This meeting led to important results. It is by small and apparently
trivial matters that the main issues of life are determined. A fall of
rain, the plucking of a flower, the accidental turning to the right or
the left--any one of these trifling incidents is sufficient to stamp
the future with an indelible impress.
Parkinson was the name of the man whose daughter had been tempted from
her home by the false wooing of a man in a superior station of life to
her own; the daughter's name was Mary. The disclosure of this private
wrong proved to be the most exciting incident in the proceedings of
the Wilberforce Club on the night of the proposed election, and after
the meeting broke up the grievance formed the subject of animated
discussion all around the neighborhood. To feel and express sympathy
for the father was humanly natural, but here and there this sympathy
was expressed in an unreasoning and dangerous manner, and served as a
peg--as was attempted at the Wilberforce--upon which to hang an
ominous string of hardships as between class and class. Dr. Perriera,
who had remained a firm and faithful friend to Nansie and her family,
had just listened to certain outpourings of this nature mouthed by a
trenchant demagogue to a small band of working-men and lads, among
whom, also, was Mr. Loveday. These two more intelligent of the
audience walked away together.
"It is remarkable," said Dr. Perriera, "to note the blindness of these
ignorant orators to palpable facts. The way in which Mary Parkinson
was brought up was enough to ruin any girl. A father at work all day
and spending his nights at the Wilberforce Club. A mother dying
when her daughter was twelve years of age, and leaving as a legacy
to her child a recollection of frivolities. This was one of the
reasons--perhaps the principal one--why Parkinson spent nearly all his
leisure time away from his home. His wife had no notion of domestic
duties, was a bad cook, and either would not or could not make his
home attractive to him. Parkinson is a good and skilful workman, has
never been ill a week in his life, has never been out of employment.
This is an unusual record, but it has not benefited him. When his wife
was alive she and he between them spent every penny of his earnings;
she was fond of incongruous color in her dress, fond of mock jewelry,
fond of aping the foolish fashions of her betters. She was fond of
worse things--of music-halls and their brutalizing vulgarity. I am
well aware that it is absolutely necessary to provide amusement for
the people; without it life would be unendurable; but I have always
been of the opinion, and experience has confirmed it, that amusement
in a worse form than that provided by the music-hall could scarcely be
devised. I speak of the entertainments as a whole. There are portions
of them which are innocently amusing and healthful, but the most
popular features are those which the exponents of coarseness and
vulgarity provide. I had some opportunity of studying Mrs. Parkinson's
character, and I know that it was this coarser element of the
entertainments that attracted her. I frequently heard her singing
verses of songs which, I regret to say, were and are popular, and the
true meaning of which is an offence to decency. The mischief is that
this moral poison is at the bottom of the cup; but it is well known to
be there by everybody who partakes of it; and even when it is so
cleverly veiled that it can only be conveyed by a motion or a gesture,
this form of expression is carried away by the audience and used by
them when they sing the song in private. It is to Parkinson's credit
that he preferred the Wilberforce Club to the music-hall; but it is
not to his credit that he left the entire social education and
recreation of his daughter to one so unfitted for these duties as his
wife. I would not make life too serious, but I refuse to excuse any
person who ignores its responsibility. Parkinson allowed his wife to
take their little Mary to the music-halls, and to implant in her
nature a foundation of frivolity which has borne bad fruit; it could
not be hoped that it would bear good."
"I agree entirely with you," said Mr. Loveday, "and if I take the
matter more closely to heart it is because of the affection which our
Hester bears for the poor girl. Mary is bright and attractive, and has
many good qualities."
"Good qualities which needed home training," said Dr. Perriera, "and
which should not have been allowed to run wild. Bright and attractive!
Frequently a misfortune when the early education has been bad. I will
finish my argument. The orator to whom we have just listened is one of
an unreasoning class who takes into account only the faults and errors
of one side of his case. That side, in his view, is thoroughly black;
the other side is thoroughly white. Fair-minded men are bound to take
into consideration both cause and effect, and men incapable of doing
this are not fitted to lead. I am sorry that Mr. Bartholomew has
resigned the presidency of the Wilberforce; in addition to being a man
of sound, advanced opinions, he was a restraining force. Do you think
Kingsley Manners fit for the position?"
"I do not," replied Mr. Loveday, firmly, "and I have done all I could
to dissuade him from standing for office. At times I thought I was
succeeding, but some kind of outside influence has always thwarted me.
'A man must follow his star,' he said; and he said it, I believe, with
but a vague idea of his meaning."
"There are members of the Wilberforce," said Dr. Perriera, "who want
to use Kingsley Manners as a tool; and he, with his amiable nature,
might easily be led into a false position. His true friends must save
him from this danger, if possible."
"The difficulty is to find a way," observed Mr. Loveday.
As he made this remark a hand was laid upon his arm, and, turning, he
saw Nansie. From her face the beauty of youth had quite fled; sorrow
and trial had left their traces there, but her brave spirit and
cheerful endurance of long hours of toil had so chastened her that no
one could be long in her presence without being made to feel that here
was one in whom the highest attributes of fortitude, faith, and duty's
performance were manifest. The time was within a few minutes to
eleven, and Mr. Loveday was surprised to see her out at that hour of
the night.
"Do you know where Kingsley is?" she asked.
"No," replied Mr. Loveday. "Is he not at home?"
"He has not returned yet," said Nansie, "and I am anxious about him."
"I will find him for you," said Mr. Loveday. "He will come home at
once when he hears you are uneasy about him."
"Yes, I know he will do that. I should like to see him myself, to
explain--"
"Nansie," cried Mr. Loveday, as she paused, "something is troubling
you."
"Yes," she answered, frankly; "I cannot tell you what it is--I do not
think I ought."
"Where is Hester?"
"At home, alone. She will not go to bed until her father returns."
"But you, Nansie, are you not going back?"
"No; I have something to do that will keep me out late. That is what I
wished to see Kingsley for--to explain it to him. Tell him I may not
be home till the morning, and that Hester is waiting for him. He is
not to worry himself; everything is right."
"There goes a true woman," said Dr. Perriera, looking after her, "upon
an errand of mercy and goodness."
"Do you know what it is?" asked Mr. Loveday.
"No, nor can I guess, but I would stake my life that it is as I say,
and that you believe as I do, notwithstanding that we are both in the
dark."
"You are right," said Mr. Loveday. "Dr. Perriera, misfortune sometimes
proves a blessing. It has been so to me. Had I been rich and
prosperous, I doubt whether it would have been given to me to know the
perfect sweetness and beauty to be found in common lives."
"It is the fashion to call them common lives," responded Dr. Perriera,
"though here and there is a life which an angel would be proud to
live."