AN UPWARD MOVEMENT.
MUCH sooner than even his warmest friends anticipated, did
Doctor Hudson rise to the professorship of anatomy and surgery;
his predecessor having vacated the chair in consequence of some
misunderstanding among the faculty, in which an implied censure was
permitted to rest upon him.
Shortly after rising into this position, which greatly increased his
income, Doctor Hudson, who had since his marriage continued to reside
in his father's family, took a handsome house in Walnut street, and
commenced housekeeping in a style appropriate to his condition and
standing in the profession. At the same time, he proposed to his father
to give up his business, and live at ease for the rest of his life. But
to this old Mr. Hudson positively objected.
"Let me remain independent, my son," he replied, "while I have in me
the ability to be independent; and let me serve my appropriate use in
the community, as you are serving yours, while I am able to do so.
I shall have a clearer conscience and be happier. When my ability
fails, then it will be time enough for me to give up, and I will do it
cheerfully."
The doctor tried to argue the matter with his father, but it was of no
use. Mr. Hudson was not to be moved. He knew that he would be happier
going on in the old way. It was too late in life to enter into a new
occupation, or to learn the art of doing nothing—a wearisome employment
at best.
Much as Doctor Hudson wished to see his father give up all business,
and live for the remainder of his life at ease, his judgment could not
but approve the decision he made.
The elevation of our young doctor to the chair of anatomy and surgery,
was received by the profession and the public with marked approbation.
The newspapers and medical journals spoke of the appointment as
honorable both to the school and the individual who had been elected to
fill the professorship.
In the city, Doctor Hudson was at this time well-known to the public by
his eminent skill as a surgeon, and to the profession abroad by reports
of successful and difficult operations which he had performed, but
much more through the many able communications from his pen, which had
appeared from time to time in the medical journals.
Some time before the occurrence just referred to, Ella had become the
wife of Dr. Baldwin, and already the fact of her having been only a
music teacher was nearly forgotten, or, if remembered, was thought of
as honorable to her independent spirit, rather than as an exception to
her standing in society.
It was rather a severe trial to the pride of Mrs. Baldwin to come into
such near relationship with a poor old watchmaker and his wife as the
marriage of her son with Ella necessarily brought her, and at her
first meeting with them, it required the exercise of a good deal of
self-denial to treat them with anything more than cold politeness. It
did not take her long, however, to understand that she was not in the
company of an ignorant, vulgar-minded woman, when she sat by the side
of Mrs. Hudson; but with one of her sex whose mind, if not fashionably
educated, had delicate perceptions of right and wrong, great
penetration, and sound sense. It would not do, she felt, to assume
any importance with her, from having moved in a different sphere, for
this would not elevate but rather lower her in the estimation of Mrs.
Hudson, for whom, in spite of herself, she felt a rising sentiment of
respect. The father of Ella was a man of a character much more strongly
marked than she had expected to find, and she noticed that men of
education and known attainments, when they engaged in conversation with
him, paid great deference to his remarks, and treated him with as much
respect as they did any one.
"If he would only give up that old shop of his," Mrs. Baldwin said
to her son, shortly after his marriage, "he could come into genteel
society, and no one would ever suspect that he had been a mechanic. I
wonder Doctor Hudson doesn't go to housekeeping in a handsome way, and
take the old folks to live with him."
"It is his intention to do so as soon as he thinks his income
sufficient for the purpose," replied Baldwin.
"Isn't it sufficient now?" asked the mother.
"He thinks not; and I suppose he ought to be the best judge in the
case. But if I am not mistaken in the character of his father, he will
find the old gentleman altogether opposed to such an arrangement. I
have heard him say, that he considered every man in duty bound to
pursue some useful employment so long as he had a sound mind and a hale
body; both of which he possesses. Mr. Hudson is too independent in his
habits of thinking and feeling, to consent to give up his business,
while he can work at it; at least such is my opinion."
Mrs. Baldwin could not understand this; and when the fact proved the
truth of the son's prediction, she was outraged at the old gentleman's
"perverseness" as she called it.
But as time went on, and Mrs. Baldwin saw that her family had suffered
no real disgrace, as far as she could distinguish, by the marriage of
her son into that of the watchmaker, she became more reconciled and
indifferent. Mrs. Hudson did not, as she at first feared would be the
case, thrust herself at all unsuitable times, and on all unsuitable
occasions, into her company. The fact was very different. Mrs. Hudson
gave her no trouble in this respect; for she was by no means strongly
prepossessed in her favor, and did not enjoy her society well enough to
seek it very often.