diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:29:02 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:29:02 -0700 |
| commit | 5b6bd9b2aba94b0fb82706021ccceebb3d75d12c (patch) | |
| tree | b15876620fc2b601e6e3bd64f1ad693b7b983382 /old | |
Diffstat (limited to 'old')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/7141-h.htm.2021-01-26 | 6935 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/8sbrb10.zip | bin | 0 -> 157433 bytes |
2 files changed, 6935 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/7141-h.htm.2021-01-26 b/old/7141-h.htm.2021-01-26 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f0b7a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7141-h.htm.2021-01-26 @@ -0,0 +1,6935 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Suburban Sketches, by William Dean Howells + </title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Suburban Sketches, by William Dean Howells + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Suburban Sketches + +Author: William Dean Howells + +Illustrator: Augustus Hoppin + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7141] +This file was first posted on March 15, 2003 +Last Updated: February 25, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUBURBAN SKETCHES *** + + + + +Produced by Olaf Voss, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks, David Widger, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + SUBURBAN SKETCHES + </h1> + <h3> + <b> By William Dean Howells </b> + </h3> + <h4> + Author Of “Venetian Life,” “Italian Journeys” Etc. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/0009.jpg" alt="0009 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/0009.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="frontispiece " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/frontispiece.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> + </a> + </h5> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> MRS. JOHNSON </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> DOORSTEP ACQUAINTANCE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> A PEDESTRIAN TOUR. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> BY HORSE-CAR TO BOSTON </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> A DAY'S PLEASURE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> A ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> SCENE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> JUBILEE DAYS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> SOME LESSONS FROM THE SCHOOL OF MORALS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> FLITTING </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Illustrations + </h3> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0001"> “But I Suppose This Wine is Not Made of + Grapes, Signor?” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0002"> “Looking About, I Saw Two Women.” + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0003"> “The Young Lady in Black, Who Alighted at + a Most Ordinary Little Street.” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0004"> “That Sweet Young Blonde, Who Arrives by + Most Trains.” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0005"> “Frank and Lucy Stalked Ahead, With + Shawls Dragging From Their Arms.” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0006"> “They Skirmish About Him With Every Sort + of Query.” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0007"> “A Gaunt Figure of Forlorn and Curious + Smartness.” </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0008"> “The Spectacle As We Beheld It.” + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0009"> “Vacant and Ceremonious Zeal.” </a> + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MRS. JOHNSON + </h2> + <p> + It was on a morning of the lovely New England May that we left the + horse-car, and, spreading our umbrellas, walked down the street to our new + home in Charlesbridge, through a storm of snow and rain so finely blent by + the influences of this fortunate climate, that no flake knew itself from + its sister drop, or could be better identified by the people against whom + they beat in unison. A vernal gale from the east fanned our cheeks and + pierced our marrow and chilled our blood, while the raw, cold green of the + adventurous grass on the borders of the sopping sidewalks gave, as it + peered through its veil of melting snow and freezing rain, a peculiar + cheerfulness to the landscape. Here and there in the vacant lots abandoned + hoop-skirts defied decay; and near the half-finished wooden houses, empty + mortar-beds, and bits of lath and slate strewn over the scarred and + mutilated ground, added their interest to the scene. A shaggy drift hung + upon the trees before our own house (which had been built some years + earlier), while its swollen eaves wept silently and incessantly upon the + embankments lifting its base several feet above the common level. + </p> + <p> + This heavenly weather, which the Pilgrim Fathers, with the idea of turning + their thoughts effectually from earthly pleasures, came so far to + discover, continued with slight amelioration throughout the month of May + and far into June; and it was a matter of constant amazement with one who + had known less austere climates, to behold how vegetable life struggled + with the hostile skies, and, in an atmosphere as chill and damp as that of + a cellar, shot forth the buds and blossoms upon the pear-trees, called out + the sour Puritan courage of the currant-bushes, taught a reckless native + grape-vine to wander and wanton over the southern side of the fence, and + decked the banks with violets as fearless and as fragile as New England + girls; so that about the end of June, when the heavens relented and the + sun blazed out at last, there was little for him to do but to redden and + darken the daring fruits that had attained almost their full growth + without his countenance. + </p> + <p> + Then, indeed, Charlesbridge appeared to us a kind of Paradise. The wind + blew all day from the southwest, and all day in the grove across the way + the orioles sang to their nestlings. The butcher's wagon rattled + merrily up to our gate every morning; and if we had kept no other + reckoning, we should have known it was Thursday by the grocer. We were + living in the country with the conveniences and luxuries of the city about + us. The house was almost new and in perfect repair; and, better than all, + the kitchen had as yet given no signs of unrest in those volcanic agencies + which are constantly at work there, and which, with sudden explosion, make + Herculaneums and Pompeiis of so many smiling households. Breakfast, + dinner, and tea came up with illusive regularity, and were all the most + perfect of their kind; and we laughed and feasted in our vain security. We + had out from the city to banquet with us the friends we loved, and we were + inexpressibly proud before them of the Help, who first wrought miracles of + cookery in our honor, and then appeared in a clean white apron, and the + glossiest black hair, to wait upon the table. She was young, and certainly + very pretty; she was as gay as a lark, and was courted by a young man + whose clothes would have been a credit, if they had not been a reproach, + to our lowly basement. She joyfully assented to the idea of staying with + us till she married. + </p> + <p> + In fact, there was much that was extremely pleasant about the little place + when the warm weather came, and it was not wonderful to us that Jenny was + willing to remain. It was very quiet; we called one another to the window + if a large dog went by our door; and whole days passed without the + movement of any wheels but the butcher's upon our street, which + flourished in ragweed and butter-cups and daisies, and in the autumn + burned, like the borders of nearly all the streets in Charlesbridge, with + the pallid azure flame of the succory. The neighborhood was in all things + a frontier between city and country. The horse-cars, the type of such + civilization—full of imposture, discomfort, and sublime possibility—as + we yet possess, went by the head of our street, and might, perhaps, be + available to one skilled in calculating the movements of comets; while two + minutes' walk would take us into a wood so wild and thick that no + roof was visible through the trees. We learned, like innocent pastoral + people of the golden age, to know the several voices of the cows pastured + in the vacant lots, and, like engine-drivers of the iron age, to + distinguish the different whistles of the locomotives passing on the + neighboring railroad. The trains shook the house as they thundered along, + and at night were a kind of company, while by day we had the society of + the innumerable birds. Now and then, also, the little ragged boys in + charge of the cows—which, tied by long ropes to trees, forever wound + themselves tight up against the trunks, and had to be unwound with great + ado of hooting and hammering—came and peered lustfully through the + gate at our ripening pears. All round us carpenters were at work building + new houses; but so far from troubling us, the strokes of their hammers + fell softly upon the sense, like one's heart-beats upon one's + own consciousness in the lapse from all fear of pain under the blessed + charm of an anaesthetic. + </p> + <p> + We played a little at gardening, of course, and planted tomatoes, which + the chickens seemed to like, for they ate them up as fast as they ripened; + and we watched with pride the growth of our Lawton blackberries, which, + after attaining the most stalwart proportions, were still as bitter as the + scrubbiest of their savage brethren, and which, when by advice left on the + vines for a week after they turned black, were silently gorged by secret + and gluttonous flocks of robins and orioles. As for our grapes, the frost + cut them off in the hour of their triumph. + </p> + <p> + So, as I have hinted, we were not surprised that Jenny should be willing + to remain with us, and were as little prepared for her desertion as for + any other change of our moral state. But one day in September she came to + her nominal mistress with tears in her beautiful eyes and protestations of + unexampled devotion upon her tongue, and said that she was afraid she must + leave us. She liked the place, and she never had worked for any one that + was more of a lady, but she had made up her mind to go into the city. All + this, so far, was quite in the manner of domestics who, in ghost stories, + give warning to the occupants of haunted houses; and Jenny's + mistress listened in suspense for the motive of her desertion, expecting + to hear no less than that it was something which walked up and down the + stairs and dragged iron links after it, or something that came and groaned + at the front door, like populace dissatisfied with a political candidate. + But it was in fact nothing of this kind; simply, there were no lamps upon + our street, and Jenny, after spending Sunday evening with friends in East + Charlesbridge, was always alarmed, on her return, in walking from the + horse-car to our door. The case was hopeless, and Jenny and our household + parted with respect and regret. + </p> + <p> + We had not before this thought it a grave disadvantage that our street was + unlighted. Our street was not drained nor graded; no municipal cart ever + came to carry away our ashes; there was not a water-butt within half a + mile to save us from fire, nor more than the one thousandth part of a + policeman to protect us from theft. Yet, as I paid a heavy tax, I somehow + felt that we enjoyed the benefits of city government, and never looked + upon Charlesbridge as in any way undesirable for residence. But when it + became necessary to find help in Jenny's place, the frosty welcome + given to application at the intelligence offices renewed a painful doubt + awakened by her departure. To be sure, the heads of the offices were + polite enough; but when the young housekeeper had stated her case at the + first to which she applied, and the Intelligencer had called out to the + invisible expectants in the adjoining room, “Anny wan wants to do + giner'l housewark in Charlsbrudge?” there came from the maids + invoked so loud, so fierce, so full a “No!” as shook the lady's + heart with an indescribable shame and dread. The name that, with an + innocent pride in its literary and historical associations, she had + written at the heads of her letters, was suddenly become a matter of + reproach to her; and she was almost tempted to conceal thereafter that she + lived in Charlesbridge, and to pretend that she dwelt upon some wretched + little street in Boston. “You see,” said the head of the + office, “the gairls doesn't like to live so far away from the + city. Now if it was on'y in the Port....” + </p> + <p> + This pen is not graphic enough to give the remote reader an idea of the + affront offered to an inhabitant of Old Charlesbridge in these closing + words. Neither am I of sufficiently tragic mood to report here all the + sufferings undergone by an unhappy family in finding servants, or to tell + how the winter was passed with miserable makeshifts. Alas! is it not the + history of a thousand experiences? Any one who looks upon this page could + match it with a tale as full of heartbreak and disaster, while I conceive + that, in hastening to speak of Mrs. Johnson, I approach a subject of + unique interest. + </p> + <p> + The winter that ensued after Jenny's departure was the true sister + of the bitter and shrewish spring of the same year. But indeed it is + always with a secret shiver that one must think of winter in our + regrettable climate. It is a terrible potency, robbing us of half our + lives, and threatening or desolating the moiety left us with rheumatisms + and catarrhs. There is a much vaster sum of enjoyment possible to man in + the more generous latitudes; and I have sometimes doubted whether even the + energy characteristic of ours is altogether to be praised, seeing that it + has its spring not so much in pure aspiration as in the instinct of + self-preservation. Egyptian, Greek, Roman energy was an inner impulse; but + ours is too often the sting of cold, the spur of famine. We must endure + our winter, but let us not be guilty of the hypocrisy of pretending that + we like it. Let us caress it with no more vain compliments, but use it + with something of its own rude and savage sincerity. + </p> + <p> + I say, our last Irish girl went with the last snow, and on one of those + midsummer-like days that sometimes fall in early April to our yet bleak + and desolate zone, our hearts sang of Africa and golden joys. A Libyan + longing took us, and we would have chosen, if we could, to bear a strand + of grotesque beads, or a handful of brazen gauds, and traffic them for + some sable maid with crisped locks, whom, uncoffling from the captive + train beside the desert, we should make to do our general housework + forever, through the right of lawful purchase. But we knew that this was + impossible, and that, if we desired colored help, we must seek it at the + intelligence office, which is in one of those streets chiefly inhabited by + the orphaned children and grandchildren of slavery. To tell the truth + these orphans do not seem to grieve much for their bereavement, but lead a + life of joyous and rather indolent oblivion in their quarter of the city. + They are often to be seen sauntering up and down the street by which the + Charlesbridge cars arrive,—the young with a harmless swagger, and + the old with the generic limp which our Autocrat has already noted as + attending advanced years in their race. They seem the natural human + interest of a street so largely devoted to old clothes; and the thoughtful + may see a felicity in their presence where the pawnbrokers' windows + display the forfeited pledges of improvidence, and subtly remind us that + we have yet to redeem a whole race, pawned in our needy and reckless + national youth, and still held against us by the Uncle of Injustice, who + is also the Father of Lies. How gayly are the young ladies of this race + attired, as they trip up and down the side walks, and in and out through + the pendent garments at the shop doors! They are the black pansies and + marigolds and dark-blooded dahlias among womankind. They try to assume + something of our colder race's demeanor, but even the passer on the + horse-car can see that it is not native with them, and is better pleased + when they forget us, and ungenteelly laugh in encountering friends, + letting their white teeth glitter through the generous lips that open to + their ears. In the streets branching upwards from this avenue, very little + colored men and maids play with broken or enfeebled toys, or sport on the + wooden pavements of the entrances to the inner courts. Now and then a + colored soldier or sailor—looking strange in his uniform, even after + the custom of several years—emerges from those passages; or, more + rarely, a black gentleman, stricken in years, and cased in shining + broadcloth, walks solidly down the brick sidewalk, cane in hand,—a + vision of serene self-complacency, and so plainly the expression of + virtuous public sentiment that the great colored louts, innocent enough + till then in their idleness, are taken with a sudden sense of depravity, + and loaf guiltily up against the house-walls. At the same moment, perhaps, + a young damsel, amorously scuffling with an admirer through one of the low + open windows, suspends the strife, and bids him, “Go along now, do!” + More rarely yet than the gentleman described, one may see a white girl + among the dark neighbors, whose frowzy head is uncovered, and whose + sleeves are rolled up to her elbows, and who, though no doubt quite at + home, looks as strange there as that pale anomaly which may sometimes be + seen among a crew of blackbirds. + </p> + <p> + An air not so much of decay as of unthrift, and yet hardly of unthrift, + seems to prevail in the neighborhood, which has none of the aggressive and + impudent squalor of an Irish quarter, and none of the surly wickedness of + a low American street. A gayety not born of the things that bring its + serious joy to the true New England heart—a ragged gayety, which + comes of summer in the blood, and not in the pocket or the conscience, and + which affects the countenance and the whole demeanor, setting the feet to + some inward music, and at times bursting into a line of song or a + child-like and irresponsible laugh—gives tone to the visible life, + and wakens a very friendly spirit in the passer, who somehow thinks there + of a milder climate, and is half persuaded that the orange-peel on the + sidewalks came from fruit grown in the soft atmosphere of those back + courts. + </p> + <p> + It was in this quarter, then, that we heard of Mrs. Johnson; and it was + from a colored boarding-house there that she came out to Charlesbridge to + look at us, bringing her daughter of twelve years with her. She was a + matron of mature age and portly figure, with a complexion like coffee + soothed with the richest cream; and her manners were so full of a certain + tranquillity and grace, that she charmed away all out will to ask for + references. It was only her barbaric laughter and her lawless eye that + betrayed how slightly her New England birth and breeding covered her + ancestral traits, and bridged the gulf of a thousand years of civilization + that lay between her race and ours. But in fact, she was doubly estranged + by descent; for, as we learned later, a sylvan wildness mixed with that of + the desert in her veins: her grandfather was an Indian, and her ancestors + on this side had probably sold their lands for the same value in trinkets + that bought the original African pair on the other side. + </p> + <p> + The first day that Mrs. Johnson descended into our kitchen, she conjured + from the malicious disorder in which it had been left by the flitting + Irish kobold a dinner that revealed the inspirations of genius, and was + quite different from a dinner of mere routine and laborious talent. + Something original and authentic mingled with the accustomed flavors; and, + though vague reminiscences of canal-boat travel and woodland camps arose + from the relish of certain of the dishes, there was yet the assurance of + such power in the preparation of the whole, that we knew her to be merely + running over the chords of our appetite with preliminary savors, as a + musician acquaints his touch with the keys of an unfamiliar piano before + breaking into brilliant and triumphant execution. Within a week she had + mastered her instrument; and thereafter there was no faltering in her + performances, which she varied constantly, through inspiration or from + suggestion. She was so quick to receive new ideas in her art, that, when + the Roman statuary who stayed a few weeks with us explained the mystery of + various purely Latin dishes, she caught their principle at once; and + visions of the great white cathedral, the Coliseum, and the “dome of + Brunelleschi” floated before us in the exhalations of the Milanese + <i>risotto</i>, Roman <i>stufadino</i>, and Florentine <i>stracotto</i> + that smoked upon our board. But, after all, it was in puddings that Mrs. + Johnson chiefly excelled. She was one of those cooks—rare as men of + genius in literature—who love their own dishes; and she had, in her + personally child-like simplicity of taste, and the inherited appetites of + her savage forefathers, a dominant passion for sweets. So far as we could + learn, she subsisted principally upon puddings and tea. Through the same + primitive instincts, no doubt, she loved praise. She openly exulted in our + artless flatteries of her skill; she waited jealously at the head of the + kitchen stairs to hear what was said of her work, especially if there were + guests; and she was never too weary to attempt emprises of cookery. + </p> + <p> + While engaged in these, she wore a species of sightly handkerchief like a + turban upon her head and about her person those mystical swathings in + which old ladies of the African race delight. But she most pleasured our + sense of beauty and moral fitness when, after the last pan was washed and + the last pot was scraped, she lighted a potent pipe, and, taking her stand + at the kitchen door, laded the soft evening air with its pungent odors. If + we surprised her at these supreme moments, she took the pipe from her + lips, and put it behind her, with a low mellow chuckle, and a look of + half-defiant consciousness; never guessing that none of her merits took us + half so much as the cheerful vice which she only feigned to conceal. + </p> + <p> + Some things she could not do so perfectly as cooking, because of her + failing eyesight; and we persuaded her that spectacles would both become + and befriend a lady of her years, and so bought her a pair of steel-bowed + glasses. She wore them in some great emergencies at first, but had clearly + no pride in them. Before long she laid them aside altogether, and they had + passed from our thoughts, when one day we heard her mellow note of + laughter and her daughter's harsher cackle outside our door, and, + opening it, beheld Mrs. Johnson in gold-bowed spectacles of massive frame. + We then learned that their purchase was in fulfillment of a vow made long + ago, in the life-time of Mr. Johnson, that, if ever she wore glasses, they + should be gold-bowed; and I hope the manes of the dead were half as happy + in these votive spectacles as the simple soul that offered them. + </p> + <p> + She and her late partner were the parents of eleven children, some of whom + were dead, and some of whom were wanderers in unknown parts. During his + life-time she had kept a little shop in her native town; and it was only + within a few years that she had gone into service. She cherished a natural + haughtiness of spirit, and resented control, although disposed to do all + she could of her own motion. Being told to say when she wanted an + afternoon, she explained that when she wanted an afternoon she always took + it without asking, but always planned so as not to discommode the ladies + with whom she lived. These, she said, had numbered twenty-seven within + three years, which made us doubt the success of her system in all cases, + though she merely held out the fact as an assurance of her faith in the + future, and a proof of the ease with which places were to be found. She + contended, moreover, that a lady who had for thirty years had a house of + her own, was in nowise bound to ask permission to receive visits from + friends where she might be living, but that they ought freely to come and + go like other guests. In this spirit she once invited her son-in-law, + Professor Jones of Providence, to dine with her; and her defied mistress, + on entering the dining-room, found the Professor at pudding and tea there,—an + impressively respectable figure in black clothes, with a black face + rendered yet more effective by a pair of green goggles. It appeared that + this dark professor was a light of phrenology in Rhode Island, and that he + was believed to have uncommon virtue in his science by reason of being + blind as well as black. + </p> + <p> + I am loath to confess that Mrs. Johnson had not a flattering opinion of + the Caucasian race in all respects. In fact, she had very good + philosophical and Scriptural reasons for looking upon us as an upstart + people of new blood, who had come into their whiteness by no creditable or + pleasant process. The late Mr. Johnson, who had died in the West Indies, + whither he voyaged for his health in quality of cook upon a Down-East + schooner, was a man of letters, and had written a book to show the + superiority of the black over the white branches of the human family. In + this he held that, as all islands have been at their discovery found + peopled by blacks, we must needs believe that humanity was first created + of that color. Mrs. Johnson could not show us her husband's work (a + sole copy in the library of an English gentleman at Port au Prince is not + to be bought for money), but she often developed its arguments to the lady + of the house; and one day, with a great show of reluctance, and many + protests that no personal slight was meant, let fall the fact that Mr. + Johnson believed the white race descended from Gehazi the leper, upon whom + the leprosy of Naaman fell when the latter returned by Divine favor to his + original blackness. “And he went out from his presence a leper as + white as snow,” said Mrs. Johnson, quoting irrefutable Scripture. + “Leprosy, leprosy,” she added thoughtfully,—“nothing + but leprosy bleached you out.” + </p> + <p> + It seems to me much in her praise that she did not exult in our taint and + degradation, as some white philosophers used to do in the opposite idea + that a part of the human family were cursed to lasting blackness and + slavery in Ham and his children, but even told us of a remarkable approach + to whiteness in many of her own offspring. In a kindred spirit of charity, + no doubt, she refused ever to attend church with people of her elder and + wholesomer blood. When she went to church, she said, she always went to a + white church, though while with us I am bound to say she never went to + any. She professed to read her Bible in her bedroom on Sundays; but we + suspected, from certain sounds and odors which used to steal out of this + sanctuary, that her piety more commonly found expression in dozing and + smoking. + </p> + <p> + I would not make a wanton jest here of Mrs. Johnson's anxiety to + claim honor for the African color, while denying this color in many of her + own family. It afforded a glimpse of the pain which all her people must + endure, however proudly they hide it or light-heartedly forget it, from + the despite and contumely to which they are guiltlessly born; and when I + thought how irreparable was this disgrace and calamity of a black skin, + and how irreparable it must be for ages yet, in this world where every + other shame and all manner of wilful guilt and wickedness may hope for + covert and pardon, I had little heart to laugh. Indeed, it was so pathetic + to hear this poor old soul talk of her dead and lost ones, and try, in + spite of all Mr. Johnson's theories and her own arrogant + generalizations, to establish their whiteness, that we must have been very + cruel and silly people to turn her sacred fables even into matter of + question. I have no doubt that her Antoinette Anastasia and her Thomas + Jefferson Wilberforce—it is impossible to give a full idea of the + splendor and scope of the baptismal names in Mrs. Johnson's family—have + as light skins and as golden hair in heaven as her reverend maternal fancy + painted for them in our world. There, certainly, they would not be subject + to tanning, which had ruined the delicate complexion, and had knotted into + black woolly tangles the once wavy blonde locks of our little maid-servant + Naomi; and I would fain believe that Toussaint Washington Johnson, who ran + away to sea so many years ago, has found some fortunate zone where his + hair and skin keep the same sunny and rosy tints they wore to his mother's + eyes in infancy. But I have no means of knowing this, or of telling + whether he was the prodigy of intellect that he was declared to be. Naomi + could no more be taken in proof, of the one assertion than of the other. + When she came to us, it was agreed that she should go to school; but she + overruled her mother in this as in everything else, and never went. Except + Sunday-school lessons, she had no other instruction than that her mistress + gave her in the evenings, when a heavy day's play and the natural + influences of the hour conspired with original causes to render her + powerless before words of one syllable. + </p> + <p> + The first week of her service she was obedient and faithful to her duties; + but, relaxing in the atmosphere of a house which seems to demoralize all + menials, she shortly fell into disorderly ways of lying in wait for + callers out of doors, and, when people rang, of running up the front + steps, and letting them in from the outside. As the season expanded, and + the fine weather became confirmed, she modified even this form of service, + and spent her time in the fields, appearing at the house only when nature + importunately craved molasses. She had a parrot-like quickness, so far as + music was concerned, and learned from the Roman statuary to make the + groves and half-finished houses resound, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Camicia rossa, + Ove t' ascondi? + T' appella Italia,— + Tu non respondi!” + </pre> + <p> + She taught the Garibaldi song, moreover, to all the neighboring children, + so that I sometimes wondered if our street were not about to march upon + Rome in a body. + </p> + <p> + In her untamable disobedience, Naomi alone betrayed her sylvan blood, for + she was in all other respects negro and not Indian. But it was of her + aboriginal ancestry that Mrs. Johnson chiefly boasted,—when not + engaged in argument to maintain the superiority of the African race. She + loved to descant upon it as the cause and explanation of her own arrogant + habit of feeling; and she seemed indeed to have inherited something of the + Indian's hauteur along with the Ethiop's supple cunning and + abundant amiability. She gave many instances in which her pride had met + and overcome the insolence of employers, and the kindly old creature was + by no means singular in her pride of being reputed proud. + </p> + <p> + She could never have been a woman of strong logical faculties, but she had + in some things a very surprising and awful astuteness. She seldom + introduced any purpose directly, but bore all about it and then suddenly + sprung it upon her unprepared antagonist. At other times she obscurely + hinted a reason, and left a conclusion to be inferred; as when she warded + off reproach for some delinquency by saying in a general way that she had + lived with ladies who used to come scolding into the kitchen after they + had taken their bitters. “Quality ladies took their bitters regular,” + she added, to remove any sting of personality from her remark; for, from + many things she had let fall, we knew that she did not regard us as + quality. On the contrary, she often tried to overbear us with the + gentility of her former places; and would tell the lady over whom she + reigned, that she had lived with folks worth their three and four hundred + thousand dollars, who never complained as she did of the ironing. Yet she + had a sufficient regard for the literary occupations of the family, Mr. + Johnson having been an author. She even professed to have herself written + a book, which was still in manuscript, and preserved somewhere among her + best clothes. + </p> + <p> + It was well, on many accounts, to be in contact with a mind so original + and suggestive as Mrs. Johnson's. We loved to trace its intricate + yet often transparent operations, and were perhaps too fond of explaining + its peculiarities by facts of ancestry,—of finding hints of the + Powwow or the Grand Custom in each grotesque development. We were + conscious of something warmer in this old soul than in ourselves, and + something wilder, and we chose to think it the tropic and the untracked + forest. She had scarcely any being apart from her affection; she had no + morality, but was good because she neither hated nor envied; and she might + have been a saint far more easily than far more civilized people. + </p> + <p> + There was that also in her sinuous yet malleable nature, so full of guile + and so full of goodness, that reminded us pleasantly of lowly folk in + elder lands, where relaxing oppressions have lifted the restraints of fear + between master and servant, without disturbing the familiarity of their + relation. She advised freely with us upon all household matters, and took + a motherly interest in whatever concerned us. She could be flattered or + caressed into almost any service, but no threat or command could move her. + When she erred, she never acknowledged her wrong in words, but handsomely + expressed her regrets in a pudding, or sent up her apologies in a favorite + dish secretly prepared. We grew so well used to this form of exculpation, + that, whenever Mrs. Johnson took an afternoon at an inconvenient season, + we knew that for a week afterwards we should be feasted like princes. She + owned frankly that she loved us, that she never had done half so much for + people before, and that she never had been nearly so well suited in any + other place; and for a brief and happy time we thought that we never + should part. + </p> + <p> + One day, however, our dividing destiny appeared in the basement, and was + presented to us as Hippolyto Thucydides, the son of Mrs. Johnson, who had + just arrived on a visit to his mother from the State of New Hampshire. He + was a heavy and loutish youth, standing upon the borders of boyhood, and + looking forward to the future with a vacant and listless eye. I mean that + this was his figurative attitude; his actual manner, as he lolled upon a + chair beside the kitchen window, was so eccentric, that we felt a little + uncertain how to regard him, and Mrs. Johnson openly described him as + peculiar. He was so deeply tanned by the fervid suns of the New Hampshire + winter, and his hair had so far suffered from the example of the sheep + lately under his charge, that he could not be classed by any stretch of + compassion with the blonde and straight-haired members of Mrs. Johnson's + family. + </p> + <p> + He remained with us all the first day until late in the afternoon, when + his mother took him out to get him a boarding-house. Then he departed in + the van of her and Naomi, pausing at the gate to collect his spirits, and, + after he had sufficiently animated himself by clapping his palms together, + starting off down the street at a hand-gallop, to the manifest terror of + the cows in the pastures, and the confusion of the less demonstrative + people of our household. Other characteristic traits appeared in Hippolyto + Thucydides within no very long period of time, and he ran away from his + lodgings so often during the summer that he might be said to board round + among the outlying corn-fields and turnip-patches of Charlesbridge. As a + check upon this habit, Mrs. Johnson seemed to have invited him to spend + his whole time in our basement; for whenever we went below we found him + there, balanced—perhaps in homage to us, and perhaps as a token of + extreme sensibility in himself—upon the low window-sill, the bottoms + of his boots touching the floor inside, and his face buried in the grass + without. + </p> + <p> + We could formulate no very tenable objection to all this, and yet the + presence of Thucydides in our kitchen unaccountably oppressed our + imaginations. We beheld him all over the house, a monstrous eidolon, + balanced upon every window-sill; and he certainly attracted unpleasant + notice to our place, no less by his furtive and hang-dog manner of arrival + than by the bold displays with which he celebrated his departures. We + hinted this to Mrs. Johnson, but she could not enter into our feeling. + Indeed, all the wild poetry of her maternal and primitive nature seemed to + cast itself about this hapless boy; and if we had listened to her we + should have believed there was no one so agreeable in society, or so + quick-witted in affairs, as Hippolyto, when he chose. She used to rehearse + us long epics concerning his industry, his courage, and his talent; and + she put fine speeches in his mouth with no more regard to the truth than + if she had been a historian, and not a poet. Perhaps she believed that he + really said and did the things she attributed to him: it is the destiny of + those who repeatedly tell great things either of themselves or others; and + I think we may readily forgive the illusion to her zeal and fondness. In + fact, she was not a wise woman, and she spoiled her children as if she had + been a rich one. + </p> + <p> + At last, when we said positively that Thucydides should come to us no + more, and then qualified the prohibition by allowing him to come every + Sunday, she answered that she never would hurt the child's feelings + by telling him not to come where his mother was; that people who did not + love her children did not love her; and that, if Hippy went, she went. We + thought it a master-stroke of firmness to rejoin that Hippolyto must go in + any event; but I am bound to own that he did not go, and that his mother + stayed, and so fed us with every cunning propitiatory dainty, that we must + have been Pagans to renew our threat. In fact, we begged Mrs. Johnson to + go into the country with us, and she, after long reluctation on Hippy's + account, consented, agreeing to send him away to friends during her + absence. + </p> + <p> + We made every preparation, and on the eve of our departure Mrs. Johnson + went into the city to engage her son's passage to Bangor, while we + awaited her return in untroubled security. + </p> + <p> + But she did not appear till midnight, and then responded with but a sad + “Well, sah!” to the cheerful “Well, Mrs. Johnson!” + that greeted her. + </p> + <p> + “All right, Mrs. Johnson?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Johnson made a strange noise, half chuckle and half death-rattle, in + her throat. “All wrong, sah. Hippy's off again; and I've + been all over the city after him.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you can't go with us in the morning?” + </p> + <p> + “How <i>can</i> I, sah?” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Johnson went sadly out of the room. Then she came back to the door + again, and, opening it, uttered, for the first time in our service, words + of apology and regret: “I hope I ha'n't put you out any. + I <i>wanted</i> to go with you, but I ought to <i>knowed</i> I couldn't. + All is, I loved you too much.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DOORSTEP ACQUAINTANCE + </h2> + <p> + Vagabonds the world would no doubt call many of my doorstep acquaintance, + and I do not attempt to defend them altogether against the world, which + paints but black and white and in general terms. Yet I would fain veil + what is only half-truth under another name, for I know that the service of + their Gay Science is not one of such disgraceful ease as we associate with + ideas of vagrancy, though I must own that they lead the life they do + because they love it. They always protest that nothing but their ignorance + of our tongue prevents them from practicing some mechanical trade. “What + work could be harder,” they ask, “than carrying this organ + about all day?” but while I answer with honesty that nothing can be + more irksome, I feel that they only pretend a disgust with it, and that + they really like organ-grinding, if for no other reason than that they are + the children of the summer, and it takes them into the beloved open + weather. One of my friends, at least, who in the warmer months is to all + appearance a blithesome troubadour, living + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “A merry life in sun and shade,” + </pre> + <p> + as a coal-heaver in winter; and though this more honorable and useful + occupation is doubtless open to him the whole year round, yet he does not + devote himself to it, but prefers with the expanding spring to lay aside + his grimy basket, and, shouldering his organ, to quit the dismal wharves + and carts and cellars, and to wander forth into the suburbs, with his + lazy, soft-eyed boy at his heels, who does nothing with his tambourine but + take up a collection, and who, meeting me the other day in a chance + passage of Ferry Street, knew me, and gave me so much of his father's + personal history. + </p> + <p> + It was winter even there in Ferry Street, in which so many Italians live + that one might think to find it under a softer sky and in a gentler air, + and which I had always figured in a wide unlikeness to all other streets + in Boston,—with houses stuccoed outside, and with gratings at their + ground-floor windows; with mouldering archways between the buildings, and + at the corners feeble lamps glimmering before pictures of the Madonna; + with weather-beaten shutters flapping overhead, and many balconies from + which hung the linen swathings of young infants, and love-making maidens + furtively lured the velvet-jacketed, leisurely youth below: a place + haunted by windy voices of blessing and cursing, with the perpetual clack + of wooden-heeled shoes upon the stones, and what perfume from the blossom + of vines and almond-trees, mingling with less delicate smells, the + travelled reader pleases to imagine. I do not say that I found Ferry + Street actually different from this vision in most respects; but as for + the vines and almond-trees, they were not in bloom at the moment of my + encounter with the little tambourine-boy. As we stood and talked, the snow + fell as heavily and thickly around us as elsewhere in Boston. With a vague + pain,—the envy of a race toward another born to a happier clime,—I + heard from him that his whole family was going back to Italy in a month. + The father had at last got together money enough, and the mother, who had + long been an invalid, must be taken home; and, so far as I know, the + population of Ferry Street exists but in the hope of a return, soon or + late, to the native or the ancestral land. + </p> + <p> + More than one of my doorstep acquaintance, in fact, seemed to have no + other stock in trade than this fond desire, and to thrive with it in our + sympathetic community. It is scarcely possible but the reader has met the + widow of Giovanni Cascamatto, a Vesuvian lunatic who has long set fire to + their home on the slopes of the volcano, and perished in the flames. She + was our first Italian acquaintance in Charlesbridge, presenting herself + with a little subscription-book which she sent in for inspection, with a + printed certificate to the facts of her history signed with the somewhat + conventionally Saxon names of William Tompkins and John Johnson. These + gentlemen set forth, in terms vaguer than can be reproduced, that her + object in coming to America was to get money to go back to Italy; and the + whole document had so fictitious an air that it made us doubt even the + nationality of the bearer; but we were put to shame by the decent joy she + manifested in an Italian salutation. There was no longer a question of + imposture in anybody's mind; we gladly paid tribute to her poetic + fiction, and she thanked us with a tranquil courtesy that placed the + obligation where it belonged. As she turned to go with many good wishes, + we pressed her to have some dinner, but she answered with a compliment + insurpassably flattering, she had just dined—in another palace. The + truth is, there is not a single palace on Benicia Street, and our little + box of pine and paper would hardly have passed for a palace on the stage, + where these things are often contrived with great simplicity; but as we + had made a little Italy together, she touched it with the exquisite + politeness of her race, and it became for the instant a lordly mansion, + standing on the Chiaja, or the Via Nuovissima, or the Canalazzo. + </p> + <p> + I say this woman seemed glad to be greeted in Italian, but not, so far as + I could see, surprised; and altogether the most amazing thing about my + doorstep acquaintance of her nation is, that they are never surprised to + be spoken to in their own tongue, or, if they are, never show it. A + chestnut-roaster, who has sold me twice the chestnuts the same money would + have bought of him in English, has not otherwise recognized the fact that + Tuscan is not the dialect of Charlesbridge, and the mortifying nonchalance + with which my advances have always been received has long since persuaded + me that to the grinder at the gate it is not remarkable that a man should + open the door of his wooden house on Benicia Street, and welcome him in + his native language. After the first shock of this indifference is past, + it is not to be questioned but it flatters with an illusion, which a stare + of amazement would forbid, reducing the encounter to a vulgar reality at + once, and I could almost believe it in those wily and amiable folk to + intend the sweeter effect of their unconcern, which tacitly implies that + there is no other tongue in the world but Italian, and which makes all the + earth and air Italian for the time. Nothing else could have been the + purpose of that image-dealer whom I saw on a summer's day lying at + the foot of one of our meeting-houses, and doing his best to make it a + cathedral, and really giving a sentiment of medieval art to the noble + sculptures of the facade which the carpenters had just nailed up, freshly + painted and newly repaired. This poet was stretched upon his back, eating, + in that convenient posture, his dinner out of an earthen pot, plucking the + viand from it, whatever it was, with his thumb and fore-finger, and + dropping it piecemeal into his mouth. When the passer asked him “Where + are you from?” he held a morsel in air long enough to answer “Da + Lucca, signore,” and then let it fall into his throat, and sank + deeper into a reverie in which that crude accent even must have sounded + like a gossip's or a kinsman's voice, but never otherwise + moved muscle, nor looked to see who passed or lingered. There could have + been little else in his circumstances to remind him of home, and if he was + really in the sort of day-dream attributed to him, he was wise not to look + about him. I have not myself been in Lucca, but I conceive that its piazza + is not like our square, with a pump and horse-trough in the midst; but + that it has probably a fountain and statuary, though not possibly so + magnificent an elm towering above the bronze or marble groups as spreads + its boughs of benison over our pump and the horse-car switchman, loitering + near it to set the switch for the arriving cars, or lift the brimming + buckets to the smoking nostrils of the horses, while out from the stable + comes clanging and banging with a fresh team that famous African who has + turned white, or, if he is off duty, one of his brethren who has not yet + begun to turn. Figure, besides, an expressman watering his horse at the + trough, a provision-cart backed up against the curb in front of one of the + stores, various people looking from the car-office windows, and a + conductor appearing at the door long enough to call out, “Ready for + Boston!”—and you have a scene of such gayety as Lucca could + never have witnessed in her piazza at high noon on a summer's day. + Even our Campo Santo, if the Lucchese had cared to look round the corner + of the meeting-house at its moss-grown head stones, could have had little + to remind him of home, though it has antiquity and a proper quaintness. + But not for him, not for them of his clime and faith, is the pathos of + those simple memorial slates with their winged skulls, changing upon many + later stones, as if by the softening of creeds and customs, to cherub's + heads,—not for him is the pang I feel because of those who died, in + our country's youth exiles or exiles' children, heirs of the + wilderness and toil and hardship. Could they rise from their restful beds, + and look on this wandering Italian with his plaster statuettes of Apollo, + and Canovan dancers and deities, they would hold his wares little better + than Romish saints and idolatries, and would scarcely have the sentimental + interest in him felt by the modern citizen of Charlesbridge; but I think + that even they must have respected that Lombard scissors-grinder who used + to come to us, and put an edge to all the cutlery in the house. + </p> + <p> + He has since gone back to Milan, whence he came eighteen years ago, and + whither he has returned,—as he told me one acute day in the fall, + when all the winter hinted itself, and the painted leaves shuddered + earthward in the grove across the way,—to enjoy a little climate + before he died (<i>per goder un po' di dima prima di morire</i>). + Our climate was the only thing he had against us; in every other respect + he was a New-Englander, even to the early stages of consumption. He told + me the story of his whole life, and of how in his adventurous youth he had + left Milan and sojourned some years in Naples, vainly seeking his fortune + there. Afterwards he went to Greece, and set up his ancestral business of + greengrocer in Athens, faring there no better, but rather worse than in + Naples, because of the deeper wickedness of the Athenians, who cheated him + right and left, and whose laws gave him no redress. The Neapolitans were + bad enough, he said, making a wry face, but the Greeks!—and he spat + the Greeks out in the grass. At last, after much misfortune in Europe, he + bethought him of coming to America, and he had never regretted it, but for + the climate. You spent a good deal here,—nearly all you earned,—but + then a poor man was a man, and the people were honest. It was wonderful to + him that they all knew how to read and write, and he viewed with + inexpressible scorn those Irish who came to this country, and were so + little sensible of the benefits it conferred upon them. Boston he believed + the best city in America, and “Tell me,” said he, “is + there such a thing anywhere else in the world as that Public Library?” + He, a poor man, and almost unknown, had taken books from it to his own + room, and was master to do so whenever he liked. He had thus been enabled + to read Botta's history of the United States, an enormous compliment + both to the country and the work which I doubt ever to have been paid + before; and he knew more about Washington than I did, and desired to know + more than I could tell him of the financial question among us. So we came + to national politics, and then to European affairs. “It appears that + Garibaldi will not go to Rome this year,” remarks my + scissors-grinder, who is very red in his sympathies. “The Emperor + forbids! Well, patience! And that blessed Pope, what does he want, that + Pope? He will be king find priest both, he will wear two pairs of shoes at + once!” I must confess that no other of my door-step acquaintance had + so clear an idea as this one of the difference between things here and at + home. To the minds of most we seemed divided here as there into rich and + poor,—<i>signori, persone eivili</i>, and <i>povera gente</i>,—and + their thoughts about us did not go beyond a speculation as to our + individual willingness or ability to pay for organ-grinding. But this + Lombard was worthy of his adopted country, and I forgive him the frank + expression of a doubt that one day occurred to him, when offered a glass + of Italian wine. He held it daintily between him and the sun for a smiling + moment, and then said, as if our wine must needs be as ungenuine as our + Italian,—was perhaps some expression from the surrounding + currant-bushes, harsh as that from the Northern tongues which could never + give his language the true life and tonic charm,—“But I + suppose this wine is not made of grapes, signor?” Yet he was a very + courteous old man, elaborate in greeting and leave-taking, and with a + quicker sense than usual. It was accounted delicacy in him, that, when he + had bidden us a final adieu, he should never come near us again, though + the date of his departure was postponed some weeks, and we heard him + tinkling down the street, and stopping at the neighbors' houses. He + was a keen-faced, thoughtful-looking man; and he wore a blouse of blue + cotton, from the pocket of which always dangled the leaves of some wild + salad culled from our wasteful vacant lots or prodigal waysides. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/1000.jpg" alt="1000 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/1000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + Altogether different in character was that Triestine, who came one evening + to be helped home at the close of a very disastrous career in Mexico. He + Was a person of innumerable bows, and fluttered his bright-colored + compliments about, till it appeared that never before had such amiable + people been asked charity by such a worthy and generous sufferer. In + Trieste he had been a journalist, and it was evident enough from his + speech that he was of a good education. He was vain of his Italian accent, + which was peculiarly good for his heterogeneously peopled native city; and + he made a show of that marvelous facility of the Triestines in languages, + by taking me down French books, Spanish books, German books, and reading + from them all with the properest accent. Yet with this boyish pride and + self-satisfaction there was mixed a tone of bitter and worldly cynicism, a + belief in fortune as the sole providence. As nearly as I could make out, + he was a Johnson man in American politics; upon the Mexican question he + was independent, disdaining French and Mexicans alike. He was with the + former from the first, and had continued in the service of Maximilian + after their withdrawal, till the execution of that prince made Mexico no + place for adventurous merit. He was now going back to his native country, + an ungrateful land enough, which had ill treated him long ago, but to + which he nevertheless returned in a perfect gayety of temper. What a + light-hearted rogue he was,—with such merry eyes, and such a + pleasant smile shaping his neatly trimmed beard and mustache! After he had + supped, and he Stood with us at the door taking leave, something happened + to be said of Italian songs, whereupon this blithe exile, whom the + compassion of strangers was enabling to go home after many years of + unprofitable toil and danger to a country that had loved him not, fell to + caroling a Venetian barcarole, and went sweetly away in its cadence. I + bore him company as far as the gate of another Italian-speaking signor, + and was there bidden adieu with great effusion, so that I forgot till he + had left me to charge him not to be in fear of the house-dog, which barked + but did not bite. In calling this after him, I had the misfortune to + blunder in my verb. A man of another nation—perhaps another man of + his own nation—would have cared rather for what I said than how I + said it; but he, as if too zealous for the honor of his beautiful language + to endure a hurt to it even in that moment of grief, lifting his hat, and + bowing for the last time, responded with a “Morde, non morsica, + signore!” and passed in under the pines, and next day to Italy. + </p> + <p> + There is a little old Genoese lady comes to sell us pins, needles, thread, + tape, and the like <i>roba</i>, whom I regard as leading quite an ideal + life in some respects. Her traffic is limited to a certain number of + families who speak more or less Italian; and her days, so far as they are + concerned, must be passed in an atmosphere of sympathy and kindliness. The + truth is, we Northern and New World folk cannot help but cast a little + romance about whoever comes to us from Italy, whether we have actually + known the beauty and charm of that land or not. Then this old lady is in + herself a very gentle and lovable kind of person, with a tender + mother-face, which is also the face of a child. A smile plays always upon + her wrinkled visage, and her quick and restless eyes are full of + friendliness. There is never much stuff in her basket, however, and it is + something of a mystery how she manages to live from it. None but an + Italian could, I am sure; and her experience must test the full virtue of + the national genius for cheap salads and much-extenuated soup-meat. I do + not know whether it is native in her, or whether it is a grace acquired + from long dealing with those kindly-hearted customers of hers in + Charlesbridge, but she is of a most munificent spirit, and returns every + smallest benefit with some present from her basket. She makes me ashamed + of things I have written about the sordidness of her race, but I shall + vainly seek to atone for them by open-handedness to her. She will give + favor for favor; she will not even count the money she receives; our + bargaining is a contest of the courtliest civilities, ending in many an + “Adieu!” “To meet again!” “Remain well!” + and “Finally!” not surpassed if rivaled in any Italian street. + In her ineffectual way, she brings us news of her different customers, + breaking up their stout Saxon names into tinkling polysyllables which + suggest them only to the practiced sense, and is perfectly patient and + contented if we mistake one for another. She loves them all, but she + pities them as living in a terrible climate; and doubtless in her heart + she purposes one day to go back to Italy, there to die. In the mean time + she is very cheerful; she, too, has had her troubles,—what troubles + I do not remember, but those that come by sickness and by death, and that + really seem no sorrows until they come to us,—yet she never + complains. It is hard to make a living, and the house-rent alone is six + dollars a month; but still one lives, and does not fare so ill either. As + it does not seem to be in her to dislike any one, it must be out of a + harmless guile, felt to be comforting to servant-ridden householders, that + she always speaks of “those Irish,” her neighbors, with a + bated breath, a shaken head, a hand lifted to the cheek, and an averted + countenance. + </p> + <p> + Swarthiest of the organ-grinding tribe is he who peers up at my window out + of infinitesimal black eyes, perceives me, louts low, and for form's + sake grinds me out a tune before he begins to talk. As we parley together, + say it is eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and a sober tranquillity + reigns upon the dust and nodding weeds of Benicia Street. At that hour the + organ-grinder and I are the only persons of our sex in the whole suburban + population; all other husbands and fathers having eaten their breakfasts + at seven o'clock, and stood up in the early horse-cars to Boston, + whence they will return, with aching backs and quivering calves, + half-pendant by leathern straps from the roofs of the same luxurious + conveyances, in the evening. The Italian might go and grind his organ upon + the front stoop of any one of a hundred French-roof houses around, and + there would be no arm within strong enough to thrust him thence; but he is + a gentleman in his way, and, as he prettily explains, he never stops to + play except where the window smiles on him: a frowning lattice he will + pass in silence. I behold in him a disappointed man,—a man broken in + health, and of a liver baked by long sojourn in a tropical clime. In large + and dim outline, made all the dimmer by his dialect, he sketches me the + story of his life; how in his youth he ran away from the Milanese for love + of a girl in France, who, dying, left him with so little purpose in the + world that, after working at his trade of plasterer for some years in + Lyons, he listened to a certain gentleman going out upon government + service to a French colony in South America. This gentleman wanted a + man-servant, and he said to my organ-grinder, “Go with me and I make + your fortune.” So he, who cared not whither he went, went, and found + himself in the tropics. It was a hard life he led there; and of the wages + that had seemed so great in France, he paid nearly half to his laundress + alone, being forced to be neat in his master's house. The service + was not so irksome in-doors, but it was the hunting beasts in the forest + all day that broke his patience at last. + </p> + <p> + “Beasts in the forest?” I ask, forgetful of the familiar sense + of <i>bestie</i>, and figuring cougars at least by the word. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, those little beasts for the naturalists,—flies, bugs, + beetles,—Heaven knows what.” + </p> + <p> + “But this brought you money?” + </p> + <p> + “It brought my master money, but me aches and pains as many as you + will, and at last the fever. When that was burnt out, I made up my mind to + ask for more pay, and, not getting it, to quit that service. I think the + signor would have given it,—but the signora! So I left, empty as I + came, and was cook on a vessel to New York.” + </p> + <p> + This was the black and white of the man's story. I lose the color + and atmosphere which his manner as well as his words bestowed upon it. He + told it in a cheerful, impersonal kind of way as the romance of a poor + devil which had interested him, and might possibly amuse me, leaving out + no touch of character in his portrait of the fat, selfish master,—yielding + enough, however, but for his grasping wife, who, with all her avarice and + greed, he yet confessed to be very handsome. By the wave of a hand he + housed them in a tropic residence, dim, cool, close shut, kept by servants + in white linen moving with mute slippered feet over stone floors; and by + another gesture he indicated the fierce thorny growths of the forest in + which he hunted those vivid insects,—the luxuriant savannas, the + gigantic ferns and palms, the hush and shining desolation, the presence of + the invisible fever and death. There was a touch, too, of inexpressible + sadness in his half-ignorant mention of the exiles at Cayenne, who were + forbidden the wide ocean of escape about them by those swift gunboats + keeping their coasts and swooping down upon every craft that left the + shore. He himself had seen one such capture, and he made me see it, and + the mortal despair of the fugitives, standing upright in their boat with + the idle oars in their unconscious hands, while the corvette swept toward + them. + </p> + <p> + For all his misfortunes, he was not cast down. He had that lightness of + temper which seems proper to most northern Italians, whereas those from + the south are usually dark-mooded, sad-faced men. Nothing surpasses for + unstudied misanthropy of expression the visages of different Neapolitan + harpers who have visited us; but they have some right to their dejected + countenances as being of a yet half-civilized stock, and as real artists + and men of genius. Nearly all wandering violinists, as well as harpers, + are of their race, and they are of every age, from that of mere children + to men in their prime. They are very rarely old, as many of the + organ-grinders are; they are not so handsome as the Italians of the north, + though they have invariably fine eyes. They arrive in twos and threes; the + violinist briefly tunes his fiddle, and the harper unslings his + instrument, and, with faces of profound gloom, they go through their + repertory,—pieces from the great composers, airs from the opera, not + unmingled with such efforts of Anglo-Saxon genius as Champagne Charley and + Captain Jenks of the Horse Marines, which, like the language of + Shakespeare and Milton, hold us and our English cousins in tender bonds of + mutual affection. Beyond the fact that they come “dal Basilicat',” + or “dal Principat',” one gets very little out of these + Neapolitans, though I dare say they are not so surly at heart as they + look. Money does not brighten them to the eye, but yet it touches them, + and they are good in playing or leaving off to him that pays. Long time + two of them stood between the gateway firs on a pleasant summer's + afternoon and twanged and scraped their harmonious strings, till all the + idle boys of the neighborhood gathered about them, listening with a grave + and still delight. It was a most serious company: the Neapolitans, with + their cloudy brows, rapt in their music; and the Yankee children, with + their impassive faces, warily guarding against the faintest expression of + enjoyment; and when at last the minstrels played a brisk measure, and the + music began to work in the blood of the boys, and one of them shuffling + his reluctant feet upon the gravel, broke into a sudden and resistless + dance, the spectacle became too sad for contemplation. The boy danced only + from the hips down; no expression of his face gave the levity sanction, + nor did any of his comrades: they beheld him with a silent fascination, + but none was infected by the solemn indecorum; and when the legs and music + ceased their play together, no comment was made, and the dancer turned + unheated away. A chance passer asked for what he called the Gearybaldeye + Hymn, but the Neapolitans apparently did not know what this was. + </p> + <p> + My doorstep acquaintance were not all of one race; now and then an alien + to the common Italian tribe appeared,—an Irish soldier, on his way + to Salem, and willing to show me more of his mutilation than I cared to + buy the sight of for twenty-five cents; and more rarely yet an American, + also formerly of the army, but with something besides his wretchedness to + sell. On the hottest day of last summer such a one rang the bell, and was + discovered on the threshold wiping with his poor sole hand the sweat that + stood upon his forehead. There was still enough of the independent citizen + in his maimed and emaciated person to inspire him with deliberation and a + show of that indifference with which we Americans like to encounter each + other; but his voice was rather faint when he asked if I supposed we + wanted any starch to-day. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, certainly,” answered what heart there was within, taking + note willfully, but I hope not wantonly, what an absurdly limp figure he + was for a peddler of starch,—“certainly from you, brave + fellow;” and the package being taken from his basket, the man turned + to go away, so very wearily, that a cheap philanthropy protested: “For + shame! ask him to sit down in-doors and drink a glass of water.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” answered the poor fellow, when this indignant voice had + been obeyed, and he had been taken at a disadvantage, and as it were + surprised into the confession, “my family hadn't any breakfast + this morning, and I've got to hurry back to them.” + </p> + <p> + “Haven't <i>you</i> had any breakfast?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I wa'n't rightly hungry when I left the house.” + </p> + <p> + “Here, now,” popped in the virtue before named, “is an + opportunity to discharge the debt we all owe to the brave fellows who gave + us back our country. Make it beer.” + </p> + <p> + So it was made beer and bread and cold meat, and, after a little pressing, + the honest soul consented to the refreshment. He sat down in a cool + doorway and began to eat and to tell of the fight before Vicksburg. And if + you have never seen a one-armed soldier making a meal, I can assure you + the sight is a pathetic one, and is rendered none the cheerfuller by his + memories of the fights that mutilated him. This man had no very + susceptible audience, but before he was carried off the field, shot + through the body, and in the arm and foot, he had sold every package of + starch in his basket. I am ashamed to say this now, for I suspect that a + man with one arm, who indulged himself in going about under that broiling + sun of July, peddling starch, was very probably an impostor. He computed a + good day's profits of seventy-five cents, and when asked if that was + not very little for the support of a sick wife and three children, he + answered with a quaint effort at impressiveness, and with a trick, as I + imagined, from the manner of the regimental chaplain, “You've + done your duty, my friend, and more'n your duty. If every one did + their duty like that, we should get along.” So he took leave, and + shambled out into the furnace-heat, the sun beating upon his pale face, + and his linen coat hugging him close, but with his basket lighter, and I + hope his heart also. At any rate, this was the sentiment which cheap + philanthropy offered in self-gratulation, as he passed out of sight: + “There! you are quits with those maimed soldiers at last, and you + have a country which you have paid for with cold victuals as they with + blood.” + </p> + <p> + We have been a good deal visited by one disbanded volunteer, not to the + naked eye maimed, nor apparently suffering from any lingering illness, yet + who bears, as he tells me, a secret disabling wound in his side from a + spent shell, and who is certainly a prey to the most acute form of + shiftlessness. I do not recall with exactness the date of our + acquaintance, but it was one of those pleasant August afternoons when a + dinner eaten in peace fills the digester with a millennial tenderness for + the race too rarely felt in the nineteenth century. At such a moment it is + a more natural action to loosen than to tighten the purse-strings, and + when a very neatly dressed young man presented himself at the gate, and, + in a note of indescribable plaintiveness, asked if I had any little job + for him to do that he might pay for a night's lodging, I looked + about the small domain with a vague longing to find some part of it in + disrepair, and experienced a moment's absurd relief when he hinted + that he would be willing to accept fifty cents in pledge of future + service. Yet this was not the right principle: some work, real or + apparent, must be done for the money, and the veteran was told that he + might weed the strawberry bed, though, as matters then stood, it was clean + enough for a strawberry bed that never bore anything. The veteran was + neatly dressed, as I have said: his coat, which was good, was buttoned to + the throat for reasons that shall be sacred against curiosity, and he had + on a perfectly clean paper collar; he was a handsome young fellow, with + regular features, and a solicitously kept imperial and mustache; his hair, + when he lifted his hat, appeared elegantly oiled and brushed. I did not + hope from this figure that the work done would be worth the money paid, + and, as nearly as I can compute, the weeds he took from that bed cost me a + cent apiece, to say nothing of a cup of tea given him in grace at the end + of his labors. + </p> + <p> + My acquaintance was, as the reader will be glad to learn, a native + American, though it is to be regretted, for the sake of facts which his + case went far to establish, that he was not a New-Englander by birth. The + most that could be claimed was, that he came to Boston from Delaware when + very young, and that there on that brine-washed granite he had grown as + perfect a flower of helplessness and indolence, as fine a fruit of + maturing civilization, as ever expanded or ripened in Latin lands. He + lived, not only a protest in flesh and blood against the tendency of + democracy to exclude mere beauty from our system, but a refutation of + those Old World observers, who deny to our vulgar and bustling communities + the refining and elevating grace of Repose. There was something very + curious and original in his character, from which the sentiment of shame + was absent, but which was not lacking in the fine instincts of personal + cleanliness, of dress, of style. There was nothing of the rowdy in him; he + was gentle as an Italian noble in his manners: what other traits they may + have had in common, I do not know; perhaps an amiable habit of illusion. + He was always going to bring me his discharge papers, but he never did, + though he came often and had many a pleasant night's sleep at my + cost. If sometimes he did a little work, he spent great part of the time + contracted to me in the kitchen, where it was understood, quite upon his + own agency, that his wages included board. At other times, he called for + money too late in the evening to work it out that day, and it has happened + that a new second girl, deceived by his genteel appearance in the + uncertain light, has shown him into the parlor, where I have found him to + his and my own great amusement, as the gentleman who wanted to see me. + Nothing else seemed to raise his ordinarily dejected spirits so much. We + all know how pleasant it is to laugh at people behind their backs; but + this veteran afforded me at a very low rate the luxury of a fellow-being + whom one might laugh at to his face as much as one liked. + </p> + <p> + Yet with all his shamelessness, his pensiveness, his elegance, I felt that + somehow our national triumph was not complete in him,—that there + were yet more finished forms of self-abasement in the Old World, till one + day I looked out of the window and saw at a little distance my veteran + digging a cellar for an Irishman. I own that the spectacle gave me a shock + of pleasure, and that I ran down to have a nearer view of what human eyes + have seldom, if ever, beheld,—an American, pure blood, handling the + pick, the shovel, and the wheelbarrow, while an Irishman directed his + labors. Upon inspection, it appeared that none of the trees grew with + their roots in the air, in recognition of this great reversal of the + natural law; all the French-roof houses stood right side up. The + phenomenon may become more common in future, unless the American race + accomplishes its destiny of dying out before the more populatory + foreigner, but as yet it graced the veteran with an exquisite and signal + distinction. He, however, seemed to feel unpleasantly the anomaly of his + case, and opened the conversation by saying that he should not work at + that job to-morrow, it hurt his side; and went on to complain of the + inhumanity of Americans to Americans. “Why,” said he, “they'd + rather give out their jobs to a nigger than to one of their own kind. I + was beatin' carpets for a gentleman on the Avenue, and the first + thing I know he give most of 'em to a nigger. I beat seven of + 'em in one day, and got two dollars; and the nigger beat 'em + by the piece, and he got a dollar an' a half apiece. My luck!” + </p> + <p> + Here the Irishman glanced at his hireling, and the rueful veteran hastened + to pile up another wheelbarrow with earth. If ever we come to reverse + positions generally with our Irish brethren, there is no doubt but they + will get more work out of us than we do from them at present. + </p> + <p> + It was shortly after this that the veteran offered to do second girl's + work in my house if I would take him. The place was not vacant; and as the + summer was now drawing to a close, and I feared to be left with him on my + hands for the winter, it seemed well to speak to him upon the subject of + economy. The next time he called, I had not about me the exact sum for a + night's lodging,—fifty cents, namely—and asked him if he + thought a dollar would do He smiled sadly, as if he did not like jesting + upon such a very serious subject, but said he allowed to work it out, and + took it. + </p> + <p> + “Now, I hope you won't think I am interfering with your + affairs,” said his benefactor, “but I really think you are a + very poor financier. According to your own account, you have been going on + from year to year for a long time, trusting to luck for a night's + lodging. Sometimes I suppose you have to sleep out-of-doors.” + </p> + <p> + “No, never!” answered the veteran, with something like scorn. + “I never sleep out-doors. I wouldn't do it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, at any rate, some one has to pay for your lodging. Don't + you think you'd come cheaper to your friends, if, instead of going + to a hotel every night, you'd take a room somewhere, and pay for it + by the month?” + </p> + <p> + “I've thought of that. If I could get a good bed, I'd + try it awhile anyhow. You see the hotels have raised. I used to get a + lodgin' and a nice breakfast for a half a dollar, but now it is as + much as you can do to get a lodgin' for the money, and it's + just as dear in the Port as it is in the city. I've tried hotels + pretty much everywhere, and one's about as bad as another.” + </p> + <p> + If he had been a travelled Englishman writing a book, he could not have + spoken of hotels with greater disdain. + </p> + <p> + “You see, the trouble with me is, I ain't got any relations + around here. Now,” he added, with the life and eagerness of an + inspiration, “if I had a mother and sister livin' down at the + Port, say, I wouldn't go hunting about for these mean little jobs + everywheres. I'd just lay round home, and wait till something come + up big. What I want is a home.” + </p> + <p> + At the instigation of a malignant spirit I asked the homeless orphan, + “Why don't you get married, then?” + </p> + <p> + He gave me another smile, sadder, fainter, sweeter than before, and said: + “When would you like to see me again, so I could work out this + dollar?” + </p> + <p> + A sudden and unreasonable disgust for the character which had given me so + much entertainment succeeded to my past delight. I felt, moreover, that I + had bought the right to use some frankness with the veteran, and I said to + him: “Do you know now, I shouldn't care if I <i>never</i> saw + you again?” + </p> + <p> + I can only conjecture that he took the confidence in good part, for he did + not appear again after that. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A PEDESTRIAN TOUR. + </h2> + <p> + Walking for walking's sake I do not like. The diversion appears to + me one of the most factitious of modern enjoyments; and I cannot help + looking upon those who pace their five miles in the teeth of a north wind, + and profess to come home all the livelier and better for it, as guilty of + a venial hypocrisy. It is in nature that after such an exercise the bones + should ache and the flesh tremble; and I suspect that these harmless + pretenders are all the while paying a secret penalty for their bravado. + With a pleasant end in view, or with cheerful companionship, walking is + far from being the worst thing in life; though doubtless a truly candid + person must confess that he would rather ride under the same + circumstances. Yet it is certain that some sort of recreation is necessary + after a day spent within doors; and one is really obliged nowadays to take + a little walk instead of medicine; for one's doctor is sure to have + a mania on the subject, and there is no more getting pills or powders out + of him for a slight indigestion than if they had all been shot away at the + rebels during the war. For this reason I sometimes go upon a pedestrian + tour, which is of no great extent in itself, and which I moreover modify + by keeping always within sound of the horse-car bells, or easy reach of + some steam-car station. + </p> + <p> + I fear that I should find these rambles dull, but that their utter lack of + interest amuses me. I will be honest with the reader, though, and any + Master Pliable is free to forsake me at this point; for I cannot promise + to be really livelier than my walk. There is a Slough of Despond in full + view, and not a Delectable Mountain to be seen, unless you choose so to + call the high lands about Waltham, which we shall behold dark blue against + the western sky presently. As I sally forth upon Benicia Street, the whole + suburb of Charlesbridge stretches about me,—a vast space upon which + I can embroider any fancy I like as I saunter along. I have no + associations with it, or memories of it, and, at some seasons, I might + wander for days in the most frequented parts of it, and meet hardly any + one I know. It is not, however, to these parts that I commonly turn, but + northward, up a street upon which a flight of French-roof houses suddenly + settled a year or two since, with families in them, and many outward signs + of permanence, though their precipitate arrival might cast some doubt upon + this. I have to admire their uniform neatness and prettiness, and I look + at their dormer-windows with the envy of one to whose weak sentimentality + dormer-windows long appeared the supreme architectural happiness. But, for + all my admiration of the houses, I find a variety that is pleasanter in + the landscape, when I reach, beyond them, a little bridge which appears to + span a small stream. It unites banks lined with a growth of trees and + briers nodding their heads above the neighboring levels, and suggesting a + quiet water-course, though in fact it is the Fitchburg Railroad that purls + between them, with rippling freight and passenger trains and ever-gurgling + locomotives. The banks take the earliest green of spring upon their + southward slope, and on a Sunday morning of May, when the bells are + lamenting the Sabbaths of the past, I find their sunny tranquillity + sufficient to give me a slight heart-ache for I know not what. If I + descend them and follow the railroad westward half a mile, I come to vast + brick-yards, which are not in themselves exciting to the imagination, and + which yet, from an irresistible association of ideas, remind me of Egypt, + and are forever newly forsaken of those who made bricks without straw; so + that I have no trouble in erecting temples and dynastic tombs out of the + kilns; while the mills for grinding the clay serve me very well for those + sad-voiced <i>sakias</i> or wheel-pumps which the Howadji Curtis heard + wailing at their work of drawing water from the Nile. A little farther on + I come to the boarding-house built at the railroad side for the French + Canadians who have by this time succeeded the Hebrews in the toil of the + brick-yards, and who, as they loiter in windy-voiced, good-humored groups + about the doors of their lodgings, insist upon bringing before me the town + of St. Michel at the mouth of the great Mont Cenis tunnel, where so many + peasant folk like them are always amiably quarreling before the <i>cabarets</i> + when the diligence comes and goes. Somewhere, there must be a gendarme + with a cocked hat and a sword on, standing with folded arms to represent + the Empire and Peace among that rural population; if I looked in-doors, I + am sure I should see the neatest of landladies and landladies' + daughters and nieces in high black silk caps, bearing hither and thither + smoking bowls of <i>bouillon</i> and <i>café-au-lait</i>. Well, it takes + as little to make one happy as miserable, thank Heaven! and I derive a + cheerfulness from this scene which quite atones to me for the fleeting + desolation suffered from the sunny verdure on the railroad bank. With + repaired spirits I take my way up through the brick-yards towards the + Irish settlement on the north, passing under the long sheds that shelter + the kilns. The ashes lie cold about the mouths of most, and the bricks are + burnt to the proper complexion; in others these are freshly arranged over + flues in which the fire has not been kindled; but in whatever state I see + them, I am reminded of brick-kilns of boyhood. They were then such palaces + of enchantment as any architect should now vainly attempt to rival with + bricks upon the most desirable corner lot of the Back Bay, and were the + homes of men truly to be envied: men privileged to stay up all night; to + sleep, as it were, out of doors; to hear the wild geese as they flew over + in the darkness; to be waking in time to shoot the early ducks that + visited the neighboring ponds; to roast corn upon the ends of sticks; to + tell and to listen to stories that never ended, save in some sudden + impulse to rise and dance a happy hoe-down in the ruddy light of the + kiln-fires. If by day they were seen to have the redness of eyes of men + that looked upon the whiskey when it was yellow and gave its color in the + flask; if now and then the fragments of a broken bottle strewed the scene + of their vigils, and a head broken to match appeared among those good + comrades, the boyish imagination was not shocked by these things, but + accepted them merely as the symbols of a free virile life. Some such life + no doubt is still to be found in the Dublin to which I am come by the time + my repertory of associations with brick-kilns is exhausted, but, oddly + enough, I no longer care to encounter it. + </p> + <p> + It is perhaps in a pious recognition of our mortality that Dublin is built + around the Irish grave-yard. Most of its windows look out upon the + sepulchral monuments and the pretty constant arrival of the funeral trains + with their long lines of carriages bringing to the celebration of the sad + ultimate rites those gay companies of Irish mourners. I suppose that the + spectacle of such obsequies is not at all depressing to the inhabitants of + Dublin; but that, on the contrary, it must beget in them a feeling which, + if not resignation to death, is, at least, a sort of sub-acute + cheerfulness in his presence. None but a Dubliner, however, would have + been greatly animated by a scene which I witnessed during a stroll through + this cemetery one afternoon of early spring. The fact that a marble slab + or shaft more or less sculptured, and inscribed with words more or less + helpless, is the utmost that we can give to one whom once we could caress + with every tenderness of speech and touch, and that, after all, the + memorial we raise is rather to our own grief, and is a decency, a mere + conventionality,—this is a dreadful fact on which the heart breaks + itself with such a pang, that it always seems a desolation never + recognized, an anguish never felt before. Whilst I stood revolving this + thought in my mind, and reading the Irish names upon the stones and the + black head-boards,—the latter adorned with pictures of angels, once + gilt, but now weather-worn down to the yellow paint,—a wail of + intolerable pathos filled the air: “O my darling, O my darling! O—O—O!” + with sobs and groans and sighs; and, looking about, I saw two women, one + standing upright beside another that had cast herself upon a grave, and + lay clasping it with her comfortless arms, uttering these cries. The grave + was a year old at least, but the grief seemed of yesterday or of that + morning. At times the friend that stood beside the prostrate woman stooped + and spoke a soothing word to her, while she wailed out her woe; and in the + midst some little ribald Irish boys came scuffling and quarreling up the + pathway, singing snatches of an obscene song; and when both the wailing + and the singing had died away, an old woman, decently clad, and with her + many-wrinkled face softened by the old-fashioned frill running round the + inside of her cap, dropped down upon her knees beside a very old grave, + and clasped her hands in a silent prayer above it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/2000.jpg" alt="2000 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/2000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + If I had beheld all this in some village <i>campo santo</i> in Italy, I + should have been much more vividly impressed by it, as an aesthetical + observer; whereas I was now merely touched as a human being, and had + little desire to turn the scene to literary account. I could not help + feeling that it wanted the atmosphere of sentimental association, the + whole background was a blank or worse than a blank. Yet I have not been + able to hide from myself so much as I would like certain points of + resemblance between our Irish and the poorer classes of Italians. The + likeness is one of the first things that strikes an American in Italy, and + I am always reminded of it in Dublin. So much of the local life appears + upon the street; there is so much gossip from house to house, and the talk + is always such a resonant clamoring; the women, bareheaded, or with a + shawl folded over the head and caught beneath the chin with the hand, have + such a contented down-at-heel aspect, shuffling from door to door, or + lounging, arms akimbo, among the cats and poultry at their own thresholds, + that one beholding it all might well fancy himself upon some Italian <i>calle</i> + or <i>vicolo</i>. Of course the illusion does not hold good on a Sunday, + when the Dubliners are coming home from church in their best,—their + extraordinary best bonnets and their prodigious silk hats. It does not + hold good in any way or at any time, except upon the surface, for there is + beneath all this resemblance the difference that must exist between a race + immemorially civilized and one which has lately emerged from barbarism + “after six centuries of oppression.” You are likely to find a + polite pagan under the mask of the modern Italian you feel pretty sure + that any of his race would with a little washing and skillful + manipulation, <i>restore</i>, like a neglected painting, into something + genuinely graceful and pleasing; but if one of these Yankeefied Celts were + scraped, it is but too possible that you might find a kern, a Whiteboy, or + a Pikeman. The chance of discovering a scholar or a saint of the period + when Ireland was the centre of learning, and the favorite seat of the + Church, is scarcely one in three. + </p> + <p> + Among the houses fronting on the main street of Dublin, every other one—I + speak in all moderation—is a grocery, if I may judge by a tin case + of corn-balls, a jar of candy, and a card of shirt-buttons, with an under + layer of primers and ballads, in the windows. You descend from the street + by several steps into these haunts, which are contrived to secure the + greatest possible dampness and darkness; and if you have made an errand + inside, you doubtless find a lady before the counter in the act of putting + down a guilty-looking tumbler with one hand, while she neatly wipes her + mouth on the back of the other. She has that effect, observable in all + tippling women of low degree, of having no upper garment on but a shawl, + which hangs about her in statuesque folds and lines. She slinks out + directly, but the lady behind the counter gives you good evening with + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “The affectation of a bright-eyed ease,” + </pre> + <p> + intended to deceive if you chance to be a State constable in disguise, and + to propitiate if you are a veritable customer: “Who was that woman, + lamenting so, over in the grave-yard?” “O, I don't know, + sir,” answered the lady, making change for the price of a ballad. + “Some Irish folks. They ginerally cries that way.” + </p> + <p> + In yet earlier spring walks through Dublin, I found a depth of mud + appalling even to one who had lived three years in Charlesbridge. The + streets were passable only to pedestrians skilled in shifting themselves + along the sides of fences and alert to take advantage of every projecting + doorstep. There were no dry places, except in front of the groceries, + where the ground was beaten hard by the broad feet of loafing geese and + the coming and going of admirably small children making purchases there. + The number of the little ones was quite as remarkable as their size, and + ought to have been even more interesting, if, as sometimes appears + probable, such increase shall—together with the well-known ambition + of Dubliners to rule the land—one day make an end of us poor Yankees + as a dominant plurality. + </p> + <p> + The town was somewhat tainted with our architectural respectability, + unless the newness of some of the buildings gave illusion of this; and, + though the streets of Dublin were not at all cared for, and though every + house on the main thoroughfare stood upon the brink of a slough, without + yard, or any attempt at garden or shrubbery, there were many cottages in + the less aristocratic quarters inclosed in palings, and embowered in the + usual suburban pear-trees and currant-bushes. These, indeed, were + dwellings of an elder sort, and had clearly been inherited from a + population now as extinct in that region as the Pequots, and they were not + always carefully cherished. On the border of the hamlet is to be seen an + old farm-house of the poorer sort, built about the beginning of this + century, and now thickly peopled by Dubliners. Its gate is thrown down, + and the great wild-grown lilac hedge, no longer protected by a fence, + shows skirts bedabbled by the familiarity of lawless poultry, as little + like the steady-habited poultry of other times, as the people of the house + are like the former inmates, long since dead or gone West. I offer the + poor place a sentiment of regret as I pass, thinking of its better days. I + think of its decorous, hard-working, cleanly, school-going, + church-attending life, which was full of the pleasure of duty done, and + was not without its own quaint beauty and grace. What long Sabbaths were + kept in that old house, what scanty holidays! Yet from this and such as + this came the dominion of the whole wild continent, the freedom of a race, + the greatness of the greatest people. It may be that I regretted a little + too exultantly, and that out of this particular house came only peddling + of innumerable clocks and multitudinous tin-ware. But as yet, it is pretty + certain that the general character of the population has not gained by the + change. What is in the future, let the prophets say; any one can see that + something not quite agreeable is in the present; something that takes the + wrong side, as by instinct, in politics; something that mainly helps to + prop up tottering priestcraft among us; something that one thinks of with + dismay as destined to control so largely the civil and religious interests + of the country. This, however, is only the aggregate aspect. Mrs. + Clannahan's kitchen, as it may be seen by the desperate philosopher + when he goes to engage her for the spring house-cleaning, is a strong + argument against his fears. If Mrs. Clannahan, lately of an Irish cabin, + can show a kitchen so capably appointed and so neatly kept as that, the + country may yet be an inch or two from the brink of ruin, and the race + which we trust as little as we love may turn out no more spendthrift than + most heirs. It is encouraging, moreover, when any people can flatter + themselves upon a superior prosperity and virtue, and we may take heart + from the fact that the French Canadians, many of whom have lodgings in + Dublin, are not well seen by the higher classes of the citizens there. + Mrs. Clannahan, whose house stands over against the main gate of the + grave-yard, and who may, therefore, be considered as moving in the best + Dublin society, hints, that though good Catholics, the French are not + thought perfectly honest,—“things have been missed” + since they came to blight with their crimes and vices the once happy seat + of integrity. It is amusing to find Dublin fearful of the encroachment of + the French, as we, in our turn, dread the advance of the Irish. We must + make a jest of our own alarms, and even smile—since we cannot help + ourselves—at the spiritual desolation occasioned by the settlement + of an Irish family in one of our suburban neighborhoods. The householders + view with fear and jealousy the erection of any dwelling of less than a + stated cost, as portending a possible advent of Irish; and when the + calamitous race actually appears, a mortal pang strikes to the bottom of + every pocket. Values tremble throughout that neighborhood, to which the + new-comers communicate a species of moral dry-rot. None but the Irish will + build near the Irish; and the infection of fear spreads to the elder + Yankee homes about, and the owners prepare to abandon them,—not + always, however, let us hope, without turning, at the expense of the + invaders, a Parthian penny in their flight. In my walk from Dublin to + North Charlesbridge, I saw more than one token of the encroachment of the + Celtic army, which had here and there invested a Yankee house with + besieging shanties on every side, and thus given to its essential and + otherwise quite hopeless ugliness a touch of the poetry that attends + failing fortunes, and hallows decayed gentility of however poor a sort + originally. The fortunes of such a house are, of course, not to be + retrieved. Where the Celt sets his foot, there the Yankee (and it is + perhaps wholesome if not agreeable to know that the Irish citizen whom we + do not always honor as our equal in civilization loves to speak of us + scornfully as Yankees) rarely, if ever, returns. The place remains to the + intruder and his heirs forever. We gracefully retire before him even in + politics, as the metropolis—if it is the metropolis—can + witness; and we wait with an anxious curiosity the encounter of the Irish + and the Chinese, now rapidly approaching each other from opposite shores + of the continent. Shall we be crushed in the collision of these superior + races? Every intelligence-office will soon be ringing with the cries of + combat, and all our kitchens strewn with pig-tails and bark chignons. As + yet we have gay hopes of our Buddhistic brethren; but how will it be when + they begin to quarter the Dragon upon the Stars and Stripes, and buy up + all the best sites for temples, and burn their joss-sticks, as it were, + under our very noses? Our grasp upon the great problem grows a little lax, + perhaps? Is it true that, when we look so anxiously for help from others, + the virtue has gone out of ourselves? I should hope not. + </p> + <p> + As I leave Dublin, the houses grow larger and handsomer; and as I draw + near the Avenue, the Mansard-roofs look down upon me with their + dormer-windows, and welcome me back to the American community. There are + fences about all the houses, inclosing ampler and ampler dooryards; the + children, which had swarmed in the thriftless and unenlightened purlieus + of Dublin, diminish in number and finally disappear; the chickens have + vanished; and I hear—I hear the pensive music of the horse-car + bells, which in some alien land, I am sure, would be as pathetic to me as + the Ranz des Vaches to the Swiss or the bagpipes to the Highlander: in the + desert, where the traveller seems to hear the familiar bells of his + far-off church, this tinkle would haunt the absolute silence, and recall + the exile's fancy to Charlesbridge; and perhaps in the mocking + mirage he would behold an airy horse-car track, and a phantasmagoric + horse-car moving slowly along the edge of the horizon, with spectral + passengers closely packed inside and overflowing either platform. + </p> + <p> + But before I reach the Avenue, Dublin calls to me yet again, in the figure + of an old, old man, wearing the clothes of other times, and a sort of + ancestral round hat. In the act of striking a match he asks me the time of + day, and, applying the fire to his pipe, he returns me his thanks in a + volume of words and smoke. What a wrinkled and unshorn old man! Can age + and neglect do so much for any of us? This ruinous person was associated + with a hand-cart as decrepit as himself, but not nearly so cheerful; for + though he spoke up briskly with a spirit uttered from far within the + wrinkles and the stubble, the cart had preceded him with a very lugubrious + creak. It groaned, in fact, under a load of tin cans, and I was to learn + from the old man that there was, and had been, in his person, for thirteen + years, such a thing in the world as a peddler of buttermilk, and that + these cans were now filled with that pleasant drink. They did not invite + me to prove their contents, being cans that apparently passed their vacant + moments in stables and even manure-heaps, and that looked somehow emulous + of that old man's stubble and wrinkles. I bought nothing, but I left + the old peddler well content, seated upon a thill of his cart, smoking + tranquilly, and filling the keen spring evening air with fumes which it + dispersed abroad, and made to itself a pleasant incense of. + </p> + <p> + I left him a whole epoch behind, as I entered the Avenue and lounged + homeward along the stately street. Above the station it is far more + picturesque than it is below, and the magnificent elms that shadow it + might well have looked, in their saplinghood, upon the British straggling + down the country road from the Concord fight; and there are some ancient + houses yet standing that must have been filled with exultation at the same + spectacle. Poor old revolutionaries! they would never have believed that + their descendants would come to love the English as we do. + </p> + <p> + The season has advanced rapidly during my progress from Dublin to the + Avenue; and by the time I reach the famous old tavern, not far from the + station, it is a Sunday morning of early summer, and the yellow sunlight + falls upon a body of good comrades who are grooming a marvelous number of + piebald steeds about the stable-doors. By token of these beasts—which + always look so much more like works of art than of nature—I know + that there is to be a circus somewhere very soon; and the gay bills pasted + all over the stable-front tell me that there are to be two performances at + the Port on the morrow. The grooms talk nothing and joke nothing but horse + at their labor; and their life seems such a low, ignorant, happy life, + that the secret nomad lurking in every respectable and stationary + personality stirs within me and struggles to strike hands of fellowship + with them. They lead a sort of pastoral existence in our age of railroads; + they wander over the continent with their great caravan, and everywhere + pursue the summer from South to North and from North to South again; in + the mild forenoons they groom their herds, and in the afternoons they doze + under their wagons, indifferent to the tumult of the crowd within and + without the mighty canvas near them,—doze face downwards on the + bruised, sweet-smelling grass; and in the starry midnight rise and strike + their tents, and set forth again over the still country roads, to take the + next village on the morrow with the blaze and splendor of their “Grand + Entree.” The triumphal chariot in which the musicians are borne at + the head of the procession is composed, as I perceive by the bills, of + four colossal gilt swans, set tail to tail, with lifted wings and curving + necks; but the chariot, as I behold it beside the stable, is mysteriously + draped in white canvas, through which its gilding glitters only here and + there. And does it move thus shrouded in the company's wanderings + from place to place, and is the precious spottiness of the piebalds then + hidden under envious drapery? O happy grooms,—not clean as to + shirts, nor especially neat in your conversation, but displaying a Wealth + of art in India-ink upon your manly chests and the swelling muscles of + your arms, and speaking in every movement your freedom from all + conventional gyves and shackles, <i>“seid umschlungen!”</i>—in + spirit; for the rest, you are rather too damp, and seem to have applied + your sudsy sponges too impartially to your own trousers and the horses' + legs to receive an actual embrace from a <i>dilettante</i> vagabond. + </p> + <p> + The old tavern is old only comparatively; but in our new and changeful + life it is already quaint. It is very long, and low-studded in either + story, with a row of windows in the roof, and a great porch, furnished + with benches, running the whole length of the ground-floor. Perhaps + because they take the dust of the street too freely, or because the guests + find it more social and comfortable to gather in-doors in the wide, + low-ceiled office, the benches are not worn, nor particularly whittled. + The room has the desolate air characteristic of offices which have once + been bar-rooms; but no doubt, on a winter's night, there is talk + worth listening to there, of flocks, and herds and horse-trades, from the + drovers and cattle-market men who patronize the tavern; and the artistic + temperament, at least, could feel no regret if that sepulchrally penitent + bar-room then developed a secret capacity for the wickedness that once + boldly glittered behind the counter in rows of decanters. + </p> + <p> + The house was formerly renowned for its suppers, of which all that was + learned or gifted in the old college town of Charlesbridge used to + partake; and I have heard lips which breathe the loftiest song and the + sweetest humor—let alone being “dewy with the Greek of Plato”—smacked + regretfully over the memory of those suppers' roast and broiled. No + such suppers, they say, are cooked in the world any more; and I am somehow + made to feel that their passing away is connected with the decay of good + literature. + </p> + <p> + I hope it may be very long before the predestined French-roof villa + occupies the tavern's site, and turns into lawns and gardens its + wide-spreading cattle-pens, and removes the great barn that now shows its + broad, low gable to the street. This is yet older and quainter-looking + than the tavern itself; it is mighty capacious, and gives a still + profounder impression of vastness with its shed, of which the roof slopes + southward down almost to a man's height from the ground, and + shelters a row of mangers, running back half the length of the stable, and + serving in former times for the baiting of such beasts as could not be + provided for within. But the halcyon days of the cattle-market are past + (though you may still see the white horns tossing above the fences of the + pens, when a newly arrived herd lands from the train to be driven afoot to + Brighton), and the place looks now so empty and forsaken, spite of the + circus baggage-wagons, that it were hard to believe these mangers could + ever have been in request, but for the fact that they are all gnawed, down + to the quick as it were, by generations of horses—vanished forever + on the deserted highways of the past—impatient for their oats or + hungering for more. + </p> + <p> + The day must come, of course, when the mangers will all be taken from the + stable-shed, and exposed for sale at that wonderful second-hand shop which + stands over against the tavern. I am no more surprised than one in a + dream, to find it a week-day afternoon by the time I have crossed thither + from the circus-men grooming their piebalds. It is an enchanted place to + me, and I am a frequent and unprofitable customer there, buying only just + enough to make good my footing with the custodian of its marvels, who is, + of course, too true an American to show any desire to sell. Without, on + either side of the doorway, I am pretty sure to find, among other articles + of furniture, a mahogany and hair-cloth sofa, a family portrait, a + landscape painting, a bath-tub, and a flower-stand, with now and then the + variety of a boat and a dog-house; while under an adjoining shed is heaped + a mass of miscellaneous movables, of a heavier sort, and fearlessly left + there night and day, being on all accounts undesirable to steal. The door + of the shop rings a bell in opening, and ushers the customer into a room + which Chaos herself might have planned in one of her happier moments. + Carpets, blankets, shawls, pictures, mirrors, rocking-chairs, and blue + overalls hang from the ceiling, and devious pathways wind amidst piles of + ready-made clothing, show-cases filled with every sort of knick-knack and + half hidden under heaps of hats and boots and shoes, bookcases, + secretaries, chests of drawers, mattresses, lounges, and bedsteads, to the + stairway of a loft similarly appointed, and to a back room overflowing + with glassware and crockery. These things are not all second-hand, but + they are all old and equally pathetic. The melancholy of ruinous auction + sales, of changing tastes or changing fashions, clings to them, whether + they are things that have never had a home and have been on sale ever + since they were made, or things that have been associated with every phase + of human life. + </p> + <p> + Among other objects, certain large glass vases, ornamented by the polite + art of potichomanie, have long appealed to my fancy, wherein they + capriciously allied themselves to the history of aging single women in + lonely New England village houses,—pathetic sisters lingering upon + the neutral ground between the faded hopes of marriage and the yet unrisen + prospects of consumption. The work implies an imperfect yet real love of + beauty, the leisure for it a degree of pecuniary ease: the thoughts of the + sisters rise above the pickling and preserving that occupied their + heartier and happier mother; they are in fact in that aesthetic, social, + and intellectual mean, in which single women are thought soonest to wither + and decline. With a little more power, and in our later era, they would be + writing stories full of ambitious, unintelligible, self-devoted and sudden + collapsing young girls and amazing doctors; but as they are, and in their + time, they must do what they can. A sentimentalist may discern on these + vases not only the gay designs with which they ornamented them, but their + own dim faces looking wan from the windows of some huge old homestead, a + world too wide for the shrunken family. All April long the door-yard trees + crouch and shudder in the sour east, all June they rain canker-worms upon + the roof, and then in autumn choke the eaves with a fall of tattered and + hectic foliage. From the window the fading sisters gaze upon the unnatural + liveliness of the summer streets through which the summer boarders are + driving, or upon the death-white drifts of the intolerable winter. Their + father, the captain, is dead; he died with the Calcutta trade, having + survived their mother, and left them a hopeless competency and yonder + bamboo chairs; their only brother is in California; one, though she loved, + had never a lover; her sister's betrothed married West, whither he + went to make a home for her,—and ah! is it vases for the desolate + parlor mantel they decorate, or funeral urns? And when in time, they being + gone, the Californian brother sends to sell out at auction the old place + with the household and kitchen furniture, is it withered rose-leaves or + ashes that the purchaser finds in these jars? + </p> + <p> + They are empty now; and I wonder how came they here? How came the + show-case of Dr. Merrifield, Surgeon-Chiropodist here? How came here yon + Italian painting?—a poor, silly, little affected Madonna, simpering + at me from her dingy gilt frame till I buy her, a great bargain, at a + dollar. From what country church or family oratory, in what revolution, or + stress of private fortunes,—then from what various cabinets of + antiquities, in what dear Vicenza, or Ferrara, or Mantua, earnest thou, O + Madonna? Whose likeness are you, poor girl, with your everyday prettiness + of brows and chin, and your Raphaelesque crick in the neck? I think I know + a part of your story. You were once the property of that ruined advocate, + whose sensibilities would sometimes consent that a <i>valet de place</i> + of uncommon delicacy should bring to his ancestral palace some singularly + meritorious foreigner desirous of purchasing from his rare collection,—a + collection of rubbish scarcely to be equaled elsewhere in Italy. You hung + in that family-room, reached after passage through stately vestibules and + grand stairways; and O, I would be cheated to the bone, if only I might + look out again from some such windows as were there, upon some such damp, + mouldy, broken-statued, ruinous, enchanted garden as lay below! In that + room sat the advocate's mother and hunchback sister, with their + smoky <i>scaldini</i> and their snuffy priest; and there the wife of the + foreigner, self-elected the taste of his party, inflicted the pang courted + by the advocate, and asked if you were for sale. And then the ruined + advocate clasped his hands, rubbed them, set his head heart-brokenly on + one side, took you down, heaved a sigh, shrugged his shoulders, and sold + you—you! a family heirloom! Well, at least you are old, and you + represent to me acres of dim, religious canvas in that beloved land; and + here is the dollar now asked for you: I could not have bought you for so + little at home. + </p> + <p> + The Madonna is neighbored by several paintings, if the kind called Grecian + for a reason never revealed by the inventor of an art as old as + potichomanie itself. It was an art by which ordinary lithographs were + given a ghastly transparency, and a tone as disagreeable as chromos; and I + doubt if it could have been known to the Greeks in their best age. But I + remember very well when it passed over whole neighborhoods in some parts + of this country, wasting the time of many young women, and disfiguring + parlor walls with the fruit of their accomplishment. It was always taught + by Professors, a class of learned young men who acquired their title by + abandoning the plough and anvil, and, in a suit of ready-made clothing, + travelling about the country with portfolios under their arms. It was an + experience to make loafers for life of them: and I fancy the girls who + learnt their art never afterwards made so good butter and cheese. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Non-ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa.” + </pre> + <p> + Besides the Grecian paintings there are some mezzotints; full length + pictures of presidents and statesmen, chiefly General Jackson, Henry Clay, + and Daniel Webster, which have hung their day in the offices or parlors of + country politicians. They are all statesmanlike and presidential in + attitude; and I know that if the mighty Webster's lips had language, + he would take his hand out of his waistcoat front, and say to his fellow + mezzotints: “Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former + generation, bringing your household furniture and miscellaneous trumpery + of all kinds with you.” + </p> + <p> + Some old-fashioned entry lanterns divide my interest with certain old + willow chairs of an hour-glass pattern, which never stood upright, + probably, and have now all a confirmed droop to one side, as from having + been fallen heavily asleep in, upon breezy porches, of hot summer + afternoons. In the windows are small vases of alabaster, fly-specked + Parian and plaster figures, and dolls with stiff wooden limbs and + papier-maché heads, a sort of dolls no longer to be bought in these days + of modish, blue-eyed blondes of biscuit and sturdy india-rubber brunettes. + The show-case is full of an incredible variety, as photograph albums, + fishing-hooks, socks, suspenders, steel pens, cutlery of all sorts, and + curious old colored prints of Adelaide, and Kate, and Ellen. A + rocking-horse is stabled near amid pendent lengths of second-hand + carpeting, hat-racks, and mirrors; and standing cheek-by-jowl with painted + washstands and bureaus are some plaster statues, aptly colored and + varnished to represent bronze. + </p> + <p> + There is nothing here but has a marked character of its own, some distinct + yet intangible trait acquired from former circumstances; and doubtless all + these things have that lurking likeness to former owners which clothes and + furniture are apt to take on from long association, and which we should + instantly recognize could they be confronted with their late proprietors. + It seems, in very imaginative moments, as if the strange assemblage of + incongruities must have a consciousness of these latent resemblances, + which the individual pieces betray when their present keeper turns the key + upon them, and abandons them to themselves at night; and I have sometimes + fancied such an effect in the late twilight, when I have wandered into + their resting-place, and have beheld them in the unnatural glare of a + kerosene lamp burning before a brightly polished reflector, and casting + every manner of grotesque shadow upon the floor and walls. But this may + have been an illusion; at any rate I am satisfied that the bargain-driving + capacity of the storekeeper is not in the least affected by a weird + quality in his wares; though they have not failed to impart to him + something of their own desultory character. He sometimes leaves a neighbor + in charge when he goes to meals, and then, if I enter, I am watchfully + followed about from corner to corner, and from room to room, lest I pocket + a mattress or slip a book-case under my coat. The storekeeper himself + never watches me; perhaps he knows that it is a purely professional + interest I take in the collection; that I am in the trade and have a + secondhand shop of my own, full of poetical rubbish, and every sort of + literary odds and ends, picked up at random, and all cast + higgledy-piggledy into the same chaotic receptacle. His customers are as + little like ordinary shoppers as he is like common tradesmen. They are in + part the Canadians who work in the brickyards, and it is surprising to + find how much business can be transacted, and how many sharp bargains + struck without the help of a common language. I am in the belief, which + may be erroneous, that nobody is wronged in these trades. The taciturn + storekeeper, who regards his customers with a stare of solemn amusement as + Critturs born by some extraordinary vicissitude of nature to the use of a + language that practically amounts to deafness and dumbness, never suffers + his philosophical interest in them to affect his commercial efficiency; he + drops them now and then a curt English phrase, or expressive Yankee idiom; + he knows very well when they mean to buy and when they do not; and they + equally wary and equally silent, unswayed by the glib allurements of a + salesman, judge of price and quality for themselves, make their solitary + offer, and stand or fall by it. + </p> + <p> + I am seldom able to conclude a pedestrian tour without a glance at the + wonderful interior of this cheap store, and I know all its contents + familiarly. I recognize wares that have now been on sale there for years; + I miss at first glance such accustomed objects as have been parted with + between my frequent visits, and hail with pleasure the additions to that + extraordinary variety. I can hardly, I suppose, expect the reader to + sympathize with the joy I felt the other night, in discovering among the + latter an adventurous and universally applicable sign-board advertising + This House and Lot for Sale, and, intertwined with the cast-off suspenders + which long garlanded a coffee-mill pendent from the roof, a newly added + second-hand india-rubber ear-trumpet. Here and there, however, I hope a + finer soul will relish, as I do, the poetry of thus buying and offering + for sale the very most recondite, as well as the commonest articles of + commerce, in the faith that one day the predestined purchaser will appear + and carry off the article appointed him from the beginning of time. This + faith is all the more touching, because the collector cannot expect to + live until the whole stock is disposed of, and because, in the order of + nature, much must at last fall to rein unbought, unless the reporter's + Devouring Element appears and gives a sudden tragical turn to the poem. + </p> + <p> + It is the whistle of a train drawing up at the neighboring station that + calls me away from the second-hand store; for I never find myself able to + resist the hackneyed prodigy of such an arrival. It cannot cease to be + impressive. I stand beside the track while the familiar monster writhes up + to the station and disgorges its passengers,—suburbanly packaged, + and bundled, and bagged, and even when empty-handed somehow proclaiming + the jaded character of men that hurry their work all day to catch the + evening train out, and their dreams all night to catch the morning train + in,—and then I climb the station-stairs, and “hang with grooms + and porters on the bridge,” that I may not lose my ever-repeated + sensation of having the train pass under my feet, and of seeing it rush + away westward to the pretty blue hills beyond,—hills not too big for + a man born in a plain-country to love. Twisting and trembling along the + track, it dwindles rapidly in the perspective, and is presently out of + sight. It has left the city and the suburbs behind, and has sought the + woods and meadows; but Nature never in the least accepts it, and rarely + makes its path a part of her landscape's loveliness. The train + passes alien through all her moods and aspects; the wounds made in her + face by the road's sharp cuts and excavations are slowest of all + wounds to heal, and the iron rails remain to the last as shackles upon + her. Yet when the rails are removed, as has happened with a non-paying + track in Charlesbridge, the road inspires a real tenderness in her. Then + she bids it take or the grace that belongs to all ruin; the grass creeps + stealthily over the scarified sides of the embankments; the golden-rod, + and the purple-topped iron-weed, and the lady's-slipper, spring up + in the hollows on either side, and—I am still thinking of that + deserted railroad which runs through Charlesbridge—hide with their + leafage the empty tomato-cans and broken bottles and old boots on the + ash-heaps dumped there; Nature sets her velvety willows a waving near, and + lower than their airy tops plans a vista of trees arching above the track, + which is as wild and pretty and illusive a vista as the sunset ever cared + to look through and gild a board fence beyond. + </p> + <p> + Most of our people come from Boston on the horse-cars, and it is only the + dwellers on the Avenue and the neighboring streets whom hurrying homeward + I follow away from the steam-car station. The Avenue is our handsomest + street; and if it were in the cosmopolitan citizen of Charlesbridge to + feel any local interest, I should be proud of it. As matters are, I + perceive its beauty, and I often reflect, with a pardonable satisfaction, + that it is not only handsome, but probably the very dullest street in the + world. It is magnificently long and broad, and is flanked nearly the whole + way from the station to the colleges by pine palaces rising from spacious + lawns, or from the green of trees or the brightness of gardens. The + splendor is all very new, but newness is not a fault that much affects + architectural beauty, while it is the only one that time is certain to + repair: and I find an honest and unceasing pleasure in the graceful lines + of those palaces, which is not surpassed even by my appreciation of the + vast quiet and monotony of the street itself. Commonly, when I emerge upon + it from the grassy-bordered, succory-blossomed walks of Benicia Street, I + behold, looking northward, a monumental horse-car standing—it + appears for ages, if I wish to take it for Boston—at the head of + Pliny Street; and looking southward I see that other emblem of suburban + life, an express-wagon, fading rapidly in the distance. Haply the top of a + buggy nods round the bend under the elms near the station; and, if fortune + is so lavish, a lady appears from a side street, and, while tarrying for + the car, thrusts the point of her sun-umbrella into the sandy sidewalk. + This is the mid-afternoon effect of the Avenue; but later in the day, and + well into the dusk, it remembers its former gayety as a trotting-course,—with + here and there a spider-wagon, a twinkling-footed mare, and a guttural + driver. On market-days its superb breadth is taken up by flocks of + bleating sheep, and a pastoral tone is thus given to its tranquillity; + anon a herd of beef-cattle appears under the elms; or a drove of pigs, + many pausing, inquisitive of the gutters, and quarrelsome as if they were + the heirs of prosperity instead of doom, is slowly urged on toward the + shambles. In the spring or the autumn, the Avenue is exceptionally + enlivened by the progress of a brace or so of students who, in training + for one of the University Courses of base-ball or boating, trot slowly and + earnestly along the sidewalk, fists up, elbows down, mouths shut, and a + sense of immense responsibility visible in their faces. + </p> + <p> + The summer is waning with the day as I turn from the Avenue into Benicia + Street. This is the hour when the fly cedes to the mosquito, as the Tuscan + poet says, and, as one may add, the frying grasshopper yields to the + shrilly cricket in noisiness. The embrowning air rings with the sad music + made by these innumerable little violinists, hid in all the gardens round, + and the pedestrian feels a sinking of the spirits not to be accounted for + upon the theory that the street is duller than the Avenue, for it really + is not so. + </p> + <p> + Quick now, the cheerful lamps of kerosene!—without their light, the + cry of those crickets, dominated for an instant, but not stilled, by the + bellowing of a near-passing locomotive, and the baying of a distant dog, + were too much. If it were the last autumn that ever was to be, it could + not be heralded with notes of dismaller effect. This is in fact the hour + of supreme trial everywhere, and doubtless no one but a newly-accepted + lover can be happy at twilight. In the city, even, it is oppressive; in + the country it is desolate; in the suburbs it is a miracle that it is ever + lived through. The night-winds have not risen yet to stir the languid + foliage of the sidewalk maples; the lamps are not yet lighted, to take + away the gloom from the blank, staring windows of the houses near; it is + too late for letters, too early for a book. In town your fancy would turn + to the theatres; in the country you would occupy yourself with cares of + poultry or of stock: in the suburbs you can but sit upon your threshold, + and fight the predatory mosquito. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BY HORSE-CAR TO BOSTON + </h2> + <p> + At a former period the writer of this had the fortune to serve his country + in an Italian city whose great claim upon the world's sentimental + interest is the fact that— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “The sea is in her broad, her narrow streets + Ebbing and flowing,” + </pre> + <p> + and that she has no ways whatever for hoofs or wheels. In his quality of + United States official, he was naturally called upon for information + concerning the estates of Italians believed to have emigrated early in the + century to Buenos Ayres, and was commissioned to learn why certain persons + in Mexico and Brazil, and the parts of Peru, had not, if they were still + living, written home to their friends. On the other hand, he was intrusted + with business nearly as pertinent and hopeful by some of his own + countrymen, and it was not quite with surprise that he one day received a + neatly lithographed circular with his name and address written in it, + signed by a famous projector of such enterprises, asking him to cooperate + for the introduction of horse-railroads in Venice. The obstacles to the + scheme were of such a nature that it seemed hardly worth while even to + reply to the circular; but the proposal was one of those bold flights of + imagination which forever lift objects out of vulgar association. It has + cast an enduring, poetic charm even about the horse-car in my mind, and I + naturally look for many unprosaic aspects of humanity there. I have an + acquaintance who insists that it is the place above all others suited to + see life in every striking phase. He pretends to have witnessed there the + reunion of friends who had not met in many years, the embrace, figurative + of course, of long lost brothers, the reconciliation of lovers; I do not + know but also some scenes of love-making, and acceptance or rejection. But + my friend is an imaginative man, and may make himself romances. I myself + profess to have beheld for the most part only mysteries; and I think it + not the least of these that, riding on the same cars day after day, one + finds so many strange faces with so little variety. Whether or not that + dull, jarring motion shakes inward and settles about the centres of mental + life the sprightliness that should inform the visage, I do not know; but + it is certain that the emptiness of the average passenger's + countenance is something wonderful, considered with reference to Nature's + abhorrence of a vacuum, and the intellectual repute which Boston enjoys + among envious New-Yorkers. It is seldom that a journey out of our cold + metropolis is enlivened by a mystery so positive in character as the young + lady in black, who alighted at a most ordinary little street in Old + Charlesbridge, and heightened her effect by going into a French-roof house + there that had no more right than a dry goods box to receive a mystery. + She was tall, and her lovely arms showed through the black gauze of her + dress with an exquisite roundness and <i>morbidezza</i>. Upon her + beautiful wrists she had heavy bracelets of dead gold, fashioned after + some Etruscan device; and from her dainty ears hung great hoops of the + same metal and design, which had the singular privilege of touching, now + and then, her white columnar neck. A massive chain or necklace, also + Etruscan, and also gold, rose and fell at her throat, and on one little + ungloved hand glittered a multitude of rings. This hand was very + expressive, and took a principal part in the talk which the lady held with + her companion, and was as alert and quick as if trained in the + gesticulation of Southern or Latin life somewhere. Her features, on the + contrary, were rather insipid, being too small and fine; but they were + redeemed by the liquid splendor of her beautiful eyes, and the mortal + pallor of her complexion. She was altogether so startling an apparition, + that all of us jaded, commonplace spectres turned and fastened our weary, + lack-lustre eyes upon her looks, with an utter inability to remove them. + There was one fat, unctuous person seated opposite, to whom his interest + was a torture, for he would have gone to sleep except for her remarkable + presence: as it was, his heavy eyelids fell half-way shut, and drooped + there at an agonizing angle, while his eyes remained immovably fixed upon + that strange, death-white face. How it could have come of that + colorlessness,—whether through long sickness or long residence in a + tropical climate,—was a question that perplexed another of the + passengers, who would have expected to hear the lady speak any language in + the world rather than English; and to whom her companion or attendant was + hardly less than herself a mystery,—being a dragon-like, elderish + female, clearly a Yankee by birth, but apparently of many years' + absence from home. The propriety of extracting these people from the + horse-cars and transferring them bodily to the first chapter of a romance + was a thing about which there could be no manner of doubt, and nothing + prevented the abduction but the unexpected voluntary exit of the pale + lady. As she passed out everybody else awoke as from a dream, or as if + freed from a potent fascination. It is part of the mystery that this lady + should never have reappeared in that theatre of life, the horse-car; but I + cannot regret having never seen her more; she was so inestimably precious + to wonder that it would have been a kind of loss to learn anything about + her. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0003" id="linkimage-0003"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/3000.jpg" alt="3009 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/3000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + On the other hand, I should be glad if two young men who once presented + themselves as mysteries upon the same stage could be so distinctly and + sharply identified that all mankind should recognize them at the day of + judgment. They were not so remarkable in the nature as in the degree of + their offense; for the mystery that any man should keep his seat in a + horse-car and let a woman stand is but too sadly common. They say that + this, public unkindness to the sex has come about through the ingratitude + of women, who have failed to return thanks for places offered them, and + that it is a just and noble revenge we take upon them. There might be + something advanced in favor of the idea that we law-making men, who do not + oblige the companies to provide seats for every one, deserve no thanks + from voteless, helpless women when we offer them places; nay, that we + ought to be glad if they do not reproach us for making that a personal + favor which ought to be a common right. I would prefer, on the whole, to + believe that this selfishness is not a concerted act on our part, but a + flower of advanced civilization; it is a ripe fruit in European countries, + and it is more noticeable in Boston than anywhere else in America. It is, + in fact, one of the points of our high polish which people from the + interior say first strikes them on coming among us; for they declare—no + doubt too modestly—that in their Boeotian wilds our Athenian habit + is almost unknown. Yet it would not be fair to credit our whole population + with it. I have seen a laborer or artisan rise from his place, and offer + it to a lady, while a dozen well-dressed men kept theirs; and I know + several conservative young gentlemen, who are still so old-fashioned as + always to respect the weakness and weariness of women. One of them, I + hear, has settled it in his own mind that if the family cook appears in a + car where he is seated, he must rise and give her his place. This, + perhaps, is a trifle idealistic; but it is magnificent, it is princely. + From his difficult height, we decline—through ranks that sacrifice + themselves for women with bundles or children in arms, for old ladies, or + for very young and pretty ones—to the men who give no odds to the + most helpless creature alive. These are the men who do not act upon the + promptings of human nature like the laborer, and who do not refine upon + their duty like my young gentlemen, and make it their privilege to + befriend the idea of womanhood; they are men who have paid for their seats + and are going to keep them. They have been at work, very probably, all + day, and no doubt they are tired; they look so, and try hard not to look + ashamed of publicly considering themselves before a sex which is born + tired, and from which our climate and customs have drained so much health + that society sometimes seems little better than a hospital for invalid + woman, where every courtesy is likely to be a mercy done to a sufferer. + Yet the two young men of whom I began to speak were not apparently of this + class, and let us hope they were foreigners,—say Englishmen, since + we hate Englishmen the most. They were the only men seated, in a car full + of people; and when four or five ladies came in and occupied the aisle + before them, they might have been puzzled which to offer their places to, + if one of the ladies had not plainly been infirm. They settled the + question—if there was any in their minds—by remaining seated, + while the lady in front of them swung uneasily to and fro with the car, + and appeared ready to sink at their feet. In another moment she had + actually done so; and, too weary to rise, she continued to crouch upon the + floor of the car for the course of a mile, the young men resolutely + keeping their places, and not rising till they were ready to leave the + car. It was a horrible scene, and incredible,—that well-dressed + woman sitting on the floor, and those two well-dressed men keeping their + places; it was as much out of keeping with our smug respectabilities as a + hanging, and was a spectacle so paralyzing that public opinion took no + action concerning it. A shabby person, standing upon the platform outside, + swore about it, between expectorations: even the conductor's heart + was touched; and he said he had seen a good many hard things aboard + horse-cars, but that was a little the hardest; he had never expected to + come to that. These were simple people enough, and could not interest me a + great deal, but I should have liked to have a glimpse of the complex minds + of those young men, and I should still like to know something of the + previous life that could have made their behavior possible to them. They + ought to make public the philosophic methods by which they reached that + pass of unshamable selfishness. The information would be useful to a race + which knows the sweetness of self-indulgence, and would fain know the art + of so drugging or besotting the sensibilities that it shall no feel + disgraced by any sort of meanness. They might really have much to say for + themselves; as, that the lady, being conscious she could no longer keep + her feet, had no right to crouch at theirs, and put them to so severe a + test; or that, having suffered her to sink there, they fell no further in + the ignorant public opinion by suffering her to continue there. + </p> + <p> + But I doubt if that other young man could say anything for himself, who, + when a pale, trembling woman was about to drop into the vacant place at + his side, stretched his arm across it with, “This seat's + engaged,” till a robust young fellow, his friend, appeared, and took + it and kept it all the way out from Boston. The commission of such a + tragical wrong, involving a violation of common usage as well as the + infliction of a positive cruelty, would embitter the life of an ordinary + man, if any ordinary man were capable of it; but let us trust that nature + has provided fortitude of every kind for the offender, and that he is not + wrung by keener remorse than most would feel for a petty larceny. I dare + say he would be eager at the first opportunity to rebuke the ingratitude + of women who do not thank their benefactors for giving them seats. It + seems a little odd, by the way, and perhaps it is through the peculiar + blessing of Providence, that, since men have determined by a savage + egotism to teach the offending sex manners, their own comfort should be in + the infliction of the penalty, and that it should be as much a pleasure as + a duty to keep one's place. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps when the ladies come to vote, they will abate, with other + nuisances, the whole business of overloaded public conveyances. In the + mean time the kindness of women to each other is a notable feature of all + horse-car journeys. It is touching to see the smiling eagerness with which + the poor things gather close their volumed skirts and make room for a + weary sister, the tender looks of compassion which they bend upon the + sufferers obliged to stand, the sweetness with which they rise, if they + are young and strong, to offer their place to any infirm or heavily + burdened person of their sex. + </p> + <p> + But a journey to Boston is not entirely an experience of bitterness. On + the contrary, there are many things besides the mutual amiability of these + beautiful martyrs which relieve its tedium and horrors. A whole car-full + of people, brought into the closest contact with one another, yet in the + absence of introductions never exchanging a word, each being so sufficient + to himself as to need no social stimulus whatever, is certainly an + impressive and stately spectacle. It is a beautiful day, say; but far be + it from me to intimate as much to my neighbor, who plainly would rather + die than thus commit himself with me, and who, in fact, would well-nigh + strike me speechless with surprise if he did so. If there is any necessity + for communication, as with the conductor, we essay first to express + ourselves by gesture, and then utter our desires with a certain hollow and + remote effect, which is not otherwise to be described. I have sometimes + tried to speak above my breath, when, being about to leave the car, I have + made a virtue of offering my place to the prettiest young woman standing, + but I have found it impossible; the <i>genius loci</i>, whatever it was, + suppressed me, and I have gasped out my sham politeness as in a courteous + nightmare. The silencing influence is quite successfully resisted by none + but the tipsy people who occasionally ride out with us, and call up a + smile, sad as a gleam of winter sunshine, to our faces by their artless + prattle. I remember one eventful afternoon that we were all but moved to + laughter by the gayeties of such a one, who, even after he had ceased to + talk, continued to amuse us by falling asleep, and reposing himself + against the shoulder of the lady next him. Perhaps it is in acknowledgment + of the agreeable variety they contribute to horse-car life, that the + conductor treats his inebriate passengers with such unfailing tenderness + and forbearance. I have never seen them molested, though I have noticed + them in the indulgence of many eccentricities, and happened once even to + see one of them sit down in a lady's lap. But that was on the night + of Saint Patrick's day. Generally all avoidable indecorums are rare + in the horse-cars, though during the late forenoon and early afternoon, in + the period of lighter travel, I have found curious figures there:—among + others, two old women, in the old-clothes business, one of whom was + dressed, not very fortunately, in a gown with short sleeves, and + inferentially a low neck; a mender of umbrellas, with many unwholesome + whity-brown wrecks of umbrellas about him; a peddler of soap, who offered + cakes of it to his fellow-passengers at a discount, apparently for + friendship's sake; and a certain gentleman with a pock-marked face, + and a beard dyed an unscrupulous purple, who sang himself a hymn all the + way to Boston, and who gave me no sufficient reason for thinking him a + sea-captain. Not far from the end of the Long Bridge, there is apt to be a + number of colored ladies waiting to get into the car, or to get out of it,—usually + one solemn mother in Ethiopia, and two or three mirthful daughters, who + find it hard to suppress a sense of adventure, and to keep in the laughter + that struggles out through their glittering teeth and eyes, and who place + each other at a disadvantage by divers accidental and intentional bumps + and blows. If they are to get out, the old lady is not certain of the + place where, and, after making the car stop, and parleying with the + conductor, returns to her seat, and is mutely held up to public scorn by + one taciturn wink of the conductor's eye. + </p> + <p> + Among horse-car types, I am almost ashamed to note one so common and + observable as that middle-aged lady who gets aboard and will not see the + one vacant seat left, but stands tottering at the door, blind and deaf to + all the modest beckonings and benevolent gasps of her fellow-passengers. + An air as of better days clings about her; she seems a person who has + known sickness and sorrow; but so far from pitying her, you view her with + inexpressible rancor, for it is plain that she ought to sit down, and that + she will not. But for a point of honor the conductor would show her the + vacant place; this forbidding, however, how can he? There she stands and + sniffs drearily when you glance at her, as you must from time to time, and + no wild turkey caught in a trap was ever more incapable of looking down + than this middle-aged (shall I say also unmarried?) lady. + </p> + <p> + Of course every one knows the ladies and gentlemen who sit cater-cornered, + and who will not move up; and equally familiar is that large and ponderous + person, who, feigning to sit down beside you, practically sits down upon + you, and is not incommoded by having your knee under him. He implies by + this brutal conduct that you are taking up more space than belongs to you, + and that you are justly made an example of. + </p> + <p> + I had the pleasure one day to meet on the horse-car an advocate of one of + the great reforms of the day. He held a green bag upon his knees, and + without any notice passed from a question of crops to a discussion of + suffrage for the negro, and so to womanhood suffrage. “Let the women + vote,” said he,—“let 'em vote if they want to. <i>I</i> + don't care. Fact is, I should like to see 'em do it the first + time. They're excitable, you know; they're excitable;” + and he enforced his analysis of female character by thrusting his elbow + sharply into my side. “Now, there's my wife; I'd like to + see her vote. Be fun, I tell you. And the girls,—Lord, the girls! + Circus wouldn't be anywhere.” Enchanted with the picture which + he appeared to have conjured up for himself, he laughed with the utmost + relish, and then patting the green bag in his lap, which plainly contained + a violin, “You see,” he went on, “I go out playing for + dancing-parties. Work all day at my trade,—I'm a carpenter,—and + play in the evening. Take my little old ten dollars a night. And <i>I</i> + notice the women a good deal; and <i>I</i> tell you they're <i>all</i> + excitable, and <i>I sh'd</i> like to see 'em vote. Vote right + and vote often,—that's the ticket, eh?” This friend of + womanhood suffrage—whose attitude of curiosity and expectation + seemed to me representative of that of a great many thinkers on the + subject—no doubt was otherwise a reformer, and held that the coming + man would not drink wine—if he could find whiskey. At least I should + have said so, guessing from the odors he breathed along with his liberal + sentiments. + </p> + <p> + Something of the character of a college-town is observable nearly always + in the presence of the students, who confound certain traditional ideas of + students by their quietude of costume and manner, and whom Padua or + Heidelberg would hardly know, but who nevertheless betray that they are + banded to— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Scorn delights and live laborious days,” + </pre> + <p> + by a uniformity in the cut of their trousers, or a clannishness of cane or + scarf, or a talk of boats and base-ball held among themselves. One cannot + see them without pleasure and kindness; and it is no wonder that their + young-lady acquaintances brighten so to recognize them on the horse-cars. + There is much good fortune in the world, but none better than being an + undergraduate twenty years old, hale, handsome, fashionably dressed, with + the whole promise of life before: it's a state of things to disarm + even envy. With so much youth forever in her heart, it must be hard for + our Charlesbridge to grow old: the generations arise and pass away but in + her veins is still this tide of warm blood, century in and century out, so + much the same from one age to another that it would be hardy to say it was + not still one youthfulness. There is a print of the village as it was a + cycle since, showing the oldest of the college buildings and upon the + street in front a scholar in his scholar's-cap and gown, giving his + arm to a very stylish girl of that period, who is dressed wonderfully like + the girl of ours, so that but for the student's antique formality of + costume, one might believe that he was handing her out to take the + horse-car. There is no horse-car in the picture,—that is the only + real difference between then and now in our Charlesbridge, perennially + young and gay. Have there not ever been here the same grand ambitions, the + same high hopes,—and is not the unbroken succession of youth in + these? + </p> + <p> + As for other life on the horse-car, it shows to little or no effect, as I + have said. You can, of course, detect certain classes; as, in the morning + the business-men going in, to their counters or their desks, and in the + afternoon the shoppers coming out, laden with paper parcels. But I think + no one can truly claim to know the regular from the occasional passengers + by any greater cheerfulness in the faces of the latter. The horse-car will + suffer no such inequality as this, but reduces us all to the same level of + melancholy. It would be but a very unworthy kind of art which should seek + to describe people by such merely external traits as a habit of carrying + baskets or large travelling-bags in the car; and the present muse scorns + it, but is not above speaking of the frequent presence of those lovely + young girls in which Boston and the suburban towns abound, and who, + whether they appear with rolls of music in their hands, or books from the + circulating-libraries, or pretty parcels or hand-bags, would brighten even + the horse-car if fresh young looks and gay and brilliant costumes could do + so much. But they only add perplexity to the anomaly, which was already + sufficiently trying with its contrasts of splendor and shabbiness, and + such intimate association of velvets and patches as you see in the + churches of Catholic countries, but nowhere else in the world except in + our “coaches of the sovereign people.” + </p> + <p> + In winter, the journey to or from Boston cannot appear otherwise than very + dreary to the fondest imagination. Coming out, nothing can look more + arctic and forlorn than the river, double-shrouded in ice and snow, or + sadder than the contrast offered to the same prospect in summer. Then all + is laughing, and it is a joy in every nerve to ride out over the Long + Bridge at high tide, and, looking southward, to see the wide crinkle and + glitter of that beautiful expanse of water, which laps on one hand the + granite quays of the city, and on the other washes among the reeds and + wild grasses of the salt-meadows. A ship coming slowly up the channel, or + a dingy tug violently darting athwart it, gives an additional pleasure to + the eye, and adds something dreamy or vivid to the beauty of the scene. It + is hard to say at what hour of the summer's-day the prospect is + loveliest; and I am certainly not going to speak of the sunset as the + least of its delights. When this exquisite spectacle is presented, the + horse-car passenger, happy to cling with one foot to the rear + platform-steps, looks out over the shoulder next him into fairy-land. + Crimson and purple the bay stretches westward till its waves darken into + the grassy levels, where, here and there, a hay-rick shows perfectly black + against the light. Afar off, southeastward and westward, the uplands wear + a tinge of tenderest blue; and in the nearer distance, on the low shores + of the river, hover the white plumes of arriving and departing trains. The + windows of the stately houses that overlook the water take the sunset from + it evanescently, and begin to chill and darken before the crimson burns + out of the sky. The windows are, in fact, best after nightfall, when they + are brilliantly lighted from within; and when, if it is a dark, warm + night, and the briny fragrance comes up strong from the falling tide, the + lights reflected far down in the still water, bring a dream, as I have + heard travelled Bostonians say, of Venice and her magical effects in the + same kind. But for me the beauty of the scene needs the help of no such + association; I am content with it for what it is. I enjoy also the hints + of spring which one gets in riding over the Long Bridge at low tide in the + first open days. Then there is not only a vernal beating of carpets on the + piers of the drawbridge, but the piles and walls left bare by the receding + water show green patches of sea-weeds and mosses, and flatter the willing + eye with a dim hint of summer. This reeking and saturated herbage—which + always seems to me, in contrast with dry land growths, what the + water-logged life of seafaring folk is to that which we happier men lead + on shore,—taking so kindly the deceitful warmth and brightness of + the sun, has then a charm which it loses when summer really comes; nor + does one, later, have so keen an interest in the men wading about in the + shallows below the bridge, who, as in the distance they stoop over to + gather whatever shell-fish they seek, make a very fair show of being some + ungainlier sort of storks, and are as near as we can hope to come to the + spring-prophesying storks of song and story. A sentiment of the drowsiness + that goes before the awakening of the year, and is so different from the + drowsiness that precedes the great autumnal slumber, is in the air, but is + gone when we leave the river behind, and strike into the straggling + village beyond. + </p> + <p> + I maintain that Boston, as one approaches it and passingly takes in the + line of Bunker Hill Monument, soaring preëminent among the emulous + foundry-chimneys of the sister city, is fine enough to need no comparison + with other fine sights. Thanks to the mansard curves and dormer-windows of + the newer houses, there is a singularly picturesque variety among the + roofs that stretch along the bay, and rise one above another on the city's + three hills, grouping themselves about the State House, and surmounted by + its India-rubber dome. But, after all, does human weakness crave some + legendary charm, some grace of uncertain antiquity, in the picturesqueness + it sees? I own that the future, to which we are often referred for the + “stuff that dreams are made of,” is more difficult for the + fancy than the past, that the airy amplitude of its possibilities is + somewhat chilly, and that we naturally long for the snug quarters of old, + made warm by many generations of life. Besides, Europe spoils us ingenuous + Americans, and flatters our sentimentality into ruinous extravagances. + Looking at her many-storied former times, we forget our own past, neat, + compact, and convenient for the poorest memory to dwell in. Yet an + American not infected with the discontent of travel could hardly approach + this superb city without feeling something of the coveted pleasure in her, + without a reverie of her Puritan and Revolutionary times, and the great + names and deeds of her heroic annals. I think, however, we were well to be + rid of this yearning for a native American antiquity; for in its + indulgence one cannot but regard himself and his contemporaries as + cumberers of the ground, delaying the consummation of that hoary past + which will be so fascinating to a semi-Chinese posterity, and will be, + ages hence, the inspiration of Pigeon-English poetry and romance. Let us + make much of our two hundred and fifty years, and cherish the present as + our golden age. We healthy-minded people in the horse-cars are loath to + lose a moment of it, and are aggrieved that the draw of the bridge should + be up, naturally looking on what is constantly liable to happen as an + especial malice of the fates. All the drivers of the vehicles that clog + the draw on either side have a like sense of personal injury; and + apparently it would go hard with the captain of that leisurely vessel + below if he were delivered into our hands. But this impatience and anger + are entirely illusive. + </p> + <p> + We are really the most patient people in the world, especially as regards + any incorporated, non-political oppressions. A lively Gaul, who travelled + among us some thirty years ago, found that, in the absence of political + control, we gratified the human instinct of obedience by submitting to + small tyrannies unknown abroad, and were subject to the steamboat-captain, + the hotel-clerk, the stage-driver, and the waiter, who all bullied us + fearlessly; but though some vestiges of this bondage remain, it is + probably passing away. The abusive Frenchman's assertion would not + at least hold good concerning the horse-car conductors, who, in spite of a + lingering preference for touching or punching passengers for their fare + instead of asking for it, are commonly mild-mannered and good-tempered, + and disposed to molest us as little as possible. I have even received from + one of them a mark of such kindly familiarity as the offer of a check + which he held between his lips, and thrust out his face to give me, both + his hands being otherwise occupied; and their lives are in nowise such + luxurious careers as we should expect in public despots. The oppression of + the horse-car passenger is not from them, and the passenger himself is + finally to blame for it. When the draw closes at last, and we rumble + forward into the city street, a certain stir of expectation is felt among + us. The long and eventful journey is nearly ended, and now we who are to + get out of the cars can philosophically amuse ourselves with the passions + and sufferings of those who are to return in our places. You must choose + the time between five and six o'clock in the afternoon, if you would + make this grand study of the national character in its perfection. Then + the spectacle offered in any arriving horse-car will serve your purpose. + At nearly every corner of the street up which it climbs stands an + experienced suburban, who darts out upon the car, and seizes a vacant + place in it. Presently all the places are taken, and before we reach + Temple Street, where helpless groups of women are gathered to avail + themselves of the first seats vacated, an alert citizen is stationed + before each passenger who is to retire at the summons, “Please pass + out forrad.” When this is heard in Bowdoin Square, we rise and push + forward, knuckling one another's backs in our eagerness, and perhaps + glancing behind us at the tumult within. Not only are all our places + occupied, but the aisle is left full of passengers precariously supporting + themselves by the straps in the roof. The rear platform is stormed and + carried by a party with bundles; the driver is instantly surrounded by + another detachment; and as the car moves away from the office, the + platform steps are filled. + </p> + <p> + “Is it possible,” I asked myself, when I had written as far as + this in the present noble history, “that I am not exaggerating? It + can't be that this and the other enormities I have been describing + are of daily occurrence in Boston. Let me go verify, at least, my picture + of the evening horse-car.” So I take my way to Bowdoin Square, and + in the conscientious spirit of modern inquiry, I get aboard the first car + that comes up. Like every other car, it is meant to seat twenty + passengers. It does this, and besides it carries in the aisle and on the + platform forty passengers standing. The air is what you may imagine, if + you know that not only is the place so indecently crowded, but that in the + centre of the car are two adopted citizens, far gone in drink, who have + the aspect and the smell of having passed the day in an ash-heap. These + citizens being quite helpless themselves, are supported by the public, and + repose in singular comfort upon all the passengers near them; I, myself, + contribute an aching back to the common charity, and a genteelly dressed + young lady takes one of them from time to time on her knee. But they are + comparatively an ornament to society till the conductor objects to the + amount they offer him for fare; for after that they wish to fight him + during the journey, and invite him at short intervals to step out and be + shown what manner of men they are. The conductor passes it off for a joke, + and so it is, and a very good one. + </p> + <p> + In that unhappy mass it would be an audacious spirit who should say of any + particular arm or leg, “It is mine,” and all the breath is in + common. Nothing, it would seem, could add to our misery; but we discover + our error when the conductor squeezes a tortuous path through us, and + collects the money for our transportation. I never can tell, during the + performance of this feat, whether he or the passengers are more to be + pitied. + </p> + <p> + The people who are thus indecorously huddled and jammed together, without + regard to age or sex, otherwise lead lives of at least comfort, and a good + half of them cherish themselves in every physical way with unparalleled + zeal. They are handsomely clothed; they are delicately neat in linen; they + eat well, or, if not well, as well as their cooks will let them, and at + all events expensively; they house in dwellings appointed in a manner + undreamt of elsewhere in the world,—dwellings wherein furnaces make + a summer-heat, where fountains of hot and cold water flow at a touch, + where light is created or quenched by the turning of a key, where all is + luxurious upholstery, and magical ministry to real or fancied needs. They + carry the same tastes with them to their places of business; and when they + “attend divine service,” it is with the understanding that God + is to receive them in a richly carpeted house, deliciously warmed and + perfectly ventilated, where they may adore Him at their ease upon + cushioned seats,—secured seats. Yet these spoiled children of + comfort, when they ride to or from business or church, fail to assert + rights that the benighted Cockney, who never heard of our plumbing and + registers, or even the oppressed Parisian, who is believed not to change + his linen from one revolution to another, having paid for, enjoys. When + they enter the “full” horse-car, they find themselves in a + place inexorable as the grave to their greenbacks, where not only is their + adventitious consequence stripped from them, but the courtesies of life + are impossible, the inherent dignity of the person is denied, and they are + reduced below the level of the most uncomfortable nations of the Old + World. The philosopher accustomed to draw consolation from the sufferings + of his richer fellow-men, and to infer an overruling Providence from their + disgraces, might well bless Heaven for the spectacle of such degradation, + if his thanksgiving were not prevented by his knowledge that this is quite + voluntary. And now consider that on every car leaving the city at this + time the scene is much the same; reflect that the horror is enacting, not + only in Boston, but in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, + Chicago, Cincinnati,—wherever the horse-car, that tinkles well-nigh + round the Continent, is known; remember that the same victims are thus + daily sacrificed, without an effort to right themselves: and then you will + begin to realize—dimly and imperfectly, of course—the + unfathomable meekness of the American character. The “full” + horse-car is a prodigy whose likeness is absolutely unknown elsewhere, + since the Neapolitan gig went out; and I suppose it will be incredible to + the future in our own country. When I see such a horse-car as I have + sketched move away from its station, I feel that it is something not only + emblematic and interpretative, but monumental; and I know that when art + becomes truly national, the overloaded horse-car will be celebrated in + painting and sculpture. And in after ages, when the oblique-eyed, swarthy + American of that time, pausing before some commemorative bronze or + historical picture of our epoch, contemplates this stupendous spectacle of + human endurance, I hope he will be able to philosophize more + satisfactorily than we can now, concerning the mystery of our strength as + a nation and our weakness as a public. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A DAY'S PLEASURE + </h2> + <h3> + I.—THE MORNING. + </h3> + <p> + They were not a large family, and their pursuits and habits were very + simple; yet the summer was lapsing toward the first pathos of autumn + before they found themselves all in such case as to be able to take the + day's pleasure they had planned so long. They had agreed often and + often that nothing could be more charming than an excursion down the + Harbor, either to Gloucester, or to Nahant, or to Nantasket Beach, or to + Hull and Hingham, or to any point within the fatal bound beyond which is + seasickness. They had studied the steamboat advertisements, day after day, + for a long time, without making up their minds which of these charming + excursions would be the most delightful; and when they had at last fixed + upon one and chosen some day for it, that day was sure to be heralded by a + long train of obstacles, or it dawned upon weather that was simply + impossible. Besides, in the suburbs, you are apt to sleep late, unless the + solitary ice-wagon of the neighborhood makes a very uncommon rumbling in + going by; and I believe that the excursion was several times postponed by + the tardy return of the pleasurers from dreamland, which, after all, is + not the worst resort, or the least interesting—or profitable, for + the matter of that. But at last the great day came,—a blameless + Thursday alike removed from the cares of washing and ironing days, and + from the fatigues with which every week closes. One of the family chose + deliberately to stay at home; but the severest scrutiny could not detect a + hindrance in the health or circumstances of any of the rest, and the + weather was delicious. Everything, in fact, was so fair and so full of + promise, that they could almost fancy a calamity of some sort hanging over + its perfection, and possibly bred of it; for I suppose that we never have + anything made perfectly easy for us without a certain reluctance and + foreboding. That morning they all got up so early that they had time to + waste over breakfast before taking the 7.30 train for Boston; and they + naturally wasted so much of it that they reached the station only in + season for the 8.00. But there is a difference between reaching the + station and quietly taking the cars, especially if one of your company has + been left at home, hoping to cut across and take the cars at a station + which they reach some minutes later, and you, the head of the party, are + obliged, at a loss of breath and personal comfort and dignity, to run down + to that station and see that the belated member has arrived there, and + then hurry back to your own, and embody the rest, with their accompanying + hand-bags and wraps and sun-umbrellas, into some compact shape for removal + into the cars, during the very scant minute that the train stops at + Charlesbridge. Then when you are all aboard, and the tardy member has been + duly taken up at the next station, and you would be glad to spend the time + in looking about on the familiar variety of life which every car presents + in every train on every road in this vast American world, you are + oppressed and distracted by the cares which must attend the + pleasure-seeker, and which the more thickly beset him the more deeply he + plunges into enjoyment. + </p> + <p> + I can learn very little from the note-book of the friend whose adventures + I am relating in regard to the scenery of Somerville, and the region + generally through which the railroad passes between Charlesbridge and + Boston; but so much knowledge of it may be safely assumed on the part of + the reader as to relieve me of the grave responsibility of describing it. + Still, I may say that it is not unpicturesque, and that I have a pleasure, + which I hope the reader shares, in anything like salt meadows and all + spaces subject to the tide, whether flooded by it or left bare with their + saturated grasses by its going down. I think, also, there is something + fine in the many-roofed, many-chimneyed highlands of Chelsea (if it is + Chelsea), as you draw near the railroad bridge, and there is a pretty + stone church on a hill-side there which has the good fortune, so rare with + modern architecture and so common with the old, of seeming a natural + outgrowth of the spot where it stands, and which is as purely an object of + aesthetic interest to me, who know nothing of its sect or doctrine, as any + church in a picture could be; and there is, also, the Marine Hospital on + the heights (if it is the Marine Hospital), from which I hope the inmates + can behold the ocean, and exult in whatever misery keeps them ashore. + </p> + <p> + But let me not so hasten over this part of my friend's journey as to + omit all mention of the amphibious Irish houses which stand about on the + low lands along the railroad-sides, and which you half expect to see + plunge into the tidal mud of the neighborhood, with a series of hoarse + croaks, as the train approaches. Perhaps twenty-four trains pass those + houses every twenty-four hours, and it is a wonder that the inhabitants + keep their interest in them, or have leisure to bestow upon any of them. + Yet, as you dash along so bravely, you can see that you arrest the + occupations of all these villagers as by a kind of enchantment; the + children pause and turn their heads toward you from their mud-pies (to the + production of which there is literally no limit in that region); the + matron rests one parboiled hand on her hip, letting the other still linger + listlessly upon the wash-board, while she lifts her eyes from the suds to + look at you; the boys, who all summer long are forever just going into the + water or just coming out of it, cease their buttoning or unbuttoning; the + baby, which has been run after and caught and suitably posed, turns its + anguished eyes upon you, where also falls the mother's gaze, while + her descending palm is arrested in mid air. I forbear to comment upon the + surprising populousness of these villages, where, in obedience to all the + laws of health, the inhabitants ought to be wasting miserably away, but + where they flourish in spite of them. Even Accident here seems to be + robbed of half her malevolence; and that baby (who will presently be + chastised with terrific uproar) passes an infancy of intrepid enjoyment + amidst the local perils, and is no more affected by the engines and the + cars than by so many fretful hens with their attendant broods of chickens. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0004" id="linkimage-0004"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/4000.jpg" alt="4000 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/4000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + When sometimes I long for the excitement and variety of travel, which, for + no merit of mine, I knew in other days, I reproach myself, and silence all + my repinings with some such question as, Where could you find more variety + or greater excitement than abounds in and near the Fitchburg Depot when a + train arrives? And to tell the truth, there is something very inspiring in + the fine eagerness with which all the passengers rise as soon as the + locomotive begins to slow, and huddle forward to the door, in their + impatience to get out; while the suppressed vehemence of the hackmen is + also thrilling in its way, not to mention the instant clamor of the + baggage-men as they read and repeat the numbers of the checks in strident + tones. It would be ever so interesting to depict all these people, but it + would require volumes for the work, and I reluctantly let them all pass + out without a word,—all but that sweet young blonde who arrives by + most trains, and who, putting up her eye-glass with a ravishing air, + bewitchingly peers round among the bearded faces, with little tender looks + of hope and trepidation, for the face which she wants, and which presently + bursts through the circle of strange visages. The owner of the face then + hurries forward to meet that sweet blonde, who gives him a little drooping + hand as if it were a delicate flower she laid in his; there is a brief + mutual hesitation long enough merely for an electrical thrill to run from + heart to heart through the clasping hands, and then he stoops toward her, + and distractingly kisses her. And I say that there is no law of conscience + or propriety worthy the name of law—barbarity, absurdity, call it + rather—to prevent any one from availing himself of that providential + near-sightedness, and beatifying himself upon those lips,—nothing to + prevent it but that young fellow, whom one might not, of course, care to + provoke. + </p> + <p> + Among the people who now rush forward and heap themselves into the two + horse-cars and one omnibus, placed before the depot by a wise forethought + for the public comfort to accommodate the train-load of two hundred + passengers, I always note a type that is both pleasing and interesting to + me. It is a lady just passing middle life; from her kindly eyes the + envious crow, whose footprints are just traceable at their corners, has + not yet drunk the brightness, but she looks just a thought sadly, if very + serenely, from them. I know nothing in the world of her; I may have seen + her twice or a hundred times, but I must always be making bits of romances + about her. That is she in faultless gray, with the neat leather bag in her + lap, and a bouquet of the first autumnal blooms perched in her shapely + hands which are prettily yet substantially gloved in some sort of + gauntlets. She can be easy and dignified, my dear middle-aged heroine, + even in one of our horse-cars, where people are for the most part packed + like cattle in a pen. She shows no trace of dust or fatigue from the + thirty or forty miles which I choose to fancy she has ridden from the + handsome elm-shaded New England town of five or ten thousand people, where + I choose to think she lives. From a vague horticultural association with + those gauntlets, as well as from the autumnal blooms, I take it she loves + flowers, and gardens a good deal with her own hands, and keeps + house-plants in the winter, and of course a canary. Her dress, neither + rich nor vulgar, makes me believe her fortunes modest and not recent; her + gentle face has just so much intellectual character as it is good to see + in a woman's face; I suspect that she reads pretty regularly the new + poems and histories, and I know that she is the life and soul of the local + book-club. Is she married, or widowed, or one of the superfluous forty + thousand? That is what I never can tell. But I think that most probably + she is married, and that her husband is very much in business, and does + not share so much as he respects her tastes. I have no particular reason + for thinking that she has no children now, and that the sorrow for the one + she lost so long ago has become only a pensive silence, which, however, a + long summer twilight can yet deepen to tears.... Upon my word! Am I then + one to give way to this sort of thing? Madam, I ask pardon. I have no + right to be sentimentalizing you. Yet your face is one to make people + dream kind things of you, and I cannot keep my reveries away from it. + </p> + <p> + But in the mean time I neglect the momentous history which I have proposed + to write, and leave my day's pleasurers to fade into the background + of a fantastic portrait. The truth is, I cannot look without pain upon the + discomforts which they suffer at this stage of their joyous enterprise. At + the best, the portables of such a party are apt to be grievous + embarrassments: a package of shawls and parasols and umbrellas and + India-rubbers, however neatly made up at first, quickly degenerates into a + shapeless mass, which has finally to be carried with as great tenderness + as an ailing child; and the lunch is pretty sure to overflow the hand-bags + and to eddy about you in paper parcels; while the bottle of claret, that + bulges the side of one of the bags, and + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “That will show itself without,” + </pre> + <p> + defying your attempts to look as it were cold tea, gives a crushing touch + of disreputability to the whole affair. Add to this the fact that but half + the party have seats, and that the others have to sway and totter about + the car in that sudden contact with all varieties of fellow-men, to which + we are accustomed in the cars, and you must allow that these poor + merrymakers have reasons enough to rejoice when this part of their day's + pleasure is over. They are so plainly bent upon a sail down the Harbor, + that before they leave the car they become objects of public interest, and + are at last made to give some account of themselves. + </p> + <p> + “Going for a sail, I presume?” says a person hitherto in + conversation with the conductor. “Well, I wouldn't mind a sail + myself to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” answers the head of the party, “going to + Gloucester.” + </p> + <p> + “Guess not,” says, very coldly and decidedly, one of the + passengers, who is reading that morning's “Advertiser;” + and when the subject of this surmise looks at him for explanations, he + adds, “The City Council has chartered the boat for to-day.” + </p> + <p> + Upon this the excursionists fall into great dismay and bitterness, and + upbraid the City Council, and wonder why last night's “Transcript” + said nothing about its oppressive action, and generally bewail their fate. + But at last they resolve to go somewhere, and, being set down, they make + up their warring minds upon Nahant, for the Nahant boat leaves the wharf + nearest them; and so they hurry away to India Wharf, amidst barrels and + bales and boxes and hacks and trucks, with interminable string-teams + passing before them at every crossing. + </p> + <p> + “At any rate,” says the leader of the expedition, “we + shall see the Gardens of Maolis,—those enchanted gardens which have + fairly been advertised into my dreams, and where I've been told,” + he continues, with an effort to make the prospect an attractive one, yet + not without a sense of the meagreness of the materials, “they have a + grotto and a wooden bull.” + </p> + <p> + Of course, there is no reason in nature why a wooden bull should be more + pleasing than a flesh-and-blood bull, but it seems to encourage the + company, and they set off again with renewed speed, and at last reach + India Wharf in time to see the Nahant steamer packed full of + excursionists, with a crowd of people still waiting to go aboard. It does + not look inviting, and they hesitate. In a minute or two their spirits + sink so low, that if they should see the wooden bull step out of a grotto + on the deck of the steamer the spectacle could not revive them. At that + instant they think, with a surprising singleness, of Nantasket Beach, and + the bright colors in which the Gardens of Maolis but now appeared fade + away, and they seem to see themselves sauntering along the beautiful + shore, while the white-crested breakers crash upon the sand, and run up + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “In tender-curving lines of creamy spray,” + </pre> + <p> + quite to the feet of that lotus-eating party. + </p> + <p> + “Nahant is all rocks,” says the leader to Aunt Melissa, who + hears him with a sweet and tranquil patience, and who would enjoy or + suffer anything with the same expression; “and as you've never + yet seen the open sea, it's fortunate that we go to Nantasket, for, + of course, a beach is more characteristic. But now the object is to get + there. The boat will be starting in a few moments, and I doubt whether we + can walk it. How far is it,” he asks, turning toward a + respectable-looking man, “to Liverpool Wharf?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's consid'able ways,” says the man, + smiling. + </p> + <p> + “Then we must take a hack,” says the pleasurer to his party. + “Come on.” + </p> + <p> + “I've got a hack,” observes the man, in a casual way, as + if the fact might possibly interest. + </p> + <p> + “O, you have, have you? Well, then, put us into it, and drive to + Liverpool Wharf; and hurry.” + </p> + <p> + Either the distance was less than the hackman fancied, or else he drove + thither with unheard-of speed, for two minutes later he set them down on + Liverpool Wharf. But swiftly as they had come the steamer had been even + more prompt, and she now turned toward them a beautiful wake, as she + pushed farther and farther out into the harbor. + </p> + <p> + The hackman took his two dollars for his four passengers, and was rapidly + mounting his box,—probably to avoid idle reproaches. “Wait!” + said the chief pleasurer. Then, “When does the next boat leave?” + he asked of the agent, who had emerged with a compassionate face from the + waiting-rooms on the wharf. + </p> + <p> + “At half past two.” + </p> + <p> + “And it's now five minutes past nine,” moaned the + merrymakers. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I'll tell you what you can do,” said the agent; + “you can go to Hingham by the Old Colony cars, and so come back by + the Hull and Hingham boat.” + </p> + <p> + “That's it!” chorused his listeners, “we'll + go;” and “Now,” said their spokesman to the driver, + “I dare say you didn't know that Liverpool Wharf was so near; + but I don't think you've earned your money, and you ought to + take us on to the Old Colony Depot for half-fares at the most.” + </p> + <p> + The driver looked pained, as if some small tatters and shreds of + conscience were flapping uncomfortably about his otherwise dismantled + spirit. Then he seemed to think of his wife and family, for he put on the + air of a man who had already made great sacrifices, and “I couldn't, + really, I couldn't afford it,” said he; and as the victims + turned from him in disgust, he chirruped to his horses and drove off. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the pleasurers, “we won't give it up. + We will have our day's pleasure after all. But what <i>can</i> we do + to kill five hours and a half? It's miles away from everything, and, + besides, there's nothing even if we were there.” At this image + of their remoteness and the inherent desolation of Boston they could not + suppress some sighs, and in the mean time Aunt Melissa stepped into the + waiting-room, which opened on the farther side upon the water, and sat + contentedly down on one of the benches; the rest, from sheer vacuity and + irresolution, followed, and thus, without debate, it was settled that they + should wait there till the boat left. The agent, who was a kind man, did + what he could to alleviate the situation: he gave them each the + advertisement of his line of boats, neatly printed upon a card, and then + he went away. + </p> + <p> + All this prospect of waiting would do well enough for the ladies of the + party, but there is an impatience in the masculine fibre which does not + brook the notion of such prolonged repose; and the leader of the excursion + presently pretended an important errand up town,—nothing less, in + fact, than to buy a tumbler out of which to drink their claret on the + beach. A holiday is never like any other day to the man who takes it, and + a festive halo seemed to enwrap the excursionist as he pushed on through + the busy streets in the cool shadow of the vast granite palaces wherein + the genius of business loves to house itself in this money-making land, + and inhaled the odors of great heaps of leather and spices and dry goods + as he passed the open doorways,—odors that mixed pleasantly with the + smell of the freshly watered streets. When he stepped into a crockery + store to make his purchase a sense of pleasure-taking did not fail him, + and he fell naturally into talk with the clerk about the weather and such + pastoral topics. Even when he reached the establishment where his own + business days were passed some glamour seemed to be cast upon familiar + objects. To the disenchanted eye all things were as they were on all other + dullish days of summer, even to the accustomed bore leaning up against his + favorite desk and transfixing his habitual victim with his usual theme. + Yet to the gaze of this pleasure-taker all was subtly changed, and he + shook hands right and left as he entered, to the marked surprise of the + objects of his effusion. He had merely come to get some newspapers to help + pass away the long moments on the wharf, and when he had found these, he + hurried back thither to hear what had happened during his absence. + </p> + <p> + It seemed that there had hardly ever been such an eventful period in the + lives of the family before, and he listened to a minute account of it from + Cousin Lucy. “You know, Frank,” says she, “that Sallie's + one idea in life is to keep the baby from getting the whooping-cough, and + I declare that these premises have done nothing but reëcho with the most + dolorous whoops ever since you've been gone, so that at times, in my + fear that Sallie would think I'd been careless about the boy, I've + been ready to throw myself into the water, and nothing's prevented + me but the doubt whether it wouldn't be better to throw in the + whoopers instead.” + </p> + <p> + At this moment a pale little girl, with a face wan and sad through all its + dirt, came and stood in the doorway nearest the baby, and in another + instant she had burst into a whoop so terrific that, if she had meant to + have his scalp next it could not have been more dreadful. Then she + subsided into a deep and pathetic quiet, with that air peculiar to the + victims of her disorder of having done nothing noticeable. But her + outburst had set at work the mysterious machinery of half a dozen other + whooping-coughers lurking about the building, and all unseen they wound + themselves up with appalling rapidity, and in the utter silence which + followed left one to think they had died at the climax. + </p> + <p> + “Why, it's a perfect whooping-cough factory, this place,” + cries Cousin Lucy in a desperation. “Go away, do, please, from the + baby, you poor little dreadful object you,” she continues, turning + upon the only visible operative in the establishment. “Here, take + this,” and she bribes her with a bit of sponge-cake, on which the + child runs lightly off along the edge of the wharf. “That's + been another of their projects for driving me wild,” says Cousin + Lucy,—“trying to take their own lives in a hundred ways before + my face and eyes. Why <i>will</i> their mothers let them come here to + play?” + </p> + <p> + Really, they were very melancholy little figures, and might have gone near + to make one sad, even if they had not been constantly imperilling their + lives. Thanks to its being summer-time, it did not much matter about the + scantiness of their clothing, but their squalor was depressing, it seemed, + even to themselves, for they were a mournful-looking set of children, and + in their dangerous sports trifled silently and almost gloomily with death. + There were none of them above eight or nine years of age, and most of them + had the care of smaller brothers, or even babes in arms, whom they were + thus early inuring to the perils of the situation. The boys were dressed + in pantaloons and shirts which no excess of rolling up in the legs and + arms could make small enough, and the incorrigible too-bigness of which + rendered the favorite amusements still more hazardous from their liability + to trip and entangle the wearers. The little girls had on each a solitary + garment, which hung about her gaunt person with antique severity of + outline; while the babies were multitudinously swathed in whatever + fragments of dress could be tied or pinned or plastered on. Their faces + were strikingly and almost ingeniously dirty, and their distractions among + the coal-heaps and cord-wood constantly added to the variety and advantage + of these effects. + </p> + <p> + “Why do their mothers let them come here?” muses Frank aloud. + “Why, because it's so safe, Cousin Lucy. At home, you know, + they'd have to be playing upon the sills of fourth-floor windows, + and here they're out of the way and can't hurt themselves. + Why, Cousin Lucy, this is their park,—their Public Garden, their + Bois de Boulogne, their Cascine. And look at their gloomy little faces! + Aren't they taking their pleasure in the spirit of the very highest + fashion? I was at Newport last summer, and saw the famous driving on the + Avenue in those pony phaetons, dog-carts, and tubs, and three-story + carriages with a pair of footmen perching like storks upon each gable, and + I assure you that all those ornate and costly phantasms (it seems to me + now like a sad, sweet vision) had just the expression of these poor + children. We're taking a day's pleasure ourselves, cousin, but + nobody would know it from our looks. And has nothing but whooping-cough + happened since I've been gone?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we seem to be so cut off from every-day associations that I've + imagined myself a sort of tourist, and I've been to that Catholic + church over yonder, in hopes of seeing the Murillos and Raphaels—but + I found it locked up, and so I trudged back without a sight of the + masterpieces. But what's the reason that all the shops hereabouts + have nothing but luxuries for sale? The windows are perfect tropics of + oranges, and lemons, and belated bananas, and tobacco, and peanuts.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, the poor really seem to use more of those luxuries than + anybody else. I don't blame them. I shouldn't care for the + necessaries of life myself, if I found them so hard to get.” + </p> + <p> + “When I came back here,” says Cousin Lucy, without heeding + these flippant and heartless words, “I found an old gentleman who + has something to do with the boats, and he sat down, as if it were a part + of his business, and told me nearly the whole history of his life. Isn't + it nice of them, keeping an Autobiographer? It makes the time pass so + swiftly when you're waiting. This old gentleman was born—who'd + ever think it?—up there in Pearl Street, where those pitiless big + granite stores are now; and, I don't know why, but the idea of any + human baby being born in Pearl Street seemed to me one of the saddest + things I'd ever heard of.” + </p> + <p> + Here Cousin Lucy went to the rescue of the nurse and the baby, who had got + into one of their periodical difficulties, and her interlocutor turned to + Aunt Melissa. + </p> + <p> + “I think, Franklin,” says Aunt Melissa, “that it was + wrong to let that nurse come and bring the baby.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know, Aunty, you have those old-established ideas, and they're + very right,” answers her nephew; “but just consider how much + she enjoys it, and how vastly the baby adds to the pleasure of this + charming excursion!” + </p> + <p> + Aunt Melissa made no reply, but sat thoughtfully out upon the bay. “I + presume you think the excursion is a failure,” she said, after a + while; “but I've been enjoying every minute of the time here. + Of course, I've never seen the open sea, and I don't know + about it, but I feel here just as if I were spending a day at the seaside.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said her nephew, “I shouldn't call this + exactly a watering-place. It lacks the splendor and gayety of Newport, in + a certain degree, and it hasn't the illustrious seclusion of Nahant. + The surf isn't very fine, nor the beach particularly adapted to + bathing; and yet, I must confess, the outlook from here is as lovely as + anything one need have.” + </p> + <p> + And to tell the truth, it was very pretty and interesting. The landward + environment was as commonplace and mean as it could be: a yardful of + dismal sheds for coal and lumber, and shanties for offices, with each + office its safe and its desk, its whittled arm-chair and its spittoon, its + fly that shooed not, but buzzed desperately against the grimy pane, which, + if it had really had that boasted microscopic eye, it never would have + mistaken for the unblemished daylight. Outside of this yard was the usual + wharfish neighborhood, with its turmoil of trucks and carts and fleet + express-wagons, its building up and pulling down, its discomfort and + clamor of every sort, and its shops for the sale, not only of those + luxuries which Lucy had mentioned, but of such domestic refreshments as + lemon-pie and hulled-corn. + </p> + <p> + When, however, you turned your thoughts and eyes away from this aspect of + it, and looked out upon the water, the neighborhood gloriously retrieved + itself. There its poverty and vulgarity ceased; there its beauty and grace + abounded. A light breeze ruffled the face of the bay, and the innumerable + little sail-boats that dotted it took the sun and wind upon their wings, + which they dipped almost into the sparkle of the water, and flew lightly + hither and thither like gulls that loved the brine too well to rise wholly + from it; larger ships, farther or nearer, puffed or shrank their sails as + they came and went on the errands of commerce, but always moved as if bent + upon some dreamy affair of pleasure; the steamboats that shot vehemently + across their tranquil courses seemed only gayer and vivider visions, but + not more substantial; yonder, a black sea-going steamer passed out between + the far-off islands, and at last left in the sky above those reveries of + fortification, a whiff of sombre smoke, dark and unreal as a memory of + battle; to the right, on some line of railroad, long-plumed trains arrived + and departed like pictures passed through the slide of a magic-lantern; + even a pile-driver, at work in the same direction, seemed to have no + malice in the blows which, after a loud clucking, it dealt the pile, and + one understood that it was mere conventional violence like that of a Punch + to his baby. + </p> + <p> + “Why, what a lotus-eating life this is!” said Frank, at last. + “Aunt Melissa, I don't wonder you think it's like the + seaside. It's a great deal better than the seaside. And now, just as + we've entered into the spirit of it, the time's up for the + 'Rose Standish' to come and bear us from its delights. When + will the boat be in?” he asked of the Autobiographer, whom Lucy had + pointed out to him. + </p> + <p> + “Well, she's <i>ben</i> in half an hour, now. There she lays, + just outside the 'John Romer.'” + </p> + <p> + There, to be sure, she lay, and those pleasure-takers had been so lost in + the rapture of waiting and the beauty of the scene as never to have + noticed her arrival. + </p> + <h3> + II—THE AFTERNOON + </h3> + <p> + It is noticeable how many people there are in the world that seem bent + always upon the same purpose of amusement or business as one's self. + If you keep quietly about your accustomed affairs, there are all your + neighbors and acquaintance hard at it too; if you go on a journey, choose + what train you will, the cars are filled with travellers in your + direction. You take a day's pleasure, and everybody abandons his + usual occupation to crowd upon your boat, whether it is to Gloucester, or + Nahant, or to Nantasket Beach you go. It is very hard to believe that, + from whatever channel of life you abstract yourself, still the great sum + of it presses forward as before: that business is carried on though you + are idle, that men amuse themselves though you toil, that every train is + as crowded as that you travel on, that the theatre or the church fills its + boxes or pews without you perfectly well. I suppose it would not be quite + agreeable to believe all this; the opposite illusion is far more + flattering; for if each one of us did not take the world with him now at + every turn, should he not have to leave it behind him when he died? And + that, it must be owned, would not be agreeable, nor is the fact quite + conceivable, though ever so many myriads in so many million years have + proved it. + </p> + <p> + When our friends first went aboard the “Rose Standish” that + day they were almost the sole passengers, and they had a feeling of + ownership and privacy which was pleasant enough in its way, but which they + lost afterwards; though to lose it was also pleasant, for enjoyment no + more likes to be solitary than sin does, which is notoriously gregarious, + and I dare say would hardly exist if it could not be committed in company. + The preacher, indeed, little knows the comfortable sensation we have in + being called fellow-sinners, and what an effective shield for his guilt + each makes of his neighbor's hard-heartedness. + </p> + <p> + Cousin Frank never felt how strange was a lonely transgression till that + day, when in the silence of the little cabin he took the bottle of claret + from the handbag, and prepared to moisten the family lunch with it. + “I think, Aunt Melissa,” he said, “we had better lunch + now, for it's a quarter past two, and we shall not get to the beach + before four. Let's improvise a beach of these chairs, and that + water-urn yonder can stand for the breakers. Now, this is truly like + Newport and Nahant,” he added, after the little arrangement was + complete; and he was about to strip away the bottle's jacket of + brown paper, when a lady much wrapped up came in, and, reclining upon one + of the opposite seats, began to take them all in with a severe serenity of + gaze that made them feel for a moment like a party of low foreigners,—like + a set of German atheists, say. Frank kept on the bottle's paper + jacket, and as the single tumbler of the party circled from mouth to + mouth, each of them tried to give the honest drink the false air of a + medicinal potion of some sort; and to see Aunt Melissa sipping it, no one + could have put his hand on his heart and sworn it was not elderberry wine, + at the worst. In spite of these efforts, they all knew that they had + suffered a hopeless loss of repute; yet after the loss was confessed, I am + not sure that they were not the gayer and happier through this “freedom + of a broken law.” At any rate, the lunch passed off very merrily, + and when they had put back the fragments of the feast into the bags, they + went forward to the bow of the boat, to get good places for seeing the + various people as they came aboard, and for an outlook upon the bay when + the boat should start. + </p> + <p> + I suppose that these were not very remarkable people, and that nothing but + the indomitable interest our friends took in the human race could have + enabled them to feel any concern in their companions. It was, no doubt, + just such a company as goes down to Nantasket Beach every pleasant day in + summer. Certain ones among them were distinguishable as sojourners at the + beach, by an air of familiarity with the business of getting there, an + indifference to the prospect, and an indefinable touch of superiority. + These read their newspapers in quiet corners, or, if they were not of the + newspaper sex, made themselves comfortable in the cabins, and looked about + them at the other passengers with looks of lazy surprise, and just a hint + of scorn for their interest in the boat's departure. Our day's + pleasurers took it that the lady whose steady gaze had reduced them, when + at lunch, to such a low ebb of shabbiness, was a regular boarder, at the + least, in one of the beach hotels. A few other passengers were, like + themselves, mere idlers for a day, and were eager to see all that the boat + or the voyage offered of novelty. There were clerks and men who had + book-keeping written in a neat mercantile hand upon their faces, and who + had evidently been given that afternoon for a breathing-time; and there + were strangers who were going down to the beach for the sake of the + charming view of the harbor which the trip afforded. Here and there were + people who were not to be classed with any certainty,—as a pale + young man, handsome in his undesirable way, who looked like a steamboat + pantry boy not yet risen to be bar-tender, but rapidly rising, and who sat + carefully balanced upon the railing of the boat, chatting with two young + girls, who heard his broad sallies with continual snickers, and + interchanged saucy comments with that prompt up-and-coming manner which is + so large a part of non-humorous humor, as Mr. Lowell calls it, and now and + then pulled and pushed each other. It was a scene worth study, for in no + other country could anything so bad have been without being vastly worse; + but here it was evident that there was nothing worse than you saw; and, + indeed, these persons formed a sort of relief to the other passengers, who + were nearly all monotonously well-behaved. Amongst a few there seemed to + be acquaintance, but the far greater part were unknown to one another, and + there were no words wasted by any one. I believe the English traveller who + has taxed our nation with inquisitiveness for half a century is at last + beginning to find out that we do not ask questions because we have the + still more vicious custom of not opening our mouths at all when with + strangers. + </p> + <p> + It was a good hour after our friends got aboard before the boat left her + moorings, and then it was not without some secret dreads of sea-sickness + that Aunt Melissa saw the seething brine widen between her and the + familiar wharf-house, where she now seemed to have spent so large a part + of her life. But the multitude of really charming and interesting objects + that presently fell under her eye soon distracted her from those gloomy + thoughts. + </p> + <p> + There is always a shabbiness about the wharves of seaports; but I must own + that as soon as you get a reasonable distance from them in Boston, they + turn wholly beautiful. They no longer present that imposing array of + mighty ships which they could show in the days of Consul Plancus, when the + commerce of the world sought chiefly our port, yet the docks are still + filled with the modester kinds of shipping, and if there is not that + wilderness of spars and rigging which you see at New York, let us believe + that there is an aspect of selection and refinement in the scene, so that + one should describe it, not as a forest, but, less conventionally, as a + gentleman's park of masts. The steamships of many coastwise freight + lines gloom, with their black, capacious hulks, among the lighter + sailing-craft, and among the white, green-shuttered passenger-boats; and + behind them those desperate and grimy sheds assume a picturesqueness, + their sagging roofs and crooked gables harmonizing agreeably with the + shipping; and then growing up from all, rises the mellow-tinted + brick-built city, roof, and spire, and dome,—a fair and noble sight, + indeed, and one not surpassed for a certain quiet and cleanly beauty by + any that I know. + </p> + <p> + Our friends lingered long upon this pretty prospect, and, as inland people + of light heart and easy fancy will, the ladies made imagined voyages in + each of the more notable vessels they passed,—all cheap and safe + trips, occupying half a second apiece. Then they came forward to the bow, + that they might not lose any part of the harbor's beauty and + variety, and informed themselves of the names of each of the fortressed + islands as they passed, and forgot them, being passed, so that to this day + Aunt Melissa has the Fort Warren rebel prisoners languishing in Fort + Independence. But they made sure of the air of soft repose that hung about + each, of that exquisite military neatness which distinguishes them, and + which went to Aunt Melissa's housekeeping heart, of the green, thick + turf covering the escarpments, of the great guns loafing on the crests of + the ramparts and looking out over the water sleepily, of the sentries + pacing slowly up and down with their gleaming muskets. + </p> + <p> + “I never see one of those fellows,” says Cousin Frank, “without + setting him to the music of that saddest and subtlest of Heine's + poems. You know it, Lucy;” and he repeats:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Mein Herz, mein Herz is traurig, + Doch lustig leuchtet der Mai; + Ich stehe gelehnt an der Linde, + Hoch auf der alten Bastei. + +</pre> + <hr /> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Am alten grauen Thurme + Ein Schilderhäuschen steht; + Ein rothgeröckter Bursche + Dort auf und nieder geht. + + “Er spielt mit seiner Flinte, + Sie funkelt im Sonnenroth, + Er präsentirt, und schultert,— + Ich wollt', er schösse mich todt.” + </pre> + <p> + “O!” says Cousin Lucy, either because the poignant melancholy + of the sentiment has suddenly pierced her, or because she does not quite + understand the German,—you never can tell about women. While Frank + smiles down upon her in this amiable doubt, their party is approached by + the tipsy man who has been making the excursion so merry for the other + passengers, in spite of the fact that there is very much to make one sad + in him. He is an old man, sweltering in rusty black, a two days' + gray beard, and a narrow-brimmed, livid silk hat, set well back upon the + nape of his neck. He explains to our friends, as he does to every one + whose acquaintance he makes, that he was in former days a seafaring man, + and that he has brought his two little grandsons here to show them + something about a ship; and the poor old soul helplessly saturates his + phrase with the rankest profanity. The boys are somewhat amused by their + grandsire's state, being no doubt familiar with it, but a very + grim-looking old lady who sits against the pilot-house, and keeps a sharp + eye upon all three, and who is also doubtless familiar with the unhappy + spectacle, seems not to find it a joke. Her stout matronly umbrella + trembles in her hand when her husband draws near, and her eye flashes; but + he gives her as wide a berth as he can, returning her glare with a + propitiatory drunken smile and a wink to the passengers to let them into + the fun. In fact, he is full of humor in his tipsy way, and one after + another falls the prey of his free sarcasm, which does not spare the boat + or any feature of the excursion. He holds for a long time, by swiftly + successive stories of his seafaring days, a very quiet gentleman, who + dares neither laugh too loudly nor show indifference for fear of rousing + that terrible wit at his expense, and finds his account in looking down at + his boots. + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” says the deplorable old sinner, “we was + forty days out from Liverpool, with a cargo of salt and iron, and we got + caught on the Banks in a calm. 'Cap'n,' says I,—I + 'us sec'n' mate,—''s they any man + aboard this ship knows how to pray?' 'No,' says the cap'n; + 'blast yer prayers!' 'Well,' says I, 'cap'n, + I'm no hand at all to pray, but I'm goin' to see if + prayin' won't git us out 'n this.' And I down on + my knees, and I made a first-class prayer; and a breeze sprung up in a + minute and carried us smack into Boston.” + </p> + <p> + At this bit of truculent burlesque the quiet man made a bold push, and + walked away with a somewhat sickened face, and as no one now intervened + between them, the inebriate laid a familiar hand upon Cousin Frank's + collar, and said with a wink at his late listener: “Looks like a + lerigious man, don't he? I guess I give him a good dose, if he <i>does</i> + think himself the head-deacon of this boat.” And he went on to state + his ideas of religion, from which it seemed that he was a person of the + most advanced thinking, and believed in nothing worth mentioning. + </p> + <p> + It is perhaps no worse for an Infidel to be drunk than a Christian, but my + friend found this tipsy blasphemer's case so revolting, that he went + to the hand-bag, took out the empty claret-bottle, and seeking a solitary + corner of the boat, cast the bottle into the water, and felt a thrill of + uncommon self-approval as this scapegoat of all the wine at his grocer's + bobbed off upon the little waves. “Besides, it saves carrying the + bottle home,” he thought, not without a half-conscious reserve, that + if his penitence were ever too much for him, he could easily abandon it. + And without the reflection that the gate is always open behind him, who + could consent to enter upon any course of perfect behavior? If good + resolutions could not be broken, who would ever have the courage to form + them? Would it not be intolerable to be made as good as we ought to be? + Then, admirable reader, thank Heaven even for your lapses, since it is so + wholesome and saving to be well ashamed of yourself, from time to time. + </p> + <p> + “What an outrage,” said Cousin Frank, in the glow of virtue, + as he rejoined the ladies, “that that tipsy rascal should be allowed + to go on with his ribaldry. He seems to pervade the whole boat, and to + subject everybody to his sway. He's a perfect despot to us helpless + sober people,—I wouldn't openly disagree with him on any + account. We ought to send a Round Robin to the captain, and ask him to put + that religious liberal in irons during the rest of the voyage.” + </p> + <p> + In the mean time, however, the object of his indignation had used up all + the conversible material in that part of the boat, and had deviously + started for the other end. The elderly woman with the umbrella rose and + followed him, somewhat wearily, and with a sadness that appeared more in + her movement than in her face; and as the two went down the cabin, did the + comical affair look, after all, something like tragedy? My reader, who + expects a little novelty in tragedy, and not these stale and common + effects, will never think so. + </p> + <p> + “You'll not pretend, Frank,” says Lucy, “that in + such an intellectual place as Boston a crowd as large as this can be got + together, and no distinguished literary people in it. I know there are + some notables aboard: do point them out to me. Pretty near everybody has a + literary look.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, that's what we call our Boston look, Cousin Lucy. You + needn't have written anything to have it,—it's as + general as tubercular consumption, and is the effect of our universal + culture and habits of reading. I heard a New-Yorker say once that if you + went into a corner grocery in Boston to buy a codfish, the man would ask + you how you liked 'Lucille,' whilst he was tying it up. No, + no; you mustn't be taken in by that literary look; I'm afraid + the real literary men don't always have it. But I <i>do</i> see a + literary man aboard yonder,” he added, craning his neck to one side, + and then furtively pointing,—“the most literary man I ever + knew, one of the most literary men that ever lived. His whole existence is + really bound up in books; he never talks of anything else, and never + thinks of anything else, I believe. Look at him,—what kind and + pleasant eyes he's got! There, he sees me!” cries Cousin + Frank, with a pleasurable excitement. “How d'ye do?” he + calls out. + </p> + <p> + “O Cousin Frank, introduce us,” sighs Lucy. + </p> + <p> + “Not I! He wouldn't thank me. He doesn't care for pretty + girls outside of books; he'd be afraid of 'em; he's the + bashfullest man alive, and all his heroines are fifty years old, at the + least. But before I go any further, tell me solemnly, Lucy, you're + not interviewing me? You're not going to write it to a New York + newspaper? No? Well, I think it's best to ask, always. Our friend + there—he's everybody's friend, if you mean nobody's + enemy, by that, not even his own—is really what I say,—the + most literary man I ever knew. He loves all epochs and phases of + literature, but his passion is the Charles Lamb period and all Lamb's + friends. He loves them as if they were living men; and Lamb would have + loved him if he could have known him. He speaks rapidly, and rather + indistinctly, and when you meet him and say Good day, and you suppose he + answers with something about the weather, ten to one he's asking you + what you think of Hazlitt's essays on Shakespeare, or Leigh Hunt's + Italian Poets, or Lamb's roast pig, or Barry Cornwall's songs. + He couldn't get by a bookstall without stopping—for half an + hour, at any rate. He knows just when all the new books in town are to be + published, and when each bookseller is to get his invoice of old English + books. He has no particular address, but if you leave your card for him at + any bookstore in Boston, he's sure to get it within two days; and in + the summer-time you're apt to meet him on these excursions. Of + course, he writes about books, and very tastefully and modestly; there's + hardly any of the brand-new immortal English poets, who die off so + rapidly, but has had a good word from him; but his heart is with the older + fellows, from Chaucer down; and, after the Charles Lamb epoch, I don't + know whether he loves better the Elizabethan age or that of Queen Anne. + Think of him making me stop the other day at a bookstall, and read through + an essay out of the “Spectator!” I did it all for love of him, + though money couldn't have persuaded me that I had time; and I'm + always telling him lies, and pretending to be as well acquainted as he is + with authors I hardly know by name,—he seems so fondly to expect it. + He's really almost a disembodied spirit as concerns most mundane + interests—his soul is in literature, as a lover's in his + mistress's beauty; and in the next world, where, as the + Swedenborgians believe, spirits seen at a distance appear like the things + they most resemble in disposition, as doves, hawks, goats, lambs, swine, + and so on, I'm sure that I shall see his true and kindly soul in the + guise of a noble old Folio, quaintly lettered across his back in old + English text, <i>Tom. I.</i>” + </p> + <p> + While our friends talked and looked about them, a sudden change had come + over the brightness and warmth of the day; the blue heaven had turned a + chilly gray, and the water looked harsh and cold. Now, too, they noted + that they were drawing near a wooden pier built into the water, and that + they had been winding about in a crooked channel between muddy shallows, + and that their course was overrun with long, disheveled sea-weed. The + shawls had been unstrapped, and the ladies made comfortable in them. + </p> + <p> + “Ho for the beach!” cried Cousin Frank, with a vehement show + of enthusiasm. “Now, then, Aunt Melissa, prepare for the great + enjoyment of the day. In a few moments we shall be of the elves + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'That on the sand with printless foot + Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him + When he comes back.' +</pre> + <p> + Come! we shall have three hours on the beach, and that will bring us well + into the cool of the evening, and we can return by the last boat.” + </p> + <p> + “As to the cool of the evening,” said Aunt Melissa, “I + don't know. It's quite cool enough for comfort at present, and + I'm sure that anything more wouldn't be wholesome. What's + become of our beautiful weather?” she asked, deeply plotting to gain + time. + </p> + <p> + “It's one of our Boston peculiarities, not to say merits,” + answered Frank, “which you must have noticed already, that we can + get rid of a fine day sooner than any other region. While you're + saying how lovely it is, a subtle change is wrought, and under skies still + blue and a sun still warm the keen spirit of the east wind pierces every + nerve, and all the fine weather within you is chilled and extinguished. + The gray atmosphere follows, but the day first languishes in yourself. But + for this, life in Boston would be insupportably perfect, if this is indeed + a drawback. You'd find Bostonians to defend it, I dare say. But this + isn't a regular east wind to-day; it's merely our nearness to + the sea.” + </p> + <p> + “I think, Franklin,” said Aunt Melissa, “that we won't + go down to the beach this afternoon,” as if she had been there + yesterday, and would go to-morrow. “It's too late in the day; + and it wouldn't be good for the child, I'm sure.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, aunty, it was you determined us to wait for the boat, and it's + your right to say whether we shall leave it or not. I'm very willing + not to go ashore. I always find that, after working up to an object with + great effort, it's surpassingly sweet to leave it unaccomplished at + last. Then it remains forever in the region of the ideal, amongst the + songs that never were sung, the pictures that never were painted. Why, in + fact, should we force this pleasure? We've eaten our lunch, we've + lost the warm heart of the day; why should we poorly drag over to that + damp and sullen beach, where we should find three hours very long, when by + going back now we can keep intact that glorious image of a day by the sea + which we've been cherishing all summer? You're right, Aunt + Melissa; we won't go ashore; we will stay here, and respect our + illusions.” + </p> + <p> + At heart, perhaps, Lucy did not quite like this retreat; it was not in + harmony with the youthful spirit of her sex, but she reflected that she + could come again,—O beneficent cheat of Another Time, how much thou + sparest us in our over-worked, over-enjoyed world!—she was very + comfortable where she was, in a seat commanding a perfect view for the + return trip; and she submitted without a murmur. Besides, now that the + boat had drawn up to the pier, and discharged part of her passengers, and + was waiting to take on others, Lucy was interested in a mass of fluttering + dresses and wide-rimmed straw hats that drew down toward the “Rose + Standish,” and gracefully thronged the pier, and prettily hesitated + about, and finally came aboard with laughter and little false cries of + terror, attended through all by the New England disproportion of that sex + which is so foolish when it is silly. It was a large picnic party which + had been spending the day upon the beach, as each of the ladies showed in + her face, where, if the roses upon her cheeks were somewhat obscured by + the imbrowning seaside sun, a bright pink had been compensatingly bestowed + upon the point of her nose. A mysterious quiet fell upon them all when + they were got aboard and had taken conspicuous places, which was accounted + for presently when a loud shout was heard from the shore, and a man beside + an ambulant photographic machine was seen wildly waving his hat. It is + impossible to resist a temptation of this kind, and our party all yielded, + and posed themselves in striking and characteristic attitudes,—even + Aunt Melissa sharing the ambition to appear in a picture which she should + never see, and the nurse coming out strong from the abeyance in which she + had been held, and lifting the baby high into the air for a good likeness. + The frantic gesticulator on the shore gave an impressive wave with both + hands, took the cap from the instrument, turned his back, as photographers + always do, with that air of hiding their tears, for the brief space that + seems so long, and then clapped on the cap again, while a great sigh of + relief went up from the whole boat-load of passengers. They were taken. + </p> + <p> + But the interval had been a luckless one for the “Rose Standish,” + and when she stirred her wheels, clouds of mud rose to the top of the + water, and there was no responsive movement of the boat. She was aground + in the falling tide. + </p> + <p> + “There seems a pretty fair prospect of our spending some time here, + after all,” said Frank, while the ladies, who had reluctantly given + up the idea of staying, were now in a quiver of impatience to be off. The + picnic was shifted from side to side; the engine groaned and tugged, + Captain Miles Standish and his crew bestirred themselves vigorously, and + at last the boat swung loose, and strode down the sea-weedy channels; + while our friends, who had already done the great sights of the harbor, + now settled themselves to the enjoyment of its minor traits and beauties. + Here and there they passed small parties on the shore, which, with their + yachts anchored near, or their boats drawn up from the water, were cooking + an out-door meal by a fire that burned bright red upon the sands in the + late afternoon air. In such cases, people willingly indulge themselves in + saluting whatever craft goes by, and the ladies of these small picnics, as + they sat round the fires, kept up a great waving of handkerchiefs, and + sometimes cheered the “Rose Standish,” though I believe the + Bostonians are ordinarily not a demonstrative race. Of course the large + picnic on board fluttered multitudinous handkerchiefs in response, both to + these people ashore and to those who hailed them from vessels which they + met. They did not refuse the politeness even to the passengers on a rival + boat when she passed them, though at heart they must have felt some + natural pangs at being passed. The water was peopled everywhere by all + sorts of sail lagging slowly homeward in the light evening breeze; and on + some of the larger vessels there were family groups to be seen, and a + graceful smoke, suggestive of supper, curled from the cook's galley. + I suppose these ships were chiefly coasting craft, of one kind or another, + come from the Provinces at farthest; but to the ignorance and the fancy of + our friends, they arrived from all remote and romantic parts of the world,—from + India, from China, and from the South Seas, with cargoes of spices and + gums and tropical fruits; and I see no reason why one should ever deny + himself the easy pleasure they felt in painting the unknown in such lively + hues. The truth is, a strange ship, if you will let her, always brings you + precious freight, always arrives from Wonderland under the command of + Captain Sinbad. How like a beautiful sprite she looks afar off, as if she + came from some finer and fairer world than ours! Nay, we will not go out + to meet her; we will not go on board; Captain Sinbad shall bring us the + invoice of gold-dust, slaves, and rocs' eggs to-night, and we will + have some of the eggs for breakfast; or if he never comes, are we not just + as rich? But I think these friends of ours got a yet keener pleasure out + of the spectacle of a large and stately ship, that with all sails spread + moved silently and steadily out toward the open sea. It is yet grander and + sweeter to sail toward the unknown than to come from it; and every vessel + that leaves port has this destination, and will bear you thither if you + will. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “It may be that the gulf shall wash us down; + It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, + And see the great Achilles, whom we knew,” + </pre> + <p> + absently murmured Lucy, looking on this beautiful apparition. + </p> + <p> + “But I can't help thinking of Ulysses' cabin-boy, + yonder,” said Cousin Frank, after a pause; “can you, Aunt + Melissa?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand what you're talking about Franklin,” + answered Aunt Melissa, somewhat severely. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I mean that there is a poor wretch of a boy on board there, + who's run away, and whose heart must be aching just now at the + thought of the home he has left. I hope Ulysses will be good to him, and + not swear at him for a day or two, or knock him about with a belaying-pin. + Just about this time his mother, up in the country, is getting ready his + supper, and wondering what's become of him, and torturing herself + with hopes that break one by one; and to-night when she goes up to his + empty room, having tried to persuade herself that the truant's come + back and climbed in at the window”—“Why, Franklin, this + isn't true, is it?” asks Aunt Melissa. + </p> + <p> + “Well, no, let's pray Heaven it isn't, in this case. It's + been true often enough to be false for once.” + </p> + <p> + “What a great, ugly, black object a ship is!” said Cousin + Lucy. + </p> + <p> + Slowly the city rose up against the distance, sharpening all its outlines, + and filling in all its familiar details,—like a fact which one + dreams is a dream, and which, as the mists of sleep break away, shows + itself for reality. + </p> + <p> + The air grows closer and warmer,—it is the breath of the hot and + toil-worn land. + </p> + <p> + The boat makes her way up through the shipping, seeks her landing, and + presently rubs herself affectionately against the wharf. The passengers + quickly disperse themselves upon shore, dismissed each with an appropriate + sarcasm by the tipsy man, who has had the means of keeping himself drunk + throughout, and who now looks to the discharge of the boat's cargo. + </p> + <p> + As our friends leave the wharf-house behind them, and straggle uneasily, + and very conscious of sunburn, up the now silent length of Pearl Street to + seek the nearest horse-cars, they are aware of a curious fidgeting of the + nurse, who flies from one side of the pavement to the other and violently + shifts the baby from one arm to the other. + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter?” asks Frank; but before the nurse + can answer, “Thim little divils,” he perceives that the + whooping-coughers of the morning have taken the occasion to renew a + pleasant acquaintance, and are surrounding the baby and nurse with an + atmosphere of whooping-cough. + </p> + <p> + “I say, friends! we can't stand this, you know,” says + the anxious father. “We must part some time, and this is a favorable + moment. Now I'll give you all this, if you don't come another + step!” and he empties out to them, from the hand-bags he carries, + the fragments of lunch which the frugal mind of Aunt Melissa had caused + her to store there. Upon these the whooping-coughers hurl themselves in a + body, and are soon left round the corner. Yet they would have been no + disgrace to our party, whose appearance was now most disreputable: Frank + and Lucy stalked ahead, with shawls dragging from their arms, the former + loaded down with hand-bags and the latter with India-rubbers; Aunt Melissa + came next under a burden of bloated umbrellas; the nurse last, with her + hat awry, and the baby a caricature of its morning trimness, in her + embrace. A day's pleasure is so demoralizing, that no party can + stand it, and come out neat and orderly. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0005" id="linkimage-0005"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/5000.jpg" alt="5000 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/5000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + “Cousin Frank,” asked Lucy, awfully, “what if we should + meet the Mayflowers now?”—the Mayflowers being a very ancient + and noble Boston family whose acquaintance was the great pride and terror + of our friends' lives. + </p> + <p> + “I should cut them dead,” said Frank, and scarcely spoke again + till his party dragged slowly up the steps of their minute suburban villa. + </p> + <p> + At the door his wife met them with a troubled and anxious face. + </p> + <p> + “Calamities?” asked Frank, desperately. + </p> + <p> + “O, calamities upon calamities! We've got a lost child in the + kitchen,” answered Mrs. Sallie. + </p> + <p> + “O good heavens!” cried her husband. “Adieu, my dreams + of repose, so desirable after the quantity of active enjoyment I've + had! Well, where is the lost child?” + </p> + <h3> + III.—THE EVENING + </h3> + <p> + “Where is the lost child?” repeats Frank, desperately. “Where + have you got him?” + </p> + <p> + “In the kitchen.” + </p> + <p> + “Why in the kitchen?” + </p> + <p> + “How's baby?” demands Mrs. Sallie, with the incoherent + suddenness of her sex, and running halfway down the steps to meet the + nurse. “Um, um, um-m-m-m,” sounds, which may stand for + smothered kisses of rapture and thanksgiving that baby is not a lost + child. “Has he been good, Lucy? Take him off and give him some + cocoa, Mrs. O'Gonegal,” she adds in her business-like way, and + with a little push to the combined nurse and baby, while Lucy answers, + “O beautiful!” and from that moment, being warned through all + her being by something in the other's tone, casts aside the matronly + manner which she has worn during the day, and lapses into the comfortable + irresponsibility of young-ladyhood. + </p> + <p> + “What kind of a time did you have?” + </p> + <p> + “Splendid!” answers Lucy. “Delightful, <i>I</i> think,” + she adds, as if she thought others might not think so. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you found Gloucester a quaint old place.” + </p> + <p> + “O,” says Frank, “we didn't go to Gloucester; we + found that the City Fathers had chartered the boat for the day, so we + thought we'd go to Nahant.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you've seen your favorite Gardens of Maolis! What in the + world <i>are</i> they like?” + </p> + <p> + “Well; we didn't see the Gardens of Maolis; the Nahant boat + was so crowded that we couldn't think of going on her, and so we + decided we'd drive over to the Liverpool Wharf and go down to + Nantasket Beach.” + </p> + <p> + “That was nice. I'm so glad on Aunt Melissa's account. + It's much better to see the ocean from a long beach than from those + Nahant rocks.” + </p> + <p> + “That's what <i>I</i> said. But, you know, when we got to the + wharf the boat had just left.” + </p> + <p> + “You <i>don't</i> mean it! Well, then, what under the canopy + <i>did</i> you do?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, we sat down in the wharf-house, and waited from nine o'clock + till half-past two for the next boat.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'm glad you didn't back out, at any rate. You + did show pluck, you poor things! I hope you enjoyed the beach after you <i>did</i> + get there.” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” says Frank, looking down, “we never got there.” + </p> + <p> + “Never got there!” gasps Mrs. Sallie. “Didn't you + go down on the afternoon boat?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Why didn't you get to the beach, then?” + </p> + <p> + “We didn't go ashore.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, that's <i>like</i> you, Frank.” + </p> + <p> + “It's a great deal more like Aunt Melissa,” answers + Frank. “The air felt so raw and chilly by the time we reached the + pier, that she declared the baby would perish if it was taken to the + beach. Besides, nothing would persuade her that Nantasket Beach was at all + different from Liverpool Wharf.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind, never mind!” says Mrs. Sallie. “I don't + wish to hear anything more. That's your idea of a day's + pleasure, is it? I call it a day's disgrace, a day's miserable + giving-up. There, go in, go in; I'm ashamed of you all. Don't + let the neighbors see you, for pity's sake.—We keep him in the + kitchen,” she continues, recurring to Frank's long-unanswered + question concerning the lost child, “because he prefers it as being + the room nearest to the closet where the cookies are. He's taken + advantage of our sympathies to refuse everything but cookies.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose that's one of the rights of lost childhood,” + comments Frank, languidly; “there's no law that can compel him + to touch even cracker.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, you'd better go down and see what <i>you</i> can make + of him. He's driven <i>us</i> all wild.” + </p> + <p> + So Frank descends to the region now redolent of the preparing tea, and + finds upon a chair, in the middle of the kitchen floor, a very forlorn + little figure of a boy, mutely munching a sweet-cake, while now and then a + tear steals down his cheeks and moistens the grimy traces of former tears. + He and baby are, in the mean time regarding each other with a steadfast + glare, the cook and the nurse supporting baby in this rite of hospitality. + </p> + <p> + “Well, my little man,” says his host, “how did you get + here?” + </p> + <p> + The little man, perhaps because he is heartily sick of the question, is + somewhat slow to answer that there was a fire; and that he ran after the + steamer; and a girl found him and brought him up here. + </p> + <p> + “And that's all the blessed thing you can get out of him,” + says cook; and the lost boy looks as if he felt cook to be perfectly + right. + </p> + <p> + In spite of the well-meant endeavors of the household to wash him and + brush him, he is still a dreadfully travel-stained little boy, and he is + powdered in every secret crease and wrinkle by that dust of old + Charlesbridge, of which we always speak with an air of affected disgust, + and a feeling of ill-concealed pride in an abomination so strikingly and + peculiarly our own. He looks very much as if he had been following + fire-engines about the streets of our learned and pulverous suburb ever + since he could walk, and he certainly seems to feel himself in trouble to + a certain degree; but there is easily imaginable in his bearing a + conviction that after all the chief care is with others, and that, though + unhappy, he is not responsible. The principal victim of his sorrows is + also penetrated by this opinion, and after gazing forlornly upon him for a + while, asks mechanically, “What's your name?” + </p> + <p> + “Freddy,” is the laconic answer. + </p> + <p> + “Freddy—?” trying with an artful inflection to lead him + on to his surname. + </p> + <p> + “Freddy,” decidedly and conclusively. + </p> + <p> + “O, bless me! What's the name of the street your papa lives + on?” + </p> + <p> + This problem is far too deep for Freddy, and he takes a bite of sweet-cake + in sign that he does not think of solving it. Frank looks at him gloomily + for a moment, and then determines that he can grapple with the difficulty + more successfully after he has had tea. “Send up the supper, + Bridget. I think, my dear,” he says, after they have sat down, + “we'd better all question our lost child when we've + finished.” + </p> + <p> + So, when they have finished, they have him up in the sitting-room, and the + inquisition begins. + </p> + <p> + “Now, Freddy,” his host says, with a cheerful air of lifelong + friendship and confidence, “you know that everybody has got two + names. Of course your first name is Freddy, and it's a very pretty + name. Well, I want you to think real hard, and then tell me what your + other name is, so I can take you back to your mamma.” + </p> + <p> + At this allusion the child looks round on the circle of eager and + compassionate faces, and begins to shed tears and to wring all hearts. + </p> + <p> + “What's your name?” asks Frank, cheerfully,—“your + <i>other</i> name, you know?” + </p> + <p> + “Freddy,” sobbed the forlorn creature. + </p> + <p> + “O good heaven! this'll never do,” groaned the chief + inquisitor. “Now, Freddy, try not to cry. What is your papa's + name,—Mr.—?” with the leading inflection as before. + </p> + <p> + “Papa,” says Freddy. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0006" id="linkimage-0006"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/6000.jpg" alt="6000 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/6000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + “O, that'll never do! Not Mr. Papa?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” persists Freddy. + </p> + <p> + “But, Freddy,” interposes Mrs. Sallie, as her husband falls + back baffled, “when ladies come to see your mamma, what do they call + her? Mrs.—?” adopting Frank's alluring inflection. + </p> + <p> + “Mrs. Mamma,” answers Freddy, confirmed in his error by this + course; and a secret dismay possesses his questioners. They skirmish about + him with every sort of query; they try to entrap him into some kind of + revelation by apparently irrelevant remarks; they plan ambuscades and + surprises; but Freddy looks vigilantly round upon them, and guards his + personal history from every approach, and seems in every way so to have + the best of it, that it is almost exasperating. + </p> + <p> + “Kindness has proved futile,” observes Frank, “and I + think we ought as a last resort, before yielding ourselves to despair, to + use intimidation. Now, Fred,” he says, with sudden and terrible + severity, “what's your father's name?” + </p> + <p> + The hapless little soul is really moved to an effort of memory by this, + and blubbers out something that proves in the end to resemble the family + name, though for the present it is merely a puzzle of unintelligible + sounds.” + </p> + <p> + “Blackman?” cries Aunt Melissa, catching desperately at these + sounds. + </p> + <p> + On this, all the man and brother is roused in Freddy's bosom, and he + roars fiercely, “No! he ain't a black man! He's white!” + </p> + <p> + “I give it up,” says Frank, who has been looking for his hat. + “I'm afraid we can't make anything out of him; and I'll + have to go and report the case to the police. But, put him to bed, do, + Sallie; he's dropping with sleep.” + </p> + <p> + So he went out, of course supported morally by a sense of duty, but I am + afraid also by a sense of adventure in some degree. It is not every day + that, in so quiet a place as Charlesbridge, you can have a lost child cast + upon your sympathies; and I believe that when an appeal is not really + agonizing, we like so well to have our sympathies touched, we favorites of + the prosperous commonplace, that most of us would enter eagerly into a + pathetic case of this kind, even after a day's pleasure. Such was + certainly the mood of my friend, and he unconsciously prepared himself for + an equal interest on the part of the police; but this was an error. The + police heard his statement with all proper attention, and wrote it in full + upon the station-slate, but they showed no feeling whatever, and behaved + as if they valued a lost child no more than a child snug at home in his + own crib. They said that no doubt his parents would be asking at the + police-stations for him during the night, and, as if my friend would + otherwise have thought of putting him into the street, they suggested that + he should just keep the lost child till he was sent for. Modestly enough + Frank proposed that they should make some inquiry for his parents, and was + answered by the question whether they could take a man off his beat for + that purpose; and remembering that beats in Charlesbridge were of such + vastness that during his whole residence there he had never yet seen a + policeman on his street, he was obliged to own to himself that his + proposal was absurd. He felt the need of reinstating himself by something + more sensible, and so he said he thought he would go down to the Port and + leave word at the station there; and the police tacitly assenting to this + he went. + </p> + <p> + I who have sometimes hinted that the Square is not a centre of gayety, or + a scene of the greatest activity by day, feel it right to say that it has + some modest charms of its own on a summer's night, about the hour + when Frank passed through it, when the post-office has just been shut, and + when the different groups that haunt the place in front of the closing + shops have dwindled to the loungers fit though few who will keep it well + into the night, and may there be found, by the passenger on the last + horse-car out from Boston, wrapt in a kind of social silence, and + honorably attended by the policeman whose favored beat is in that + neighborhood. They seem a feature of the bygone village life of + Charlesbridge, and accord pleasantly with the town-pump and the public + horse-trough, and the noble elm that by night droops its boughs so + pensively, and probably dreams of its happy younger days when there were + no canker-worms in the world. Sometimes this choice company sits on the + curbing that goes round the terrace at the elm-tree's foot, and then + I envy every soul in it,—so tranquil it seems, so cool, so careless, + so morrowless. I cannot see the faces of that luxurious society, but there + I imagine is the local albino, and a certain blind man, who resorts + thither much by day, and makes a strange kind of jest of his own, with a + flicker of humor upon his sightless face, and a faith that others less + unkindly treated by nature will be able to see the point apparently not + always discernible to himself. Late at night I have a fancy that the + darkness puts him on an equality with other wits, and that he enjoys his + own brilliancy as well as any one. + </p> + <p> + At the Port station Frank was pleased and soothed by the tranquil air of + the policeman, who sat in his shirt-sleeves outside the door, and seemed + to announce, by his attitude of final disoccupation, that crimes and + misdemeanors were no more. This officer at once showed a desirable + interest in the case. He put on his blue coat that he might listen to the + whole story in a proper figure, and then he took down the main points on + the slate, and said that they would send word round to the other stations + in the city, and the boy's parents could hardly help hearing of him + that night. + </p> + <p> + Returned home, Frank gave his news, and then he and Mrs. Sallie went up to + look at the lost child as he slept. The sumptuous diet to which he had + confined himself from the first seemed to agree with him perfectly, for he + slept unbrokenly, and apparently without a consciousness of his woes. On a + chair lay his clothes, in a dusty little pathetic heap; they were + well-kept clothes, except for the wrong his wanderings had done them, and + they showed a motherly care here and there, which it was not easy to look + at with composure. The spectators of his sleep both thought of the curious + chance that had thrown this little one into their charge, and considered + that he was almost as completely a gift of the Unknown as if he had been + following a steamer in another planet, and had thence dropped into their + yard. His helplessness in accounting for himself was as affecting as that + of the sublimest metaphysician; and no learned man, no superior intellect, + no subtle inquirer among us lost children of the divine, forgotten home, + could have been less able to say how or whence he came to be just where he + found himself. We wander away and away; the dust of the road-side gathers + upon us; and when some strange shelter receives us, we lie down to our + sleep, inarticulate, and haunted with dreams of memory, or the memory of + dreams, knowing scarcely more of the past than of the future. + </p> + <p> + “What a strange world!” sighed Mrs. Sallie; and then, as this + was a mood far too speculative for her, she recalled herself to practical + life suddenly. “If we should have to adopt this child, Frank”—“Why, + bless my soul, we're not obliged to adopt him! Even a lost child can't + demand that.” + </p> + <p> + “We shall adopt him, if they don't come for him. And now, I + want to know” (Mrs. Sallie spoke as if the adoption had been + effected) “whether we shall give him our name, or some other?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I don't know. It's the first child I've + ever adopted,” said Frank “and upon my word, I can't say + whether you have to give him a new name or not. In fact, if I'd + thought of this affair of a name, I'd never have adopted him. It's + the greatest part of the burden, and if his father will only come for him, + I'll give him up without a murmur.” + </p> + <p> + In the interval that followed the proposal of this alarming difficulty, + and while he sat and waited vaguely for whatever should be going to happen + next, Frank was not able to repress a sense of personal resentment towards + the little vagrant sleeping so carelessly there, though at the bottom of + his heart there was all imaginable tenderness for him. In the fantastic + character which, to his weariness, the day's pleasure took on, it + seemed an extraordinary unkindness of fate that this lost child should + have been kept in reserve for him after all the rest; and he had so small + consciousness of bestowing shelter and charity, and so profound a feeling + of having himself been turned out of house and home by some surprising and + potent agency, that if the lost child had been a regiment of Fenians + billeted upon him, it could not have oppressed him more. While he remained + perplexed in this perverse sentiment of invasion and dispossession, + “Hark!” said Mrs. Sallie, “what's that?” + </p> + <p> + It was a noise of dragging and shuffling on the walk in front of the + house, and a low, hoarse whispering. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know,” said Frank, “but from the kind of + pleasure I've got out of it so far, I should say that this holiday + was capable of an earthquake before midnight.” + </p> + <p> + “Listen!” + </p> + <p> + They listened, as they must, and heard the outer darkness rehearse a + raucous dialogue between an unseen Bill and Jim, who were the more + terrible to the imagination from being so realistically named, and who + seemed to have in charge some nameless third person, a mute actor in the + invisible scene. There was doubt, which he uttered, in the mind of Jim, + whether they could get this silent comrade along much farther without + carrying him; and there was a growling assent from Bill that he <i>was</i> + pretty far gone, that was a fact, and that maybe Jim <i>had</i> better go + for the wagon; then there were quick, retreating steps; and then there was + a profound silence, in which the audience of this strange drama sat + thrilled and speechless. The effect was not less dreadful when there rose + a dull sound, as of a helpless body rubbing against the fence, and at last + lowered heavily to the ground. + </p> + <p> + “O!” cried Mrs. Sallie. “Do go out and help. He's + dying!” + </p> + <p> + But even as she spoke the noise of wheels was heard. A wagon stopped + before the door; there came a tugging and lifting, with a sound as of + crunching gravel, and then a “There!” of great relief. + </p> + <p> + “Frank!” said Mrs. Sallie very solemnly, “if you don't + go out and help those men, I'll never forgive you.” + </p> + <p> + Really, the drama had grown very impressive; it was a mystery, to say the + least; and so it must remain forever, for when Frank, infected at last by + Mrs. Sallie's faith in tragedy, opened the door and offered his + tardy services, the wagon was driven rapidly away without reply. They + never learned what it had all been; and I think that if one actually + honors mysteries, it is best not to look into them. How much finer, after + all, if you have such a thing as this happen before your door at midnight, + not to throw any light upon it! Then your probable tipsy man cannot be + proved other than a tragical presence, which you can match with any + inscrutable creation of fiction; and if you should ever come to write a + romance, as one is very liable to do in this age, there is your unknown, a + figure of strange and fearful interest, made to your hand, and capable of + being used, in or out of the body, with a very gloomy effect. + </p> + <p> + While our friends yet trembled with this sensation, quick steps ascended + to their door, and then followed a sharp, anxious tug at the bell. + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” cried Frank, prophetically, “here's the + father of our adopted son;” and he opened the door. + </p> + <p> + The gentleman who appeared there could scarcely frame the question to + which Frank replied so cheerfully: “O yes; he's here, and snug + in bed, and fast asleep. Come up-stairs and look at him. Better let him be + till morning, and then come after him,” he added, as they looked + down a moment on the little sleeper. + </p> + <p> + “O no, I couldn't,” said the father, <i>con expressione</i>; + and then he told how he had heard of this child's whereabouts at the + Port station, and had hurried to get him, and how his mother did not know + he was found yet, and was almost wild about him. They had no idea how he + had got lost, and his own blind story was the only tale of his adventure + that ever became known. + </p> + <p> + By this time his father had got the child partly awake, and the two men + were dressing him in men's clumsy fashion; and finally they gave it + up, and rolled him in a shawl. The father lifted the slight burden, and + two small arms fell about his neck. The weary child slept again. + </p> + <p> + “How has he behaved?” asked the father. + </p> + <p> + “Like a little hero,” said Frank, “but he's been a + cormorant for cookies. I think it right to tell you, in case he shouldn't + be very brilliant to-morrow, that he wouldn't eat a bit of anything + else.” + </p> + <p> + The father said he was the life of their house; and Frank said he knew how + that was,—that he had a life of the house of his own; and then the + father thanked him very simply and touchingly, and with the decent New + England self-restraint, which is doubtless so much better than any sort of + effusion. “Say good-night to the gentleman, Freddy,” he said + at the door; and Freddy with closed eyes murmured a good-night from far + within the land of dreams, and then was borne away to the house out of + which the life had wandered with his little feet. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know, Sallie,” said Frank, when he had given + all the eagerly demanded particulars about the child's father,—“I + don't know whether I should want many such holidays as this, in the + course of the summer. On the whole, I think I'd better overwork + myself and not take any relaxation, if I mean to live long. And yet I'm + not sure that the day's been altogether a failure, though all our + purposes of enjoyment have miscarried. I didn't plan to find a lost + child here, when I got home, and I'm afraid I haven't had + always the most Christian feeling towards him; but he's really the + saving grace of the affair; and if this were a little comedy I had been + playing, I should turn him to account with the jaded audience, and + advancing to the foot-lights, should say, with my hand on my waistcoat, + and a neat bow, that although every hope of the day had been disappointed, + and nothing I had meant to do had been done, yet the man who had ended at + midnight by restoring a lost child to the arms of its father, must own + that, in spite of adverse fortune, he had enjoyed A Day's Pleasure.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0007" id="linkimage-0007"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/7000.jpg" alt="7000 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/7000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE + </h2> + <p> + It was long past the twilight hour, which has been already mentioned as so + oppressive in suburban places, and it was even too late for visitors, when + a resident, whom I shall briefly describe as a Contributor to the + magazines, was startled by a ring at his door. As any thoughtful person + would have done upon the like occasion, he ran over his acquaintance in + his mind, speculating whether it were such or such a one, and dismissing + the whole list of improbabilities, before he laid down the book he was + reading, and answered the bell. When at last he did this, he was rewarded + by the apparition of an utter stranger on his threshold,—a gaunt + figure of forlorn and curious smartness towering far above him, that + jerked him a nod of the head, and asked if Mr. Hapford lived there. The + face which the lamp-light revealed was remarkable for a harsh two days' + growth of beard, and a single bloodshot eye; yet it was not otherwise a + sinister countenance, and there was something in the strange presence that + appealed and touched. The contributor, revolving the facts vaguely in his + mind, was not sure, after all, that it was not the man's clothes + rather than his expression that softened him toward the rugged visage: + they were so tragically cheap, and the misery of helpless needlewomen, and + the poverty and ignorance of the purchaser, were so apparent in their + shabby newness, of which they appeared still conscious enough to have led + the way to the very window, in the Semitic quarter of the city, where they + had lain ticketed, “This nobby suit for $15.” + </p> + <p> + But the stranger's manner put both his face and his clothes out of + mind, and claimed a deeper interest when, being answered that the person + for whom he asked did not live there, he set his bristling lips hard + together, and sighed heavily. + </p> + <p> + “They told me,” he said, in a hopeless way, “that he + lived on this street, and I've been to every other house. I'm + very anxious to find him, Cap'n,”—the contributor, of + course, had no claim to the title with which he was thus decorated,—“for + I've a daughter living with him, and I want to see her; I've + just got home from a two years' voyage, and”—there was a + struggle of the Adam's-apple in the man's gaunt throat—“I + find she's about all there is left of my family.” + </p> + <p> + How complex is every human motive! This contributor had been lately + thinking, whenever he turned the pages of some foolish traveller,—some + empty prattler of Southern or Eastern lands, where all sensation was long + ago exhausted, and the oxygen has perished from every sentiment, so has it + been breathed and breathed again,—that nowadays the wise adventurer + sat down beside his own register and waited for incidents to seek him out. + It seemed to him that the cultivation of a patient and receptive spirit + was the sole condition needed to insure the occurrence of all manner of + surprising facts within the range of one's own personal knowledge; + that not only the Greeks were at our doors, but the fairies and the genii, + and all the people of romance, who had but to be hospitably treated in + order to develop the deepest interest of fiction, and to become the + characters of plots so ingenious that the most cunning invention were poor + beside them. I myself am not so confident of this, and would rather trust + Mr. Charles Reade, say, for my amusement than any chance combination of + events. But I should be afraid to say how much his pride in the character + of the stranger's sorrows, as proof of the correctness of his + theory, prevailed with the contributor to ask him to come in and sit down; + though I hope that some abstract impulse of humanity, some compassionate + and unselfish care for the man's misfortunes as misfortunes, was not + wholly wanting. Indeed, the helpless simplicity with which he had confided + his case might have touched a harder heart. “Thank you,” said + the poor fellow, after a moment's hesitation. “I believe I + will come in. I've been on foot all day, and after such a long + voyage it makes a man dreadfully sore to walk about so much. Perhaps you + can think of a Mr. Hapford living somewhere in the neighborhood.” + </p> + <p> + He sat down, and, after a pondering silence, in which he had remained with + his head fallen upon his breast, “My name is Jonathan Tinker,” + he said, with the unaffected air which had already impressed the + contributor, and as if he felt that some form of introduction was + necessary, “and the girl that I want to find is Julia Tinker.” + Then he added, resuming the eventful personal history which the listener + exulted, while he regretted, to hear: “You see, I shipped first to + Liverpool, and there I heard from my family; and then I shipped again for + Hong-Kong, and after that I never heard a word: I seemed to miss the + letters everywhere. This morning, at four o'clock, I left my ship as + soon as she had hauled into the dock, and hurried up home. The house was + shut, and not a soul in it; and I didn't know what to do, and I sat + down on the doorstep to wait till the neighbors woke up, to ask them what + had become of my family. And the first one come out he told me my wife had + been dead a year and a half, and the baby I'd never seen, with her; + and one of my boys was dead; and he didn't know where the rest of + the children was, but he'd heard two of the little ones was with a + family in the city.” + </p> + <p> + The man mentioned these things with the half-apologetic air observable in + a certain kind of Americans when some accident obliges them to confess the + infirmity of the natural feelings. They do not ask your sympathy, and you + offer it quite at your own risk, with a chance of having it thrown back + upon your hands. The contributor assumed the risk so far as to say, + “Pretty rough!” when the stranger caused; and perhaps these + homely words were best suited to reach the homely heart. The man's + quavering lips closed hard again, a kind of spasm passed over his dark + face, and then two very small drops of brine shone upon his weather-worn + cheeks. This demonstration, into which he had been surprised, seemed to + stand for the passion of tears into which the emotional races fall at such + times. He opened his lips with a kind of dry click, and went on:—“I + hunted about the whole forenoon in the city, and at last I found the + children. I'd been gone so long they didn't know me, and + somehow I thought the people they were with weren't over-glad I'd + turned up. Finally the oldest child told me that Julia was living with a + Mr. Hapford on this street, and I started out here to-night to look her + up. If I can find her, I'm all right. I can get the family together, + then, and start new.” + </p> + <p> + “It seems rather odd,” mused the listener aloud, “that + the neighbors let them break up so, and that they should all scatter as + they did.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it ain't so curious as it seems, Cap'n. There was + money for them at the owners', all the time; I'd left part of + my wages when I sailed; but they didn't know how to get at it, and + what could a parcel of children do? Julia's a good girl, and when I + find her I'm all right.” + </p> + <p> + The writer could only repeat that there was no Mr. Hapford living on that + street, and never had been, so far as he knew. Yet there might be such a + person in the neighborhood; and they would go out together, and ask at + some of the houses about. But the stranger must first take a glass of + wine; for he looked used up. + </p> + <p> + The sailor awkwardly but civilly enough protested that he did not want to + give so much trouble, but took the glass, and, as he put it to his lips, + said formally, as if it were a toast or a kind of grace, “I hope I + may have the opportunity of returning the compliment.” The + contributor thanked him; though, as he thought of all the circumstances of + the case, and considered the cost at which the stranger had come to enjoy + his politeness, he felt little eagerness to secure the return of the + compliment at the same price, and added, with the consequence of another + set phrase, “Not at all.” But the thought had made him the + more anxious to befriend the luckless soul fortune had cast in his way; + and so the two sallied out together, and rang door-bells wherever lights + were still seen burning in the windows, and asked the astonished people + who answered their summons whether any Mr. Hapford were known to live in + the neighborhood. + </p> + <p> + And although the search for this gentleman proved vain, the contributor + could not feel that an expedition which set familiar objects in such novel + light? was altogether a failure. He entered so intimately into the cares + and anxieties of his <i>protege,</i> that at times he felt himself in some + inexplicable sort a shipmate of Jonathan Tinker, and almost personally a + partner of his calamities. The estrangement of all things which takes + place, within doors and without, about midnight may have helped to cast + this doubt upon his identity;—he seemed to be visiting now for the + first time the streets and neighborhoods nearest his own, and his feet + stumbled over the accustomed walks. In his quality of houseless wanderer, + and—so far as appeared to others—possibly worthless vagabond, + he also got a new and instructive effect upon the faces which, in his real + character, he knew so well by their looks of neighborly greeting; and it + is his belief that the first hospitable prompting of the human heart is to + shut the door in the eyes of homeless strangers who present themselves + after eleven o'clock. By that time the servants are all abed, and + the gentleman of the house answers the bell, and looks out with a loath + and bewildered face, which gradually changes to one of suspicion, and of + wonder as to what those fellows can possibly want of <i>him,</i> till at + last the prevailing expression is one of contrite desire to atone for the + first reluctance by any sort of service. The contributor professes to have + observed these changing phases in the visages of those whom he that night + called from their dreams, or arrested in the act of going to bed; and he + drew the conclusion—very proper for his imaginable connection with + the garroting and other adventurous brotherhoods—that the most + flattering moment for knocking on the head people who answer a late ring + at night is either in their first selfish bewilderment, or their final + self-abandonment to their better impulses. It does not seem to have + occurred to him that he would himself have been a much more favorable + subject for the predatory arts that any of his neighbors, if his shipmate, + the unknown companion of his researches for Mr. Hapford, had been at all + so minded. But the faith of the gaunt giant upon which he reposed was + good, and the contributor continued to wander about with him in perfect + safety. Not a soul among those they asked had ever heard of a Mr. Hapford,—far + less of a Julia Tinker living with him. But they all listened to the + contributor's explanation with interest and eventual sympathy; and + in truth,—briefly told, with a word now and then thrown in by + Jonathan Tinker, who kept at the bottom of the steps, showing like a + gloomy spectre in the night, or, in his grotesque length and gauntness, + like the other's shadow cast there by the lamplight,—it was a + story which could hardly fail to awaken pity. + </p> + <p> + At last, after ringing several bells where there were no lights, in the + mere wantonness of good-will, and going away before they could be answered + (it would be entertaining to know what dreams they caused the sleepers + within), there seemed to be nothing for it but to give up the search till + morning, and go to the main street and wait for the last horse-car to the + city. + </p> + <p> + There, seated upon the curbstone, Jonathan Tinker, being plied with a few + leading questions, told in hints and scraps the story of his hard life, + which was at present that of a second mate, and had been that of a + cabin-boy and of a seaman before the mast. The second mate's place + he held to be the hardest aboard ship. You got only a few dollars more + than the men, and you did not rank with the officers; you took your meals + alone, and in every thing you belonged by yourself. The men did not + respect you, and sometimes the captain abused you awfully before the + passengers. The hardest captain that Jonathan Tinker ever sailed with was + Captain Gooding of the Cape. It had got to be so that no man would ship + second mate under Captain Gooding; and Jonathan Tinker was with him only + one voyage. When he had been home awhile, he saw an advertisement for a + second mate, and he went round to the owners'. They had kept it + secret who the captain was; but there was Captain Gooding in the owners' + office. “Why, here's the man, now, that I want for a second + mate,” said he, when Jonathan Tinker entered; “he knows me.”—“Captain + Gooding, I know you 'most too well to want to sail under you,” + answered Jonathan. “I might go if I hadn't been with you one + voyage too many already.” + </p> + <p> + “And then the men!” said Jonathan, “the men coming + aboard drunk, and having to be pounded sober! And the hardest of the fight + falls on the second mate! Why, there isn't an inch of me that hasn't + been cut over or smashed into a jell. I've had three ribs broken; I've + got a scar from a knife on my cheek; and I've been stabbed bad + enough, half a dozen times, to lay me up.” + </p> + <p> + Here he gave a sort of desperate laugh, as if the notion of so much misery + and such various mutilation were too grotesque not to be amusing. “Well, + what can you do?” he went on. “If you don't strike, the + men think you're afraid of them; and so you have to begin hard and + go on hard. I always tell a man, 'Now, my man, I always begin with a + man the way I mean to keep on. You do your duty and you're all + right. But if you don't'—Well, the men ain't + Americans any more,—Dutch, Spaniards, Chinese, Portuguee,—and + it ain't like abusing a white man.” + </p> + <p> + Jonathan Tinker was plainly part of the horrible tyranny which we all know + exists on shipboard; and his listener respected him the more that, though + he had heart enough to be ashamed of it, he was too honest not to own it. + </p> + <p> + Why did he still follow the sea? Because he did not know what else to do. + When he was younger, he used to love it, but now he hated it. Yet there + was not a prettier life in the world if you got to be captain. He used to + hope for that once, but not now; though he <i>thought</i> he could + navigate a ship. Only let him get his family together again, and he would—yes, + he would—try to do something ashore. + </p> + <p> + No car had yet come in sight, and so the contributor suggested that they + should walk to the car-office, and look in the “Directory,” + which is kept there, for the name of Hapford, in search of whom it had + already been arranged that they should renew their acquaintance on the + morrow. Jonathan Tinker, when they had reached the office, heard with + constitutional phlegm that the name of the Hapford, for whom he inquired + was not in the “Directory.” “Never mind,” said the + other; “come round to my house in the morning. We'll find him + yet.” So they parted with a shake of the hand, the second mate + saying that he believed he should go down to the vessel and sleep aboard,—if + he could sleep,—and murmuring at the last moment the hope of + returning the compliment, while the other walked homeward, weary as to the + flesh, but, in spite of his sympathy for Jonathan Tinker, very elate in + spirit. The truth is,—and however disgraceful to human nature, let + the truth still be told,—he had recurred to his primal satisfaction + in the man as calamity capable of being used for such and such literary + ends, and, while he pitied him, rejoiced in him as an episode of real life + quite as striking and complete as anything in fiction. It was literature + made to his hand. Nothing could be better, he mused; and once more he + passed the details of the story in review, and beheld all those pictures + which the poor fellow's artless words had so vividly conjured up: he + saw him leaping ashore in the gray summer dawn as soon as the ship hauled + into the dock, and making his way, with his vague sea-legs unaccustomed to + the pavements, up through the silent and empty city streets; he imagined + the tumult of fear and hope which the sight of the man's home must + have caused in him, and the benumbing shock of finding it blind and deaf + to all his appeals; he saw him sitting down upon what had been his own + threshold, and waiting in a sort of bewildered patience till the neighbors + should be awake, while the noises of the streets gradually arose, and the + wheels began to rattle over the stones, and the milk-man and the ice-man + came and went, and the waiting figure began to be stared at, and to + challenge the curiosity of the passing policeman; he fancied the opening + of the neighbor's door, and the slow, cold understanding of the + case; the manner, whatever it was, in which the sailor was told that one + year before his wife had died, with her babe, and that his children were + scattered, none knew where. As the contributor dwelt pityingly upon these + things, but at the same time estimated their aesthetic value one by one, + he drew near the head of his street, and found himself a few paces behind + a boy slouching onward through the night, to whom he called out, + adventurously, and with no real hope of information,—“Do you + happen to know anybody on this street by the name of Hapford?” + </p> + <p> + “Why no, not in this town,” said the boy; but he added that + there was a street of the same name in a neighboring suburb, and that + there was a Hapford living on it. + </p> + <p> + “By Jove!” thought the contributor, “this is more like + literature than ever;” and he hardly knew whether to be more + provoked at his own stupidity in not thinking of a street of the same name + in the next village, or delighted at the element of fatality which the + fact introduced into the story; for Tinker, according to his own account, + must have landed from the cars a few rods from the very door he was + seeking, and so walked farther and farther from it every moment. He + thought the case so curious, that he laid it briefly before the boy, who, + however he might have been inwardly affected, was sufficiently true to the + national traditions not to make the smallest conceivable outward sign of + concern in it. + </p> + <p> + At home, however, the contributor related his adventures and the story of + Tinker's life, adding the fact that he had just found out where Mr. + Hapford lived. “It was the only touch wanting,” said he; + “the whole thing is now perfect.” + </p> + <p> + “It's <i>too</i> perfect,” was answered from a sad + enthusiasm. “Don't speak of it! I can't take it in.” + </p> + <p> + “But the question is,” said the contributor, penitently taking + himself to task for forgetting the hero of these excellent misfortunes in + his delight at their perfection, “how am I to sleep to-night, + thinking of that poor soul's suspense and uncertainty? Never mind,—I'll + be up early, and run over and make sure that it is Tinker's Hapford, + before he gets out here, and have a pleasant surprise for him. Would it + not be a justifiable <i>coup de théâtre</i> to fetch his daughter here, + and let her answer his ring at the door when he comes in the morning?” + </p> + <p> + This plan was discouraged. “No, no; let them meet in their own way. + Just take him to Hapford's house and leave him.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well. But he's too good a character to lose sight of. He's + got to come back here and tell us what he intends to do.” + </p> + <p> + The birds, next morning, not having had the second mate on their minds + either as an unhappy man or a most fortunate episode, but having slept + long and soundly, were singing in a very sprightly way in the way-side + trees; and the sweetness of their notes made the contributor's heart + light as he climbed the hill and rang at Mr. Hapford's door. + </p> + <p> + The door was opened by a young girl of fifteen or sixteen, whom he knew at + a glance for the second mate's daughter, but of whom, for form's + sake, he asked if there were a girl named Julia Tinker living there. + </p> + <p> + “My name's Julia Tinker,” answered the maid, who had + rather a disappointing face. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said the contributor, “your father's got + back from his Hong-Kong voyage.” + </p> + <p> + “Hong-Kong voyage?” echoed the girl, with a stare of helpless + inquiry, but no other visible emotion. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He had never heard of your mother's death. He came home + yesterday morning, and was looking for you all day.” + </p> + <p> + Julia Tinker remained open-mouthed but mute; and the other was puzzled at + the want of feeling shown, which he could not account for even as a + national trait. “Perhaps there's some mistake,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “There must be,” answered Julia: “my father hasn't + been to sea for a good many years. <i>My</i> father,” she added, + with a diffidence indescribably mingled with a sense of distinction,—“<i>my</i> + father's in State's Prison. What kind of looking man was this?” + </p> + <p> + The contributor mechanically described him. + </p> + <p> + Julia Tinker broke into a loud, hoarse laugh. “Yes, it's him, + sure enough.” And then, as if the joke were too good to keep: + “Miss Hapford, Miss Hapford, father's got out. Do come here!” + she called into a back room. + </p> + <p> + When Mrs. Hapford appeared, Julia fell back, and, having deftly caught a + fly on the door-post, occupied herself in plucking it to pieces, while she + listened to the conversation of the others. + </p> + <p> + “It's all true enough,” said Mrs. Hapford, when the + writer had recounted the moving story of Jonathan Tinker, “so far as + the death of his wife and baby goes. But he hasn't been to sea for a + good many years, and he must have just come out of State's Prison, + where he was put for bigamy. There's always two sides to a story, + you know; but they say it broke his first wife's heart, and she + died. His friends don't want him to find his children, and this girl + especially.” + </p> + <p> + “He's found his children in the city,” said the + contributor, gloomily, being at a loss what to do or say, in view of the + wreck of his romance. + </p> + <p> + “O, he's found 'em has he?” cried Julia, with + heightened amusement. “Then he'll have me next, if I don't + pack and go.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm very, very sorry,” said the contributor, secretly + resolved never to do another good deed, no matter how temptingly the + opportunity presented itself. “But you may depend he won't + find out from <i>me</i> where you are. Of course I had no earthly reason + for supposing his story was not true.” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” said kind-hearted Mrs. Hapford, mingling a drop + of honey with the gall in the contributor's soul, “you only + did your duty.” + </p> + <p> + And indeed, as he turned away he did not feel altogether without + compensation. However Jonathan Tinker had fallen in his esteem as a man, + he had even risen as literature. The episode which had appeared so perfect + in its pathetic phases did not seem less finished as a farce; and this + person, to whom all things of every-day life presented themselves in + periods more or less rounded, and capable of use as facts or + illustrations, could not but rejoice in these new incidents, as + dramatically fashioned as the rest. It occurred to him that, wrought into + a story, even better use might be made of the facts now than before, for + they had developed questions of character and of human nature which could + not fail to interest. The more he pondered upon his acquaintance with + Jonathan Tinker, the more fascinating the erring mariner became, in his + complex truth and falsehood, his delicately blending shades of artifice + and <i>naïveté.</i> He must, it was felt, have believed to a certain point + in his own inventions: nay, starting with that groundwork of truth,—the + fact that his wife was really dead, and that he had not seen his family + for two years,—why should he not place implicit faith in all the + fictions reared upon it? It was probable that he felt a real sorrow for + her loss, and that he found a fantastic consolation in depicting the + circumstances of her death so that they should look like his inevitable + misfortunes rather than his faults. He might well have repented his + offense during those two years of prison; and why should he not now cast + their dreariness and shame out of his memory, and replace them with the + freedom and adventure of a two years' voyage to China,—so + probable, in all respects, that the fact should appear an impossible + nightmare? In the experiences of his life he had abundant material to + furnish forth the facts of such a voyage, and in the weariness and + lassitude that should follow a day's walking equally after a two + years' voyage and two years' imprisonment, he had as much + physical proof in favor of one hypothesis as the other. It was doubtless + true, also, as he said, that he had gone to his house at dawn, and sat + down on the threshold of his ruined home; and perhaps he felt the desire + he had expressed to see his daughter, with a purpose of beginning life + anew; and it may have cost him a veritable pang when he found that his + little ones did not know him. All the sentiments of the situation were + such as might persuade a lively fancy of the truth of its own inventions; + and as he heard these continually repeated by the contributor in their + search for Mr. Hapford, they must have acquired an objective force and + repute scarcely to be resisted. At the same time, there were touches of + nature throughout Jonathan Tinker's narrative which could not fail + to take the faith of another. The contributor, in reviewing it, thought it + particularly charming that his mariner had not overdrawn himself, or + attempted to paint his character otherwise than as it probably was; that + he had shown his ideas and practices of life to be those of a second mate, + nor more nor less, without the gloss of regret or the pretenses to + refinement that might be pleasing to the supposed philanthropist with whom + he had fallen in. Captain Gooding was of course a true portrait; and there + was nothing in Jonathan Tinker's statement of the relations of a + second mate to his superiors and his inferiors which did not agree + perfectly with what the contributor had just read in “Two Years + before the Mast,”—a book which had possibly cast its glamour + upon the adventure. He admired also the just and perfectly characteristic + air of grief in the bereaved husband and father,—those occasional + escapes from the sense of loss into a brief hilarity and forgetfulness, + and those relapses into the hovering gloom, which every one has observed + in this poor, crazy human nature when oppressed by sorrow, and which it + would have been hard to simulate. But, above all, he exulted in that + supreme stroke of the imagination given by the second mate when, at + parting, he said he believed he would go down and sleep on board the + vessel. In view of this, the State's Prison theory almost appeared a + malign and foolish scandal. + </p> + <p> + Yet even if this theory were correct, was the second mate wholly + answerable for beginning his life again with the imposture he had + practiced? The contributor had either so fallen in love with the literary + advantages of his forlorn deceiver that he would see no moral obliquity in + him, or he had touched a subtler verity at last in pondering the affair. + It seemed now no longer a farce, but had a pathos which, though very + different from that of its first aspect, was hardly less tragical. Knowing + with what coldness, or, at the best, uncandor, he (representing Society in + its attitude toward convicted Error) would have met the fact had it been + owned to him at first, he had not virtue enough to condemn the illusory + stranger, who must have been helpless to make at once evident any + repentance he felt or good purpose he cherished. Was it not one of the + saddest consequences of the man's past,—a dark necessity of + misdoing,—that, even with the best will in the world to retrieve + himself, his first endeavor must involve a wrong? Might he not, indeed, be + considered a martyr, in some sort, to his own admirable impulses? I can + see clearly enough where the contributor was astray in this reasoning, but + I can also understand how one accustomed to value realities only as they + resembled fables should be won with such pensive sophistry; and I can + certainly sympathize with his feeling that the mariner's failure to + reappear according to appointment added its final and most agreeable charm + to the whole affair, and completed the mystery from which the man emerged + and which swallowed him up again. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SCENE + </h2> + <p> + On that loveliest autumn morning, the swollen tide had spread over all the + russet levels, and gleamed in the sunlight a mile away. As the contributor + moved onward down the street, luminous on either hand with crimsoning and + yellowing maples, he was so filled with the tender serenity of the scene, + as not to be troubled by the spectacle of small Irish houses standing + miserably about on the flats ankle deep, as it were, in little pools of + the tide, or to be aware at first, of a strange stir of people upon the + streets: a fluttering to and fro and lively encounter and separation of + groups of bareheaded women, a flying of children through the broken fences + of the neighborhood, and across the vacant lots on which the insulted + sign-boards forbade them to trespass; a sluggish movement of men through + all, and a pause of different vehicles along the sidewalks. When a sense + of these facts had penetrated his enjoyment, he asked a matron whose snowy + arms, freshly taken from the wash-tub, were folded across a mighty chest, + “What is the matter?” + </p> + <p> + “A girl drowned herself, sir-r-r, over there on the flats, last + Saturday, and they're looking for her.” + </p> + <p> + “It was the best thing she could do,” said another matron + grimly. + </p> + <p> + Upon this answer that literary soul fell at once to patching himself up a + romantic story for the suicide, after the pitiful fashion of this + fiction-ridden age, when we must relate everything we see to something we + have read. He was the less to blame for it, because he could not help it; + but certainly he is not to be praised for his associations with the tragic + fact brought to his notice. Nothing could have been more trite or obvious, + and he felt his intellectual poverty so keenly that he might almost have + believed his discomfort a sympathy for the girl who had drowned herself + last Saturday. But of course, this could not be, for he had but lately + been thinking what a very tiresome figure to the imagination the Fallen + Woman had become. As a fact of Christian civilization, she was a spectacle + to wring one's heart, he owned; but he wished she were well out of + the romances, and it really seemed a fatality that she should be the + principal personage of this little scene. The preparation for it, whatever + it was to be, was so deliberate, and the reality had so slight relation to + the French roofs and modern improvements of the comfortable Charlesbridge + which he knew, that he could not consider himself other than as a + spectator awaiting some entertainment, with a faint inclination to be + critical. + </p> + <p> + In the mean time there passed through the motley crowd, not so much a cry + as a sensation of “They've found her, they've found her!” + and then the one terrible picturesque fact, “She was standing + upright!” + </p> + <p> + Upon this there was wilder and wilder clamor among the people, dropping by + degrees and almost dying away, before a flight of boys came down the + street with the tidings, “They are bringing her—bringing her + in a wagon.” + </p> + <p> + The contributor knew that she whom they were bringing in the wagon, had + had the poetry of love to her dismal and otherwise squalid death; but the + history was of fancy, not of fact in his mind. Of course, he reflected, + her lot must have been obscure and hard; the aspect of those concerned + about her death implied that. But of her hopes and her fears, who could + tell him anything? To be sure he could imagine the lovers, and how they + first met, and where, and who he was that was doomed to work her shame and + death; but here his fancy came upon something coarse and common: a man of + her own race and grade, handsome after that manner of beauty which is so + much more hateful than ugliness is; or, worse still, another kind of man + whose deceit must have been subtler and wickeder; but whatever the person, + a presence defiant of sympathy or even interest, and simply horrible. Then + there were the details of the affair, in great degree common to all love + affairs, and not varying so widely in any condition of life; for the + passion which is so rich and infinite to those within its charm, is apt to + seem a little tedious and monotonous in its character, and poor in + resources to the cold looker-on. + </p> + <p> + Then, finally, there was the crazy purpose and its fulfillment: the + headlong plunge from bank or bridge; the eddy, and the bubbles on the + current that calmed itself above the suicide; the tide that rose and + stretched itself abroad in the sunshine, carrying hither and thither the + burden with which it knew not what to do; the arrest, as by some ghastly + caprice of fate, of the dead girl, in that upright posture, in which she + should meet the quest for her, as it were defiantly. + </p> + <p> + And now they were bringing her in a wagon. + </p> + <p> + Involuntarily all stood aside, and waited till the funeral car, which they + saw, should come up toward them through the long vista of the maple-shaded + street, a noiseless riot stirring the legs and arms of the boys into + frantic demonstration, while the women remained quiet with arms folded or + akimbo. Before and behind the wagon, driven slowly, went a guard of ragged + urchins, while on the raised seat above sat two Americans, unperturbed by + anything, and concerned merely with the business of the affair. + </p> + <p> + The vehicle was a grocer's cart which had perhaps been pressed into + the service; and inevitably the contributor thought of Zenobia, and of + Miles Coverdale's belief that if she could have foreboded all the <i>post-mortem</i> + ugliness and grotesqueness of suicide, she never would have drowned + herself. This girl, too, had doubtless had her own ideas of the effect + that her death was to make, her conviction that it was to wring one heart, + at least, and to strike awe and pity to every other; and her woman's + soul must have been shocked from death could she have known in what a + ghastly comedy the body she put off was to play a part. + </p> + <p> + In the bottom of the cart lay something long and straight and terrible, + covered with a red shawl that drooped over the end of the wagon; and on + this thing were piled the baskets in which the grocers had delivered their + orders for sugar and flour, and coffee and tea. As the cart jolted through + their lines, the boys could no longer be restrained; they broke out with + wild yells, and danced madly about it, while the red shawl hanging from + the rigid feet nodded to their frantic mirth; and the sun dropped its + light through the maples and shone bright upon the flooded date. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + JUBILEE DAYS + </h2> + <p> + I believe I have no good reason for including among these suburban + sketches my recollections of the Peace Jubilee, celebrated by a monster + musical entertainment at Boston, in June, 1869; and I do not know if it + will serve as excuse for their intrusion to say that the exhibition was + not urban in character, and that I attended it in a feeling of curiosity + and amusement which the Bostonians did not seem to feel, and which I + suspect was a strictly suburban if not rural sentiment. + </p> + <p> + I thought, on that Tuesday morning, as our horse-car drew near the Long + Bridge, and we saw the Coliseum spectral through the rain, that Boston was + going to show people representing other parts of the country her Notion of + weather. I looked forward to a forenoon of clammy warmth, and an afternoon + of clammy cold and of east wind, with a misty nightfall soaking men to the + bones. But the day really turned out well enough; it was showery, but not + shrewish, and it smiled pleasantly at sunset, as if content with the + opening ceremonies of the Great Peace Jubilee. + </p> + <p> + The city, as we entered it, gave due token of excitement, and we felt the + celebration even in the air, which had a holiday quality very different + from that of ordinary workday air. The crowds filled the decorous streets, + and the trim pathways of the Common and the Public Garden, and flowed in + an orderly course towards the vast edifice on the Back Bay, presenting the + interesting points which always distinguish a crowd come to town from a + city crowd. You get so used to the Boston face and the Boston dress, that + a coat from New York or a visage from Chicago is at once conspicuous to + you; and in these people there was not only this strangeness, but the + different oddities that lurk in out-of-way corners of society everywhere + had started suddenly into notice. Long-haired men, popularly supposed to + have perished with the institution of slavery, appeared before me, and men + with various causes and manias looking from their wild eyes confronted + each other, let alone such charlatans as had clothed themselves quaintly + or grotesquely to add a charm to the virtue of whatever nostrum they + peddled. It was, however, for the most part, a remarkably well-dressed + crowd; and therein it probably differed more than in any other respect + from the crowd which a holiday would have assembled in former times. There + was little rusticity to be noted anywhere, and the uncouthness which has + already disappeared from the national face seemed to be passing from the + national wardrobe. Nearly all the visitors seemed to be Americans, but + neither the Yankee type nor the Hoosier was to be found. They were + apparently very happy, too; the ancestral solemnity of the race that + amuses itself sadly was not to be seen in them, and, if they were not + making it a duty to be gay, they were really taking their pleasure in a + cheerful spirit. + </p> + <p> + There was, in fact, something in the sight of the Coliseum, as we + approached it, which was a sufficient cause of elation to whoever is + buoyed up by the flutter of bright flags, and the movement in and about + holiday booths, as I think we all are apt to be. One may not have the + stomach of happier days for the swing or the whirligig; he may not drink + soda-water intemperately; pop-corn may not tempt him, nor tropical fruits + allure; but he beholds them without gloom,—nay, a grin inevitably + lights up his countenance at the sight of a great show of these amusements + and refreshments. And any Bostonian might have felt proud that morning + that his city did not hide the light of her mercantile merit under a + bushel, but blazoned it about on the booths and walls in every variety of + printed and painted advertisement. To the mere aesthetic observer, these + vast placards gave the delight of brilliant color, and blended prettily + enough in effect with the flags; and at first glance I received quite as + much pleasure from the frescoes that advised me where to buy my summer + clothing, as from any bunting I saw. + </p> + <p> + I had the good fortune on the morning of this first Jubilee day to view + the interior of the Coliseum when there was scarcely anybody there,—a + trifle of ten thousand singers at one end, and a few thousand other people + scattered about over the wide expanses of parquet and galleries. The + decorations within, as without, were a pleasure to the eyes that love + gayety of color; and the interior was certainly magnificent, with those + long lines of white and blue drapery roofing the balconies, the slim, + lofty columns festooned with flags and drooping banners, the arms of the + States decking the fronts of the galleries, and the arabesques of painted + muslin everywhere. I do not know that my taste concerned itself with the + decorations, or that I have any taste in such things; but I testify that + these tints and draperies gave no small part of the comfort of being where + all things conspired for one's pleasure. The airy amplitude of the + building, the perfect order and the perfect freedom of movement, the ease + of access and exit, the completeness of the arrangements that in the + afternoon gave all of us thirty thousand spectators a chance to behold the + great spectacle as well as to hear the music, were felt, I am sure, as + personal favors by every one. These minor particulars, in fact, served + greatly to assist you in identifying yourself, when the vast hive swarmed + with humanity, and you became a mere sentient atom of the mass. + </p> + <p> + It was rumored in the morning that the ceremonies were to begin with + prayer by a hundred ministers, but I missed this striking feature of the + exhibition, for I did not arrive in the afternoon till the last speech was + being made by a gentleman whom I saw gesticulating effectively, and whom I + suppose to have been intelligible to a matter of twenty thousand people in + his vicinity, but who was to me, of the remote, outlying thirty thousand, + a voice merely. One word only I caught, and I report it here that + posterity may know as much as we thirty thousand contemporaries did of + </p> + <h3> + THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. + </h3> + <p> + . . . . . . . (<i>sensation</i>.) . . . . . . . . . . (<i>cheers</i>.). . + . . refinement . . . . . . . . . . (<i>great applause</i>.) + </p> + <p> + I do not know if I shall be able to give an idea of the immensity of this + scene; but if such a reader as has the dimensions of the Coliseum + accurately fixed in his mind will, in imagination, densely hide all that + interminable array of benching in the parquet and the galleries and the + slopes at either end of the edifice with human heads, showing here crowns, + there occiputs, and yonder faces, he will perhaps have some notion of the + spectacle as we beheld it from the northern hill-side. Some thousands of + heads nearest were recognizable as attached by the usual neck to the + customary human body, but for the rest, we seemed to have entered a world + of cherubim. Especially did the multitudinous singers seated far opposite + encourage this illusion; and their fluttering fans and handkerchiefs + wonderfully mocked the movement of those cravat-like pinions which the + fancy attributed to them. They rose or sank at the wave of the director's + baton; and still looked like an innumerable flock of cherubs drifting over + some slope of Paradise, or settling upon it,—if cherubs <i>can</i> + settle. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0008" id="linkimage-0008"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/8000.jpg" alt="8000 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/8000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + The immensity was quite as striking to the mind as to the eye, and an + absolute democracy was appreciable in it. Not only did all artificial + distinctions cease, but those of nature were practically obliterated, and + you felt for once the full meaning of unanimity. No one was at a + disadvantage; one was as wise, as good, as handsome as another. In most + public assemblages, the foolish eye roves in search of the vanity of + female beauty, and rests upon some lovely visage, or pretty figure; but + here it seemed to matter nothing whether ladies were well or ill-looking; + and one might have been perfectly ascetic without self-denial. A blue eye + or a black,—what of it? A mass of blonde or chestnut hair, this sort + of walking-dress or that,—you might note the difference casually in + a few hundred around you; but a sense of those myriads of other eyes and + chignons and walking-dresses absorbed the impression in an instant, and + left a dim, strange sense of loss, as if all women had suddenly become + Woman. For the time, one would have been preposterously conceited to have + felt his littleness in that crowd; you never thought of yourself in an + individual capacity at all. It was as if you were a private in an army, or + a very ordinary billow of the sea, feeling the battle or the storm, in a + collective sort of way, but unable to distinguish your sensations from + those of the mass. If a rafter had fallen and crushed you and your + unimportant row of people, you could scarcely have regarded it as a + personal calamity, but might have found it disagreeable as a shock to that + great body of humanity. Recall, then, how astonished you were to be + recognized by some one, and to have your hand shaken in your individual + character of Smith. “Smith? My dear What's-your-name, I am for + the present the fifty-thousandth part of an enormous emotion!” + </p> + <p> + It was as difficult to distribute the various facts of the whole effect, + as to identify one's self. I had only a public and general + consciousness of the delight given by the harmony of hues in the parquet + below; and concerning the orchestra I had at first no distinct impression + save of the three hundred and thirty violin-bows held erect like standing + wheat at one motion of the director's wand, and then falling as if + with the next he swept them down. Afterwards files of men with horns, and + other files of men with drums and cymbals, discovered themselves; while + far above all, certain laborious figures pumped or ground with incessant + obeisance at the apparatus supplying the organ with wind. + </p> + <p> + What helped, more than anything else, to restore you your dispersed and + wandering individuality was the singing of Parepa-Rosa, as she triumphed + over the harmonious rivalry of the orchestra. There was something in the + generous amplitude and robust cheerfulness of this great artist that + accorded well with the ideal of the occasion; she was in herself a great + musical festival; and one felt, as she floated down the stage with her + far-spreading white draperies, and swept the audience a colossal courtesy, + that here was the embodied genius of the Jubilee. I do not trust myself to + speak particularly of her singing, for I have the natural modesty of + people who know nothing about music, and I have not at command the + phraseology of those who pretend to understand it; but I say that her + voice filled the whole edifice with delicious melody, that it soothed and + composed and utterly enchanted, that, though two hundred violins + accompanied her, the greater sweetness of her note prevailed over all, + like a mighty will commanding many. What a sublime ovation for her when a + hundred thousand hands thundered their acclaim! A victorious general, an + accepted lover, a successful young author,—these know a measure of + bliss, I dare say; but in one throb, the singer's heart, as it leaps + in exultation at the loud delight of her applausive thousands, must + out-enjoy them all. Let me lay these poor little artificial flowers of + rhetoric at the feet of the divine singer, as a faint token of gratitude + and eloquent intention. + </p> + <p> + When Parepa (or Prepper, as I have heard her name popularly pronounced) + had sung, the revived consciousness of an individual life rose in + rebellion against the oppression of that dominant vastness. In fact, human + nature can stand only so much of any one thing. To a certain degree you + accept and conceive of facts truthfully, but beyond this a mere + fantasticality rules; and having got enough of grandeur, the senses played + themselves false. That array of fluttering and tuning people on the + southern slope began to look minute, like the myriad heads assembled in + the infinitesimal photograph which you view through one of those little + half-inch lorgnettes; and you had the satisfaction of knowing that to any + lovely infinitesimality yonder you showed no bigger than a carpet-tack. + The whole performance now seemed to be worked by those tireless figures + pumping at the organ, in obedience to signals from a very alert figure on + the platform below. The choral and orchestral thousands sang and piped and + played; and at a given point in the <i>scena</i> from Verdi, a hundred + fairies in red shirts marched down through the sombre mass of puppets and + beat upon as many invisible anvils. + </p> + <p> + This was the stroke of anti-climax; and the droll sound of those anvils, + so far above all the voices and instruments in its pitch, thoroughly + disillusioned you and restored you finally to your proper entity and + proportions. It was the great error of the great Jubilee, and where almost + everything else was noble and impressive,—where the direction was + faultless, and the singing and instrumentation as perfectly controlled as + if they were the result of one volition,—this anvil-beating was + alone ignoble and discordant,—trivial and huge merely. Not even the + artillery accompaniment, in which the cannon were made to pronounce words + of two syllables, was so bad. + </p> + <p> + The dimensions of this sketch bear so little proportion to those of the + Jubilee, that I must perforce leave most of its features unnoticed; but I + wish to express the sense of enjoyment which prevailed (whenever the + anvils were not beaten) over every other feeling, even over wonder. To the + ear as to the eye it was a delight, and it was an assured success in the + popular affections from the performance of the first piece. For my own + part, if one pleasurable sensation, besides that received from Parepa's + singing, distinguished itself from the rest, it was that given by the + performance of the exquisite Coronation March from Meyerbeer's + “Prophet;” but I say this under protest of the pleasure taken + in the choral rendering of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Closely + allying themselves to these great raptures were the minor joys of + wandering freely about from point to point, of receiving fresh sensations + from the varying lights and aspects in which the novel scene presented + itself with its strange fascinations, and of noting, half consciously, the + incessant movement of the crowd as it revealed itself in changing effects + of color. Then the gay tumult of the fifteen minutes of intermission + between the parts, when all rose with a <i>susurrus</i> of innumerable + silks, and the thousands of pretty singers fluttered about, and gossiped + tremulously and delightedly over the glory of the performance, revealing + themselves as charming feminine personalities, each with her share in the + difficulty and the achievement, each with her pique or pride, and each her + something to tell her friend of the conduct, agreeable or displeasing, of + some particular him! Even the quick dispersion of the mass at the close + was a marvel of orderliness and grace, as the melting and separating + parts, falling asunder, radiated from the centre, and flowed and rippled + rapidly away, and left the great hall empty and bare at last. + </p> + <p> + And as you emerged from the building, what bizarre and perverse feeling + was that you knew? Something as if all-out-doors were cramped and small, + and it were better to return to the freedom and amplitude of the interior? + </p> + <p> + On the second day, much that was wonderful in a first experience of the + festival was gone; but though the novelty had passed away, the cause for + wonder was even greater. If on the first day the crowd was immense, it was + now something which the imperfect state of the language will not permit me + to describe; perhaps <i>awful</i> will serve the purpose as well as any + other word now in use. As you looked round, from the centre of the + building, on that restless, fanning, fluttering multitude, to right and + left and north and south, all comparisons and similitudes abandoned you. + If you were to write of the scene, you felt that your effort, at the best, + must be a meagre sketch, suggesting something to those who had seen the + fact, but conveying no intelligible impression of it to any one else. The + galleries swarmed, the vast slopes were packed, in the pampa-like parquet + even the aisles were half filled with chairs, while a cloud of placeless + wanderers moved ceaselessly on the borders of the mass under the + balconies. + </p> + <p> + When that common-looking, uncommon little man whom we have called to rule + over us entered the house, and walked quietly down to his seat in the + centre of it, a wild, inarticulate clamor, like no other noise in the + world, swelled from every side, till General Grant rose and showed + himself, when it grew louder than ever, and then gradully subsided into + silence. Then a voice, which might be uttering some mortal alarm, broke + repeatedly across the stillness from one of the balconies, and a thousand + glasses were leveled in that direction, while everywhere else the mass + hushed itself with a mute sense of peril. The capacity of such an + assemblage for self-destruction was, in fact, but too evident. From fire, + in an edifice of which the sides could be knocked out in a moment, there + could have been little danger; the fabric's strength had been + perfectly tested the day before, and its fall was not to be apprehended; + but we had ourselves greatly to dread. A panic could have been caused by + any mad or wanton person, in which thousands might have been instantly + trampled to death; and it seemed long till that foolish voice was stilled, + and the house lapsed back into tranquillity, and the enjoyment of the + music. In the performance I recall nothing disagreeable, nothing that to + my ignorance seemed imperfect, though I leave it to the wise in music to + say how far the great concert was a success. I saw a flourish of the + director's wand, and I heard the voices or the instruments, or both, + respond, and I knew by my programme that I was enjoying an unprecedented + quantity of Haydn or Handel or Meyerbeer or Rossini or Mozart, afforded + with an unquestionable precision and promptness; but I own that I liked + better to stroll about the three-acre house, and that for me the music + was, at best, only one of the joys of the festival. + </p> + <p> + There was good hearing outside for those that desired to listen to the + music, with seats to let in the surrounding tents and booths; and there + was unlimited seeing for the mere looker-on. At least fifty thousand + people seemed to have come to the Jubilee with no other purpose than to + gaze upon the outside of the building. The crowd was incomparably greater + than that of the day before; all the main thoroughfares of the city roared + with a tide of feet that swept through the side streets, and swelled + aimlessly up the places, and eddied there, and poured out again over the + pavements. The carriage-ways were packed with every sort of vehicle, with + foot-passengers crowded from the sidewalks, and with the fragments of the + military parade in honor of the President, with infantry, with straggling + cavalrymen, with artillery. All the paths of the Common and the Garden + were filled, and near the Coliseum the throngs densified on every side + into an almost impenetrable mass, that made the doors of the building + difficult to approach and at times inaccessible. + </p> + <p> + The crowd differed from that of the first day chiefly in size. There were + more country faces and country garbs to be seen, though it was still, on + the whole, a regular-featured and well-dressed crowd, with still very few + but American visages. It seemed to be also a very frugal-minded crowd, and + to spend little upon the refreshments and amusements provided for it. In + these, oddly enough, there was nothing of the march of mind to be + observed; they Were the refreshments and amusements of a former + generation. I think it would not be extravagant to say that there were + tons of pie for sale in a multitude of booths, with lemonade, soda-water, + and ice-cream in proportion; but I doubt if there was a ton of pie sold, + and towards the last the venerable pastry was quite covered with dust. + Neither did people seem to care much for oranges or bananas or peanuts, or + even pop-corn,—five cents a package and a prize in each package. + Many booths stood unlet, and in others the pulverous ladies and gentlemen, + their proprietors, were in the enjoyment of a leisure which would have + been elegant if it had not been forced. There was one shanty, not + otherwise distinguished from the rest, in which French soups were declared + to be for sale; but these alien pottages seemed to be no more favored than + the most poisonous of our national viands. But perhaps they were not + French soups, or perhaps the vicinage of the shanty was not such as to + impress a belief in their genuineness upon people who like French soups. + Let us not be too easily disheartened by the popular neglect of them. If + the daring reformer who inscribed French soups upon his sign will reappear + ten years hence, we shall all flock to his standard. Slavery is abolished; + pie must follow. Doubtless in the year 1900, the managers of a Jubilee + would even let the refreshment-rooms within their Coliseum to a cook who + would offer the public something not so much worse than the worst that + could be found in the vilest shanty restaurant on the ground. At the + Jubilee, of which I am writing, the unhappy person who went into the + Coliseum rooms to refresh himself was offered for coffee a salty and + unctuous wash, in one of those thick cups which are supposed to be proof + against the hard usage of “guests” and scullions in humble + eating-houses, and which are always so indescribably nicked and cracked, + and had pushed towards him a bowl of veteran sugar, and a tin spoon that + had never been cleaned in the world, while a young person stood by, and + watched him, asking, “Have you paid for that coffee?” + </p> + <p> + The side-shows and the other amusements seemed to have addressed + themselves to the crowd with the same mistaken notion of its character and + requirements; though I confess that I witnessed their neglect with regret, + whether from a feeling that they were at least harmless, or an unconscious + sympathy with any quite idle and unprofitable thing. Those rotary, legless + horses, on which children love to ride in a perpetual sickening circle,—the + type of all our effort,—were nearly always mounted; but those other + whirligigs, or whatever the dreadful circles with their swinging seats are + called, were often so empty that they must have been distressing, from + their want of balance, to the muscles as well as the spirits of their + proprietors. The society of monsters was also generally shunned, and a cow + with five legs gave milk from the top of her back to an audience of not + more than six persons. The public apathy had visibly wrought upon the + temper of the gentleman who lectured upon this gifted animal, and he took + inquiries in an ironical manner that contrasted disadvantageously with the + philosophical serenity of the person who had a weighing-machine outside, + and whom I saw sitting in the chair and weighing himself by the hour, with + an expression of profound enjoyment. Perhaps a man of less bulk could not + have entered so keenly into that simple pleasure. + </p> + <p> + There was a large tent on the grounds for dramatical entertainments, with + six performances a day, into which I was lured by a profusion of + high-colored posters, and some such announcement, as that the beautiful + serio-comic danseuse and world-renowned cloggist, Mile. Brown, would + appear. About a dozen people were assembled within, and we waited a + half-hour beyond the time announced for the curtain to rise, during which + the spectacle of a young man in black broadcloth, eating a cocoa-nut with + his pen-knife, had a strange and painful fascination. At the end of this + half-hour, our number was increased to eighteen, when the orchestra + appeared,—a snare-drummer and two buglers. These took their place at + the back of the tent; the buglers, who were Germans, blew seriously and + industriously at their horns; but the native-born citizen, who played the + drum, beat it very much at random, and in the mean time smoked a cigar, + while his humorous friend kept time upon his shoulders by striking him + there with a cane. How long this might have lasted, I cannot tell; but, + after another delay, I suddenly bethought me whether it were not better + not to see Mile. Brown, after all? I rose, and stole softly out behind the + rhythmic back of the drummer; and the world-renowned cloggist is to me at + this moment only a beautiful dream,—an airy shape fashioned upon a + hint supplied by the engraver of the posters. + </p> + <p> + What, then, did the public desire, if it would not smile upon the swings, + or monsters, or dramatic amusements that had pleased so long? Was the + music, as it floated out from the Coliseum, a sufficient delight? Or did + the crowd, averse to the shows provided for it, crave something higher and + more intellectual,—like, for example, a course of the Lowell + Lectures? Its general expression had changed: it had no longer that entire + gayety of the first day, but had taken on something of the sarcastic + pathos with which we Americans bear most oppressive and fatiguing things + as a good joke. The dust was blown about in clouds; and here and there, + sitting upon the vacant steps that led up and down among the booths, were + dejected and motionless men and women, passively gathering dust, and + apparently awaiting burial under the accumulating sand,—the mute, + melancholy sphinxes of the Jubilee, with their unsolved riddle, “Why + did we come?” At intervals, the heavens shook out fierce, sudden + showers of rain, that scattered the surging masses, and sent them flying + impotently hither and thither for shelter where no shelter was, only to + gather again, and move aimlessly and comfortlessly to and fro, like a lost + child. + </p> + <p> + So the multitude roared within and without the Coliseum as I turned + homeward; and yet I found it wandering with weary feet through the Garden, + and the Common, and all the streets, and it dragged its innumerable aching + legs with me to the railroad station, and, entering the train, stood up on + them,—having paid for the tickets with which the companies professed + to sell seats. + </p> + <p> + How still and cool and fresh it was at our suburban station, when the + train, speeding away with a sardonic yell over the misery of the + passengers yet standing up in it, left us to walk across the quiet fields + and pleasant lanes to Benicia Street, through groups of little idyllic + Irish boys playing base-ball, with milch-goats here and there pastorally + cropping the herbage! + </p> + <p> + In this pleasant seclusion I let all Bunker Hill Day thunder by, with its + cannons, and processions, and speeches, and patriotic musical uproar, + hearing only through my open window the note of the birds singing in a + leafy coliseum across the street, and making very fair music without an + anvil among them. “Ah, signer!” said one of my doorstep + acquaintance, who came next morning and played me Captain Jenks,—the + new air he has had added to his instrument,—“never in my life, + neither at Torino, nor at Milano, nor even at Genoa, never did I see such + a crowd or hear such a noise, as at that Colosseo yesterday. The + carriages, the horses, the feet! And the dust, O Dio mio! All those + millions of people were as white as so many millers!” + </p> + <p> + On the afternoon of the fourth day the city looked quite like the mill in + which these millers had been grinding; and even those unpromisingly + elegant streets of the Back Bay showed mansions powdered with dust enough + for sentiment to strike root in, and so soften them with its tender green + against the time when they shall be ruinous and sentiment shall swallow + them up. The crowd had perceptibly diminished, but it was still great, and + on the Common it was allured by a greater variety of recreations and + bargains than I had yet seen there. There were, of course, all sorts of + useful and instructive amusements,—at least a half-dozen telescopes, + and as many galvanic batteries, with numerous patented inventions; and I + fancied that most of the peddlers and charlatans addressed themselves to a + utilitarian spirit supposed to exist in us. A man that sold whistles + capable of reproducing exactly the notes of the mocking-bird and the + guinea-pig set forth the durability of the invention. “Now, you see + this whistle, gentlemen. It is rubber, all rubber; and rubber, you know, + enters into the composition of a great many valuable articles. This + whistle, then, is entirely of rubber,—no worthless or flimsy + material that drops to pieces the moment you put it to your lips,”—as + if it were not utterly desirable that it should. “Now, I'll + give you the mocking-bird, gentlemen, and then I'll give you the + guinea-pig, upon this pure <i>India</i>-rubber whistle.” And he did + so with a great animation,—this young man with a perfectly + intelligent and very handsome face. “Try your strength, and renovate + your system!” cried the proprietor of a piston padded at one end and + working into a cylinder when you struck it a blow with your fist; and the + owners of lung-testing machines called upon you from every side to try + their consumption cure; while the galvanic-battery men sat still and + mutely appealed with inscriptions attached to their cap-visors declaring + that electricity taken from their batteries would rid you of every ache + and pain known to suffering humanity. Yet they were themselves as a class + in a state of sad physical disrepair, and one of them was the visible prey + of rheumatism which he might have sent flying from his joints with a + single shock. The only person whom I saw improving his health with the + battery was a rosy-faced school-boy, who was taking ten cents' worth + of electricity; and I hope it did not disagree with his pop-corn and + soda-water. + </p> + <p> + Farther on was a picturesque group of street-musicians,—violinists + and harpers; a brother and four sisters, by their looks,—who + afforded almost the only unpractical amusement to be enjoyed on the + Common, though not far from them was a blind old negro, playing upon an + accordion, and singing to it in the faintest and thinnest of black voices, + who could hardly have profited any listener. No one appeared to mind him, + till a jolly Jack-tar with both arms cut off, but dressed in full sailor's + togs, lurched heavily towards him. This mariner had got quite a good + effect of sea-legs by some means, and looked rather drunker than a man + with both arms ought to be; but he was very affectionate, and, putting his + face close to the other's, at once entered into talk with the blind + man, forming with him a picture curiously pathetic and grotesque. He was + the only tipsy person I saw during the Jubilee days,—if he was + tipsy, for after all they may have been real sea-legs he had on. + </p> + <p> + If the throng upon the streets was thinner, it was greater in the Coliseum + than on the second day; and matters had settled there into regular working + order. The limits of individual liberty had been better ascertained; there + was no longer any movement in the aisles, but a constant passing to and + fro, between the pieces, in the promenades. The house presented, as + before, that appearance in which reality forsook it, and it became merely + an amazing picture. The audience supported the notion of its unreality by + having exactly the character of the former audiences, and impressed you, + despite its restlessness and incessant agitation, with the feeling that it + had remained there from the first day, and would always continue there; + and it was only in wandering upon its borders through the promenades, that + you regained possession of facts concerning it. In no other way was its + vastness more observable than in the perfect indifference of persons one + to another. Each found himself, as it were, in a solitude; and, + sequestered in that wilderness of strangers, each was freed of his + bashfulness and trepidation. Young people lounged at ease upon the floors, + about the windows, on the upper promenades; and in this seclusion I saw + such betrayals of tenderness as melt the heart of the traveller on our + desolate railway trains,—Fellows moving to and fro or standing, + careless of other eyes, with their arms around the waists of their Girls. + These were, of course, people who had only attained a certain grade of + civilization, and were not characteristic of the crowd, or, indeed, worthy + of notice except as expressions of its unconsciousness. I fancied that I + saw a number of their class outside listening to the address of the agent + of a patent liniment, proclaimed to be an unfailing specific for neuralgia + and headache,—if used in the right spirit. “For,” said + the orator, “we like to cure people who treat us and our medicine + with respect. Folks say, 'What is there about that man?—some + magnetism or electricity.' And the other day at New Britain, + Connecticut, a young man he come up to the carriage, sneering like, and he + tried the cure, and it didn't have the least effect upon him.” + There seemed reason in this, and it produced a visible sensation in the + Fellows and Girls, who grinned sheepishly at each other. + </p> + <p> + Why will the young man with long hair force himself at this point into a + history, which is striving to devote itself to graver interests? There he + stood with the other people, gazing up at the gay line of streamers on the + summit of the Coliseum, and taking in the Anvil Chorus with the rest,—a + young man well-enough dressed, and of a pretty sensible face, with his + long black locks falling from under his cylinder hat, and covering his + shoulders. What awful spell was on him, obliging him to make that figure + before his fellow-creatures? He had nothing to sell; he was not, + apparently, an advertisement of any kind. Was he in the performance of a + vow? Was he in his right mind? For shame! a person may wear his hair long + if he will. But why not, then, in a top-knot? This young man's long + hair was not in keeping with his frock-coat and his cylinder hat, and he + had not at all the excuse of the old gentleman who sold salve in the + costume of Washington's time; one could not take pleasure in him as + in the negro advertiser, who paraded the grounds in a costume compounded + of a consular <i>chapeau bras</i> and a fox-hunter's top-boots—the + American diplomatic uniform of the future—and offered every one a + printed billet; he had not even the attraction of the cabalistic herald of + Hunkidori. Who was he? what was he? why was he? The mind played forever + around these questions in a maze of hopeless conjecture. + </p> + <p> + Had all those quacks and peddlers been bawling ever since Tuesday to the + same listeners? Had all those swings and whirligigs incessantly performed + their rounds? The cow that gave milk from the top of her back, had she + never changed her small circle of admirers, or ceased her flow? And the + gentleman who sat in the chair of his own balance, how much did he weigh + by this time? One could scarcely rid one's self of the illusion of + perpetuity concerning these things, and I could not believe that, if I + went back to the Coliseum grounds at any future time, I should not behold + all that vast machinery in motion. + </p> + <p> + It was curious to see, amid this holiday turmoil men pursuing the ordinary + business of their lives, and one was strangely rescued and consoled by the + spectacle of the Irish hod-carriers, and the bricklayers at work on a + first-class swell-front residence in the very heart of the city of tents + and booths. Even the locomotive, being associated with quieter days and + scenes, appealed, as it whistled to and fro upon the Providence Railroad, + to some soft bucolic sentiment in the listener, and sending its note, + ordinarily so discordant, across that human uproar, seemed to “babble + of green fields.” And at last it wooed us away, and the Jubilee was + again swallowed up by night. + </p> + <p> + There was yet another Jubilee Day, on the morning of which the thousands + of public-school children clustered in gauzy pink and white in the place + of the mighty chorus, while the Coliseum swarmed once more with people who + listened to those shrill, sweet pipes blending in unison; but I leave the + reader to imagine what he will about it. A week later, after all was over, + I was minded to walk down towards the Coliseum, and behold it in its + desertion. The city streets were restored to their wonted summer-afternoon + tranquillity; the Public Garden presented its customary phases of two + people sitting under a tree and talking intimately together on some theme + of common interest,—“Bees, bees, was it your hydromel?”—of + the swans sailing in full view upon the little lake of half a dozen idlers + hanging upon the bridge to look at them; of children gayly dotting the + paths here and there; and, to heighten the peacefulness of the effect, a + pretty, pale invalid lady sat, half in shade and half in sun, reading in + an easy-chair. Far down the broad avenue a single horse-car tinkled + slowly; on the steps of one of the mansions charming little girls stood in + a picturesque group full of the bright color which abounds in the lovely + dresses of this time. As I drew near the Coliseum, I could perceive the + desolation which had fallen upon the festival scene; the white tents were + gone; the place where the world-renowned cloggist gave her serio-comic + dances was as lonely and silent as the site of Carthage; in the middle + distance two men were dismantling a motionless whirligig; the hut for the + sale of French soups was closed; farther away, a solitary policeman moved + gloomily across the deserted spaces, showing his dark-blue figure against + the sky. The vast fabric of the Coliseum reared itself, hushed and + deserted within and without; and a boy in his shirt-sleeves pressed his + nose against one of the painted window-panes in the vain effort to behold + the nothing inside. But sadder than this loneliness surrounding the + Coliseum, sadder than the festooned and knotted banners that drooped + funereally upon its facade, was the fact that some of those luckless + refreshment-saloons were still open, displaying viands as little edible + now as carnival <i>confetti</i>. It was as if the proprietors, in an + unavailing remorse, had condemned themselves to spend the rest of their + days there, and, slowly consuming their own cake and pop-corn, washed down + with their own soda-water and lemonade, to perish of dyspepsia and + despair. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SOME LESSONS FROM THE SCHOOL OF MORALS. + </h2> + <p> + Any study of suburban life would be very imperfect without some glance at + that larger part of it which is spent in the painful pursuit of pleasures + such as are offered at the ordinary places of public amusement; and for + this reason I excuse myself for rehearsing certain impressions here which + are not more directly suburban, to say the least, than those recounted in + the foregoing chapter. + </p> + <p> + It became, shortly after life in Charlesbridge began, a question whether + any entertainment that Boston could offer were worth the trouble of going + to it, or, still worse, coming from it; for if it was misery to hurry from + tea to catch the inward horse-car at the head of the street, what sullen + lexicon will afford a name for the experience of getting home again by the + last car out from the city? You have watched the clock much more closely + than the stage during the last act, and have left your play incomplete by + its final marriage or death, and have rushed up to Bowdoin Square, where + you achieve a standing place in the car, and, utterly spent as you are + with the enjoyment of the evening, you endure for the next hour all that + is horrible in riding or walking. At the end of this time you declare that + you will never go to the theatre again; and after years of suffering you + come at last to keep your word. + </p> + <p> + While yet, however, in the state of formation as regards this resolution, + I went frequently to the theatre—or school of morals, as its friends + have humorously called it. I will not say whether any desired amelioration + took place or not in my own morals through the agency of the stage; but if + not enlightened and refined by everything I saw there, I sometimes was + certainly very much surprised. Now that I go no more, or very, very + rarely, I avail myself of the resulting leisure to set down, for the + instruction of posterity, some account of performances I witnessed in the + years 1868-69, which I am persuaded will grow all the more curious, if not + incredible, with the lapse of time. + </p> + <p> + There is this satisfaction in living, namely, that whatever we do will one + day wear an air of picturesqueness and romance, and will win the fancy of + people coming after us. This stupid and commonplace present shall yet + appear the fascinating past; and is it not a pleasure to think how our + rogues of descendants—who are to enjoy us aesthetically—will + be taken in with us, when they read, in the files of old newspapers, of + the quantity of entertainment offered us at the theatres during the years + mentioned, and judge us by it? I imagine them two hundred years hence + looking back at us, and sighing, “Ah! there was a touch of the old + Greek life in those Athenians! How they loved the drama in the jolly + Boston of that day! That was the golden age of the theatre: in the winter + of 1868-69, they had dramatic performances in seven places, of every + degree of excellence, and the managers coined money.” As we always + figure our ancestors going to and from church, they will probably figure + us thronging the doors of theatres, and no doubt there will be some + historical gossiper among them to sketch a Boston audience in 1869, with + all our famous poets and politicians grouped together in the orchestra + seats, and several now dead introduced with the pleasant inaccuracy and + uncertainty of historical gossipers. “On this night, when the + beautiful Tostée reappeared, the whole house rose to greet her. If Mr. + Alcott was on one of his winter visits to Boston, no doubt he stepped in + from the Marlborough House,—it was a famous temperance hotel, then + in the height of its repute,—not only to welcome back the great + actress, but to enjoy a chat between the acts with his many friends. Here, + doubtless, was seen the broad forehead of Webster; there the courtly + Everett, conversing in studied tones with the gifted So-and-so. Did not + the lovely Such-a-one grace the evening with her presence? The brilliant + and versatile Edmund Kirke was dead; but the humorous Artemas Ward and his + friend Nasby may have attracted many eyes, having come hither at the close + of their lectures, to testify their love of the beautiful in nature and + art; while, perhaps, Mr. Sumner, in the intervals of state cares, relaxed + into the enjoyment,” etc. “Vous voyez bien le tableau!” + </p> + <p> + That far-off posterity, learning that all our theatres are filled every + night, will never understand but we were a theatre-going people in the + sense that it is the highest fashion to be seen at the play; and yet we + are sensible that it is not so, and that the Boston which makes itself + known in civilization—in letters, politics, reform—goes as + little to the theatre as fashionable Boston. + </p> + <p> + The stage is not an Institution with us, I should say; yet it affords + recreation to a very large and increasing number of persons, and while it + would be easy to over-estimate its influence for good or evil even with + these, there is no doubt that the stage, if not the drama, is popular. + Fortunately an inquiry like this into a now waning taste in theatricals + concerns the fact rather than the effect of the taste otherwise the task + might become indefinitely hard alike for writer and for reader. No one can + lay his hand on his heart, and declare that he is the worse for having + seen “La Belle Hélène,” for example, or say more than that it + is a thing which ought not to be seen by any one else; yet I suppose there + is no one ready to deny that “La Belle Hélène” was the motive + of those performances that have most pleased the most people during recent + years. There was something fascinating in the circumstances and auspices + under which the united Irma and Tostée troupes appeared in Boston—<i>opéra + bouffe</i> led gayly forward by <i>finance bouffe</i>, and suggesting Erie + shares by its watered music and morals; but there is no doubt that Tostée's + grand reception was owing mainly to the personal favor which she enjoyed + here and which we do not vouchsafe to every one. Ristori did not win it; + we did our duty by her, following her carefully with the libretto, and in + her most intense effects turning the leaves of a thousand pamphlets with a + rustle that must have shattered every delicate nerve in her; but we were + always cold to her greatness. It was not for Tosteés singing, which was + but a little thing in itself; it was not for her beauty, for that was no + more than a reminiscence, if it was not always an illusion; was it because + she rendered the spirit of M. Offenbach's operas so perfectly, that + we liked her so much? “Ah, that movement!” cried an + enthusiast, “that swing, that—that—wriggle!” She + was undoubtedly a great actress, full of subtle surprises, and with an + audacious appearance of unconsciousness in those exigencies where + consciousness would summon the police—or should; she was so near, + yet so far from, the worst that could be intended; in tones, in gestures, + in attitudes, she was to the libretto just as the music was, now making it + appear insolently and unjustly coarse, now feebly inadequate in its + explicit immodesty. + </p> + <p> + To see this famous lady in “La Grande Duchesse” or “La + Belle Hélène” was an experience never to be forgotten, and certainly + not to be described. The former opera has undoubtedly its proper and + blameless charm. There is something pretty and arch in the notion of the + Duchess's falling in love with the impregnably faithful and innocent + Fritz; and the extravagance of the whole, with the satire upon the typical + little German court, is delightful. But “La Belle Helene” is a + wittier play than “La Grande Duchesse,” and it is the vividest + expression of the spirit of <i>opéra bouffe</i>. It is full of such lively + mockeries as that of Helen when she gazes upon the picture of Leda and the + Swan: “J'aime á me recueiller devant ce tableau de famille! + Mon père, ma mère, les voici tous les deux! O mon père, tourne vers ton + enfant un bec favorable!”—or of Paris when he represses the + zeal of Calchas, who desires to present him at once to Helen: “Soit! + mais sans lui dire qui je suis;—je désire garder le plus strict + incognito, jusq'au moment où la situation sera favorable á un coup + de théâtre.” But it must be owned that our audiences seemed not to + take much pleasure in these and other witticisms, though they obliged + Mademoiselle Tostée to sing “Un Mari sage” three times, with + all those actions and postures which seem incredible the moment they have + ceased. They possibly understood this song no better than the strokes of + wit, and encored it merely for the music's sake. The effect was, + nevertheless, unfortunate, and calculated to give those French ladies but + a bad opinion of our morals. How could they comprehend that the taste was, + like themselves, imported, and that its indulgence here did not + characterize us? It was only in appearance that, while we did not enjoy + the wit we delighted in the coarseness. And how coarse this travesty of + the old fable mainly is! That priest Calchas, with his unspeakable snicker + his avarice, his infidelity, his hypocrisy, is alone infamy enough to + provoke the destruction of a city. Then that scene interrupted by + Menelaus! It is indisputably witty, and since all those people are so + purely creatures of fable, and dwell so entirely in an unmoral atmosphere, + it appears as absurd to blame it as the murders in a pantomime. To be sure + there is something about murder, some inherent grace or refinement + perhaps, that makes its actual representation upon the stage more + tolerable than the most diffident suggestion of adultery. Not that “La + Belle Hélène” is open to the reproach of over-delicacy in this + scene, or any other, for the matter of that, though there is a strain of + real poetry in the conception of this whole episode of Helen's + intention to pass all Paris's love-making off upon herself for a + dream,—poetry such as might have been inspired by a muse that had + taken too much nectar. There is excellent character, also, as well as + caricature in the drama; not only Calchas is admirably done, but + Agamemnon, and Achilles, and Helen, and Menelaus, “pas un mari + ordinaire ... un mari épique,”—and the burlesque is good of + its kind. It is artistic, as it seems French dramatic effort must almost + necessarily be. It could scarcely be called the fault of the <i>opéra + bouffe</i> that the English burlesque should have come of its success; nor + could the public blame it for the great favor the burlesque won in those + far-off winters, if indeed the public wishes to bestow blame for this. No + one, however, could see one of these curious travesties without being + reminded, in an awkward way, of the <i>morale</i> of the <i>opéra bouffe</i>, + and of the <i>personnel</i>—as I may say—of “The Black + Crook,” “The White Fawn,” and the “Devil's + Auction.” There was the same intention of merriment at the cost of + what may be called the marital prejudices, though it cannot be claimed + that the wit was the same as in “La Belle Hélène;” there was + the same physical unreserve as in the ballets of a former season; while in + its dramatic form the burlesque discovered very marked parental traits. + </p> + <p> + This English burlesque, this child of M. Offenbach's genius, and the + now somewhat faded spectacular muse, flourished at the time of which I + write in three of our seven theatres for months,—five, from the + highest to the lowest being in turn open to it,—and had begun, in a + tentative way, to invade the deserted stage even so long ago as the + previous summer; and I have sometimes flattered myself that it was my + fortune to witness the first exhibition of its most characteristic feature + in a theatre into which I wandered one sultry night because it was the + nearest theatre. They were giving a play called “The Three Fast Men,” + which had a moral of such powerful virtue that it ought to have reformed + everybody in the neighborhood. Three ladies being in love with the three + fast men, and resolved to win them back to regular hours and the paths of + sobriety by every device of the female heart, dress themselves in men's + clothes,—such is the subtlety of the female heart in the bosoms of + modern young ladies of fashion,—and follow their lovers about from + one haunt of dissipation to another and become themselves exemplarily + vicious,—drunkards, gamblers, and the like. The first lady, who was + a star in her lowly orbit, was very great in all her different <i>rôles</i>, + appearing now as a sailor with the hornpipe of his calling, now as an + organ-grinder, and now as a dissolute young gentleman,—whatever was + the exigency of good morals. The dramatist seemed to have had an eye to + her peculiar capabilities, and to have expressly invented edifying + characters and situations that her talents might enforce them. The second + young lady had also a personal didactic gift, rivaling, and even + surpassing in some respects, that of the star; and was very rowdy indeed. + In due time the devoted conduct of the young ladies has its just effect: + the three fast men begin to reflect upon the folly of their wild courses; + and at this point the dramatist delivers his great stroke. The first lady + gives a <i>soirée dansante et chantante</i>, and the three fast men have + invitations. The guests seat themselves, as at a fashionable party, in a + semicircle, and the gayety of the evening begins with conundrums and + playing upon the banjo; the gentlemen are in their morning-coats, and the + ladies in a display of hosiery which is now no longer surprising, and + which need not have been mentioned at all except for the fact that, in the + case of the first lady, it seemed not to have been freshly put on for that + party. In this instance an element comical beyond intention was present, + in three young gentlemen, an amateur musical trio, who had kindly + consented to sing their favorite song of “The Rolling Zuyder Zee,” + as they now kindly did, with flushed faces, unmanageable hands, and much + repetition of + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The ro-o-o-o- + The ro-o-o-o- + The ro-o-o-o-ll- + Ing Zuyder Zee, + Zuyder Zee, + Zuyder Zee-e-e! +</pre> + <p> + Then the turn of the three guardian angels of the fast men being come + again they get up and dance each one a breakdown which seems to establish + their lovers (now at last in the secret of the generous ruse played upon + them) firmly in their resolution to lead a better life. They are in nowise + shaken from it by the displeasure which soon shows itself in the manner of + the first and second ladies. The former is greatest in the so-called + Protean parts of the play, and is obscured somewhat by the dancing of the + latter; but she has a daughter who now comes on and sings a song. The + pensive occasion, the favorable mood of the audience, the sympathetic + attitude of the players, invite her to sing “The Maiden's + Prayer,” and so we have “The Maiden's Prayer.” We + may be a low set, and the song may be affected and insipid enough, but the + purity of its intention touches, and the little girl is vehemently + applauded. She is such a pretty child with her innocent face, and her + artless white dress, and blue ribbons to her waist and hair, that we will + have her back again; whereupon she runs out upon the stage, strikes up a + rowdy, rowdy air, dances a shocking little dance, and vanishes from the + dismayed vision, leaving us a considerably lower set than we were at + first, and glad of our lowness. This is the second lady's own + ground, however, and now she comes out—in a way that banishes far + from our fickle minds all thoughts of the first lady and her mistaken + child—with a medley of singing and dancing, a bit of breakdown, of + cancan, of jig, a bit of “Le Sabre de mon Père,” and of all + memorable slang songs, given with the most grotesque and clownish spirit + that ever inspired a woman. Each member of the company follows in his or + her <i>pas seul</i>, and then they all dance together to the plain + confusion of the amateur trio, whose eyes roll like so many Zuyder Zees, + as they sit lonely and motionless in the midst. All stiffness and + formality are overcome. The evening party in fact disappears entirely, and + we are suffered to see the artists in their moments of social relaxation + sitting as it were around the theatrical fireside. They appear to forget + us altogether; they exchange winks, and nods, and jests of quite personal + application; they call each other by name, by their Christian names, their + nicknames. It is not an evening party, it is a family party, and the + suggestion of home enjoyment completes the reformation of the three fast + men. We see them marry the three fast women before we leave the house. + </p> + <p> + On another occasion, two suburban friends of the drama beheld a more + explicit precursor of the coming burlesque at one of the minor theatres + last summer. The great actress whom they had come to see on another scene + was ill, and in their disappointment they embraced the hope of + entertainment offered them at the smaller playhouse. The drama itself was + neither here nor there as to intent, but the public appetite or the + manager's conception of it—for I am by no means sure that this + whole business was not a misunderstanding—had exacted that the + actresses should appear in so much stocking, and so little else, that it + was a horror to look upon them. There was no such exigency of dialogue, + situation, or character as asked the indecorum, and the effect upon the + unprepared spectator was all the more stupefying from the fact that most + of the ladies were not dancers, and had not countenances that consorted + with impropriety. Their faces had merely the conventional Yankee sharpness + and wanness of feature, and such difference of air and character as should + say for one and another, shop-girl, shoe-binder, seamstress; and it seemed + an absurdity and an injustice to refer to them in any way the disclosures + of the ruthlessly scant drapery. A grotesque fancy would sport with their + identity: “Did not this or that one write poetry for her local + newspaper?” so much she looked the average culture and crudeness, + and when such a one, coldly yielding to the manager's ideas of the + public taste, stretched herself on a green baize bank with her feet + towards us, or did a similar grossness, it was hard to keep from crying + aloud in protest, that she need not do it; that nobody really expected or + wanted it of her. Nobody? Alas! there were people there—poor souls + who had the appearance of coming every night—who plainly did expect + it, and who were loud in their applauses of the chief actress. This was a + young person of a powerful physical expression, quite unlike the rest,—who + were dyspeptic and consumptive in the range of their charms,—and she + triumphed and wantoned through the scenes with a fierce excess of animal + vigor. She was all stocking, as one may say, being habited to represent a + prince; she had a raucous voice, an insolent twist of the mouth, and a + terrible trick of defying her enemies by standing erect, chin up, hand on + hip, and right foot advanced, patting the floor. It was impossible, even + in the orchestra seats, to look at her in this attitude and not shrink + before her; and on the stage she visibly tyrannized over the invalid + sisterhood with her full-blown fascinations. These unhappy girls + personated, with a pathetic effect not to be described, such arch and + fantastic creations of the poet's mind as Bewitchingcreature and + Exquisitelittlepet, and the play was a kind of fairy burlesque in rhyme, + of the most melancholy stupidity that ever was. Yet there was something + very comical in the conditions of its performance, and in the possibility + that public and manager were playing at cross-purposes. There we were in + the pit, an assemblage of hard-working Yankees of decently moral lives and + simple traditions, country-bred many of us and of plebeian stock and + training, vulgar enough perhaps, but probably not depraved, and, excepting + the first lady's friends, certainly not educated to the critical + enjoyment of such spectacles; and there on the stage were those mistaken + women, in such sad variety of boniness and flabbiness as I have tried to + hint, addressing their pitiable exposure to a supposed vileness in us, and + wrenching from all original intent the innocent dullness of the drama, + which for the most part could have been as well played in walking-dresses, + to say the least. + </p> + <p> + The scene was not less amusing, as regarded the audiences, the ensuing + winter, when the English burlesque troupes which London sent us, arrived; + but it was not quite so pathetic as regarded the performers. Of their + beauty and their abandon, the historical gossiper, whom I descry far down + the future, waiting to refer to me as “A scandalous writer of the + period,” shall learn very little to his purpose of warming his + sketch with a color from mine. But I hope I may describe these ladies as + very pretty, very blonde, and very unscrupulously clever, and still + disappoint the historical gossiper. They seemed in all cases to be + English; no Yankee faces, voices, or accents were to be detected among + them. Where they were associated with people of another race, as happened + with one troupe, the advantage of beauty was upon the Anglo-Saxon side, + while that of some small shreds of propriety was with the Latins. These + appeared at times almost modest, perhaps because they were the + conventional <i>ballerine</i>, and wore the old-fashioned ballet-skirt + with its volumed gauze,—a coyness which the Englishry had greatly + modified, through an exigency of the burlesque,—perhaps because + indecorum seems, like blasphemy and untruth, somehow more graceful and + becoming in southern than in northern races. + </p> + <p> + As for the burlesques themselves, they were nothing, the performers + personally everything. M. Offenbach had opened Lemprière's + Dictionary to the authors with “La Belle Hélène,” and there, + was commonly a flimsy raveling of parodied myth, that held together the + different dances and songs, though sometimes it was a novel or an opera + burlesqued; but there was always a song and always a dance for each lady, + song and dance being equally slangy, and depending for their effect mainly + upon the natural or simulated personal charms of the performer. + </p> + <p> + It was also an indispensable condition of the burlesque's success, + that the characters should be reversed in their representation,—that + the men's <i>rôles</i> should be played by women, and that at least + one female part should be done by a man. It must be owned that the fun all + came from this character, the ladies being too much occupied with the more + serious business of bewitching us with their pretty figures to be very + amusing; whereas this wholesome man and brother, with his blonde wig, his + <i>panier</i>, his dainty feminine simperings and languishings, his + falsetto tones, and his general air of extreme fashion, was always + exceedingly droll. He was the saving grace of these stupid plays; and I + cannot help thinking that the <i>cancan</i>, as danced, in “Ivanhoe,” + by Isaac of York and the masculine Rebecca, was a moral spectacle; it was + the <i>cancan</i> made forever absurd and harmless. But otherwise, the + burlesques were as little cheerful as profitable. The playwrights who had + adapted them to the American stage—for they were all of English + authorship—had been good enough to throw in some political allusions + which were supposed to be effective with us, but which it was sad to see + received with apathy. It was conceivable from a certain air with which the + actors delivered these, that they were in the habit of stirring London + audiences greatly with like strokes of satire; but except where Rebecca + offered a bottle of Medford rum to Cedric the Saxon, who appeared in the + figure of ex-President Johnson, they had no effect upon us. We were cold, + very cold, to suggestions of Mr. Reverdy Johnson's now historical + speech-making and dining; General Butler's spoons moved us just a + little; at the name of Grant we roared and stamped, of course, though in a + perfectly mechanical fashion, and without thought of any meaning offered + us; those lovely women might have coupled the hero's name with + whatever insult they chose, and still his name would have made us cheer + them. We seemed not to care for points that were intended to flatter us + nationally. I am not aware that anybody signified consciousness when the + burlesque supported our side of the Alabama controversy, or acknowledged + the self-devotion with which a threat that England should be made to pay + was delivered by these English performers. With an equal impassiveness we + greeted allusions to Erie shares and to the late Mr. Fiske. + </p> + <p> + The burlesque chiefly betrayed its descent from the spectacular ballet in + its undressing; but that ballet, while it demanded personal exposure, had + something very observable in its scenic splendors, and all that marching + and processioning in it was rather pretty; while in the burlesque there + seemed nothing of innocent intent. No matter what the plot, it led always + to a final great scene of breakdown,—which was doubtless most + impressive in that particular burlesque where this scene represented the + infernal world, and the ladies gave the dances of the country with a happy + conception of the deportment of lost souls. There, after some vague and + inconsequent dialogue, the wit springing from a perennial source of humor + (not to specify the violation of the seventh commandment), the dancing + commenced, each performer beginning with the Walk-round of the negro + minstrels, rendering its grotesqueness with a wonderful frankness of + movement, and then plunging into the mysteries of her dance with a kind of + infuriate grace and a fierce delight very curious to look upon. I am aware + of the historical gossiper still on the alert for me, and I dare not say + how sketchily these ladies were dressed or indeed, more than that they + were dressed to resemble circus-riders of the other sex, but as to their + own deceived nobody,—possibly did not intend deceit. One of them was + so good a player that it seemed needless for her to go so far as she did + in the dance; but she spared herself nothing, and it remained for her + merely stalwart friends to surpass her, if possible. This inspired each + who succeeded her to wantoner excesses, to wilder insolences of hose, to + fiercer bravadoes of corsage; while those not dancing responded to the + sentiment of the music by singing shrill glees in tune with it, clapping + their hands, and patting Juba, as the act is called,—a peculiarly + graceful and modest thing in woman. The frenzy grew with every moment, + and, as in another Vision of Sin,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Then they started from their places, + Moved with violence, changed in hue, + Caught each other with wild grimaces, + Half-invisible to the view, + Wheeling with precipitate paces + To the melody, till they flew, + Hair, and eyes, and limbs, and faces + Twisted hard in fierce embraces, + Like to Furies, like to Graces,”— +</pre> + <p> + with an occasional exchange of cuffs and kicks perfectly human. The + spectator found now himself and now the scene incredible, and indeed they + were hardly conceivable in relation to each other. A melancholy sense of + the absurdity, of the incongruity, of the whole absorbed at last even a + sense of the indecency. The audience was much the same in appearance as + other audiences, witnessing like displays at the other theatres, and did + not differ greatly from the usual theatrical house. Not so much fashion + smiled upon the efforts of these young ladies, as upon the <i>cancan</i> + of the Signorina Morlacchi a winter earlier; but there was a most fair + appearance of honest-looking, handsomely dressed men and women; and you + could pick out, all over the parquet, faces of one descent from the + deaconship, which you wondered were not afraid to behold one another + there. The truth is, we spectators, like the performers themselves, lacked + that tradition of error, of transgression, which casts its romance about + the people of a lighter race. We had not yet set off one corner of the + Common for a Jardin Mabille; we had not even the concert-cellars of the + gay and elegant New Yorker; and nothing, really, had happened in Boston to + educate us to this new taste in theatricals, since the fair Quakers felt + moved to testify in the streets and churches against our spiritual + nakedness. Yet it was to be noted with regret that our innocence, our + respectability, had no restraining influence upon the performance; and the + fatuity of the hope cherished by some courageous people, that the presence + of virtuous persons would reform the stage, was but too painfully evident. + The doubt whether they were not nearer right who have denounced the + theatre as essentially and incorrigibly bad would force itself upon the + mind, though there was a little comfort in the thought that, if virtue had + been actually allowed to frown upon these burlesques, the burlesques might + have been abashed into propriety. The caressing arm of the law was cast + very tenderly about the performers, and in the only case where a spectator + presumed to hiss,—it was at a <i>pas seul</i> of the indescribable,—a + policeman descended upon him, and with the succor of two friends of the + free ballet, rent him from his place, and triumphed forth with him. Here + was an end of ungenial criticism; we all applauded zealously after that. + </p> + <p> + The peculiar character of the drama to which they devoted themselves had + produced, in these ladies, some effects doubtless more interesting than + profitable to observe. One of them, whose unhappiness it was to take the + part of <i>soubrette</i> in the Laughable Commedietta preceding the + burlesque, was so ill at ease in drapery, so full of awkward jerks and + twitches, that she seemed quite another being when she came on later as a + radiant young gentleman in pink silk hose, and nothing of feminine modesty + in her dress excepting the very low corsage. A strange and compassionable + satisfaction beamed from her face; it was evident that this sad business + was the poor thing's <i>forte</i>. In another company was a lady who + had conquered all the easy attitudes of young men of the second or third + fashion, and who must have been at something of a loss to identify herself + when personating a woman off the stage. But Nature asserted herself in a + way that gave a curious and scarcely explicable shock in the case of that + dancer whose impudent song required the action of fondling a child, and + who rendered the passage with an instinctive tenderness and grace, all the + more pathetic for the profaning boldness of her super masculine dress or + undress. Commonly, however, the members of these burlesque troupes, though + they were not like men, were in most things as unlike women, and seemed + creatures of a kind of alien sex, parodying both. It was certainly a + shocking thing to look at them with their horrible prettiness, their + archness in which was no charm, their grace which put to shame. Yet + whoever beheld these burlesque sisters, must have fallen into perplexing + question in his own mind as to whose was the wrong involved. It was not + the fault of the public—all of us felt that: was it the fault of the + hard-working sisterhood, bred to this as to any other business, and not + necessarily conscious of the indecorum which pains my reader,—obliged + to please somehow, and aiming, doubtless, at nothing but applause? “La + Belle Hélène” suggests the only reasonable explanation: <i>“C'est + la fatalité</i>.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FLITTING + </h2> + <p> + I would not willingly repose upon the friendship of a man whose local + attachments are weak. I should not demand of my intimate that he have a + yearning for the homes of his ancestors, or even the scenes of his own + boyhood; that is not in American nature; on the contrary, he is but a poor + creature who does not hate the village where he was born; yet a sentiment + for the place where one has lived two or three years, the hotel where one + has spent a week, the sleeping car in which one has ridden from Albany to + Buffalo,—so much I should think it well to exact from my friend in + proof of that sensibility and constancy without which true friendship does + not exist. So much I am ready to yield on my own part to a friend's + demand, and I profess to have all the possible regrets for Benicia Street, + now I have left it. Over its deficiencies I cast a veil of decent + oblivion, and shall always try to look upon its worthy and consoling + aspects, which were far the more numerous. It was never otherwise, I + imagine, than an ideal region in very great measure; and if the reader + whom I have sometimes seemed to direct thither, should seek it out, he + would hardly find my Benicia Street by the city sign-board. Yet this is + not wholly because it was an ideal locality, but because much of its + reality has now become merely historical, a portion of the tragical poetry + of the past. Many of the vacant lots abutting upon Benicia and the + intersecting streets flourished up, during the four years we knew it, into + fresh-painted wooden houses, and the time came to be when one might have + looked in vain for the abandoned hoop-skirts which used to decorate the + desirable building-sites. The lessening pasturage also reduced the herds + which formerly fed in the vicinity, and at last we caught the tinkle of + the cow-bells only as the cattle were driven past to remoter meadows. And + one autumn afternoon two laborers, hired by the city, came and threw up an + earthwork on the opposite side of the street, which they said was a + sidewalk, and would add to the value of property in the neighborhood. Not + being dressed with coal-ashes, however, during the winter, the sidewalk + vanished next summer under a growth of rag-weed, and hid the increased + values with it, and it is now an even question whether this monument of + municipal grandeur will finally be held by Art or resumed by Nature,—who + indeed has a perpetual motherly longing for her own, and may be seen in + all outlying and suburban places, pathetically striving to steal back any + neglected bits of ground and conceal them under her skirts of tattered and + shabby verdure. But whatever is the event of this contest, and whatever + the other changes wrought in the locality, it has not yet been quite + stripped of the characteristic charms which first took our hearts, and + which have been duly celebrated in these pages. + </p> + <p> + When the new house was chosen, we made preparations to leave the old one, + but preparations so gradual, that, if we had cared much more than we did, + we might have suffered greatly by the prolongation of the agony. We + proposed to ourselves to escape the miseries of moving by transferring the + contents of one room at a time, and if we did not laugh incredulously at + people who said we had better have it over at once and be done with it, it + was because we respected their feelings, and not because we believed them. + We took up one carpet after another; one wall after another we stripped of + its pictures; we sent away all the books to begin with; and by this subtle + and ingenious process, we reduced ourselves to the discomfort of living in + no house at all, as it were, and of being at home in neither one place nor + the other. Yet the logic of our scheme remained perfect; and I do not + regret its failure in practice, for if we had been ever so loath to quit + the old house, its inhospitable barrenness would finally have hurried us + forth. In fact, does not life itself in some such fashion dismantle its + tenement until it is at last forced out of the uninhabitable place? Are + not the poor little comforts and pleasures and ornaments removed one by + one, till life, if it would be saved, must go too? We took a lesson from + the teachings of mortality, which are so rarely heeded, and we lingered + over our moving. We made the process so gradual, indeed, that I do not + feel myself all gone yet from the familiar work-room, and for aught I can + say, I still write there; and as to the guest-chamber, it is so densely + peopled by those it has lodged that it will never quite be emptied of + them. Friends also are yet in the habit of calling in the parlor, and + talking with us; and will the children never come off the stairs? Does + life, our high exemplar, leave so much behind as we did? Is this what + fills the world with ghosts? + </p> + <p> + In the getting ready to go, nothing hurt half so much as the sight of the + little girl packing her doll's things for removal. The trousseaux of + all those elegant creatures, the wooden, the waxen, the biscuit, the + india-rubber, were carefully assorted, and arranged in various small + drawers and boxes; their house was thoughtfully put in order and locked + for transportation; their innumerable broken sets of dishes were packed in + paper and set out upon the floor, a heart-breaking little basketful. + Nothing real in this world is so affecting as some image of reality, and + this travesty of our own flitting was almost intolerable. I will not + pretend to sentiment about anything else, for everything else had in it + the element of self-support belonging to all actual afflictions. When the + day of moving finally came, and the furniture wagon, which ought to have + been only a shade less dreadful to us than a hearse, drew up at our door, + our hearts were of a Neronian hardness. + </p> + <p> + “Were I Diogenes,” says wrathful Charles Lamb in one of his + letters, “I would not move out of a kilderkin into a hogshead, + though the first had nothing but small beer in it, and the second reeked + claret.” I fancy this loathing of the transitionary state came in + great part from the rude and elemental nature of the means of moving in + Lamb's day. In our own time, in Charlesbridge at least, everything + is so perfectly contrived, that it is in some ways a pleasant excitement + to move; though I do not commend the diversion to any but people of entire + leisure, for it cannot be denied that it is, at any rate, an interruption + to work. But little is broken, little is defaced, nothing is heedlessly + outraged or put to shame. Of course there are in every house certain + objects of comfort and even ornament which in a state of repose derive a + sort of dignity from being cracked, or scratched, or organically + debilitated, and give an idea of ancestral possession and of long descent + to the actual owner; and you must not hope that this venerable quality + will survive their public exposure upon the furniture wagon. There it + instantly perishes, like the consequence of some country notable huddled + and hustled about in the graceless and ignorant tumult of a great city. To + tell the truth, the number of things that turn shabby under the ordeal of + moving strikes a pang of unaccustomed poverty to the heart which, loving + all manner of makeshifts, is rich even in its dilapidations. For the time + you feel degraded by the spectacle of that forlornness, and if you are a + man of spirit, you try to sneak out of association with it in the mind of + the passer-by; you keep scrupulously in-doors, or if a fancied exigency + obliges you to go back and forth between the old house and the new, you + seek obscure by-ways remote from the great street down which the wagon + flaunts your ruin and decay, and time your arrivals and departures so as + to have the air of merely dropping in at either place. This consoles you; + but it deceives no one; for the man who is moving is unmistakably stamped + with transition. + </p> + <p> + Yet the momentary eclipse of these things is not the worst. It <i>is</i> + momentary; for if you will but plant them in kindly corners and favorable + exposures of the new house, a mould of respectability will gradually + overspread them again, and they will once more account for their presence + by the air of having been a long time in the family; but there is danger + that in the first moments of mortification you will be tempted to replace + them with new and costly articles. Even the best of the old things are + nothing to boast of in the hard, unpitying light to which they are + exposed, and a difficult and indocile spirit of extravagance is evoked in + the least profuse. Because of this fact alone I should not commend the + diversion of moving save to people of very ample means as well as perfect + leisure; there are more reasons than the misery of flitting why the + dweller in the kilderkin should not covet the hogshead reeking of claret. + </p> + <p> + But the grosser misery of moving is, as I have hinted, vastly mitigated by + modern science, and what remains of it one may use himself to with no + tremendous effort. I have found that in the dentist's chair,—that + ironically luxurious seat, cushioned in satirical suggestion of impossible + repose,—after a certain initial period of clawing, filing, scraping, + and punching, one's nerves accommodate themselves to the torment, + and one takes almost an objective interest in the operation of + tooth-filling; and in like manner after two or three wagon-loads of your + household stuff have passed down the public street, and all your morbid + associations with them have been desecrated, you begin almost to like it. + Yet I cannot regard this abandon as a perfectly healthy emotion, and I do + not counsel my reader to mount himself upon the wagon and ride to and fro + even once, for afterwards the remembrance of such an excess will grieve + him. + </p> + <p> + Of course, I meant to imply by this that moving sometimes comes to an end, + though it is not easy to believe so while moving. The time really arrives + when you sit down in your new house, and amid whatever disorder take your + first meal there. This meal is pretty sure to be that gloomy tea, that + loathly repast of butter and toast, and some kind of cake, with which the + soul of the early-dining American is daily cast down between the hours of + six and seven in the evening; and instinctively you compare it with the + last meal you took in your old house, seeking in vain to decide whether + this is more dispiriting than that. At any rate that was not at all the + meal which the last meal in any house which has been a home ought to be in + fact, and is in books. It was hurriedly cooked; it was served upon + fugitive and irregular crockery; and it was eaten in deplorable disorder, + with the professional movers waiting for the table outside the + dining-room. It ought to have been an act of serious devotion; it was + nothing but an expiation. It should have been a solemn commemoration of + all past dinners in the place, an invocation to their pleasant + apparitions. But I, for my part, could not recall these at all, though now + I think of them with the requisite pathos, and I know they were perfectly + worthy of remembrance. I salute mournfully the companies that have sat + down at dinner there, for they are sadly scattered now; some beyond seas, + some beyond the narrow gulf, so impassably deeper to our longing and + tenderness than the seas. But more sadly still I hail the host himself, + and desire to know of him if literature was not somehow a gayer science in + those days, and if his peculiar kind of drolling had not rather more heart + in it then. In an odd, not quite expressible fashion, something of him + seems dispersed abroad and perished in the guests he loved. I trust, of + course, that all will be restored to him when he turns—as every man + past thirty feels he may when he likes, and has the time—and resumes + his youth. Or if this feeling is only a part of the great tacit promise of + eternity, I am all the more certain of his getting back his losses. + </p> + <p> + I say that now these apposite reflections occur to me with a sufficient + ease, but that upon the true occasion for them they were absent. So, too, + at the first meal in the new house, there was none of that desirable sense + of setting up a family altar, but a calamitous impression of irretrievable + upheaval, in honor of which sackcloth and ashes seemed the only wear. Yet + even the next day the Lares and Penates had regained something of their + wonted cheerfulness, and life had begun again with the first breakfast. In + fact, I found myself already so firmly established that, meeting the + furniture cart which had moved me the day before, I had the face to ask + the driver whom they were turning out of house and home, as if my own + flitting were a memory of the far-off past. + </p> + <p> + Not that I think the professional mover expects to be addressed in a + joking mood. I have a fancy that he cultivates a serious spirit himself, + in which he finds it easy to sympathize with any melancholy on the part of + the moving family. There is a slight flavor of undertaking in his manner, + which is nevertheless full of a subdued firmness very consoling and + supporting; though the life that he leads must be a troubled and + uncheerful one, trying alike to the muscles and the nerves. How often must + he have been charged by anxious and fluttered ladies to be very careful of + that basket of china, and those vases! How often must he have been vexed + by the ignorant terrors of gentlemen asking if he thinks that the + library-table, poised upon the top of his load, will hold! His planning is + not infallible, and when he breaks something uncommonly precious, what + does a man of his sensibility do? Is the demolition of old homes really + distressing to him, or is he inwardly buoyed up by hopes of other and + better homes for the people he moves? Can there be any ideal of moving? + Does he, perhaps, feel a pride in an artfully constructed load, and has he + something like an artist's pang in unloading it? Is there a choice + in families to be moved, and are some worse or better than others? Next to + the lawyer and the doctor, it appears to me that the professional mover + holds the most confidential relations towards his fellow-men. He is let + into all manner of little domestic secrets and subterfuges; I dare say he + knows where half the people in town keep their skeleton, and what manner + of skeleton it is. As for me, when I saw him making towards a certain + closet door, I planted myself firmly against it. He smiled intelligence; + he knew the skeleton was there, and that it would be carried to the new + house after dark. + </p> + <p> + I began by saying that I should wish my friend to have some sort of local + attachment; but I suppose it must be owned that this sentiment, like pity, + and the modern love-passion, is a thing so largely produced by culture + that nature seems to have little or nothing to do with it. The first men + were homeless wanderers; the patriarchs dwelt in tents, and shifted their + place to follow the pasturage, without a sigh; and for children—the + pre-historic, the antique people, of our day—moving is a rapture. + The last dinner in the old house, the first tea in the new, so doleful to + their elders, are partaken of by them with joyous riot. Their shrill + trebles echo gleefully from the naked walls and floors; they race up and + down the carpetless stairs; they menace the dislocated mirrors and + crockery; through all the chambers of desolation they frolic with a gayety + indomitable save by bodily exhaustion. If the reader is of a moving + family,—and so he is as he is an American,—he can recall the + zest he found during childhood in the moving which had for his elders—poor + victims of a factitious and conventional sentiment!—only the salt + and bitterness of tears. His spirits never fell till the carpets were + down; no sorrow touched him till order returned; if Heaven so blessed him + that his bed was made upon the floor for one night, the angels visited his + dreams. Why, then, is the mature soul, however sincere and humble, not + only grieved but mortified by flitting? Why cannot one move without + feeling the great public eye fixed in pitying contempt upon him? This + sense of abasement seems to be something quite inseparable from the act, + which is often laudable, and in every way wise and desirable; and he whom + it has afflicted is the first to turn, after his own establishment, and + look with scornful compassion upon the overflowing furniture wagon as it + passes. But I imagine that Abraham's neighbors, when he struck his + tent, and packed his parlor and kitchen furniture upon his camels, and + started off with Mrs. Sarah to seek a new camping-ground, did not smile at + the procession, or find it worthy of ridicule or lament. Nor did Abraham, + once settled, and reposing in the cool of the evening at the door of his + tent, gaze sarcastically upon the moving of any of his brother patriarchs. + </p> + <p> + To some such philosophical serenity we shall also return, I suppose, when + we have wisely theorized life in our climate, and shall all have become + nomads once more, following June and October up and down and across the + continent, and not suffering the full malice of the winter and summer + anywhere. But as yet, the derision that attaches to moving attends even + the goer-out of town, and the man of many trunks and a retinue of + linen-suited womankind is a pitiable and despicable object to all the + other passengers at the railroad station and on the steamboat wharf. + </p> + <p> + This is but one of many ways in which mere tradition oppresses us. I + protest that as moving is now managed in Charlesbridge, there is hardly + any reason why the master or mistress of the household should put hand to + anything; but it is a tradition that they shall dress themselves in their + worst, as for heavy work, and shall go about very shabby for at least a + day before and a day after the transition. It is a kind of sacrifice, I + suppose, to a venerable ideal; and I would never be the first to omit it. + In others I observe that this vacant and ceremonious zeal is in proportion + to an incapacity to do anything that happens really to be required; and I + believe that the truly sage person would devote moving-day to paying + visits of ceremony in his finest clothes. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0009" id="linkimage-0009"> + <!-- IMG --> </a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:50%;"> + <img src="images/9000.jpg" alt="9000 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <h5> + <a href="images/9000.jpg"><img src="images/enlarge.jpg" alt="" /> </a> + </h5> + <p> + As to the house which one has left, I think it would be preferable to have + it occupied as soon as possible after one's flitting. Pilgrimages to + the dismantled shrine are certainly to be avoided by the friend of + cheerfulness. A day's absence and emptiness wholly change its + character, though the familiarity continues, with a ghastly difference, as + in the beloved face that the life has left. It is not at all the vacant + house it was when you came first to look at it: for then hopes peopled it, + and now memories. In that golden prime you had long been boarding, and any + place in which you could keep house seemed utterly desirable. How + distinctly you recall that wet day, or that fair day, on which you went + through it and decided that this should be the guest chamber and that the + family room, and what could be done with the little back attic in a pinch! + The children could play in the dining-room; and to be sure the parlor was + rather small if you wanted to have company; but then, who would ever want + to give a party? and besides, the pump in the kitchen was a compensation + for anything. How lightly the dumb waiter ran up and down,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Qual piuma al vento!” + </pre> + <p> + you sang, in very glad-heartedness. Then estimates of the number of yards + of carpeting; and how you could easily save the cost from the difference + between boarding and house-keeping. Adieu, Mrs. Brown! henceforth let your + “desirable apartments, <i>en suite</i> or single, furnished or + unfurnished, to gentlemen only!”—this married pair is about to + escape forever from your extortions. + </p> + <p> + Well, if the years passed without making us sadder, should we be much the + wiser for their going? Now you know, little couple, that there are + extortions in this wicked world beside Mrs. Brown's; and some other + things. But if you go into the empty house that was lately your home, you + will not, I believe, be haunted by these sordid disappointments, for the + place should evoke other regrets and meditations. Truly, though the great + fear has not come upon you here, in this room you may have known moments + when it seemed very near, and when the quick, fevered breathings of the + little one timed your own heart-beats. To that door, with many other + missives of joy and pain, came haply the dispatch which hurried you off to + face your greatest sorrow—came by night, like a voice of God, + speaking and warning, and making all your work idle and your aims foolish. + These walls have answered, how many times, to your laughter; they have had + friendly ears for the trouble that seemed to grow by utterance. You have + sat upon the threshold so many summer days; so many winter mornings you + have seen the snows drifted high about it; so often your step has been + light and heavy upon it. There is the study, where your magnificent + performances were planned, and your exceeding small performances were + achieved; hither you hurried with the first criticism of your first book, + and read it with the rapture that nothing but a love-letter and a + favorable review can awaken. Out there is the well-known humble prospect, + that was commonly but a vista into dreamland; on the other hand is the + pretty grove,—its leaves now a little painted with the autumn, and + faltering to their fall. + </p> + <p> + Yes, the place must always be sacred, but painfully sacred; and I say + again one should not go near it unless as a penance. If the reader will + suffer me the confidence, I will own that there is always a pang in the + past which is more than any pleasure it can give, and I believe that he, + if he were perfectly honest,—as Heaven forbid I or any one should + be,—would also confess as much. There is no house to which one would + return, having left it, though it were the hogshead out of which one had + moved into a kilderkin; for those associations whose perishing leaves us + free, and preserves to us what little youth we have, were otherwise + perpetuated to our burden and bondage. Let some one else, who has also + escaped from his past, have your old house; he will find it new and + untroubled by memories, while you, under another roof, enjoy a present + that borders only upon the future. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Suburban Sketches, by William Dean Howells + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUBURBAN SKETCHES *** + +***** This file should be named 7141-h.htm or 7141-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/1/4/7141/ + +Produced by Olaf Voss, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks, David Widger, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” + or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.” + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + + +</pre> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/old/8sbrb10.zip b/old/8sbrb10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b19bd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8sbrb10.zip |