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IN THE HEART OF A FOOL
BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
THE REAL ISSUE
THE COURT OF BOYVILLE
STRATAGEMS AND SPOILS
IN OUR TOWN
A CERTAIN RICH MAN
THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH
GOD'S PUPPETS
THE MARTIAL ADVENTURES OF HENRY AND ME
IN THE HEART OF A FOOL
IN THE HEART OF A FOOL
BY
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
Author of "In Our Town," "A Certain Rich Man,"
"The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me," etc.
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1918
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1918
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1918.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I BEING STAGE DIRECTIONS, AND A CAST OF
CHARACTERS. 1
II IN WHICH WE INTRODUCE THE FOOL AND HIS
LADY FAIR, AND WHAT HE SAID IN HIS
HEART--THE SAME BEING THE THEME AND
THESIS OF THIS STORY 4
III IN WHICH WE CONSIDER THE LADIES--GOD
BLESS 'EM! 21
IV THE ADAMS FAMILY BIBLE LIES LIKE A
GENTLEMAN 38
V IN WHICH MARGARET MUeLLERs DWELLS IN
MARBLE HALLS AND HENRY FENN AND KENYON
ADAMS WIN NOTABLE VICTORIES 47
VI ENTER THE BEAUTY AND CHIVALRY OF
HARVEY; ALSO HEREIN WE BREAK OUR FINEST
HEART 63
VII IN WHICH WE SEE HOW LIFE TRANSLATES
ITSELF INTO THE MATERIALISM AROUND IT 69
VIII CAPTAIN MORTON ACTS AS COURT HERALD AND
MORTY SANDS AND GRANT ADAMS HEAR SAD
NEWS 80
IX WHEREIN HENRY FENN TRIES AN INTERESTING
EXPERIMENT 89
X IN WHICH MARY ADAMS TAKES A MUCH NEEDED
REST 98
XI WHEREIN A FOOL GROPES FOR A SPIRIT AND
CAN FIND ONLY DUST 103
XII IN WHICH WE LEARN THAT LOVE IS THE
LEVER THAT MOVES THE WORLD 114
XIII IN WHICH WE OBSERVE THE INTERIOR OF A
DESERTED HOUSE 126
XIV IN WHICH OUR HERO STROLLS OUT WITH THE
DEVIL TO LOOK AT THE HIGH MOUNTAIN 135
XV WHEREIN WE WELCOME IN A NEW YEAR AND
CONSIDER A SERIOUS QUESTION 152
XVI GRANT ADAMS IS SOLD INTO BONDAGE AND
MARGARET FENN RECEIVES A SHOCK 163
XVII A CHAPTER WHICH INTRODUCES SOME
POSSIBLE GODS 180
XVIII OUR HERO RIDES TO HOUNDS WITH THE
PRIMROSE HUNT 187
XIX HEREIN CAPTAIN MORTON FALLS UNDER
SUSPICION AND HENRY FENN FALLS FROM
GRACE 200
XX IN WHICH HENRY FENN FALLS FROM GRACE
AND RISES AGAIN 209
XXI IN WHICH WE SEE A FAT LITTLE RASCAL ON
THE RACK 219
XXII IN WHICH TOM VAN DORN BECOMES A
WAYFARING MAN ALSO 232
XXIII HERE GRANT ADAMS DISCOVERS HIS INSIDES 241
XXIV IN WHICH THE DEVIL FORMALLY TAKES THE
TWO HINDERMOST AND CLOSES AN ACCOUNT IN
HIS LEDGER 252
XXV IN WHICH WE SEE TWO TEMPLES AND THE
CONTENTS THEREOF 264
XXVI DR. NESBIT STARTS ON A LONG UPWARD BUT
DEVIOUS JOURNEY 277
XXVII IN WHICH WE SEE SOMETHING COME INTO
THIS STORY OUTSIDE OF THE MATERIAL WORLD 288
XXVIII WHEREIN MORTY SANDS MAKES A FEW
SENSIBLE REMARKS IN PUBLIC 298
XXIX BEING NOT A CHAPTER BUT AN INTERLUDE 309
XXX GRANT ADAMS PREACHING A MESSAGE OF LOVE
RAISES THE VERY DEVIL IN HARVEY 320
XXXI IN WHICH JUDGE VAN DORN MAKES HIS BRAGS
AND DR. NESBIT SEES A VISION 337
XXXII WHEREIN VIOLET HOGAN TAKES UP AN OLD
TRADE AND MARGARET VAN DORN SEEKS A
HIGHER PLANE 350
XXXIII IN WHICH THE ANGELS SHAKE A FOOT FOR
HENRY FENN 365
XXXIV A SHORT CHAPTER, YET IN IT WE EXAMINE
ONE CANVAS HEAVEN, ONE REAL HEAVEN, AND
TWO SNUG LITTLE HELLS 379
XXXV THE OLD SPIDER BEGINS TO DIVIDE HIS
FLIES WITH OTHERS AND GEORGE BROTHERTON
IS PUZZLED TWICE IN ONE NIGHT 388
XXXVI A LONG CHAPTER BUT A BUSY ONE, IN WHICH
KENYON ADAMS AND HIS MOTHER HAVE A
STRANGE MEETING, AND LILA VAN DORN
TAKES A NIGHT RIDE 403
XXXVII IN WHICH WE WITNESS A CEREMONY IN THE
TEMPLE OF LOVE 423
XXXVIII GRANT ADAMS VISITS THE SONS OF ESAU 431
XXXIX BEING NO CHAPTER AT ALL BUT AN
INTERMEZZO BEFORE THE LAST MOVEMENT 441
XL HERE WE HAVE THE FELLOW AND THE GIRL
BEGINNING TO PREPARE FOR THE LAST
CHAPTER 444
XLI HERE WE SEE GRANT ADAMS CONQUERING HIS
THIRD AND LAST DEVIL 454
XLII A CHAPTER WHICH IS CONCERNED LARGELY
WITH THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF "THE FULL
STRENGTH OF THE COMPANY" 468
XLIII WHEREIN WE FIND GRANT ADAMS CALLING
UPON KENYON'S MOTHER, AND DARKNESS
FALLS UPON TWO LOVERS 496
XLIV IN WHICH WE SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN,
WITH GEORGE BROTHERTON, AND IN GENERAL
CONSIDER THE HABITANTS OF THE KINGDOM 515
XLV IN WHICH LIDA BOWMAN CONSIDERS HER
UNIVERSE AND TOM VAN DORN WINS ANOTHER
VICTORY 527
XLVI WHEREIN GRANT ADAMS PREACHES PEACE AND
LIDA BOWMAN SPEAKS HER MIND 543
XLVII IN WHICH GRANT ADAMS AND LAURA VAN DORN
TAKE A WALK DOWN MARKET STREET AND MRS.
NESBIT ACQUIRES A LONG LOST
GRANDSON-IN-LAW 561
XLVIII WHEREIN WE ERECT A HOUSE BUILT UPON A
ROCK 575
XLIX HOW MORTY SANDS TURNED AWAY SADLY AND
JUDGE VAN DORN UNCOVERED A SECRET 582
L JUDGE VAN DORN SINGS SOME MERRY SONGS
AND THEY TAKE GRANT ADAMS BEHIND A
WHITE DOOR 597
LI IN WHICH WE END AS WE BEGAN AND ALL
LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER 609
LII NOT EXACTLY A CHAPTER BUT RATHER A
Q. E. D. OR A HIC FABULA DOCET 613
IN THE HEART OF A FOOL
CHAPTER I
BEING STAGE DIRECTIONS, AND A CAST OF CHARACTERS
Sunshine and prairie grass--well in the foreground. For the background,
perhaps a thousand miles away or more than half a decade removed in
time, is the American Civil War. In the blue sky a meadow lark's love
song, and in the grass the boom of the prairie chicken's wings are the
only sounds that break the primeval silence, excepting the lisping of
the wind which dimples the broad acres of tall grass--thousand upon
thousand of acres--that stretch northward for miles. To the left the
prairie grass rises upon a low hill, belted with limestone and finally
merges into the mirage on the knife edge of the far horizon. To the
southward on the canvas the prairie grass is broken by the heavy green
foliage above a sluggish stream that writhes and twists and turns
through the prairie, which rises above the stream and meets another
limestone belt upon which the waving ripples of the unmowed grass wash
southward to the eye's reach.
Enter R. U. E. a four-ox team hauling a cart laden with a printing press
and a printer's outfit; following that are other ox teams hauling carts
laden with tents and bedding, household goods, lumber, and provisions. A
four-horse team hauling merchandise, and a span of mules hitched to a
spring wagon come crashing up through the timber by the stream. Men and
women are walking beside the oxen or the teams and are riding in the
covered wagons. They are eagerly seeking something. It is the equality
of opportunity that is supposed to be found in the virgin prairies of
the new West. The men are nearly all veterans of the late war, for the
most part bearded youngsters in their twenties or early thirties. The
women are their fresh young wives. As the procession halts before the
canvas, the men and women begin to unpack the wagons and to line out on
each side of an imaginary street in the prairie. The characters are
discovered as follows:
Amos Adams, a red-bearded youth of twenty-nine and Mary Sands, his wife.
They are printers and begin unpacking and setting up the printing
material in a tent.
Dr. James Nesbit and Bedelia Satterthwaite, his wife, in the tent beside
the Adamses.
Captain Ezra Morton, and Ruth his wife; he is selling a patent,
self-opening gate.
Ahab Wright, in side whiskers, white necktie, flannel shirt and
carefully considered trousers tucked in shiny boots.
Daniel Sands, Jane, his young wife, and Mortimer, her infant stepson.
Daniel owns the merchandise in the wagon.
Casper Herdicker, cobbler, and Brunhilde Herdicker, his wife.
Herman Mueller, bearded, coarse-featured, noisy; a Pennsylvania Dutchman,
his faded, rope-haired, milk-eyed, sickly wife and Margaret, their baby
daughter.
Kyle Perry, owner of the horses and spring wagon.
Dick Bowman, Ira Dooley, Thomas Williams, James McPherson, Dennis Hogan,
a boy, laborers.
As other characters enter during the early pages of the story they shall
be properly introduced.
As the actors unload their wagons the spectators may notice above their
heads bright, beautiful and evanescent forms coming and going in and out
of being. These are the visions of the pioneers, and they are vastly
more real than the men and women themselves. For these visions are the
forces that form the human crystal.
Here abideth these three: sunshine and prairie grass and blue sky, cloud
laden. These for ages have held domain and left the scene unchanged.
When lo--at Upper Middle Entrance,--enter love! And love witched the
dreams and visions of those who toiled in the sunshine and prairie grass
under the blue sky cloud laden. And behold what they visioned in the
witchery of love, took form and spread upon the prairie in wood and
stone and iron, and became a part of the life of the Nation. Blind men
in other lands, in other times looked at the Nation and saw only wood
and stone and iron. Yet the wood and stone and iron should not have
symbolized the era in America. Rather should the dreams and visions of
the pioneers, of those who toiled under the sunshine and in the prairie
grass have symbolized our strength. For half a century later when the
world was agonizing in a death grapple with the mad gods of a crass
materialism, mankind saw rising from the wood and stone and iron that
had seemed to epitomize this Nation, a spirit which had lain hidden yet
dormant in the Nation's life--a beautiful spirit of idealism strong,
brave and humbly wise; the child of the dreams and visions and the love
of humanity that dwelled in the hearts of the pioneers of that earlier
time.
But this is looking forward. So let us go back to scene one, act one, in
those days before the sunshine was shaded, the prairie grass worn off,
and the blue sky itself was so stained and changed that the meadow-lark
was mute!
And now we are ready for the curtain: and--music please.