THE END
_The senatorial party--Mrs. Jenks's pearls--Gossip--One good deed--The
Duchess brand--I take my seat in the Senate--Red roses_
When it came time to go to Washington to take my seat, my friend Major
Frederickson, of the Atlantic and Great Western road, placed his private
car at my disposal and made up a special train for my party. Sarah and
the girls had come back from Paris in time to accompany me to
Washington. The girls were crazy over going; they saw ahead a lot of
parties and sights, and I suppose had their ideas about making foreign
matches some day. The boy was to meet us there, and he was rather
pleased, too, to be the son of a Senator.
Among those who made the trip with us there were Slocum and his wife, of
course, John Carmichael, young Jenks and his pretty little wife, and a
dozen or more other friends. We had a very pleasant and successful
journey. A good deal of merriment was occasioned by a string of pearls
that young Mrs. Jenks wore, which had lately been the talk of the city.
The stones were of unusual size and quality, and had been purchased
through a London dealer from some titled person. Jenks had given them
as a present to his wife because of the success of the beef merger,
which had more than doubled the fortune old Randolph Jenks left him when
he died. The pearls, being so perfect and well known in London, caused a
lot of newspaper talk. They were said to be the finest string in the
United States; there were articles even in the magazines about Mrs.
Jenks and her string of pearls. Finally, some reporter started the story
that there was a stone for every million dollars Jenks had "screwed out
of the public by the merger"--twenty-seven in all. (For these days there
was beginning to be heard all over the clamor about the price of food,
and how the new combination of packers was forcing up prices--mere
guesswork on the part of cheap socialistic agitators that was being
taken seriously by people who ought to know better.) One paper even had
it that pretty little Mrs. Jenks "flaunted around her neck the
blood-bought price of a million lives!"
So it had come to be a sort of joke among us, that string of pearls.
Whenever I saw it, I would pretend to count the stones and ask Mrs.
Jenks how many more million lives she was wearing around her neck
to-night. She would laugh back in her pretty little Southern drawl:--
"The papers do say such dreadful things! Pretty soon I shan't dare to
wear a single jewel in public. Ralph says it's dangerous to do it now,
there are so many cranks around. Don't you think it's horrid of them to
talk so?"
Sarah had her string of pearls, too, but it was much smaller than the
famous one of Mrs. Jenks. Sarah didn't altogether like Mrs. Jenks, and
used to say that she plastered herself with jewels to show who she was.
Well, the pearls went to Washington with us on this trip, and made quite
a splendid show, though we used to joke Ralph Jenks about sitting up
nights to watch his wife's necklace. The fame of the pearls had got to
Washington ahead of us, and the Washington _Eagle_ had a piece in about
the arrival at the Arlington of the new Senator from Illinois and the
"packers' contingent" with their pearls! People used to turn around in
the corridors and stare at us--not so much at the new Senator as at Mrs.
Jenks's pearls!
* * * * *
I had already taken a house in Washington for the winter, and Sarah soon
was busy in having it done over for us. We had shut up the Chicago
house, and after discussing the matter with Sarah I concluded to turn
over the Vermilion County property to a society, to be used for a reform
school. Sarah talked it over with the young fellow I met on the train,
who first put the idea into my head, and she seemed to take great
pleasure in the plan, wanting me to give an endowment for the
institution, which I promised as soon as my packing-company stock was
straightened out. Now that I had failed to put Will and his family down
there, as I had set my heart on doing, I had no more wish to go back to
the place than Sarah had. And as a home to take boys to who hadn't a
fair chance in life, it might do some good in the world.
[Illustration: "_It was good sausage, Slo! At least it was when we made
it._"]
It was a pleasant, warm day when my colleague, Senator Drummond, came to
escort me to the Senate. My secretary and Slocum accompanied us up the
broad steps toward the Senate chamber. As we turned in from the street
with the Capitol rising before us, my eye fell upon a broad advertising
board beside the walk, on a vacant piece of property. One of the
conspicuous advertisements caught my attention:--
THE DUCHESS BRAND
STRICTLY FARM-MADE SAUSAGE
BEST IN THE WORLD
It was one of Strauss's "ads." Slocum pointed to it with a wave of his
hand and glanced at me; and I thought I caught a smile on the lips of my
colleague, which might have been scornful. So I paused before we passed
beyond sight of the sign of the Duchess brand.
"It was good sausage, Slo! At least it was when we made it."
"And it did pretty well by you!" he laughed.
Senator Drummond had moved forward with my secretary. "Yes! The Duchess
was all right." Then we followed the others slowly up the great
steps....
In the Senate chamber, in one of the galleries, a group of women were
sitting about Sarah, waiting to see me take the oath. One of them waved
a handkerchief at me, and as I looked up I caught sight of Mrs. Jenks's
pearls when she leaned forward over the rail.
On my desk there was a bunch of American Beauty roses: I did not have to
look for the card to know that they had come from Jane.
THE COMMON LOT.
By ROBERT HERRICK,
_Author of "The Real World," "The Web of Life," etc._
Cloth. 12mo. $1.50.
Mr. Herrick has written a novel of searching insight and absorbing
interest; a first-rate story ... sincere to the very core in its matter
and in its art.--HAMILTON W. MABIE.
The book is a bit of the living America of to-day, a true picture of one
of its most significant phases ... living, throbbing with
reality.--_N.Y. Evening Mail._
Novels of its style and quality are few and far between; ... he tells a
story that is worth the telling; ... it is a study of life as he sees
it, and as thousands of his readers try to avoid seeing it.--_Boston
Transcript._
It grips the reader tremendously.... It is the drama of a human soul the
reader watches ... the finest study of human motive that has appeared
for many a day.--_The World To-day._
Such a story will hardly slip through the reader's hands until the last
page is reached, and then as he slowly puts it down, he will be apt to
do a lot of thinking.--_Advance._
It deserves the widest reading, not only as a piece of admirable
writing, but as a powerful presentation of the contemporary American
tragedy.--_The Outlook._
The book as a story is absorbingly interesting; as a moral study it is
not less than great.--_The Interior_, Chicago.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
THE GOSPEL OF FREEDOM.
By ROBERT HERRICK.
12mo. Cloth extra, gilt top and side. $1.50.
The motive of the story is that of personal independence in its appeal
especially to the restless, eager, egotistic woman of our new
civilization. The scenes are laid in Paris, Chicago, and Florence.
* * * * *
A clever, vivacious book.--_N.Y. Tribune._
"The Gospel of Freedom" is destined to place the author in the front
ranks of the writers to whom we must look for our best and most serious
fiction.--_N.Y. Commercial Advertiser._
Highly entertaining and interesting.--_N.Y. Times._
A novel that may truly be called the greatest study of social life in a
broad and very much up-to-date sense that has ever been contributed to
American fiction.--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
THE WEB OF LIFE.
By ROBERT HERRICK,
_Author of "The Gospel of Freedom," etc._
Cloth. 12mo. $1.50.
Like his earlier book, "The Gospel of Freedom," which was hailed as "the
great American social novel," this deals with social conditions in the
young West.
* * * * *
One of the strongest stories of the summer.... It is strong in that it
faithfully depicts many phases of American life, and uses them to
strengthen a web of fiction, which is most artistically wrought
out.--_Buffalo Illustrated Express._
Of more than ordinary literary and artistic merit, and the lesson one
learns from it will no doubt be a wholesome one.
The greatest story of American social life ... ever contributed to
American fiction.--_Inter-Ocean_, Chicago.
As a story it is absorbing.--_The Bookman._
Most emphatically worth reading.--_Boston Budget._
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, 64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
THE REAL WORLD
By ROBERT HERRICK,
Author of "The Web of Life," "The Gospel of Freedom," etc.
Cloth 12 mo $1.50
"It is unfortunate for our latter-day fiction that there are not more
such strong, well-balanced books being brought out. Such work as
Professor Herrick's is creative."--_Denver Republican._
"The conception is thoughtful, the character-drawing masterly at times,
and always intelligent and careful, while toward the end the emotional
interests become absorbing. The most striking thing about Mr. Herrick is
perhaps the absolute unconventionality of his notions. His characters
are not types, they are people; and he is not so much studying a problem
as recording facts. The consequence is that the course of his stories is
usually as original as real life. Another strong characteristic of his
is a subtle, almost feminine knowledge of character."--_Washington
Times._
"The title of the book, 'The Real World,' has a subtle intention. It
indicates, and is true to the verities in doing so, the strange
dreamlike quality of life to the man who has not yet fought his own
battles, or come into conscious possession of his will,--only such
battles bite into the consciousness."--_Chicago Tribune._
"Intellectually 'The Real World' is an exceptionally powerful work ...
prominently among the season's best books."--_Boston Courier._
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Obvious typographical and printer errors have been corrected without
comment.
In addition to obvious errors, the following changes have been made:
Page 8: "head" changed to "heard" in the phrase, "... I heard the
young lady exclaim...."
Page 41: "thing" changed to "think" in the phrase, "... I should
think...."
Page 219: "car-worn" changed to "care-worn" in the phrase, "... a
care-worn sort of smile...."
Page 310: "their" changed to "there" in the phrase, "... seeing that
there might be...."
Other than the above, no effort has been made to standardize internal
inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, etc.
The author's usage is preserved as found in the original publication.