number of land -<span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>speculators and some mill hands, for they have a -good water-power, and are already beginning to do -a little manufacturing.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It was really one of the most hopeless places I -have ever seen. The bad element had got the -upper hand from the first. There were five saloons, -and several low dance-halls and pool-rooms. -There was no resident minister, and they had -preaching only once in two weeks by an overworked -Baptist preacher with much goodwill and -little tact in managing so difficult a community.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I always make it a point to get the ministers to -help me first of all, but here it was useless. So I -appealed to the school-teacher, the doctor, and the -mill-owner. The latter took little interest, although -I assured him that anything that could entice his -workmen from the saloon would make them serve -him better.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The little school-mistress talked to her children -about it, but with no success; the doctor was indifferent, -and, as I had a more promising field elsewhere, -I stayed in the town only a few days.</p> - -<p class='c010'>But presently the county papers began to be full -of the library business, and I was asked to speak -here and there in the little schoolhouses and -churches. At first I trembled at facing an audience -of one or two hundred, but I had not been a -schoolma’am for nothing, and I soon got over that, -at last finding myself no more afraid of them than -of my fifty boys and girls in the old school-room at -home.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>I found that this was the best way to arouse interest. -I gave them a practical talk, told them -about book clubs, Chatauqua circles and other -things, and suggested ways and means of raising -money. Most of them live pretty comfortably, -but money is scarce, and I find that most of the -farms are mortgaged. Generally, however, I found -some degree of enthusiasm, especially among the -women, when they learned that after the first -month it could be so arranged that the magazines -might be taken from the reading-room and circulated.</p> - -<p class='c010'>You can’t imagine how many times I have heard -some tired farmer’s wife say, often with tears in -her eyes, “Miss Martyn, this’ll be a godsend to -me. I never get time to go anywhere, or to sit -down and read a book; but if I could have that ‘St. -Nicholas’ or ‘Wide Awake’ for the children, or -just sit down once in a while and read an article, -or simply look at those beautiful pictures in ‘Harper’s’ -and ‘The Century,’ I feel as though I shouldn’t -get so discouraged with the work.”</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Sometimes I feel as if I was forgetting all I -ever knew, and the children are growing up so -rough and don’t know about any other kind of -life,” they will say, in a troubled way, and I feel -sorry enough for them. In many cases these women -before coming west have had good educations, -and this monotonous life, in which there is so little -mental stimulus, is terribly hard for them to bear.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Well, after a while, Onetumka heard what the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>other towns near by were doing, and one or two of -the mill hands wrote me that they had been around -collecting money and had secured fifty dollars, -beside gaining the free use of a suitable room. -So I went there and succeeded in raising the sum -to seventy-five dollars, to which I added as much -more. Then I managed to get the selection of the -periodicals myself, and excluded the “Police Gazette” -and some others that had been asked for. -As there is a large number of Germans here, I subscribed -for several German publications; also for -a generous list of illustrated papers of a harmless -sort, knowing that “Puck” and “Life” would be -better appreciated than the “Fortnightly” or the -“Contemporary.” Then I saw that a committee -was appointed to provide voluntary service in looking -after the room and circulating the magazines. -I arranged that the reading-room should be open -and some one in attendance on Sunday afternoon -and evening, as that is the time when the men -have a little leisure and the saloons do a great -business.</p> - -<p class='c010'>In no place has there been so marked a result as -in Onetumka. A record is kept of the attendance, -and it has averaged seventy-five every day.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“The reading-room is really a means of grace,” -the minister writes. I myself am aware of that, -and shall not fail to keep them stimulated until -they have a good library.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I started a reading-room at Buggsville during -my first six weeks in the state. Here I found good -<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>ground for work. Most of the people were ambitious, -and some of the young ladies had formed a -Chatauqua circle, the only one that I have found -thus far.</p> - -<p class='c010'>There were three little feeble churches, Methodist, -Presbyterian, and Baptist, each having about -half a congregation, and each unable by itself to -support a minister decently. They were willing to -make sacrifices for the library, however. I suggested -that while waiting for the new building they -should make use of the vestry of the Methodist -church. This is a large and well-lighted room, and -at a slight expense for shelves could accommodate -as many books as we could buy, and also serve -excellently for a reading-room. I found, however, -that this aroused a good deal of sectarian feeling -and would not do. The Presbyterians and Baptists -said that if their children should get accustomed -to going there during the week they would -want to go there on Sunday, and their own Sunday-schools -would dwindle. In order to leave their -vestry to be used solely as a reading-room, I suggested -that the Methodist Sunday-school should -meet at the Baptist church, holding its session at -an hour when the two Sunday-schools should not -conflict. But this, I discovered, was even worse -in the minds of these would-be Christians, who -were so afraid of each other, and I found that I -was sowing discord instead of harmony.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At this juncture, fearing to lose all help from -me if they did not bestir themselves, one man gave -<span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>a lot 100 × 200 feet, on condition that a building -should be put up within a year; another who owned -a quarry offered stone for the building; the town -voted to give one thousand dollars, and the young -people, thus encouraged, set to work earnestly, and -by fairs and entertainments added considerably -more. I cheered them on with the inspiriting -assurance that every cent they earned meant two -for the library. The enthusiasm and good spirit, -when they got fairly at work, were marvelous, and -the people were drawn together in a way to make -them forget their differences in their zeal for the -common good.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I found a good deal of strong opposition to having -the building open on Sunday. I had asked that -the reading-room might be open on Sunday afternoons -when there was no church service, knowing -that this would prevent a good deal of lounging on -street corners, and, moreover, subdue much disorder -among a set of restless street youth who are -fast becoming a terror to the town; but after a -great deal of discussion and hot blood over the -matter, the conservatives won the day.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Yesterday the building was dedicated, and I was -requested to give one of the eight addresses on the -great occasion. The whole town turned out, and -it was a gala day. The stores were closed, and -after a grand procession, led by a German band -hired from a neighboring town for the celebration, -we proceeded to the library, which is really the -most beautiful building in Buggsville.</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>Every one felt a pride and personal interest in it, -from the two solid men of the town who had given -the land and the stone, and were consequently the -heroes of the day, down to the small boys and girls -who had all given their coppers. I felt that every -one in town was my friend, and as I rode in state -in the procession in a mud-bespattered buggy, the -boys cheered, the bells rang, and I think every one -felt that a new era had begun. The farmers’ boys -and their “best girls” came in from all the country -around, and I can’t describe to you all the droll -and pathetic sights I saw.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I gave them a little talk on “Books and how to -use them,” as short and as sensible as I could make -it. At its close a white-haired old man, whom I -had never seen before, came and took me by the -hand, and said in a simple, childlike way: “Miss -Martyn, I want to ask you to tell that rich young -lady who has made this thing possible for us here -to-day that the blessing of an old man rests upon -her.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I was born down in Maine, and never had -much schooling. I came to this part of the country -fifty-five years ago. My folks were killed by -the Indians. It was mighty different here fifty-five -years ago, I can tell you, Miss Martyn; there -were Indians all about then, and wolves too. We -had taken up government land, and after the old -folks were killed I kept on the place as long as I -could stand it, for the Indians had by that time -been driven off, and there was no more danger. It -<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>was awful lonesome, though. There wasn’t a soul -within twelve miles to speak to. Sometimes I -thought I should go insane from lonesomeness.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I had only two books,—my mother’s little Testament, -and another book: perhaps you’ve heard -of it: ’twas ‘Locke on the Human Understanding.’ -Well, I’d always been fond of books. -Somehow I never took to farming, and sometimes -I felt as if I’d give every acre I had for a new -book, or a newspaper that would tell me what was -going on in the world; something that would give -me new thoughts; I was so tired of thinking the -old ones over and over.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“The fellows who were my nearest neighbors -weren’t my kind; they hadn’t any books, and, if -you’ll believe it, I’ve ridden many a time fifty -miles to get a newspaper a week old.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Well, at last I couldn’t stand it any longer. -I was ashamed to ask any woman to be my wife, -and to come out and live in my dreary log cabin, -even if I’d known any woman to ask, but I didn’t. -Unmarried women were scarce in those days. At -last I sold all the land for a song,—I should have -been rich now if I’d only kept it,—and I moved -a little nearer folks.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I knew my Bible, and at last, though I hadn’t -much education, I began to go around preaching. -But a home missionary without a salary has not -much money or time for books; besides, before the -railroad, I couldn’t get books any way if I’d had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>money, and sometimes I—perhaps you won’t believe -it, ma’am, but I’ve actually cried for books, -I felt so sort of hungry and starved. I was thirty -years old before, to my knowledge, I ever saw a -book of poetry. It was Longfellow’s. Well, -ma’am, that book—I can’t tell you”—and the -old man’s blue eyes filled with tears and his voice -choked.</p> - -<p class='c010'>His simple, genuine feeling was so sweet and so -unexpected that it fairly thrilled me. I think I -never realized in my life before what mental starvation -must be to a sensitive spirit. When I took -him by the hand and led him around to see all the -books nicely covered and numbered on the shelves, -he could only smile through his tears, and touching -them almost reverently, say, “Thank the Lord! I -never expected to live to see so many books. Thank -the Lord!”</p> - -<p class='c010'>I inquired afterwards who he was, but no one -knew; they said he was a stranger who had come -there simply for the day. I am sorry to have lost -sight of him; he was a rare soul, I am sure.</p> - -<p class='c010'>I did the best I could with the money that you -sent as a special gift for the first library. I sent to -Houghton, Mifflin & Co., and bought their large -lithographs of the American poets, and had them -nicely framed in narrow oak frames, and hung -around the reading-room, with a little biographical -sketch pinned up underneath each one. The rest -of the money I spent for a number of unmounted -photographs from Soule’s, which I taught the young -<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>people here to mount and arrange in home-made -frames. No doubt, most of them would have been -much better pleased with some cheap chromos, but -I thought of what would please them best ten years -from now, and planned for that.</p> - -<p class='c010'>They have already projected, at my suggestion, a -course of reading in the history of art; and whereas -a year ago it would have been impossible to get -most of the young people to undertake anything -really serious, they now evidently consider it quite -the thing. All this greatly encourages me, especially -as I see hopeful signs of the good fashion -spreading.</p> - -<p class='c010'>This is a long letter, but I know your warm interest -in all the details of this work, so I make no -apology, and congratulate myself that you will consider -it a signal success to have one building all -equipped and in running order in eight months -from the time when you indorsed the scheme.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-r c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Ever yours faithfully,</div> - <div class='line in12'><span class='sc'>Hannah Martyn</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER XII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c015'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Shall not that Western Goth of whom we spoke,</div> - <div class='line'>So fiercely practical, so keen of eye,</div> - <div class='line'>Find out some day, that nothing pays but God?”</div> - <div class='line in32'>(<cite>Cathedral.</cite>) <span class='sc'>Lowell.</span></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>(Extract from the “Chicago Inter-Ocean.”)</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'>GOOD CITIZENSHIP! HOW A BOSTON BEAUTY -PROPOSES TO BRING IT ABOUT! ANTIDOTE -FOR ANARCHISM!</p> - -<p class='c010'>In the arrival in our city last week of the rich -Miss Brewster of Boston, society has naturally felt -a warm interest. First, because she is young and -charming; secondly, because she is reputed fabulously -wealthy; and thirdly, because she adds to -these attractions a decided mind of her own, which -has fortunately turned itself in the direction of alleviating -some of the woes of human-kind.</p> - -<p class='c010'>But the pertinacious reticence maintained by -herself and the ladies and gentlemen who are her -traveling companions, and are understood to be -<i><span lang="fr">en route</span></i> for Alaska, has given our reporter more -than one fruitless trip to the Grand Pacific Hotel. -It is currently rumored that more than one</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>EUROPEAN CORONET</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>has been laid at the feet of the bonny belle from -<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>Beacon Hill, but, like the sensible little Puritan -maiden that she is, she prefers to keep the reins in -her own hands a little longer, and her millions will -not at present pass to any of the bloated aristocracy -of an effete despotism of the Old World.</p> - -<p class='c010'>It was ascertained yesterday from the waiters -that the great parlors of the hotel had been engaged -by Miss Brewster for a large reception to -some of our most eminent citizens, chiefly in the -clerical walks of life. So a reporter in a ministerial -rig presented himself, was admitted, and taking -refuge in a camp-chair at the rear of perhaps two -hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen, had a fair -opportunity to report proceedings.</p> - -<p class='c010'>He soon discovered that the reception was nothing -more than a business meeting convened for the -purpose of listening to some address or discussion, -the guests being seated facing a slightly raised -platform.</p> - -<p class='c010'>The assemblage seemed to be chiefly composed -of gentlemen, and every profession and sect was -represented by some of its most eminent members.</p> - -<p class='c010'>At precisely eight o’clock Miss Brewster, conducted -by Rev. Dr. T——, entered at a side door. -They proceeded to the platform and took seats in -two velvet armchairs which were placed in readiness.</p> - -<p class='c010'>Miss Brewster was simply dressed in white, with -a corsage bouquet of yellow roses and a yellow rose -in her dark hair.</p> - -<p class='c010'>As Dr. T—— rose to speak, the chatter ceased, and he said:</p> - -<p class='c010'><span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>“<em>Ladies and Gentlemen</em>:</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Each one of you present has received a note of -invitation requesting your presence here this evening -for the consideration of a plan which shall be -of benefit to our city. This plan, as it will be unfolded -to you</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c013'> - <div>BY ITS ORIGINATOR,</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>will, I think, command your heartiest sympathy -and coöperation. I consider it a peculiar privilege -to present to you this evening one whose noble -father was my valued friend, and who in her earliest -years was well known to me; and now that she -returns to what was for a few months the home of -her childhood, it is with great pleasure that at her -request I have summoned here to-night so many -representatives of the thought and the moral force -of this great city to listen to what she has to propose, -and in return to give her the benefit of their -united wisdom.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I have the honor to present to you Miss Mildred -Brewster of Boston.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Every eye was fixed in admiration on the slender, -girlish form that had something queenly in its bearing, -and there was a rustle of expectancy as Dr. -T—— ceased and Miss Brewster rose to speak.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was a slight tremor in her voice as with -deepening color and drooping eyes she uttered her -first words.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Good friends,” she said, “I have asked you -here to-night for a specific purpose.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>“In the providence of God there has been -placed in my hands within the last few months the -means to do much that for years I have felt ought -to be done, but have been powerless to do. And -fearing lest my stewardship be short, and I be -called to give account and return with empty hands -and no fruit garnered, I have dared not delay, no, -not for a day, except to more seriously and wisely -prepare for my task.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Miss Brewster gained courage as she proceeded, -and in a clear, unshaken voice continued:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In all lands on which the sun ever shone, probably -there was never a time when money wisely expended -could set in play so many and such powerful -forces for good as it can do now and here. -For here, in this western land of unlimited possibilities, -is the young giant born whose savage -strength may prove our nation’s weakness if we -leave his infant years to the guidance of his own -wayward will.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Here, then, is the sorest present need in our -land to-day, for here in our hands lies the power to -mould the influences which shall shape the destiny -of millions yet unborn. One hundred dollars now -may prevent the evil which, a century hence, one -hundred thousand dollars could not undo.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As I have driven about your magnificent boulevards -and marked your towers and palaces, I have -been impressed even more than I expected to be, -and my expectations were great, with your wealth, -and its solid, satisfactory embodiment in enduring -<span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>architecture and fine parks and streets. But not -only has your material advancement amazed me. I -have been most profoundly impressed with the seriousness -of mind and the depth of patriotic feeling -that was shown in your notable celebration of the -centennial of the beginning of our constitutional -government.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Historic old Boston, that of all other cities -should have appreciated the significance of the -occasion, gave hardly a thought to the day. New -York gave herself to ostentatious pageantry and a -glorification of Washington alone; but in this new -city of the West, unlinked by historic ties with the -past, have I found in press and people a deeper -sentiment and</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>A MORE THOUGHTFUL READING</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>of the lessons of the century.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have been studying this wonderful city of -yours that buys more of Browning’s poems than -any other city in the world, and is fast drawing to -itself not only the wealth and fashion of the land, -but that culture of which our older cities have fancied -themselves the almost exclusive possessors.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have been looking at your schools, your -churches, your philanthropies, and, above all, at -your poor, and that class from which your</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>ANARCHISTS AND CRIMINALS</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>are recruited.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have found, as I need not say, much to admire -<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>and much to deplore. And it is to consider those -tendencies which I deplore that I ask your attention -this evening.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of all the dangers that threaten us as a nation, -I find but two unrepresented in this city, namely, -Mormonism, and the amalgamation of the white and -other races. But against intemperance, licentiousness, -political corruption, and all the evils incident -to a vast foreign population, this city, with its numbers -increasing by gigantic strides, presents a field -for work scarcely exampled on the continent. Not -that Chicago is a sinner above all other cities. In -some respects, notably its comparative freedom -from the close crowding in tenement houses which -exists in New York, it is fortunate.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But, so far as I can learn, not another great -city on the continent contains so large a proportion -of people of</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>FOREIGN PARENTAGE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>In driving through your beautiful avenues one can -scarcely credit the statement that only nine per -cent. of your people are of strictly native parentage; -but in going through that section on the North -side where your Poles and Bohemians live—in seeing -the Irish, Swedes, Germans, and more recently -the Italians, who are flocking to your city, one is -made to realize this in a measure. It is to this -point that I chiefly wish to call your attention.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This city is growing prodigiously; it is destined -to grow. More and more, as means of communication -and transportation are increased, as you well -<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>know, are the people of this age flocking to the -cities. One hundred years ago one in thirty lived -in a city; now one in four is the number which the -census gives us. Especially is it true that foreigners -prefer city life. In far greater numbers proportionately -to the native population do they congregate -in the centre of wealth, influence, and -political power, and often for the purpose of obtaining -that political power which through the -negligence and indifference of our better class of -men is readily yielded to their demands.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now that the municipal government in our -great cities is largely in the hands of the foreign-born, -for which we have only ourselves to thank, -we are beginning to awaken to the fact, and the -indignant cry ‘America for Americans’ is heard. -With this I cannot wholly sympathize. We have -opened our doors to the world, we have invited to -our highest municipal offices whoever could buy -them, we have been eager to get rich, we have had -no time or interest in anything beyond satisfying -our imperious appetite for wealth and luxury and -social position.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We have put behind us simplicity and calmness, -the plain living and high thinking which engendered -all that we count best in our history, and -now we cry with ever-increasing wail, ‘Let us eat -our cake and have it.’ ‘Let us spend our whole -life in selfish indifference to the public weal; let us -turn over our most sacred trusts into the hands of -ignorance and incompetence, and then let us reap -<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>what we have not sowed and garner where we have -not planted.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, not America for the Americans, if it be -such Americans! Rather let those who have been -willing slaves</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>FEEL THE WHIP AND THE SHACKLES</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>until they learn that justice and peace and righteousness -within our borders are not to be, except -as the fruit of their love, their labor, and their eternal -vigilance. [Applause.]</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, not America for Americans, but America -for American ideas and institutions! And welcome -be he, whether of our own land or any other, who, -seeing what God has destined this fair land to be -as leader of the nations, seeing it as its early -Founders saw it, shall give heart and brain and -hand to purifying and redeeming it, lest indeed it -be the land of ‘Broken Promise.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have nothing to say against foreigners as foreigners, -but I look into our criminal reports and -find by a careful search that the proportion of -criminals to the foreign population is just about -twice that to the native. I learn that among our -foreigners we find about two thirds of our brewers, -distillers, and liquor-sellers, and among these -varied nationalities, who have sustained the breaking -up of old ties and transplanting to utterly new -conditions, a far greater tendency to insanity than -among the native stock. I see that the causes -which tend to immigration will in all probability -<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>continue, and the influx into our great cities, especially -your own favorably situated one, advance indefinitely. -Therefore, it has seemed to me that of -all places in this land Chicago was the best one in -which to begin a concerted action for the Americanization -of its foreigners and for promoting the</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>GOOD CITIZENSHIP</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>of all its citizens whether native or foreign. It -seems to me we must do this in self-preservation.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In Boston, as you know, where we have had to -learn some sad lessons from our careless indifference -in regard to municipal matters, we have begun -to arouse ourselves and have established a Society -for Promoting Good Citizenship whose object is -to further in all thinking people, mothers, voters, -teachers, and students, a higher ideal of citizenship -and an active, unpartisan effort for its realization.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This work is done in various ways: by free lectures -given by prominent citizens, by suggestions -for study in schools and colleges, and by the encouragement -of a deeper interest in the community in -the study of history, civil government, and political -economy. The society is yet in its infancy, and has -thus far produced little perceptible effect; but, in -addition to the well-known Old South work in history, -it shows a step in the right direction.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Long before it was started it had been</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>MY DREAM</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>to see something of a similar tendency established -<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>in every large city in our land, and it is because I -wish to suggest to you certain measures which have -in view the attainment of good citizenship in your -midst that I am here to-night.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“A Chicago gentleman recently said to me, ‘The -fact is, we get careless here. We are so busy about -our own private affairs that we let our voting go -by for a year or two, till finally about once in seven -years things get so bad we can’t stand it, and then -we all get mad and roll up our sleeves and go in -and have a general clearing out. After that, things -work well for a year or two, and then are as bad -as ever.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I understand that at present you have a fairly -good city government, that your leading officials -for the most part are not corrupt. But even if this -were sure of lasting, of what a thing to boast!</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In the minds of too many I find the idea seems -to prevail that so long as taxation is not raised, and -there is a police force competent to quell turbulent -strikers, and no infamous scandal at the City Hall, -so long there is nothing else to be done in the line -of good citizenship than to cast one’s vote, pay one’s -taxes, and keep one’s sidewalk clean.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now I hold that such a conception of the duties -of citizenship is unworthy a Christian and a -patriot, and it is as Christians and patriots that I -am addressing you.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am not here to remind you of the unequaled -folly and expense of bad government, and to point -out to you the material benefits accruing to a city -<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>where there is a pure and economical city government -and an incorruptible court.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am not here to speak to you on the ground -of mere utility and expediency, though with a different -audience such arguments might hold the -first place. But I speak to you as scholars, as men -and women of insight who need not to be reminded -that the state, as one of the three great human institutions -by which civilized man has differentiated -himself from the savage, has higher functions than -those which appeal most forcibly to the ordinary -man and woman of to-day.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We live in a</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>MATERIALISTIC ATMOSPHERE,</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>where the things of the senses allure far more than -the things of thought, where a man of ideals is -laughed at by the majority as an unpractical theorist, -and shrewdness is esteemed the highest virtue.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have been looking over your school reports -and have been noting the disproportionate number -of girls who are graduated.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Your boys and young men are impatient for -business. Even those in well-to-do families leave -school very early. I find that <em>ninety-two per cent. -of your children leave school before they ever study -any text-book of history</em>, and that seventy-five per -cent. leave before they reach the grade where a little -historic information is given through the aid of -biographical sketches and stories.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Think of it! Seventy-five per cent., the majority -<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>of them our future voters, who have never so -much as heard of the Pilgrim Fathers or the war of -the Revolution, and who have far too feeble an educational -equipment to lead to much further study!</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But even of those who have some smattering -of history we find thousands appearing at the polls -every year, having heard a little of the cant and -the bluster of partisan politics, and having nothing -more to fit them for their duties as citizens in a -land whose national and state and city governments -they have never studied.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Moreover, they have the wildest notions in regard -to those great questions of labor, wages, and -reform which are agitating our country. Such are -the men who hold the ignoble conviction that every -man is selfish at heart, that to the victors belong -the spoils, and that desire for office is inevitably -ambition for personal gain.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You have learned in the past somewhat of the -cost to this city and state of the presence of anarchists -within your midst. But what are you doing -to make good citizens of the thousands of men, -women, and children who are said to be enrolled -in anarchist Sunday-schools here in this city?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What is being done to prevent the children of -the mob that tears up your horse-car tracks when -you have a strike from following ten years hence -their fathers’ example?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But I am not speaking merely of rumsellers or -anarchists, or of ignorant foreigners or men who -sell their votes. I am speaking of the banker’s -sons as well as the blacksmith’s.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>“There is among many of the hard-headed young -business men of our time whom I have met a</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>TERRIBLE SKEPTICISM.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>They are skeptical of humanity, of virtue. There -is a belief that every man has his price, that politics -is a machine, to be run for the benefit of those -who have it in charge. There is, even among honorable -men, a tendency to joke at public scandals, -to sneer at Sunday-school politics and womanish -ideals.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now, to me, this hard and cold skepticism betokens -a rottenness and a corruption in the body -politic scarcely less terrible to contemplate than -the open, high-handed peculation which occasionally -startles the community and forms a nine days’ -wonder.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“For, as I need not say, a sick man is as sure to -die from blood-poisoning as from an open cancer. -The latter may shock us more, but the former is -just as deadly. And the danger to this great city -to-day is not so much from the dynamite of the -anarchist as from the indifference and inactivity -of the men and women who have your brains, your -wealth, your culture, and many of them your nominal -Christianity.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Pardon me if I seem to be addressing you, my -elders and betters, as if I were presuming to tell -you anything new or anything which you could not -state quite as forcibly as I may do.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is not that I have anything new to say that I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>venture to speak thus, but that I may clearly state -my own position and grounds for action in the -matter which I shall soon present to you.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You have observed that I have used the more -comprehensive term ‘citizen’ instead of ‘voter,’ -and it is for this reason that I have used it. The -duties of the citizen apply to every one who is a -recipient of the benefits of the state, and this includes -that half of the community whom their own -indifference and the</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>PREJUDICES AND TRADITIONS</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>of the majority of voters still exclude from their -rightful share in this matter of public housekeeping -which we call municipal government.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is the duty of the male citizen to vote, and -not only to vote, but to attend the caucuses which -alone insure the possibility of having a worthy -candidate. It is also his duty to pay his taxes and -keep his sidewalk clean, but his duty does not end -here. It is his imperative duty as an honorable -citizen to see that this subtle poison, which, bred -from germs of selfishness and ignorance, is creeping -through the veins of our people, shall be arrested -ere a complete social upheaval teach us the -painful lesson that vigilance alone is the price of -liberty.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It seems to me that the duty of the citizen is -coextensive with life and opportunity. It is not a -duty which the man or woman of conscience can -lay aside between election days. The good citizen -<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>must be always a refuter of error, an initiator of -reform, in short, a person whose conscience gives -him no rest until what ought to be has been substituted -for what is.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The good citizen must, above all, have such a -lofty conception of the state and of statesmanship as -shall lift it forever above the moral plane where it -has been allowed to rest by the average conscience -dulled to all the finer moral perceptions by the -force of custom and conventionality.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There are such citizens. I see many of them -before me as I speak, but that there shall be a -thousand where there is now but one, am I here to-night -to speak to you.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And now, after this lengthy prelude, permit me -to ask your attention to the scheme which I suggest -for helping to bring about in this city a higher -standard of good citizenship. Pardon a bit of personal -experience.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Scarcely a day goes by in which I am not importuned -by various worthy beggars to give thousands -and even millions to endow this and that college, -hospital, and asylum.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The last project which was proposed to me was -to put a million dollars into a college to be devoted -to fitting poor boys for the ministry free of expense. -And my importunate beggar was greatly -offended when I said that I should consider this -one of the best means for promoting hypocrisy and -dependence, and that I thought a few scholarships -wisely distributed in colleges of repute would help -<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>the ministry more than a million dollars expended -chiefly on brick and mortar.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘But what are you going to do with your money? -Don’t you think you ought to give it to the</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>LORD’S POOR?’</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>I was asked with that delightful assumption of -authority which certain people who have the assurance -of infallibly knowing the mind of the Lord -always adopt.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Certainly,’ I answered; ‘but the Lord has -commissioned me to spend what is intrusted to me -where it will effect the best results, and I prefer to -put the next money that I spend into brains rather -than into bricks.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now I propose to devote one hundred and fifty -thousand dollars during the next ten years to stimulating -thought in this city in the direction of Good -Citizenship. [Applause.]</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I shall ask a committee of twenty-five ladies -and gentlemen, which you shall choose from the -number present, to select for me a man of ripe experience, -of scholarship, and disinterested devotion -to the cause of which I have spoken—a man of -good presence and address, who can combine the -functions of business manager and orator, to whom -I shall pay five out of the fifteen thousand dollars -which I propose to devote yearly for the promotion -of good citizenship in your city.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“By the advice and consent of this same committee, -which shall constitute itself a board of directors, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>he shall spend the remaining ten thousand -for the best interests of the work in hand.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I put no restrictions on this expenditure and -lay down no rules of conduct beyond making the -work of the organization absolutely unpartisan and -unsectarian. The superintendent elected by the -directors shall be free to use such methods as shall -seem fit to him, being however held responsible to -the directors and removable at their option.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Although I leave everything to the judgment -of the directors, I wish to make a few suggestions -which they are quite free to accept or reject.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“First I suggest that for this work the city be -divided into various districts, and that each church -constitute itself a centre for effective work in some -district, so that workers may be somewhat equally -distributed, and no part of the city neglected. -These districts need not be based necessarily upon -the numbers of their inhabitants, but upon their -needs.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I would urge every minister either in or out -of the pulpit, as he may prefer, to make clear to -his congregation the purpose of this organization -which is to be formed, and himself lead his people -into hearty coöperation with it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I know that there are some well-meaning, -religious people who might object to this, dreading -the preaching of politics from the pulpit and the -diversion of the attention of the young from strictly -religious work. They prefer to have everything -pertaining to secular education debarred from the -church-building.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>“To me such people seem</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>SADLY IRRELIGIOUS.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>I wonder that they can read their Bibles and fail to -learn from the examples of the Hebrew prophets -what God would have man say concerning the -government and wise ordering of a backsliding -people. Those brave men of old were not afraid -of preaching politics; and how can one, the follower -of him who taught us to pray, ‘Thy kingdom -come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in -heaven,’ dare to make this but mere lip-service? -Surely they will be the first to give the influence -of their Christian manhood to bring that kingdom -here and now in this city of Chicago. The clergyman -who fails to teach his people that God as -truly leads this nation now as in the days of old -is recreant to his trust, is unworthy of his calling, -as it seems to me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I would have our church vestries, which are -closed and vacant a great part of the week, thrown -open at least one evening in a week for discussions, -lectures, debates, or small classes grouped together -for the study of subjects that will promote good -citizenship.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I suggest that all classes of people, whether -church-goers or not, who are willing to join in this -work, be divided into four sections.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“First and largest of all would be the section -containing those who know little of American history, -civil government, and political economy. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>These would form themselves into bands for studying -a well-selected course of reading, beginning -with elementary work, and proceeding from such -books as Mr. Dole’s ‘The Citizen and the Neighbor,’ -to profound works like Mulford’s ‘The Nation,’ -or perhaps Hegel’s ‘Philosophy of History.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I see no reason why with a proper system and -the natural interest which I think the subject will -awaken there should not eventually result as widespread -and beneficent a work as that which the -Chatauqua classes have done.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There should be a secretary for each little centre -of study to whom reports of work should be -made, and certificates or diplomas should be bestowed -by the directors on those who have successfully -passed through different courses.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I also suggest public debates and dissertations -by members of both sexes. It is not so difficult a -matter as you may think to interest young people -in such work. I know of a teacher in Somerville, -Massachusetts, who for years has been the means -of carrying on a historical club of about seventy-five -boys and girls under fifteen years of age. -These children meet regularly, conducting their -meetings themselves according to Cushing’s ‘Manual -of Parliamentary Rules,’ and girls as well as -boys take part in a modest, fearless way. They -get not only much historical information on the -subjects they discuss, but also a very valuable discipline -which renders them self-possessed in manner, -and discriminating in their thought, and is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>the best of training for many duties of good citizenship.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“All these results take time and patience and -tact in the planners of the classes, lest rivalry and -jealousy and short-sightedness defeat the end in -view. But when a</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>SCHEME IS ONCE THOUGHT OUT</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>in its main features it is comparatively easy to -follow, especially when it is as flexible as the one -I present to you, and when the leaders are disinterested -men and women.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The second of the four classes which I have -suggested would contain a much smaller number of -persons, and would be those who have the time and -ability to teach. This would bring forth much -latent talent for home missionary work which does -not find vent in our mission Sunday-schools.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The work should be especially prosecuted -among the foreign population.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let a course of say twenty-five weekly lectures -be arranged to be illustrated by the stereopticon, -and treating in a simple way of the growth of our -nation from its beginning until the present time. -I would not have very much attention paid to the -campaigns of the wars. It matters little to the -Bohemian who cannot read English or to the Irishman -who cannot write his name whether Braddock -or King Philip fought in the war of 1812 or not.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But it does matter that he should understand -something of the early life of the colonists, something -<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>of the dangers from which they fled, the -causes of the Revolution, the growth of slavery, -the meaning of our republican institutions, our -great industrial development, and the significance -of such names as Franklin, Washington, Lincoln, -Grant.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“A cornet leading a chorus of school-children, -who should sing national airs, would add zest to -such a lecture, the price of which should be merely -nominal. I think you will generally find it better -to have a price.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In such matters people usually undervalue and -are a little suspicious of what is given them freely. -If a ticket costs ten cents, or if it is given as a -reward of merit to the children at school, it will be -vastly more appreciated.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“These lectures would be given in English -wherever possible, but in the foreign districts of -the city the same set could be given in translations, -the speaker being an intelligent man of the -nationality of the audience.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I think you will find it better among foreigners -to give these lectures in a hall rather than in a -church, so as not to awaken religious prejudices. -With different speakers the same lectures and -pictures can be used in different parts of the city -every evening in the week, thus having six or seven</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>SIMULTANEOUS COURSES</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>of the same lectures.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“After the completion of the first course much -<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>experience will have been gained in the details -of management, and other courses can be formed -illustrating the material resources, physical geography -of our country, and the biography and literature -of our great men.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“With a little music, plenty of pictures, and a -speaker with a hearty, ringing voice, I think there -can be no question of winning attention among -these foreigners. After that, classes and clubs for -reading and discussion would easily follow.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have spoken of two sections, the students and -the teachers; the third might comprise those who -could give neither work nor study, but who would -give money. This money might go to any one of -a dozen fields of work which the organization -would help support.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Each donor could specify the purpose for -which he gives his money, whether it be temperance-reform -work, free kindergartens, industrial -schools, payment for detection and prosecution of -law-breakers, or general running expenses. You -can readily see that although there may be much -voluntary, unpaid service, there will be great -need of more money than I have promised to contribute.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The fourth class would be one of the most important, -comprising chiefly the solid business men -and practical, public-spirited women, such as I -have found here in your remarkably live Woman’s -Club and other organizations. These men and -women would attend to such practical work as is -<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>done by our Law and Order Leagues in the different -states, supplementing the often inefficient -police service, and persistently insisting that the -existing laws <em>shall be enforced</em>.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This branch of the work alone would require -more than one paid agent. Another line of work -for this fourth class of good citizens would be an -organized and ever-increasing vigilance in regard -to the work of the city’s servants, and the creation -of a strong public sentiment which shall demand a -purer, cleaner press and a suppression of the vile -literature which is poisoning the imagination of -thousands of our youth.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This class of workers would be the active agents -of all reforms, and unwavering in their efforts to -make the primary meetings places where the moral -force and the intelligence of the city shall be most -powerfully felt.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let me illustrate what I mean in speaking of -the kinds of work which this fourth class of workers -can do to promote good citizenship. The successful -courses of lectures on history to young -people under the auspices of the</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>COMMERCIAL CLUB</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>which have been carried on here is just the kind -of work which needs to be done. The prizes for -essays on historical subjects offered to the school-children -by the ‘Daily News’ is another good -thing. The courses of lectures by workmen and -capitalists under the auspices of the Ethical Culture -<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>Society is just the kind of work which I -should like to see multiplied a hundredfold.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“All existing organizations for promoting the -welfare of the community can unite in this large -organization without abandoning their own methods -and field of work.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Perhaps this scheme as I have outlined it may -seem to you somewhat utopian; but you will remember -that what I have said is simply suggestion. -The methods I leave entirely to your own excellent -judgment. But whatever these may be, they will -be watched with keen interest by other cities to -whom I shall make the same proposition that I -have made to you, provided that the results of your -efforts shall justify my action in this matter.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The little plan which I propose is</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>ABSOLUTELY FLEXIBLE.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c014'>One person or one circle may work in one way and -one in another, each according to his own tastes -and opportunities. While any one of leisure may -belong to all four sections, no one need feel excluded -from joining in the general good work in some way, -if he have but a dollar a year to contribute, or but -an hour a week for study or work.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“May I not hope that the life and youth and -moral power of Chicago will join hand in hand in -making this vast city great, not only in dimensions -and numbers and wealth, but great in that kind of -greatness which alone shall exalt a nation and give -it memory. For</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>‘The envious Powers of ill nor wink nor sleep:—</div> - <div class='line in4'>Be therefore timely wise,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor laugh when this one steals and that one lies,</div> - <div class='line'>As if your luck could cheat those sleepless spies,</div> - <div class='line'>Till the deaf Fury comes your house to sweep.’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>As Miss Brewster stood a moment with silently -bowed head and then sank into her chair there was -a hush. Every one had been thrilled by the clear, -quiet, intense tones of her voice, and there was an -instinctive refrain from applause which marked the -deep feeling which her words had created.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Dr. T—— rose to speak, but at this juncture -the writer, whose office had been discovered, was -politely requested by an usher to withdraw. It was -subsequently learned, however, that a committee -consisting of seven ladies and eighteen gentlemen -was elected from those present, and they are to meet -next week for selection of a superintendent, and to -establish their organization.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>After leaving Chicago in June, we passed a -wonderful fortnight among the glories of the Yellowstone -Park. Here Mildred seemed to throw off -all care, and to breathe freely for the first time in -six months.</p> - -<p class='c005'>After leaving the Park, some of our party were -called back to the East, but aunt, cousin Will, and -Alice still accompanied us.</p> - -<p class='c005'>On touching the Northern Pacific Railroad -again our car was attached to a train filled for the -most part with immigrants.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At the stations where stops were made we always -alighted to take a little exercise in walking -up and down the platform, and to chat with the -Indians and half-breeds, who greatly interested -Mildred.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I must admit that for my part I found the -wrinkled old crones and dirty braves rather disgusting, -though occasionally a few who still retained -their primitive adornments of vermilion -paint and eagle’s feathers furnished a bit of picturesqueness -that was interesting.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At one stopping-place, there being no Indians -visible, we turned our attention to the crowd of European -peasants who poured out of the immigrant -<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>cars, and strolling about among them we amused -ourselves by studying the stolid, square faces, and -giving candy to the sturdy, little flaxen-haired children -who gazed in round-eyed wonder at us.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Presently I saw that Mildred, who had slipped -away from me, was holding a hurried and earnest -conversation with a sad-eyed little woman who -with quivering lips was telling the story of how -her <em>Mann</em> had died on the voyage and been buried -at sea, and how she was left to make the rest -of the long journey alone with her three helpless -little ones.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It goes to my heart,” said Mildred as we returned -to our car, “to think of that woman and -those poor, fatherless little things in this strange -land. Not one of the people with her is her friend -and neighbor, and I don’t know what is to become -of her.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“How perfectly dreadful!” exclaimed Alice -calmly as she scanned her cards.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Gad, that’s tough!” ejaculated Will, and then -we proceeded with our whist, which had been interrupted -by this little episode.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I watched Mildred. I knew that this would not -be the end of it with her, though the others soon -forgot about it. She played carelessly and was -beaten. She was thinking not of the game, but of -the tired, broken-hearted wife in the next car who -had so courageously said good-by to the Fatherland -a month before with her brave Fritz, and must now -end the long, wearisome journey alone, poor and -friendless.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>Presently she rose and left the car.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let me go with you,” called Will, and followed -her, while I lay down on the sofa for a nap and -knew nothing more until an hour later. Then I -waked to find Mildred kneeling by my side and -smilingly patting my cheeks.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What do you say to having an adventure, -Ruby?” she asked. “I have a capital scheme; -just listen to it. Will and I have been to see that -poor little woman, and it is pathetic to see how she -clings to us and looks to us for assistance. She -will be utterly helpless when she gets to the end -of her journey. Her passage is prepaid through, -but that is all. She has only three dollars left, -and the agent who has all these people in charge -is a hard-faced man who cannot be trusted to concern -himself in the least about her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“She opened her whole heart to me while Will -amused the children, and I have learned all her -simple little story. I hadn’t the heart to leave -her until I had promised to see her through to her -journey’s end.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But you forget, Mildred,” I cried astonished, -and sitting up quickly; “these people are all going -to switch off at the Junction and go twenty-five -miles on another road. The conductor told us so, -you know, and we can’t follow them, for it would -make us a day late in reaching Tacoma, and auntie -really must have her ulcerated tooth attended to.” -She had in fact hardly held her head up that day -and was suffering terribly.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>“Certainly,” said Mildred; “I have thought of -all that, and it is all arranged. Alice and Will -are to go on with her in this car and take the best -of care of her, and if you will join Hélène [the -maid] and me, we will go with the immigrants and -see little Frau Kopp well started in the new home -before we leave her. I consider it quite a fortunate -circumstance on the whole. I have wanted an excuse -to mingle with the people more and learn -something further of frontier life than can be seen -from the windows of a parlor-car.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Will remonstrated vigorously, however. “See -here, Mildred,” he said seriously, “it will never do -in the world for you to start off this way at night -into an unknown region, and ride in these wretched -cars. Very likely you will have to sleep on a straw -bed in some vile little tavern no one knows where. -You can give this woman some money, and”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I haven’t time to argue,” interposed Mildred, -packing her bag. “I have made up my mind to -go. Don’t think me stubborn, but money can’t do -for that disconsolate, frightened little woman what -I can do. She has not a single friend; her baby -is ill; some Yankee sharper would swindle her out -of her money; and, besides, I want to go. I want -to know from experience a little about the life of -these people.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Then if I can’t dissuade you I must go with -you. Mother can”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, she can’t; and I can’t let you leave her, -cousin Will,” replied Mildred with quiet determination. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>“Nothing can possibly happen to us. We -are in a civilized land, and robbers are not wont to -attack an immigrant train. We shall not be hurt -by ‘roughing it’ for twenty-four hours, and if anything -happens to delay us longer we will telegraph -you.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let me go <em>instead</em> of you,” insisted Will, still -frowning upon the project; “there is no need of -you three interrupting your journey when I can -manage the affair perfectly well.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But you don’t speak German and I do,” replied -Mildred, decisively.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was nothing more to be said, and we bade -them good-by, with no misgiving on our part, and -stepped into the uncomfortable, stuffy immigrant -cars. Mildred seated herself beside little Frau -Kopp and held in her lap chubby two-year-old -Hans, dressed like a little old man in the clumsy, -German peasant fashion. Hélène and I meanwhile -took turns in occupying the only vacant seat in the -car. The motley crowd of Swedes, Norwegians, -Danes, Germans, and Bohemians, who for five or -six days and nights had been traveling together in -heat and discomfort, sat nodding sleepily and apparently -unexcited at the near approach of their -long journey’s end.</p> - -<p class='c005'>All the afternoon it had looked lowering in the -west, and as the dim kerosene lamps were lighted -one by one, we heard the dash of rain upon the roof -of the car, and by the flashes of lightning could -discern with our faces pressed close to the panes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>that we were just entering upon the track of a -storm. Trees were uprooted and lay in confusion -beside the track. But we could see little, and I -gave scarcely a thought to it as I sat on the hard, -uncushioned seat, with my lap full of bags and -wraps, and watched Mildred a few seats in front -of me as she talked cheerily to the tired little -children. Our destination was to be the little -mining town of Blivens, and we were to reach it -at half-past eight.</p> - -<p class='c005'>On we went whizzing through the darkness, the -train rocking from side to side, and the red-kerchiefed, -brown faces of the women lighting up picturesquely -the dark mysterious shadows. We were -about to reach our destination, and I had just risen -to rest my stiffened limbs, when suddenly I was -thrown headlong down the aisle, and a hideous -grating, jarring noise drowned every other sound. -Then a sense of falling, rolling, pitching, of absolute -darkness, and of frightful pain.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I lay I know not how long. One foot and hand -were pinioned under something hard and immovable, -the other foot doubled under me, and my head -twisted awry and also immovable. I was lying -between two bodies, one above and one under me. -Something warm was dripping down over my face, -and shrieks and dying groans rent the air.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I was too stunned at first to think what it meant. -I was conscious only of pain, horrible pain, such as -I had never dreamed of before. I could not cry -out, I could not move. Oh, would help never come?</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>What was this horrible thing that had happened? -A moment ago—no, was it not an hour ago?—we -were alive and well; and now? Oh, why had God -let this horrible thing happen? And Mildred—where -was she? Perhaps she was dead; and I -should be dead too very soon, and nothing would -matter much.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I remember thinking then, strangely enough, “I -am glad she has made her will.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Suddenly a dull glow, a gleam of light, then a -hoarse yell of despair from a score of voices, “Da -ist Feuer!” “<em>The train is on fire!</em>”</p> - -<p class='c005'>My heart stopped beating. Were the horrors of -a holocaust to be added to this agony?</p> - -<p class='c005'>Oh, the long, fearful minutes! A horrid glare -lit up the blackness of the night, and nearer, nearer -crept the crackling flames!</p> - -<p class='c005'>O Christ! will no one come to rescue us, will -not the clouds in mercy pour down their treasures -to stop this demon flame!</p> - -<p class='c005'>But no! The rain had ceased, and on, on, steadily -on came the frightful scorching flames.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It was now as light as day. In the red glare I -could see black figures moving swiftly, men running -wildly about and desperately pulling and tearing -at the splintered sides of the car.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But oh, how feeble all their efforts! How utterly -futile seemed all human strength to cope with these -frightful forces that held us relentlessly in their -grasp!</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, it will soon be over, soon be over,” I -<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>groaned to myself. “The torture shall not be long -if with my free hand I can get a quicker death,” -I resolved in the desperation of my agony.</p> - -<p class='c005'>It seemed hours to us wretches lying there ’twixt -hell and heaven, but I suppose it was only minutes. -Then there was a cracking, a breaking. An iron -crowbar in the hands of a man had broken through -the débris and was lifting the frightful weight -from my arm.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I could see his face distinctly, as with the giant -strength of a madman, but with the clear eye of -one who was a born general, he marshaled his -panic-stricken followers and bade them aid him.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Here, Jim,” he shouted hoarsely, his voice rising -above the roar of the flames, “hold on there! -Now you and Tom and the rest, <em>pull!—pull as -you never pulled before</em>!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>But it was all in vain; as well try to lift a mountain.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Take this child,” groaned a muffled voice at -my side, and as the strong arms of the stranger -lifted little Hans limp and lifeless, and hastily laid -him in the soft dark mud behind him, I saw for -the first time Mildred’s white face beside me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There ain’t no use, boss,” cried the men in a -frenzy, and stopping to wring their hands. “We -can’t do nothing; <em>they’ve got to burn alive</em>!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Then for God’s sake give me your pistol or -your knife!” I cried fiercely.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, Mildred,” I protested, “it’s right, it’s -right. If we must die, let it be quickly, and not by -inches.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>But Mildred did not hear. She was looking at -the stranger with wild, staring eyes, and for an instant, -as if paralyzed, he gazed at her. Then a look -of such agony as I never saw on a human face convulsed -his features, and he cried, “<em>Boys, once more! -I must save this woman!</em>” and while they stood -wringing helpless hands, he, with knotted veins -and starting eyes, made one herculean effort, and -Mildred was in his arms and free.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I saw them stagger and fall together, while the -bright blood in a crimson torrent poured from his -lips and dyed her white, clinging hands.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then I knew nothing more. I have a vague -recollection of a roar as of Niagara filling my ears, -a sense of being torn limb from limb, a shuddering -thought that this indeed was death and the end had -come—and then blackness.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I knew not how many hours or days had passed. -When I opened my eyes I was lying on a hard -straw bed on the floor of an unplastered attic room. -I could see nothing from where I lay but the corner -of a window through whose panes the sun -streamed in, scarce hindered by the torn blue paper -curtain. It shone upon the gorgeous patchwork -counterpane upon my bed. It dazzled my eyes, -which felt strangely weak.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I tried to move, but could not stir; to speak, but -could utter no sound.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Presently, as I lay with closed eyes, I felt that -some one had stooped from behind and looked at -me. Then I heard a husky whisper,—</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>“She’s sleepin’ real nateral, don’t ye worry a -mite. <em>She</em>’s agoin’ ter git on, you can jest bet on -that.” This was followed by a heavy tread which -jarred my head with every movement like that of a -giant trying to walk on tiptoe. There was a creaking -of a door, then a slow, soft thump, thump, -thump down the uncarpeted stairs, and all was -still.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I lay quiet, wondering what it all meant. Where -was I, and what could be the matter? My head -was confused. Was Mildred—hush, there was a -voice near by talking low; it seemed behind me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But it was not so; how could you have thought -it so?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The voice sounded like Mildred’s. It was weak -and trembling.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I went East to find you after it was all over -between Agnes and me, but they said you were engaged, -you had gone abroad. I could do nothing. -I came back; I had my work, and I tried to live.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>The other voice I did not know; it was husky -and broken.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was silence again, and I heard a bustling -and tramping about below, and outside the window -locusts buzzing shrilly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Voices again. I could not but hear. It was -Mildred’s voice. “But did you love me then in -the beginning?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was no answer at first; then it came, a -little stronger and steadier than before. “I should -have loved you then if I had dared, but I was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>pledged to Agnes; she had promised to be my wife. -There came a day at Concord when I saw my danger. -I knew that I must not dare to see you again. -I prayed that I might be kept from being false to -the woman whom I had asked to love me, so I went -away and tried to forget. After all, I had known -you for only a few days, and I had known her from -childhood. She was true as steel. She trusted -me; and when with her again I was glad to find at -last that life could still be rich and sweet, and I be -spared from baseness.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Then why, why”—Mildred began; but she -hesitated, and her voice died away.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It came about in this way,” said the other voice -after a pause. “I had studied for the ministry, you -know. Agnes had rejoiced to think that she was -to share my work. I had decided from the first -to give myself to the home mission work either in -the far West or among the colored people at the -South. She was all enthusiasm and zeal. She -was a noble woman; but oh—well, it is a long -story, a long story.” Another pause; then, “Do -you know how unjust and bitter a woman can be -when she thinks that she alone is intrusted with -the decrees of the Almighty?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As her lover, I must be frank with her, I must -conceal nothing. I told her all, little by little, of -what I had come to believe and see. It only made -her tremble with horror. She saw that I was not -ready to preach the gospel which she believed. She -felt that I was going no-whither. ‘You have denied -<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>God’s Word and made your reason your God,’ she -said. ‘I can never dare trust my future with you -unless you promise me once and forever to abandon -reading these dreadful books which are leading -you farther and farther from the truth.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I tried argument, but it was of no avail. ‘I -am no logician; I cannot argue and reason with a -college-bred man like you. You could readily refute -my simple talk to your own satisfaction,’ she said; -‘but all the philosophy in the world cannot change -my faith. My husband’s God must be the one -whom I serve.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I did not know how I had really loved her -until I found I was breaking her heart. It was -pitiful. I tried to show her how I loved the same -God whom she served, but she said, while the tears -choked her voice:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘No, Ralph, let us not deceive ourselves; we -look at the world in a radically different way. -There can be no compromises so long as this exists.’ -So we parted.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And then you—you came here?” queried -Mildred faintly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes. My life at first seemed wrecked; but I -had my work, and though I could not ask any -Missionary Board to send me out, I determined to -come alone and serve God, if not in the pulpit, -then perhaps as well some other way.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I came with the first miners. I lived with them -and worked for them. I helped them build their -first log huts. I opened the first store here, but as -<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>I sold no liquor it was hard to contend with the -other shops which soon were rivals of mine.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But I made enough to live on. That was all -I cared for. I had come here to save men, not to -save money.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“First I started a reading-room, here in my -room. It was open to them all, and after a while -we had an evening class. Then I began a Sunday -school, and they all came at first just to oblige me -because I asked them, but afterwards because they -liked it. Then at last I began a regular Sunday -service.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I love these rough fellows, and they have -learned to love me. I do what I can for them. I -would not change my work for the richest parish in -the country. I have the satisfaction of knowing -that I am helping to shape the future of this whole -region.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“These men have loved me in a rough, hearty -way, and I thank God for it, for sometimes the -loneliness has been terrible.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Agnes married a missionary and went to India, -and after a while I saw that it was best so, though -it was bitter to me at first.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I felt that you, the only other woman for whom -I ever had cared, had forgotten me. I did not -dare to think that you had remembered me, but I -could not rest until I knew. I made the long journey -East. I felt that I could not be denied until I -had heard the final word from your lips. I reached -Boston the very day that you sailed from New -<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>York; and I heard that you were to marry a rich -man on your return.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well, I tried to bear it as best I could. I -came back to my work. After the little glimpse of -civilization and comfort that I had had, this dreary -little place seemed drearier still; but I had brought -books with me, and they helped me.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“One day, as I sat here feeling lonely, wretched, -forlorn, I picked up my Thomas à Kempis, and suddenly -a light seemed to break in upon me, and I -said, ‘O fool, you with strength and vigor and opportunities, -you who have the inherited wisdom of -the world at your command, you the heir of all the -ages, the son of a King!—shall <em>you</em> mourn and -complain because Heaven denies you one boon? -When was it ever decreed that you should be so -favored above all other mortals as to be completely -happy in this world of pain? Should the servant -be above his Master?’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“So then I tried to learn to be content. I found -something better than happiness,—it has been -blessedness.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I study when I can. But I am studying humanity -chiefly. I am learning how to fill the needs -of these brothers of mine. I am trying to show -them that there is something better than the gold -which seems to them the only thing worth working -for. Yes, I love my work.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was a note of exultation in the voice, weak -though it was, which thrilled me. I think I must -have dozed, for the voices again sounded faint and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>far away. Presently as I returned to consciousness -I heard the voice saying in little broken gasps of -pain, “But oh, Mildred darling, do you know -what this means? Do you know what it means -when you promise to be willing to take me for better -or for worse? You love books and pictures -and music and beauty. Can I consent to see you -deprived of them all, to share my lot?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You do not know me yet. You are grateful to -me for saving you; but it was simple humanity—humanity, -nothing more. I was a fool to speak out -as I did just now; it was only my weakness and -selfishness. No, I cannot let you bind yourself yet; -wait till you are well, till your friends come.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You say they have wealth. What will they -think of your giving them all up to settle in this -dismal place and be the wife of a man who has not -five hundred dollars in the world, and can offer -you nothing but a life of toil?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, you shall be free. Forget that I dared to -speak, that I dared for a moment to think—What? -Why—why, Mildred, you are laughing!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh,” said Mildred in a different tone, “I—that -is, I was only thinking of <em>love in a cottage</em>. I am -not afraid of being poor; I can work too.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Ah, yes; but being poor in Boston, where you -have the largest public library in the world, and -the free Lowell lectures, and a glorious symphony -concert now and then for only fifty cents, is one -thing; and to be poor here, to stand at the washtub, -and to scrub and clean and bake and mend, is quite -<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>another. There would be little call here for the -work which you love and can do so well. These -rough, hard-working men have little time or inclination -to hear of Goethe or Dante.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It would be cruel for me to let these soft, white -hands grow hard and rough, to let your life which -elsewhere could be so rich run to waste here.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Would it not be far more cruel,” asked Mildred -tenderly, “to keep me from the man I love?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Mildred dear, I am awake,” I tried to say, for -through my bewildered brain the meaning of all -this had begun to penetrate, and I realized for the -first time that I had been hearing what was too sacred -for any other ears than those of Mildred and -her lover, Ralph Everett.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But the words choked in my throat, there was -only an inarticulate murmur, and the voices ceased.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c015'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And a voice said in mastery while I strove,</div> - <div class='line'>Guess now who holds thee?—</div> - <div class='line in6'>‘Death,’ I said;</div> - <div class='line'>But there the silver answer rang,</div> - <div class='line in6'>‘Not Death, but Love.’”</div> - <div class='line in14'><span class='sc'>Sonnets from the Portuguese.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Some time elapsed ere I divined where we were, -and then I discovered that we had been carried to -Mr. Everett’s house and were all lying in the attic -over the store. Mildred had been placed on his -cot-bed by the book-shelves, and he lay on a lounge -a few feet distant.</p> - -<p class='c005'>After a time my straw bed, which had been borrowed -from a neighbor, was turned about so that I -could see them. I was too weak to talk, but I loved -to lie and look at them when the terrible pain gave -me a moment’s respite to think of anything beside -my own woes.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The little town was crowded; not a spare room -but had been gladly given up to the sufferers.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Little by little I learned all that had happened. -A tree had been uprooted in the wild storm and -had fallen across the track. The engine, the baggage -car, and the first car had been derailed. The -loss of life had not been great. Poor Hélène, the -little German woman and her baby were the only -ones who had not been rescued.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>But in all the cottages around lay the helpless, -wounded people, who had come so far over land -and sea only to meet this terrible fate.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The telegraph lines had been thrown down in the -storm, and it was two days before word could be -sent and the débris cleared away so that trains -could come from the west. The little German doctor -who had set my bones while I was unconscious, -and had left medicine for us all, did not appear but -once or twice after the first call, for there were a -score or more of poor, maimed creatures, some of -them his own countrymen, who needed him even -more sorely than we.</p> - -<p class='c005'>What would have become of us during those three -days of partial unconsciousness and suffering and -impatient waiting for our friends if it had not been -for “Jim”!</p> - -<p class='c005'>Jim was a character. Not even the pain could -so wholly banish my sense of humor as to prevent -my seeing that.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I could not learn whether there was a woman in -town or not, but I afterwards heard that Jim had -let it be understood that he was commissioned by -the “boss” to be his sole attendant, and warn every -one else to keep his distance. Half a dozen times -a day the big, freckled, red-haired fellow creaked -up the stairs in his stocking feet, bringing water -and gruel and bouquets of gorgeous nasturtiums -and crimson phlox from his little garden patch -across the way. Jim had an eye for the beautiful, -and thought it a pity that we should have nothing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>better to look upon than the long rows of sombre -books which lined one side of the walls and formed -Mr. Everett’s library.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Accordingly the poor man had stripped his own -bachelor premises of all the precious adornments -sent him by his sweetheart for the last three -Christmases. There was a gilded sugar-scoop tied -with pink ribbons, and a remarkable landscape -painted on the concave surface of the interior. -There was also a rolling-pin with a covering of -French blue plush, adorned with gilded handles, -and bearing on its surface a large thermometer -surmounted by a gilded spread eagle.</p> - -<p class='c005'>These were especially devoted to my benefit, for -which I was duly appreciative. Over Mildred’s -bed was hung a “God Bless Our Home,” wonderfully -worked in the national colors; and beside Mr. -Everett’s sofa was placed a gilded milking-stool of -convenient height for holding vials and glasses, the -legs artistically interlaced with scarlet ribbons, and -the seat decorated with a painting, whether of Vesuvius -in eruption or a dish of crushed tomatoes, I -was never quite sure.</p> - -<p class='c005'>From the low window near which my bed was -drawn Jim proudly pointed out to me his own -quarters opposite. The house was an unpainted -wooden structure of one story, and evidently possessed -a slanting roof with gables, though the architect -had erected a sham façade which gave the -appearance, when one took a front view, of a house -with a flat roof.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>Extending across the whole front of the house -was a sign of unique character painted in black on -a pink ground, of which I subjoin an exact copy.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>1886.</div> - <div>FRANKLIN</div> - <div>PHILOSOPHIC</div> - <div>HERMITAGE</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Independent Scientific Repair Shop.</span></div> - <div><span class='sc'>Clocks, Coopering, Chain Saws Filed</span></div> - <div><span class='sc'>Tin Ware, Politics & Theology Tinkered</span></div> - <div><span class='sc'>Huzzah for</span></div> - <div><span class='sc'>The Union</span></div> - <div>LABOR PARTY.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“Jim is an odd stick,” Mr. Everett once said -with a feeble smile, as the awkward fellow was -heard anathematizing himself as he descended the -stairs after an accidental bang of the door, which -made us all wince.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Jim is odd, but he has mighty good stuff in -him. There isn’t anything that fellow would not -do for me, though when I first came here he was -pretty fiery; a regular dynamiter you would have -thought. But since I started the debating club, -and got him to reading history a little, he has -calmed down a good deal, and has come to find -that hard facts are worth more than all his former -rhetorical pyrotechnics about the down-trodden -workingman.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last, with pale and terror-stricken faces, came -<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>aunt Madison and Will and Alice with Dr. Ellsworth -from Tacoma. Then ensued a new order of -things. Jim vanished, talking was forbidden, the -noise everywhere disappeared, and the clumsy carts -passed silently beneath our window over a thick -bed of straw, while tall screens, improvised from -sheets and clothes-horses, separated us from each -other the greater part of the time. For there was -not another room in town to be had, and the little -grocery below had been metamorphosed into sleeping -apartments for our four attendants. They alternately -watched and slept.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The new physician threw away the old medicines, -substituted new ones, and looked with grave anxiety -on Mildred’s flushed face and bounding pulse. She -had no bones broken and but a slight wound, and -had insisted that my broken bones be set first.</p> - -<p class='c005'>After the first shock, the excitement of meeting -Mr. Everett and anxiety for us all had sustained -her, but now she was sinking fast. The delay in -attending to her at the beginning was telling upon -her. Whether it was the July heat, the sight of so -many faces, and the necessary disturbance when so -many were forced to be in one room, I do not know, -but as the days went by none of us grew better.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred was too ill to be moved to her car. Mr. -Everett, though in a fair way to recover, was too -weak to stir after his terrible hemorrhage and the -strain upon his whole system; while I could not endure -to be touched without extreme pain. So during -the July days we lay there together in the unfinished -<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>attic room, watching the doctor come and -go, and tended by loving hands that divided their -ministrations and the delicacies that they brought -with the suffering ones who lay not far distant.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Do everything for them that I would have had -done,” were Mildred’s words to cousin Will, which -he understood as Mr. Everett did not. For no one -was allowed to tell him that this sweet girl lying -there, who I alone knew was his promised wife, -was no longer the teacher whom he thought her.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But the doctor’s face looked graver and graver -as the days wore on. He sat up half the night with -us, performing the combined duties of nurse and -physician.</p> - -<p class='c005'>One morning, as he came in looking weary and -jaded after but four hours’ rest, he sat down by -Mildred’s bed, with a face that in spite of his habitual -professional attempt at gayety could not conceal -the gravest concern.</p> - -<p class='c005'>He felt her pulse and motioned furtively to aunt -Madison, who stood with brimming eyes studying -his every motion. Mildred glanced up and read -the meaning of his look. She said nothing for a -moment; then with an effort to keep her voice -steady she said, quietly, “Doctor, be honest with -me: shall I live?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“My dear, I”—and the doctor coughed and -turned away his head; “I—we”—he glanced -at Mr. Everett, who with eyes that were blazing -like coals in their sockets had half risen on his -elbow and seemed devouring every word,—“my -dear, I hope so.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>“Yes, I understand,” replied Mildred calmly, -after a searching look at the physician’s half-averted -face, “I understand, and I am not afraid; -but it is necessary that some things be done, and -done quickly.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>She lay a few moments quietly thinking. No -one stirred or spoke, and the silence was broken -only by aunt Madison’s half-stifled sobs, as she -turned away to hide her emotion. Presently Mildred -looked up.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Is there a lawyer in the village?” she asked. -“I want to change my—that is, I want to attend -to a few little matters of business that must not be -left undone.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No,” replied Mr. Everett huskily; “there was -one who did a little business, but he died a month -ago.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred said nothing for a few minutes, then -looking up, with a pale face and lips drawn tense, -she said, “Auntie, I must be married to-day.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>We all gave an involuntary cry. Mr. Everett -drew his hand over his eyes. Dr. Ellsworth and -aunt Madison exchanged looks of amazement as if -to say, “Is the girl beside herself?” I alone understood -what it all meant.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, auntie,” Mildred continued. “I have not -yet told you; I meant to, by and by. I did not -think it was to be here and now; I meant to have -it all so different; but my strength is going, I do -not know whether I shall—I dare not wait.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>She gave a little gasp of pain, and was silent a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>moment; then she added, in a voice which I could -scarcely hear, “I have told Mr. Everett that I love -him. I have promised to be his wife.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>No one spoke when Mildred had finished, and -she lay with closed eyes, while aunt Madison stood -as if struck dumb, gazing incredulously from one -to the other. She had learned that they were old -friends, that he had saved her life; perhaps she had -suspected more, but this sudden announcement paralyzed -her for a moment.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mr. Everett half rose again from his couch and -leaned toward Mildred as if to speak, but the -words died on his lips, and he sank back exhausted -and lay motionless.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Aunt Madison softly left the room, but soon returned, -and kneeling by Mildred’s side they whispered -together. What was said I never knew, -but I was certain that Mildred’s thought was for -Ralph’s inheritance.</p> - -<p class='c005'>An hour later, another physician, who had been -telegraphed for the previous day, arrived. He -stepped softly into the room, and for a long time -gazed intently at Mildred as she lay asleep, and -then he slipped out, and I heard faint murmurings -of voices in the room below as the two physicians -held a consultation.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, Mildred, my more than sister,” I inwardly -groaned; “must I lie here helpless and see your -precious life going from us? Were you snatched -from the jaws of death but to fall back again a -helpless victim? If this must be, oh that we had -died together before rescue came!”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>I had given my whole heart to this girl. I had -loved her with a love which made all other friendships -of my life seem as nothing. In loving her I -felt that I had first learned what love meant, and -my little, petty life had been made deeper, broader, -and full of hitherto undreamed-of possibilities.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The hours wore away, the hours of Mildred’s -wedding-day. “Send Jim for Mr. Lightfoot,” Mr. -Everett had said to Will. “He will know where -to find him. He is the only regular clergyman -within fifty miles.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>He had been sent for post-haste, and that evening, -just as the sun was sinking in the west and -lighting up in gorgeous splendor the little attic -where we lay, a tall, gray-haired man in a rusty, -black frock-coat, and with prayer-book in hand, -climbed softly up the creaking stairs and paused -in the doorway, glancing in a tender, fatherly way -at the two pale faces which looked up to greet his -coming.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The windows were opened, and the blue paper -curtains had disappeared to be replaced by white -muslin ones. A dozen pitchers were placed around -the room containing the brilliant wild flowers of -the neighborhood that had been sent in by Jim and -his friends. A wreath of golden-rod and purple -asters at Jim’s desire was laid upon the white counterpane -at Mildred’s feet. For the news that there -was for some strange reason to be a marriage had -spread like wildfire, and many a rough, sunburned -man had tapped softly at the door of the little -<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>shop to ask what it meant, and beg Alice, who -stood on guard, to be allowed to come up and -stand, if only in the doorway, and see the “boss” -married.</p> - -<p class='c005'>One day, a month later, Alice told me all about -it. “You don’t suppose, Miss, he’s agoin ter die?” -asked one of them, as they stood around the door -in a quiet, awe-struck group. “I don’t know what -we fellers ’ud ever do without him,” he added huskily, -as he drew the back of his grimy hand across -his eyes.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I don’t go much on religion,” said another, who -sat on the doorstep leaning his head in his hands; -“but I’ll be blamed ef that ere feller, with all his -college larnin’ and soft-spoken ways, a-comin’ out -here and roughin’ it with us, and a-nursin’ and a-teachin’ -and a-helpin’ of us all,—I’ll be blamed if -that ain’t the Christianest thing I ever see.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I did not wonder that these men loved their -teacher.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Ralph—I learned to call him that afterwards, -so I call him so now, for it seems more natural—Ralph -Everett had a face such as one sees only -once or twice in a lifetime. I did not wonder that -Mildred loved it so that she kept awake to look at -it as he slept.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The forehead was broad and low, from which the -brown hair rose thick and abruptly, framing the -strong, almost rugged face. The eyes—such eyes! -They were the frankest, truest eyes that ever glorified -a human face. Not even Mildred’s eyes were -<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>like those, although hers could sparkle or command -or grow wonderfully soft and tender. The -chin and mouth were hidden in a luxuriant blond -beard, in which gleamed now and then a silver -thread. The broad chest, the sunburned face and -hands which the pallor of sickness was fast restoring -to their pristine whiteness, all evinced a strong, -active life, strangely contrasting with the pitiful -helplessness which had now prostrated it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But surely strength and health would soon return; -surely love would triumph; and these two, so -strangely reunited in the very jaws of death, would -some day make all previous joys as nothing to that -deep, full, complete satisfaction with which heaven -should crown their lives; these two, who seemed -of all the world the ones most worthy of such -blessedness.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I had dreamed it all out. Some beautiful day -in the months to come I should stand as bride’s-maid -beside a happy, white-robed bride. There -would be flowers and music and smiles. There -would be the strong, gallant lover, the one man of -all the world who was worthy to wed my precious -Mildred. The man whom she would always know -had married her for herself alone, a man whom -wealth or happiness could not tempt, who should -nobly help her in the great work that she had set -herself to do.</p> - -<p class='c005'>To tell the truth, I had thought also, with almost -a pang of jealousy, what this would mean to me, -and what my life would be without her.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>I could scarcely realize that now, here, in this -brown, unplastered attic room, in a dreary frontier -mining town, with no music but the chirping of the -August crickets in the little field behind us, without -wedding-robe or wedding guests, my Mildred -was to become a bride.</p> - -<p class='c005'>They bolstered me up to see it all, as well as -could be done with my splintered leg and arm. -I was trembling violently, and the doctor gave me -a sedative powder and sat by me with hand on -my pulse. Ralph’s lounge had been moved beside -Mildred’s cot. His face was as deadly pale as her -own.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Mildred,” he whispered hoarsely,—they had -not spoken to each other since in the morning when -she had said she would marry him,—“Mildred, -have you counted the cost? Think, darling, you -may get well; do you realize what you are doing?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, far better than you do,” she replied with -a faint smile.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The clergyman quietly took his place at the foot -of the bed, and as the solemn words of the Episcopal -marriage service broke the silence, Mildred, -who had been lying with closed eyes, started visibly. -She had not before observed that the clergyman -had a prayer-book. I could see that she was greatly -agitated, and instantly divined the cause.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She had always declared that she would never -under any conditions allow herself to be married -by that service.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I knew her reasons for this and how strongly -<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>she felt about it, so I understood what her consternation -must be now. All this flashed through -my brain before the clergyman had read three -lines.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then Mildred gave a little gasp. A crimson -flush leaped into her cheeks, and I knew her mind -was made up. Instantly her voice broke in, -strangely clear and strong.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Please wait, sir,” she said. “I beg your pardon. -I did not know this service was to be used. -I cannot be married by it. Can you not substitute -some other?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Every one but Ralph was thunderstruck; but -they were getting inured to surprises, and no one -spoke while the clergyman, for a moment too -shocked to reply, gazed in blank amazement into -Mildred’s earnest eyes.</p> - -<p class='c005'>But Ralph understood, and said calmly, “No, -dear, he cannot. I should have thought of this -before. I am not willing that you should promise -what this service contains. So, in the presence -of God and of these witnesses, we two alone will -bind ourselves lawfully in the marriage bond.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then, holding Mildred’s right hand in his, while -the minister stood wonderingly aside, he said with -clear, unshaken voice:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I take thee, Mildred, to be my lawful, wedded -wife, to love and to serve, to comfort and cherish, -to honor and keep, so long as we both shall live; -and thereto, God helping, I plight thee my troth.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>A deathly pallor had crept over Mildred’s face. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>Just then the last rays of the setting sun for a -moment streamed into the little room, irradiating -its bare walls, and transfiguring with magic light -those two faces on which we were gazing with -breathless silence.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then, after a moment’s pause, Mildred with a -great effort leaned an inch nearer, and gently -taking Ralph’s brown hand in both her slender -white ones, said, with blanched lips:</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I take thee, Ralph, to be my lawful, wedded -husband, to love and to serve, to comfort and -cherish, to honor and keep, so long as we both -shall live; and thereto, God helping, I plight thee -my troth.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>After the last words had died tremblingly away -on Mildred’s lips, the clergyman at a sign from -her lifted his voice in prayer, while Alice kneeled -sobbing by the bedside, and over my eyes there -came a mist. My senses reeled, and I remember -no more.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Weeks afterward Alice told me that Mr. Lightfoot -had gone away with a fatherly benediction, -and a purse the richer by a thousand dollars for -the marriage service which he did not perform.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The days went by, and I knew but little. The -tall, white screen shut out everything from me. I -was too weak to ask about Mildred, but I knew -that she had not left us. Surely God had been -merciful. She was still to live and love and bless -the world.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last came a day,—it was the first day of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>September, I recall,—the very day when we had -planned to reach San Francisco on our return -from the Alaskan trip which we had contemplated; -the screen was removed, and Mildred and Ralph, -still pale and wan, but with the glow of returning -health lighting up their happy faces, sat beside me -and whispered words of farewell.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, Mildred, you did not die, you are alive,” -I sobbed weakly, too happy to keep the tears back.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, darling,” she said, “for it was love that -saved me. I had something to live for, and I -fought hard. Now I am to leave you for a while. -My husband and I” (how proudly she said that), -“my husband and I are going away.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Her aunt Madison has kindly offered us her -beautiful, private car, and we are going away for a -long rest before we come back to our work,” said -Ralph innocently, and I saw that for some reason -Mildred had still kept him ignorant of the fact -that he had married a great heiress instead of a -poor teacher. “This is to be our honey-moon, -you know,” he added, looking at her with the -lovelight shining in his eyes. “We are going -quietly. No one but Jim is to know of it, for the -doctor says we must spare ourselves the excitement -of the good-byes which would have to be said if -the people knew we were going. The men have -been clamoring for a month to see me, and it has -been hard for me to keep quiet and not let them -come.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“How would you feel,” asked his wife in a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>careless tone, “if you had married a rich woman, -who would ask you to go away and never come -back to work here again?” and Mildred, who -was holding my hand, gave it a mischievous little -squeeze as she looked demurely out of the window -and awaited his reply.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I don’t know. I am afraid I could not quite -forgive her unless she gave me better work to do -elsewhere. I could not be idle, you know, even -with you, darling,” he answered, smiling at the -bright face beside him.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Ah, the world is large; there are many who -need us; rich or poor, we will find our work somewhere,” -said Mildred softly, as if to herself. Then -as Jim’s steps were heard at the door she started.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Come, Ralph, one last look at your books and -room, it may be long before we return. Kiss -Ruby, too; you must be her brother now, you -know.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Two warm kisses were on my cheek, then the -door opened and shut, and they were gone.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Everything had been arranged for my comfort, -and a month later, when I was able to travel in a -private car which Mildred had sent us, aunt and -Alice, cousin Will and I, were on the Northern -Pacific Road again, bound eastward. And with us -went the motherless little Karl and Annchen to -find a new home and many friends.</p> - -<p class='c005'>One day, as we were speeding along over the -Dakota prairies, Alice and I fell to talking as usual -about the summer that was past and its strange, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>strange ending. Suddenly Alice exclaimed, “But, -Ruby, I never thought to ask you before; <em>do</em> you -understand why Mildred, on her deathbed as we -supposed, should have stopped that minister? I -thought I understood most of her ideas, but <em>that</em> -was inexplicable to me.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, I understand it, I suppose, for I once had -an argument with her about it,” I replied. “I remember -we had been to a stylish wedding at Trinity. -There were ten bridesmaids, and the bride was -dressed like a princess, and I remember how, as -we drove away, Mildred exclaimed that she would -rather have been married in a print dress in a log-cabin -and promise what was honorable and true, -than to have had the beautiful display which this -bride had, and make such promises as she had done.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘It is the most beautiful service in the world,’ -I stoutly maintained; ‘pray what can you object to -in it?’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘In the first place, the giving away of the bride -is a humiliating thing,’ she said: ‘it is a relic of -the feudal times, when a woman actually <em>was</em> given -away. It implies dependence; a woman is thus -simply passed along from the guardianship of one -man to that of another.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This was a novel idea which impressed me -at first as being needlessly crotchety. ‘Then, of -course,’ I replied, ‘you object to the promise to -obey.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Certainly,’ said Mildred. ‘I should not respect -myself if I could make such a promise. Obedience -<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>implies authority, and a man and his wife -are equal. They do not stand in the relation of -master and servant, employer and employee, or -parent and child.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Yes; but it doesn’t mean anything,’ I expostulated, -‘it is simply a form.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘So much the worse,’ was her uncompromising -answer. ‘I will have no idle forms, no humiliating -promises which I should not intend to keep. If I -ever find the man whom I can marry, I think I -shall love him enough not to be selfish and willful, -and he will love me enough to respect me as his -equal. There can be no question of authority and -obedience in the true marriage.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘Then, moreover,’ she said, ‘I object to the -man’s making the promise, “With all my worldly -goods I thee endow.” In nine cases out of ten -he does nothing of the sort, and the wife usually -asks for every dollar that she gets!’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“So you perceive that after hearing her say this -I was not so much astounded as the rest of you -were,” I concluded.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well,” said Alice, drawing a long breath and -looking meditatively at the diamond engagement-ring -on her white finger, “I never in my life saw -such an extraordinary girl as Mildred.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now, I have vowed that I would never be married -but by that beautiful time-honored service. -Dear me! if we all took everything to heart as literally -as she does, what would become of society?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It would probably learn to speak truth and not -lies,” I answered.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER XV.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>In the next few months I had many letters from -Mildred and Ralph, letters full of the warm interest -in life which came with returning health and were -an index of unceasing thought and activity in numberless -directions. Scarcely a state or territory -from Utah to Virginia was left unvisited and unbenefited -by their brief stay.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Their course was not merely in the beaten track, -a superficial glimpse of the larger towns and fashionable -resorts, but far away from railroads and -civilization. On horseback tours in forest and -mountain regions they passed from cabin to cabin -among poor whites and blacks, studying the people -and their possibilities, the country and its -resources.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The letters which Mildred sent me during these -months would fill half a volume, but I can find -space for only one extract from them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, my dear,” she once wrote, “I thought I -knew before how much there was that needed to be -done, but I am finding every day, after all, how little -I actually realized the true state of things. It is -not so much the physical discomfort that appeals -to my pity, as the apathy, the ignorance and lack -of ambition for anything better; the bitter religious -<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>and political prejudices that still linger, and -the spectacle of a population increasing in numbers -and increasing in illiteracy.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of course there are thousands of exceptions to -all these observations. I am not pessimistic.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The South is awaking, is advancing rapidly in -many ways, and, as I pass swiftly from place to -place and see new facts and phases of life, I am -constantly forced to reconsider and readjust my -previous convictions. Yet on the whole the main -impression which I had in the beginning survives. -Here is a vast territory practically not so well known -to us Northerners as most European countries, and -with a people who know us far less than we know -them; and here, as I am sometimes almost compelled -to believe, is the field for all my work and -energy.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If I had twice my wealth, I believe I should -spend half of it in the South. I would engage a -few thousand of the best of our ‘surplus’ women -of New England and scatter them through the -length and breadth of this Southern land, and set -them at work doing some of the things which so -need to be done.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“As it is, I have picked out certain strategic -places where I shall put a few at work, and for the -boy or girl who is willing to study and not afraid of -manual labor, I have made a good education possible.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“That is the most that can be done. Putting the -right persons in the right places is the best that I -can do, and then they must do the rest.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>“As you know, I have never felt inclined to put -my money into building new institutions, thinking -it best to work in other ways, or to help sustain -those institutions already established. But in these -last months my heart has gone out to the thousands -of neglected little colored children of the South -who are orphans, and who in many places have not -even a county poorhouse to shelter them.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I am thinking of establishing an orphanage -in every one of the Southern states similar to the -one at Chattanooga which I have recently visited. -I could talk to you for hours about that brave -Northern woman, Mrs. Steele, who has so nobly -been giving her life to this work.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“At first persecuted, ostracized, and despised, -her building erected at her own cost burned by incendiaries, -she has gone unflinchingly on, until now -she has won the respect and has the aid of the best -society in Chattanooga.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“She has rescued hundreds of poor little orphan -waifs from the chain-gang where they were put for -petty offenses, and from the street where they -roamed, with no bed but the sidewalk and gutter. -She has clothed them, fed them, taught them, -mothered them, and saved them. In all the South -I can hear of but one other colored orphanage, for -I find that the people for the most part are not yet -ready to tax themselves for the support of ‘little -nigger brats.’”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I did not see Mildred until February. She had -telegraphed me to meet her in New York, saying -<span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>in her message that she and Ralph were about to -go abroad for four years.</p> - -<p class='c005'>By this time I had thrown away my crutch and -was myself again, and I hastened to meet her, as -she had appointed, at our old rooms at the Fifth -Avenue Hotel.</p> - -<p class='c005'>She was out when I arrived, and I watched eagerly -from the window for her coming. Presently -I saw her,—how vividly I recall the picture,—her -hand on her husband’s arm, tripping along -briskly in the winter air, the roses in her cheeks, -her tall, slight figure clad in a trim suit of dark -green, her head surmounted by a soft toque of the -same color, trimmed with rich green holly-leaves -and red berries.</p> - -<p class='c005'>How beautiful she was! More beautiful than -ever, I thought, as in glancing up she caught a -glimpse of me waiting, breathless, and threw me a -kiss with girlish glee. In a moment we were in -each other’s arms.</p> - -<p class='c005'>How tall and stalwart Ralph looked as he seized -my hand in his strong grasp!</p> - -<p class='c005'>I remembered that Mildred had once likened -him to a young Norse god, and I did not wonder. -As for Mildred, after the first greetings were over -and we had ensconced ourselves on a <i><span lang="fr">tête-à-tête</span></i> for -an evening’s talk, I soon perceived that a certain -indefinable change had come over her. I could -hardly tell what it was at first.</p> - -<p class='c005'>There was a vivacity and charm and sprightliness -that I had never seen before. I had always -<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>thought her charming, though perhaps a bit too -reserved and dignified. Some people had thought -her cold, but I knew better. Now all the latent -passion and warmth of her nature had been -aroused, and I saw that she had possibilities of -which I had not dreamed.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What is it, Mildred?” I asked, after Ralph -had left us alone. “Somehow you seem—I -scarcely know what to say—you seem so young -and happy, as if”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred finished, “as if I had been drinking of -the elixir of life and had become a new creature. -Yes, dear,” she added, “and so I have. Oh, I am -so happy, so unspeakably happy!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then suddenly turning impulsively and throwing -her arms around me, her face shining with a -new light, she exclaimed, “How I wish every one -else were as happy too.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Sometimes it seems as if it were too much, as -if in this sorrowful world I had no right to be so -supremely happy. So often in these last months,” -she added musingly, “I have said to myself those -lines that seemed written for me alone:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘The face of all the world is changed, I think,</div> - <div class='line'>Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul, ...</div> - <div class='line'>Betwixt me and the dreadful outer brink</div> - <div class='line'>Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink,</div> - <div class='line'>Was caught up into love and taught the whole</div> - <div class='line'>Of life in a new rhythm....’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes,” continued Mildred after a little pause, -and her eyes grew soft and tender, “a year ago -<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>I thought that love would never come, and I now -sometimes tremble at the thought of what I came -so near missing. I do not know how, once having -learned the blessedness of this love, I could have -courage to live if Ralph were taken and I left. -Oh,” she added in a broken whisper, as for a -moment she bowed her head in her hands, “if -when death comes it will only mercifully take us -both together.” Ah me! How little we both -dreamed in what way that prayer was to be answered.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Presently she raised her head and continued, -while her warm arms were about me again and -my head lay pillowed on her shoulder. “Ralph is -so kind, so good, so tender, so unselfish! Really, -at first he seemed almost sorry when I told him -my secret and he learned that he had married an -heiress, as if he had lost the joy of working for -me. How he thanked me for keeping the secret!</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And oh, Ruby, the thought of what he is -makes me so ashamed of myself,” added Mildred -humbly. “I have come to see how far beyond -anything that I have done was his noble consecration -of all his time and culture and ability to -enrich the lives of those rough frontier men, while -I have done nothing but sit in a velvet chair and -sign cheques for money which I did not earn, and -could never spend on myself.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Then, after a pause: “Well, little sister,” she -continued, “you do not know, and I have no words -to tell you, of my happiness. I never dreamed of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>what I was losing in all those years before love -came. I used to feel so strong and self-contained -and independent, and now, it is strange enough, -but I hardly know whether I have a mind of my -own or not. If I have, I cannot tell what it is -until I have asked Ralph;” and she laughed a -happy laugh.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, Mildred, to think that I should ever live -to hear you say that!” I exclaimed, laughing too. -“And do you still want to vote and decline -to obey? Is your haughty spirit quelled, and -have”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes,” said Mildred, ambiguously. “Ralph is -even more of a suffragist than I, and declares that -this nation has no right to call itself a republic so -long as one half of the people are disfranchised. -And he says the most splendid thing he ever saw a -woman do was my stopping that clergyman;” and -she laughed again a ringing, girlish laugh.</p> - -<p class='c005'>After a while we began to talk about Mildred’s -plans for the future.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I want you to know everything, dear,” she said -in her frank, confiding way. “We are going away -for four years, perhaps longer, for I want to study -many things, and I want to see Australia before I -return—that is a country with a future.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“We must go now, though I leave so much -which is only begun and to which I wish to give -my constant personal attention. But the mental -strain this year has been great. I could not live -through another like it. We both want to get -<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>far away from our responsibilities and possessions -for a while. I want to gain perspective, to have -time for quiet thought and study.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“This was my plan from the first, as you know, -and now it is imperative. It is impossible for -Ralph to write his book with the cares and distractions -which we are constantly having.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“His book?” I asked; “I had not heard of -that. Pray what is it about?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is to treat of the colored races in our country. -He has been gathering the material for a -long time, and it will be an exhaustive work,” she -answered. Then she added, “I, too, have a little -book planned, but of a very different sort.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What! you, Mildred, an authoress!” I cried. -“Shall you really write a book?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, that is nothing nowadays, when authors -are as plenty as cooks and the world is flooded -with literary rubbish,” answered Mildred rather -disdainfully. “Any scribbler can write a book. -It takes neither wit nor wisdom for that.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of course; but you are not a scribbler, and -you won’t write rubbish,” I retorted: “But tell -me, what is it to be about? will it be a story?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No,” she answered. “The public does not -need any more stories, at least mediocre ones, and -mine could never be anything else. I trust that I -have too much self-respect left to be guilty of inflicting -another purposeless book on the world’s -already overstocked supply. Besides, you know, -Howells says all the stories have been told.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>“Then what is it?” I asked. “Is it sermons? -or sonnets? or”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No,” interposed Mildred; “it is <em>Suggestions</em>,—suggestions -to the idle and thoughtless, the rich -and the unconsciously selfish. I am confident that -there are some tens of thousands of people in this -country who are tolerably well-meaning, who have -a superfluity of leisure and wealth and strength -which they are letting run to waste because no one -has suggested to them what they might do.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Few people like to take the initiative. They -wait for some one to plan and organize and tell -them definitely what to do.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“My first intention is to suggest to them that -they are peculiarly privileged mortals, and that -life is worth living only on the condition that one -does something with it. That they are sinners -above all other sinners since civilization began, if -they let themselves be ignorant of what they should -know and indifferent to the evil which they should -help; the more their culture and ability the greater -their debt.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I mean to suggest some very practical things -which might be done, which need to be done. -There will be suggestions for those who have time -and no money, suggestions for those who have -much money and no time, suggestions for people -who think they have neither time nor money, and -suggestions for developing influence and talent -where there seems very little to start with.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Not that these will all be particularly new or -<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>original. That is not necessary. We heedless mortals -need to have a wise thing said many times -and in many ways before it makes much impression.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I shall not attempt to suggest many new principles -of work, but simply to make many new applications -of the old ones.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, Ruby,” exclaimed Mildred, her mobile -features glowing with the enthusiasm of the thought, -“what a metamorphosis of this planet we little -mortals might make if we all did, and did wisely, -what it is quite in our power to do!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Such a book is a capital idea,” I exclaimed, -much impressed with her plan, “and it will have -double weight because you have already provided -the most effective object lessons as illustrations of -what might be done.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“That is not exactly what I mean,” replied -Mildred, shaking her head. “No; few persons -have it in their power to work in the way that I -have done on a large scale. I am not sure after -all that this is what is most needed.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Model tenement houses and libraries are not -going to save people from selfishness. There must -be the tireless, personal, face-to-face and hand-to-hand -work of men and women who have come to -know themselves as their brothers’ keepers. Institutions -and paid agents can never do this work.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But they can help enormously towards it,” -I replied.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Certainly,” said Mildred; “they will organize -<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>and start the work; but then it is all these people -for whom I shall write my suggestions who must -do the rest of the work, and they alone can make -it effective.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now, for instance, here is a plan which Ralph -and I have just been working out. It is to help -save the half-grown boys and girls who night after -night find their chief delight in strolling arm in -arm through the streets, with smoking, and vulgar -jests and silly laughter.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“You know well enough what the social dangers -are to underpaid, giddy-headed girls shut up all -day in shop or factory and longing for freedom and -companionship.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Night after night have Ralph and I walked up -and down watching them, listening to their silly -giggles and cheap talk, noting their tawdry jewelry -and ribbons and frowzy bangs.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“How I pity them! I should so like to make -life a little better worth living for them. Who -can blame them for not wanting, after a hard day’s -work, to stay in their crowded, noisy homes or -dreary boarding-house hall-bedrooms?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Everywhere that we have been we have made -it a practice to visit the dime museums and cheap -theatres, and to study the amusements which these -young people crave! Everywhere I find it the -same.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I used to know in a vague way about this -night-side of things, but not until recently have I -realized the awful temptations which are besetting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>these empty-headed girls who have no resources in -themselves.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Free lectures, or concerts, or libraries have -small charm for such as they. They want to exercise, -to flirt, above all to talk and laugh to their -heart’s content.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The churches do not meet more than one in a -hundred of such girls and not more than one in a -thousand of such young men. They have no desire -to spend an evening at a prayer-meeting, they -would feel out of place at a church sociable, and -they are too tired and unambitious to care for any -classes or study.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“They want a good time; they want ‘fun,’ and -they have no idea that it can be found among -members of their own sex alone. And in this -their instinct is half right.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“These young people ought to exercise and have -‘fun,’ and they ought to have it together.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There are various coffee-rooms for temperate -men, and various girls’ club-rooms for girls alone, -but, so far as I know, scarcely a respectable place -in the whole city where an honest, self-respecting, -poor girl can go and be able to meet honorable -young men, under the protection of those who -would see that her natural instincts were gratified -without sacrifice of her womanhood.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is just such a place as this that we have decided -to establish, a social club for young men and -women, where they may laugh and talk to their -heart’s content and have plenty of innocent fun.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>“And fall in love with each other?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Certainly,” was the reply. “Why not? Does -not all experience show it to be impossible to purify -society by breaking natural instincts or ignoring -them? Oh, my dear,” continued Mildred earnestly, -“the pure love of man and woman should be the -most blessed thing in life, and I who know the joy -of this love would gladly keep these brothers and -sisters of mine from letting it be trodden in the -mire, or on the other hand slip forever out of their -lives.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But how can this be done?” I questioned -skeptically. “By simply substituting for the sidewalk -a room in which to giggle and flirt?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Listen,” said Mildred. “We shall not begin -by building until the experiment is assured, but we -have already hired ten places in different parts -of the city, where, with the help of the ‘King’s -Daughters’ and the young people of the Society for -Christian Endeavor, we shall begin this work.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The first thing we did was to engage a kind-hearted, -middle-aged married woman to be the responsible -head of each social club. She is to see -that pleasant pictures are hung upon the walls, that -potted plants are put into the windows, and everything -made homelike and cosy and in good taste.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There are to be no printed rules and mottoes -hung around the wall, as if it were an institution -and we were trying to do the people good. They -would be suspicious of anything of that sort.”</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>“How many rooms have you in each place?” -I asked.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Oh, that varies,” answered Mildred. “In -most of them there is a small hall with waxed floor -and piano to be used for dancing or singing classes -or debating clubs. There is another room for gymnastics, -with apparatus and a piano, where a competent -person will direct, and gradually insinuate -various sensible ideas in regard to high heels, tightlacing -and a bad carriage, and try to make physical -culture seem a desirable thing.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There will be another room for quiet games -like checkers and dominoes, several bath-rooms, -and a parlor where the girls can bring their fancy -work and receive their friends.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But, Mildred,” I cried in alarm, “you will -get a perfect mob, if you are not careful. They -will bang your piano to pieces, they will have rude -kissing games, the girls will waltz with men whom -they never saw before; and then, if you make rules -and don’t let them have their own way, they won’t -come. I know the kind of people whom you want -to help, and they are the most independent creatures -living.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Ah, but wait a minute,” replied Mildred calmly. -“The ‘mob’ are not to be invited to pour in from -the street. Each one must apply for a membership -ticket, give name and address, and wait a few -days before it is granted. There may be, perhaps, -a slight nominal fee. They will appreciate it -more to have this little formality about it. Moreover, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>the lady who is at the head of the club, and -who will be a person of character and tact, will -have authority to exclude any unruly member. -Nothing will be said about rules. They will be -received as if they were of course expected to behave -well.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Five or six of the ‘King’s Daughters’ have -agreed to be in attendance every night, with as -many gentlemen who are their escorts. They will -play for dancing and gymnastics whenever it is -needed. They will act as daughters of a host and -receive and introduce their guests. They will join -in the singing and the games and the conversation, -and, with the gentlemen whom they bring, will, I -think, be far more effectual in encouraging good -manners than any number of rules.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now that everything has been planned and -the wherewithal provided, I have had no difficulty -in getting some hundreds of agreeable, well-bred -young ladies from the different churches who have -each pledged themselves to bring some gentleman -to assist them and to give one evening a week -faithfully to the social club.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It is distinctly understood that there is to be -no authority exercised by them, no patronizing -tolerated, and charity, and that other odious word -philanthropy, not so much as thought of.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“All are to meet on the same footing, simply as -young people who are met to have a good time in -an orderly, pleasant way.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“At first there will doubtless be hoidenish manners, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>a good deal of simpering and whispering and -flat talk, which of course must be ignored. But -by and by the presence of ten refined, Christian -young gentlemen and ladies with tact and quick -wit will make itself felt. There will be charades -and word games like twenty questions, and a hundred -such merry ways of passing the time, of which -these girls have never dreamed. They will go -home with new ideas about dress and manners and -ways of having a good time. The veriest boor, -who may begin by tipping back in his chair and -picking his teeth, will not fail to observe finally -that if he wishes to retain the respect of his ‘best -girl’ his manners must conform a little more to -those of that young law student who spent half an -hour the other night showing her how to play parchesi, -and then helped her on with her waterproof, -put up her umbrella for her, and bowed her a -pleasant good evening.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I assure you,” continued Mildred, “I have made -the discovery that the best way to turn a silly little -chit into a self-respecting woman is for a gentleman -to treat her as if she were one. And the -best way to make a stupid clown appear at his best -is for a young lady of tact to try to draw him out.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But this is not all. There are endless things -that such a club might do.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I hope it will develop all sorts of latent talent -and mutual helpfulness, and lead the way to discussion, -comparison, and emulation in a thousand -ways.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>“It will give each member an opportunity to -make fifty acquaintances where now he or she has -but one,—Protestants and Catholics, Jews and -Gentiles, mechanics, factory operatives, shop-girls, -bookkeepers, young professional men, teachers, -millionaires’ daughters, all meeting on the simple -ground of their youth and American citizenship, -and giving each other the pleasure of their company, -the benefit of their experience. And the rich -will find that they get even more than they give.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But, after all,” I urged, “can you make oil -and water mix? Is this a feasible scheme?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“That is to say,” answered Mildred, “can people -of different social rank, education, and employments -meet socially with mutual profit and pleasure? -That, I am convinced, depends entirely upon -the tact and spirit of genuine friendliness which -is exercised by those of the higher rank.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Anything that is done perfunctorily is sure -to fail, but genuine interest will create genuine interest. -It all depends, you see, upon my helpers. -Without them my money can do nothing. I can -only organize; they must execute. But I am convinced -that it is an experiment worth trying.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“So you are contemplating a social revolution,” -said I, as Mildred paused, her cheeks glowing -with the excitement of the thought. “Well, sister -mine, if ever one is brought about, I think it will -be by your way of doing, by trying to put the -right people in the right place. After all, I suppose -this one little scheme of yours and Ralph’s, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>that may help to start thousands of lives in a different -direction, probably costs no more to permanently -endow than what some families would -pay for diamonds and horses and yachts for themselves -alone.”</p> - -<p class='c007'>“By the way, Ruby,” asked Mildred the next -day, as we sat sipping our after-dinner coffee, -while Ralph had gone out to see some lawyers, -“do you remember the first time I saw you, a little -more than a year ago, at aunt Madison’s?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Remember? I wonder if I shall ever forget -it, or what you said to those three rich good-for-nothing”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No,” broke in Mildred, “not ‘good-for-nothing,’ -though I fear I thought them so at the time. -I fancy I must have spoken pretty savagely, didn’t -I?” Then, without waiting for an answer, she -continued: “I felt sure, as I thought it over afterwards, -that they would hate me, that is, if they -took the trouble to think about me at all. But, -do you know, I think it really startled them into -asking themselves some pretty plain questions.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“It set them to thinking, and” —she continued -with a laugh— “I verily believe that I was in a -measure the humble means of grace which brought -two of them to conviction of sin and led to their -conversion.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Let me read to you part of a letter which -cousin Will received and which he forwarded to -me,” said she, drawing an envelope from her -<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>pocket. “It is from Ned Conro, the one with the -blond mustache, you remember.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“He says,—let me see,”—and she glanced -down the first page, and, turning the leaf, read -aloud:—</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I began for the first time to do a little thinking -that last six months at Cambridge.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Somehow that cousin of yours had said something, -that night I was at your house, which kept -running through my head and bothered me every -now and then. I began to wonder if I weren’t -about as useless a lot as a fellow with two millions -in his own right and a prospective Harvard sheepskin -ever gets to be.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I had shirked all the work that I dared to. -I divided my time, as you know, pretty evenly between -the Boston Theatre and Young’s Hotel. I -had no incentive to work, and did not propose to -follow in your steps and study a profession. I -planned after I left college to go abroad for some -years. I had some vague notion of a trip to India -and tiger-hunting. At all events I meant to have -good sport and plenty of it too.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“The last thing I thought of was giving up any -fun to stay at home and play the home missionary. -But every time I had settled the matter -completely in my own mind, those stinging words -of that girl would come back and make my ears -tingle:—</p> - -<p class='c010'>“‘Oh, the last thing that you ever dream of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>is that you have a debt to pay and are basely -repudiating it.’</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I had thought that all poppycock when she -said it, but when she got her money and set to -work practicing what she had preached, giving not -only her money but her whole time with her -money, that just stumped me.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“One day I took up a New York paper giving -an account of her great library scheme. ‘There,’ -said I, ‘Miss Brewster has done what no man I -ever heard of would have thought of doing.’</p> - -<p class='c010'>“A man, now, would have put up a stunning -ten-million-dollar library, with his name in gilt -letters on the front of it. He would put half of -the money into the building and half of the remainder -into rare books which no one would look -at once a year. It would be a grand thing, no -doubt, but how many people would it reach compared -with those whom Miss Brewster’s little libraries -will stimulate and help?</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Why, a library can change the future of a -whole community! I tell you, Miss Brewster has -found where to sow her seed so that it will bring -forth a hundredfold.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I wondered what <em>I</em> could do. I could throw -away my money easily enough, endow another chair -at Harvard, erect another statue to some one, build -a hospital; but, after all, what was <em>I</em> to do, provided -that I did anything?</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Well, one day—it was Thursday afternoon—Mather -said, ‘Conro, let’s go into chapel and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>hear Brooks.’ So we went. I hadn’t been inside -the place for months. My set, you know, didn’t -go in for that sort of thing much.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Somehow, something Brooks said that afternoon -stirred me up all over again and set me to -thinking. Mather and I didn’t say anything as -we came out, but I knew he too was thinking.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“We started off on a walk, and after a while, -as we tramped along down past old John Harvard’s -statue and on past the gymnasium, he threw back -his head and, clapping me on the shoulder, burst -out, ‘I say, old fellow, that man is a brick!’</p> - -<p class='c010'>“We turned down Craigie Street and sauntered -on. Presently John Fiske turned the corner and -nodded in a jolly way over his glasses at us. ‘Did -you know, Conro,’ asked Mather, after we had -passed out of hearing, ‘that Fiske could read fifteen -languages, and knew no end of history and -everything else, and had made his mark, before he -was as old as we are by some years?’</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I didn’t know it, but I hadn’t time to say -so before I looked up and saw just in front of us -the gray beard and brown eyes of the man whom -I, for one, think to be the greatest poet America -has ever had.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I had just got hold of Lowell last winter. -Those lines of his which Miss Brewster quoted -to us had set me to looking him up, and I was -amazed to see how little I had known of his power.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Well, whether it was Miss Brewster, or Phillips -Brooks, or these men, the two best writers of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>English on the continent, and the thought of what -they had made their lives mean in the world of -ideas, I don’t know, but suddenly it all came over -me, the thought of earnest lives that stood for something, -and my own confounded folly, and I broke -out for the first time: ‘I say, Mather, if a fellow -has been a deuced fool for the first twenty-two -years of his life, what is he likely to be at the end -of the next twenty-two?’</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Mather evidently didn’t think that was a -question which required an answer, and we tramped -along together in silence for a while longer. Then -he began, ‘Conro, didn’t what Brooks said to-day -make you think of that night last winter when -that black-eyed girl over there at Louisburg Square -just laid us fellows out?</p> - -<p class='c010'>“‘Gracious! how she did seem to take it all to -heart, as if we had committed the unpardonable sin, -as Gordon said. Whew!—didn’t it make him -mad, though?—but—well—somehow I don’t -know but she was more than half right after all.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“‘Some things she said have been running -through my head lately: “Never a time or place -where heart and brains and hands could find such -work to do and reap such far-reaching results.... -Everything has been done for us, to be sure, but -we can’t be expected to go out of our way to see -that it is passed along.”’</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Well, Madison, that was the beginning of it -all; and then we talked, and the long and short of -it is, that Mather and I didn’t take long in coming -<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>to the conclusion that if a fellow ever proposed -to make anything of himself, twenty-two or three -wasn’t any too early to begin to think about it. -We mulled over it a while, until finally we struck -on a scheme.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Mather’s mother had come from the South, -and he had some far-away cousins there who had -been the hottest kind of rebs. Perhaps that was -what suggested it to us; but at any rate we are in -for it now, and have given each other our word of -honor to stick to it for three years at least, and -then—well, we shall see.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“I had two millions and he eight hundred thousand. -I have no family, you know, and he has -only married brothers and sisters; so we are free on -that score; and we have decided to put half of our -fortunes into buying up enough stock in a lot of -Southern papers to give us practical control of the -country papers over a large area down here.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“He writes from some little town in Alabama,” -said Mildred in parenthesis. Then she continued:</p> - -<p class='c010'>“We have brought with us five or six bright -Harvard boys whom we know, and whom we are -going to work in as editors of dailies in strategic -places. Each fellow will also have general supervision -of a dozen small weekly papers scattered -through the states here.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“These papers form almost the sole outlook upon -the world’s affairs which the people down here ever -<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>get, and, with the exception of the locals with which -they are padded, are about as useful as Rollins’ -Ancient History.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Mather and I are hard at work studying local -history and politics and prejudices, and are planning -some of the tallest kinds of innovations. We -haven’t shown our hand yet, of course, and it is -generally understood that we are here to invest in -land.</p> - -<p class='c010'>“Of course we shan’t make a cent out of it all—too -many niggers, and the whites are frightfully -poor—can’t pay for and don’t want anything -better than they have; but, by Jove, if I don’t -succeed in shaking up some of these consummate -old Bourbons down here by the end of the next -three years, then my name isn’t Edwin G. Conro!—that’s -all. However, they aren’t all such a bad -lot.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Well,” said Mildred, as she skimmed through -the last page in silence and slowly returned the -letter to the envelope, “whether these aspiring -youths succeed in bringing the millennium down -there by the time they are twenty-five remains to -be seen, but at all events they will learn some -things Harvard College has not yet taught them, -and whether they help those people much or not -they have taken the first step to save themselves.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>“Mildred Brewster Everett, do you mean -to say that you, a woman worth your tens of millions, -are going to come down to living again in a -brick block with little narrow rooms? Are you -going to give up the splendid library, the gallery -of rare paintings, the grand music-room, the conservatories -and stables, and all the lovely things -that you had planned?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred dropped her wax and seal, and turned -from her writing-desk with a gesture of mock -despair, as I continued, somewhat vehemently and -without pausing for a reply:—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Have you forgotten all those magnificent halls, -those terra-cottas and mosaic floors and glorious -painted windows? Think of the many times that -we have planned it all out, the baronial fireplaces -with the spreading elk antlers overhead, and the -big tiger-skin rugs; and then the cosy, cushioned -window-seats and quaintly carved lattices, the great -organ with golden pipes, and the high, wind-swept -turrets with winding stairs!</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Last spring you were planning to bring all -this about when the tenement houses and more -necessary things should be under way, and now,” -I continued crossly, “to think of your fancying -<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>that you are too poor to build a beautiful house -for yourself, when you have money enough to buy -houses for every one else!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I think that Mildred had a passion for noble -architecture. Her keen eyes would detect beauties -or incongruities where my untrained sight perceived -nothing.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“If a man writes a bad poem, I am not compelled -to read it; if he paints a bad picture, I need -not see it more than once,” she was wont to say; -“but if he erects an ugly building in my city he -hurts me every time I walk the street, and I am -helpless.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“When constructive beauty costs no more than -this fantastic ugliness, why must such an absurdity -be inflicted upon a long-suffering public?” she -once asked in despair, as we were contemplating -an expensive monument to architectural stupidity. -And she never tempered her scorn when railing at -the angular, parti-colored houses, run mad in the -direction of ostentatious eccentricities, which are -fast displacing the simple white dwellings with -green blinds that, as she once declared, “at least -have the merit of being modest and wholesome, -and do not outrage all one’s sense of the fitness of -things.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Wait until I build my house; then you shall -see,” she would exclaim, with a decided little nod -which carried the conviction, to one listener at -least, that she would some time show what money -and brains combined could do towards creating an -ideal home.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>Many an hour, when driving about together, we -had amused ourselves, in the intervals of serious -work, in planning the charming mansion which she -would build, and she had entered into it all with -great zest.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“My idea of a house,” she had said, “is to have -it even more beautiful without than within, so that -every line may be a positive delight to the many -who can never look within its doors. Think what -a boon to the thousands who never step inside a -church are those Back Bay towers and steeples -which I used to see from my attic window on the -hill.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“A poor man has no money for a concert of -good music; he has no time for a visit to an art -museum to see a good picture or statue, or to go -to a library to read a great poem; but in sunlight -and in moonlight, seven days in the week, as he -looks from his window or passes to his work, the -beauty wrought in stone is his; it costs him neither -time nor money, and consciously or unconsciously -it appeals to him. His life is larger and richer -for it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“A walk across the Public Garden on a winter -afternoon, with that campanile and the spires near -it looming large and dark against the crimson -glow in the west, has made me fresh and strong -after many a tired day,” she used to say.</p> - -<p class='c005'>So it was settled that when the walls of the -House Beautiful should be reared, the first thought -should be, not for its inmates, but for the countless -unknown passers-by.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>Then the next requirement was that it should -have ample room for the many guests whom its -hospitable mistress would always have around her. -There was to be air and sunshine everywhere, and -nothing too fine for constant use.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Unlike most women, Mildred had little fancy -for beauty of the fragile sort. Exquisitely painted -sèvres which a careless touch might shiver to -atoms; cobweb lace that had cost the eyesight and -health of other women; tapestry which had swallowed -up years of another’s life, only to be inferior -to a painting, and become food for moths,—all -this she obstinately refused to have.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I want beautiful things about me,” she said; -“but beauty that is so perishable as to be a constant -care to the owner, or else to entail an army -of servants, is a luxury which I think no rational -being can afford. I shall have everything rich and -strong and yet simple; there shall be no satin, -gilded-legged chairs, no elaborate dust-catching -carvings; no draperies and carpets that cannot -bear the sun; but there shall be noble statues, -pictures by great masters, luxurious rugs and -divans, glorious color from jewelled windows and -precious, many-hued marbles. I do not want a -palace with dreary suites of high-studded rooms -and frescoed ceilings, and I do not want a house -that is nothing but a crowded museum of bric-à-brac, -like so many I see. No; my house shall be -a stately mansion with far-seeing towers and turrets, -with cosy, low-studded rooms and wainscoted -<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>walls, with pillared arcades and richly carved stone -balconies. All Spain and Venice and Nuremberg -shall be studied for hints of beauty, and it shall -be a home, a perfectly ideal American home; beautiful -without and within; built to stand while generations -come and go, graced by children, pets, and -flowers, and the charming society of noble men -and women.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Where this home was to be built had not yet been -decided. Sometimes Mildred would in imagination -place it on some smooth, green slope on the banks -of the Hudson; sometimes among the elms on some -hilltop overlooking the golden dome on Beacon -Hill, with a glimpse of blue sea and white sails on -the far horizon beyond.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Of course I was to have the fun of helping to -plan about it all, and Mildred was to bring home -hosts of treasures from Europe after her sojourn -abroad. But now, this morning, all this dream of -the beauty that was to be had been ended by what -Mildred had been saying.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I have settled one hundred thousand dollars -on Ralph,” she had said, “for his own personal -use. He would not accept any more, and I have -decided to set apart for myself the same sum. The -interest on two hundred thousand dollars ought, I -think, to provide all the travel and luxuries that -two reasonable mortals need; and the rest of the -money which I had at first thought of spending on -myself we are going to devote to several things, -rather better worth doing than building a house, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>which not one in a hundred thousand could afford -to maintain after we have gone.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But, Mildred,” I expostulated, “you have always -asserted that it was right to encourage art; -that it was folly to refuse to buy a picture or a -jewel just because there were still starving people -in existence somewhere. I have heard you say -repeatedly that money thus spent gave employment -to labor, encouraged art, and”—</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes,” she interrupted, “that is true in a certain -way, no doubt; but listen: I have been thinking -this over a great deal of late. Suppose now -that I spend half a million or so in employing a -certain number of people to make and furnish a -magnificent house. Grant that it is a real work -of art, and will be a thing of beauty and a joy -forever. My husband and a score of friends and -I enjoy it; the workmen are paid; ‘art is encouraged.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now suppose again that, instead of erecting an -expensively beautiful house for myself, I employ -the same number of people to provide a beautiful -building which shall be for the use, in the course -of its existence, of scores of thousands whose eyes -are inured to ugliness and into whose lives a bit of -beauty rarely comes.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Suppose that the spacious marble staircases, -the tiles and wood carvings and painted windows, -are put where they shall awaken the imagination -and delight the soul of tired mothers and little -children who have known nothing beyond their -<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>narrow alley and grimy chimney-pots; of girls who -stand all day before a machine, or over a hot -stove, and who spend their money for the bits of -tawdry finery which are the nearest approach to -beauty that their means can compass? Which -building would encourage art the most, think you?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why, Ruby,” said Mildred, wheeling around -from her desk, while I stood opposing to her ardor -a face of grim discontent; “do you fancy that I -could sit in my great, palatial house, remembering -the sights that I have seen this year in the one-roomed -sod houses on bleak Western prairies, in -the dingy, cheerless cabins of the colored people at -the South, and in the vile-smelling tenements of -this great city, and satisfy my soul by saying that -I gave employment to the men who did this work -for me?</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Could I honestly call myself in any sense a follower -of Him who had not where to lay his head, -and know that this wealth of beauty was kept for -me and a dozen or so cultivated people who need -it scarcely more than I, while a thousand beauty-loving -natures were starving who might be fed by -my superabundance?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Mildred, you are positively morbid,” I exclaimed, -thoroughly vexed. “To be sure, no one -has a right to be selfish, to think of himself first,—but -that you have not done. You planned your -house in the beginning for the pleasure of others -far more than for yourself. You meant to make -your home a perfect retreat for all the poor artists -<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>and students and broken-down teachers that it -could hold, and I say you are making a great mistake -if you think that you are going to serve humanity -better by building a big art museum down -at the Mulberry Bend for the benefit of the ragpickers -and stevedores, than by giving the hospitality -of such a home as yours would be to those to -whom it would be a rest and an inspiration.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred laughed heartily as I paused, and dropping -upon the hassock beside me, she drew me -close to her, while I prepared to renew my expostulations.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Not so fast, my dear,” she said, forestalling -me. “Pray don’t imagine that I am bereft of my -senses, and propose to reform the slums by giving -them free access to a gallery of casts from the -antique. It would require a small army of policemen -and scrubbing-women to preserve it in decent -condition, if the rabble were admitted indiscriminately, -and I do not propose to give people that -form of beauty which they do not want and could -not possibly appreciate.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But you blame all the rich, who, no matter -how much they may give away, still reserve enough -to buy steam yachts and build fine houses and -indulge their æsthetic tastes to the extent of one -thirtieth of their fortune,” I said pettishly.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No,” said Mildred, slowly; “I do not blame -them. I am not their judge. I cannot speak for -others: it is right, more than that, it is necessary, -that man should create beauty, for he cannot live -by bread alone.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>“But I cannot help feeling that the beauty -should be for all; should be where all may see and -enjoy it. The old Greeks were right about that, -when the temples, the agora, the gymnasia were -consecrated to beauty, and it was the glory of the -rich to minister to the state and not spend lavish -sums in collecting private treasures.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No, dear. Once I thought to have all that was -rich and fine, and that could delight the eye, -around me in my own home. I felt that I had a -right to it, provided that I thought of others first -and most. But now I see things differently. I -wonder that I ever could have been so selfish.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Yes, Ruby,” she added, almost sternly, as she -saw my look of protest, “it was selfishness. I -meant, in spite of all my giving, to sacrifice nothing. -But I have been trying these last few months,—yes, -since that time last summer when my power -to make life better for others seemed about to be -forever taken from me,—I have been trying, and -Ralph has helped me, oh, so much, to look at all -this short life of ours in its beginning here on this -little planet, as I shall look back upon it with the -eyes of eternity, when it has all gone into the irrevocable -past. How will it seem then, little sister, -when all our foolish ambitions and traditions and -false social standards have been swept away? -Shall I be glad or sorry then, do you think, to remember -that the one talent which was placed in -my hands was used to its utmost, that nothing -was withheld but what was needed to make me the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>better fitted for my work? Ah, when my naked -soul shall stand before the judgment bar of its own -conscience and the moral law, and hears the sentence, -‘This ought ye to have done, and not to -have left the other undone,’ what shall I plead in -excuse?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred’s voice had sunk almost to a whisper, -and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. We -did not speak for a few moments. I felt a lump -rising in my throat and could only choke it down -while I stroked the dear head that lay warm -against my arm. My foolish questionings were -stilled. The clear insight of this simple, true-hearted -woman had pierced through and through -my flimsy protests, and I sat awed and abashed. -Presently she went on in her natural, common-sense -way to explain more definitely what she -meant.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I mean to make a little more beauty in this -world, if I can,” she said, “and accomplish some -more important things as well; but the art of all -arts which I shall try to learn and teach is the one -which we Americans most need to study, the art -of simple living.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I shall have the pictures and the books, the -statues and the music that I love; but what matters -it whether they are all in my own home or -not, or whether or not I seek them in galleries -open to all alike? Not until our glaring, stony -streets are made less dreary by more trees and -fountains and statues, not until there is a little -<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>beauty for every one, can I claim the moral right to -spend a fortune on Meissoniers or ancient Satsuma, -for my own private delight.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“For a long time I have been thinking of what -could bring the greatest stimulus and joy into the -lives of the wretched poor in our great city; the -washerwomen and truckmen and foul-mouthed, -dirty little street <i><span lang="fr">gamins</span></i> whose highest bliss is -reached with the attainment of a full stomach and -the sight of a street fight or a circus procession. -It would be folly to give them money outright; but -here in amusements, just as I have found it in -regard to tenement houses and everything else, -coöperation is the key to success.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The gift of a Peabody Museum or a Hemenway -Gymnasium does not offend the pride or help -to pauperize the Harvard student, nor do the -Lowell lectures make the most cultivated people of -Boston count themselves recipients of charity when -they crowd the hall to hear Professor Morse talk -about Japanese pottery, or the Englishman Haweis -discourse on music. Money given like that, in a -large way, in the enjoyment of which all unite, -never does the harm that the gift to the individual -would surely do.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Now, I propose to set up a counter-attraction -to the delights of the saloon and the dance-hall and -the street; and I shall put it right where it is most -needed. There shall be one substantial, clean, -beautiful building, a beacon light of beauty and -delight in a square mile of dinginess and discomfort.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>“It shall be of brick, and I shall enjoin upon -my architect to show what beautiful lines and -arches can be wrought in simple material. In a -street of ugly straight lines and right angles, this -shall stand as an object-lesson in the power of -creating perpetual pleasure to the eye by such -simple devices as the substitution of the curve for -the straight line over door and window.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Then within there shall be a dozen immense -rooms connected by folding-doors, with sand heaps -and swings and blocks for the delight of the gutter -child, too old to be in the cradle and too young to -be in school. From morning until night, if he behaves -himself, he shall be sheltered and warm and -happy under the charge of some good woman. At -night these rooms shall be filled with older boys -and girls learning the use of tools, sawing, planing, -hammering, and finding it better fun to vent -their energies in manufacturing something which -they can take home for their own use than in -playing tag around the ash-barrels on the corner.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What, would you have boys and girls together?” -I asked.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Certainly,” said Mildred; “they would be together -on the street, and why not here?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“But what is the use of a girl learning carpentering?” -I asked. “I should think she might -much better learn sewing. Besides, girls can’t do -it, and I don’t believe they would like to, if they -could.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In regard to that, you don’t know those girls -<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>so well as I do. They will sit by a smoky lamp in -a close room and grow round-shouldered and near-sighted -in crocheting edging and working blue -cats on cardboard; but as to plain sewing, they -think it a bore. After a day at school or in the -shop they don’t want to sit demurely on a bench -and ‘backstitch’ and sew ‘over and over.’ Then, -too, a course in carpentry would do more for -them physically than a course at the gymnasium. -There is no danger that city girls will not walk -enough at all times; what they lack is development -of arms and chest. Moreover, this is not an experiment. -I once visited a summer class in carpentering -for girls at the Tennyson Street school in -Boston, and I can assure you I haven’t forgotten -the neat book-racks and little tables those girls of -fourteen were making for themselves, nor the good -time they were having in doing it, either. Such -muscle as they were developing! However, there -can be cooking classes and sewing classes too, if -they want them, though my House Beautiful is not -to be primarily a manual training school. The -city may provide that for the child; but I want to -do what it cannot do, and that is to give innocent -amusement and a bit of beauty to lives that know -nothing of it.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“So above these rooms is to be a great auditorium -arranged like an amphitheatre, and capable -of seating comfortably three thousand people. -There shall be no cushions, and no need of them, -for every seat shall be planned with reference to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>the human figure, and will require no padding to -insure absolute comfort.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There shall be a golden-piped organ and -‘storied windows richly dight,’ not casting a ‘dim -religious light,’ but shedding warm, rich color upon -the thousand shabby coats and shawls gathered -from the alleys and street corners of a Sunday -afternoon. Every night in the week, and all day -on Sunday, this is to be opened free to every man -or woman who wants to sit in a comfortable seat, -see interesting pictures, hear sweet music, and give -tired nerves and body a respite from the noise and -confusion of the tenement and street.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And what do you propose to give them,—symphony -concerts, or Stoddard lectures?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Neither,” answered Mildred calmly, ignoring -my attempt at sarcasm, “though you have touched -my idea. I mean to give them something as nearly -like it as possible.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“There shall be simple talks on every conceivable -subject that could interest them which admits -of illustration by the stereopticon. By the aid of -great pictures thrown upon the screen they shall -travel over land and sea. Then there shall be -story nights, when a clear-voiced student from the -school of oratory will read stories to them. Think -what it would be to these men and women, half of -whom cannot read or write, to whose minds the -facts of history and geography have no meaning, -whose knowledge of life is limited to a little village -in the Old Country, a steerage passage, and the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>crowded slums of New York; think what it would -be to them to step from the cold and dinginess -without into a brilliant, beautiful hall, with warmth -and light and comfort insured for one hour at least -out of the twenty-four; and then to sit and listen -to the charming story of Little Lord Fauntleroy, -or Robinson Crusoe, or to thrilling stories of exploration -and adventures.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The story or lecture shall last no more than -an hour, as their attention must be held, so that -they will want to come again. Then those who -have heard enough may go, if they wish, and make -room for others to come in to listen to a half-hour -concert. There will be no Brahm’s symphonies, -but there will be cornet solos of such classics as -the ‘Swanee River,’ and ‘Home! Sweet Home!’ -and a select orchestra of half a dozen pieces will -render Strauss waltzes, airs from ‘Pinafore,’ and -the like.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“On Sunday, all day long, there shall be services -of song led by the great organ and a trained -chorus. Not oratorio music, though a Handel -Largo or a ‘Lift Thine Eyes’ might sometimes be -ventured on; but simple devout church music, in -which all who can may join.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of course no preaching would be advisable, -else the priests would rapidly diminish the audience; -but all the power of music shall be brought -to bear to uplift and beautify these poor, pinched -lives and bring a glimpse of sweetness and light -into the prosaic details of their daily struggle for -existence.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>“The Romish church has always been wise -enough to see the power of music in swaying the -emotions of the masses. It is time that we learned -a lesson from it.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“What shall you do with your other rooms on -Sunday? Shall you let them be vacant or permit -the carpentering by the boys to go on below, while -their elders are hearing the music in the great -hall above?”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Neither,” answered Mildred. The rooms shall -all be open, but not for work. The tables and -tools will have disappeared, and settees will take -their places. In one room will be perhaps a debating -club of young men, discussing the last strike, -and finding this a pleasanter place to meet for that -purpose than the street corner or the saloon. In the -next room will be a set of children clustered around -a young lady who comes down from Fifth Avenue -and gives her Sunday evenings regularly to telling -stories to them. She is not a creature of my imagination, -either, Ruby. Last week I met her at -a friend’s house. She came in flushed and radiant -from an hour’s romp with the children in the nursery. -‘I believe my one talent must be story-telling,’ -she said, as the children appeared on the -scene clamoring after her; and her mother fondly -said, ‘Ah, there are no stories like sister Helen’s, -all the children think.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘So,’ I thought, ‘that is just the girl I want. -Her talent shall find a larger field for development; -she shall tell stories to forty children instead -<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>of four.’ I told her my plan, and she almost cried -with delight. ‘Oh, Mrs. Everett, do you really -think that I could do any good in that way? I -never dreamed of it, and I should be so glad. I’ve -always felt as if I wanted to do something, but -mamma won’t let me visit in the Charities. She -says I am too young. My eyes won’t admit of my -reading to the blind or sewing for the poor, and -I began to think there wasn’t anything that I -could do.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I tell you, Ruby, I am finding every day dozens -of girls like her, who are only waiting for some -one to say, ‘This is what you can do; here is your -work; here is the place; and here are the ones -who need you.’ I am beginning to learn that the -putting of the right person in the right place is -the main thing, after all. The best thing that my -money can do is to make it possible for those who -can give, to find those who need just what they can -give.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I shall find not only one charming story-teller, -but a score, who will meet their circles of little -street Arabs week after week and month after -month, and if they are half as pretty and entertaining -as the girl I know, you may rest assured those -youngsters will count it a privilege to come.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Not every one will be admitted; a clean face -and hands and good behavior will be the prerequisite -for retaining the ticket of membership to -all the classes. Then in another room will be a class -of young people listening to an emergency lecture, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>given by some bright, young medical student, who -will arouse their interest by objective illustrations, -such as the bandaging of sham wounds and the -resuscitating of a person supposed to be drowned.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“In still another room, perhaps, some one will -be reading the newspapers aloud to a score of men -who are enjoying their pipes.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“All the rooms will be filled with men, women, -and children, from nine o’clock in the morning -until ten at night; one set coming as another goes; -and each having one hour at least, in the day of -rest, which shall open to him a little larger outlook -on life, and shall give him something to look forward -to through the six days of drudgery.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Of course all this will require a system and a -plan; but I shall have as few officials and as few -restraints as possible. A neat, white-capped woman, -with her badge of authority, will, I think, -be quite as efficient as a big policeman; for any -unseemly behavior will result in the immediate -surrender of the numbered metal check which will -serve as a card of entrance; and when admission -is recognized as a privilege it will be coveted.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“No one will stay away because he is too shabby -to come, and no one will be made to feel that he -has no right or share in it all; but every week -twenty-five thousand men, women, and children -shall have one or two hours of peace and happiness -offered them, just because,—think of it, -Ruby,—just because I did not build the House -Beautiful for myself.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c015'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And whether we shall meet again I know not,</div> - <div class='line'>Therefore our everlasting farewell take.”</div> - <div class='line in38'><span class='sc'>Julius Cæsar.</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The days sped away all too fast, crowded full -of work and talk and earnest thought. I entered -eagerly into all of Mildred’s plans; she always -knew that she could rely on me to do that, in spite -of the protestations and objections with which I -generally greeted the first announcement of each -new scheme. I think she rather liked my objecting, -as it gave her so fine an opportunity to state -her case clearly and triumph over all obstacles.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Do be charitable and indulge my garrulous -propensities a little,” she would laughingly plead. -“You may congratulate yourself that I was not -born a man,—such a stump orator as I should -have made, with all my hobbies!”</p> - -<p class='c005'>In spite of her gayety and happiness, however, I -could see that the strain of attending to multitudes -of things was beginning to tell, even on her apparently -boundless strength. The day before the -last she was with her lawyers, signing last papers, -seeing that nothing was neglected, no one forgotten. -In the evening there was a farewell reception for -hosts of friends, at which all good-byes were said.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>“I want no one but you to see me sail, Ruby -dear,” she said; and so the hour of her departure -was not announced. They had planned, first of all, -a sailing voyage to the West Indies, and thence -they were to go to Spain.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I can’t bear Europe just yet,” said Mildred. -“I want to put letters, despatches, and newspapers -even, out of reach for a few weeks; to forget immigrants, -cooking schools, tenement houses, libraries, -and lawyers, and all the several problems that have -been besetting me these last bewilderingly busy -months.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I must get time to stop and think. I want to -sail idly through purple tropic seas; to skirt the -green shores of volcanic islands; I want to feel for -the time being that I have banished conscience and -responsibility; in fact,” she added, laughing, “I -want to become a pagan for a while, if I can.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“The most sensible thing that I ever heard you -say,” I remarked with decision. “If there ever -was a girl who has earned a vacation, it is you.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>They were going on the Nanepashemet, manned -by Captain Roberts, a weather-beaten seaman of -Marblehead, who twenty years ago had dandled -the little Mildred on his knee. He now counted -it the greatest honor of his life that she had not -forgotten him, and that he had been invited to take -this bonny bride on his plain little sailing vessel.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Why, jest think of it, Miss,” he proudly remarked -to me, “she might jest as easy hev bought -one of them crack steam yachts with fancy fixins, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>and have gone in reg’lar Vanderbilt style. But -it’s jest like her, jest like her. She wa’n’t never -one of the kind to make a splurge. I knew when -she got her money ’twouldn’t turn her head.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>One day Ralph and I had been down to inspect -the craft and attend to certain alterations in the -cabin which were to be made for the accommodation -of the two passengers, when the captain grew -quite communicative on his favorite theme.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I knew that little chick ’ud make something -when she wa’n’t no higher than that,” he remarked, -holding his brown, tattooed hand about -three feet above the deck.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“I didn’t cal’late on her turnin’ out so mighty -rich, of course,” he continued, meditatively, leaning -against the rail and evidently pleased to find -an appreciative listener, “but I allus knew, by the -way the little thing kep’ askin’ questions about -everything under heaven, that she’d got a headpiece -on her that ’ud make things spin one o’ these -days. Full o’ fun, too. She could swim like a -duck, and row a boat with them little pipe-stem -arms of hers, and yet—wal—she was sort o’ -pious-like too, and allus askin’ me to tell her about -my trips to the East Injies, and whether I see any -women a-throwin’ their babies to crocodiles and -a-bowin’ down to idols of wood and stone.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘I tell you, Cap’n Roberts,’ that little thing ’ud -say, a-settin’ there in my boat, when her ma let -me take her out,—‘I tell you, when I get to be a -grown-up woman I’m goin’ out there and just -teach those people better.’</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>“‘Did you ever hear about Judson?’ says she. -‘No,’ says I; ‘was he a sea-cap’n?’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“‘He was a missionary,’ says she, real solemn; -‘a missionary; and that’s what I’m going to be; -and you’ll take me out there in your ship, won’t -you, cap’n?’ says she. ‘And oh, I’m goin’ to take -a whole trunk full of story-books for all those poor -little girls that have to get married and don’t have -any.’</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Wal, wal,” he continued, as he filled his pipe, -“she begun it young, ’n I warn’t a mite surprised -when I heerd she’d got her money and see what -she was a-beginnin’ to do for those nasty Italians -down to the Mulberry Bend. She never forgits -anybody, Millie don’t. Excuse me, I s’pose I orter -say Mis’ Everett now. She’s been a-talkin’ to me -about the sailors; says when we git out to sea she -wants a long talk with me about ’em; wants to -know what they read, and everything of that sort.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>“And that is the way she proposes to turn -pagan,” I soliloquized.</p> - -<p class='c005'>The last day had come, and we were on board -the ship. Mildred, in her long, gray ulster and -bright steamer hood, paced the deck arm in arm -with me, taking her last look at the bridge, the -towers and spires, the bronze goddess looming up -against the blue, and all the dear, familiar sights. -The sky was cloudless; the soft south-wind gently -swelled the white sails overhead; the sea, the fawning, -treacherous sea, shone brilliantly in the golden -sunlight and seemed to murmur caressingly in our -<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>ears, as if to beguile us to forget its cruel power -hidden for the time under this shining mask.</p> - -<p class='c005'>We paced up and down in silence, breaking it -now and then by trying to say the last words, -which were so hard to speak. Ralph had kindly -gone below, ostensibly to look after a hamper of -fruit. There was a lump in my throat; I could -not speak.</p> - -<p class='c005'>How was it that this woman, whom I had met -but little more than a year ago, had come to be -nearer to me than any kith or kin? Life had -broadened, had grown rich, since her life had come -into mine. In my little narrow routine, fashioned -according to the demands of society and its conventionalities, -I had never before dreamed of its -possibilities.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Mildred tried to talk, but I could not answer. -At last, breaking down completely, I sobbed out, -“Oh, Mildred, Mildred, I <em>cannot</em> let you go. I -have no one in the wide world but you. You will -never, never come back.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I had meant to be brave and not to sadden these -last moments by my selfish grief, but a sudden -premonition of evil had taken hold of me. I was -not superstitious, but I felt a convulsive clutch at -my heart as I looked up into her beautiful dark -eyes through the mist in my own.</p> - -<p class='c005'>“Don’t be morbid, darling,” said she, trying to -speak cheerfully, and drawing my arm closer in her -embrace. But her voice sounded to me strange -and far away.</p> - -<p class='c005'><span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>“There are few women ever blessed with such a -sister as you have been to me,” she said tenderly. -“You alone among women have made me feel this -last year that you loved me for myself, and would -have loved me just the same were I the lonely -teacher among my books instead of a favored, -flattered, rich woman. Others have given me adulation, -you have given me love. And now, dear, -that you may know that I know how real a sister -you have been to me, until we meet again wear this -for me.”</p> - -<p class='c005'>I saw the red gleam of the rare jewel in her -white hand, as over my finger, held in her own -warm grasp, she slipped the ruby ring, her dead -sister’s ring which I had always seen her wear.</p> - -<p class='c005'>I said no word of thanks. I scarcely realized -what she had done. I was dumb with the misery -of those moments—a death’s-knell seemed sounding -in my ears.</p> - -<p class='c005'>We paced on again in silence, letting the precious -moments pass. Presently she said, as if in -reply to the wild outburst of emotion which had -passed and left me numb and speechless, “Yes, -dear, it may be as you fear. Whether we meet -again, God only knows. But whether it be you or -I that goes first into the great wonderful Beyond, -of which we have so often talked, I think we shall -not be sorry, we shall not be afraid.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘For from the things we see</div> - <div class='line'>We trust the things to be,</div> - <div class='line'>That in the paths untrod,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>And the long days of God,</div> - <div class='line'>Our feet shall still be led,</div> - <div class='line'>Our hearts be comforted.’</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>“But life is sweet, oh, so sweet. I want to live, -there is so much to do,” said Mildred earnestly. -Yet in a moment she added, hastily, “But what -folly for me to fancy that <em>I</em> am needed to do the -work.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘Others shall sing the song,</div> - <div class='line'>Others shall right the wrong,</div> - <div class='line'>Finish what I begin,</div> - <div class='line'>And all I fail of, win.’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>We said no more, but still paced the deck together, -looking at sea and shore and sunny sky, -finding no words to tell of all that was in our -hearts.</p> - -<p class='c005'>At last the signal was given, and the tug that -was to carry me back to the city steamed alongside. -I knew that the moment of parting had -come, and, like an exile summoning all his fortitude -to help him take bravely the last step across the -border line which divides him from home and -country, I said, calmly, “Well, dear,—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c009'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“‘If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;</div> - <div class='line'>If not, why, then, this parting were well made.’”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c005'>I felt her warm, red lips against my cheek. I -heard Ralph’s strong “God bless and keep you, -little sister,” and then, almost before I knew it, I -had slipped over the vessel’s side, and they were -gone. I saw them wave a last adieu. I saw, as -in a dream, the white-winged ship, bearing its -<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>precious freight, sail out into the dazzling east, over -the dimpling sea, the shimmering, golden sea, the -cruel, cruel sea.</p> - -<p class='c007'>There is no more to tell. The world knows the -rest. Seven days of calm weather, and then from -the coral reefs of the southern sea to the rocky -headlands of the north, the storm-king raged. -Madly the fierce Atlantic lashed its waves on cliff -and beach and sunken ledge, sending dumb terror -to the hearts that had seen their loved ones go -down unto the sea in ships.</p> - -<p class='c005'>Somewhere on that wild waste of waters, whether -in the chill, gray dawn or in midnight blackness, -amid the lightning’s flash and thunder’s peal,—God -only knows,—a little ship went down. And -when the sharp, swift summons came, two brave -hearts went forth together into the great Unseen, -knowing of a surety that this, thank God, was not -the end—only the end of the beginning.</p> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c003'> -</div> -<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> - -<div class='chapter ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c004'> - <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - - <ol class='ol_1 c002'> - <li>Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling. - - </li> - <li>Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. - </li> - </ol> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS OF A MILLIONAIRE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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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