_"I'll stand as if a man were author of himself,
And knew no other kin."_
Shakespeare.
Since Beverly was a Virginian, and since it was well known that at least
one of the new owners of the paper was from Massachusetts, it was deemed
wise to have Beverly sign all of his editorials where they touched--as
they usually did--upon the ever-present, and ever-exciting topic of
slave extension. The young fellows were advised by the original owner
that the border people were in no mood to accept arguments opposed
to the opinions of a large proportion of the property owners, if they
supposed these arguments came from persons in any way hostile to their
interests--as all the New England people were supposed to be.
But, he reasoned, if these arguments came from the pen of one who had
known the institution of slavery at its best and had loved the old order
of things where it was an established institution and where its
roots were, as even Beverly believed, in normal earth and not to
be disturbed--if from his pen came the protest against its farther
extension--it was believed the natives would accept it in kindness
whether they agreed with him or not. Beverly still adhered to the old
order of things for the old states. He, like his father, had seen how
hard it was to be rid of even a small portion of its power and its
responsibility.
At the end of the second year of his new editorial work Beverly had
grown to feel himself quite at home with his duties. He had made both
friends and enemies. The little office had become the town's center of
debate and of political development. The clash of interests had come
nearer and nearer. The country was on the eve of an election excitement
such as had never before been known. Four parties were in the field. The
election of either of the two radical candidates meant civil war beyond
hope of evasion. Many still fondly hoped that peace was yet possible
if but the compromise candidates were elected. Mr. Davenport held
tenaciously to that view. Beverly came out openly against it. If it were
staved off by compromise, he insisted that it was only a matter of time
when the inevitable would come. He argued that it would be best to meet
and settle the issue once and for all.
"I shall cast my first presidential ballot for that Illinois lawyer who
flayed Douglas," he wrote to his father. "War is simply inevitable now,
and he is a fearless and clear-headed leader. When the extension party
sees that he means business, and has the whole North and West behind,
him the struggle will the sooner be over." But Griffith still hoped for
peace and a compromise, and declared his intention to vote for Bell
and Everett. "You are simply throwing your vote away," wrote Beverly,
insistently, "and after all you have done and suffered because of this
thing I am sorry to see you do it, father. I'd rather see you help other
people to keep out of the fire that scorched you than to silently allow
it to be lighted in the states that are now free--in the new territorial
country so soon to be states. But what business have I to advise you?
I'm in a position to see it better than you are, is my only excuse. I am
going to vote for Lincoln and work for him with all my strength. Things
are about as hot as they can be out here, I can tell you. I mail my last
editorial on the subject to-day. A good many people here don't half like
it, and I've had to buck up to some pretty ugly talk first and last;
but--we have to follow our consciences, don't we? That's mine,
whether they like it or not. Lots of love to mother and the boys and
Margaret--and to Judy, too. And af you plaise, me reshpects t' Rosanna,
shure!
"P. S.--I forgot to say I'll have to postpone that visit home for a
little while yet, until things settle down a bit. We have all we can
possibly manage at the office now. Shap runs the business end of things
very well, does the hiring and adv. work and all that. Donaldson takes
all the locals and reporting, and I've got pretty much the whole of the
editing to do. I sign only the political ones, but I do the other stuff
on that page and the literary part too. Of course both of them do some
of these things once in a while--and if they want to; but I am depended
on for it; so as times are, I've got to be here to meet all these new
questions. We talk 'em over and I write 'em up. It keeps me tied, but
I like it; I reckon I was born for the business. We are really making
great strides for youngsters. The subscriptions have very nearly doubled
in the two years. Did you read the issue of the 24th with my lurid
remarks on 'Breakers Ahead?' I believe every word of it. I don't believe
we are going to pull through without a touch of gunpowder. I don't
intend to fight myself, if I can help it--but I shall shoot with ink
just as long and as strong as I can. I believe my postscript is a good
deal longer than my letter; but sometimes our afterthoughts have more in
'em than the originals, so why not add 'em? I forgot, too, in my gassing
about myself, to say how glad I am that Roy is doing so well at college
now. I shall surely try to get home to his graduation in June next, for
I hope after Lincoln is once in the White House (and you see I assume he
is going to get there), that it won't take long to settle matters down.
I think by next June I can surely come home for a good visit. I doubt,
though, if we do have a place for Roy to take even then. All the places
we have to give are rather--well, they are not in his line and the pay
is small. The salary list looks pretty big to us on payday, but I
reckon it looks slim enough to each one of the men who gets his little
envelope. Now, I believe that is really all I overlooked replying to in
your last; only, once more, father, _do_ vote for Lincoln and _don't_
throw yourself away on that tinkling little Bell. His chances are
hopeless; and if they were not, then the country's chances would be.
Might as well just put little Margaret at the helm of a ship. No matter
how hard she'd pull, or how sweetly she'd smile or how hard she'd coax,
the ship would miss the firm grip needed to steer clear of the breakers.
There _are_ breakers ahead I Lincoln is our only hope for an undivided
country and the limitation, once and for all, of the extension of
slavery--_sure sure_. Again, love to all,
"Beverly.
"N. B.--I don't often read my letters over, but if I hadn't read this
one I shouldn't be so certain as I am now that if I were my own
father and should receive this cock-sure piece of advice from my eldest
hopeful, I'd--well, I'd tan him well, verbally. But since I have the
good luck to be the eldest of the _very_ best and most considerate
father in this wide world, I don't expect anything of the kind to happen
to me; but if it does, I'll swallow it like a little man--and take my
revenge (in a scorching editorial) on some other fellow's father who
votes for Bell.
"Meekly,
"B."
Mr. Davenport--as was his habit--read the letter aloud to the family,
but he smiled anxiously at Roy's merry comments.
"Beverly is in a bad place to be reckless with his English, just now.
That editorial on Breakers Ahead seemed to me to go a good deal too far.
I'm glad he says he will not fight if there should be a war--which God
forbid."
"I would, then!" remarked Roy. "I'd get up a company right here in
college. Lots of the boys declare they'd go."
Mr. Davenport looked at his son over his gold-bowed glasses. There was a
suspicious twinkle in his eyes and a twitching of the lips. There was
a long pause before he spoke. This son of his had always seemed to
Griffith younger than he was.
"How old are you, Roy?" he asked in a spirit of fun. "You'd make a
tremendous soldier, now, wouldn't you?--just out of short clothes?"
"I'm older than Bev. was when he left college. I'm twenty. Young men
make the best soldiers anyhow. I heard Governor Morton tell you that the
last time he was here, and besides----"
"Tut, tut, tut, boy, you attend to your lessons! Twenty! Is that so,
Katherine? Is Roy twenty?"
Griffith took his glasses in his hand and held them as if he were trying
to magnify the boy in order to see him, and with his other hand tweaked
his upper lip as if searching for a mustache. Roy accepted the joke and
stretched himself up to his tallest, and from his inch of advantage over
his father he put down a patronizing hand on Griffith's head and said,
"Bless you, my children, bless you." Griffith changed the direction of
his glasses and searched the ceiling with that gratified smile fathers
have when they realize that a son really exceeds them in anything.
Katherine was laughing at the byplay of the two. Suddenly Griffith
turned to his youngest son: "Howard, how old are you? I suppose you will
vote this time, and go to war and do no end of great and rash things."
"No, I'll stay at home and nurse the baby. That's the kind of a fellow I
am," flung back this petulant one, and the door banged behind him.
"Don't tease Ward," said Katherine. "His temper seems to grow faster
than he does just these last two years, and--"
"Highty-tighty! He'd better take a reef in it. If I'd behaved that way
with my father he would have prescribed a little hickory oil. How old
_is_ Howard? Fourteen? Growing too fast by half--but his temper does
seem to keep up with the rest of him, I must say. Go and hitch up the
century plant, Roy. I want to drive out to the farm. Want to go'long?
Don't. Well, do you, Kath'rine? No? Well, then I guess I'll have to take
Margaret. She won't go back on me like that. It'll do her good and she
can play with those two peewees of Miller's, while he and I look over
the stock and drive about the place a little. Fan's colt was lame the
last time I was out. I don't believe the strawberry patch is going to
do well this year, either. Did I tell you what a fine fat calf the
brindle's is? You'd laugh to see it. It winks at you exactly as if it
understood a joke."
The old phaeton--otherwise the "century plant"--dashed up to the door.
The combination was especially incongruous. Hitched to it was a great,
gray, fiery Arabian stallion. The one-time circuit rider had not lost
his love for a good horse, and his little stock farm on the outskirts of
the town was the joy of his life. He sadly missed the beautiful valley
of his youth, but at least these fields were his. No blue mountains
loomed up in the distance, but the beech and maple trees were luxuriant.
Mountain stream and narrow pass there were not, but a pebbly brook, in
which were minnows, ran through the strip of woods, and Griffith still
enjoyed the comradeship of bird and beast and fish. He had named the
stallion Selim, after the love of his youth, and no one dared drive him
but himself. He took up the lines and called back to Roy as Selim dashed
off, "I'll leave Selim and bring Fannie in, so your mother and you can
drive to-morrow. 'Bye, Howard! Be a good boy!" he called, as he caught a
glimpse of the boy at the corner of the house.
"So'll the devil be a good boy! Just wait till that war comes! They'll
see!" he growled, as the "century plant" disappeared. There floated
back on the air, "Joy to the world, te, te, turn, turn. Yea, yea, there,
Selim! Whoa! Yea! yea! Let earth receive her King! Te, te, turn." The
"century plant" and Selim disappeared around the corner, and the fife and
drum corps which had startled the horse, drowned all other sounds, and
for Howard, all other thoughts. He did not stop to reach the gate. He
vaulted over the fence and joined the procession and the refrain of the
school-boys who gave words to the music--"on a rail! And we'll ride old
Abe, and we'll ride old Abe, and we'll ride him to the White House on
a rail!" The boy dropped into the step and the rhythm with a will. He
forgot to be sullen.