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diff --git a/10391-h/10391-h.htm b/10391-h/10391-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2aab2dd --- /dev/null +++ b/10391-h/10391-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7404 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wolf's Long Howl, by Stanley Waterloo + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + * { font-family: Times;} + Body { font-size: 14pt; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10% } + P {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .25em; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .25em; } + P.cont {text-indent: 0; + margin-top: .25em; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .25em; } + Blockquote { font-size: 14pt; + margin-left: 15%; + width: 80%; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 {text-align: center; } + HR { width: 65%; } + hr.final {width: 100%;} + + hr.chapbreak { width: 65%; + margin-top: 2.5em; + margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none;} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none;} + a:hover {color:red;} + pre {font-size:10pt;} + // + </style> + </head> + <body> + <h1> + The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Wolf's Long Howl, by Stanley Waterloo + </h1> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +Title: The Wolf's Long Howl + +Release Date: December 5, 2003 [eBook #10391] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +Author: Stanley Waterloo + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF'S LONG HOWL*** + + +</pre> + <h3> + E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, David Wilson,<br /> and Project Gutenberg + Distributed Proofreaders + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr class="final" /> + <h1> + THE WOLF'S LONG HOWL + </h1> + <h2> + by Stanley Waterloo + </h2> + <h4> + Chicago + </h4> + <h4> + 1899 + </h4> + <hr /> + <h2 style="margin-top:2em"> + CONTENTS + </h2> + <ul> + <li> + <a href="#WolfsHowl">THE WOLF'S LONG HOWL</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Ulm">AN ULM</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Hair">THE HAIR OF THE DOG THAT BIT HIM</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Love">THE MAN WHO FELL IN LOVE</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Tragedy">A TRAGEDY OF THE FOREST</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Parasangs">THE PARASANGS</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Triangle">LOVE AND A TRIANGLE</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Easter">AN EASTER ADMISSION</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Moon">PROFESSOR MORGAN'S MOON</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#RedDog">RED DOG'S SHOW WINDOW</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Markham">MARKHAM'S EXPERIENCE</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Revenger">THE RED REVENGER</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Accomplice">A MURDERER'S ACCOMPLICE</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#MidPacific">A MID-PACIFIC FOURTH</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#LatchKey">LOVE AND A LATCH-KEY</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Christmas">CHRISTMAS 200,000 B.C.</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Child">THE CHILD</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#BabyBear">THE BABY AND THE BEAR</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#GreenTree">AT THE GREEN TREE CLUB</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#RainMaker">THE RAIN-MAKER</a> + </li> + <li> + <a href="#Span">WITHIN ONE LIFE'S SPAN</a> + </li> + </ul> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="WolfsHowl" id="WolfsHowl">THE WOLF'S LONG HOWL</a> + </h2> + <p> + George Henry Harrison, though without living near kinfolk, had never + considered himself alone in the world. Up to the time when he became + thirty years of age he had always thought himself, when he thought of the + matter at all, as fortunate in the extent of his friendships. He was + acquainted with a great many people; he had a recognized social standing, + was somewhat cleverer than the average man, and his instincts, while + refined by education and experience, were decidedly gregarious and toward + hearty companionship. He should have been a happy man, and had been one, + in fact, up to the time when this trustworthy account begins; but just + now, despite his natural buoyancy of spirit, he did not count himself + among the blessed. + </p> + <p> + George Henry wanted to be at peace with all the world, and now there were + obstacles in the way. He did not delight in aggressiveness, yet certain + people were aggressive. In his club—which he felt he must soon + abandon—he received from all save a minority of the members a hearty + reception, and in his club he rather enjoyed himself for the hour, + forgetting that conditions were different outside. On the streets he met + men who bowed to him somewhat stiffly, and met others who recognized him + plainly enough, but who did not bow. The postman brought daily a bunch of + letters, addressed in various forms of stern commercial handwriting to + George Henry Harrison, but these often lay unopened and neglected on his + desk. + </p> + <p> + To tell the plain and unpleasant truth, George Henry Harrison had just + become a poor man, a desperately poor man, and already realized that it + was worse for a young man than an old one to rank among those who have + "seen better days." Even after his money had disappeared in what had + promised to be a good investment, he had for a time maintained his place, + because, unfortunately for all concerned, he had been enabled to get + credit; but there is an end to that sort of thing, and now, with his + credit gone after his money, he felt his particular world slipping from + him. He felt a change in himself, a certain on-creeping paralysis of his + social backbone. When practicable he avoided certain of his old friends, + for he could see too plainly written on their faces the fear that he was + about to request a trifling loan, though already his sense of honor, when + he considered his prospects, had forced him to cease asking favors of the + sort. There were faces which he had loved well which he could not bear to + see with the look of mingled commiseration and annoyance he inspired. + </p> + <p> + And so it came that at this time George Henry Harrison was acquainted + chiefly with grief—with the wolf at his door. His mail, once + blossoming with messages of good-will and friendliness, became a desert of + duns. + </p> + <p> + "Why is it," George Henry would occasionally ask himself—there was + no one else for him to talk to—"why is it that when a man is sure of + his meals every day he has endless invitations to dine out, but that when + those events are matters of uncertainty he gets not a bidding to the + feast?" This question, not a new one, baffling in its mystery and chilling + to the marrow, George Henry classed with another he had heard somewhere: + "Who is more happy: the hungry man who can get nothing to eat, or the rich + man with an overladen table who can eat nothing?" The two problems ran + together in his mind, like a couple of hounds in leash, during many a long + night when he could not shut out from his ears the howling of the wolf. He + often wondered, jeering the while at his own grotesque fancy, how his + neighbors could sleep with those mournful yet sinister howlings burdening + the air, but he became convinced at last that no one heard the melancholy + solo but himself. + </p> + <p> + "'The wolf's long howl on Oonalaska's shore' is not in it with that of + mine," said George Henry—for since his coat had become threadbare + his language had deteriorated, and he too frequently used slang—"but + I'm thankful that I alone hear my own. How different the case from what it + is when one's dog barks o' nights! Then the owner is the only one who + sleeps within a radius of blocks. The beasts are decidedly unlike." + </p> + <p> + Not suddenly had come all this tribulation to the man, though the final + disappearance of all he was worth, save some valueless remnants, had been + preceded by two or three heavy losses. Optimistic in his ventures, he was + not naturally a fool. Ill fortune had come to him without apparent + provocation, as it comes to many another man of intelligence, and had + followed him persistently and ruthlessly when others less deserving were + prospering all about him. It was not astonishing that he had become a + trifle misanthropic. He found it difficult to recover from the daze of the + moment when he first realized his situation. + </p> + <p> + The comprehension of where he stood first came to George Henry when he had + a note to meet, a note for a sum that would not in the past have seemed + large to him, but one at that time assuming dimensions of importance. He + thought when he had given the note that he could meet it handily; he had + twice succeeded in renewing it, and now had come to the time when he must + raise a certain sum or be counted among the wreckage. He had been hopeful, + but found himself on the day of payment without money and without + resources. How many thousands of men who have engaged in our tigerish + dollar struggle have felt the sinking at heart which came to him then! But + he was a man, and he went to work. Talk about climbing the Alps or + charging a battery! The man who has hurried about all day with reputation + to be sustained, even at the sacrifice of pride, has suffered more, dared + more and knows more of life's terrors than any reckless mountain-climber + or any veteran soldier in existence. George Henry failed at last. He could + not meet his bills. + </p> + <p> + Reason to himself as he might, the man was unable to endure his new + condition placidly. He tried to be philosophical. He would stalk about his + room humming from "The Mahogany Tree": + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + "Care, like a dun, stands at the gate.<br /> Let the dog wait!" + </p> + </blockquote> + <p class="cont"> + and seek to get himself into the spirit of the words, but his efforts in + such direction met with less than moderate success. "The dog does wait," + he would mutter. "He's there all the time. Besides, he isn't a dog: he's a + wolf. What did Thackeray know about wolves!" And so George Henry brooded, + and was, in consequence, not quite as fit for the fray as he had been in + the past. + </p> + <p> + To make matters worse, there was a woman in the case; not that women + always make matters worse when a man is in trouble, but in this instance + the fact that a certain one existed really caused the circumstances to be + more trying. There was a charming young woman in whom George Henry had + taken more than a casual interest. There was reason to suppose that the + interest was not all his, either, but there had been no definite + engagement. At the time when financial disaster came to the man, there had + grown up between him and Sylvia Hartley that sort of understanding which + cannot be described, but which is recognized clearly enough, and which is + to the effect that flowers bring fruit. Now he felt glad, for her sake, + that only the flower season had been reached. They were yet unpledged. + Since he could not support a wife, he must give up his love. That was a + matter of honor. + </p> + <p> + The woman was quite worthy of a man's love. She was clever and good. She + had dark hair and a wonderfully white skin, and dark, bright eyes, and + when he explained to her that he was a wreck financially, and said that in + consequence he didn't feel justified in demanding so much of her + attention, she exhibited in a gentle way a warmth of temperament which + endeared her to him more than ever, while she argued with him and tried to + laugh him out of his fears. He was tempted sorely, but he loved her in a + sufficiently unselfish way to resist. He even sought to conceal his depth + of feeling under a disguise of lightness. He admitted that in his present + frame of mind he ought to be with her as much as possible, as then, if + ever, he stood in need of a sure antidote for the blues, and with a + half-hearted jest he closed the conversation, and after that call merely + kept away from her. It was hard for him, and as hard for her; but if he + had honor, she had pride. So they drifted apart, each suffering. + </p> + <p> + Who shall describe with a just portrayal of its agony the inner life of + the reasonably strong man who feels that he is somehow going down hill in + the world, who becomes convinced that he is a failure, and who struggles + almost hopelessly! George Henry went down hill, though setting his heels + as deeply as he could. His later plans failed, and there came a time when + his strait was sore indeed—the time when he had not even the money + with which to meet the current expenses of a modest life. To one vulgar or + dishonest this is bad; to one cultivated and honorable it is far worse. + George Henry chanced to come under the latter classification, and so it + was that to him poverty assumed a phase especially acute, and affected him + both physically and mentally. + </p> + <p> + His first experience was bitter. He had never been an extravagant man, but + he liked to be well dressed, and had remained so for a time after his + business plans had failed. He was not a gormand, but he had continued to + live well. Now, with almost nothing left to live upon, he must go shabby, + and cease to tickle his too fastidious palate. He must buy nothing new to + wear, and must live at the cheapest of the restaurants. He felt a sort of + Spartan satisfaction when this resolve had been fairly reached, but no + enthusiasm. It required great resolution on his part when, for the first + time, he entered a restaurant the sign in front of which bore the more or + less alluring legend, "Meals fifteen cents." + </p> + <p> + George Henry loved cleanliness, and the round table at which he found a + seat bore a cloth dappled in various ways. His sense of smell was + delicate, and here came to him from the kitchen, separated from the + dining-room by only a thin partition, a combination of odors, partly + vegetable, partly flesh and fish, which gave him a new sensation. A + faintness came upon him, and he envied those eating at other tables. They + had no qualms; upon their faces was the hue of health, and they were + eating as heartily as the creatures of the field or forest do, and with as + little prejudice against surroundings. George Henry tried to philosophize + again and to be like these people, but he failed. He noted before him on + the table a jar of that abject stuff called carelessly either "French" or + "German" mustard, stale and crusted, and remembered that once at a dinner + he had declared that the best test of a gentleman, of one who knew how to + live, was to learn whether he used pure, wholesome English mustard or one + of these mixed abominations. His ears felt pounding into them a whirlwind + of street talk larded with slang. He ordered sparingly. He did not like it + when the waiter, with a yell, translated his modest order of fried eggs + and coffee into "Fried, turned," and "Draw one," and he liked it less when + the food came and he found the eggs limed and the coffee muddy. He ate + little, and left the place depressed. "I can't stand this," he muttered, + "that's as sure as God made little apples." + </p> + <p> + His own half-breathed utterance of this expression startled the man. The + simile he had used was a repetition of what he had just heard in a + conversation between men at an adjoining table in the restaurant. He had + often heard the expression before, but had certainly never utilized it + personally. "The food must be affecting me already," he said bitterly, and + then wandered off unconsciously into an analysis of the metaphor. It + puzzled him. He could not understand why the production of little apples + by the Deity had seemed to the person who at some time in the past had + first used this expression as an illustration of a circumstance more + assured than the production of big apples by the same power, or of the + evolution of potatoes or any other fruit or vegetable, big or little. His + foolish fancies in this direction gave him the mental relief he needed. + When he awoke to himself again the restaurant was a memory, and he, having + recovered something of his tone, resolved to do what could be done that + day to better his fortunes. + </p> + <p> + Then came work—hard and exceedingly fruitless work—in looking + for something to do. Then Nature began paying attention to George Henry + Harrison personally, in a manner which, however flattering in a general + way, did not impress him pleasantly. His breakfast had been a failure, and + now he was as hungry as the leaner of the two bears of Palestine which + tore forty-two children who made faces at Elisha. He thought first of a + free-lunch saloon, but he had an objection to using the fork just laid + down by another man. He became less squeamish later. He was resolved to + feast, and that the banquet should be great. He entered a popular + down-town place and squandered twenty-five cents on a single meal. The + restaurant was scrupulously clean, the steak was good, the potatoes were + mealy, the coffee wasn't bad, and there were hot biscuits and butter. How + the man ate! The difference between fifteen and twenty-five cents is vast + when purchasing a meal in a great city. George Henry was reasonably + content when he rose from the table. He decided that his self-imposed task + was at least endurable. He had counted on every contingency. + Instinctively, after paying for his food, he strolled toward the + cigar-stand. Half-way there he checked himself, appalled. Cigars had not + been included in the estimate of his daily needs. Cigars he recognized as + a luxury. He left the place, determined but physically unhappy. The real + test was to come. + </p> + <p> + The smoking habit affects different men in different ways. To some tobacco + is a stimulant, to others a narcotic. The first class can abandon tobacco + more easily than can the second. The man to whom tobacco is a stimulant + becomes sleepy and dull when he ceases its use, and days ensue before he + brightens up on a normal plane. To the one who finds it a narcotic, the + abandonment of tobacco means inviting the height of all nervousness. To + George Henry tobacco had been a narcotic, and now his nerves were set on + edge. He had pluck, though, and irritable and suffering, endured as well + as he could. At length came, as will come eventually in the case of every + healthy man persisting in self-denial, surcease of much sorrow over + tobacco, but in the interval George Henry had a residence in purgatory, + rent free. + </p> + <p> + And so—these incidents are but illustrative—the man forced + himself into a more or less philosophical acceptance of the new life to + which necessity had driven him. If he did not learn to like it, he at + least learned to accept its deprivations without a constant grimace. + </p> + <p> + But more than mere physical self-denial is demanded of the man on the down + grade. The plans of his intellect a failure, he turns finally to the + selling of the labor of his body. This selling of labor may seem an easy + thing, but it is not so to the man with neither training nor skill in + manual labor of any sort. George Henry soon learned this lesson, and his + heart sank within him. He had reached the end of things. He had tried to + borrow what he needed, and failed. His economies had but extended his + lease of tolerable life. + </p> + <p> + Shabby and hungry, he sought a "job" at anything, avoiding all + acquaintances, for his pride would not allow him to make this sort of an + appeal to them. Daily he looked among strangers for work. He found none. + It was a time of business and industrial depression, and laborers were + idle by thousands. He envied the men working on the streets relaying the + pavements. They had at least a pittance, and something to do to distract + their minds. + </p> + <p> + Weeks and months went by. George Henry now lived and slept in his little + office, the rent of which he had paid some months in advance before the + storms of poverty began to beat upon him. Here, when not making spasmodic + excursions in search of work, he dreamed and brooded. He wondered why men + came into the feverish, uncertain life of great cities, anyhow. He thought + of the peace of the country, where he was born; of the hollyhocks and + humming-birds, of the brightness and freedom from care which was the lot + of human beings there. They had few luxuries or keen enjoyments, but as a + reward for labor—the labor always at hand—they had at least a + certainty of food and shelter. There came upon him a great craving to get + into the world of nature and out of all that was cankering about him, but + with the longing came also the remembrance that even in the blessed home + of his youth there was no place now for him. + </p> + <p> + One day, after what seemed ages of this kind of life, a wild fancy took + hold of George Henry's mind. Out of the wreckage of all his unprofitable + investments one thing remained to him. He was still a landed proprietor, + and he laughed somewhat bitterly at the thought. He was the owner of a + large tract of gaunt poplar forest, sixteen hundred acres, in a desolate + region of Michigan, his possessions stretching along the shores of the + lake. An uncle had bought the land for fifty cents an acre, and had turned + it over to George Henry in settlement of a loan made in his nephew's more + prosperous days. George Henry had paid the insignificant taxes regularly, + and as his troubles thickened had tried to sell the vaguely valued + property at any price, but no one wanted it. This land, while it would not + bring him a meal, was his own at least, and he reasoned that if he could + get to it and build a little cabin upon it, he could live after a fashion. + </p> + <p> + The queer thought somehow inspirited him. He would make a desperate + effort. He would get a barrel of pork and a barrel or two of flour and + some potatoes, a gun and an axe; he knew a lake captain, an old friend, + who would readily take him on his schooner on its next trip and land him + on his possessions. But the pork and the flour and the other necessaries + would cost money; how was he to get it? The difficulty did not discourage + him. The plan gave him something definite to do. He resolved to swallow + all pride, and make a last appeal for a loan from some of those he dreaded + to meet again. Surely he could raise among his friends the small sum he + needed, and then he would go into the woods. Maybe his head and heart + would clear there, and he would some day return to the world like the + conventional giant refreshed with new wine. + </p> + <p> + It is astonishing how a fixed resolution, however grotesque, helps a man. + The very fact that in his own mind the die was cast brought a new + recklessness to George Henry. He could look at things objectively again. + He slept well for the first time in many weeks. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, when George Henry awoke, he had abated not one jot of + his resolve nor of his increased courage. The sun seemed brighter than it + had been the day before, and the air had more oxygen to the cubic foot. He + looked at the heap of unopened letters on his desk—letters he had + lacked, for weeks, the moral courage to open—and laughed at his fear + of duns. Let the wolf howl! He would interest himself in the music. He + would be a hero of heroes, and unflinchingly open his letters, each one a + horror in itself to his imagination; but with all his newly found courage, + it required still an effort for George Henry to approach his desk. + </p> + <p> + Alone, with set teeth and drooping eyes, George Henry began his task. It + was the old, old story. Bills of long standing, threats of suits, letters + from collecting agencies, red papers, blue, cream and straw-colored—how + he hated them all! Suddenly he came upon a new letter, a square, thick, + well addressed letter of unmistakable respectability. + </p> + <p> + "Can it be an invitation?" said George Henry, his heart beating. He opened + the sturdy envelope and read the words it had enclosed. Then he leaned + back, very still, in his chair, with his eyes shut. His heart bled over + what he had suffered. "Had" suffered—yes, that was right, for it was + all a thing of the past. The letter made it clear that he was + comparatively a rich man. That was all. + </p> + <p> + It was the despised—but not altogether despised, since he had + thought of making it his home—poplar land in Michigan. The poplar + supply is limited, and paper-mills have capacious maws. Prices of raw + material had gone up, and the poplar hunters had found George Henry's land + the most valuable to them in the region. A syndicate offered him one + hundred dollars an acre for the tract. + </p> + <p> + Joy failed to kill George Henry Harrison. It stunned him somewhat, but he + showed wonderful recuperative powers. As he ate a free-lunch after a + five-cent expenditure that morning, there was something in his air which + would have prevented the most obtuse barkeeper in the world from + commenting upon the quantity consumed. He was not particularly depressed + because his hat was old and his coat gray at the seams and his shoes + cracked. His demeanor when he called upon an attorney, a former friend, + was quite that of an American gentleman perfectly at his ease. + </p> + <p> + Within a few days George Henry Harrison had deposited to his credit in + bank the sum of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, minus the slight + cost of certain immediate personal requirements. Then one morning he + stalked over to his little office, now clean and natty. He leaned back in + his chair again and devoted himself to thinking, the persons on whom his + mind dwelt being his creditors. + </p> + <p> + The proper title for the brief account which follows should be The Feast + of the Paying of Bills. Here was a man who had suffered, here was a man + who had come to doubt himself, and who had now become suddenly and + arrogantly independent. His creditors, he knew, were hopeless. That he had + so few lawsuits to meet was only because those to whom he owed money had + reasoned that the cost of collection would more than offset the sum gained + in the end from this man, who had, they thought, no real property behind + him. Their attitude had become contemptuous. Now he stood forth defiant + and jaunty. + </p> + <p> + There is a time in a man's failing fortunes when he borrows and gives his + note blithely. He is certain that he can repay it. He runs up bills as + cheerfully, sure that they will easily be met at the end of thirty days. + With George Henry this now long past period had left its souvenirs, and + the torture they had inflicted upon him has been partly told. + </p> + <p> + Now came the sweet and glorious hour of his relief. + </p> + <p> + It was a wonderful sensation to him. He marveled that he had so + respectfully thought of the creditors who had dogged him. They were + people, he now said, of whom he should not have thought at all. He became + a magnificently objective reasoner. But there was work to be done. + </p> + <p> + George Henry decided that, since there were certain people to whom he must + write, each letter being accompanied by a check for a certain sum of + money, each letter should appropriately indicate to its recipient the calm + and final opinion of the writer regarding the general character and + reputation of the person or firm addressed. The human nature of George + Henry asserted itself very strongly just here. He set forth paper and ink, + took up his pen, and poised his mind for a feast of reason and flow of + soul which should be after the desire of his innermost heart. + </p> + <p> + First, George Henry carefully arranged in the order of their date of + incurring a list of all his debts, great and small—not that he + intended to pay them in that order, but where a creditor had waited long + he decided that his delay in paying should be regarded as in some degree + extenuating and excusing the fierceness of the assaults made upon a + luckless debtor. The creditors chanced to have had no choice in the + matter, but that did not count. Age hallowed a debt to a certain slight + extent. + </p> + <p> + This arrangement made, George Henry took up his list of creditors, one + hundred and twenty in all, and made a study of them, as to character, + habits and customs. He knew them very well indeed. In their intercourse + with him, each, he decided, had laid his soul bare, and each should be + treated according to the revelations so made. There was one man who had + loaned him quite a large sum, and this was the oldest debt of all, + incurred when George Henry first saw the faint signs of approaching + calamity, but understood them not. This man, a friend, recognizing the + nature of George Henry's struggle, had never sought payment—had, in + fact, when the debtor had gone to him, apologetically and explaining, + objected to the intrusion and objurgated the caller in violent language of + the lovingly profane sort. He would have no talk of payment, as things + stood. This claim, not only the oldest but the least annoying, should, + George Henry decided, have the honor of being "No. 1"—that is, + it should be paid first of all. So the list was extended, a careful + analysis being made of the mental and moral qualities of each creditor as + exposed in his monetary relations with George Henry Harrison. There were + some who had been generous and thoughtful, some who had been vicious and + insulting; and in his examination George Henry made the discovery that + those who had probably least needed the money due them had been by no + means the most considerate. It seemed almost as if the reverse rule had + obtained. There was one man in particular, who had practically forced a + small loan upon him when George Henry was still thought to be well-to-do, + who had developed an ingenuity and insolence in dunning which gave him + easy altitude for meanness and harshness among the lot. He went down as + "No. 120," the last on the list. + </p> + <p> + There were others. There were the petty tradesmen who in former years had + prospered through George Henry's patronage, whose large bills had been + paid with unquestioning promptness until came the slip of his cog in the + money-distributing machine. They had not hesitated a moment. As the + peccaries of Mexico and Central America pursue blindly their prey, so + these small yelpers, Tray, Blanche and Sweetheart, of the trade world, had + bitten at his heels persistently from the beginning of his weakness up to + the present moment. Toward these he had no malice. He counted them but as + he had counted his hunting dogs in better days. They were narrow, but they + were reckoned as men; they transacted business and married the females of + their kind, and bred children—prodigally—and after all, + against them he had no particular grievance. They were as they were made + and must be. He gathered a bunch of their bills together, and decided that + they should be classed together, not quite at the end of the list. + </p> + <p> + The grade of each individual creditor fixed, the list was carefully + divided into five parts, twenty in each, of which twenty should receive + their letters and checks one day, twenty the next, and so on. Then the + literature of the occasion began. + </p> + <p> + The thoughtful debtor who has had somewhat continuous relations with a + creditor can, supposing he has even a moderate gift, write a very neat, + compact and thought-compelling little letter to that creditor when he + finally settles with him, if, as in the case of George Henry, the debtor + will have balance enough left after all settlements to make him easy and + independent. George Henry felt the strength of this proposition as he + wrote. In casual, easily written conversation with his meanest creditors + he rather excelled himself. Of course he sent abundant interest to + everybody, though apologizing to the gentlemen among the lot for doing so, + but telling them frankly that it would relieve him if they accepted the + proper sum for the use of the money, saying nothing about it; while of the + mean ones he demanded prompt receipts in full. That was the general tenor + of the notes, but there were certain moderate extravagances in either + direction, if there be such a thing as a "moderate extravagance." + </p> + <p> + To the worst, the most irritating of his creditors, George Henry indicted + his masterpiece. He admitted his obligation, he expressed his satisfaction + at paying an interest which made it a good investment for the creditor, + and then he entered into a little disquisition as to the creditor's manner + and scale of thought and existence, followed by certain mild suggestions + as to improvements which might be made in the character under observation. + He pledged himself to return at any time the favor extended him, and + promised also never to mention it after it had been extended. He + apologized for the lack of further and more adequate treatment of the + subject, expressing his conviction that the more delicate shades of + meaning which might be employed after a more extended study would not be + comprehended by the person addressed. + </p> + <p> + George Henry—it is with regret that it is admitted—had a wild + hope that this creditor would become enraged to the point of making a + personal assault on him from this simple summing up of affairs, because he + had an imbedded desire to lick, or anyway try to lick, this particular + person, could he be provoked into an encounter. It is as well to say here + that his dream was never gratified. The nagging man is never a fighting + man. + </p> + <p> + And so the Feast of the Paying of Bills went on to its conclusion. It was + a season of intense enjoyment for George Henry. When it was ended, having + money, having also a notable gift as a shot, he fled to the northern + woods, where grouse and deer fell plentifully before him, and then after a + month he returned to enjoy life at ease. + </p> + <p> + It was upon his return home that George Henry Harrison, well-to-do and + content, learned something which for a time made him think this probably + the hollowest of all the worlds which swing around the sun. He came back, + vigorous and hopeful of spirit, with the strength of the woods and of + nature in him, and with open heart and hand ready to greet his + fellow-beings, glad to be one with them. The thing which smote him was + odd. It was that he found himself a stranger among the fellow-beings he + had come to meet. He found himself still a Selkirk of the world of trade + and traffic and transfer of thought and well-wishing and strong-doing and + of all social life. He was like a strange bird, like an albatross blown + into unaccustomed seas, alighting upon an island where albatrosses were + unknown. + </p> + <p> + He found his office as bright and attractive as urgently and sternly + directed servitude could make it. There were no letters upon his desk, + however, the desk so overburdened in the past. The desk spoke of + loneliness. The new carpet, without a worn white strip leading from the + doorway, said loneliness. All was loneliness. He could not understand it. + </p> + <p> + There was the abomination of clean and cold desolation in and all about + his belongings. He sat down in the easy-chair before his desk, and was + far, very far, from happy. He leaned back—the chair worked + beautifully upon its well-oiled springs—and wondered. He shut his + eyes, and tried to place himself in his position of a month before, and + failed. Why had there been no callers? His own branch of business was in a + laggard way, but of that he made no account. He thought of Oonalaska, and + decided that there were worse places in the world than on that shore, even + with the drawback of the howlings. He seemed to be in space. + </p> + <p> + To sum up all in an explanatory way, George Henry, having largely lost his + grip upon the world, had voluntarily, being too sensitive, severed all + connections save those he had to maintain with that portion of the + community interested in the paying of his bills. Now, since he had met all + material obligations, he thought the world would come to him again + unsought. It did not come. + </p> + <p> + Every one seemed to have gone away with the wolf. George Henry began + trying to determine what it was that was wrong. The letter-carrier, a fine + fellow, who had called upon him daily in the past, now never crossed his + threshold. Even book agents and peddlers avoided the place, from long + experience of rebuff. The bill-collectors came no more, of course; and as + George Henry looked back over the past months of humiliation and agony he + suddenly realized that to these same collectors he had been solely + indebted toward the last of his time of trial for what human companionship + had come to him. His friends, how easily they had given him up! He thought + of poor old Rip Van Winkle's plaint, "How soon we are forgotten when we + are gone!" and sarcastically amended it to "How soon we are forgotten when + we are here!" A few invitations declined, the ordinary social calls left + for some other time, and he was apparently forgotten. He could not much + blame himself that he had voluntarily severed the ties. A man cannot dine + in comfort with comfortable friends when his heart is sore over his + general inconsequence in the real world. Play is not play when zest is not + given to it by work and duties. Even his social evenings with old and true + friends he had given up early in the struggle. He could not overcome the + bitterness of his lot sufficiently to sit easily among those he most cared + for. It is not difficult sometimes to drop out of life while yet alive. + Yet George Henry realized that possibly he had been an extended error—had + been too sensitive. He thought of his neglect of friends and his generally + stupid performances while under the spell of the wolf, but he thought also + of the excuse he had, and conscience was half appeased. + </p> + <p> + So he was alone, the same old Selkirk or Robinson Crusoe, without a man + Friday, without even a parrot and goats; alone in his once familiar hotel + and his office, in a city where he was distinctly of the native sort, + where he had seen, it seemed to him, every one of the great "sky-scraping" + buildings rise from foundation-stone to turret, where he should be one + whose passage along the street would be a series of greetings. He yearned + for companionship. His pulse quickened when he met one of his lately + persecuting bill-collectors on the street and received from him a friendly + recognition of his bow and smile. He became affable with elevator-men and + policemen. But he was lonely, very lonely. + </p> + <p> + The days drifted into long weeks, when one day the mail-carrier, once so + regular in his calls, now almost a stranger, appeared and cast upon George + Henry's desk a letter returned uncalled for. The recipient examined it + with interest. It did not require much to excite his interest now. + </p> + <p> + The returned letter was one which he had sent enclosing a check to a Dr. + Hartley, to whom he had become indebted for professional services at one + time. He had never received a bill, but had sent the check at a venture. + Its return, with the postoffice comment, "Moved, left no address," + startled him. Dr. Hartley was Her father. George Henry pondered. Was it a + dream or reality, that a few months ago, while he was almost submerged in + his sea of difficulties, he had read or heard of Dr. Hartley's death? He + had known the doctor but slightly, well as he had known his daughter + Sylvia, of the dark eyes, but it seemed impossible that in any state of + mind such a thing as Dr. Hartley's reported death should have made no + impression upon him. He was aroused now, almost for the first time, and + was really himself again. The benumbing influence of his face-to-face + fight with poverty and inactivity disappeared. Sylvia lived again, fresh, + vital and strong in her hold upon him. He was renewed by the purpose in + life which he had allowed to lapse in his desperate days of defeat. He + would find Sylvia. She might be in sorrow, in trouble; he could not wait, + but leaped out of his office and ran down the long stairways, too hurried + and restless to wait for the lagging elevator of the great building where + he had suffered so much. The search was longer and more difficult than the + seeker had anticipated. It required but little effort to learn that Dr. + Hartley had been dead for months, and that his family had gone away from + the roomy house where their home had been for many years. To learn more + was for a time impossible. He had known little of the family kinship and + connections, and it seemed as if an adverse fate pursued his attempts to + find the hidden links which bind together the people of a great city. But + George Henry persisted, and his heart grew warm within him. He hummed an + old tune as he walked quickly along the crowded streets, smiling to + himself when he found himself singing under his breath the old, old song: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + Who is Silvia? What is she<br /> That all swains commend her? + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + In another quarter of the city, far removed from her former home and + neighbors, George Henry at last found Sylvia, her mother and a younger + brother, living quietly with the mother's widowed sister. During his + search for her the image of the woman he had once hoped might be his wife + had grown larger and dearer in his mind and heart. He wondered how he had + ever given her up, and how he had lived through so much suffering, and + then through relief from suffering, without the past and present joy of + his life. He wondered if he should find her changed. He need have had no + fears. He found, when at last he met her, that she had not changed, + unless, it may be, to have become even more lovable in his eyes. In the + moment when he first saw her now he knew he had found the world again, + that he was no longer a stranger in it, that he was living in it and a + part of it. A sweetheart has been a tonic since long before knights wore + the gloves of ladies on their crests. Within a week, through Sylvia, he + had almost forgotten that one can get lost, even as a lost child, in this + great, grinding world of ours, and within a year he and Mrs. George Henry + Harrison were "at home" to their friends. + </p> + <p> + After a time, when George Henry Harrison had settled down into steady and + appreciative happiness, and had begun to indulge his fancies in matters + apart from the honeymoon, there appeared upon the wall over the fireplace + in his library a picture which unfailingly attracted the attention and + curiosity of visitors to that hospitable hearth. The scene represented was + but that upon an island in the Bering Sea, and there was in the aspect of + it something more than the traditional abomination of desolation, for + there was a touch of bloodthirsty and hungry life. Up away from the sea + arose a stretch of dreary sand, and in the far distance were hills covered + with snow and dotted with stunted pine, and bleak and forbidding, though + not tenantless. In the foreground, close to the turbid waters which washed + this frozen almost solitude, a great, gaunt wolf sat with his head + uplifted to the lowering skies, and so well had the artist caught the + creature's attitude, that looking upon it one could almost seem to hear + the mournful but murderous howl and gathering cry. + </p> + <p> + This was only a fancy which George Henry had—that the wolf should + hang above the fireplace—and perhaps it needed no such reminder to + make of him the man he proved in helping those whom he knew the wolf was + hunting. His eye was kindly keen upon his friends, and he was quick to + perceive when one among them had begun to hear the howlings which had once + tormented him so sorely; he fancied that there was upon the faces of those + who listened often to that mournful music an expression peculiar to such + suffering. And he found such ways as he could to cheer and comfort those + unfortunate during their days of trial. He was a helpful man. It is good + for a man to have had bad times. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Ulm" id="Ulm">AN ULM</a> + </h2> + <p> + "It is as you say; he is not handsome, certainly not beautiful as flowers + and the stars and women are, but he has another sort of beauty, I think, + such a beauty as made Victor Hugo's monster, Gwynplaine, fascinating, or + gives a certain sort of charm to a banded rattlesnake. He is not much like + the dove-eyed setter over whom we shot woodcock this afternoon, but to me + he is the fairest object on the face of the earth, this gaunt, brindled + Ulm. There's such a thing as association of ideas, you know. + </p> + <p> + "What is there about an Ulm especially attractive? Well, I don't know. + About Ulms in the abstract very little, I imagine. About an Ulm in the + concrete, particularly the brute near us, a great deal. The Ulm is a + morbid development in dog-breeding, anyhow. I remember, as doubtless you + do as well, when the animals first made their appearance in this country a + few years ago. The big, dirty-white beasts, dappled with dark blotches and + with countenances unexplainably threatening, reminded one of hyenas with + huge dog forms. Germans brought them over first, and they were affected by + saloon-keepers and their class. They called them Siberian bloodhounds + then, but the dog-fanciers got hold of them, and they became, with their + sinister obtrusiveness, a feature of the shows; the breed was defined more + clearly, and now they are known as Great Danes or Ulms, indifferently. How + they originated I never cared to learn. I imagine it sometimes. I fancy + some jilted, jaundiced descendant of the sea-rovers, retiring to his + castle, and endeavoring, by mating some ugly bloodhound with a wild wolf, + to produce a quadruped as fierce and cowardly and treacherous as man or + woman may be. He succeeded only partially, but he did well. + </p> + <p> + "Never mind about the dog, and tell you why I've been gentleman, farmer, + sportsman and half-hermit here for the last five years—leaving + everything just as I was getting a grip on reputation in town, leaving a + pretty wife, too, after only a year of marriage? I can hardly do that—that + is, I can hardly drop the dog, because, you see, he's part of the story. + Hamlet would be left out decidedly were I to read the play without him. + Besides, I've never told the story to any one. I'll do it, though, to-day. + The whim takes me. Surely a fellow may enjoy the luxury of being + recklessly confidential once in half a decade or so, especially with an + old friend and a trusted one. No need for going far back with the legend. + You know it all up to the time I was married. You dined with me once or + twice later. You remember my wife? Certainly she was a pretty woman, well + bred, too, and wise, in a woman's way. I've seen a good deal of the world, + but I don't know that I ever saw a more tactful entertainer, or in private + a more adorable woman when she chose to be affectionate. I was in that + fool's paradise which is so big and holds so many people, sometimes for a + year and a half after marriage. Then one day I found myself outside the + wall. + </p> + <p> + "There was a beautiful set to my wife's chin, you may recollect—a + trifle strong for a woman; but I used to say to myself that, as students + know, the mother most impresses the male offspring, and that my sons would + be men of will. There was a fullness to her lips. Well, so there is to + mine. There was a delicious, languorous craft in the look of her eyes at + times. I cared not at all for that. I thought she loved me and knew me. + Love of me would give all faithfulness; knowledge of me, even were the + inclination to wrong existent, would beget a dread of consequences. My + dear boy, we don't know women. Sometimes women don't know men. She did not + know me any more than she loved me. She has become better informed. + </p> + <p> + "What happened! Well, now come in the dog and the man. The dog was given + me by a friend who was dog-mad, and who said to me the puppy would develop + into a marvel of his kind, so long a pedigree he had. I relegated the + puppy to the servants and the basement, and forgot him. The man came in + the form of an accidental new friend, an old friend of my wife, as + subsequently developed. I invited him to my house, and he came often. I + liked to have him there. I wanted to go to Congress—you know all + about that—and wasn't often at home in the evening. He made the + evenings less lonely for my wife, and I was glad of it. I told her I would + make amends for my absence when the campaign was over. She was all + patience and sweetness. + </p> + <p> + "Meanwhile that brute of a puppy in the basement had been developing. He + had grown into a great, rangy, long-toothed monster, with a leer on his + dull face, and the servants were afraid of him. I got interested and made + a pet of the uncouth animal. I studied the Ulm character. I learned queer + things about him. Despite his size and strength, he was frequently + overcome by other dogs when he wandered into the street. He was tame until + the shadows began to gather and the sun went down. Then a change came upon + him. He ranged about the basement, and none but I dared venture down + there. He was, in short, a cur by day, at night a demon. I supposed the + early dogs of this breed had been trained to night slaughter and + savageness alone, and that it was a case of atavism, a recurrence of + hereditary instinct. It interested me vastly, and I resolved to make him + the most perfect of watchdogs. I trained him to lie couchant, and to + spring upon and tear a stuffed figure I would bring into the basement. I + noticed he always sprang at the throat. 'Hard lines,' thought I, 'for the + burglar who may venture here!' + </p> + <p> + "It was a little later than this nonsense with the dog, which was a piece + of boyishness, a degree of relaxation to the strain of my fight with + down-town conditions, that there came in what makes a man think the + affairs of this world are not adjusted rightly, and makes recurrent the + impulse which was first unfortunate for Abel—no doubt worse for + Cain. There is no need for going into details of the story, how I learned, + or when. My knowledge was all-sufficient and absolute. My wife and my + friend were sinning, riotously and fully, but discreetly—sinning + against all laws of right and honor, and against me. The mechanism of it + was simple. The grounds back of my house, you know, were large, and you + may not have forgotten the lane of tall, clipped shrubbery that led up + from the rear to a summer-house. His calls in the evening were made early + and ended early. The pinkness of all propriety was about them. The + servants suspected nothing. But, his call ended, the graceful gentleman, + friend of mine, and lover of my wife, would walk but a few hundred paces, + then turn and enter my grounds at the rear gate I have mentioned, and pass + up the arbor to the pretty summer-house. He would find time for pleasant + anticipation there as he lolled upon one of the soft divans with which I + had furnished the charming place, but his waiting would not be long. She + would soon come to him, and time passed swiftly. + </p> + <p> + "That is the prologue to my little play. Pretty prologue, isn't it?—but + commonplace. The play proper isn't! The same conditions affect men + differently. When I learned what I have told—after the first awful + five minutes—I don't like to think of them, even now!—I became + the most deliberate man on the face of this earth peopled with sinners. + Sometimes, they say, the whole substance of a man's blood may be changed + in a second by chemical action. My blood was changed, I think. The poison + had transmuted it. There was a leaden sluggishness, but my head was clear. + </p> + <p> + "I had odd fancies. I remember I thought of a nobleman who had another + torn slowly apart by horses for proving false to him at the siege of + Calais. His cruelty had been a youthful horror to me. Now I had a + tremendous appreciation of the man. 'Good fellow, good fellow!' I went + about muttering to myself in a foolish, involuntary way. I wondered how my + wife's lover could endure the strain of four strong Clydesdales, each + started at the same moment, one north, one south, one east, one west. His + charming personal appearance recurred to me, and I thought of his fine + neck. Women like a fine-throated man, and he was one. I wondered if my + wife's fancy tended the same way. It was well this idea came to me, for it + gave me an inspiration. I thought of the dog. + </p> + <p> + "There is no harm, is there, in training a dog to pull down a stuffed + figure? There is no harm, either, if the stuffed figure be given the + simulated habiliments of some friend of yours. And what harm can there be + in training the dog in a garden arbor instead of in a basement? I dropped + into the way of being at home a little more. I told my wife she should + have alternate nights at least, and she was grateful and delighted. And on + the nights when I was at home I would spend half an hour in the grounds + with the dog, saying I was training him in new things, and no one paid + attention. I taught him to crouch in the little lane close to the + summer-house, and to rush down and leap upon the manikin when I displayed + it at the other end. Ye gods! how he learned to tear it down and tear its + imitation throat! The training over, I would lock him in the basement as + usual. But one night I had a dispatch come to me summoning me to another + city. The other man was to call that evening, and he came. I left before + nine o'clock, but just before going I released the dog. He darted for the + post in the garden, and with gleaming eyes crouched, as he had been + accustomed to do, watching the entrance of the arbor. + </p> + <p> + "I can always sleep well on a train. I suppose the regular sequence of + sounds, the rhythmic throb of the motion, has something to do with it. I + slept well the night of which I am telling, and awoke refreshed when I + reached the city of my destination. I was driven to a hotel; I took a + bath; I did what I rarely do, I drank a cocktail before breakfast, but I + wanted to be luxurious. I sat down at the table; I gave my order, and then + lazily opened the morning paper. One of the dispatches deeply interested + me. + </p> + <p> + "'Inexplicable Tragedy' was the headline. By the way, 'Inexplicable + Tragedy' contains just about the number of letters to fill a line neatly + in the style of heading now the fashion. I don't know about such things, + but it seems to me compact and neat and most effective. The lines which + followed gave a skeleton of the story: + </p> + <h4> + "'A WELL-KNOWN GENTLEMAN KILLED BY A DOG. + </h4> + <h5> + "'THEORY OF THE CASE WHICH APPEARS THE ONLY ONE POSSIBLE UNDER THE + CIRCUMSTANCES.' + </h5> + <p> + "I read the dispatch at length. A man is naturally interested in the news + from his own city. It told how a popular club man had been found in the + early morning lying dead in the grounds of a friend, his throat torn open + by a huge dog, an Ulm, belonging to that friend, which had somehow escaped + from the basement of the house, where it was usually confined. The + gentleman had been a caller at the residence the same evening, and had + left at a comparatively early hour. Some time later the mistress of the + place had gone out to a summer-house in the grounds to see that the + servants had brought in certain things used at a luncheon there during the + day, but had seen nothing save the dog, which snarled at her, when she had + gone into the house again. In the morning the gardener found the body of + Mr.——— lying about midway of an arbor leading from a + gateway to the summer-house. It was supposed that the unfortunate + gentleman had forgotten something, a message or something of that sort, + and upon its recurrence to him had taken the shorter cut to reach the + house again, as he might do naturally, being an intimate friend of the + family. That was all there was of the dispatch. + </p> + <p> + "Oddly enough, I received no telegram from my wife, but under the + circumstances I could do nothing else than return to my home at once. I + sought my wife, to whom I expressed my horror and my sorrow, but she said + very little. The dog I found in the basement, and he seemed very glad to + see me. It has always been a source of regret to me that dogs cannot talk. + I see that some one has learned that monkeys have a language, and that he + can converse with them, after a fashion. If we could but talk with dogs! + </p> + <p> + "I saw the body, of course. I asked a famous surgeon once which would kill + a man the quicker: severance of the carotid artery or the jugular vein? I + forget what his answer was, but in this case it really cut no figure. The + dog had torn both open. It was on the left side. From this I infer that + the dog sprang from the right, and that it was that big fang in his left + upper jaw that did the work. Come here, you brute, and let me open your + mouth! There, you see, as I turn his lips back, what a beauty of a tooth + it is! I've thought of having that particular fang pulled, and of having + it mounted and wearing it as a charm on my watch-chain, but the dog is + likely to die long before I do, and I've concluded to wait till then. But + it's a beautiful tooth! + </p> + <p> + "I've mentioned, I believe, that my wife was a woman of keen perception. + You will understand that after the unfortunate affair in the garden, our + relations were somewhat—I don't know just what word to use, but + we'll say 'quaint.' It's a pretty little word, and sounds grotesque in + this conversation. One day I provided an allowance for her, a good one, + and came away here alone to play farmer and shoot and fish for four or + five years. Somehow I lost interest in things, and knew I needed a rest. + As for her, she left the house very soon and went to her own home. Oddly + enough, she is in love with me now—in earnest this time. But we + shall not live together again. I could never eat a peach off which the + street vendors had rubbed the bloom. I never bought goods sold after a + fire, even though externally untouched. I don't believe much in salvage as + applied to the relations of men and women. I've seen, in the early + morning, the unfortunates who eat choice bits from the garbage barrels. So + they stifle a hunger, but I couldn't do it, you know. Odd, isn't it, what + little things will disturb the tenor of a man's existence and interfere + with all his plans? + </p> + <p> + "I came here and brought the dog with me. I'm fond of him, despite the + failings in his character. Notwithstanding his currishness and the + cowardly ferocity which comes out with the night, there is something + definite about him. You know what to expect and what to rely upon. He does + something. That is why I like Ulm. + </p> + <p> + "What am I going to do? Why, come back to town next year and pick up the + threads. My nerves, which seemed a little out of the way, are better than + they were when I came here. There's nothing to equal country air. I must + have that whirl in my district yet. I don't think the boys have quite + forgotten me. Have you noticed the drift at all? I could only judge from + the papers. How are things in the Ninth Ward?" + </p> + <p> + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Hair" id="Hair">THE HAIR OF THE DOG THAT BIT HIM</a> + </h2> + <p> + I have read hundreds of queer histories. I have myself had various + adventures, but I know of no experience more odd than that of an old + schoolmate of mine named John Appleman. John was born in Macomb County, + southeastern Michigan, in the year 1830. His father owned a farm of one + hundred acres there. John's mother died when he was but a lad, and after + that he lived alone with his father upon the farm. In 1855 John's father + died. In 1856 John married a pretty girl of the neighborhood. A year later + a child was born to them, a daughter. This is the brief history of John + Appleman up to the time when he began to develop his real personality. + </p> + <p> + He was a contented personage in his early married life. His wife, while + not a shrew, had undoubted force of character, but there was not much + attrition; and his little daughter was, in John's estimation, the fairest + child upon the continent. Personally, he was content with all the world, + though his wife was somewhat less so. John had his failings. He was not + counted among the farmers of the neighborhood as a "pushing" man. There + was still much woodland in Macomb County in the year 1857, and in autumn + the woods were most enticing. Squirrels, black and gray, were still + abundant where the oak and hickory were; the ruffled grouse still fed in + families upon beech-nuts on the ridges and the thorn-apples of the + lowlands. The wild turkey still strutted about in flocks rapidly thinning, + and occasionally a deer fell to the lot of the shrewd hunter. John liked + to hunt and fish. He wasted time that way, his neighbors said, and his + wife was of the same opinion. It is true, he possessed certain qualities + which, even in their utilitarian eyes, commanded some slight respect. He + was so close to nature in his thoughts and fancies that he knew many + things which they did not, and which had a money value. It was he, for + instance, who first recognized the superior quality of the White + Neshannock, the potato of the time. It was he who grafted the Baldwin upon + his apple-trees, recognizing the fact that this particular apple was a + toothsome and marketable and relatively non-decaying fruit. And it was he + who could judge best as to what crosses and combinations would most + improve the breed of horses and cattle and hogs and sheep. They admitted + his "faculty," as they called it, in certain directions, but they had a + profound contempt for him in others. They could not understand why he + would leave standing in the midst of a wheat-field a magnificent soft + maple, the branches of which shaded and made untillable an area of scores + of yards. They could not understand why he hesitated to murder a tree. So + it came that he was with them while scarcely of them, and that Mrs. + Appleman, who could not comprehend, belonged to the majority. + </p> + <p> + It must not be understood that John Appleman was unpopular. On the + contrary, each sturdy farmer rather liked while he criticised him. Had + John run for township clerk, or possibly even for supervisor, that most + important of township honors throughout Michigan, he might have been + elected, but John did not know his strength. He recognized his own + weakness, after a fashion. He knew that he would work violently for a + month or two at a time, giving the vigorous hired man a decent test in + holding his physical own, and he knew that after that he would become what + the people called "slack," and a little listless; and it was in his slack + times that the squirrel and grouse most suffered. Between him and the wife + of his bosom had grown nothing, so grave as to be described as an armed + neutrality; but more and more he hesitated in entering the house after an + evening's work, and more and more he drifted down to the Corners—that + is, the cross-roads where were the postoffice and the blacksmith-shop and + the general store. He liked to be with the other fellows. He liked human + companionship; and since his fellows drank, he began to drink with them. + It is needless to explain how the habit grew upon him. The man who drinks + whisky affects his stomach, and the stomach affects the nerves, and there + is a sort of arithmetical progression until the stimulant eventually seems + to become almost a part of life; and the man, unless he be one of great + force of character, or one most knowing and scientific, must yield + eventually to the stress of close conditions. Time came when John Appleman + yielded, and carried whisky home in a gallon jug and hid it in the haymow. + </p> + <p> + Need does not exist for any going into details, for telling of what + happened at the cross-roads store, of what good stories were related day + by day and week by week and month by month, while the cup went round; it + is sufficient to say that the stomach of John Appleman became querulous + when he had not taken a stimulant within a limited number of hours, and + that he was in a fair way of becoming an ordinary drunkard. With his + experience and decadence came, necessarily, an expertness of judgment as + to the quality of that which he drank. He could tell good liquor from bad, + the young from the old. + </p> + <p> + It came that, being thoughtful and imaginative, John Appleman decided that + he, at least, should drink better liquor than did tipplers in general. He + would not be seen a weakly vagrant, buying his jugful at the corner store; + neither would he drink raw liquor. He would buy it in quantity and let it + age upon his farm, and so with each replenishing of the jug from his + private store would come an increase in quality derived from greater age, + until in time each daily tipple would be an absorption of something so + smooth and potent that immediate subsequent existence would be a thing + desirable in all ways. And John Appleman had a plan. + </p> + <p> + The Appleman barn and house stood perhaps three hundred yards apart, near + the crest of what was hardly worthy the name of hill, which sloped + downward into what they called the "flats," through which the creek ran. + The barn stood very close to uncleared woodland, and the banks ending the + woodland showed a decidedly rocky exterior. Appleman, chasing a woodchuck + one day, had seen him scurry into a hole in this rocky surface, and prying + away with a handspike had unloosed a small mass of rock and discovered a + cave; not much of a cave, it is true, but one of at least twenty feet in + length and eight or ten in breadth, and full six feet in height. This + discovery occurred a year or two before John felt the grip of any + stimulant. He had forgotten all about it until there came to him the idea + of drinking better whisky than did other people. + </p> + <p> + John had sold a yoke of oxen and a Blackhawk colt, and two hundred dollars + in gold were resting heavily in his little cherry-wood desk in the + farm-house sitting-room. One day he took ten of these gold-pieces and went + to town; not to the cross-roads, but to the larger place, some ten miles + distant, where was a distillery, and there he bought two barrels of + whisky. Whisky in those days, before the time of present taxes, was sold + from the distillery at prices ranging from thirty-five to fifty cents a + gallon, about forty-seven gallons to a barrel. The team of horses dragged + wearily home the heavy load; but they did not stop when home was reached, + either in front of the house or at the barn-yard gate. Instead, they were + turned aside through a rude gate leading into the flats, and thence drew + the load to the mouth of the little cave, where, unseen by any one, + Appleman tilted the barrels out and left them lying on the sward. + </p> + <p> + Other things had been bought in town that day, and Appleman had no + difficulty in giving reasons for the lateness of his home-coming. Next + day, though, he was a busy man. By the exercise of main strength, and the + leverage afforded with a strong ironwood handspike, he succeeded in + rolling both those barrels into the cave and uptilting them, and leaving + them standing high and dry. The cave was as dry as a bone. He noted with + satisfaction the overhanging clay bank above, and felt that if he were to + be called away his treasure would be safe, since the opening would + doubtless soon be hidden from the sight of anybody. When he went to bed + that night he thought much of the hidden barrels. + </p> + <p> + An incident has been neglected in this account. When John Appleman bought + those barrels, the son of the distiller, a boy of ten, was told to see + that two designated barrels were rolled out from the storeroom. The boy + marked them, utilizing the great chunk of red chalk which every country + boy carried in his pocket some forty years ago. Furthermore, being a boy + and having time to waste, he decorated the barrels with various grotesque + figures, the ungainly fruit of his imagination. This boy's work with that + piece of red chalk had an effect upon the future of John Appleman. + </p> + <p> + So things drifted, the whisky in the cave getting a little older, the + friction between John Appleman and his more business-like wife getting + somewhat more vigorous and emitting more domestic sparks, until there came + a change to every one. The farmer, who had read of martial music, heard + with his own ears the roll of the drum and the shrieking, encouraging call + of the fife. War was on, and good men abandoned homes and families and + surroundings because of what we call patriotism and principle. As for John + Appleman, he was among the very first to enlist. He went into the army + blithely. It is to be feared that John Appleman, like many a worthier man, + preferred the various conditions appertaining to the tented field and the + field of battle to that narrower scene of conflict called the home. Before + leaving, however, he crept into the cave and varnished those two barrels + with exceeding thoroughness. + </p> + <p> + "That will rather modify the process of evaporation. There will be good + whisky there when I come home next year," he said. + </p> + <p> + John Appleman went to the war with a Michigan regiment, and it is but + justice to him to say that he made an amazingly good soldier. He was made + corporal and sergeant, and later second lieutenant, and filled that + position gallantly until the war ended. That was his record in the great + struggle. Meanwhile his home relations had somewhat changed. + </p> + <p> + Rather happier in the army than on the farm, John Appleman had felt a + sense of half-gratitude that there had been no objection to his departure, + and for months after he left Michigan he sent most of his soldier's pay + home to his wife. Then came promotion and little attendant expenses, and + he sent less. There came no letter, and after a while he sent nothing at + all. "They have a good farm there which should support them," so he said + to himself; "as for me, I am a poor fellow battling along down here, and + what little I get I need." There ceased to be any remittances, and there + ceased to be any correspondence. + </p> + <p> + The war ended and John Appleman was free again; but he had a personal + acquaintance with a friend of the Confederate Major John Edwards of + Missouri, the right-hand man of the daring General Joe Shelby. There were + meetings and an exchange of plans and confidences, and the end of it all + was, that Appleman rode into Mexico on that famous foray led by Shelby, + when the tottering throne of Maximilian was almost given new foundation by + the quixotic raiders. The story of that foray is well known, and there is + no occasion for repeating it. It need only be said that when Shelby's men + rode gayly home again, John Appleman was not in their company. He had met + an old friend in the turbulent City of Mexico; had, with due permission, + abandoned the ranks of the wild riders, and had fled away to where were + supposable peace and quiet. There was something of cowardice in his action + now. He had delayed his home-going; he should have been in Michigan + shortly after Appomattox, and now he was afraid to face his vigorous wife + and make an explanation. In Guaymas, on the western coast, he thought + peace might be. So he bestrode a mule, and with his friend traveled + laboriously to the shores of the Pacific, and there with this same friend + dropped into the lazy but long life of the latitude. + </p> + <p> + If one had no memory one could do many things. Memory clings ever to a + man's coat-tails and drags him back to where he was before. There was a + tug upon the coat-tails of John Appleman. He was homesick at times. The + musky odors of the coast in blooming time often oppressed him. The + fragrance of the tropic blossom had never become sweeter in his nostrils + than the breath of northern pines. He wanted to go home, but feared to do + so. Mrs. Appleman was assuming monumental proportions in his estimation. + And so the years went by, and John Appleman, dealing out groceries in + Guaymas for such brief hours of the day as people bought things, his + partner relieving him half the time, hungered more with each passing year + to see southeastern Michigan, and with each passing year became more + alarmed over the prospect of facing the partner of his joys and sorrows + there. He was an Anglo-Saxon, far away from home, and the racial instinct + and the home instinct were very strong upon him. + </p> + <p> + With a tendency toward becoming a drunkard when he left home, John + Appleton had not developed into one, either during his long experience as + a soldier, or later in western Mexico. There was nothing unexplainable in + this. Certain men of a certain quality, worried and hampered, are liable + to resort to stimulants; the same sort of men, unhampered, need no + stimulants at all. To such as these pure air and nature are stimulants + sufficient. Whoever heard of a drunken pioneer and facer of natural + difficulties, from Natty Bumpo of imagination to Kit Carson of reality? + John Appleman as a soldier did not drink. As a half idler in Guaymas he + tried, casually, <i>mescal</i> and <i>aguardiente</i> and all Mexican + intoxicants, but cast them aside as things unnecessary. More years passed, + and finally fear of Mrs. Appleman became to an extent attenuated, while + the scent of the clover-blossoms gained intensity. And one morning in + April, of the good year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and + ninety-four, John Appleman said to himself: "I am going home to take the + consequences. The old lady"—thus honestly he spoke to himself—"can't + be any worse than this hunger in me. I am going to Michigan." + </p> + <p> + So he started from Guaymas. He had very little money. The straightening up + of affairs showed him to possess only about four hundred dollars to the + good, but he started gallantly, shirking in his mind the meeting, but + overpowered by the homing instinct, the instinct which leads the + carrier-pigeon to its cot. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile there had been living and change upon the farm. Mother and + daughter, left together, existed comfortably for some years, with the aid + of the one hired man. The war over, the wife waited patiently the return + of the husband from whom no letter had come for a long time, but who she + knew was still alive, learning this from returning members of his company, + who had told of his good services. She had learned later of his + companionship with the Confederate group under Shelby; but as time passed + and no word came, doubt grew upon her. She wrote to some of the leaders of + that wild campaign, and learned from their kindly answers that her husband + had been lost from them somewhere in Mexico. Both she and her daughter + finally decided that he must have met death. In 1867 Mrs. Appleman put on + mourning, and she and Jane, the daughter, settled down into the management + of their own affairs. + </p> + <p> + As heretofore indicated, the farm had not been a bonanza, even when its + master was in charge, though its soil was rich and it was a most desirable + inheritance. Even less profitable did it become under the management of + the supposed widow and her daughter. They struggled courageously and + faithfully, but they were at a disadvantage. The mowing-machine and the + reaper had taken the place of the scythe and cradle. The singing of the + whetstone upon steel was heard no longer in the meadows nor among the + ripened grain. The harrow had cast out the hoe. The work of the farm was + accomplished by patent devices in wood and steel. To utilize these aids, + to keep up with the farming procession, required a degree of capital, and + no surplus had accrued upon the Appleman farm. Mrs. Appleman was compelled + to borrow when she bought her mowing-machine, and the slight mortgage then + put upon the place was increased when other necessary purchases were made + in time. The mortgage now amounted to eleven hundred dollars, and had been + that for over four years, the annual interest being met with the greatest + difficulty. The farm, even with the few improved facilities secured, + barely supported the widow and her daughter. They could lay nothing aside, + and now, in 1894, there was not merely a threat, but the certainty, of a + foreclosure unless the eleven hundred dollars should be paid. It was due + on the twentieth of September. It was the first of September when John + Appleman started from Guaymas for home. It was nine days later when he + left the little Michigan station in the morning and walked down the + country road toward his farm. + </p> + <p> + He was sixty-four years of age now, but he was a better-looking man than + he was when he entered the army. His step was vigorous, his eye was clear, + and there was lacking all that dull look which comes to the countenance of + the man who drinks intoxicants. He was breathing deeply as he walked, and + gazing with a sort of childish delight upon the Michigan landscape about + him. + </p> + <p> + It seemed to Appleman as if he were awakening from a dream. Real dreams + had often come to him of this scene and his return to it, but the reality + exceeded the figments of the night. A quail whistled, and he compared its + note with that of its crested namesake in Mexico, much to the latter's + disadvantage. A flicker passed in dipping flight above the pasture, and it + seemed to him that never before was such a golden color as that upon its + wings. Even the call of the woodpecker was music to him, and the chatter + and chirr of a red squirrel perched jauntily on the rider of a rail fence + seemed to him about the most joyous sound he had ever heard. He felt as if + he were somehow being born again. And when his own farm came into view, + the feeling but became intensified. He thought he had never seen so fair a + place. + </p> + <p> + He crossed the bridge above the creek which flowed through his own farm, + and saw a man engaged in cutting away the willow bush which had assumed + too much importance along the borders of the little stream. He called the + man to him, and did what was a wise thing, something of which he had + thought much during his long railroad journey. + </p> + <p> + "Are you working for Mrs. Appleman?" he asked. + </p> + <p> + The man answered in the affirmative. + </p> + <p> + "Well," said John, "I want you to go up to the house and say to her that + her husband has come back and will be there in a few minutes." + </p> + <p> + The man started for the house. Appleman sat down on the edge of the bridge + and let his legs dangle above the water, just as he had done many years + ago when he was a barefooted boy and had fished for minnows with a pin + hook. How would his wife receive him, and what could he say to her? Well, + he would tell her the truth, that was all, and take the chances. He rose + and went up the road until opposite his own gate. How familiar the yard + seemed to him! There was the gravel path leading from the gate to the + door, and the later flowers, the asters and dahlias, were in bloom on + either side, just as they were when he went away in 1861. The brightness + of the forenoon was upon everything, and it was all invigorating. He + opened the gate and walked toward the house, and just as he reached his + hand toward the latch of the door, it opened, and a woman whose hair was + turning gray put her arms about his neck and drew him inside, weeping, and + with the exclamation, "Oh, John!" + </p> + <p> + There was another woman, fair-faced and demure, whom he did not recognize + at first, but who kissed him and called him father. Of what else happened + at this meeting I do not know. The reunion was at least good, and John + Appleman was a very happy man. + </p> + <p> + But the practical phases of life are prompt in asserting themselves. It + was not long before John Appleman knew the problem he had to face. There + was a mortgage nearly due for eleven hundred dollars on the farm, and he + had in his possession only about three hundred dollars. A shrewder + financier than he might have known how to renew the mortgage, or to lift + it by making a new one elsewhere, for the farm was worth many times the + sum involved. But Appleman was not a financier. The burden of anxiety + which had rested upon his wife and daughter now descended upon him. He + brooded and worried until he saw the hour of execution only five days off, + with no reasonable existent prospect of saving himself. He wandered about + the fields, plotting and planning vaguely, but to little purpose. One day + he stood beside the creek, gazing absent-mindedly toward the hillside. + </p> + <p> + Something about the hillside, some association of ideas, perhaps the view + of a gnarled honey-suckle-bush where he had gathered flowers in his + childhood, set his memory working, and there flashed upon him the incident + of the cave, and what he had left concealed there when he went into the + army. He looked for the cave's entrance, but saw none. The matter began to + interest him. Why there was no entrance visible was easily explained. Clay + had overrun with the spring rains from the cultivated field above, + building gradually upward from the bottom of the little hill until the + aperture had been entirely hidden. This deposit of clay, a foot perhaps in + depth, reached nearly to the summit of the slight declivity. Appleman + began speculating as to where the cave might be, and his curiosity so grew + upon him that he resolved to learn. He cut a stout blue-beach rod and + sharpened one of it, and estimating as closely as he could where the + little cave had been, thrust in his testing-pole. Scarcely half a dozen + ventures were required to attain his object. He found the cave, then went + to the barn and secured a spade and came back to do a little digging. He + had begun to feel an interest in the fate of those two whisky barrels. It + was not a difficult work to effect an entrance to the cave, and within an + hour from the time he began digging Appleman was inside and examining + things by the aid of a lantern which he had brought. He was astonished. + The cave had evidently never been entered by any one save himself; all was + dry and clean, and the two barrels stood apparently just as he had left + them, over thirty years ago. He decided that they must be empty, that + their contents must have long since evaporated; but when he tried to tilt + one of them over upon its side he found it very heavy. He made further + test that day, boring a hole into the top of one of the barrels, with the + result that there came forth a fragrance compared with which, to a judge + of good liquor, all the perfumes of Araby the Blest would be of no + importance. He measured the depth of the remaining contents, and found + that each barrel was more than two-thirds full. Then he hitched a horse to + a buggy and drove to town—drove to the same distillery where he had + bought those barrels in the latter 'fifties. The distiller of that time + had passed away and his son reigned in his stead—the youth who had + decorated the barrels with the red chalk-marks. To him, now a keen, + middle-aged business man, Appleman told his story. The distiller was + deeply interested, but incredulous. "I will drive back with you," he said; + and late that afternoon the two men visited the cave. + </p> + <p> + The visit was a brief one. No sooner did the distiller observe those lurid + hieroglyphics upon the barrels than he uttered a shout of delight. There + came back to him the memory of that afternoon so many years ago, and of + his boyish exploit in decoration. He applied his nose judicially to the + auger-hole in the barrel's top. He estimated the amount of spirits in + each. "I wouldn't have believed it," he said, "if I hadn't seen it. It's + because you varnished the barrels. That made evaporation slow. I'll give + you twenty dollars a gallon for all there is of it." + </p> + <p> + "I'll take it," said John Appleman. + </p> + <p> + There were in those two barrels just seventy-six gallons of whisky, to + compare with which in quality there was practically nothing else upon the + continent; at least so swore the distiller. Twenty times seventy-six + dollars is fifteen hundred and twenty dollars. The mortgage on the farm + was paid, and John Appleman and wife and daughter leaned back content, out + of debt, and, counting the little John had brought home, with four or five + hundred dollars to the good in the county bank. They are doing very well + now. Appleman regrets the disappearance of the deer, wild turkey and + ruffed grouse, but the quail are abundant, and the flowers bloom as + brightly and the birds sing as sweetly as in the days before the war. + Time, just as it improved the whisky, has improved his wife, and she has a + mellower flavor. He prefers Michigan to Mexico. + </p> + <p> + I have read somewhere that there is a moral to the life of every man. I + have often speculated as to the moral appertaining to the career of + Appleman. If he had never bought those two barrels of whisky he would have + lost his farm. On the other hand, had he never taken to drink, he might + have remained at home an ordinary decent citizen, and his farm have never + been in peril. The only moral I have been able to deduce is this: If by + any chance you come into possession of any quantity of whisky, don't drink + it, but bury it for thirty-five years at least, and see what will happen. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Love" id="Love">THE MAN WHO FELL IN LOVE</a> + </h2> + <p> + He lived in one of the great cities in this country, the man who fell in + love, and was in that city a character at least a little above the + ordinary rut of men. He had talent and energy, and there had come to him a + hard schooling in city ways, though he was born in the forest, and his + youth had been passed upon a farm sloping downward to the shore of the St. + Clair River, that wonderful strait and stretch of water which flows + between broad meadowlands and wheat-fields and connects Lake Huron with + the lower lake system, and itself becomes at last the huge St. Lawrence + tumbling down into the Atlantic Ocean. Upon the St. Clair River now passes + hourly, in long procession, the huge fleet of the lakes, the grain and ore + laden crafts of Lake Superior, queer "whalebacks" and big propellers, and + the vast fleet of merchantmen from Chicago and Milwaukee and other ports + of the inland seas. The procession upon the watery blue ribbon a mile in + width, stretching across the farm lands, is something not to be seen + elsewhere upon the globe. The boats seen from a distance appear walking + upon the land. Broad sails show white and startling against green groves + upon the shore, and the funnels of steamers rear themselves like smoking + stumps of big trees beyond a corn-field. Here passes a traffic greater in + tonnage than that of the Suez Canal, of the Mersey, or even of the Thames. + But it was not so when the man who fell in love was a boy. There were + dense forests upon the river's banks then, and only sailing crafts and an + occasional steamer passed, for that was half a century ago. + </p> + <p> + The man who was to fall in love, as will be told, had, in the whirl of + city life, almost forgotten the sturdy days when he was a youngster in the + little district school, when at other times he rode a mare dragging an + old-fashioned "cultivator," held by his father between the corn rows, and + when the little farm hewed out of the woodland had yet stumps on every + acre, when "loggings" and "raisings" drew the pioneers together, and when + he, one of the first-born children of that region, had fled for comfort in + every boyish strait to a gentle, firm-faced woman who was his mother. He + had, with manhood, drifted to the city, and had become one of the city's + cream in all acuteness and earnestness and what makes the pulse of life, + when thousands and tens and hundreds of thousands congregate to live + together in one vast hive. He was a man of affairs, a man of the world, + easily at home among traders and schemers for money, at a political + meeting, at a banquet, or in society. Sometimes, in the midst of things, + would float before his eyes a vision of woods, of dark soil, of a + buckwheat field, of squirrels on brush fences, of a broad, blue river, and + finally of a face, maternal and sweet, with brown eyes, hovering over him + watchfully and lovingly. He would think of the earnest, thoughtful, bold + upbringing of him, and his heart would go out to the woman; but the tide + of city affairs rose up and swept away the vision. Still, he was a good + son, as good sons at a distance go, and occasionally wrote a letter to the + woman growing older and older, or sent her some trifle for remembrance. He + was reasonably content with himself. + </p> + <p> + Here comes another phase of description in this brief account of affairs + of the man who fell in love. One afternoon a woman sat in an arm-chair on + the long porch in front of what might have by some been called a summer + cottage, by others a farm-house, overlooking the St. Clair River. The + chair she sat in was of oak, with no arms, and tilted easily backward, yet + with no chance of tipping clear over. It must have cost originally about + four dollars. In its early days it had possessed a cane back and cane + bottom, through the round holes of which the little children were + accustomed to thrust their fingers, getting them caught sometimes, and + howling until released. Now its back was of stout canvas, and its seat of + cords, upon which a cushion rested. It was in general appearance, though + stout enough, a most disreputable chair among the finer and more modern + ones which stood along the porch upon either side. But it was this chair + that the aging woman loved. "It was this chair he liked," she would say, + "and it shall not be discarded. He used to sit in it and rock and dream, + and it shall stay there while I live." She spoke the truth. It was that + old chair the boy, now the city man, had liked best of all. + </p> + <p> + She sat there, this gray-haired woman, a picture of one of the mothers who + have made this nation what it is. The hair was drawn back simply from the + broad, clear forehead, and her strong aquiline features were sweet, with + all their force. Her dress was plain. She sat there, looking across the + blue waters thoughtfully, and at moments wistfully. + </p> + <p> + Not far from the woman on the long, broad porch was a pretty younger + woman, and beside her two children were playing. The younger woman, the + mother of the tumbling youngsters, was the niece of the elder one in the + rude old rocking-chair. She spoke to the two children at times, repressing + them when they became too boisterous, or petting and soothing when + misadventure came to either of them in their gambols. At last she moved + close to the elder, and began to talk. The conversation was about the + children, and there was much to say, the gray-haired woman listening + kindly and interestedly. Finally she spoke. + </p> + <p> + "Take comfort with the children now, Louisa," she said, gently, "because + it will be best for you. It is a strange thing; it is something we cannot + comprehend, though doubtless it is all for the best, but I often think + that my happiest days were when my children were little, climbing about my + skirts, dependent upon me for everything, as birds in the nest are + dependent, and with all my anxiety over them, giving me the greatest + comfort that can come to a woman. But the years passed, and the children + went away. They are good men and women; I am proud of them, but they are + mine no longer. They love the old mother, too, I know that—when they + think of her. But, oh, Louisa! there is lead in my heart sometimes. I want + something closer. But I'll not complain. Why should I? It is the law of + nature." And she sighed and looked again across the blue water. There were + tears in the corners of her eyes. + </p> + <p> + The niece, hopeful in the pride of young motherhood, replied consolingly: + "Aunt, you should be proud of your children. Even Jack, the oldest of them + all, is as good as he can be. Think of his long letters once in a while. + He loves you dearly." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," the old lady replied; "I know he loves me—when he thinks of + old times and his boyhood. But, Louisa, I am very lonesome." + </p> + <p> + And again her eyes sought the water and the yellow wheat-fields of the + farther shore. + </p> + <p> + The road which follows the American bank of the St. Clair River is a fine + thing in its way. It is what is known as a "dirt" road, well kept and + level, of the sort beloved of horses and horsemen, and it lies close to + the stream, between it and the farm lands. At every turn a new and + wonderful panorama of green and yellow landscape and azure expanse of + water bursts upon the lucky traveler along this blessed highway. Still, + being a "dirt" road, when one drives along it at speed there arises in + midsummer a slight pillar of dust as the conveyance passes, and one may + from a distance note the approach of a possible visitor. + </p> + <p> + "There's a carriage coming, aunt," said the younger woman. + </p> + <p> + The carriage came along rapidly, and with a sudden check the horses were + brought to a standstill in front of the house upon the porch of which the + two women were sitting. Out of the carriage bounded a broad-shouldered + gentleman, who stopped only for a moment to give directions to the driver + concerning the bringing of certain luggage to the house, and who then + strode up the pathway confidently. The elder woman upon the porch looked + upon the performance without saying a word, but when the man had got + half-way up the walk she rose from the chair, moved swiftly for a woman of + her age to where the broad steps from the pathway led up to the porch, and + met the ascending visitor with the simple exclamation: + </p> + <p> + "Jack, my boy!" + </p> + <p> + Jack, the "my boy" of the occasion, seemed a trifle affected himself. He + looked the city man, every inch of him, and was one known under most + circumstances to be self-contained, but upon this occasion he varied a + little from his usual form. He stooped to kiss the woman who had met him, + and then, changing his mind, reached out his arms and hugged her a little + as he kissed her. It was a good meeting. + </p> + <p> + There was much to talk about, and the mother's face was radiant; but the + instinct of caring and providing for the being whom she had brought into + the world soon became paramount in her breast, and she moved, as she had + done decades ago, to provide for the physical needs of her child. This man + of the world from the city was but the barefooted six-year-old whom she + had borne and loved and fed and guarded in the years that were past. She + must care for him now. And so she told him that he must have supper, and + that he must let her go; and there was a sweet tinge of motherly authority + in her words—unconsciously to her, arbitrary and unconsciously to + him, submissive—and she left him to smoke upon the broad porch, and + dawdle in the chair he remembered so well, and talk with the bright + Louisa. + </p> + <p> + As for the supper—it would in the city have been called a dinner—it + was good. There were fine things to eat. What about biscuits, so light and + fragrant and toothsome that the butter is glad to meet them? What about + honey, brought by the bees fresh from the buckwheat-field? What about ham + and eggs, so fried that the appetite-tempting look of the dish and the + smell of it makes one a ravenous monster? What about old-fashioned + "cookies" and huckleberry pie which melts in the mouth? What about a cup + of tea—not the dyed green abomination, but luscious black tea, with + the rich old flavor of Confucian ages to it, and a velvety smoothness to + it and softness in swallowing? What about preserves, recalling old + memories, and making one think of bees and butterflies and apples on the + trees and pumpkins in the cornrows, and robins and angle-worms and + brown-armed men in the hay-fields? Eh, but it was a supper! + </p> + <p> + It was late when the man from the city went to bed, and there was much + talk, for he had told his mother that he intended to stay a little longer + this time than in the past; that he had been bothered and fled away from + everything for rest. "We'll go up the river to-morrow," said he, "just you + and I, and 'visit' with each other." + </p> + <p> + He went to his room and got into bed, and then came a little tap at his + door. His mother entered. She asked the big strong man how he felt, and + patted his cheek and tucked the bedclothes in about his feet and kissed + him, and went away. He went back forty years. And he repeated reverently—he + could not help it—"Now I lay me," and slept well. + </p> + <p> + There was a breakfast as fine as had been the supper, and as for the + coffee, the hardened man of the city and jests and cynicism found himself + wondering that there should have developed jokes about what "mother used + to make." The more he thought of it, the madder he became. "We are a + nation of cheap laughers," he said to himself savagely. + </p> + <p> + At nine o'clock the mother came out to where the man was smoking on the + piazza, with her bonnet on and ready for the little boat-trip. They were + to go to the outlet of Lake Huron and back. They would have luncheon + either at Sarnia or Port Huron. They would decide when the time came. They + were two vagrants. + </p> + <p> + Dawdling in steamer chairs and looking upon the Michigan shore sat little + mother of the country and big son of the city. The woman—the blessed + silver-haired creature—forgot herself, and talked to the son as a + crony. She pointed out spots upon the shore where she, an early teacher in + the wilderness, had adventures before he was born. There was Bruce's + Creek, emptying into the river; and Mr. Bruce, most long-lived of + pioneers, had but lately died, aged one hundred and five years. There was + where the little school-house stood in which she once taught school in + 1836. There was where she, riding horseback with a sweetheart who later + became governor of the state, once joined with him in a riotous and + aimless chase after a black bear which had crossed the road. Her cheeks, + upon which there were not many wrinkles, glowed as she told the story of + her youth to the man beside her. He looked upon her with the full + intelligence of a great relationship for the first time in his life. He + fell in love with her. + </p> + <p> + It dawned upon this man, trained, cynical, an arrogant production of the + city, what this woman had been to him. She alone of all the human beings + in the world had clung to him faithfully. She had borne and bred, and now + she cherished him, and for one who could see beneath the shell and see the + mind and soul, she was wonderfully fair to look upon. He had neglected her + in all that is best and most appreciated of what would make a mother + happiest. But now he was in love. Here came in the man. He had the courage + to go right in to the woman, a little while after they had reached home, + and tell her all about it. And the foolish woman cried! + </p> + <p> + A man with a sweetheart has, of course, to look after her and provide for + her amusement. So it happened that Jack the next morning announced in + arbitrary way to his mother that they were going to Detroit. + </p> + <p> + Men who have been successful in love will remember that after the first + declaration and general admission of facts the woman is for a time most + obedient. So it came that this man's sweetheart obeyed him implicitly, and + went upstairs to get ready for the journey. She came down almost blushing. + </p> + <p> + "My bonnet," she said, as she came from her room smelling of lavender and + dressed for the journey, "is a little old-fashioned, but it just suits me; + I am old-fashioned myself." + </p> + <p> + She was smiling with the happy look of a girl. + </p> + <p> + Jack looked at her admiringly. She wore the black silk dress which every + American woman considers it only decent that she should have. It was made + plainly, without ruffles or bugles or lace, and it fitted her erect, + stately figure perfectly. A broad real lace collar encircled her neck, and + Jack recognized with delight the solid gold brooch—in shape like + nothing that was ever on sea or land—with which it was fastened. It + was a relic from the dim past. Jack remembered that piece of jewelry as + far back as his memory stretched. + </p> + <p> + The old lady's hands were neatly gloved, and her feet were shod with + substantial, well-kept laced shoes. Everything about her was immaculate. + Jack knew that she had never laid aside the white petticoats and stockings + it was her pride to keep spotless. She abominated the new fashions of + black and silk. Jack could hear her starched skirts rustle as she came + toward him. Her bonnet was black and in style of two or three years back, + and its silk and lace were a trifle rusty. + </p> + <p> + "Never mind, mother, we will buy you a bonnet 'as is a bonnet' before we + come back," the man said as he kissed the happy, shining face. + </p> + <p> + The steamers which ply between Detroit and Port Huron and Sarnia are big + and sumptuous, and upon them one sits under awnings in midsummer, and if + knowing, takes much delight in the wonderful scenery passed. The St. Clair + River pours into St. Clair Lake, and Lake St. Clair is one of the great + idling places of those upon this continent who can afford to idle. It is a + shallow lake, upon the American side stretching out into what are known as + the "Flats," a vast area of wild rice with deep blue waterways through + them, the haunt of the pickerel and black bass and of duck and wild geese. + Upon the Canadian side, the Thames River comes through the lowlands, a + deep and reed-fringed stream to contribute to the lake's pure waters. It + was upon the banks of this stream, a little way from the lake, that the + great Indian, Tecumseh, fought his last fight and died as a warrior + should. There is nothing that is not beautiful on the waterway from Lake + Huron to Lake St. Clair. It is just the place in which to realize how good + the world is. It is just the place for lovers. So Jack, the man who had + fallen in love, and his gray-haired sweetheart were vastly content as the + steamer bore them toward Detroit. + </p> + <p> + The man looked upon the woman in a cherishing mood as she sat beside him + in a comfortable chair. He noted again the gray hair, thinner than it was + once, and thought of the time when he, a thoughtless boy, wondered at its + mass and darkness. He compared the pale, aquiline features with the beauty + of the woman who, centuries ago it seemed, was accustomed to take him in + her lap and cuddle him and make him brave when childish misadventures + came. A greater wave of love than ever came over him. He regretted the + lost years when he might have made her happier, might have given her a + greater realization of what she had done in the world with her firm + example, in a new country, and the strong brood she had borne and suffered + for. And he had manhood enough and a sudden impulse to tell her all about + it. She listened, but said nothing, and clasped his hand. Mothers will cry + sometimes. + </p> + <p> + The city was reached, and there was a proper luncheon, and then the + arbitrary son dragged his sweetheart out upon the street with him. The + first thing, the matter of great importance, was the bonnet, not that he + cared for the bonnet particularly, but he was a-sweethearting. He was + going to spoil his girl if he could, that was what he said. His girl only + looked up with glistening eyes, and submitted obediently to be haled along + in the direction of a "swell" milliner's place, the name of which Jack had + secured after much examination of the directory and much inquiry in + offices where he was acquainted. + </p> + <p> + As they walked along the busy street they met a lady of unmistakably + distinguished appearance. Instantly she recognized the mother and son, and + stopped to greet them. + </p> + <p> + She was an old playmate of Jack's and a protégé of his mother's, now the + wife of a man of brains, influence, money, and a leader in the social life + of the City of the Straits. + </p> + <p> + There came an inspiration to the man. "Mrs. Sheldon," said he, "I want you + to help us. We are this moment about to engage in a business transaction + of great importance; in fact, if you must know the worst, we are going to + buy a bonnet!" + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Sheldon entered into the shopping expedition with a zest which + reminded Jack of the Scriptural battle-steed which sayeth "Ha-ha" to the + trumpets. When the brief but brisk and determined engagement was over, + Jack's mother appeared in a bonnet of delicate gray, just a shade darker + than her silver hair. There was a pink rose in that bonnet, half hidden by + lace, and in the cheeks of its wearer faintly bloomed two other pink + roses. It was just a dream in bonnets as suited to the woman. The mother + had protested prettily, had said the bonnet was "too young" and all that, + but had been browbeaten and overcome and made submissive. Mrs. Sheldon was + in her element, and happy. Well she knew the man of the world who had + demanded her aid, and much she wanted to please him; but deeper than all, + her woman's instinct told her of his suddenly realized love for his old + mother, and she was no longer a woman of fashion alone, but a helpful + human being. Even her own eyes were suspiciously moist as she dragged the + couple off to dine with her. + </p> + <p> + They were to go to the theater that evening, the man and his sweetheart, + and by chance stumbled upon a well-staged comic opera, with good music and + brilliant and picturesque although occasionally scanty costumes. On the + way down the son told the mother of how in Detroit, way back in the + sixties, he had seen for the first time a theatrical performance. He told + her what she had forgotten, how she had induced his father to take him to + the city, and how, in what was "Young Men's Hall," or something with a + similar name, he had seen Laura Keene in "A School for Scandal." Then she + remembered, and was glad. They had seats in a box at the theater, and from + the rising of the curtain till its final drop the man was in much doubt. + The manner in which women were dressed upon the stage had changed since + the last time when his mother had visited the theater. She was shocked + when she saw the forms of women, which, if at least well covered, were + none the less outlined. + </p> + <p> + There was talking in that box. The son explained. The blessed woman almost + "bolted" once or twice, but finally accepted all that was told her with + the precious though sometimes mistaken confidence a woman has in the + matured judgment of the man-child she has borne. Then, having a streak of + the Viking recklessness in her which she had given to her son, she enjoyed + herself amazingly. It was a glorious outing. + </p> + <p> + Well, in the way which has been described, the man made love to the woman + for a day or two. Then he took her home, and bade her good-by for a time, + and told her, in an exaggeratedly formal way, which she understood and + smiled at, that he and she must meet each other much oftener in the + future. Then he hugged her and went away. And she, being a mother whose + heart had hungered, watched his figure as it disappeared, and laughed and + cried and was very happy. + </p> + <p> + "Louisa," said a dignified old lady, "I was mistaken in saying that all + happiness from children comes in their youth. It may come in a greater way + later—if!" + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Tragedy" id="Tragedy">A TRAGEDY OF THE FOREST</a> + </h2> + <p> + It is Christmas eve. A man lies stretched on his blanket in a copse in the + depths of a black pine forest of the Saginaw Valley. He has been hunting + all day, fruitlessly, and is exhausted. So wearied is he with long hours + of walking, that he will not even seek to reach the lumbermen's camp, half + a mile distant, without a few moment's rest. He has thrown his blanket + down on the snow in the bushes, and has thrown himself upon the blanket, + where he lies, half dreaming. No thought of danger comes to him. There is + slight risk, he knows, even were he to fall asleep, though the deep + forests of the Saginaw region are not untenanted. He is in that + unexplainable mental condition which sometimes comes with extreme + exhaustion. His bodily senses are dulled and wearied, but a phenomenal + acuteness has come to those perceptions so hard of definition—partly + mental, partly psychological. The man lying in the copse is puzzled at his + own condition, but he does not seek to analyze it. He is not a student of + such phenomena. He is but a vigorous young backwoodsman, the hunter + attached to the camp of lumbermen cutting trees in the vicinity. The man + has lain for some time listlessly, but the feeling which he cannot + understand increases now almost to an oppression. He sees nothing, but + there is an unusual sensation which alarms him. He recognizes near him a + presence—fierce, intense, unnatural. A rustle in the twigs a few + feet distant falls upon his ears. He raises his head. What he sees + startles and at the same time robs him of all volition. It is not fear. He + is armed and is courageous enough. It is something else; some indefinable + connection with the object upon which he looks which holds him. There, + where it has drawn itself closely and stealthily from its covert in the + underbrush, is a huge gray wolf. + </p> + <p> + The man can see the gaunt figure distinctly, though the somber light is + deepening quickly into darkness. He can see the grisly coat, the yellow + fangs, the flaming eyes. He can almost feel the hot breath of the beast. + But something far more disturbing than that which meets his eye affects + him. His own individuality has become obscured and another is taking its + place. He struggles against the transformation, but in vain. He can read + the wolf's thoughts, or rather its fierce instincts and desires. He is the + wolf. + </p> + <p> + Undoubtedly there exists at times a relation between the souls of human + beings. One comprehends the other. There is a transfer of wishes, + emotions, impulses. Now something of the same kind has happened to the man + with this dreadful beast. He knows the wolf's heart. The man trembles like + one in fear. The perspiration comes in great drops upon his forehead, and + his features are distorted. It is a horrible thing. Now a change comes. + The wolf moves. He glides off in the darkness. The spell upon the man is + weakened, but it is not gone. He staggers to his feet, and half an hour + later is in the lumbermen's camp again. But he comes in like one insane—pallid + of face and muttering. His comrades, startled by his appearance, ply him + with questions, receiving only incoherent answers. They place him in his + rude bunk, where he lies writhing and twisting about as under strong + excitement. His eyes are staring, as if they must see what those about him + cannot see, and his breath comes quickly. He pants like a wild beast. + There is reason for it. His thoughts are with the wolf. He is the wolf. + The personalities of the ravening brute and of the man are blended now in + one, or rather the personality of the man has been eliminated. The man's + body is in the lumbermen's camp, but his mind is in the depths of the + forest. He is seeking prey! + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%" /> + <p> + "I am hungry! I must have warm blood and flesh! The darkness is here, and + my time has come. There are no deer to-night in the pine forest on the + hill, where I have run them down and torn them. The deep snow has driven + them into the lower forest, where men have been at work. The deer will be + feeding to-night on the buds of the trees the men have felled. How I hate + men and fear them! They are different from the other animals in the wood. + I shun them. They are stronger than I in some way. There is death about + them. As I crept by the farm beside the river this morning I saw a young + one, a child with yellow hair. Ah, how I would like to feed upon her! Her + throat was white and soft. But I dare not rush through the field and seize + her. The man was there, and he would have killed me. They are not hungry. + The odor of flesh came to me in the wind across the clearing. It was the + same way at this time when the snow was deep last year. It is some day on + which they feast. But I will feed better. I will have hot blood. The deer + are in the tops of the fallen trees now!" + </p> + <p> + Across frozen streams, gliding like a shadow through the underbrush, + swift, silent, with only its gleaming eyes to betray it, the gaunt figure + goes. Miles are past. The figure threads its way between the trunks of + massive trees. It passes over fallen logs with long, noiseless leaps; it + creeps serpent-like beneath the wreck left by a summer "cyclone"; it + crosses the barren reaches of oak openings, where the shadows cast by huge + pines adjacent mingle in fantastic figures; it casts a shifting shadow + itself as it sweeps across some lighter spot, where faint moonbeams find + their way to the ground through overhanging branches. The figure + approaches the spot where the lumbermen have been at work. Among the tops + of the fallen trees are other figures—light, graceful, flitting + about. The deer are feeding on the buds. + </p> + <p> + The eyes of the long gray figure stealing on grow more flaming still. The + yellow fangs are disclosed cruelly. Slowly it creeps forward. It is close + upon the flitting figures now. There is a rush, a fierce, hungry yelp, a + great leap. There is a crash of twigs and limbs. The flitting figures + assume another character; the beautiful deer, wild with fright, bounding + away with gigantic springs. The steady stroke of their hoofs echoes away + through the forest. In the tree-tops there is a great struggle, and then + the sound comes of another series of great leaps dying off in the + distance. The prey has escaped. But not altogether! The grisly figure is + following. The pace had changed to one of fierce pursuit. It is steady and + relentless. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%" /> + <p> + The man in the bunk in the lumbermen's camp half leaps to his feet. His + eyes are staring more wildly, his breathing is more rapid. He appears a + man in a spasm. His comrades force him to his bed again, but find it + necessary to restrain him by sheer strength. They think he has gone mad. + But only his body is with them. He is in the forest. His prey has escaped + him. He is pursuing it. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%" /> + <p> + "It has escaped me! I almost had it by its slender throat when it shook me + off and leaped away. But I will have it yet! I will follow swiftly till it + tires and falters, and then I will tear and feed upon it. The old wolf + never tires! Leap away, you fool, if you will. I am coming, hungry, never + resting. You are mine!" + </p> + <p> + With the speed of light the deer bounds away in the direction its fellows + have taken. Its undulating leaps are like the flight of a bird. The snow + crackles as its feet strike the frozen earth and flies off in a white + shower. The fallen tree-tops are left behind. Miles are covered. But ever, + in the rear, with almost the speed of the flying deer, sweeps along the + trailing shadow. It is long past midnight. The moon has risen high, and + the bright spots in the forest are more frequent. The deer crosses these + with a rush. A few moments later there is in the same place the passage of + shadow. Still they are far apart. Will they remain so? + </p> + <p> + Swiftly between the dark pines again, across frozen streams again, through + valleys and over hills, the relentless chase continues. The leaps of the + fleeing deer become less vaulting, a look of terror in its liquid eyes has + deepened; its tongue projects from its mouth, its wet flanks heave + distressfully, but it flies on in desperation. The distance between it and + the dark shadow behind has lessened plainly. There is no abatement to the + speed of this silent thing. It follows noiselessly, persistently. + </p> + <p> + The forest becomes thinner now. The flying deer bounds over a fence of + brushwood and suddenly into a sea of sudden light. It is the clearing in + the midst of which the farm-house stands. Across the sea of gold made by + the moonshine on the field of snow flies the deer, to disappear in the + depth of the forest beyond. It has scarcely passed from sight, when + emerging from the wood appears the pursuing figure. It is clearly visible + now. There are flecks of foam upon the jaws, the lips are drawn back from + the sharp fangs, and even the light from above does not dim nor lessen the + glare in the hungry eyes. The figure passes along the long bright space. + The same scene in the forest beyond, but intensified. The distance between + pursuer and pursued is lessening still. The leaps of the deer are + weakening now, its quick panting is painful. And the thing behind is + rushing along with its thirst for blood increased by its proximity. But + the darkness in the forest is disappearing. In the east there is a faint + ruddy tinge. It is almost morning. + </p> + <p> + "I shall have it! It is mine—the weak thing, with its rich, warm + blood! Swift of foot as it is, did it think to escape the old wolf? It + falters as it leaps. It is faint and tottering. How I will tear it! The + day has nearly come. How I hate the day! But the prey is mine. I will kill + it in the gray light." + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%" /> + <p> + The man in the bunk in the lumbermen's camp is seized with another spasm. + He struggles to escape from his friends, though he does not see them. He + is fiercely intent on something. His teeth are set and his eyes glare + fiercely. It requires half a dozen men to restrain him. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%" /> + <p> + The deer struggles on, still swiftly but with effort. Its breath comes in + agony, its eyes are staring from its sockets. It is a pitiable spectacle. + But the struggle for life continues. In its flight the deer had described + a circle. Once more the forest becomes less dense, the clearing with the + farm-house is reached again. With a last desperate effort the deer vaults + over the brushwood fence. The scene has changed again. The morning has + broken. The great snowy surface which was a sea of gold has become a sea + of silver. The farm-house stands out revealed plainly in the increasing + light. With flagging movement the fugitive passes across the field. But + there is a sudden, slight noise behind. The deer turns its head. Its + pursuer is close upon it. It sees the death which nears it. The monster, + sure now of its prey, gives a fierce howl of triumph. Terror lends the + victim strength. It turns toward the farm-house; it struggles through the + banks of snow; it leaps the low palings, where, beside great straw-stacks, + the cattle of the farm are herded. It disappears among them. + </p> + <p> + The door of the farm-house opens, and from it comes a man who strides away + toward where the cattle are gathered, lowing for their morning feed. After + the man there emerges from the door a little girl with yellow hair. The + child laughs aloud as she looks over the field of snow, with its myriads + of crystals flashing out all colors under the rays of the morning sun. She + dances along the footpath in a direction opposite that taken by the man. + Not far distant, creeping along a deep furrow, is a lank, skulking figure. + </p> + <p> + "Can it be? Has it escaped me, when it was mine? I would have torn it at + the farm-house door but that the man appeared. Must I hunger for another + day, when I am raging for blood! What is that! It is the child, and alone! + It has wandered away from the farm-house. Where is the great hound that + guards the house at night? Oh, the child! I can see its white throat + again. I will tear it. I will throttle the weak thing and still its cries + in an instant!" + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%" /> + <p> + The man in the bunk in the lumbermen's camp is wild again. His comrades + struggle to hold him down. + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%" /> + <p> + A horrible, hairy thing, with flaming eyes and hot breath, which leaps + upon and bears down a child with yellow hair. A hoarse growl, the rush of + a great hound, a desperate struggle in the snow, and the still air of + morning is burdened suddenly with wild clamor. There is an opening of + doors, there are shouts and calls and flying footsteps; and then, mingling + with the cries of the writhing brutes, rings out sharply the report of the + farmer's rifle. There is a howl of rage and agony, and a gaunt gray figure + leaps upward and falls quivering across the form of the child. The child + is lifted from the ground unhurt. The great hound has by the throat the + old wolf—dead! + </p> + <hr style="width: 25%" /> + <p> + The man in the lumbermen's camp has leaped from his bunk. His appearance + is something ghastly. His comrades spring forward to restrain him, but he + throws them off. There is a furious struggle with the madman. He has the + strength of a dozen men. The sturdy lumbermen at last gain the advantage + over him. Suddenly he throws up his hands and pitches forward upon the + floor of the shanty—dead. + </p> + <p> + They could never understand—the simple lumbermen—why the life + of the merry, light-hearted hunter of the party came to an end so suddenly + on the eve of Christmas Day. He was well the day before, they said, in + perfect health, but he went mad on the eve of Christmas Day, and in the + morning died. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Parasangs" id="Parasangs">THE PARASANGS</a> + </h2> + <p> + My friends, the Parasangs, both died last week. Mr. Parasang was carried + off by a slight attack of pneumonia as dust is wiped away by a cloth, and + Mrs. Parasang followed him within three days. He was in life a rather + energetic man, and she always lagged a little behind him when they went + abroad walking together, keeping pretty close to him, notwithstanding. So + it was in death. It was the shock of the thing, they say, that killed her, + she lacking any great strength; but to me it seems to have been chiefly + force of habit and the effect of what romantic people call being in love. + She was in love with her husband, as he had been with her. And what was + the use of staying here, he gone? + </p> + <p> + They were buried together, and I was one of the pall-bearers at the double + funeral; indeed, I was the directing spirit, having been so connected with + the Parasangs that I was their close friend, and the person to whom every + one naturally turned in the adjustment of matters concerning them. When + Mr. Parasang died, the first instinct of his wife was to tell them to send + for me, and when I reached their home—for I was absent from the city—I + found that she had clung to and followed him as usual, as he liked it to + be. It was what he lived for as long as he could live at all. + </p> + <p> + They had ordered a fine coffin for Parasang, and when I came he was lying + in it. Mrs. Parasang was lying where she had died, in bed. And they had + ordered another fine coffin for her. (Of course, when I refer to the + bodies as Mr. and Mrs. Parasang it must be understood that I consider only + the earthly tenements, for I am a religious man.) I did not like it. I + went to the undertaker and asked him if he could not make a coffin for + two. He answered that it was somewhat of an unusual order, that there were + styles and fashions in coffins just as there are in shoes and hats and + things of that sort, and that it would be a difficult work for him to + accomplish, in addition to being most expensive. I did not argue with him + at all, for I knew be had the advantage of me. I am not an expert in + coffins, and, of course, could not meet him upon his own ground. If it had + been the purchase of a horse or gun or dog, or a new typewriting machine, + it would have been an altogether different thing. + </p> + <p> + I simply told the undertaker to go ahead and make such a coffin as I had + ordered, regardless of expense. I wanted it softly cushioned, and I told + him not to make it unnecessarily wide. I wanted them side by side, with + their faces turned upward, of course, so that we could all have a fair + last look at them, but I wanted them so close together that they would be + touching from head to foot. I wanted it so that when they became dust and + bone all would be mingled, and that even the hair, which does not decay + for some centuries, which grows, you know, after death, would be all + twined together. + </p> + <p> + The undertaker followed my instructions, for undertakers get to be as + mechanical as shoemakers or ticket-sellers; but the relations of the + Parasangs and close friends at home thought it an odd thing to have done. + I overrode them and had things all my own way, for I knew I was right. I + knew the Parasangs better than any one else. I knew what they would have + me do were communications between us still possible. + </p> + <p> + There was something so odd about the love story of the Parasangs that it + always interested me. It made me laugh, but I was in full sympathy with + them, though sympathy was something of which they were not in need. The + queer thing about it was their age. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Parasang and I were cronies. We were cronies despite the number of + years which had elapsed since our respective births. He was seventy-eight. + Mrs. Parasang was seventy-five. And they had been married but two years. I + knew Mr. Parasang before the wedding, and it was because of my close + intimacy with him that I came to know the relations between the two and + the story of it. I was just forty years his junior. + </p> + <p> + I can't understand why the man died so easily. He was such a + vigorous-looking person for his age, and seemed in such perfect health. He + was one of your apparently strong, gray-mustached old men, and did not + look to be more than sixty-five at most. His wife, I think, was really + stronger than he, though she did not appear so young. It is often that way + with women. The attack of pneumonia which came upon Parasang was not, the + doctors told me, vicious enough to overthrow an ordinary man. I suppose it + was merely that this man's life capital had run out. There is a great deal + in heredity. Sometimes I think that each child is born with just such a + capital and vitality, something which could be represented in figures if + we knew how to do it; and that, though it is affected to an extent by ways + of living, the amount of capital determines, within certain limits, to a + certainty how long its possessor will do business on this round lump of + earth. I think Parasang's time for liquidation had come. That is all. As + for Mrs. Parasang, I think she could have stayed a little longer if she + had cared to do so, but she went away because he had gone. One can just + lie down and die sometimes. + </p> + <p> + I have drifted away from what I was going to say—this problem of + dying always attracts—but I will try to get back to the subject + proper. I was going to tell of the odd love story of the Parasangs, or at + least what struck me as odd, because, as I have said, of their ages. There + is nothing in it particular aside from that. + </p> + <p> + A little less than fifty years ago—that must have been about when + Taylor was President—Parasang was engaged to marry a girl of whom he + was very fond, and who was very fond of him. Well, these two, much in + love, and just suited to each other, must needs have a difference of the + sort known as a lovers' quarrel. That in itself was nothing to speak of, + for most lovers, being young and fools, do the same thing. But it so + happened that these two, being also high-spirited, carried the difference + farther than is usual with smitten, callow males and females, and let the + breach widen until they separated, as they thought, finally. And she + married in course of time, and so did he. It's a way people have; a way + more or less good or bad, according to circumstances. She lived with a + commonplace husband until he died and left her a widow, aged sixty or + thereabout. Mr. Parasang's wife died about the same time. What sort of a + woman she was I do not know. I remember the old gentleman told me once + that she was an excellent housekeeper and had the gift of talking late o' + nights. I could not always tell what Parasang meant when he said things. + He was one of the sort of old gentlemen who leave much to be inferred. + </p> + <p> + Parasang had drifted here, and was a reasonably well-to-do man. His old + sweetheart had come also because her late husband had made an investment + here, and she found it to her interest to live where her income was mostly + earned. Neither knew how near the other was, and the years passed by. + Eventually the two met by an accident of the sheerest kind. Possibly they + had almost forgotten each other, though I don't think that is so. They met + among mutual friends, and—there they were. I have often wondered how + it must seem to meet after half a century. There is something about the + brain which makes the reminiscences fresh to one sometimes, but of an + early love story it must be like a dream to the aged. Something uncertain + and vaguely sweet. Just think of it—half a century, more than one + generation, had passed since these two had met. Their old love story must + have seemed to them something all unreal, something they had but read long + ago in a book. + </p> + <p> + Parasang was a large man, but Mrs. Blood—that was now his old + sweetheart's name—was a small woman. Her hair was nearly white when + I met her, but from the color of a few unchanged strands of it, I imagine + that it must have been red when she was young. Maybe that was why the + lovers' quarrel of over fifty years ago had been so spirited. She was both + spirited and charming, even at seventy-two, and at twenty must have been a + fascinating woman. Parasang was doubtless himself a striking person when + he was young. I have already said what he was like in his old age. Both + the man and woman had retained the personal regard for themselves which is + so pleasant in old people, and Mrs. Blood was still as dainty as could be, + in her trim gowns, generally of some fluffy black or silvery gray + material, and Parasang was as strong and wholesome looking as an ox. I + shall always regret that I was not present when they met. A study of their + faces then would have been worth while. + </p> + <p> + Parasang once told me about this second wooing of his wife—and it + was droll. There seemed nothing funny about it to him. He said that after + being introduced to Mrs. Blood, and recognizing her in an instant after + all those years, as she did him, they sat down on a sofa together, being + left to entertain each other, as the two oldest people in the room; and + that he uttered a few commonplace sentences, and she replied gently in the + same vein for a little time; and that then each stopped talking, and that + they sat there quietly gazing at each other. And he said that somehow, + looking into her eyes, even with the delicate glasses on them, the earth + seemed to be slipping away, and there was the girl he had known and loved + again beside him; and then the years passed by in another direction, only + more slowly. And the girl seemed to get a little older and a little older, + and the hair changed and the cheeks fell a little at the sides just below + the mouth, you know, and there came crow's feet at the outer corners of + her eyes, and wrinkles across her neck, but that nothing of all this + physical happening ever changed one iota the real look of her, the look + which is from the heart of a woman when a man has once really known her. + And so the years glided over their course, she changing a little with + each, yet never really changing at all, until it came again up to the + present moment, with her beside him on the sofa, real and tangible, just + as he would have her in every way. + </p> + <p> + "I don't suppose you can understand it," he said, "for you are only a boy + in such things yet" (those old fellows call everything under fifty a boy); + "but I tell you it is a wonderful thing to know what a love is that can + come out of the catacombs, so to speak, and be all itself again," and he + said this as jauntily as if I, being so young, couldn't know anything + about the proper article, as far as sentiment was concerned. + </p> + <p> + They sat there on the sofa, he said, still silent and looking at each + other. At last, when he had fully realized it all, he spoke. + </p> + <p> + "I knew that you were a widow, Jennie, but I did not know that you were + living here." + </p> + <p> + She explained that she had been in the city for some time and the reason + of it, and then the conversation lagged again; and they were very much + like two young people at a children's party, save that they were dreaming + rather than embarrassed, and that, I suppose, they felt the dry germ of + another age seeking the air and the sunshine of living. You know they have + found grains of wheat in the Egyptian mummy cases, which were laid away + over three thousand years ago, and that these grains of wheat, under the + new conditions, have sprouted and grown and shot up green stalks and borne + plump seeds again. And the love of Mr. and Mrs. Parasang has always + reminded me of the mummy wheat. + </p> + <p> + They talked a little of old friends and of old times, but their talk was + not all unconstrained, because, you see, they couldn't refer to those + former times and scenes without recalling, involuntarily, some day or some + hour when they two were together, and when there seemed a chain between + their hearts which nothing in the world could break. It was an awful + commentary on the quality of human love and human pledges that things + should be as they had been and as they were. It was a reflection, in a + sense, on each of them. How hollow had been everything—and it was + all their fault. + </p> + <p> + They both kept looking at each other, and when they parted he asked if he + might call upon her, and she assented quietly. He called next day, and + found her all alone, for a niece who lived with her had gone away; and + they became, he said, a little more at ease. And then began the most + delicate of all wooings. I met them sometimes then and guessed at it, + though as yet Parasang had not told me the story. He was more considerate, + I imagine, than he had been in youth, and she, it may be, less exacting. + It was a mellow relationship, yet with a shyness that was amazing. They + were drifting together upon soft waves of memory, yet wondering at the + happening. + </p> + <p> + And one day he asked her if she would be his wife. She had known, of + course—a woman always knows—but she blushed and looked up at + him, and tears came into her eyes. + </p> + <p> + And he thought of the time, so long ago, when he had asked her the same + question. He could not help it. And somehow she did not seem less. He + thought only of how foolish they had been to throw away a heritage of + belonging to each other; and then he thought of how the man, the + protector, the guardian of both, should have taken the broader view and + have been above all pettishness and have yielded for the sake of both. She + would not have thought more lightly of him. She would have understood some + day. For the lost past he blamed himself alone. + </p> + <p> + She answered him at last, but it was not as she had answered once. She + spoke sweetly and bravely of their age and of the uselessness of it all + now, and of what people would say, and of other things. But her eyes were + just as loving as when his hair was dark. + </p> + <p> + And when she had said all those things he did what made me like him. There + was good stuff in Parasang. He merely took her in his arms. Furthermore, + he told her when they would be married. And I was at the wedding on that + day. + </p> + <p> + It was six months later when I got the habit of dining with them pretty + regularly and of calling for Parasang on my way down town in the morning. + She came into the hall with him, as do young wives, and kissed him + good-by, and it pleased and interested me amazingly. The outlines of their + mouths were not the same as they were half a century ago, and as he bent + over her I thought each time of— + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + "And their spirits rushed together<br /> <span style="margin-left: 2em;"> + At the meeting of the lips";</span> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p class="cont"> + and it would occur to me queerly that spirits had but slender causeway + there. I was mistaken, though. I learned that later. + </p> + <p> + There was but this variation between the early wedded life of this aged + pair and of what would possibly have happened had they married young. + There were no differences and no "makings-up." It was a pleasant stream—I + knew it would be—but the volume of it surprised me. + </p> + <p> + That is all. There is no plot to the story of what I know of these dear + friends of mine whom I cannot see now. And it was but because of what I + have told that I had them buried as they were. There was nothing, from the + ordinary standpoint, which justified my course in overrunning those other + people who would have buried the two apart; but I believe myself that one + should, within reason, seek to gratify the fancies of one's closest + friends. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Triangle" id="Triangle">LOVE AND A TRIANGLE</a> + </h2> + <p> + A man came out of a mine, looked about him, inhaled the odor from the + stunted spruce trees, looked up at the clear skies, then called to a boy + idling in a shed at a little distance from the mine buildings, telling him + to bring out the horse and buckboard. The name of the man who had issued + from the mine was Julius Corbett, and he was a civil engineer. + Furthermore, he was a capitalist. + </p> + <p> + He was an intelligent looking man of about thirty-five, and a resolute + looking one, this Julius Corbett, and as he stood waiting for the + buckboard, was rather worth seeing, vigorous of frame, clear of eye and + bronzed by a summer's work in a wild country. The shaft from which he had + just emerged was that of a silver mine not five miles distant from Black + Bay, one of the inlets of the northern shore of Lake Superior, and was a + most valuable property, of which he was chief owner. He had inherited from + an uncle in Canada a few hundred acres of land in this region, but had + scarcely considered it worthy the payment of its slight taxes until some + of the many attempts at mining in the region had proved successful, and it + was shown that the famous Silver Islet, worked out years ago in Lake + Superior, was not the only repository thereabouts of the precious metal. + Then he had abandoned for a time the practice of his profession—he + had an office in Chicago—and had visited what he referred to lightly + as his "British possessions." He had found rich indications, had called in + mining experts, who confirmed all he had imagined, and had returned to + Chicago and organized a company. There was a monotonous success to the + undertaking, much at variance with the story of ordinary mining + enterprises. Corbett had become a very rich man within two years; he was + worth more than a million, and was becoming richer daily. He was, + seemingly, a person much to be envied, and would not himself, on the day + here referred to, have denied such imputation, for he was in love with an + exceedingly sweet and clever girl, and knew that he had won this same + charming creature's heart. They were plighted to each other, but the date + of their marriage was not yet fixed. He had closed up his business at the + mine for the season, and was now about to hasten to Chicago, where the day + of so much importance to him would be fixed upon and the sum of his good + fortune soon made complete. This was in September, 1898. + </p> + <p> + It was not a commonplace girl whom Corbett was to marry. On the contrary, + she was exceptionally gifted, and a young woman whose cleverness had been + supplemented by an elaborate education. There was, however, running + through her character a vein of what might be called emotionalism. The + habit of concentration, acquired through study, seemed rather to intensify + this quality than otherwise. Perhaps it made even greater her love for + Corbett, but it was destined to perplex him. + </p> + <p> + In September the air is crisp along the route from Black Bay to Duluth, + and from that through fair Wisconsin to Chicago, and Corbett's spirits + were high throughout the journey. Was he not to meet Nell Morrison, in his + estimation the sweetest girl on earth? Was he not soon to possess her + entirely and for a permanency? He made mental pictures of the meeting, and + drifted into a lover's mood of planning. Out of his wealth what a home he + would provide for her, and how he would gratify her gentle whims! Even her + astronomical fancy, Vassar-born, should become his own, and there should + be an observatory to the house. He had a weakness for astronomy himself, + and was glad his wife-to-be had the same taste intensified. They would + study the heavens together from a heaven of their own. What was wealth + good for anyhow, save to make happy those we love? + </p> + <p> + The train sped on, and Chicago was reached, and very soon thereafter was + reached the home of the Morrisons. Corbett could not complain of his + reception. The one creature was there, sweet as a woman may be, eager to + meet him, and with tenderness and steadfastness shown in every line of her + pretty face. They spent a charming day and evening together, and he was + content. Once or twice, just for a moment, the young woman seemed + abstracted, but it was only for a moment, and the lover thought little of + the circumstance. He was happy when he bade her good-night. "To-morrow, + dear," said he, "we will talk of something of greatest importance to me, + of importance to us both." She blushed and made no answer for a second. + Then she said that she loved him dearly, and that what affected one must + affect the other, and that she would look for him very early in the + afternoon. He went to his hotel buoyant. The world was good to him. + </p> + <p> + When Corbett called at the Morrison mansion the next day he entered + without ringing, as was his habit, and went straight to the library, + expecting to find Nell there. He was disappointed, but there were traces + of her recent presence. There was an astronomical map open upon the table, + and books and reviews lay all about, each, open, with a marker indicating + a special page. A little glove lay upon the floor, and Corbett picked it + up and kissed it. + </p> + <p> + He summoned a servant and sent upstairs to announce his presence; then + turned instinctively to note what branch of her favorite study was now + attracting his sweetheart's attention. He picked up one of the open + reviews, an old one by the way, and read a marked passage there. It was as + follows: + </p> + <p> + "It will always be more difficult for us to communicate with the people of + Mars than to receive signals from them, because of our position and + phases. It is the nocturnal terrestrial hemisphere that is turned toward + the planet Mars in the periods when we approach most nearly to it, and it + shows us in full its lighted hemisphere. But communication is possible." + </p> + <p> + He looked at a map. It was a great chart of the surface of Mars, made by + the famous Italian Schiaparelli, and he looked at more of the reviews and + found ever the same subject considered in the marked articles. All related + to Mars. He was puzzled but delighted. "The dear girl has a hobby," he + thought. "Well, she shall enjoy it to the utmost." + </p> + <p> + Nelly entered the room. Her face lighted up with pleasure when she met her + fiancé, but assumed a more thoughtful look as she saw what he was reading. + She welcomed him, though, as kindly as any lover could demand, and he, of + course, was joyously content. "Still an astronomer, I see," he said, "and + apparently with a specialty. I see nothing but Mars, all Mars! Have you + become infatuated with a single planet, to the neglect of all the others? + I like it, though. We will study Mars together." + </p> + <p> + Her face brightened. "I am so glad!" she said. "I have studied nothing + else for months. It has been so almost from the day you left us. And it is + not Mars alone I am studying; it is the great problem of communication + with the people there. Oh, Julius, it is possible, and the idea is + something wonderful! Just think what would follow! It would be the + beginning of an understanding between reasoning creatures of the whole + universe!" + </p> + <p> + He said that it was something wonderful, indeed, maybe only a dream, but a + very fascinating one. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, it is no dream," she answered. "It is a glorious possibility. Why, + just think of it, we know, positively know, that Mars is inhabited. Think + of what has been discovered. It was perceived years ago that Mars was + intersected by canals, evidently made by human—I suppose that's the + word—human beings. They run from the extremes of ocean bays to the + extremes of other ocean bays, and connect, too, the many lakes there. + Nature does not make such lines. They are of equal width, those canals, + throughout their whole length, and Schiaparelli has even watched them in + construction. First there is a dark line, as if the earth had been + disturbed, and then it becomes bright when the water is let in. Sometimes, + too, double canals are made there close to each other, running side by + side, as if one were used for travel and transportation in one direction + and one in another. And there are many other things as wonderful. The + world of Mars is like our own. There are continents and seas and islands + there—it is not a dead, dry surface like the moon—and it has + clouds and rains and snows and seasons, just as we have, and of the same + intensity as ours. Oh, Julius, we <i>must</i> communicate with them!" + </p> + <p> + "But, my dear, that implies equal interest on their part. How do we know + them to be intelligent enough?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, there are the canals. They must be reasoners in Mars. Besides, how + do we know but that they far surpass us in all learning! Mars is much + older in one way than the Earth, far more advanced in its planet life, and + why should not its people, through countless ages of advantage, have + become wiser than we? Whatever their form, they may be superior to us in + every way. We are to them, too, something which must have been studied for + thousands of years. The Earth, you know, is to the people on Mars a most + brilliant object. It is the most glorious object in their sky, a star of + the first magnitude. Oh, be sure their astronomers are watching us with + all interest!" + </p> + <p> + And Corbett, dazed, replied that he was overwhelmed with so much learning + in one so fair, that he was very proud of her, but that there was one + subject on his mind, compared to which communication with Mars or any + other planet was but a trifle. And he wanted to talk with her concerning + what was closest to his heart. It was the one great question in the world + to him. It was, when should be their wedding day? + </p> + <p> + The girl looked at him blushingly, then paled. "Let us not talk of that + to-day," she said, at length. "I know it isn't right; I know that I seem + unkind—but—oh, Julius! come to-morrow and we will talk about + it." And she began crying. + </p> + <p> + He could not understand. Her demeanor was all incomprehensible to him, but + he tried to soothe her, and told her she had been studying too hard and + that her nerves were not right. She brightened a little, but was still + distrait. He left, with something in his heart like a vengeful feeling + toward the planets, and toward Mars in particular. + </p> + <p> + When Corbett returned next day the girl was in the library awaiting him. + Her demeanor did not relieve him. He feared something indefinable. She was + sad and perplexed of countenance, but more self-possessed than on the day + before. She spoke softly: "Now we will talk of what you wished to + yesterday." + </p> + <p> + He pleaded as a lover will, pleaded for an early day, and gave a hundred + reasons why it should be so, and she listened to him, not apathetically, + but almost sadly. When he concluded, she said, very quietly: + </p> + <p> + "Did you ever read that queer story by Edmond About called 'The Man with + the Broken Ear'?" + </p> + <p> + He answered, wonderingly, in the affirmative. + </p> + <p> + "Well, dear" she said, "do you remember how absorbed, so that it was a + very part of her being, the heroine of that story became in the problem of + reviving the splendid mummy? She forgot everything in that, and could not + think of marriage until the test was made and its sequel satisfactory. She + was not faithless; she was simply helpless under an irresistible + influence. I'm afraid, love"—and here the tears came into her eyes—"that + I'm like that heroine. I care for you, but I can think only of the people + in Mars. Help me. You are rich. You have a million dollars, and will soon + have more. Reach those people!" + </p> + <p> + He was shocked and disheartened. He pleaded the probable utter + impracticability of such an enterprise. He might as well have talked to a + statue. It all ended with an outburst on her part. + </p> + <p> + "Talk with the Martians," said she, "and the next day I will become your + wife!" + </p> + <p> + He left the house a most unhappy man. What could he do? He loved the girl + devotedly, but what a task had she given him! Then, later, came other + reflections. After all, the end to be attained was a noble one, and he + could, in a measure, sympathize with her wild desire. The lover in "The + Man With a Broken Ear" had at least occasion for a little jealousy. His + own case was not so bad. He could not well be jealous of an entire + population of a distant planet. And to what better use could a portion of + his wealth be put than in the advancement of science! The idea grew upon + him. He would make the trial! + </p> + <p> + He was rewarded the next day when he told his fiancée what he had decided + upon. She was wildly delighted. "I love you more than ever now!" she + declared, "and I will work with you and plan with you and aid you all I + can. And," she added, roguishly, "remember that it is not all for my sake. + If you succeed you will be famous all over the world, and besides, + there'll come some money back to you. There is the reward of one hundred + thousand francs left in 1892 by Madame Guzman to any one who should + communicate with the people of another planet." + </p> + <p> + He responded, of course, that he was impelled to effort only by the + thought of hastening a wedding day, and then he went to his office and + wrote various letters to various astronomers. His friend Marston, + professor of astronomy in the University of Chicago, he visited in person. + He was not a laggard, this Julius Corbett, in anything he undertook. + </p> + <p> + Then there was much work. + </p> + <p> + Marston, being an astronomer, believed in vast possibilities. Being a man + of sense, he could advise. He related to Corbett all that had been + suggested in the past for interstellar communication. He told of the + suggested advice of making figures in great white roads upon some of + Earth's vast plains, but dismissed the idea as too costly and not the + best. "We have a new agent now," he said. "There is electricity. We must + use that. And the figures must, of course, be geometrical. Geometry is the + same throughout all the worlds that are or have been or ever will be." + </p> + <p> + And there was much debate and much correspondence and an exhibition of + much learning, and one day Corbett left Chicago. His destination was + Buenos Ayres, South America. + </p> + <p> + The Argentine Republic, since its financial troubles early in the decade, + had been in a complaisant and conciliating mood toward all the world, and + Corbett had little difficulty in his first step—that of securing a + concession for stringing wires in any designs which might suit him upon + the vast pampas of the interior. It was but stipulated that the wires + should be raised at intervals, that herding might not be interfered with. + He had already made a contract with one of the great electric companies. + The illuminated figures were to be two hundred miles each in their + greatest measurement, and were to be as follows: + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/Illust114s.png" alt="geometric shapes" /> + </p> + <p> + It was found advisable, later, to dispense with the last two, and so, only + the square, equilateral triangle, circle and right-angled triangle, it was + decided should be made. The work was hurried forward with all the impetus + of native energy, practically unlimited money and the power of love. This + last is a mighty force. + </p> + <p> + And great works were erected, with vast generators, and thousands and + thousands of miles of sheets of wires were strung close together, until + each system, when illuminated, would make a broad band of flame + surrounding the defined area. From the darkened surface of the Earth, at + the time when the Earth approached Mars most nearly, would blaze out to + the Martians the four great geometrical figures. The test was made at + last. All that had been hoped for in the way of an effort was attained. + All along the lines of those great figures, night in the Argentine + Republic was turned into glorious day. From balloons the spectacle was + something incomparably magnificent. All was described in a thousand + letters. A host of correspondents were there, and accounts of the + undertaking and its progress were sent all over the civilized world. Each + night the illumination was renewed, and all the world waited. Months + passed. + </p> + <p> + Corbett had returned to Chicago. He could do no more. He could only await + the passage of time, and hope. He was not very buoyant now. His sweetheart + was full of the tenderest regard, but was in a condition of feverish + unrest. He was alarmed regarding her, so great appeared her anxiety and so + tense the strain upon her nerves. He could not help her, and prepared to + return again to a season at his mine. + </p> + <p> + The man was sitting in his room one night in a gloomy frame of mind. What + a fool he had been! He had but yielded to a fancy of a dreaming girl, and + put her even farther away from him while wasting half a fortune! He would + be better on the rugged shore of Lake Superior, where the moods of men + were healthy, and where were pure air and the fragrance of the pines. + There was a strong pull at his bell. + </p> + <p> + A telegraph boy entered, and this was on the message he bore: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + Come to the observatory at once. Important.<br /> <span + style="margin-left: 30%;"> MARSTON.</span> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + To seek a cab, to be whirled away at a gallop to the university, to burst + into Marston in his citadel, required but little time. The professor was + walking up and down excitedly. + </p> + <p> + "It has come! All the world knows it!" he shouted as Corbett entered, and + he grasped him by the hand and wrung it hardly. + </p> + <p> + "What has come?" gasped the visitor. + </p> + <p> + "What has come, man! All we had hoped for or dreamed of—and more! + Why, look! Look for yourself!" + </p> + <p> + He dragged Corbett to the eye-piece of the great telescope and made him + look. What the man saw made him stagger back, overcome with an emotion + which for the moment did not allow him speech. What he saw upon the + surface of the planet Mars was a duplication of the glittering figures on + the pampas of the South American Republic. They were in lines of glorious + light, between what appeared bands of a darker hue, provided, apparently, + to make them more distinct, and even at such vast distance, their effect + was beautiful. And there was something more, a figure he could not + comprehend at first, one not in the line of the others, but above. "What + is it—that added outline?" he cried. + </p> + <p> + "What is it! Look again. You'll determine quickly enough! Study it!" + roared out Marston, and Corbett did as he was commanded. Its meaning + flashed upon him. + </p> + <p> + There, just above the representation of the right-angled triangle, shone + out, clearly and distinctly, this striking figure: + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/Illust117s.png" alt="geometric diagram" /> + </p> + <p> + What could it mean? Ah, it required no profound mathematician, no veteran + astronomer, to answer such a question! A schoolboy would be equal to the + task. The man of Mars might have no physical resemblance to the man of + Earth, the people of Mars might resemble our elephants or have wings, but + the eternal laws of mathematics and of logic must be the same throughout + all space. Two and two make four, and a straight line is the shortest + distance between two points throughout the universe. And by adding this + figure to the others represented, the Martians had said to the people of + Earth as plainly as could have been done in written words of one of our + own languages: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + Yes, we understand. We know that you are trying to communicate with us, + or with those upon some other world. We reply to you, and we show to you + that we can reason by indicating that the square of the hypothenuse of a + right-angled triangle is equivalent to the sum of the squares of the + other two sides. Hope to hear from you further. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + There was the right-angled triangle, its lines reproduced in unbroken + brilliancy, and there were the added lines used in the familiar + demonstration, broken at intervals to indicate their use. The famous <i>pons + asinorum</i> had become the bridge between two worlds. + </p> + <p> + Corbett could scarcely speak as yet. Telegraph messengers came rushing in + with dispatches from all quarters—from the universities of Michigan + and California, and Yale and Harvard, and from Rochester and all over the + United States. Cablegrams from England, France, Germany and Italy and + other regions of the world but repeated the same wonderful observation, + the same conclusion: "They have answered! We have talked with them!" + </p> + <p> + Corbett returned to his home in a semi-delirium. He had the wisdom, though + it was midnight, to send to Nelly the brief message, "Good news," to + prepare her in a degree for what the morning papers would reveal. He slept + but fitfully. And it was at an early hour when he called upon his fiancée + and found her awaiting him in the library. + </p> + <p> + She said nothing as he entered, but he had scarcely crossed the threshold + when he found his arms full of something very tangible and warm, and + pulsing with all love. It has been declared by thoughtful and learned + people that there is no sensation in the world more delightful than may be + produced by just this means, and Corbett's demeanor under the + circumstances was such as to indicate the soundness of the assertion. He + was a very happy man. + </p> + <p> + And she, as soon as she could speak at all, broke out, impulsively: + </p> + <p> + "Oh, dear, isn't it glorious! I knew you would succeed. And aren't you + glad I imposed the hard condition? It was hard, I know, and I seemed + unloving, but I believed, and I could not have given you up even if you + had failed. I should have told you so very soon. I may confess that now. + And—I will marry you any day you wish." + </p> + <p> + She blushed magnificently as she concluded, and the face of a pretty + women, so suffused, is a pleasing thing to see. + </p> + <p> + Of course, within a week the name of Corbett became familiar in every + corner of the civilized globe, the incentive which had spurred him on + became somehow known, and the romance of it but added to his fame, and a + few days later, when his wedding occurred, it was chronicled as never had + a wedding been before. They made two columns of it even in the far-away + Tokio <i>Gazette</i>, the Bombay <i>Times</i> and the Novgorod <i>News</i>. + But the social feature was nothing; the scientific world was all aflame. + </p> + <p> + We had talked with Mars indeed, but of what avail was it if we could not + resume the conversation? What next step should be taken in the grand march + of knowledge, in the scientific conquest of the universe? Never in all + history had there been such a commotion among the learned. Corbett and his + gifted wife were early ranked among the eager, for he soon became as much + of an enthusiast as she—in fact, since the baby, he is even more so—and + derived much happiness from their mutual study and speculation. All + theories were advanced from all countries, and suggestions, wise and + otherwise, came from thousands of sources. And so in the year 1900 the + thing remains. As inscrutable to us have been the curious symbols + appearing upon Mars of late as have apparently been to them a sign + language attempted on the pampas. It is now proposed to show to them the + outline of a gigantic man, and if Providence has seen fit to make + reasoning beings in all worlds something alike, this may prove another bit + of progress in the intercourse, but all is in doubt. + </p> + <p> + Given, the problem of two worlds, millions of miles apart, the people of + which are seeking to establish a regular communication with each other, + each already acknowledging the efforts of the other, how shall the great + feat be accomplished? Will the solution of the vast problem come from a + greater utilization of electricity and a further knowledge of what is + astral magnetism? There have been, of late, some wonderful revelations + along that line. Or will the sign language be worked out upon the planets' + surfaces? Who can tell? Certainly all effort has been stimulated, in one + world at least. The rewards offered by various governments and individuals + now aggregate over five million dollars, and all this money is as nothing + to the fame awaiting some one. Who will gain the mighty prize? Who will + solve the new problem of the ages? + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Easter" id="Easter">AN EASTER ADMISSION</a> + </h2> + <p> + This is not, strictly speaking, an Easter tale, nor a love story. It is + merely the truthful account of certain incidents of a love affair + culminating one Easter Day. It may be relied upon. I am familiar with the + facts, and I want to say here that if there be any one who thinks he could + relate similar facts more exactly—I will admit that he might do the + relation in much better form—he is either mistaken or else an + envious person with a bad conscience. I am going to tell that which I know + simply as it occurred. + </p> + <p> + There is a friend of mine who is somewhat more than ordinarily well-to-do, + who is about thirty years of age, and who lives ordinarily in the city of + Chicago. Furthermore, he is a gentleman of education, not merely of the + school and university, but of the field and wood. He knows the birds and + beasts, and delights in what is wild. Four or five years ago he purchased + a tract of land studded closely with hardwood trees, chiefly the beech and + hard maple, and criss-crossed by swift-flowing creeks of cold water. This + tract of land was not far from the northern apex of the southern peninsula + of the State of Michigan. There were ruffed grouse in the woods, in the + creeks were speckled trout in abundance, and my friend rioted among them. + He had built him a house in the wilderness; a great house of logs, forty + or fifty feet long and thirty wide, with chambers above, with a great + fireplace in it, with bunks in one great room for men, and with an + apartment better furnished for ladies, should any ever be brought into the + wilderness to learn the ways of nature. + </p> + <p> + Two years ago my friend gave his first house party, and the duration of it + included Easter Day, and so was, necessarily, in a happy season. It is + pleasant for us in this northern temperate zone that the day, with all its + glorious promises, in a spiritual sense, is as full of promise also in the + physical sense, in that it corresponds with the awakening of nature and + the renewed life of that which so makes humanity. It is a good thing, too, + that since the date of Easter Day is among those known as "movable," it + means the real spring, but a little farther north or farther south, as the + years come and go. So it chanced that the Easter Day referred to came in + the northern peninsula of Lower Michigan just when the buds upon the trees + showed well defined against one of the bluest skies of all the world, when + the teeming currents of the creeks were lifting the ice, and the waters + were becoming turbulent to the eye; when the sapsuckers and creeping birds + were jubilant, and the honk of the wild goose was a passing thing; when, + with the upspring of the rest of nature, the trees threw off their + lethargy, and through the rugged maples the sap began to course again. It + was only a few days before Easter that my friend—his name was Hayes, + "Jack" Hayes, we called him, though his name, of course, was John—had + an inspiration. + </p> + <p> + Jack knew that so far as his own domain was concerned the time had arrived + for the making of maple sugar, and there was promise in the making there, + for the wilderness was still virgin. He decided that he would have a + regular "sugar-camp" in the midst of his "sugar-bush," and that there + should be much making of maple syrup and sugar, with all the attendant + festivities common formerly to areas farther south—and here comes an + explanation. + </p> + <p> + Not many months before, this friend of mine had done what men had done + often—that is, he fell in love, and with great violence. He fell in + love with a stately young woman from St. Louis, a Miss Lennox, who was + visiting in Chicago; a girl from the city where what is known as "society" + is old and generally clean; where the water which is drunk leaves a clayey + substance all round the glass when you partake of it, and which is about + the best water in the world; where the colonels who drink whisky are such + expert judges of the quality of what they consume that they live far + longer than do steady drinkers in other regions; where the word of the + business man is good, and where the women are fair to look upon. To a + sugar-making Jack had decided to invite this young woman, with a party + made up from both cities. + </p> + <p> + The party as composed was an admirable one of a dozen people, men and + women who could endure a wholesome though somewhat rugged change, and of + varying fancies and ages. There were as many men as women, but four were + oldsters and married people, and of these two were a rector and his wife. + It was an eminently proper but cheerful group, and the rector was the + greatest boy of all. We tried to teach him how to shoot white rabbits, but + abandoned the task finally, out of awful apprehension for ourselves. Had + the reverend gentleman's weapon been a bell-mouth, some of us would + assuredly have been slain. We were having a jolly time, our host + furnishing, possibly, the one exception. + </p> + <p> + Of the wooing of Hayes it cannot be said that it had prospered altogether + to his liking. Possibly he had been too reticent. He was a languid fellow + in speech, anyhow, and, excellent woodsman as he was, generally languid in + his movements. There was vigor enough underneath this exterior, but only + his intimates knew that. The lady had been gracious, certainly, and she + must have seen in his eyes, as women can see so well, that he was in love + with her, and that a proposal was impending; but she had not given him the + encouragement he wanted. Now he was determined to stake his chances. There + was to be a visit one forenoon to the place where the sugar-making was in + progress, and he asked her to go with him ahead of the others, that he + might show her how full the forest was of life at all times. He had + resolved. He was going to ask her to be his wife. + </p> + <p> + There was written upon the white sheet of freshly fallen snow the story of + the night and morning, of the comedies and tragedies and adventures of the + wild things. Their tracks were all about. Here the grouped paws of the + rabbits had left their distinct markings as the animals had fed and + frolicked among the underwood; and there, over by the group of evergreens, + a little mass of leaves and fur showed where the number of the frolickers + had been decreased by one when the great owl of the north dropped fiercely + upon his prey; there showed the neat tracks of the fox beside the coverts. + The twin pads of the mink were clearly defined upon the snow-covered ice + which bordered the tumbling creek, and at times the tracks diverged in + exploration of the recesses of some brush heap. Little difference made it + to the mink whether his prey were bird or woodmouse. Far into the morning, + evidently, his hunting had extended, for his track in one place was along + that of the ruffed grouse; and the signs showed that he had almost reached + his prey, for a single brown black-banded tail-feather lay upon the + wing-swept snow, where it could be seen the bird had risen almost as the + leap came. The sun was shining, and squirrel tracks were along the + whitened crest of every log, and the traces of jay and snowbird were quite + as numerous. There was clamor in the tree-tops. The musical and merry + "chickadee-dee-dee" of the tamest of the birds of winter and the somewhat + sadder note of the wood pewee mingled with the occasional caw of a crow, + the shrill cry of a jay, or the tapping of woodpeckers upon the boles of + dead trees. A flock of snow-bunting fluttered and fed in a patch of dry + seed-laden weeds. Even the creek was full of life, for there could be seen + the movements of creeping things upon its bottom, while through the clear + waters trout and minnow flashed brilliantly. There were odors in the air. + There was evidence everywhere that spring was real; and it occurred to + Jack, as the two walked along and he read aloud to her the night's tale + told upon the snow, that the poet who insisted that in the spring a young + man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love quite understood his + business; not that it really required spring in his own case, but the + season seemed at least to accentuate his emotions. He wondered if young + women were affected the same way. He hoped so. At present his courage + failed him. + </p> + <p> + They reached the "sugar-bush" proper, and wandered about among the big + maples. They drank the sweet sap from the troughs, and finally settled + themselves down comfortably upon one of the rude benches which had been + placed about the fire, over which the kettles boiled steadily, under the + watchful eye of an old sugar-maker, whose chief occupation was to lower + into the bubbling surface a piece of raw pork attached by a string to a + rod whenever the sap showed signs of boiling over. Others of the house + party soon joined them. The sun had come out brightly now, and luncheon, + brought from the house, was eaten and enjoyed. Then followed more rambling + about the wood. The ground showed bare where the snow had melted on an + occasional sandy knoll, and there was a search for wintergreen leaves. It + was announced that all must be at the house again in time for an early + dinner, since the great work of "sugaring-off" was to be the event of the + night. It was then that Jack suggested to Miss Lennox that they go by + another path of which he knew, but which he had not lately tried. The + remainder of the party took the old route, and so the two made the journey + once more alone. The man was resolved again. It was three o'clock in the + afternoon now, and about as pleasant a day as any upon which man ever made + a proposal. Jack took his fate in his hands. + </p> + <p> + He was simple and straightforward about it, and certainly made a rather + neat job of the affair. He showed his intensity and earnestness; and it + seemed rather hard that when he concluded he was not at once accepted by + the handsome girl, who stood there blushing, but with a certain firmly + regretful expression about the mouth. + </p> + <p> + Her voice trembled a little as she spoke. She said that she liked Mr. + Hayes, liked him very much, and he knew it, but that it was only a great + friendship. She had her ideal, and he did not fulfill it. "I cannot help + it," she said, earnestly; "I have ambitions for the man whom I marry. I + could really love only a man of action, of physical bravery, one who could + not be content with a life of ease, however cultivated such a life. What + have you done? You but enjoy existence! I want some one rugged. Why, even + your physical movements are languid! I'd rather marry the roughest viking + that ever sailed the seas than the most accomplished <i>faineant</i>. I—" + </p> + <p> + The sentence was completed with one of the most piercing and agonizing + screams that ever issued from the throat of a fair young woman. At the + same instant she disappeared from sight. + </p> + <p> + Jack stood for a single second utterly appalled, but he was recalled to + life by a second scream, equaling the first in every way, and issuing from + a hole in the snow beside him. He could see in the depths the top of a + very pretty hat. He realized the situation in a moment. They had just + rounded the upturned roots of a monster fallen pine, and Miss Lennox had + broken through the crusted snow and dropped into the cavity beneath. He + threw himself on the ground, reached down his arms, and finally calmed the + fair prisoner sufficiently to enable her to do her part. She reached up + her hands; he caught a firm hold of her wrists and began pulling her out. + He lifted her thus until her head and shoulders were in the sunlight, then + sought to put an arm around her waist to complete the task. He was not + grumbling at the good the gods had sent him. He was not at first in a + hurry. With one arm at last fairly encircling that plump person, with that + soft breath upon his cheek, he was not going to be violent. He was going + to lift slowly and intelligently until the goddess should be upon her feet + again. Then, from beneath, came a growl which was almost a roar; there was + another wild shriek from Miss Lennox, there was the sound of brushwood + being torn away, and as Jack, with a mighty effort, lifted the girl to her + feet beside him, there appeared at the hole the blazing eyes and red mouth + of a bear, furious at having been aroused from its winter sleep. + </p> + <p> + A fragment of limb lay at Jack's feet. With the unconscious instinct of + preservation for both, he seized it and struck the beast fairly on the + snout. It fell back, but uprose again, growling horribly. The girl stood, + too dazed to move, but Jack grasped her roughly by the shoulder, turned + her about and shouted, hoarsely, "Run!" then made another blow at the + scrambling animal. She reeled for a moment, then gathered herself together + and ran like a scared doe. As she ran she screamed—about one scream + to each five yards, as carefully estimated by the young man at a future + period. + </p> + <p> + Despite her terror, the girl turned at a distance of a hundred yards, + stopped and looked backward for an instant, and saw what was certainly an + interesting spectacle, but which made her turn again and flee even more + swiftly down the pathway, renewing her cries as she sped. + </p> + <p> + Affairs were becoming more than interesting for Mr. Jack Hayes. It may be + said fairly and honestly of him, left facing that bear, gaunt and ugly and + flesh-clamoring from the winter's sleep, though still muscular and + enduring—as bears are made—that he demeaned himself as should + become a modern gentleman. He could not or would not run away. He knew + that the beast must not be released, and knew that unless faced it would + clamber in a moment to the level surface. + </p> + <p> + I have read somewhere, as doubtless have you, because it has wandered + throughout the newspapers of the world, the story of a famous Russian + officer, famous, too, as a great swordsman, who once faced a brown bear + robbed of her young, and beat her into insensibility, since his blows were + swifter and more adroit than those delivered by her great forearms. In the + midst of the battle, some thought of this hard Russian tale drifted + through the mind of Hayes, as he dealt blow after blow upon the muzzle of + the brute seeking daylight and vengeance upon its opponent. Each time as + the bear upreared, the stout limb descended, but apparently with slight + effect, and with each rush and tearing down of matted snow and twigs, the + angle of ascent was lessening perceptibly. To say that Jack was + exceedingly earnest and anxious would not be to exaggerate a particle. + Furthermore, he was becoming warm and scant of breath. A portion of the + breath which remained to him he utilized in whooping most lustily. + </p> + <p> + The girl burst into the great front room of the log house, where the + preparations for Easter were in progress. Most of the guests had not yet + reached the house, but there were the rector and two ladies. She staggered + into the room, but partially recovered from the effect of her wild flight, + and could only gasp out, "Jack!—a bear!—a little way up the + eastern path!" and then fell promptly in a heap upon the furs of a great + lounge. + </p> + <p> + The rector stood astonished for a moment, then realized the situation. + Upon the wall hung a double-barreled gun, which he knew was loaded with + buckshot, intended for the vagrant wild geese still seeking northern + habitats. He leaped for the gun, and asked a question hurriedly: + </p> + <p> + "The east path?" he cried. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," the girl contrived to say, and the rector, gun in hand, dashed out + of the doorway and to the eastern path, which he knew well, for he had + been a guest the preceding autumn; and then over the snow of that pathway + gave such an exhibition of clerical sprinting as probably never before + occurred since Jonah fled for Tarsish. He reached the scene of an + exceeding lively exchange of confidences in about two minutes, and saw + what alarmed and at the same time inspirited him most mightily. He rushed + up close to the fencing Hayes, and as the beast in the pit upreared + himself head and shoulders, managed to discharge one barrel of the + shotgun. The shot was well intended but ill-aimed. It was but a + dispensation of Providence that Jack and not the bear was killed. The + beast sank back for another rush, and at the same instant Jack tore the + gun from the reverend gentleman's hands, and as the thing rose again + poured the contents of the second barrel fairly into the middle of his + throat. The episode was ended. Meanwhile, rushing and shouting along the + pathway, came the full contingent of male guests. They arrived only in + time to hear the story and to assist in heaving out the body of the bear, + which was dragged down the pathway and to the house amid much clamor and + gratulation. Jack, in a violent perspiration and extremely shaky, entered + the house, where much was said, all of which he took modestly, and then + everybody prepared for dinner. The feast and later the "sugaring-off" were + occasions of much joyousness, but Jack and Miss Lennox conversed but + little, save in a courteous and casual way. There was a fine time + generally, and all slept the sleep of the more or less just. Easter + morning broke fair and clear. It was good that morning to hear sounding + out over the snow and in the sunlight the farewell notes of the flitting + birds of the north and the greetings of the coming birds of the spring. It + was certainly spring now, and all was life and hope and happiness. The + Easter services were to begin at ten. It was nine o'clock, or maybe it was + nine fifteen—it is well to be accurate about such important matters + as this—that Jack and Miss Lennox met apart from the others, who + were assisting in some arrangement of the greenery. There was something of + the quality which is known as "melting" in her eyes when she looked at + him, and the villain felt encouraged. + </p> + <p> + "It is Easter morning," he said. "Are you glad? Everything seems better." + </p> + <p> + She looked up into his face, and only smiled and blushed. + </p> + <p> + "Are you all right?" said he. "I've been troubled over you." + </p> + <p> + She said nothing at first, but the old critical and defiant look came into + her face again. It had now, however, in it a trace of the gently judicial. + "I was mistaken," she said; "you are a man of action." + </p> + <p> + "Will you be my wife, then?" said Jack. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," said she. + </p> + <p> + Well, they are married, as people so frequently are, and Jack is not going + to the log-house in Michigan this spring, because that St. Louis-Chicago + baby is too young to be abandoned. I like Easter and I like Jack and his + wife, and I like babies, but I don't like being robbed of an outing in a + region where spring comes in so suddenly and gloriously. How wise was the + old pessimist who declared that "a man married is a man marred"—but, + then, who will agree with me! + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Moon" id="Moon">PROFESSOR MORGAN'S MOON</a> + </h2> + <p> + I am aware that attention has already been called in the daily newspapers + to certain curious features of the astronomical discussion between + Professor Macadam of Joplin University and Professor Morgan of the same + institution; but newspaper comment has related only to the scientific + aspects of the case, lacking all references to the origin of the debate + and to the inevitable woman and the romance. As a matter of fact, the + discussion which has set the scientific world, or at least the + astronomical part of it, by the ears, had its inception in a love affair, + and terminated with that affair's symmetrical development. It has seemed + to me that something more than the dry husks of the story should be given + to the public, and that a great many people might be quite as much + interested in the romance as in the mathematical conclusions reached. That + is why I tell the tale in full. + </p> + <p> + Had Professor Macadam never owned a daughter, or had the one appertaining + to him been plain instead of charming, young Professor Morgan would never + have broken a metaphorical lance with the crusty senior educator. But + Professor Macadam did have a daughter, Lee—odd name for a girl—and + she was about as pretty as a girl may grow to be, and sometimes they grow + that way amazingly. She was clever, too, and good, and Professor Morgan + had not known her for half a year when it was all up with him. It became + essential for his permanent welfare, mental, moral and physical, that this + particular young woman should be his, to have and to hold, and he did not + deny the fact to himself at all. Without going into detail, it may be + added that he did not deny the fact to her, either, and so exerted himself + and improved his opportunities that before much time elapsed he had + secured a strong ally in his designs. This ally was the young lady + herself, and it will be admitted that Professor Morgan had thus made a + fair beginning. But all was not to be easy for the pair, however faithful + or resolved they were. + </p> + <p> + College professors generally are not much addicted to either the + accumulation or the love of money, but Professor Macadam was rather an + exception to the rule. Sixty years of age, noted as a great mathematician + and astronomer, he had long had a good income from his teaching and his + books, and had hoarded and made good investments, and was a rich man. Lee, + being an only child, was in fair way some day of coming into a fortune, + and her father was resolved that it should not go to any poor man. He had + often expressed his opinion on this subject; it was well known to the + lovers, but this did not prevent Professor Morgan, who was just beginning + and had only a fair salary with no surplus, from asking the old man for + his daughter. + </p> + <p> + The interview was not a long one, but there was a good deal of low + barometer and high temperature to it, meteorologically speaking. Professor + Macadam fumed, and flatly declined to consider the subject of such an + alliance. "It is absurd!" he said. "What would you live on?" + </p> + <p> + Professor Morgan intimated that two people might sustain themselves in a + modest way on the salary he was getting. + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense, sir! Nonsense!" was the retort. "My daughter has been + accustomed to a better style of living than you could afford her, and I + decline to consider the proposition for a moment. You're in no condition + to support a wife, sir! Figures do not lie, sir! Figures do not lie!" + </p> + <p> + Professor Morgan suggested that figures sometimes did give a wrong + impression. + </p> + <p> + "Then it is because they are used by an incompetent person. I am surprised + that you, sir, assistant professor of astronomy in a great institution of + learning, should assert that any mathematical fact is not an actual one. + Prove to me that figures lie, and you can have my daughter! But this is + only nonsense. You are presumptuous and something of an ass, sir. Good + day, sir!" + </p> + <p> + When Professor Morgan imparted to his sweetheart the result of this + interesting interview, they were both somewhat cast down. It was she who + first recovered. + </p> + <p> + "And so papa said you could have me, did he, if you could prove to him + that figures ever lied?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, he said that, though I don't suppose he meant it. It was simply a + sort of defiance he blurted out in his anger. But what difference does it + make? How could I prove an impossibility in any event, even if such a + grotesque challenge were accepted in earnest? When I said to him that + figures might give wrong impressions, it was only to convey the idea that + people who cared very much for each other might get along with very little + money, and that the ordinary estimates for necessary income did not + apply." + </p> + <p> + "You don't know papa! He'll keep his word, even one uttered in excitement. + He has almost a superstition regarding the literal observance of any + promise made, though it might be accidental and really meaning nothing. + You are very clever—as great a mathematician as papa is. You must + prove to him that figures sometimes really lie, even where computations + are all correct. Surely, there must be some way of doing that." + </p> + <p> + "I'm afraid not, dear. The moon isn't made of green cheese." + </p> + <p> + "But there must be some way, and you must find it. You shall be like a + knight of old, who is to gain a maiden's hand by the accomplishment of + some great deed of derring-do. Am I not worth it, sir?" And she stood + before him jauntily, with her pretty elbows out. + </p> + <p> + He looked down into a face so fair and so full of all fealty and promise + of sweet wifehood that he resolved in an instant that if it lay in human + power to meet the terms of the old man's challenge the thing should be + accomplished. He said as much, and what he said was punctuated labially. + Being a professor, it would never have done for him to neglect his + punctuation. + </p> + <p> + It was not three months after the stormy Macadam-Morgan interview that + Professor Morgan's great book on "Eclipses Past and to Come" made its + appearance. And it was not three weeks after that great work's appearance + when all the scientific world was in a turmoil. + </p> + <p> + Professor Macadam had, for a season after the interview between him and + Professor Morgan, maintained a cold and formal air in all his intercourse + with the latter gentleman, but after a time this wore away, and the old + relations, never very familiar, were resumed. Indeed, it seemed at length + that Professor Macadam had forgotten all about the affair, or if he + remembered it at all, did so only as of an exhibition of foolishness which + his own force and wisdom had checked forever. When therefore Professor + Morgan's book appeared it was read at once with interest, as the work of a + scientist, who, though not a veteran, was of undeniable ability and good + repute. + </p> + <p> + But when the book had been considered there was a literary earthquake! + Professor Macadam reviewed it, and sought to tear it, figuratively, limb + from limb! He was ably supported by other pundits everywhere. The point + upon which the debate hinged was a remarkable one. + </p> + <p> + As already indicated, Professor Morgan's standing as an astronomer was + undisputed, and Professor Macadam did not question the accuracy of his + reasoning, so far as mere computations went. It is known, even to the + non-scientific, that eclipses of the moon can be foretold with the utmost + accuracy; and not only this, but that astronomers can readily determine, + by the same methods reversed, when eclipses of the moon have occurred at + any time in the past. It was to one of Professor Morgan's past eclipses + that Professor Macadam objected. + </p> + <p> + In a long-ago issue of a great foreign review, M. Camille Flammarion, the + French astronomer, advanced the view that this globe has been inhabited + twenty-two millions of years, which is accepted by other scientists as a + fair estimate. It is also admitted that the moon was at one time part of + the earth, and was hurled off into space before the crust upon this body + had fairly cooled. Of course, there is no way of fixing the exact date of + this interesting event, but for the sake of convenience it is put at about + one hundred millions of years ago. It may have been a little earlier or a + little later. But that does not matter. + </p> + <p> + In the table of dates of past eclipses in Professor Morgan's book he + referred to a certain eclipse of the moon which occurred about two hundred + millions of years before Christ, and not a flaw could be discovered in his + figuring. But Professor Macadam did not hesitate to make a charge. He + asserted with great vehemence that as there was no moon two hundred + millions of years before Christ, there could have been no eclipse of the + moon. Had there been an eclipse of the moon then, he admitted that the + eclipse would have taken place at just the time Professor Morgan's table + indicated; but as the case was, he referred to such an event + contemptuously as "an Irish eclipse," and was extremely scathing in his + language. His review closed with an expression of regret that an educator + connected with the great Joplin University could have been guilty of such + an error, not of figures, but of logic. + </p> + <p> + Professor Morgan replied to all his critics, Professor Macadam included, + in a masterly article, in which he declared that he was responsible only + for his mathematics, not for the degree of cohesion of the earth's mucky + mass hundreds of millions of years ago, and that the eclipse he had + calculated must stand. + </p> + <p> + Professor Macadam came to the charge once more, briefly but savagely. He + again admitted the correctness of the computation, but ridiculed Professor + Morgan's attitude on the subject. "His figures," he concluded, "simply + lie." + </p> + <p> + The day following the appearance of Professor Macadam's final article, he + was called upon in his study by Professor Morgan. The younger man did not + present the appearance of a crushed controversialist. On the contrary, his + air was pleasantly expectant. "I called," said he, "to learn how soon you + expected my marriage with your daughter to take place?" + </p> + <p> + The older man started in his seat, "What do you mean, sir?" he demanded. + </p> + <p> + "Why, I called simply to discuss my marriage with your daughter. On the + occasion when you refused my first proposition you said that if I proved + that figures would lie your consent would be forthcoming. I have proved to + you that figures sometimes lie. I have not only your own admission, but + your assertion to that effect, made public in the columns of a great + quarterly. I know you to be a man of your word. I have come to talk about + my marriage." + </p> + <p> + Professor Macadam did not at once reply. His face became very red. "I must + talk with my daughter," he said finally. + </p> + <p> + That afternoon Professor Macadam and his daughter had an interview. The + young lady proved very firm. She would listen to no equivocation and no + protest. She had thought her father to be a man of honor—that was + all she had to say. She touched the old gentleman upon his weak point. He + yielded, not gracefully, but that was of no moment. She and Professor + Morgan, just then, had grace enough for an entire family—in their + hearts. + </p> + <p> + And so they were married. And so, too, you know the origin of one of the + most exciting scientific discussions of the period. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="RedDog" id="RedDog">RED DOG'S SHOW WINDOW</a> + </h2> + <p> + The snow lay deep beside the Black River of the Northwest Territory, and + upon its surface, where the ice was yet thick, for it was February and + weeks must pass before in the semi-arctic climate there would be signs of + spring. In the forests, which at intervals approach the river, the snow + was as deep as elsewhere, but there was not the desolation of the plains, + for in the wood were many wild creatures, and man was there as well; not + man of a very advanced type, it is true, but man rugged and dirty, and + philosophic. In the shadow of the evergreens, upon a point extending far + into the water, stood the tepees of a group of Indians, hardy hunters and + dependents in a vague sort of way of the great fur company which took its + name from Hudson's Bay. + </p> + <p> + Squatted beside the fire of pine knots and smoking silently in one of the + tepees was Red Dog, a man of no mean quality among the little tribe. He + had faculties. He had also various idiosyncrasies. He was undeniably the + best hunter and trapper and trainer of dogs to sledge, as well as the most + expert upon snowshoes of all the Indians living upon the point, and he + was, furthermore, one of the dirtiest of them and the biggest drunkard + whenever opportunity afforded. Fortunately for him and for his squaw, + Bigbeam, as she had been facetiously named by an agent of the company, the + opportunities for getting drunk were rare, for the company is conservative + in the distribution of that which makes bad hunters. Given an abundance of + firewater and tobacco, Red Dog was the happiest Indian between the + northern boundary of the United States and Lake Gary; deprived of them + both he hunted vigorously, thinking all the while of the coming hour when, + after a long journey and much travail, he should be in what was his idea + of heaven again. To-day, though, the rifle bought from the company stood + idle beside the ridge-pole, the sledge dogs snarled and fought upon the + snow outside, and Bigbeam, squat and broad as became her name, looked + askance at her lord as she prepared the moose meat, uncertain of his + temper, for his face was cloudy. Red Dog was, in fact, perplexed, and was + planning deeply. + </p> + <p> + Good reason was there for Red Dog's thought. Events of the immediate + future were of moment to him and all his fellows, among whom, though no + chief was formally acknowledged, he was recognized as leader; for had he + not at one time been with the company as a hired hunter? Had he not once + gone with a fur-carrying party even to Hudson's Bay, and thence to the far + south and even to Quebec? And did he not know the ways of the company, and + could not he talk a French patois which enabled him to be understood at + the stations? Now, as fitting representative of himself and of his clan, a + great responsibility had come upon him, and he was lost in as anxious + thought as could come to a biped of his quality. + </p> + <p> + Like a more or less benevolent devil-fish, the Hudson Bay Company has ever + reached out its tentacles for new territory where furs abound. Such a + region once discovered, a great log house is built there, and furs are + bought from the Indians who hunt within the adjacent region. This is, of + course, a vast convenience for the Indians, who are thus enabled to + exchange their winter catch of peltries for what they need, without a + journey of sometimes hundreds of miles to the nearest trading post. Hence, + under the wise treatment of Indians by the British, there has long been + competition between separate Indian bands to secure the location of a new + post within their own territory. Thus came the strait of Red Dog. A new + post had been decided upon, but there was doubt at company headquarters as + to whether it should be at Red Dog's point or a hundred miles to the + westward, where, it was asserted by Little Peter, head man of a tribe + there, the creeks were fairly clogged with otter, the woods were swarming + with silver foxes and sable, and as for moose, they were thick as were + once the buffalo to the south. Red Dog had told his own story as well, but + the factor at the post toward Fort Defiance was still undecided. He had + told Red Dog and his rival that he would decide the matter the coming + spring when they came down the river with their furs for the spring + trading. The best fur region was what he sought. He would decide the + matter from the relative quality of the catch. + </p> + <p> + So Red Dog had hunted and trapped vigorously, and would ordinarily have + been satisfied with the outcome, for his band had found one of the best + fur-bearing regions of the river valley, and the new post was deserved + there upon its merits. This, however, the factor did not know. The issue + depended upon the relatively good showing made by Red Dog and Little + Peter. Despite his name, Little Peter was a full-blooded Indian and like + Red Dog, he was shrewd. + </p> + <p> + Red Dog smoked long, and the lines upon his forehead grew deeper as he + thought and schemed. At times his glance, bent most of the time upon the + fire before him, would be raised to seek the great bale of furs, the + product of his winter's catch. The meal was eaten, the hours passed, and + then, with a grunt, he ordered Bigbeam to open the package, which work she + performed with great deftness, for who but she had cleaned the skins and + bound them most compactly? They were spread upon the dirt floor, a rich + and luxurious display. No Russian princess, no Tartar king, no monarch of + the south, ever saw anything finer for consideration. There were the + smooth, silken skins of the cross fox, of the blue fox, that strange, + deeply silken-furred creature, the blend of which is a puzzle to the + naturalists; of the silver fox, which ranges so far southward that the + farmers and the farmers' sons of the northern tier of the United States + follow him fiercely with dog and gun because of the value of his coating; + of the otter, most graceful of all creatures of land or water, and in the + far north with fur which is a poem; of the sable, which creeps farther + south than many people know of; of the grim wolverine, black and + yellow-white and thickly and densely furred, and of the great gray wolf of + nearly the Arctic circle, a wolf so grizzly and so long and high and gaunt + and strong of limb that he tears sometimes from the sledge ranges the best + dog of all their pack and leaps easily away into the forest with him; a + beast who transcends in real being even the old looming gray wolf of + mediaeval story who once haunted northern Germany and the British Isles + and the Scandinavian forests, and who made such impress upon men's minds + that the legend of the werewolf had its birth. There were thick skins of + the moose and there was much dried meat. All these, save the meat, + contributed to make expansive the display which Bigbeam, utilizing all the + floor space, laid before the eyes of Red Dog. + </p> + <p> + The showing made Red Dog even more anxiously contemplative. He thought of + the long, weary way to the present trading post, and of how it would be + equally long and weary were a new post to be located in the hunting + grounds of Little Peter. He knew how soft was the snow when it began to + melt in early spring, how the snow shoes sank deeply and became a burden + to lift, how the sledge runners no longer slid along the surface, and the + floundering dogs tired after half a day's journey; he thought how full the + river was of jagged ice cakes in the spring, and how perilous was the + passage of a deeply-laden canoe. Surely the new post must not go to Little + Peter. And Red Dog was most crafty. + </p> + <p> + There must have been, however attenuated, a fiber of French blood + throughout the being of Red Dog. It would have been odd, indeed, had the + case been otherwise, for the half-breeds penetrated long ago through the + far northwest, and the blood underneath does not always show itself + through the copper skin. Anyhow, Red Dog gazed interestedly and fixedly + upon the gloriously soft carpet before him, and there came to his brain a + sense of the wonderfully contrasting coloring. He rose to his feet and + arranged and rearranged the pelts to please his fancy. At last he secured + a combination which made him pause. He returned to his seat and gazed long + and earnestly upon the picture before him; then he turned his eyes + downward and thought as long again. Bigbeam came to him and muttered words + regarding some affair of the teepee. He did not answer her, but, as she + passed silently toward the doorway, he raised his eyes and noted her broad + expanse of back in the doorway to which the far distant blue sky gave a + distinct and striking outline. He shouted to her gutturally and hoarsely + to stand there as she was, and the woman stopped herself in the doorway; + then Red Dog bent his head and thought again. He thought of a window he + had seen in far Quebec, where soft and brilliant furs were shown upon a + flat surface to the most advantage. Why could he not with such display + most impress McGlenn, the Scotch factor, with the importance of his + hunting ground, and where could better display be made than upon the broad + back of his squat squaw Bigbeam? He would make her sew the furs together + in a mighty cloak, and she should ride the river with him when the ice + broke and the spring tides bore them down in their great canoe to the + factor's place toward Fort Reliance. + </p> + <p> + And the cloak was made. Talk of the wrappings of your princesses, of the + shallow-ermine-girded trappings of your queens—they were but + yearning things, but imitations, as compared with this great cloak of the + bounteous Bigbeam. + </p> + <p> + In the center of the field of this wondrous cloak lay white as snow the + skin of an ermine of the far north, and about it were arranged sables so + deep in color that the contrast was almost blackness, but for the play of + light and shade upon the shining fur. About the sables came contrast again + of the skins of silver fox, alternating with those of the otter, and about + all this glorious center piece, set at right angles, were arranged the + skins of the marten, the blue fox, the mink, the otter and the beaver. It + was a magnificent combination, bizarre in its contrasts but wonderfully + striking, and with a richness which can scarcely be described, for the + knowing Red Dog selected only the thickest and glossiest and most valuable + of his furs. He gazed upon the display with a grunt of satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + Red Dog rose to his feet and called sharply to his squaw, who entered the + tent again with a celerity remarkable in one of her construction. The + Indian glanced meaningly at the dog whip which hung upon the center pole, + and there was rapid conversation. For days afterward Bigbeam was busy + sewing together the furs, as Red Dog had arranged them, and attaching + thongs of buckskin so that the wonderful garment could be tied at her neck + and waist. + </p> + <p> + Spring came at last, and Red Dog and Bigbeam set off upon their journey to + the factor's, as did other Indians from other localities for five hundred + miles about. It was a dreadful journey, the hardships of which were + undergone with characteristic Indian stoicism. There were break-downs of + the sledges, there were blizzards in which the travelers almost perished, + there was sickness among the dogs; and when finally the point was reached + where the river was fairly open, and where the big canoe, <i>cached</i> + from the preceding season, could be launched and the load bestowed within + it, there followed miserable adventures and misadventures, until, limping + and pinched of face, the Indian and his squaw drew their boat to land upon + the shore beside the trading post. + </p> + <p> + The trading posts of the Northwest Territory vary little in their manner + of construction. They are built of logs as long as can be conveniently + obtained, and consist of three divisions, the front a store with a rude + counter, behind this the living-rooms of the factor and his assistants, + and in the rear the great storeroom for the year's supplies. The front or + trading room is usually well lighted by windows set in the side, for it is + well to have good light when fine furs are to be passed upon. The trading + room of McGlenn offered no exception to the rule, and his window seats + were good resting places for the casual barterer. + </p> + <p> + Indians were thronging about and in the post as Red Dog and Bigbeam lugged + their bale of furs up the bank and into the big room. There was jabbering + among the bucks, while the squaws stood silently about, and among the most + violent of the jabberers was Little Peter, who had already talked with the + factor and by magnificent lying had almost convinced him that his own + territory was the best for a new post. Unfortunately, though, for Little + Peter, his efforts and those of his band had been somewhat lax during the + winter, and the catch they brought did not in all respects sustain his + story. Red Dog and Bigbeam mingled with the other Indians, and Red Dog was + soon engaged in a violent controversy with his rival, while Bigbeam stood + silent among the squaws. But Bigbeam was very tired; she had wielded the + paddle for many days, she had lost sleep and her eyelids were heavy; + nature was too strong; she edged away from the line of squaws, settled + down into one of the window seats, her broad back filling completely its + lower half, and drifted away into such dreamland as comes to the burdened + and uncomplaining Indian women of the Northwest. + </p> + <p> + Down a pathway leading beside the storehouse came McGlenn, the factor, and + his assistant, Johnson. They reached the window wherein Bigbeam was + reposing and stopped in their tracks! They could not believe their eyes! + Were they in Bond or Regent Street again! Never had they seen such + magnificent display of costly furs before, never one so barbaric, unique + and striking, and, withal, so honest in its richness! They did not + hesitate a moment. They rushed around to the main entrance, tore their way + profanely through the dense groups of Indians, and reached the window + wherein they had seen displayed the marvel. Then they started back + appalled! The interior appearance of that window afforded, perhaps, as + vivid and complaining contrast to its exterior as had ever been presented + since views had rivalry. The thongs about the neck of the swart Bigbeam + had become undone, and her normal front filled all the window's broad + interior. That front, to put it mildly, though picturesque, was not + attractive. It afforded an area of greasy and dirty brown cuticle and of + moose skin, if possible dirtier and greasier still. The two white men + could not understand themselves. Was there witchcraft about; had they been + drinking too much of the Scotch whisky in the stores? They forced their + way outside and looked at the window again, and discovered that they were + sane. There, pressed closely against the window by the weight of the + sleeping Bigbeam, still extended in all its glory the wonderful robe of + furs. Again they entered the post and unceremoniously pulled from her + pleasant resting place the helpmate of Red Dog, the hunter. The cloak was + seized upon and the two men hurried with it to the inner apartments, where + it was studied carefully and with vigorous expressions of admiration. + </p> + <p> + "He's got it!" exclaimed McGlenn. "He's got it, the foxy rascal! It's only + a trick of Red Dog's; but the buck who knows furs as well as that and who + lives in a region where such furs can be found, and who's been sharp + enough to utilize his squaw for a scheme like this, deserves the new post + anyhow. You'll have to go up there, Johnson, and take some of the + voyageurs with you, as soon as the river is open to the head, and + establish a new post there. There'll be profit in it." Then Red Dog was + ordered to come in. + </p> + <p> + How, recognizing the effect already produced upon the factor by Bigbeam's + cloak, Red Dog waxed eloquent in description of the fur producing + facilities of his region cannot here be described at length. From the + picture he drew vehemently in bad French-Canadian language it would appear + that the otter and the beaver fought together for mere breathing places in + the streams, that the sable and the marten and the ermine were household + pets, and that as for the foxes, blue and silver gray, they were so + numerous that the spruce grouse had learned to build their nests in trees! + Turning his regard from his own country, he referred to that of Little + Peter. He described Little Peter as a desperate character with a black + heart and with no skill at all in the capture of wild things. As to Little + Peter's country, it was absurd to talk about it! It was a desolate waste + of rocks and shrub, whereon even the little snowbirds could not live, and + where the few bad Indians who found a home there subsisted upon roots + alone. It was a great oration. + </p> + <p> + The factor and his assistant listened and laughed and made allowances, but + did not alter the decision reached. Red Dog was told that the new post + would be established in his own hunting grounds. As a special favor, he + was given a quart bottle of whisky and ordered sternly to conduct himself + as well as he could under the circumstances. Never was prouder Indian than + Red Dog when he emerged from the storeroom. Before the day had ended, his + furs were all disposed of, including the marvelous cloak, and in his big + canoe were stored away quantities of powder and bullets and tobacco, and + other things appertaining to the comfort of the North-western Indian. In + place of her cloak of furs Bigbeam wore a blanket so gorgeous of coloring + that even the brilliantly hued wood ducks envied her as they swept by + overhead. In the bottom of the canoe lay Red Dog. He had secured more + whisky, and was as the dead who know not. He would awake on the morrow + with a headache, perhaps, but with a proud consciousness that he had + accomplished the feat of a statesman for himself and for his band. Bigbeam + rowed steadily toward home, crooning some barbarous old half-song of her + race. She was very happy. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Markham" id="Markham">MARKHAM'S EXPERIENCE</a> + </h2> + <p> + Markham awoke late for the simple reason that it had been nearly morning + when he went to bed. He awoke lying flat upon his back, and looked up + dreamily at the pattern on the ceiling It was unfamiliar and that set his + mind at work, and gradually he recognized where he was and why he was + there. He reasoned idly that it must be as late as ten o'clock in the + forenoon, and knew that by reaching out his arm he could open the shutter + of the hotel window, admitting the sunlight and affording a view over the + park and the blue lake, but he was laggard about it. There was a pleasure + in debating the matter with himself. He could hear bells, the whistling of + steamers and locomotives, the rumble of carriages and the murmur which + comes from many distant voices. He recognized that another day in a great + city was fairly on, and that the thousands were in motion while he lay + listless. + </p> + <p> + He forgot the sounds and thought about himself. He acknowledged, though + with a certain lenience of judgment, the absurdity of being where he was. + He should have shown more resolve, he admitted, at 2 A.M., and have + gone to his lodgings, a mile or so away. But he had been doing good work + the night before; that, at least, should, he felt, be counted to his + credit. Payne had come on from Washington with a duty of moment to + perform, and had called upon Markham to assist him. Years had passed since + they had worked together and it was a pleasure to renew the combination. + How well they understood each other's methods, and how easily confident + they felt united! They had been dilatory with what they had to accomplish, + so self-conscious of their force were they, and had justified themselves + gracefully in the event. They had strolled forth after their labor, the + last dispatch sent, had smoked and become reminiscent, and had been soaked + by a summer rain. They had been boys again. Of the two, Markham had been + the more buoyant and more reckless. He had been a sick man, though still + upon his legs and among his fellows, when Payne had found him. Things had + been going wrong with Markham. His equation with Her had been disturbed. + </p> + <p> + It had been a test, there was no doubt of that, especially of the woman, + the relations between Markham and her who had come to be more to him than + he had ever before known or imagined one human being could be to another. + She loved him; she had confessed that in a sweet, womanly way, but there + was an obstacle between them. Before she could become his, there was + something for him to accomplish; something hard, perplexing, and difficult + in every way. He had not been idle. He had laid the foundations for his + structure of happiness, but foundations do not reveal themselves as do + upper stories, and she could not see the careful stonework. The domes and + minarets of the castle for which she may have longed were not in sight. He + alone knew what had been his work, but she was hardly satisfied. And, + then, suddenly, because of a disturbing fancy, founded on a fact which was + yet not a fact in its relations, she had become another being. One thing, + meaning much, she had done, which took from the man his strength. It was + as if his heart had been drained of its blood. He was not himself. He + groped mentally. Was there no faithful love in woman; no love like his, + which could not help itself and was without alternative? Were women less + than men, and was calculation or instability a possibility with the + sweetest and the noblest of them? No boy was this; he had known very many + women very well, but he was helpless as a babe in the new world he had + found when he met this one who had become so much. She had changed him + mentally and morally, and even physically, for he had been a careless + liver, and she had turned him from his drifting into a better course. She + had made him, and now, had he been a weaker man, she would have unmade + him. And he had become ill because of it, and almost desperate. Then came + the evidence that she was a woman, as good women are dreamed of, after + all; and they understood, and had come close together to hope again. It + gave him life once more. There was, and would be, the memory of the lapse, + but scars do not cripple. He was himself again. He was thinking of it all, + as he lay late in bed this summer morning. He was a sluggard, he said to + himself. He must go forth and do things—for Her. He raised his arm + to throw open the shutter. + </p> + <p> + Ah! The arm would not rise! At least the man could not extend it far + enough to open the shutter. There was a twinge of pain and a strange + stiffness of the elbow. The other arm was raised—nothing the matter + with that. The man tried to move his legs. The left responded, but the + right was as useless as the arm. There was a pain, too, across the loins + as Markham sought to turn himself in bed. He was astonished. There had + been no pain until he moved. "What's the matter with me?" he muttered. + "I'm crippled; but how, and why?" + </p> + <p> + There was quietude for a few moments and then more deliberate effort. With + his unaffected leg and arm, the victim of physical circumstances he could + not explain worked himself around as if upon a pivot until the + preponderance of his weight was outside the bed. Then, with vast caution, + he tilted himself upward gently until he found himself sitting upon the + bed's edge, his feet just touching the floor, and the crippled member + refusing to bear weight. Markham bore down upon the right foot. It was + stiff and seemed as if it would break before it bent, while the pain was + exquisite, but the man could not stay where he was. He got down upon the + floor and crawled toward his clothing. He contrived, somehow, to dress + himself, but the task accomplished, his face was pallid and he was wet + with perspiration. He tilted himself to his feet and creeping along by the + wall, reached the elevator and so finally the office floor. + </p> + <p> + There was a tinkle of glasses in the hotel saloon, and through the open + door came the fragrance of mint and pineapple. There was a white-clad, + wax-mustached man behind the bar in there, who, as Markham knew, could + make a morning cocktail "to raise the dead," and not to raise them stark + and rigid, like the bodies in Dora's "Judgment Day," but flexile and full + of life. "Jack could mix me something that would help," he thought, and + turned instinctively, but checked himself. More than a year had passed + since he had tasted a morning cocktail. There had been a promise in the + way. He looked down at his knee and foot. "Let them twist," he said, and + then called for a cab. + </p> + <p> + He did not like to do it; it was a confession of weakness, but in his own + apartments again, and in bed as the only restful place, Markham sent for a + doctor. The doctor came, not the ponderous old practitioner of the + conventional type called for by a knowing man, but one of the better + modern type, educated, a man of the world, canny with Scotch blood, but + progressive and with the experimental tendency progressive men exhibit. + Markham told what manner of cup had been put to his lips. "What's the + matter with me!" he demanded. + </p> + <p> + "Muscular rheumatism." + </p> + <p> + "And what are you going to do about it?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I'll follow the custom of the profession and make you a + prescription." + </p> + <p> + "And about the effect?" + </p> + <p> + "Possibly it will help you." + </p> + <p> + "Just at a casual estimate, how long am I to be crippled?" + </p> + <p> + "That depends." + </p> + <p> + "Depends on what?" + </p> + <p> + The doctor laughed. "There's a difference in rheumatism—and in men. + If you don't mind, I'll reserve my answer for a day or two." + </p> + <p> + Markham growled. The doctor went away after writing upon a bit of paper + these hieroglyphics: + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/Illust165s.png" alt="illegible prescription" /> + </p> + <p> + The prescription came, a powder of about the color of a pulverized Rameses + II, and with what Markham thought might be very nearly the flavor of that + defunct but estimable monarch. Night came also at length, and with it came + an experience, new even to this man who had been knocked about somewhat, + and who thought he knew his world. A man with a pain and isolation can + make a great study of the former, and Markham had certainly all facilities + in such uncanny direction. The day passed drearily, but without much + suffering to the man in the bed. He could read, holding his book in his + left hand, and he read far into the night. Then he was formally introduced—he + couldn't help it—to Our Lady of Rheumatism. He was destined to + become as well acquainted with her as was Antony with Cleopatra, or + Pericles with Aspasia. Not extended, but violent, was to be the flirtation + between these two. + </p> + <p> + Markham was tired and inclined to sleep, despite the obstacle intervening + with each movement. Exhaustion forces a man to sleep sometimes when the + pain which racks him is such that sleep would, under other circumstances, + be impossible. When sleeping, come dreams of whatever object is nearest + the heart, but the dreams are ever fantastic and distorted. There may be + pleasant phases to the imagined happenings—this must be when the + pain has for the moment ceased—but the dream is usually most + perplexing, and its culmination most grotesque. At first Markham could not + sleep at all. He was experiencing new sensations. From the affected leg + and arm the nerves telegraphed to the brain certain interesting + information. It was to the effect that a little pot was boiling on—or + under—one leg and one arm. It was in the hollow underneath the knee, + and that opposite the elbow joint that the boiling was—hardly a boil + at first. The pain was not a twinge, it was not an ache, it was just a + faintly simmering, vaguely hurting thing, enough to keep a man awake. Move + but a trifle and the simmer became a boil. So the man lay still and + suffered, not intensely, but irritatingly. And at last, despite the + simmering, he slept. + </p> + <p> + "What dreams may come!" Markham slept, and, sleeping, he was with his love + again, or at least trying to be. And what a season of it he had! It + appeared late evening to him—it might be nine o'clock—but + there was moonlight, while close to the ground was a white fog. He knew + that She was waiting on a street only a block away from him, but he must + pass through a park, a square rather densely wooded, with an iron fence + about it and gates at the center on each side. From one gate to another a + path led straight across through the thick shrubbery. In the queer + combination of moon and fog all seemed uncanny, but he was going to meet + Her and nothing mattered. He entered the little park jauntily, and went a + few yards up the graveled walk between the trees and bushes, when there + arose before him a startling figure. It was that of a man, or rather + monster, with a huge chest, but narrow loins and oddly spindle legs, and + with a white, dead face malignant of expression. The monster barred the + passage and gestured menacingly, but uttered not a word. Markham did not + care much. He was simply on his way to meet Her, and as for monsters and + <i>outre</i> things in general, what did they amount to! He was going to + meet Her! He advanced a little and studied the creature. "I can lick him," + he soliloquized. "He's a whale about the chest but he's weak about the + small of the back, and his legs are nothing, and I'll break him in two—him! + I've got to meet Her!" + </p> + <p> + He plunged ahead, and suddenly the monster drifted aside into the bushes + and out of sight. Markham went on to the gate opening upon the opposite + street. He emerged upon the sidewalk and looked about for the woman he + loved. She was not there. A most matter-of-fact looking man came along, + and Markham asked him who or what it was that barred the passage in the + park. "That?" said the wayfarer, "Oh, he's nothing! He's only The + Mechanical Arbor Man!" + </p> + <p> + The explanation was enough for Markham. Any explanation is enough for any + one in a dream. He went down the sidewalk fully satisfied with what was + said, and intent only upon his errand. He must find his love. Maybe she + had walked along to the next block. A group of bicyclists were careering + by as he crossed the street. One of them passed so close that he ran over + Markham's foot. Talk of sudden agony! It came then. The man awoke. It was + three o'clock in the morning, and his rheumatism had developed suddenly + into an agony. He said he would be practical. Surely, medical science, if + it could not do away with a disease all at once, could alleviate + extraordinary pain. Why should a man suffer needlessly? He sent for the + doctor, and there was another brush of words between them. A degree of fun + as well, for the doctor was not enduring anything, and was making a study + of the case, and Markham was, between the ebullitions of agony, amused to + an extent with his own strange physical condition. It seemed like + prestidigitation to him. Here is what the doctor gave for his relief: + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/Illust169s.png" alt="illegible prescription" /> + </p> + <p> + The dose was taken as directed, and the man, suffering, set his teeth and + awaited results. They did not come. The dose was repeated, duplicated and + triplicated recklessly, but without result. The pain had grown to such + proportions that the nerves had become hysterical, and would be stilled by + no physician's potion. They were beyond all reason. This is but a simple, + brief account of a man and a woman and some rheumatism. It has no plot, + and is but the record of events. The immediate sequence just at this stage + of happenings was an analysis by Markham of what it was he was enduring—that + is, an attempt at analysis. He was, necessarily, not at his best in a + discriminating way. The account may aid the doctors, though. Those of them + who have not had rheumatism must labor under disadvantages in a diagnosis. + </p> + <p> + There are certain great holes in great rocks by the sea into which the + water enters through submarine channels and creeps up and up, increasing + its bubbling and its seething, as the flood fills the natural well until + when the top is reached there is a boiling caldron. This is flood tide. So + it seemed to him, came the pain to Markham. There would be no suffering, + and then would come the faint perception that something unpleasant was + about to happen in a certain locality, it might be almost anywhere, for + the rheumatism was no longer confining itself to the right leg and the + right arm, but rioted through all the man's limbs and about his back and + shoulders. It went about like a vulture after food, alighting where it + found prey to suit its fancy. + </p> + <p> + There would be the bubble and trickle beneath the knee and in the calf of + the leg, and then would come the increase of turbulence as the flood rose, + and then the boiling and the torture culminating throughout a long hour + and a half. Then the new murmur somewhere else and the same event. Even in + a finger or a toe definitely would the thing at times occur, the pain + being, if possible, more intense in such event, because, seemingly, more + contracted. + </p> + <p> + Pains may be said to have colors; in fact, this can be recognized even by + the less imaginative. A burn, a cut, you have a scarlet pain. A slap might + produce a pink pain, something less intense. But the pain of rheumatism is + of another sort; there is no glitter to it. It is always blue, light at + first, and gradually deepening until it becomes the very blue-blackness of + all misery. This is the muscular stage; when it reaches the inflammatory + there is a new sensation, something almost grinding. This latter feature + Markham had to learn, for when morning broke, a single toe and all of one + hand were swollen and unbendable. He was becoming an expert on sensations. + He had formed his own idea of the Spanish Inquisition. It had never + invented anything worth while, after all! + </p> + <p> + At 11 A.M. all pain suddenly ceased—even Our Lady of Rheumatism + tires temporarily of caressing—and the exhausted man slept. What a + sleep it was—glorious, but not dreamless. He was wandering through + the halls of the greatest fair the world has ever seen, and he had a + purse! The exhibitors were selling things, and what marvels he bought for + Her! There were Russian sables fit for her slender shoulders, and he took + them. Robes of the silver fox as soft as eider-down, and a cloak of royal + ermine; he secured them, too. She was fond of rubies, and he purchased the + most glorious of them all. For himself he bought but a single thing, a + picture of a woman with a neck like hers. And then, wandering about + seeking more gifts, he came to where they were melting a silver statue of + an actress and stepped into a pan of the molten metal! He awoke then. Our + Lady was caressing him again. + </p> + <p> + The doctor came and heard the story, and to say that Markham exhibited a + great command of language in the telling, would be to do him but mild + justice. The doctor, accustomed to his kind changed into wild animals by + pain, only laughed. And then that Hagenback of his profession wrote upon a + piece of paper this: + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/Illust173s.png" alt="illegible prescription" /> + </p> + <p> + There is no definiteness to this account. There is no relevance between + time and occurrences, save in a vague, general way. A month would cover + all the tale, but there are lapses. Markham suffered steadily, but not so + patiently as would have done another man. The doctor visited him + regularly, and they had difficulties such as will occur between men + learning to understand each other pretty well, and so risking all debate. + Two other prescriptions the doctor made, and these were all, not counting + repetitions at the druggists. These two prescriptions, one, another + ineffectual sedative, so great was the man's suffering, and the other but + a segment of the medical program looking toward a cure, may be dropped + into the matter casually. + </p> + <p> + So the man sick with what makes strong men yield, struggled and suffered, + until there came to him one day a man of color. Black as the conventional + ace of spades was this man, and most impudent of expression, but he bore a + note from Her. She had known him formerly but as a serving man in a + boarding-house, but he had told to another servant, in her hearing, of how + he had been engaged for years in a Turkish bath, and how he had cured a + certain great man of rheumatism. She had remembered it, and had summoned + this person of deep color that she might send him to the man she loved. + There are a number of men in the world who can imagine what this messenger + was to Markham under such circumstances! What to any healthy and healthful + man is evidence of thinking about and for him from the one woman! + </p> + <p> + He questioned the visitor. He learned that he was at present a + professional prize-fighter, most of the time out of an engagement. His + appearance tended to establish his veracity in this particular instance. + He looked like a thug and looked like a person out of employment for a + long time. + </p> + <p> + What could he do? was demanded of the messenger. Well, he could "cure de + rheumatism, shuah." How would he do it? He would "take de gemman to a + Turkish bath and rub him and put some stuff on him." + </p> + <p> + Of course Markham was going to try the remedy. He would have tried a + prescription of sleeping all night on wet grass under a upas tree, if such + a remedy for rheumatism had come from Her. But he was fair about it all. + He sent for the doctor. It was on this occasion that occurred their first + controversy. + </p> + <p> + The doctor did not object to the Turkish bath nor the manipulation by the + prize-fighter. "Be careful," he said, "when you come out—don't get a + chill—and it may help you. What he rubs you with won't hurt you, and + the rubbing is good in itself." + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/Illust175s.png" alt="illegible prescription" /> + </p> + <p> + "But why haven't your prescriptions made me well?" demanded Markham. + </p> + <p> + The doctor was placid. "Because we don't know enough about rheumatism + yet," he answered. + </p> + <p> + "Well, what excuse has your profession? You've been fooling about for + thousands of years and don't know yet the real cause of a common ailment. + What is rheumatism, anyhow?" + </p> + <p> + The doctor was conservative in his expression. + </p> + <p> + "It's a microbe," blurted out Markham. "I tell you it's a microbe! They + are holding congresses and town meetings and pink teas all over me! + There's a Browning Society meeting in my left knee just now, and that's + what makes the agony. How could there be such a skipping about from one + place to another, neither place diseased in itself, if there were not an + active, living agency at work? Tell me that!" + </p> + <p> + The doctor admitted that microbes might cause the trouble. But he had a + word or two to say about this individual case. There had been but a little + over three weeks of the agony. The case was a particularly bad one, and he + didn't mind admitting that the patient was particularly intractable and + doubting. Optimism had much to do with a recovery in most cases of + illness, and optimism was here lacking. But he would wager a box of cigars + that the patient was on his feet again within two weeks. The wager was + taken with great promptness, and then the patient was loaded into a cab + and sent off with the black prize-fighter. + </p> + <p> + What happened in that Turkish bath will never be told with all its proper + lurid coloring. The prize-fighter stopped at a drug store and bought a + mixture of cocoanut oil and alcohol. Markham took a bath in the usual way, + and then was taken by the demon controlling him into the apartment for + soaping and all cleansing and manipulation. Here occurred the tragedy. One + leg had become stiffened, and the prize-fighter suddenly jumped upon it + and broke it down, and Markham rolled off the marble slab, almost fainting + from the pain. Then he recovered and tried to fight, but could do nothing, + being a weak cripple, and was literally beaten into limberness. Then, + using awful language, but helpless, he was carried to the cooling room and + there rubbed with the alcohol and oil. He was taken to the cab more dead + than alive. That night he had a little rest, and dreamed of Her, and how + she had sent him a black angel with white wings. The next day he went with + the prize-fighter again, but informed him that when well he should kill + him. For three days this continued. The fourth day the prize-fighter got + drunk and was arrested, and was sent to jail for thirty days. Meanwhile + Markham had continued the physician's prescriptions faithfully. A week + later he was practically well. + </p> + <p> + The man, walking again, went to Her. He said, "You have been my salvation, + as usual." + </p> + <p> + "I don't know," she answered, thoughtfully. "I do know this, though, dear, + that with you away from me and ill, I realized somehow more fully what you + are to me. I wanted to do things. I have read often about a mother and a + child. I think I had something of that feeling. I know now about us; we + must never misunderstand again. I don't think the colored man helped you + much, and I understand he is a most disreputable person." + </p> + <p> + He looked into her eyes, but uttered only a sentence of two words, "Little + Mother." + </p> + <p> + Markham visited the doctor, proud on his way of the swing of his legs + again. "It was a pretty swift cure," he said, "and I suppose you ought to + have some of the credit for it." + </p> + <p> + <img src="images/Illust178s.png" alt="illegible prescription" /> + </p> + <p> + The doctor advanced the proposition that he ought to have, with nature, + not some, but all of the credit. + </p> + <p> + "There's a difference in patients," he remarked, "and when you began to + improve you 'hustled.' But my treatment, those prescriptions, offset the + poison—call it microbes, if you wish—in your blood and gave + your physique and constitution and general health a chance. The darky does + not figure." + </p> + <p> + There was a good-natured debate, Markham being now reasonable, but no + conclusion. What did cure Markham? Was it the physician's treatment, the + course with the prize-fighter, or the effect upon Markham's mind of the + fact that the latter was all from Her? Will some one say? + </p> + <p> + A week or two after his complete recovery, Markham asked the doctor what + course to follow to avoid a possible recurrence at any time of what he had + endured. The physician was very much in earnest in his answer. "Be careful + of what you eat and drink," he said, "and careful of yourself in a general + way aside from that. Do not take risks of colds. Be, in short, a man of + sense regarding your physical welfare." + </p> + <p> + "But I'm going into the woods of Northern Michigan on a shooting and + fishing trip," was the answer, "and we've got to sleep on the ground, and + to a certainty, we'll fall into some creek or lake on an average of once a + day; and, old man, we've room for another in the party." + </p> + <p> + "I'll come!" said the doctor. + </p> + <p> + But what cured Markham? + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Revenger" id="Revenger">THE RED REVENGER</a> + </h2> + <p> + To build a really good jumper you must first find a couple of young + iron-wood trees, say three inches in thickness and with a clean length of + about twelve feet, clear of knots or limbs. If you chance to stumble upon + a couple with a natural bend, so that each curls up properly like a sled + runner, so much the better. But it isn't likely you'll find a pair of just + that sort. Young iron-wood trees do not ordinarily grow that way, and the + chances are you'll have to bend them artificially, cutting notches with an + ax on the upper side of each to allow the curvature. With strong + cross-pieces, stout oak reams, and the general construction of a rude sled + rudely imitated, you will have made what will carry a ponderous load. The + bottom of the iron-woods must, of course, be shaved off evenly with a + draw-shave and some people would nail on each a shoe of strap-iron, but + that is really needless. Iron-wood wears smooth against the snow and ice + and makes a noble runner anyhow. Only an auger and sense and hickory pegs + and an eye for business need be utilized in the making, and in fact this + economical construction is the best. That "the dearest is the cheapest" is + a tolerably good maxim, but does not apply forever in regions where + nature's heart and man's heart and the man's hands are all tangled up + together. The hickory creaks and yields, but it is tough and does not + break. Such means of conveyance as that outlined, in angles chiefly, is + equal to a sled for many things, and better for many others. + </p> + <p> + There may be people of the ignorant sort who have always lived in towns, + who do not know what a jumper is. A jumper is a sort of sled, a part of + the twist and wrench of a new world and new devices of living, and is used + in newly-settled regions. It doesn't cost much, and you can drive with it + over anything that fails to offer a stern check to horses or a yoke of + oxen. It is great for "coasting," as they call it in some part of the + country; "sliding down hill" in others. It was a big jumper of the sort + described which was the pride of the boys in the Leavitt district school. + They had nailed boards across it to make a floor, and the load that jumper + carried on occasions was something wonderful. It would sustain as many + boys and girls as could be packed upon it. Sometimes there came a need for + strange devices as to getting on, and then the mass of boys would make the + journey with its perils, laid criss-cross in layers, like cord-wood, four + deep and very much alive and apprehensive. + </p> + <p> + The Leavitt school was situated in the country, ten miles from the nearest + town, and those who attended it were the farmers' sons and daughters. In + winter the well-grown ones, those who had work to do in summer, would + appear among the pupils, and this winter Jack Burrows, aged eighteen, was + among the older boys. He was there, strong, hard working at his books, a + fine young animal, and it may be added of him that he was there, in love, + deeply and almost hopelessly. Among the girls in attendance was one who + was different from the rest, just as an Alderney is different from a group + of Devon heifers. She was no better, but she was different, that was all. + She had come from a town, Miss Jennie Orton, aged seventeen, and she was + spending the winter with the family of her uncle. Her own people were + neither better off nor counted superior in any way to those she was now + among, but she had a town way with her, a certain something, and was to + the boys a most attractive creature. There was nothing wonderful about her—that + is, there wouldn't be to you or me—but she was a bright girl and a + good one, and she awed Jack Burrows. A girl of seventeen is ten years + older than a boy of eighteen, and in this case the added fact that the + girl had lived in town and the boy had not, but added to the natural + disparity. Jack had made some sturdy but shy advances which had been well + enough received—in her heart Jennie thought him an excessively fine + fellow—but being a male, and young, and lacking the sight which + sees, he failed to take this graciousness at its full value. He had + ventured to become her escort on the occasion of this sleigh ride or of + that, but when all were crowded together by twos in the big straw-carpeted + box, on the red bob-sleds, and the bells were jangling and the woods were + slipping by and the bright stars overhead seemed laughing at something + going on beneath them, his arm—to its shame be it said—had + failed to steal about her waist, nor had he dared to touch his lips to + hers, beneath the hooded shelter of the great buffalo robe which curled + protectingly around them. He would as soon have dared such familiarity + with the minister's maiden sister, aged forty-two and prim as a Bible + book-mark. Yet Jennie was just the sort of girl whom a cold-blooded expert + must have declared as really meriting a kiss, when prudent and fairly + practicable for the kisser and kissee, and as possessing just the sort of + waist to be fitted handsomely by a good, strong arm. Jack, full of fun and + ordinarily plucky enough—he had kissed other girls and had licked + Jim Bigelow for saying Jennie Orton put on town airs—was simply in a + funk. He could not bring himself to a manly wooing point. He was not + without a resolve in the matter, for he was a determined youth, but in + this callow strait of his, he was weakling enough to resort to devious + methods. He wore no willow; he lost no weight. But the spell of love which + warps us was upon him, and he swerved from the straight line, though bent + upon his conquest. He was resolved to have that arm of his about sweet + Jennie's waist somehow, if he died for it, but with discretion. He would + not offend her for the world. So he fell to plotting. + </p> + <p> + There had come a deep snow, and then the heavens had opened and there had + followed a great rain. The schoolhouse stood on the crest of a hill and by + it the highway ran down a steep slope and right across the flats, and the + road, raised three feet higher than the low lands which it crossed, showed + darkly just above the water. Then came snow again, and the road showed + next a straight white band across the water. And now had come some colder + weather, and ice had formed above the waiting waters which spread out so + in all directions. What skating there would be! The boys had tried the + ice, but it was coy and threatening, not yet quite safe to venture forth + upon. It was what the boys called "India-rubber ice"; ice which would bend + beneath their tread, but would not quite support them when they stopped. + It would be all right, they said, in just a day or two. To venture + recklessly upon its surface now was but to drop through two feet deep of + water. And water beneath the ice in early March is cold upon the flats. In + the interval there would be, at recess and at noontime, great sport in + sliding down the hill. + </p> + <p> + The jumper, which, as already said, was a marvel of stoutness and + dimensions, was the work chiefly of Jack, but he had been assisted in the + labor by Billy Coburg, his chosen friend and ally in all emergencies. + Billy was as good as gold, a fat fellow with yellow hair and a red face, + full of ingenious devices, stanch in his friendship, and as fond of fun as + of eating, in which last field he was eminently great. In the possession + of some one of the boys was a thick, old-fashioned novel of the + yellow-covered type, entitled, "Rinard, the Red Revenger," and Billy had + followed the record of the murderous pirate chieftain with the greatest + gusto, and had insisted upon bestowing his title upon the jumper. So it + came that the Red Revenger was the pride and comfort of the school, and + Jack Burrows, as he looked up from his algebra and out the window at it in + the frost-fringed morning hour, rather congratulated himself upon its + general style. They'd had a lot of fun with it. His eyes wandered to the + ice-covered flats and the narrow roadway stretching white across them. + What a time they had yesterday keeping the jumper on the track, and what a + shrewd device they had for steering! A hole had been bored down through + the heel of each thick runner, and on each aft corner of the jumper had a + boy been stationed armed with a sharpened hickory stick. To swerve the + jumper to the left, the boy on the right but pressed his stick down + through the hole beneath him, and the sharp point scraping along the + ice-covered ground, must slow the jumper as desired. And so, on the other + side, when the jumper threatened to go off the roadway to the left, the + boy on that side acted. It was a great invention and a necessary one. What + would happen if that jumper, loaded with boys and girls, should leave the + track just now? Jack chuckled as he thought of it. With its broad, + sustaining runners, and with impetus once gained by its sheer descent, for + what a distance must it speed upon that India-rubber ice before it finally + broke through! What a happening then! The moderately bad boy's countenance + was radiant as the contemplation of this catastrophe came upon him with + its rounded force. He turned his face, and his gaze fell upon the trim + figure of Jennie Orton on the other side of the room. How things go. There + was an instant association of ideas between girl and jumper. The young + fellow's face became first bright, and then most shrewdly thoughtful. + School was dismissed for the noon hour. And then, after the lunches had + been eaten, Jack Burrows went outside with Billy Coburg. + </p> + <p> + "Hi-yah! Jack and Billy are just going to start down hill on the jumper! + Look at 'em show off their steering!" yelled a small boy, and the pupils + rushed to the windows and out at the door. The jumper had just started. + </p> + <p> + One at each rear corner of the big sled sat Jack and Billy, each with a + sharpened stick in hand, and thrust down strongly through the bored hole + in the runner. The jumper started slowly, then, gaining speed, rushed down + the hill like a thunderbolt, the hardened snow screaming beneath in its + grating passage. The road below was entered fairly, and deftly steered, + the Red Revenger skimmed away and away into the far distance. It was an + exhilarating sight. Then, a little later, pulling the jumper easily behind + them and up the hill again, came Jack and Billy, and shouted out loudly + and enthusiastically the proposition that everybody should come out and go + down the hill with the biggest load the jumper had ever carried. + </p> + <p> + The pupils, big and little, swarmed out in a crowd, all inclined, if not + to ride, at least to see the sweeping descent under circumstances so + favorable. Some of the larger girls hesitated, but Billy especially was + earnest in his pleading that the trip should be the big one of the winter, + and that they must see how many the Red Revenger could carry at one swoop. + And finally all consented. A look of relief and satisfaction flashed + across the face of Jack as Jennie got on with the rest, though there was + nothing strange in that, joining as she always did with the other pupils + in their various sports. The laden jumper was a sight for a mountain + packer or a steerage passenger agent or a street car magnate to see and + enjoy most mightily. It was loaded and overloaded. The larger girls, as + became their dignity, were seated in the middle, and close behind them + were the smaller children. In front was a mass of boys of varying ages. + "On account of there isn't much room," said Billy, "you'll have to cord + up," and so three boys lay down on the huge sled crosswise, three lay in + the other direction across them, and three again across these latter. It + was a little hard on those underneath, but they didn't mind it. Behind + were Jack and Billy as steerers, and three or four more stood up on the + sides and hung on to the others. There were twenty-three in all, every + pupil attending the school that day. + </p> + <p> + All was ready. "On account of the road's so smooth, she'll be a hummer," + said Billy. + </p> + <p> + "Let her go," ordered Jack. A kick and the jumper was off. + </p> + <p> + Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, moved the big sled, borne hard to + the ground by such a burden. No one was alarmed. But as it slid downward, + the jumper gathered way, and faster and faster it went, and the sound from + beneath changed from a shrill grating to a menacing roar, and the thing + seemed like a big something launched downward from a huge catapult at the + narrow strip of road across the ice. With set teeth sat Jack and Billy at + their stakes, each steering carefully and well. There was no swerve. The + road was entered upon deftly with a rush, and out upon it sped the + monster. Then Jack said quietly, "Look out, Billy!" Billy looked across at + him and grinned, but uttered never a word nor made a move as they tore + along. But there was a sudden movement on Jack's part, and his stake bore + down hardly through the hole in the runner. The flying jumper trembled and + swayed, and then like a flash left the roadway and darted down upon and + away across the ice. + </p> + <p> + There was one shriek from the girls, and then all was quiet. "Whish!" That + was all as the jumper shot out over the glass-like surface. The ice bent + into a valley, but the Red Revenger was away before the break came. It + seemed as if the wild, fierce flight would never cease. But there is an + end to all things, and at last came a diminution of the jumper's speed. + Slower and slower moved the thing, then came a pause and sudden quivering, + and then a crash beneath and all about, and the jumper, with its living + load, dropped to the bottom! There was no tragedy complete. The water came + up just to the side rails and no further. + </p> + <p> + For fifteen or twenty feet on every side the ice bobbed up and down in + floating fragments, and beyond that, where it still remained intact, it + would support no one stepping out upon it from the water. It was + "India-rubber ice" no longer; it was cracked and brittle to the very + shore. That the jumper had careered out so far into the flats was because + of its velocity alone. There it stood, an island in a sea of ice water; + not a desert island, exactly, either. It was populated—very densely + populated. It was populated several deep, and now from its inhabitants + went up a dreadful howl. + </p> + <p> + There was no visible means of escape from the surface of the Red Revenger. + The boys who had been "corded" managed to change their positions somehow, + and stood where they had got upon their feet, holding themselves together, + and the girls and younger children sat stupefied in the positions they had + held when coming down the hill, from the throats of the latter going up + the lively wail referred to. Billy looked across at Jack and grinned + again, this time with great solemnity, and Jack himself looked just a + trifle grave. + </p> + <p> + "Bang! rat-tat-tat! whack!" sounded from the schoolhouse, and the faces of + the younger children paled. The noon hour had reached its end, and the + schoolmaster was sounding his usual call. No bells summoned the pupils at + this rural place of learning, but instead, at recess and at noon time the + pedagogue came to the door and hammered loudly with his ruler upon the + clapboards there beside him. Very grim was this same schoolmaster, and + unfortunate was the pupil who came into the room a laggard after that + harsh summons had rung out across the fields and flats. There stood the + schoolmaster—he could be seen from the Red Revenger—and it was + not difficult even at that distance to imagine the ominous look upon his + face. Again and again came forth the wooden call, and then the + schoolmaster stepped out into the roadway. He looked about inquiringly. He + came to the top of the hill, from whence, off in the flats, the jumper and + its load were plainly seen, and then he paused. It was clear that he was + puzzled and was meditating. He called out hoarsely: + </p> + <p> + "What do you mean? What are you doing? Come in, and come now!" + </p> + <p> + There was no mistaking the quality of that sharp summons. It meant + business, and in all probability it meant trouble, too, for somebody; + trouble of strictly personal, as well as of a physical character. There + was no reply for a moment, and then Billy, the reprobate, grinning again + at Jack, and giving to his voice a tone intended to be a compound of + profound respect and something like unlimited despair, bawled out: + </p> + <p> + "We can't!" + </p> + <p> + The teacher descended the hill with all firmness and sedateness; he looked + like a ramrod, or a poker, or anything stiff and straight, and suggestive + of unpleasantness. He followed the roadway until just opposite the jumper, + and then surveying the scene with an angry eye, commanded all to return to + the schoolhouse on the moment. Here the situation became acute. It was + Jack's turn now to make things clear. That villain rose to the occasion + gallantly. He shouted out an explanation of how the jumper had happened, + by the merest accident in the world, to leave the roadway, and had gone + out so far upon the India-rubber ice; how the final catastrophe had taken + place, and how helpless they all were in their present condition. The road + could be reached only by a wade of a hundred yards through two feet deep + of ice water—more in places—breaking the ice as an advance was + made. It would be an awful undertaking, the death almost of the little + children, and dangerous to all. What should they do? And the rascal's + voice grew full of trouble and apprehension. Fortunately for him, the + teacher was too far off to note the expression on his face. + </p> + <p> + The czar of winter did not wait long. He started off, and was over the + hill again and out of sight within the next three minutes, and it was + clear that he was going somewhere for assistance. Then some of the other + boys wanted to know what was to be done, and Billy looked at Jack + inquiringly. + </p> + <p> + "Well, on account of the fix we're in, what's going to happen next!" + </p> + <p> + Jack, somehow, did not seem undetermined. He answered promptly: "What is + going to happen is this: The teacher has gone over to Mapleson's for help. + He might as well have stayed in the schoolhouse. They can't drive a wagon + in here, and the ice is so thin, and is cracked so, they can't even put + planks out upon it. They can't help us in any way. What shall we do? Why, + we can't stay here all night and freeze. Somebody's got to break a path to + the shore, that's all, and then we've got to wade out, and the sooner we + do it the better." + </p> + <p> + The smaller children began to cry; the older boys growled; the big girls + shuddered; Billy grinned. + </p> + <p> + "There's no reason why everybody should get wet," broke out Jack, + suddenly. "Here! I'll break a way to the road myself, and carry one of the + youngsters. We'll see how it goes." + </p> + <p> + He caught up one of the little children and stepped off into the + ice-packed water. Ugh! but it was cold, and he set his teeth hard. He + floundered over to where the unbroken ice began, and then raising his feet + alternately above its edge, he crushed it downward. It was not physically + a great task for this strong fellow, but it was not a swift one, and the + water was deadly cold. His blood was chilling, but the roadway was reached + at last. He set the child down quickly, told it to run to the schoolhouse + and stand beside the stove, and then himself began running up and down the + road to get his blood in fuller circulation. Into the water he plunged + again and reached the Red Revenger. "Here," he said, "each one of you big + fellows carry some one ashore. Jump in, quick!" + </p> + <p> + The boys hesitated, and went into the water in a gingerly way, but did + very well, the plunge once taken, and Jack apportioned to each of them his + burden. The procession waded off boisterously but shudderingly. As for + Jack himself, he got one youngster clinging about his neck and another + perched upon each hip, and then waded off with the rest. There were left + on the jumper but two more of the small children, and Jennie. That was + Jack's shrewdness. He was well spent and shaky when he reached the shore + this time. + </p> + <p> + He put the children down and turned to Billy. "B-b-illy," he chattered, + "will you go back with me, and will you bring ashore those two kids?" + </p> + <p> + Billy looked a trifle dismal. He had just set down upon the roadway the + girl he liked best, and he wanted to go to the schoolhouse with her. Added + to this he was awfully cold. But he was faithful. + </p> + <p> + "On account of you've done more than your share I'll go you," he decided. + </p> + <p> + They went out again, out through that dreadful hundred yards of icy flood, + and Billy marched off with the children, and then Jack reached out his + hands, though hesitatingly. He was bashful still, despite the emergency + his villainy had made. As for Jennie, she did not hesitate. She stepped up + close to him, was taken in his arms like a baby, and the journey began. + What a trip it was for Jack! There she was, clinging fast to him, and he + with his arms close about her! Who said that the water was cold? It was + just right—never was more delightful water! And she didn't seem to + dislike the journey, either. She even seemed to cuddle a little. He wished + it were a mile to land. Hooray! + </p> + <p> + And the road was reached at last, and the blushing and beaming young lady + set down upon her feet. She didn't say anything but reached out her hand + to Jack, and led him on a run to the schoolhouse. The fire had been + kindled into roaring strength by those first to reach the place, and all + the soaked ones gathered about the stove and steamed there into relative + degrees of dryness. Jack steamed with the rest, but he was in a dream—one + of the blissful type. + </p> + <p> + In time the teacher returned, and with him a farmer and his hired man, and + a team and a wagon-load of plank, too late for aid, even had aid been + practicable. There was no school that afternoon. The teacher could not + accuse any one of fault, nor blame the pupils that they had hesitated when + he called them; while, on the other hand, he was deterred from saying + anything commendatory of the waders. He suspected something, he couldn't + tell exactly what, and he didn't propose to commit himself. The most he + could do was to recognize the fact that the big boys should get to their + homes as soon as possible and dry their boots and stockings. He dismissed + the pupils, and so that eventful day was ended. Jack's boots were full of + dampness still, and his feet were chilly, but as he walked home he walked + on air. + </p> + <p> + The succeeding night was one of bitter cold, and the morning saw the ice + upon the flats no longer yielding, but so thick and solid that wagons + might be driven upon it anywhere without a risk. Even the lately opened + space about the partly submerged jumper was frozen over, and the top of + the Red Revenger showed where that interesting but ill-fated craft was + fixed for some time to come. "On account of she's frozen in so deep, we'd + better let 'er stay there," commented Billy; and so coasting, save upon + ordinary sleds, was discontinued for the season. It was pretty near + spring, anyhow. + </p> + <p> + The frost-decorated windows of the schoolhouse blazed in the morning sun, + and was a glory on the heads of the girls. But no head was so bright, in + the opinion of Jack Burrows, as that of Jennie Orton. Her brown hair + gleamed like gold, and as for the rest of her—well he thought as he + looked across the room, there was nothing to improve. It seemed hardly + possible that only the afternoon before he had held that creature in his + arms and carried her so three hundred feet or more. It was all true, + though, and Jennie had smiled across at him just now. He was more deeply + in love than ever, but his timidity had somehow much abated. She was as + beautiful as ever, but she seemed more human. He felt that he could speak + to her, make love to her, as he might to another girl. Of course he + couldn't do it very confidently, but he could venture, and he resolved to + ask leave to bring her to the spelling school that very evening. He did + so, pluckily, at recess, and she consented. + </p> + <p> + As they were walking home that night, they fell naturally to talking of + the grewsome adventure of the day before; and Jennie asked Jack, + innocently, to explain to her the method by which he and Billy were + accustomed to steer the Red Revenger. He explained fluently and with some + pride, and she listened with close attention. When he had done she + remained silent for a few moments, and then said quietly: + </p> + <p> + "You did it on purpose." + </p> + <p> + The young man was dazed. He could say nothing at first, but managed + finally to blunder out: + </p> + <p> + "How did you know that?" + </p> + <p> + "I saw you and Billy look at each other, and saw you push down hard on the + stake. Why did you do it?" + </p> + <p> + Jack was truthful at least, and, furthermore, he had perception keen + enough to see that in his present strait was afforded opportunity for + speaking to the point on a subject he had feared to venture. He was + reckless now. + </p> + <p> + "I wanted to carry you ashore in my arms," he said. + </p> + <p> + There was, as any thoughtful girl would admit, really nothing in all this + for Jennie to get very angry over, and, to do her credit, it must be added + that she showed no anger at all. Of the details of what more was said, + information is unfortunately and absolutely lacking, but certain it is + that before Jennie's home was reached Jack's arm had found a place not + very far from that which it had occupied the afternoon before. + </p> + <p> + They marry young in the country, but seventeen and eighteen are ages, + which, even on the farm, are not considered sufficiently advanced for such + grave venture, and so, though Jack's wooing prospered famously, there was + no wedding in the spring. There was the most trustful and delightful of + understandings, though, and three years later Jennie came from the town to + live permanently on the farm, and her name was changed to Burrows. + </p> + <p> + "On account of the Red Revenger was a pirate craft, and took to the water + naturally, Jack got braced up to begin his courting, and so got married," + said Billy, in explanation of the event. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Accomplice" id="Accomplice">A MURDERER'S ACCOMPLICE</a> + </h2> + <p> + It is part of my good fortune in life to know a beautiful and lovable + woman. She is as sweet, it seems to me, as any woman can be who has come + into this world. She is good. She is not very rich, but she helps the + needy as far as she can from her moderate purse. I have known her to + attend at the bedside of a poor dying person when the doctor had told her + that the trouble might be smallpox. I should say, at a venture, that this + woman will go to heaven when she dies. But she will not go to heaven + unless ignorance is an excuse for wickedness. If she does go there, it + must be as the savage goes who knows no better than to do things which + thoughtful people, to whom what is good has been taught, count as cruel + and merciless. As the savage is a murderer, so is she the accomplice of a + murderer, although it is possible that by the Great Judge neither may be + so classified at the end, because of their lack of knowing. + </p> + <p> + I met this lovable woman on the street the other day, and we walked and + talked together. She had only good in her heart in all she was planning to + do. She had taste for outlines and color, and she was very fair to look + upon. Her dress—"tailor-made," I think the women call it—set + off her perfect figure to advantage, and her hat was a symmetrical + completion of the whole effect. It was a neat, well-proportioned whole, + the woman and her toilet, which I, being a man, of course, cannot + describe. One of her adornments was the head, breast, and wing of a + Baltimore oriole, worn in her hat. + </p> + <p> + I met this same woman again a day or two ago in another garb not less + charming and artistic. We ate luncheon together, and it made life worth + living to be with a creature so fair and good. In her hat this time was a + touch of the sky when it lies over a great lake. It was the wing of a + bluebird. + </p> + <p> + I know—or knew—four birds, and to know a fair bird well is + almost equal to knowing a fair woman well, though they have different + ways. Two of these birds that I knew were orioles and two were bluebirds. + The two orioles and the two bluebirds were husbands and wives. I stumbled + upon them all last year. The bluebirds had a nest in a hole in a hard + maple stump in a clearing in St. Clair County, Michigan. The orioles' nest + was well woven in pear shape, dangling from close-swinging twigs at the + end of an elm limb which hung over a creek in Orange County, Indiana. The + male oriole attended faithfully to the wants of his soberer-hued wife + sitting upon the four eggs in their nest. He was gorgeous all over, in his + orange and black, and as faithfully and gallantly as the male bluebird did + he regard his mate, and he was, if possible, even more jealous and + watchful in his unwearied care of her. + </p> + <p> + They made two very happy and earnest families. Each male, in addition to + caring for his mate, did good in the world for men and women. Each killed + noxious worms and insects for food, and each, in the very exuberance of + the flush year, and of living, gave forth at times such music that all + men, women, and children who listened, though they might be dull and + ignorant, somehow felt better, and were better as well as happier human + beings. But there was death in the air. The male oriole and the male + bluebird had each a brilliant coat! + </p> + <p> + Young were hatched in each of these two nests—vigorous, clamoring + young, coming from the eggs of the beautiful bird couples. The father and + mother oriole and the father and mother bluebird, each pair vain and + prettily jubilant over what had happened, worked very hard to bring food + to the open mouths of their offspring. The young ones were growing and + flourishing, and they were all happy. + </p> + <p> + One day, in St. Clair County, Michigan, a man armed with a shotgun went + out into a clearing. The shot in the gun was of the kind known as + "mustard-seed." It is so fine that it will not mar the feathers of the + bird it kills. On the same day, possibly, or at least very nearly at the + same time, a man similarly armed strolled down beside a creek in Orange + County, Indiana. The man in Michigan wanted to kill the beautiful male + bluebird who was bringing food to his young ones. The man in Indiana + wanted to kill the magnificent male oriole who was feeding his young birds + in the nest. It was not difficult for either of these two brutes to kill + the two happy bird fathers. They were business-like butchers, just of the + type of man who make the dog-catchers in cities—and they had no + nerves and shot well. One of them took home a beautiful dead oriole, and + the other took not one but two beautiful bluebirds, for as the male + bluebird came back to the nest with food for the younglings, it so chanced + that the female came also, and the same charge of shot killed them both. + </p> + <p> + "She isn't quite as purty as the he-bird," said the man, as he picked up + the two, "but maybe I can get a little something for her." + </p> + <p> + The man who shot the oriole would have gladly committed and profited by a + similar double murder had the mother bird happened upon the scene when he + shot her orange-and-black mate. + </p> + <p> + These two slayers, who carried shotguns loaded with "mustard-seed" shot, + went out after the beautiful birds, because from Chicago and New York had + come into their country certain men who represented great millinery + furnishing houses, and these men had left word with local dealers in the + country towns that they would pay money for the beautiful feathers of + bluebirds and orioles and other birds. The little local dealers were + promised a profit on all such spoils sent by them to the great city + dealers, and they had set the men with the shotguns at work. Mating time + and nesting time are the times for murdering birds, because at that season + not only is their plumage finest, but the birds are more easily to be + found and killed. It is then that they sing their clearest and strongest + notes of joy; then, that they hover constantly near their nests; and it is + very easy to stop their music. + </p> + <p> + So there remained in the nest in the maple stump four little helpless + orphan bluebirds, and in the swaying nest in the elm-tree over the brook + were four young orioles with only the mother bird to care for them. The + widowed oriole fluttered about and beat her wings against the bushes in + vain search for her lost love—for birds love as madly, and, I have + sometimes thought, more faithfully than do human beings. But her children + clamored, and the oriole had the mother instinct as well as the faithful + love in her, and so she went to work for them. She didn't know how to get + food for them very well at first, for bird wives and husbands have in some + ways the same relations that we human beings have when we are wives and + husbands. The male oriole, who had been learning where the insects and + worms are, where whatever is good for little birds is, all through the + time while the female bird is sitting on the nest, must necessarily know + much more than his wife as to where things to eat for the children may be + found nearest and most easily and swiftly. That is the great lesson the + male bird learns while the female is sitting on the eggs and maturing into + life the new creatures whose birth and being shall make this little loving + couple happy in the way the good God has designated one form of happiness + shall come to His creatures, be they with or without feathers. + </p> + <p> + The forlorn mother did as best she could. She fluttered through brakes and + bushes seeking food for her young, but her children did not thrive very + well. She worked so hard for them—human mothers and bird mothers are + very much alike in this way—that she became thin and weak, and with + each day that passed she brought less food to the little ones in the + wonderfully constructed nest which she and her husband had made in the + spring, when the smell of the liverworts was in the air, and muskrats swam + together and made love to each other in the creek below. She sometimes, in + the midst of her trouble (the trouble which came because my sweet woman, + must have a bird's feather in her hat) would think of that springtime + homemaking, and then this poor little widow would give a little bird gasp. + That was all. One day she had searched hard for food for her young, for as + they grew bigger they demanded more and were more arrogantly hungry. As + she perched to rest a moment upon a twig, beneath which in the grass were + a few late dandelions, she felt coming over her a weakness she could not + resist. As a matter of fact, the bird mother had been overworked and so + killed. Birds, overpressed, die as human beings do. So the mother bird, + after a few moments, fell off the twig upon which she had paused for rest, + and lay, a pretty little dead thing down in the grass among the + dandelions. Then, of course, her children gasped and writhed and clamored + in the nest, and at last, almost together, died of starvation. + </p> + <p> + Days and days before this the history of the bluebird family had ended. + The four little bluebirds, being merely helpless young birds, lone and + hungry, did nothing for a few hours after their bereavement but call for + food, as was a habit of theirs. But nothing came to them—neither + their father nor their mother came. They didn't know much except to be + hungry, these little bluebirds. They couldn't know much, of course, as + young as they were, and being but bird things with stomachs, they just + wanted something to eat. They did not even know that if they did not get + the food they wanted so much the ants would come and the other creatures + of nature, and eat them. But they cried aloud, and more and more faintly, + and at last were still. And the ants came. They found four little things + with blue feathers just sprouting upon them, particularly upon the wings, + where the growth seemed strongest and bluest, but the four little things + were dead. It was all delightful for the ants and the other small things; + all good in their way, who came seeking food. The very young birds, which + had died gasping, that a woman might wear bright feathers in her hat, were + fine eating for the ants. + </p> + <p> + Of course, one cannot tell very well in detail how a starving young bird + dies. It is but a little creature with great possibilities of song and + beauty and happiness; but if something big and strong kills its father and + mother, then there is nothing for it but to lie back in the nest and open + its mouth in vain for food, and then it must finally, a preposterously + awfully suffering little lump of flesh and starting feathers, look up at + the sky and die in hungry agony. Then the ants come. + </p> + <p> + The story I have told of the two bird families and how they died is true. + Worst of all it is that theirs is a tragedy repeated in reality thousands + and thousands of times every year; yet the beautiful woman I tried to + describe at the beginning of this account wears birds and their wings on + her hat. It is because she and other women wear birds' feathers that these + tragic things take place in the woods and clearings and open spaces of + God's beautiful world. I say to any woman in all the world that she is + wicked if she wears the feather of any of the birds which make the world + happier and better for being in it. If women must wear feathers, there are + enough for their adornment from birds used for food, and from the ostrich, + which is not injured when its plumes are taken. + </p> + <p> + So long as my beautiful woman wears the feathers of the bluebird, the + oriole, or any other of the singing creatures of God, I call her the + accomplice of a murderer. I have talked to her, but somehow I cannot make + her listen to the story of what lies back of the feathers on her hat. She + is more accustomed to praise than blame. When this is printed I shall send + it to her, and it may be that she will read it and grow earnest over it, + and that her heart will be touched, and that she will never again deserve + the name she merits now. + </p> + <p> + + </p> + <p> + There are, it is said, certain savages—just barely human beings—called + Dyaks. They have become famous to the world as "head-hunters." These Dyaks + creep through miles of forest paths and kill as many as they can of + another lot of people, and then cut off the heads of the slain and dry + them, and hang them up, arranged on lines more or less artistically + festooned about the place in which they live. This exhibition of dried and + dead human heads seems to make these swart and murderous savages vain and + glad. These people are, as we understand, or think we understand, but + undeveloped, cruel, bloody-minded human creatures. They prefer dried human + heads to delicate ferns showing wonderful outlines, or to brilliant leaves + and fragrant flowers. They have their own ideas concerning decoration. + </p> + <p> + Upon a dozen or two of the islands in the Southern Pacific, where the + waves lap the sloping sands lazily, and life should be calm and peaceful, + there are, or were until lately, certain people who occasionally killed + certain other people for reasons sufficiently good, no doubt, to them; and + who thus coming into possession of a group of dead creatures with fingers, + conceived the idea that the fingers of these dead, when dried, would make + most artistic, not to say suggestive, necklaces. So they strung these + dried fingers upon something strong and pliant, and wore them with much + pride. + </p> + <p> + When I see the bright feathers of birds, slain that hats may be garnished + for the thoughtless females of a higher grade of beings, I am reminded + somehow of the Dyaks and of the wearers of the necklaces made of fingers. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="MidPacific" id="MidPacific">A MID-PACIFIC FOURTH</a> + </h2> + <p> + The sun shone very fairly on a green hillside, from which could be seen + the town of Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii. The sun makes some very fair + efforts at shining upon and around those islands lying thousands of miles + out in the Pacific Ocean. He was doing his best on this particular + morning, and under his influence, so brightening everything, two little + boys and a little jackass were having a good time near a long, low, + rakish, but far from piratical-looking house upon the hillside already + mentioned. One of the boys was white, one of the boys was brown, and the + little jackass was gray. The name of the white boy was William Harrison, + though he was always called Billy, and his father, an American merchant in + Honolulu, owned the house near which the boys were playing. The name of + the brown boy was Manua Loa, or something like that, but he was always + called Cocoanut, the nickname agreeing perfectly with his general solid, + nubbinish appearance. The name of the jackass was Julius Caesar, but he + wore almost no facial resemblance to his namesake. The date of the day on + which the little boys and the little jackass were out there together was + July 3, 1897. + </p> + <p> + As far as the three playmates were concerned, there was a practical + equality in their relations between Billy and Cocoanut and Julius Caesar. + Billy's father was a rich white man, but Cocoanut's father was a native + and of some importance, too; and as for Julius Caesar he was quite capable + at times of asserting his own standing among the trio. He could be, on + occasions, one of the most animated kicking little jackasses living upon + this globe, upon which the moon doesn't shine quite as well as the sun + does. On the occasion here referred to the little jackass stood apart with + head hanging down toward the ground, silent and unmoving, and apparently + revolving in his own mind something concerning the geology of the Dog + Star. He could be a most reflective little beast upon occasion. The boys + sat together on a knoll, their heads close together, engaged in earnest + and animated and sometimes loud-voiced conversation. There was occasion + for their lively interest. They were discussing the Fourth of July. They + were about equally ardent, but if there were any difference it was in + favor of Cocoanut, who, within the year, had become probably the most + earnest American citizen upon the face of the civilized globe. His + information regarding the United States and American citizenship had, of + course, been derived from Billy, who had derived it from his father; and + Billy's father had told Billy, who in turn had told Cocoanut, that by the + next Fourth of July the Stars and Stripes would be flying from the + flagstaffs of Hawaii, and that then, on the Fourth, small boys could + celebrate just as small boys did in the United States. Thenceforth Billy + and Cocoanut observed the flags above Honolulu closely, but neither of + them had ever seen the Stars and Stripes lying flattened out aloft by the + sea breeze. They had faith, though, and their faith had been justified by + their works. They had between them, as the result of much begging from + parents and doing a little work occasionally, gathered together probably + the most astonishing supply of firecrackers ever possessed by two boys of + their size and degree of understanding. There were package upon package of + the small, ordinary Chinese firecrackers, and there were a dozen or two of + the big "cannon" firecrackers which have come into vogue of late years, + and the first manufacturer of whom should be taken out somewhere and + hanged with all earnestness. They were now consulting regarding the + morrow. Would the flag fly over Honolulu and could they celebrate? They + didn't know, but they had a degree of faith. Then they wandered off + somewhere with Julius Caesar and had a good time all day, but ever the + morrow was in their mind. + </p> + <p> + It was early the next morning when the two boys and Julius Caesar were + again on the point of hill overlooking Honolulu. It was so early that the + flags had not yet been hoisted over the public buildings. Each boy carried + a package, and these they unrolled and laid out together. The display was + something worth looking at. Any boy who could see that layout of + firecrackers and not feel a kind of a tingling run over him resembling + that which comes when he takes hold of the two handles of an electrical + machine wouldn't be a boy worth speaking of. He wouldn't be the sort of a + boy who had it in him to ever become President of the United States, or + captain of a baseball nine, or anything of that sort. But these two boys + quivered. Cocoanut quivered more than Billy did. + </p> + <p> + Silently the two boys and Julius Caesar awaited the raising of the flags + over Honolulu. Could they or could they not let off their firecrackers? + They might as well, said Cocoanut, be getting ready, anyhow, and so he + began tying strings of firecrackers together, adjusting cannon crackers at + intervals between the smaller ones, and adding Billy's string of crackers + to his own. When completed there were just thirty-seven and one-half feet + of firecrackers of variegated quality. Billy looked on listlessly, and + Cocoanut himself hardly knew why he was making this arrangement. The sun + bounced up out of the ocean, a great red ball behind the thin fog, and + bunting climbed the flagstaffs of Honolulu. With eager eyes the boys gazed + cityward until the moment when the breeze had straightened out the flags + and the device upon them could be seen. Then they looked upon each other + blankly. It was not the Stars and Stripes, but the Hawaiian flag which + floated there below them! + </p> + <p> + They didn't know what to do, these poor boys who wanted to be patriots + that morning and couldn't. They sat down disconsolately near to the heels + of Julius Caesar, who was whisking his stubby tail about occasionally in + vengeful search of an occasional fly. It chanced that in the midst of this + he slapped Cocoanut across the face, and that Cocoanut incontinently + grabbed the tail, to keep it from further demonstration of the sort. + Julius Caesar did not kick at this, because it was too trifling a matter. + Far better would it have been for Julius Caesar had he kicked then and + there, but the relation of why comes later on. Lost in their sorrows, + Cocoanut and Billy communed together, and Cocoanut, in the forgetfulness + of deep reflection began plaiting together the end of the string of + firecrackers and the hairs in the tail of Julius Caesar. He was a good + plaiter, was Cocoanut—they do such work with grasses and things in + and about Honolulu, and lots of little Hawaiians are good plaiters—and + it may be said of the job that when completed, although done almost + unconsciously, it was a good one. That string of thirty-seven and one-half + feet of firecrackers was not going to leave the tail of that little + jackass except under most extraordinary circumstances. + </p> + <p> + A fly of exceptional vigor assaulted Julius Caesar upon the flank, and his + tail not whisking as well as usual, because of the incumbrance, he missed + the enemy at the first swish and moved uneasily forward for several feet. + As it chanced, this movement left the other string of firecrackers fairly + in the lap of Cocoanut. The boys were still discussing the situation. + </p> + <p> + "It's too bad; it's too bad," said Billy. "What'll we do?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know," said Cocoanut. + </p> + <p> + "Do you think we dare let 'em off even if the flag didn't fly?" said + Billy. + </p> + <p> + "I don't know," said Cocoanut. + </p> + <p> + "I believe I'll get on Julius Caesar and ride a little," said Billy, "and + you throw stones at him and hit him if you can. It's pretty hard to make + him run, you know." + </p> + <p> + "All right," said Cocoanut. + </p> + <p> + Billy rose and wandered over and mounted Julius Caesar, Cocoanut barely + turning his head and watching the white boy lazily as Billy gathered up + the bridle, which was the only equipment Julius Caesar had. It was then, + just as Billy had fairly settled himself down, that an inspiration came to + Cocoanut. + </p> + <p> + "Lemme let off just one little cracker," he said. "Mebbe it'll start + Julius Caesar a-going," and Billy joyously assented. + </p> + <p> + Now Cocoanut had never seen the effect which a whole string of + firecrackers can produce. He had assisted in firing one or two little + ones, and that was all he knew about it. Billy didn't know that the string + of firecrackers was attached to the tail of Julius Caesar, and Cocoanut + himself had absolutely forgotten it. Cocoanut produced a match and lit it + and carefully ignited the thin, papery end of the ultimate little cracker + on the string, and it smoked away and nickered and sputtered toward its + object. + </p> + <p> + There have been various exciting occasions upon the island whereon is + Honolulu. There have been some great volcanic explosions there, and + earthquakes and tidal waves. It is to be doubted, however, if upon that + charming island ever occurred anything more complete and alarming and + generally spectacular, in a small way, than followed the moment when the + first cracker exploded of that string of thirty-seven and one-half feet + attached to the tail of Julius Caesar. Cocoanut had expected one cracker + to go off, but had anticipated nothing further. He was correct in his + view, only as regarded the mere going-off of the cracker. What followed + was a surprise to him and to all the adjacent world. There was a rattle + and roar; the first two or three feet of small crackers went off; and + then, as the first cannon cracker was reached with a thunder and blast of + smoke, Cocoanut went over backward and away off into the grass, while + Julius Caesar simply launched himself into space. It was all down-hill + before him. He started for Australia. Anybody could see that. You couldn't + tell whether he was going for Sydney or Melbourne, but you knew he was + going for Australia in a general way. His leaps, assisted by the down-hill + course, were something to witness. Cocoanut has since estimated them at + forty feet a jump, while Billy says sixty—for both boys, it is good + to say, are still alive—but then Billy was on the jackass and may + have been excited; probably somewhere, say about fifty feet, would be the + correct estimate. Talk about your horrifying comets with their tails of + fire! They were but slight affairs, locally considered, for terrific + explosions accompanied every jump of Julius Caesar, and comets don't make + any noise. It was all swift, but the noise and awful appearance of Billy + and Julius Caesar sufficed in a minute to startle such of the populace of + Honolulu who were already awake, and there was a wild rush of scores of + people in the wake of where Billy and Julius Caesar went downward to the + sea. The extent of the leap of Julius Caesar when he finally reached the + shore has never been fully decided upon, but it was a great leap. Billy, + jackass, and fireworks went down like a plummet, and very soon thereafter + Billy and jackass, but no fireworks, came to the surface again, and then + swam vigorously toward the shore, for everybody and everything in Hawaii + can swim like a duck. They were received by a brown and wildly applauding + crowd of natives, and a minute or two later by Cocoanut, who had run like + a deer to see the end of the vast performance he had inaugurated. + </p> + <p> + An hour or two later two boys and a little jackass were all together upon + the hill again, the boys excited and jubilant and saying that they'd had a + Fourth of July, anyhow, and the jackass in a doubtful and thoughtful mood. + </p> + <p> + The boys have grown amazingly since. The jackass seems to be about the + same. But about the Fourth of July next at hand the boys won't have the + same trouble they had in 1897. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="LatchKey" id="LatchKey">LOVE AND A LATCH-KEY</a> + </h2> + <p> + This is the story of the circumstances surrounding the invention of + Simpson's Electric Latch-Key, an invention with which everybody is now + familiar, but regarding the origin of which the public has never been + informed. There were reasons, grave ones for a time, why the story should + not be told—in short, there was a love affair mixed with it—but + those reasons no longer exist, and it seems a good thing to relate the + facts in the case. They may interest a great number of people, + particularly middle-aged gentlemen in the large cities. I know that for + me, at least, they have possessed no little attraction. + </p> + <p> + Love proverbially laughs at locksmiths, but it is safe to say that before + Simpson's Electric Latch-Key was known even that cheerful god would not + have dared to smile in the presence of some of the problems connected with + locks and keys. Now all is changed. The general use of the latch-key + mentioned has increased the gayety of nations since the recent time in + which this story is laid. Otherwise there would be no story to tell, as + this is but the plain narration of the love and ambition which inspired, + perfected, and triumphantly demonstrated the usefulness of the invention. + </p> + <p> + The North Side in the city of Chicago may put on airs as a residence + district, and the South Side may put on airs as containing the heart of + the vast business district of Chicago, but the West Side is as big as the + two of them, and its population contains a large number of exceedingly + rich men, who, like the rich men of the other sides, are as content with + themselves for being "self-made," are just as grumpy, and with as many + weaknesses. Some of these West Side rich men live on Ashland Avenue. There + certainly lived and lives Mr. Jason B. Grampus, a great speculator, whose + home has its palatial aspects. + </p> + <p> + West Side millionaires, like those on the other sides, are not + infrequently the fathers of fair daughters. Sometimes they have only one + daughter, and no sons at all, and in such cases the daughter becomes a + very desirable acquisition for a young man of tact and enterprise. There + is no law of nature which makes a millionaire's daughter less really + lovable than other young women, and there is no law of nature which makes + a young man who may fall in love with her, even though he be poor, a + fortune-hunter and a blackguard. The young man who has a social position + without money is in a perilous way. He may fall in love with a young woman + with money, and then his motives will be impugned, especially by the + parents. It depends altogether on the young man how he accepts the more or + less anomalous position described. If he be strong, he adapts himself in + one way; if he be weak, he does it in another. + </p> + <p> + Ned Simpson was not of the weaker sort, and he was desperately in love + with the daughter of "old man Grampus." The fact that she would eventually + be worth more than a million did not affect his love to its injury. He + said frankly to himself that she was none the worse for that, but it must + be asserted to his credit that he thought of her prospective money very + little. He stood ready to take her penniless, on the instant. + Unfortunately, he could not take her on any conditions. Mr. Grampus and + Mrs. Grampus stood like mountains in his way. + </p> + <p> + Not that Simpson lacked social equality with the Grampus family. He was a + young stockbroker, with expectations as yet unrealized, it is true, but + with a good ancestry and with business popularity. By day he met old + Grampus upon terms of equality. Old Grampus liked him, after a fashion. He + had visited the Grampus house, had dined there often, had met the old lady + with the purring ways, had met, also, the radiant daughter, Sylvia, and + had fallen in love with the latter, deeply and irrevocably. He had made + love cleverly and earnestly, as a fine man should, and had succeeded + wonderfully. + </p> + <p> + Sylvia was as deeply in love with him as he was with her. They had + solemnly and in all honesty entered into an agreement that they would + remain true, each to the other, no matter what might come. Then he had + approached the father, manfully explained the situation, and had + encountered a reception which was a sight to see and an amazing thing to + hear. The old man was striking when at his worst, and Simpson almost + admired him for his command of explosive expletives. One likes to see + almost anything done well. Simpson was ordered never to enter the house + again. He contained himself pretty well; he made no promises, but he met + that young woman almost every evening. Meanwhile, the young man and the + old man met daily in a business way. + </p> + <p> + As a rule, the relations between a lover who has been figuratively kicked + out of a house and the man who has figuratively kicked him out are + somewhat strained. Still, young Simpson and old Grampus met down town in a + business way, and it is only putting it fairly concerning Simpson to say + that he showed a forgiving spirit—almost an impudently forgiving + spirit, one might say. Light-hearted and careless as he seemed to be among + his business associates, Simpson possessed a resolute character, and when + he decided upon a course, adhered to it determinedly. He was not going to + be desperate; he was not going overseas to "wed some savage woman, who + should rear his dusky race"; but he was going to eventually have Miss + Grampus, or know the reason why. He did not want to elope with the young + woman; in fact, he felt that she wouldn't elope if he asked her, for she + was fond of her father, and he knew that his end must be attained by vast + diplomacy. Just how, he had not decided upon. But he felt his way vaguely. + </p> + <p> + "One thing is certain," he said to himself, "I must keep my temper and + cultivate the old man." + </p> + <p> + He did cultivate Mr. Grampus, and did it so well that after a season the + two would even lunch together. It was an anomalous happening, this + lunching together, of a poor young man with a rich old one, who had + refused a daughter's hand; but such things occur in the grotesque, huge + Western money-mart. In Chicago there is a great gulf fixed between + business and family relations. Grampus began to consider Simpson an + excellent fellow—that is, as one to meet at luncheon, not as a + son-in-law. A son-in-law should have money. + </p> + <p> + There was a skeleton in the Grampus closet, but it was not scandalous, and + was never mentioned. Still, to old Mr. Grampus, the guilty one, the + skeleton was real and terrible. He, the gruff, overbearing, successful man + of business, the one beneath whose gaze clerks shuddered and stenographers + turned pale, was afraid to go home at least four nights of the seven + nights in the week. He was afraid to meet his wife. + </p> + <p> + A great club man was Mr. Grampus. He delighted in each evening spent with + his old cronies, in the whist-playing, the reminiscences, the + storytelling, the arguments, and the moderate smoking and drinking. + Unfortunately, he could not endure well the taking into his system of + anything alcoholic. He always became perfectly sober within three hours, + but a punch or two would give a certain flaccidity to his legs, and when + he reached his home the broad steps leading up to the vestibule seemed + Alpine-like and perilous. He would almost say to himself, "Beware the + pine-tree's withered branch, beware the awful avalanche." But after all it + was not the danger of the ascent which really troubled him; it was what + would assuredly happen after he had reached the summit. The disaster + always came upon the plateau. + </p> + <p> + The man could fumble in his pockets with much discretion, and could always + find his latch-key, for its shape was odd, but with that latch-key he + could not find the keyhole in the door. There came a clamor always at the + end. When finally he entered, Mrs. Grampus was as alive and alert as any + tarantula of an Arizona plain aroused by a noise upon the trap-door of its + retreat. And Mrs. Grampus was a wonderful woman. Talk about death's-head! + Jason B. Grampus would have welcomed one in place of that pallid creature + in a night-dress, who met him when he came in weavingly. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Grampus, who was known to her husband's inner consciousness as + Sophia, was a slender, blue-eyed woman, soft of voice and by day gentle of + manner. Her health was not perfect. She knew this, and so did every one + she met. While not an invalid, she in her imagination trembled on the edge + of invalidism, and upon this subject she was almost loquacious. She was + domestic in her tastes, and ambitious and devoted to her home and family. + </p> + <p> + She was a model wife and mother, and this, too, she knew; so did her + family and friends, for this subject was second in her topics of + conversation only to the state of her health; and, furthermore, she was + peculiar and almost original in the perfection to which she had brought + the fine art of nagging. + </p> + <p> + Let it not be imagined that she scolded, or said small, mean things, or + used any of the processes of the ordinary nagger. Her methods were + refined, studied, calculated, and correct. Her style of day-nagging was, + to be explicit, to maintain perfect silence as to the grievance under + which she suffered—indeed, this was often a profound secret from the + first to the last; to adopt the look and bearing of a Christian martyr on + the way to the stake, and to keep this demonstration up for days without a + gleam of interruption. She shed no tears, made no reproaches; she just + looked her agony, sitting, walking, doing anything. This was by day. But + at night! How is it that women so have the gift of speech at night? Mrs. + Grampus had it in a marvelous degree, and it was the speech which is a + thing to dread, penetrating and long-continued. The nerves of Jason B. + Grampus were gradually giving way. Some of the finest old gentlemen in + every large city in the country know that one's physical condition differs + with moods and seasons, and that what may be endured at one time cannot be + at another. This lesson was brought forcibly to Jason B. Grampus one + morning. He had passed his usual evening at the club, had gone home at the + usual hour, and had encountered even more difficulty than usual in + discovering the keyhole. He made more than the ordinary degree of noise, + and had encountered even more than the usual hour or two of purgatory, + subsequently. He came down town in the morning heavy-eyed, with a + headache, and with spirits undeniably depressed. He sought what relief he + could. He first visited the barber, and that deft personage, accustomed, + as a result of years of carefully performed duty to the ways and desires + of his customer, shaved him with unusual delicacy, keeping cool cloths + upon his head during the whole ceremony, and terminating the exercise with + a shampoo of the most refreshing character. An extra twenty-five cents was + the reward of his devotion. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Grampus went to his business somewhat improved in physical condition, + and by noon was almost himself again. Still, he had a yearning for human + sympathy; he could not help it. He saw young Simpson at a table, the only + acquaintance who happened to be in the dining-room when he entered, and, + led by a sudden impulse, walked over, sat down opposite the young man + whose aspirations he had discouraged, and entered into affable + conversation with him. From affability the conversation drifted into + absolute confidence. Jason B. Grampus could no more have helped being + confidential that day to some one than he could help breathing. He told + Simpson of his trouble of the night before, and concluded his account with + the earnest and almost pitiful exclamation: + </p> + <p> + "I'd give fifty thousand dollars for a keyhole one could not miss." + Simpson did not reply for a moment. He thought, thought—thought + deeply—and then came to him the inspiration of his life. He looked + at Grampus half quizzically, but in a manner not to offend, and as if it + were merely a jest over a matter already settled, said: + </p> + <p> + "Would you give your daughter?" + </p> + <p> + Grampus looked at him puzzled, and then, responding to the joke which + seemed but one of hopelessness, he said: + </p> + <p> + "Well—if I wouldn't!" + </p> + <p> + He was startled the next second by the uprising of Simpson, who grasped + him heartily by the hand, and said: + </p> + <p> + "I've got the thing! It's a new invention! There is nothing like it in the + world! It is going to revolutionize the social relations and make home + happy. Write me a note, giving me permission to operate upon your front + door!" + </p> + <p> + The old man sat dazed. It slowly dawned upon his mind that Simpson had + caught him in a trap; but the word of Jason B. Grampus had never yet been + violated. He thought rapidly himself now. Of course, the young lunatic + could not do what he promised! That was impossible. No man could invent a + keyhole which a man could not miss at night. There might be some annoyance + to it all, but the young fellow could do as he pleased, only to be + rebuffed again, this time with no allowance of a subsequent familiarity. + And so they parted, the old man wearing a look somewhat perplexed, and the + younger one, despite his assumed jaunty air, exhibiting a little of the + same quality of expression. + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact, Simpson had not the slightest idea of how such a + keyhole and latch-key as he had promised could be made, save that on one + occasion he had been the author of a practical little invention utilized + in a box-factory, and felt that he had a touch of the inventive genius in + his nature. But there was his friend Hastings. It was the thought of + Hastings which gave him the inspiration when he spoke to Grampus. Hastings + was one of the cleverest inventors and one of the most prominent among the + younger electricians of the city. They were devoted friends, and they + would invent the greatest latch-key in the world, or burn half the + midnight oil upon the market. This he was resolved upon. He sought + Hastings. + </p> + <p> + To Hastings Simpson unfolded his tale carefully, leaf by leaf, and + interested amazingly that eminent young electrician. Hastings, though now + married, the possessor of a baby with the reddest face in all Chicago, and + perfectly happy, had himself undergone somewhat of an experience in + obtaining the mother of that baby, and so sympathized with Simpson deeply. + </p> + <p> + "We'll invent that keyhole or latch-key, or break something," was all he + said. There were thenceforth meetings every evening between the two—meetings + which were sometimes far extended into the night; and the outcome of it + all was that one morning, just as the sunbeams came thrusting the white + fog over blue Lake Michigan, Simpson sought his own room somewhat + weary-eyed, but with a countenance which was simply beatific in + expression. The invention had been perfected! What that invention was may + as well be described here and now. The first object to be sought was, + naturally, a keyhole which could not easily be missed. Of course, this is + a non-scientific description of it, but it may convey a fair idea to the + average reader. First, instead of the ordinary keyhole there was something + exactly resembling the customary mouthpiece through which we whistle + upstairs from the ground floor of a flat seeking to attract the people who + rarely answer. The only difference between it and the ordinary mouthpiece + was that it was set in so that it was even with the woodwork of the door, + and did not project at all. This mouthpiece tapered all around inside, and + terminated in a keyhole which was rubber-lined. On the other side of this + keyhole was a hard surface, padded with rubber, but having just opposite + the mouth of the keyhole a small orifice extending through to a metal + surface. That metal surface was a section of one of the most powerful + horseshoe magnets ever invented in the United States, and was to be + imbedded in the woodwork of the door. + </p> + <p> + It was a huge thing, reaching nearly across the door, and warranted to + pull toward it anything magnetic of reasonable dimensions. The keyhole was + all the design of Simpson, the electric part of the affair all the + invention of Hastings. Combined, they made something beautiful and + wonderful. + </p> + <p> + A key was made and magnetized so thoroughly that never before was a piece + of iron so yearningly full of the electric fluid. The whole thing was + adjusted against the wall of the room, and then the men brought in the + magnetized key to ascertain if their invention would work in practice. + Simpson was carrying the key. No sooner had he entered the door than + something began to pull him toward the magnet. He walked sideways, like a + crab, resistingly, and could not help himself; and then, just as he had + nearly reached the bell-shaped keyhole, he was whirled around, as is the + end child in a school playground when they are playing "crack-the-whip," + fairly in front of the keyhole, and literally hurled toward it, while the + key shot fiercely into the lock. But there was not a sound; the rubber + cushion had obviated that. + </p> + <p> + Well, to say that those two young men were delighted would be to use but + one of the commonplace, everyday, decent conversational expressions of the + English language. They were simply wild. + </p> + <p> + Since their latest conversation Jason B. Grampus had engaged in no further + communication with Simpson. He thought it best to avoid all relations with + the young man who could jest on serious occasions; and yet underlying his + upper strata of thought was a dim and undefined impression that he would + hear from that young man again. He did. + </p> + <p> + The morning after the perfection of the invention Simpson called upon Mr. + Grampus and calmly, coldly, and dignifiedly announced that his lock was + complete, and that he was now about to install it in the Grampus front + door. He suggested to Mr. Grampus that to avoid any encounters which might + be embarrassing, the latter should suddenly discover some fault in his own + front door—in the stained glass, or something of that sort—and + have it taken off bodily and sent away to be remodeled; while a temporary + door should be put in its place. The old gentleman listened amazed, and + thought it all a farce; but then the word of Jason B. Grampus had gone + out, and he must keep his word. "All right," he said. + </p> + <p> + So the front door was sent down town and another one put in its place, and + in that front door down town Simpson and Hastings established and firmly + secured the marvelous electric lock and keyhole. Then the door was sent + back and put in its place. The same day Simpson called at the office of + Mr. Grampus and handed him a key, the ring of which was big enough to hold + at least two fingers. Mr. Grampus grinned sardonically over this + continuation of the jest. + </p> + <p> + "That's a big ring," he said. + </p> + <p> + "I am confident you'll not find it any too large," was Simpson's + respectful answer. + </p> + <p> + The old man grunted. "Will it unlock the door, and how? That is all I want + to know." + </p> + <p> + "It will," said Simpson; and so they parted. + </p> + <p> + That evening Mr. Grampus spent a late evening at the club, and went home + in apprehension. As he neared his residence the apprehension grew. He was + wobbly, and he knew it. He ascended the steps with some difficulty, and + began fumbling for his latch-key. He had forgotten all about the fact that + he had a new one. The remembrance came to him only when he thrust his hand + into his pocket, felt the huge key, and drew it forth. That instant he + felt himself leaning forward. Then something happened. He was literally + "yanked" toward that sunken keyhole. His hat smashed against the door + (fortunately it was a soft one), and he found himself a minute later + leaning against the entrance to his own house, grasping the handle of a + latch-key which was in place and which would afford him admission without + the slightest sound. + </p> + <p> + Never was a man who could walk in such condition, who, once inside a door, + could not conduct himself with the utmost quietness. Grampus was no + exception to the rule. He removed the key with a tug, closed the door + softly and stepped into the drawing-room, where for three hours he slept, + as sleeps a babe, upon the sofa. It has already been told that only three + hours were required to enable Mr. Grampus to recover from three hours' + indulgence at the club. He awoke refreshed and clear-headed as a man may + be. He straightened out his hat, opened the front door quickly, pulled it + to with a bang, as if he had just come in, and stalked upstairs in + dignity. Never has a man more conscious and oppressive rectitude than one + who has barely escaped a dreadful plight. No word came from the + just-awakened terror in a night-dress. He had been saved—saved by + Simpson. + </p> + <p> + The word of Jason B. Grampus had never been violated, and never could be. + His first duty when he reached his office in the morning was to send for + Simpson. + </p> + <p> + "The key worked," he said, "and you may have my daughter." + </p> + <p> + Simpson has her now and is his father-in-law's partner in business. + Sometimes, looking at the color of his wife's eyes, and the graceful but + somewhat square conformation of her jaws, he wonders a little what + experiences time may bring him. But she is different from her mother in + many ways, and Simpson is a more adaptative and inventive man than his + father-in-law ever was. He is not much worried. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Christmas" id="Christmas">CHRISTMAS 200,000 B.C.</a> + </h2> + <p> + It was Christmas in the year 200,000 B.C. It is true that it was not + called Christmas then—our ancestors at that date were not much given + to the celebration of religious festivals—but, taking the Gregorian + calendar and counting backward just 200,000 plus 1887 years this + particular day would be located. There was no formal celebration, but, + nevertheless, a good deal was going on in the neighborhood of the home of + Fangs. Names were not common at the time mentioned, but the more advanced + of the cave-dwellers had them. Man had so far advanced that only traces of + his ape origin remained, and he had begun to have a language. It was a + queer "clucking" sort of language, something like that of the Bushmen, the + low type of man yet to be found in Africa, and it was not very useful in + the expression of ideas, but then primitive man didn't have many ideas to + express. Names, so far as used, were at this time derived merely from some + personal quality or peculiarity. Fangs was so called because of his huge + teeth. His mate was called She Fox; his daughter, not Nellie, nor Jennie, + nor Mamie—young ladies did not affect the "ie" then—but Red + Lips. She was, for the age, remarkably pretty and refined. She could cast + eyes which told a story at a suitor, and there were several kinds of snake + she would not eat. She was a merry, energetic girl, and was the most + useful member of the family in tree-climbing. She was an only child and + rather petted. Her father or mother rarely knocked her down with a very + heavy club when angry, and after her fourteenth year rarely assaulted her + at all. So far as She Fox was concerned, this kindness largely resulted + from discretion, the daughter having in the last encounter so belabored + the mother that she was laid up for a week. The father abstained chiefly + because the daughter had become useful. Red Lips was now eighteen. + </p> + <p> + Fangs was a cave-dweller. His home was sumptuously furnished. The floor of + the cave was strewn with dry grass, something that in most other caves was + lacking. Fangs was a prominent citizen. He was one of the strongest men in + the valley. He had killed Red Beard, another prominent citizen, in a + little dispute over priority of right to possession of a dead mastodon + discovered in a swamp, and had for years been the terror of every cave man + in the region who possessed anything worth taking. + </p> + <p> + On this particular morning, which would have been Christmas morning had it + not come too early in the world's history, Fangs left the cave after + eating the whole of a water-fowl he had killed with a stone the night + before and some half dozen field mice which his wife had brought in. She + Fox and Red Lips had for breakfast only the bones of the duck and some + roots dug in the forest. Fangs carried with him a huge club, and in a + rough pouch made of the skin of some small wild animal a collection of + stones of convenient size for throwing. This was before man had invented + the bow or even the crude stone ax. He came back in a surly mood because + he had found nothing and killed nothing, but he brought a companion with + him. This companion, whom he had met in the woods, was known as Wolf, + because his countenance reminded one of a wolf. He could hardly be called + a gentleman, even as times and terms went then. He was evidently not of an + old family, for he possessed something more than a rudimentary tail, and, + had his face looked less like that of a wolf, it would have been that of a + baboon. He was hairy, and his speech of rough gutturals was imperfect. He + could pronounce but few words. He was, however, very strong, and Fangs + rather liked him. + </p> + <p> + What Fangs did when he came in was to propose a matrimonial alliance. That + is, he grasped his daughter by the arm and led her up to Wolf, and then + pointing to an abandoned cave in the hillside not far distant, pushed them + toward it. They did not have marriage ceremonies 200,000 B.C. Wolf, who + had evidently been informed of Fangs's desire and who was himself in favor + of the alliance, seized the girl and began dragging her off to the new + home and the honeymoon. She resisted, and shrieked, and clawed like a + wild-cat. Her mother, She Fox, came running out, club in hand, but was + promptly knocked down by Fangs, who then dragged her into the cave again. + Meanwhile the bridegroom was hauling the bride away through furze and + bushes at a rapid rate. Red Lips had ceased to struggle, and was thinking. + Her thoughts were not very well defined nor clear, but one thing she knew + well—she did not want to live in a cave with Wolf. She had a fancy + that she would prefer to live instead with Yellow Hair, a young cave man + who had not yet selected a mate, and who was remarkably fleet of foot. + They were now very near the cave, and she knew that unless she exerted + herself housekeeping would begin within a very few moments. Wolf was + strong, but slow of movement. Red Lips was only less swift than Yellow + Hair. An idea occurred to her. She bent her head and buried her strong + teeth deep in the wrist of the man who was half-carrying, half-dragging + her through the underwood. + </p> + <p> + With a howl which justified his name, Wolf for an instant released his + hold. That instant allowed the girl's escape. She leaped away like a deer + and darted into the forest. Yelling with pain and rage, Wolf pursued her. + She gained on him steadily as she ran, but there was a light snow upon the + ground, and she could be followed by the trail which her pursuer took up + doggedly and determinedly. He knew that he could tire her out and catch + her in time. He solaced himself for her temporary escape by thinking, as + he ran, how fiercely he would beat his bride before starting for the cave + again, and as he thought his teeth showed like those of a dog of to-day. + </p> + <p> + The chase lasted for hours, and Red Lips had gained perhaps a mile upon + her pursuer when her strength began to flag. The pace was telling upon + her. She had run many miles. She was almost hopeless of escape when she + emerged into a little glade, where sat a man gnawing contentedly at a raw + rabbit. He leaped to his feet as the girl appeared, but a moment later + recognized her and smiled. The man was Yellow Hair. He reached out part of + the rabbit he was devouring, and Red Lips, whose breakfast had, as already + mentioned, been a light one, tore at it and consumed it in a moment. Then + she told of what had happened. + </p> + <p> + "We will kill Wolf, and you shall live with me," said Yellow Hair. + </p> + <p> + Red Lips assented eagerly, and the two consulted together. Near them was a + hill, one side of which was a precipice. At the base of the precipice ran + a path. The result of the consultation was that Yellow Hair left the girl, + and making a swift circuit, came upon the precipice from the farther side, + and crouched low upon its summit. The girl ran along the path at the + bottom of the declivity for some distance, then, entering a defile which + crossed it at right angles, herself made a turn, climbed the hill and + joined Yellow Hair. From where they were lying they could see the glade + they had just left. + </p> + <p> + Wolf entered the glade, and noted where the footsteps of the girl and + those of a man came together. For a moment or two he appeared troubled and + suspicious; then his face cleared. He saw that the tracks had diverged + again. He had recognized the man's tracks as those of Yellow Hair. + </p> + <p> + "Yellow Hair is afraid of my strong arm," he thought. "He dare not stay + with Red Lips. I shall catch her soon and beat her and take her with me." + </p> + <p> + The two crouching upon the precipice watched his every movement. They had + rolled to the edge of the declivity a rock as huge as they could control, + and now together held it poised over the pathway. Wolf came hurrying + along, his head bent down like that of a hound on the scent of game. He + reached a spot just beneath the two, and then with a sudden united effort + they shoved over the rock. It thundered down upon the unfortunate Wolf + with an accuracy which spoke well for the eyes and hands of the lovers. + The man was crushed horribly. The two above scrambled down, laughing, and + Yellow Hair took from the dead Wolf a necklace of claws and fastened it + proudly upon his own person. + </p> + <p> + "Now we will go to my cave," said he. + </p> + <p> + "No," said Red Lips; "my father will look for Wolf to-morrow, and will + find him. Then he will come and kill us. We must go and kill him + to-night." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," said Yellow Hair. + </p> + <p> + Hand in hand the two started for the cave of Fangs. The side hill in which + it was situated was very steep, and the lovers thought they could + duplicate the affair with Wolf. "We must cripple him, anyway," said Yellow + Hair, "for I am not strong enough to fight him alone. His club is heavy." + </p> + <p> + They reached the vicinity of the cave and crept above it. Having, with + great difficulty, secured a rock in position to be rolled down, they + waited for Fangs to appear. He came out about dusk, and stretched out his + arms lazily, when the two above released the rock. It rolled down swiftly + and with great force, but there was no such sheer drop afforded as when + Wolf was killed, and Fangs heard the stone coming and almost eluded it. It + caught one of his legs, as he tried to leap aside, and broke it. Fangs + fell to the ground. + </p> + <p> + With a yell of triumph Yellow Hair bounded to where the crippled man lay + and began pounding him upon the head with his club. Fangs had a very thick + head. He struggled vigorously, and succeeded in catching Yellow Hair by + the wrist. Then he drew the younger man to him and began to throttle him. + The case of Yellow Hair was desperate. Fangs's great strength was too much + for him. His stifled yells told of his agony. + </p> + <p> + It was at this juncture that Red Lips demonstrated her quality as a girl + of decision and of action. A sharp fragment of slate, several pounds in + weight, lay at her feet. She seized it and bounded forward to where the + struggle was going on. The back of Fangs's head was fairly exposed. The + girl brought down the sharp stone upon it just where the head and spinal + column joined, and the crashing thud told of the force of the blow. + Delivered with such strength upon such a spot there could be but one + result. The man could not have been killed more quickly. Yellow Hair + released himself from the dead giant's embrace and rose to his feet. Then, + after a short breathing time, to make assurance sure, he picked up his + club and battered the head of Fangs until there could be no chance of his + resuscitation. The performance was unnecessary, but neither Yellow Hair + nor Red Lips was aware of the fact. Their knowledge of anatomy was + limited. Neither knew the effect of such a blow delivered properly at the + base of the brain. + </p> + <p> + Yellow Hair finally ceased his exercise and rested on his club. "Shall we + go to my cave now?" said he. + </p> + <p> + "Why should we?" said Red Lips. "Let us take this cave. There is dry grass + on the floor." + </p> + <p> + They entered the cave. She Fox, who had witnessed what had occurred, sat + in one corner, and looked up doubtfully as they entered. "I am tired," + said Yellow Hair, and he laid himself down and went to sleep. + </p> + <p> + She Fox looked at her daughter. "I killed three hedgehogs to-day," she + whispered. + </p> + <p> + The new mistress of the cave looked at her kindly. "Go out and dig some + roots," she said, "and come back with them, and then with them and the + hedgehogs we will have a feast." + </p> + <p> + She Fox went out and returned in an hour with roots and nuts. Red Lips + awakened Yellow Hair, and all three fed ravenously and merrily. It was a + great occasion in the cave of the late Fangs. There was no such Christmas + feast, at the same time a wedding feast, in any other cave in all the + region. And the sequel to the events of the day was as happy as the day + itself. Yellow Hair and Red Lips somehow avoided being killed, and grew + old together, and left a numerous progeny. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Child" id="Child">THE CHILD</a> + </h2> + <p> + There was a man who was called upon to write a Christmas article for a + great newspaper. He had been a newspaper man himself at one time and it + occurred to him, in all reverence, that if some modern daily publication + could, nearly 1900 years ago, have reported faithfully all it could learn + regarding the Birth in Bethlehem, there might now be fewer doubters in the + world. He imagined what a conscientious representative of the Daily + Augustinian, had such newspaper existed in Jerusalem, might have written + concerning what was the greatest happening in the story of all mankind + since the days of Moses and the Shepherd Kings. + </p> + <p> + Rarely has man worked harder than did this person, who, for a month or so—he + had studied it all years before—sought the certain details of the + historical story of the Christ. He re-read his Josephus; he sought new + sources of information, and called to his aid men who knew most along the + lines of the outstanding spokes of the main question. Then he lost himself + as a reporter of the Daily Augustinian, and this—headlines and all—is + what he wrote: + </p> + <h3> + THE BIRTH OF THE CHILD + </h3> + <h4> + IS THEIR MESSIAH COME? + </h4> + <h5> + OLD JEWISH PROPHECY DECLARED FULFILLED IN THE BIRTH OF A GREAT PRINCE. + </h5> + <h5> + THE STRANGENESS OF THE STORY. + </h5> + <h5> + A CHILD BORN IN A STABLE IN BETHLEHEM ASSERTED TO BE THE CHRIST. + </h5> + <h5> + THE ACCOUNT. + </h5> + <p> + A strange story comes to the Daily Augustinian from the suburb of + Bethlehem, the result of which has been to create deep feeling among the + Jewish residents. It is asserted that the Messiah prophesied in their + books of worship has come, and that there will be a revolution in the + religious world. This belief seems to be spreading among the poor, but is + not concurred in by the more wealthy nor by the rabbis who officiate in + the temple, though one of them, named Zacharias, is a believer. Upon the + first knowledge gained of this reported marvel every effort was made by + the Augustinian to learn all possible concerning it. The account was that + the Messiah had come in the form of a babe, born in the stable of an inn + at Bethlehem, and a trustworthy member of the Augustinian's staff was sent + to the place at once. Here is his account: + </p> + <p> + It was learned before Bethlehem was reached by the reporter that the story + of the Child had first been circulated by those in charge of the flocks + kept for sacrifice in the Jewish temple. These are shepherds of an + intelligent class who associate with the priests, and whose pastures are + very near the city on the Bethlehem road. It was thought best to interview + these men before seeking the Child. They were found without difficulty, + and told their story simply, a story so remarkable that it is impossible + to determine what comment should be made upon it. + </p> + <p> + The head shepherd, an intelligent and evidently thoroughly honest man of + about forty years of age, spoke for all present. "We were watching our + flocks as usual on the night concerning the occurrences of which you ask," + he said, "when all at once the sky became full of a great light. It was + wonderful. We looked up, and there in the midst of the light appeared a + form which I cannot describe, it was so bright and dazzling. It spoke to + us; spoke in a voice like nothing that can be conceived of for its + sweetness, saying that the Savior we have so long awaited had been born to + us, and that we might know Him because we should find Him in Bethlehem + wrapped in His swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. The wonderful + figure had but ceased speaking when the whole world above seemed filled + with similar forms, and there came from the heavens such music, such + sounds of praising, as I cannot convey an idea of to you more than I can + of the figure. We were awestricken at first, and then with one accord we + started for Bethlehem. Then another strange thing happened. A great light + seemed to float above and ahead of us until we reached Bethlehem, when it + hung suspended over the inn. And there we found the Child." + </p> + <p> + "Is the Child the Messiah of your race? Do you believe it?" + </p> + <p> + "I <i>know</i>!" was the answer. "It is the Messiah!" And that all the + shepherds believe was apparent. They appear intelligent and honest and + straightforward of speech. It is incomprehensible. The next step was to + visit Bethlehem. + </p> + <p> + There is but one inn in Bethlehem; there was but one place in which to + seek the Child. Thither went the seeker after facts. The inn is a plain + structure of the usual stone-work of the hillside towns, and the stable, + extending backward from the house proper, is largely an excavation in the + rock. There is a narrow entrance at the side as well as one through the + house. About the gates of the inn stood a number of people, the look upon + their faces indicating that they were aware of the great news to their + race, but all silent in their joy or disbelief or whatever sentiment + affected them. The visitor was shown through the inn into the stable. + There were the man, the woman, and the Child. They chanced to be alone at + the time. + </p> + <p> + Of the Child it may be said that it is a beautiful male infant, nothing + more, to the ordinary eye, and conducting itself not differently from any + babe of its age. It clings to its mother's bosom, knowing nothing of the + world, and as yet, caring nothing. The man is a sober-faced Jew, + apparently about thirty years of age. The woman would attract attention + anywhere, for she is one of the fair women of Nazareth, and even among + those so noted for their beauty she must have ranked foremost, so sweet of + face is she. She is seemingly not yet twenty years of age, with the dark + hair, Oriental features, and wonderful eyes of the women of her class and + town, but with an added expression which makes one think of the angels of + which the Jewish writers tell. That she herself believes she is the mother + of the Messiah, that the Child she has borne is the Christ, does not admit + of doubt. Even as she clasped Him to her breast there was awe mingled with + the affection in her look, a devotion beyond even that of motherhood. The + man, it was apparent, shared with her in the faith. He was asked to tell + the story of the miraculous birth, and stepping aside a little from the + woman and the Child, he talked gravely and earnestly, answering all + questions, since, as he said, it was his duty to tell the great thing to + all the world, to Jew and pagan alike. + </p> + <p> + He was betrothed to the young woman Mary, he said, months ago, in the town + of Nazareth, in Galilee, where he is a carpenter. They were to have been + wedded, but during the interval between the betrothal and the marriage + there came to her a figure, which was that of an angel of the Lord, saying + to her that a son would be born to her the paternity of which would be + supernatural, and that this son would be the Messiah told of in Jewish + prophecy. She informed her betrothed of this, and that she had evidence + that what had been told her would occur. At first Joseph was greatly + troubled and resolved that the marriage should not take place lest a great + disgrace should come upon him. He loved the young woman, and did not want + to harm her in the eyes of the world, yet there seemed no alternative but + to refuse a consummation of the betrothal. It was at this time that there + came to him, as there had come to her, an angelic visitation, in which was + confirmed what she had told him, and in which he was commanded to marry + her. He was told this in a dream, and believed, and did as he was + commanded, though as yet he has been the husband of Mary but in name. + </p> + <p> + After their marriage came the recent order from Rome for the census of all + the Jews, and as it was accompanied by the direction that all should be + enumerated, not where they might be living, but where they were registered + at birth, Joseph, who was originally from Bethlehem, was compelled to make + the journey. He was accompanied by his young wife, who rode upon a donkey, + her husband walking all the way from Nazareth beside her. Upon their + arrival in Bethlehem they found the place so full of those called in by + the census that there was no place for them to lodge. The owner of the + inn, though, who knew of Joseph's family, did all he could to relieve + them, and they were so given lodging in the stable. There to the patient + Mary came a woman's great trial, and the Child was born. Then came the + shepherds, with their wonderful tale of what they had seen, followed, as + related, by their adoration. + </p> + <p> + It was learned by inquiry in Bethlehem that Joseph, the carpenter, though + a poor man, is a direct descendant of David, the famous Jewish king, and, + strangely enough, too, that the beautiful Mary belongs to the same + princely family. The Hebrew records of this great race are most complete, + and there is no doubt as to the blood of the man and woman. Mary, so it is + said, is the daughter of a gentlewoman named Anna and of a Hebrew who was + held in great respect. There is another most singular fact to be related + in this connection. It will be remembered that some months ago, when it + came the turn of the venerable priest Zacharias to offer the sacrifice in + the Jewish temple—a privilege which comes to a priest but once in + his lifetime—he returned before the people from the inner sanctuary + stricken dumb, and manifesting by signs that he had seen a vision, the + event creating great excitement among the members of his faith. Later he + made it known that in the sanctuary he had a vision of an angel, who + declared to him that his wife, who was childless, should have a son in her + old age who should be a great prophet and preacher, proclaiming the + Messiah. Since that time, the aged couple, who live south of Jerusalem, + have indeed been blessed with a child, the father's dumbness disappearing + with its birth and the priest again praising the Lord of his people. To + this child has been given the name of John. + </p> + <p> + What is most remarkable and unexplainable of all is something confirmed by + Joseph and Mary, as well as by Zacharias and his wife. The wife of + Zacharias, who is named Elizabeth, is a cousin of Mary, and some impulse + moved the latter, after she had explained her condition to Joseph, to + visit her aged kinswoman. She did so, and no sooner had she reached the + home of Zacharias and entered the door than Elizabeth, who had not known + of her coming, broke forth into praise of Mary as to be the mother of her + Lord. The unborn babe, it is declared, recognized the presence of the + Messiah, and so Elizabeth was led to adore and prophesy. + </p> + <p> + Many Nazarenes who are now in Jerusalem were seen, and all confirmed the + story, so far as they could know of the relations of Joseph and Mary, + while many people of the hill town where Zacharias and Elizabeth live + confirm all that is related of the extraordinary occurrence in their + household, of the husband's recovery from dumbness when his child was + born, and of his apparent inspiration at the time. There is a strong + feeling among the Jews, and the belief in the real appearance of the + Messiah is spreading, though, as intimated, the priests of the temple, + with the exception already alluded to, seem disposed to discredit the + revelation. They declare that the Messiah would scarcely come in such + humble way; that the Prince of the House of David who shall renew the + glory of their race will come in great magnificence and that all will + recognize Him at once. + </p> + <p> + What has been related is what was learned some days ago from the + interviews given and from inquiries in all quarters where it seemed likely + that they would throw any light on what has really occurred. Since then + something as inexplicable has happened as anything heretofore reported, + something from many points of view more startling and unexplainable. There + came into Jerusalem recently three Persians of the sort called magi, or + wise men, the students of the great race who have been to an extent + friendly with the Jews since the time when Babylon was at its greatest. + These three men, who had made a journey which must have occupied them + nearly two years, seemed hurriedly intent on some great mission, and + presented themselves at once before the Tetrarch, Herod, asking for + information. They wanted to know where the Child was to be found who was + born King of the Jews, seeming to think that the Tetrarch must know and + would direct them willingly. They said they had seen the Child's star in + the far east and had come to do Him homage. This was astonishing + information to the Tetrarch. As is well known, there are many political + intrigues in progress now, and Herod has adopted a severe policy. As + between the Romans and the Jews he has been considerate in the endeavor to + preserve pleasant relations with both parties, but he is most alert. His + reply to the magi was that he did not know where the Child was, but he + hoped they would succeed in their mission. He requested, furthermore, that + when they had found the King they should inform him, that he also might + visit Him. The magi departed, and shrewd officers were at once sent to + follow them, but, as subsequently appeared, with slight success. The magi + eluded the officers and found the Child. Joseph and Mary had moved from + the stable into a house in Bethlehem, and there the three Persians bowed + down before the Babe and, after the style of adoration in their country, + presented gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. + </p> + <p> + These last related facts were learned, as were those first given, in + Bethlehem. The next step in the inquiry was naturally to seek an interview + with the magi, the three travelers from Persia who so oddly showed their + belief in the supernatural nature of what has occurred, but they were + found with difficulty. After visiting the Infant they had returned at once + to town, and it proved a hard task to discover their whereabouts. It was + ascertained, after much inquiry, that three Persians of the better class + had been stopping at a small hotel near the southern gate, and a visit to + the place revealed the fact that they were still there, though about to + leave. They had, after their visit to Bethlehem, remained close indoors, + and, the keeper of the hotel said, seemed apprehensive of a visit from the + authorities. The reporter was presented to three fine-looking Chaldeans, + evidently men of some importance at home, who received him with reserve, + but who, after learning his occupation and object, became a little more + communicative. The eldest of the three, a man past middle-age, with full + beard and remarkably keen eyes, acted as spokesman for all. He was asked + what he thought of the Child at Bethlehem. + </p> + <p> + "It is the Messiah of the Jews," was his prompt reply. + </p> + <p> + "How do you know that?" + </p> + <p> + "We know it by His star—the star that was prophesied as heralding + His coming. That the Jewish Messiah was to come was foretold by their own + prophets and by our own Zoroaster. We are astronomers, and know the + mystery of the heavens and the nativities. In what is called Mount Victory + in our country is a cave, from the mouth of which the heavens are studied + by wise men. About two years ago appeared the star of the Messiah. Then we + began our journey to the city of the Jews to pay homage to the Great Ruler + born." + </p> + <p> + "But why do you, who are not Jews, come on such an expedition?" + </p> + <p> + "Our belief is broad. We care very little for any old teachings which are + not verified by celestial phenomena. We saw the prophecy fulfilled. That + was enough." + </p> + <p> + "What about the star? Is it something which will not last?" + </p> + <p> + "No. It is a star which will last as long as any, but one which is visible + on earth only at intervals of long ages. Then it foretells a great event. + It appeared last just before the birth of Moses." + </p> + <p> + "What is it like?" + </p> + <p> + "It is a bright, almost red, star, visible in the sign Pisces of the + zodiac only when Jupiter and Saturn are in conjunction. It is the star of + the Messiah." + </p> + <p> + His companions assented to all the elder man said, but he declined to talk + further on the subject. The name of the speaker was given as Melchoir; the + names of his two friends were Caspar and Balthasar. The first was the one + who made a gift of gold for the child, while the second contributed + frankincense, and the third myrrh. The reporter returned to the hotel + later in the day to ask certain additional questions, but the visitors had + left hurriedly. The landlord said they had gone none too soon, as agents + of the authorities visited the place soon after their disappearance. It is + said that they were warned in a dream that they must escape. They were all + three well mounted, and are now, no doubt, some distance from Jerusalem. + </p> + <p> + Such are the facts. Such is the story as learned of the Messiah of the + Jews. Were their prophets right? Has the great Prince come? Is the glory + of Rome to pass away before the glory of the Hebrew Christ? + </p> + <p> + Will the Tetrarch remain undisturbed? + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="BabyBear" id="BabyBear">THE BABY AND THE BEAR</a> + </h2> + <p> + This is a true story of the woods: + </p> + <p> + It was afternoon on the day before a holiday, and a boy of nine and a + fat-legged baby of three years were frolicking in front of a rough log + house beside a stream in a forest of northern Michigan. The house was + miles from the nearest settlement, yet the boy and baby were the only ones + about the place. The explanation of this circumstance was simple. + </p> + <p> + It was proposed to build a sawmill in the forest, and ship the lumber + downstream to the great lake. The river was deep enough to allow the + passage up to the sawmill site of a small barge, and a preliminary of the + work was to build a rude dock. A pile-driver was towed up the river, but + as this particular pile-driver had not the usual stationary steam-engine + accompanying it, the great iron weight which was dropped upon the piles to + drive them into the river bed was elevated by means of a windlass and mule + power. The weight, once lifted, was released by means of a trigger + connected by a cord with a post, where a man driving the mule around could + pull it. The arrangement was primitive but effective. + </p> + <p> + A Mr. Hart, the man in charge of the four or five workmen engaged, lived + with his wife and two children, Johnny and the baby, in the log house + referred to. The men had leave of absence, and had left early in the + morning to spend the day in the settlement, about ten miles off. Later in + the day Mr. Hart and his wife had driven there also to obtain certain + things for making the holiday dinner a little out of the common, and to + secure certain small gifts for Johnny and the baby. So it came that + Johnny, a sturdy and pretty reliable youth of his years, was left in + charge of things, with strict injunctions to take good care of the baby. A + luncheon neatly arranged in a basket was likewise left to be consumed + whenever he and his more youthful charge should become hungry. The pair + had been having a good time all by themselves on the day referred to. + Breakfast had been eaten very late that morning, but Johnny was a boy and + growing. It was about one o'clock when he proposed to the baby that they + eat dinner. That corpulent young gentleman assented with great promptness. + Johnny went into the house and got the lunch. The broad platform of the + pile-driver, tied firmly beside the river's bank, attracted Johnny's + attention as he emerged, and he conceived the idea that there would be a + good place for enjoyment of the feast. He helped the baby to get on board. + The great mass of iron used in the work chanced to be raised to the top of + the framework, and in the space underneath, between the timbers was a cozy + niche in which to sit and eat. The boy and baby sat down there and + proceeded to business. + </p> + <p> + It occurred to the boy that he had done a tolerably good thing. He didn't + analyze the situation particularly, but he had an idea that eating on the + barge was fun. The platform rocked gently, the air was crisp and keen, a + smell of the pine woods came over the river, and Johnny felt pretty well. + He thought this having charge of things all by himself was by no means + bad. + </p> + <p> + "Whoosh!" + </p> + <p> + Born in the backwoods though he had been, Johnny did not at first + recognize that sound—half grunt, half snort, and full of a terrible + meaning. He sprang to his feet and looked up the bank. There, gazing down + upon the pair on the platform, was a big black bear! + </p> + <p> + The beast looked fierce and hungry. The weather had been cold, and bears + which had not gone into winter quarters were all savage. A yearling steer + had been killed by one in the woods a few days before. The attention of + the brute upon the bank seemed fixed upon the baby. There was something in + its fierce eyes indicating that it had found just what it needed. If there + was anything that would make a meal just to its taste that day it was baby—fat + baby, about two years old. It gave another "whoosh!" and came lumbering + down the bank. + </p> + <p> + For a moment Johnny stood panic-stricken; then instinctively he clutched + the baby—that individual kicking and protesting wildly at being + dragged away from luncheon—and stumbled toward the other end of the + barge. As Johnny and the baby reached one end, the bear came down upon the + other, and shuffled rapidly toward them. There was slight hope for the + fleeing couple, at least for the baby. That personage seemed destined for + a bear's dinner that day. Suddenly the bear hesitated. He had reached the + remains of the dinner. + </p> + <p> + Part of what Johnny's mother had provided for the midday repast was bread + and butter, plentifully besmeared with honey. If a bear, big or little, + has one weakness in this world it is just honey. He will do for honey what + a miser will do for gain, what a politician will do for office, what a + lover will do for his sweetheart, what some women will do for dress. For + that bear to pass that bread and honey was simply an impossibility. He + would stop and devour it. It would take but a moment or two, and the baby + could come afterward. + </p> + <p> + The boy gave a frightened glance behind him as he jumped off the platform + and scrambled up the bank with the baby in his arms. He saw that the bear + had paused, and a gleam of hope came to him. He put the baby down on its + feet and started to run with it. But the baby was heavy; its legs besides + being, as already remarked, very fat, were very short, and progress was + not rapid. The bear, the boy knew, would not be occupied with the luncheon + long. He reached the windlass where the mule had worked, and leaned + pantingly against the post holding the cord by pulling which the weight + was released from the top of the timbers on the barge. A wild idea of + trying to climb the post with the baby came into his head. He looked up + and noticed the cord. + </p> + <p> + Like a flash came to the terrified boy a great thought. If he dared only + stop a moment! If he dared try to pull the cord as he had seen his father + do and release the trigger which sustained the great weight! There was the + bear right under it! + </p> + <p> + Even as this thought came to Johnny the bear looked up and growled. Johnny + grabbed at the baby and started to run again, but the baby stumbled and + rolled over into a little hollow with its fat legs sticking upward. In + desperation Johnny jumped back and caught at the cord. He pulled with all + his might, but the trigger at the top of the pile-driver sustained a great + burden and the thing required more than Johnny's strength. "Come, baby, + quick!" he cried. "Put your arm about me and lean back!" The young + gentleman addressed had regained his feet again and was placid. He waddled + up, put his arm about Johnny, and leaned back sturdily. The bear looked up + again and growled, this time more earnestly. The luncheon was about + finished. Johnny set his teeth and pulled again. The baby added, say, + thirty pounds to the pull. It was just what was needed. There was a creak + at the top of the pile-driver, and then— + </p> + <p> + "W-h-i-r-r! T-h-u-d!" + </p> + <p> + Six hundred pounds of iron dropped from a height of twenty-five feet on + the small of the back of an elephant would finish him. It is more than + enough for a bear. Over the river and through the forest went out one + awful roar of brute agony, then all was still. A bear with its backbone + broken and crushed down into its stomach is just as dead as a chipmunk + would be under the same circumstances. For a moment the silence prevailed, + to be followed by the yell of a healthy youngster in great distress. As + the trigger yielded, Johnny and the baby had keeled heels over head + backward into the soft moss, and Johnny had fallen on the baby. + </p> + <p> + The boy arose a little dazed, lifted the howling infant to its feet, and + then looked toward the boat. The bear was there—crushed beneath the + iron. From one side of the mass projected the animal's hind-quarters, from + the other its front, and there were the glaring eyes and savage open jaws. + It was enough. Johnny grabbed the baby and started for the house. + </p> + <p> + Johnny was perfectly convinced that the bear was dead, very dead, but he + didn't propose to take any chances. He liked adventure, but he was + satisfied with the quantity for one afternoon. He was young, but he knew + when he had enough. He dragged the baby inside, bolted the door, and + waited. At about six o'clock in the evening his father and mother + returned. Johnny didn't have much to say when he opened the door and came + out with the baby to meet them, but for a man of his size his chest + protruded somewhat phenomenally. He told his story. His mother caught up + the fat baby and kissed it. His father took him by the hand, and they went + down and looked at the bear. Tears came in the man's eyes as he laid his + hand on Johnny's head. + </p> + <p> + Along in January or February it was worth one's while to be up in Michigan + where they were building a sawmill. It was worth one's while to note the + appearance of a young man, nine years of age or thereabouts, who would + saunter out of the log house along in the afternoon, advance toward the + river, and then, with his legs spread wide apart, his hands in his + pockets, and his hat stuck on the back of his head, stand on a small knoll + and look down upon the spot where <i>he</i> killed a bear the day before + Christmas. It was worth one's while to note the expression upon his + countenance as he stood there and as he finally stalked away, whistling + Yankee Doodle, with perhaps, a slight lack of precision, but with + tremendous spirit and significance. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="GreenTree" id="GreenTree">AT THE GREEN TREE CLUB</a> + </h2> + <p> + Tom Oldfield sat comfortably over his newspaper in his big chair at the + Green Tree Club. He gave a good-natured swing of his shoulders, but heaved + a sigh when he was told that two ladies desired to see him immediately on + important business. The well-trained club servant, a colored man, gave the + message with a knowing look, subdued by respectful sympathy. + </p> + <p> + Now, Tom Oldfield was well known for his gallantry, and no one had ever + accused him of being disturbed over a call from ladies, under any + circumstances, but all had not yet learned what was the sad, sincere + truth, that Mr. Oldfield decidedly objected to any interruption when he + was smoking his after-breakfast cigar and glancing over the news of the + day. While engaged in this business Mr. Oldfield insisted upon a measure + of quiet and self-concentration. When it was over he was ready to meet the + rest of the world—and not before. + </p> + <p> + And so he sighed and made his moan to himself as he took his eyes from the + column of The Daily Warwhoop, and bade Joseph show the ladies to the club + library, his pet loafing place, not only despite of, but because of the + fact that it was open to visitors and much frequented by club members at + all hours. Tom Oldfield was a genial and companionable soul. + </p> + <p> + His welcoming smile faded as his kindly eyes took in the advancing group. + Led by Joseph in a most deferential, not to say deprecating, manner, the + two ladies slowly crossed the big room, and came around the great table to + the chair set for them near Mr. Oldfield's accepted harbor in the club + rooms. + </p> + <p> + One of the visitors was a middle-aged woman of much elegance of figure, + and with a face the outlines of which were beautiful, while its expression + of discontent, accentuated by lines of worry, made its owner distinctly + unattractive. She was clothed in all the glory of richly exaggerated + plainness and in the latest fashion for morning walking dress. Her + daughter, simply the beautiful mother over again without the disagreeable + expression, though her young face was clouded by grief and concern, was + the other caller. Joseph announced the names of the fair interlopers, and + Oldfield groaned inwardly as he heard them. + </p> + <p> + "Mrs. and Miss Chester, Mr. Oldfield," said Joseph, with a low and + sweeping Ethiopian bow, and after the ladies were seated he withdrew, not + before casting upon Oldfield, however, a significant glance. + </p> + <p> + Oldfield was slow to seat himself again, after his greeting to his guests. + Manifestly, he thought, his easy chair would not do for him during the + coming interview. He selected a high-backed cane-seat chair from those + around the writing table, and as he had already twice said, "Good morning, + Mrs. Chester," and "I am very glad to meet you"—the last being a + wicked perversion of his real emotions—he waited for the party of + the second part to open the business of the meeting. + </p> + <p> + "We have come to you—and hope you will pardon us for troubling you, + Mr. Oldfield—" + </p> + <p> + The club man saw that Mrs. Chester was not going to cry, and took courage. + </p> + <p> + "We need your help," the lady continued, "and we are sure you will give it + to us." + </p> + <p> + "I shall be very glad if I can in any way assist or oblige you, Mrs. + Chester," Oldfield assured the elder lady, while he looked determinedly + away from the younger one, who, he was positive, was getting ready to cry. + "What do you want me to do? Ned isn't in any trouble is he?" This was + going straight to the point, as Mr. Oldfield knew full well. + </p> + <p> + Of course, Ned Chester was at the bottom of this spectacular disturbance + of his morning. It might as well be out and over the sooner. + </p> + <p> + "Oh! Mr. Oldfield," cried the daughter, "have you seen papa?" + </p> + <p> + She was bound to cry, if she hadn't already begun. Oldfield was sure of + it. + </p> + <p> + "Catherine!" expostulated the girl's mother, and Oldfield noticed the + sharp acrimony of voice and gesture. "Mr. Oldfield," she softened as she + addressed him, but there was a hardness about her every feature and + expression, "my husband has not been seen nor heard from since last + Sunday, when he left home, and I am almost distracted." + </p> + <p> + "And we have waited until we can bear it no longer. This is Friday—it + is almost a week," broke in the girl, ignoring her mother's protesting + wave of the hand and angry glance. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, he's all right," asserted Oldfield. "Don't worry. We will find him at + once; I'm sure some one in the club will know all about him. You have, of + course, inquired at his office?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, and no one there knows anything about him. His letters lie unopened + on his desk; he has not been there since Saturday." + </p> + <p> + There was no occasion for all this fencing. The heaven's truth, known to + all three, was that Ned Chester was away on a symmetrical and gigantic + spree, according to his custom once or twice a year. + </p> + <p> + Oldfield, looking straight at Mrs. Chester's slightly bent brow, said, + quietly, "I have known Ned Chester for twenty years; it is no new thing + for him to be away for a day or a night occasionally, is it?" + </p> + <p> + "No," replied the poor wife, "but he has never stayed so long before, and + I know something has happened—he has been hurt, may be killed. We + must find him!" + </p> + <p> + "You say he left home Sunday?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, Sunday evening. He left in a fit of anger over some little thing, + and now—" + </p> + <p> + She was dangerously near breaking down, and Oldfield could plainly hear + smothered sobs beside him on the side of his chair toward which he chose + not to look. + </p> + <p> + "I will inquire," he said, hopefully, "and I know I can find him almost + immediately. Nothing has happened to hurt him. Sit here a moment and wait + for me." + </p> + <p> + Just outside the door Oldfield met Joseph. "Well, where is he?" he asked. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Oldfield, I tell you Mr. Chester has on a most awful jag, and he fell + and almost split open his skull Tuesday morning, and I've had him over at + the Barrett House ever since. The doctor has patched him up, but he ain't + fit to be seen, not by ladies." + </p> + <p> + "Pretty nervous, is he?" + </p> + <p> + "Nervous! Why, he's just missed snakes this time, that's all!" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, nonsense! He's not so bad as that; but I must go and see him. When + did you see him last?" + </p> + <p> + "Stayed all night with him, sir, and left him quite easy this morning. + Don't let the ladies see him, Mr. Oldfield; it would break him up." + </p> + <p> + "Break him up! What do you think about their own feelings!" + </p> + <p> + "Well, you see, he is dreading to go home, and to see her walk right in on + him would break him all up. It would so! He would have 'em sure then." + </p> + <p> + "Joseph, you've got sense. Take this for any little thing you may need," + said Oldfield, as he put a green colored piece of paper in Joseph's hand, + and turned back into the library where the waiting women sat. + </p> + <p> + "Your father is safe, Miss Chester," he said, softly to the pale, anxious + daughter, who ran to meet him; "you shall see him soon. I will tell your + mother all about it." + </p> + <p> + Miss Chester, expressing great relief, and, giving Oldfield her hand, sat + obediently down to the illustrated books and magazines he handed her. She + was quite out of earshot of the place where her mother sat impatiently + waiting for news. + </p> + <p> + "Your husband is all right, Mrs. Chester. He has met with a slight + accident, but is under a doctor's care at the Barrett House. I will go to + see him. Without doubt he will be able to go home in a day or two." + </p> + <p> + The wife nearly lost self-control, but as Oldfield talked on, reassuring + her of her husband's safety, she gradually became calm, and then the look + of settled hardness came back into her face. + </p> + <p> + "What shall I do?" she burst out. "How can I go on in such shame and agony + year after year? You're an old friend of Ned's, Mr. Oldfield—excuse + me—perhaps you can advise me." + </p> + <p> + "I want to," answered Oldfield, promptly. "But will you hear me without + becoming angry?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly! I will be thankful for your advice, Mr. Oldfield." + </p> + <p> + The man had a certain hardness in his own look now. + </p> + <p> + "Let us sit down by this window. There, you look comfortable. Now, let's + see—oh, yes, I remember where I wanted to begin. Ned is one of those + fellows who find Sunday a bad day—and holidays. I've heard him say + often how he hated holidays; and it's then, or on a Sunday, that he goes + off on these drinking bouts, isn't it?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," gasped the astonished woman. This cool, practical way of looking at + the trial of her life was strange to her; she found it hard to adjust + herself to the situation. + </p> + <p> + "He's a hard-working man, is Ned, a regular toiler and moiler. When he is + at work he is all right, or when he is at play, so far as that goes. He is + never so happy and so entirely himself as when he is among congenial + friends, unless it is when over a good book, or off hunting or fishing. + These crazy drinking spells come on at Christmas or Thanksgiving time, or + on some Sunday, when he is at home with his family." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Chester's face had flushed painfully. Not seeming to notice her + agitation, Oldfield continued: "You remarked, did you not, that Ned left + home in anger Sunday evening. Pardon me, since I have said so much + already, was there some argument or contention in the house—between + you and Ned, for instance?" + </p> + <p> + "It was a little quarrel, nothing serious," faltered Mrs. Chester. + </p> + <p> + "I don't want to hear about it," said Oldfield, hurriedly, himself much + embarrassed, and inwardly fuming over himself as a colossal idiot for + entering upon such a conversation. "I only want you to think for a minute + about the last hour or two Sunday evening before Ned left home. No doubt + he was to blame for whatever that was unpleasant, not a doubt; but since + you ask me for advice, can't you think of some way to make Sundays and + holidays endurable to Ned, bless his big heart! Be a little easy on him, a + little careless about his ways. Ned is such a simple fellow! Hard words, + irony and sarcasm, complainings and scoldings cut him very deeply! Don't + be offended, but don't you think that perhaps you could manage it to + somehow keep Ned from flinging out of the house desperate and foolish + every once in a while, on some Sunday or holiday? I'll tell you! Begin + early—begin sometimes before he is awake—to get things ready, + and keep them going so that Ned won't start out, a reckless, emotional + maniac before nightfall!" + </p> + <p> + Oldfield paused, struck by his own earnestness and plain speaking, and + somewhat scared. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Chester arose, and Oldfield's heart ached for her. "Madame," he said, + "any man who leaves wife and child to worry over him for days while he + carouses is to an extent a brute. There is no comprehensive excuse for + him. But when one is living with, and intends to go on living with a man + who at times becomes such a brute, it is as well to know and acknowledge + his weak points, and forbear to press him too far, even in the best cause, + even when you are perfectly right, as I am sure you always are, for + example. But let us come back to our original topic of conversation. I am + afraid you cannot see Ned to-day. I will call upon him, and then telephone + you his exact condition, telling you if he needs anything. And to-morrow, + after the doctor has made his morning visit, I will send you another + message. Ned will be all right and at home in a day or two. + </p> + <p> + "In the mean time you might think over what I have said to you, and make + up your mind whether I am right or not. About what, you ask, Miss Chester? + Oh! only some nonsense I have been talking to your mother, a sort of + theory of mine with which she has no patience, I can see. Good-by, ladies—no, + don't waste time thanking me; I am glad if I have been of any use. + Good-by." + </p> + <p> + He bowed them into the elevator, and slowly drifted back into the club + library. "Of all fools I am the prize fool!" he murmured to himself. And + he called Joseph, and with him set forth to the Barrett House to see Ned + Chester. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="RainMaker" id="RainMaker">THE RAIN-MAKER</a> + </h2> + <p> + John Gray, civil engineer, good looking and aged twenty-eight, was engaged + in the service of the United States of America. He had, upon emerging from + college, been fortunate enough to secure a place among the new graduates + who are utilized in making what is called the "lake survey," that is, the + work upon the great inland seas we designate as lakes, and had finally + from that drifted into work for the Agricultural Department—a + department which, though latest established, is bound, with its force for + good upon this great producing continent, to rank eventually with any + place in the cabinet of the President. In the Agricultural Department John + Gray, being clever and a hard worker, had risen rapidly, and had finally + been appointed assistant to the ranking official whose duty it was to + visit certain arid regions of Arizona and there seek by scientific methods + to produce a sudden rainfall over parched areas, and so make the desert + blossom as the rose. + </p> + <p> + Mr. John Gray went with the expedition, and distinguished himself from the + beginning. He could endure hard work; he was a good civil engineer and + comprehended the theory upon which his superiors were working, and above + all, he was an enthusiast in the thing they were undertaking, and had + independent devices of his own, to be submitted at the proper time, for + the attainment of certain mechanical ends which had puzzled the pundits at + Washington. He had ideas as to how should be flown the new form of kite + which should carry into the upper depths explosives to shatter and + compress the atmosphere and produce the condensation which makes rain, + just as concussions from below—as after the cannonading of a great + battle—produce the same effect. He had fancies about a lot of things + connected with the work of the rain-making expedition, and his fancies + were practicalities. He proved invaluable to his superiors in office when + came the experiments the reports of which at first declared that + rain-making was a success, and later admitted something to the contrary. + </p> + <p> + There had been, as all the world knows, certain experiments of the + government rain-makers followed by rains, and certain experiments after + which the earth had remained as parched and the sky as brazen as before. + The one successful experiment had, as it chanced, been conducted under Mr. + Gray's personal and ardent supervision. He had overseen the flying of the + kites, the impudent invasion of the upper depths when a button was + touched, and then he had seen the white cumulus clouds gather and become + nimbus, followed by a brief rainfall upon a hot and yellow land. He had + felt as Moses may have felt when he smote the rock, as De Lesseps may have + felt when he brought the seas together. He thought one of the man-helping + problems of the ages almost solved. + </p> + <p> + So far John Gray, civil engineer in the service of the Government, had + been lost in his avocation. He saw no flower beside his path; he dreamed + of no woman he had known. But there came a change, for which he was not + responsible. There was delay in the shipping of additional supplies needed + for the expedition's work—as there usually is delay and bad + management in whatever is intrusted to certain encrusted bureaus in + Washington—and in the interval, with nothing to do, this civil + engineer spent necessarily most of his time in the little town about the + railroad station, and there fell in love. It was an odd location for such + luxury or risk as the one denned; but the thing happened. John Gray fell + in love, and fell far. + </p> + <p> + Arizona is said, by its present inhabitants, to have a climate which makes + the faces of women wonderfully fair, given a face whose features are not + distorted to start with. This assertion may be attributed rather to + territorial pride than to conviction; but it doesn't matter. There was + assuredly one pretty girl in Cougarville, and Gray had begun to feel a + more than passing interest in her. He had even gone so far in his + meditations as to conceive the idea of taking her East with him when he + went back (he had laid up a little money), and though he had not yet + suggested this to the young lady, he felt reasonably confident. She had + been with him much and seemed very fond of him. Once he had kissed her at + the door. Certainly he was fond of her. + </p> + <p> + The little town upon the railroad was not new, and Miss Fleming belonged + to one of the old families of the place—that is, her father had come + there at least twenty-five years ago. He had mined and dealt in timber and + taken tie contracts, and was now considered as fairly ranking among the + twenty-five or thirty "warm" men of the place. There were castes in + Cougarville, and the society made up of these families was exclusive. + Their parties in town were as select as their picnics in the foothills, + and the foothill picnics were the occasions where Cougarville society + really came out. It was a foothill picnic which brought an end to all + relations between John Gray and Miss Molly Fleming. It came about in this + way. + </p> + <p> + There had been a party in Cougarville, and Gray, finally abandoning + himself to all the risk of falling in love and marrying this flower of the + frontier, had committed himself deeply. He had declared himself. The girl + was reserved, but beaming. He had to leave his apparently more than + half-acquiescent inamorata to whom he was an escort. At 11 P.M. he left + her temporarily in charge of one Muggles, the curled darling and easily + most imposing clerk among all those employed in the big "emporium" of the + frontier town. He felt safe. Such a character as Molly Fleming could never + be attracted by such a person as that scented floor-walker, even if he did + chance to have a small interest in the concern and reasonably good + prospects. He left them with equanimity; he saw them together an hour + later with just a shade of apprehension. They seemed to understand each + other too well, and their eyes, as they looked each into the other's face, + seemed a trifle too soulful and trusting. He asked Miss Fleming on the way + home if she would go with him to the picnic to be held in the wooded + foothills on the following day. She laughed in his face, and said she was + going with Mr. Muggles. He saw it all. Civil engineering and devotion had + been cast over for a general store interest, home relatives, Muggles, and + devotion. He was jilted. + </p> + <p> + The reflections of John Gray that night, described by colors, may be + referred to as simply green and red—green for jealousy, red for + vengeance. He slept and had nightmares, and waked and made plans. It was + an awful night for him. But as morning came and his head cleared, the + instinct of jealousy lessened and that of vengeance increased. He arose in + the morning a more or less dangerous human being. + </p> + <p> + The picnic had no attraction for John Gray. He attended to business about + the headquarters of the expedition, and when noon came sat aside and + brooded. He thought to himself, "They are up there together, and she has + discarded me for this storekeeper, who knows nothing save how to make + close little trades and make and save money." Then a new and broader range + of thought came to him: "She is but following the instinct of her family. + Blood will tell. Both her father and mother are below the grade which + means the average of my own kind. She will in time show her blood, who + ever may marry her. That is the law of nature." This encouraged him. + </p> + <p> + As his reasoning process became more smooth and true, he realized what an + escape he had had, and then, as he reviewed the story of the past months, + his desire for "evening up" things grew. It was low and mean, he knew, but + that made no difference. He must get even. + </p> + <p> + He thought over the situation. There they were, the élite of Cougarville, + up in a canyon of the foothills, beside a creek, where were trees and turf + and picturesque rocks, and were having a good time. Muggles and Molly had + no doubt withdrawn from the mass of picnickers, and were billing and + cooing together. His veins burned at the thought. Oh, for some means of + settling them! Then came an inspiration to him! + </p> + <p> + Gray's superior was away, but there had come to hand at last all the + material necessary for a renewed experiment. He had the kites, the + explosives, and the assistants. He had authority to act should his + superior not return on time. His superior was not on time. Was it not more + than his inclination but really his duty to try to make rain at once, and + in the particular locality just suited in his judgment for securing an + effect? As to the locality, there was no doubt. It was up the foothills a + mile or two above, and just beside the valley in which were the + picnickers. The men about the post were summoned, burros were loaded, and + at 2 P.M. the whole rain-making force was far up the foothills unloading + and preparing to fly gigantic kites and explode in the upper vaults of the + atmosphere bombs and rockets and all sorts of things to make a rainstorm. + </p> + <p> + All went well. The wind was right, and the huge kites, bomb-laden, climbed + into the sky like vultures. The electric wires were in order, and when at + last the buttons were touched and the explosion came, it seemed as if the + very vaults of heaven were riven. It was a great success. Gray, elated and + hopeful, but not fully assured, stood and watched and waited. + </p> + <p> + He did not have to wait long. Not far to the north in the hard blue sky + suddenly appeared a little dab of woolly white. Another showed in the + east. They showed all about, and grew and grew in size until they became + great, over-toppling, blending mountains, a new and mysterious world + against the sky. Then came a darkening of the mass. The cumulus was + changing to the nimbus. Then came a distant rumble, and, preceding + another, a great blaze of lightning went across the zenith. To those in + the region the world darkened. A mountain thunderstorm was on. + </p> + <p> + The darkness increased; the clouds hung lower and lower, the lightning + flashed more frequently and fiercely, and finally the flood-gates of the + clouds were opened and the rain fell with such denseness that the mass of + drops made literal sheets. The little brooks were filled, and tumbled into + the creek which ran down the canyon where were the picnickers. Bred in the + region, the picnickers knew what such a flood meant, and with the first + sound of thunder had clambered up the canyon side, where they sat + unsheltered and awaiting events. The very first downpour wetted every + young man and woman to the bone and filled thin boots with water. The + worst of it was that they had not yet eaten. They had brought up with them + two burros laden with supplies, and two mule teams, which had dragged them + up into the wooded elysium beside the tumbling creek of the canyon. When + the storm gathered it was at a moment when the burros stood, still + unloaded, and the mules attached to the two wagons still unhitched. They, + the four-footed things, knew what the thunder and the darkness meant. They + knew, somehow, that the upper canyon was no place for them, and, reasoning + in the four-footed way, they exercised the limbs they had, obeying the + orders of such brains as they owned, and gathering themselves together for + independent action, went down the canyon clatteringly in a bunch. + </p> + <p> + Foodless and scared, the picnickers huddled far up the little canyon's + side and sat awed and watchful as the lightning flashed about them and the + waters rose beneath them. The torrent of rain loosened the soil above, and + they were so drenched in clay-colored water coming down, and sat so still + beneath it, that they looked like cheap terra cotta images. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the thunder ceased, the rainfall ended, and this particular + slight area of Arizona was Arizona again. The power of the rain-maker was + limited. Through four yellow miles of yellow muck, beside a temporarily + yellow stream, waded for hours wearily a dreadful picnic party, seeking in + disgust the town of Cougarville. They reached their separate homes + somehow, and washed and went to bed. + </p> + <p> + In the Cougarville Screamer of the following morning appeared a graphic + account of the great exploit of "Professor" Gray, of the Department of + Agriculture, who on the preceding day had, after taking his force into the + foothills and utilizing the means at his command, attained the greatest + rainfall of the season. Of course it was to be regretted that a picnic + including the élite of Cougarville was in progress beside the creek of the + canyon alongside which Professor Gray operated, but scientists could not + be expected to know anything of social functions, and all was for the + best. One of the mules and one of the burros had been recovered. It was a + great day for Cougarville. "Now," concluded the account, "since the means + for irrigation are assured, the valleys about our promising city will + bloom eternally fresh, and no one doubts the location of the metropolis of + the region." + </p> + <p> + As for Gray, he met Miss Fleming on the day succeeding, and if withering + glances ever really withered anything, he would have been as a dry leaf. + But he did not wither. He went East, and is now connected with the + Pennsylvania Broad Gauge. Miss Fleming married Mr. Muggles, and I + understand the store is doing only moderately well. What puzzles me is + that after Gray's triumph up the canyon on this occasion, the United + States Government should have abandoned the rain-making experiments. The + facts related in this very brief account are respectfully submitted to the + consideration of the Department of Agriculture. + </p> + <hr class="chapbreak" /> + <h2> + <a name="Span" id="Span">WITHIN ONE LIFE'S SPAN</a> + </h2> + <p> + A river flows through green prairies into a vast blue lake. There are log + houses along the banks, and near the lake a more pretentious structure, + also built of logs. Quaint as an old Dutch mill, with its overhanging + second story, this fort of rude type answers its purpose well, for only + Indians are likely to assail it, and Indians bring no artillery. + </p> + <p> + A summer morning comes, an August morning in the year 1812. There is war, + and there have been disgraces and defeats and wavering counsels. To the + soldiers in the fort has been given the advice of a weakling in peril, and + it has had unhappy weight. About the fort are gathering a host of Indians, + dark Pottowatomies, treacherous and sullen. Yet the fort is to be + abandoned. The scanty garrison will venture forth with its women and its + children. + </p> + <p> + To the south, along the lake, are reaches of yellow sand and a mile or + more away are trees and scanty shrubbery. From the fort file slowly out + the soldiers with their baggage-wagons, in which the weaker are bestowed. + Among the young is a boy of eight—a waif, the orphan of a hunter. + Forest-bred, he is alert and in some things older than his years. He is + old enough to have a sense of danger. From his covert in the wagon he + watches all intently. + </p> + <p> + The few musicians play a funeral march, and the procession moves + apprehensively, though it moves steadily, for there are brave men in the + ranks, men who will not flinch, though they rage at the evil folly to + which they have been driven. They do not doubt the issue, though they face + it. They have not long to wait. The bushes which fringe the rising ground + do not conceal the shifting enemy. The marching column huddles. There are + sharp commands and the reports of muskets. The Indians are attacking. The + massacre has begun! + </p> + <p> + Hampered, unsheltered, outnumbered by a vengeful host, the whites must + die. The men die fighting, as men in such straits should. The Indians are + close upon the women and children in the wagon. Into one of them, that + which contains the hunter's child, leaps a savage, in whose beady eyes are + all cruelty and ferocity. His tomahawk sinks into the brain of the nearest + helpless one, and at the same instant, swift as an otter gliding into + water, the boy is out and darting away among the bushes. Oddly enough he + is unnoticed—a remnant of the soldiers are dying hardly—and he + escapes to where the bushes are more dense. About a cottonwood tree in the + distance appears greater covert. Around the tree has been part of the + struggle, but the ghastly tide has passed, and there are only dead men + there. The boy is in mortal terror, but his instinct does not fail him. + There is a heap of brush, the top of some tree felled by a storm, and + beneath the mass he writhes and wriggles and is lost from view. + </p> + <p> + There is a rush of returning footsteps; there is a clamor of many Indian + voices about the brush-heap, but the boy is undiscovered. The savages are + not seeking him. They count all the whites as slain or captured, and are + now but intent on plunder. Night falls. The child slips from his hiding + place, and runs to the southward. Suddenly a dark figure rises in his + path, and the grasp of a strong hand is upon his shoulder. He struggles + frantically, but only for a moment. His own language is spoken. It is in + the voice of a friendly Miami fleeing, like the boy, from the + Pottowatomies. The Indian takes the boy by the hand, and hurries him to + the westward, to the Mississippi. + </p> + <p> + It is the year 1835. One of a band of trappers venturing up the Missouri + is a slender, quiet man, the deadliest shot in the party. Good trapper he + is, but the fame he has earned among adventurers of his class is not from + fur-getting. He is a lonely man, but a creature of action. He never seeks + to avoid the Indian trails. Cautious and crafty he is, certainly, but he + follows closely the westward drift of the red men, and when opportunity + comes he spares not at all. He is a hunter of Indians, vengeance + personified. He is the boy who hid beneath the brush-heap; the memory of + that awful day and night is ever with him, and he seeks blindly to make + the equation just. To his single arm have fallen more savages than fell + whites on the day of the massacre by the lake. Still he moves westward. + </p> + <p> + It is the year 1893 now. An old man occupies a farm in the remote + Northwest. He has lost none of his faculties, nor nearly all his strength, + though he is eighty-nine years of age. The long battle with the dangers of + the wilds is done. The old man listens to the talk of those about him, of + how a great nation is inviting all the nations of the world to take part + in a monster jubilee, because of the quadri-centennial of a continent's + discovery. He hears them tell of a place where this mighty demonstration + will be made, and a torrent of memory sweeps him backward over eighty + years. He thinks of one awful day and night. An irresistible longing to + look again upon the regions he has not seen for more than three-quarters + of a century, a wild desire to revisit the junction of the river and the + great blue lake, and to wander where the sandreaches and the cottonwood + tree were, possesses him. And, resolute as ever, he acts upon the impulse + which now becomes a plan. + </p> + <p> + An old man, as strangely placed as some old gray elk among a herd of + buffalo, is hurried along the swarming, roaring thoroughfares of a great + city. He has found the river and the lake, but nothing else save + pandemonium. He is seeking now the place where the cottonwood tree stood, + though he scarcely hopes to find it. He asks what his course shall be, and + is answered kindly. He finds his way to a broad thoroughfare bearing the + blue lake's name, and is told to seek Eighteenth Street, and there walk + toward the water. He does as he is directed, and—marvelous to him, + now—he finds the Tree. + </p> + <p> + There it stands, the cottonwood of the massacre, with blunt white limbs + outstretched and dead, as dead as those who were slaughtered at its base + and whose very bones have long been dust. The old man walks about it as in + a dream. He finds the spot where was the brush-heap beneath which he + passed shuddering hours so long ago, and he stands there upon a modern + pavement. The marble piles of rich men loom above him on each side. Where + were the sand ridges cast up by the lake, rush by the burdened railroad + trains. He cannot comprehend it—but there is more to come. + </p> + <p> + The old man has sought the oak-dotted prairie miles to the south. Surely, + something, somewhere must be unchanged! He has attained the spot where the + trees were densest. He is in a swirl of hosts. He looks upon vast, + splendid structures, such as the world has never seen before. Through + shining thoroughfares are surging the people of all nations. And here was + where the Miami Indian found the boy! + </p> + <p> + An old man is sitting again in his cabin in the far Northwest. He is + wondering, wondering if it has been but a dream, his old-age journey. How + could it be real? Surely there was once the fort where the river joined + the lake, and there were the yellow sand-ridges, and the low, green + prairie and the wilderness. He had seen them. They were there, familiar to + the pioneers, the features of a landscape where was the outpost in the + wilderness of the race which conquers. He knew there could be no mistake + about it, that what he remembered was something real, for the river was in + its ancient channel; though dark its waters, the lake was blue and vast as + of old, and the tree with its stark branches was still the Tree. Those who + had lived with him in his old age in the far Northwest had seemed never to + doubt in him the retained possession of all his faculties, and he knew + that he could not be mistaken as to the things that were. He had lived + with them. How could such changes have come within the span of a single + lifetime? Yet he had seen the new! How could it be? And the old man could + not tell. + </p> + <hr class="final" /> + +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOLF'S LONG HOWL*** + +******* This file should be named 10391-h.txt or 10391-h.zip ******* + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/9/10391 + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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