THE TOWN MOVED WITH INDIGNATION.
It was less than a week after the scenes we have described in the
foregoing chapter took place, that the good sloop Heinrich arrived,
having made her weekly voyage to New York and back. A small, ill-favored
man, with a very long red beard, and very long red hair, might have been
seen stepping ashore, with a book and an umbrella under his arm, and
wending his way up the lane, followed by Tite, carrying a corpulent
carpet-bag. There was a combative air about the little man, who stared
with a pair of small, fierce eyes, through a pair of glaring spectacles
at every one he met. He was dressed in a shabby black suit, that hung
loosely on his lean figure. This, with a broad, rolling collar, a pair
of russet brogans, and a common straw hat, turned up at one side,
completed his wardrobe, and gave an odd appearance to the man. Indeed,
the gentleman had no taste for the vanities of the world, and parted his
hair in the middle to save trouble. The ordinary observer might easily
have mistaken him for a school-master out of employment and in distress.
That such a man was to upset the settled opinions of a big town, few
persons would have believed. Such, however, was this odd-looking little
man's mission, and there was no end of new ideas contained in that
little bumpy forehead of his.
The new arrival was the much-expected Reverend Warren Holbrook, from
Dogtown last. As I have said before, he looked askance and inquisitively
at every one he met as he walked up the lane. He bowed, too, and had a
smile for all the females; then he enquired the name and condition of
those who lived in each house he came to--how many children they had,
and whether they were boys or girls. Now he paused and rested on his
umbrella when he had reached a bit of high ground, and gazed over Nyack
generally, and then over the Tappan Zee. Here was the new field of the
great labors before him. How often he had taken Dogtown by the neck and
shaken her up severely. The day might come when he would have to take
Nyack by the neck and give her a good shaking up, morally and
religiously. Mrs. Chapman had written him to say that Nyack was a bad
place, secularly and otherwise.
The whole Chapman family (including the big dog) was out at the door to
welcome the stranger; and such a warm greeting as he got. Mrs. Chapman
assured him that the best in the house had been prepared for him, and
that she had got the town in a state of great anxiety to see him. To
tell the truth, this busy, bustling woman had been blowing a noisy
trumpet for him in advance, and enlisting a large amount of female
sympathy by stating that he was preeminent as an advocate of woman's
rights in all things.
Of course the Reverend Warren Holbrook's arrival soon got noised over
Nyack, and the female mind was in a state of great agitation. Before
bed-time a number of curious and somewhat aged women dropped in to pay
their respects to the gentleman, and see for themselves what this man of
great natural gifts, who was to reform all Nyack and the world
generally, was like.
There was one member of the Chapman family, however, not pleased with
the way things were going, and that was Mattie. When the older Chapmans
had taken their guest into the house, she embraced the opportunity to
have a talk with Tite, and reproached him for what she had seen him do.
"Now, Tite," said she, looking earnestly into his face, "if you have any
respect for me, never walk behind a man, carrying his carpet-bag--never!
And such a looking man as that! You are as good as he, or anybody else,
and if you don't think yourself so, other people wont think so for you.
Never think you are not as good as somebody. Don't act as a help for
anybody, for if you do you will be set down for nobody all your life."
At first Tite hardly knew what to say in reply. The nature of the rebuke
showed the deep interest Mattie felt in him. "If I had taken pay," said
Tite, hesitating, "'twould have been different. I carried his
carpet-bag, I know, but then I did it as a favor; and, as you saw,
declined to take the sixpence he offered me. But I'll do as you say,
Mattie, and won't do so again; for I want to please you, you know." The
words fell nervously from Tite's lips, and there was a throbbing at the
heart he could not suppress.
"My mother," resumed Mattie, in a frank, girlish manner, "brought this
man Warren Holbrook into the house at Dogtown, and he got father into
such a deal of trouble. He was always quarrelling with somebody. He got
up a disturbance in the church. And then the church all went to pieces.
Oh, what a church it was! And mother thinks he's such a nice man. I
don't. Don't carry his carpet-bag again, Tite. Don't make a menial of
yourself for anybody." After saying this she walked part of the way home
with Tite, and then they parted with a sweet good-night.
The following day being Sunday, and the Reverend Warren Holbrook having
brought several prepared sermons with him, service was held in the new
church at the regular morning hour. The women gathered in great numbers,
and nearly filled the church; and the odd appearance of the little man,
as he took his place in the pulpit, was a subject of general remark.
His sermon, I may here state, was one of the most singular and
pyrotechnical ever preached in Nyack. He began by saying that Christ had
risen, and was with them in person. He had come to Nyack, he added, to
tell the truth and preach to sinners, for he understood the devil had
had things his own way for a long time in the town; and he understood
also there were sinners enough in Nyack to sink it. The world had
reached a stage of wickedness when it needed reforming. It must be
reformed, or it would sink under the weight of its wickedness. People
were getting rich, and with great riches there always came pride and
wickedness. He continued in this strain for nearly an hour, mixing up
transcendentalism, rationalism, unitarianism, and a number of other
isms, so unartistically as to astonish and confound his audience, and
give his hearers something to talk about for a week.
Then he suddenly broke away from his disputed points, as he called them,
and took up the subject of woman's wrongs. "My hearers," said he,
pausing and pointing upward with the fore-finger of his right hand,
"What would the world be without woman? From the very beginning of the
world she has been the victim of wrong, great wrong. Man has sinned
against her by making her his inferior. God never intended that she
should be the inferior of man. He never would have created her with a
form so beautiful, and a voice so soft and musical, if he had not
intended her for man's superior. And the day will come, and come soon,
too, when she will have her rights, and her voice will be heard in the
government of the nation. The angel that she is! Woman is a great power.
She has made kings and conquerors, and she can unmake them. She has
influenced the acts of statesmen, and made children of grave Senators.
Yes, my hearers, her power can be made greater than the throne. And yet
how few husbands appreciate their wives as they should do." Here the
reverend gentleman paused for a few seconds, and cast meaning glances at
several of his male hearers, who were evidently not inclined to receive
his remarks with favor. Indeed, Mr. Holbrook, while making a high bid
for popularity with the female portion of his audience, was throwing an
immense fire-brand into the family circle of a number of his hearers.
"My hearers, remember this," resumed this odd little man: "Manage a
woman right, and you have a mighty power to carry out the greatest
project the world ever saw."
Disjointed and illogical as this sermon was, it was just what Chapman
and Mrs. Chapman wanted to put the church of the new ideas firm on its
legs. It was popular with the women; and with their favor Holbrook could
ride triumphantly over any number of quarrels.
Mrs. Chapman intimated to another admiring female that the little man
they had just listened to was very like an oyster--looked better when
opened. In short, it was the general opinion of the women that Mr.
Holbrook had preached a very sensible sermon; and they were delighted,
notwithstanding what their husbands said to the contrary. "We have got a
preacher now," said the women, "who will stick up for our rights. You
men have had it all your own way long enough." Some of the men,
however, were not inclined to let these taunts pass quietly, declaring
that they had never listened to such nonsense before. One shook his
head, and declared that no good could come of such preaching, since
there was no true religion in it. Another snapped his fingers, saying
the man was not only a fool, but a mischief-maker. A third said all the
trouble in the world had been made by just such meddlesome men. The
church of great moral ideas might be a good enough church for some
people; but such a preacher as this made more infidels than honest men.
The whole town soon got into a dispute as to whether the Reverend Warren
Holbrook was a wise and good man, or simply a mischief-making egotist.
The women took the side of Holbrook, and stuck to it, like true women.
He preached the right sort of religion, they said, and was a wise and
good man, or he could not preach as he did. The men did not believe a
word of it, but seeing that their wives were inclined to have it all
their own way, and would not hear a word against the new preacher,
quietly submitted, as men generally do. That is to say, they surrendered
their authority.
Chapman was delighted at the nice little turn his preacher had made in
the affairs of the town. Nothing pleased him better than to have a dozen
disputes on hand at a time. If only well nursed they could be all made
profitable. Woman was the great pillar of Chapman's hopes. He had always
regarded her as the great foundation of any church. She could make it
popular if she pleased, and she could make it profitable, too. This, in
a measure, accounted for the unlimited admiration Mrs. Chapman had for
this great progressive clergyman. His great progressive religion was
just exactly the thing needed in Nyack. He must next attack the
Dominie, and drive him out of his pulpit, for it would not do to have
men preaching in an unknown tongue at this enlightened day.
In less than two months from the time this teacher of great progressive
ideas landed at Nyack, he had not only got the town by the ears, but so
divided his flock that it was now composed almost exclusively of women.
The men stayed at home and nursed their wrath. And it was good for them
that they did, for the women had things all their own way generally, and
Warren Holbrook, ill-favored and formed, was their idol. The pew rents
ran up, however, and the contributions of a Sunday increased nearly
double. Indeed, the Chapmans felt that they were now on the road to
fortune, and Mrs. Chapman's ambition increased accordingly.
All great enterprises, however, are liable to sudden checks, and
misfortune too often comes when one least expects it. And so it was with
the Reverend Warren Holbrook, the man of the great progressive ideas. He
was discovered paying what ladies of strict propriety regard as more
than ordinary attentions to a fair young damsel, the daughter of one of
the most active members of the church--a woman who had carried her head
high, and was so much given to wearing more finery than her neighbors
that the few friends she had were always ready to say ill-natured things
of her. The young woman was ready enough to embrace matrimony at any
moment; but the attentions she received from the reverend gentleman
caused great distress among a number of other young women of his church.
It was agreed among them that the reverend gentleman was neither
fascinating nor handsome, but he had mind, and was smart. Smart was the
thing a man most needed in a New England village.
I have said before that the mother of this damsel carried a high head,
as well in as out of the church. She seemed also to have more rights
than ordinary females, and would give herself a great deal of
unnecessary trouble in asserting them, so much so that many of her less
strong-handed sisters regarded her with fear. The gentleman's attentions
had not progressed far when it was evident to all attentive observers
that there must soon be a split in the female division of his church.
Indeed, the quarrel in the female division of the church of the great
progressive ideas was waged with great fierceness, and had such a number
of nice little scandals mixed up in it as to make it quite interesting
to people of a contemplative turn of mind.
Every meddlesome old woman in the church must put her finger in the
reverend gentleman's love pie, and would speak her mind plainly enough,
especially if she had daughters of her own. To use the poor man's own
language, he found himself spiked on all sides; and all for love, a
thing which has brought no end of mischief on the world. In short, from
being an idol he found himself between fires that threatened to consume
him, so fiercely did they burn.
The gentleman's position was indeed becoming perilous, when an
unforeseen circumstance afforded him the means of relief. There arrived
in Nyack late one Saturday night, a man of tall, slender figure, dressed
in a suit of plain black, and having the appearance of a young clergyman
just from the country. He put up at Titus Bright's inn, gave out that he
was from Dogtown, Massachusetts, and after partaking of supper, enquired
of the landlord where he could find the Reverend, so to speak, Warren
Holbrook. There was something serious in the man's manner, like one who
had been grievously wronged. Being told where he could find the object
of his search, he paced the room thoughtfully for a few minutes, then
muttered to himself, "I must see him to-night. The sooner settled the
better. It will not do to wait until morning."
Half an hour later, and the two reverend gentlemen (the stranger and
Holbrook) might have been seen seated at a table in a room of Chapman's
house. Their conversation had evidently not been of a very pleasant
nature, for the stranger, rising to take his departure, said: "You have
only to do her justice, and show to the world that you are an honorable
man. She is my sister; and unless you keep your promise, solemnly made
to her, I will follow you to the end of the earth, and make you the
scorned of men. Mark this well: it is the haunted soul of the hypocrite
that burns him through life; that makes him a very torment to himself."
The stranger returned to the inn, where he paced the room for nearly an
hour, and then retired for the night.
The bells rang on the following morning, and the good women of Nyack
wended their way to and had nearly filled every pew in the church of
great progressive ideas. The choir sung one hymn, and then sung another.
But no pastor came. There was something wrong, evidently. Hope and faith
were enjoined by a few. Some watched the door, others the pulpit.
Whispers succeeded wonder, and murmurs took the place of curiosity. The
church was clearly without a pastor; and what was a church to do under
such circumstances? At length the whole congregation got into a state of
profound agitation. What was the matter? where was the pastor? would'nt
somebody speak? These and similar questions were on every tongue. It
was suddenly discovered that the Chapmans were also absent.
An indignant female got up and proposed that some one "go for" the
Chapmans, and make them explain what it all meant. Another, equally
indignant, took a more sensible view of things. "If there's to be no
service," said she, "I'm going home to read my Bible in quiet." And she
left the church, followed by the rest of the congregation. And as nobody
explained, of course every one had his or her own reason for this
singular turn in the spiritual affairs of the new church. There was no
getting over the fact that the new church had been brought to a stand
still. To be plain about the matter, the Reverend Warren Holbrook had
put his great progressive ideas into practice during the night by
leaving the town, and also by taking with him the young woman to whom he
had been paying such marked attentions. The Tappan Zee had never been
more troubled in a storm than was the moral sensibilities of Nyack at
this news. The very atmosphere was rank with scandal. The men laughed
and jeered, and the women shook their heads and talked of nothing else.
"After that," said the women, "who can we trust."
"Served you right," replied the men, "for making much of such a fellow.
Women never take such men into their confidence without bringing dirty
water to their own doors." It was fortunate for Holbrook that he left
during the night, for, seeing the temper Nyack was in during that day,
there would have been some stones thrown had he remained.
The Chapmans took the matter very cool, however, counted the profits,
and put up the church shutters. Such things had happened before, Chapman
said. It was a weakness that had marked the history of the world; and
it had been a failing with the greatest of intellects. They would yet
show to the people of Nyack what could be done with the right sort of
enterprise. The honest old Dutchmen were in high glee over the turn
affairs at the new church had taken. They got together in Hanz
Toodleburg's veranda, drank their beer, and smoked their pipes, and
wished the devil might get the new preacher, "what comes t'down to raise
t'tevil mit de peoples, and raises t'tevil mit he self."
The stranger, of whom mention has been made, was more seriously
troubled. He heard the news of Holbrook's departure with a sad heart,
for he was the kind brother of a young woman to whom the delinquent had
made a solemn vow to marry. But that solemn vow he had recently broken
in the most heartless manner, and left her hopes blighted and her heart
sad. He declared, however, that he would follow Holbrook if he went to
the end of the earth, and bring him to justice before God and man.