MORLENE AND DORLAN.
The day following the night of the stormy interview was Morlene's day to
give lessons at Dorlan's boarding place. The teaching over, Morlene
proceeded to amuse herself by playing on the piano. She was in a buoyant
mood and was disposing of first one and then another wild, dashing air.
Desirous of a diversion, Dorlan came down from his room and glided
stealthily into the parlor to listen unobserved to Morlene. Great was his
astonishment on discovering that the beautiful lady whom he had passed was
none other than the accomplished pianist and divine singer. For a few
moments he lived a divided existence, his eye surveying the beautiful form
of Morlene, while his ear was appropriating the rich harmonies which her
splendid touch was evoking from the keyboard.
With a merry laugh at her own frolicsomeness, Morlene struck the piano keys
a farewell blow and arose to go. Wheeling around she saw Dorlan. The light
died out of her face. A feeling of terror crept over her as the thought
occurred that fate, relentless fate, seemed determined to throw that
fascinating stranger in her pathway.
"Do not be angry with me for my intrusion," said Dorlan. "My soul is the
seat of a long continued storm these days, and your music was so
refreshing," he continued.
Dorlan's air of deference and his pleasing, well modulated voice caused
Morlene to at once recover her composure.
The note of sadness in Dorlan's voice caught Morlene's ear and her
sympathetic nature at once craved to know his troubles that she might, if
possible, dissipate them. She saw that Dorlan was depending upon her to
begin a conversation as an assurance that he had given no offense. Morlene
sat down in the seat nearest her.
"You speak of a storm," she said. "When you speak thus you arouse my
interest, for to my mind a storm is the most sublime occurrence in nature.
To see the winds aroused; to hear their mad rushing; to behold them as with
the multiplied strength of giants they grasp and overturn the strongest
works of man's hands--to see this, inspires one with awe and reverence for
the great force that pervades this universe, and impels us, whether we so
will or not, to conform to its ripening purposes.
"If there is a storm in your bosom, matters exterior to yourself have
produced it. As an admirer of storms I beg you to lay bare to me such
portions of the journeyings of the winds as a stranger may be permitted to
view."
"Do you believe in strangers?" asked Dorlan, "I hold that no human beings
are, at bottom, strangers to each other. With Emerson I hold that 'there is
one mind common to all individual men. Every man is an inlet to the same
and to all the same. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to
all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.'
"Those souls are quickest to recognize this fact which are best equipped to
reveal themselves and to comprehend the revelations of other souls. We know
some souls at a glance as thoroughly as one soul ever knows another."
To these observations Morlene made no reply. Too well did she know that the
human being before her, was somehow, no stranger to her.
"Starting out with the assumption that you shall find nothing strange in me
when you fully understand me, I am ready to show you the pathway of the
storm," continued Dorlan.
"Thank you," said Morlene, smiling, and partially revealing a set of teeth
as beautiful as fair lady ever desired.
"A presidential election is fast approaching. I have heretofore labored
with the Republican party. In this campaign I part company with them," said
Dorlan.
"My dear sir," said Morlene, rising, the picture of excitement, "Are you a
Democrat?"
Dorlan smiled at the intensity of the feeling displayed in the tone of
voice used for the question. "Oh, no," said he, reassuringly. "In the
South, Democracy's chief tenets are white man's supremacy and exclusiveness
in governmental affairs. Not having a white skin, self-preservation would
prevent me from entering the folds of that party."
Morlene heaved a sigh of relief. She said, "I am glad to know that the
seeming hopelessness of our plight in the South has not caused you to seek
to influence us to surrender to this dictum of Southern Democracy. Proceed,
if you please."
"I am thoroughly displeased with the policy of the Republican party toward
the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands, and in spite of the endearing
relations of the past, I am moved to part company with the party on this
issue," remarked Dorlan.
"Oh, I am an enthusiastic expansionist, Mr.----."
"Warthell is my name," supplied Dorlan.
"Mr. Warthell," said Morlene, the glow of eloquence on her face, "I have a
dream. I dream that wars and revolutions shall one day cease. The
classification of mankind into groups called nations, affords a feeling of
estrangement which destroys or modifies the thought of universal
brotherhood, and gives rise to the needless bickerings which result in
wars. I delight in any movement that sweeps away these pseudo-national
boundaries. The more separate nations that are congealed under one head,
the less is the area where conflicts are probable. When the tendency to
consolidate finally merges all governments into one, wars shall cease. Our
territorial expansion is but the march of destiny toward the ultimate goal
of all things. I am delighted to see our nation thus move forward, because
we have such an elastic form of government, so responsive to the needs and
sentiments of the people that bloody revolutions become unnecessary
wherever our flag floats. Just think how much our expansion makes for
universal peace by erasing the thought of separateness existing between
peoples, and giving to the federated powers such an ideal form of
government.
"When our flag floats over the whole of the Western Hemisphere there will
be nobody over here to fight us; we shall not fight among ourselves and we
shall dare the European and Asiatic powers to go to war."
"You are indeed an expansionist," remarked Dorlan.
"Yes, yes," said Morlene, wrought up in the subject that was stirring the
American people.
"Some are expansionists for the sake of finding outlets for the
ever-increasing excess of our production. They hold that we are producing
far more than what we can consume, and must have outside buyers to avoid a
terrible congestion at home. Others are expansionists on the ground that
outlying possessions are a strategetical necessity in the time of war. Our
statesmen are expansionists, some of them, because our nation's becoming a
world power gives a broader scope for their intellects. Some are
expansionists because they desire to see weaker people have the benefits of
a higher civilization. While I admit the possible weight of these various
contentions, my interest in expansion is broadly humanitarian. England was
at one time a seething mass of warring tribes. The expansion of a central
power over the entire islands brought order out of chaos. Let the process
extend to the entire earth as fast as honorable opportunity presents
itself, and may the stars and stripes lead in the new evangel of universal
peace." Thus spoke Morlene.
"Beautiful, beautiful dream. But it is my fear that enthusiasm over
expansion may cause us to lose sight of fundamental tenets of our political
faith. This leads me to state the point of difference between myself and
the Republican party," said Dorlan.
The subject was one, as may be seen, of absorbing interest to Morlene, and
she leaned forward slightly, eager to catch each word that Dorlan might
utter. He began: "The Republican party has not informed the world as to
what will be the ultimate status of the Filipino. In the final adjustment
of things, whatever _that_ may be, will the Filipino be able to say that he
stands upon the same plane, politically and otherwise, with all other free
and equal human beings. I labored earnestly to have the Republican party to
declare that no violence would be done to our national conception that
every man is inherently the political equal of every other man. The party
has promised that full physical, civil and religious liberty shall be
guaranteed. On the question of political liberty there is silence. Because
of this silence I leave it."
"In what manner, Mr. Warthell, do you hope to affect the result in the
pending campaign?" enquired Morlene.
"The Negroes, you know, are vitally affected by the issues in this
campaign. With England imposing its will upon India, with the Southern
whites imposing their will on the Negroes, only one great branch of the
white race exists which is not imposing its will upon a feebler race. I
allude to the white people of the North.
"Should our nation impose its will upon the Filipinos, by the force of arms
and without the underlying purpose of ultimately granting to them full
political liberty, the weaker peoples the world over will lose their only
remaining advocate in the white race, namely the people of the North.
"I hope to be able to show the Negroes that they, of all citizens in this
country, cannot afford to permit either silence as to, or the abandonment
of, the doctrine of the inherent equality of all men. The Negroes of the
pivotal states, when, united, can easily decide the election in whatever
direction they choose. It is my purpose to attempt to weld together the
Negroes in the hope of defeating any man that will not unequivocally and
openly declare in favor of the ultimate political equality of the
Filipinos."
"Are you not leaning on a broken reed, Mr. Warthell?" asked Morlene in
earnest tones. "Have the Negroes acquired sufficient self-confidence to
feel justified in pitting their judgment against that of the Republican
party? Can the recent beneficiary be so soon transformed into a dictator?
More important still, can you uproot those tender memories which flourish
in the sentimental bosom of the Negro, associating, indissolubly his
freedom with the Republican party?" she asked.
Dorlan sighed deeply. He recalled how madly he had to fight against the
tender memories aroused by Morlene's singing when we saw him so deeply
stirred. He remembered how that on that occasion her playing and singing
had carried his mind back to those great days when the freedom of the
Negroes was in the balances. He knew what an effort it required on his
part to persuade his heart to allow him to strike a blow at that hitherto
hallowed name--Republican.
Dorlan not replying, Morlene resumed, "Mr. Warthell, in attempting to
disillusion the Negroes with regard to the Republican party you shall march
against one of the strongest attachments in all of human history. I have
known deaths to result from assailing attachments far less deep-seated than
that. May a special providence preserve you."
Morlene now arose to go, her beautiful face giving signs of the fear for
Dorlan's safety that had stolen into her heart.
Subsequent happenings showed how well grounded were her fears.