A man can't handle his own case, any more than a delirious
doctor kin give himself the right physic.--Saying of Si
Sylvanne.
However superior Rolf might feel in the canoe or the woods, there was
one place where Van Cortlandt took the lead, and that was in the long
talks they had by the campfire or in Van's own shanty which Quonab
rarely entered.
The most interesting subjects treated in these were ancient Greece and
modern Albany. Van Cortlandt was a good Greek scholar, and, finding an
intelligent listener, he told the stirring tales of royal Ilion, Athens,
and Pergamos, with the loving enthusiasm of one whom the teachers found
it easy to instruct in classic lore. And when he recited or intoned
the rolling Greek heroics of the siege of Troy, Rolf listened with an
interest that was strange, considering that he knew not a word of it.
But he said, “It sounded like real talk, and the tramp of men that were
all astir with something big a-doing.”
Albany and politics, too, were vital strains, and life at the Government
House, with the struggling rings and cabals, social and political. These
were extraordinarily funny and whimsical to Rolf. No doubt because Van
Cortlandt presented them that way. And he more than once wondered how
rational humans could waste their time in such tomfoolery and childish
things as all conventionalities seemed to be. Van Cortlandt smiled at
his remarks, but made no answer for long.
One day, the first after the completion of Van Cortlandt's cabin, as the
two approached, the owner opened the door and stood aside for Rolf to
enter.
“Go ahead,” said Rolf.
“After you,” was the polite reply.
“Oh, go on,” rejoined the lad, in mixed amusement and impatience.
Van Cortlandt touched his hat and went in.
Inside, Rolf turned squarely and said: “The other day you said there was
a reason for all kinds o' social tricks; now will you tell me what the
dickens is the why of all these funny-do's? It 'pears to me a free-born
American didn't ought to take off his hat to any one but God.”
Van Cortlandt chuckled softly and said: “You may be very sure that
everything that is done in the way of social usage is the result
of common-sense, with the exception of one or two things that have
continued after the reason for them has passed, like the buttons you
have behind on your coat; they were put there originally to button the
tails out of the way of your sword. Sword wearing and using have passed
away, but still you see the buttons.
“As to taking off your hat to no man: it depends entirely on what you
mean by it; and, being a social custom, you must accept its social
meaning.
“In the days of knight errantry, every one meeting a stranger had to
suppose him an enemy; ten to one he was. And the sign and proof of
friendly intention was raising the right hand without a weapon in it.
The hand was raised high, to be seen as far as they could shoot with
a bow, and a further proof was added when they raised the vizor and
exposed the face. The danger of the highway continued long after knights
ceased to wear armour; so, with the same meaning, the same gesture was
used, but with a lifting of the hat. If a man did not do it, he was
either showing contempt, or hostility for the other, or proving himself
an ignorant brute. So, in all civilized countries, lifting the hat is a
sign of mutual confidence and respect.”
“Well! that makes it all look different. But why should you touch your
hat when you went ahead of me just now?”
“Because this is my house; you are my guest. I am supposed to serve you
in reasonable ways and give you precedence. Had I let you open my door
for me, it would have been putting you in the place of my servant; to
balance that, I give you the sign of equality and respect.”
“H'm,” said Rolf, “'it just shows,' as old Sylvanne sez, 'this yer
steel-trap, hair-trigger, cocksure jedgment don't do. An' the more a
man learns, the less sure he gits. An' things as hez lasted a long time
ain't liable to be on a rotten foundation.'”