faintness, she declared that there was no wound at all--that the ball
had merely grazed her, and the report of the pistol and her fatigue had
done the rest.
"You always seem to be round sort of handy when we want anything,"
remarked Nancy to Archdale as she looked up from wiping the few drops of
blood from Elizabeth's ear.
"Half an inch to the left," said Stephen hastily, as he stood watching
her, "and--"
"Yes," she answered, "and then--." She looked up, seeing him
indistinctly in the flaring light of the candle. But in her mind there
was a fair woman standing beside him. But for Elizabeth's idle words
this vision would have been a reality instead of a a hopeless dream. She
felt the pain of this so keenly now that it seemed to her it would have
been a good thing if the ball had swerved half an inch to the left. Then
her father, who had been found on his way back, came in hastily, and as
Elizabeth glanced at his face she knew that life ought to be dear to
her.
"Elizabeth," he said, as Archdale left them, "have you not had enough of
it yet? Come home now. You have already done a great work."
The girl raised herself slowly, for she still felt a touch of faintness.
"Yes, father, I will go home at once," she answered, "if you will tell
me that it is the sort of thing that you have been trying all my life to
teach me to do."
After Mr. Royal had left her, and Nancy was asleep, Elizabeth lay a long
time thinking. She perceived now the whole truth about Edmonson. She was
in a coil of struggle, and perhaps of crime. It seemed as if she herself
must be guilty, as all the consequences of what she had supposed the
jest of a summer evening rose before her.
Yet, for all this imagining, there was in her heart the comfort of
innocence.
In the morning the shadow of danger seemed to shrink away in the
sunlight, and Elizabeth went back to her duties with a spirit firm, if
not untroubled. She saw nothing to give her fresh alarm. She found that
Edmonson had excused his act to the spectators as a touch of delirium
accompanying fever, and the next day he had fever beyond question,
though not enough to be very dangerous.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
FOOTNOTES:
[E] Copyright, 1884, by Frances C. Sparhawk.
EDITOR'S TABLE.
Brutal and inhuman deeds are not changed in character or color by
differences in latitude or longitude. The people of Quitman, Ga.,
committed a deed of this character when they put the torch of the
incendiary to a school-house where ignorant colored children, in
charity's sweet name, were being nurtured into nobler manhood and
womanhood. This act of inhumanity, clearly inspired if not wholly
sanctioned by a majority sentiment in the community, is not a solecism
in history. In 1832-3, Prudence Crandall taught a successful school for
girls in Canterbury, Conn., to which she admitted a colored girl, an
intelligent church member, who desired to prepare herself to teach
children of her own color. All Canterbury was thrown into a state of
intense excitement and indignation by this act, and Miss Crandall had to
choose between the expulsion of her colored pupil and the loss of her
white ones. She pluckily faced the tumult, refused to sacrifice what she
regarded as a principle, and her fashionable school opened its doors as
an institution for colored girls only.
Increased excitement followed. A local politician, afterward a member of
Congress, became the leader in a bitter and disgraceful prosecution of
the brave woman, and, when they found it impossible to drive her from
her position by ordinary measures, secured the passage of a law making
it a crime to open a school for colored children without the consent of
the selectmen of the town. The power of the State of Connecticut was
thus invoked, and used for the crushing of one brave little Quakeress.
Miss Crandall was arrested, and imprisoned in a cell from which a
murderer had just gone to the gallows. Her case was tried in August,
1833. One jury failed to agree. Another found her guilty. The case was
appealed, and proceedings quashed on the ground of an informality, the
higher court thus evading the question raised as to the
constitutionality of the law. An attempt to burn Miss Crandall's house
followed, and on the night of Sept. 9, 1834, it was made untenantable
under the assaults of a mob.
The subject of this bitter and relentless persecution, Mrs. Prudence
(Crandall) Philleo, is still living, and tardy justice comes forward to
recognize the wrong of a half century ago. The children of her
persecutors unite with others in a petition to the lawmaking power which
was induced to brand her as a criminal, to atone for past wrongs by
present relief.
It is safe to say that the Canterbury of to-day would gladly blot from
history this story of the Canterbury of a half century ago.
It is equally safe to say that the Quitman of fifty years to come (and
much sooner) will gladly bury in oblivion the story of the burning
school-house and frightened and helpless females and children, which the
Quitman of to-day has put upon the page of current history.
There is a very patent moral to this "Canterbury tale." It reads about
as follows: Twenty-five years after the Canterbury persecution, its
repetition would have been an impossibility. Twenty-five years after the
Quitman persecution--or any other acts, in any southern state, of like
character--what?
Let us, who are only fifty years away from similar deeds at our own
doors, go our way, doing the works of charity, humanity, patriotism, and
wait and see.
For present wrongs atonement comes in bitter tears,
By children shed for deeds of sires in other years;
Brute passion rules but for a day, then hides its head,
And justice, born of love and mercy, rules instead.
* * * * *
Archdeacon Farrar, in a recent article in the _North American Review_,
pays a tribute to the virtues of the founders of New England which has
been rarely excelled in fervor of rhetoric and laudatory statement by
the most gifted of after-dinner orators among the sons of Puritans and
Pilgrims.
"Those virtues," he says, "gave to James Otis and to Patrick Henry the
prophet's tongue of flame. They nerved the arm of Washington in battle,
and kindled the embattled farmers to fire 'the shot heard round the
world.' They kindled the eloquence of Phillips and the song of
Longfellow. They gave to Abraham Lincoln the faith at whose bidding a
hundred thousand men sprang to their feet as one--the faith which
brightened the six and thirty stars round the forehead of liberty, and
flung the broken fetters of the last slave beneath her feet. If the
church keep the people in their allegiance to those awful virtues,
America shall still be the enlightener of the nations, the beautiful
pioneer in the vanguard of the progress of the world. But if she spread
a table to Fortune, or enshrine Mammon above her altars, if her commerce
become dishonest, and her press debased, and her society frivolous, and
her religion a mere twilight of wilful and self-induced delusion--she in
her turn shall fall like Lucifer, son of the morning, and the double
oceans which sweep her illimitable shores shall only plash to future
empires a more sad, a more desolate, and a more unending dirge."
We suspect that this eloquence is expressive not only of impartial
admiration, but of the pride that is partial. The parties concerned have
common interests in the matter of grandfathers.
The presidential message has met, as might have been anticipated, with a
very varied reception from the great political parties, from the
many-minded press, and from what may be designated the non-partisan or
politically colorless section of the American people. Nor has it been
more fortunate in securing unanimity of judgment as to its political
merits and significance from the public organs which reflect with more
or less precision and exactitude the opinions of the great community of
nations on the other side the Atlantic. Party feeling, unless it be of a
very enlightened, patriotic, and unselfish kind, is apt to breed the
worst types of mental perversity, and give birth to paradoxes of the
most startling character. And when a great national document, discussing
matters vital to the well-being, prosperity and political advancement of
the republic is declared by one influential paper to contain "no
pregnant thought of statesmanship, no conspicuously original idea, no
new issue to inspire discussion in Congress and among the people," and
by another equally competent to frame a judgment to be "a model of good
English, and forcible statement," while a third hesitates not to
pronounce it "a message that will rank among the best documents of its
kind," one naturally wonders what can be the cause of this curious
conflict of sentiment; and after looking at the matter for a moment one
is driven to the conclusion that the reference of the phenomenon to an
invincible and uncompromising party sentiment is probably as scientific,
comprehensive, and correct an explanation as any that can be thought of.
We are not disposed, however, to discuss the general merits of the
recent message. We will only say that, in our opinion, the patriotic
American citizen, whatever political party may enjoy his allegiance and
support, will never have reason to complain--nay more--will never be
without just occasion to feel proud of his country so long as she can
produce a style of statesmanship, and a power of political exposition
like those displayed by the present Chief Magistrate of the Republic.
* * * * *
One noteworthy excellence President Cleveland's message possesses, which
has not excited as much remark as it deserves: we allude to the
strenuous endeavor it exhibits to maintain, in spite of some recent
difficulties, a peaceable and friendly attitude towards European
nations, particularly Italy and Austria. It is not too much to hope that
the conciliatory yet dignified tone and temper of the message in this
regard may do something as a conspicuous example, to abate the war
frenzy, and cool the morbid passion for "gunpowder and glory," which has
been such a disturbing and dangerous element in European statesmanship
and diplomacy for many years past, and is perhaps more menacing to the
quiet of the world and the peaceful advancement of civilization at the
present moment than at any period since the days of the first Napoleon.
Occupying her proud and promising position between the two great oceans;
commanding, as a consequence, these great highways of "commerce, trade
and travel"; enjoying a stretch of territory which not only affords
scope for unlimited development of her great resources in a hundred
different directions, but also acts as a check to any passion that might
arise for territorial annexation or conquest; separated from the older
nations by thousands of miles, she can afford to regard with comparative
indifference the exciting game of European politics, and contemplate the
deep designs of jealous and jarring diplomatists without any fear that
her own house may catch fire.
* * * * *
There is, after all, something deeply pathetic in the terrible necessity
which exposes persons of wealth, culture and exalted station to the
unpitying penalties of greatness. A lesson ever needed, ever present,
and yet constantly disregarded and defied, has just received a new and
somewhat startling illustration in the sudden death of the amiable
daughter and much-beloved wife of Secretary Bayard. Can it be necessary
that society should sacrifice its brightest ornaments, and literally do
itself to death, in order to maintain its existence? "Come ye yourselves
into a desert place, and rest a while," reveals a law of health and
happiness as inexorable and exacting in its demands, and as universal in
its sway and scope, as any at work in the frame of material nature. Let
us learn the truth and value of this ancient hint over the tear-bedewed
grave of Kate Bayard.
Still streams
Oft water fairest meadows, and the bird
That flutters least is longest on the wing.
* * * * *
The inevitable sequel of the English Parliamentary elections has come a
little sooner than the twin foes of Lord Salisbury's ministry had
ventured to anticipate. The "Constitutional" party, as English Toryism
loves to style itself, has suffered signal and humiliating defeat, after
a brief and precarious career of a few months; and the collapse is quite
as complete as it is sudden. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Parnell on the one
hand, and the Marquis of Salisbury and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach on the
other, must have been equally unprepared for what has happened. The
Queen, caring not to conceal her political predilections, hesitated not
to give her ostentatious approval and powerful endorsement to Tory
management by consenting to open Parliament, as she had previously done
for Lord Beaconsfield after his return from Berlin. A phenomenally large
and brilliant assemblage of dukes, marquises, earls and viscounts, at
Lord Salisbury's parliamentary dinner had made a similar attempt, a few
days before, to awe and fascinate by a spectacle of pomp and pageantry
the too impressionable Briton. Nothing has been omitted that could in
any way buttress the insecure and tottering fabric of aristocratic
power. But as the ancient sage shrewdly observed, dementation is the
prelude of doom; "whom the gods destroy they first infatuate." The
representatives of the nation have taken the earliest opportunity that
offered itself of rebuking this formidable attempt to over-ride by an
ill-advised and illegitimate use of the "favor of the sovereign" the
definitely declared will of the British people. The last Parliament was
exceptionally rich in the display of character, in humorous and dramatic
incident, and in unrehearsed and unpremeditated scenes of every kind;
but undoubtedly the most striking and startling of its scenes was that
of the younger Tories, unexpectedly triumphant, hailing with frantic joy
and exultation the fall of the Gladstone government. The event was a
surprise to both sides of the House, a surprise all the greater as up to
the very moment of the appearance of the "tellers" on the floor of the
House, no one doubted that the ministry had sufficient strength and
vigor to withstand the blow that was aimed at its life. "Lord
Kensington," to quote the words of an eye-witness, "came in hurriedly
with a face set into determined absence of expression, and sat down by
Mr. Gladstone. A few moments more and the paper was handed to Mr. Winn
(Conservative whip) amid the loudest outbreak of cheering that the House
of Commons has heard for more than a generation. Wild with delight, Lord
Randolph Churchill actually leapt on to the bench, waving his hat with
the enthusiasm of a schoolboy. His friends clustered round him, caught
at him, drew him down, but could not restrain him from the vehement
expression of his delight. The example was contagious. The whole House
to the left of the speaker roared and shouted and thundered and waved
its hats and clapped its hands in a frenzy of general delight. Their
hour at last had come, and the fate of the ministry was sealed." Alas
for human short-sightedness! How sad a thing the much-vaunted triumph
has proved after all.
In little more than seven months the power so greedily snatched at has
slipped from their grasp like the shadow of a dream. "They laugh best
who laugh last." To the aristocracy and land-owning class generally,
both of England and Ireland, the fall of the Tory government will be a
cause of apprehension. By the majority of the British public it will be
welcomed. The Liberals, as a political party, will, for a time at least,
feel embarrassed by the event, while the Parnellites will regard
it--whether rightly or wrongly, time alone can tell--as another
important step toward the ultimate success of their cause and the
consummation of their hopes.
* * * * *
No one who heard the interesting address of the president of the
Bostonian Society, Mr. Curtis Guild, at its fourth annual meeting,
recently held at its rooms in the Old State House, Boston, could have
failed to feel a renewed interest in American history, as especially
emphasized by the preservation of interesting memorials.
This Society, the successor of the Boston Antiquarian Society, with a
membership of between four and five hundred, is making itself felt in
various ways in thus making practical the belief that a "visible relic
of the past"--as Mr. Guild expressed it---"tends to emphasize and
strengthen an historic fact." He well illustrated this idea when he
further said (and who that listened did not thrill with true
patriotism?), "The walls that are about you are the self-same that
existed at the time of the Boston Massacre; the windows the self-same
openings--here, where the Declaration was read in 1776, and the
Proclamation of Peace, in 1783; there, where Washington, in 1789,
reviewed the procession in his honor. Within these very walls some of
the greatest events of American history have occurred and the greatest
and most notable men who figured in those events been gathered
together."
Without doubt, this Old State House is the most genuine relic of the
Revolution, now in existence. And the Society, in daily opening its
rooms, with their historical possessions, free of charge, is offering to
the public rare educational privileges which it should gratefully use
and appreciate.
* * * * *
While the Bostonian Society is doing its special work of preserving
historical objects and places from the hand of the ruthless destroyer,
the Webster Historical Society, organized in 1878, is doing a parallel
work in preserving for future generations the fame, work, and true
spirit of America's foremost statesman and constitutional law-giver,
Daniel Webster. Of course, such a work necessarily leads to a deep and
practical interest in everything pertaining to America's political and
national life to which the great man was so devoted. This Society, which
has its headquarters in another old landmark of Boston, the Old South
Meeting-House, has now a membership of twelve hundred, who are found in
all parts of the country. The customary annual address, on the
anniversary of Webster's birthday, January 18, is generally one of
marked interest; notably so was the one of January, 1884; which, as
afterwards published by the Society, was noticed by deep-thinkers, with
perhaps more genuine interest than any other modern pamphlet of its
size.[F] The address at the annual meeting of this year was given before
a large and intelligent audience in the historic meeting-house by Rev.
Thomas A. Hyde upon Daniel Webster as an orator. Mr. Hyde's special
study of the physical, mental, and expressional qualities which go to
make an orator gave weight to the address. The aims and purposes of the
Webster Historical Society are such as to command the sympathetic help
of all American citizens in whatever direction it may labor.
* * * * *
It is to the credit of American womanhood that the presiding mistress of
the White House is one who, while she is making history, is so
intelligently in sympathy with everything connected with it. Her
sensible ideas of the subject as revealed in the chapter on _History_ in
her recently published book, "George Eliot's Poetry, and other Studies,"
indicate a mind capable of seizing the essential facts and seeing in
them the divine spark. "We must take the event as a starting point, and
travel from it to the man and men behind it." And again, "Let us realize
that history is the shrine of humanity, humanity essential in its
essence in past, present, future, wherein is stored the _ego_--the thou
and the I."
She gives another thought worthy to be quoted and read by itself.
"Nowhere more than in the study of history is it needful to 'put
yourself in his place'--_i. e._, to carry to the making of an image of
the person whose form you seek to confront, those general and common
ingredients which go to make up each man. When you have carried to him
that much of yourself which is common to you both, you will, by this, be
qualified to detect that in him which is himself strictly and not
yourself; and so to a man you will add the individuality of the man and
have what you seek.... Nowhere more than in history does it 'take a
thief to catch a thief.'"
Miss Cleveland illustrates this in some essays which follow, where she
carries herself back to "Old Rome and New France," to Charlemagne, to
Joan of Arc, and other suggestive epochs.
* * * * *
In her essay on "Old Rome and New France," Miss Cleveland calls the
Middle or Dark Ages, the Twilight Age. "It seems to me," she says, "that
this period is not suggestively named when called the Middle Ages, nor
accurately named when called the Dark Ages, but that both suggestion and
accuracy combine in that view which denominates it as a Twilight Age. An
idea which certainly embodies much of truth."
FOOTNOTES:
[F] John Adams, the Statesman of the Revolution, by Hon. Mellen
Chamberlain, LL.D.
EDUCATION.
It cannot but be regarded as a wholesome and altogether welcome sign of
the times that the science and methods as well as subject-matter of
education are becoming increasingly popular questions, receiving a
considerable share of attention, and inviting a more close, careful, and
comprehensive study. Here, however, it happens, as it does in many other
things: the difficulties of the problem multiply exactly in proportion
to the clearness and completeness of our apprehension of what ought to
be done, and the earnestness of purpose with which we address ourselves
to the doing of it. Most of the troubles of human life, especially those
of the most serious and pressing sort, are of a purely practical
character, to be met and mastered, not with improved theory, but with
better directed action. It is, of course, impossible to over-rate the
value of right principles and correct methods of procedure. Light may be
undervalued, neglected, despised; but it can never lead astray. On this
account, every intelligent suggestion in the direction of educational
reform should be listened to. But, on the other hand, there is great
danger of too much emphasizing the need of change, and of forgetting how
much the value and efficiency of any given scheme depends on the
ability, wisdom, and earnestness of those who apply and administer it.
One specialist insists, with great force of argument and convincing
earnestness of spirit, on the need of devoting more attention to the
training and development of the business faculty in the up-growing youth
of the age. He looks at the matter from the side of an experienced,
active, and successful man of business. Another is convinced that the
spirit and tendency of the age make the study of the elements of
physical science imperative. The paramount claims of history are urged
by a third. A fourth considers a course of education essentially
deficient which does not provide for a thorough study of the principal
modern languages. While a fifth, with a view of securing at once an
economy of study and a unity of knowledge, is inclined to think the time
has come when children should be taught the rudimentary principles of
the Spencerian philosophy, so that they may see how the several branches
of their study stand related to each other.[G]