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diff --git a/14327-0.txt b/14327-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd4e48d --- /dev/null +++ b/14327-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7327 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14327 *** + +Note: The Table of Contents and the list of illustrations were added + by the transcriber. + + Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 14327-h.htm or 14327-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/3/2/14327/14327-h/14327-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/3/2/14327/14327-h.zip) + + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE OF POPULAR LITERATURE AND SCIENCE + +January, 1873 + +Volume XI, No. 22 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +IRON BRIDGES, AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION by EDWARD ROWLAND. +SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. +PROBATIONER LEONHARD; OR, THREE NIGHTS IN THE HAPPY VALLEY + by CAROLINE CHESEBRO'. + CHAPTER I. OUR HERO. + CHAPTER II. IN THE HAPPY VALLEY. + CHAPTER III. HIGH ART. +THE IRISH CAPITAL by REGINALD WYNFORD. +THE MAESTRO'S CONFESSION (ANDREA DAL CASTAGNO--1460.) + by MARGARET J. PRESTON. +MONSIEUR FOURNIER'S EXPERIMENT by CORNELIUS DEWEES. +A VISIT TO THE KING OF AURORA (FROM THE GERMAN OF THEODORE KIRSCHOFF.) + by ELIZABETH SILL. +GRAY EYES by ELLA WILLIAMS THOMPSON. +REMINISCENCES OF FLORENCE by MARIE HOWLAND. +THE SOUTHERN PLANTER by WILL WALLACE HARNEY. +BABES IN THE WOOD by EDGAR FAWCETT. +MY CHARGE ON THE LIFE-GUARDS by CHARLES L. NORTON. +PAINTING AND A PAINTER. +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + WILHELMINE VON HILLERN. +HIS NAME? by M. J. P. +UNPUBLISHED LETTER FROM LORD NELSON TO LADY HAMILTON. +"WHITE-HAT" DAY by K. H. +MR. SOTHERN AS GARRICK by M. M. +NOTES. +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + Forster, John--The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. II + Gautier, Théophile--Émaux et Camées + Alcott, A. Bronson--Concord Days + Hanum, Melek--Thirty Years in the Harem + Gale, Ethel C.--Hints on Dress + Sketch Map of the Nile Sources and Lake Region of Central + Africa, showing Dr. Livingstone's Discoveries and Mr. Stanley's + Route +Books Received + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +WILHELMINE VON HILLERN, Author of "Only a Girl," "By His Own Might," etc. +[See Our Monthly Gossip.] + +"ASSEMBLING" BRIDGE UNDER SHED. + +THE LYMAN VIADUCT. + +BLAST-FURNACES. + +DUMPING ORE AND COAL INTO BLAST-FURNACES. + +ELEVATOR. + +THE ENGINE-ROOM. + +RUNNING METAL INTO PIGS. + +CARRYING THE IRON BALLS. + +ROTARY SQUEEZER. + +BOILING-FURNACE. + +THE ROLLS. + +COLD SAW. + +HOT SAW. + +RIVETING A COLUMN. + +FURNACE AND HYDRAULIC DIE. + +VIEW OF MACHINE-SHOP + +NEW RIVER BRIDGE ON ITS STAGING. + +BRIDGE AT ALBANY. + +LA SALLE BRIDGE. + +BRIDGE AT AUGUSTA, MAINE. + +SACO BRIDGE. + +PHOENIX WORKS. + +"THE FIRST FORD OF THE CCONI WAS PASSED JUST OUTSIDE THE TOWN." + +"GENTLEMEN, I AM JUAN THE NEPHEW OF ARAGON." + +"THE STRAW SHEDS AND GRASSY PLAZA OF CHILE-CHILE." + +"CHAUPICHACA WAS MARKED WITH A SQUARE TERMINAL PILLAR." + +"THE MAMABAMBA WAS CROSSED BY AN EXTEMPORIZED BRIDGE." + +"THE EXAMINADOR AND THE COLONEL HOPPED VALIANTLY OVER THE MENDOZA". + +"THE REPUTED GOLD-BEARING RIVER OR OUITUBAMBA ROLLED FROM ITS TUNNEL." + + + + +[Illustration: WILHELMINE VON HILLERN, Author of "Only a Girl," "By +His Own Might," etc. (See Our Monthly Gossip.)] + + + + +IRON BRIDGES, AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. + +[Illustration: "ASSEMBLING" BRIDGE UNDER SHED.] + + +In a graveyard in Watertown, a village near Boston, Massachusetts, there +is a tombstone commemorating the claims of the departed worthy who lies +below to the eternal gratitude of posterity. The inscription is dated in +the early part of this century (about 1810), but the name of him who was +thus immortalized has faded like the date of his death from my memory, +while the deed for which he was distinguished, and which was recorded +upon his tombstone, remains clear. "He built the famous bridge over the +Charles River in this town," says the record. The Charles River is here +a small stream, about twenty to thirty feet wide, and the bridge was a +simple wooden structure. + +[Illustration: THE LYMAN VIADUCT.] + +Doubtless in its day this structure was considered an engineering feat +worthy of such posthumous immortality as is gained by an epitaph, and +afforded such convenience for transportation as was needed by the +commercial activity of that era. From that time, however, to this, the +changes which have occurred in our commercial and industrial methods are +so fully indicated by the changes of our manner and method of +bridge-building that it will not be a loss of time to investigate the +present condition of our abilities in this most useful branch of +engineering skill. + +In the usual archaeological classification of eras the Stone Age +precedes that of Iron, and in the history of bridge-building the same +sequence has been preserved. Though the knowledge of working iron was +acquired by many nations at a pre-historic period, yet in quite modern +times--within this century, even--the invention of new processes and the +experience gained of new methods have so completely revolutionized this +branch of industry, and given us such a mastery over this material, +enabling us to apply it to such new uses, that for the future the real +Age of Iron will date from the present century. + +The knowledge of the arch as a method of construction with stone or +brick--both of them materials aptly fitted for resistance under +pressure, but of comparatively no tensile strength--enabled the Romans +to surpass all nations that had preceded them in the course of history +in building bridges. The bridge across the Danube, erected by +Apollodorus, the architect of Trajan's Column, was the largest bridge +built by the Romans. It was more than three hundred feet in height, +composed of twenty-one arches resting upon twenty piers, and was about +eight hundred feet in length. It was after a few years destroyed by the +emperor Adrian, lest it should afford a means of passage to the +barbarians, and its ruins are still to be seen in Lower Hungary. + +With the advent of railroads bridge-building became even a greater +necessity than it had ever been before, and the use of iron has enabled +engineers to grapple with and overcome difficulties which only fifty +years ago would have been considered hopelessly insurmountable. In this +modern use of iron advantage is taken of its great tensile strength, and +many iron bridges, over which enormous trains of heavily-loaded cars +pass hourly, look as though they were spun from gossamer threads, and +yet are stronger than any structure of wood or stone would be. + +[Illustration: BLAST-FURNACES.] + +Another great advantage of an iron bridge over one constructed of wood +or stone is the greater ease with which it can, in every part of it, be +constantly observed, and every failing part replaced. Whatever material +may be used, every edifice is always subject to the slow disintegrating +influence of time and the elements. In every such edifice as a bridge, +use is a process of constant weakening, which, if not as constantly +guarded against, must inevitably, in time, lead to its destruction. + +[Illustration: DUMPING ORE AND COAL INTO BLAST-FURNACES.] + +In a wooden or stone bridge a beam affected by dry rot or a stone +weakened by the effects of frost may lie hidden from the inspection of +even the most vigilant observer until, when the process has gone far +enough, the bridge suddenly gives way under a not unusual strain, and +death and disaster shock the community into a sense of the inherent +defects of these materials for such structures. + +The introduction of the railroad has brought about also another change +in the bridge-building of modern times, compared with that of all the +ages which have preceded this nineteenth century. The chief bridges of +ancient times were built as great public conveniences upon thoroughways +over which there was a large amount of travel, and consequently were +near the cities or commercial centres which attracted such travel, and +were therefore placed where they were seen by great numbers. Now, +however, the connection between the chief commercial centres is made by +the railroads, and these penetrate immense distances, through +comparatively unsettled districts, in order to bring about the needed +distribution; and in consequence many of the great railroad bridges are +built in the most unfrequented spots, and are unseen by the numerous +passengers who traverse them, unconscious that they are thus easily +passing over specimens of engineering skill which surpass, as objects of +intelligent interest, many of the sights they may be traveling to see. + +[Illustration: ELEVATOR.] + +The various processes by which the iron is prepared to be used in +bridge-building are many of them as new as is the use of this material +for this purpose, and it will not be amiss to spend a few moments in +examining them before presenting to our readers illustrations of some of +the most remarkable structures of this kind. Taking a train by the +Reading Railroad from Philadelphia, we arrive, in about an hour, at +Phoenixville, in the Schuylkill Valley, where the Phoenix Iron-and +Bridge-works are situated. In this establishment we can follow the iron +from its original condition of ore to a finished bridge, and it is the +only establishment in this country, and most probably in the world, +where this can be seen. + +[Illustration: THE ENGINE-ROOM.] + +These works were established in 1790. In 1827 they came into the +possession of the late David Reeves, who by his energy and enterprise +increased their capacity to meet the growing demands of the time, until +they reached their present extent, employing constantly over fifteen +hundred hands. + +[Illustration: RUNNING METAL INTO PIGS.] + +The first process is melting the ore in the blast-furnace. Here the ore, +with coal and a flux of limestone, is piled in and subjected to the heat +of the fires, driven by a hot blast and kept burning night and day. The +iron, as it becomes melted, flows to the bottom of the furnace, and is +drawn off below in a glowing stream. Into the top of the blast-furnaces +the ore and coal are dumped, having been raised to the top by an +elevator worked by a blast of air. It is curious to notice how slowly +the experience was gathered from which has re suited the ability to +work iron as it is done here. Though even at the first settlement of +this country the forests of England had been so much thinned by their +consumption in the form of charcoal in her iron industry as to make a +demand for timber from this country a flourishing trade for the new +settlers, yet it was not until 1612 that a patent was granted to Simon +Sturtevant for smelting iron by the consumption of bituminous coal. +Another patent for the same invention was granted to John Ravenson the +next year, and in 1619 another to Lord Dudley; yet the process did not +come into general use until nearly a hundred years later. + +[Illustration: CARRYING THE IRON BALLS.] + +The blast for the furnace is driven by two enormous engines, each of +three hundred horse-power. The blast used here is, as we have said, a +hot one, the air being heated by the consumption of the gases evolved +from the material itself. The gradual steps by which these successive +modifications were introduced is an evidence of how slowly industrial +processes have been perfected by the collective experience of +generations, and shows us how much we of the present day owe to our +predecessors. From the earliest times, as among the native smiths of +Africa to-day, the blast of a bellows has been used in working iron to +increase the heat of the combustion by a more plentiful supply of +oxygen. The blast-furnace is supposed to have been first used in +Belgium, and to have been introduced into England in 1558. Next came the +use of bituminous coal, urged with a blast of cold air. But it was not +until 1829 that Neilson, an Englishman, conceived the idea of heating +the air of the blast, and carried it out at the Muirkirk furnaces. In +that year he obtained a patent for this process, and found that he could +from the same quantity of fuel make three times as much iron. His patent +made him very rich: in one single case of infringement he received a +cheque for damages for one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. In his +method, however, he used an extra fire for heating the air of his blast. +In 1837 the idea of heating the air for the blast by the gases generated +in the process was first practically introduced by M. Faber Dufour at +Wasseralfingen in the kingdom of Würtemberg. + +In this country, charcoal was at first used universally for smelting +iron, anthracite coal being considered unfit for the purpose. In 1820 an +unsuccessful attempt to use it was made at Mauch Chunk. In 1833, +Frederick W. Geisenhainer of Schuylkill obtained a patent for the use of +the hot blast with anthracite, and in 1835 produced the first iron made +with this process. In 1841, C.E. Detmold adapted the consumption of the +gases produced by the smelting to the use of anthracite; and since then +it has become quite general, and has caused an almost incalculable +saving to the community in the price of iron. + +The view of the engines which pump the blast will give an idea of the +immense power which the Phoenix company has at command. Twice every day +the furnace is tapped, and the stream of liquid iron flows out into +moulds formed in the sand, making the iron into pigs--so called from a +fancied resemblance to the form of these animals. This makes the first +process, and in many smelting-establishments this is all that is done, +the iron in this form being sold and entering into the general +consumption. + +The next process is "boiling," which is a modification of "puddling," +and is generally used in the best iron-works in this country. The +process of puddling was invented by Henry Cort, an Englishman, and +patented by him in 1783 and 1784 as a new process for "shingling, +welding and manufacturing iron and steel into bars, plates and rods of +purer quality and in larger quantity than heretofore, by a more +effectual application of fire and machinery." For this invention Cort +has been called "the father of the iron-trade of the British nation," +and it is estimated that his invention has, during this century, given +employment to six millions of persons, and increased the wealth of Great +Britain by three thousand millions of dollars. In his experiments for +perfecting his process Mr. Cort spent his fortune, and though it proved +so valuable, he died poor, having been involved by the government in a +lawsuit concerning his patent which beggared him. Six years before his +death, the government, as an acknowledgment of their wrong, granted him +a yearly pension of a thousand dollars, and at his death this miserly +recompense was reduced to his widow to six hundred and twenty-five +dollars. + +[Illustration: ROTARY SQUEEZER.] + +[Illustration: BOILING-FURNACE.] + +When iron is simply melted and run into any mould, its texture is +granular, and it is so brittle as to be quite unreliable for any use +requiring much tensile strength. The process of puddling consisted in +stirring the molten iron run out in a puddle, and had the effect of so +changing its atomic arrangement as to render the process of rolling it +more efficacious. The process of boiling is considered an improvement +upon this. The boiling-furnace is an oven heated to an intense heat by a +fire urged with a blast. The cast-iron sides are double, and a constant +circulation of water is kept passing through the chamber thus made, in +order to preserve the structure from fusion by the heat. The inside is +lined with fire-brick covered with metallic ore and slag over the bottom +and sides, and then, the oven being charged with the pigs of iron, the +heat is let on. The pigs melt, and the oven is filled with molten iron. +The puddler constantly stirs this mass with a bar let through a hole in +the door, until the iron boils up, or "ferments," as it is called. This +fermentation is caused by the combustion of a portion of the carbon in +the iron, and as soon as the excess of this is consumed, the cinders +and slag sink to the bottom of the oven, leaving the semi-fluid mass on +the top. Stirring this about, the puddler forms it into balls of such a +size as he can conveniently handle, which are taken out and carried on +little cars, made to receive them, to "the squeezer." + +[Illustration: THE ROLLS.] + +To carry on this process properly requires great skill and judgment in +the puddler. The heat necessarily generated by the operation is so great +that very few persons have the physical endurance to stand it. So great +is it that the clothes upon the person frequently catch fire. Such a +strain upon the physical powers naturally leads those subjected to it to +indulge in excesses. The perspiration which flows from the puddlers in +streams while engaged in their work is caused by the natural effort of +their bodies to preserve themselves from injury by keeping their normal +temperature. Such a consumption of the fluids of the body causes great +thirst, and the exhaustion of the labor, both bodily and mental, leads +often to the excessive use of stimulants. In fact, the work is too +laborious. Its conditions are such that no one should be subjected to +them. The necessity, however, for judgment, experience and skill on the +part of the operator has up to this time prevented the introduction of +machinery to take the place of human labor in this process. The +successful substitution in modern times of machines for performing +various operations which formerly seemed to require the intelligence and +dexterity of a living being for their execution, justifies the +expectation that the study now being given to the organization of +industry will lead to the invention of machines which will obviate the +necessity for human suffering in the process of puddling. Such a +consummation would be an advantage to all classes concerned. The +attempts which have been made in this direction have not as yet proved +entirely successful. + +In the squeezer the glowing ball of white-hot iron is placed, and forced +with a rotary motion through a spiral passage, the diameter of which is +constantly diminishing. The effect of this operation is to squeeze all +the slag and cinder out of the ball, and force the iron to assume the +shape of a short thick cylinder, called "a bloom." This process was +formerly performed by striking the ball of iron repeatedly with a +tilt-hammer. + +[Illustration: COLD SAW.] + +The bloom is now re-heated and subjected to the process of rolling. "The +rolls" are heavy cylinders of cast iron placed almost in contact, and +revolving rapidly by steam-power. The bloom is caught between these +rollers, and passed backward and forward until it is pressed into a flat +bar, averaging from four to six inches in width, and about an inch and a +half thick. These bars are then cut into short lengths, piled, heated +again in a furnace, and re-rolled. After going through this process they +form the bar iron of commerce. From the iron reduced into this form the +various parts used in the construction of iron bridges are made by being +rolled into shape, the rolls through which the various parts pass having +grooves of the form it is desired to give to the pieces. + +[Illustration: HOT SAW.] + +[Illustration: RIVETING A COLUMN.] + +These rolls, when they are driven by steam, obtain this generally from a +boiler placed over the heating-or puddling-furnace, and heated by the +waste gases from the furnace. This arrangement was first made by John +Griffin, the superintendent of the Phoenix Iron-works, under whose +direction the first rolled iron beams over nine inches thick that were +ever made were produced at these works. The process of rolling toughens +the iron, seeming to draw out its fibres; and iron that has been twice +rolled is considered fit for ordinary uses. For the various parts of a +bridge, however, where great toughness and tensile strength are +necessary, as well as uniformity of texture, the iron is rolled a third +time. The bars are therefore cut again into pieces, piled, re-heated and +rolled again. A bar of iron which has been rolled twice is formed from +a pile of fourteen separate pieces of iron that have been rolled only +once, or "muck bar," as it is called; while the thrice-rolled bar is +made from a pile of eight separate pieces of double-rolled iron. If, +therefore, one of the original pieces of iron has any flaw or defect, it +will form only a hundred and twelfth part of the thrice-rolled bar. The +uniformity of texture and the toughness of the bars which have been +thrice rolled are so great that they may be twisted, cold, into a knot +without showing any signs of fracture. The bars of iron, whether hot or +cold, are sawn to the various required lengths by the hot or cold saws +shown in the illustrations, which revolve with great rapidity. + +[Illustration: FURNACE AND HYDRAULIC DIE.] + +For the columns intended to sustain the compressive thrust of heavy +weights a form is used in this establishment of their own design, and to +which the name of the "Phoenix column" has been given. They are tubes +made from four or from eight sections rolled in the usual way and +riveted together at their flanges. When necessary, such columns are +joined together by cast-iron joint-blocks, with circular tenons which +fit into the hollows of each tube. + +To join two bars to resist a strain of tension, links or eye-bars are +used from three to six inches wide, and as long as may be needed. At +each end is an enlargement with a hole to receive a pin. In this way any +number of bars can be joined together, and the result of numerous +experiments made at this establishment has shown that under sufficient +strain they will part as often in the body of the bar as at the joint. +The heads upon these bars are made by a process known as die-forging. +The bar is heated to a white heat, and under a die worked by hydraulic +pressure the head is shaped and the hole struck at one operation. This +method of joining by pins is much more reliable than welding. The pins +are made of cold-rolled shafting, and fit to a nicety. + +The general view of the machine-shop, which covers more than an acre of +ground, shows the various machines and tools by which iron is planed, +turned, drilled and handled as though it were one of the softest of +materials. Such a machine-shop is one of the wonders of this century. +Most of the operations performed there, and all of the tools with which +they are done, are due entirely to modern invention, many of them within +the last ten years. By means of this application of machines great +accuracy of work is obtained, and each part of an iron bridge can be +exactly duplicated if necessary. This method of construction is entirely +American, the English still building their iron bridges mostly with +hand-labor. In consequence also of this method of working, American iron +bridges, despite the higher price of our iron, can successfully compete +in Canada with bridges of English or Belgian construction. The American +iron bridges are lighter than those of other nations, but their absolute +strength is as great, since the weight which is saved is all dead +weight, and not necessary to the solidity of the structure. The same +difference is displayed here that is seen in our carriages with their +slender wheels, compared with the lumbering, heavy wagons of European +construction. + +[Illustration: VIEW OF MACHINE-SHOP.] + +Before any practical work upon the construction of a bridge is begun the +data and specifications are made, and a plan of the structure is drawn, +whether it is for a railroad or for ordinary travel, whether for a +double or single track, whether the train is to pass on top or below, +and so on. The calculations and plans are then made for the use of such +dimensions of iron that the strain upon any part of the structure shall +not exceed a certain maximum, usually fixed at ten thousand pounds to +the square inch. As the weight of the iron is known, and its tensile +strength is estimated at sixty thousand pounds per square inch, this +estimate, which is technically called "a factor of safety" of six, is a +very safe one. In other words, the bridge is planned and so constructed +that in supporting its own weight, together with any load of locomotives +or cars which can be placed upon it, it shall not be subjected to a +strain over one-sixth of its estimated strength. + +[Illustration: NEW RIVER BRIDGE ON ITS STAGING.] + +After the plan is made, working drawings are prepared and the process of +manufacture commences. The eye-bars, when made, are tested in a +testing-machine at double the strain which by any possibility they can +be put to in the bridge itself. The elasticity of the iron is such that +after being submitted to a tension of about thirty thousand pounds to +the square inch it will return to its original dimensions; while it is +so tough that the bars, as large as two inches in diameter, can be bent +double, when cold, without showing any signs of fracture. Having stood +these tests, the parts of the bridge are considered fit to be used. + +[Illustration: BRIDGE AT ALBANY.] + +When completed the parts are put together--or "assembled," as the +technical phrase is--in order to see that they are right in length, etc. +Then they are marked with letters or numbers, according to the working +plan, and shipped to the spot where the bridge is to be permanently +erected. Before the erection can be begun, however, a staging or +scaffolding of wood, strong enough to support the iron structure until +it is finished, has to be raised on the spot. When the bridge is a large +one this staging is of necessity an important and costly structure. An +illustration on another page shows the staging erected for the support +of the New River bridge in West Virginia, on the line of the Chesapeake +and Ohio Railway, near a romantic spot known as Hawksnest. About two +hundred yards below this bridge is a waterfall, and while the staging +was still in use for its construction, the river, which is very +treacherous, suddenly rose about twenty feet in a few hours, and became +a roaring torrent. + +[Illustration: LA SALLE BRIDGE.] + +The method of making all the parts of a bridge to fit exactly, and +securing the ties by pins, is peculiarly American. The plan still +followed in Europe is that of using rivets, which makes the erection of +a bridge take much more time, and cost, consequently, much more. A +riveted lattice bridge one hundred and sixty feet in span would require +ten or twelve days for its erection, while one of the Phoenixville +bridges of this size has been erected in eight and a half hours. + +The view of the Albany bridge will show the style which is technically +called a "through" bridge, having the track at the level of the lower +chords. This view of the bridge is taken from the west side of the +Hudson, near the Delavan House in Albany. The curved portion crosses the +Albany basin, or outlet of the Erie Canal, and consists of seven spans +of seventy-three feet each, one of sixty-three, and one of one hundred +and ten. That part of the bridge which crosses the river consists of +four spans of one hundred and eighty-five feet each, and a draw two +hundred and seventy-four feet wide. The iron-work in this bridge cost +about three hundred and twenty thousand dollars. + +The bridge over the Illinois River at La Salle, on the Illinois Central +Railroad, shows the style of bridge technically called a "deck" bridge, +in which the train is on the top. This bridge consists of eighteen spans +of one hundred and sixty feet each, and cost one hundred and eighty +thousand dollars. The bridge over the Kennebec River, on the line of the +Maine Central Railroad, at Augusta, Maine, is another instance of a +"through" bridge. It cost seventy-five thousand dollars, has five spans +of one hundred and eighty-five feet each, and was built to replace a +wooden deck bridge which was carried away by a freshet. + +[Illustration: BRIDGE AT AUGUSTA, MAINE.] + +The bridge on the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad which crosses the +Saco River is a very general type of a through railway bridge. It +consists of two spans of one hundred and eighty-five feet each, and cost +twenty thousand dollars. The New River bridge in West Virginia consists +of two spans of two hundred and fifty feet each, and two others of +seventy-five feet each. Its cost was about seventy thousand dollars. + +The Lyman Viaduct, on the Connecticut Air-line Railway, at East Hampton, +Connecticut, is one hundred and thirty-five feet high and eleven +thousand feet long. + +These specimens will show the general character of the iron bridges +erected in this country. When iron was first used in constructions of +this kind, cast iron was employed, but its brittleness and unreliability +have led to its rejection for the main portions of bridges. Experience +has also led the best iron bridge-builders of America to quite generally +employ girders with parallel top and bottom members, vertical posts +(except at the ends, where they are made inclined toward the centre of +the span), and tie-rods inclined at nearly forty-five degrees. This +form takes the least material for the required strength. + +[Illustration: SACO BRIDGE.] + +The safety of a bridge depends quite as much upon the design and +proportions of its details and connections as upon its general shape. +The strain which will compress or extend the ties, chords and other +parts can be calculated with mathematical exactness. But the strains +coming upon the connections are very often indeterminate, and no +mathematical formula has yet been found for them. They are like the +strains which come upon the wheels, axles and moving parts of +carriages, cars and machinery. Yet experience and judgment have led the +best builders to a singular uniformity in their treatment of these +parts. Each bridge has been an experiment, the lessons of which have +been studied and turned to the best effect. + +[Illustration: PHOENIX WORKS.] + +There is no doubt that iron bridges can be made perfectly safe. Their +margin is greater than that of the boiler, the axles or the rail. To +make them safe, European governments depend upon rigid rules, and +careful inspection to see that they are carried out. In this country +government inspection is not relied on with such certainty, and the +spirit of our institutions leads us to depend more upon the action of +self-interest and the inherent trustworthiness of mankind when indulged +with freedom of action. Though at times this confidence may seem vain, +and "rings" in industrial pursuits, as in politics, appear to corrupt +the honesty which forms the very foundation of freedom, yet their +influence is but temporary, and as soon as the best public sentiment +becomes convinced of the need for their removal their influence is +destroyed. Such evils are necessary incidents of our transitional +movement toward an industrial, social and political organization in +which the best intelligence and the most trustworthy honesty shall +control these interests for the best advantage of society at large. In +the mean time, the best security for the safety of iron bridges is to be +found in the self-interest of the railway corporations, who certainly do +not desire to waste their money or to render themselves liable to +damages from the breaking of their bridges, and who consequently will +employ for such constructions those whose reputation has been fairly +earned, and whose character is such that reliance can be placed in the +honesty of their work. Experience has given the world the knowledge +needed to build bridges of iron which shall in all possible +contingencies be safe, and there is no excuse for a penny-wise and +pound-foolish policy when it leads to disaster. + +EDWARD ROWLAND. + + + * * * * * + + + + +SEARCHING FOR THE QUININE-PLANT IN PERU. + + +SECOND PAPER. + +The crystal peaks of the Andes were behind our explorers: before, were +their eastward-stretching spurs and their eastward-falling rivers. On +the mountain-flanks, as the last landmark of Christian civilization, +nestled the village of Marcapata, whose square, thatched belfry faded +gradually from sight, reminding the travelers of the ghostly +ministrations of the padre and the secular protection of the gobernador. +Neither priest nor edile would they encounter until their return to the +same church-tower. Their patron, Don Juan Sanz de Santo Domingo, was +already picking his way along the snowy defiles of the mountains to +attain again his luxurious home in Cuzco. Behind the adventurers lay +companionship and society--represented by the dubious orgies of the +House of Austria--and the security of civil government--represented by +the mortal ennui of a Peruvian city. Before them lay difficulties and +perhaps dangers, but also at least variety, novelty and possible wealth. + +Colonel Perez, Marcoy and the examinador retained their horses, and a +couple of the mozos their mules, the remainder of the beasts being kept +at livery in Marcapata, and the muleteers volunteering to accompany the +troupe as far as Chile-Chile: at this point the bridle-path came to an +end, and the gentlemen would have to dismount, accompanying thenceforth +their peons on a literal "footing" of equality. + +Two torrents which fall in perpendicular cataracts from the mountains, +the Kellunu ("yellow water") and the Cca-chi ("salt"), run together at +the distance of a league from their place of precipitation. They enclose +in their approach the hill on which Marcapata is perched, and they form +by their confluence the considerable river which our travelers were +about to trace, and which is called by the Indians Cconi ("warm"), but +on the Spanish maps is termed the river of Marcapata. + +[Illustration: "THE FIRST FORD OF THE CCONI WAS PASSED JUST OUTSIDE THE +TOWN."] + +The first ford of the Cconi was passed just outside the town, at a point +where the right bank of the river, growing steeper and steeper, became +impracticable, and necessitated a crossing to the left. The ford allowed +the peons to stagger through at mid-leg on the uneven pavement afforded +by the large pebbles of the bed. At this point the valley of the Cconi +was seen stretching indefinitely outward toward the east, enclosed in +two chains of conical peaks: their regular forms, running into each +other at the middle of their height, clothed with interminable forests +and bathed with light, melted regularly away into the perspective. +Indian huts buried in gardens of the white lily which had seemed so +beautiful in the chapel of Lauramarca, hedges of aloe menacing the +intruder with their millions of steely-looking swords, slender bamboos +daintily rocking themselves over the water, and enormous curtains of +creepers hanging from the hillsides and waving to the wind in vast +breadths of green, were the decorations of this Peruvian paradise. + +The pretty lilies gradually disappeared, and the thatched cabins became +more and more sparse, when from one of the latter, at a hundred paces +from the caravan, issued a human figure. The man struck an attitude in +the pathway of the travelers, his carbine on his shoulder, his fist on +his hip and his nose saucily turned up in the air. Neither his +Metamora-like posture nor his dress inspired confidence. + +"He is evidently waiting for us," remarked Colonel Perez, an heroic yet +prudent personage: "fortunately, it is broad day. I would not grant an +interview to such a _salteador_ (brigand) alone at night and in a +desert." + +The salteador wore a low broad felt, on whose ample brim the rain and +sun had sketched a variety of vague designs. A gray sack buttoned to the +throat and confined by a leathern belt, and trowsers of the same stuffed +into his long coarse woolen stockings, completed his costume. He was +shod, like an Indian, in _ojotas_, or sandals cut out of raw leather and +laced to his legs with thongs. Two ox-horns hanging at his side +contained his ammunition, and a light haversack was slung over his back. +This mozo, who at a distance would have passed for a man of forty, +appeared on examination to be under twenty-two years of age. It was +likewise observable on a nearer view that his skin was brown and clear +like a chestnut, and that his lively eye, perfect teeth and air of +decision were calculated to please an Indian girl of his vicinity. To +complete his rehabilitation in the eyes of the party, his introductory +address was delivered with the grace of a Spanish cavalier. + +"The gentlemen," said he, gracefully getting rid of his superabundant +hat, "will voluntarily excuse me for having waited so long with my +respects and offers of service. I should have gone to meet them at +Marcapata, but my uncle the gobernador forbade me to do so for fear of +displeasing the priest. Gentlemen, I am Juan the nephew of Aragon. It is +by the advice of my uncle that I have come to place myself in your way, +and ask if you will admit me to your company as mozo-assistant and +interpreter." + +The colonel, whose antipathy to the salteador did not yield on a closer +acquaintance, roughly asked the youth what he meant by his assurance. +Mr. Marcoy, however, was disposed to temporize. + +"If you are Juan the nephew of Aragon," said he, "you must have already +learned from your uncle that we have engaged an interpreter, Pepe Garcia +of Chile-Chile." + +"Precisely what he told me, señor," replied the young man; "but, for my +part, I thought that if one interpreter would be useful to these +gentlemen on their journey, two interpreters would be a good deal +better, on account of the fact that we walk better with two legs than +with one: that is the reason I have intercepted you, gentlemen." + +This opinion made everybody laugh, and as Juan considered it his +privilege to laugh five times louder than any one, a quasi engagement +resulted from this sudden harmony of temper. Colonel Perez shrugged his +shoulders: Marcoy, as literary man, took down the name of the new-comer. +The nephew of Aragon was so delighted that he gave vent to a little cry +of pleasure, at the same time cutting a pirouette. This harmless caper +allowed the party to detect; tied to his haversack, the local banjo, or +_charango_, an instrument which the Paganinis of the country make for +themselves out of half a calabash and the unfeeling bowels of the cat. + +[Illustration: "GENTLEMEN, I AM JUAN THE NEPHEW OF ARAGON."] + +The priest, who had recommended Pepe Garcia, had made mention of that +person's fine voice, with which the church of Marcapata was edified +every Sunday. The gobernador, while putting in a word for his nephew, +and particularizing the beauty of his execution on the guitar, had +insinuated doubts of the baritone favored by the padre. Happy land, +whose disputes are like the disputes of an opera company, and where +people are recommended for business on the strength of their musical +execution! + +Aragon quickly understood that his friend in the expedition was not +Colonel Perez, who had insultingly dubbed him the Second Fiddle (or +Charango). He attached himself therefore with the fidelity of a spaniel +to Mr. Marcoy, walking alongside and resting his arm on the pommel of +his saddle. After an hour's traverse of a comparatively desert plateau +called the Pedregal, covered with rocks and smelling of the +patchouli-scented flowers of the mimosa, Aragon pointed out the straw +sheds and grassy plaza of Chile-Chile. This rustic metropolis is not +indicated on many maps, but for the travelers it had a special +importance, bearing upon the inca history and etymological roots of +Peru, for it was the residence of their interpreter-in-chief, Pepe +Garcia. + +Introduced by the latter, our explorers made a kind of triumphal entry +into the village. The old Indian women dropped their spinning, the naked +children ceased to play with the pigs and began to play with the +garments and equipage of the visitors, and a couple of blind men, who +were leading each other, remarked that they were glad to see them. + +Garcia the polyglot, radiant with importance, lost no time in dragging +his guests toward his own residence, a large straw thatch surmounting +walls of open-work, which took the fancy of the travelers from the +singular trophy attached above the door. This trophy was composed of the +heads of bucks and rams, with those of the fox and the ounce, where the +shrunken skin displayed the pointed _sierra_ of the teeth, while the +horns of oxen and goats, set end to end around the borders, formed dark +and rigid festoons: all vacancies were filled up with the forms of bats, +spread-eagled and nailed fast, from the smallest variety to the large, +man-attacking _vespertilio_. As a contrast to this exterior decoration, +the inside was severely simple: it was even a little bare. A partition +of bamboo divided the hut into kitchen and bed-room, and that was all. +Into the latter of these apartments Pepe Garcia dragged the saddles of +his guests, and in the former his two twin-daughters, melancholy little +half-breeds in ragged petticoats, assisted their father to prepare for +the wanderers a hunter's supper. + +Every moment, in a dark corner or behind the backs of the company, +Garcia was observed caressing these little girls in secret. Being +rallied on his tenderness, he observed that the twins were the double +pledge of a union "longer happy than was usual," and the only survivors +of fifteen darlings whom he had given to the world in the various +countries whither his wandering fortunes had led him. Still explaining +and multiplying his caresses, the man of family went on with his +exertions as cook, and in due time announced the meal. + +This festival consisted of sweet potatoes baked in the ashes, and steaks +of bear broiled over the coals. The latter viand was repulsed with +horror by the colonel, who in the effeminacy of a city life at Cuzeo had +never tasted anything more outlandish than monkey. Seeing his companions +eating without scruple, however, the valiant warrior extended his tin +plate with a silent gesture of application. The first mouthful appeared +hard to swallow, but at the second, looking round at his +fellow-travelers with surprise and joy, he gave up his prejudices, and +marked off the remainder of his steak with wonderful swiftness. Standing +behind his boarders, Pepe Garcia had been watching the play of jaws and +expressions of face with some uneasiness, but when the colonel gave in +his adhesion his doubts were removed, and he smiled agreeably, flattered +in his double quality of hunter and cook. + +The beds of the gentlemen-travelers were spread side by side in the +adjoining room, and Garcia gravely assured them that they would sleep +like the Three Wise Men of the East. Unable to see any personal analogy +between themselves and the ancient Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar, the +tired cavaliers turned in without remarking on the subject. They paused +a moment, however, before taking up their candle, to set forth to Garcia +in full the circumstances and nature of Juan of Aragon's engagement. +This explanation, which the close quarters of the troop had made +impossible during the journey, was received in excellent part by the +interpreter-in-chief. + +[Illustration: "THE STRAW SHEDS AND GRASSY PLAZA OF CHILE-CHILE."] + +"Oh, I am not at all jealous of Aragon," said he, "and the gentlemen +have done very well in taking him along. He will be of great use. He is +a bright, capable mozo, who would walk twenty miles on his hands to gain +a piastre. As an interpreter, I think he is almost as good as I am." + +Having thus smoothed away all grounds of rivalry, the colonel, the +examinador and Marcoy took possession of their sleeping-room. Here, long +after their light was put out, they watched the scene going on in the +apartment they had just left, whose interior, illuminated by a candle +and a lingering fire, was perfectly visible through the partition of +bamboo. The dark-skinned girls, on their knees in a corner, were +gathering together the shirts and stockings destined for the parental +traveling-bag. Garcia, for his part, was occupied in cleaning with a bit +of rag a portentous, long-barreled carbine, apparently dating back to +the time of Pizarro, which he had been exhibiting during the day as his +hunting rifle, and which he intended to carry along with him. + +The sleep under the thatched roof of Pepe Garcia, though somewhat less +sound than that of the Three Magi in their tomb at Cologne, lasted until +a ray of the morning sun had penetrated the open-work walls of the hut. +The colonel rapidly dressed himself, and aroused the others. A +disquieting silence reigned around the modest mansions of Chile-Chile. +The interpreter was away, Juan of Aragon was away, the muleteers had +returned, according to instructions received over-night, to Marcapata +with the animals, and the peons were found dead-drunk behind the mud +wall of the last house in the village. + +After three hours of impatient waiting there appeared--not Garcia and +Aragon, whose absence was inexplicable, but--the faithful Bolivian +bark-hunters in a body. Not caring to stupefy themselves with the peons, +they had gone out for a reconnoissance in the environs. Contemplating +the nodding forms of their comrades, they now let out the discouraging +fact that these tame Indians, madly afraid of their wild brothers the +Chunchos, had been fortifying themselves steadily with brandy and chicha +all the way from Marcapata. Disgusted and helpless, Perez and the +examinador betook themselves to reading tattered newspapers issued at +Lima a month before, and Marcoy to his note-book. Suddenly a ferocious +wild-beast cry was heard coming from the woods, and while the Indian +porters tried to run away, and the white men looked at each other with +apprehension, Pepe Garcia and Aragon appeared in the distance. Their +arms were interlaced in a brother-like manner, they were poising +themselves with much care on their legs, and they were drunk. Well had +the elder interpreter said that he was not jealous of Aragon. They +rolled forward toward the party, repeating their outrageous duet, whose +reception by the staring peons appeared to gratify them immensely. + +The mozo, feeling his secondary position, had enervated himself +slightly--the superior was magisterially tipsy. He wore a remarkable hat +entirely without a brim, and patched all over the top with a lid of +leather. His face, marked up to the eyes with the blue stubble of that +beard which filled him with pride as a sign of European extraction, was +swollen and hideous with drunkenness. He carried, besides the fearful +blunder-buss of the night before, a belt full of pistols and hatchets. A +short infantry-sword was banging away at his calves, and two long +ox-horns rattled at his waist. The interpreters had been partaking of a +little complimentary breakfast with the muleteers in whose care the +animals had gone off to Marcapata. + +[Illustration: "CHAUPICHACA WAS MARKED WITH A SQUARE TERMINAL PILLAR."] + +A concentration of energy on the part of the chiefs of the expedition +was required to set in movement this unpromising assemblage. The +examinador undertook the peons: he rapped them smartly and repeatedly +about the head and shoulders, until they staggered to their feet and +declared that they were a match for whole hordes of Indians: this +courage, borrowed from the flask, gave strong assurance that at the +first alarm from genuine Chunchos they would take to their heels. Mr. +Marcoy, feeling unable to do justice to the case of the nephew, turned +him over to Perez, whose undisguised dislike made the work of correction +at once grateful and thorough. Marcoy himself confronted the stolid and +sullen Pepe Garcia, insisting upon the example he owed to the Indian +porters and the responsibility of his Caucasian blood. The half-breed +listened for a minute, his eyes fixed upon the ground: he then shook +himself, looked an instant at his employer, and planted himself firmly +on his legs. Then, determined to prove by a supreme effort that he was +clear-headed and master of his motions, he suddenly drew his sword, +hustled the Indians in a line by two and two, pointed out to Aragon his +position as rear-guard, and cried with a voice of thunder, "_Adelante_!" +The porters and peons staggered forward, knocking against each other's +elbows and tottering on their stout legs. The three white men, +burdenless, but regretting their horses, walked as they pleased, keeping +the train in sight. And John the nephew of Aragon's guitar, dangling at +his back, brought up the rear, with its suggestions of harmony and the +amenities of life. + +The first trait of aboriginal character (after this parenthetical +alacrity at drunkenness) was shown after some hours of marching and the +passage of a dozen streams. The porters, weakened by their drink and the +extreme heat, squatted down on the side of a hill by their own consent +and with a single impulse. With that lamb-like placidity and that +mule-like obstinacy which characterize the antique race of Quechuas, +they observed to the chief interpreter that they were weary of falling +on their backs or their stomachs at every other step, and that they were +resolved to go no farther. Pepe Garcia caused the remark to be repeated +once more, as if he had not understood it: then, convinced that an +incipient rebellion was brewing, he sprang upon the fellow who happened +to be nearest, haled him up from the ground by the ears, and, shaking +him vigorously, proceeded to do as much for the rest of the band. In the +flash of an eye, much to their astonishment, they found themselves on +their feet. + +A judicious if not very discriminating award of blows from the sabre +then followed, causing the Indians to change their resolve of remaining +in that particular spot, and to show a lively determination to get away +from it as quickly as possible. Each porter, forgetting his fatigue, and +seeming never to have felt any, began to trot along, no longer languidly +as before, but with a precision of step and a firmness in his round +calves which surprised and charmed the travelers. Pepe Garcia, much +refreshed by this exercise of discipline, and perspiring away his +intoxication as he marched, began to give grounds for confidence from +his steady and authoritative manner. By nightfall the whole troop was in +harmony, and the strangers retired with hopeful hearts to the privacy of +the hammocks which Juan of Aragon slung amongst the trees on the side of +Mount Morayaca. + +No effect could seem finer, to wanderers from another latitude, than +this first night-bivouac in the absolute wilderness. The moon, seeming +to race through the clouds, and the camp-fire flashing in the wind, +appeared to give movement and animation to the landscape. The Indians, +grouped around the flame, seemed like swarthy imps tending the furnace +of some fantastic pandemonium. Meanwhile, amidst the constant murmurs of +the trees, the nephew of Aragon was heard drawing the notes of some kind +of amorous despair from the hollow of his melodious calabash. The +examinador and Colonel Perez lulled themselves to sleep with a +conversation about the beauties and beatitudes of their wives, now +playing the part of Penelopes in their absence. To hear the eulogies of +the examinador, an angel fallen perpendicularly from heaven could hardly +have realized the physical and moral qualities of the spouse he had left +in Sorata. The Castilian tongue lent wonderful pomp and magnificence to +this portrait, and as the metaphors thickened and the superb phrases +lost themselves in hyperbole, one would have thought the lady in +question was about to fly back to her native stars on a pair of +resplendent wings. Colonel Perez furnished an equally elaborate +delineation of his own fair helpmate. As for the wife of Lorenzo, nobody +knew what she was like, and the panegyric from the lips of her faithful +lord rolled on in safety and success. But the personage called by Perez +"his Theresa" was a female whom anybody who had passed through the small +shopkeeping quarters of Cuzco might have seen every day, as well as +heard designated by her common nickname (given no one knows why) of +Malignant Quinsy; and, arguing in algebraic fashion from the known to +the unknown, it was not difficult to be convinced that the poetic +flights of the examinador were equally the work of fond flattery. + +Surprised by a midnight storm, the camp was broken up before the early +daylight, and our explorers' caravan moved on without breakfast. This +necessary stop-gap was arranged for at the first pleasant spot on the +route. An old clearing soon appeared, provided with the welcome +accommodation of an _ajoupa_, or shed built upon four posts. At the +command of _Alto alli!_--"Halt there!"--uttered by Perez in the tone he +had formerly used in governing his troops, the whole band stopped as one +person; the porters dumped their bales with a significant _ugh!_ the +Bolivian bark-hunters laid down their axes; and the gentlemen arranged +themselves around the parallelogram of the hut, attending the +commissariat developments of Colonel Perez. The site which hazard had so +conveniently offered was named Chaupichaca. It was the scene of an +ancient wood-cutting, around which the trunks of the antique forests +showed themselves in a warm soft light, like the columns of a temple or +the shafts of a mosque. + +A detail which struck the travelers in arriving was very characteristic +of these lands, filled so full of old traditions and inca customs. +Chaupichaca was marked with a square terminal pillar, one of those +boundaries of mud and stones, called _apachectas_, which Peruvian +masonry lavishes over the country of Manco Capac. A rude cross of sticks +surmounted this stone altar, on which some pious hand had laid a +nosegay, now dried--signifying, in the language of flowers proper to +masons and stone-cutters, that the work was finished and left. A little +water and spirits spared from the travelers' meal gave a slight air of +restoration to these mysterious offerings, and a couple of splendid +butterflies, whether attracted by the flowers or the alcoholic perfume, +commenced to waltz around the bouquet; but the corollas contained no +honey for their diminutive trunks, and after a slight examination they +danced contemptuously away. + +At seven or eight miles' distance another streamlet was reached, named +the Mamabamba. It is a slender affluent of the Cconi, to be called a +rivulet in any country but South America, but here named a river with +the same proud effrontery which designates as a _city_ any collection of +a dozen huts thrown into the ravine of a mountain. The Mamabamba was +crossed by an extemporized bridge, constructed on the spot by the +ingenuity of Garcia and his men. Strange and incalculable was the +engineering of Pepe Garcia. Sometimes, across one of these +continually-occurring streams, he would throw a hastily-felled tree, +over which, glazed as it was by a night's rain or by the humidity of the +forest, he would invite the travelers to pass. Sometimes, to a couple of +logs rotting on the banks he would nail cross-strips like the rungs of a +ladder, and, while the torrent boiled at a distance below, pass jauntily +with his Indians, more sure-footed than goats. The wider the abyss the +more insecure the causeway; and the terrible rope-bridges of South +America, or the still more conjectural throw of a line of woven roots, +would meet the travelers wherever the cleft was so wide as to render +timbering an inconvenient trouble. Occasionally, on one of these damp +and moss-grown ladders, a peon's foot would slip, and down he would go, +the load strapped on his back catching him as he was passing through the +aperture: then, using his hands to hold on by, he would compose, on the +spur of the moment, a new and original language or telegraphy of the +legs, _kicking_ for assistance with all his might. Juan of Aragon was +usually the hero to extricate these poor estrays from the false step +they had taken, the other peons regarding the scene with their tranquil +stolidity. A glass of brandy to the unfortunate would always compose +his nerves again, and make him hope for a few more accidents of a like +nature and bringing a like consolation. + +[Illustration: "THE MAMABAMBA WAS CROSSED BY AN EXTEMPORIZED BRIDGE."] + +The bridge of the Mamabamba conducted the party to a site of the same +name, through an interval of forest where might be counted most of the +varieties of tree proper to the equatorial highlands. Up to this point +the vegetation everywhere abounding had not indicated the presence, or +even the vicinage, of the cinchona. The only circumstance which brought +it to the notice of the inexperienced leaders of the expedition would be +a halt made from time to time by the Bolivian bark-hunters. The +examinador and his cascarilleros, touching one tree or another with +their hatchets, would exchange remarks full of meaning and +mysteriousness; but when the colonel or Mr. Marcoy came to ask the +significance of so many hints and signals, they got the invariable +answer of Sister Anna to the wife of Bluebeard: "I see nothing but the +forest turning green and the sun turning red." The most practical +reminder of the quest of cinchona which the travelers found was an +occasional _ajoupa_ alone in the wilderness, with a broken pot and a +rusted knife or axe beneath it--witness that some eager searcher had +traveled the road before themselves. The cascarilleros are very +avaricious and very brave, going out alone, setting up a hut in a +probable-looking spot, and diverging from their head-quarters in every +direction. If by any accident they get lost or their provisions are +destroyed, they die of hunger. Doctor Weddell, on one occasion in +Bolivia, landed on the beach of a river well shaded with trees. Here he +found the cabin of a cascarillero, and near it a man stretched out upon +the ground in the agonies of death. He was nearly naked, and covered +with myriads of insects, whose stings had hastened his end. On the +leaves which formed the roof of the hut were the remains of the +unfortunate man's clothes, a straw hat and some rags, with a knife, an +earthen pot containing the remains of his last meal, a little maize and +two or three _chuñus_. Such is the end to which their hazardous +occupation exposes the bark-collectors--death in the midst of the +forests, far from home; a death without help and without consolation. + +It was not until after passing the elevated site of San Pedro, and +clambering up the slippery shoulders of the hill called Huaynapata--the +crossing of half a dozen intervening streamlets going for nothing--that +the explorers were rewarded with a sight of their Canaan, the +bark-producing region. To attain this summit of Huaynapata, however, the +little tributary of Mendoza had to be first got over. This affluent of +the Cconi, flowing in from the south-south-west, was very sluggish as +far as it could be seen. Its banks, interrupted by large rocks clothed +with moss, offered now and then promontories surrounded at the base with +a bluish shade. At the end of the vista, a not very extensive one, a +quantity of blocks of sandstone piled together resembled a crumbling +wall. Other blocks were sprinkled over the bed of the stream; and by +their aid the examinador and the colonel hopped valiantly over the +Mendoza, leaving the peons, who were less afraid of rheumatism and more +in danger of slipping, to ford the current at the depth of their +suspender-buttons. + +It was on the top of Huaynapata, while the interpreters built a fire and +prepared for supper a peccary killed upon the road, that Marcoy observed +the examinador holding with his Bolivians a conversation in the Aymara +dialect, in which could be detected such words as _anaranjada_ and +_morada_. These were the well-known commercial names of two species of +cinchona. The historiographer interrupted their conversation to ask if +anything had yet been discovered. + +"Nothing yet," replied the examinador; "and this valley of the Cconi +must be bewitched, for with the course that we have taken we should long +ago have discovered what we are after. But this place looks more +favorable than any we have met. I shall beat up the woods to-morrow with +my men, and may my patron, Saint Lorenzo, return again to his gridiron +if we do not date our first success in quinine-hunting from this very +hillock of Huaynapata!" + +[Illustration: "THE EXAMINADOR AND THE COLONEL HOPPED VALIANTLY OVER THE +MENDOZA."] + +The above style of threatening the saints is thought very efficacious in +all Spanish countries. Whether or not Saint Lawrence really dreaded +another experience of broiling, at the end of certain hours the +Bolivians reappeared, and their chief deposited in the hands of the +colonel a few green and tender branches. At the joyful shout of Perez, +the man of letters, who had been occupied in making a sketch, came +running up. Two different species of cinchona were the trophy brought +back by Lorenzo, like the olive-leaves in the beak of Noah's dove. One +of these specimens was a variety of the _Carua-carua,_ with large +leaves heavily veined: the other was an individual resembling those +quinquinas which the botanists Ruiz and Pavon have discriminated from +the cinchonas, to make a separate family called the _Quinquina +cosmibuena._ After all, the discovery was rather an indication than a +conquest of value. The examinador admitted as much, but observed that +the presence of these baser species always argued the neighborhood of +genuine quinine-yielding plants near by. + +In the presence of this first success on the part of the exploration set +on foot by Don Juan Sanz de Santo Domingo, we may insert a few words on +the nature of the wonderful plant toward which its researches were +directed. + +It is doubtful whether the aboriginal inhabitants of Peru, Bolivia and +Ecuador were acquainted with the virtues of the cinchona plant as a +febrifuge. It seems probable, nevertheless, that the Indians of Loxa, +two hundred and thirty miles south of Peru, were aware of the qualities +of the bark, for there its use was first made known to Europeans. It was +forty years after the pacification of Peru however, before any +communication of the remedial secret was made to the Spaniards. Joseph +de Jussieu reports that in 1600 a Jesuit, who had a fever at Malacotas, +was cured by Peruvian bark. In 1638 the countess Ana of Chinchon was +suffering from tertian fever and ague at Lima, whither she had +accompanied the viceroy, her husband. The corregidor of Loxa, Don Juan +Lopez de Canizares, sent a parcel of powdered quinquina bark to her +physician, Juan de Vega, assuring him that it was a sovereign and +infallible remedy for "tertiana." It was administered to the countess, +who was sixty-two years of age, and effected a complete cure. This +countess, returning with her husband to Spain in 1640, brought with her +a quantity of the healing bark. Hence it was sometimes called +"countess's bark" and "countess's powder." Her famous cure induced +Linnaeus, long after, to name the whole genus of quinine-bearing trees, +in her honor, _Cinchona_. By modern writers the first _h_ has usually +been dropped, and the word is now almost invariably spelled in that way, +instead of the more etymological _Chinchona_. The Jesuits afterward made +great and effective use of it in their missionary expeditions, and it +was a ludicrous result of their patronage that its use should have been +for a long time opposed by Protestants and favored by Catholics. In +1679, Louis XIV. bought the secret of preparing quinquina from Sir +Robert Talbor, an English doctor, for two thousand louis-d'or, a large +pension and a title. Under the Grand Monarch it was used at dessert, +mingled with Spanish wine. The delay of its discovery until the +seventeenth century has probably lost to the world numbers of valuable +lives. Had Alexander the Great, who died of the common remittent fever +of Babylon, been acquainted with cinchona bark, his death would have +been averted and the partition of the Macedonian empire indefinitely +postponed. Oliver Cromwell was carried off by an ague, which the +administration of quinine would easily have cured. The bigotry of +medical science, even after its efficacy was known and proved, for a +long time retarded its dissemination. In 1726, La Fontaine, at the +instance of a lady who owed her life to it, the countess of Bouillon, +composed a poem in two cantos to celebrate its virtues; but the +remarkable beauty of the leaves of the cinchona and the delicious +fragrance of its flowers, with allusions to which he might have adorned +his verses, were still unknown in Europe. + +The cinchonas under favorable circumstances become large trees: at +present, however, in any of the explored and exploited regions of their +growth, the shoots or suckers of the plants are all that remain. +Wherever they abound they form the handsomest foliage of the forest. The +leaves are lanceolate, glossy and vividly green, traversed by rich +crimson veins: the flowers hang in clustering pellicles, like lilacs, of +deep rose-color, and fill the vicinity with rich perfume. Nineteen +varieties of cinchonae have been established by Doctor Weddell. The +cascarilleros of South America divide the species into a category of +colors, according to the tinge of the bark: there are yellow, red, +orange, violet, gray and white cinchonas. The yellow, among which figure +the _Cinchona calisaya, lancifolia, condaminea, micrantha, pubescens,_ +etc., are placed in the first rank: the red, orange and gray are less +esteemed. This arrangement is in proportion to the abundance of the +alkaloid _quinine,_ now used in medicine instead of the bark itself. + +The specimens found by the examinador were carefully wrapped in +blankets, and the march was resumed. After a slippery descent of the +side of Huaynapata and the passage of a considerable number of babbling +streams--each of which gave new occasion for the colonel to show his +ingenuity in getting over dry shod, and so sparing his threatening +rheumatism--the cry of "Sausipata!" was uttered by Pepe Garcia. Two neat +mud cabins, each provided with a door furnished with the unusual luxury +of a wooden latch, marked the plantation of Sausipata. The situation was +level, and within the enclosing walls of the forest could be seen a +plantation of bananas, a field of sugar-cane, with groves of coffee, +orange-orchards and gardens of sweet potato and pineapple. The white +visitors could not refrain from an exclamation of surprise at the +neatness and civilization of such an Eden in the desert. At this point, +Juan of Aragon, who had been going on ahead, turned around with an air +of splendid welcome, and explained that the farm belonged to his uncle, +the gobernador of Marcapata, who prayed them to make themselves at home. +Introducing his guests into the largest of the houses, Juan presented +them with some fine ripe fruit which he culled from the garden. Colonel +Perez, who never lost occasion to give a sly stab to the mozo, asked, as +he peeled a banana, if he was duly authorized to dispose so readily of +the property of his uncle: the youth, without losing a particle of his +magnificent adolescent courtesy, replied that as nephew and direct heir +of the governor of Marcapata it was a right which he exercised in +anticipation of inheritance; and that just as Pepe Garcia, the +interpreter-in-chief, had regaled the party in his residence, he, Juan +of Aragon, proposed to do in the family grange of Sausipata. + +Meantime, the examinador, who had pushed forward with his men, returned +with a couple more specimens of quinquina, which they had discovered +close by in clambering amongst the forest. Neither had flowers, but the +one was recognizable by its flat leaf as the species called by the +Indians _ichu-cascarilla,_ from the grain _ichu_ amongst which it is +usually found at the base of the Cordilleras; and the other, from its +fruit-capsules two inches in length, as the _Cinchona acutifolia_ of +Ruiz and Pavon. To moderate the pleasures of this discovery, the +examinador came up leaning upon the shoulder of his principal assistant, +Eusebio, complaining of a frightful headache, and a weakness so extreme +that he could not put one foot before the other. + +The sudden illness of their botanist-in-chief cast a gloom upon the +party, and utterly spoiled the festive intentions of young Aragon. +Lorenzo was put to bed, from which retreat, at midnight, his fearful +groans summoned the colonel to his side. The latter found him tossing +and murmuring, but incapable of uttering a word. His faithful Eusebio, +at the head of the bed, answered for him. The honest fellow feared lest +his master might have caught again a touch of the old fever which had +formerly attacked him in searching for cascarillas in the environs of +Tipoani in Bolivia. These symptoms, recurring in the lower valleys of +the Cconi, would make it impossible for the brave explorer safely to +continue with the party. As the mestizo propounded this inconvenient +theory, a new burst of groans from the examinador seemed to confirm it. +The grave news brought all the party to the sick bed. Colonel Perez, +whom the touching comparison of wives made in the hammocks of Morayaca +had sensibly attached to Lorenzo, endeavored to feel his pulse; but the +patient, drawing in his hand by a peevish movement, only rolled himself +more tightly in his blanket, and increased his groans to roars. +Presently, exhausted by so much agony, he fell into a slumber. + +In the morning the examinador, in a dolorous voice, announced that he +should be obliged to return to Cuzco. This resolution might have seemed +the obstinate delirium of the fever but for the mournful and pathetic +calmness of the victim. Eusebio, he said, should return with him as far +as Chile-Chile, where a conveyance could be had; and he himself would +give such explicit instructions to the cascarilleros that nothing would +be lost by his absence to the purposes of the expedition. Yielding to +pity and friendship, the colonel gave in his adhesion to the plan, and +even proposed his own hammock as a sort of palanquin, and the loan of a +pair of the peons for bearers. They could return with Eusebio to +Sausipata, where the party would be obliged to wait for the three. After +sketching out his plan, Colonel Perez looked for approval to Mr. Marcoy, +and received an affirmative nod. The proposition seemed so agreeable to +the sick man that already an alleviation of his misery appeared to be +superinduced. He even smiled intelligently as he rolled into the +hammock. In a very short time he made a sort of theatrical exit, borne +in the hammock like an invalid princess, and fanned with a palm branch +out of the garden by the faithful Eusebio. + +"Poor devil!" said Perez as the mournful procession departed: "who knows +if he will ever see his dear wife at Sorata, or if he will even live to +reach Chile-Chile?" + +"Do you really think him in any such danger?" asked the more suspicious +Marcoy. + +"Danger! Did you not see his miserable appearance as he left us?" + +"I saw an appearance far from miserable, and therefore I am convinced +that the man is no more sick than you or I." + +On hearing such a heartless heresy the colonel stepped back from his +comrade with a shocked expression, and asked what had given him such an +idea. + +"A number of things, of which I need only mention the principal. In the +first place, the man's sickness falling on him like a thunder-clap; +next, his haste in catching back his hand when you tried to feel his +pulse; and then his smile, at once happy and mischievous, when you +offered him the peons and he found his stratagem succeeding beyond his +hopes." + +"Why, now, to think of it!" said the colonel sadly; "but what could have +been his motive?" + +"This gentleman is too delicate to sustain our kind of life," suggested +Marcoy. "He is tired of skinning his hands and legs in our service, and +eating peccary, monkey and snails as we do. His Bolivians are perhaps +quite as useful for our service, and while he is rioting at Cuzco we may +be enriching ourselves with cinchonas." + +In effect, on the return of the peons ten days after, the examinador was +reported to have got quit of his fever shortly after leaving Sausipata, +and to have borne the journey to Chile-Chile remarkably well. He charged +his men to take back his compliments and the regrets he felt, at not +being able to keep with the company. + +Nothing detained the band longer at Sausipata. The ten days of hunting, +botanizing, butterfly-catching and sketching had been an agreeable +relief, and young Aragon had assumed, with sufficient grace, the task of +attentive host and first player on the charango. The returning porters +had scarcely enjoyed two hours of repose when the caravan took up its +march once more. + +As usual, the interpreters assumed the head of the command: the Indians +followed pellmell. Observing that some of them lingered behind, Mr. +Marcoy had the curiosity to return on his steps. What was his surprise +to find these honest fellows running furiously through the farm, and +devastating with all their might those plantations which were the pride +and the hope of the nephew of Aragon! They had already laid low several +cocoa groves, torn up the sugar-canes, broken down the bananas, and +sliced off the green pineapples. + +Indignant at such vandalism, Marcoy caught the first offender by the +plaited tails at the back of the neck. "What are you doing?" he cried. + +"I am neither crazy nor drunk, Taytachay" (dear little father), calmly +explained the peon with his placid smile. "But my fellows and I don't +want to be sent any more to work at Sausipata." As the white man +regarded him with stupefaction, "Thou art strange here," pursued the +Indian, "and canst know nothing about us. Promise not to tell Aragon, +and I will make thee wise." + +"Why Aragon more than anybody else?" asked Marcoy. + +"Because Senor Aragon is nephew to Don Rebollido, the governor, and +Sausipata belongs to Rebollido; and if he were to learn what we have +done, we should be flogged and sent to prison to rot." + +The explanation, drawn out with many threats when the Indians had been +driven from their work of ruin and placed once more in line of march, +was curious. + +The able gobernador of Marcapata had had the sagacious idea of making +the local penitentiary out of his farm of Sausipata! It was cultivated +entirely by the labor of his culprits. When culprits were scarce, the +chicha-drinkers, the corner-loungers, became criminals and disturbers of +the peace, for whom a sojourn at Sausipata was the obvious cure. Aragon, +the nephew, shared his uncle's ability, and visited the plantation month +by month. But the life in this paradise was not relished by the +convicts. The regimen was strict, the food everywhere abounding, was not +for them, and the vicinity of the wild Chunchos was not reassuring. +Often a peon would appear in the market-place of Marcapata wrapped +merely in a banana leaf, which, cracking in the sun, reduced all +pretence of decent covering to an irony. This evidence of the spoliation +of a Chuncho would be received in the worst possible part by the +gobernador, who would beat the complainant back to his servitude, +remarking with ingenuity that Providence was more responsible for the +acts of the savages than he was. + +This strange history, told with profound earnestness, was enough to +make any one laugh, but Marcoy could not be blind to its side of +oppression and tyranny. This was the way, then, that the humble and +primitive gobernador, who had presented himself to the travelers +barefoot, was enriching himself by the knaveries of office! Marcoy could +not take heart to inform Juan of Aragon of the devastation behind him, +but on the other hand he resolved to correct the abuse on his return by +appeal, if necessary, to the prefect of Cuzco. + +A frightful night in a deserted hut on a site called Jimiro--where +Marcoy had for mattress the legs of one of the porters, and for pillow +the back of a bark-hunter--followed the exodus from Sausipata. The +Guarapascana, the Saniaca, the Chuntapunco, flowing into the Cconi on +opposite sides, were successively left behind our adventurers, and they +bowed for an instant before the tomb of a stranger, "a German from +Germany," as Pepe Garcia said, "who pretended to know the language of +the Chunchos, and who interpreted for himself, but who starved in the +wilderness near the heap of stones you see." Leaving this resting-place +of an interpreter who had interpreted so little, the party attained a +stream of rather unusual importance. The reputed gold-bearing river of +Ouitubamba rolled from its tunnel before them, exciting the most +visionary schemes in the mind of Colonel Perez, to whom its auriferous +reputation was familiar. Nothing would do but that the California +process of "panning" must be carried out in these Peruvian waters, and +the peons, _multum reluctantes,_ were summoned to the task, with all the +crow-bars and shovels possessed by the expedition, supplemented by +certain sauce-pans and dishes hypothecated from the culinary department. +The issue of the stream from under a crown of indigenous growths was the +site of this financial speculation. Pepe Garcia was placed at the head +of the enterprise. A long ditch was dug, revealing milky quartz, ochres +and clay. The deceptive hue of the yellow earth made the search a long +and tantalizing one. At the moment when the colonel, attracted by +something glistening in the large frying-pan which he was agitating at +the edge of the stream, uttered an exclamation which drew all heads into +the cavity of his receptacle, an answering sound from the heavens caused +everybody suddenly to look up. An equatorial storm had gathered +unnoticed over their heads. In a few minutes a solid sheet of warm +rain, accompanied by a furious tornado sweeping through the valley, +caused whites and Indians to scatter as if for their lives. The golden +dream of Colonel Perez and the similar vision entertained by Pepe Garcia +were dissipated promptly by this answer of the elements. On attaining +the neighboring sheds of Maniri the gold--seekers abandoned their +implements without remark to the services of the cooks, and betook +themselves to wringing out their stockings as if they had never dreamed +of walking in silver slippers through the streets of Cuzco. They made no +further attempt to wring gold from the mouth of the Ouitubamba. As for +Maniri, it was the last site or human resting-place of any, the very +most trivial, kind before the opening of the utter wilderness which +proceeded to accompany the course of the Cconi River. + +[Illustration: "THE REPUTED GOLD-BEARING RIVER OR OUITUBAMBA ROLLED FROM +ITS TUNNEL."] + +The Bolivians imagined an exploration of a little stream on the left +bank, the Chuntapunco, which they thought might issue from a +quinine-bearing region. They built a little raft, and departed with +provisions for three or four days. They returned, in fact, after a +week's absence, with seven varieties of cinchona--the _hirsuta, +lanceolata, purpurea_ and _ovata_ of Ruiz and Pavon, and three more of +little value and unknown names. + +During the absence of the cascarilleros a flat calm reigned in the +ajoupa of Maniri. Garcia and the colonel, the day after their +unproductive gold-hunt, betook themselves into the forest, ostensibly +for game, but in reality to review their hopeful labors by the banks of +the Ouitubamba. Aragon was detailed by Mr. Marcoy to accompany him in +his botanical and entomological tours. On these excursions the +acquaintance between the mozo and the señor was considerably developed. +The youth had naturally a gay and confident disposition, and added not a +little to the liveliness of the trips. Marcoy profited by their stricter +connection to converse with him about the cultivation of the farm at +Sausipata, making use of a venial deception to let him think that the +plan of operations had been communicated by the governor himself. +Aragon modestly replied that the plantation in question was only the +first of a series of similar clearings contemplated by his uncle at +various points in the valley. Arrangements made for this purpose with +the governors of Ocongata and Asaroma, who were pledged with their +support in return for heavy presents, would enable him soon to cultivate +coffee and sugar and cocoa at once in a number of haciendas. The +enterprise was a splendid one; and if God--Aragon pronounced the name +without a particle of diffidence--deigned to bless it, the day was +coming when the fortune of his uncle, solidly established, would make +him the pride and the joy of the region. + +It may as well be mentioned here that the subsequent career of the +chest-nut-colored interpreter is not entirely unknown. In 1860, Mr. +Clement Markham, collecting quinine-plants for the British government, +came upon a splendid hacienda thirty miles from the village of Ayapata, +in a valley of the Andes near the scene of this exploration. Here, on +the sugar-cane estate named San José de Bellavista, he discovered "an +intelligent and enterprising Peruvian" named Aragon, who appears to have +been none other than our interpreter escaped from the chrysalis. His +establishment was very large, and protected from the savages by two +rivers, Aragon had made a mule-road of thirty miles to the village. He +found the manufacture of spirits for the sugar-cane more profitable than +digging for gold in the Ouitubamba or hunting for cascarillas along the +Cconi. In 1860 he sent an expedition into the forest after wild +cocoa-plants. An india-rubber manufactory had only failed for want of +government assistance. He contemplated the establishment of a line of +steamers on the neighboring rivers to carry off the commerce of his +plantations. "Any scheme for developing the resources of the country is +sure to receive his advocacy," says Mr. Markham: "it would be well for +Peru if she contained many such men." + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +PROBATIONER LEONHARD; + +OR, THREE NIGHTS IN THE HAPPY VALLEY. + +CHAPTER I. + +OUR HERO. + +Young Mr. Leonhard Marten walked out on the promenade at the usual hour +one afternoon, after a good deal of hesitation, for there was quite as +little doubt in his mind as there is in mine that the thing to do was to +remain within-doors and answer the letters--or rather the letter--lying +on his table. The brief epistle which conveyed to him the regrets of the +new female college building committee, that his plans were too elaborate +and costly, and must therefore be declined, really demanded no reply, +and would probably never have one. It was the hurried scrawl from his +friend Wilberforce which claimed of his sense of honor an answer by the +next mail. The letter from Wilberforce was dated Philadelphia, and ran +thus: + +"DEAR LENNY: Please deposit five thousand for me in some good bank of +Pennsylvania or New York. I shall want it, maybe, within a week or so. I +am talking hard about going abroad. Why can't you go along? Say we sail +on the first of next month. Richards is going, and I shall make enough +out of the trip to pay expenses for all hands. You'll never know +anything about your business, Mart, till you have studied in one of +those old towns. Answer. Thine, + +"WIL." + +When I say that Leonhard had, or _had_ had, ten thousand dollars of +Wilberforce's money, and that he was now about as unprepared to meet the +demand recorded as he would have been if he had never seen a cent of the +sum mentioned, the assertion, I think, is justified that his place was +at his office-table, and not on the promenade. What if the town-clock +had struck four? what if at this hour Miss Ayres usually rounded the +corner of Granby street on her way home? But, poor fellow! he _had_ +tried to think his way through the difficulty. Every day for a week he +had exercised himself in letter--writing: he had practiced every style, +from the jocular to the gravely interrogative, and had succeeded pretty +well as a stylist, but the point, the point, the bank deposit, remained +still insurmountable and unapproachable. + +Once or twice he had thought that probably the best thing to do was to +go off on a long journey, and by and by, when things had righted +themselves somehow, find out where Wilberforce was and acknowledge his +letter with regrets and explanations. He was considering this course +when he destroyed his last effort, and went out on the promenade to get +rid of his thoughts and himself and to meet Miss Ayres. The present +contained Miss Ayres; as to the future, it was dark as midnight; for the +past, it was not in the least pleasant to think of it, and how it had +come to pass that Wilberforce trusted him. + +The days when he and Wilberforce were lads, poor, sad-hearted, all but +homeless, returned upon him with their shadows. It was in those days +that his friend formed so lofty an estimate of his exactness in figures +and his skill in saving, and thus it had happened that when the engine +constructed by Wilberforce began to pay him so past belief, he was +really in the perplexity concerning places of deposit which he had +expressed to Marten. Leonhard chanced to be with this young Croesus--who +had begun life by dipping water for invalids at the springs--when the +ten thousand dollars alluded to were paid him by a dealer; and the +instant transfer of the money to his hands was one of those off-hand +performances which, apparently trivial, in the end search a man to the +foundations. + +What had become of the money? Seven thousand dollars were swallowed up +in a gulf which never gives back its treasure. And oh on the verge of +that same gulf how the siren had sung! A chance of clearing five +thousand dollars by investing that amount presented itself to Leonhard: +it was one of those investments which will double a man's money for him +within three months, or six months at latest. The best men of A---- were +in the enterprise, and by going into it Leonhard would reap every sort +of advantage. He might give up teaching music, and confine himself to +the studies which as an architect he ought to pursue; and to be known +among the A--- landers as a young gentleman who had money to invest +would secure to him that social position which the music-lessons he gave +did no doubt in some quarters embarrass. + +It was while buoyed up by his "great expectations," and flattered by the +attentions which strangely enough began to be extended toward him by +some of the "best men"--who also were stockholders in the new +sugar-refining process--that Leonhard took a room at the Granby House, +and began to manifest a waning interest in his work as a music-master. + +This display of himself, modest though it was, cost money. Before the +letter quoted was written Leonhard had begun to feel a little troubled: +he had been obliged to add two thousand dollars to his original +investment, and the thought that possibly there might be a demand for a +yet further sum--for some unforeseen difficulty had arisen in the matter +of machinery--had fixed in his mind a misgiving to which at odd moments +he returned with a flutter of spirits amounting almost to panic. + +On the promenade he met Miss Ayres. She stood before the window of a +music-dealer's shop, looking at the photograph of some celebrity--a tall +and not too slightly-formed young lady, attired in a buff suit with +brown trimmings, and a brown hat from which a pretty brown feather +depended. On her round cheeks was a healthy glow, deepened perhaps by +exercise on that warm afternoon, and a trifle in addition, it may be, by +the sound of footsteps advancing. Yet as Leonhard approached, she, +chancing to look around, did not seem surprised that he was so near. Not +that she expected him! What reason had she for supposing that from his +office-window he would see her the instant she turned the corner of +Granby street and walked down the avenue fronting the parade-ground? No +reason of course; but this had happened so many times that the meeting +of the two somewhere in this vicinity was daily predicted by the wise +prophets of the street. + +A rumor was going about A---- in those days which occasioned the mother +of our young lady a little uneasiness. When Leonhard came to A---- it +was to live by his profession--music. He was an enthusiast in the +science, and the best people patronized him. He might have all the +pupils he pleased now, and at his own prices, thought Mrs. Washington +Ayres, who had herself taught music: why doesn't he stick to his +business? But then, she reminded herself, they say he has money; and he +is so bewitched about architecture that he can't let it alone. Too many +irons in the fire to please me! Perhaps, though, if he has money, it +makes not so much difference. But I don't like to see a young man +dabbling in too many things: it looks as if he would never do anything +to speak of. It is the only thing I ever heard of against him; but if he +can't make up his mind, I don't know as there could be anything much +worse to tell of a man. + +She was not far wrong in her thinking, and she had seen the great fault +in the character of young Mr. Marten. It was his nature to take up and +embrace cordially, as if for life, the objects that pleased him. Perhaps +the tendency conduced to his popularity and reputation as a +music-master, for his acquaintance with the works of composers was +really vast; but the effect of it was not so hopeful when it set him to +studying a difficult art almost without instruction, in the confidence +that he should soon by his works take rank with Angelo, Wren and other +great masters. + +At the music-dealer's window Mr. Leonhard stood for a moment beside +Miss Marion, and then said with a queer smile, "How cool it looks over +yonder among the trees! I wish somebody would like to walk there with an +escort." + +"Anybody might, I should think," answered the young lady. "I have waded +through hot dust, red-hot dust, all the afternoon. Besides, I want to +ask you, Mr. Marten, what it means. Everybody is coming to me for +lessons. Are you refusing instruction, or are you growing so unpopular +of late? I have vexed myself trying to answer the question." + +"They all come to you, do they? Yes, I think I am growing unpopular. And +I am rather glad of it, on the whole," answered Leonhard, not quite +clear as to her meaning, but not at all disturbed by it. + +"I know they must all have gone to you first," she said. "Of course they +all went to you first, and you wouldn't have them." + +Leonhard smiled on. Her odd talk was pleasant to him, and to look at her +bright face was to forget every disagreeable thing in the world. "You +know I have been thinking that I would give up instruction altogether," +said he; "but I suppose that unless I actually go away to get rid of my +pupils, I shall have a few devoted followers to the last. The more you +take off my hands the better I shall like it." + +"But how should everybody know that you _think_ of giving up +instruction?" Miss Marion inquired. + +"Oh, I dare say I have told everybody," he answered carelessly. + +"Ah!" said she; and two or three thoughts passed through the mind of the +young lady quite worthy the brain of her mother. "I am half sorry," she +continued. "But at least you cannot forget what you know. That is a +comfort. And I am sure you love music too well to let me go on +committing barbarisms with my hands or voice without telling me." + +Leonhard hesitated. How far might he take this dear girl into his +secrets? "My friend Wilberforce is always saying that I ought to study +abroad in the old European towns before I launch out in earnest," said +he finally. + +"As architect or musician?" asked the "dear girl." + +"As architect, of course," he answered, without manifesting surprise at +the question. "He is going himself now, and he wants me to go with him." + +"Why don't you go?" The quick look with which he followed this question +made Miss Marion add: "It would be the best thing in the world for--for +a student, I should think. You said once that your indecision was the +bane of your life. I beg your pardon for remembering it. When you have +heard the best music and seen the best architecture, you can put an end +to this 'thirty years' war,' and come back and settle down." + +"All very well," said he, "but please to tell me where I shall find you +when I come home." + +"Oh, I shall be jogging along somewhere, depend." + +"With your mind made up concerning every event five years before it +happens? If you had my choice to make, you think, I suppose, that you +would decide in a minute which road to fame and fortune you would +choose." Mr. Leonhard used his cane as vehemently while he spoke as if +he were a conductor swinging his baton through the most exciting +movement. + +"I don't understand your perplexity, that is the fact," said she with +wonderful candor; "but then I have been trained to do one thing from the +time I could wink." + +"It was expected of me that I should rival the greatest performers," +said Leonhard with a half-sad smile. "If I go abroad now, as you +advise--" + +"Advise? I advise!" + +"Did you not?" + +"Not the least creature moving. Never!" + +"If you did you would say, 'Keep to music.'" + +"I should say, 'Keep to architecture.' Then--don't you see?--I should +have all your pupils." + +"That would matter little: you have long had all that I could give you +worth the giving, Miss Ayres." + +Were these words intent on having utterance, and seeking their +opportunity? + +In the midst of her lightness and seeming unconcern the young lady found +herself challenged, as it were, by the stern voice of a sentinel on +guard. But she answered on the instant: "The most delicious music I have +ever heard, for which I owe you endless thanks. I have said +architecture; but I never advise, you know." + +"She has not understood me," thought Leonhard, but instead of taking +advantage of that conclusion and retiring from the ground, he said, +"Perhaps I must speak more clearly. I don't care what I do or where I +go, Miss Marion, if you are indifferent. I love you." + +What did he read in the face which his dark eyes scanned as they turned +full upon it? Was it "I love you"? Was it "Alas!"? He could not tell. + +"You are pledged to love 'the True and the Beautiful,'" said she quite +gayly, "and so I am not surprised." + +Leonhard looked mortified and angry. A man of twenty-two declaring love +for the first time to a woman had a right to expect better treatment. + +"I have offended you," she said instantly. "I only followed out your own +train of thought. You may have half a dozen professions, and--" + +"I am at least clear that I love only you," he said. "I hoped you would +feel that. It is certain, I think, that I shall confine myself to the +studies of an architect hereafter. I will give no more lessons. And +shall you care to know whether I go or stay?" + +Miss Ayres answered--almost as if in spite of herself and that good +judgment for which she had been sufficiently praised during her eighteen +years of existence--"Yes, I shall care a vast deal. That is the reason +why I say, 'Go, if it seems best to you'--'Stay, if you think it more +wise.' I have the confidence in you that sees you can conduct your own +affairs." + +"If I go," he cried in a happy voice, in strong contrast with his words, +"it will be to leave everything behind me that can make life sweet." + +"But if you go it will be to gain everything that can make life +honorable. I did not understand that you thought of going for pleasure." +Ah, how almost tender now her look and tone! + +"Say but once to me what I have said to you," said Leonhard joyfully, +confident now that he had won the great prize. + +"Now? No: don't talk about it. Wait a while, and we will see if there is +anything in it." What queer lover's mood was this? Miss Marion looked as +if she had passed her fortieth birthday when she spoke in this wise. + +"Oh for a soft sweet breeze from the north-east to temper such cruel +blasts!" exclaimed Leonhard. "Was ever man so treated as I am by this +strong-minded young woman?" + +"Everybody on the grounds is looking, and wondering how she will get +home with the intemperate young gentleman she is escorting. Did you say +you were going to talk with your friend Mr. Wilberforce about going +abroad with him for a year or two?" + +"I said no such thing, but perhaps I may. I was going to write, but it +may be as easy to run down to Philadelphia." + +"Easier, I should say." + +So they talked, and when they parted Leonhard said: "If you do not see +me to-morrow evening, you will know that I have gone to Philadelphia. I +shall not write to let you know. You might feel that an answer was +expected of you." + +"I have never been taught the arts of a correspondent, and it is quite +too late to learn them," she answered. + +Miss Marion will probably never again feel as old as she does this +afternoon, when she has half snubbed, half flattered and half accepted +the man she admires and loves, but whose one fault she clearly perceives +and is seriously afraid of. + +The next day Leonhard sat staring at Wilberforce's letter with a face as +wrinkled as a young ape's in a cold morning fog. After one long serious +effort he sprang from his seat, and I am afraid swore that he would go +down to Philadelphia that very afternoon. Therefore (and because he +clung to the determination all day) at six o'clock behold him passing +with his satchel from the steps of the Granby House to the Grand +Division Dépôt. He was always going to and fro, so his departure +occasioned no remark. He supposed, for his own part, that he was going +to talk with his friend Wilberforce, and his ticket ensured his passage +to Philadelphia; and yet at eight o'clock he found himself standing on +the steps of the Spenersberg Station, and saw the train move on. At the +moment when his will seemed to him to be completely demoralized the +engine-whistle sounded and the engine stopped. Utterly unnerved by his +doubts, he slunk from the car like an escaping convict, and looked +toward the narrow moonlit valley which was as a gate leading into this +unknown Spenersberg. The path looked obscure and inviting, and so, +without exchanging a word with any one, he walked forward, a more +pitiable object than is pleasant to consider, for he was no coward and +no fool. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IN THE HAPPY VALLEY. + +About the time that Leonhard Marten was paying for his ticket in the +dépôt at A----, how many events were taking place elsewhere! Multitudes, +multitudes going up and down the earth perplexed, tempted, discouraged. +What were _you_ doing at that hour? I wonder. + +Even here, at this Spenersberg, was Frederick Loretz--with reason deemed +one of the most fortunate of the men gathered in the happy +valley--asking himself, as he walked homeward from the factory, "What is +the use?" + +When he spied his wife on the piazza he seemed to doubt for a second +whether he should go backward or forward. Into that second of +vacillation, however, the voice of the woman penetrated: "Husband, so +early? Welcome home!" + +The voice decided him, and so he opened his gate, passed along the +graveled walk to the piazza steps, ascended, wiping the perspiration +from his bald head, dropped his handkerchief into his hat and his hat +upon the floor, and sat down in one of the great wide-armed wooden +chairs which visitors always found awaiting them on the piazza. + +His wife, having bestowed upon him one brief glance, quickly arose and +went into the house: the next moment she came again, bringing with her a +pitcher of iced water and a goblet, which she placed before him on a +small rustic table. But a second glance showed her that he was suffering +from something besides the heat and fatigue. There was a look on his +broad honest face that told as distinctly as color and expression could +tell of anguish, consternation, remorse. He drank from the goblet she +had filled for him, and said, without looking at his wife, "I have +brought you the worst news, Anna, that ever you heard." She must have +guessed what it was instantly, but she made neither sign nor gesture. +She could have enumerated there and then all the sorrows of her life; +but for a moment it was not possible even for her to say that this +impending affliction was, in view of all she had endured, a light one, +easy to be borne. + +"It has gone against us," said Mr. Loretz, picking up his red silk +handkerchief and passing it from one hand to another, and finally hiding +his face within its ample dimensions for a moment. + +"Do you mean the lot?" Her voice wavered a little. Though she asked or +refrained from asking, something had taken place which must be made +known speedily. Wherefore, then, delay the evil knowledge? + +He signified by a nod that it was so. + +"And that is in store for our poor child!" said the mother. + +Mr. Loretz was now quite broken down. He passed his handkerchief across +his face again, and this time made no answer. + +Then the mother, with lips firmly compressed, and eyes bent steadily +upon the floor, and forehead crumpled somewhat, sat and held her peace. + +At last the father said, in a low tone that gave to his strong voice an +awful pathos, "How can the child bear it, Anna? for she loves Spener +well--and to love _him_ well!" + +"Oh, father," said the wife, who had by this time sounded the depth of +this tribulation, and was already ascending, "how did we bear it when we +had to give up Gabriel, and Jacob, and dear little Carl?" + +"For me," said the man, rising and looking over the piazza rail into the +gay little flower-garden beneath--"for me all that was nothing to this." + +"O my boys!" the mother cried. + +"We know that they went home to a heavenly Parent, and to more delight +and honor than all the earth could give them," the father said. + +"It rent the heart, Frederick, but into the gaping wound the balm of +Gilead was poured." + +"There is no man alive to be compared with Albert Spener." + +"I know of one--but one." + +"Not one," he said with an emphasis which sternly rebuked the ill-timed, +and, as he deemed, untruthful flattery. "There is not his like, go where +you will." + +"Ah, how you have exalted him above all that is to be worshiped!" sighed +the good woman, putting her hands together, and really as troubled and +sympathetic, and cool and calculating, as she seemed to be. + +"I tell you I have never seen his equal! Look at this place here--hasn't +he called it up out of the dust?" + +"Yes, yes, he did. He made it all," she said. "It must be conceded that +Albert Spener is a great man--in Spenersberg." + +"How, then, can I keep back from him the best I have when he asks for it +--asks for it as if I were a king to refuse him what he wanted if I +pleased? I would give him my life!" + +"Ah, Frederick, you have! It isn't you that denies now--think of that! +Remind him of it. _Who_ spoke by the lot? Where are you going, husband?" + +Mr. Loretz had turned away from the piazza rail and picked up his hat. +His wife's question arrested him. "I--I thought I would speak with +Brother Wenck," said he, somewhat confused by the question, and looking +almost as if his sole purpose had been to go beyond the sound of his +wife's remonstrating voice. + +"Husband, about this?" + +"Yes, Anna." + +"Don't go. What will he think?" + +"Nobody knows about it yet, except Wenck, unless he spoke to Brother +Thorn." + +"Oh, Frederick, what are you thinking?" + +"I am thinking"--he paused and looked fixedly at his wife--"I am +thinking that I have been beside myself, Anna--crazy, out and out, and +this thing can't stand." + +"Husband, it was our wish to learn the will of God concerning this +marriage, and we have learned it. The Lord----" + +"I will go back to the factory," said Mr. Loretz, turning quickly away +from his wife. "I must see if everything is right there before it gets +darker." He had caught sight of the tall figure of a woman at the gate +when he snatched up his hat so suddenly and interrupted his wife. Then +he turned to her again: "Is Elise within?" + +"No, husband: she went to the garden for twigs this afternoon." + +"She had not heard?" + +"No. It is Sister Benigna that is coming. Must you go back?" She poured +another glass of water for her husband, and walked down the steps with +him; and coming so, out from the shade into the sunlight, Sister Benigna +was startled by their faces as though she had seen two ghosts. + +Two hours later, Mr. Loretz again turned his steps homeward, and Mr. +Wenck, the minister, walked with him as far as the gate. They had met +accidentally upon the sidewalk, and Mr. Loretz must of necessity make +some allusion to the letter he had received from the minister that day +acquainting him with the allotment which had made of him so hopeless a +mourner. The good man hesitated a moment before making response: then +he took both the hands of Loretz in his, and said in a deep, tender +voice, "Brother, the wound smarts." + +"I cannot bear it!" cried Loretz. "It is all my doing, and I must have +been crazy." + +"When in devout faith you sought to know God's will concerning your dear +child?" + +"I cannot talk about it," was the impatient response. "And you cannot +understand it," he continued, turning quickly upon his companion. "You +have never had a daughter, and you don't understand Albert Spener." + +"I think," said the minister patiently--"I think I know him well enough +to see what the consequence will be if he should suspect that Brother +Loretz is like 'a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed.'" + +Yet as the minister said this his head drooped, his voice softened, and +he laid his hand on the shoulder of Mr. Loretz, as if he would fain +speak on and in a different strain. It was evident that the distressed +man did not understand him, and reproof or counsel was more than he +could now bear. He walked on a little faster, and as he approached his +gate voices from within were heard. They were singing a duet from _The +Messiah_. + +"Come in," said Loretz, his face suddenly lighting up with almost hope. + +Mr. Wenck seemed disposed to accept the invitation: then, as he was +about to pass through the gate, he was stayed by a recollection +apparently, for he turned back, saying, "Not to-night, Brother Loretz. +They will need all the time for practice. Let me tell you, I admire your +daughter Elise beyond expression. I wish that Mr. Spener could hear that +voice now: it is perfectly triumphant. You are happy, sir, in having +such a daughter." + +As Mr. Wenck turned from the gate, Leonhard--our Leonhard +Marten--approached swiftly from the opposite side of the street. He had +been sitting under the trees half an hour listening to the singing, and, +full of enthusiasm, now presented himself before Mr. Loretz, +exclaiming, "Do tell me, sir, what singers are these?" + +Mr. Loretz knew every man in Spenersberg. He looked at the stranger, and +answered dryly, "Very tolerable singers." + +"I should think so! I never heard anything so glorious. I am a stranger +here, sir. Can you direct me to a public-house?" + +To answer was easy. There was but the one inn, called the Brethren's +House, the sixth below the one before which they were standing. It was a +long house, painted white, with a deep wide porch, where half a dozen +young men probably sat smoking at this moment. Instead of giving this +direction, however, Loretz said, after a brief consultation with +himself, "I don't know as there's another house in Spenersberg that +ought to be as open as mine. I live here, sir. How long have you been +listening?" + +"Not long enough," said Leonhard; and he passed through the gate, which +had been opened for the minister, and now was opened as widely for him. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HIGH ART. + +The room into which Mr. Loretz conducted Leonhard seemed to our young +friend, as he glanced around it, fit for the court of Apollo. Its +proportions had obviously been assigned by some music-loving soul. It +occupied two-thirds of the lower floor of the house, and its high +ceiling was a noticeable feature. The furniture had all been made at the +factory; the floor-mats were woven there; and one gazing around him +might well have wondered to what useful or ornamental purpose the green +willows growing everywhere in Spenersberg Valley might not be applied. +The very pictures hanging on the wall--engraved likenesses of the great +masters Mozart and Beethoven--had their frames of well-woven willow +twigs; and the rack which held the books and sheets of music was +ornamented on each side with raised wreaths of flowers wrought by deft +hands from the same pliant material. + +At the piano, in the centre of the room, sat Sister Benigna--by her +side, Elise Loretz. + +It seemed, when Elise's father entered with the stranger, as if there +might be a suspension of the performance, but Loretz said, "Two +listeners don't signify: we promise to make no noise. Sit down, sir: +give me your bag;" and taking Leonhard's satchel, he retired with it to +a corner, where he sat down, and with his elbows on his knees, his head +between his hands, prepared himself to listen. + +Sister Benigna said to her companion, "It is time we practiced before an +audience perhaps;" and they went on as if nothing had happened. + +And sitting in that cool room on the eve of a scorching and distracted +day, is it any wonder that Leonhard composed himself to accept any +marvel that might present itself? Once across the threshold of the +Every-day, and there is nothing indeed for which one should not be +prepared. + +If in mood somewhat less enthusiastic than that of our traveler we look +in upon that little company, what shall we see? + +In the first place, inevitably, Sister Benigna. But describe a picture, +will you, or the mountains, or the sea? It must have been something for +the Spenersberg folk to know that such a woman dwelt among them, yet +probably two-thirds of her influence was unconsciously put forth and as +unconsciously received. They knew that in musical matters she inspired +them and exacted of them to the uttermost, but they did not and could +not know how much her life was worth to all of them, and that they lived +on a higher plane because of those half dozen wonderful notes of hers, +and the unflagging enthusiasm which needed but the name of love-feast or +festival to bring a light into her lovely eyes that seemed to spread up +and around her white forehead and beautiful hair like a supernatural +lustre. There was a fire that animated her which nobody who saw its glow +or felt its warmth could question. Without that altar of music--But why +speculate on what she might have been if she had not been what she was? +That would be to consider not Benigna, but somebody else. + +She was accompanying Elise through Handel's "Pastoral Symphony." Elise +began: "He is the righteous Saviour, and He shall speak peace unto the +heathen." At the first notes Leonhard looked hastily toward the window, +and if it had been a door he would have passed out on to the piazza, +that he might there have heard, unseeing, unseen. While he sat still and +looked and listened it seemed to him as if he had been engaged in +foolish games with children all his life. He sat as it were in the dust, +scorning his own insignificance. + +The young girl who now sat, now stood beside her, must have been the +child of her training. For six years, indeed, they have lived together +under one roof, sharing one apartment. Within the hour just passed, that +has been said by them toward which all the talk and all the action of +the six years has tended, and the heart of the girl lies in the hand of +the woman, and what will the woman do with it? + +Perhaps all that Benigna can do for Elise has to-day been accomplished. +It may be that to grow beside her now will be to grow in the shade when +shade is needed no longer, and when the effect will be to weaken life +and to deepen the spirit of dependence. Possibly sunlight though +scorching, winds though wild, would be better for Elise now than the +protecting shadow of her friend. + +Looking at Elise, Leonhard feels more assured, more at home. She has a +kindly face, a lovely face, he decides, and what a deliciously rich, +smooth voice! She is rather after the willowy order in her slender +person, and when she begins to sing "Rejoice greatly," he looks at her +astonished, doubting whether the sound can really have proceeded from +her slender throat. He is again reminded of Marion, but by nothing he +hears or sees: poor Marion has her not small reputation as a singer in +A----, yet her voice, compared with this, is as wire--gold wire +indeed--wire with a _color_ of richness at least; while Elise's is as +honey itself--honey with the flavor of the sweetest flowers in it, and, +too, the suggestion of the bee's swift, strong wing. + +Into the room comes at last Mrs. Loretz. It is just as Elise takes up +the final air of the symphony that she appears. She would look upon her +daughter while she sings, "Come unto Him, all ye that labor and are +heavy laden, and He shall give you rest. Take His yoke upon you, and +learn of Him," etc. Chiefly to look upon her child she comes--to listen +with her loving, confident eyes. + +But on the threshold of the music-room she pauses half a second, +perceiving the stranger by the window: then she nods pleasantly to him, +which motion sets the short silvery hair on her forehead waving, as +curls would have waved there had she only let them. She wears a cap +trimmed with a blue ribbon tied beneath her chin, and such is the order +of her comely gown and apron that it commands attention always, like a +true work of art. + +She sits down beside her husband, and presently, as by the flash of a +single glance indeed, has taken the weight and measure of the gentleman +opposite. She likes his appearance, admires his fine dark face and his +fine dark eyes, wonders where he came from, what he wants, and--will he +stay to tea? + +Gazing at her daughter, she looks a little sad: then she smooths her +dress, straightens herself, shakes her head, and is absorbed in the +music, beating time with tiny foot and hand, and following every strain +with an intentness which draws her brows together into a slight frown. +Elise almost smiles as she glances toward her mother: she knows where to +find enthusiasm at a white heat when it is wanted. With the final +repetition, "Ye shall find rest to your souls," the dame rises quickly, +and hastening to her daughter embraces her; then passing to the next +room, she pauses, perhaps long enough to wipe her eyes; then the jingle +of a bell is heard. + +At the ringing of this bell, Sister Benigna rose instantly, saying, +"Welcome sound!" Loretz also came forth from his corner. He was about to +speak to Leonhard, when Benigna took up the trombone which was lying on +the piano, and said, "I am curious to know how many rehearsals you have +had, sir. It is time, Elise, that our trombonist reported." + +Loretz, casting an eye toward his daughter, said, "Never mind Sister +Benigna. Our quartette will be all right." Then he turned to Leonhard: +it was not now that he felt for the first time the relief of the +stranger's presence. "We are going to take food," said he: "will you +give me your name and come with us?" + +Leonhard gave his name, and moreover his opinion that he had trespassed +too long already on the hospitality of the house. + +To this remark Loretz paid no attention. "Wife," he called out, "isn't +that name down in the birthday book--_Leonhard Marten?_ I am sure of it. +He was a Herrnhuter." + +"Very likely, husband," was the answer from the other room. "Will you +come, good people?" The good people who heard that voice understood just +what its tone meant, and there was an instant response. + +"Come in, sir," said Loretz; and the invitation admitted no argument, +for he went forward at once with a show of alacrity sufficient to +satisfy his wife. "This young man here was looking for a public-house. +They are full at the Brethren's, I hear. I thought he could not do +better than take luck with us," he said to her by way of explanation. + +"He is welcome," said the wife in a prompt, business-like tone, which +was evidently her way. "Daughter!" She looked at Elise, and Elise +brought a plate, knife and fork for "this young man," and placed them +where her mother indicated--that is, next herself. Between the mother +and daughter Leonhard therefore took refuge, as it were, from the rather +too majestic presence opposite known as Sister Benigna. He should have +felt at ease in the little circle, for not one of them but felt the +addition to their party to be a diversion and a relief. As to Dame Anna +Loretz, thoughts were passing through her mind which might pass through +the minds of others also in the course of time should Leonhard prove to +be a good Moravian and decide to remain among them. They were thoughts +which would have sent a dubious smile around the board, however, could +they have been made known just now to Elise and her father and Sister +Benigna; and what would our young friend--from the city evidently--have +looked or said could they have been communicated to him? Already the +mind and heart of the mother of Elise, disconcerted and distracted for +the moment by that untoward casting of the lot, had risen to a calm +survey of the situation of things; and now she was endeavoring to +reconcile herself to the prospect which imagination presented to the eye +of faith, _If_ she had perceived in the unannounced appearing of the +young gentleman who sat near her devouring with keen appetite the good +fare before him, and apologizing for his hunger with a grace which +ensured him constant renewal of vanishing dishes,--if she had perceived +in it a manifestation of the will of Providence, she could not have +smiled on Leonhard more kindly, or more successfully have exerted +herself to make him feel at home. + +And might not Mr. Leonhard have congratulated himself? If there was a +"great house" in Spenersberg, this was that mansion; and if there were +great people there, these certainly were they. And to think of finding +in this vale cultivators of high art, intelligent, simple-hearted, +earnest, beautiful! + +CAROLINE CHESEBRO'. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +THE IRISH CAPITAL. + +The metropolis of Ireland about the middle of the last century was the +fourth in Europe in point of size. Since then it has made little +progress in comparison with many others. Yet it is a large place, +covering a great area, and holding a population which numbers some three +hundred thousand souls. + +It may further be said that notwithstanding the withdrawal, consequent +on the Union, of the aristocratic classes from Dublin, the city has +improved more in the last fifty years than at any previous period. +Dublin, at the Union, and for some time after, was a very dirty place +indeed. To-day, although, from that antipathy to paint common to the +whole Irish nation--which can apparently never realize the Dutch +proverb, that "paint costs nothing," or the English one, that "a stitch +in time saves nine"--much of the town looks dingy, it is, as a whole, +cleaner than almost any capital in Europe, so far as drainage and the +sanitary state of the dwellings are concerned. And here we speak from +experience, having last year, in company with detective officers, +visited all its lowest and poorest haunts. + +The cause of this sanitary excellence is that matters of this kind are +placed entirely in the hands of the police, who rigorously carry out the +orders given to them on such points. It is devoutly to be hoped that a +similar system will ere long be in vogue in the towns of our own +country. + +The noblesse have now quite deserted the Irish capital. Besides the +lord-chancellor, there is probably not a single peer occupying a house +there to-day. Houses are excellent and very cheap. An immense mansion in +the best situation can be had for a thousand dollars a year. The markets +are capitally supplied, and the prices are generally about one-third of +those of New York. Not a single item of living is dear. But, +notwithstanding these and many other advantages, the place has lost +popularity, has a "deadly-lively" air about it, and, it must be +admitted, is in many respects wondrously dull, especially to those who +have been used to the brisk life of a great commercial or +pleasure-loving capital. + +"Cornelius O'Dowd" paid a visit to Dublin in 1871 after a long absence, +and said some very pretty things about it. Never was the company or +claret better. Well, the fact was, that while the great and lamented +Cornelius was there he was fêted and made much of. Lord Spencer gave him +a dinner, so did other magnates, and his séjour was one prolonged +feasting; but nevertheless the every-day life of the Irish capital is +awfully and wonderfully dull, as those who know it best, and have the +cream of such society as it offers, would in strict confidence admit. +From January to May there is an attempt at a "season," during the +earlier part of which the viceroy gives a great many entertainments. +These are remarkably well done, and the smaller parties are very +agreeable. But politics intervene here, as in everything else in +Ireland, to mar considerably the brilliancy of the vice-regal court. +When the Whigs are "in" the Tory aristocracy hold off from "the Castle," +and _vice versâ_. Dublin is generally much more brilliant under a Tory +viceroy, inasmuch as nine-tenths of the Irish peerage and landed gentry +support that side of politics. The vice-reign of the duke of Abercorn, +the last lord-lieutenant, will long be remembered as a period of +exceptional splendor in the annals of Dublin. He maintained the dignity +of the office in a style which had not been known for half a century, +and in this respect proved particularly acceptable to people of all +classes. Besides, he is a man of magnificent presence, and has a fitting +helpmate (sister of Earl Russell) and beautiful daughters; and it was +universally admitted that the round people had got into the round holes, +so far as the duke and duchess were concerned. + +The lord-lieutenant's levees and drawing-rooms take place at night, and +are therefore much more cheerful than similar ceremonials at Buckingham +Palace. His Excellency kisses all the ladies presented to him. The +vice-regal salary is one hundred thousand dollars, with allowances, but +most viceroys spend a great deal more. There are in such a poor country, +where people have no sort of qualms about asking, innumerable claims +upon their purses. + +The office of viceroy of Ireland is one which prime ministers find it no +easy task to fill. Just that kind of person is wanted for the office who +has no wish to hold it. A great peer with half a million of dollars' +income doesn't care about accepting troublesome and occasionally anxious +duties, from which he, at all events, has nothing to gain. For some time +Lord Derby was in a quandary to get any one who would do to take it, and +it may be doubted whether the marquis of Abercorn would have sacrificed +himself if the glittering prospect of a coronet all strawberry leaves +(for he was created a duke while in office) had not been held before his +eyes. The vice-regal lodge is a plain, unpretending building. It is +charmingly situated in the Phoenix Park (1760 acres), and commands +delightful views over the Wicklow Mountains. Within, it is comfortable +and commodious. The viceroy resides there eight months in the year. He +goes to "the Castle" from December to April. The Castle is "no great +thing." It is situated in the heart of Dublin. Around it are the various +government offices. St. Patrick's Hall is a fine apartment, but +certainly does not deserve the name of magnificent, and is a very poor +affair compared with the reception-saloons of third-rate continental +princes. + +The Dublin season culminates, so far at least as the vice-regal +entertainments go, in the ball given here on St. Patrick's Day (March +17). On such occasions it is _de rigueur_ to wear a court-dress. Even +those who venture to appear in the regulation trowsers admissible at a +levee at St. James's are seriously cautioned "not to do it again." + +Though Dublin is now deserted by the aristocracy, most of the +_grand-seigneur_ mansions are still standing. Leinster House, built +about 1760, and said to have served as a model for the "White House," +was in 1815 sold by the duke to the Royal Dublin Society. Up to 1868 the +duke of Leinster[1] was Ireland's only duke, and the house is certainly +a stately and appropriate ducal residence. + +It must, however, be confessed that there is something decidedly +_triste_ and severe about this big mansion. A celebrated whilom tenant +of it, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, appeared to think so, for in 1791 he +writes to his mother, after his return from the bright and sunny +atmosphere of America: "I confess Leinster House does not inspire the +brightest ideas. By the by, what a melancholy house it is! You can't +conceive how much it appeared so when first we came from Kildare. A +country housemaid I brought with me cried for two days, and said she +thought that she was in a prison." It was at Leinster House that "Lord +Edward"--he is to this day always thus known by the people of Ireland, +who never think it needful to add his surname--after having joined "the +United Irishmen," had interviews with the informer Reynolds, who, it is +believed, afterward betrayed him. + +Lady Sarah Napier, mother of Sir William Napier, the well-known +historian of the Peninsular War, and other eminent sons, was aunt to +Lord Edward, being sister of his mother. These ladies were daughters of +the duke of Richmond, and Lady Sarah was remarkable as being a lady to +whom George III. was passionately attached, and whom, but for the +vehement opposition of his mother and her _entourage_, he would have +married. In a journal of this lady's I find the following interesting +account of the search for her nephew: "The separate warrant went by a +messenger, attended by the sheriff and a party of soldiers, into +Leinster House. The servants ran to Lady Edward, who was ill, and told +her. She said directly, 'There is no help: send them up.' They asked +very civilly for her papers and for Edward's, and she gave them all. +Her apparent distress moved Major O'Kelly to tears, and their whole +conduct was proper." + +Lady Edward Fitzgerald (whose husband had served under Lord Moira in +America) was at Moira House on the evening of her husband's arrest. +Writing from Castletown, county Kildare, two days after that event, Lady +Louisa Connolly, Lord Edward's aunt, says: "As soon as Edward's wound +was dressed he desired the private secretary at the Castle to write for +him to Lady Edward and tell her what had happened. The secretary carried +the note himself. Lady E. was at Moira House, and a servant of Lady +Mountcashel's came soon after to forbid Lady Edward's servants saying +anything to her that night." She continued, after Lord E.'s death, to +reside at Moira House till obliged by an order of the privy council to +retire to England, where she became the guest of her husband's uncle, +the duke of Richmond.[2] + +Lady Moira, who so kindly befriended Lady Edward, was unquestionably a +very remarkable woman, and had considerable influence, politically and +socially, in the Dublin of her day. Although an Englishwoman, she became +in some respects _ipsis Hibernis Hibernior,_ and for a very long period +prior to her death never quitted the soil of Ireland. Had the Irish +aristocracy generally been of the complexion of those who assembled in +the more intimate reunions at Moira House, the history of that country +during the past century would have been a widely different one. The +members of that brilliant circle were thorough anti-Unionists, and Lord +Moira and his sons-in-law, the earls of Granard and Mountcashel, proved +that they were not to be conciliated by bribes, either in money or +honors, by entering their formal protest against that measure on the +books of the Irish House of Lords. + +When the delegates on behalf of Catholic claims came to London in 1792, +it was this enlightened Irish nobleman who received them, and who, in +the event of the minister declining to admit them, intended as a peer to +have claimed an audience of the king. Lord Moira both in the English and +Irish Houses of Peers denounced the oppressive measures of the +government, and his opposition gave so much offence that the English +general Lake was reported to hayer declared that if a town in the North +was to be burnt, they had best begin with Lord Moira's, causing him so +much apprehension that he removed his collection, which was of +extraordinary value, from his seat, Moira Hall, in the county Down, to +England. + +The celebrated John Wesley visited Lady Moira at Moira House in 1775, +"and was surprised to observe, though not a more grand, a far more +elegant room than he had ever seen in England. It was an octagon, about +twenty feet square, and fifteen or sixteen high, having one window (the +sides of it inlaid throughout with mother-of-pearl) reaching from the +top of the room to the bottom: the ceiling, sides and furniture of the +room were equally elegant." It was here that two of the greatest members +of their respective legislatures--Charles Fox and Henry Grattan--first +met in 1777, and Moira House continued to be the scene of splendid +entertainments up to the death of the first Lord Moira, in 1793. Wesley +concludes his letter about Moira House by asking, "Must this too pass +away like a dream?" Whether like a dream or no, it certainly has been +signally the fate of this whilom proud mansion to pass from the highest +to the very humblest almost at a bound. For some years after Lady +Moira's death (in 1808) the house was kept up by the family, but in 1826 +it was let to an anti-mendicity society. The upper story was removed, +the mansion was stripped throughout of its splendid decorations--some +of the furniture is now at Castle Forbes, the seat of the earl of +Granard, Lady Moira's great-grandson, a worthy descendant--and the +saloons which were wont to be thronged with the most brilliant and +splendid society of the Irish metropolis in its heyday are now the abode +of perhaps the very poorest outcasts who are to be found in the whole +wide world. + +The district in which Moira House stands has long ceased to be +fashionable. The mansion stands close to the Liffey, a few yards back +from the road. An elderly man who has charge of the mendicity +institution for whose purposes the house is at present used, told me +that he remembered it when kept up by the family, although its members +were not actually residing there. What is now a fearfully dreary +courtyard, where the outcasts of Dublin disport themselves, was then, he +said, a fine garden with splendid mulberry trees, which he, being a +favorite with the gardener, was permitted to climb--a circumstance which +had naturally impressed itself on his childish memory. I told him that I +had heard that long after the difficulties of the first marquis--who +lent one hundred thousand pounds to George the Magnificent when that +glorious prince was at the last gasp for _£ s. d_.--had compelled him to +part with his large estates; in the county Down, he had retained +possession of this mansion, and that it had even descended to the last +marquis, whose wild career concluded when he was only six-and-twenty; +but the old man thought it had passed from them long before. He +remembered, he said, the last peer (with whom the title became extinct) +coming to Dublin, because he had an interview with him about some +furniture for his yacht, my informant being at that time in business, +and he thought he should have heard if the property had been still +retained. I asked if the marquis had exhibited any interest as to the +old historical mansion of his family. "Not the slightest," he replied. + +Hardy, in his well-known life of Lord Charlemont, says: "His (Lord +Moira's) house will be long, very long, remembered: it was for many +years the seat of refined hospitality, of good nature and of good +conversation. In doing the honors of it, Lord Moira had certainly one +advantage above most men, for he had every assistance that true +magnificence, the nobleness of manners peculiar to exalted birth, and +talents for society the most cultivated, could give him in his +illustrious countess." + +Powerscourt House, a really noble mansion in St. Andrew street, is now +used by a great wholesale firm, but is so little altered that it could +be fitted for a private residence again in a very brief time. The +staircase is grand in proportion, and the steps and balustrades are of +polished mahogany, the last being richly carved. + +Tyrone House is now the Education Office, and Mornington House, where +Wellington's father resided, and where or at Dangan--for it is a +doubtful point--the duke was born, is also used for government purposes. + +The great squares of Dublin are St. Stephen's Green, Rutland, Mountjoy, +Merrion and Fitzwilliam Squares. The first of these dates from the +latter half of the seventeenth century, and is probably in a far more +prosperous condition now than it ever was before. If we are to judge by +Whitelaw's history, it presented in 1819 an aspect such as no public +square out of Dublin--the enclosure of Leicester Square, London, +excepted--could present. "Of that kind of architectural beauty," he +says, "which arises from symmetry and regularity, here are no traces." +Some houses were on a level with the streets, others were approached by +a grand _perron_. The proprietors were of all degrees: here was the +great house of a lord, there a miserable dramshop. The enclosure +consisted of no less than thirteen acres, making Stephen's Green the +largest public square in Europe. It was simply a great treeless field, +with an equestrian statue of George II. stuck in the middle of it. The +principal entrance to the ground is described as "decorated with four +piers of black stone crowned with globes of mountain granite, once +respectable, but exhibiting shameful symptoms of neglect and decay." +There had been a gravel walk called the "Beaux' Walk," from its having +been a fashionable resort, "but," says Whitelaw, "the ditch which bounds +it is now usually filled with stagnant water, which seems to be the +appropriate receptacle of animal bodies in a disgusting state of +putrefaction." At night this charming recreation-ground was illumined by +twenty-six lamps, at a distance of one hundred and seventy feet from +each other, stuck on wooden poles. Such an account of the grand square +of Dublin does not make one surprised to learn that the main approach to +it from the heart of the city was of a very miserable description. + +In reading Whitelaw's history of Dublin it is impossible not to be +struck with the fact that it records a degree of neglect and +indifference on the part of the people and the local authorities to +beauty, decency and order such as could scarcely be found in another +country. In the centre of Merrion Square was a fountain of very +ambitious expense and design, erected to the honor of the duke and +duchess of Rutland, a lord and lady lieutenant. The fountain was only +finished in 1791, but "from a fault in the foundation, or some shameful +negligence in the construction, is already cracked and bulged in several +places; and though intended as a monument to perpetuate the memory of an +illustrious nobleman and his heroic father (the famous Lord Granby), is, +after an existence of only sixteen years, tottering to its fall." Mr. +Whitelaw continues: "Unhappily, _a savage barbarism that seems hostile +to every idea of order or decency, of beauty and elegance, prevails +among but too many of the lower orders_; and hence the decorations of +almost every public fountain have been destroyed or disfigured: the +figure, shamefully mutilated, of the water-nymph in this fountain has +been reduced to a disgusting trunk, and the _alto relievo_ over it shows +equal symptoms of decay, arising partly from violence, and partly, +perhaps, from the perishable nature of the materials." Truly a forcible +picture of art and the appreciation thereof in Ireland! + +During the last century some Italians came to Dublin, who left their +mark upon the interior decorations of rich men's houses. Many of the old +houses retain the beautiful mantelpieces designed and executed by these +accomplished artists. A leading house-fitter of Dublin has, however, +bought up a good many, and they are finding their way to London, where +it is to be hoped they may produce a revolution in taste, for London +mantelpieces are, as a rule, hideous. Some of these specimens of art +have been bought by wealthy Irishmen and transferred to their +country-houses. One nobleman, Lord Langford, whose ancestral home was +wrecked in the rebellion of 1798, has lately been restoring it, and +bought up many of the Dublin mantelpieces. + +The ornamentation of Belvedere House, in Gardener Row, is particularly +elaborate and in wonderfully good repair. + +Irish family history contains few sadder stories than that of the first +countess of Belvedere. Lord Belvedere was a man of fashion who much +frequented St. James's, and indeed owed his elevation, first to a barony +and then to an earldom, to the favor of that highly uninteresting +monarch, George II. Leaving his wife sometimes for long periods at +Gaulston, a vast and dreary residence (since pulled down) in Westmeath, +he betook himself to London, and Lady Belvedere at such times lived much +with her husband's brother, Mr. Arthur Rochfort, and his family. It is +said that some woman with whom Lord Belvedere had long been connected +was determined to make mischief between him and his wife. Eight years +after their marriage, Lady Belvedere was accused of adultery with Mr. +Rochfort: in an action of _crim. con._ damages to the extent of twenty +thousand pounds were given, and the defendant was obliged to fly the +country. For many years he lived abroad, but at length ventured to +return, when his brother caused him to be arrested, and he died in +confinement, protesting to the last, as did Lady Belvedere, his +innocence. For Lady Belvedere a terrible punishment for her alleged +misdeeds was in store. Her husband quitted Gaulston for a cheerful +retreat in another part of the county, and henceforth that gloomy +mansion became the prison-house of the unhappy countess. + +When her imprisonment commenced Lady Belvedere was twenty-five. For +eighteen years she remained a prisoner. Her husband often visited +Gaulston, but uniformly avoided all personal communication with her. +Once she succeeded in speaking to him, but her entreaties were in vain, +and thenceforward, whenever he was about the grounds at Gaulston, the +attendant accompanying Lady Belvedere in her walks was instructed to +ring a bell to give warning of her approach. At length, after twelve +years of captivity, Lady Belvedere contrived to escape, but Lord +Belvedere, who had been apprised of the fact, reached her father's house +in Dublin before her, and she found that his representations had weighed +so strongly with Lord Molesworth--who had married a second time--that +orders had been given that she was not to be admitted. She then took a +very unfortunate step by repairing to the house of her friends, the wife +and family of the brother-in-law with whom she had been accused of being +guilty of misconduct, Mr. Rochfort himself being in exile. She was +presently seized and reconveyed to Gaulston, where a much more rigorous +treatment was henceforth pursued toward her. At length her husband's +death set her free. + +Lady Belvedere passed the rest of her days in peace and comfort at the +house of her daughter and son-in-law, Lord and Lady Lanesborough. She +did not long survive her husband, and on her deathbed, after partaking +of the holy communion, affirmed with a most solemn oath her perfect +innocence of the crime for which she had suffered so much. + +But perhaps in many respects Charlemont House has the most interesting +recollections connected with it of all the _grand-seigneur_ mansions of +the Irish metropolis. It was here that the first earl of Charlemont, +the best specimen of a nobleman that Ireland has to boast of, passed the +greater portion of his later life. Lord Charlemont's name is to be found +in all the memoirs of eminent political and literary men of his time. He +was the friend of Burke and Johnson, a popular member of _the_ club, and +a munificent patron of literature and art. But more than all this, he +stuck bravely to his country, and to no man in Ireland did the Stopford +motto, _Patriæ infelici fidelis_, more correctly apply. Had more of his +order been like him, what a different country might Ireland have been! + +I found Charlemont House full of painters and glaziers. The mansion, +which was retained _in statu quo_ by the late earl, although, for fifty +years no member of the family had slept there, has now been sold to the +government, and is being prepared for the accommodation of the survey +department. The mouldings of the beautiful ceilings are still extant in +some of the rooms, although what once was gilt is now white-wash. The +library is much as it was, minus the very valuable collection of books, +which were sold some time since by the present earl, and fetched a large +sum, albeit many of the most valuable were destroyed in a fire which +broke out at the auctioneer's where they were deposited in London.[3] + +With his friend Edmund Burke, Lord Charlemont maintained a close +correspondence. One of Burke's published letters relates to an American +gentleman, Mr. Shippen, whom he was introducing to the hospitalities of +Charlemont House, and whom he describes as very agreeable, sensible and +accomplished. "America and we," he concludes, "are not under the same +crown, but if we are united by mutual good-will and reciprocal good +offices, perhaps it may do almost as well. Mr. Shippen will give you no +unfavorable specimen of the New World." + +From the middle of the last century Henrietta street,[4] on the north +bank of the Liffey, was the residence of many of the leading members of +the aristocracy. The street is a _cul-de-sac_, with the King's Inn (the +Temple and Lincoln's Inn of Dublin) at the farther end. The houses are +extremely spacious and richly ornamented; in fact, far finer in point of +proportion and design than ordinary London houses of the first class. + +Through the politeness of a gentleman who possesses half the street, I +went over some of the houses, which are extremely spacious, and contain +beautifully-proportioned rooms richly ornamented with carving and +moulding. In what was formerly Mountjoy House I found a dining-room +whose cornices and ceilings were of the most elegant design and +execution. This house had seen many curious scenes. It was formerly the +town-house of the earl of Blessington--whose second title was Viscount +Mountjoy--to whom the whole street belonged. The founder of this family, +Luke Gardiner, rose from a humble origin by energy and intrigue, and his +son married the heiress of the Mountjoys. It was occupied up to 1830 by +the last earl of Blessington, husband of the celebrated literary star. +Soon after their marriage Lady Blessington accompanied her husband to +Ireland, and he invited some of his friends who were ignorant of the +event to dine at his house in Henrietta street. These latter were +somewhat startled when he entered the room with a beautiful woman +leaning on his arm whom he introduced as his wife. Among the guests was +a gentleman who had been in that room only four years before, when the +walls were hung with black, and in the centre, on an elevated platform, +was placed a coffin with a gorgeous velvet pall, with the remains in it +of a woman once scarcely surpassed in loveliness by the lady then +present in bridal costume. This was the first Lady Blessington. + +The last of the Irish noblesse in this street was Lady Harriet, widow of +the Right Hon. Denis Bowes-Daly, on whom Grattan passed such warm +eulogies, and who was the original of Lever's happiest creation, _The +Knight of Gwynne_. + +It has been a frequent subject of conjecture why the Phoenix Park was so +called. The best explanation seems to be that on a site within its +boundaries there formerly stood, close to a remarkable spring of water, +an ancient manor-house. The manor was called Fionn-uisge, pronounced +_finniské_, which signifies clear or fair water, and this term easily +became corrupted into Phoenix. The land became Crown property in 1559, +and was made into a park in 1662. It was immensely improved and put into +its present shape by the earl of Chesterfield, author of the +_Letters_--one of the best viceroys Ireland ever had--about 1743. The +area is seventeen hundred and sixty acres. With the exception of Windsor +and our own Fairmount, no public park in the world can compare with it. +The ground undulates charmingly, the views are extensive and beautiful. + +Grouped around the Phoenix Park are many beautiful seats: the finest is +Woodlands. This belonged formerly to the Luttrells, a notorious family, +the head of which was raised to the Irish peerage as earl of Carhampton. +It was with a Lord Carhampton that his son declined to fight a duel, not +at all because he was his father, but because he "did not consider him a +gentleman." Early in the century, Woodlands, then known as +Luttrellstown, became the property of Luke White, one of the most +remarkable men that Ireland has produced. In 1778, Luke White was in the +habit of buying cheap odds and ends of literature from a bookseller, +named Warren, in Belfast to peddle about the country. In 1798 he loaned +the Irish government, then in great difficulty, a million of pounds! Mr. +Warren, who found him very punctual and exact, used to permit him to +leave his pack behind his counter and call for it in the morning. No one +would then have dreamed that the greasy bag was to lead to such results. +By degrees, White scraped together some means. He used to take odd +volumes to a binder in Belfast and employ him to get the "vol." at the +beginning and end of an odd volume erased, so as to pass it off among +the unwary as a perfect book, and generally furbish it up. Then he used +to sell his literary wares by auction in the streets of Belfast. The +knowledge he thus acquired of public sales procured him a clerkship with +a Dublin auctioneer. He opened first a book-stall, and then a regular +book-shop, in Dawson street, a leading thoroughfare of Dublin. There he +became eminent. He sold lottery-tickets, speculated in the funds and +contracted for government loans. In 1798, when the rebellion broke out, +the Irish government was desperately in need of funds. They came into +the Dublin market for a loan of a million, and the best terms they could +get were from Luke White, who offered to take it at sixty-five pounds +per one hundred pound share at five per cent.--not unremunerative terms. + +At the time of his death, in 1824, he had long been M.P. for Leitrim, +and his son was member for the county of Dublin. He left property worth +a hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars a year. Eventually almost +the whole of it devolved on his fourth son, who some years ago was +created a peer of the United Kingdom as Lord Annaly. + +The family has probably spent more than a million and a half of dollars +on elections. It has always been on the Liberal side. The present peer +has property in about a dozen counties, and is lord-lieutenant of +Langford, whilst his younger son holds the same high office in Clare. + +The University of Dublin consists of a single college--Trinity. This +edifice forms a prominent feature in the Irish metropolis. It stands in +College Green, almost opposite to the Bank of Ireland, the former +legislative chambers. Since the Union, Trinity College has been but +little resorted to by men of the upper ranks of Irish society, although +it has certainly contributed some very eminent men to the public +service--notably, the late unfortunate governor-general, Lord Mayo, and +Lord Cairns, ex-lord-chancellor of England. Trinity is one of the +largest owners of real estate in the country. The fellowships are far +better than those of the English universities. The provost, who occupies +a large and stately mansion, has a separate estate worth some fifteen +thousand dollars a year, which he manages himself. + +Trinity has a very fine library. It is one of the five which by an act +of Parliament has a right to demand from the publisher a copy of every +work published. The origin of the library is quite unique. It dates from +a benefaction by the victorious English army after its defeat of the +Spaniards at Kinsale in 1603, when they devoted one thousand eight +hundred pounds--a sum equivalent to five times that money at present +rates--to establish a library in the university, being, it may be +presumed, instigated by some eminent personage, who suggested that such +a course would be acceptable to the queen, who had founded the +university. + +Dr. Chaloner and Mr. (afterward Archbishop) Ussher were appointed +trustees of this donation; "and," says Dr. Parr, "it is somewhat +remarkable that at this time, when the said persons were in London about +laying out this money in books, they there met Sir Thomas Bodley, then +buying books for his newly-erected library in Oxford; so that there +began a correspondence between them upon this occasion, helping each +other to procure the choicest and best books on moral subjects that +could be gotten; so that the famous Bodleian Library at Oxford and that +of Dublin began together." + +The private collection of Ussher himself, consisting of ten thousand +volumes, was the first considerable donation which the library +received, and for this also, curiously enough, it was again indebted to +the English army. In 1640, Ussher left Ireland. The insurgents soon +after destroyed all his effects with the exception of his books, which +were secured and sent to London. In 1642--when the troubles between King +and Parliament had broken out--Ussher was nominated one of the +Westminster Assembly of Divines, but having offended the parliamentary +authorities by refusing to attend, his library was confiscated as that +of a delinquent by order of the House of Commons. However, his friend, +the celebrated John Selden, got leave to buy the books, as though for +himself, but really to restore them to Ussher. Narrow circumstances +subsequently caused him to leave the library to his daughter, instead of +to Trinity. Cardinal Mazarin and the king of Denmark made offers for it, +but Cromwell interfered to prevent their acceptance. Soon after, the +officers and, soldiers of Cromwell's army then in Ireland, wishing to +emulate those of Elizabeth, purchased the whole library, together with +all the archbishop's very valuable manuscripts and a choice collection +of coins, for the purpose of presenting them to the college. But when +these articles were brought over to Ireland, Cromwell refused to permit +the intentions of the donors to be carried into effect, alleging that he +intended to found a new college, in which the collection might more +conveniently be preserved separate from all other books. The library was +therefore deposited in Dublin Castle, and so neglected that a great +number of valuable books and manuscripts were stolen or destroyed. At +the Restoration, Charles II. ordered that what remained of the primate's +library should be given to the university, as originally intended. + +One of the most extraordinary persons who ever occupied the position of +provost, or indeed any position, was John Hely Hutchinson. He was a man +of great ability, and perfectly determined to succeed, without being +troubled with any very tiresome qualms as to the means he employed in +the process. Such an officeholder as this man the world probably never +saw. He was at the same time reversionary principal secretary of state +for Ireland, a privy councilor, M.P. for Cork, provost of Trinity +College, Dublin, major of the fourth regiment of horse, and searcher of +the port of Strangford. When he was appointed provost--a situation +always filled since the foundation by a bachelor--there was great +indignation amongst the fellows, and to appease them he ultimately +procured a decree permitting them to marry--a privilege which they, +unlike their brethren at Oxford and Cambridge, enjoy to this day. His +position as provost did not prevent his righting a duel with a Mr. +Doyle, but neither was hurt. Mr. Hutchinson had a great dislike to a Mr. +Shrewbridge, one of the junior fellows, who had shown opposition to him. +Mr. Shrewbridge died, and the under--graduates attributed his death to +the provost's having refused him permission to go away for change of +air. A thoroughly Hiber-man _émeute_ was the consequence. The provost +ordered that the great bell, which usually tolls for a fellow, should +not toll, and that the body should be privately buried at six A.M. in +the fellows' burial-ground. The students immediately posted up placards +that the great bell _should_ toll, and that the funeral should be by +torchlight. They carried the point. Almost all the students attended the +corpse to the grave in scarfs and hatbands at their own expense, and +when the funeral oration was pronounced they flew in wild excitement to +the provost's house, burst open his doors and smashed the furniture to +pieces. The provost had a hint given him, and with his family had +retreated to his house near Dublin. It was subsequently stated on good +authority that Mr. Shrewbridge could not in any case have recovered. + +Any one who takes an interest in the most original writer--not to say, +man--of the eighteenth century will not fail to find his way to "the +Liberties," as that queer district is called which surrounds St. +Patrick's Cathedral. Some years ago the present writer made his way into +the great deserted deanery--the then dean resided in another part of +the city--got the old woman in charge of the house to open the shutters +of the dining-room, and gazed at the original portrait of Jonathan +Swift, which hangs there an heirloom to his successors. Of the precincts +of his cathedral he writes to Pope: "I am lord-mayor of one hundred and +twenty houses,[5] I am absolute lord of the greatest cathedral in the +kingdom, and am at peace with the neighboring princes--_i.e._, the +lord-mayor of the city and the archbishop of Dublin--but the latter +sometimes attempts encroachments on my dominions, as old Lewis did in +Lorraine." + +Again, he writes to Dr. Sheridan: "No soul has broken his neck or is +hanged or married; only Cancerina is dead.[6] I let her go to her grave +without a coffin and without fees." + +St. Patrick's, which was, in a deplorable state during Swift's deanship, +and indeed for a century after, is now restored to its original +magnificence. Indeed, it may be doubted whether it is not in a condition +superior to what it ever was. This superb work has been effected +entirely by the princely munificence of the Guinness family, the great +_stout_ brewers of Dublin; and Mr. Roe, a wealthy distiller, is now +engaged in the work of restoring Christ Church, the other Protestant +cathedral. + +I paid a visit to the Bank of Ireland, the edifice on which the hopes of +so many patriotic Irishmen have been centred, insomuch as it is the old +Parliament-house. The elderly official who conducted us over the +building took us first through the bank-note manufacturing rooms, where +we espied in a corner a queer wooden figure draped in a queerer +uniform. Demanding its history, he said that the clothes had belonged to +an old servant of the establishment, and were discovered after his +decease a few years ago. Formerly the Bank of Ireland was guarded by a +special corps of its own, and the ancient retainer, who had been a +member of this very commercial regiment, was proud of it, and had kept +his dress as a cherished memorial. When George IV. came to Ireland, on +his celebrated popularity-hunt, in 1821--previous to which no English +monarch had visited Ireland since William III.--he graciously +condescended to give the bank a military guard, which has since been +continued. On the day I went I found a number of soldiers of the Scots +Fusileer Guards occupying the guard-room. The officer on duty receives +an allowance of two dollars and a half for his dinner. At the Bank of +England he gets instead a dinner for himself and a friend, and a couple +of bottles of wine. + +The interior of the Parliament-house is almost the same as when Ireland +had her own separate legislature. The House of Lords is in precisely the +condition in which it was left in 1801. It is a large oak-paneled, +oblong chamber of no particular beauty, and might very well pass for the +dining-hall of a London guild. There is a handsome fireplace, and the +walls are in great part covered with two fine pieces of tapestry +representing the battle of the Boyne and the siege of Derry, King +William, "of glorious, pious and immortal," etc., being of course the +most conspicuous object in the foreground. The attendant stated that a +special clause in the lease of the buildings, to the Bank of Ireland +Company stipulated that the House of Lords was to remain _in statu quo_. +Perhaps it may return some of these days to its former use. The House of +Commons, a large stone hall of stately dimensions, is now the +cash-office of the bank. There seemed nothing about it architecturally +to call for special notice. I mooted the probability of the Parliament +being restored, but found, rather to my surprise, that the attendant +was by no means disposed to regard such a step with unqualified +approval. It would be a blessing if the country was fit to govern +itself, he said, or words to that effect, but looking at the religious +dissension and political bitterness existing in the country, he feared +that it wouldn't do yet a while; and I suspect he's right. Ireland is a +house divided against itself: fifty years hence it may resemble +Scotland. Meanwhile, there is no doubt whatever that a measure giving +both Ireland and Scotland something in the nature of State legislatures +would find favor with many English M.P.s, who greatly grudge having the +valuable time of the imperial legislature wasted over a gas-bill in +Tipperary or a water-works scheme for Dundee. The bank seemed to me to +be guarded with extraordinary care. I went all over the roof, on which a +guard is mounted at night. At "coigns of vantage" there is a +bullet-proof palisading, with peepholes through which a volley of +musketry might be poured. I should fancy that extra precautions have +probably been taken since the Fenian _émeutes_ of the last ten years. + +Dublin swarms with soldiers, constabulary and police. The metropolitan +police is divided into six divisions, each two hundred strong. Its men +are, I believe, beyond a doubt the very finest in the world in point of +physique. Numbers of them are six feet two or three inches high, and +they are broad and athletic in proportion. Indeed, the magnificence of +some of them who are detached for duty at certain "great confluences of +human existence" is such that you see strangers standing and gaping at +the giants in sheer amazement. The metropolitan police is quite distinct +from the constabulary, and under a different chief. + +Outside the bank, in College Green, is the celebrated statue of William +III. Its location has been more than once changed, and it is now placed +where the officer on guard at the bank can keep an eye upon it. This +fearful object, which would make a Pradier or Chantrey shudder, is +painted and gilt annually. It has long served as a bone of contention +between Protestant and Papist, and has come off very badly several times +at the hands of the latter--a circumstance which probably accounts for +one of the horse's legs being about a foot longer than the rest--half of +that limb having been renewed after it had been lost in one of the many +free fights in which this remarkable quadruped has seen service. The +greatest proprietor of real estate in Dublin is the young earl of +Pembroke, son of the late Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, so well known in +connection with the Crimean war, who was created, shortly before his +death, Lord Herbert of Lea. His estate, which is the most valuable in +Ireland, comprises Merrion Square and all the most fashionable part of +the Irish metropolis, and extends for several miles along the railway +line running from Kingstown, the landing-place from England, to the +capital. The property also includes Mount Merrion, a neglected seat +about four miles from the city. This mansion, which might easily be made +delightful, commands a charming view over the lovely bay, and is +surrounded by a small but picturesque park containing deer. It was, with +the rest of Lord Pembroke's estate, formerly the property of Viscount +Fitzwilliam, who founded the Fitzwilliam Museum in the University of +Cambridge. + +Lord Fitzwilliam was a somewhat eccentric person. His nearest relation +had displeased him by some very trivial offence, such as coming down +late for dinner, so he determined to leave his estate to his distant +cousin, Lord Pembroke. Falling ill, Lord Fitzwilliam, desired that Lord +Pembroke might be summoned from London. Word came back that it was +unfortunately impossible for him to leave England immediately. Presently +news arrived from Dublin that Lord Fitzwilliam was dead, and had +bequeathed all--the property is now three hundred and fifty thousand +dollars a year--to Lord Pembroke, with remainder to his second son. By +the death of the late Lord Pembroke the English and Irish properties +have become united, and are to-day worth not less than six hundred +thousand dollars a year! It is this young nobleman who has lately +written _The Earl and The Doctor_. + +REGINALD WYNFORD. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: The Fitzgeralds, of which family the duke of Leinster is +chief, became Protestant in 1611, when George, sixteenth earl of +Kildare, coming to the title and estates when eight years old, was given +in ward, according to the custom of the time, to the duke of Lenox (then +lord privy seal), who bred him a Protestant.] + +[Footnote 2: In June, 1798, the corpse of Lord Edward Fitzgerald was +conveyed from the jail of Newgate and entombed in St. Werburgh's church, +Dublin, until the times would admit of their being removed to the family +vault at Kildare. "A guard," says his brother, "was to have attended at +Newgate the night of my poor brother's burial, in order to provide +against all interruption from the different guards and patrols in the +streets: it never arrived, which caused the funeral to be several times +stopped on its way, so that the funeral did not take place until nearly +two in the morning, and the people attending were obliged to stay in +church until a pass could be procured to permit them to go out."] + +[Footnote 3: Lord Charlemont had a seat called Marino, beautifully +situated within a few miles of Dublin. There is within the grounds an +exquisite building erected from designs of Sir William Chambers. It is a +small villa, in its arrangements suggesting a _maison de joie_. The +furniture is just as it was, and although sadly out of repair, the +visitor can easily judge how exquisite the place must once have been. +There is a superb mantelpiece, richly mounted in bronze and inlaid with +lapis lazuli.] + +[Footnote 4: The occupants of Henrietta street in 1784 included--the +primate (Lord Rokeby); the earl of Shannon; Hon. Dr. Maxwell, bishop of +Meath; the bishop of Kilmore; the bishop of Clogher; Right Hon. Luke +Gardiner, M.P.; Viscount Kingsborough; Right Hon. D. Bowes-Daly, M.P.; +Sir E. Crofton, Bart. + +Twenty years later, Dublin was nearly deserted by the aristocracy on +account of the Union. Up to that time nearly all the peers, except those +really English, seem to have had residences in Dublin. In 1844, Lords +Longford, De Vesci and Monck were the only peers who had houses there.] + +[Footnote 5: The precincts, including a portion of the Liberties, were +then entirely under the jurisdiction of the dean of St. Patrick's.] + +[Footnote 6: It was a part of the grim and ghastly humor of this +extraordinary man, + + "Who left what little wealth he had + To found a home for fools or mad, + And prove by one satiric touch + No nation wanted it so much," + +to give nicknames, of which Cancerina was one, to the poor old wretches +he met in his walks, to whom he gave charity. + +Amongst Cancerina's sisters in misery were Stompanympha, Pullagowna, +Friterilla, Stumphantha.] + + + + +THE MAESTRO'S CONFESSION. + +(ANDREA DAL CASTAGNO--1460.) + + I. + + Threescore and ten! + I wish it were all to live again. + Doesn't the Scripture somewhere say, + By reason of strength men oft-times may + Even reach fourscore? Alack! who knows? + Ten sweet, long years of life! I would paint + Our Lady and many and many a saint, + And thereby win my soul's repose. + Yet, Fra Bernardo, you shake your head: + Has the leech once said + I must die? But he + Is only a fallible man, you see: + Now, if it had been our father the pope, + I should _know_ there was then no hope. + Were only I sure of a few kind years + More to be merry in, then my fears + I'd slip for a while, and turn and smile + At their hated reckonings: whence the need + Of squaring accounts for word and deed + Till the lease is up?... How? hear I right? + No, no! You could not have said, _To-night_! + + II. + + Ah, well! ah, well! + "Confess"--you tell me--"and be forgiven." + Is there no easier path to heaven? + Santa Maria! how can I tell + What, now for a score of years and more, + I've buried away in my heart so deep + That, howso tired I've been, I've kept + Eyes waking when near me another slept, + Lest I might mutter it in my sleep? + And now at the last to blab it clear! + How the women will shrink from my pictures! And worse + Will the men do--spit on my name, and curse; + But then up in heaven I shall not hear. + + I faint! I faint! + Quick, Fra Bernardo! The figure stands + There in the niche--my patron saint: + Put it within my trembling hands + Till they are steadier. So! + My brain + Whirled and grew dizzy with sudden pain, + Trying to span that gulf of years, + Fronting again those long laid fears. + _Confess_? Why, yes, if I must, I must. + Now good Sant' Andrea be my trust! + But fill me first, from that crystal flask, + Strong wine to strengthen me for my task. + (That thing is a gem of craftsmanship: + Just mark how its curvings fit the lip.) + + Ah, you, in your dreamy, tranquil life, + How can _you_ fathom the rage and strife, + The blinding envy, the burning smart, + That, worm-like, gnaws the Maestro's heart + When he sees another snatch the prize + Out from under his very eyes, + For which he would barter his soul? You see + I taught him his art from first to last: + Whatever he was he owed to me. + And then to be browbeat, overpassed, + Stealthily jeered behind the hand! + Why that was more than a saint could stand; + And I was no saint. And if my soul, + With a pride like Lucifer's, mocked control, + And goaded me on to madness, till + I lost all measure of good or ill, + Whose gift was it, pray? Oh, many a day + I've cursed it, yet whose is the blame, I say? + + _His name_? How strange that you question so, + When I'm sure I have told it o'er and o'er, + And why should you care to hear it more? + + III. + + Well, as I was saying, Domenico + Was wont of my skill to make such light, + That, seeing him go on a certain night + Out with his lute, I followed. Hot + From a war of words, I heeded not + Whither I went, till I heard him twang + A madrigal under the lattice where + Only the night before I sang. + --A double robbery! and I swear + 'Twas overmuch for the flesh to bear. + + _Don't ask me_. I knew not what I did, + But I hastened home with my rapier hid + Under my cloak, and the blade was wet. + Just open that cabinet there and see + The strange red rustiness on it yet. + + A calm that was dead as dead could be + Numbed me: I seized my chalks to trace-- + What think you?--_Judas Iscariot's face_! + I just had finished the scowl, no more, + When the shuffle of feet drew near my door + (We lived together, you know I said): + Then wide they flung it, and on the floor + Laid down Domenico--dead! + + Back swam my senses: a sickening pain + Tingled like lightning through my brain, + And ere the spasm of fear was broke, + The men who had borne him homeward spoke + Soothingly: "Some assassin's knife + Had taken the innocent artist's life-- + Wherefore, 'twere hard to say: all men + Were prone to have troubles now and then + The world knew naught of. Toward his friend + Florence stood waiting to extend + Tenderest dole." Then came my tears, + And I've been sorry these twenty years. + + Now, Fra Bernardo, you have my sin: + Do you think Saint Peter will let me in? + +MARGARET J. PRESTON. + + + + +MONSIEUR FOURNIER'S EXPERIMENT. + +"_La transfusion parait avoir eu quelque succes dans ces derniers +temps_." + +A dejected man, M. le docteur Maurice Fournier locked the door of his +physiological laboratory in the Place de l'École de Médecine, and walked +away toward his rooms in the rue Rossini. At two-and-thirty, rich, +brilliant, an ambitious graduate of l'École de Médecine, an enthusiastic +pupil of Claude Bernard's, a devoted lover of science, and above all of +physiology, yesterday he was without a care save to make his name great +among the great names of science--to win for himself a place in the +foremost rank of the followers of that mistress whom only he loved and +worshiped. To-day a word had swept away all his fondest hopes. +Trousseau, the keenest observer in all Paris, formerly his father's +friend, now no less his own, had kindly but firmly called his attention +to himself, and to the malady that had so imperceptibly and insidiously +fastened itself upon him that until the moment he never dreamed of its +approach. He had been too full of his work to think of himself. In any +other case he would scarcely have dared to dispute the opinion of the +highest medical authority in Europe; nevertheless in his own he began to +argue the matter: "But, my dear doctor, I am well." + +"No, my friend, you are not. You are thin and pale, and I noticed the +other night, when you came late to the meeting of the Institute, that +your breathing was quick and labored, and that the reading of your +excellent paper was frequently interrupted by a short cough." + +"That was nothing. I was hurried and excited, and I have been keeping +myself too closely to my work. A run to Dunkerque, a week of rest and +sea-air, will make all right again." + +But the great man shook his head gravely: "Not weeks, but years, of a +different life are needed. You must give up the laboratory altogether if +you want to live. Remember your mother's fate and your father's early +death--think of the deadly blight that fell so soon upon the rare beauty +of your sister. Some day you will realize your danger: realize it now, +in time. Close your laboratory, lock up your library, say adieu to +Paris, and lead the life of a traveler, an Arab, a Tartar. For the +present cease to dream of the future: strength is better than a +professorship in the College of France, and health more than the cross +of the Legion of Honor." + +Fournier was at first surprised and incredulous: he became convinced, +then alarmed. After some thought he was horribly dejected. At such a +time an Englishman becomes stolid, a German gives up utterly, an +American begins to live fast, since he may not live long; but he, being +a Frenchman and a Parisian, had alternations--first, the idea of +suicide, which means sleep; second, reaction, which is hopefulness. + +He chose to react, and did it promptly. A little time, and the rooms in +the Place de l'École de Médecine, opposite the bookseller's, displayed a +card stuck on the entrance-door with red wafers, "_à louer_," the hammer +of the auctioneer knocked down the comfortable furniture of the +apartments in the rue Rossini, while that of the carpenter nailed up the +well-beloved books in stout boxes, and the places that had known M. le +docteur knew him no more. None but those who have experienced the +pleasures of a life devoted to scientific research can understand how +hard all this was to him. The fulfillment of long-cherished desires, the +completion of elaborate systematic investigations, the realization of +pet theories, the establishment of new principles,--all, all abandoned +after so much toil and care. To struggle painfully through a desert +toward some beautiful height, which, at first dimly seen, has grown +clearer and clearer and always more splendid as he advances, and now at +its very foot to be turned back by a gloomy stream in whose depths lurks +death itself; to reach out his hand to the golden truth, fruit of much +winnowing of human knowledge, and as he grasps the precious grains to be +borne back by a grim spectre whose very breath is horrible with the +noisome odors of the tomb; to choose an arduous life, and learn to love +it because it has high aims, and then to give it up at once and +utterly!--alas, poor Fournier! + +"Nevertheless," he said as he turned his back on Paris, "even idle +wanderings are better than dying of consumption." + +Behold the student of science a wanderer--sailing his yacht among the +islands of the Mediterranean; making long journeys through the wild +mountain-regions and lovely valleys of untraveled Spain; stemming the +historic current of the Nile; among the nomad tribes, in Arab costume +riding an Arabian mare, as wild an Arab as the wildest of them; killing +tigers in India, tending stock in Australia, chasing buffaloes in +Western America,--everywhere avoiding civilization and courting Nature +and the company of men who either by birth or adoption were the children +of Nature. By day the winds of heaven kissed his cheeks and the sun +bronzed them: at night he often fell asleep wondering at the star-worlds +that gemmed the only canopy over his welcome blanket-couch. + +His treatment of consumption was certainly a rational one, and perhaps +the only one that is ever wholly successful. But, alas! few can take so +costly a prescription. + +How often had his studies led him to dissect the bodies of animals that +had died in their dens in the Jardin des Plantes! Often in the first +generation of cage-life, almost always in the second, invariably in the +third, they grow dull, listless, the fire goes out of their eyes, the +litheness out of their limbs: they forget to eat, they cough, and soon +they die. Of what? Consumption. Once our fathers were wild and lived in +the open air: they scarcely ever died, as we do, of consumption. +Crowded cities, bad drainage, overwork, want of healthful exercise, +stimulating food, dissipation,--these are human cage-life. If a man is +threatened with consumption, let him go back to the plains and forests +before it is too late. + +Certainly the treatment benefited Fournier. By and by it did more--it +cured him. The cough was forgotten, the cheeks filled out, the muscles +became hard as bundles of steel wire, his strength was prodigious: he +ate his food with a relish unknown in Paris, and slept like a child. + +Nevertheless, his mind, trained to habits of thought and observation, +was not idle. When a city was his home he had been a physiologist and +had studied _man_: he made the world his dwelling-place, and wandering +among the nations he became an ethnologist and began to study _men_. + +A distinguished professor, writing of the influence of climate upon man, +for the sake of illustration supposes the case of a human being whose +life should be prolonged through many ages, and who should pass that +life in journeying slowly from the arctic regions southward through the +varying climates of the earth to the eternal winter of the antarctic +zone. Always preserving his personal identity, this traveler would +undergo remarkable changes in form, feature and complexion, in habits +and modes of life, and in mental and moral attributes. Though he might +have been perfectly white at first, his skin would pass through every +degree of darkness until he reached the equator, when it would be black. +Proceeding onward, he would gradually become fairer, and on reaching the +end of his journey he would again be pale. His intellectual powers would +vary also, and with them the shape of his skull. His forehead, low and +retreating, would by degrees assume a nobler form as he advanced to more +genial climes, the facial angle reaching its maximum in the temperate +zone, only to gradually diminish as he journeyed toward the torrid, and +to again exhibit under the equator its original base development. As he +continued his journey toward the south pole he would undergo a second +time this series of progressing and retrograding changes, until at +length, as he laid his weary bones to rest in some icy cave in the drear +antarctics, + + Multum ille et terris jactatus et alto, + +he would be in every respect, save in age and a ripe experience, the +same as at the outset of his wanderings. + +Extravagant as this illustration may appear, the professor goes on to +say, philosophically, on the doctrine of the unity of the human race, it +is not so; for what else than such an imaginary prolonged individual +life is the life of the race? And what greater changes have occurred to +our imaginary traveler than have actually befallen the human family? + +The facts are patent. Under the equator is found the negro, in the +temperate zones the Indo-European, and toward the pole the Lapp and +Esquimaux. They are as different as the climates in which they dwell; +nevertheless, history, philology, the common traditions of the race, +revelation, point to their brotherhood. + +How is it that climate can bring about such modifications in man? Is it +possible that the sun, shining upon his face and his children's faces +for ages, can make their skin dark, and their hair crisp and curly, and +their foreheads low? Or that sunshine and shadow, spring-time and +autumn, summer's showers beating upon him and winter's snows falling +about his path, can make him fair and free? Or that the dreary night and +cheerless day of many changeless arctic years can make him short and fat +and stolid as a seal? Surely not. These avail much; but other +influences, indirect and obscure in their workings, but not the less +essentially climatic, are required. Food, raiment, shelter, occupation, +amusement, influences that tell upon the very citadel and stronghold of +life--and all in their very nature climatic, since they are controlled +and modified by climate--are the means by which such changes are +effected. The savage living in the open air, not trammeled with much +clothing, anointing his skin with oil, eating uncooked food, delighting +in the chase and in battle, and living thus because his surroundings +indicate it, becomes swart and athletic, fierce, cunning and +cruel--takes ethnologically the lowest place. Of literature, science, +art, he knows nothing: for him will is justice, fear law, some miserable +fetich God. Still, in his nature lie dormant all the capabilities of the +noblest manhood, awaiting only favorable surroundings to call them into +glorious being. It might shock the salt of the earth to reflect that +some centuries of life among them and their fair descendants would make +him like them. + +The arctic savage clad in furs and eating blubber does not differ +essentially from his brother of the tropics. So much of his food is +necessarily converted into heat that he cannot afford to lead so active +a life; but he also, like him of the tropics, partakes with his +surroundings in color. The one, living amid snowclad scenery, where the +sparse vegetation is gray and grayish-green, and the birds and animals +almost as white as the snow over which they wander, is pale, etiolated. +The other, under a vertical sun, surrounded by a lush and lusty growth, +whose flowers for variety and intensity of color are beyond description, +and in which birds of brightest plumage and black and tawny beasts make +their home, has the most marked supply of pigment--is dark-hued, black, +in short a negro. Between these two extremes is the typical man, fair of +face, with expanded brow and wavy hair, well fed, well clad, well +housed, wresting from Nature her hidden things and making her mightiest +forces the workers of his will; heaping together knowledge, cherishing +art, reverencing justice, worshiping God. How startling the contrast +between brothers! + +Such changes do not take place in a few generations. For their +completion hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years must elapse. The +descendants of the blacks who were carried from Africa to America as +slaves two centuries and a half ago, save where their color has been +modified by a mixed parentage, are still black. Already the influence +of new climatic surroundings and of association has wrought great +changes upon them: they are no longer savages. But their complexion is +as dark as that of their kidnapped forefathers. Their original physical +condition remains almost unaltered, and with it many mental +characteristics: their love of display and of bright colors, their +fondness for tune and the power of music to move them, their weird and +fantastic belief in ghosts and spirits, in signs, omens and charms, and +many other traits, still bear witness to their savage origin. But even +these are fading away, and these men are slowly but not the less surely +becoming civilized and _white_. + +The point of departure for every structural change in a living organism +lies in the apparatus by which nutrition is maintained; and this in the +higher classes is the blood. Most complex and wonderful of fluids, it +contains in unexplained and inscrutable combination salts of iron, lime, +soda and potassa, with water, oil, albumen, paraglobulin and fibrinogen, +which united form fibrine--in fact, at times, some part of everything we +eat and all that goes to form our bodies, which it everywhere permeates, +vitalizes and sustains. Borne in countless numbers in its ever-ebbing +and returning streams are little disks, flattened, bi-concave, not +larger in man than one-three-thousandth of an inch in diameter, called +red corpuscles, whose part it is to carry from the lungs to the tissues +pure oxygen, without which the fire called life cannot be sustained, and +back from the tissues to the lungs carbonic acid, one of the products of +that fire; and larger, yet marvelously small, bodies called leucocytes +or white corpuscles, whose precise origin and use to this day, in spite +of all the labor that has been spent upon their study, remain unknown. +But that which makes the blood wonderful above all other fluids is its +vitality. Our common expression, "life's blood," is no idle phrase. The +blood is indeed the very throne of life. If its springs are pure and +bountiful, if its currents flow strong and free, muscle, bone and brain +grow in symmetry and power, and there is cunning to devise and the +strong right arm to execute. But if it be thin and poor, and its +circulation feeble and uncertain, the will flags, the mind is weak and +vacillating, the muscles grow puny, and the man becomes an unresisting +prey to disease and circumstance. If it escape through a wound, strength +ebbs with it, until at length life itself flows out with the unchecked +crimson stream. Thus, then, by acting upon the blood, climate has +wrought and is working such changes upon man. But why are +constantly-acting causes so slow in producing their effects? How is it +that countless generations must pass away before purely climatic causes, +potent as they are, begin to manifest themselves in physical changes in +the races of men exposed to them? + +Fournier, physiologist, as I have said, by the education of the schools, +but by the broader education of his travels sociologist and ethnologist, +devoted himself again to science, and framed this hypothesis: _Climatic +influences, acting upon man, bring about physical changes exceedingly +slowly, because they are resisted by an inveterate habit of +assimilation. This habit pertains either to the blood or the tissues, +possibly to both, probably to the blood alone_. + +To establish an hypothesis experiment is necessary. Physiology is a +science of experiment. Hence the frequent uncertainty of its results, +since no two observers conduct an experiment in exactly the same +manner--certainly no two ever institute it under precisely the same +conditions. Nevertheless, let us not decry science. Out of much +searching after truth comes the finding of truth--after long groping in +darkness one comes upon a ray of light. + +An experiment was necessary. To the ingenious mind of Fournier an +elaborate one occurred. If he could perform it, not only would his +hypothesis be established and confirmed beyond all cavil, but a, field +of scientific research also be opened such as was yet undreamed of. +However, for this experiment subjects were needed. Brutes, beasts of the +field? Not so: that were easy to achieve. Human beings, two living, +healthy men, one white, one black, were the requirements. Impossible! +The experiment could never be performed: its requirements were +unattainable. O tempora! O mores! Alas, for the degeneracy of the age! +In the days of the Roman emperors men were fed, literally fed, to wild +beasts in the arena--Gauls, Scythians, Nubians, even Roman freedmen when +barbarians were scarce. This to amuse the populace alone. Frightful +waste of life! In India, a thousand lives thrown away in a day under the +wheels of Juggernaut; in Europe, tens of thousands to gratify the +imperious wills of grasping monarchs; in America, hundreds to sate the +greed of railroad corporations. And now not two men to be had for an +experiment of untold value to science, that would scarcely endanger life +in one of them, and in the other would necessitate only the merest +scratch! To what are we coming? No one complains that tattooed heads are +going out of fashion--that the king of the Cannibal Isles no longer +flatters a ship's master by inquiring which head of all his subjects is +ornamented most to his fancy, and the next day sending him that head as +a souvenir of his visit to the anthropophagic shores. It is well that +the custom is dead. But is there not danger of drifting too far even +toward the shore of compassion? May it not be that there is something +wrong with the bowels of mercy when criminals are executed barbarously, +while science needs their lives, or at least an insight into the method +of their dying; when precise examination of the manner of nerve and +blood supply to the organs of a superannuated horse is heavily finable; +when charitable but perchance too enthusiastic societies for the +prevention of cruelty to animals push their earnestness even to +interference with scientific researches, because, forsooth! they +jeopardize the lives of rabbits, guinea-pigs and dogs? The legend _Cave +canem_ bears a deeper meaning now than it did in the inlaid pavements +of Pompeian vestibules. We dare not trample it under foot. + +Five years passed, and with restored health back came the old desires in +redoubled force. Fournier longed to return to civilization and to work. +The life that had been so delightful while it did him good became +utterly unbearable when he had reaped its full benefit. I am tempted to +quote a line about Europe and Cathay, but refrain: it will recur to the +reader. He burned to renew the labors he had abandoned, to take up again +the work he had laid down to do battle with disease, now that disease +was vanquished. Thus the year 1863 found him in the city of Charleston, +homeward bound in his journey around the world. + +While still in the wilds west of the Mississippi he could have shaped +his course northward and readily proceeded directly by steamer from New +York to Europe. But a determined purpose led him to choose a different +course, though he was well aware that it would involve indefinite delay +in reaching Paris, and great personal risk. The life he had been leading +made him think lightly of danger, and years would be well spent if he +could accomplish the plans that induced him to go into the disorganized +country of the South. + +He straightway connected himself with the army as surgeon, and solicited +a place at the front. He wanted active service. In this he was +disappointed. Charleston, blockaded and beseiged, was in a state of +military inaction. Save the occasional exchange of shot and shell at +long range between the works on shore and those which the Unionists had +erected and held upon the neighboring islands and marshes, nothing was +done, and for nearly a year Fournier experienced the irksomeness of +routine duty in a wretchedly arranged and appointed military hospital. +Nevertheless, the time was not wholly wasted. From a planter fleeing +from the anarchy of civil war he procured a native African slave, one of +the shipload brought over a few years before in the Wanderer, the last +slave-ship that put into an American harbor. This man he made his +body-servant and kept always near him, partly to study him, but chiefly +to secure his complete mental and moral thraldom. An almost unqualified +savage, Fournier avoided systematiclly everything that would tend to +civilize him. He taught him many things that were convenient in his +higher mode of life, and taught him well, but of the great principles of +civilization he strove to keep him in ignorance; and more, he so +confused and distorted the few gleams of light that had reached that +darkened soul that they made its gloom only the more hideous and +profound. He wanted a man altogether savage, mentally, morally and +physically. Instead of teaching him English or French, he learned from +him many words of his own rude native tongue, and communicated with him +as much as possible in that alone, aided by gesture, in which, like all +Frenchmen, he possessed marvelous facility of expression. In the +unexplored back-country of Africa the negro had been a prince, and +Fournier bade him look forward to the time when he would return and +rule. He always addressed him by his African name and title in his own +tongue. He took him into the wards of his hospital, and taught him to be +useful at surgical operations and to care for the instruments, that he +might become familiar with them and with the sight of blood, which at +first maddened him. Once he gave him a drug that made his head throb, +and then bled him, with almost instant relief. He affected an interest +in the amulets which hung at his neck, and besought him to give him one +to wear. He committed to his care, with expressions of the greatest +solicitude, a strong box, brass bound and carefully locked, which he +told him contained his god, a most potent and cruel deity, who would, +however, when it pleased him, give back the life of a dead man for +_blood_. This box contained a silver cup, with a thermometer fixed in +its side; a glass syringe holding about a third of a pint; a large +curved needle perforated in its length like a tube, sharp at one end, at +the other expanded to fit accurately the nozzle of the syringe; a +little strainer also fitting the syringe; and last, a small bundle of +wires with a handle like an egg-beater. + +For the rest, this savage was crooked, ill-shapen and hideous. His skin +was as black as night; his head small, the face immensely +disproportionate to the cranium; his jaws massive and armed with +glittering white teeth filed to points; his cheeks full, his nose flat, +his eyes little, deep-set, restless, wicked. The usage he received from +his new master was so different from his former experience with white +men, and so in accord with his own undisciplined nature, that it called +forth all the sympathies of his character. He soon loved the Frenchman +with an intensity of affection almost incomprehensible. It is no +exaggeration to say that he would have willingly laid down his life to +gratify his master's slightest wish. The latter's knowledge was to him +so comprehensive, his power so boundless and his will so imperious and +inflexible, that he feared and worshiped him as a god. + +Fournier looked upon his monster with satisfaction, and longed for a +battle. His wish was at last gratified. On the Fourth of July, 1864, an +engagement took place three miles north-west of Legaréville, near the +North Edisto River. A force of Union soldiery had been assembled from +the Sea Islands and from Florida, massed on Seabrook Island, and pushed +thence up into South Carolina. The object of this expedition was +unknown; indeed, as nothing whatever was accomplished, the strategy of +it remains to this day unexplained. However, forewarned is forearmed. +Every movement was watched and reported by the rebel scouts; all the +troops that could be spared from Charleston were sent out to oppose the +invaders; roads were obstructed; bridges were destroyed, batteries +erected in strong positions, everything prepared to impede their +progress. Our story needs not that we should dwell upon the sufferings +of the Union soldiers on that futile expedition, from the narrow, dusty +roads, the frequent scarcity of water, the intense heat. With infinite +fatigue and peril they advanced only five or six miles in a day's +march. Many died of sunstroke, and many fell by the way utterly +exhausted. There was occasional skirmishing; but one actual battle. To +that the troops gave the name of "the battle of Bloody Bridge." Picture +a slightly undulating country covered with thick low forest; a narrow +road that by an open plank bridge crosses a wide, sluggish stream with +marshy banks, and curves beyond abruptly to the right to avoid a low, +steep hill facing the bridge; crowning this hill an earth-work, rude to +be sure, but steep, sodded, almost impregnable to men without artillery +to play upon it; within, two cannon, for which there is plenty of +ammunition, and six hundred Confederate soldiers, fresh, eager, +determined; on the road in front of the battery, but just out of range +of its guns, the Union forces halting under arms, the leaders anxious +and discouraged, the men exhausted, careworn, wondering what is to be +done next, heartily sick of it all, yet willing to do their best; in the +thicket on both sides the road, not sheltered, only covered, within +pistol-shot of the enemy, six hundred United States soldiers, a +Massachusetts colored regiment, one of the first recruited, without +cannon, over-marched, overheated, a forlorn hope, _sent forward to take +the battery_! These men, stealthily assembling there among the trees and +bushes, are ready. Not one of them carries a pound of superfluous +weight. Their rifles with fixed bayonets, a handful of cartridges, a +canteen of water, are enough. They wear flannel shirts and blue +trowsers; numbers are bareheaded, some have cut off the sleeves of their +shirts: they know there is work before them. Many kneel in prayer; +comrades exchange messages to loved ones at home, and give each other +little keepsakes--the rings they wore or brier pipes carved over with +the names of coast battles; others--perhaps they have no loved +ones--look to the locks of their pieces and await impatiently the signal +to advance. The officers--white men, most of them Boston society +fellows, old Harvard boys who once thought a six-mile pull or a long +innings at cricket on a hot day hard work, and knew no more of military +tactics than the Lancers--move about among them, speaking to this one +and to that one, calling each by name, jesting quietly with one, +encouraging another, praising a third, endeavoring to inspire in all a +hope which they dare not feel themselves. + +But hark! The signal to move. Quickly they form in the road, and with a +shout advance at a run, their dusky faces glistening in that summer sun +and their manly hearts beating bravely in the very jaws of death. Now +the bridge trembles beneath their steady tread: the foremost are at the +hill, yet no sign of life in the battery. Only the smooth green bank, +the wretched flag in the distance, and those guns charged with death +looking grimly down upon them and waiting. On they come, nearer and +nearer, and now some are on the hill and begin to climb the steep that +forms the defence, slowly and with difficulty, using at times their +rifles as aids like alpenstocks. Not a word is spoken. It is hard to +understand how so many men can move with so little noise. The silence is +that which precedes all dreadful noises. It is ominous, terrible. +Scarcely twenty feet more, and the foremost will reach the rampart. +Haste! haste! The day is won! + +Suddenly a figure in gray leaps upon the breastwork: he waves his sword, +utters a short quick word of command, and disappears. It is enough. The +sleeping battery awakes. The silence becomes hideous uproar. The smooth +green line of the sod against the sky is lined with marksmen, and in an +instant fringed with fire. Then the cannon bellow and the breezeless air +is dense with smoke. The attacking column hesitates, trembles, makes a +useless effort to advance, and then falls back beyond the bridge. The +officers endeavor to rally their men and renew the attack at once, but +in vain: flesh and blood cannot stand in such a storm. Nevertheless, the +brave fellows--God bless their memory!--halt at length, and form and +charge once more. And so again and again and again; every time in vain +and with new losses, until at last they cannot rally, but retreat, +broken and bleeding, to the main body of the expedition, carrying with +them such of the wounded and dead as they can snatch from under the fire +of the rebel riflemen. Such was the battle of Bloody Bridge, and well +was it named. Five times that gallant regiment charged the battery, and +when the smoke of battle cleared away the sun shone down upon a piteous +sight--blood dyeing the green of that sodded escarp--blood in great +clots upon the rocks and stumps of the rugged hill below--blood poured +plenteously upon the dusty road, making it horrible with purple +mire--blood staining the bridge and gathering in little pools upon the +planks, and dripping slowly down through the cracks between them into +the sluggish stream, where it floated with the water in great red +clouds, toward which creatures dwelling in slimy depths below came up +lazily, but when they tasted it became furious and fought among +themselves like demons--blood drying in hideous networks and arabesques +upon the railing of the bridge--blood upon the fences, blood upon the +trembling leaves of the bushes by the wayside--blood everywhere! And +everywhere the upturned faces and torn bodies of men who had dared to do +their duty and to die: side by side the white, who led and the black who +followed--all set and motionless, but all wearing the same expression of +brave but hopeless determination. That was a brave charge at Balaklava, +but, trust me, there have been Balaklavas that are yet unsung. + +So the expedition went back, and its brigades were redistributed to the +Sea Islands and to Florida; but why it was ever sent out, and why that +regiment was sent forward to take the battery without artillery and +without reinforcements, God, who knoweth all things, only knows. And God +alone knows why there must be wars and rumors of wars, and why men made +in his image must tear each other like maddened beasts. + +In this battle, heavy as the losses were, the Confederates took but one +prisoner. At the third charge a tall, broad-shouldered captain, who +seemed, like another son of Thetis, almost invulnerable, darted +impetuously ahead of his men and reached the summit of the defence. +Useless bravery! In an instant a volley point blank swept away the +charging men behind him, and a gunner's sabrethrust bore him to the +ground within the works, where he lay stunned and bleeding beside the +gun he had striven so hard to take. The man who had captured him, wild +with excitement and maddened with the powder that blackened him and the +hot blood which jetted upon him, sprang down, spat upon him, spurned him +with his foot, and would have dashed out his brains with the heavy hilt +of his clubbed sword had not a strong hand grasped his uplifted wrist. + +It was Fournier, who had watched the battle with an interest as intense +as that of the most ardent Southerner in the battery, though widely +different in character. His interest was that of the naturalist who +stands by eager and curious to see a rustic entrap some _rara avis_ that +he desires to study, to use for his experiment. Better for the bird: it +can suffer and die. Afterward what matter whether it stand neatly +stuffed and mounted, a voiceless worshiper, in some glass mausoleum, or +slowly moulder in a fence corner until its feathers are wafted far and +wide, and only a little tuft of greener grass remains to its memory? As +our naturalist's game was nobler and destined for more important study, +so it was capable of lifelong suffering more subtle and intense. Perhaps +Fournier had not fully considered, in his eagerness to prove his +hypothesis, the dangers to the subjects of his experiment. Perhaps his +mind was so intent upon the physical aspect of the questions that he had +overlooked some of the intellectual and moral elements involved in the +problem, and did not realize the enormities that would result should he +succeed. On the other hand, perhaps he saw them, realized them fully, +and was the more deeply fascinated with the research because of its +leading into such gloomy and mysterious regions of speculation. Let us +do him justice. Science was his god, and this idolater was willing to +endure any labor and privation and to assume any responsibility in her +service. Would that more who worship a greater God were as devoted! + +He was a physiologist, and was simply engaged in an experimental +investigation, yet in its progress he had already uncivilized a man +whose eyes were beginning dimly to see the truth, had poisoned his mind +with lies, and had hurled him into depths of Plutonian ignorance +inconceivably more profound than his original estate; and now he was +about to debase another fellow-creature of his own race, to tamper with +his manhood, to confuse his identity, to render him among his own +kindred and people perhaps tabooed, ostracised, despised--perhaps an +object of pity. If he should succeed? Surely he had not come thus near +success to suffer his splendid Yankee captain to be brained there before +his eyes. Like a hawk he had watched every incident of the fight, and +was on the alert to act the part of surgeon toward any who might be +either wounded in the battery or taken prisoner. He had even resolved, +in case of the capture of the place, to represent his peculiar position +to the United States officer in command, and to beg of him permission to +make his experiment upon a wounded rebel. + +The gunner turned fiercely upon him, but dropped his arm and sheathed +his sabre at his question, and then walked back to his gun abashed, for +he was, after all, a brave and chivalrous man. + +Fournier simply asked: "Do Confederate soldiers _murder_ prisoners of +war?" And added, "He is a wounded man--leave him to me." + +Then he knelt down beside him and examined his wound, and though he +strove to be calm he trembled with excitement as he tore open the blue +blouse and felt the warm blood welling over his fingers. It was a simple +wound through the fleshy part of the shoulder: a strand of saddler's +silk and a few strips of sticking-plaster would have sufficed to dress +it, but the Frenchman smiled when he wiped away the clots and saw the +blood spurting from two or three small divided arteries. + +Then he called his African, and they carried the wounded man back to a +tent, and laid him on a bed of moss and cypress boughs, and left him +there to bleed, while he went out into the air, and walked about, and +tossed his hat and shouted with excitement like a madman. But the battle +raged, and the gunners charged their guns and fired, and charged and +fired again, and the men along the breastwork grew furious with the +slaughter and the fiery draughts they took from their canteens through +lips blackened with powder and defiled with grease and shreds of +cartridge-paper; and no one noticed the doctor's mad conduct nor the +savage standing guard before the tent; nor did any other save those two +in the whole battery--no, not even the gunner who had captured him--give +a thought to the prisoner who lay bleeding there, until the battle was +over. + +And this prisoner, what of him? Any one, looking upon him as he lay upon +the cypress boughs, would have known him to be thoroughbred. Everything +about him proclaimed it. His face, manly but gentle, his figure, great +in stature and strength, yet graceful in outline like a Grecian god, the +very dress and accoutrements he wore, which were neat, strong, +expensive, but without ornament, showed him to be a gentleman. And +Robert Shirley was a gentleman. Probably no man in all the States could +have been found who would have presented a greater contrast to the man +standing guard outside the tent than this man who lay within it; and for +that reason none who would have been so welcome to Fournier. As the one +was a pure savage, the other was the realization of the most illustrious +enlightenment; the one fierce, cunning, undisciplined, the other gentle, +frank, considerate; as the one was hideous, ill-formed and black as +night, so the other was radiant with manly beauty and fair as the +morning. Each among his own people sprang from noble stock; the one a +prince, the other the descendant of the purest Puritan race, which knew +among its own divines and judges brave captains, and farther back a +governor of the colony. But the guard and his people were at the foot of +the scale, the guarded at the top. The blood flowing out upon the +cypress bed was the best blood of America. It was blue blood and brave +blood. Generation after generation it had flowed in the veins of fair +women and noble men, and had never known dishonor. Yet Fournier let it +flow. More, he was delighted that it continued to flow. + +Presently, however, he sobered down, and began to prepare for his work. +He placed a large caldron of water over a fire; he brought basins, +towels and his case of surgical instruments, and placed them in the, +tent, and with them the case which he had taught the African to believe +contained his god. While thus busied he did not neglect the subject of +his experiment. His watchful eye noted everything--the mass, of clots +growing like a great crimson fungus under the wounded shoulder, the +deadly pallor, the dark circles forming around the sunken eyes, the +blanched lips, the transparent nostrils, the slow, deep respiration. +From time to time he felt the wounded man's pulse and counted it +carefully. _Ninety_--he went out again into the open air; _one +hundred_--"The loss of blood tells," he muttered, and began to rearrange +his appliances and busy himself uneasily with them; _one hundred and +thirty beats to the minute _--"He is failing too fast: I must stop this +bleeding" said the experimenter. Then he cleansed the wound, and tied +the arteries, and bound it up. But the loss of blood had been so great +that the heart fluttered wildly and feebly in its efforts to contract +upon its diminished contents, and Fournier, anxious, and pale himself +almost as his victim, trembled when his finger felt in vain for the +bleeding artery and caught only a faint tremulous thrill, so feeble that +he scarcely knew whether the heart was beating at all or not. In terror +he threw the ends of the little tent and fanned him, and moistened his +lips, and gave him brandy, and hastened to begin the experiment for +which he had waited so long and for which both subjects were at last +ready. + +He told his savage that the Yankee was dying, but that he had communed +with his god, who would let him live if blood was given in return. Then +he reminded him of the time when he lost blood, and that it had done him +no harm. The African, trained for this duty with so much care, did not +fail him, but bared his arm and gave the blood. The god was brought +forth and caught it, and the sacrifice began. As the silver, bowl +floated in a basin of water so warm that the thermometer in its side +marked ninety-eight degrees of Fahrenheit, Fournier stirred the blood +flowing into it quickly with the bundle of wires, to collect the fibrine +and prevent the formation of clots; he then drew it into the syringe +through the strainer, and forced it through the perforated needle, which +he had previously thrust into a large vein in Shirley's arm, carefully +avoiding the introduction of the slightest bubble of air. Time after +time he filled his syringe and emptied it into the veins of the wounded +man, until at length he saw signs of reaction. The color came, the +breathing became more natural, the pulse became slower, fuller, regular. +By and by he moved, sighed, opened his eyes and spoke. + +He asked a question: "What has happened?" + +While he had been lying there much had happened. Life and death had +battled over him, and life had triumphed. When he recovered from the +effects of his fall and found himself bleeding, he tried to rise and +stanch the flow, but, already exhausted, he fell back almost fainting +from the effort. He called repeatedly for help, but his only reply was +the hideous face of his guard, silently leering at him for a moment, +then disappearing without a word, At last it occurred to him that he had +been left there to die, and he roused all his energies to his aid. How +we strive for our lives! But Shirley accomplished nothing, he could not +even raise his hand to the bleeding shoulder, with every effort the +blood flowed more copiously. His mind was rapidly becoming benumbed like +his body, which shivered as though it were mid winter. Darkness came +over his eyes, and as he listened to the din of the battle he fell into +a dreamy state that soon passed into seeming unconsciousness again. +Nevertheless, while the doctor came and went and did his work, and the +savage scowled at him, yet gave his life's blood to save him, though he +lay like a dead man and saw them not, nor heard them, nor even felt the +needle in his flesh, his mind was not idle. Strange doubts and fears, +wild longings and regrets, sweet thoughts of long-forgotten happiness, +and fair visions of the future, busied his brain. Memory unrolled her +scroll and breathed upon the letters of his story that lapse of time and +press of circumstance had made dim, till they grew clear, and with +himself he lived his life again, and nothing was lost out of it or +forgotten. There was his mother's face again, with the old, old loving +smile upon her lips and the tender mother-love in the depths of her +beautiful blue eyes--lips that had so oven kissed away his childish +tears, and had taught him to say at evening, "Our Father" and "Now I lay +me down to sleep," eyes that had never looked upon him without something +of the heavenly light of which they were now so full. There before him, +bright and clear as ever, were the scenes of his boyhood--the +school-forms defaced with many a rude cutting of names and dates, the +master knitting his shaggy brows and tapping meaningly with his ruler +upon the awful desk while some white haired urchin floundered through an +ill-learned task and his classmates tittered at his blunders. Dear old +classmates! How their faces shone and gladdened as they chased the +bounding football! How merrily they flushed and glowed when the clear +frosty air of the Northern winter quivered with the ring of their skates +upon the hard ice! How soberly side by side they solved problems and +looked up _sesquipedalia verba_ in big lexicons! And how happily the +late evening hours wore away as they read _Ivanhoe_ and the _Leather +Stocking Tales_ by the fireside with shellbarks and pippins! + +Then the college days flew by with all their romance and delight. Again +there were bells ringing to morning prayers, recitations and lectures, +examinations and prizes, speeches and medals, and the glorious +friendships, pure, earnest, almost holy. Would there were more such +friendships in the outer, wider world! Commencement with its "pomp and +circumstance," its tedious ceremony and scholarly display, its friends +from home--mothers, sisters, sweethearts, all bright eyes and fond +hearts, its music and flowers, its caps, gowns, dress-coats and +"spreads," and, last and worst of all, its sorrowful "good-byes," some +of them, alas! for ever! Once more he trembled as he rose to make his +commencement speech, but slowly, as he went on, his voice grew steady +and his manner calmer, for, lad as he was, and tyro at "orations," he +was in earnest. "May my light hand forget its cunning, O my brother! may +my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, O ye oppressed! if ever there +comes to me an opportunity to help you win your way to freedom and I +fail you!" He, the aristocrat of his class, had chosen to speak "Against +Caste," and though he spoke with the enthusiasm of an untried man, it +was with devoted honesty of purpose, of which his earnestness was +witness, and of which his future was to give ample proof. Again in +vision he stood before that assembly and spoke for the lowly and +oppressed. "Let every man have place and honor as he proves himself +worthy. Make the way clear for all." + +Through the bewilderment of applause that greeted him as he finished he +saw only the glad, smiling face of Alice Wentworth nodding approval of +the rest, hundreds though they were, he saw nothing. Her congratulation +was enough. + +Then came tenderer scenes, and Alice Wentworth was to be his wife. +Another change, and he is in the midst of ruder scenes. There is war, +civil war, and he is a soldier, once more he seems to be in Virginia, +and there are marches and counter-marches, camps and barracks, battles +and retreats, and all the great and little miseries of long campaigns. +The silver leaflets of a major are exchanged for the golden eagles of a +colonel, and all the time, amid sterner duties, he finds time to write +to Alice Wentworth, and never a mail comes into camp but he is sure of +letters dated 'Home' and full of words that make him hopeful and brave, +"'Home!' Yes hers and mine too, if home's where the heart is!'" he +thinks, and he loves her more dearly every day. + +Negro troops are raised, and, true to his principles and to himself, he +resigns his commission to take a lower rank in a colored regiment. Now +the scenes grow dim, confused sounds far off disturb him, low music, +familiar yet strange, now distant, now at his very ear, attracts him, a +weird, shadowy mist encloses him, concealing even the things which were +visible to the mind's eye, and memory and thought have almost ceased. +Yet while all else fades away, clear and beautiful before him are two +faces that cannot be forgotten--his mother's face, and that other, which +he loves, if that can be, even more. Thus, with the 'Our Father' not on +his lips, but fixed in his mind, he feels himself drifting +away--drifting away like a boat that has broken its moorings and drifts +out with the ebbing tide--whither? + +But the rich, warm, lusty blood of the African quickly does its work. +The heart, which had almost ceased to beat, because there was not blood +enough for it to contract upon, reacted to the stimulus, and as it +revived and sent the new life pulsating through all the body the whole +man revived, and again: + +The fever called _living_ burned in his brain. + +Fournier, under one pretext or another, but really by the force of his +relentless will, kept his victim by him for years after their escape +from the South. He noted from time to time certain curious changes that +took place in his physical nature, and recorded his observations with +scientific precision in a book kept for the purpose, for the renewal of +life had entailed results of an extraordinary character, as the reader +may have already anticipated. At length he wrote 'My hypothesis is +verified, it has become a theory. My theory is proved, it is a +physiological law. _Climatic influences, acting upon man, bring about +physical changes exceedingly slowly, because they are resisted by an +inveterate habit of assimilation which pertains to the blood._' + +That day Shirley was free. His rescuer had finished his experiment. + +Alice Wentworth had never believed that her lover was dead. She had +heard all with a troubled heart, but while his distant kinsmen, who were +heirs-at-law, put on the deepest mourning and grew impatient of the +law's delay, she simply said, "I will wait until there is some proof +before I give him up! Proof! proof! Shall I be quicker than the law to +give up every hope?" And in her heart she said, "He is not dead." Even +when years had passed and the war was over, and her agent had searched +everywhere and found no trace of him, she did not cease to hope that he +would yet appear. So, when at length a letter came, it was welcome and +expected. Not surprise but joy made her start and tremble as the old +familiar superscription met her eyes. + +Such a letter!--filled with the spirit of his love, breathing in every +word the tender, passionate devotion of an earlier day, and yet so sad. +Tears dropped down through her smiles of joy and blurred the lines she +read at first, but smiles and tears alike ceased as she read on. He had +written many, many times, but he knew she had not got his letters. He +had been a prisoner--not only prisoner of war, but afterward prisoner to +a man whose will was iron. It could hardly be explained. This man had +not only saved his life, but he had also rescued him from the horrors of +a Southern prison--would God he had let him die!--and they had been +living together in a ranch in a far off Mexican valley. + +Then the letter went on: + +"In my heart I am unchanged; my love for you is ever the same; yet I am +no longer the Robert Shirley whom you knew. That has come upon me which +will separate me from you for ever: I cannot ask you now to be my wife. +You are free. It is through no fault of mine. It is my burden, the price +of life, and I must bear it. God bless you and give you all happiness! + +"ROBERT SHIRLEY:" + +When she had read it all she bowed her head and wept again, and the face +that had grown more and more beautiful with the years of waiting was +radiant. Who can fathom the depths of a woman's love? Who can follow the +subtle workings of a woman's thought? Who can comprehend a woman's +boundless faith? Her course was clear. If misfortune had befallen him, +if he were maimed, disfigured, crazed, even if he were loathsome to her +eyes, she loved him, and she must see him: she would see him and speak +to him, and love him still, even if she could not be his wife. What +would she have done if she could have guessed the truth? As it was, she +wrote upon her card, "If you love me, come to me," and sent it to him. +And in answer to the summons he stood before her--not disfigured, not +maimed, not crazed, not loathsome in any way, yet irrevocably separated +from her for Dr. Fournier's experiment had succeeded, and Robert Shirley +was a mulatto! + +CORNELIUS DEWEES. + + + + +A VISIT TO THE KING OF AURORA. + +(FROM THE GERMAN OF THEODORE KIRSCHOFF.) + + +On the Oregon and California Railroad, twenty-eight miles south of the +city of Portland in Oregon, lies the German colony of Aurora, a +communist settlement under the direction of Doctor William Keil. In +September, 1871, I made a second journey from San Francisco to Oregon, +on which occasion I found both time and opportunity to carry out a +long-cherished desire to visit this colony, already famous throughout +all Oregon, and to make the acquaintance of the still more famous +doctor, the so-called "king of Aurora." During the years in which I had +formerly resided in Oregon, and especially on this last journey thither, +I had frequently heard this settlement and its autocrat spoken of, and +had been told the strangest stories as to the government of its +self-made potentate. All reports agreed in stating that "Dutchtown," the +generic appellation of German colonies among Americans, was an example +to all settlements, and was distinguished above any other place in +Oregon for order and prosperity. The hotel of "Dutchtown," which stands +on the old Overland stage-route, and is now a station on the Oregon and +California Railroad, has attained an enviable reputation, and is +regarded by all travelers as the best in the State; and as to the colony +itself, I heard nothing but praise. On the other hand, with regard to +Doctor Keil the strangest reports were in circulation. He had been +described to me in Portland as a most inaccessible person, showing +himself extremely reserved toward strangers, and declining to give them +the slightest satisfaction as to the interior management of the +prosperous community over which he reigned a sovereign prince. The +initiated maintained that this important personage had formerly been a +tailor in Germany. He was at once the spiritual and secular head of the +community: he solemnized marriages (much against his will, for, +according to the rules of the society, he was obliged to provide a +house for every newly-married couple); he was physician and preacher, +judge, law-giver, secretary of state, administrator, and unlimited and +irresponsible minister of finance to the colony; and held all the very +valuable landed property of the settlement, with the consent of the +colonists, in his own name; and while he certainly provided for his +voluntarily obedient subjects an excellent maintenance for life, he +reserved to himself the entire profits of the labor of all and the value +of the joint property, notwithstanding that the colony was established +on the broadest principles as a communist association. + +I had a great desire to see this original man--a kindred spirit of the +renowned Mormon leader, Brigham Young--with my own eyes, and, so to +speak, to visit the lion in his den. From Portland, where I was staying, +the colony was easily accessible by rail, and before leaving I made the +acquaintance of a. German life-insurance agent of a Chicago +company--Körner by name--who, like myself, wished to visit Aurora, and +in whom I found a very agreeable traveling companion. He had procured in +Portland letters of introduction to Doctor Keil, and had conceived the +bold plan of doing a stroke of business in life insurance with him; +indeed, his main object in going to Aurora was to induce the doctor to +insure the lives of the entire colony--that is to say, of all his +voluntary subjects--in the Chicago company, pay, as irresponsible +treasurer of the association, the legal premiums, and upon the +occurrence of a death pocket the amount of the policy. + +My fellow-traveler had great hopes of making the doctor see this project +in the light of an advantageous speculation, and accordingly provided +himself amply with the necessary tables of mortality and other +statistics. It had been carefully impressed upon us in Portland always +to address the _ci-devant_ tailor, now "king of Aurora," as "Doctor," of +which title he was extremely vain, and to treat him with all the +reverence which as sovereign republicans we could muster; otherwise he +would probably turn his back on us without ceremony. + +On a pleasant September morning the steam ferry-boat conveyed us from +Portland across the Willamette River to the dépôt of the Oregon and +California Railroad, and soon afterward we were rushing southward in the +train along the right shore of that stream--here as broad as the +Rhine--the rival of the mighty Columbia. After a pleasant and +interesting journey through giant forests and over fertile prairies, +some large, some small, embellished here and there with farms, villages +and orchards, we reached Oregon City, which lies in a romantic region +close to the Willamette: then leaving the river, we thundered on some +miles farther through the majestic primitive forest, and soon entered +upon a broad, wood-skirted prairie, over which here and there pretty +farm-houses and groves are scattered; and presently beheld, peeping out +from swelling hills and standing in the middle of a prosperous +settlement embowered in verdure, the slender white church-tower of +Aurora, and were at the end of our journey. + +Our first course after we left the cars was to the tavern, standing +close to the railroad on a little hill, whither the passengers hurried +for lunch. This so-called "hotel," the best known and most famous, as +has already been said, in all Oregon, I might compare to an +old-fashioned inn. The long table with its spotless table-cloth was +lavishly spread with genuine German dishes, excellently cooked, and we +were waited on by comely and neatly-dressed German girls; and though the +dinner would not perhaps compare with the same meal at the club-house of +the "San Francisco" I must confess that it was incomparably the best I +ever tasted in Oregon, in which region neither the cooks nor the bills +of fare are usually of the highest order. + +Dinner being over, we made inquiry for Doctor Keil, to whom we were now +ready to pay our respects. Our host pointed out to us the doctor's +dwelling-house, which looked, in the distance, like the premises of a +well-to-do Low-Dutch farmer; and after passing over a long stretch of +plank-road, we turned in the direction of the royal residence. On the +way we met several laborers just coming from the field, who looked as if +life went well with them--girls in short frocks with rake in hand, and +boys comfortably smoking their clay pipes--and received from all an +honest German greeting. Everything here had a German aspect--the houses +pleasantly shaded by foliage, the barns, stables and well-cultivated +fields, the flower and kitchen-gardens, the white church-steeple rising +from a green hill: nothing but the fences which enclose the fields +reminded us that we were in America. + +The doctor's residence was surrounded by a high white picket-fence: +stately, widespreading live-oaks shaded it, and the spacious courtyard +had a neat and carefully-kept aspect. Crowing cocks, and hens each with +her brood, were scratching and picking about, the geese cackled, and +several well-trained dogs gave us a noisy welcome. Upon our asking for +the doctor, a friendly German matron directed us to the orchard, whither +we immediately turned our steps. A really magnificent sight met our +eyes--thousands of trees, whose branches, covered with the finest fruit, +were so loaded that it had been necessary to place props under many of +them, lest they should break beneath the weight of their luscious +burden. + +Here we soon discovered the renowned doctor, in a toilette the very +opposite of regal, zealously engaged in gathering his apples. He was +standing on a high ladder, in his shirt sleeves, a cotton apron, a straw +hat, picking the rosy-cheeked fruit in a hand-basket. Several laborers +were busy under the trees assorting the gathered apples, and carefully +packing in boxes the choicest of them--really splendid specimens of this +fruit, which attains its utmost perfection in Oregon. As soon as the +doctor perceived us he came down from the ladder, and asked somewhat +sharply what our business there might be. My companion handed him the +letters of introduction he had brought with him, which the doctor read +attentively through: he then introduced my humble self as a literary man +and assistant editor of a well-known magazine, who had come to Oregon +for the special purpose of visiting Dr. Keil, and of inspecting his +colony, of which such favorable reports had reached us. Without waiting +for the doctor's reply, I asked him whether he were not a relative of +K----, the principal editor of the magazine to which I was attached. I +could scarcely, as it appeared, have hit upon a more opportune question, +for the doctor was evidently flattered, and became at once extremely +affable toward us. The relationship to which I had alluded he was +obliged unwillingly to disclaim. I learned from him that his name was +William Keil, and that he was born at Bleicherode in Prussian Saxony. He +now left the apple-gathering to his men, and offered to show us whatever +was interesting about the colony: as to the life-insurance project, he +said he would take some more convenient opportunity to speak with Mr. +Körner about it. + +The doctor, who after this showed himself somewhat loquacious, was a man +of agreeable appearance, perhaps of about sixty years of age, with white +hair, a broad high forehead and an intelligent countenance. Sound as a +nut, powerfully built, of vigorous constitution and with an air of +authority, he gave the idea of a man born to rule. He seemed to wish to +make a good impression on us, and I remarked several times in him a +searching side-glance, as though he were trying to read our thoughts. He +sustained the entire conversation himself, and it was somewhat difficult +to follow his meaning: he spoke in an unctuous, oratorical tone, with +extreme suavity, in very general terms, and evaded all direct questions. +When I had listened to him for ten minutes I was not one whit wiser than +before. His language was not remarkably choice, and he used liberally a +mixture of words half English, half German, as uneducated +German-Americans are apt to do. + +While we wandered through the orchard, the beauty and practical utility +of which astonished me, the doctor, gave us a lecture on colonization, +agriculture, gardening, horticulture, etc., which he flavored here and +there with pious reflections. He pointed out with pride that all this +was his own work, and described how he had transformed the wilderness +into a garden. In the year 1856 he came with forty followers to Oregon, +as a delegate from the parent association of Bethel in Missouri, in +order to found in the far West, then so little known, a branch colony. +At present the doctor is president both of Aurora and of the original +settlement at Bethel: the latter consists of about four hundred members, +the former of four hundred and ten. + +When he first came into this region he found the whole district now +owned by his flourishing colony covered with marsh and forest. Instead, +however, of establishing himself on the prairies lying farther south, in +the midst of foreign settlers, he preferred a home shared only with his +German brethren in the primitive woods; and here, having at that time +very small means, he obtained from the government, gratis, land enough +to provide homes for his colonists, and found in the timber a source of +capital, which he at once made productive. He next proceeded to build a +block-house as a defence against the Indians, who at that time were +hostile in Oregon: then he erected a saw-mill and cleared off the +timber, part of which he used to build houses for his colonists, and +with part opened an advantageous trade with his American neighbors, who, +living on the prairie, were soon entirely dependent on him for all their +timber. The land, once cleared, was soon cultivated and planted, with +orchards: the finer varieties of fruit he shipped for sale to Portland +and San Francisco, and from the sour apples he either made vinegar or +sold them to the older settlers, who very soon made themselves sick on +them. He then attended them in the character of physician, and cured +them of their ailments at a good round charge. This joke the good doctor +related with especial satisfaction. + +By degrees, the doctor continued to say, the number of colonists +increased; and his means and strength being thus enlarged, he +established a tannery, a factory, looms, flouring-mills, built more +houses for his colonists, cleared more land and drained the marshes, +increased his orchards, laid out new farms, gave some attention to +adornment, erected a church and school-houses, and purchased from the +American settlers in the neighborhood their best lands for a song. He +did everything systematically. He always assigned his colonists the sort +of labor that they appeared to him best fitted for, and each one found +the place best suited to his capabilities. If any one objected to doing +his will and obeying his orders, he was driven out of the colony, for he +would endure no opposition. He made the best leather, the best hams and +gathered the best crops in all Oregon. The possessions of the colony, +which he added to as he was able, extended already over twenty sections +(a section contains six hundred and forty acres, or an English square +mile), and the most perfect order and industry existed everywhere. + +Thus the doctor; and amid this and the like conversation we walked over +an orchard covering forty acres. The eight thousand trees it contained +yielded annually five thousand bushels of choice apples and eight +thousand of the finest pears, and the crop increased yearly. The doctor +pointed out repeatedly the excellence of his culture in contrast with +the American mode, which leaves the weeds to grow undisturbed among the +trees, and disregards entirely all regularity and beauty. He, on the +contrary, insisted no less on embellishment than on neatness and order; +and this was no vain boast. Carefully-kept walks led through the +grounds; verdant turf, flowerbeds and charming shady arbors met us at +every turn; there were long beds planted with flourishing currant, +raspberry and blackberry bushes, and large tracts set with rows of +bearing vines, on which luscious grapes hung invitingly. Order also +reigned among the fruit trees: here were several acres of nothing but +apples, again a plantation of pears or apricots, beneath which not a +weed was to be seen: the hoe and the rake had done their work +thoroughly. Everything was in the most perfect order: the courtgardener +of a German prince might have been proud of it. + +We seated ourselves in a shady arbor, where the doctor entertained us +further with an account of his religious belief. He had, he said, no +fixed creed and no established religion: there were in the colony +Protestants, Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, indeed Christians of every +name, and even Jews. Every one was at liberty to hold what faith he +pleased: he preached only natural religion, and whoever shaped his life +according to that would be happy. After this he enlarged on the +prosperity of the colony, which was founded on the principles of natural +religion, and prosed about humility, love to our neighbor, kindness and +carrying religion into everything; and then back he came to Nature and +himself, until my head was perfectly bewildered. I had given up long +before this, in despair, any questions as to the interior organization +of the colony, for the doctor either gave me evasive answers or none at +all. His colonists, he asserted, loved him as a father, and he cared for +them accordingly: both these assertions were undoubtedly true. The deep +respect with which those whom we occasionally met lifted their hats to +"the doctor"--a form of greeting by no means universal in America--bore +witness to their unbounded esteem for him. Toward us also they demeaned +themselves with great respect, as to noble strangers whom the doctor +deigned to honor with his society. As to his care for them, no one who +witnessed it could deny the exceedingly flourishing condition of the +settlement. Whether, however, in all this the doctor had not a keen eye +to his own interest was an afterthought which involuntarily presented +itself. + +As we left the orchard, the doctor pointed out to us several +wheat-fields in the neighborhood, cultivated with true German love for +neatness, which formed, with the pleasant dwellings adjoining, separate +farms. The average yield per acre, he observed, was from twenty-five to +forty bushels of wheat, and from forty to fifty of oats. He then took us +into a neighboring grove, to a place where the pic-nics and holiday +feasts of the colony are held: here we paused near a grassy knoll shaded +by a sort of awning and surrounded by a moat. This, which bears the name +of "The Temple Hill," forms the centre of a number of straight roads, +which branch out from it into the woods in the shape of a fan. Not far +from it I noticed a dancing ground covered by a circular open roof, and +a pavilion for the music. + +"At our public feasts," said the doctor, "I have all these branching +roads lighted with colored lanterns, and illuminate the temple, which, +with its brilliant lamps, makes quite an imposing spectacle. When we +celebrate our May-day festival it looks, after dark, like a scene out of +the _Arabian Nights_; and when, added to this, we have beautiful music +and fine singing, and the young folks are enjoying the dance, it is +really very pleasant. But none are permitted to set foot on the Temple +Hill, nor can they do it very easily if they would. Do you know the +reason, gentlemen?" Körner opined that it might be on account of the +ditch, which would be difficult to pass, in which view I agreed. +"Exactly so," remarked the doctor. "This Temple Hill has an especial +significance: it represents the sovereign ruler of the people, on whose +head no one may tread: on that account the ditch is there." + +After a walk of several hours we returned to the doctor's house, where +he invited us to take a glass of homemade wine. As we had been informed +that the sale and use of wine and spirits were strictly forbidden in the +colony, this invitation was certainly an unprecedented exception. The +wine, of which two kinds were placed before us--one made of wild grapes, +and the other of currants--was very good, and was partaken of in the +doctor's office. Here Mr. Körner again brought forward his +life-insurance project: the doctor gave him hopes that he would go into +it, but he wished to give the matter due consideration, and to subject +the advantages and disadvantages of the speculation to a strict +investigation, before giving a definite answer; and with this ended our +visit to the "king of Aurora." + +Before leaving the colony we obtained considerable information from the +members as to their interior organization and government, the results of +which, as well as what I further learned respecting Doctor Keil, I will +state briefly. + +Should any one wish to become a member of the colony, he must, in the +first place, put all his ready money into the hands of Doctor Keil: he +will then be taken on trial. If the candidate satisfies the doctor, he +can remain and become one of the community: should this, however, not be +the case, he receives again the capital he paid in, but without +interest. How long he must remain "on probation" in the colony, and work +there, depends entirely on the doctor's pleasure. If a member leaves the +community voluntarily--a thing almost unheard of--he receives back his +capital without interest, together with a _pro rata_ share of the +earnings of the community during his membership, as appraised by the +doctor. + +All the ordinary necessaries of life are supplied gratuitously to the +members of the community. The doctor holds the common purse, out of +which all purchases are paid for, and into which go the profits from the +agricultural and industrial products of the colony. If any member needs +a coat or other article of clothing, flour, sugar or tobacco, he can get +whatever he wants, without paying for it, at the "store:" in the same +way he procures meat from the butcher and bread from the baker: spirits +are forbidden except in case of sickness. The doctor also appoints the +occupation of each member, so as to contribute to the best welfare of +the colony--whether he shall be a farmer, a mechanic, a common laborer, +or whatever he can be most usefully employed in; and the time and +talents of each are regarded as belonging to the whole community, +subject only to the doctor's judgment. If a member marries, a separate +dwelling-house and a certain amount of land are assigned him, so that +the families of the settlement are scattered about on farms. The elders +of the colony support the doctor in the duties of his office by counsel +and assistance. + +The lands of the colony are collectively recorded in Doctor Keil's name, +in order, as he says, to avoid intricate and complicated law-papers. It +would, however, be for the interest of the colonists to make, a speedy +change in this respect, so that the members of the community, in case of +the doctor's death, might obtain each his share of the lands without +litigation. Should the doctor's decease occur soon, before this +alteration is made, his natural heirs could claim the whole property of +the colony, and the members would be left in the lurch. He does not +appear, however, to be in great haste to effect this change, though it +ought to have been done long ago. It is always said among the colonists, +naturally enough, that all the ground is the common property of the +community. Whether the doctor fully subscribes to this opinion in his +secret heart might be a question. + +Doctor Keil is at the same time the religious head and the unlimited +secular ruler of the colony of Aurora, and can ordain, with the consent +of the elders (who very naturally uphold his authority), what he +pleases. A life free from care and responsibility, such as the members +of the community (who, for the most part, belong to the lower and +uncultivated class) lead--a life in regard to which no one but the +doctor has the trouble of thinking--is the main ground of the +undisturbed continuance of the colony. The pre-eminent talent for +organization, combined with the unlimited powers of command, which the +doctor--justly named "king of Aurora"--possesses, together with the +inborn industry peculiar to Germans, is the cause of the prosperity of +the settlement, which calls itself communistic, but is certainly nothing +more than a vast farm belonging to its talented founder. It has its +schools, its churches, newspapers and books--the selection and tendency +of which the doctor sees to--and no lack of social pleasures, music and +singing. Taken together with an easily-procured livelihood, all this +satisfies the desires of the colonists entirely, and the good doctor +takes care of everything else. + +ELIZABETH SILL. + + + +GRAY EYES. + + +I have always counted it among the larger blessings of Providence that +a woman can bear up year after year under a weight of dullness which +would drive a man of the same mental calibre to desperation in a month. + +I had no idea what a heavy burden mine had been until one day my brother +asked me to go to sea with him on his next voyage. He and his wife were +at the farm on their wedding-tour, and only the happiness of a +bridegroom could have led him to hold out to me this way of escape. +Christian's heart when he dropped his pack was not lighter than mine. +Butter and cheese are good things in their way--the world would miss +them if all the farmers' daughters went suddenly down to the sea in +ships--but it is possible to have too much of a good thing, and such had +been my feeling for some years. + +So suddenly and completely did my threadbare endurance give way that if +Frank had revoked his words the next minute, I must have gone away at +once to some crowded place and drawn a few deep breaths of excitement +before I could have joined again the broken ends of my patience. + +No bride-elect poor in this world's goods ever went about the +preparations for her wedding with more delicious awe than I felt in +turning one old gown upside down, and another inside out, for seafaring +use. There was excitement enough in the departure, the inevitable +sea-changes, and finally the memory of it all, to keep my mind busy for +a few weeks, but when we settled into the grooves of a tropical voyage, +wafted along as easily by the trade winds as if some gigantic hand, +unseen and steady, had us in its grasp, my life was wholly changed, and +yet it bore an odd family resemblance to the days at the farm. It was a +pleasant dullness, because, in the nature of things, it must soon have +an end. + +I went on deck to look at a passing ship about as often as I used to run +to the window at the sound of carriagewheels. One can't take a very +intimate interest in whales and the other seamonsters unless one is +scientific. Time died with me a slow but by no means a painful death. I +used to fold my hands and look at them by the hour, internally +rollicking over the idea that there was no milk to skim or dishes to +wash, or any earthly wheel in motion that required my shoulder to turn +it. I spent much time in a half-awake state in the long warm days, out +of sheer delight in wasting time after saving it all my life. + +So it came about that I slept lightly o' nights. Every morning the +steward came into the cabin with the first dawn of day to scour his +floors before the captain should appear. He had a habit of talking to +himself over this early labor, and one morning, more awake than usual, I +found that he was praying. "O Lord, be good to me! I wasn't to blame. I +would have helped her if I could. O Lord, be good to me!" and other +homely entreaties were repeated again and again. + +He was a meek, bowed old negro, with snowy hair, and so many wrinkles +that all expression was shrunk out of his face. He was an excellent +cook, but he waited on table with a manner so utterly despairing that +it took away one's appetite to look at him. + +For many mornings after this I listened to his prayers, which grew more +and more earnest and importunate. I could not think he had done any harm +with his own will. He must have been more sinned against than sinning. + +He brought me a shawl one cool evening as if it were my death-warrant, +and I said, in the sepulchral tone that wins confidence, "Pedro, do you +always say your prayers when you are alone?" + +"Yes, miss, 'board _this_ ship." + +"What's the matter with, this ship?" + +"I s'pose you don't have no faith in ghosts?" + +"Not much." + +"White folks mostly don't," said Pedro with aggravating meekness, and +turned into his pantry. + +I followed him to the door, and stood in it so that he had no escape: +"What has that to do with your prayers?" + +"This cabin has got a ghost in it." + +I looked over my shoulder into the dusk, and shivered a little, which +was not lost on Pedro. He grew more solemn if possible than before: "I +see her 'most every morning, and if my back is to the door, I see her +all the same. She don't never touch me, but I keep at the prayers for +fear she will." + +"Do you never see her except in the morning?" + +"Once or twice she has just put her head out of the door of the middle +state-room when I was waitin' on table." + +"In broad daylight?" + +"Sartin. Them as sees ghosts sees 'em any time. Every morning, just at +peep o' day, she comes out of that door and makes a dive for the stairs. +She just gives me one look, and holds up her hand, and I don't see no +more of her till next time." + +"How does she look?" I almost hoped he would not tell, but he did. + +"She's got hair as black as a coal, kind o' pushed back, as if she'd +been runnin' her hands through it; she has big shiny eyes, swelled up as +she'd been cryin' a great while; and she's always got on a gray dress, +silvery-like, with a tear in one sleeve. There ain't nothin' more, only +a handkerchief tied round her wrist, as if it had been hurt." + +"Is she handsome?" + +"Mebbe white folks'd think so." + +"Why does she show herself to you and no one else, do you suppose?" + +"Didn't I tell you the reason before?" + +"Of course you didn't." + +"Well, you see, she looked just so the last time I seen her alive. I +must go and put in the biscuit now, miss." + +I submitted, knowing that white folks may be hurried, but black ones +never; and I could not but admire the natural talent which Pedro shared +with the authors of continued stories, of always dropping the thread at +the most thrilling moment. + +"Who was she?" said I, lying in wait for him on his return. + +"She was cap'n's wife, miss--a young woman, and the cap'n was old, with +a blazing kind of temper. He was dreffle sweet on her for about a month, +and mebbe she was happy, mebbe she wa'n't: how should I know about white +folks' feelin's? All of a suddent he said she was sick and couldn't go +out of the middle state-room. The old man took in plenty of stuff to +eat, but he never let me go near her. We was on just such a v'y'ge as +this, only hotter. The cap'n would come out of that room lookin' black +as thunder, and everybody scudded out of his sight when he put his head +out of the gangway. + +"He was always bad enough, but he got wuss and wuss, and nothin' +couldn't please him. Sometimes I'd hear the poor thing a-moaning to +herself like a baby that's beat out with loud cryin' and hain't got no +noise left. She was always cryin' in them days. Once the supercargo (he +was a cool hand, any way) give me a bit of paper very private to give to +her, and I slipped it under the door, but the old man had nailed +somethin' down inside, an' he found it afore she did. Then there was a +regular knockdown fight, and the supercargo was put in irons. The old +man was in the middle room a long time that day, talkin' in a hissin' +kind of a way, and the missus got a blow. Just after that a sort of a +white squall struck the ship, and the old man give just the wrong +orders. You see, he was clean out of his head. He got so worked up at +last that he fell down in a fit, and they bundled him into his +state-room and left him, 'cause nobody cared whether he was dead or +alive. The mate took the irons off the supercargo first thing, and broke +open the middle room. The supercargo went in there and stayed a long +time, whispering to the missus, and she cried more'n ever, only it +sounded different. + +"Toward night the old man come to, and begun to ask questions--as ugly +as ever, only as weak as a baby. 'Bout midnight I was comin' out of his +room, and I seen the missus in a gray dress, with her eyes shinin' like +coals of fire, dive out of her room and up the stairs, and nobody never +seen her afterward. The next morning the supercargo was gone too, and I +think they just drownded themselves, 'cause they couldn't bear to live +any more without each other. Mebbe the mate knew somethin' about it, but +he never let on, and I dunno no more about it; only the old man had +another fit when he heard it, and died without no mourners." + +"It might be she was saved, after all," I said, with true Yankee +skepticism. + +"Then why should I see her ghost, if she ain't dead-drownded?" + +"Did you never find anything in the state-room that would explain?" + +"Well, I did find some bits of paper, but I couldn't read writin'." + +"Oh, what did you do with them?" I insisted, quivering with excitement. + +"You won't tell the cap'n?" + +"No, never." + +"You'll give 'em back to me?" + +"Yes, yes--of course." + +"Here they be," he said, opening his shirt, and showing a little bag +hung round his neck like an amulet. He took out a little wad of brown +paper, and gave it jealously into my hand. + +"I will give it back to you to-night," I said with the solemnity of an +oath, and carried it to my room. + +It proved to be a short and fragmentary account of the sufferings which +the "missus" had endured in the middle room, written in pencil on coarse +wrapping-paper, and bearing marks of trembling hands and frequent tears. +I thought I might copy the papers without breaking faith with Pedro. The +outside paper bore these words: + +"Whoever finds this is besought for pity's sake, by its most unhappy +writer, to send it as soon as possible to Mrs. Jane Atwood of +Davidsville, Connecticut, United States of America." + +Then followed a letter to her mother: + +Dearest Mother: If I never see your blessed face again, I know you will +not believe me guilty of what my husband accuses me of. I married +Captain Eliot for your sake, believing, since Herbert had proved +faithless, that no comfort was left to me except in pleasing others. I +meant to be a good wife to Captain Eliot, and I believe I should have +kept my vow all my days if the most unfortunate thing had not wakened +his jealousy. Since then he has been almost or quite crazed. + +I knew we had a supercargo of whom Captain Eliot spoke highly. He kept +his room for a month from sea-sickness, and when he came out it was +Herbert. Of course I knew him, every line of his face had been so long +written on my heart. I strove to treat him as if I had never seen him +before, but the old familiar looks and tones were very hard to bear. If +Herbert could only have submitted patiently to our fate! But it was not +in him to be patient under anything, and one evening, when I was sitting +alone on deck, he must needs pour out his soul in one great burst, +trying to prove that he had never deserted me, but only circumstances +had been cruel. I longed to believe him, but I could only keep repeating +that it was too late. + +When I went down, Captain Eliot dragged me into the middle state-room, +and gave vent to his jealous feelings. He must have listened to all that +Herbert had said. His last words were that I should never leave that +room alive. I had a wretched night, and the first time I fell into an +uneasy sleep I started suddenly up to find my husband flashing the light +of a lantern across my eyes. "Handsome and wicked," he muttered--"they +always go together." + +I begged him to listen to the story of my engagement to Herbert, and he +did listen, but it did not soften his heart. If he ever loved me, his +jealousy has swallowed it up. + +I have been in this room just a week. My husband does not starve or beat +me, but his taunts and threats are fearful, and his eyes when he looks +at me grow wild, as if he had the longing of a beast to tear me in +pieces. + + * * * * * + +_May_ 10. I placed a copy of the paper that is pinned to this letter in +a little bottle that had escaped my husband's search, and threw it out +of my window. + +I am Waitstill Atwood Eliot, wife of Captain Eliot of the ship Sapphire. +I have been kept in solitary confinement and threatened with death for +four weeks, for no just cause. I believe him to be insane, as he +constantly threatens to burn or sink the ship. I pray that this paper +may be picked up by some one who will board this ship and bring me help. + +Of course it is a most forlorn hope, but it keeps me from utter despair. + +20. Herbert tried to communicate with me by slipping a paper under the +door, but I did not get it, and he has been put in irons. Captain Eliot +boasts of it. I wish he would bind us together and let us drown in one +another's arms, as they did in the Huguenot persecution. + +28. A little paper tied to a string hung in front of my bull's-eye +window to-day: I took it in. The first officer had lowered it down: +"Captain Eliot says you are ill, but I don't believe it. If he tries +violence, scream, and I will break open the door. I am always on the +watch. Keep your heart up." + +This is a drop of comfort in my black cup, but my little window was +screwed down within an hour after I had read the paper. + +_June_ 10. My spirit is worn out: I can endure no more. I have begged my +husband to kill me and end my misery. I don't know why he hesitated. He +means to do it some time, but perhaps he cannot think of torture +exquisite enough for his purpose. + +11. My husband came in about four in the afternoon, looking so +vindictive that my heart stood still. He gradually worked himself into a +frenzy, and aimed a blow at my head: instinct, rather than the love of +life, made me parry it, and I got the stroke on my wrist. + +I screamed, and at the same moment there was a tumult on deck, and the +ship quivered as if she too had been violently struck. Captain Eliot +rushed on deck, and began to give hurried orders. I could hear the first +officer contradict them, and then there was a heavy fall, and two or +three men stumbled down the cabin stairs, carrying some weight between +them. + +_Later_. My husband is helpless, and Herbert has been with me, urging me +passionately to trust myself to him in a little boat at midnight. He +says there are several ships in sight, and one of them will be almost +sure to pick us up. He swears that he will leave me, and never see me +again (if I say so), so soon as he has placed me in safety, but he will +save me, by force if need be, from the brute into whose hands I fell so +innocently. If the ship does not see us, it is but dying, after all. + +Good-bye, mother! I pray that this paper will reach you before Captain +Eliot can send you his own account, but if it does not, you will believe +me innocent all the same. + +This was the last, and I folded up the papers as they had come to me. +That night I read them all to Pedro. + +"They was drownded--I knew it," said Pedro; and nothing could remove +that opinion. A ghost is more convincing than logic. + +Our voyage wore on, with one day just like another: my brother looked at +the sun every day, and put down a few cabalistic figures on a slate, but +his steady business was reading novels to his wife and drinking weak +claret and water. + +The sea was always the same, smiling and smooth, and the "man at the +wheel" seemed to be always holding us back by main strength from the +place where we wanted to go. I had a growing belief that we should sail +for ever on this rippling mirror and never touch the frame of it. It +struck me with a sense of intense surprise when a dark line loomed far +ahead, and they told me quietly that that line meant Bombay. + +It seemed a matter of course to my brother that the desired port should +heave in sight just when he expected it, but to me the efforts that he +had made to accomplish this tremendous result were ridiculously small. + +"I have done more work in a week, and had nothing to show for it at +last," said I, "than you have seemed to do in all this voyage." + +"Poor sister! don't you wish you were a man?" + +"Certainly, all women do who have any sense. I hold with that ancient +Father of the Church who maintained that all women are changed into men +on the judgment-day. The council said it was heresy, but that don't +alter my faith." + +"I shouldn't like you half as well if you had been born a boy," said +Frank. + +"But I should like myself vastly better," said I, clinging to the last +word. + +Bombay is a city by itself: there is none like it on earth, whatever +there may be in the heaven above or in the waters under it. From Sir +Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy's hospital for sick animals to the Olympian conceit +of the English residents, there are infinite variations of people and +things that I am persuaded can be matched nowhere else. I felt myself +living in a series of pictures, a sort of supernumerary in a theatre, +where they changed the play every night. + +One of the first who boarded our ship was Mr. Rayne, an old friend of +Frank's. He insisted on our going to his house for a few days in a +warm-hearted way that was irresistible. + +"Are you quite sure you want _me_?" I said dubiously. "Young married +people make a kind of heaven for themselves, and do not want old maids +looking over the wall." + +"But you _must_ go with us," said Frank, man-like, never seeing anything +but the uppermost surface of a question. + +"Not at all. I'm quite strong-minded enough to stay on board ship; or, +if that would not do in this heathen place, the missionaries are always +ready to entertain strangers. A week in the missionhouse would make me +for ever a shining light in the sewing circle at home. + +"A woman of so many resources would be welcome anywhere. For my part, an +old maid is a perfect Godsend. The genus is unknown here, and the loss +to society immense," said Mr. Rayne. + +"But what shall I do when Mrs. Rayne and my sister-in-law are comparing +notes about the perfections of their husbands?" + +"Walk on the verandah with me and convert me to woman suffrage." + +Mr. Rayne had his barouche waiting on shore, and drove us first to the +bandstand, where, in the coolness of sunset, all the Bombay world meet +to see and to be seen. When the band paused, people drove slowly round +the circle, seeking acquaintance. Among them one equipage was perfect--a +small basket-phaeton, and two black ponies groomed within an inch of +their lives. My eyes fell on the ponies first, but I saw them no more +when the lady who drove them turned her face toward me. + +She wore a close-fitting black velvet habit and a little round hat with +long black feather. Her hair might have been black velvet, too, as it +fell low on her forehead, and was fastened somehow behind in a heavy +coil. Black brows and lashes shaded clear gray eyes--the softest gray, +without the least tint of green in them--such eyes as Quaker maidens +ought to have under their gray bonnets. Little rose colored flushes kept +coming and going in her cheeks as she talked. + +All at once I thought of Queen Guinevere, + + As she fled fast thro' sun and shade, + With jingling bridle-reins. + +"Mr. Rayne, do you see that lady in black, with the ponies?" + +"Plainly." + +"If I were a man, that woman would be my Fate." + +"I thought women never admired each other's beauty." + +"You are mistaken. Heretofore I have met beautiful women only in poetry. +Do you remember four lines about Queen Guinevere?--no, six lines, I +mean: + + "She looked so lovely as she swayed + The rein with dainty finger-tips, + A man had given all other bliss, + And all his worldly worth for this, + To waste his whole heart in one kiss + Upon her perfect lips. + +"I always thought them overstrained till now." + +"I perfectly agree with you," said Mr. Rayne: "I knew we were congenial +spirits." Then he said a word or two in a diabolical language to his +groom, who ran to the carriage which I had been watching and repeated it +to the lady: she bowed and smiled to Mr. Rayne, and soon drew up her +ponies beside us. + +"My wife," said Mr. Rayne with laughter in his eyes. + +Mrs. Rayne talked much like other people, and her beauty ceased to +dazzle me after a few minutes; not that it grew less on near view, but, +being a woman, I could not fall in love with her in the nature of +things. + +When the music stopped we drove to Mr. Rayne's house, his wife keeping +easily beside us. When she was occupied with the others Mr. Rayne +whispered, "Her praises were so sweet in my ears that I would not own +myself Sir Lancelot at once." + +"If you are Sir Lancelot," I said, "where is King Arthur?" + +"Forty fathoms deep, I hope," said Mr. Rayne with a sudden change in his +voice and a darkening face. I had raised a ghost for him without knowing +it, and he spoke no more till we reached the house. + +It was a long, low, spreading structure with a thatched roof, and a +verandah round it. A wilderness of tropical plants hemmed it in. But all +appearance of simplicity vanished on our entrance. In the matted hall +stood a tree to receive the light coverings we had worn; not a "hat +tree," as we say at home by poetic license, but the counterfeit +presentment of a real tree, carved in branches and delicate foliage out +of black wood. The drawing-room was eight-sided, and would have held, +with some margin, the gambrel-roofed house, chimneys and all, in which I +had spent my life. Two sides were open into other rooms, with Corinthian +pillars reaching to the roof. Carved screens a little higher than our +heads filled the space between the pillars, and separated the +drawing-room from Mrs. Rayne's boudoir on the side and the dining-room +on the other. + +The furniture of these rooms was like so many verses of a poem. Every +chair and table had been designed by Mrs. Rayne, and then realized in +black wood by the patient hands of natives. + +Another side opened by three glass doors on a verandah, and only a few +rods below the house the sea dashed against a beach. + +After dinner I sat on the verandah drinking coffee and the sea-breeze by +turns. The gentlemen walked up and down smoking the pipe of peace, while +Mrs. Rayne sat within, talking with Rhoda in the candlelight. Opposite +me, as I looked in at the open door, hung two Madonnas, the Sistine and +the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. In front of each stood a tall +flower-stand carved to imitate the leaves and blossoms of the calla +lily. These black flowers held great bunches of the Annunciation lily, +sacred to the Virgin through all the ages. Mrs. Rayne had taken off the +close-buttoned jacket, and her dress was now open at the throat, with +some rich old lace clinging about it and fastened with a pearl daisy. + +"Have you forgiven me the minute's deception I put upon you?" said Mr. +Rayne, pausing beside me. "If I had not read admiration in your face, I +would have told you the truth at once." + +"How could one help admiring her?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure: I never could." + +"She has the serenest face, like still, shaded water. I wonder how she +would look in trouble?" + +"It is not becoming to her." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Quite." + +"Your way of life here seems so perfect! No hurry nor worry--nothing to +make wrinkles." + +"You like this smooth Indian living, then?" + +"_Like it_! I hope you won't think me wholly given over to love of +things that perish in the using, but if I could live this sort of life +with the one I liked best, heaven would be a superfluity." + +"It is heaven indeed when I think of the purgatory from which we came +into it," said Mr. Rayne, throwing away his cigar and carrying off my +coffee-cup. + +"Do you know anything of Mrs. Rayne's history before her marriage?" I +said to Frank as I joined him in his walk. + +"Nothing to speak of--only she was a widow." + +"Oh!" said I, feeling that a spot or two had suddenly appeared on the +face of the sun. + +"That's nothing against her, is it?" + +"No, but I have no patience with second marriages." + +"Nor first ones, either," said Frank wickedly. + +"But seriously, Frank--would you like to have a wife so beautiful as +Mrs. Rayne?" + +"Yes, if she had Rhoda's soul inside of her," said Frank stoutly. + +"I shouldn't." + +"Why not?" + +"Because all sorts of eyes gloat on her beauty and drink it in, and in +one way appropriate it to themselves. Mr. Rayne is as proud of the +admiration given to his wife as if it were a personal tribute to his own +taste in selecting her. A beautiful woman never really and truly belongs +to her husband unless he can keep a veil over her face, as the Turks +do." + +"I knew you had 'views,'" said Mr. Rayne behind me, "but I had no idea +they were so heathenish. What is New England coming to under the new +rule? Are the plain women going to shut up all the handsome ones?" + +"I was only supposing a case." + +"Suppositions are dangerous. You first endure, then dally with them, and +finally embrace them as established facts." + +"I was only saying that if I am a man when I come into the world next +time (as the Hindoos say), I shall marry a plain woman with a charming +disposition, and so, as it were, have my diamond all to myself by reason +of its dull cover." + +"Jealousy, thy name is woman!" said Mr. Rayne. "When the Woman's +Republic is set up, how I shall pity the handsome ones!" + +"They will all be banished to some desert island," said Frank. + +"And draw all men after them, as the 'Pied Piper of Hamelin' did the +rats," said Mr. Rayne. + +"What are you talking about?" said Mrs. Rayne, joining us at this point. + +"The pity of it," said her husband, "that beauty is only skin deep." + +"That is deep enough," said Mrs. Rayne. + +"Yes, if age and sickness and trouble did not make one shed it so soon," +said I ungratefully. + +"Don't mention it," said Mrs. Rayne--"'tis bad enough when it comes. Do +you remember that Greek woman in _Lothair,_ whose father was so +fearfully rich that she seemed to be all crusted with precious stones?" + +"Perfectly." + +"To dance and sing was all she lived for, and Lothair must needs bring +in the skeleton, as you did, by reminding her of the dolorous time when +she would neither dance nor sing. You think she is crushed, to be sure, +only Disraeli's characters never are crushed, any more than himself. 'Oh +then,' she says, 'we will be part of the audience, and other people will +dance and sing for us.' So beauty is always with us, though one person +loses it." + +She gave a little shrug of her shoulders, which made her pearls and +velvet shimmer in the moonlight. She looked so white and cool and +perfect, so apart from common clay, that all at once Queen Guinevere +ceased to be my type of her, and I thought of "Lilith, first wife of +Adam," as we see her in Rossetti's fanciful poem: + + Not a drop of her blood was human, + But she was made like a soft, sweet woman. + +We all went to our rooms after this, and in each of ours hung a +full-length swinging mirror; I had never seen one before, except in a +picture-shop or in a hotel. + +"Truly this is 'richness'!" I said, walking up and down and sideways +from one to the other. + +"I had no idea you had so much vanity," said Frank, laughing at me, as +he has done ever since he was born. + +"Vanity! not a spark. I am only seeing myself as others see me, for the +first time." + +"I always had a glass like that in my room at home," said my +sister-in-law, with the least morsel of disdain in her tone. + +"Had you? Then you have lost a great deal by growing up to such things. +A first sensation at my age is delightful." + +Next day Rhoda and I were sitting with Mrs. Rayne in her dressing-room, +with a great fan swinging overhead. We all had books in our hands, but I +found more charming reading in my hostess, whose fascinations hourly +grew upon me. + +She wore a long loose wrapper, clear blue in color, with little silver +stars on it. I don't know how much of my admiration sprang from her +perfect taste in dress. Raiment has an extraordinary effect on the whole +machinery of life. Most people think too lightly of it. Somebody says if +Cleopatra's nose had been a quarter of an inch shorter, the history of +the world would have been utterly changed; but Antony might equally have +been proof against a robe with high neck and tight sleeves. Mrs. Rayne's +face always seemed to crown her costume like a rose out of green leaves, +yet I cannot but think that if I had seen her first in a calico gown and +sitting on a three-legged stool milking a cow, I should still have +thought her a queen among women. + +While I sat like a lotos-eater, forgetful of home and butter-making, a +servant brought in a parcel and a note. Mrs. Rayne tossed the note to me +while she unfolded a roll of gray silk. + + +Dear Guinevere: I send with this a bit of silk that old Fut'ali insisted +on giving to me this morning. It is that horrid gray color which we both +detest. I know you will never wear it, and you had better give it to +Miss Blake to make a toga for her first appearance in the women's +Senate. LANCELOT. + +"With all my heart!" said Mrs. Rayne as I gave back the note. "You will +please us both far more than you can please yourself by wearing the +dress with a thought of us. I wonder why Mr. Rayne calls me 'Guinevere'? +But he has a new name for me every day, because he does not like my +own." + +"What is it?" + +"Waitstill. Did you ever hear it?" + +"Never but once," I said with a sudden tightness in my throat. I could +scarcely speak my thanks for the dress. + +"I should never wear it," said Mrs. Rayne: "the color is associated with +a very painful part of my life." + +"Do you suppose water would spot it?" asked Rhoda, who is of a practical +turn of mind. + +"Take a bit and try it." + +"Water spots some grays" said Mrs. Rayne with a strange sort of smile as +Rhoda went out, "especially salt water. I spent one night at sea in an +open boat, with a gray dress clinging wet and salt to my limbs. When I +tore it off in rags I seemed to shed all the misery I had ever known. +All my life since then has been bright as you see it now. It would be a +bad omen to put on a gray gown again." + +"Then you have made a sea-voyage, Mrs. Rayne?" + +"Yes, such a long voyage!--worse than the 'Ancient Mariner's.' No words +can tell how I hate the sea." She sighed deeply, with a sudden darkening +of her gray eyes till they were almost black, and grasped one wrist hard +with the other hand. + +A sudden trembling seized me. I was almost as much agitated as Mrs. +Rayne. I felt that I must clinch the matter somehow, but I took refuge +in a platitude to gain time: "There is such a difference in ships, +almost as much as in houses, and the comfort of the voyage depends +greatly on that." + +"It may be so," she said wearily. + +"My brother's ship is old, but it has been refitted lately to something +like comfort. It's old name was the Sapphire." + +This was my shot, and it hit hard. + +"The Sapphire! the Sapphire!" she whispered with dilated eyes. "Did you +ever hear--did you ever find--But what nonsense! You must think me the +absurdest of women." + +The color came back to her face, and she laughed quite naturally. + +"The fact is, Miss Blake, I was very ill and miserable when I was on +shipboard, and to this day any sudden reminder of it gives me a +shock.--Did water spot it?" she said to Rhoda, who came in at this +point. + +I thought over all the threads of the circumstance that had come into my +hand, and like Mr. Browning's lover I found "a thing to do." + +The next morning I made an excuse to go down to the ship with my +brother, and there, by dint of pressure, I got those stained and dingy +papers into my possession again. I had only that day before me, for we +were going to a hotel the same evening, and the Raynes were to set out +next day for their summer place among the hills, a long way back of +Bombay. Our stay had already delayed their departure. + +This was my plot: Mrs. Rayne had been reading a book that I had bought +for the home-voyage, and was to finish it before evening. I selected the +duplicate of the paper which "Waitstill Atwood Eliot" had put in a +bottle and cast adrift when her case had been desperate, and laid it in +the book a page or two beyond Mrs. Rayne's mark. It seemed impossible +that she could miss it: I watched her as a chemist watches his first +experiment. + +Twice she took up the book, and was interrupted before she could open +it: the third time she sat down so close to me that the folds of her +dress touched mine. One page, two pages: in another instant she would +have turned the leaf, and I held my breath, when a servant brought in a +note. Her most intimate friend had been thrown from her carriage, and +had sent for her. It was a matter of life and death, and brooked no +delay. In ten minutes she had bidden us a cordial good-bye, and dropped +out of my life for all time. + +She never finished _my_ book, nor I _hers_. I had had it in my heart, in +return for her warm hospitality, to cast a great stone out of her past +life into the still waters of her present, and her good angel had turned +it aside just before it reached her. I might have asked Mr. Rayne in so +many words if his wife's name had been Waitstill Atwood Eliot when he +married her, but that would have savored of treachery to her, and I +refrained. + +Often in the long calm days of the home-voyage, and oftener still in the +night-watches, I pondered in my heart the items of Mrs. Rayne's history, +and pieced them together like bits of mosaic--the gray eyes and the gray +dress, the identity of name, the indefinite terrors of her sea-voyage, +the little touch concerning Lancelot and Guinevere, her emotion when I +mentioned the Sapphire. If circumstantial evidence can be trusted, I +feel certain that Pedro's ghost appeared to me in the flesh. + +ELLA WILLIAMS THOMPSON. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF FLORENCE. + + +I had six months more to stay on the Continent, and I began for the +first time to be discontented in Paris. There was no soul in that great +city whom I had ever seen before, but this alone would hot have been +sufficient to make me long for a change, except for an accident which +unluckily surrounded me with my own countrymen. These I did not go +abroad to see; and having lived almost entirely in the society of the +French for over two years, it was with dismay that I saw my sanctum +invaded daily by twos and threes of the aimless American nonentities who +presume that their presence must be agreeable to any of their +countrymen, and especially to any countrywoman, after a chance +introduction on the boulevard or an hour spent together in a café. + +"Seeing these things," I determined to leave Paris, and the third day +after found me traveling through picturesque Savoy toward Mont Cenis. +All the afternoon the rugged hills had been growing higher and whiter +with snow, and now, just before sunset, we reached the railway terminus, +St. Michel, and were under the shadow of the Alps themselves. + +The previous night in the cars I had found myself the only woman among +some half dozen French military officers, who paid me the most polite +attention. They were charmed that I made no objection to their +cigarettes, talked with me on various topics, criticised McClellan as a +general, and were enthusiastic on the subject of our country generally. +About midnight they prepared a grand repast from their traveling-bags, +to which they gave me a cordial invitation. I begged to contribute my +_mesquin_ supply of grapes and brioches, and the supper was a +considerable event. Their canteens were filled with red wines, and one +cup served the whole company. They drank my health and that of the +President of the United States. Afterward we had vocal music, two of the +officers being good singers. They sang Beranger's songs and the charming +serenade from _Lalla Rookh_. I finally expressed a desire to hear the +Marseillaise. This seemed to take them by surprise, but one of the +singers, declaring that he had _"rien à refuser à madame"_ boldly struck +up, + + Allons, enfants de la patrie, + Le jour de gloire est arrivé; + +but his companions checked him before he had finished the first stanza. +The law forbade, they said, the production of the Marseillaise in +society. We were a society: the guard would hear us and might report it. + +"Vous voyez, madame," said the singer, "n'il n'est pas défendu d'être +voleur, mais c'est défendu d'être attrapé" (It is not against the law to +be a thief, but to be caught.) + +My traveling--companions reached their destination early in the morning, +and, very gallantly expressing regrets that they were not going over the +Alps, so as to bear mer company, bade me farewell. + +From the rear of the St. Michel hotel, called the Lion d'Or, I watched +the preparations for crossing Mont Cenis. Three diligences were being +crazily loaded with our baggage. The men who loaded them seemed +imitating the Alpine structure. They piled trunk on trunk to the height +of thirty feet, I verily believe; and if some one should nudge my elbow +and say "fifty," I should write it down so without manifesting the least +surprise. + +When the preparations were finished the setting sun was shining clearly +on the white summits above, and we commenced slowly winding up the noble +zigzag road. Rude mountain children kept up with our diligences, asked +for sous and wished us _bon voyage_ in the name of the Virgin. + +The grandeur, but especially the extent and number, of the Alpine peaks +impressed me with a vague, undefinable sense, which was not, I think, +the anticipated sensation; and indeed if I had been in a poetic mood, it +would have been quickly dissipated by the mock raptures of a young +Englishman with a poodly moustache and an eye-glass. He called our +attention to every chasm, gorge and waterfall, as if we had been wholly +incapable of seeing or appreciating anything without his aid. As for me, +I did not feel like disputing his susceptibility. I was suffering an +uneasy apprehension of an avalanche--not of snow, but of trunks and +boxes from the topheavy diligences ahead of us. However, we reached the +top of Mont Cenis safely by means of thirteen mules to each coach, +attached tandem, and we stopped at the queer relay-house there some +thirty minutes. Here some women in the garb of nuns served me some soup +with grated cheese, a compound which suggested a dishcloth in flavor, +yet it was very good. I will not attempt to reconcile the two +statements. After the soup I went out to see the Alps. The ecstatic +Briton was still eating and drinking, and I could enjoy the scene +unmolested. I crossed a little bridge near the inn. The night was cold +and bright. Hundreds of snowy peaks above, below and in every direction, +some of their hoary heads lost in the clouds, were glistening in the +light of a clear September moon, and the stillness was only broken by a +wild stream tumbling down the precipices which I looked up to as I +crossed the bridge. It was indeed an impressive scene--cold, desolate, +awful. I walked so near the freezing cataract that the icicles touched +my face, and thinking that Dante, when he wrote his description of hell, +might have been inspired by this very scene, I wrapped my cloak closer +about me and went back to the inn. + +The diligences were ready, and we commenced a descent which I cannot +even now think of without a shudder. To each of those heavily-laden +stages were attached two horses only, and we bounded down the +mountain-side like a huge loosened boulder. Imagine the sensation as +you looked out of the windows and saw yourself whirling over yawning +chasms and along the brinks of dizzy precipices, fully convinced that +the driver was drunk and the horses goaded to madness by Alpine demons! +I have been on the ocean in a storm sufficiently severe to make Jew and +Christian pray amicably together; I have been set on fire by a fluid +lamp, and have been dragged under the water by a drowning friend, but I +think I never had such an alarming sense of coming destruction as in +that diligence. I think of those sure-footed horses even now with +gratitude. + +We arrived at Susa a long time before daylight. At first, I decided to +stay and see this town, which was founded by a Roman colony in the time +of Augustus. The arch built in his honor about eight years before Christ +seemed a thing worth going to see; but a remark from my companion with +the eye-glass made me determine to go on. He said he was going to "do" +the arch, and I knew I should not be equal to witnessing any more of his +ecstasies. + +My first astonishment in Italy was that hardly any of the railroad +officials spoke French. I had always been told that with that language +at your command you could travel all over the Continent. This is a grave +error: even in Florence, although "Ici on parle français" is conspicuous +in many shop-windows, I found I had to speak Italian or go unserved. I +had a mortal dread of murdering the beautiful Italian language; so I +wanted to speak it well before I commenced, like the Irishman who never +could get his boots on until he had worn them a week. + +I stopped at Turin, then the capital of Italy, only a short time, and +hurried on to Florence, for that was to be my home for the winter. It +was delightful to come down from the Alpine snows and find myself face +to face with roses and orange trees bearing fruit and blossom. Here I +wandered through the olive-gardens alone, and gave way to the rapturous +sense of simply being in the land of art and romance, the land of love +and song; for there was no ecstatic person with me armed with _Murray_ +and prepared to admire anything recommended therein. Besides, I could +enjoy Italy for days and months, and therefore was not obliged to "do" +(detestable tourist slang!) anything in a given time. I was free as a +bird. I knew no Americans in Florence, and determined to studiously +avoid making acquaintances except among Italians, for I wished to learn +the language as I had learned French, by constantly speaking it and no +other. + +The day following my arrival in Florence I went out to look for +lodgings, which I had the good fortune to find immediately. I secured +the first I looked at. They were in the Borgo SS. Apostoli, in close +proximity to the Piazza del Granduca, now Delia Signoria. I was passing +this square, thinking of my good luck in finding my niche for the +winter, when, much to my surprise, some one accosted me in English. +Think of my dismay at seeing one of the irrepressible Paris bores I had +fled from! He was in Florence before me, having come by a different +route; and neither of us had known anything about the other's intention +to quit Paris. He asked me at once where I was stopping, and I told him +at the Hotel a la Fontana, not deeming it necessary to add that I was +then on my way there to pack up my traveling-bag and pay my bill. As he +was "doing" Florence in about three days, he never found me out. The +next I heard of him he was "doing" Rome. This American prided himself on +his knowledge of Italian; and one day in a restaurant, wishing for +cauliflower _(cavolo fiore)_, he astonished the waiter by calling for +_horse. "Cavallo"!_ he roared--"_Portéz me cavallo!_" "Cavallo!" +repeated the waiter, with the characteristic Italian shrug. "_Non +simangia in Italia, signore_" (It is not eaten in Italy, signore). Then +followed more execrable Italian, and the waiter brought him something +which elicited "_Non volo! non volo!_" (I don't fly! I don't fly!) from +the American, and "_Lo credo, signore_" from the baffled waiter, much to +the amusement of people at the adjacent tables. + +I liked my new quarters very much. They consisted of two goodly-sized +rooms, carpeted with thick braided rag carpets, and decently furnished, +olive oil provided for the quaint old classic-shaped lamp, and the rooms +kept in order, for the astounding price of thirty francs a month. Wood I +had to pay extra for when I needed a fire, and that indeed was +expensive; for a bundle only sufficient to make a fire cost a franc. +There were few days, however, even in that exceptional winter, which +rendered a fire necessary. The _scaldino_ for the feet was generally +sufficient, and this, replenished three times a day, was included in the +rent. + +One of my windows looked out on olive-gardens and on the old church San +Miniato, on the hill of the same name. Mr. Hart, the sculptor, told me +that those rooms were very familiar to him. Buchanan Read, I think he +said, had occupied them, and the walls in many places bore traces of +artist vagaries. There were several nice caricatures penciled among the +cheap frescoes of the walls. All the walls are frescoed in Florence. +Think of having your ceiling and walls painted in a manner that +constantly suggests Michael Angelo! + +After some weeks spent in looking at the art-wonders in Florence, I +visited many of the studios of our artists. That of Mr. Hart, on the +Piazza Independenza, was one of the most interesting. He had two very +admirable busts of Henry Clay, and all his visitors, encouraged by his +frank manner, criticised his works freely. Most people boldly pass +judgment on any work of art, and "understand" Mrs. Browning when she +says the Venus de' Medici "thunders white silence." I do not. I am sure +I never can understand what a thundering silence means, whatever may be +its color. These appreciators talked of the "word-painting" of Mrs. +Browning. + + They sit on their thrones in a purple sublimity, + And grind down men's bones to a pale unanimity. + +I suppose this is "word-painting." I can see the picture +also--some kings, and possibly queens, seated on gorgeous thrones, +engaged in the festive occupation of grinding bones! Oh, I degrade the +subject, do I? Nonsense! The term is a stilted affectation, perhaps +never better applied than to Mrs. Browning's descriptive spasms. Still, +she was undoubtedly a poet. She wrote many beautiful subjective poems, +but she wrote much that was not poetry, and which suggests only a +deranged nervous system. I have a friend who maintains from her writings +that she never loved, that she did not know what passion meant. However +this may be, the author of the sonnet commencing-- + + Go from me! Yet I feel that I shall stand + Henceforward in thy shadow, + +deserves immortality. + +But to return to Mr. Hart's studio. One of the most remarkable things I +saw in Florence was this artist's invention to reduce certain details of +sculpture to a mechanical process. This machine at first sight struck me +as a queer kind of ancient armor. In brief, the subject is placed in +position, when the front part of this armor, set on some kind, of hinge, +swings round before him, and the sculptor makes measurements by means of +numberless long metal needles, which are so arranged as to run in and +touch the subject: A stationary mark is placed where the needle touches, +and then I think it is pulled back. So the artist goes on, until some +hundreds of measurements are made, if necessary, when the process is +finished and the subject is released. How these measurements are made to +serve the artist in modeling the statue I cannot very well describe, but +I understood that by their aid Mr. Hart had modeled a bust from life in +the incredible space of two days! I further understood that Mr. Hart's +portrait-busts are remarkable for their correct likeness, which of +course they must be if they are mathematically correct in their +proportions. Many of the artists in Florence have the bad taste to make +sport of this machine; but if Mr. Hart's portrait-busts are what they +have the reputation of being, this sport is only a mask for jealousy. +Mr. Hart was extremely sensitive to the light manner Mr. Powers and +others have of speaking of this invention. One day he was much annoyed +when a visitor, after examining the machine very attentively for some +time, exclaimed, "Mr. Hart, what if you should have a man shut in there +among those points, and he should happen to sneeze?" + +The Pitti Palace was one of my favorite haunts, and I often spent whole +hours there in a single salon. There I almost always saw Mr. G----, a +German-American, copying from the masters; and he could copy too! What +an indefatigable worker he was! Slight and delicate of frame, he seemed +absolutely incapable of growing weary. He often toiled there all day +long, his hands red and swollen with the cold, for the winter, as I have +before remarked, was unusually severe. For many days I saw him working +on a Descent from the Cross by Tintoretto--a bold attempt, for +Tintoretto's colors are as baffling as those of the great Venetian +master himself. This copy had received very general praise, and one day +I took a Lucca friend, a dilettante, to see it. Mr. G---- brought the +canvas out in the hall, that we might see it outside of the ocean of +color which surrounded it in the gallery. When we reached the hall, Mr. +G---- turned the picture full to the light. The effect was astounding. +It was so brilliant that you could hardly look at it. It seemed a mass +of molten gold reflecting the sun. "Good God!" exclaimed G----, "did I +do that?" and an expression of bitter disappointment passed over his +face. I ventured to suggest that as everybody had found it good while it +was in the gallery, this brilliant effect must be from the cold gray +marble of the hall. G---- could not pardon the picture, and nothing that +the Italian or I could say had the least effect. He would hear no excuse +for it, and, evidently quite mortified at the début of his Tintoretto, +he hurried the canvas back to the easel. The sister of the czar of +Russia was greatly pleased with this copy, and proposed to buy it, but +whether she did or not I forgot to ascertain. + +Alone as I was in Florence, cultivating only the acquaintance of +Italians, yet was I never troubled with _ennui_. I read much at +Vieussieux's, and when I grew tired of that and of music, I made long +sables on the Lung Arno to the Cascine, through the charming Boboli +gardens, or out to Fiesole. Fiesole is some two miles from Florence, and +once on my way there I stopped at the Protestant burying-ground and +pilfered a little wildflower from Theodore Parker's grave to send home +to one of his romantic admirers. Fiesole must be a very ancient town, +for there is a ruined amphitheatre there, and the remains of walls so +old that they are called Pelasgic in their origin; which is, I take it, +sufficiently vague. The high hill is composed of the most solid marble; +so the guidebooks say, at least. This is five hundred and seventy-five +feet above the sea, and on its summit stands the cathedral, very old +indeed, and built in the form of a basilica, like that of San Miniato. +From this hill you look down upon the plain beneath, with the Arno +winding through it, and upon Florence and the Apennine chain, above +which rise the high mountains of Carrara. Here, on the highest available +point of the rock, I used to sit reading, and looking upon the panorama +beneath, until the sinking sun warned me that I had only time to reach +the city before its setting. I used to love to look also at works of art +in this way, for by so doing I fixed them in my mind for future +reference. I never passed the Piazza della Signoria without standing +some minutes before the Loggia dei Lanzi and the old ducal palace with +its marvelous tower. Before this palace, exposed to the weather for +three hundred and fifty years, stands Michael Angelo's David; to the +left, the fountain on the spot where Savonarola was burnt alive by the +order of Alexander VI.; and immediately facing this is the post-office. +I never could pass the post-office without thinking of the poet Shelley, +who was there brutally felled to the earth by an Englishman, who accused +him of being an infidel, struck his blow and escaped. + +I made many visits to the Nuova Sacrista to see the tombs of the two +Medici by Michael Angelo. The one at the right on entering is that of +Giuliano, duke of Nemours, brother of Leo X. The two allegorical +figures reclining beneath are Morning and Night. The tomb of Lorenzo de' +Medici, duke of Urfrino, stands on the other side of the chapel, facing +that of the duke de Nemours. The statue of Lorenzo, for grace of +attitude and beauty of expression, has, in my opinion, never been +equaled. The allegorical figures at the feet of this Medici are more +beautiful and more easily understood than most of Michael Angelo's +allegorical figures. Nevertheless, I used sometimes, when looking at +these four figures, to think that they had been created merely as +architectural auxiliaries, and that their expression was an accident or +a freak of the artist's fancy, rather than the expression of some +particular thought: at other times I saw as much in them as most +enthusiasts do--enough, I have no doubt, to astonish their great author +himself. I believe that very few people really experience rapturous +sensations when they look at works of art. People are generally much +more moved by the sight of the two canes preserved in Casa Buonarotti, +upon which the great master in his latter days supported his tottering +frame, than they are by the noblest achievements of his genius. + +The Carnival in Florence was a meagre affair compared with the same fête +in Rome. During the afternoon, however, there was goodly procession of +masks in carriages on the Lung' Arno, and in the evening there was a +feeble _moccoletti_ display. The grand masked ball at the Casino about +this time presents an irresistible attraction to the floating population +in Florence. I was foolish enough to go. All were obliged to be dressed +in character or in full ball-costume: no dominoes allowed. The Casino, I +was told, is the largest club-house in the world; and salon after salon +of that immense building was so crowded that locomotion was nearly +impossible. The floral decorations were magnificent, the music was +excellent, and some of the ten thousand people present tried to dance, +but the sets formed were soon squeezed into a ball. Then they gave up in +despair, while the men swore under their breath, and the women repaired +to the dressing-rooms to sew on flounces or other skirt-trimmings. Masks +wriggled about, and spoke to each other in the ridiculously squeaky +voice generally adopted on such occasions. Most of their conversation +was English, and of this very exciting order: "You don't know me?" "Yes +I do." "No you don't." "I know what you did yesterday," etc., etc., _ad +nauseam._ How fine masked balls are in sensational novels! how +absolutely flat and unsatisfactory in fact! There was on this occasion a +vast display of dress and jewelry, and among the babel of languages +spoken the most prominent was the beautiful London dialect sometimes +irreverently called Cockney. I lost my cavalier at one time, and while I +waited for him to find me I retired to a corner and challenged a mask to +a game of chess. He proved to be a Russian who spoke neither French nor +Italian. We got along famously, however. He said something very polite +in Russian, I responded irrelevantly in French, and then we looked at +each other and grinned. He subsequently, thinking he had made an +impression, ventured to press my hand; I drew it away and told him he +was an idiot, at which he was greatly flattered; and then we grinned at +each other again. It was very exciting indeed. I won the game easily, +because he knew nothing of chess, and then he said something in his +mother-tongue, placing his hand upon his heart. I could have sworn that +it meant, "Of course I would not be so rude as to win when playing with +a lady." I thought so, principally because he was a man, for I never +knew a man under such circumstances who did not immediately betray his +self-conceit by making that gallant declaration. Feeling sure that the +Russian had done so, when we placed the pieces on the board again I +offered him my queen. He seemed astounded and hurt; and then for the +first time I thought that if this Russian were an exception to his sex, +and I had _not_ understood his remark, then it was a rudeness to offer +him my queen. I was fortunately relieved from my perplexing situation +by the approach of my cavalier, and as he led me away I gave my other +hand to my antagonist in the most impressive manner, by way of atonement +in case there _had_ been anything wrong in my conduct toward him. + +One day during the latter part of my stay in Florence I went the second +time to the splendid studio of Mr. Powers. He talked very eloquently +upon art. He said that some of the classic statues had become famous, +and deservedly so, although they were sometimes false in proportion and +disposed in attitudes quite impossible in nature. He illustrated this by +a fine plaster cast of the Venus of Milo, before which we were standing. +He showed that the spinal cord in the neck could never, from the +position of the head, have joined that of the body, that there was a +radical fault in the termination of the spinal column, and that the +navel was located falsely with respect to height. As he proceeded he +convinced me that he was correct; and in defence of this, my most +cherished idol after the Apollo Belvedere, I only asked the iconoclast +whether these defects might not have been intentional, in order to make +the statue appear more natural when looked at in its elevated position +from below. I subsequently repeated Mr. Powers's criticism of the Venus +of Milo in the studio of another of our distinguished sculptors, and he +treated it with great levity, especially when I told him my authority. +There is a spirit of rivalry among sculptors which does not always +manifest itself in that courteous and well-bred manner which +distinguishes the medical faculty, for instance, in their dealings with +each other. This courtesy is well illustrated by an anecdote I have +recently heard. A gentleman fell down in a fit, and a physician entering +saw a man kneeling over the patient and grasping him firmly by the +throat; whereupon the physician exclaimed, "Why, sir, you are stopping +the circulation in the jugular vein!" "Sir," replied the other, "I am a +doctor of medicine." To which the first M.D. remarked, "Ah! I beg your +pardon," and stood by very composedly until the patient was comfortably +dead. + +While Mr. Powers was conversing with me about the Venus of Milo, there +entered two Englishwomen dressed very richly in brocades and velvets. +They seemed very anxious to see everything in the studio, talked in loud +tones of the various objects of art, passed us, and occupied themselves +for some time before the statue called California. I heard one of them +say, "I wonder if there's anybody 'ere that talks Hinglish?" and in the +same breath she called out to Mr. Powers, "Come 'ere!" He was at work +that day, and wore his studio costume. I was somewhat surprised to see +him immediately obey the rude command, and the following conversation +occurred: + +"Do you speak Hinglish?" + +"Yes, ma'am." + +"What is this statue?" + +"It is called California, madam." + +"What has she got in 'er 'and?" + +"Thorns, madam, in the hand held behind the back; in the other she +presents the quartz containing the tempting metal." + +"Oh!" + +We next entered a room where there was another work of the sculptor in +process of formation. Mr. Powers and myself were engaged in an animated +and, to me, very agreeable conversation, which was constantly +interrupted by these ill-bred women, who kept all the time mistaking the +plaster for the marble, and asked the artist the most pestering +questions on the _modus operandi_ of sculpturing. I was astonished at +the marvelous temper of Mr. Powers, who politely and patiently answered +all their queries. By some lucky chance these women got out of the way +during our slow progress back to the outer rooms, and I enjoyed Mr. +Powers's conversation uninterruptedly. He showed me the beautiful baby +hand in marble, a copy of his daughter's hand when an infant, and had +just returned it to its shrine when the two women reappeared, and we all +proceeded together. In the outer room there were several admirable +busts, upon which these women passed comment freely. One of these busts +was that of a lady, and they attacked it spitefully. "What an ugly +face!" "What a mean expression about the mouth!" "Isn't it 'orrible?" + +"Who is it?" asked one of them, addressing Mr. Powers. + +"That is a portrait of my wife," said the artist modestly. + +"Your wife!" repeated one of the women, and then, nothing abashed, +added, "Who are you?" + +"My name is Powers, madam," he answered very politely. This discovery +evidently disconcerted the impudence even of these visitors, and they +immediately left the studio. + +As the day approached for my departure I visited all my old haunts, and +dwelt fondly upon scenes which I might never see again. My dear old +music-master cried when I bade him farewell. Povero maestro! He used to +think me so good that I was always ashamed of not being a veritable +angel. I left Florence when + + All the land in flowery squares, + Beneath a broad and equal-blowing wind, + Smelt of the coming summer. + +My last visit was with the maestro to the Cascine, where he gathered me +a bunch of wild violets--cherished souvenir of a city I love, and of a +friend whose like I "ne'er may look upon again." + +MARIE HOWLAND. + + + + +THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. + + +While Philadelphia hibernates in the ice and snow of February, the +spring season opens in the Southern woods and pastures. The fragrant +yellow jessamine clusters in golden bugles over shrubs and trees, and +the sward is enameled with the white, yellow and blue violet. The crocus +and cowslip, low anemone and colts-foot begin to show, and the land +brightens with waxy flowers of the huckleberry, set in delicate gamboge +edging. Yards, greeneries, conservatories breathe a June like fragrance, +and aviaries are vocal with songsters, mocked outside by the American +mocking-bird, who chants all night under the full moon, as if day was +too short for his medley. + +New Orleans burgeons with the season. The broad fair avenues, the wide +boulevards, famed Canal street, are luxuriant with spring life and +drapery. Dashing equipages glance down the Shell Road with merry +driving-and picnic-parties. There is boating on the lake, and delicious +French collations at pleasant resorts, spread by neat-handed mulatto +waiters speaking a patois of French, English and negro. There spring +meats and sauces and light French wines allure to enjoyments less +sensual than the coarser Northern climate affords. + +The unrivaled French opera is in season, the forcing house of that +bright garden of exotics. Other and Northern cities boast of such +entertainments, but I apprehend they resemble the Simon-Pure much as an +Englishman's French resembles the native tongue. In New Orleans it is +the natural, full-flavored article, lively with French taste and talent, +and for a people instinct with a truer Gallic spirit, perhaps, than that +of Paris itself. It is antique and colonial, but age and the sea-voyage +have preserved more distinctly the native _bouquet_ of the wine after +all grosser flavors have wasted away. The spectacle within the theatre +on a fine night is brilliant, recherché and French. From side-scene to +dome, and from gallery after gallery to the gay parquette, glitters the +bright, shining audience. There are loungers, American and French, blasé +and roué, who in the intervals drink brandy and whisky, or anisette, +maraschino, curçoa or some other fiery French cordial. The French +loungers are gesticulatory, and shoulders, arms, fingers, eyes and +eyebrows help out the tongue's rapid utterance; but they are never rude +or boisterous. There are belles, pretty French belles, with just a tint +of deceitless rouge for fashion's sake, and tinkling, crisp, low French +voices modulated to chime with the music and not disharmonize it; nay, +rather add to the sweetness of its concord. + +And there is the Creole dandy, the small master of the revels. There is +nothing perfumed in the latest box of bonbons from Paris so exquisite, +sparkling, racy, French and happy in its own sweet conceit as he is. He +has hands and feet a Kentucky girl might envy for their shapely delicacy +and dainty size, cased in the neatest kid and prunella. His hair is +negligent in the elegantest grace of the perruquier's art, his dress +fashioned to the very line of fastidious elegance and simplicity, yet a +simplicity his Creole taste makes unique and attractive. He has the true +French persiflage, founded on happy content, not the blank indifference +of the Englishman's disregard. It becomes graceful self-forgetfulness, +and yet his vanity is French and victorious. In the atmosphere of +breathing music and faint perfume he looks around the glancing boxes, +and knows he has but to throw his sultanic handkerchief to have the +handsomest Circassian in the glowing circle of female beauty. But he +does not throw it, for all that. His manner plainly says: "Beautiful +dames, it would do me much of pleasure if I could elope with you all on +the road of iron, but the _bête noir_, the Moral, will not permit. +Behold for which, as an opened box of Louvin's perfumeries, I dispense +my fragrant affection to you all: breathe it and be happy!" Such homage +he receives with graceful acquiescence, believing his recognition of it +a sweet fruition to the fair adorers. He accepts it as he does the ices, +wines and delicate French dishes familiar to his palate. Life is a +fountain of eau sucrée, where everything is sweet to him, and he tries +to make it so to you, for he is a kindly-natured, true-hearted, valiant +little French gentleman. His loves, his innocent dissipations, his grand +passions, his rapier duels, would fill the volumes of a Le Sage or a +Cervantes. In the gay circles of New Orleans he floats with lambent +wings and irresistible fine eyes, its serenest butterfly, admired and +spoiled alike by the French and American element. + +At this early spring season a new atom of the latter enters the charmed +circle, breaking its merry round into other sparkles of foam. A +well-formed, stately, rather florid gentleman alights at the St. +Charles, and is ushered into the hospitalities of that elegant +caravansary. There is something impressive about him, or there would be +farther North. He is American, from the strong, careless Anglo-Saxon +face, through all the stalwart bones and full figure, to the strong, +firm, light step. He will crush through the lepidoptera of this +half-French society like a silver knife through _Tourtereaux soufflés à +la crême_. He brings letters to this and that citizen, or he is well +known already, and "coloneled" familiarly by stamp-expectant waiters and +the courteous master of ceremonies at the clerk's desk. He calls, on his +bankers, and is received with gracious familiarity in the pleasant +bank-parlor. Correspondence has made them acquainted with Colonel +Beverage in the way of business: they are glad to see him in person, and +will be happy to wait on him. He makes them happy in that way, for they +do wait upon him satisfactorily. There is a little pleasant interchange +of news and city gossip, and of something else. There is a crinkling of +a certain crispy, green foliage, and the colonel withdraws in the midst +of civilities. + +He next appears on Canal street, by and beyond the Clay Monument, with +occasional pauses at clothiers', and buys his shirts at Moody's, as he +has probably often sworn not to do, because of its annoyingly frequent +posters everywhere. He enters jewelers' shops and examines +trinkets--serpents with ruby eyes curled in gold on beds of golden +leaves with emerald dews upon them; pearls, pear-shaped and tearlike, +brought up by swart, glittering divers, seven fathom deep, at Tuticorin +or in the Persian Gulf; rubies and sapphires mined in Burmese Ava, and +diamonds from Borneo and Brazil. Is he choosing a bridal present? It +looks so; but no, he selects a splendid, brilliant solitaire, for which +he pays eight hundred dollars out of a plethoric purse, and also a +finger-ring, diamond too, for two hundred and fifty dollars. The +jewelers are polite, as the bankers were. He must be a large +cotton-planter, one of a class with whom a fondness for jewels serves as +a means of dozing away life in a kind of crystallization. He otherwise +adorns his stately person, till he has a Sublime Porte indeed, the very +vizier of a fairy tale glittering in barbaric gems and gold. His taste, +to speak it mildly, is expressed rather than subdued--not to be compared +with the quiet elegance of your husband or lover, madam or miss, but not +unsuited to his showy style, for all that. As the crimson-purple, +plume-like prince's feather has its own royal charm in Southern gardens +beside the pale and placidlily, so these luxuriant adornments, do not +misbecome his full and not too fleshy person. There is a certain harmony +in the Oriental sumptuousness of his attire, like radiant sunsets, +appropriate to certain styles of man and woman. Let us humble creatures +be content to have our portraits done in crayon, but the colonel calls +for the color-box. + +So adorned and radiant, this variety of the American aloe floats into +the charmed circle of New Orleans society--that lively, sparkling +epitome and relic of the old régime. He has good letters and a fair +name, and mingles in the Mystick Krewe, that curious club, possible +nowhere else, that has raised mummery into the sphere of aesthetics. +Perhaps he has worn the gray, perhaps the blue. It is only in the very +arcana of exclusive passion it makes much difference. But gray or blue, +or North or South in birth, he is in every essential a Southerner, as +many, like S.S. Prentiss, curiously independent of nativity, are. He is +well received and courteously entreated. He has his little suppers at +Moreau's, and knows the ways of the place and names of the waiters. He +has his promenades, his drives, his club visits, is seen everywhere--a +brilliant convolvulus now, twining the espaliers of that Saracenic +fabric of society; to speak architecturally, its very summer-house. He +visits the opera and gives it his frank approval, but confesses a +preference for the old plantation-melodies. He crushes through the +meshes of the Creole dandies, not offensively, but as the law of his +volume and momentum dictates, and they yield the _pas_ to his superior +weight and metal. They are civil, and he is civil, but they do not like +one another, for all that. That Zodiac passed, they continue their own +summery orbit of charm and conquest. He tends toward the aureal spheres +and the green and pleasant banks of issue. The colonel is not here for +pleasure, though he takes a little pleasure, as is his way, seasonably; +but he means business, and that several thirsty, eager cotton-houses of +repute know. + +Of course they know. It came in his letters and distills in the aroma of +his talk. It may even have slipped into the personals of the _Pic_ and +_Times_ that Colonel Beverage has taken Millefleur and Rottenbottom +plantations on Red River, and is going extensively into the cultivation +of the staple. The colonel is modest over this: "not extensively, no, +but to the extent of his limited means." In the mean while he looks out +for some sound, well-recommended cotton-house. + +This means business. In the North the farmer raises his crop on his own +capital, and turns it over unencumbered to the merchant for the public. +The credit system prevails in the agriculture of the South, and brings +another precarious element into the already hazardous occupation of +cotton-growing. A new party appears in the cotton-merchant. He is not +merely the broker, yielding the proceeds, less a commission, to the +planter. Either, by hypothecation on advances made during the year, he +secures a legal pre-emption in the crop, or, by initiatory contract, he +becomes an actual partner of limited liability in the crop itself. He +agrees to furnish so much cash capital at periods for the cultivation +and securing of the crop, which is husbanded by the planter. The money +for these advances he obtains from the banks; and hence it is that in +every cotton-crop raised South there are three or more principals +actually interested--the banker, the merchant and the planter. This +condition of planting is almost invariable. Even the small farmer, whose +crop is a few bags, is ground into it. In his case the country-side +grocer and dealer is banker and merchant, and his advances the bare +necessaries. In this blending of interests the curious partnership +rises, thrives, labors and sometimes falls--the planter, as a rule, +undermost in that accident. + +The Millefleur and Rottenbottom plantations are famous, and a hand well +over the crops raised under such shrewd, experienced management as that +of Colonel Beverage is a stroke of policy. Therefore, as the bankers and +jewelers have been polite, so now the cotton-merchants are civil; but +the colonel is shy--an old bird and a game bird. + +Shy, but not suspicious. He chooses his own time, and at an early day +walks into the business-house of Negocier & Duthem. They are pleased to +see the colonel in the way of business, as they have been in society, +and the pleasure is mutual. As he expounds his plans they are more and +more convinced that he is a plumy bird of much waste feather. + +He has taken Rottenbottom and Millefleur, and is going pretty well +into cotton. He thinks he understands it: he ought to. Then he +has his own capital--an advantage, certainly. Some of his friends, +So-and-so--running over commercial and bankable names easily--have +suggested the usual co-operation with some reputable house, and an +extension, but he believes He will stay within limits. He has five +thousand dollars in cash he wishes to deposit with some good firm for +the year's supplies. He believes that will be sufficient, and he has +called to hear their terms. All this comes not at once, but here and +there in the business-conversation. + +The reader will perceive one strong bait carelessly thrown out by the +auriferous or folliferous colonel--the five thousand dollars cash in +hand. The immediate use of that is a strong incentive to the house. They +covet the colonel's business: they think well of the proposed extension. +Cotton is sure to be up, and under practical, experienced cultivation +must yield a handsome fortune. The result is foreseen. The cotton-house +and the colonel enter into the usual agreement of such transactions. The +colonel leaves his five thousand dollars, and draws on that, and for as +much more as may be necessary in securing the crop. + +The commercial reader North who has had no dealings South will smile at +the credulous merchant who entrusts his credit to such a full-blown, +thirsty tropical pitcher-plant as the colonel, who carries childish +extravagances in his very dress; but he will judge hastily. We have seen +this gaudy efflorescence pass over the curiously-wrought enameled +gold-work, opals, pearls and rubies, and adorn himself with solid +diamonds. The careful economist North puts his superfluous thousands in +government bonds, or gambles them away in Erie stocks, because he likes +the increase of Jacob's speckled sheep. The Southerner invests his in +diamonds because he likes show, and diamonds have a pretty steady market +value. There is method, too, in the colonel's associations, and all his +acquaintance is gilt-edged and bankable. + +His business is now done, and he does not tarry, but wings his way to +Millefleur and Rottenbottom, where he moults all his fine feathers. He +goes into fertilizers, beginning with crushed cotton-seed and barnyard +manure, if possible, before February is over. He follows the +shovel-plough with a slick-jack, and plants, and then the labor begins +to fail him. He talks about importing Chinese, and writes about it in +the local paper. He is sure it will do, as he is positive in all his +opinions. He is true pluck, and tries to make new machinery make up for +deficient labor. He buys "bull-tongues," "cotton-shovels," "fifteen-inch +sweeps," "twenty-inch sweeps," "team-ploughs with seven-inch twisters," +and a "finishing sweep of twenty-six inches." He hears of other +inventions, and orders them. The South is flooded with a thousand quack +contrivances now, about as applicable to cotton-raising as a pair of +nut-crackers; but the colonel buys them. He is going to dispense with +the hoe. That is the plan; and by that plan of furnishing a large +plantation with new tools before Lent is over the five thousand dollars +are gone. But he writes cheerfully. It is his nature to be sanguine, and +to hope loudly, vaingloriously; and he writes it honestly enough to his +merchant--and draws. The labor gets worse and worse. In the indolent +summer days the negro, careless, thriftless, ignorant, works only at +intervals. Perhaps the June rise catches him, and there is a heavy +expense in ditching and damming to save the Rottenbottom crop. Maybe the +merchant hears of the army-worm and is alarmed, but the colonel writes +back assuring letters that it is only the grasshopper, and the +grasshopper has helped more than hurt--and draws. Then possibly the +army-worm comes sure enough, and cripples him. But he keeps up his +courage--and draws. The five thousand dollars appear to have been +employed in digging or building a sluice through which a constant +current of currency flows from the city to Rottenbottom and Millefleur. +The merchant has gone into bank, and the tide flows on. At last the +planter writes: "The most magnificent crop ever raised on Red River, +just waiting for the necessary hands to gather it in!" Of course the +necessary sums are supplied, and at last the crop gets to market. It +finds the market low, and declining steadily week by week. The banks +begin to press: money is tight, as it is now while I write. The crop is +sacrificed, for the merchant cannot wait, and some fine morning the +house of Negocier & Duthem is closed, and Colonel Beverage is bankrupt. + +And both are ruined? No. We will suppose the business-house is old and +reputable: the banks are obliging and creditors prudently liberal, and +by and by the firm resumes its old career. As for the colonel, the +reader sees that to ruin him would be an absolute contradiction of +nature. His friends or relations give him assistance, or he sells his +diamonds, and soon you meet him at the St. Charles, as blooming, +sanguine and splendiferous as ever. No, he cannot be ruined, but his is +not an infrequent episode in the life of a Southern Planter. + +WILL WALLACE HARNEY. + + * * * * * + + + +BABES IN THE WOOD. + + I had two little babes, a boy and girl-- + Two little babes that are not with me now: + On one bright brow full golden fell the curl-- + The curl fell chestnut-brown on one bright brow. + + I like to dream of them that some soft day, + Whilst wandering from home, their fitful feet + Went heedlessly through some still woodland way + Where light and shade harmoniously meet; + + And that they wandered deeper and more deep + Into the forest's fragrant heart and fair, + Till just at evenfall they dropped asleep, + And ever since they have been resting there. + + After their willful wandering that day + Each is so tired it does not wake at all, + Whilst over them the boughs that sigh and sway + Conspire to make perpetual evenfall. + + And I, that must not join them, still am blest, + Passionately, though this poor heart grieves; + For memories, like birds, at my behest, + Have covered them with tender thoughts, like leaves. + +EDGAR FAWCETT. + + + + +MY CHARGE ON THE LIFE-GUARDS. + + +Now that our little international troubles about consequential damages +and the like are happily settled, and there is no danger that my +revelations will augment them in any degree, I think I may venture to +give the particulars of an affair of honor which I once had with a +gigantic member of Her Britannic Majesty's household troops. + +My guardian had a special veneration for England in general and for +Oxford in particular, and I was brought up and sent to Yale with the +full understanding that St. Bridget's, Oxon., was the place where I was +to be "finished." I left Yale at the end of Junior year and crossed the +ocean in the crack steamer of the then famous Collins line. I do not +believe any young American ever had a more favorable introduction to +England than I had, and the wonder is that, considering the +philo-Anglican atmosphere in which I was educated, I did not become a +thorough-paced renegade. I was, however, blessed with a tolerably +independent spirit, and kept my nationality intact throughout my +university course. + +Like Tom Brown, I felt myself drawn to the sporting set, and, as I was +always an adept at athletics, soon won repute as an oarsman, and was +well satisfied to be looked upon as the Yankee champion sundry amateur +rowing-and boxing-matches, as well as in the lecture-room. Of course, I +was the mark for no end of good-natured chaff about my nationality, but +was nearly always able, I believe, to sustain the honor of the American +name, and so at length graduated in the "firsts" as to scholarship, and +enjoyed the distinguished honor of pulling number four in the "'Varsity +eight" in our annual match with Cambridge on the Thames. Moreover, I +stood six feet in my stockings, had the muscle of a gladiator, and was +physically the equal of any man at Oxford. + +After the race was over my special cronies hung about London for a few +days, usually making that classical "cave" of Evans's a rendezvous in +the evening. Two or three young officers of the Guards were often with +us, and one night, when the talk had turned, as it often did, on +personal prowess, the superb average physique of their regiment was duly +lauded by our soldier companions. At length one of them remarked, in +that aggravatingly superior tone which some Englishmen assume, that any +man in his troop could handle any two of the then present company. This +provoked a general laugh of incredulity, and two or three of our college +set turned to me with--"What do you say to that, Jonathan?" + +"Nonsense!" said I. "I'll put on the gloves with the biggest fellow +among them, any day." + +This somewhat democratic readiness to spar with a private soldier led to +remarks which I chose to consider insular, if not insolent, and I +replied, supporting the principle of Yankee equality, until, losing my +temper at something which one of the ensigns said, I delivered myself in +some such fashion as this: "Well, gentlemen, I'm only one Yankee among +many Englishmen, but I will bet a hundred guineas, and put up the money, +that I will tumble one of those mighty warriors out of his saddle in +front of the Horse Guards, and ride off on his horse before the guard +can turn out and stop me." + +Of course my bet was instantly taken by the officers, but my friends +were so astounded at my rashness that I found no backers. However, my +blood was up, and, possibly because Evans's bitter beer was buzzing +slightly in my head, I booked several more bets at large odds in my own +favor. As the hour was late, we separated with an agreement to meet and +arrange details on the following day, keeping the whole affair strictly +secret meanwhile. + +I confess that my feelings were not of the pleasantest as I sat at my +late London breakfast somewhere about noon the next day, and I was fain +to admit to my special friend that I had put myself in an awkward, if +not an unenviable, position. However, I was in for it, and being +naturally of an elastic temperament, began to cast about for a cheerful +view of my undertaking. In the course of the day preliminaries were +arranged and reduced to writing with all the care which Englishmen +practice in such affairs of "honor." I only stipulated that I should be +allowed to use a stout walking-stick in my encounter; that I should be +kept informed as to the detail for guard; that I should be freely +allowed to see the regiment at drill and in quarters; and that I should +select my time of attack within a fortnight, giving a few hours' notice +to all parties concerned, so as to ensure their presence as witnesses. + +Every one who has ever visited London has seen and admired the gigantic +horsemen who sit on mighty black steeds, one on either side of the +archway facing Whitehall, and who are presumed at once to guard the +commander-in-chief's head-quarters and to serve as "specimen bricks" of +the finest cavalry corps in the world. Splendid fellows they are! None +of them are under six feet high, and many of them are considerably above +that mark. They wear polished steel corselets and helmets, white +buck-skin trowsers, high jack-boots, and at the time of which I write +their arms consisted of a brace of heavy, single-barreled pistols in +holsters, a carbine and a sabre. The firearms were, under ordinary +circumstances, not loaded, and the sabre was held at a "carry" in the +right hand. This last was the weapon against which I must guard, and I +accordingly placed a traveling cap and a coat in the hands of a discreet +tailor, who sewed steel bands into the crown of one and into the +shoulders of the other, in such a way as afforded very efficient +protection against a possible downward cut. + +Besides attending to these defensive preparations, I at once looked +about for a competent horseman with military experience who could give +me some practical hints as to encounters between infantry and cavalry, +and, singularly enough, was thrown in with that gallant young officer +who rode into immortality in front of the Light Brigade at Balaklava a +few years afterward. I learned that he was a superb horseman, was down +upon the English system of cavalry training, and was using pen and +tongue to bring about a change. A sudden inspiration led me to take him +into my confidence, as the terms of our agreement permitted me to do. He +caught the idea with enthusiasm. What an argument it would be in favor +of his new system if a mere civilian unhorsed a Guardsman trained after +the old fashion! For a week he drilled me more or less every day in +getting him off his horse in various ways, and I speedily became a +proficient in the art, he meanwhile gaining some new ideas on the +subject, which were duly printed in his well-known book. + +Well, to make my story short, I gave notice to interested parties on the +tenth day, put on my steel-ribbed cap and my armor-plated coat, and with +stick in hand walked over to a hairdresser's with whom I had previously +communicated, had my complexion darkened to a Spanish olive, put on a +false beard, and was ready for service. I had arranged with this +tonsorial artist, whose shop was in the Strand near Northumberland +House, that he should be prepared to remove these traces of disguise as +speedily as he had put them on, and that I should leave a stylish coat +and hat in his charge, to be donned in haste should occasion require. I +next engaged two boys to stand opposite Northumberland House, and be +ready to hold a horse. These boys I partially paid beforehand, and +promised more liberal largess if they did their duty. Preliminaries +having been thus arranged, I strolled down Whitehall, feeling very much +as I did years afterward when I found myself going into action for the +first time in Dixie. + +It was early afternoon on a lovely spring day. The Strand was a roaring +stream of omnibuses and drays, carriages were beginning to roll along +the drives leading to Rotten Row, and all London was in the streets. I +was assured that at this hour I should find a big but father clumsy +giant on post; and there he was, sure enough, sitting like a colossal +statue on his coal-black charger, the crest of his helmet almost +touching the keystone of the arch under which he sat, his accoutrements +shining like jewels, and he looking every inch a British cavalryman. I +walked past on the opposite side of Whitehall, meeting, without being +recognized, all my aiders and abettors in this most heinous attack on +Her Majesty's Guards. I then crossed the street and took a good look at +my man. He and his companion-sentry under the other arch were aware of +officers in "mufti" on the opposite sidewalk, and kept their eyes +immovably to the front. Evidently nothing much short of an earthquake +could cause either to relax a muscle. The little circle of admiring +beholders which is always on hand inspecting these splendid horsemen was +present, of course, with varying elements, and I had to wait a few +minutes until a small number of innocuous spectators coincided with the +aphelion of the periodical policeman. + +It was not a pleasant thing to contemplate that tower of polished +leather, brass and steel, with a man inside of it some forty pounds +heavier than I, and think that in a minute or so we two should be +engaged in a close grapple, whose termination involved considerable risk +for me physically as well as pecuniarily. However, there was, in +addition to the feeling of apprehension, a touch of elation at the +thought that I, a lone Yankee, was about to beard the British lion in +his most formidable shape, almost under the walls of Buckingham Palace. + +I looked my antagonist carefully over, deciding several minor points in +my mind, and then at a favorable moment stepped quietly within striking +distance, and delivered a sharp blow with my stick on his left instep, +as far forward as I could without hitting the stirrup. The man seemed to +be in a sort of military trance, for he never winced. Quick as thought, +I repeated the blow, and this time the fellow fairly yelled with rage, +astonishment and pain. I have since made up my mind that his nerve-fibre +must have been of that inert sort which transmits waves of sensation but +slowly, so that the perception of the first blow reached the interior of +his helmet just about as the second descended. At all events, he jerked +back his foot, and somehow, between the involuntary contraction of his +flexor muscles from pain and the glancing of my stick, his foot slipped +from the stirrup. This, as I had learned from my instructor, was a great +point gained, and in an instant I had him by the ankle and by the top of +his jack-boot, doubling his leg, at the same time heaving mightily +upward. + +As I gave my whole strength to the effort I was dimly aware of screams +and panic among the nursery--maids and children who were but a moment +before my fellow-spectators. At the same time I caught the flash of the +Guardsman's sabre as he cut down at me after the fashion prescribed in +the broadsword exercise. Fortune, however, did not desert me. My +antagonist had not enough elbow-room, and his sword-point was shivered +against the stone arch overhead, the blade descending flatways and +harmlessly upon my well-protected shoulder just as, with a final effort, +I tumbled him out his saddle. + +The recollection of the ludicrous figure which that Guardsman cut haunts +me still. His pipeclayed gloves clutched wildly at holster and cantle as +he went over. Down came the gleaming helmet crashing upon the pavement, +and with a calamitous rattle and bang the whole complicated structure of +corselet, scabbard, carbine, cross-belts, spurs and boots went into the +inside corner of the archway, a helpless heap. + +That started the horse. The noble animal had stood my assault as +steadily as if he had been cast in bronze, but precisely such an +emergency as this had never been contemplated in his training, as it had +not in that of his master, and he now started forward rather wildly. I +had my hand on the bridle before he had moved a foot, and swung myself +half over his back as he dashed across the sidewalk and up Whitehall. +The Guards' saddles are very easy when once you are in them, and I had +reason, temporarily at least, to approve the English style of riding +with short stirrups, for I readily found my seat, and ascertained that I +could touch bottom with my toes. As I left the scene of my victory +behind me I heard the guards turning out, and caught a glimpse as of all +London running in my direction, but by the time that I had secured the +control of my horse I had distanced the crowd, and as we entered the +Strand we attracted comparatively little notice. In driving, the English +turn out to the left instead of to the right, as is the custom here, and +I was obliged to cross the westward-bound line of vehicles before I +could fall in with that which would bring me to my boys. I decided to +make a "carom" of it, and nearly took the heads off a pair of horses, +and the pole off the omnibus to which they were attached, as I dashed +through. Turning to the right, I soon lost the torrent of invective +hurled after me by the driver and conductor of the discomfited 'bus, and +in less than two minutes--which seemed to me an age, for the pursuit was +drawing near--I reached my boys, dropped them a half sov. apiece, which +I had ready in my hand, and bolted for my hairdresser's, the boys +leading the horse in the opposite direction, as previously ordered. + +It was none too soon, for as I ran up stairs I saw three or four +policemen running toward the horse, and there was a gleam of dancing +plumes and shining helmets toward Whitehall. My false beard and +complexion were changed with marvelous rapidity, and, assuming my +promenade costume, I sauntered down stairs and out upon the sidewalk in +time to see the whole street jammed with a crowd of excited Britons, +while the recaptured horse was turned over to the Guardsmen, and the two +boys were marched off to Bow street for examination before a magistrate. + +A private room and an elaborate dinner at the United Service Club +closed the day; and I must admit that my military friends swallowed +their evident chagrin with a very good grace. Of course I was told that +I could not do it again, which I readily admitted; and that there was +not another man in the troop whom I could have unhorsed--an assertion +which I as persistently combated. The affair was officially hushed up, +and probably not more than a few thousand people ever heard of it +outside military circles. + +How I escaped arrest and punishment to the extent of the law I did not +know for many years, for the duke of Wellington, who was then +commander-in-chief, had only to order the officers concerned under +arrest, and I should have been in honor bound to come forward with a +voluntary confession. + +My giant was sent for to the old duke's private room the day after his +overthrow, and questioned sharply by the adjutant, who, with pardonable +incredulity, suspected that bribery alone could have brought about so +direful a catastrophe. The duke was from the first convinced of the +soldier's, honesty and bravery, and presently broke in upon the +adjutant's examination with--"Well, well! speak to me now. What have you +to say for yourself?" + +"May it please yer ludship," said the undismayed soldier, "I've never +fought a civilian sence I 'listed, an' yer ludship will bear me witness +that there's nothing in the cavalry drill about resisting a charge of +foot when a mon's on post at the Horse Guards." + +This speech was delivered with the most perfect sincerity and sobriety, +and although it reflected upon the efficiency of the army under the hero +of Waterloo, the Iron Duke was so much impressed by the affair that he +sent word to Lieutenant-Colonel Varian, commanding the regiment, not to +order the man any punishment whatever, but to see that his command was +thereafter trained in view of possible attacks, even when posted in +front of army head-quarters. + +CHARLES L. NORTON. + + + + +PAINTING AND A PAINTER. + + +Charles V. once said, "Titian should be served by Caesar;" and Michael +Angelo, we read, was treated by Lorenzo de' Medici "as a son;" Raphael, +his contemporary, was great enough to revere him, and thank God he had +lived at the same time. In England, in France, in Germany, in Italy, in +Spain at this day, the poet and the painter stand hedged about by the +divinity of their gifts, and the people are proud to recognize their +kingship. + +Has "Reverence, that angel of the world," as Shakespeare beautifully +says, forgot to visit America? Or must we consider ourselves less +capable yet of delicate appreciation, such as older nations possess? Or +are we over-occupied in gaining possession of material comforts and +luxuries, and so forget to revere our poets and painters till it is too +late, and the curtain has fallen upon their unobtrusive and often +struggling earthly career? What a millennium will have arrived when we +learn to be as _faithful_ to our love as we are sincere! + +Questions like these have been asked also in times preceding ours. +Alfred de Musset wrote upon this subject in 1833, in Paris: "There are +people who tell you our age is preoccupied, that men no longer read +anything or care for anything. Napoleon was occupied, I think, at +Beresina: he, however, had his _Ossian_ with him. When did Thought lose +the power of being able to leap into the saddle behind Action? When did +man forget to rush like Tyrtaeus to the combat, a sword in one hand, the +lyre in the other? Since the world still has a body, it has a soul." + +Monsieur Charles Blanc writes: "In order to have an idea of the +importance of the arts, it is enough to fancy what the great nations of +the world would be if the monuments they have erected to their faiths, +and the works whereon they have left the mark of their genius, were +suppressed from history. It is with people as with men--after death only +the emanations of their mind remain; that is to say, literature and art, +written poems, and poems inscribed on stone, in marble or in color." + +The same writer, in his admirable book, _Grammaire des arts du dessin,_ +from which we are tempted to quote again and again, says: "The artist +who limits himself simply to the imitation of Nature reaches only +_individuality_: he is a slave. He who interprets Nature sees in her +happy qualities; he evolves _character_ from her; he is master. The +artist who idealizes her discovers in her or imprints upon her the image +of _beauty_: this last is a great master.... Placed between Nature and +the ideal, between what is and what must be, the artist has a vast +career before him in order to pass from the reality he sees to the +beauty he divines. If we follow him in this career, we see his model +transform itself successively before his eyes.... But the artist must +give to these creations of his soul the imprint of life, and he can only +find this imprint in the individuals Nature has created. The two are +inseparable--the type, which is a product of thought, and the +individual, which is a child of life." + +With this excellent analysis before us, we will recall one by one some +of the best-known and most interesting works of W.M. Hunt, a painter who +now holds a prominent place among the artists of America. We will try to +discover by careful observation if the high gifts of Verity and +Imagination, the sign and seal of the true artist, really belong to him: +if so, where these qualities are expressed, and what value we should set +upon them. + +First, perhaps, for those readers remote from New England who may never +have seen any pictures by this artist, a few words should be said by way +of describing some characteristics of his work and the limitations of +it; which limitations are rather loudly dwelt upon by connoisseurs and +lovers of the popular modern French school. Artists discern these +limitations of course more keenly even than others, but their tribute to +verity and ideal beauty as represented by this painter is too sincere to +allow caviling to find expression. This limitation to which we refer +causes Mr. Hunt to allow _ideal suggestions_, rather than pictures, to +pass from his studio, and makes him cowardly before his own work. It +recalls in a contrary sense that saying of the sculptor Puget: "The +marble trembles before me." Mr. Hunt trembles before his new-born idea. +His swift nature has allowed him in the first hour of work to put into +his picture the tenderness or rapture, the unconscious grace or +tempestuous force, which he despaired at first of ever being able to +express. In the flush of success he stops: he has it, the idea; the +chief interest of the subject is portrayed before him; the delicate +presence (and what can be more delicate than the thoughts he has +delineated?) is there, and may vanish if touched in a less fortunate +moment. But is this lack of fulfillment in the artist entirely without +precedent or parallel? Had not Sir Joshua Reynolds a studio full of +young artists who "finished off" his pictures? Were not the very faces +themselves painted with such rapidity and want of proper method as to +drop off, on occasion, entirely from the canvas, as in case of the boy's +head, in being carried through the street? Hunt is of our own age, and +would scorn the suggestion of having a hand or a foot painted for him, +as if it were a matter of small importance what individual expression a +hand or a foot should wear; but who can tell for what future age he has +painted the wise, abrupt, kind, persistent, simple, strong old Judge in +his Yankee coat; or the genial, resolute, hopeful, self-sacrificing +governor of Massachusetts; and the Master of the boys, with his keen, +loving, uncompromising face? These are pictures that, when children say, +"Tell us about the Governor who helped Massachusetts bring her men first +into the field during our war," we may lead them up before and reply, +"He was this man!" So also with the portraits of the Judge, of the +Master of the boys, of the old man with clear eyes and firm mouth, and +that sweet American girl standing, unconscious of observation, plucking +at the daisy in her hat and guessing at her fate. + +Hurry, impatience and a worship of crude thought are characteristics of +our present American life. Hunt is one of us. If these faults mark and +mar his work, they show him also to be a child of the time. His quick +sympathies are caught by the wayside and somewhat frayed out among his +fellows; but nevertheless one essential of a great painter, that of +_Verity_, will be accorded to him after an examination of the pictures +we have mentioned. + +But truth, character, skill, the many gifts and great labor which must +unite to lead an artist to the foot of his shadowy, sun-crowned +mountain, can then carry him no step farther unless ideal Beauty join +him, and he comprehend her nature and follow to her height. Again we +quote from Charles Blanc--for why should we rewrite what he says so +ably?--"All the germs of beauty are in Nature, but it belongs to the +spirit of man alone to disengage them. When Nature is beautiful, the +painter _knows_ that she is beautiful, but Nature knows nothing of it. +Thus beauty exists only on the condition of being understood--that is to +say, of receiving a second life in the human thought. Art has something +else to do than to copy Nature exactly: it must penetrate into the +spirit of things, it must evoke the soul of its hero. It can then not +only rival Nature, but surpass her. What is indeed the superiority of +Nature? It is the life which animates all her forms. But man possesses a +treasure which Nature does not possess--thought. Now thought is more +than life, for it is life at its highest power, life in its glory. Man +can then contest with Nature by manifesting thought in the forms of art, +as Nature manifests life in her forms. In this sense the philosopher +Hegel was able to say that the creations of art were truer than the +phenomena of the physical world and the realities of history." + +Now, thought in the soul of the true artist for ever labors to evolve +the beautiful. This is what the thought of a picture means to him--how +to express beauty, which he finds underlying even the imperfect +individual of Nature's decaying birth. To the high insight this is +always discernible. None are so fallen that some ray of God's light may +not touch them, and this possibility, the faith in light for ever, +radiates from the spirit of the artist, and renders him a messenger of +joy. No immortal works have bloomed in despondency: they may have taken +root in the slime of the earth, but they have blossomed into lilies. + +We call this divine power to discern beauty in every manifestation of +the Deity, imagination. As it expresses itself in painting, it is so +closely allied with what is highest and holiest in our natures that +painting has come to be esteemed a Christian art, as contrasted in its +development subsequent to the Christian era with the less human works of +sculpture. "Christianity came, and instead of physical beauty +substituted moral beauty, infinitely preferring the expression of the +soul to the perfection of the body. Every man was great in its eyes, not +by his perishable members, but by his immortal soul. With this religion +begins the reign of painting, which is a more subtle art, more +immaterial, than the others--more expressive, and also more individual. +We will give some proofs of it. Instead of acting, like architecture and +sculpture, upon the three dimensions of heavy matter, painting acts only +upon one surface, and produces its effects with an imponderable thing, +which is color--that is to say, light. Hegel has said with admirable +wisdom: 'In sculpture and architecture forms are rendered visible by +exterior light. In painting, on the contrary, matter, obscure in itself, +has within itself its internal element, its ideal--light: it draws from +itself both clearness and obscurity. Now, unity, the combination of +light and dark, is color.' The painter, then, proposes to himself to +represent, not bodies with their real thickness, but simply their +appearance, their image; but by this means it is the mind which he +addresses. Visible but impalpable, and in some sense immaterial, his +work does not meet the touch, which is the sight of the body: it only +meets the eye, which is the touch of the soul. Painting is then, from +this point of view, the essential art of Christianity.... If the +painter, like Phidias or Lysippus, had only to portray the types of +humanity, the majesty of Jupiter, the strength of Hercules, he might do +without the riches of color, and paint in one tone, modified only by +light and shade; but the most heroic man among Christians is not a +demigod: he is a being profoundly individual, tormented, combating, +suffering, and who throughout his real life shares with environing +Nature, and receives from every side the reflection of her colors. +Sculpture, generalizing, raises itself to the dignity of +allegory--painting, individualizing, descends to the familiarity of +portraiture." + +Let us now return to consider William Hunt's pictures from this second +point of view. The gift of Verity having been already assumed, can we +also discern that higher power of Imagination whose crown and seal is +the Beautiful. To decide this question we have, unhappily, to consider +his work as lyrical, rather than dramatic, and for this reason we must +study his power under disadvantage. That he possesses dramatic power +will hardly be denied by those who know his "Hamlet," "The Drummer-Boy," +and "The Boy and the Butterfly;" but the exigencies of life appear to +prevent him from occupying himself with compositions such as filled +years in the existence of the old painters. + +Portraiture being the highest and most difficult labor to which an +artist can aspire, to this branch of art Hunt has chiefly confined +himself, and from this point of view he must be studied. We do not +forget, in saying this, his angel with the flaming torch, strong and +beautiful and of unearthly presence, nor the shadowy, half-portrayed +figures which dart and flit across his easel; but as we may +_understand_ the power of Titian from his portraits, yet never +revel in it fully until we look upon "The Presentation" or "The +Assumption"--never comprehend the painter's joy or his divine rest in +endeavor until the achievement lies before us--we must speak of Hunt +only from the work to which he has devoted himself, and not do him the +injustice to predict dramas he has never yet composed. + +First, pre-eminently appears that worship for moral beauty which suffers +him to fear no ugliness. This power allies him with keen sympathy to +every living thing. He sees kinship and the immortal spark in each +breathing being. The soul of love goes out and paints the dark or the +suffering or the repellant faithfully, bringing it in to the light where +God's sunshine may fall upon it, and men and women, seeing for the first +time, may help to wipe away the stain. This tendency he shares with the +great French painter Millet, whom he loves to call Master, and with +Dore, whose terrible picture of "The Mountebanks" should call men and +women from their homes to penetrate the fastnesses of vice and strive to +heal the sorrows of their kind. + +This love of moral beauty, which forces painters to paint such pictures, +was never in any age more evident. Hunt in his beggar-man, in his +forlorn children, and other pictures of the same class, unfolds a beauty +that men should be thankful for. + +On the other hand, his love of beauty and his power of expressing it +should be studied in its _direct_ influence. The beauty of flesh and +blood, even the loveliness of children, seems to have slight hold upon +him, compared with the significance of character and the lustre with +which his imagination endows everything. This lustre is a distinguishing +power with him. The depth to which he sees and feels causes him to give +higher lights and deeper shadows than other men. White flowers are not +only white to him--they shine like stars. His pictures give a sense of +splendor. + +In his sketch of the poor mother cuddling her child, it is the feeling +of rest, the mother's sleeping joy, the relaxed limbs, the folding +embrace, which he has given us to enjoy. These are the beauty of the +picture--not rounded flesh, nor graceful curves, nor fair complexion; +and so with the singing-girls: they are not beautiful girls, but they +are simple--they love to sing, they are full of tenderness and music. We +might go over all his pictures to weariness in this way. The young girl +plucking at the daisy as she stands in an open field must, however, not +be omitted. The natural elegance of this portrait renders it peculiarly, +we should say, such a one as any woman would be proud to see of herself. +Doubtless this young girl, like others, may have worn ear-rings and +chains and pins and rings, but the artist knew her better than she knew +herself, and has portrayed that exquisite crown of simplicity with +which, it should seem, Nature only endows beggars and her royal +favorites. + +In all the ages since Hamlet was created there appears never to have +been an era in which his character has excited such strong and universal +interest as in America at this time. William Hunt has thrown upon the +canvas a figure of Hamlet beautiful and living. There is no suggestion +of any actor in it. Hamlet walks new-born from the painter's brain. His +"cursed spite" bends the youthful shoulders, and the figure marches past +unmindful of terrestrial presences. + +One other picture will illustrate more clearly, perhaps, than everything +which has gone before, this gift of imagination. In "The Boy and the +Butterfly," now on the walls of the Century Club-house, the loveliness +of the child, the power of action, the subtle management of color and +light, are all subordinated to the ideas of defeat and endeavor. Energy, +the irrepressible strength of the spirit upheld by a divine light of +indestructible youth, shines out from the canvas. The boy who cannot +catch the butterfly is transmuted as we stand into the Soul of Beauty +reaching out in vain for satisfaction, and ready to follow its +aspiration to another sphere. + + + + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + +WILHELMINE VON HILLERN. + + +German literature, despite its extraordinary productiveness and its +possession of a few great masterpieces, is far from being rich in the +department of belles-lettres, especially in works of fiction. It has no +list of novelists like those which include such names as Fielding, Scott +and Thackeray, Balzac, Hugo and Sand. In fact, there is scarcely an +instance of a male writer in Germany who has devoted himself exclusively +to this branch of literature, and has won high distinction in it. It has +been cultivated with success chiefly by a few writers of the other sex, +whose delineations have gained a popularity in America only less than +that which they enjoy at home--in part because the life which they +depict has closer internal analogies to our own than to that of England +or of France, still more perhaps because the pictures themselves, +whatever their intrinsic fidelity, are suffused with a romantic glow +which has long since faded from those of the thoroughly realistic art +now dominant in the two latter countries. + +In none of them is this characteristic more apparent than in the works +of Wilhelmine von Hillern, which bear also in a marked degree the stamp +of a mind at once vigorous and sympathetic, and are thus calculated to +awaken the interest of readers in regard to the author's personal +history. + +Her father, Doctor Christian Birch, a Dane by birth and originally a +diplomatist by profession, held for many years the post of secretary of +legation at London and Paris. He withdrew from this career on the +occasion of his marriage with a German lady connected with the stage in +the triple capacity of author, manager and actress. Madame +Birch-Pfeiffer, as she is commonly called, was one of the celebrities of +her time, and her dramatic productions still keep possession of the +stage. Soon after the birth of her daughter, which took place at Munich, +she was invited to assume the direction of the theatre of Zurich. Here +Wilhelmine passed several years of her childhood, separated from her +father, whose engagements as a political writer retained him in Germany, +and scarcely less divided from her mother, whose duties at this period +did not permit her to give much attention to domestic cares. Without +companions of her own age, and left almost wholly to the charge of an +invalid aunt, she led a monotonous existence, which left an impression +on her mind all the more deep from its contrast with the life which +opened upon her in her eighth year, when Madame Birch-Pfeiffer was +summoned to Berlin to hold an appointment at the court theatre. + +In the Prussian capital the family was again united, and became the +centre of a social circle embracing many persons connected with dramatic +art and literature. Devrient, Dawison and Jenny Lind were among the +visitors whose conversation was greedily listened to by the little girl +while supposed to be immersed in her lessons or her plays. Under such +influences it would have been strange if even a less active brain had +not been fired with aspirations, which took the form of an irresistible +impulse when, at thirteen, Wilhelmine was allowed for the first time to +visit the theatre and witness the acting of Dawison in Hamlet and other +parts. Henceforth all opposition had to give way, and in her seventeenth +year she made her _début_ as Juliet at the ducal theatre of Coburg. Two +qualities, we are told, distinguished her acting: a strong conception +worked out in the minutest details, and an intensity of passion which +knew no restraint, and at its culminating point overpowered even hostile +criticism. Subsequently careful training under Edward Devrient and +Madame Glossbrenner enabled her to bring her emotions under better +control, repressing all tendency to extravagance; and, greeted with the +assurance that she was destined to become the German Rachel, she entered +upon her career with a round of performances at the principal theatres +of Germany, including those of Frankfort, Hamburg and Berlin. + +These triumphs were followed by the acceptance of a permanent engagement +at Mannheim, which, however, had hardly been concluded when it gave +place to one of a different kind, followed by her marriage and sudden +relinquishment of the vocation embraced with such ardor and pursued for +a short period with such brilliant promise. Dawison is said to have +remarked that by her retirement the German stage had lost its last +genuine tragic actress. + +Since her marriage Madame von Hillern has resided at Freiburg, in the +grand duchy of Baden, where her husband holds a legal position analogous +to that of the judge of a superior court. Her social life is one of +great activity, though much of her time is given to superintending the +education of her two daughters. But the abounding energy of her nature +made it inevitable that her artistic instincts, repressed in one +direction, should seek their full development in another. Literature was +naturally her choice. Her first work, _Doppelleben_, appeared in 1865, +and though defective in construction, owing to a change of plan in the +process of composition, served to give assurance of her powers and to +inspire her with the requisite confidence. Three years later _Ein Arzt +der Seele_, of which a translation under the title of _Only a Girl_ has +been widely circulated in America, established her claim to a high place +among the writers of her class. Her third work, _Aus eigener Kraft (By +his own Might)_, met with equal success, securing for its author a large +circle of readers on both sides of the Atlantic ready to welcome the +future productions of her pen. The qualities which distinguish her +writings are vigor of conception, sharpness of characterization, a moral +earnestness pervading the judgments and reflections, and an ardor, +sometimes too exuberant, which gives intensity to the delineation even +while exciting doubts of its fidelity. Similar qualities had +characterized her acting, and they spring from a nature which a close +observer has described as clear in perception yet swayed by fantasy; +strong of will yet impulsive as quicksilver; finding enjoyment now in +animated discussion, now in impetuous riding, now in absolute repose; +full of maternal tenderness, yet fond of splendor and the excitements of +society; a nature, in short, abounding in contrasts, but substantially +that of a true, noble and lovable woman. + + + + +HIS NAME? + +(_An incident of the Boston fire_.) + + I. + + --Oh the billows of fire! + With maëlstrom-like swirl, + Their surges they hurl + Over roof--over spire, + Mad--masterless--higher,-- + Till with rumble--crack--crash, + Down boom with a flash, + Whole columns of granite and marble;--see! see! + Sucked in as a weed on the ocean might be, + Or engulfed as a sail + In the hurricane riot and wreak of the gale! + + + II. + + Ha! yonder they rush where the death-dealing stream, + Over-pent, waits their gleam, + To shiver the city with earthquake!--Who, _who_ + Will adventure, mid-flame, and unfasten the screw,-- + Set the fiend loose, and save us so?--Fireman, you, + _You_ willing?--Would God you might hazard it!-- + Nay, + The red tongues are licking the faucets now: Stay! + --Too late,--'tis too late! + If ruin comes, wait + Its coming: To go, is to perish:--Hold! Hold! + You are young,--I am old,-- + You've a wife, too--and children?--O God! he is gone + Straight into destruction! The pipes, men! On, on, + Play the water-stream on him,--full--faster--the whole! + And now--Christ save his soul! + + + III. + + --I stifle--I choke; + And _he_,--Heaven grant that he smother in smoke + Ere the fearful explosion comes. Hark! What's the shout? + --_Is he saved_?--_Is he out?_ + --Did he compass his purpose,--the Hero?--_(One_ name + To-night we shall write on the records of fame,-- + The perilous deed was so noble!) Why here + On my cheek is a tear, + Which not a whole city in ashes could claim! + --His name, now: _Can nobody tell me his name?_ + +M. J. P. + + + + +UNPUBLISHED LETTER FROM LORD NELSON TO LADY HAMILTON. + + +[It has been a matter of congratulation that the destruction by the +Boston fire was confined to buildings and other property representing +simply the wealth of the city, and did not extend to its monuments or +its artistic and literary treasures. The exceptions are, in fact, +comparatively small in amount, yet they are such as must excite a +general regret. The contents of the studios in Summer street, and the +collection of armor, unique in this country, bequeathed by the late +Colonel Bigelow Lawrence to the Boston Athenaeum, and temporarily +deposited at 82 Milk street, could not perish without awaking other +feelings besides that of sympathy with their past or prospective +possessors. A similar loss was that of many of the books and manuscripts +amassed by the historian Prescott, and comprising the collections +pertaining to the Histories of the Conquest of Mexico and Peru and of +Philip II. The manuscripts were comprised in some thirty or forty folio +volumes, and consisted of copies or abstracts of documents in the public +archives and libraries of Europe, in the family archives of several +Spanish noblemen, and in private collections like that at Middle Hill. +The printed books, of which there were perhaps a thousand, included many +of great value and not a few of extreme rarity. A large mass of private +correspondence was also consumed. We are not yet informed whether the +same fate has befallen a small but very choice collection of autographs, +embracing letters written or signed by Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles +V., Pope Clement VII., Prospero Colonna, the Great Captain, and other +sovereigns and eminent personages of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries. Very few modern autographs were included in this collection, +the only examples, we believe, being notes written by Queen Victoria, +Prince Albert and the duke of Wellington, and a longer letter addressed +by Lord Nelson to Lady Hamilton. This last, which we are permitted to +print from a copy made some time ago, is not exactly a model of +composition, but it is very characteristic, and shows the strength of +that enthrallment which led him, despite his natural kindness of heart, +to risk the lives of his men in order to communicate with the object of +his passion.] + + +SUNDAY NIGHT, Feb. 15, 9 o'clock [1801]. + +MY DEAR AMIABLE FRIEND: Could you have seen the boat leave the ship, I +am sure your heart would have sunk within you. _I would not have given +sixpence for the lives of the men_: a tremendous wave broke and missed +upsetting the boat by a miracle. O God, how my heart thumped to see them +safe! Then they got safe on shore, and I had given a two-pound note to +cheer up the poor fellows when they landed; _but I was so anxious to +send a letter for you._ I knew it was impossible for any boat to come +off to us since Friday noon, when the boat carried your letters enclosed +for Napean, and she still remains on shore. Only rest assured I always +write, and never doubt your old and dear friend, who never yet deserved +it. The gale abates very little, if anything, and it is truly fortunate +that our fleet is not in port, or some accident would most probably +happen; but both St. George and this ship have new cables, which is all +we have to trust to; but if my friend is true I have no fear. I can take +all the care which human foresight can, and then we must trust to +Providence, who keeps a lookout for poor Jack. I cannot, my dear friend, +afford to buy the three pictures of the "Battle of the Nile," or I +should like very much to have them, and Mr. Boyden cannot afford to +trust me one year. If he could, perhaps I could manage it. I have +desired my brother to examine the four numbers of the tickets I bought +with Gibbs. I hope he has told you. I dare say in the office here is the +numbers of the tickets my agents have bought for the ensuing lottery. I +hope we shall be successful. I hope you always kiss my godchild for me: +pray do, and _I will repay you ten times when we meet_, which I hope +will be very soon. Monday morning. It is a little more moderate, and we +are going to send a boat, but at present none can get to us, and, +therefore, I send this letter No. (1) to say we are in being. I hope in +the afternoon to be able to get letters, and, if possible, to answer +them. Kiss my godchild for me, bless it, and Believe me ever yours, + +NELSON AND BRONTE. + + + + +"WHITE-HAT" DAY. + + +On one of the last days in September we were the astonished recipients +of a singular and mysterious invitation from a member of the New York +Board of Brokers. The note contained words like these: "Come to the +Exchange on Monday, September 30th: white hats are declared confiscated +on that day." + +It would have puzzled Oedipus or a Philadelphia lawyer to trace the +connection between white hats and stocks, to tell what Hecuba was to +them or they to Hecuba, and why they should be more interfered with by +the New York Stock Exchange on the 30th of September than upon any other +day. It is true that during the last summer some slight political bias +was supposed to be hidden beneath that popular headpiece irreverently +styled "a Greeley plug," but then stocks are not politics, nor would any +but a punster trace an intimate connection between hats and polls. A +story has gone through the papers, to be sure, about an unfortunate +deacon who found it impossible to collect the coppers of the +congregation in a Greeley hat, but then slight excuses have been made +available on charitable occasions before the present election, and we +decline to accept the sentiment of that congregation as unmixed devotion +to the Republican candidates. They did not wish to Grant their money, +that was all. + +And then, again, unlike the miller of the old conundrum, men generally +wear _white_ hats to keep their heads cool; with which laudable endeavor +why should the Stock Exchange wish to interfere? One never hears of a +"corner" in hats. And then, too, was it the bulls or the bears who +objected to them? Bulls, we all know, have an aversion to scarlet +drapery, but Darwin, in his studies of the feeling for color among +animals, has omitted any references to a horror of white hats even among +the most accomplished of the anthropoid apes. + +Pondering all these problems, and many more, our puzzled trio went to +the Stock Exchange on the last day of September. We were conducted into +the safe seclusion of the Visitors' Gallery, from which coign of vantage +we could look down unharmed upon the frantic multitude below. The room +is large and very lofty, its prevailing tint a warm brown, relieved by +bright decorations of the Byzantine order. Across one end runs a small +gallery for visitors, without seats, and some twenty feet above the +floor, and opposite the gallery is a raised platform, with a long table +and majestic arm-chairs for the president and other officers of the +Board. High on the wall above these elevated dignitaries glitters in +large gold letters the mystic legend, "New York Stock Exchange." On the +left of the platform stands a large blackboard, whereon the fluctuations +in stocks are recorded, and around the sides of the room are displayed +various signs bearing the names of different stocks (like the banners of +the knights in royal chapels), beneath which eager groups collect. At +the lower end of the room, under the Visitors' Gallery, are seats +whereon weary brokers may repose after the brunt of battle. In the +centre of the upper end of the vast apartment is a long oval +cock-pit--if it may be so called--of two or three degrees, with a table +in the lowest circle. It is so arranged as to give the brokers, standing +upon the graded steps, full opportunity to see and to be seen. On the +table, in singular contrast with the spirit of the place, was a large +and beautiful basket of flowers. Anything more painfully incongruous it +would be difficult to imagine. The poor flowers seemed to wear an air of +patient suffering as they wasted their sweetness on that (literally) +howling wilderness. + +It was just after ten, and the doors had been open but a few moments +when we entered the gallery, already quite full of ladies and +gentlemen--generally very young gentlemen, anxious to learn from the +glorious example of their elders. The floor below us was fast being +strewn with torn bits of paper, which have to be swept up several times +a day. Eager groups were gathered under the various signs upon the walls +and pillars, apparently playing the Italian game of _morra_, to judge by +the quick gestures of their restless fingers. Some were scribbling +cabalistic signs on little bits of paper, and almost all were howling +like maniacs or wild beasts half starved. The only place I was ever in +at all to be compared with it in volume and variety of noise is the +parrot-room in the London Zoological Gardens. Bedlam and Pandemonium I +have not visited--as yet--and consequently cannot speak from personal +experience. But the parrots in that awful house in Regent's Park are +capable of making more hideous noises in a given moment than any other +wild beasts in the world, except brokers. Here the human animal comes +out triumphantly supreme. + +To add to the refreshing variety of the din, long, lanky youths in gray +sauntered about like the keepers of the carnivora, and bawled +incessantly till they were red in the face. These, we were told, were +the pages, who reported the state of the market and delivered orders and +commissions. To the uninitiated they were a fraud and a delusion, but so +was the whole thing. A crowd of men, walking about or standing in +groups, note-book in hand, talking eagerly or yelling unintelligible +nonsense at the top of their voices, and gesticulating with the fury of +madmen, while in and around the crowd strolled those extraordinary +pages, calmly shouting full in the brokers' faces,--this, we were told, +was "business!" This is the mysterious occupation to which our friends, +countrymen and lovers devote so large a portion of their time and +thoughts. At this strange diversion millions of dollars change hands in +a few hours, and bulls and bears in this little nest agree to make +things generally uncomfortable and uncertain for the outside world. + +But where were the white hats, and what of their daring wearers? As the +crowd thickened, they began to shine out upon the general blackness in +obvious distinction. At first, the howling multitude, eager for filthy +lucre, took no particular notice of them beyond an occasional hurried +poke or pat, but this delusive mildness did not long continue. After the +first fifteen or twenty minutes, during which the favorite stocks had +been danced up and down a few times, like so many crying babies, the +appetite of the hundred-headed hydra abated a little, and the general +attention to business relaxed. Suddenly--no one knew whence or +wherefore--up rose a white hat in the air, high above the heads of the +people, and a bareheaded individual was seen struggling wildly in the +arms of the mob, who set up ironical cheers at his unavailing efforts to +regain his flying headpiece. It rose and fell faster and farther than +any fancy stock of them all, now soaring to the vaulted roof, now being +kicked along the dusty floor. + + Press where ye see my white hat shine amidst the ranks of war, + +seemed to be the sentiment of the occasion, as the unruly mob swayed and +struggled about the dilapidated victim of their sport. In one corner +stood a quiet, dignified gentleman, talking sedately to a little knot of +friends. He wore a tall white "stove-pipe" of the most obnoxious kind. +In a twinkling it was seized and sent flying toward the roof with its +softer predecessor. Its owner gave one glance over his shoulder, and +"smiled a sickly smile," while it was very evident that + + The subsequent proceedings interested him no more. + +The fun grew fast and furious, the air was literally darkened with +flying hats of every shape and size, but all white. The stout tall +beavers were converted into footballs till their crowns were kicked out +and their brims torn off, when they were seized upon as instruments for +further torture. Some innocent member of the large fraternity, now, to +use a nautical phrase, scudding under bare _polls_, was pounced upon, +and over his unfortunate head the crownless hat was drawn till the +ragged remnant of its brim rested upon his shoulders. One poor creature +was thus bonneted with at least three tiers of hats, and was last seen +on the edge of the cockpit struggling with imminent suffocation. + +At the height of the howling, scuffling, kicking and fighting a short +diversion was effected. A tall and portly broker appeared upon the scene +in an entire suit of new broadcloth. It was unmistakably new, its +brilliancy quite undimmed. Instantly a rush was made for him by the +fickle crowd. They swept him, as by some mighty wave, into the centre of +the room: they turned him round and round like a pivoted statue, and +examined him and patted him approvingly on every side. Then they made a +large ring round him and gave him three cheers. Not content with this, +with one sudden impulse they rushed at him again, and tried to lift him +upon the table, that they might see him better. But this the portly +broker resisted: he fought like a good fellow, and the crowd, tired of +struggling with a man of so much weight, gave one final cheer and went +back to the chase of the white hats. + +We stayed about half an hour to watch these elegant and refined +diversions: at the end of that time our patience and the white hats were +giving out together. The din was deafening and the dust was rapidly +rising. The floor was strewn with scraps of papers and the mangled +remains of felt and beaver. Brimless hats and hatless brims, linings, +bands, rent and tattered crowns, and ragged fragments of the fray, were +all over the place. A writhing victim in gray, masked by a crownless +hat, was struggling upon the table to the evident danger of those +unhappy flowers; the president was calling across the tumult in +stentorian tones; but the tumult refused to fall, and the imperturbable +pages were bawling upon the skirts of the crowd with stolid pertinacity. +The noise was terrific, the confusion indescribable. + +We are often told that women are unfitted for business pursuits. If this +was business, I should say decidedly they were. My acquaintance with +women has been large and varied, but I have yet to see the woman whom I +consider qualified to be a member of the New York Board of Brokers. I +have been present at many gatherings composed entirely of women, from +the "Woman's Parliament" to country sewing-societies, but never, even in +that much-abused body, the New York Sorosis, have I seen a crowd of +women, however excited, however frolicsome, however full of fun, capable +of playing football with each other's bonnets even upon April Fools' +Day. I am convinced that not even Miss Anthony or Mrs. Stanton would +have hesitated to admit, had she been present on the auspicious occasion +above recorded, that there are limits even to woman's sphere. Let her +preach and practice, and sail ships, and make horse-shoes, and command +armies, if she will, let her vote for all sorts of disreputable +characters to be set over her, if she choose, but let her recognize the +fact that between her and the gentle amenities of the New York Stock +Exchange there is a great gulf fixed, which only the superior being man, +with his lordly intellect, his keen morality and his exquisite and +unvarying courtesy, can bridge over. + +K.H. + + + + +MR. SOTHERN AS GARRICK. + + +One hundred and thirty-five years ago two young men came up to London to +try their fortune: half riding, half walking, the young fellows made +their journey. One was thick-set, heavy and uncouth, and years afterward +became known to men and fame as Samuel Johnson: the other was bright, +slender, active, and was called David Garrick. Some ten years later, +just before the battle of Culloden, a Dutch vessel, having crossed the +Channel, landed at Harwich. There was on board an apparent page, in +reality a young Viennese girl disguised in male attire, who journeyed up +to London too, where she soon made her appearance as a dancer at the +Hay-market Theatre: there she achieved great success, and became talked +about as "La Violette." She was under the patronage of the earl and +countess of Burlington, and finally became Mrs. Garrick. It is said +that she was the daughter of a respectable citizen of Vienna--that she +had been engaged to dance at the palace with the children of the empress +Maria Teresa, but that, her charms proving too attractive to the +emperor, the empress had packed her off to London with letters of +recommendation to persons of quality there. It seems more probable, +however, that she was am actress at Vienna, and simply crossed the sea +to try her fortune in England. Becoming fascinated with Garrick's +acting, she married him after refusing several more brilliant offers, +and in spite of the opposition of her kind patroness, Lady Burlington, +who wished her to marry so as to secure higher social position. This +match gave rise to much romantic gossip. It was said that a wealthy +young lady had fallen in love with the great actor one night in +_Romeo_--that he had been induced by her father to come to the house and +break the charm by feigning intoxication: some versions had it that he +came disguised as a physician. A popular German comedy was written upon +it, and still later Mr. Robertson dramatized it for the English stage, +and produced a play in which we have lately had an opportunity of +witnessing the fine acting of Mr. Sothern. Garrick was certainly +fortunate among actors: he not only achieved high professional fame, but +he accumulated a large private fortune and lived a happy domestic life +in a splendid home filled with choice works of art. The traveler abroad +who is favored with an invitation to the Garrick Club, may there see the +picture of the great actor "in his habit as he lived," looking down +nightly on a collection of the most renowned wits and authors of the +metropolis; and to crown all, when Mr. Sothern acts--were it not for his +moustache--we might suppose we saw the man himself alive before us. + +Concerning Mr. Sothern's acting, it affords a fine example of that +quality--so very difficult of attainment, it would seem--perfect +_repose_; and by repose we do not mean torpidity or sluggishness or +inattention, as opposed to clamorous ranting, but we mean the complete +subordination of subordinate parts; so that, if we may use the +illustration, the gaudiness of the frame is not allowed to over-power +and destroy the effect of the picture. Everything is clear, distinct and +well marked: the forcible passages come with double effect in contrast +with preceding serenity. The actor's manner is not confined behind the +footlights: it diffuses itself, as it were, among his audience until it +seems as if they too were acting with him. This arises from the +perfection of the picture he presents, and that perfection is the result +of careful avoidance of everything that is unnatural. There is no +_unnecessary_ exertion put forth, no palpable straining after effect: he +strives to hold the mirror up to Nature, not Art, and in Nature there is +much repose between the tempests. Old players say that the most +difficult thing to teach a tyro is to stand still, and some actors never +learn it. + +Careful attention to costume is another trait exhibited by Mr. Sothern. +He might easily make his first appearance as David Garrick in the +wealthy merchant's house in ordinary walking-dress, which could be +readily retained when he returns to the dinner-party to which he causes +himself to be invited. Instead of that, he appears in the full +riding-dress of the period--boots, spurs, whip, overcoat and all. This +is rapidly changed in time for the dinner-scene for a full-dress suit, +complete in every point--powdered hair, white silk stockings, and a +little _brette_, or walking rapier, peeping out from under the coat +skirt, not slung in a belt as heavier swords, but supported by light +steel chains fastened to a _chatelaine_, which slips behind the +waistband and can be taken off in a moment. In the last scene, where he +goes out to fight the duel, his dress is changed again, and dark silk +stockings are donned as more appropriate. + +The last point we shall mention here about Mr. Sothern is his scrupulous +attention to the minor business of the stage: when he is not speaking +himself, his looks act. It is said of Macready that he began to be +Cardinal Richelieu at three o'clock in the afternoon, and that it was +dangerous to speak to him after that time. When Mr. Sothern plays Lord +Dundreary, if he is addressed on any subject during the progress of the +play, he answers in his Dundreary drawl, so as not to lose his +personality for a minute. The letter from his brother "Tham" he has +written out and reads; not that he does not know every word by heart, +for he must have read it a hundred times, but because he wants to _turn +over_ at the proper place. We all know what he has made of that part. A +play in which there is absolutely nothing of a plot, which would fall +dead from the hands of an inferior actor, becomes with Mr. Sothern as +popular as _Rip van Winkle_ is with Jefferson to play the sleepy hero. +It is to be observed that the three essentials for good acting just +mentioned--repose of manner, strict attention to dress, and strict +attention to minor details of stage-business--may be acquired by any +actor of average intellect who will devote proper time and study to the +task: they are not, like a fine figure, a handsome face or a sonorous +voice, adventitious gifts of Fortune which may be bestowed on one mortal +and denied to another. Mr. Sothern owes his success, evidently, to long +and careful preparation of his parts. In David Garrick he leaves but two +points at which criticism can carp: his pathos somehow lacks sufficient +tenderness, his love-making seems too devoid of passion. When young +Garrick won the heart of La Violette, he put more fire into his speech +and manner than Mr. Sothern exhibits at the close of the last act. He is +represented as always loving Ida Ingot, but at first conceals and +suppresses his love: when the avowal comes at last, it should be like +the bursting forth of a volcano, hot, fiery and irresistible. + +M. M. + + + + +NOTES. + + +Sir Richard Wallace evidently aims to make himself, in a small way, the +Peabody of Paris. A cynic might maintain that his gifts were a trifle +sensational, and shaped with a view to procure the greatest amount of +notoriety at the price; but that they are frequent, and that they show +a hearty love for Paris on the Englishman's part, none can deny. It was +Sir Richard who not long ago gave about five thousand dollars to the use +of the Paris poor; it was he who, in the late hunting-season, is said to +have proposed to supply the city hospitals with fresh game--whether of +his own shooting or of that of his compatriots does not appear; it is +he, in fine, who has furnished to Paris eighty street-fountains, costing +in the factory six hundred and seventy-five francs each, or a total of +fifty-four thousand francs (say ten thousand eight hundred dollars), the +expense of setting them up being undertaken by the city. These +drinking-jets are in the main like those so familiar in American cities, +and are provided, of course, with tin cups attached by iron chains--"_à +la mode Anglaise_" add the French papers in an explanatory way. Now, the +extraordinary fact concerning these fountains is, that no sooner had the +first installment of nine been put up than all the tin cups, or +"goblets," as the Parisians call them, were stolen. They were renewed, +and again disappeared in a trice. In short, within fifteen days no less +than forty-seven of these goblets were made way with, despite their +strong fastenings--that is, an average of over five cups to each +fountain. What the sum-total of plunder has been since the first +fortnight, or whether the fountains are still as useless as spiked +cannon or tongueless bells, we have yet to learn. + +Now comes a contrast. The countrymen of Sir Richard claim that in London +from time immemorial not a single cup was ever stolen from the public +fountains. So tempting a theme for generalization could not be resisted +by the Paris newspaper philosophers, who have deduced from this theft of +the cups a broad distinction between the British loafer and the French +loafer, declaring that the former "respects any collective property +which he partly shares," while the latter does not even draw this +distinction, but grabs whatever he can lay his hands on. "The luck of +the Wallace fountains," cries one moralizer, "shows how hard it is to +reform the Paris _gamin_ so long as the law contents itself with its +present measures. If the state does not speedily educate children found +straying in the street, it is all up with the present generation." +Thereupon follows a disquisition on the part which Paris children played +in the Commune. "Now, the child," adds our newspaper Wordsworth, "is the +man viewed through the big end of the opera-glass;" and he points his +moral, therefore, with the need of compulsory education. "One of the +first duties incumbent on the Chamber at the next session will be the +solution of this question. Let it take as a perpetual goad the fate of +the Wallace goblets. You begin by stealing a cup of tin--you end by +firing the Tuileries or plundering the Hôtel Thiers." There is a droll +mingling of Isaac Watts and Victor Hugo in this _dénoûment_, and despite +its practical good sense one is amused at the evolution of a grave +discourse from so trivial a text as the Wallace drinking-cups. + + * * * * * + +To people of a statistical rather than a sentimental turn, the +mathematics of marriage in different countries may prove an attractive +theme of meditation. It is found that young men from fifteen to twenty +years of age marry young women averaging two or three years older than +themselves, but if they delay marriage until they are twenty to +twenty-five years old, their spouses average a year younger than +themselves; and thenceforward this difference steadily increases, till +in extreme old age on the bridegroom's part it is apt to be enormous. +The inclination of octogenarians to wed misses in their teens is an +every-day occurrence, but it is amusing to find in the love-matches of +boys that the statistics bear out the satires of Thackeray and Balzac. +Again, the husbands of young women aged twenty and under average a +little above twenty-five years, and the inequality of age diminishes +thenceforward, till for women who have reached thirty the respective +ages are equal: after thirty-five years, women, like men, marry those +younger than themselves, the disproportion increasing with age, till at +fifty-five it averages nine years. + +The greatest number of marriages for men take place between the ages of +twenty and twenty-five in England, between twenty five and thirty in +France, and between twenty-five and thirty-five in Italy and Belgium. +Finally, in Hungary the number of individuals who marry is seventy-two +in a thousand each year; in England it is 64; in Denmark, 59; in France, +57, the city of Paris showing 53; in the Netherlands, 52; in Belgium, +43; in Norway, 36. Widowers indulge in second marriages three or four +times as often as widows. For example, in England (land of Mrs. Bardell) +there are 66 marriages of widowers against 21 of widows; in Belgium +there are 48 to 16; in France, 40 to 12. Old Mr. Weller's paternal +advice, to "beware of the widows," ought surely to be supplemented by a +maxim to beware of widowers. + + +SHAKESPEARE, in one of his most famous madrigals, draws a vivid contrast +between youth and age, which, he declares, "cannot live together:" + + Youth like summer morn, + Age like winter weather, + Youth like summer brave, + Age like winter bare: + Youth is hot and bold, + Age is weak and cold. + +Science, which ruthlessly destroys so much poetry by its mattock and +spade, its scales, foot-rules and gauges, must now, we should judge, +take grave exception to the preceding bit of poesy and to the thousand +repetitions of its sentiment by the bards of all ages. By means of a +thermometer lately constructed to register with exactitude the degree of +heat in the human body, it is found, after numerous experiments under +varying circumstances, that the instrument marks 37.08° of heat on an +average for persons between twenty-one and thirty years of age, while it +marks 37.46° for people aged eighty. In face of this fact what becomes +of the "fervors of youth" and the "chills of age"? The highest average +temperatures in the human body, as indicated by this gauge, are those +which exist from birth to puberty--that is to say, 37.55° and 37.63°. +From the latter epoch the heat gradually lowers, to rise again with the +first approach of old age. Thus childhood shows the highest temperature, +old age the next, and middle life the lowest. We may add that the +greatest variations in the temperature of the body between health and +sickness are only a few tenths of a degree, according to this +measurement; for, the normal condition being 37.2° or 37.3°, an increase +to 38° would mark a burning fever, and a decrease to 36° would note the +icy approach of death. Hereafter, though we may graciously excuse to +poetic license the assertion that + + Crabbed Age and Youth + Cannot live together, + +we must yet sternly protest that the reason assigned--namely, that +"youth is hot and age is cold"--is contradicted by the facts of science. + + + + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + + +The Life of Charles Dickens. By John Forster. Vol. II. Philadelphia: +J.B. Lippincott & Co. + +Beginning with Dickens's return from America in 1842, this volume covers +a period of less than ten years, the most productive, and apparently the +happiest, of his life. It brings out in even stronger relief than the +preceding volume his strong individuality, a trait which, whether it +attracts or repels--and on most persons we think it produces alternately +each of these effects--is full of interest, worthy of study and fruitful +of suggestions. Its superabundant energy seemed to create demands in +order that it might expend itself in satisfying them. Its persistence +was toughened by failure as much as by success. Its vivacity, verging +upon boisterousness, was incapable of being chilled. Its strenuousness +knew no lassitude, and needed no repose. In play as in work, in physical +exercise as in mental labor, in all his projects, purposes and +performances, Dickens seems to have been in a perpetual state of tension +that allowed of no reaction. His was a mind not morbidly self-conscious, +but ever aglow with the consciousness of power and the ardor of its +achievement, in-sensible of waste and undisturbed by critical +introspection. + +The excitement into which he was thrown by the composition of his books +exceeds anything of the kind recorded in literary history, and stands in +strong contrast with the self-contained tranquillity with which Scott +performed an equal or greater amount of labor. Yet it does not, like +similar ebullitions in other men, suggest any notion of weakness or of a +talent strained beyond its capacity. It was coupled with an enormous +facility of execution and the ability to pass with undiminished +freshness from one field of action to another. It sprang from the +intensity with which every idea was conceived, and which belonged +equally to his smallest with his greatest undertakings. "The book," he +writes of the _Chimes_, "has made my face white in a foreign land. My +cheeks, which were beginning to fill out, have sunk again; my eyes have +grown immensely large; my hair is very lank, and the head inside the +hair is hot and giddy. Read the scene at the end of the third part +twice. I wouldn't write it twice for something.... Since I conceived, at +the beginning of the second part, what must happen in the third, I have +undergone as much sorrow and agitation as if the thing were real, and +have wakened up with it at night. I was obliged to lock myself in when I +finished it yesterday, for my face was swollen for the time to twice its +proper size, and was hugely ridiculous." The little book was written at +Genoa; and having finished it, he must make a winter journey to London, +"because," as he writes to Forster, "of that unspeakable restless +something which would render it almost as impossible for me to remain +here, and not see the thing complete, as it would be for a full +balloon, left to itself, not to go up." A further reason was to try the +effect of the story upon a circle of listeners, to be assembled for the +purpose: "Carlyle, indispensable, and I should like his wife of all +things; _her_ judgment would be invaluable. You will ask Mac, and why +not his sister? Stanny and Jerrold I should particularly wish. Edwin +Landseer, Blanchard perhaps Harness; and what say you to Fonblanque and +Fox?" After this it is amusing to read that the book "was not one of his +greatest successes, and it raised him up some objectors;" but the +reading was the germ of those which afterward brought him into such +close relations with his public. + +Of another Christmas story he writes, "I dreamed _all last week_ that +the _Battle of Life_ was a series of chambers, impossible to be got to +rights or got out of, through which I wandered drearily all night. On +Saturday night I don't think I slept an hour. I was perpetually roaming +through the story, and endeavoring to dovetail the revolution here into +the plot. The mental distress quite horrible." Here we have, perhaps, a +clear case of the effects of overwork. But in general the details of his +plots, the names of the characters, above all, the titles of the +stories, were evolved with an amount of thought and discussion that +might have sufficed for the plan and the preparations for a battle. +"Martin Chuzzlewit" is not a name suggestive of long and serious +deliberation: one might rather suppose that it had turned up +accidentally and been accepted simply as being as good as another. Yet +it was not adopted till after many others had been discussed and +rejected. "Martin was the prefix to all, but the surname varied from its +first form of Sweezleden, Sweezleback and Sweeztewag, to those of +Chuzzletoe, Chuzzleboy, Chubblewig and Chuzzlewig." _David Copperfield_ +was preceded by a still longer list of abortions, and _Household Words,_ +as a mere title, was the result of a parturition far exceeding in length +and severity any throes of travail known to natural history. + +All this was unaccompanied by any of the doubts and misgivings, the fits +of depression and intervals of lassitude, which are the ordinary +tortures of authorship. Nor had it any connection with the weaknesses of +the craft, its small vanities and jealousies. "It was," as Mr. Forster +well remarks, "part of the intense individuality by which he effected +so much to set the high value which in general he did upon what he was +striving to accomplish." Hence, too, no half-formed and then abandoned +projects were among the stepping-stones of his career. A plan or an +idea, once conceived, was certain to be shaped, developed and matured; +and whatever the result, it left up disheartening effect, no feeling of +distrust, to cripple a subsequent undertaking. + +Nor was Dickens so absorbed in his work as to leave it reluctantly, or +to find no fullness of satisfaction in occupations or enjoyments of a +different kind. On the contrary, no man ever threw himself so heartily +and entirely into the business of the hour, or more eagerly sought +diversion and change. Dinners, private and public, excursions in chosen +companionship, amateur theatricals, schemes of charity or benevolence, +occupied a large portion of his time, and were entered into with an +ardor which never flagged or needed to be stimulated. His +correspondence--an unfailing barometer to indicate the state of the +mental atmosphere--is always full of life, overflowing, for the most +part, with animal spirits, often vivid in description both of places and +people, turning discomforts and embarrassments into subjects of lively +narrative or indignant protest. The letters from Genoa and Lausanne are +especially copious and entertaining, and form, we think, the most +interesting portion of the book. The later chapters, giving the final +year of his residence in Devonshire Terrace, are less satisfactory. We +would fain have had a picture of that circle of which Dickens was one of +the most prominent figures; but though his own personality is revealed +in the fullest light, the group in the background is left indistinct, +most of its members being barely visible, and none of them adequately +portrayed. + + * * * * * + +Émaux et Camées. Par Théophile Gautier. Nombre définitif. Paris: +Charpentier; New York: F.W. Christern. + +Gautier was polishing and adding to his literary jewelry almost to the +day of his death, and the final edition which he published among the +last of his works about doubles the number of poems first issued. These +verses are like nothing we have in English. Their imagery is strongly +sophisticated, tortured, brought from vast distances, and then chilled +into form. Yet they are the most sincere utterances of a soul fed +perpetually among cabinets and picture-galleries, to whom their compact +method of utterance is, so to speak, secondarily natural. That they are +precious and beauteous no one can deny. How sparkling are the successive +descriptions of women--blonde, brune, Spanish, contralto-voiced, +coquettish, etc.--whom the poet, like some capricious artist, invites +into his atelier, drapes hastily with old Moorish or Venetian or +diaphanous costumes, and then reflects in a diminishing mirror, changing +the model into a fine statuette of ivory and enamel! More virile and +thoughtful images are intermixed: such are the figures of the old +Invalides seen at the Column Vendôme in a December fog, and for whom he +pleads: "Mock not those men whom the street urchin follows, laughing: +they were the Day of which we are the twilight--maybe the night!" Not +less fresh are the two "Homesick Obelisks"--that in the Place de la +Concorde, wearying its stony heart out for Egypt, and that at Luxor, +equally tired, and longing to be planted at Paris, among a living crowd. +But Gautier is a colorist, an artist with words, and he is at his best +when he works without much outline, celebrating draperies, bouquets and +laces, to all of which he can give a meaning quite other than the +milliner's, as where he asserts that the plaits of a rose-colored dress +are "the lips of my unappeased desires," or describes March as a barber, +powdering the wigs of the blossoming almond trees, and a valet, lacing +up the rosebuds in their corsets of green velvet. Whatever he touches he +leaves artificial, "enameled," yet charming. The verses added in the +present edition are more pensive, even sombre. A life given to art +wholly, without patriotism or religion or philosophy, does not prepare +the greenest old age. There is a long and beautiful poem, "Le Château du +Souvenir," which he fills, not exactly with Charles Lamb's "old familiar +faces," but with portraits of his mistresses and of his old self. There +is the "Last Vow"--to a woman he has pursued "for eighteen years," and +whom he still accosts, though "the white graveyard lilacs have blossomed +about my temples, and I shall soon have them tufting and shading all my +forehead." There is also the accent of his irresponsible courtiership, +the facile and unashamed flattery he paid to such a woman as Princess +Mathilde. This personage was, or is, an artist; and we may not be +mistaken in believing that we have seen, cast aside in the vast +storerooms of Haseltine's galleries in this city--an example and gnomon +of disenchanted glory--her water-color sketch called the "Fellah Woman," +and the very one of which Gautier sang: "Caprice of a fantastic brush +and of an imperial leisure!... Those eyes, a whole poem of languor and +pleasure, resolve the riddle and say, 'Be thou Love--I am Beauty.'" + +The late poems, however, as well as the old, are filled with felicities. +They contain many a lesson of the word-master, who, though he did not +attain the Academy, left the French language gold, which he found +marble. The ornaments, exquisite licenses, foreign graces and wide +researches which Gautier conferred upon his mother-tongue have enriched +it for future time, and they are best seen in this volume. + + * * * * * + + +Concord Days. By A. Bronson Alcott. Boston: Roberts Brothers. + +In these loose leaves we have the St. Martin's summer of a life. Mr. +Alcott, from his quiet home in Concord, and from the edifice of his +seventy-three years, picks out those mental growths and moral treasures +which have kept their color through all the changes of the seasons. They +bear the mark of selection, of choice, from out a vast abundance of +material: to us readers the scissors have probably been a kinder +implement than the pen. Be that as it may, the selections given are all +worth saving, and the fragmentary resurrection is just about as much as +our age has time to attend to of the growths that were formed when New +England thought was young. That was the day when Mrs. Hominy fastened +the cameo to her frontal bone and went to the sermon of Dr. Channing, +when young Hawthorne chopped straw for the odious oxen at Brook Farm, +and when a budding Booddha, called by his neighbors Thoreau, left +mankind and proceeded to introvert himself by the borders of Walden +Pond. Mr. Alcott's little diary gives us some of the best skimmings of +that time of yeast. There is Emerson-worship, Channing-worship, Margaret +Fuller-worship and the pale cast of _The Dial_. There is, besides, in +another stratum that runs through the collection, a vein of very welcome +investigation amongst old authors--Plutarch's charming letter of +consolation to his wife on the death of their child; Crashaw's "Verses +on a Prayer-Book;" Evelyn's letter on the origin of his _Sylva_; and +many a jewel five-words-long filched from the authors whom modern taste +votes slow and insupportable. We mention these to give some idea of the +spirit in which this work of marquetry is executed--a work too +fragmentary and incoherent to be easily describable except by its +specimens. And while culling fragments, we cannot forbear mentioning the +curious records of Mr. Alcott's "Conversations," held now with Frederika +Bremer, now with a band of large-browed Concord children, held forty +years ago, and turning perpetually upon the deeper questions of +metaphysics and religion; we will even indulge ourselves with a short +extract from one of the "Conversations with Children," reported verbatim +by an apparently concealed auditress, and eliciting many a cunning bit +of infantine wisdom, besides the following finer rhapsody, which Mr. +Alcott succeeded in charming out of the lips of a boy six years of age: + +"Mr. Alcott! you know Mrs. Barbauld says in her hymns, everything is +prayer; every action is prayer; all nature prays; the bird prays in +singing; the tree prays in growing; men pray--men can pray _more_; we +feel; we have more, more than Nature; we can know, and do right: +_Conscience prays_; all our powers pray; action prays. Once we said, +here, that there was a Christ in the bottom of our spirits, when we try +to be good. Then we pray in Christ; and that is the whole!" + +To think that the lips of this ingenuous and golden-mouthed lad may be +now pouring out patriotism in Congress is rather sad; but the author's +own career tells us that there are some of the Chrysostoms of 1830 who +have had the courage to keep quiet, and sweeten their own lives for +family use. Mr. Alcott betrays in every line the kindest, sanest and +humanest spirit; and we wish he could feel how grateful some of us are +for his example of a thinker who can keep quiet, and a writer who can +show the power of reticence. + + * * * * * + +Thirty Years in the Harem; or, The Autobiography of Melek-Hanum, wife of +H.H. Kibrizli-Mehemet-Pasha. New York: Harper & Brothers. + +We have had many revelations from the interior, but nothing quite like +this. Most histories are valuable in proportion to the truthfulness of +the narrator, but Mrs. Melek's story owes a large show of its interest +to her obvious tension of the long-bow. It is, in fact, a +self-revelation--the vain and audacious betrayal by an Oriental woman of +the narrowness, the shallowness, the dishonesty which ages of false +education have fastened upon her race. The lady in question is--and +evidently knows herself to be--an exception among her countrywomen for +ability and acumen: an extreme self-satisfaction and vanity are revealed +in the recital of her most disreputable tricks. She passes for a white +blackbird, a woman of intellect caught in the harem; and it needs but +little ingenuity to guess the torment she must have been to her +protectors--first to the excellent Dr. Millingen, with whom she formed a +love-match, and whom she abuses--and then to her second husband, +Kibrizli, ambassador in 1848 to the court of England, upon whom she +attempted to palm off an heir by the ruse practiced by our own revered +Mrs. Cunningham. Whatever the clever Melek does, or whatever treatment +she receives, it is always she who is in the right, and her eternal +"enemies" who are unjust, barbarous and stingy. The ferocious +blackmailing of natives in the Holy Land which she practiced when her +husband represented the sultan there, is represented as cleverness; but +her divorce after the infamous false accouchement is a piece of +persecution. The marriage and adventures of her daughter form a tangled +romance through which we hear of a great deal more oppression and +cruelty; and the escape into Europe, where the old enchantress appears +to be now prowling in poverty and degradation, concludes the curious +story. The narrative bears marks of having passed through a French +translation and then a British version. To disentangle the thread of +actuality that probably runs through it would be too troublesome and +futile; but the truths that the wily Melek cannot help telling--the +facts of the harem and of Eastern life that involuntarily sprinkle it +all like a flavoring of strange spices--these are what give it the odd +dash of interest which keeps it in our hands long after we had meant to +toss it aside. Here is a "screaming sister" of the East--an odalisque +who was not going to be oppressed and degraded like the other women, but +who meant to be capable and cultivated and smart, just like the +Christian ladies; and this bundle of lies and crimes and hates is what +she arrives at. + + * * * * * + +Hints on Dress; or, What to Wear, When to Wear it, and How to Buy it. By +Ethel C. Gale, (Putnam's Handy-Book Series.) New York: G.P. Putnam & +Sons. + +This little book will certainly elicit commendation from all who +consider the subject of dress within the pale of aesthetic treatment; +and, what is still more fortunate, it will probably serve to elevate, in +some degree, the standard of taste among that large class of persons for +whom handy volumes are chiefly compiled. Its statements and deductions +are accurate, sensible, comprehensive and practical, and the style in +which they are presented is simple and attractive. The color, form and +suitability of dress, as well as the best methods of economy in its +purchase and manufacture, are intelligently treated. We have only to +regret the want of a chapter devoted to the hygiene of dress, which is a +subject deserving the earnest attention of every friend of physical +development. Ten or a dozen pages given to this topic might have done a +service to hundreds who are willing enough to gather knowledge in +passing, but who are repelled from the separate consideration of any +subject which seems to call for the exercise of serious thought. + + * * * * * + +A Sketch Map of the Nile Sources and Lake Region of Central Africa, +showing Dr. Livingstone's Discoveries and Mr. Stanley's Route. Folio, +folded. Philadelphia: T. Elwood Zell. + +A clear, well-executed polychrome map, evidently copied from the one +recently published in England, if not actually printed there. It +exhibits not only the route of Dr. Livingstone during the period +included between the years 1866 and 1872, and that taken by Mr. Stanley +in his recent search, but also the course which the former proposes to +follow in the prosecution of his discoveries. The boundaries of lakes +and the courses of rivers, where definitely known, are indicated by +unbroken lines--where still supposititious, by dotted ones. The map, +which is printed on heavy paper, is thirteen inches wide by eighteen +inches long, and being folded within a stiff duodecimo cover, can be +easily preserved and readily consulted. + + + + +_Books Received_. + +Papers relating to the Transit of Venus in 1874. Prepared under the +Direction of the Commissioners authorized by Congress. Washington, D.C.: +Government Printing-office. + +Reports on Observations of Encke's Comet during its Return in 1871. By +Asaph Hall and Wm. Harkness. Washington, D.C.: Government +Printing-Office. + +Harry Delaware; or, An American in Germany. By Mathilde Estvan. New +York: G.P. Putnam & Sons. + +California for Health, Pleasure and Residence. By Charles Nordhoff. New +York: Harper & Brothers. + +The Lives of General U.S. Grant and Henry Wilson. Philadelphia: T.B. +Peterson & Brothers. + +The Romance of American History. By M. Schele de Vere. New York: G.P. +Putnam & Sons. + +Book of Ballads, Tales and Stories. By Benjamin G. Herre. Lancaster, +Pa.: Wylie & Griest. + +The Poet at the Breakfast Table. By Oliver Wendell Holmes. Boston: James +R. Osgood & Co. + +The Lawrence Speaker. By Philip Lawrence. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & +Brothers. + +Memoir of a Huguenot Family. By Ann Maury. New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons. + +Within the Maze. By Mrs. Henry Wood. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & +Brothers. + +Sermons. By Rev. C.D.N. Campbell, D.D. New York: Hurd & Houghton. + +Outlines of History. By Ed. A. Freeman, D.C.L. New York: Holt & +Williams. + +The End of the World. By Edward Eggleston. New York: Orange Judd & Co. + +Sermons. By Rev. H.R. Haweis, M.A. New York: Holt & Williams. + +Kaloolah. By W.S. Mayo, M.D. New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons. + +Nast's Illustrated Almanac for 1873. New York: Harper & Brothers. + +A Summer Romance. By Mary Healy. Boston: Roberts Brothers. + +Song Life. By Philip Phillips. New York: Harper & Brothers. + +Gavroche. By M.C. Pyle. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14327 *** |