ACT I. SCENE I.

THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG

AND OTHER STORIES AND SKETCHES

By Mark Twain

Note: (The title story may also be found as Etext file #1213)

CONTENTS:

THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG

MY FIRST LIE, AND HOW I GOT OUT OF IT

THE ESQUIMAUX MAIDEN'S ROMANCE

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY

IS HE LIVING OR IS HE DEAD?

MY DÉBUT AS A LITERARY PERSON

AT THE APPETITE-CURE

CONCERNING THE JEWS

FROM THE 'LONDON TIMES' OF 1904

ABOUT PLAY-ACTING

TRAVELLING WITH A REFORMER

DIPLOMATIC PAY AND CLOTHES

LUCK

THE CAPTAIN'S STORY

STIRRING TIMES IN AUSTRIA

MEISTERSCHAFT

MY BOYHOOD DREAMS

IN MEMORIAM

THE MAN THAT CORRUPTED HADLEYBURG

I

It was many years ago. Hadleyburg was the most honest and upright town

in all the region round about. It had kept that reputation unsmirched

during three generations, and was prouder of it than of any other of

its possessions. It was so proud of it, and so anxious to insure its

perpetuation, that it began to teach the principles of honest dealing

to its babies in the cradle, and made the like teachings the staple

of their culture thenceforward through all the years devoted to their

education. Also, throughout the formative years temptations were kept

out of the way of the young people, so that their honesty could have

every chance to harden and solidify, and become a part of their very

bone. The neighbouring towns were jealous of this honourable supremacy,

and affected to sneer at Hadleyburg's pride in it and call it vanity;

but all the same they were obliged to acknowledge that Hadleyburg was

in reality an incorruptible town; and if pressed they would also

acknowledge that the mere fact that a young man hailed from Hadleyburg

was all the recommendation he needed when he went forth from his natal

town to seek for responsible employment.

But at last, in the drift of time, Hadleyburg had the ill luck to offend

a passing stranger--possibly without knowing it, certainly without

caring, for Hadleyburg was sufficient unto itself, and cared not a rap

for strangers or their opinions. Still, it would have been well to

make an exception in this one's case, for he was a bitter man, and

revengeful. All through his wanderings during a whole year he kept his

injury in mind, and gave all his leisure moments to trying to invent a

compensating satisfaction for it. He contrived many plans, and all of

them were good, but none of them was quite sweeping enough: the poorest

of them would hurt a great many individuals, but what he wanted was a

plan which would comprehend the entire town, and not let so much as one

person escape unhurt. At last he had a fortunate idea, and when it fell

into his brain it lit up his whole head with an evil joy. He began to

form a plan at once, saying to himself “That is the thing to do--I will

corrupt the town.”

Six months later he went to Hadleyburg, and arrived in a buggy at the

house of the old cashier of the bank about ten at night. He got a sack

out of the buggy, shouldered it, and staggered with it through the

cottage yard, and knocked at the door. A woman's voice said “Come in,”

and he entered, and set his sack behind the stove in the parlour, saying

politely to the old lady who sat reading the “Missionary Herald” by the

lamp:

“Pray keep your seat, madam, I will not disturb you. There--now it is

pretty well concealed; one would hardly know it was there. Can I see

your husband a moment, madam?”

No, he was gone to Brixton, and might not return before morning.

“Very well, madam, it is no matter. I merely wanted to leave that sack

in his care, to be delivered to the rightful owner when he shall be

found. I am a stranger; he does not know me; I am merely passing through

the town to-night to discharge a matter which has been long in my mind.

My errand is now completed, and I go pleased and a little proud, and

you will never see me again. There is a paper attached to the sack which

will explain everything. Good-night, madam.”

The old lady was afraid of the mysterious big stranger, and was glad to

see him go. But her curiosity was roused, and she went straight to the

sack and brought away the paper. It began as follows:

“TO BE PUBLISHED, or, the right man sought out by private

inquiry--either will answer. This sack contains gold coin weighing

a hundred and sixty pounds four ounces--”

“Mercy on us, and the door not locked!”

Mrs. Richards flew to it all in a tremble and locked it, then pulled

down the window-shades and stood frightened, worried, and wondering if

there was anything else she could do toward making herself and the

money more safe. She listened awhile for burglars, then surrendered to

curiosity, and went back to the lamp and finished reading the paper:

“I am a foreigner, and am presently going back to my own country, to

remain there permanently. I am grateful to America for what I have

received at her hands during my long stay under her flag; and to one of

her citizens--a citizen of Hadleyburg--I am especially grateful for a

great kindness done me a year or two ago. Two great kindnesses in fact.

I will explain. I was a gambler. I say I WAS. I was a ruined gambler.

I arrived in this village at night, hungry and without a penny. I asked

for help--in the dark; I was ashamed to beg in the light. I begged of

the right man. He gave me twenty dollars--that is to say, he gave me

life, as I considered it. He also gave me fortune; for out of that money

I have made myself rich at the gaming-table. And finally, a remark

which he made to me has remained with me to this day, and has at last

conquered me; and in conquering has saved the remnant of my morals: I

shall gamble no more. Now I have no idea who that man was, but I want

him found, and I want him to have this money, to give away, throw away,

or keep, as he pleases. It is merely my way of testifying my gratitude

to him. If I could stay, I would find him myself; but no matter, he will

be found. This is an honest town, an incorruptible town, and I know

I can trust it without fear. This man can be identified by the remark

which he made to me; I feel persuaded that he will remember it.

“And now my plan is this: If you prefer to conduct the inquiry

privately, do so. Tell the contents of this present writing to any one

who is likely to be the right man. If he shall answer, 'I am the man;

the remark I made was so-and-so,' apply the test--to wit: open the sack,

and in it you will find a sealed envelope containing that remark. If the

remark mentioned by the candidate tallies with it, give him the money,

and ask no further questions, for he is certainly the right man.

“But if you shall prefer a public inquiry, then publish this present

writing in the local paper--with these instructions added, to wit:

Thirty days from now, let the candidate appear at the town-hall at eight

in the evening (Friday), and hand his remark, in a sealed envelope, to

the Rev. Mr. Burgess (if he will be kind enough to act); and let Mr.

Burgess there and then destroy the seals of the sack, open it, and see

if the remark is correct: if correct, let the money be delivered, with

my sincere gratitude, to my benefactor thus identified.”

Mrs. Richards sat down, gently quivering with excitement, and was soon

lost in thinkings--after this pattern: “What a strange thing it is! ...

And what a fortune for that kind man who set his bread afloat upon the

waters!... If it had only been my husband that did it!--for we are so

poor, so old and poor!...” Then, with a sigh--“But it was not my Edward;

no, it was not he that gave a stranger twenty dollars. It is a pity too;

I see it now....” Then, with a shudder--“But it is GAMBLERS' money! the

wages of sin; we couldn't take it; we couldn't touch it. I don't like to

be near it; it seems a defilement.” She moved to a farther chair... “I

wish Edward would come, and take it to the bank; a burglar might come at

any moment; it is dreadful to be here all alone with it.”

At eleven Mr. Richards arrived, and while his wife was saying “I am SO

glad you've come!” he was saying, “I am so tired--tired clear out; it is

dreadful to be poor, and have to make these dismal journeys at my time

of life. Always at the grind, grind, grind, on a salary--another man's

slave, and he sitting at home in his slippers, rich and comfortable.”

“I am so sorry for you, Edward, you know that; but be comforted; we have

our livelihood; we have our good name--”

“Yes, Mary, and that is everything. Don't mind my talk--it's just a

moment's irritation and doesn't mean anything. Kiss me--there, it's all

gone now, and I am not complaining any more. What have you been getting?

What's in the sack?”

Then his wife told him the great secret. It dazed him for a moment; then

he said:

“It weighs a hundred and sixty pounds? Why, Mary, it's for-ty thousand

dollars--think of it--a whole fortune! Not ten men in this village are

worth that much. Give me the paper.”

He skimmed through it and said:

“Isn't it an adventure! Why, it's a romance; it's like the impossible

things one reads about in books, and never sees in life.” He was well

stirred up now; cheerful, even gleeful. He tapped his old wife on the

cheek, and said humorously, “Why, we're rich, Mary, rich; all we've

got to do is to bury the money and burn the papers. If the gambler ever

comes to inquire, we'll merely look coldly upon him and say: 'What is

this nonsense you are talking? We have never heard of you and your sack

of gold before;' and then he would look foolish, and--”

“And in the meantime, while you are running on with your jokes, the

money is still here, and it is fast getting along toward burglar-time.”

“True. Very well, what shall we do--make the inquiry private? No, not

that; it would spoil the romance. The public method is better. Think

what a noise it will make! And it will make all the other towns jealous;

for no stranger would trust such a thing to any town but Hadleyburg,

and they know it. It's a great card for us. I must get to the

printing-office now, or I shall be too late.”

“But stop--stop--don't leave me here alone with it, Edward!”

But he was gone. For only a little while, however. Not far from his

own house he met the editor--proprietor of the paper, and gave him the

document, and said “Here is a good thing for you, Cox--put it in.”

“It may be too late, Mr. Richards, but I'll see.”

At home again, he and his wife sat down to talk the charming mystery

over; they were in no condition for sleep. The first question was, Who

could the citizen have been who gave the stranger the twenty dollars? It

seemed a simple one; both answered it in the same breath--

“Barclay Goodson.”

“Yes,” said Richards, “he could have done it, and it would have been

like him, but there's not another in the town.”

“Everybody will grant that, Edward--grant it privately, anyway. For six

months, now, the village has been its own proper self once more--honest,

narrow, self-righteous, and stingy.”

“It is what he always called it, to the day of his death--said it right

out publicly, too.”

“Yes, and he was hated for it.”

“Oh, of course; but he didn't care. I reckon he was the best-hated man

among us, except the Reverend Burgess.”

“Well, Burgess deserves it--he will never get another congregation here.

Mean as the town is, it knows how to estimate HIM. Edward, doesn't it

seem odd that the stranger should appoint Burgess to deliver the money?”

“Well, yes--it does. That is--that is--”

“Why so much that-IS-ing? Would YOU select him?”

“Mary, maybe the stranger knows him better than this village does.”

“Much THAT would help Burgess!”

The husband seemed perplexed for an answer; the wife kept a steady eye

upon him, and waited. Finally Richards said, with the hesitancy of one

who is making a statement which is likely to encounter doubt,

“Mary, Burgess is not a bad man.”

His wife was certainly surprised.

“Nonsense!” she exclaimed.

“He is not a bad man. I know. The whole of his unpopularity had its

foundation in that one thing--the thing that made so much noise.”

“That 'one thing,' indeed! As if that 'one thing' wasn't enough, all by

itself.”

“Plenty. Plenty. Only he wasn't guilty of it.”

“How you talk! Not guilty of it! Everybody knows he WAS guilty.”

“Mary, I give you my word--he was innocent.”

“I can't believe it and I don't. How do you know?”

“It is a confession. I am ashamed, but I will make it. I was the only

man who knew he was innocent. I could have saved him, and--and--well,

you know how the town was wrought up--I hadn't the pluck to do it. It

would have turned everybody against me. I felt mean, ever so mean; but I

didn't dare; I hadn't the manliness to face that.”

Mary looked troubled, and for a while was silent. Then she said

stammeringly:

“I--I don't think it would have done for you to--to--One

mustn't--er--public opinion--one has to be so careful--so--” It was a

difficult road, and she got mired; but after a little she got started

again. “It was a great pity, but--Why, we couldn't afford it, Edward--we

couldn't indeed. Oh, I wouldn't have had you do it for anything!”

“It would have lost us the good-will of so many people, Mary; and

then--and then--”

“What troubles me now is, what HE thinks of us, Edward.”

“He? HE doesn't suspect that I could have saved him.”

“Oh,” exclaimed the wife, in a tone of relief, “I am glad of that. As

long as he doesn't know that you could have saved him, he--he--well that

makes it a great deal better. Why, I might have known he didn't

know, because he is always trying to be friendly with us, as little

encouragement as we give him. More than once people have twitted me with

it. There's the Wilsons, and the Wilcoxes, and the Harknesses, they take

a mean pleasure in saying 'YOUR FRIEND Burgess,' because they know it

pesters me. I wish he wouldn't persist in liking us so; I can't think

why he keeps it up.”

“I can explain it. It's another confession. When the thing was new and

hot, and the town made a plan to ride him on a rail, my conscience

hurt me so that I couldn't stand it, and I went privately and gave him

notice, and he got out of the town and stayed out till it was safe to

come back.”

“Edward! If the town had found it out--”

“DON'T! It scares me yet, to think of it. I repented of it the minute it

was done; and I was even afraid to tell you lest your face might betray

it to somebody. I didn't sleep any that night, for worrying. But after a

few days I saw that no one was going to suspect me, and after that I got

to feeling glad I did it. And I feel glad yet, Mary--glad through and

through.”

“So do I, now, for it would have been a dreadful way to treat him.

Yes, I'm glad; for really you did owe him that, you know. But, Edward,

suppose it should come out yet, some day!”

“It won't.”

“Why?”

“Because everybody thinks it was Goodson.”

“Of course they would!”

“Certainly. And of course HE didn't care. They persuaded poor old

Sawlsberry to go and charge it on him, and he went blustering over there

and did it. Goodson looked him over, like as if he was hunting for a

place on him that he could despise the most; then he says, 'So you are

the Committee of Inquiry, are you?' Sawlsberry said that was about what

he was. 'H'm. Do they require particulars, or do you reckon a kind of a

GENERAL answer will do?' 'If they require particulars, I will come back,

Mr. Goodson; I will take the general answer first.' 'Very well, then,

tell them to go to hell--I reckon that's general enough. And I'll give

you some advice, Sawlsberry; when you come back for the particulars,

fetch a basket to carry what is left of yourself home in.'”

“Just like Goodson; it's got all the marks. He had only one vanity; he

thought he could give advice better than any other person.”

“It settled the business, and saved us, Mary. The subject was dropped.”

“Bless you, I'm not doubting THAT.”

Then they took up the gold-sack mystery again, with strong interest.

Soon the conversation began to suffer breaks--interruptions caused by

absorbed thinkings. The breaks grew more and more frequent. At last

Richards lost himself wholly in thought. He sat long, gazing vacantly at

the floor, and by-and-by he began to punctuate his thoughts with

little nervous movements of his hands that seemed to indicate vexation.

Meantime his wife too had relapsed into a thoughtful silence, and her

movements were beginning to show a troubled discomfort. Finally Richards

got up and strode aimlessly about the room, ploughing his hands through

his hair, much as a somnambulist might do who was having a bad dream.

Then he seemed to arrive at a definite purpose; and without a word

he put on his hat and passed quickly out of the house. His wife sat

brooding, with a drawn face, and did not seem to be aware that she was

alone. Now and then she murmured, “Lead us not into t... but--but--we

are so poor, so poor!... Lead us not into... Ah, who would be hurt by

it?--and no one would ever know... Lead us....” The voice died out

in mumblings. After a little she glanced up and muttered in a

half-frightened, half-glad way--

“He is gone! But, oh dear, he may be too late--too late... Maybe

not--maybe there is still time.” She rose and stood thinking, nervously

clasping and unclasping her hands. A slight shudder shook her frame, and

she said, out of a dry throat, “God forgive me--it's awful to think such

things--but... Lord, how we are made--how strangely we are made!”

She turned the light low, and slipped stealthily over and knelt down by

the sack and felt of its ridgy sides with her hands, and fondled them

lovingly; and there was a gloating light in her poor old eyes. She fell

into fits of absence; and came half out of them at times to mutter “If

we had only waited!--oh, if we had only waited a little, and not been in

such a hurry!”

Meantime Cox had gone home from his office and told his wife all

about the strange thing that had happened, and they had talked it over

eagerly, and guessed that the late Goodson was the only man in the town

who could have helped a suffering stranger with so noble a sum as twenty

dollars. Then there was a pause, and the two became thoughtful and

silent. And by-and-by nervous and fidgety. At last the wife said, as if

to herself,

“Nobody knows this secret but the Richardses... and us... nobody.”

The husband came out of his thinkings with a slight start, and gazed

wistfully at his wife, whose face was become very pale; then he

hesitatingly rose, and glanced furtively at his hat, then at his wife--a

sort of mute inquiry. Mrs. Cox swallowed once or twice, with her hand at

her throat, then in place of speech she nodded her head. In a moment she

was alone, and mumbling to herself.

And now Richards and Cox were hurrying through the deserted streets,

from opposite directions. They met, panting, at the foot of the

printing-office stairs; by the night-light there they read each other's

face. Cox whispered:

“Nobody knows about this but us?”

The whispered answer was:

“Not a soul--on honour, not a soul!”

“If it isn't too late to--”

The men were starting up-stairs; at this moment they were overtaken by a

boy, and Cox asked,

“Is that you, Johnny?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You needn't ship the early mail--nor ANY mail; wait till I tell you.”

“It's already gone, sir.”

“GONE?” It had the sound of an unspeakable disappointment in it.

“Yes, sir. Time-table for Brixton and all the towns beyond changed

to-day, sir--had to get the papers in twenty minutes earlier than

common. I had to rush; if I had been two minutes later--”

The men turned and walked slowly away, not waiting to hear the rest.

Neither of them spoke during ten minutes; then Cox said, in a vexed

tone,

“What possessed you to be in such a hurry, I can't make out.”

The answer was humble enough:

“I see it now, but somehow I never thought, you know, until it was too

late. But the next time--”

“Next time be hanged! It won't come in a thousand years.”

Then the friends separated without a good-night, and dragged themselves

home with the gait of mortally stricken men. At their homes their wives

sprang up with an eager “Well?”--then saw the answer with their eyes and

sank down sorrowing, without waiting for it to come in words. In both

houses a discussion followed of a heated sort--a new thing; there had

been discussions before, but not heated ones, not ungentle ones. The

discussions to-night were a sort of seeming plagiarisms of each other.

Mrs. Richards said:

“If you had only waited, Edward--if you had only stopped to think; but

no, you must run straight to the printing-office and spread it all over

the world.”

“It SAID publish it.”

“That is nothing; it also said do it privately, if you liked. There,

now--is that true, or not?”

“Why, yes--yes, it is true; but when I thought what a stir it would

make, and what a compliment it was to Hadleyburg that a stranger should

trust it so--”

“Oh, certainly, I know all that; but if you had only stopped to think,

you would have seen that you COULDN'T find the right man, because he is

in his grave, and hasn't left chick nor child nor relation behind him;

and as long as the money went to somebody that awfully needed it, and

nobody would be hurt by it, and--and--”

She broke down, crying. Her husband tried to think of some comforting

thing to say, and presently came out with this:

“But after all, Mary, it must be for the best--it must be; we know that.

And we must remember that it was so ordered--”

“Ordered! Oh, everything's ORDERED, when a person has to find some way

out when he has been stupid. Just the same, it was ORDERED that the

money should come to us in this special way, and it was you that must

take it on yourself to go meddling with the designs of Providence--and

who gave you the right? It was wicked, that is what it was--just

blasphemous presumption, and no more becoming to a meek and humble

professor of--”

“But, Mary, you know how we have been trained all our lives long, like

the whole village, till it is absolutely second nature to us to stop not

a single moment to think when there's an honest thing to be done--”

“Oh, I know it, I know it--it's been one everlasting training and

training and training in honesty--honesty shielded, from the very

cradle, against every possible temptation, and so it's ARTIFICIAL

honesty, and weak as water when temptation comes, as we have seen this

night. God knows I never had shade nor shadow of a doubt of my petrified

and indestructible honesty until now--and now, under the very first big

and real temptation, I--Edward, it is my belief that this town's honesty

is as rotten as mine is; as rotten as yours. It is a mean town, a hard,

stingy town, and hasn't a virtue in the world but this honesty it is so

celebrated for and so conceited about; and so help me, I do believe that

if ever the day comes that its honesty falls under great temptation, its

grand reputation will go to ruin like a house of cards. There, now, I've

made confession, and I feel better; I am a humbug, and I've been one all

my life, without knowing it. Let no man call me honest again--I will not

have it.”

“I--Well, Mary, I feel a good deal as you do: I certainly do. It seems

strange, too, so strange. I never could have believed it--never.”

A long silence followed; both were sunk in thought. At last the wife

looked up and said:

“I know what you are thinking, Edward.”

Richards had the embarrassed look of a person who is caught.

“I am ashamed to confess it, Mary, but--”

“It's no matter, Edward, I was thinking the same question myself.”

“I hope so. State it.”

“You were thinking, if a body could only guess out WHAT THE REMARK WAS

that Goodson made to the stranger.”

“It's perfectly true. I feel guilty and ashamed. And you?”

“I'm past it. Let us make a pallet here; we've got to stand watch till

the bank vault opens in the morning and admits the sack... Oh dear, oh

dear--if we hadn't made the mistake!”

The pallet was made, and Mary said:

“The open sesame--what could it have been? I do wonder what that remark

could have been. But come; we will get to bed now.”

“And sleep?”

“No; think.”

“Yes; think.”

By this time the Coxes too had completed their spat and their

reconciliation, and were turning in--to think, to think, and toss, and

fret, and worry over what the remark could possibly have been which

Goodson made to the stranded derelict; that golden remark; that remark

worth forty thousand dollars, cash.

The reason that the village telegraph-office was open later than

usual that night was this: The foreman of Cox's paper was the local

representative of the Associated Press. One might say its honorary

representative, for it wasn't four times a year that he could furnish

thirty words that would be accepted. But this time it was different. His

despatch stating what he had caught got an instant answer:

“Send the whole thing--all the details--twelve hundred words.”

A colossal order! The foreman filled the bill; and he was the proudest

man in the State. By breakfast-time the next morning the name of

Hadleyburg the Incorruptible was on every lip in America, from Montreal

to the Gulf, from the glaciers of Alaska to the orange-groves of

Florida; and millions and millions of people were discussing the

stranger and his money-sack, and wondering if the right man would be

found, and hoping some more news about the matter would come soon--right

away.

II

Hadleyburg village woke up world-celebrated--astonished--happy--vain.

Vain beyond imagination. Its nineteen principal citizens and their wives

went about shaking hands with each other, and beaming, and smiling,

and congratulating, and saying THIS thing adds a new word to the

dictionary--HADLEYBURG, synonym for INCORRUPTIBLE--destined to live in

dictionaries for ever! And the minor and unimportant citizens and their

wives went around acting in much the same way. Everybody ran to the bank

to see the gold-sack; and before noon grieved and envious crowds began

to flock in from Brixton and all neighbouring towns; and that afternoon

and next day reporters began to arrive from everywhere to verify the

sack and its history and write the whole thing up anew, and make dashing

free-hand pictures of the sack, and of Richards's house, and the bank,

and the Presbyterian church, and the Baptist church, and the public

square, and the town-hall where the test would be applied and the money

delivered; and damnable portraits of the Richardses, and Pinkerton

the banker, and Cox, and the foreman, and Reverend Burgess, and

the postmaster--and even of Jack Halliday, who was the loafing,

good-natured, no-account, irreverent fisherman, hunter, boys' friend,

stray-dogs' friend, typical “Sam Lawson” of the town. The little mean,

smirking, oily Pinkerton showed the sack to all comers, and rubbed his

sleek palms together pleasantly, and enlarged upon the town's fine old

reputation for honesty and upon this wonderful endorsement of it, and

hoped and believed that the example would now spread far and wide

over the American world, and be epoch-making in the matter of moral

regeneration. And so on, and so on.

By the end of a week things had quieted down again; the wild

intoxication of pride and joy had sobered to a soft, sweet, silent

delight--a sort of deep, nameless, unutterable content. All faces bore a

look of peaceful, holy happiness.

Then a change came. It was a gradual change; so gradual that its

beginnings were hardly noticed; maybe were not noticed at all, except by

Jack Halliday, who always noticed everything; and always made fun of it,

too, no matter what it was. He began to throw out chaffing remarks about

people not looking quite so happy as they did a day or two ago; and next

he claimed that the new aspect was deepening to positive sadness; next,

that it was taking on a sick look; and finally he said that everybody

was become so moody, thoughtful, and absent-minded that he could rob the

meanest man in town of a cent out of the bottom of his breeches pocket

and not disturb his reverie.

At this stage--or at about this stage--a saying like this was dropped

at bedtime--with a sigh, usually--by the head of each of the nineteen

principal households:

“Ah, what COULD have been the remark that Goodson made?”

And straightway--with a shudder--came this, from the man's wife:

“Oh, DON'T! What horrible thing are you mulling in your mind? Put it

away from you, for God's sake!”

But that question was wrung from those men again the next night--and got

the same retort. But weaker.

And the third night the men uttered the question yet again--with

anguish, and absently. This time--and the following night--the wives

fidgeted feebly, and tried to say something. But didn't.

And the night after that they found their tongues and

responded--longingly:

“Oh, if we COULD only guess!”

Halliday's comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable

and disparaging. He went diligently about, laughing at the town,

individually and in mass. But his laugh was the only one left in the

village: it fell upon a hollow and mournful vacancy and emptiness. Not

even a smile was findable anywhere. Halliday carried a cigar-box around

on a tripod, playing that it was a camera, and halted all passers and

aimed the thing and said “Ready!--now look pleasant, please,” but

not even this capital joke could surprise the dreary faces into any

softening.

So three weeks passed--one week was left. It was Saturday evening after

supper. Instead of the aforetime Saturday-evening flutter and bustle and

shopping and larking, the streets were empty and desolate. Richards and

his old wife sat apart in their little parlour--miserable and thinking.

This was become their evening habit now: the life-long habit which had

preceded it, of reading, knitting, and contented chat, or receiving or

paying neighbourly calls, was dead and gone and forgotten, ages ago--two

or three weeks ago; nobody talked now, nobody read, nobody visited--the

whole village sat at home, sighing, worrying, silent. Trying to guess

out that remark.

The postman left a letter. Richards glanced listlessly at the

superscription and the post-mark--unfamiliar, both--and tossed the

letter on the table and resumed his might-have-beens and his hopeless

dull miseries where he had left them off. Two or three hours later

his wife got wearily up and was going away to bed without a

good-night--custom now--but she stopped near the letter and eyed it

awhile with a dead interest, then broke it open, and began to skim it

over. Richards, sitting there with his chair tilted back against the

wall and his chin between his knees, heard something fall. It was his

wife. He sprang to her side, but she cried out:

“Leave me alone, I am too happy. Read the letter--read it!”

He did. He devoured it, his brain reeling. The letter was from a distant

State, and it said:

“I am a stranger to you, but no matter: I have something to tell. I

have just arrived home from Mexico, and learned about that episode. Of

course you do not know who made that remark, but I know, and I am the

only person living who does know. It was GOODSON. I knew him well, many

years ago. I passed through your village that very night, and was his

guest till the midnight train came along. I overheard him make that

remark to the stranger in the dark--it was in Hale Alley. He and I

talked of it the rest of the way home, and while smoking in his house.

He mentioned many of your villagers in the course of his talk--most of

them in a very uncomplimentary way, but two or three favourably: among

these latter yourself. I say 'favourably'--nothing stronger. I remember

his saying he did not actually LIKE any person in the town--not one; but

that you--I THINK he said you--am almost sure--had done him a very great

service once, possibly without knowing the full value of it, and he

wished he had a fortune, he would leave it to you when he died, and a

curse apiece for the rest of the citizens. Now, then, if it was you that

did him that service, you are his legitimate heir, and entitled to the

sack of gold. I know that I can trust to your honour and honesty, for in

a citizen of Hadleyburg these virtues are an unfailing inheritance, and

so I am going to reveal to you the remark, well satisfied that if you

are not the right man you will seek and find the right one and see that

poor Goodson's debt of gratitude for the service referred to is paid.

This is the remark 'YOU ARE FAR FROM BEING A BAD MAN: GO, AND REFORM.'

“HOWARD L. STEPHENSON.”

“Oh, Edward, the money is ours, and I am so grateful, OH, so

grateful,--kiss me, dear, it's for ever since we kissed--and we needed

it so--the money--and now you are free of Pinkerton and his bank, and

nobody's slave any more; it seems to me I could fly for joy.”

It was a happy half-hour that the couple spent there on the settee

caressing each other; it was the old days come again--days that had

begun with their courtship and lasted without a break till the stranger

brought the deadly money. By-and-by the wife said:

“Oh, Edward, how lucky it was you did him that grand service, poor

Goodson! I never liked him, but I love him now. And it was fine and

beautiful of you never to mention it or brag about it.” Then, with a

touch of reproach, “But you ought to have told ME, Edward, you ought to

have told your wife, you know.”

“Well, I--er--well, Mary, you see--”

“Now stop hemming and hawing, and tell me about it, Edward. I always

loved you, and now I'm proud of you. Everybody believes there was

only one good generous soul in this village, and now it turns out that

you--Edward, why don't you tell me?”

“Well--er--er--Why, Mary, I can't!”

“You CAN'T? WHY can't you?”

“You see, he--well, he--he made me promise I wouldn't.”

The wife looked him over, and said, very slowly:

“Made--you--promise? Edward, what do you tell me that for?”

“Mary, do you think I would lie?”

She was troubled and silent for a moment, then she laid her hand within

his and said:

“No... no. We have wandered far enough from our bearings--God spare us

that! In all your life you have never uttered a lie. But now--now that

the foundations of things seem to be crumbling from under us, we--we--”

She lost her voice for a moment, then said, brokenly, “Lead us not into

temptation... I think you made the promise, Edward. Let it rest so. Let

us keep away from that ground. Now--that is all gone by; let us be happy

again; it is no time for clouds.”

Edward found it something of an effort to comply, for his mind kept

wandering--trying to remember what the service was that he had done

Goodson.

The couple lay awake the most of the night, Mary happy and busy, Edward

busy, but not so happy. Mary was planning what she would do with the

money. Edward was trying to recall that service. At first his conscience

was sore on account of the lie he had told Mary--if it was a lie. After

much reflection--suppose it WAS a lie? What then? Was it such a great

matter? Aren't we always ACTING lies? Then why not tell them? Look at

Mary--look what she had done. While he was hurrying off on his honest

errand, what was she doing? Lamenting because the papers hadn't been

destroyed and the money kept. Is theft better than lying?

THAT point lost its sting--the lie dropped into the background and left

comfort behind it. The next point came to the front: HAD he rendered

that service? Well, here was Goodson's own evidence as reported in

Stephenson's letter; there could be no better evidence than that--it

was even PROOF that he had rendered it. Of course. So that point was

settled... No, not quite. He recalled with a wince that this unknown Mr.

Stephenson was just a trifle unsure as to whether the performer of it

was Richards or some other--and, oh dear, he had put Richards on his

honour! He must himself decide whither that money must go--and Mr.

Stephenson was not doubting that if he was the wrong man he would go

honourably and find the right one. Oh, it was odious to put a man in

such a situation--ah, why couldn't Stephenson have left out that doubt?

What did he want to intrude that for?

Further reflection. How did it happen that RICHARDS'S name remained in

Stephenson's mind as indicating the right man, and not some other man's

name? That looked good. Yes, that looked very good. In fact it went on

looking better and better, straight along--until by-and-by it grew into

positive PROOF. And then Richards put the matter at once out of his

mind, for he had a private instinct that a proof once established is

better left so.

He was feeling reasonably comfortable now, but there was still one other

detail that kept pushing itself on his notice: of course he had done

that service--that was settled; but what WAS that service? He must

recall it--he would not go to sleep till he had recalled it; it would

make his peace of mind perfect. And so he thought and thought.

He thought of a dozen things--possible services, even probable

services--but none of them seemed adequate, none of them seemed large

enough, none of them seemed worth the money--worth the fortune Goodson

had wished he could leave in his will. And besides, he couldn't remember

having done them, anyway. Now, then--now, then--what KIND of a service

would it be that would make a man so inordinately grateful? Ah--the

saving of his soul! That must be it. Yes, he could remember, now, how he

once set himself the task of converting Goodson, and laboured at it as

much as--he was going to say three months; but upon closer examination

it shrunk to a month, then to a week, then to a day, then to nothing.

Yes, he remembered now, and with unwelcome vividness, that Goodson had

told him to go to thunder and mind his own business--HE wasn't hankering

to follow Hadleyburg to heaven!

So that solution was a failure--he hadn't saved Goodson's soul. Richards

was discouraged. Then after a little came another idea: had he saved

Goodson's property? No, that wouldn't do--he hadn't any. His life? That

is it! Of course. Why, he might have thought of it before. This time he

was on the right track, sure. His imagination-mill was hard at work in a

minute, now.

Thereafter, during a stretch of two exhausting hours, he was busy saving

Goodson's life. He saved it in all kinds of difficult and perilous ways.

In every case he got it saved satisfactorily up to a certain point;

then, just as he was beginning to get well persuaded that it had really

happened, a troublesome detail would turn up which made the whole thing

impossible. As in the matter of drowning, for instance. In that case he

had swum out and tugged Goodson ashore in an unconscious state with

a great crowd looking on and applauding, but when he had got it all

thought out and was just beginning to remember all about it, a whole

swarm of disqualifying details arrived on the ground: the town would

have known of the circumstance, Mary would have known of it, it

would glare like a limelight in his own memory instead of being an

inconspicuous service which he had possibly rendered “without knowing

its full value.” And at this point he remembered that he couldn't swim

anyway.

Ah--THERE was a point which he had been overlooking from the start: it

had to be a service which he had rendered “possibly without knowing

the full value of it.” Why, really, that ought to be an easy hunt--much

easier than those others. And sure enough, by-and-by he found it.

Goodson, years and years ago, came near marrying a very sweet and pretty

girl, named Nancy Hewitt, but in some way or other the match had been

broken off; the girl died, Goodson remained a bachelor, and by-and-by

became a soured one and a frank despiser of the human species. Soon

after the girl's death the village found out, or thought it had found

out, that she carried a spoonful of negro blood in her veins. Richards

worked at these details a good while, and in the end he thought he

remembered things concerning them which must have gotten mislaid in his

memory through long neglect. He seemed to dimly remember that it was

HE that found out about the negro blood; that it was he that told the

village; that the village told Goodson where they got it; that he thus

saved Goodson from marrying the tainted girl; that he had done him this

great service “without knowing the full value of it,” in fact without

knowing that he WAS doing it; but that Goodson knew the value of it, and

what a narrow escape he had had, and so went to his grave grateful to

his benefactor and wishing he had a fortune to leave him. It was all

clear and simple, now, and the more he went over it the more luminous

and certain it grew; and at last, when he nestled to sleep, satisfied

and happy, he remembered the whole thing just as if it had been

yesterday. In fact, he dimly remembered Goodson's TELLING him his

gratitude once. Meantime Mary had spent six thousand dollars on a new

house for herself and a pair of slippers for her pastor, and then had

fallen peacefully to rest.

That same Saturday evening the postman had delivered a letter to each

of the other principal citizens--nineteen letters in all. No two of the

envelopes were alike, and no two of the superscriptions were in the same

hand, but the letters inside were just like each other in every

detail but one. They were exact copies of the letter received by

Richards--handwriting and all--and were all signed by Stephenson, but in

place of Richards's name each receiver's own name appeared.

All night long eighteen principal citizens did what their caste-brother

Richards was doing at the same time--they put in their energies trying

to remember what notable service it was that they had unconsciously done

Barclay Goodson. In no case was it a holiday job; still they succeeded.

And while they were at this work, which was difficult, their wives put

in the night spending the money, which was easy. During that one night

the nineteen wives spent an average of seven thousand dollars each out

of the forty thousand in the sack--a hundred and thirty-three thousand

altogether.

Next day there was a surprise for Jack Halliday. He noticed that

the faces of the nineteen chief citizens and their wives bore that

expression of peaceful and holy happiness again. He could not understand

it, neither was he able to invent any remarks about it that could damage

it or disturb it. And so it was his turn to be dissatisfied with life.

His private guesses at the reasons for the happiness failed in all

instances, upon examination. When he met Mrs. Wilcox and noticed

the placid ecstasy in her face, he said to himself, “Her cat has had

kittens”--and went and asked the cook; it was not so, the cook had

detected the happiness, but did not know the cause. When Halliday

found the duplicate ecstasy in the face of “Shadbelly” Billson (village

nickname), he was sure some neighbour of Billson's had broken his leg,

but inquiry showed that this had not happened. The subdued ecstasy in

Gregory Yates's face could mean but one thing--he was a mother-in-law

short; it was another mistake. “And Pinkerton--Pinkerton--he has

collected ten cents that he thought he was going to lose.” And so on,

and so on. In some cases the guesses had to remain in doubt, in the

others they proved distinct errors. In the end Halliday said to

himself, “Anyway it roots up that there's nineteen Hadleyburg families

temporarily in heaven: I don't know how it happened; I only know

Providence is off duty to-day.”

An architect and builder from the next State had lately ventured to set

up a small business in this unpromising village, and his sign had now

been hanging out a week. Not a customer yet; he was a discouraged man,

and sorry he had come. But his weather changed suddenly now. First one

and then another chief citizen's wife said to him privately:

“Come to my house Monday week--but say nothing about it for the present.

We think of building.”

He got eleven invitations that day. That night he wrote his daughter

and broke off her match with her student. He said she could marry a mile

higher than that.

Pinkerton the banker and two or three other well-to-do men planned

country-seats--but waited. That kind don't count their chickens until

they are hatched.

The Wilsons devised a grand new thing--a fancy-dress ball. They made no

actual promises, but told all their acquaintanceship in confidence that

they were thinking the matter over and thought they should give it--“and

if we do, you will be invited, of course.” People were surprised, and

said, one to another, “Why, they are crazy, those poor Wilsons, they

can't afford it.” Several among the nineteen said privately to their

husbands, “It is a good idea, we will keep still till their cheap thing

is over, then WE will give one that will make it sick.”

The days drifted along, and the bill of future squanderings rose higher

and higher, wilder and wilder, more and more foolish and reckless. It

began to look as if every member of the nineteen would not only spend

his whole forty thousand dollars before receiving-day, but be actually

in debt by the time he got the money. In some cases light-headed people

did not stop with planning to spend, they really spent--on credit. They

bought land, mortgages, farms, speculative stocks, fine clothes, horses,

and various other things, paid down the bonus, and made themselves

liable for the rest--at ten days. Presently the sober second thought

came, and Halliday noticed that a ghastly anxiety was beginning to show

up in a good many faces. Again he was puzzled, and didn't know what

to make of it. “The Wilcox kittens aren't dead, for they weren't born;

nobody's broken a leg; there's no shrinkage in mother-in-laws; NOTHING

has happened--it is an insolvable mystery.”

There was another puzzled man, too--the Rev. Mr. Burgess. For days,

wherever he went, people seemed to follow him or to be watching out for

him; and if he ever found himself in a retired spot, a member of the

nineteen would be sure to appear, thrust an envelope privately into

his hand, whisper “To be opened at the town-hall Friday evening,” then

vanish away like a guilty thing. He was expecting that there might be

one claimant for the sack--doubtful, however, Goodson being dead--but it

never occurred to him that all this crowd might be claimants. When the

great Friday came at last, he found that he had nineteen envelopes.

III

The town-hall had never looked finer. The platform at the end of it was

backed by a showy draping of flags; at intervals along the walls

were festoons of flags; the gallery fronts were clothed in flags; the

supporting columns were swathed in flags; all this was to impress the

stranger, for he would be there in considerable force, and in a large

degree he would be connected with the press. The house was full. The

412 fixed seats were occupied; also the 68 extra chairs which had been

packed into the aisles; the steps of the platform were occupied;

some distinguished strangers were given seats on the platform; at the

horseshoe of tables which fenced the front and sides of the platform sat

a strong force of special correspondents who had come from everywhere.

It was the best-dressed house the town had ever produced. There were

some tolerably expensive toilets there, and in several cases the

ladies who wore them had the look of being unfamiliar with that kind of

clothes. At least the town thought they had that look, but the notion

could have arisen from the town's knowledge of the fact that these

ladies had never inhabited such clothes before.

The gold-sack stood on a little table at the front of the platform where

all the house could see it. The bulk of the house gazed at it with a

burning interest, a mouth-watering interest, a wistful and pathetic

interest; a minority of nineteen couples gazed at it tenderly, lovingly,

proprietarily, and the male half of this minority kept saying over to

themselves the moving little impromptu speeches of thankfulness for the

audience's applause and congratulations which they were presently going

to get up and deliver. Every now and then one of these got a piece of

paper out of his vest pocket and privately glanced at it to refresh his

memory.

Of course there was a buzz of conversation going on--there always is;

but at last, when the Rev. Mr. Burgess rose and laid his hand on the

sack, he could hear his microbes gnaw, the place was so still. He

related the curious history of the sack, then went on to speak in

warm terms of Hadleyburg's old and well-earned reputation for spotless

honesty, and of the town's just pride in this reputation. He said that

this reputation was a treasure of priceless value; that under Providence

its value had now become inestimably enhanced, for the recent episode

had spread this fame far and wide, and thus had focussed the eyes of the

American world upon this village, and made its name for all time, as

he hoped and believed, a synonym for commercial incorruptibility.

(Applause.) “And who is to be the guardian of this noble fame--the

community as a whole? No! The responsibility is individual, not

communal. From this day forth each and every one of you is in his own

person its special guardian, and individually responsible that no harm

shall come to it. Do you--does each of you--accept this great trust?

(Tumultuous assent.) Then all is well. Transmit it to your children and

to your children's children. To-day your purity is beyond reproach--see

to it that it shall remain so. To-day there is not a person in your

community who could be beguiled to touch a penny not his own--see to

it that you abide in this grace. (“We will! we will!”) This is not the

place to make comparisons between ourselves and other communities--some

of them ungracious towards us; they have their ways, we have ours; let

us be content. (Applause.) I am done. Under my hand, my friends, rests

a stranger's eloquent recognition of what we are; through him the world

will always henceforth know what we are. We do not know who he is, but

in your name I utter your gratitude, and ask you to raise your voices in

indorsement.”

The house rose in a body and made the walls quake with the thunders of

its thankfulness for the space of a long minute. Then it sat down,

and Mr. Burgess took an envelope out of his pocket. The house held its

breath while he slit the envelope open and took from it a slip of paper.

He read its contents--slowly and impressively--the audience listening

with tranced attention to this magic document, each of whose words stood

for an ingot of gold:

“'The remark which I made to the distressed stranger was this: “You are

very far from being a bad man; go, and reform.”' Then he continued:--'We

shall know in a moment now whether the remark here quoted corresponds

with the one concealed in the sack; and if that shall prove to

be so--and it undoubtedly will--this sack of gold belongs to a

fellow-citizen who will henceforth stand before the nation as the symbol

of the special virtue which has made our town famous throughout the

land--Mr. Billson!'”

The house had gotten itself all ready to burst into the proper tornado

of applause; but instead of doing it, it seemed stricken with a

paralysis; there was a deep hush for a moment or two, then a wave of

whispered murmurs swept the place--of about this tenor: “BILLSON!

oh, come, this is TOO thin! Twenty dollars to a stranger--or

ANYBODY--BILLSON! Tell it to the marines!” And now at this point the

house caught its breath all of a sudden in a new access of astonishment,

for it discovered that whereas in one part of the hall Deacon Billson

was standing up with his head meekly bowed, in another part of it Lawyer

Wilson was doing the same. There was a wondering silence now for a

while. Everybody was puzzled, and nineteen couples were surprised and

indignant.

Billson and Wilson turned and stared at each other. Billson asked,

bitingly:

“Why do YOU rise, Mr. Wilson?”

“Because I have a right to. Perhaps you will be good enough to explain

to the house why YOU rise.”

“With great pleasure. Because I wrote that paper.”

“It is an impudent falsity! I wrote it myself.”

It was Burgess's turn to be paralysed. He stood looking vacantly at

first one of the men and then the other, and did not seem to know what

to do. The house was stupefied. Lawyer Wilson spoke up now, and said:

“I ask the Chair to read the name signed to that paper.”

That brought the Chair to itself, and it read out the name:

“John Wharton BILLSON.”

“There!” shouted Billson, “what have you got to say for yourself

now? And what kind of apology are you going to make to me and to this

insulted house for the imposture which you have attempted to play here?”

“No apologies are due, sir; and as for the rest of it, I publicly charge

you with pilfering my note from Mr. Burgess and substituting a copy of

it signed with your own name. There is no other way by which you could

have gotten hold of the test-remark; I alone, of living men, possessed

the secret of its wording.”

There was likely to be a scandalous state of things if this went

on; everybody noticed with distress that the shorthand scribes were

scribbling like mad; many people were crying “Chair, chair! Order!

order!” Burgess rapped with his gavel, and said:

“Let us not forget the proprieties due. There has evidently been a

mistake somewhere, but surely that is all. If Mr. Wilson gave me an

envelope--and I remember now that he did--I still have it.”

He took one out of his pocket, opened it, glanced at it, looked

surprised and worried, and stood silent a few moments. Then he waved his

hand in a wandering and mechanical way, and made an effort or two to say

something, then gave it up, despondently. Several voices cried out:

“Read it! read it! What is it?”

So he began, in a dazed and sleep-walker fashion:

“'The remark which I made to the unhappy stranger was this: “You are

far from being a bad man. (The house gazed at him marvelling.) Go, and

reform.'” (Murmurs: “Amazing! what can this mean?”) “This one,” said

the Chair, “is signed Thurlow G. Wilson.”

“There!” cried Wilson, “I reckon that settles it! I knew perfectly well

my note was purloined.”

“Purloined!” retorted Billson. “I'll let you know that neither you nor

any man of your kidney must venture to--”

The Chair: “Order, gentlemen, order! Take your seats, both of you,

please.”

They obeyed, shaking their heads and grumbling angrily. The house

was profoundly puzzled; it did not know what to do with this curious

emergency. Presently Thompson got up. Thompson was the hatter. He would

have liked to be a Nineteener; but such was not for him; his stock of

hats was not considerable enough for the position. He said:

“Mr. Chairman, if I may be permitted to make a suggestion, can both of

these gentlemen be right? I put it to you, sir, can both have happened

to say the very same words to the stranger? It seems to me--”

The tanner got up and interrupted him. The tanner was a disgruntled man;

he believed himself entitled to be a Nineteener, but he couldn't get

recognition. It made him a little unpleasant in his ways and speech.

Said he:

“Sho, THAT'S not the point! THAT could happen--twice in a hundred

years--but not the other thing. NEITHER of them gave the twenty

dollars!” (A ripple of applause.)

Billson. “I did!”

Wilson. “I did!”

Then each accused the other of pilfering.

The Chair. “Order! Sit down, if you please--both of you. Neither of the

notes has been out of my possession at any moment.”

A Voice. “Good--that settles THAT!”

The Tanner. “Mr. Chairman, one thing is now plain: one of these men

has been eavesdropping under the other one's bed, and filching family

secrets. If it is not unparliamentary to suggest it, I will remark

that both are equal to it. (The Chair. “Order! order!”) I withdraw the

remark, sir, and will confine myself to suggesting that IF one of them

has overheard the other reveal the test-remark to his wife, we shall

catch him now.”

A Voice. “How?”

The Tanner. “Easily. The two have not quoted the remark in exactly

the same words. You would have noticed that, if there hadn't been a

considerable stretch of time and an exciting quarrel inserted between

the two readings.”

A Voice. “Name the difference.”

The Tanner. “The word VERY is in Billson's note, and not in the other.”

Many Voices. “That's so--he's right!”

The Tanner. “And so, if the Chair will examine the test-remark in

the sack, we shall know which of these two frauds--(The Chair.

“Order!”)--which of these two adventurers--(The Chair. “Order!

order!”)--which of these two gentlemen--(laughter and applause)--is

entitled to wear the belt as being the first dishonest blatherskite ever

bred in this town--which he has dishonoured, and which will be a sultry

place for him from now out!” (Vigorous applause.)

Many Voices. “Open it!--open the sack!”

Mr. Burgess made a slit in the sack, slid his hand in, and brought out

an envelope. In it were a couple of folded notes. He said:

“One of these is marked, 'Not to be examined until all written

communications which have been addressed to the Chair--if any--shall

have been read.' The other is marked 'THE TEST.' Allow me. It is

worded--to wit:

“'I do not require that the first half of the remark which was made

to me by my benefactor shall be quoted with exactness, for it was not

striking, and could be forgotten; but its closing fifteen words are

quite striking, and I think easily rememberable; unless THESE shall be

accurately reproduced, let the applicant be regarded as an impostor. My

benefactor began by saying he seldom gave advice to anyone, but that it

always bore the hallmark of high value when he did give it. Then he said

this--and it has never faded from my memory: 'YOU ARE FAR FROM BEING A

BAD MAN--'”

Fifty Voices. “That settles it--the money's Wilson's! Wilson! Wilson!

Speech! Speech!”

People jumped up and crowded around Wilson, wringing his hand and

congratulating fervently--meantime the Chair was hammering with the

gavel and shouting:

“Order, gentlemen! Order! Order! Let me finish reading, please.” When

quiet was restored, the reading was resumed--as follows:

“'GO, AND REFORM--OR, MARK MY WORDS--SOME DAY, FOR YOUR SINS YOU WILL

DIE AND GO TO HELL OR HADLEYBURG--TRY AND MAKE IT THE FORMER.'”

A ghastly silence followed. First an angry cloud began to settle darkly

upon the faces of the citizenship; after a pause the cloud began to

rise, and a tickled expression tried to take its place; tried so hard

that it was only kept under with great and painful difficulty; the

reporters, the Brixtonites, and other strangers bent their heads down

and shielded their faces with their hands, and managed to hold in by

main strength and heroic courtesy. At this most inopportune time burst

upon the stillness the roar of a solitary voice--Jack Halliday's:

“THAT'S got the hall-mark on it!”

Then the house let go, strangers and all. Even Mr. Burgess's gravity

broke down presently, then the audience considered itself officially

absolved from all restraint, and it made the most of its privilege.

It was a good long laugh, and a tempestuously wholehearted one, but it

ceased at last--long enough for Mr. Burgess to try to resume, and for

the people to get their eyes partially wiped; then it broke out again,

and afterward yet again; then at last Burgess was able to get out these

serious words:

“It is useless to try to disguise the fact--we find ourselves in the

presence of a matter of grave import. It involves the honour of your

town--it strikes at the town's good name. The difference of a single

word between the test-remarks offered by Mr. Wilson and Mr. Billson

was itself a serious thing, since it indicated that one or the other of

these gentlemen had committed a theft--”

The two men were sitting limp, nerveless, crushed; but at these words

both were electrified into movement, and started to get up.

“Sit down!” said the Chair, sharply, and they obeyed. “That, as I have

said, was a serious thing. And it was--but for only one of them. But the

matter has become graver; for the honour of BOTH is now in formidable

peril. Shall I go even further, and say in inextricable peril? BOTH left

out the crucial fifteen words.” He paused. During several moments he

allowed the pervading stillness to gather and deepen its impressive

effects, then added: “There would seem to be but one way whereby this

could happen. I ask these gentlemen--Was there COLLUSION?--AGREEMENT?”

A low murmur sifted through the house; its import was, “He's got them

both.”

Billson was not used to emergencies; he sat in a helpless collapse. But

Wilson was a lawyer. He struggled to his feet, pale and worried, and

said:

“I ask the indulgence of the house while I explain this most painful

matter. I am sorry to say what I am about to say, since it must inflict

irreparable injury upon Mr. Billson, whom I have always esteemed and

respected until now, and in whose invulnerability to temptation I

entirely believed--as did you all. But for the preservation of my own

honour I must speak--and with frankness. I confess with shame--and I now

beseech your pardon for it--that I said to the ruined stranger all

of the words contained in the test-remark, including the disparaging

fifteen. (Sensation.) When the late publication was made I recalled

them, and I resolved to claim the sack of coin, for by every right I was

entitled to it. Now I will ask you to consider this point, and weigh it

well; that stranger's gratitude to me that night knew no bounds; he said

himself that he could find no words for it that were adequate, and that

if he should ever be able he would repay me a thousandfold. Now, then,

I ask you this; could I expect--could I believe--could I even remotely

imagine--that, feeling as he did, he would do so ungrateful a thing as

to add those quite unnecessary fifteen words to his test?--set a trap

for me?--expose me as a slanderer of my own town before my own people

assembled in a public hall? It was preposterous; it was impossible. His

test would contain only the kindly opening clause of my remark. Of that

I had no shadow of doubt. You would have thought as I did. You would

not have expected a base betrayal from one whom you had befriended

and against whom you had committed no offence. And so with perfect

confidence, perfect trust, I wrote on a piece of paper the opening

words--ending with “Go, and reform,”--and signed it. When I was about

to put it in an envelope I was called into my back office, and without

thinking I left the paper lying open on my desk.” He stopped, turned his

head slowly toward Billson, waited a moment, then added: “I ask you to

note this; when I returned, a little latter, Mr. Billson was retiring by

my street door.” (Sensation.)

In a moment Billson was on his feet and shouting:

“It's a lie! It's an infamous lie!”

The Chair. “Be seated, sir! Mr. Wilson has the floor.”

Billson's friends pulled him into his seat and quieted him, and Wilson

went on:

“Those are the simple facts. My note was now lying in a different place

on the table from where I had left it. I noticed that, but attached

no importance to it, thinking a draught had blown it there. That Mr.

Billson would read a private paper was a thing which could not occur to

me; he was an honourable man, and he would be above that. If you will

allow me to say it, I think his extra word 'VERY' stands explained: it

is attributable to a defect of memory. I was the only man in the world

who could furnish here any detail of the test-mark--by HONOURABLE means.

I have finished.”

There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the

mental apparatus and upset the convictions and debauch the emotions of

an audience not practised in the tricks and delusions of oratory. Wilson

sat down victorious. The house submerged him in tides of approving

applause; friends swarmed to him and shook him by the hand and

congratulated him, and Billson was shouted down and not allowed to say a

word. The Chair hammered and hammered with its gavel, and kept shouting:

“But let us proceed, gentlemen, let us proceed!”

At last there was a measurable degree of quiet, and the hatter said:

“But what is there to proceed with, sir, but to deliver the money?”

Voices. “That's it! That's it! Come forward, Wilson!”

The Hatter. “I move three cheers for Mr. Wilson, Symbol of the special

virtue which--”

The cheers burst forth before he could finish; and in the midst

of them--and in the midst of the clamour of the gavel also--some

enthusiasts mounted Wilson on a big friend's shoulder and were going to

fetch him in triumph to the platform. The Chair's voice now rose above

the noise:

“Order! To your places! You forget that there is still a document to

be read.” When quiet had been restored he took up the document, and was

going to read it, but laid it down again saying “I forgot; this is not

to be read until all written communications received by me have

first been read.” He took an envelope out of his pocket, removed its

enclosure, glanced at it--seemed astonished--held it out and gazed at

it--stared at it.

Twenty or thirty voices cried out:

“What is it? Read it! read it!”

And he did--slowly, and wondering:

“'The remark which I made to the stranger--(Voices. “Hello! how's

this?”)--was this: “You are far from being a bad man. (Voices. “Great

Scott!”) Go, and reform.”' (Voice. “Oh, saw my leg off!”) Signed by Mr.

Pinkerton the banker.”

The pandemonium of delight which turned itself loose now was of a sort

to make the judicious weep. Those whose withers were unwrung laughed

till the tears ran down; the reporters, in throes of laughter, set down

disordered pot-hooks which would never in the world be decipherable; and

a sleeping dog jumped up scared out of its wits, and barked itself crazy

at the turmoil. All manner of cries were scattered through the din:

“We're getting rich--TWO Symbols of Incorruptibility!--without counting

Billson!” “THREE!--count Shadbelly in--we can't have too many!” “All

right--Billson's elected!” “Alas, poor Wilson! victim of TWO thieves!”

A Powerful Voice. “Silence! The Chair's fished up something more out of

its pocket.”

Voices. “Hurrah! Is it something fresh? Read it! read! read!”

The Chair (reading). “'The remark which I made,' etc. 'You are far from

being a bad man. Go,' etc. Signed, 'Gregory Yates.'”

Tornado of Voices. “Four Symbols!” “'Rah for Yates!” “Fish again!”

The house was in a roaring humour now, and ready to get all the fun out

of the occasion that might be in it. Several Nineteeners, looking pale

and distressed, got up and began to work their way towards the aisles,

but a score of shouts went up:

“The doors, the doors--close the doors; no Incorruptible shall leave

this place! Sit down, everybody!” The mandate was obeyed.

“Fish again! Read! read!”

The Chair fished again, and once more the familiar words began to fall

from its lips--“'You are far from being a bad man--'”

“Name! name! What's his name?”

“'L. Ingoldsby Sargent.'”

“Five elected! Pile up the Symbols! Go on, go on!”

“'You are far from being a bad--'”

“Name! name!”

“'Nicholas Whitworth.'”

“Hooray! hooray! it's a symbolical day!”

Somebody wailed in, and began to sing this rhyme (leaving out “it's”) to

the lovely “Mikado” tune of “When a man's afraid of a beautiful

maid;” the audience joined in, with joy; then, just in time, somebody

contributed another line--

“And don't you this forget--”

The house roared it out. A third line was at once furnished--

“Corruptibles far from Hadleyburg are--”

The house roared that one too. As the last note died, Jack Halliday's

voice rose high and clear, freighted with a final line--

“But the Symbols are here, you bet!”

That was sung, with booming enthusiasm. Then the happy house started

in at the beginning and sang the four lines through twice, with immense

swing and dash, and finished up with a crashing three-times-three and a

tiger for “Hadleyburg the Incorruptible and all Symbols of it which we

shall find worthy to receive the hall-mark to-night.”

Then the shoutings at the Chair began again, all over the place:

“Go on! go on! Read! read some more! Read all you've got!”

“That's it--go on! We are winning eternal celebrity!”

A dozen men got up now and began to protest. They said that this farce

was the work of some abandoned joker, and was an insult to the whole

community. Without a doubt these signatures were all forgeries--

“Sit down! sit down! Shut up! You are confessing. We'll find your names

in the lot.”

“Mr. Chairman, how many of those envelopes have you got?”

The Chair counted.

“Together with those that have been already examined, there are

nineteen.”

A storm of derisive applause broke out.

“Perhaps they all contain the secret. I move that you open them all and

read every signature that is attached to a note of that sort--and read

also the first eight words of the note.”

“Second the motion!”

It was put and carried--uproariously. Then poor old Richards got up,

and his wife rose and stood at his side. Her head was bent down, so that

none might see that she was crying. Her husband gave her his arm, and so

supporting her, he began to speak in a quavering voice:

“My friends, you have known us two--Mary and me--all our lives, and I

think you have liked us and respected us--”

The Chair interrupted him:

“Allow me. It is quite true--that which you are saying, Mr. Richards;

this town DOES know you two; it DOES like you; it DOES respect you;

more--it honours you and LOVES you--”

Halliday's voice rang out:

“That's the hall-marked truth, too! If the Chair is right, let the house

speak up and say it. Rise! Now, then--hip! hip! hip!--all together!”

The house rose in mass, faced toward the old couple eagerly, filled the

air with a snow-storm of waving handkerchiefs, and delivered the cheers

with all its affectionate heart.

The Chair then continued:

“What I was going to say is this: We know your good heart, Mr. Richards,

but this is not a time for the exercise of charity toward offenders.

(Shouts of “Right! right!”) I see your generous purpose in your face,

but I cannot allow you to plead for these men--”

“But I was going to--”

“Please take your seat, Mr. Richards. We must examine the rest of these

notes--simple fairness to the men who have already been exposed requires

this. As soon as that has been done--I give you my word for this--you

shall be heard.”

Many voices. “Right!--the Chair is right--no interruption can be

permitted at this stage! Go on!--the names! the names!--according to the

terms of the motion!”

The old couple sat reluctantly down, and the husband whispered to the

wife, “It is pitifully hard to have to wait; the shame will be greater

than ever when they find we were only going to plead for OURSELVES.”

Straightway the jollity broke loose again with the reading of the names.

“'You are far from being a bad man--' Signature, 'Robert J. Titmarsh.'”

'“You are far from being a bad man--' Signature, 'Eliphalet Weeks.'”

“'You are far from being a bad man--' Signature, 'Oscar B. Wilder.'”

At this point the house lit upon the idea of taking the eight words out

of the Chairman's hands. He was not unthankful for that. Thenceforward

he held up each note in its turn and waited. The house droned out the

eight words in a massed and measured and musical deep volume of sound

(with a daringly close resemblance to a well-known church chant)--“You

are f-a-r from being a b-a-a-a-d man.” Then the Chair said, “Signature,

'Archibald Wilcox.'” And so on, and so on, name after name, and

everybody had an increasingly and gloriously good time except the

wretched Nineteen. Now and then, when a particularly shining name was

called, the house made the Chair wait while it chanted the whole of the

test-remark from the beginning to the closing words, “And go to hell

or Hadleyburg--try and make it the for-or-m-e-r!” and in these special

cases they added a grand and agonised and imposing “A-a-a-a-MEN!”

The list dwindled, dwindled, dwindled, poor old Richards keeping tally

of the count, wincing when a name resembling his own was pronounced, and

waiting in miserable suspense for the time to come when it would be his

humiliating privilege to rise with Mary and finish his plea, which he

was intending to word thus: “... for until now we have never done any

wrong thing, but have gone our humble way unreproached. We are very

poor, we are old, and, have no chick nor child to help us; we were

sorely tempted, and we fell. It was my purpose when I got up before

to make confession and beg that my name might not be read out in this

public place, for it seemed to us that we could not bear it; but I was

prevented. It was just; it was our place to suffer with the rest. It has

been hard for us. It is the first time we have ever heard our name fall

from any one's lips--sullied. Be merciful--for the sake or the better

days; make our shame as light to bear as in your charity you can.” At

this point in his reverie Mary nudged him, perceiving that his mind was

absent. The house was chanting, “You are f-a-r,” etc.

“Be ready,” Mary whispered. “Your name comes now; he has read eighteen.”

The chant ended.

“Next! next! next!” came volleying from all over the house.

Burgess put his hand into his pocket. The old couple, trembling, began

to rise. Burgess fumbled a moment, then said:

“I find I have read them all.”

Faint with joy and surprise, the couple sank into their seats, and Mary

whispered:

“Oh, bless God, we are saved!--he has lost ours--I wouldn't give this

for a hundred of those sacks!”

The house burst out with its “Mikado” travesty, and sang it three times

with ever-increasing enthusiasm, rising to its feet when it reached for

the third time the closing line--

“But the Symbols are here, you bet!”

and finishing up with cheers and a tiger for “Hadleyburg purity and our

eighteen immortal representatives of it.”

Then Wingate, the saddler, got up and proposed cheers “for the cleanest

man in town, the one solitary important citizen in it who didn't try to

steal that money--Edward Richards.”

They were given with great and moving heartiness; then somebody proposed

that “Richards be elected sole Guardian and Symbol of the now Sacred

Hadleyburg Tradition, with power and right to stand up and look the

whole sarcastic world in the face.”

Passed, by acclamation; then they sang the “Mikado” again, and ended it

with--

“And there's _one_ Symbol left, you bet!”

There was a pause; then--

A Voice. “Now, then, who's to get the sack?”

The Tanner (with bitter sarcasm). “That's easy. The money has to be

divided among the eighteen Incorruptibles. They gave the suffering

stranger twenty dollars apiece--and that remark--each in his turn--it

took twenty-two minutes for the procession to move past. Staked the

stranger--total contribution, $360. All they want is just the loan

back--and interest--forty thousand dollars altogether.”

Many Voices (derisively.) “That's it! Divvy! divvy! Be kind to the

poor--don't keep them waiting!”

The Chair. “Order! I now offer the stranger's remaining document. It

says: 'If no claimant shall appear (grand chorus of groans), I desire

that you open the sack and count out the money to the principal citizens

of your town, they to take it in trust (Cries of “Oh! Oh! Oh!”), and

use it in such ways as to them shall seem best for the propagation and

preservation of your community's noble reputation for incorruptible

honesty (more cries)--a reputation to which their names and their

efforts will add a new and far-reaching lustre.” (Enthusiastic outburst

of sarcastic applause.) That seems to be all. No--here is a postscript:

“'P.S.--CITIZENS OF HADLEYBURG: There IS no test-remark--nobody made

one. (Great sensation.) There wasn't any pauper stranger, nor any

twenty-dollar contribution, nor any accompanying benediction and

compliment--these are all inventions. (General buzz and hum of

astonishment and delight.) Allow me to tell my story--it will take but a

word or two. I passed through your town at a certain time, and received

a deep offence which I had not earned. Any other man would have been

content to kill one or two of you and call it square, but to me that

would have been a trivial revenge, and inadequate; for the dead do not

SUFFER. Besides I could not kill you all--and, anyway, made as I am,

even that would not have satisfied me. I wanted to damage every man in

the place, and every woman--and not in their bodies or in their estate,

but in their vanity--the place where feeble and foolish people are most

vulnerable. So I disguised myself and came back and studied you. You

were easy game. You had an old and lofty reputation for honesty, and

naturally you were proud of it--it was your treasure of treasures, the

very apple of your eye. As soon as I found out that you carefully and

vigilantly kept yourselves and your children OUT OF TEMPTATION, I knew

how to proceed. Why, you simple creatures, the weakest of all weak

things is a virtue which has not been tested in the fire. I laid a plan,

and gathered a list of names. My project was to corrupt Hadleyburg the

Incorruptible. My idea was to make liars and thieves of nearly half a

hundred smirchless men and women who had never in their lives uttered a

lie or stolen a penny. I was afraid of Goodson. He was neither born

nor reared in Hadleyburg. I was afraid that if I started to operate

my scheme by getting my letter laid before you, you would say to

yourselves, 'Goodson is the only man among us who would give away twenty

dollars to a poor devil'--and then you might not bite at my bait. But

heaven took Goodson; then I knew I was safe, and I set my trap and

baited it. It may be that I shall not catch all the men to whom I mailed

the pretended test-secret, but I shall catch the most of them, if I know

Hadleyburg nature. (Voices. “Right--he got every last one of them.”) I

believe they will even steal ostensible GAMBLE-money, rather than miss,

poor, tempted, and mistrained fellows. I am hoping to eternally and

everlastingly squelch your vanity and give Hadleyburg a new renown--one

that will STICK--and spread far. If I have succeeded, open the sack and

summon the Committee on Propagation and Preservation of the Hadleyburg

Reputation.'”

A Cyclone of Voices. “Open it! Open it! The Eighteen to the front!

Committee on Propagation of the Tradition! Forward--the Incorruptibles!”

The Chair ripped the sack wide, and gathered up a handful of bright,

broad, yellow coins, shook them together, then examined them.

“Friends, they are only gilded disks of lead!”

There was a crashing outbreak of delight over this news, and when the

noise had subsided, the tanner called out:

“By right of apparent seniority in this business, Mr. Wilson is Chairman

of the Committee on Propagation of the Tradition. I suggest that he step

forward on behalf of his pals, and receive in trust the money.”

A Hundred Voices. “Wilson! Wilson! Wilson! Speech! Speech!”

Wilson (in a voice trembling with anger). “You will allow me to say, and

without apologies for my language, DAMN the money!”

A Voice. “Oh, and him a Baptist!”

A Voice. “Seventeen Symbols left! Step up, gentlemen, and assume your

trust!”

There was a pause--no response.

The Saddler. “Mr. Chairman, we've got ONE clean man left, anyway, out of

the late aristocracy; and he needs money, and deserves it. I move that

you appoint Jack Halliday to get up there and auction off that sack of

gilt twenty-dollar pieces, and give the result to the right man--the man

whom Hadleyburg delights to honour--Edward Richards.”

This was received with great enthusiasm, the dog taking a hand again;

the saddler started the bids at a dollar, the Brixton folk and Barnum's

representative fought hard for it, the people cheered every jump that

the bids made, the excitement climbed moment by moment higher and

higher, the bidders got on their mettle and grew steadily more and more

daring, more and more determined, the jumps went from a dollar up to

five, then to ten, then to twenty, then fifty, then to a hundred, then--

At the beginning of the auction Richards whispered in distress to

his wife: “Oh, Mary, can we allow it? It--it--you see, it is an

honour--reward, a testimonial to purity of character, and--and--can

we allow it? Hadn't I better get up and--Oh, Mary, what ought we

to do?--what do you think we--” (Halliday's voice. “Fifteen I'm

bid!--fifteen for the sack!--twenty!--ah, thanks!--thirty--thanks again!

Thirty, thirty, thirty!--do I hear forty?--forty it is! Keep the

ball rolling, gentlemen, keep it rolling!--fifty!--thanks, noble

Roman!--going at fifty, fifty, fifty!--seventy!--ninety!--splendid!--a

hundred!--pile it up, pile it up!--hundred and twenty--forty!--just

in time!--hundred and fifty!--Two hundred!--superb! Do I hear two

h--thanks!--two hundred and fifty!--“)

“It is another temptation, Edward--I'm all in a tremble--but, oh, we've

escaped one temptation, and that ought to warn us, to--(“Six did I

hear?--thanks!--six fifty, six f--SEVEN hundred!”) And yet, Edward,

when you think--nobody susp--(“Eight hundred dollars!--hurrah!--make it

nine!--Mr. Parsons, did I hear you say--thanks!--nine!--this noble

sack of virgin lead going at only nine hundred dollars, gilding and

all--come! do I hear--a thousand!--gratefully yours!--did some one say

eleven?--a sack which is going to be the most celebrated in the whole

Uni--“) Oh, Edward (beginning to sob), we are so poor!--but--but--do as

you think best--do as you think best.”

Edward fell--that is, he sat still; sat with a conscience which was not

satisfied, but which was overpowered by circumstances.

Meantime a stranger, who looked like an amateur detective gotten up as

an impossible English earl, had been watching the evening's proceedings

with manifest interest, and with a contented expression in his face; and

he had been privately commenting to himself. He was now soliloquising

somewhat like this: 'None of the Eighteen are bidding; that is not

satisfactory; I must change that--the dramatic unities require it; they

must buy the sack they tried to steal; they must pay a heavy price,

too--some of them are rich. And another thing, when I make a mistake in

Hadleyburg nature the man that puts that error upon me is entitled to

a high honorarium, and some one must pay. This poor old Richards has

brought my judgment to shame; he is an honest man:--I don't understand

it, but I acknowledge it. Yes, he saw my deuces--AND with a straight

flush, and by rights the pot is his. And it shall be a jack-pot, too, if

I can manage it. He disappointed me, but let that pass.'

He was watching the bidding. At a thousand, the market broke: the prices

tumbled swiftly. He waited--and still watched. One competitor dropped

out; then another, and another. He put in a bid or two now. When the

bids had sunk to ten dollars, he added a five; some one raised him a

three; he waited a moment, then flung in a fifty-dollar jump, and the

sack was his--at $1,282. The house broke out in cheers--then stopped;

for he was on his feet, and had lifted his hand. He began to speak.

“I desire to say a word, and ask a favour. I am a speculator in

rarities, and I have dealings with persons interested in numismatics all

over the world. I can make a profit on this purchase, just as it stands;

but there is a way, if I can get your approval, whereby I can make every

one of these leaden twenty-dollar pieces worth its face in gold, and

perhaps more. Grant me that approval, and I will give part of my gains

to your Mr. Richards, whose invulnerable probity you have so justly

and so cordially recognised tonight; his share shall be ten thousand

dollars, and I will hand him the money to-morrow. (Great applause from

the house. But the “invulnerable probity” made the Richardses blush

prettily; however, it went for modesty, and did no harm.) If you will

pass my proposition by a good majority--I would like a two-thirds

vote--I will regard that as the town's consent, and that is all I ask.

Rarities are always helped by any device which will rouse curiosity and

compel remark. Now if I may have your permission to stamp upon the faces

of each of these ostensible coins the names of the eighteen gentlemen

who--”

Nine-tenths of the audience were on their feet in a moment--dog and

all--and the proposition was carried with a whirlwind of approving

applause and laughter.

They sat down, and all the Symbols except “Dr.” Clay Harkness got up,

violently protesting against the proposed outrage, and threatening to--

“I beg you not to threaten me,” said the stranger calmly. “I know my

legal rights, and am not accustomed to being frightened at bluster.”

(Applause.) He sat down. “Dr.” Harkness saw an opportunity here. He was

one of the two very rich men of the place, and Pinkerton was the other.

Harkness was proprietor of a mint; that is to say, a popular patent

medicine. He was running for the Legislature on one ticket, and

Pinkerton on the other. It was a close race and a hot one, and getting

hotter every day. Both had strong appetites for money; each had bought

a great tract of land, with a purpose; there was going to be a new

railway, and each wanted to be in the Legislature and help locate the

route to his own advantage; a single vote might make the decision, and

with it two or three fortunes. The stake was large, and Harkness was a

daring speculator. He was sitting close to the stranger. He leaned over

while one or another of the other Symbols was entertaining the house

with protests and appeals, and asked, in a whisper,

“What is your price for the sack?”

“Forty thousand dollars.”

“I'll give you twenty.”

“No.”

“Twenty-five.”

“No.”

“Say thirty.”

“The price is forty thousand dollars; not a penny less.”

“All right, I'll give it. I will come to the hotel at ten in the

morning. I don't want it known; will see you privately.”

“Very good.” Then the stranger got up and said to the house:

“I find it late. The speeches of these gentlemen are not without merit,

not without interest, not without grace; yet if I may be excused I will

take my leave. I thank you for the great favour which you have shown me

in granting my petition. I ask the Chair to keep the sack for me until

to-morrow, and to hand these three five-hundred-dollar notes to Mr.

Richards.” They were passed up to the Chair.

“At nine I will call for the sack, and at eleven will deliver the rest

of the ten thousand to Mr. Richards in person at his home. Good-night.”

Then he slipped out, and left the audience making a vast noise, which

was composed of a mixture of cheers, the “Mikado” song, dog-disapproval,

and the chant, “You are f-a-r from being a b-a-a-d man--a-a-a a-men!”

IV

At home the Richardses had to endure congratulations and compliments

until midnight. Then they were left to themselves. They looked a little

sad, and they sat silent and thinking. Finally Mary sighed and said:

“Do you think we are to blame, Edward--MUCH to blame?” and her eyes

wandered to the accusing triplet of big bank-notes lying on the table,

where the congratulators had been gloating over them and reverently

fingering them. Edward did not answer at once; then he brought out a

sigh and said, hesitatingly:

“We--we couldn't help it, Mary. It--well it was ordered. ALL things

are.”

Mary glanced up and looked at him steadily, but he didn't return the

look. Presently she said:

“I thought congratulations and praises always tasted good. But--it seems

to me, now--Edward?”

“Well?”

“Are you going to stay in the bank?”

“N--no.”

“Resign?”

“In the morning--by note.”

“It does seem best.”

Richards bowed his head in his hands and muttered:

“Before I was not afraid to let oceans of people's money pour through my

hands, but--Mary, I am so tired, so tired--”

“We will go to bed.”

At nine in the morning the stranger called for the sack and took it to

the hotel in a cab. At ten Harkness had a talk with him privately. The

stranger asked for and got five cheques on a metropolitan bank--drawn to

“Bearer,”--four for $1,500 each, and one for $34,000. He put one of the

former in his pocket-book, and the remainder, representing $38,500, he

put in an envelope, and with these he added a note which he wrote

after Harkness was gone. At eleven he called at the Richards' house

and knocked. Mrs. Richards peeped through the shutters, then went and

received the envelope, and the stranger disappeared without a word. She

came back flushed and a little unsteady on her legs, and gasped out:

“I am sure I recognised him! Last night it seemed to me that maybe I had

seen him somewhere before.”

“He is the man that brought the sack here?”

“I am almost sure of it.”

“Then he is the ostensible Stephenson too, and sold every important

citizen in this town with his bogus secret. Now if he has sent cheques

instead of money, we are sold too, after we thought we had escaped. I

was beginning to feel fairly comfortable once more, after my night's

rest, but the look of that envelope makes me sick. It isn't fat enough;

$8,500 in even the largest bank-notes makes more bulk than that.”

“Edward, why do you object to cheques?”

“Cheques signed by Stephenson! I am resigned to take the $8,500 if

it could come in bank-notes--for it does seem that it was so ordered,

Mary--but I have never had much courage, and I have not the pluck to try

to market a cheque signed with that disastrous name. It would be a trap.

That man tried to catch me; we escaped somehow or other; and now he is

trying a new way. If it is cheques--”

“Oh, Edward, it is TOO bad!” And she held up the cheques and began to

cry.

“Put them in the fire! quick! we mustn't be tempted. It is a trick to

make the world laugh at US, along with the rest, and--Give them to ME,

since you can't do it!” He snatched them and tried to hold his grip till

he could get to the stove; but he was human, he was a cashier, and he

stopped a moment to make sure of the signature. Then he came near to

fainting.

“Fan me, Mary, fan me! They are the same as gold!”

“Oh, how lovely, Edward! Why?”

“Signed by Harkness. What can the mystery of that be, Mary?”

“Edward, do you think--”

“Look here--look at this! Fifteen--fifteen--fifteen--thirty-four.

Thirty-eight thousand five hundred! Mary, the sack isn't worth twelve

dollars, and Harkness--apparently--has paid about par for it.”

“And does it all come to us, do you think--instead of the ten thousand?”

“Why, it looks like it. And the cheques are made to 'Bearer,' too.”

“Is that good, Edward? What is it for?”

“A hint to collect them at some distant bank, I reckon. Perhaps Harkness

doesn't want the matter known. What is that--a note?”

“Yes. It was with the cheques.”

It was in the “Stephenson” handwriting, but there was no signature. It

said:

“I am a disappointed man. Your honesty is beyond the reach of

temptation. I had a different idea about it, but I wronged you in that,

and I beg pardon, and do it sincerely. I honour you--and that is sincere

too. This town is not worthy to kiss the hem of your garment. Dear sir,

I made a square bet with myself that there were nineteen debauchable men

in your self-righteous community. I have lost. Take the whole pot, you

are entitled to it.”

Richards drew a deep sigh, and said:

“It seems written with fire--it burns so. Mary--I am miserable again.”

“I, too. Ah, dear, I wish--”

“To think, Mary--he BELIEVES in me.”

“Oh, don't, Edward--I can't bear it.”

“If those beautiful words were deserved, Mary--and God knows I believed

I deserved them once--I think I could give the forty thousand dollars

for them. And I would put that paper away, as representing more than

gold and jewels, and keep it always. But now--We could not live in the

shadow of its accusing presence, Mary.”

He put it in the fire.

A messenger arrived and delivered an envelope. Richards took from it a

note and read it; it was from Burgess:

“You saved me, in a difficult time. I saved you last night. It was at

cost of a lie, but I made the sacrifice freely, and out of a grateful

heart. None in this village knows so well as I know how brave and good

and noble you are. At bottom you cannot respect me, knowing as you do of

that matter of which I am accused, and by the general voice condemned;

but I beg that you will at least believe that I am a grateful man; it

will help me to bear my burden.

(Signed) 'BURGESS.'”

“Saved, once more. And on such terms!” He put the note in the fire.

“I--I wish I were dead, Mary, I wish I were out of it all!”

“Oh, these are bitter, bitter days, Edward. The stabs, through their

very generosity, are so deep--and they come so fast!”

Three days before the election each of two thousand voters suddenly

found himself in possession of a prized memento--one of the renowned

bogus double-eagles. Around one of its faces was stamped these words:

“THE REMARK I MADE TO THE POOR STRANGER WAS--” Around the other face

was stamped these: “GO, AND REFORM. (SIGNED) PINKERTON.” Thus the entire

remaining refuse of the renowned joke was emptied upon a single head,

and with calamitous effect. It revived the recent vast laugh and

concentrated it upon Pinkerton; and Harkness's election was a walk-over.

Within twenty-four hours after the Richardses had received their cheques

their consciences were quieting down, discouraged; the old couple were

learning to reconcile themselves to the sin which they had committed.

But they were to learn, now, that a sin takes on new and real terrors

when there seems a chance that it is going to be found out. This gives

it a fresh and most substantial and important aspect. At church the

morning sermon was of the usual pattern; it was the same old things said

in the same old way; they had heard them a thousand times and found them

innocuous, next to meaningless, and easy to sleep under; but now it

was different: the sermon seemed to bristle with accusations; it seemed

aimed straight and specially at people who were concealing deadly sins.

After church they got away from the mob of congratulators as soon as

they could, and hurried homeward, chilled to the bone at they did not

know what--vague, shadowy, indefinite fears. And by chance they caught

a glimpse of Mr. Burgess as he turned a corner. He paid no attention to

their nod of recognition! He hadn't seen it; but they did not know that.

What could his conduct mean? It might mean--it might--mean--oh, a dozen

dreadful things. Was it possible that he knew that Richards could have

cleared him of guilt in that bygone time, and had been silently waiting

for a chance to even up accounts? At home, in their distress they got to

imagining that their servant might have been in the next room listening

when Richards revealed the secret to his wife that he knew of Burgess's

innocence; next Richards began to imagine that he had heard the swish

of a gown in there at that time; next, he was sure he HAD heard it. They

would call Sarah in, on a pretext, and watch her face; if she had been

betraying them to Mr. Burgess, it would show in her manner. They asked

her some questions--questions which were so random and incoherent and

seemingly purposeless that the girl felt sure that the old people's

minds had been affected by their sudden good fortune; the sharp

and watchful gaze which they bent upon her frightened her, and that

completed the business. She blushed, she became nervous and confused,

and to the old people these were plain signs of guilt--guilt of some

fearful sort or other--without doubt she was a spy and a traitor. When

they were alone again they began to piece many unrelated things together

and get horrible results out of the combination. When things had got

about to the worst Richards was delivered of a sudden gasp and his wife

asked:

“Oh, what is it?--what is it?”

“The note--Burgess's note! Its language was sarcastic, I see it now.” He

quoted: “'At bottom you cannot respect me, KNOWING, as you do, of THAT

MATTER OF which I am accused'--oh, it is perfectly plain, now, God help

me! He knows that I know! You see the ingenuity of the phrasing. It was

a trap--and like a fool, I walked into it. And Mary--!”

“Oh, it is dreadful--I know what you are going to say--he didn't return

your transcript of the pretended test-remark.”

“No--kept it to destroy us with. Mary, he has exposed us to some

already. I know it--I know it well. I saw it in a dozen faces after

church. Ah, he wouldn't answer our nod of recognition--he knew what he

had been doing!”

In the night the doctor was called. The news went around in the morning

that the old couple were rather seriously ill--prostrated by the

exhausting excitement growing out of their great windfall, the

congratulations, and the late hours, the doctor said. The town was

sincerely distressed; for these old people were about all it had left to

be proud of, now.

Two days later the news was worse. The old couple were delirious,

and were doing strange things. By witness of the nurses, Richards had

exhibited cheques--for $8,500? No--for an amazing sum--$38,500! What

could be the explanation of this gigantic piece of luck?

The following day the nurses had more news--and wonderful. They had

concluded to hide the cheques, lest harm come to them; but when they

searched they were gone from under the patient's pillow--vanished away.

The patient said:

“Let the pillow alone; what do you want?”

“We thought it best that the cheques--”

“You will never see them again--they are destroyed. They came from

Satan. I saw the hell-brand on them, and I knew they were sent to betray

me to sin.” Then he fell to gabbling strange and dreadful things which

were not clearly understandable, and which the doctor admonished them to

keep to themselves.

Richards was right; the cheques were never seen again.

A nurse must have talked in her sleep, for within two days the forbidden

gabblings were the property of the town; and they were of a surprising

sort. They seemed to indicate that Richards had been a claimant for

the sack himself, and that Burgess had concealed that fact and then

maliciously betrayed it.

Burgess was taxed with this and stoutly denied it. And he said it was

not fair to attach weight to the chatter of a sick old man who was out

of his mind. Still, suspicion was in the air, and there was much talk.

After a day or two it was reported that Mrs. Richards's delirious

deliveries were getting to be duplicates of her husband's. Suspicion

flamed up into conviction, now, and the town's pride in the purity of

its one undiscredited important citizen began to dim down and flicker

toward extinction.

Six days passed, then came more news. The old couple were dying.

Richards's mind cleared in his latest hour, and he sent for Burgess.

Burgess said:

“Let the room be cleared. I think he wishes to say something in

privacy.”

“No!” said Richards; “I want witnesses. I want you all to hear

my confession, so that I may die a man, and not a dog. I was

clean--artificially--like the rest; and like the rest I fell when

temptation came. I signed a lie, and claimed the miserable sack. Mr.

Burgess remembered that I had done him a service, and in gratitude (and

ignorance) he suppressed my claim and saved me. You know the thing that

was charged against Burgess years ago. My testimony, and mine alone,

could have cleared him, and I was a coward and left him to suffer

disgrace--”

“No--no--Mr. Richards, you--”

“My servant betrayed my secret to him--”

“No one has betrayed anything to me--” “--And then he did a natural and

justifiable thing; he repented of the saving kindness which he had done

me, and he EXPOSED me--as I deserved--”

“Never!--I make oath--”

“Out of my heart I forgive him.”

Burgess's impassioned protestations fell upon deaf ears; the dying man

passed away without knowing that once more he had done poor Burgess a

wrong. The old wife died that night.

The last of the sacred Nineteen had fallen a prey to the fiendish sack;

the town was stripped of the last rag of its ancient glory. Its mourning

was not showy, but it was deep.

By act of the Legislature--upon prayer and petition--Hadleyburg was

allowed to change its name to (never mind what--I will not give it

away), and leave one word out of the motto that for many generations had

graced the town's official seal.

It is an honest town once more, and the man will have to rise early that

catches it napping again.

MY FIRST LIE, AND HOW I GOT OUT OF IT

As I understand it, what you desire is information about 'my first lie,

and how I got out of it.' I was born in 1835; I am well along, and my

memory is not as good as it was. If you had asked about my first truth

it would have been easier for me and kinder of you, for I remember that

fairly well. I remember it as if it were last week. The family think it

was week before, but that is flattery and probably has a selfish project

back of it. When a person has become seasoned by experience and has

reached the age of sixty-four, which is the age of discretion, he likes

a family compliment as well as ever, but he does not lose his head over

it as in the old innocent days.

I do not remember my first lie, it is too far back; but I remember my

second one very well. I was nine days old at the time, and had noticed

that if a pin was sticking in me and I advertised it in the usual

fashion, I was lovingly petted and coddled and pitied in a most

agreeable way and got a ration between meals besides.

It was human nature to want to get these riches, and I fell. I lied

about the pin--advertising one when there wasn't any. You would have

done it; George Washington did it, anybody would have done it. During

the first half of my life I never knew a child that was able to rise

about that temptation and keep from telling that lie. Up to 1867 all

the civilised children that were ever born into the world were

liars--including George. Then the safety-pin came in and blocked the

game. But is that reform worth anything? No; for it is reform by force

and has no virtue in it; it merely stops that form of lying, it doesn't

impair the disposition to lie, by a shade. It is the cradle application

of conversion by fire and sword, or of the temperance principle through

prohibition.

To return to that early lie. They found no pin and they realised that

another liar had been added to the world's supply. For by grace of a

rare inspiration a quite commonplace but seldom noticed fact was borne

in upon their understandings--that almost all lies are acts, and speech

has no part in them. Then, if they examined a little further they

recognised that all people are liars from the cradle onwards, without

exception, and that they begin to lie as soon as they wake in the

morning, and keep it up without rest or refreshment until they go

to sleep at night. If they arrived at that truth it probably grieved

them--did, if they had been heedlessly and ignorantly educated by their

books and teachers; for why should a person grieve over a thing which by

the eternal law of his make he cannot help? He didn't invent the law;

it is merely his business to obey it and keep still; join the

universal conspiracy and keep so still that he shall deceive his

fellow-conspirators into imagining that he doesn't know that the law

exists. It is what we all do--we that know. I am speaking of the lie of

silent assertion; we can tell it without saying a word, and we all do

it--we that know. In the magnitude of its territorial spread it is one

of the most majestic lies that the civilisations make it their sacred

and anxious care to guard and watch and propagate.

For instance. It would not be possible for a humane and intelligent

person to invent a rational excuse for slavery; yet you will remember

that in the early days of the emancipation agitation in the North the

agitators got but small help or countenance from any one. Argue and

plead and pray as they might, they could not break the universal

stillness that reigned, from pulpit and press all the way down to the

bottom of society--the clammy stillness created and maintained by the

lie of silent assertion--the silent assertion that there wasn't anything

going on in which humane and intelligent people were interested.

From the beginning of the Dreyfus case to the end of it all France,

except a couple of dozen moral paladins, lay under the smother of the

silent-assertion lie that no wrong was being done to a persecuted and

unoffending man. The like smother was over England lately, a good half

of the population silently letting on that they were not aware that

Mr. Chamberlain was trying to manufacture a war in South Africa and was

willing to pay fancy prices for the materials.

Now there we have instances of three prominent ostensible civilisations

working the silent-assertion lie. Could one find other instances in

the three countries? I think so. Not so very many perhaps, but say a

billion--just so as to keep within bounds. Are those countries working

that kind of lie, day in and day out, in thousands and thousands of

varieties, without ever resting? Yes, we know that to be true. The

universal conspiracy of the silent-assertion lie is hard at work always

and everywhere, and always in the interest of a stupidity or a sham,

never in the interest of a thing fine or respectable. Is it the most

timid and shabby of all lies? It seems to have the look of it. For

ages and ages it has mutely laboured in the interest of despotisms

and aristocracies and chattel slaveries, and military slaveries, and

religious slaveries, and has kept them alive; keeps them alive yet, here

and there and yonder, all about the globe; and will go on keeping them

alive until the silent-assertion lie retires from business--the silent

assertion that nothing is going on which fair and intelligent men are

aware of and are engaged by their duty to try to stop.

What I am arriving at is this: When whole races and peoples conspire to

propagate gigantic mute lies in the interest of tyrannies and shams, why

should we care anything about the trifling lies told by individuals? Why

should we try to make it appear that abstention from lying is a virtue?

Why should we want to beguile ourselves in that way? Why should we

without shame help the nation lie, and then be ashamed to do a little

lying on our own account? Why shouldn't we be honest and honourable,

and lie every time we get a chance? That is to say, why shouldn't we

be consistent, and either lie all the time or not at all? Why should we

help the nation lie the whole day long and then object to telling one

little individual private lie in our own interest to go to bed on? Just

for the refreshment of it, I mean, and to take the rancid taste out of

our mouth.

Here in England they have the oddest ways. They won't tell a spoken

lie--nothing can persuade them. Except in a large moral interest, like

politics or religion, I mean. To tell a spoken lie to get even the

poorest little personal advantage out of it is a thing which is

impossible to them. They make me ashamed of myself sometimes, they are

so bigoted. They will not even tell a lie for the fun of it; they will

not tell it when it hasn't even a suggestion of damage or advantage in

it for any one. This has a restraining influence upon me in spite of

reason, and I am always getting out of practice.

Of course, they tell all sorts of little unspoken lies, just like

anybody; but they don't notice it until their attention is called to it.

They have got me so that sometimes I never tell a verbal lie now except

in a modified form; and even in the modified form they don't approve

of it. Still, that is as far as I can go in the interest of the growing

friendly relations between the two countries; I must keep some of my

self-respect--and my health. I can live on a pretty low diet, but I

can't get along on no sustenance at all.

Of course, there are times when these people have to come out with a

spoken lie, for that is a thing which happens to everybody once in

a while, and would happen to the angels if they came down here much.

Particularly to the angels, in fact, for the lies I speak of are

self-sacrificing ones told for a generous object, not a mean one; but

even when these people tell a lie of that sort it seems to scare them

and unsettle their minds. It is a wonderful thing to see, and shows that

they are all insane. In fact, it is a country which is full of the most

interesting superstitions.

I have an English friend of twenty-five years' standing, and yesterday

when we were coming down-town on top of the 'bus I happened to tell him

a lie--a modified one, of course; a half-breed, a mulatto; I can't seem

to tell any other kind now, the market is so flat. I was explaining to

him how I got out of an embarrassment in Austria last year. I do not

know what might have become of me if I hadn't happened to remember to

tell the police that I belonged to the same family as the Prince of

Wales. That made everything pleasant and they let me go; and apologised,

too, and were ever so kind and obliging and polite, and couldn't do too

much for me, and explained how the mistake came to be made, and promised

to hang the officer that did it, and hoped I would let bygones be

bygones and not say anything about it; and I said they could depend on

me. My friend said, austerely:

'You call it a modified lie? Where is the modification?'

I explained that it lay in the form of my statement to the police. 'I

didn't say I belonged to the Royal Family; I only said I belonged to the

same family as the Prince--meaning the human family, of course; and if

those people had had any penetration they would have known it. I can't

go around furnishing brains to the police; it is not to be expected.'

'How did you feel after that performance?'

'Well, of course I was distressed to find that the police had

misunderstood me, but as long as I had not told any lie I knew there was

no occasion to sit up nights and worry about it.'

My friend struggled with the case several minutes, turning it over and

examining it in his mind, then he said that so far as he could see the

modification was itself a lie, it being a misleading reservation of an

explanatory fact, and so I had told two lies instead of only one.

'I wouldn't have done it,' said he; 'I have never told a lie, and I

should be very sorry to do such a thing.'

Just then he lifted his hat and smiled a basketful of surprised and

delighted smiles down at a gentleman who was passing in a hansom.

'Who was that, G---?'

'I don't know.'

'Then why did you do that?'

'Because I saw he thought he knew me and was expecting it of me. If I

hadn't done it he would have been hurt. I didn't want to embarrass him

before the whole street.'

'Well, your heart was right, G---, and your act was right. What you did

was kindly and courteous and beautiful; I would have done it myself; but

it was a lie.'

'A lie? I didn't say a word. How do you make it out?'

'I know you didn't speak, still you said to him very plainly and

enthusiastically in dumb show, “Hello! you in town? Awful glad to see

you, old fellow; when did you get back?” Concealed in your actions

was what you have called “a misleading reservation of an explanatory

fact”--the act that you had never seen him before. You expressed joy in

encountering him--a lie; and you made that reservation--another lie. It

was my pair over again. But don't be troubled--we all do it.'

Two hours later, at dinner, when quite other matters were being

discussed, he told how he happened along once just in the nick of time

to do a great service for a family who were old friends of his. The head

of it had suddenly died in circumstances and surroundings of a ruinously

disgraceful character. If known the facts would break the hearts of the

innocent family and put upon them a load of unendurable shame. There was

no help but in a giant lie, and he girded up his loins and told it.

'The family never found out, G---?'

'Never. In all these years they have never suspected. They were proud of

him and had always reason to be; they are proud of him yet, and to them

his memory is sacred and stainless and beautiful.'

'They had a narrow escape, G---.'

'Indeed they had.'

'For the very next man that came along might have been one of these

heartless and shameless truth-mongers. You have told the truth a million

times in your life, G---, but that one golden lie atones for it all.

Persevere.'

Some may think me not strict enough in my morals, but that position is

hardly tenable. There are many kinds of lying which I do not approve. I

do not like an injurious lie, except when it injures somebody else; and

I do not like the lie of bravado, nor the lie of virtuous ecstasy; the

latter was affected by Bryant, the former by Carlyle.

Mr. Bryant said, 'Truth crushed to earth will rise again.' I have

taken medals at thirteen world's fairs, and may claim to be not without

capacity, but I never told as big a one as that. Mr. Bryant was playing

to the gallery; we all do it. Carlyle said, in substance, this--I do not

remember the exact words: 'This gospel is eternal--that a lie shall not

live.' I have a reverent affection for Carlyle's books, and have read

his 'Revelation' eight times; and so I prefer to think he was not

entirely at himself when he told that one. To me it is plain that he

said it in a moment of excitement, when chasing Americans out of his

back-yard with brickbats. They used to go there and worship. At bottom

he was probably fond of it, but he was always able to conceal it. He

kept bricks for them, but he was not a good shot, and it is matter of

history that when he fired they dodged, and carried off the brick; for

as a nation we like relics, and so long as we get them we do not much

care what the reliquary thinks about it. I am quite sure that when

he told that large one about a lie not being able to live he had just

missed an American and was over excited. He told it above thirty years

ago, but it is alive yet; alive, and very healthy and hearty, and likely

to outlive any fact in history. Carlyle was truthful when calm, but give

him Americans enough and bricks enough and he could have taken medals

himself.

As regards that time that George Washington told the truth, a word must

be said, of course. It is the principal jewel in the crown of America,

and it is but natural that we should work it for all it is worth, as

Milton says in his 'Lay of the Last Minstrel.' It was a timely and

judicious truth, and I should have told it myself in the circumstances.

But I should have stopped there. It was a stately truth, a lofty

truth--a Tower; and I think it was a mistake to go on and distract

attention from its sublimity by building another Tower alongside of it

fourteen times as high. I refer to his remark that he 'could not lie.'

I should have fed that to the marines; or left it to Carlyle; it is

just in his style. It would have taken a medal at any European fair,

and would have got an honourable mention even at Chicago if it had been

saved up. But let it pass; the Father of his Country was excited. I have

been in those circumstances, and I recollect.

With the truth he told I have no objection to offer, as already

indicated. I think it was not premeditated but an inspiration. With his

fine military mind, he had probably arranged to let his brother Edward

in for the cherry tree results, but by an inspiration he saw his

opportunity in time and took advantage of it. By telling the truth he

could astonish his father; his father would tell the neighbours; the

neighbours would spread it; it would travel to all firesides; in the end

it would make him President, and not only that, but First President.

He was a far-seeing boy and would be likely to think of these things.

Therefore, to my mind, he stands justified for what he did. But not for

the other Tower; it was a mistake. Still, I don't know about that; upon

reflection I think perhaps it wasn't. For indeed it is that Tower that

makes the other one live. If he hadn't said 'I cannot tell a lie' there

would have been no convulsion. That was the earthquake that rocked the

planet. That is the kind of statement that lives for ever, and a fact

barnacled to it has a good chance to share its immortality.

To sum up, on the whole I am satisfied with things the way they are.

There is a prejudice against the spoken lie, but none against any

other, and by examination and mathematical computation I find that the

proportion of the spoken lie to the other varieties is as 1 to 22,894.

Therefore the spoken lie is of no consequence, and it is not worth while

to go around fussing about it and trying to make believe that it is an

important matter. The silent colossal National Lie that is the support

and confederate of all the tyrannies and shams and inequalities and

unfairnesses that afflict the peoples--that is the one to throw bricks

and sermons at. But let us be judicious and let somebody else begin.

And then--But I have wandered from my text. How did I get out of my

second lie? I think I got out with honour, but I cannot be sure, for it

was a long time ago and some of the details have faded out of my memory.

I recollect that I was reversed and stretched across some one's knee,

and that something happened, but I cannot now remember what it was. I

think there was music; but it is all dim now and blurred by the lapse of

time, and this may be only a senile fancy.

THE ESQUIMAUX MAIDEN'S ROMANCE

'Yes, I will tell you anything about my life that you would like to

know, Mr. Twain,' she said, in her soft voice, and letting her honest

eyes rest placidly upon my face, 'for it is kind and good of you to like

me and care to know about me.'

She had been absently scraping blubber-grease from her cheeks with

a small bone-knife and transferring it to her fur sleeve, while she

watched the Aurora Borealis swing its flaming streamers out of the sky

and wash the lonely snow plain and the templed icebergs with the rich

hues of the prism, a spectacle of almost intolerable splendour and

beauty; but now she shook off her reverie and prepared to give me the

humble little history I had asked for. She settled herself comfortably

on the block of ice which we were using as a sofa, and I made ready to

listen.

She was a beautiful creature. I speak from the Esquimaux point of view.

Others would have thought her a trifle over-plump. She was just twenty

years old, and was held to be by far the most bewitching girl in her

tribe. Even now, in the open air, with her cumbersome and shapeless fur

coat and trousers and boots and vast hood, the beauty of her face was at

least apparent; but her figure had to be taken on trust. Among all the

guests who came and went, I had seen no girl at her father's hospitable

trough who could be called her equal. Yet she was not spoiled. She

was sweet and natural and sincere, and if she was aware that she was a

belle, there was nothing about her ways to show that she possessed that

knowledge.

She had been my daily comrade for a week now, and the better I knew her

the better I liked her. She had been tenderly and carefully brought up,

in an atmosphere of singularly rare refinement for the polar regions,

for her father was the most important man of his tribe and ranked at the

top of Esquimaux civilisation. I made long dog-sledge trips across the

mighty ice floes with Lasca--that was her name--and found her company

always pleasant and her conversation agreeable. I went fishing with her,

but not in her perilous boat: I merely followed along on the ice and

watched her strike her game with her fatally accurate spear. We went

sealing together; several times I stood by while she and the family dug

blubber from a stranded whale, and once I went part of the way when she

was hunting a bear, but turned back before the finish, because at bottom

I am afraid of bears.

However, she was ready to begin her story, now, and this is what she

said:

'Our tribe had always been used to wander about from place to place over

the frozen seas, like the other tribes, but my father got tired of that,

two years ago, and built this great mansion of frozen snow-blocks--look

at it; it is seven feet high and three or four times as long as any of

the others--and here we have stayed ever since. He was very proud of his

house, and that was reasonable, for if you have examined it with care

you must have noticed how much finer and completer it is than houses

usually are. But if you have not, you must, for you will find it has

luxurious appointments that are quite beyond the common. For instance,

in that end of it which you have called the “parlour,” the raised

platform for the accommodation of guests and the family at meals is the

largest you have ever seen in any house--is it not so?'

'Yes, you are quite right, Lasca; it is the largest; we have nothing

resembling it in even the finest houses in the United States.' This

admission made her eyes sparkle with pride and pleasure. I noted that,

and took my cue.

'I thought it must have surprised you,' she said. 'And another thing;

it is bedded far deeper in furs than is usual; all kinds of furs--seal,

sea-otter, silver-grey fox, bear, marten, sable--every kind of fur in

profusion; and the same with the ice-block sleeping-benches along the

walls which you call “beds.” Are your platforms and sleeping-benches

better provided at home?'

'Indeed, they are not, Lasca--they do not begin to be.' That pleased

her again. All she was thinking of was the number of furs her aesthetic

father took the trouble to keep on hand, not their value. I could have

told her that those masses of rich furs constituted wealth--or would in

my country--but she would not have understood that; those were not the

kind of things that ranked as riches with her people. I could have

told her that the clothes she had on, or the every-day clothes of

the commonest person about her, were worth twelve or fifteen hundred

dollars, and that I was not acquainted with anybody at home who wore

twelve-hundred dollar toilets to go fishing in; but she would not have

understood it, so I said nothing. She resumed:

'And then the slop-tubs. We have two in the parlour, and two in the rest

of the house. It is very seldom that one has two in the parlour. Have

you two in the parlour at home?'

The memory of those tubs made me gasp, but I recovered myself before she

noticed, and said with effusion:

'Why, Lasca, it is a shame of me to expose my country, and you must not

let it go further, for I am speaking to you in confidence; but I give

you my word of honour that not even the richest man in the city of New

York has two slop-tubs in his drawing-room.'

She clapped her fur-clad hands in innocent delight, and exclaimed:

'Oh, but you cannot mean it, you cannot mean it!'

'Indeed, I am in earnest, dear. There is Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is

almost the richest man in the whole world. Now, if I were on my dying

bed, I could say to you that not even he has two in his drawing-room.

Why, he hasn't even one--I wish I may die in my tracks if it isn't

true.'

Her lovely eyes stood wide with amazement, and she said, slowly, and

with a sort of awe in her voice:

'How strange--how incredible--one is not able to realise it. Is he

penurious?'

'No--it isn't that. It isn't the expense he minds, but--er--well, you

know, it would look like showing off. Yes, that is it, that is the idea;

he is a plain man in his way, and shrinks from display.'

'Why, that humility is right enough,' said Lasca, 'if one does not carry

it too far--but what does the place look like?'

'Well, necessarily it looks pretty barren and unfinished, but--'

'I should think so! I never heard anything like it. Is it a fine

house--that is, otherwise?'

'Pretty fine, yes. It is very well thought of.'

The girl was silent awhile, and sat dreamily gnawing a candle-end,

apparently trying to think the thing out. At last she gave her head a

little toss and spoke out her opinion with decision:

'Well, to my mind there's a breed of humility which is itself a species

of showing off when you get down to the marrow of it; and when a man is

able to afford two slop-tubs in his parlour, and doesn't do it, it may

be that he is truly humble-minded, but it's a hundred times more likely

that he is just trying to strike the public eye. In my judgment, your

Mr. Vanderbilt knows what he is about.'

I tried to modify this verdict, feeling that a double slop-tub standard

was not a fair one to try everybody by, although a sound enough one

in its own habitat; but the girl's head was set, and she was not to be

persuaded. Presently she said:

'Do the rich people, with you, have as good sleeping-benches as ours,

and made out of as nice broad ice-blocks?'

'Well, they are pretty good--good enough--but they are not made of

ice-blocks.'

'I want to know! Why aren't they made of ice-blocks?'

I explained the difficulties in the way, and the expensiveness of ice

in a country where you have to keep a sharp eye on your ice-man or your

ice-bill will weigh more than your ice. Then she cried out:

'Dear me, do you buy your ice?'

'We most surely do, dear.'

She burst into a gale of guileless laughter, and said:

'Oh, I never heard of anything so silly! My! there's plenty of it--it

isn't worth anything. Why, there is a hundred miles of it in sight,

right now. I wouldn't give a fish-bladder for the whole of it.'

'Well, it's because you don't know how to value it, you little

provincial muggings. If you had it in New York in midsummer, you could

buy all the whales in the market with it.'

She looked at me doubtfully, and said:

'Are you speaking true?'

'Absolutely. I take my oath to it.'

This made her thoughtful. Presently she said, with a little sigh:

'I wish I could live there.'

I had merely meant to furnish her a standard of values which she could

understand; but my purpose had miscarried. I had only given her the

impression that whales were cheap and plenty in New York, and set her

mouth to watering for them. It seemed best to try to mitigate the evil

which I had done, so I said:

'But you wouldn't care for whale-meat if you lived there. Nobody does.'

'What!'

'Indeed they don't.'

'Why don't they?'

'Wel-l-l, I hardly know. It's prejudice, I think. Yes, that is it--just

prejudice. I reckon somebody that hadn't anything better to do started

a prejudice against it, some time or other, and once you get a caprice

like that fairly going, you know it will last no end of time.'

'That is true--perfectly true,' said the girl, reflectively. 'Like our

prejudice against soap, here--our tribes had a prejudice against soap at

first, you know.'

I glanced at her to see if she was in earnest. Evidently she was. I

hesitated, then said, cautiously:

'But pardon me. They had a prejudice against soap? Had?'--with falling

inflection.

'Yes--but that was only at first; nobody would eat it.'

'Oh--I understand. I didn't get your idea before.'

She resumed:

'It was just a prejudice. The first time soap came here from the

foreigners, nobody liked it; but as soon as it got to be fashionable,

everybody liked it, and now everybody has it that can afford it. Are you

fond of it?'

'Yes, indeed; I should die if I couldn't have it--especially here. Do

you like it?'

'I just adore it! Do you like candles?'

'I regard them as an absolute necessity. Are you fond of them?'

Her eyes fairly danced, and she exclaimed:

'Oh! Don't mention it! Candles!--and soap!--'

'And fish-interiors!--'

'And train-oil--'

'And slush!--'

'And whale-blubber!--'

'And carrion! and sour-krout! and beeswax! and tar! and turpentine! and

molasses! and--'

'Don't--oh, don't--I shall expire with ecstasy!--'

'And then serve it all up in a slush-bucket, and invite the neighbours

and sail in!'

But this vision of an ideal feast was too much for her, and she swooned

away, poor thing. I rubbed snow in her face and brought her to, and

after a while got her excitement cooled down. By-and-by she drifted into

her story again:

'So we began to live here in the fine house. But I was not happy. The

reason was this: I was born for love: for me there could be no true

happiness without it. I wanted to be loved for myself alone. I wanted

an idol, and I wanted to be my idol's idol; nothing less than mutual

idolatry would satisfy my fervent nature. I had suitors in plenty--in

over-plenty, indeed--but in each and every case they had a fatal defect:

sooner or later I discovered that defect--not one of them failed to

betray it--it was not me they wanted, but my wealth.'

'Your wealth?'

'Yes; for my father is much the richest man in this tribe--or in any

tribe in these regions.'

I wondered what her father's wealth consisted of. It couldn't be the

house--anybody could build its mate. It couldn't be the furs--they were

not valued. It couldn't be the sledge, the dogs, the harpoons, the boat,

the bone fish-hooks and needles, and such things--no, these were not

wealth. Then what could it be that made this man so rich and brought

this swarm of sordid suitors to his house? It seemed to me, finally,

that the best way to find out would be to ask. So I did it. The girl was

so manifestly gratified by the question that I saw she had been aching

to have me ask it. She was suffering fully as much to tell as I was to

know. She snuggled confidentially up to me and said:

'Guess how much he is worth--you never can!'

I pretended to consider the matter deeply, she watching my anxious and

labouring countenance with a devouring and delighted interest; and when,

at last, I gave it up and begged her to appease my longing by telling

me herself how much this polar Vanderbilt was worth, she put her mouth

close to my ear and whispered, impressively:

'Twenty-two fish-hooks--not bone, but foreign--made out of real iron!'

Then she sprang back dramatically, to observe the effect. I did my level

best not to disappoint her. I turned pale and murmured:

'Great Scott!'

'It's as true as you live, Mr. Twain!'

'Lasca, you are deceiving me--you cannot mean it.'

She was frightened and troubled. She exclaimed:

'Mr. Twain, every word of it is true--every word. You believe me--you do

believe me, now don't you? Say you believe me--do say you believe me!'

'I--well, yes, I do--I am trying to. But it was all so sudden. So sudden

and prostrating. You shouldn't do such a thing in that sudden way. It--'

'Oh, I'm so sorry! If I had only thought--'

'Well, it's all right, and I don't blame you any more, for you are young

and thoughtless, and of course you couldn't foresee what an effect--'

'But oh, dear, I ought certainly to have known better. Why--'

'You see, Lasca, if you had said five or six hooks, to start with, and

then gradually--'

'Oh, I see, I see--then gradually added one, and then two, and then--ah,

why couldn't I have thought of that!'

'Never mind, child, it's all right--I am better now--I shall be over

it in a little while. But--to spring the whole twenty-two on a person

unprepared and not very strong anyway--'

'Oh, it was a crime! But you forgive me--say you forgive me. Do!'

After harvesting a good deal of very pleasant coaxing and petting and

persuading, I forgave her and she was happy again, and by-and-by she got

under way with her narrative once more. I presently discovered that the

family treasury contained still another feature--a jewel of some sort,

apparently--and that she was trying to get around speaking squarely

about it, lest I get paralysed again. But I wanted to know about that

thing, too, and urged her to tell me what it was. She was afraid. But I

insisted, and said I would brace myself this time and be prepared,

then the shock would not hurt me. She was full of misgivings, but the

temptation to reveal that marvel to me and enjoy my astonishment and

admiration was too strong for her, and she confessed that she had it on

her person, and said that if I was sure I was prepared--and so on and so

on--and with that she reached into her bosom and brought out a battered

square of brass, watching my eye anxiously the while. I fell over

against her in a quite well-acted faint, which delighted her heart and

nearly frightened it out of her, too, at the same time. When I came to

and got calm, she was eager to know what I thought of her jewel.

'What do I think of it? I think it is the most exquisite thing I ever

saw.'

'Do you really? How nice of you to say that! But it is a love, now isn't

it?'

'Well, I should say so! I'd rather own it than the equator.'

'I thought you would admire it,' she said. 'I think it is so lovely. And

there isn't another one in all these latitudes. People have come all the

way from the open Polar Sea to look at it. Did you ever see one before?'

I said no, this was the first one I had ever seen. It cost me a pang

to tell that generous lie, for I had seen a million of them in my time,

this humble jewel of hers being nothing but a battered old New York

Central baggage check.

'Land!' said I, 'you don't go about with it on your person this way,

alone and with no protection, not even a dog?'

'Ssh! not so loud,' she said. 'Nobody knows I carry it with me. They

think it is in papa's treasury. That is where it generally is.'

'Where is the treasury?'

It was a blunt question, and for a moment she looked startled and a

little suspicious, but I said:

'Oh, come, don't you be afraid about me. At home we have seventy

millions of people, and although I say it myself that shouldn't,

there is not one person among them all but would trust me with untold

fish-hooks.'

This reassured her, and she told me where the hooks were hidden in the

house. Then she wandered from her course to brag a little about the size

of the sheets of transparent ice that formed the windows of the mansion,

and asked me if I had ever seen their like at home, and I came right

out frankly and confessed that I hadn't, which pleased her more than she

could find words to dress her gratification in. It was so easy to please

her, and such a pleasure to do it, that I went on and said--

'Ah, Lasca, you are a fortunate girl!--this beautiful house, this dainty

jewel, that rich treasure, all this elegant snow, and sumptuous icebergs

and limitless sterility, and public bears and walruses, and noble

freedom and largeness and everybody's admiring eyes upon you, and

everybody's homage and respect at your command without the asking;

young, rich, beautiful, sought, courted, envied, not a requirement

unsatisfied, not a desire ungratified, nothing to wish for that you

cannot have--it is immeasurable good-fortune! I have seen myriads of

girls, but none of whom these extraordinary things could be truthfully

said but you alone. And you are worthy--worthy of it all, Lasca--I

believe it in my heart.'

It made her infinitely proud and happy to hear me say this, and she

thanked me over and over again for that closing remark, and her voice

and eyes showed that she was touched. Presently she said:

'Still, it is not all sunshine--there is a cloudy side. The burden of

wealth is a heavy one to bear. Sometimes I have doubted if it were not

better to be poor--at least not inordinately rich. It pains me to see

neighbouring tribesmen stare as they pass by, and overhear them say,

reverently, one to another, “There--that is she--the millionaire's

daughter!” And sometimes they say sorrowfully, “She is rolling in

fish-hooks, and I--I have nothing.” It breaks my heart. When I was a

child and we were poor, we slept with the door open, if we chose, but

now--now we have to have a night-watchman. In those days my father

was gentle and courteous to all; but now he is austere and haughty and

cannot abide familiarity. Once his family were his sole thought, but now

he goes about thinking of his fish-hooks all the time. And his wealth

makes everybody cringing and obsequious to him. Formerly nobody laughed

at his jokes, they being always stale and far-fetched and poor, and

destitute of the one element that can really justify a joke--the element

of humour; but now everybody laughs and cackles at these dismal things,

and if any fails to do it my father is deeply displeased, and shows it.

Formerly his opinion was not sought upon any matter and was not valuable

when he volunteered it; it has that infirmity yet, but, nevertheless,

it is sought by all and applauded by all--and he helps do the applauding

himself, having no true delicacy and a plentiful want of tact. He has

lowered the tone of all our tribe. Once they were a frank and manly

race, now they are measly hypocrites, and sodden with servility. In my

heart of hearts I hate all the ways of millionaires! Our tribe was

once plain, simple folk, and content with the bone fish-hooks of their

fathers; now they are eaten up with avarice and would sacrifice every

sentiment of honour and honesty to possess themselves of the debasing

iron fish-hooks of the foreigner. However, I must not dwell on these sad

things. As I have said, it was my dream to be loved for myself alone.

'At last, this dream seemed about to be fulfilled. A stranger came by,

one day, who said his name was Kalula. I told him my name, and he said

he loved me. My heart gave a great bound of gratitude and pleasure, for

I had loved him at sight, and now I said so. He took me to his breast

and said he would not wish to be happier than he was now. We went

strolling together far over the ice-floes, telling all about each other,

and planning, oh, the loveliest future! When we were tired at last we

sat down and ate, for he had soap and candles and I had brought along

some blubber. We were hungry and nothing was ever so good.

'He belonged to a tribe whose haunts were far to the north, and I found

that he had never heard of my father, which rejoiced me exceedingly. I

mean he had heard of the millionaire, but had never heard his name--so,

you see, he could not know that I was the heiress. You may be sure that

I did not tell him. I was loved for myself at last, and was satisfied. I

was so happy--oh, happier than you can think!

'By-and-by it was towards supper time, and I led him home. As we

approached our house he was amazed, and cried out:

'“How splendid! Is that your father's?”

'It gave me a pang to hear that tone and see that admiring light in his

eye, but the feeling quickly passed away, for I loved him so, and he

looked so handsome and noble. All my family of aunts and uncles and

cousins were pleased with him, and many guests were called in, and the

house was shut up tight and the rag lamps lighted, and when everything

was hot and comfortable and suffocating, we began a joyous feast in

celebration of my betrothal.

'When the feast was over my father's vanity overcame him, and he could

not resist the temptation to show off his riches and let Kalula see

what grand good-fortune he had stumbled into--and mainly, of course,

he wanted to enjoy the poor man's amazement. I could have cried--but it

would have done no good to try to dissuade my father, so I said nothing,

but merely sat there and suffered.

'My father went straight to the hiding-place in full sight of everybody,

and got out the fish-hooks and brought them and flung them scatteringly

over my head, so that they fell in glittering confusion on the platform

at my lover's knee.

'Of course, the astounding spectacle took the poor lad's breath away.

He could only stare in stupid astonishment, and wonder how a single

individual could possess such incredible riches. Then presently he

glanced brilliantly up and exclaimed:

'“Ah, it is you who are the renowned millionaire!”

'My father and all the rest burst into shouts of happy laughter, and

when my father gathered the treasure carelessly up as if it might be

mere rubbish and of no consequence, and carried it back to its place,

poor Kulala's surprise was a study. He said:

'“Is it possible that you put such things away without counting them?”

'My father delivered a vain-glorious horse-laugh, and said:

'“Well, truly, a body may know you have never been rich, since a mere

matter of a fish-hook or two is such a mighty matter in your eyes.”

'Kalula was confused, and hung his head, but said:

'“Ah, indeed, sir, I was never worth the value of the barb of one of

those precious things, and I have never seen any man before who was so

rich in them as to render the counting of his hoard worth while, since

the wealthiest man I have ever known, till now, was possessed of but

three.”

'My foolish father roared again with jejune delight, and allowed the

impression to remain that he was not accustomed to count his hooks and

keep sharp watch over them. He was showing off, you see. Count them?

Why, he counted them every day!

'I had met and got acquainted with my darling just at dawn; I had

brought him home just at dark, three hours afterwards--for the days were

shortening toward the six-months' night at that time. We kept up the

festivities many hours; then, at last, the guests departed and the rest

of us distributed ourselves along the walls on sleeping-benches, and

soon all were steeped in dreams but me. I was too happy, too excited, to

sleep. After I had lain quiet a long, long time, a dim form passed by me

and was swallowed up in the gloom that pervaded the farther end of the

house. I could not make out who it was, or whether it was man or woman.

Presently that figure or another one passed me going the other way. I

wondered what it all meant, but wondering did no good; and while I was

still wondering I fell asleep.

'I do not know how long I slept, but at last I came suddenly broad awake

and heard my father say in a terrible voice, “By the great Snow God,

there's a fish-hook gone!” Something told me that that meant sorrow

for me, and the blood in my veins turned cold. The presentiment was

confirmed in the same instant: my father shouted, “Up, everybody, and

seize the stranger!” Then there was an outburst of cries and curses from

all sides, and a wild rush of dim forms through the obscurity. I flew to

my beloved's help, but what could I do but wait and wring my hands?--he

was already fenced away from me by a living wall, he was being bound

hand and foot. Not until he was secured would they let me get to him. I

flung myself upon his poor insulted form and cried my grief out upon

his breast while my father and all my family scoffed at me and heaped

threats and shameful epithets upon him. He bore his ill usage with a

tranquil dignity which endeared him to me more than ever, and made me

proud and happy to suffer with him and for him. I heard my father order

that the elders of the tribe be called together to try my Kalula for his

life.

'“What!” I said, “before any search has been made for the lost hook?”

'“Lost hook!” they all shouted, in derision; and my father added,

mockingly, “Stand back, everybody, and be properly serious--she is going

to hunt up that lost hook: oh, without doubt she will find it!”--whereat

they all laughed again.

'I was not disturbed--I had no fears, no doubts. I said:

'“It is for you to laugh now; it is your turn. But ours is coming; wait

and see.”

'I got a rag lamp. I thought I should find that miserable thing in one

little moment; and I set about that matter with such confidence that

those people grew grave, beginning to suspect that perhaps they had been

too hasty. But alas and alas!--oh, the bitterness of that search! There

was deep silence while one might count his fingers ten or twelve times,

then my heart began to sink, and around me the mockings began again, and

grew steadily louder and more assured, until at last, when I gave up,

they burst into volley after volley of cruel laughter.

'None will ever know what I suffered then. But my love was my support

and my strength, and I took my rightful place at my Kalula's side, and

put my arm about his neck, and whispered in his ear, saying:

'“You are innocent, my own--that I know; but say it to me yourself, for

my comfort, then I can bear whatever is in store for us.”

'He answered:

'“As surely as I stand upon the brink of death at this moment, I am

innocent. Be comforted, then, O bruised heart; be at peace, O thou

breath of my nostrils, life of my life!”

'“Now, then, let the elders come!”--and as I said the words there was a

gathering sound of crunching snow outside, and then a vision of stooping

forms filing in at the door--the elders.

'My father formally accused the prisoner, and detailed the happenings of

the night. He said that the watchman was outside the door, and that in

the house were none but the family and the stranger. “Would the family

steal their own property?” He paused. The elders sat silent many

minutes; at last, one after another said to his neighbour, “This looks

bad for the stranger”--sorrowful words for me to hear. Then my father

sat down. O miserable, miserable me! At that very moment I could have

proved my darling innocent, but I did not know it!

'The chief of the court asked:

'“Is there any here to defend the prisoner?”

'I rose and said:

'“Why should he steal that hook, or any or all of them? In another day

he would have been heir to the whole!”

I stood waiting. There was a long silence, the steam from the many

breaths rising about me like a fog. At last one elder after another

nodded his head slowly several times, and muttered, “There is force

in what the child has said.” Oh, the heart-lift that was in those

words!--so transient, but, oh, so precious! I sat down.

'“If any would say further, let him speak now, or after hold his peace,”

said the chief of the court.

'My father rose and said:

'“In the night a form passed by me in the gloom, going toward the

treasury and presently returned. I think, now, it was the stranger.”

'Oh, I was like to swoon! I had supposed that that was my secret; not

the grip of the great Ice God himself could have dragged it out of my

heart. The chief of the court said sternly to my poor Kalula:

'“Speak!”

'Kalula hesitated, then answered:

'“It was I. I could not sleep for thinking of the beautiful hooks. I

went there and kissed them and fondled them, to appease my spirit and

drown it in a harmless joy, then I put them back. I may have dropped

one, but I stole none.”

'Oh, a fatal admission to make in such a place! There was an awful hush.

I knew he had pronounced his own doom, and that all was over. On every

face you could see the words hieroglyphed: “It is a confession!--and

paltry, lame, and thin.”

'I sat drawing in my breath in faint gasps--and waiting. Presently, I

heard the solemn words I knew were coming; and each word, as it came,

was a knife in my heart:

'“It is the command of the court that the accused be subjected to the

trial by water.”

'Oh, curses be upon the head of him who brought “trial by water” to our

land! It came, generations ago, from some far country that lies none

knows where. Before that our fathers used augury and other unsure

methods of trial, and doubtless some poor guilty creatures escaped with

their lives sometimes; but it is not so with trial by water, which is

an invention by wiser men than we poor ignorant savages are. By it the

innocent are proved innocent, without doubt or question, for they drown;

and the guilty are proven guilty with the same certainty, for they

do not drown. My heart was breaking in my bosom, for I said, “He is

innocent, and he will go down under the waves and I shall never see him

more.”

'I never left his side after that. I mourned in his arms all the

precious hours, and he poured out the deep stream of his love upon me,

and oh, I was so miserable and so happy! At last, they tore him from

me, and I followed sobbing after them, and saw them fling him into the

sea--then I covered my face with my hands. Agony? Oh, I know the deepest

deeps of that word!

'The next moment the people burst into a shout of malicious joy, and

I took away my hands, startled. Oh, bitter sight--he was swimming! My

heart turned instantly to stone, to ice. I said, “He was guilty, and he

lied to me!” I turned my back in scorn and went my way homeward.

'They took him far out to sea and set him on an iceberg that was

drifting southward in the great waters. Then my family came home, and my

father said to me:

'“Your thief sent his dying message to you, saying, 'Tell her I am

innocent, and that all the days and all the hours and all the minutes

while I starve and perish I shall love her and think of her and bless

the day that gave me sight of her sweet face.'” Quite pretty, even

poetical!

'I said, “He is dirt--let me never hear mention of him again.” And oh,

to think--he was innocent all the time!

'Nine months--nine dull, sad months--went by, and at last came the day

of the Great Annual Sacrifice, when all the maidens of the tribe wash

their faces and comb their hair. With the first sweep of my comb

out came the fatal fish-hook from where it had been all those months

nestling, and I fell fainting into the arms of my remorseful father!

Groaning, he said, “We murdered him, and I shall never smile again!”

He has kept his word. Listen; from that day to this not a month goes by

that I do not comb my hair. But oh, where is the good of it all now!'

So ended the poor maid's humble little tale--whereby we learn that since

a hundred million dollars in New York and twenty-two fish-hooks on the

border of the Arctic Circle represent the same financial supremacy, a

man in straitened circumstances is a fool to stay in New York when he

can buy ten cents' worth of fish-hooks and emigrate.

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE AND THE BOOK OF MRS. EDDY

'It is the first time since the dawn-days of Creation that a Voice

has gone crashing through space with such placid and complacent

confidence and command.'

I

This last summer, when I was on my way back to Vienna from the

Appetite-Cure in the mountains, I fell over a cliff in the twilight and

broke some arms and legs and one thing or another, and by good luck was

found by some peasants who had lost an ass, and they carried me to the

nearest habitation, which was one of those large, low, thatch-roofed

farm-houses, with apartments in the garret for the family, and a

cunning little porch under the deep gable decorated with boxes of

bright-coloured flowers and cats; on the ground floor a large and light

sitting-room, separated from the milch-cattle apartment by a partition;

and in the front yard rose stately and fine the wealth and pride of the

house, the manure-pile. That sentence is Germanic, and shows that I am

acquiring that sort of mastery of the art and spirit of the language

which enables a man to travel all day in one sentence without changing

cars.

There was a village a mile away, and a horse-doctor lived there, but

there was no surgeon. It seemed a bad outlook; mine was distinctly

a surgery case. Then it was remembered that a lady from Boston was

summering in that village, and she was a Christian Science doctor and

could cure anything. So she was sent for. It was night by this time, and

she could not conveniently come, but sent word that it was no matter,

there was no hurry, she would give me 'absent treatment' now, and come

in the morning; meantime she begged me to make myself tranquil and

comfortable and remember that there was nothing the matter with me. I

thought there must be some mistake.

'Did you tell her I walked off a cliff seventy-five feet high?'

'Yes.'

'And struck a boulder at the bottom and bounced?'

'Yes.'

'And struck another one and bounced again?'

'Yes.'

'And struck another one and bounced yet again?'

'Yes.'

'And broke the boulders?'

'Yes.'

'That accounts for it; she is thinking of the boulders. Why didn't you

tell her I got hurt, too?'

'I did. I told her what you told me to tell her: that you were now

but an incoherent series of compound fractures extending from your

scalp-lock to your heels, and that the comminuted projections caused you

to look like a hat-rack.'

'And it was after this that she wished me to remember that there was

nothing the matter with me?'

'Those were her words.'

'I do not understand it. I believe she has not diagnosed the case with

sufficient care. Did she look like a person who was theorising, or did

she look like one who has fallen off precipices herself and brings to

the aid of abstract science the confirmation of personal experience?'

'Bitte?'

It was too large a contract for the Stubenmadchen's vocabulary; she

couldn't call the hand. I allowed the subject to rest there, and asked

for something to eat and smoke, and something hot to drink, and a basket

to pile my legs in, and another capable person to come and help me curse

the time away; but I could not have any of these things.

'Why?'

'She said you would need nothing at all.'

'But I am hungry and thirsty, and in desperate pain.'

'She said you would have these delusions, but must pay no attention

to them. She wants you to particularly remember that there are no such

things as hunger and thirst and pain.'

'She does, does she?'

'It is what she said.'

'Does she seem to be in full and functional possession of her

intellectual plant, such as it is?'

'Bitte?'

'Do they let her run at large, or do they tie her up?'

'Tie her up?'

'There, good-night, run along; you are a good girl, but your mental

Geschirr is not arranged for light and airy conversation. Leave me to my

delusions.'

II

It was a night of anguish, of course--at least I supposed it was, for

it had all the symptoms of it--but it passed at last, and the Christian

Scientist came, and I was glad. She was middle-aged, and large and bony

and erect, and had an austere face and a resolute jaw and a Roman beak

and was a widow in the third degree, and her name was Fuller. I was

eager to get to business and find relief, but she was distressingly

deliberate. She unpinned and unhooked and uncoupled her upholsteries

one by one, abolished the wrinkles with a flirt of her hand and hung the

articles up; peeled off her gloves and disposed of them, got a book out

of her hand-bag, then drew a chair to the bedside, descended into it

without hurry, and I hung out my tongue. She said, with pity but without

passion:

'Return it to its receptacle. We deal with the mind only, not with its

dumb servants.'

I could not offer my pulse, because the connection was broken; but she

detected the apology before I could word it, and indicated by a negative

tilt of her head that the pulse was another dumb servant that she had no

use for. Then I thought I would tell her my symptoms and how I felt, so

that she would understand the case; but that was another inconsequence,

she did not need to know those things; moreover, my remark about how I

felt was an abuse of language, a misapplication of terms--

'One does not feel,' she explained; 'there is no such thing as

feeling: therefore, to speak of a non-existent thing as existent is a

contradiction. Matter has no existence; nothing exists but mind; the

mind cannot feel pain, it can only imagine it.'

'But if it hurts, just the same--'

'It doesn't. A thing which is unreal cannot exercise the functions of

reality. Pain is unreal; hence pain cannot hurt.'

In making a sweeping gesture to indicate the act of shooing the illusion

of pain out of the mind, she raked her hand on a pin in her dress, said

'Ouch!' and went tranquilly on with her talk. 'You should never allow

yourself to speak of how you feel, nor permit others to ask you how

you are feeling: you should never concede that you are ill, nor permit

others to talk about disease or pain or death or similar non-existences

in your preserve. Such talk only encourages the mind to continue its

empty imaginings.' Just at that point the Stubenmadchen trod on the

cat's tail, and the cat let fly a frenzy of cat-profanity. I asked with

caution:

'Is a cat's opinion about pain valuable?'

'A cat has no opinion; opinions proceed from the mind only; the lower

animals, being eternally perishable, have not been granted mind; without

mind opinion is impossible.'

'She merely imagined she felt a pain--the cat?'

'She cannot imagine a pain, for imagination is an effect of mind;

without mind, there is no imagination. A cat has no imagination.'

'Then she had a real pain?'

'I have already told you there is no such thing as real pain.'

'It is strange and interesting. I do wonder what was the matter with the

cat. Because, there being no such thing as real pain, and she not being

able to imagine an imaginary thing, it would seem that God in his Pity

has compensated the cat with some kind of a mysterious emotion useable

when her tail is trodden on which for the moment joins cat and Christian

in one common brotherhood of--'

She broke in with an irritated--

'Peace! The cat feels nothing, the Christian feels nothing. Your empty

and foolish imaginings are profanation and blasphemy, and can do you an

injury. It is wiser and better and holier to recognise and confess that

there is no such thing as disease or pain or death.'

'I am full of imaginary tortures,' I said, 'but I do not think I could

be any more uncomfortable if they were real ones. What must I do to get

rid of them?'

'There is no occasion to get rid of them, since they do not exist. They

are illusions propagated by matter, and matter has no existence; there

is no such thing as matter.'

'It sounds right and clear, but yet it seems in a degree elusive; it

seems to slip through, just when you think you are getting a grip on

it.'

'Explain.'

'Well, for instance: if there is no such thing as matter, how can matter

propagate things?'

In her compassion she almost smiled. She would have smiled if there were

any such thing as a smile.

'It is quite simple,' she said; 'the fundamental propositions of

Christian Science explain it, and they are summarised in the four

following self-evident propositions: 1. God is All in all. 2. God is

good. Good is Mind. 3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter. 4.

Life, God, omnipotent Good, deny death, evil sin, disease. There--now

you see.'

It seemed nebulous: it did not seem to say anything about the difficulty

in hand--how non-existent matter can propagate illusions. I said, with

some hesitancy:

'Does--does it explain?'

'Doesn't it? Even if read backward it will do it.'

With a budding hope, I asked her to do it backward.

'Very well. Disease sin evil death deny Good omnipotent God life matter

is nothing all being Spirit God Mind is Good good is God all in All is

God. There--do you understand now?

'It--it--well, it is plainer than it was before; still--'

'Well?'

'Could you try it some more ways?'

'As many as you like: it always means the same. Interchanged in any way

you please it cannot be made to mean anything different from what it

means when put in any other way. Because it is perfect. You can jumble

it all up, and it makes no difference: it always comes out the way it

was before. It was a marvellous mind that produced it. As a mental tour

de force it is without a mate, it defies alike the simple, the concrete,

and the occult.'

'It seems to be a corker.'

I blushed for the word, but it was out before I could stop it.

'A what?'

'A--wonderful structure--combination, so to speak, or profound

thoughts--unthinkable ones--un--'

'It is true. Read backwards, or forwards, or perpendicularly, or at any

given angle, these four propositions will always be found to agree in

statement and proof.'

'Ah--proof. Now we are coming at it. The statements agree; they agree

with--with--anyway, they agree; I noticed that; but what is it they

prove--I mean, in particular?'

'Why, nothing could be clearer. They prove: 1. GOD--Principle, Life,

Truth, Love, Soul, Spirit, Mind. Do you get that?'

'I--well, I seem to. Go on, please.

'2. MAN--God's universal idea, individual, perfect, eternal. Is it

clear?'

'It--I think so. Continue.'

'3. IDEA--An image in Mind; the immediate object of understanding. There

it is--the whole sublime Arcana of Christian Science in a nutshell. Do

you find a weak place in it anywhere?'

'Well--no; it seems strong.'

'Very well. There is more. Those three constitute the Scientific

Definition of Immortal Mind. Next, we have the Scientific Definition of

Mortal Mind. Thus. FIRST DEGREE: Depravity. 1. Physical--Passions and

appetites, fear, depraved will, pride, envy, deceit, hatred, revenge,

sin, disease, death.'

'Phantasms, madam--unrealities, as I understand it.'

'Every one. SECOND DEGREE: Evil Disappearing. 1. Moral--Honesty,

affection, compassion, hope, faith, meekness, temperance. Is it clear?'

'Crystal.'

'THIRD DEGREE: Spiritual Salvation. 1. Spiritual--Faith, wisdom,

power, purity, understanding, health, love. You see how searchingly and

co-ordinately interdependent and anthropomorphous it all is. In this

Third Degree, as we know by the revelations of Christian Science, mortal

mind disappears.'

'Not earlier?'

'No, not until the teaching and preparation for the Third Degree are

completed.'

'It is not until then that one is enabled to take hold of Christian

Science effectively, and with the right sense of sympathy and kinship,

as I understand you. That is to say, it could not succeed during the

process of the Second Degree, because there would still be remains

of mind left; and therefore--but I interrupted you. You were about

to further explain the good results proceeding from the erosions and

disintegrations effected by the Third Degree. It is very interesting: go

on, please.'

'Yes, as I was saying, in this Third Degree mortal mind disappears.

Science so reverses the evidence before the corporeal human senses as

to make this scriptural testimony true in our hearts, “the last shall

be first and the first shall be last,” that God and His idea may be to

us--what divinity really is, and must of necessity be--all-inclusive.'

'It is beautiful. And with that exhaustive exactness your choice and

arrangement of words confirms and establishes what you have claimed for

the powers and functions of the Third Degree. The Second could probably

produce only temporary absence of mind, it is reserved to the Third to

make it permanent. A sentence framed under the auspices of the

Second could have a kind of meaning--a sort of deceptive semblance of

it--whereas it is only under the magic of the Third that that defect

would disappear. Also, without doubt, it is the Third Degree that

contributes another remarkable specialty to Christian Science: viz.,

ease and flow and lavishness of words, and rhythm and swing and

smoothness. There must be a special reason for this?'

'Yes--God-all, all-God, good Good, non-Matter, Matteration, Spirit,

Bones, Truth.'

'That explains it.'

'There is nothing in Christian Science that is not explicable; for God

is one, Time is one, Individuality is one, and may be one of a series,

one of many, as an individual man, individual horse; whereas God is one,

not one of a series, but one alone and without an equal.'

'These are noble thoughts. They make one burn to know more. How does

Christian Science explain the spiritual relation of systematic duality

to incidental reflection?'

'Christian Science reverses the seeming relation of Soul and body--as

astronomy reverses the human perception of the movement of the solar

system--and makes body tributary to Mind. As it is the earth which is

in motion, while the sun is at rest, though in viewing the sun rise one

finds it impossible to believe the sun not to be really rising, so the

body is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it seems

otherwise to finite sense; but we shall never understand this while we

admit that soul is in body, or mind in matter, and that man is included

in non-intelligence. Soul is God, unchangeable and eternal; and man

coexists with and reflects Soul, for the All-in-all is the Altogether,

and the Altogether embraces the All-one, Soul-Mind, Mind-Soul, Love,

Spirit, Bones, Liver, one of a series, alone and without an equal.'

(It is very curious, the effect which Christian Science has upon the

verbal bowels. Particularly the Third Degree; it makes one think of a

dictionary with the cholera. But I only thought this; I did not say it.)

'What is the origin of Christian Science? Is it a gift of God, or did it

just happen?'

'In a sense, it is a gift of God. That is to say, its powers are from

Him, but the credit of the discovery of the powers and what they are for

is due to an American lady.'

'Indeed? When did this occur?'

'In 1866. That is the immortal date when pain and disease and death

disappeared from the earth to return no more for ever. That is, the

fancies for which those terms stand, disappeared. The things themselves

had never existed; therefore as soon as it was perceived that there were

no such things, they were easily banished. The history and nature of the

great discovery are set down in the book here, and--'

'Did the lady write the book?'

'Yes, she wrote it all, herself. The title is “Science and Health, with

Key to the Scriptures”--for she explains the Scriptures; they were not

understood before. Not even by the twelve Disciples. She begins thus--I

will read it to you.'

But she had forgotten to bring her glasses.

'Well, it is no matter,' she said, 'I remember the words--indeed, all

Christian Scientists know the book by heart; it is necessary in our

practice. We should otherwise make mistakes and do harm. She begins

thus: “In the year 1866 I discovered the Science of Metaphysical

Healing, and named it Christian Science.” And she says--quite

beautifully, I think--“Through Christian Science, religion and medicine

are inspired with a diviner nature and essence, fresh pinions are

given to faith and understanding, and thoughts acquaint themselves

intelligently with God.” Her very words.'

'It is elegant. And it is a fine thought, too--marrying religion to

medicine, instead of medicine to the undertaker in the old way; for

religion and medicine properly belong together, they being the basis of

all spiritual and physical health. What kind of medicine do you give for

the ordinary diseases, such as--'

'We never give medicine in any circumstances whatever! We--'

'But, madam, it says--'

'I don't care what it says, and I don't wish to talk about it.'

'I am sorry if I have offended, but you see the mention seemed in some

way inconsistent, and--'

'There are no inconsistencies in Christian Science. The thing is

impossible, for the Science is absolute. It cannot be otherwise, since

it proceeds directly from the All-in-all and the Everything-in-Which,

also Soul, Bones, Truth, one of a series, alone and without equal. It is

Mathematics purified from material dross and made spiritual.'

'I can see that, but--'

'It rests upon the immovable basis of an Apodictical Principle.'

The word flattened itself against my mind trying to get in, and

disordered me a little, and before I could inquire into its pertinency,

she was already throwing the needed light:

'This Apodictical Principle is the absolute Principle of Scientific

Mind-healing, the sovereign Omnipotence which delivers the children of

men from pain, disease, decay, and every ill that flesh is heir to.'

'Surely not every ill, every decay?'

'Every one; there are no exceptions; there is no such thing as decay--it

is an unreality, it has no existence.'

'But without your glasses your failing eyesight does not permit you

to--'

'My eyesight cannot fail; nothing can fail; the Mind is master, and the

Mind permits no retrogression.'

She was under the inspiration of the Third Degree, therefore there could

be no profit in continuing this part of the subject. I shifted to other

ground and inquired further concerning the Discoverer of the Science.

'Did the discovery come suddenly, like Klondike, or after long study and

calculation, like America?'

'The comparisons are not respectful, since they refer to

trivialities--but let it pass. I will answer in the Discoverer's own

words: “God had been graciously fitting me, during many years, for the

reception of a final revelation of the absolute Principle of Scientific

Mind-healing.”'

'Many years? How many?'

'Eighteen centuries!'

'All God, God-good, good-God, Truth, Bones, Liver, one of a series alone

and without equal--it is amazing!'

'You may well say it, sir. Yet it is but the truth. This American lady,

our revered and sacred founder, is distinctly referred to and her coming

prophesied, in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse; she could not have

been more plainly indicated by St. John without actually mentioning her

name.'

'How strange, how wonderful!'

'I will quote her own words, for her “Key to the Scriptures:” “The

twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse has a special suggestiveness in

connection with this nineteenth century.” There--do you note that?

Think--note it well.'

'But--what does it mean?'

'Listen, and you will know. I quote her inspired words again: “In the

opening of the Sixth Seal, typical of six thousand years since Adam,

there is one distinctive feature which has special reference to the

present age. Thus:

'“Revelation xii. 1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven--a

woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her

head a crown of twelve stars.”

'That is our Head, our Chief, our Discoverer of Christian

Science--nothing can be plainer, nothing surer. And note this:

'“Revelation xii. 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she

had a place prepared of God.”

'That is Boston.'

'I recognise it, madam. These are sublime things and impressive; I

never understood these passages before; please go on with the--with

the--proofs.'

'Very well. Listen:

'“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a

cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the

sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little

book.”

'A little book, merely a little book--could words be modester? Yet how

stupendous its importance! Do you know what book that was?'

'Was it--'

'I hold it in my hand--“Christian Science”!'

'Love, Livers, Lights, Bones, Truth, Kidneys, one of a series, alone and

without equal--it is beyond imagination and wonder!'

'Hear our Founder's eloquent words: “Then will a voice from harmony cry,

'Go and take the little book; take it and eat it up, and it shall make

thy belly bitter; but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.'

Mortal, obey the heavenly evangel. Take up Divine Science. Read it from

beginning to end. Study it, ponder it. It will be indeed sweet at its

first taste, when it heals you; but murmur not over Truth, if you find

its digestion bitter.” You now know the history of our dear and holy

Science, sir, and that its origin is not of this earth, but only its

discovery. I will leave the book with you and will go, now, but give

yourself no uneasiness--I will give you absent treatment from now till I

go to bed.'

III

Under the powerful influence of the near treatment and the absent

treatment together, my bones were gradually retreating inward and

disappearing from view. The good word took a brisk start, now, and went

on quite swiftly. My body was diligently straining and stretching, this

way and that, to accommodate the processes of restoration, and every

minute or two I heard a dull click inside and knew that the two ends

of a fracture had been successfully joined. This muffled clicking and

gritting and grinding and rasping continued during the next three

hours, and then stopped--the connections had all been made. All except

dislocations; there were only seven of these: hips, shoulders, knees,

neck; so that was soon over; one after another they slipped into their

sockets with a sound like pulling a distant cork, and I jumped up as

good as new, as to framework, and sent for the horse-doctor.

I was obliged to do this because I had a stomach-ache and a cold in

the head, and I was not willing to trust these things any longer in

the hands of a woman whom I did not know, and in whose ability to

successfully treat mere disease I had lost all confidence. My position

was justified by the fact that the cold and the ache had been in her

charge from the first, along with the fractures, but had experienced not

a shade of relief; and indeed the ache was even growing worse and worse,

and more and more bitter, now, probably on account of the protracted

abstention from food and drink.

The horse-doctor came, a pleasant man and full of hope and professional

interest in the case. In the matter of smell he was pretty aromatic, in

fact quite horsey, and I tried to arrange with him for absent treatment,

but it was not in his line, so out of delicacy I did not press it. He

looked at my teeth and examined my hock, and said my age and general

condition were favourable to energetic measures; therefore he would give

me something to turn the stomach-ache into the botts and the cold in

the head into the blind staggers; then he should be on his own beat

and would know what to do. He made up a bucket of bran-mash, and said

a dipperful of it every two hours, alternated with a drench with

turpentine and axle-grease in it, would either knock my ailments out of

me in twenty-four hours or so interest me in other ways as to make me

forget they were on the premises. He administered my first dose himself,

then took his leave, saying I was free to eat and drink anything I

pleased and in any quantity I liked. But I was not hungry any more, and

did not care for food.

I took up the 'Christian Scientist' book and read half of it, then took

a dipperful of drench and read the other half. The resulting experiences

were full of interest and adventure. All through the rumblings and

grindings and quakings and effervescings accompanying the evolution of

the ache into the botts and the cold into the blind staggers I could

note the generous struggle for mastery going on between the mash and the

drench and the literature; and often I could tell which was ahead, and

could easily distinguish the literature from the others when the others

were separate, though not when they were mixed; for when a bran-mash

and an eclectic drench are mixed together they look just like the

Apodictical Principle out on a lark, and no one can tell it from that.

The finish was reached at last, the evolutions were complete and a fine

success; but I think that this result could have been achieved with

fewer materials. I believe the mash was necessary to the conversion of

the stomach-ache into the botts, but I think one could develop the blind

staggers out of the literature by itself; also, that blind staggers

produced in this way would be of a better quality and more lasting than

any produced by the artificial processes of a horse-doctor.

For of all the strange, and frantic, and incomprehensible, and

uninterpretable books which the imagination of man has created, surely

this one is the prize sample. It is written with a limitless confidence

and complacency, and with a dash and stir and earnestness which often

compel the effects of eloquence, even when the words do not seem to

have any traceable meaning. There are plenty of people who imagine they

understand the book; I know this, for I have talked with them; but in

all cases they were people who also imagined that there were no such

things as pain, sickness, and death, and no realities in the world;

nothing actually existent but Mind. It seems to me to modify the value

of their testimony. When these people talk about Christian Science

they do as Mrs. Fuller did; they do not use their own language, but the

book's; they pour out the book's showy incoherences, and leave you to

find out later that they were not originating, but merely quoting;

they seem to know the volume by heart, and to revere it as they would

a Bible--another Bible, perhaps I ought to say. Plainly the book was

written under the mental desolations of the Third Degree, and I feel

sure that none but the membership of that Degree can discover meanings

in it. When you read it you seem to be listening to a lively and

aggressive and oracular speech delivered in an unknown tongue, a speech

whose spirit you get but not the particulars; or, to change the figure,

you seem to be listening to a vigorous instrument which is making a

noise it thinks is a tune, but which to persons not members of the band

is only the martial tooting of a trombone, and merely stirs the soul

through the noise but does not convey a meaning.

The book's serenities of self-satisfaction do almost seem to smack of

a heavenly origin--they have no blood-kin in the earth. It is more than

human to be so placidly certain about things, and so finely superior,

and so airily content with one's performance. Without ever presenting

anything which may rightfully be called by the strong name of Evidence,

and sometimes without even mentioning a reason for a deduction at all,

it thunders out the startling words, 'I have Proved' so and so! It takes

the Pope and all the great guns of his church in battery assembled to

authoritatively settle and establish the meaning of a sole and single

unclarified passage of Scripture, and this at vast cost of time and

study and reflection, but the author of this work is superior to all

that: she finds the whole Bible in an unclarified condition, and at

small expense of time and no expense of mental effort she clarifies

it from lid to lid, reorganises and improves the meanings, then

authoritatively settles and establishes them with formulae which you

cannot tell from 'Let there be light!' and 'Here you have it!' It is

the first time since the dawn-days of Creation that a Voice has gone

crashing through space with such placid and complacent confidence and

command.

IV

A word upon a question of authorship. Not that quite; but, rather, a

question of emendation and revision. We know that the Bible-Annex was

not written by Mrs. Eddy, but was handed down to her eighteen hundred

years ago by the Angel of the Apocalypse; but did she translate it

alone, or did she have help? There seems to be evidence that she had

help. For there are four several copyrights on it--1875, 1885, 1890,

1894. It did not come down in English, for in that language it could not

have acquired copyright--there were no copyright laws eighteen centuries

ago, and in my opinion no English language--at least up there. This

makes it substantially certain that the Annex is a translation. Then,

was not the first translation complete? If it was, on what grounds were

the later copyrights granted?

I surmise that the first translation was poor; and that a friend or

friends of Mrs. Eddy mended its English three times, and finally got it

into its present shape, where the grammar is plenty good enough, and the

sentences are smooth and plausible though they do not mean anything.

I think I am right in this surmise, for Mrs. Eddy cannot write English

to-day, and this is argument that she never could. I am not able to

guess who did the mending, but I think it was not done by any member of

the Eddy Trust, nor by the editors of the 'Christian Science Journal,'

for their English is not much better than Mrs. Eddy's.

However, as to the main point: it is certain that Mrs. Eddy did

not doctor the Annex's English herself. Her original, spontaneous,

undoctored English furnishes ample proof of this. Here are samples from

recent articles from her unappeasable pen; double columned with them

are a couple of passages from the Annex. It will be seen that they throw

light. The italics are mine:

1. 'What plague spot, 'Therefore the efficient

or bacilli were (sic) gnawing remedy is to destroy the

(sic) at the heart of this patient's unfortunate belief,

metropolis... and bringing by both silently and audibly

it on bended knee? arguing the opposite facts in

Why, it was an institute that regard to harmonious being

had entered its vitals (sic) representing man as

that, among other things, healthful instead of diseased,

taught games,' et cetera. (P. and showing that it is

670, 'C.S.Journal,' article impossible for matter to suffer,

entitled 'A Narrative--by to feel pain or heat, to be

Mary Baker G. Eddy.') thirsty or sick.' (P. 375, Annex.)

2. 'Parks sprang up (sic)...

electric street cars run 'Man is never sick; for

(sic) merrily through several Mind is not sick, and matter

streets, concrete sidewalks cannot be. A false belief

and macadamised roads dotted is both the tempter and the

(sic) the place,' et cetera. tempted, the sin and the

(Ibid.) sinner, the disease and its

3. 'Shorn (sic) of its cause. It is well to be calm

suburbs it had indeed little in sickness; to be hopeful is

left to admire, save to (sic) still better; but to

such as fancy a skeleton understand that sickness is not

above ground breathing (sic) real, and that Truth can

slowly through a barren (sic) destroy it, is best of all, for

breast.' (Ibid.) it is the universal and perfect

remedy.' (Chapter xii.,

Annex.)

You notice the contrast between the smooth, plausible, elegant, addled

English of the doctored Annex and the lumbering, ragged, ignorant output

of the translator's natural, spontaneous, and unmedicated penwork.

The English of the Annex has been slicked up by a very industrious and

painstaking hand--but it was not Mrs. Eddy's.

If Mrs. Eddy really wrote or translated the Annex, her original draft

was exactly in harmony with the English of her plague-spot or bacilli

which were gnawing at the insides of the metropolis and bringing its

heart on bended knee, thus exposing to the eye the rest of the skeleton

breathing slowly through a barren breast. And it bore little or no

resemblance to the book as we have it now--now that the salaried

polisher has holystoned all of the genuine Eddyties out of it.

Will the plague-spot article go into a volume just as it stands? I think

not. I think the polisher will take off his coat and vest and cravat

and 'demonstrate over' it a couple of weeks and sweat it into a shape

something like the following--and then Mrs. Eddy will publish it and

leave people to believe that she did the polishing herself:

1. What injurious influence was it that was affecting the city's morals?

It was a social club which propagated an interest in idle amusements,

disseminated a knowledge of games, et cetera.

2. By the magic of the new and nobler influences the sterile spaces

were transformed into wooded parks, the merry electric car replaced the

melancholy 'bus, smooth concrete the tempestuous plank sidewalk, the

macadamised road the primitive corduroy, et cetera.

3. Its pleasant suburbs gone, there was little left to admire save the

wrecked graveyard with its uncanny exposures.

The Annex contains one sole and solitary humorous remark. There is a

most elaborate and voluminous Index, and it is preceded by this note:

'This Index will enable the student to find any thought or idea

contained in the book.'

V

No one doubts--certainly not I--that the mind exercises a powerful

influence over the body. From the beginning of time, the sorcerer, the

interpreter of dreams, the fortune-teller, the charlatan, the quack,

the wild medicine-man, the educated physician, the mesmerist, and the

hypnotist have made use of the client's imagination to help them in

their work. They have all recognised the potency and availability of

that force. Physicians cure many patients with a bread pill; they know

that where the disease is only a fancy, the patient's confidence in the

doctor will make the bread pill effective.

Faith in the doctor. Perhaps that is the entire thing. It seems to look

like it. In old times the King cured the king's evil by the touch of the

royal hand. He frequently made extraordinary cures. Could his footman

have done it? No--not in his own clothes. Disguised as the King, could

he have done it? I think we may not doubt it. I think we may feel sure

that it was not the King's touch that made the cure in any instance,

but the patient's faith in the efficacy of a King's touch. Genuine and

remarkable cures have been achieved through contact with the relics of a

saint. Is it not likely that any other bones would have done as well if

the substitution had been concealed from the patient? When I was a boy,

a farmer's wife who lived five miles from our village, had great fame as

a faith-doctor--that was what she called herself. Sufferers came to

her from all around, and she laid her hand upon them and said, 'Have

faith--it is all that is necessary,' and they went away well of their

ailments. She was not a religious woman, and pretended to no occult

powers. She said that the patient's faith in her did the work. Several

times I saw her make immediate cures of severe toothaches. My mother was

the patient. In Austria there is a peasant who drives a great trade in

this sort of industry and has both the high and the low for patients.

He gets into prison every now and then for practising without a diploma,

but his business is as brisk as ever when he gets out, for his work

is unquestionably successful and keeps his reputation high. In Bavaria

there is a man who performed so many great cures that he had to retire

from his profession of stage-carpentering in order to meet the demand

of his constantly increasing body of customers. He goes on from year

to year doing his miracles, and has become very rich. He pretends to no

religious helps, no supernatural aids, but thinks there is something in

his make-up which inspires the confidence of his patients, and that it

is this confidence which does the work and not some mysterious power

issuing from himself.

Within the last quarter of a century, in America, several sects of

curers have appeared under various names and have done notable things in

the way of healing ailments without the use of medicines. There are the

Mind Cure, the Faith Cure, the Prayer Cure, the Mental-Science Cure, and

the Christian-Science Cure; and apparently they all do their miracles

with the same old powerful instrument--the patient's imagination.

Differing names, but no difference in the process. But they do not give

that instrument the credit; each sect claims that its way differs from

the ways of the others.

They all achieve some cures, there is no question about it; and the

Faith Cure and the Prayer Cure probably do no harm when they do no good,

since they do not forbid the patient to help out the cure with medicines

if he wants to; but the others bar medicines, and claim ability to cure

every conceivable human ailment through the application of their mental

forces alone. They claim ability to cure malignant cancer, and other

affections which have never been cured in the history of the race. There

would seem to be an element of danger here. It has the look of claiming

too much, I think. Public confidence would probably be increased if less

were claimed.

I believe it might be shown that all the 'mind' sects except Christian

Science have lucid intervals; intervals in which they betray some

diffidence, and in effect confess that they are not the equals of the

Deity; but if the Christian Scientist even stops with being merely the

equal of the Deity, it is not clearly provable by his Christian-Science

Amended Bible. In the usual Bible the Deity recognises pain, disease,

and death as facts, but the Christian Scientist knows better. Knows

better, and is not diffident about saying so.

The Christian Scientist was not able to cure my stomach-ache and my

cold; but the horse-doctor did it. This convinces me that Christian

Science claims too much. In my opinion it ought to let diseases alone

and confine itself to surgery. There it would have everything its own

way.

The horse-doctor charged me thirty kreutzers, and I paid him; in fact I

doubled it and gave him a shilling. Mrs. Fuller brought in an itemised

bill for a crate of broken bones mended in two hundred and thirty-four

places--one dollar per fracture.

'Nothing exists but Mind?'

'Nothing,' she answered. 'All else is substanceless, all else is

imaginary.'

I gave her an imaginary cheque, and now she is suing me for substantial

dollars. It looks inconsistent.

VI

Let us consider that we are all partially insane. It will explain us to

each other, it will unriddle many riddles, it will make clear and simple

many things which are involved in haunting and harassing difficulties

and obscurities now.

Those of us who are not in the asylum, and not demonstrably due there,

are nevertheless no doubt insane in one or two particulars--I think we

must admit this; but I think that we are otherwise healthy-minded.

I think that when we all see one thing alike, it is evidence that as

regards that one thing, our minds are perfectly sound. Now there are

really several things which we do all see alike; things which we all

accept, and about which we do not dispute. For instance, we who are

outside of the asylum all agree that water seeks its level; that the sun

gives light and heat; that fire consumes; that fog is damp; that 6 times

6 are thirty-six; that 2 from 10 leave eight; that 8 and 7 are fifteen.

These are perhaps the only things we are agreed about; but although

they are so few, they are of inestimable value, because they make an

infallible standard of sanity. Whosoever accepts them we know to be

substantially sane; sufficiently sane; in the working essentials, sane.

Whoever disputes a single one of them we know to be wholly insane, and

qualified for the asylum.

Very well, the man who disputes none of them we concede to be entitled

to go at large--but that is concession enough; we cannot go any further

than that; for we know that in all matters of mere opinion that same man

is insane--just as insane as we are; just as insane as Shakespeare was,

just as insane as the Pope is. We know exactly where to put our finger

upon his insanity; it is where his opinion differs from ours.

That is a simple rule, and easy to remember. When I, a thoughtful

and unbiased Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any

question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious

matters. When a thoughtful and unbiased Mohammedan examines the

Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am

spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because

you never can prove anything to a lunatic--for that is a part of his

insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane,

for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his. All democrats are

insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the republicans and

mugwumps know it. All the republicans are insane, but only the democrats

and mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect; in all matters of

opinion our adversaries are insane. When I look around me I am often

troubled to see how many people are mad. To mention only a few:

The Atheist, The Shakers,

The Infidel, The Millerites,

The Agnostic, The Mormons,

The Baptist, The Laurence Oliphant

The Methodist, Harrisites,

The Catholic, and the other The Grand Lama's people,

115 Christian sects, the The Monarchists,

Presbyterian excepted, The Imperialists,

The 72 Mohammedan sects, The Democrats,

The Buddhist, The Republicans (but not

The Blavatsky-Buddhist, the Mugwumps),

The Nationalist, The Mind-Curists,

The Confucian, The Faith-Curists,

The Spiritualist, The Mental Scientists,

The 2,000 East Indian The Allopaths,

sects, The Homeopaths,

The Peculiar People, The Electropaths,

The Swedenborgians,

The--but there's no end to the list; there are millions of them! And all

insane; each in his own way; insane as to his pet fad or opinion, but

otherwise sane and rational.

This should move us to be charitable toward one another's lunacies. I

recognise that in his special belief the Christian Scientist is insane,

because he does not believe as I do; but I hail him as my mate and

fellow because I am as insane as he--insane from his point of view, and

his point of view is as authoritative as mine and worth as much. That

is to say, worth a brass farthing. Upon a great religious or political

question the opinion of the dullest head in the world is worth the same

as the opinion of the brightest head in the world--a brass farthing. How

do we arrive at this? It is simple: The affirmative opinion of a stupid

man is neutralised by the negative opinion of his stupid neighbour--no

decision is reached; the affirmative opinion of the intellectual giant

Gladstone is neutralised by the negative opinion of the intellectual

giant Cardinal Newman--no decision is reached. Opinions that prove

nothing are, of course, without value--any but a dead person knows that

much. This obliges us to admit the truth of the unpalatable proposition

just mentioned above--that in disputed matters political and religious

one man's opinion is worth no more than his peer's, and hence it

follows that no man's opinion possesses any real value. It is a humbling

thought, but there is no way to get around it: all opinions upon these

great subjects are brass-farthing opinions.

It is a mere plain simple fact--as clear and as certain as that 8 and 7

make fifteen. And by it we recognise that we are all insane, as

concerns those matters. If we were sane we should all see a political or

religious doctrine alike, there would be no dispute: it would be a case

of 8 and 7--just as it is in heaven, where all are sane and none insane.

There there is but one religion, one belief, the harmony is perfect,

there is never a discordant note.

Under protection of these preliminaries I suppose I may now repeat

without offence that the Christian Scientist is insane. I mean him

no discourtesy, and I am not charging--nor even imagining--that he

is insaner than the rest of the human race. I think he is more

picturesquely insane than some of us. At the same time, I am quite sure

that in one important and splendid particular he is saner than is the

vast bulk of the race.

Why is he insane? I told you before: it is because his opinions are not

ours. I know of no other reason, and I do not need any other; it is the

only way we have of discovering insanity when it is not violent. It

is merely the picturesqueness of his insanity that makes it more

interesting than my kind or yours. For instance, consider his 'little

book'--the one described in the previous article; the 'little book'

exposed in the sky eighteen centuries ago by the flaming angel of the

Apocalypse and handed down in our day to Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy of New

Hampshire and translated by her, word for word, into English (with

help of a polisher), and now published and distributed in hundreds of

editions by her at a clear profit per volume, above cost, of 700

per cent.!--a profit which distinctly belongs to the angel of the

Apocalypse, and let him collect it if he can; a 'little book' which the

C.S. very frequently calls by just that name, and always inclosed in

quotation-marks to keep its high origin exultantly in mind; a 'little

book' which 'explains' and reconstructs and new-paints and decorates

the Bible and puts a mansard roof on it and a lightning-rod and all the

other modern improvements; a little book which for the present affects

to travel in yoke with the Bible and be friendly to it, and within half

a century will hitch it in the rear, and thenceforth travel tandem,

itself in the lead, in the coming great march of Christian Scientism

through the Protestant dominions of the planet.

Perhaps I am putting the tandem arrangement too far away; perhaps five

years might be nearer the mark than fifty; for a Viennese lady told me

last night that in the Christian Science Mosque in Boston she noticed

some things which seem to me to promise a shortening of the interval;

on one side there was a display of texts from the New Testament, signed

with the Saviour's initials, 'J.C.;' and on the opposite side a display

of texts from the 'little book' signed--with the author's mere initials?

No--signed with Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy's name in full. Perhaps the

Angel of the Apocalypse likes this kind of piracy. I made this remark

lightly to a Christian Scientist this morning, but he did not receive it

lightly, but said it was jesting upon holy things; he said there was no

piracy, for the angel did not compose the book, he only brought it--'God

composed it.' I could have retorted that it was a case of piracy just

the same; that the displayed texts should be signed with the Author's

initials, and that to sign them with the translator's train of names was

another case of 'jesting upon holy things.' However, I did not say these

things, for this Scientist was a large person, and although by his own

doctrine we have no substance, but are fictions and unrealities, I knew

he could hit me an imaginary blow which would furnish me an imaginary

pain which could last me a week. The lady said that in that Mosque there

were two pulpits; in one of them was a man with the Former Bible, in the

other a woman with Mrs. Eddy's apocalyptic Annex; and from these books

the man and the woman were reading verse and verse about:

'Hungry ones throng to hear the Bible read in connection with the

text-book of Christian Science, “Science and Health, with Key to the

Scriptures,” by Mary Baker G. Eddy. These are our only preachers.

They are the word of God.'--Christian Science Journal, October

1898.

Are these things picturesque? The Viennese lady told me that in a chapel

of the Mosque there was a picture or image of Mrs. Eddy, and that before

it burns a never-extinguished light. Is that picturesque? How long do

you think it will be before the Christian Scientist will be worshipping

that image and praying to it? How long do you think it will be before

it is claimed that Mrs. Eddy is a Redeemer, a Christ, or Christ's equal?

Already her army of disciples speak of her reverently as 'Our Mother.'

How long will it be before they place her on the steps of the Throne

beside the Virgin--and later a step higher? First, Mary the Virgin and

Mary the Matron; later, with a change of Precedence, Mary the Matron

and Mary the Virgin. Let the artist get ready with his canvas and his

brushes; the new Renaissance is on its way, and there will be money in

altar-canvases--a thousand times as much as the Popes and their Church

ever spent on the Old Masters; for their riches were as poverty as

compared with what is going to pour into the treasure-chest of the

Christian-Scientist Papacy by-and-by, let us not doubt it. We will

examine the financial outlook presently and see what it promises. A

favourite subject of the new Old Master will be the first verse of the

twelfth chapter of Revelation--a verse which Mrs. Eddy says (in her

Annex to the Scriptures) has 'one distinctive feature which has special

reference to the present age'--and to her, as is rather pointedly

indicated:

'And there appeared a great wonder in heaven--a woman clothed with

the sun and the moon under her feet,' etc.

The woman clothed with the sun will be a portrait of Mrs. Eddy.

Is it insanity to believe that Christian Scientism is destined to make

the most formidable show that any new religion has made in the world

since the birth and spread of Mohammedanism, and that within a century

from now it may stand second to Rome only, in numbers and power in

Christendom?

If this is a wild dream it will not be easy to prove it is so just

yet, I think. There seems argument that it may come true. The

Christian-Science 'boom' is not yet five years old; yet already it has

500 churches and 1,000,000 members in America.

It has its start, you see, and it is a phenomenally good one. Moreover,

it is latterly spreading with a constantly accelerating swiftness. It

has a better chance to grow and prosper and achieve permanency than any

other existing 'ism;' for it has more to offer than any other. The past

teaches us that, in order to succeed, a movement like this must not be

a mere philosophy, it must be a religion; also, that it must not claim

entire originality, but content itself with passing for an improvement

on an existing religion, and show its hand later, when strong and

prosperous--like Mohammedanism.

Next, there must be money--and plenty of it.

Next, the power and authority and capital must be concentrated in the

grip of a small and irresponsible clique, with nobody outside privileged

to ask questions or find fault.

Next, as before remarked, it must bait its hook with some new and

attractive advantages over the baits offered by the other religions.

A new movement equipped with some of these endowments--like

spiritualism, for instance--may count upon a considerable success; a

new movement equipped with the bulk of them--like Mohammedanism, for

instance--may count upon a widely extended conquest. Mormonism had all

the requisites but one--it had nothing new and nothing valuable to bait

with; and, besides, it appealed to the stupid and the ignorant only.

Spiritualism lacked the important detail of concentration of money and

authority in the hands of an irresponsible clique.

The above equipment is excellent, admirable, powerful, but not

perfect. There is yet another detail which is worth the whole of it

put together--and more; a detail which has never been joined (in the

beginning of a religious movement) to a supremely good working

equipment since the world began, until now: a new personage to worship.

Christianity had the Saviour, but at first and for generations it lacked

money and concentrated power. In Mrs. Eddy, Christian Science possesses

the new personage for worship, and in addition--here in the very

beginning--a working equipment that has not a flaw in it. In the

beginning, Mohammedanism had no money; and it has never had anything to

offer its client but heaven--nothing here below that was valuable. In

addition to heaven hereafter, Christian Science has present health and

a cheerful spirit to offer--for cash--and in comparison with this bribe

all other this-world bribes are poor and cheap. You recognise that this

estimate is admissible, do you not?

To whom does Bellamy's 'Nationalism' appeal? Necessarily to the few:

people who read and dream, and are compassionate, and troubled for the

poor and the hard-driven. To whom does Spiritualism appeal? Necessarily

to the few; its 'boom' has lasted for half a century and I believe it

claims short of four millions of adherents in America. Who are attracted

by Swedenborgianism and some of the other fine and delicate 'isms?' The

few again: Educated people, sensitively organised, with superior mental

endowments, who seek lofty planes of thought and find their contentment

there. And who are attracted by Christian Science? There is no limit;

its field is horizonless; its appeal is as universal as is the appeal

of Christianity itself. It appeals to the rich, the poor, the high, the

low, the cultured, the ignorant, the gifted, the stupid, the modest,

the vain, the wise, the silly, the soldier, the civilian, the hero, the

coward, the idler, the worker, the godly, the godless, the freeman, the

slave, the adult, the child; they who are ailing, they who have friends

that are ailing. To mass it in a phrase, its clientele is the Human

Race? Will it march? I think so.

VII

Remember its principal great offer: to rid the Race of pain and disease.

Can it do it? In large measure, yes. How much of the pain and disease in

the world is created by the imaginations of the sufferers, and then kept

alive by those same imaginations? Four-fifths? Not anything short of

that I should think. Can Christian Science banish that four-fifths? I

think so. Can any other (organised) force do it? None that I know of.

Would this be a new world when that was accomplished? And a pleasanter

one--for us well people, as well as for those fussy and fretting sick

ones? Would it seem as if there was not as much gloomy weather as there

used to be? I think so.

In the meantime would the Scientist kill off a good many patients? I

think so. More than get killed off now by the legalised methods? I will

take up that question presently.

At present I wish to ask you to examine some of the Scientist's

performances, as registered in his magazine, 'The Christian Science

Journal'--October number, 1898. First, a Baptist clergyman gives us

this true picture of 'the average orthodox Christian'--and he could have

added that it is a true picture of the average (civilised) human being:

'He is a worried and fretted and fearful man; afraid of himself and his

propensities, afraid of colds and fevers, afraid of treading on serpents

or drinking deadly things.'

Then he gives us this contrast:

'The average Christian Scientist has put all anxiety and fretting under

his feet. He does have a victory over fear and care that is not achieved

by the average orthodox Christian.'

He has put all anxiety and fretting under his feet. What proportion of

your earnings or income would you be willing to pay for that frame of

mind, year in year out? It really outvalues any price that can be put

upon it. Where can you purchase it, at any outlay of any sort, in any

Church or out of it, except the Scientist's?

Well, it is the anxiety and fretting about colds, and fevers, and

draughts, and getting our feet wet, and about forbidden food eaten in

terror of indigestion, that brings on the cold and the fever and the

indigestion and the most of our other ailments; and so, if the Science

can banish that anxiety from the world I think it can reduce the world's

disease and pain about four-fifths.

In this October number many of the redeemed testify and give thanks; and

not coldly but with passionate gratitude. As a rule they seem drunk with

health, and with the surprise of it, the wonder of it, the unspeakable

glory and splendour of it, after a long sober spell spent in inventing

imaginary diseases and concreting them with doctor-stuff. The first

witness testifies that when 'this most beautiful Truth first dawned on

him' he had 'nearly all the ills that flesh is heir to;' that those he

did not have he thought he had--and thus made the tale about complete.

What was the natural result? Why, he was a dump-pit 'for all the

doctors, druggists, and patent medicines of the country.' Christian

Science came to his help, and 'the old sick conditions passed away,' and

along with them the 'dismal forebodings' which he had been accustomed

to employ in conjuring up ailments. And so he was a healthy and cheerful

man, now, and astonished.

But I am not astonished, for from other sources I know what must have

been his method of applying Christian Science. If I am in the right, he

watchfully and diligently diverted his mind from unhealthy channels and

compelled it to travel in healthy ones. Nothing contrivable by human

invention could be more formidably effective than that, in banishing

imaginary ailments and in closing the entrances against subsequent

applicants of their breed. I think his method was to keep saying, 'I

am well! I am sound!--sound and well! well and sound! Perfectly sound,

perfectly well! I have no pain; there's no such thing as pain! I have no

disease; there's no such thing as disease! Nothing is real but Mind; all

is Mind, All-Good, Good-Good, Life, Soul, Liver, Bones, one of a series,

ante and pass the buck!'

I do not mean that that was exactly the formula used, but that it

doubtless contains the spirit of it. The Scientist would attach value to

the exact formula, no doubt, and to the religious spirit in which it was

used. I should think that any formula that would divert the mind from

unwholesome channels and force it into healthy ones would answer every

purpose with some people, though not with all. I think it most likely

that a very religious man would find the addition of the religious

spirit a powerful reinforcement in his case.

The second witness testifies that the Science banished 'an old organic

trouble' which the doctor and the surgeon had been nursing with drugs

and the knife for seven years.

He calls it his 'claim.' A surface-miner would think it was not

his claim at all, but the property of the doctor and his pal the

surgeon--for he would be misled by that word, which is Christian-Science

slang for 'ailment.' The Christian Scientist has no ailment; to him

there is no such thing, and he will not use the lying word. All that

happens to him is, that upon his attention an imaginary disturbance

sometimes obtrudes itself which claims to be an ailment, but isn't.

This witness offers testimony for a clergyman seventy years old who had

preached forty years in a Christian church, and has not gone over to

the new sect. He was 'almost blind and deaf.' He was treated by the C.S.

method, and 'when he heard the voice of Truth he saw spiritually.' Saw

spiritually. It is a little indefinite; they had better treat him again.

Indefinite testimonies might properly be waste-basketed, since there is

evidently no lack of definite ones procurable, but this C.S. magazine is

poorly edited, and so mistakes of this kind must be expected.

The next witness is a soldier of the Civil War. When Christian Science

found him, he had in stock the following claims:

Indigestion,

Rheumatism,

Catarrh,

Chalky deposits in

Shoulder joints,

Arm joints,

Hand joints,

Atrophy of the muscles of

Arms,

Shoulders,

Stiffness of all those joints,

Insomnia,

Excruciating pains most of the time.

These claims have a very substantial sound. They came of exposure in the

campaigns. The doctors did all they could, but it was little. Prayers

were tried, but 'I never realised any physical relief from that source.'

After thirty years of torture he went to a Christian Scientist and took

an hour's treatment and went home painless. Two days later he 'began to

eat like a well man.' Then 'the claims vanished--some at once, others

more gradually;' finally, 'they have almost entirely disappeared.'

And--a thing which is of still greater value--he is now 'contented

and happy.' That is a detail which, as earlier remarked, is a

Scientist-Church specialty. With thirty-one years' effort the Methodist

Church had not succeeded in furnishing it to this harassed soldier.

And so the tale goes on. Witness after witness bulletins his claims,

declares their prompt abolishment, and gives Mrs. Eddy's Discovery the

praise. Milk-leg is cured; nervous prostration is cured; consumption

is cured; and St. Vitus's dance made a pastime. And now and then an

interesting new addition to the Science slang appears on the page. We

have 'demonstrations over' chilblains and such things. It seems to be

a curtailed way of saying 'demonstrations of the power of

Christian-Science Truth over the fiction which masquerades under the

name of Chilblains.' The children as well as the adults, share in the

blessings of the Science. 'Through the study of the “little book” they

are learning how to be healthful, peaceful, and wise.' Sometimes

they are cured of their little claims by the professional healer,

and sometimes more advanced children say over the formula and cure

themselves.

A little Far-Western girl of nine, equipped with an adult vocabulary,

states her age and says, 'I thought I would write a demonstration to

you.' She had a claim derived from getting flung over a pony's head and

landed on a rock-pile. She saved herself from disaster by remember to

say 'God is All' while she was in the air. I couldn't have done it.

I shouldn't have even thought of it. I should have been too excited.

Nothing but Christian Science could have enabled that child to do that

calm and thoughtful and judicious thing in those circumstances. She came

down on her head, and by all the rules she should have broken it;

but the intervention of the formula prevented that, so the only claim

resulting was a blackened eye. Monday morning it was still swollen and

shut. At school 'it hurt pretty bad--that is, it seemed to.' So 'I was

excused, and went down in the basement and said, “Now I am depending on

mamma instead of God, and I will depend on God instead of mamma.”' No

doubt this would have answered; but, to make sure, she added Mrs. Eddy

to the team and recited 'the Scientific Statement of Being,' which

is one of the principal incantations, I judge. Then 'I felt my eye

opening.' Why, it would have opened an oyster. I think it is one of the

touchingest things in child-history, that pious little rat down cellar

pumping away at the Scientific Statement of Being.

There is a page about another good child--little Gordon. Little Gordon

'came into the world without the assistance of surgery or anaesthetics.'

He was a 'demonstration.' A painless one; therefore his coming evoked

'joy and thankfulness to God and the Discoverer of Christian Science.'

It is a noticeable feature of this literature--the so frequent linking

together of the Two Beings in an equal bond; also of Their Two Bibles.

When little Gordon was two years old, 'he was playing horse on the bed,

where I had left my “little book.” I noticed him stop in his play, take

the book carefully in his little hands, kiss it softly, then look about

for the highest place of safety his arms could reach, and put it there.'

This pious act filled the mother 'with such a train of thought as I had

never experienced before. I thought of the sweet mother of long ago

who kept things in her heart,' etc. It is a bold comparison; however,

unconscious profanations are about as common in the mouths of the lay

membership of the new Church as are frank and open ones in the mouths of

its consecrated chiefs.

Some days later, the family library--Christian Science books--was lying

in a deep-seated window. It was another chance for the holy child to

show off. He left his play and went there and pushed all the books to

one side except the Annex. 'It he took in both hands, slowly raised

it to his lips, then removed it carefully, and seated himself in the

window.' It had seemed to the mother too wonderful to be true, that

first time; but now she was convinced that 'neither imagination nor

accident had anything to do with it.' Later, little Gordon let the

author of his being see him do it. After that he did it frequently;

probably every time anybody was looking. I would rather have that child

than a chromo. If this tale has any object, it is to intimate that the

inspired book was supernaturally able to convey a sense of its sacred

and awful character to this innocent little creature without the

intervention of outside aids. The magazine is not edited with

high-priced discretion. The editor has a claim, and he ought to get it

treated.

Among other witnesses, there is one who had a 'jumping toothache,'

which several times tempted her to 'believe that there was sensation in

matter, but each time it was overcome by the power of Truth.' She would

not allow the dentist to use cocaine, but sat there and let him

punch and drill and split and crush the tooth, and tear and slash its

ulcerations, and pull out the nerve, and dig out fragments of bone; and

she wouldn't once confess that it hurt. And to this day she thinks it

didn't, and I have not a doubt that she is nine-tenths right, and that

her Christian Science faith did her better service than she could have

gotten out of cocaine.

There is an account of a boy who got broken all up into small bits by

an accident, but said over the Scientific Statement of Being, or some of

the other incantations, and got well and sound without having suffered

any real pain and without the intrusion of a surgeon. I can believe

this, because my own case was somewhat similar, as per my former

article.

Also there is an account of the restoration to perfect health, in

a single night, of a fatally injured horse, by the application of

Christian Science. I can stand a good deal, but I recognise that the ice

is getting thin here. That horse had as many as fifty claims: how

could he demonstrate over them? Could he do the All-Good, Good-Good,

Good-Gracious, Liver, Bones, Truth, All down but Nine, Set them up on

the Other Alley? Could he intone the Scientific Statement of Being?

Now, could he? Wouldn't it give him a relapse? Let us draw the line at

horses. Horses and furniture.

There is a plenty of other testimonies in the magazine, but these quoted

samples will answer. They show the kind of trade the Science is driving.

Now we come back to the question; Does it kill a patient here and there

and now and then? We must concede it. Does it compensate for this? I am

persuaded that it can make a plausible showing in that direction. For

instance: when it lays its hands upon a soldier who has suffered thirty

years of helpless torture and makes him whole in body and mind, what is

the actual sum of that achievement? This, I think: that it has restored

to life a subject who had essentially died ten deaths a year for thirty

years, and each of them a long and painful one. But for its interference

that man would have essentially died thirty times more, in the three

years which have since elapsed. There are thousand of young people in

the land who are now ready to enter upon a life-long death similar to

that man's. Every time the Science captures one of these and secures

to him life-long immunity from imagination-manufactured disease, it may

plausibly claim that in his person it has saved 300 lives. Meantime

it will kill a man every now and then; but no matter, it will still be

ahead on the credit side.

VIII

'We consciously declare that “Science and Health with Key to the

Scriptures,” was foretold as well as its author, Mary Baker Eddy, in

Revelation x. She is the “mighty angel,” or God's highest thought

to this age (verse 1), giving us the spiritual interpretation of the

Bible in the “little book open” (verse 2). Thus we prove that

Christian Science is the second coming of Christ--Truth--Spirit.'

--Lecture by Dr. George Tomkins, D.D., C.S.

There you have it in plain speech. She is the mighty angel; she is the

divinely and officially sent bearer of God's highest thought. For the

present, she brings the Second Advent. We must expect that before she

has been in her grave fifty years she will be regarded by her following

as having been herself the Second Advent. She is already worshipped, and

we must expect this feeling to spread territorially, and also to deepen

in intensity (1).

Particularly after her death; for then, as anyone can foresee,

Eddy-worship will be taught in the Sunday-schools and pulpits of the

cult. Already whatever she puts her trade-mark on, though it be only a

memorial spoon, is holy and is eagerly and passionately and gratefully

bought by the disciple, and becomes a fetish in his house. I say bought,

for the Boston Christian-Science Trust gives nothing away; everything

it has for sale. And the terms are cash; and not cash only but cash in

advance. Its god is Mrs. Eddy first, then the Dollar. Not a spiritual

Dollar, but a real one. From end to end of the Christian-Science

literature not a single (material) thing in the world is conceded to be

real, except the Dollar. But all through and through its advertisements

that reality is eagerly and persistently recognised. The hunger of the

Trust for the Dollar, its adoration of the Dollar, its lust after the

Dollar, its ecstasy in the mere thought of the Dollar--there has been

nothing like it in the world in any age or country, nothing so coarse,

nothing so lubricous, nothing so bestial, except a French novel's

attitude towards adultery.

The Dollar is hunted down in all sorts of ways; the Christian-Science

Mother-Church and Bargain-Counter in Boston peddles all kinds of

spiritual wares to the faithful, always at extravagant prices, and

always on the one condition--cash, cash in advance. The Angel of the

Apocalypse could not go there and get a copy of his own pirated book

on credit. Many, many precious Christian-Science things are to be had

there--for cash: Bible Lessons; Church Manual; C.S. Hymnal; History of

the building of the Mother-Church; lot of Sermons; Communion Hymn,

'Saw Ye My Saviour,' by Mrs. Eddy, half a dollar a copy, 'words used

by special permission of Mrs. Eddy.' Also we have Mrs. Eddy's and the

Angel's little Bible-Annex in eight styles of binding at eight kinds

of war-prices: among these a sweet thing in 'levant, divinity circuit,

leather lined to edge, round corners, gold edge, silk sewed, each,

prepaid, $6,' and if you take a million you get them a shilling

cheaper--that is to say, 'prepaid, $5.75.' Also we have Mrs. Eddy's

'Miscellaneous Writings,' at noble big prices, the divinity-circuit

style heading the extortions, shilling discount where you take an

edition. Next comes 'Christ and Christmas,' by the fertile Mrs. Eddy--a

poem--I would God I could see it--price $3, cash in advance. Then follow

five more books by Mrs. Eddy at highwaymen's rates, as usual, some of

them in 'leatherette covers,' some of them in 'pebbled cloth,' with

divinity circuit, compensation balance, twin screw, and the other modern

improvements: and at the same bargain counter can be had the 'Christian

Science Journal.' I wish it were in refined taste to apply a rudely and

ruggedly descriptive epithet to that literary slush-bucket, so as to

give one an accurate idea of what it is like. I am moved to do it, but

I must not: it is better to be refined than accurate when one is talking

about a production like that.

Christian-Science literary oleomargarine is a monopoly of the Mother

Church Headquarters Factory in Boston; none genuine without the

trade-mark of the Trust. You must apply there, and not elsewhere; and

you pay your money before you get your soap-fat.

The Trust has still other sources of income. Mrs. Eddy is president

(and perhaps proprietor?) of the Trust's Metaphysical College in Boston,

where the student who has practised C.S. healing during three years the

best he knew how perfects himself in the game by a two weeks' course,

and pays one hundred dollars for it! And I have a case among my

statistics where the student had a three weeks' course and paid three

hundred for it.

The Trust does love the Dollar when it isn't a spiritual one.

In order to force the sale of Mrs. Eddy's Bible-Annex, no healer,

Metaphysical College-bred or other, is allowed to practise the game

unless he possess a copy of that holy nightmare. That means a large

and constantly augmenting income for the Trust. No C.S. family would

consider itself loyal or pious or pain-proof without an Annex or two in

the house. That means an income for the Trust--in the near future--of

millions: not thousands--millions a year.

No member, young or old, of a Christian-Scientist church can retain

that membership unless he pay 'capitation tax' to the Boston Trust

every year. That means an income for the Trust--in the near future--of

millions more per year.

It is a reasonably safe guess that in America in 1910 there will be

10,000,000 Christian Scientists, and 3,000,000 in Great Britain; that

these figures will be trebled by 1920; that in America in 1910 the

Christian Scientists will be a political force, in 1920 politically

formidable--to remain that, permanently. And I think it a reasonable

guess that the Trust (which is already in our day pretty brusque in its

ways) will then be the most insolent and unscrupulous and tyrannical

politico-religious master that has dominated a people since the palmy

days of the Inquisition. And a stronger master than the strongest

of bygone times, because this one will have a financial strength

not dreamed of by any predecessor; as effective a concentration

of irresponsible power as any predecessor had; in the railway, the

telegraph, and the subsidised newspaper, better facilities for watching

and managing his empire than any predecessor has had; and after a

generation or two he will probably divide Christendom with the Catholic

Church.

The Roman Church has a perfect organisation, and it has an effective

centralisation of power--but not of its cash. Its multitude of Bishops

are rich, but their riches remain in large measure in their own hands.

They collect from 200,000,000 of people, but they keep the bulk of the

result at home. The Boston Pope of by-and-by will draw his dollar-a-head

capitation-tax from 300,000,000 of the human race, and the Annex and

the rest of his book-shop will fetch in double as much more; and his

Metaphysical Colleges, the annual pilgrimage to Mrs. Eddy's tomb, from

all over the world--admission, the Christian-Science Dollar (payable

in advance)--purchases of consecrated glass beads, candles, memorial

spoons, aureoled chromo-portraits and bogus autographs of Mrs. Eddy,

cash offerings at her shrine--no crutches of cured cripples received,

and no imitations of miraculously restored broken legs and necks allowed

to be hung up except when made out of the Holy Metal and proved by

fire-assay; cash for miracles worked at the tomb: these money-sources,

with a thousand to be yet invented and ambushed upon the devotee, will

bring the annual increment well up above a billion. And nobody but the

Trust will have the handling of it. No Bishops appointed unless they

agree to hand in 90 per cent. of the catch. In that day the Trust will

monopolise the manufacture and sale of the Old and New Testaments as

well as the Annex, and raise their price to Annex rates, and compel the

devotee to buy (for even to-day a healer has to have the Annex and the

Scriptures or he is not allowed to work the game), and that will bring

several hundred million dollars more. In those days the Trust will have

an income approaching $5,000,000 a day, and no expenses to be taken out

of it; no taxes to pay, and no charities to support. That last detail

should not be lightly passed over by the reader; it is well entitled to

attention.

No charities to support. No, nor even to contribute to. One searches in

vain the Trust's advertisements and the utterances of its pulpit for

any suggestion that it spends a penny on orphans, widows, discharged

prisoners, hospitals, ragged schools, night missions, city missions,

foreign missions, libraries, old people's homes, or any other object

that appeals to a human being's purse through his heart.(2)

I have hunted, hunted, and hunted, by correspondence and otherwise, and

have not yet got upon the track of a farthing that the Trust has spent

upon any worthy object. Nothing makes a Scientist so uncomfortable as to

ask him if he knows of a case where Christian Science has spent money

on a benevolence, either among its own adherents or elsewhere. He is

obliged to say no. And then one discovers that the person questioned has

been asked the question many times before, and that it is getting to be

a sore subject with him. Why a sore subject? Because he has written his

chiefs and asked with high confidence for an answer that will confound

these questioners--and the chiefs did not reply. He has written

again--and then again--not with confidence, but humbly, now, and has

begged for defensive ammunition in the voice of supplication. A reply

does at last come--to this effect: 'We must have faith in Our Mother,

and rest content in the conviction that whatever She(3) does with the

money it is in accordance with orders from Heaven, for She does no act

of any kind without first “demonstrating over” it.'

That settles it--as far as the disciple is concerned. His Mind is

entirely satisfied with that answer; he gets down his Annex and does

an incantation or two, and that mesmerises his spirit and puts that to

sleep--brings it peace. Peace and comfort and joy, until some inquirer

punctures the old sore again.

Through friends in America I asked some questions, and in some cases

got definite and informing answers; in other cases the answers were not

definite and not valuable. From the definite answers I gather that the

'capitation-tax' is compulsory, and that the sum is one dollar. To the

question, 'Does any of the money go to charities?' the answer from an

authoritative source was: _'No, not in the sense usually conveyed by this

word.'_ (The italics are mine.) That answer is cautious. But definite,

I think--utterly and unassailably definite--although quite

Christian-scientifically foggy in its phrasing. Christian Science is

generally foggy, generally diffuse, generally garrulous. The writer was

aware that the first word in his phrase answered the question which I

was asking, but he could not help adding nine dark words. Meaningless

ones, unless explained by him. It is quite likely--as intimated by

him--that Christian Science has invented a new class of objects to apply

the word charity to, but without an explanation we cannot know what they

are. We quite easily and naturally and confidently guess that they are

in all cases objects which will return five hundred per cent. on the

Trust's investment in them, but guessing is not knowledge; it is merely,

in this case, a sort of nine-tenths certainty deducible from what we

think we know of the Trust's trade principles and its sly and furtive

and shifty ways.

Sly? Deep? Judicious? The Trust understands business. The Trust does not

give itself away. It defeats all the attempts of us impertinents to get

at its trade secrets. To this day, after all our diligence, we have not

been able to get it to confess what it does with the money. It does not

even let its own disciples find out. All it says is, that the matter

has been 'demonstrated over.' Now and then a lay Scientist says, with

a grateful exultation, that Mrs. Eddy is enormously rich, but he stops

there; as to whether any of the money goes to other charities or not,

he is obliged to admit that he does not know. However, the Trust is

composed of human beings; and this justifies the conjecture that if it

had a charity on its list which it did not need to blush for, we should

soon hear of it.

'Without money and without price.' Those used to be the terms. Mrs.

Eddy's Annex cancels them. The motto of Christian Science is 'The

labourer is worthy of his hire.' And now that it has been 'demonstrated

over,' we find its spiritual meaning to be, 'Do anything and everything

your hand may find to do; and charge cash for it, and collect the money

in advance.' The Scientist has on his tongue's end a cut-and-dried,

Boston-supplied set of rather lean arguments whose function is to show

that it is a Heaven-commanded duty to do this, and that the croupiers of

the game have no choice by to obey.

The Trust seems to be a reincarnation. Exodus xxxii.4.

I have no reverence for Mrs. Eddy and the rest of the Trust--if there is

a rest--but I am not lacking in reverence for the sincerities of the

lay membership of the new Church. There is every evidence that the lay

members are entirely sincere in their faith, and I think sincerity

is always entitled to honour and respect, let the inspiration of the

sincerity be what it may. Zeal and sincerity can carry a new religion

further than any other missionary except fire and sword, and I believe

that the new religion will conquer the half of Christendom in a hundred

years. I am not intending this as a compliment to the human race, I

am merely stating an opinion. And yet I think that perhaps it is a

compliment to the race. I keep in mind that saying of an orthodox

preacher--quoted further back. He conceded that this new Christianity

frees its possessor's life from frets, fears, vexations, bitterness, and

all sorts of imagination-propagated maladies and pains, and fills his

world with sunshine and his heart with gladness. If Christian Science,

with this stupendous equipment--and final salvation added--cannot win

half the Christian globe, I must be badly mistaken in the make-up of the

human race.

I think the Trust will be handed down like the other papacy, and will

always know how to handle its limitless cash. It will press the button;

the zeal, the energy, the sincerity, the enthusiasm of its countless

vassals will do the rest.

IX

The power which a man's imagination has over his body to heal it or make

it sick is a force which none of us is born without. The first man

had it, the last one will possess it. If left to himself a man is most

likely to use only the mischievous half of the force--the half which

invents imaginary ailments for him and cultivates them: and if he is one

of these very wise people he is quite likely to scoff at the beneficent

half of the force and deny its existence. And so, to heal or help that

man, two imaginations are required: his own and some outsider's. The

outsider, B, must imagine that his incantations are the healing power

that is curing A, and A must imagine that this is so. It is not so, at

all; but no matter, the cure is effected, and that is the main thing.

The outsider's work is unquestionably valuable; so valuable that it may

fairly be likened to the essential work performed by the engineer when

he handles the throttle and turns on the steam: the actual power is

lodged exclusively in the engine, but if the engine were left alone it

would never start of itself. Whether the engineer be named Jim, or Bob,

or Tom, it is all one--his services are necessary, and he is entitled

to such wage as he can get you to pay. Whether he be named

Christian Scientist, or Mental Scientist, or Mind Curist, or Lourdes

Miracle-Worker, or King's-Evil Expert, it is all one,--he is merely the

Engineer, he simply turns on the same old steam and the engine does the

whole work.

In the case of the cure-engine it is a distinct advantage to clothe the

engineer in religious overalls and give him a pious name. It greatly

enlarges the business, and does no one any harm.

The Christian-Scientist engineer drives exactly the same trade as the

other engineers, yet he out-prospers the whole of them put together. Is

it because he has captured the takingest name? I think that that is only

a small part of it. I think that the secret of his high prosperity lies

elsewhere:

The Christian Scientist has organised the business. Now that was

certainly a gigantic idea. There is more intellect in it than would

be needed in the invention of a couple of millions of Eddy

Science-and-Health Bible Annexes. Electricity, in limitless volume, has

existed in the air and the rocks and the earth and everywhere since

time began--and was going to waste all the while. In our time we have

organised that scattered and wandering force and set it to work,

and backed the business with capital, and concentrated it in few and

competent hands, and the results are as we see.

The Christian Scientist has taken a force which has been lying idle in

every member of the human race since time began, and has organised it,

and backed the business with capital, and concentrated it at Boston

headquarters in the hands of a small and very competent Trust, and there

are results.

Therein lies the promise that this monopoly is going to extend its

commerce wide in the earth. I think that if the business were conducted

in the loose and disconnected fashion customary with such things, it

would achieve but little more than the modest prosperity usually secured

by unorganised great moral and commercial ventures; but I believe that

so long as this one remains compactly organised and closely concentrated

in a Trust, the spread of its dominion will continue.

VIENNA: May 1, 1899.

(1) After raising a dead child to life, the disciple who did it writes

an account of her performance, to Mrs. Eddy, and closes it thus: 'My

prayer daily is to be more spiritual, that I may do more as you would

have me do... and may we all love you more and so live it that the

world may know that the Christ is come.'--Printed in the Concord, N.H.,

Independent Statesman, March 9, 1899. If this is no worship, it is a

good imitation of it.

(2) In the past two years the membership of the Established Church of

England have given voluntary contributions amounting to $73,000,000 to

the Church's benevolent enterprises. Churches that give have nothing to

hide.

(3) I may be introducing the capital S a little early--still it is on

its way.

IS HE LIVING OR IS HE DEAD?

I was spending the month of March 1892 at Mentone, in the Riviera. At

this retired spot one has all the advantages, privately, which are to be

had publicly at Monte Carlo and Nice, a few miles farther along. That is

to say, one has the flooding sunshine, the balmy air and the brilliant

blue sea, without the marring additions of human pow-wow and fuss and

feathers and display. Mentone is quiet, simple, restful, unpretentious;

the rich and the gaudy do not come there. As a rule, I mean, the rich

do not come there. Now and then a rich man comes, and I presently got

acquainted with one of these. Partially to disguise him I will call him

Smith. One day, in the Hotel des Anglais, at the second breakfast, he

exclaimed:

'Quick! Cast your eye on the man going out at the door. Take in every

detail of him.'

'Why?'

'Do you know who he is?'

'Yes. He spent several days here before you came. He is an old, retired,

and very rich silk manufacturer from Lyons, they say, and I guess he is

alone in the world, for he always looks sad and dreamy, and doesn't talk

with anybody. His name is Theophile Magnan.'

I supposed that Smith would now proceed to justify the large interest

which he had shown in Monsieur Magnan, but, instead, he dropped into a

brown study, and was apparently lost to me and to the rest of the world

during some minutes. Now and then he passed his fingers through his

flossy white hair, to assist his thinking, and meantime he allowed his

breakfast to go on cooling. At last he said:

'No, it's gone; I can't call it back.'

'Can't call what back?'

'It's one of Hans Andersen's beautiful little stories. But it's gone fro

me. Part of it is like this: A child has a caged bird, which it loves

but thoughtlessly neglects. The bird pours out its song unheard and

unheeded; but, in time, hunger and thirst assail the creature, and its

song grows plaintive and feeble and finally ceases--the bird dies. The

child comes, and is smitten to the heart with remorse: then, with bitter

tears and lamentations, it calls its mates, and they bury the bird with

elaborate pomp and the tenderest grief, without knowing, poor things,

that it isn't children only who starve poets to death and then spend

enough on their funerals and monuments to have kept them alive and made

them easy and comfortable. Now--'

But here we were interrupted. About ten that evening I ran across

Smith, and he asked me up to his parlour to help him smoke and drink hot

Scotch. It was a cosy place, with its comfortable chairs, its cheerful

lamps, and its friendly open fire of seasoned olive-wood. To make

everything perfect, there was a muffled booming of the surf outside.

After the second Scotch and much lazy and contented chat, Smith said:

'Now we are properly primed--I to tell a curious history and you to

listen to it. It has been a secret for many years--a secret between

me and three others; but I am going to break the seal now. Are you

comfortable?'

'Perfectly. Go on.'

Here follows what he told me:

'A long time ago I was a young artist--a very young artist, in fact--and

I wandered about the country parts of France, sketching here and

sketching there, and was presently joined by a couple of darling young

Frenchmen who were at the same kind of thing that I was doing. We were

as happy as we were poor, or as poor as we were happy--phrase it to suit

yourself. Claude Frere and Carl Boulanger--these are the names of those

boys; dear, dear fellows, and the sunniest spirits that ever laughed at

poverty and had a noble good time in all weathers.

'At last we ran hard aground in a Breton village, and an artist as poor

as ourselves took us in and literally saved us from starving--Francois

Millet--'

'What! the great Francois Millet?'

'Great? He wasn't any greater than we were, then. He hadn't any fame,

even in his own village; and he was so poor that he hadn't anything to

feed us on but turnips, and even the turnips failed us sometimes. We

four became fast friends, doting friends, inseparables. We painted away

together with all our might, piling up stock, piling up stock, but very

seldom getting rid of any of it. We had lovely times together; but, O my

soul! how we were pinched now and then!

'For a little over two years this went on. At last, one day, Claude

said:

'“Boys, we've come to the end. Do you understand that?--absolutely to

the end. Everybody has struck--there's a league formed against us. I've

been all around the village and it's just as I tell you. They refuse to

credit us for another centime until all the odds and ends are paid up.”

'This struck us as cold. Every face was blank with dismay. We realised

that our circumstances were desperate, now. There was a long silence.

Finally, Millet said with a sigh:

'“Nothing occurs to me--nothing. Suggest something, lads.”

'There was no response, unless a mournful silence may be called a

response. Carl got up, and walked nervously up and down a while, then

said:

'“It's a shame! Look at these canvases: stacks and stacks of as good

pictures as anybody in Europe paints--I don't care who he is. Yes,

and plenty of lounging strangers have said the same--or nearly that,

anyway.”

'“But didn't buy,” Millet said.

'“No matter, they said it; and it's true, too. Look at your 'Angelus'

there! Will anybody tell me--”

'“Pah, Carl--My 'Angelus!' I was offered five francs for it.”

'“When?”

'“Who offered it?”

'“Where is he?”

'“Why didn't you take it?”

'“Come--don't all speak at once. I thought he would give more--I was

sure of it--he looked it--so I asked him eight.”

'“Well--and then?”

'“He said he would call again.”

'“Thunder and lightning! Why, Francois--”

'“Oh, I know--I know! It was a mistake, and I was a fool. Boys, I meant

for the best; you'll grant me that, and I--”

'“Why, certainly, we know that, bless your dear heart; but don't you be

a fool again.”

'“I? I wish somebody would come along and offer us a cabbage for

it--you'd see!”

'“A cabbage! Oh, don't name it--it makes my mouth water. Talk of things

less trying.”

'“Boys,” said Carl, “do these pictures lack merit? Answer me that.”

'“No!”

'“Aren't they of very great and high merit? Answer me that.”

'“Yes.”

'“Of such great and high merit that, if an illustrious name were

attached to them they would sell at splendid prices. Isn't it so?”

'“Certainly it is. Nobody doubts that.”

'“But--I'm not joking--isn't it so?”

'“Why, of course it's so--and we are not joking. But what of it. What of

it? How does that concern us?”

'“In this way, comrades--we'll attach an illustrious name to them!”

'The lively conversation stopped. The faces were turned inquiringly upon

Carl. What sort of riddle might this be? Where was an illustrious name

to be borrowed? And who was to borrow it?

'Carl sat down, and said:

'“Now, I have a perfectly serious thing to propose. I think it is the

only way to keep us out of the almshouse, and I believe it to be a

perfectly sure way. I base this opinion upon certain multitudinous and

long-established facts in human history. I believe my project will make

us all rich.”

'“Rich! You've lost your mind.”

'“No, I haven't.”

'“Yes, you have--you've lost your mind. What do you call rich?”

'“A hundred thousand francs apiece.”

'“He has lost his mind. I knew it.”

'“Yes, he has. Carl, privation has been too much for you, and--”

'“Carl, you want to take a pill and get right to bed.”

'“Bandage him first--bandage his head, and then--”

'“No, bandage his heels; his brains have been settling for weeks--I've

noticed it.”

'“Shut up!” said Millet, with ostensible severity, “and let the boy have

his say. Now, then--come out with your project, Carl. What is it?”

'“Well, then, by way of preamble I will ask you to note this fact in

human history: that the merit of many a great artist has never been

acknowledged until after he was starved and dead. This has happened so

often that I make bold to found a law upon it. This law: that the merit

of every great unknown and neglected artist must and will be recognised

and his pictures climb to high prices after his death. My project is

this: we must cast lots--one of us must die.”

'The remark fell so calmly and so unexpectedly that we almost forgot to

jump. Then there was a wild chorus of advice again--medical advice--for

the help of Carl's brain; but he waited patiently for the hilarity to

calm down, and then went on again with his project:

'“Yes, one of us must die, to save the others--and himself. We will cast

lots. The one chosen shall be illustrious, all of us shall be rich. Hold

still, now--hold still; don't interrupt--I tell you I know what I am

talking about. Here is the idea. During the next three months the one

who is to die shall paint with all his might, enlarge his stock all he

can--not pictures, no! skeleton sketches, studies, parts of studies,

fragments of studies, a dozen dabs of the brush on each--meaningless, of

course, but his, with his cipher on them; turn out fifty a day, each to

contain some peculiarity or mannerism easily detectable as his--they're

the things that sell, you know, and are collected at fabulous prices for

the world's museums, after the great man is gone; we'll have a ton

of them ready--a ton! And all that time the rest of us will be busy

supporting the moribund, and working Paris and the dealers--preparations

for the coming event, you know; and when everything is hot and just

right, we'll spring the death on them and have the notorious funeral.

You get the idea?”

'“N-o; at least, not qu--”

'“Not quite? Don't you see? The man doesn't really die; he changes his

name and vanishes; we bury a dummy, and cry over it, with all the world

to help. And I--”

'But he wasn't allowed to finish. Everybody broke out into a rousing

hurrah of applause; and all jumped up and capered about the room and

fell on each other's necks in transports of gratitude and joy. For hours

we talked over the great plan, without ever feeling hungry; and at last,

when all the details had been arranged satisfactorily, we cast lots and

Millet was elected--elected to die, as we called it. Then we scraped

together those things which one never parts with until he is betting

them against future wealth--keepsake trinkets and suchlike--and these we

pawned for enough to furnish us a frugal farewell supper and breakfast,

and leave us a few francs over for travel, and a stake of turnips and

such for Millet to live on for a few days.

'Next morning, early, the three of us cleared out, straightway after

breakfast--on foot, of course. Each of us carried a dozen of Millet's

small pictures, purposing to market them. Carl struck for Paris, where

he would start the work of building up Millet's name against the coming

great day. Claude and I were to separate, and scatter abroad over

France.

'Now, it will surprise you to know what an easy and comfortable thing we

had. I walked two days before I began business. Then I began to sketch

a villa in the outskirts of a big town--because I saw the proprietor

standing on an upper veranda. He came down to look on--I thought he

would. I worked swiftly, intending to keep him interested. Occasionally

he fired off a little ejaculation of approbation, and by-and-by he spoke

up with enthusiasm, and said I was a master!

'I put down my brush, reached into my satchel, fetched out a Millet, and

pointed to the cipher in the corner. I said, proudly:

'“I suppose you recognise that? Well, he taught me! I should think I

ought to know my trade!”

'The man looked guiltily embarrassed, and was silent. I said

sorrowfully:

'“You don't mean to intimate that you don't know the cipher of Francois

Millet!”

'Of course he didn't know that cipher; but he was the gratefullest man

you ever saw, just the same, for being let out of an uncomfortable place

on such easy terms. He said:

'“No! Why, it is Millet's, sure enough! I don't know what I could have

been thinking of. Of course I recognise it now.”

'Next, he wanted to buy it; but I said that although I wasn't rich I

wasn't that poor. However, at last, I let him have it for eight hundred

francs.'

'Eight hundred!'

'Yes. Millet would have sold it for a pork chop. Yes, I got eight

hundred francs for that little thing. I wish I could get it back for

eighty thousand. But that time's gone by. I made a very nice picture

of that man's house and I wanted to offer it to him for ten francs, but

that wouldn't answer, seeing I was the pupil of such a master, so I sold

it to him for a hundred. I sent the eight hundred francs straight to

Millet from that town and struck out again next day.

'But I didn't walk--no. I rode. I have ridden ever since. I sold one

picture every day, and never tried to sell two. I always said to my

customer:

'“I am a fool to sell a picture of Francois Millet's at all, for that

man is not going to live three months, and when he dies his pictures

can't be had for love or money.”

'I took care to spread that little fact as far as I could, and prepare

the world for the event.

'I take credit to myself for our plan of selling the pictures--it was

mine. I suggested it that last evening when we were laying out our

campaign, and all three of us agreed to give it a good fair trial before

giving it up for some other. It succeeded with all of us. I walked only

two days, Claude walked two--both of us afraid to make Millet celebrated

too close to home--but Carl walked only half a day, the bright,

conscienceless rascal, and after that he travelled like a duke.

'Every now and then we got in with a country editor and started an item

around through the press; not an item announcing that a new painter had

been discovered, but an item which let on that everybody knew Francois

Millet; not an item praising him in any way, but merely a word

concerning the present condition of the “master”--sometimes hopeful,

sometimes despondent, but always tinged with fears for the worst. We

always marked these paragraphs, and sent the papers to all the people

who had bought pictures of us.

'Carl was soon in Paris and he worked things with a high hand. He made

friends with the correspondents, and got Millet's condition reported to

England and all over the continent, and America, and everywhere.

'At the end of six weeks from the start, we three met in Paris and

called a halt, and stopped sending back to Millet for additional

pictures. The boom was so high, and everything so ripe, that we saw that

it would be a mistake not to strike now, right away, without waiting any

longer. So we wrote Millet to go to bed and begin to waste away pretty

fast, for we should like him to die in ten days if he could get ready.

'Then we figured up and found that among us we had sold eighty-five

small pictures and studies, and had sixty-nine thousand francs to show

for it. Carl had made the last sale and the most brilliant one of all.

He sold the “Angelus” for twenty-two hundred francs. How we did glorify

him!--not foreseeing that a day was coming by-and-by when France would

struggle to own it and a stranger would capture it for five hundred and

fifty thousand, cash.

'We had a wind-up champagne supper that night, and next day Claude and

I packed up and went off to nurse Millet through his last days and keep

busybodies out of the house and send daily bulletins to Carl in Paris

for publication in the papers of several continents for the information

of a waiting world. The sad end came at last, and Carl was there in time

to help in the final mournful rites.

'You remember that great funeral, and what a stir it made all over

the globe, and how the illustrious of two worlds came to attend it and

testify their sorrow. We four--still inseparable--carried the coffin,

and would allow none to help. And we were right about that, because it

hadn't anything in it but a wax figure, and any other coffin-bearers

would have found fault with the weight. Yes, we same old four, who had

lovingly shared privation together in the old hard times now gone for

ever, carried the cof--'

'Which four?'

'We four--for Millet helped to carry his own coffin. In disguise, you

know. Disguised as a relative--distant relative.'

'Astonishing!'

'But true just the same. Well, you remember how the pictures went up.

Money? We didn't know what to do with it. There's a man in Paris to-day

who owns seventy Millet pictures. He paid us two million francs for

them. And as for the bushels of sketches and studies which Millet

shovelled out during the six weeks that we were on the road, well, it

would astonish you to know the figure we sell them at nowadays--that is,

when we consent to let one go!'

'It is a wonderful history, perfectly wonderful!'

'Yes--it amounts to that.'

'Whatever became of Millet?'

'Can you keep a secret?'

'I can.'

'Do you remember the man I called your attention to in the dining room

to-day? That was Francois Millet.'

'Great--'

'Scott! Yes. For once they didn't starve a genius to death and then

put into other pockets the rewards he should have had himself. This

song-bird was not allowed to pipe out its heart unheard and then be paid

with the cold pomp of a big funeral. We looked out for that.'

MY DÉBUT AS A LITERARY PERSON

In those early days I had already published one little thing ['The

Jumping Frog') in an Eastern paper, but I did not consider that that

counted. In my view, a person who published things in a mere newspaper

could not properly claim recognition as a Literary Person: he must

rise away above that; he must appear in a magazine. He would then be

a Literary Person; also, he would be famous--right away. These

two ambitions were strong upon me. This was in 1866. I prepared my

contribution, and then looked around for the best magazine to go up

to glory in. I selected the most important one in New York. The

contribution was accepted. I signed it 'MARK TWAIN;' for that name had

some currency on the Pacific coast, and it was my idea to spread it

all over the world, now, at this one jump. The article appeared in the

December number, and I sat up a month waiting for the January number;

for that one would contain the year's list of contributors, my name

would be in it, and I should be famous and could give the banquet I was

meditating.

I did not give the banquet. I had not written the 'MARK TWAIN'

distinctly; it was a fresh name to Eastern printers, and they put it

'Mike Swain' or 'MacSwain,' I do not remember which. At any rate, I was

not celebrated and I did not give the banquet. I was a Literary Person,

but that was all--a buried one; buried alive.

My article was about the burning of the clipper-ship 'Hornet' on the

line, May 3, 1866. There were thirty-one men on board at the time, and

I was in Honolulu when the fifteen lean and ghostly survivors arrived

there after a voyage of forty-three days in an open boat, through the

blazing tropics, on ten days' rations of food. A very remarkable trip;

but it was conducted by a captain who was a remarkable man, otherwise

there would have been no survivors. He was a New Englander of the best

sea-going stock of the old capable times--Captain Josiah Mitchell.

I was in the islands to write letters for the weekly edition of the

Sacramento 'Union,' a rich and influential daily journal which hadn't

any use for them, but could afford to spend twenty dollars a week for

nothing. The proprietors were lovable and well-beloved men: long ago

dead, no doubt, but in me there is at least one person who still holds

them in grateful remembrance; for I dearly wanted to see the islands,

and they listened to me and gave me the opportunity when there was but

slender likelihood that it could profit them in any way.

I had been in the islands several months when the survivors arrived. I

was laid up in my room at the time, and unable to walk. Here was a great

occasion to serve my journal, and I not able to take advantage of it.

Necessarily I was in deep trouble. But by good luck his Excellency Anson

Burlingame was there at the time, on his way to take up his post in

China, where he did such good work for the United States. He came and

put me on a stretcher and had me carried to the hospital where the

shipwrecked men were, and I never needed to ask a question. He attended

to all of that himself, and I had nothing to do but make the notes.

It was like him to take that trouble. He was a great man and a great

American, and it was in his fine nature to come down from his high

office and do a friendly turn whenever he could.

We got through with this work at six in the evening. I took no dinner,

for there was no time to spare if I would beat the other correspondents.

I spent four hours arranging the notes in their proper order, then wrote

all night and beyond it; with this result: that I had a very long and

detailed account of the 'Hornet' episode ready at nine in the morning,

while the other correspondents of the San Francisco journals had nothing

but a brief outline report--for they didn't sit up. The now-and-then

schooner was to sail for San Francisco about nine; when I reached the

dock she was free forward and was just casting off her stern-line. My

fat envelope was thrown by a strong hand, and fell on board all right,

and my victory was a safe thing. All in due time the ship reached San

Francisco, but it was my complete report which made the stir and was

telegraphed to the New York papers, by Mr. Cash; he was in charge of the

Pacific bureau of the 'New York Herald' at the time.

When I returned to California by-and-by, I went up to Sacramento and

presented a bill for general correspondence at twenty dollars a week. It

was paid. Then I presented a bill for 'special' service on the 'Hornet'

matter of three columns of solid nonpareil at a hundred dollars a

column. The cashier didn't faint, but he came rather near it. He sent

for the proprietors, and they came and never uttered a protest. They

only laughed in their jolly fashion, and said it was robbery, but no

matter; it was a grand 'scoop' (the bill or my 'Hornet' report, I didn't

know which): 'Pay it. It's all right.' The best men that ever owned a

newspaper.

The 'Hornet' survivors reached the Sandwich Islands the 15th of June.

They were mere skinny skeletons; their clothes hung limp about them and

fitted them no better than a flag fits the flag-staff in a calm. But

they were well nursed in the hospital; the people of Honolulu kept them

supplied with all the dainties they could need; they gathered strength

fast, and were presently nearly as good as new. Within a fortnight the

most of them took ship for San Francisco; that is, if my dates have not

gone astray in my memory. I went in the same ship, a sailing-vessel.

Captain Mitchell of the 'Hornet' was along; also the only passengers

the 'Hornet' had carried. These were two young men from Stamford,

Connecticut--brothers: Samuel and Henry Ferguson. The 'Hornet' was a

clipper of the first class and a fast sailer; the young men's quarters

were roomy and comfortable, and were well stocked with books, and also

with canned meats and fruits to help out the ship-fare with; and when

the ship cleared from New York harbour in the first week of January

there was promise that she would make quick and pleasant work of the

fourteen or fifteen thousand miles in front of her. As soon as the cold

latitudes were left behind and the vessel entered summer weather, the

voyage became a holiday picnic. The ship flew southward under a cloud of

sail which needed no attention, no modifying or change of any kind, for

days together. The young men read, strolled the ample deck, rested and

drowsed in the shade of the canvas, took their meals with the captain;

and when the day was done they played dummy whist with him till

bed-time. After the snow and ice and tempests of the Horn, the ship

bowled northward into summer weather again, and the trip was a picnic

once more.

Until the early morning of the 3rd of May. Computed position of the ship

112 degrees 10 minutes longitude, latitude 2 degrees above the equator;

no wind, no sea--dead calm; temperature of the atmosphere, tropical,

blistering, unimaginable by one who has not been roasted in it. There

was a cry of fire. An unfaithful sailor had disobeyed the rules and

gone into the booby-hatch with an open light to draw some varnish from a

cask. The proper result followed, and the vessel's hours were numbered.

There was not much time to spare, but the captain made the most of it.

The three boats were launched--long-boat and two quarter-boats. That

the time was very short and the hurry and excitement considerable is

indicated by the fact that in launching the boats a hole was stove in

the side of one of them by some sort of collision, and an oar driven

through the side of another. The captain's first care was to have four

sick sailors brought up and placed on deck out of harm's way--among them

a 'Portyghee.' This man had not done a day's work on the voyage, but had

lain in his hammock four months nursing an abscess. When we were taking

notes in the Honolulu hospital and a sailor told this to Mr. Burlingame,

the third mate, who was lying near, raised his head with an effort, and

in a weak voice made this correction--with solemnity and feeling:

'Raising abscesses! He had a family of them. He done it to keep from

standing his watch.'

Any provisions that lay handy were gathered up by the men and two

passengers and brought and dumped on the deck where the 'Portyghee'

lay; then they ran for more. The sailor who was telling this to Mr.

Burlingame added:

'We pulled together thirty-two days' rations for the thirty-one men that

way.'

The third mate lifted his head again and made another correction--with

bitterness:

'The “Portyghee” et twenty-two of them while he was soldiering there and

nobody noticing. A damned hound.'

The fire spread with great rapidity. The smoke and flame drove the men

back, and they had to stop their incomplete work of fetching provisions,

and take to the boats with only ten days' rations secured.

Each boat had a compass, a quadrant, a copy of Bowditch's 'Navigator,'

and a Nautical Almanac, and the captain's and chief mate's boats had

chronometers. There were thirty-one men all told. The captain took an

account of stock, with the following result: four hams, nearly thirty

pounds of salt pork, half-box of raisins, one hundred pounds of bread,

twelve two-pound cans of oysters, clams, and assorted meats, a

keg containing four pounds of butter, twelve gallons of water in a

forty-gallon 'scuttle-butt', four one-gallon demijohns full of water,

three bottles of brandy (the property of passengers), some pipes,

matches, and a hundred pounds of tobacco. No medicines. Of course the

whole party had to go on short rations at once.

The captain and the two passengers kept diaries. On our voyage to San

Francisco we ran into a calm in the middle of the Pacific, and did

not move a rod during fourteen days; this gave me a chance to copy the

diaries. Samuel Ferguson's is the fullest; I will draw upon it now.

When the following paragraph was written the doomed ship was about one

hundred and twenty days out from port, and all hands were putting in the

lazy time about as usual, as no one was forecasting disaster.

May 2. Latitude 1 degree 28 minutes N., longitude 111

degrees 38 minutes W. Another hot and sluggish day; at one time,

however, the clouds promised wind, and there came a slight breeze

--just enough to keep us going. The only thing to chronicle to-day

is the quantities of fish about; nine bonitos were caught this

forenoon, and some large albacores seen. After dinner the first

mate hooked a fellow which he could not hold, so he let the line go

to the captain, who was on the bow. He, holding on, brought the

fish to with a jerk, and snap went the line, hook and all. We also

saw astern, swimming lazily after us, an enormous shark, which must

have been nine or ten feet long. We tried him with all sorts of

lines and a piece of pork, but he declined to take hold. I suppose

he had appeased his appetite on the heads and other remains of the

bonitos we had thrown overboard.

Next day's entry records the disaster. The three boats got away, retired

to a short distance, and stopped. The two injured ones were leaking

badly; some of the men were kept busy baling, others patched the holes

as well as they could. The captain, the two passengers, and eleven men

were in the long-boat, with a share of the provisions and water, and

with no room to spare, for the boat was only twenty-one feet long, six

wide, and three deep. The chief mate and eight men were in one of the

small boats, the second mate and seven men in the other. The passengers

had saved no clothing but what they had on, excepting their overcoats.

The ship, clothed in flame and sending up a vast column of black smoke

into the sky, made a grand picture in the solitudes of the sea, and

hour after hour the outcasts sat and watched it. Meantime the captain

ciphered on the immensity of the distance that stretched between him and

the nearest available land, and then scaled the rations down to meet the

emergency; half a biscuit for dinner; one biscuit and some canned meat

for dinner; half a biscuit for tea; a few swallows of water for each

meal. And so hunger began to gnaw while the ship was still burning.

May 4. The ship burned all night very brightly, and hopes are

that some ship has seen the light and is bearing down upon us.

None seen, however, this forenoon, so we have determined to go

together north and a little west to some islands in 18 degrees or

19 degrees north latitude and 114 degrees to 115 degrees west

longitude, hoping in the meantime to be picked up by some ship.

The ship sank suddenly at about 5 A.M. We find the sun very hot

and scorching, but all try to keep out of it as much as we can.

They did a quite natural thing now: waited several hours for that

possible ship that might have seen the light to work her slow way to

them through the nearly dead calm. Then they gave it up and set about

their plans. If you will look at the map you will say that their

course could be easily decided. Albemarle Island (Galapagos group) lies

straight eastward nearly a thousand miles; the islands referred to in

the diary as 'some islands' (Revillagigedo Islands) lie, as they think,

in some widely uncertain region northward about one thousand miles and

westward one hundred or one hundred and fifty miles. Acapulco, on the

Mexican coast, lies about north-east something short of one thousand

miles. You will say random rocks in the ocean are not what is wanted;

let them strike for Acapulco and the solid continent. That does look

like the rational course, but one presently guesses from the diaries

that the thing would have been wholly irrational--indeed, suicidal. If

the boats struck for Albemarle they would be in the doldrums all the

way; and that means a watery perdition, with winds which are wholly

crazy, and blow from all points of the compass at once and also

perpendicularly. If the boats tried for Acapulco they would get out of

the doldrums when half-way there--in case they ever got half-way--and

then they would be in lamentable case, for there they would meet the

north-east trades coming down in their teeth, and these boats were so

rigged that they could not sail within eight points of the wind. So they

wisely started northward, with a slight slant to the west. They had but

ten days' short allowance of food; the long-boat was towing the others;

they could not depend on making any sort of definite progress in the

doldrums, and they had four or five hundred miles of doldrums in front

of them yet. They are the real equator, a tossing, roaring, rainy belt,

ten or twelve hundred miles broad, which girdles the globe.

It rained hard the first night and all got drenched, but they filled up

their water-butt. The brothers were in the stern with the captain, who

steered. The quarters were cramped; no one got much sleep. 'Kept on our

course till squalls headed us off.'

Stormy and squally the next morning, with drenching rains. A heavy and

dangerous 'cobbling' sea. One marvels how such boats could live in it.

Is it called a feat of desperate daring when one man and a dog cross the

Atlantic in a boat the size of a long-boat, and indeed it is; but this

long-boat was overloaded with men and other plunder, and was only three

feet deep. 'We naturally thought often of all at home, and were glad to

remember that it was Sacrament Sunday, and that prayers would go up from

our friends for us, although they know not our peril.'

The captain got not even a cat-nap during the first three days and

nights, but he got a few winks of sleep the fourth night. 'The worst

sea yet.' About ten at night the captain changed his course and headed

east-north-east, hoping to make Clipperton Rock. If he failed, no

matter; he would be in a better position to make those other islands. I

will mention here that he did not find that rock.

On May 8 no wind all day; sun blistering hot; they take to the oars.

Plenty of dolphins, but they couldn't catch any. 'I think we are all

beginning to realise more and more the awful situation we are in.' 'It

often takes a ship a week to get through the doldrums; how much longer,

then, such a craft as ours?' 'We are so crowded that we cannot stretch

ourselves out for a good sleep, but have to take it any way we can get

it.'

Of course this feature will grow more and more trying, but it will be

human nature to cease to set it down; there will be five weeks of it

yet--we must try to remember that for the diarist; it will make our beds

the softer.

May 9 the sun gives him a warning: 'Looking with both eyes, the horizon

crossed thus +.' 'Henry keeps well, but broods over our troubles more

than I wish he did.' They caught two dolphins; they tasted well. 'The

captain believed the compass out of the way, but the long-invisible

north star came out--a welcome sight--and endorsed the compass.'

May 10, 'latitude 7 degrees 0 minutes 3 seconds N., longitude 111

degrees 32 minutes W.' So they have made about three hundred miles of

northing in the six days since they left the region of the lost ship.

'Drifting in calms all day.' And baking hot, of course; I have been

down there, and I remember that detail. 'Even as the captain says,

all romance has long since vanished, and I think the most of us are

beginning to look the fact of our awful situation full in the face.' 'We

are making but little headway on our course.' Bad news from the rearmost

boat: the men are improvident; 'they have eaten up all of the canned

meats brought from the ship, and are now growing discontented.' Not so

with the chief mate's people--they are evidently under the eye of a man.

Under date of May 11: 'Standing still! or worse; we lost more last night

than we made yesterday.' In fact, they have lost three miles of the

three hundred of northing they had so laboriously made. 'The cock that

was rescued and pitched into the boat while the ship was on fire still

lives, and crows with the breaking of dawn, cheering us a good deal.'

What has he been living on for a week? Did the starving men feed him

from their dire poverty? 'The second mate's boat out of water again,

showing that they over-drink their allowance. The captain spoke pretty

sharply to them.' It is true: I have the remark in my old note-book; I

got it of the third mate in the hospital at Honolulu. But there is not

room for it here, and it is too combustible, anyway. Besides, the third

mate admired it, and what he admired he was likely to enhance.

They were still watching hopefully for ships. The captain was a

thoughtful man, and probably did not disclose on them that that was

substantially a waste of time. 'In this latitude the horizon is filled

with little upright clouds that look very much like ships.' Mr. Ferguson

saved three bottles of brandy from his private stores when he left the

ship, and the liquor came good in these days. 'The captain serves out

two tablespoonfuls of brandy and water--half and half--to our crew.' He

means the watch that is on duty; they stood regular watches--four

hours on and four off. The chief mate was an excellent officer--a

self-possessed, resolute, fine, all-round man. The diarist makes the

following note--there is character in it: 'I offered one bottle of

brandy to the chief mate, but he declined, saying he could keep the

after-boat quiet, and we had not enough for all.'

HENRY FERGUSON'S DIARY TO DATE, GIVEN IN FULL:

May 4, 5, 6, doldrums. May 7, 8, 9, doldrums. May 10, 11, 12,

doldrums. Tells it all. Never saw, never felt, never heard, never

experienced such heat, such darkness, such lightning and thunder,

and wind and rain, in my life before.

That boy's diary is of the economical sort that a person might properly

be expected to keep in such circumstances--and be forgiven for the

economy, too. His brother, perishing of consumption, hunger, thirst,

blazing heat, drowning rains, loss of sleep, lack of exercise, was

persistently faithful and circumstantial with his diary from the first

day to the last--an instance of noteworthy fidelity and resolution. In

spite of the tossing and plunging boat he wrote it close and fine, in a

hand as easy to read as print. They can't seem to get north of 7 degrees

N.; they are still there the next day:

May 12. A good rain last night, and we caught a good deal, though

not enough to fill up our tank, pails, &c. Our object is to get

out of these doldrums, but it seems as if we cannot do it. To-day

we have had it very variable, and hope we are on the northern

edge, though we are not much above 7 degrees. This morning we all

thought we had made out a sail; but it was one of those deceiving

clouds. Rained a good deal to-day, making all hands wet and

uncomfortable; we filled up pretty nearly all our water-pots,

however. I hope we may have a fine night, for the captain

certainly wants rest, and while there is any danger of squalls, or

danger of any kind, he is always on hand. I never would have

believed that open boats such as ours, with their loads, could

live in some of the seas we have had.

During the night, 12th-13th, 'the cry of A SHIP! brought us to our

feet.' It seemed to be the glimmer of a vessel's signal-lantern rising

out of the curve of the sea. There was a season of breathless hope while

they stood watching, with their hands shading their eyes, and their

hearts in their throats; then the promise failed: the light was a rising

star. It is a long time ago--thirty-two years--and it doesn't matter

now, yet one is sorry for their disappointment. 'Thought often of those

at home to-day, and of the disappointment they will feel next Sunday at

not hearing from us by telegraph from San Francisco.' It will be

many weeks yet before the telegram is received, and it will come as a

thunderclap of joy then, and with the seeming of a miracle, for it

will raise from the grave men mourned as dead. 'To-day our rations were

reduced to a quarter of a biscuit a meal, with about half a pint of

water.' This is on May 13, with more than a month of voyaging in front

of them yet! However, as they do not know that, 'we are all feeling

pretty cheerful.'

In the afternoon of the 14th there was a thunderstorm, 'which toward

night seemed to close in around us on every side, making it very dark

and squally.' 'Our situation is becoming more and more desperate,' for

they were making very little northing 'and every day diminishes our

small stock of provisions.' They realise that the boats must soon

separate, and each fight for its own life. Towing the quarter-boats is a

hindering business.

That night and next day, light and baffling winds and but little

progress. Hard to bear, that persistent standing still, and the food

wasting away. 'Everything in a perfect sop; and all so cramped, and no

change of clothes.' Soon the sun comes out and roasts them. 'Joe caught

another dolphin to-day; in his maw we found a flying-fish and two

skipjacks.' There is an event, now, which rouses an enthusiasm of hope:

a land-bird arrives! It rests on the yard for awhile, and they can look

at it all they like, and envy it, and thank it for its message. As a

subject of talk it is beyond price--a fresh new topic for tongues tired

to death of talking upon a single theme: Shall we ever see the land

again; and when? Is the bird from Clipperton Rock? They hope so; and

they take heart of grace to believe so. As it turned out the bird had no

message; it merely came to mock.

May 16, 'the cock still lives, and daily carols forth his praise.'

It will be a rainy night, 'but I do not care if we can fill up our

water-butts.'

On the 17th one of those majestic spectres of the deep, a water-spout,

stalked by them, and they trembled for their lives. Young Henry set it

down in his scanty journal with the judicious comment that 'it might

have been a fine sight from a ship.'

From Captain Mitchell's log for this day: 'Only half a bushel of

bread-crumbs left.' (And a month to wander the seas yet.')

It rained all night and all day; everybody uncomfortable. Now came

a sword-fish chasing a bonito; and the poor thing, seeking help and

friends, took refuge under the rudder. The big sword-fish kept hovering

around, scaring everybody badly. The men's mouths watered for him, for

he would have made a whole banquet; but no one dared to touch him,

of course, for he would sink a boat promptly if molested. Providence

protected the poor bonito from the cruel sword-fish. This was just and

right. Providence next befriended the shipwrecked sailors: they got the

bonito. This was also just and right. But in the distribution of mercies

the sword-fish himself got overlooked. He now went away; to muse over

these subtleties, probably. The men in all the boats seem pretty well;

the feeblest of the sick ones (not able for a long time to stand his

watch on board the ship) 'is wonderfully recovered.' This is the third

mate's detested 'Portyghee' that raised the family of abscesses.

Passed a most awful night. Rained hard nearly all the time, and

blew in squalls, accompanied by terrific thunder and lightning from

all points of the compass.--Henry's Log.

Most awful night I ever witnessed.--Captain's Log.

Latitude, May 18, 11 degrees 11 minutes. So they have averaged but

forty miles of northing a day during the fortnight. Further talk of

separating. 'Too bad, but it must be done for the safety of the whole.'

'At first I never dreamed, but now hardly shut my eyes for a cat-nap

without conjuring up something or other--to be accounted for by

weakness, I suppose.' But for their disaster they think they would be

arriving in San Francisco about this time. 'I should have liked to send

B---the telegram for her birthday.' This was a young sister.

On the 19th the captain called up the quarter-boats and said one would

have to go off on its own hook. The long-boat could no longer tow both

of them. The second mate refused to go, but the chief mate was ready;

in fact, he was always ready when there was a man's work to the fore. He

took the second mate's boat; six of its crew elected to remain, and

two of his own crew came with him (nine in the boat, now, including

himself). He sailed away, and toward sunset passed out of sight. The

diarist was sorry to see him go. It was natural; one could have better

spared the 'Portyghee.' After thirty-two years I find my prejudice

against this 'Portyghee' reviving. His very looks have long passed out

of my memory; but no matter, I am coming to hate him as religiously

as ever. 'Water will now be a scarce article, for as we get out of the

doldrums we shall get showers only now and then in the trades. This life

is telling severely on my strength. Henry holds out first-rate.' Henry

did not start well, but under hardships he improved straight along.

Latitude, Sunday, May 20, 12 degrees 0 minutes 9 seconds. They ought

to be well out of the doldrums now, but they are not. No breeze--the

longed-for trades still missing. They are still anxiously watching for

a sail, but they have only 'visions of ships that come to naught--the

shadow without the substance.' The second mate catches a booby this

afternoon, a bird which consists mainly of feathers; 'but as they have

no other meat, it will go well.'

May 21, they strike the trades at last! The second mate catches three

more boobies, and gives the long-boat one. Dinner 'half a can of

mincemeat divided up and served around, which strengthened us somewhat.'

They have to keep a man bailing all the time; the hole knocked in the

boat when she was launched from the burning ship was never efficiently

mended. 'Heading about north-west now.' They hope they have easting

enough to make some of these indefinite isles. Failing that, they think

they will be in a better position to be picked up. It was an infinitely

slender chance, but the captain probably refrained from mentioning that.

The next day is to be an eventful one.

May 22. Last night wind headed us off, so that part of the time

we had to steer east-south-east and then west-north-west, and so

on. This morning we were all startled by a cry of 'SAIL HO!' Sure

enough, we could see it! And for a time we cut adrift from the

second mate's boat, and steered so as to attract its attention.

This was about half-past five A.M. After sailing in a state of

high excitement for almost twenty minutes we made it out to be the

chief mate's boat. Of course we were glad to see them and have

them report all well; but still it was a bitter disappointment to

us all. Now that we are in the trades it seems impossible to make

northing enough to strike the isles. We have determined to do the

best we can, and get in the route of vessels. Such being the

determination, it became necessary to cast off the other boat,

which, after a good deal of unpleasantness, was done, we again

dividing water and stores, and taking Cox into our boat. This

makes our number fifteen. The second mate's crew wanted to all

get in with us, and cast the other boat adrift. It was a very

painful separation.

So these isles that they have struggled for so long and so hopefully

have to be given up. What with lying birds that come to mock, and isles

that are but a dream, and 'visions of ships that come to naught,' it is

a pathetic time they are having, with much heartbreak in it. It was odd

that the vanished boat, three days lost to sight in that vast solitude,

should appear again. But it brought Cox--we can't be certain why. But if

it hadn't, the diarist would never have seen the land again.

Our chances as we go west increase in regard to being picked up,

but each day our scanty fare is so much reduced. Without the fish,

turtle, and birds sent us, I do not know how we should have got

along. The other day I offered to read prayers morning and evening

for the captain, and last night commenced. The men, although of

various nationalities and religions, are very attentive, and

always uncovered. May God grant my weak endeavour its issue!

Latitude, May 24, 14 degrees 18 minutes N. Five oysters apiece for

dinner and three spoonfuls of juice, a gill of water, and a piece of

biscuit the size of a silver dollar. 'We are plainly getting

weaker--God have mercy upon us all!' That night heavy seas break over

the weather side and make everybody wet and uncomfortable besides

requiring constant baling.

Next day 'nothing particular happened.' Perhaps some of us would have

regarded it differently. 'Passed a spar, but not near enough to see what

it was.' They saw some whales blow; there were flying-fish skimming

the seas, but none came aboard. Misty weather, with fine rain, very

penetrating.

Latitude, May 26, 15 degrees 50 minutes. They caught a flying-fish and

a booby, but had to eat them raw. 'The men grow weaker, and, I think,

despondent; they say very little, though.' And so, to all the other

imaginable and unimaginable horrors, silence is added--the muteness

and brooding of coming despair. 'It seems our best chance to get in the

track of ships with the hope that some one will run near enough to our

speck to see it.' He hopes the other boards stood west and have been

picked up. (They will never be heard of again in this world.)

Sunday, May 27, Latitude 16 degrees 0 minutes 5 seconds;

longitude, by chronometer, 117 degrees 22 minutes. Our fourth

Sunday! When we left the ship we reckoned on having about ten

days' supplies, and now we hope to be able, by rigid economy, to

make them last another week if possible.(1) Last night the sea was

comparatively quiet, but the wind headed us off to about

west-north-west, which has been about our course all day to-day.

Another flying-fish came aboard last night, and one more to-day

--both small ones. No birds. A booby is a great catch, and a good

large one makes a small dinner for the fifteen of us--that is, of

course, as dinners go in the 'Hornet's' long-boat. Tried this

morning to read the full service to myself, with the Communion,

but found it too much; am too weak, and get sleepy, and cannot

give strict attention; so I put off half till this afternoon. I

trust God will hear the prayers gone up for us at home to-day, and

graciously answer them by sending us succour and help in this our

season of deep distress.

The next day was 'a good day for seeing a ship.' But none was seen. The

diarist 'still feels pretty well,' though very weak; his brother Henry

'bears up and keeps his strength the best of any on board.' 'I do not

feel despondent at all, for I fully trust that the Almighty will hear

our and the home prayers, and He who suffers not a sparrow to fall sees

and cares for us, His creatures.'

Considering the situation and circumstances, the record for next day,

May 29, is one which has a surprise in it for those dull people who

think that nothing but medicines and doctors can cure the sick. A little

starvation can really do more for the average sick man than can the best

medicines and the best doctors. I do not mean a restricted diet; I mean

total abstention from food for one or two days. I speak from experience;

starvation has been my cold and fever doctor for fifteen years, and has

accomplished a cure in all instances. The third mate told me in Honolulu

that the 'Portyghee' had lain in his hammock for months, raising his

family of abscesses and feeding like a cannibal. We have seen that in

spite of dreadful weather, deprivation of sleep, scorching, drenching,

and all manner of miseries, thirteen days of starvation 'wonderfully

recovered' him. There were four sailors down sick when the ship was

burned. Twenty-five days of pitiless starvation have followed, and now

we have this curious record: 'All the men are hearty and strong; even

the ones that were down sick are well, except poor Peter.' When I wrote

an article some months ago urging temporary abstention from food as

a remedy for an inactive appetite and for disease, I was accused of

jesting, but I was in earnest. 'We are all wonderfully well and strong,

comparatively speaking.' On this day the starvation regime drew its belt

a couple of buckle-holes tighter: the bread ration was reduced from the

usual piece of cracker the size of a silver dollar to the half of that,

and one meal was abolished from the daily three. This will weaken the

men physically, but if there are any diseases of an ordinary sort left

in them they will disappear.

Two quarts bread-crumbs left, one-third of a ham, three small cans

of oysters, and twenty gallons of water.--Captain's Log.

The hopeful tone of the diaries is persistent. It is remarkable. Look

at the map and see where the boat is: latitude 16 degrees 44 minutes,

longitude 119 degrees 20 minutes. It is more than two hundred miles

west of the Revillagigedo Islands, so they are quite out of the question

against the trades, rigged as this boat is. The nearest land available

for such a boat is the American group, six hundred and fifty miles

away, westward; still, there is no note of surrender, none even of

discouragement! Yet, May 30, 'we have now left: one can of oysters;

three pounds of raisins; one can of soup; one-third of a ham; three

pints of biscuit-crumbs.'

And fifteen starved men to live on it while they creep and crawl six

hundred and fifty miles. 'Somehow I feel much encouraged by this change

of course (west by north) which we have made to-day.' Six hundred and

fifty miles on a hatful of provisions. Let us be thankful, even after

thirty-two years, that they are mercifully ignorant of the fact that

it isn't six hundred and fifty that they must creep on the hatful, but

twenty-two hundred!

Isn't the situation romantic enough just as it stands? No. Providence

added a startling detail: pulling an oar in that boat, for common

seaman's wages, was a banished duke--Danish. We hear no more of him;

just that mention, that is all, with the simple remark added that 'he is

one of our best men'--a high enough compliment for a duke or any other

man in those manhood-testing circumstances. With that little glimpse

of him at his oar, and that fine word of praise, he vanishes out of our

knowledge for all time. For all time, unless he should chance upon this

note and reveal himself.

The last day of May is come. And now there is a disaster to report:

think of it, reflect upon it, and try to understand how much it

means, when you sit down with your family and pass your eye over your

breakfast-table. Yesterday there were three pints of bread-crumbs; this

morning the little bag is found open and some of the crumbs are missing.

'We dislike to suspect any one of such a rascally act, but there is

no question that this grave crime has been committed. Two days will

certainly finish the remaining morsels. God grant us strength to reach

the American group!' The third mate told me in Honolulu that in these

days the men remembered with bitterness that the 'Portyghee' had

devoured twenty-two days' rations while he lay waiting to be transferred

from the burning ship, and that now they cursed him and swore an oath

that if it came to cannibalism he should be the first to suffer for the

rest.

The captain has lost his glasses, and therefore he cannot read our

pocket prayer-books as much as I think he would like, though he is

not familiar with them.

Further of the captain: 'He is a good man, and has been most kind to

us--almost fatherly. He says that if he had been offered the command of

the ship sooner he should have brought his two daughters with him.' It

makes one shudder yet to think how narrow an escape it was.

The two meals (rations) a day are as follows: fourteen raisins and a

piece of cracker the size of a penny for tea; a gill of water, and a

piece of ham and a piece of bread, each the size of a penny, for

breakfast.--Captain's Log.

He means a penny in thickness as well as in circumference. Samuel

Ferguson's diary says the ham was shaved 'about as thin as it could be

cut.'

June 1. Last night and to-day sea very high and cobbling, breaking

over and making us all wet and cold. Weather squally, and there is

no doubt that only careful management--with God's protecting

care--preserved us through both the night and the day; and really

it is most marvellous how every morsel that passes our lips is

blessed to us. It makes me think daily of the miracle of the

loaves and fishes. Henry keeps up wonderfully, which is a great

consolation to me. I somehow have great confidence, and hope that

our afflictions will soon be ended, though we are running rapidly

across the track of both outward and inward bound vessels, and

away from them; our chief hope is a whaler, man-of-war, or some

Australian ship. The isles we are steering for are put down in

Bowditch, but on my map are said to be doubtful. God grant they

may be there!

Hardest day yet.--Captain's Log.

Doubtful! It was worse than that. A week later they sailed straight over

them.

June 2. Latitude 18 degrees 9 minutes. Squally, cloudy, a heavy

sea.... I cannot help thinking of the cheerful and comfortable

time we had aboard the 'Hornet.'

Two days' scanty supplies left--ten rations of water apiece and a

little morsel of bread. BUT THE SUN SHINES AND GOD IS MERCIFUL.

--Captain's Log.

Sunday, June 3. Latitude 17 degrees 54 minutes. Heavy sea all

night, and from 4 A.M. very wet, the sea breaking over us in

frequent sluices, and soaking everything aft, particularly. All

day the sea has been very high, and it is a wonder that we are not

swamped. Heaven grant that it may go down this evening! Our

suspense and condition are getting terrible. I managed this

morning to crawl, more than step, to the forward end of the boat,

and was surprised to find that I was so weak, especially in the

legs and knees. The sun has been out again, and I have dried some

things, and hope for a better night.

June 4. Latitude 17 degrees 6 minutes, longitude 131 degrees 30

minutes. Shipped hardly any seas last night, and to-day the sea has

gone down somewhat, although it is still too high for comfort, as we

have an occasional reminder that water is wet. The sun has been out

all day, and so we have had a good drying. I have been trying for

the last ten or twelve days to get a pair of drawers dry enough to

put on, and to-day at last succeeded. I mention this to show the

state in which we have lived. If our chronometer is anywhere near

right, we ought to see the American Isles to-morrow or next day. If

there are not there, we have only the chance, for a few days, of a

stray ship, for we cannot eke out the provisions more than five or

six days longer, and our strength is failing very fast. I was much

surprised to-day to note how my legs have wasted away above my

knees: they are hardly thicker than my upper arm used to be. Still,

I trust in God's infinite mercy, and feel sure he will do what is

best for us. To survive, as we have done, thirty-two days in an

open boat, with only about ten days' fair provisions for thirty-one

men in the first place, and these divided twice subsequently, is

more than mere unassisted HUMAN art and strength could have

accomplished and endured.

Bread and raisins all gone.--Captain's Log.

Men growing dreadfully discontented, and awful grumbling and

unpleasant talk is arising. God save us from all strife of men; and

if we must die now, take us himself, and not embitter our bitter

death still more.--Henry's Log.

June 5. Quiet night and pretty comfortable day, though our sail

and block show signs of failing, and need taking down--which

latter is something of a job, as it requires the climbing of the

mast. We also had news from forward, there being discontent and

some threatening complaints of unfair allowances, etc., all as

unreasonable as foolish; still, these things bid us be on our

guard. I am getting miserably weak, but try to keep up the best I

can. If we cannot find those isles we can only try to make

north-west and get in the track of Sandwich Island-bound vessels,

living as best we can in the meantime. To-day we changed to one

meal, and that at about noon, with a small ration or water at 8 or

9 A.M., another at 12 A.M., and a third at 5 or 6 P.M.

Nothing left but a little piece of ham and a gill of water, all

around.--Captain's Log.

They are down to one meal a day now--such as it is--and fifteen hundred

miles to crawl yet! And now the horrors deepen, and, though they escaped

actual mutiny, the attitude of the men became alarming. Now we seem

to see why that curious incident happened, so long ago; I mean Cox's

return, after he had been far away and out of sight several days in the

chief mate's boat. If he had not come back the captain and the two

young passengers might have been slain, now, by these sailors, who were

becoming crazed through their sufferings.

NOTE SECRETLY PASSED BY HENRY TO HIS BROTHER:

Cox told me last night that there is getting to be a good deal of

ugly talk among the men against the captain and us aft. They say

that the captain is the cause of all; that he did not try to save

the ship at all, nor to get provisions, and that even would not let

the men put in some they had; and that partiality is shown us in

apportioning our rations aft.... asked Cox the other day if he

would starve first or eat human flesh. Cox answered he would

starve.... then told him he would only be killing himself. If we

do not find those islands we would do well to prepare for anything.

.... is the loudest of all.

REPLY:

We can depend on... I think, and... and Cox, can we not?

SECOND NOTE:

I guess so, and very likely on...; but there is no telling... and

Cox are certain. There is nothing definite said or hinted as yet,

as I understand Cox; but starving men are the same as maniacs. It

would be well to keep a watch on your pistol, so as to have it and

the cartridges safe from theft.

Henry's Log, June 5. Dreadful forebodings. God spare us from all

such horrors! Some of the men getting to talk a good deal. Nothing

to write down. Heart very sad.

Henry's Log, June 6. Passed some sea-weed and something that looked

like the trunk of an old tree, but no birds; beginning to be afraid

islands not there. To-day it was said to the captain, in the

hearing of all, that some of the men would not shrink, when a man

was dead, from using the flesh, though they would not kill.

Horrible! God give us all full use of our reason, and spare us from

such things! 'From plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and

murder, and from sudden death, good Lord, deliver us!'

June 6. Latitude 16 degrees 30 minutes, longitude (chron.) 134

degrees. Dry night and wind steady enough to require no change in

sail; but this A.M. an attempt to lower it proved abortive. First

the third mate tried and got up to the block, and fastened a

temporary arrangement to reeve the halyards through, but had to

come down, weak and almost fainting, before finishing; then Joe

tried, and after twice ascending, fixed it and brought down the

block; but it was very exhausting work, and afterward he was good

for nothing all day. The clue-iron which we are trying to make

serve for the broken block works, however, very indifferently, and

will, I am afraid, soon cut the rope. It is very necessary to get

everything connected with the sail in good easy running order

before we get too weak to do anything with it.

Only three meals left.--Captain's Log.

June 7. Latitude 16 degrees 35 minutes N., longitude 136 degrees

30 minutes W. Night wet and uncomfortable. To-day shows us pretty

conclusively that the American Isles are not there, though we have

had some signs that looked like them. At noon we decided to

abandon looking any farther for them, and to-night haul a little

more northerly, so as to get in the way of Sandwich Island

vessels, which fortunately come down pretty well this way--say to

latitude 19 degrees to 20 degrees to get the benefit of the

trade-winds. Of course all the westing we have made is gain, and I

hope the chronometer is wrong in our favour, for I do not see how

any such delicate instrument can keep good time with the constant

jarring and thumping we get from the sea. With the strong trade we

have, I hope that a week from Sunday will put us in sight of the

Sandwich Islands, if we are not safe by that time by being picked

up.

It is twelve hundred miles to the Sandwich Islands; the provisions are

virtually exhausted, but not the perishing diarist's pluck.

June 8. My cough troubled me a good deal last night, and therefore

I got hardly any sleep at all. Still, I make out pretty well, and

should not complain. Yesterday the third mate mended the block,

and this P.M. the sail, after some difficulty, was got down, and

Harry got to the top of the mast and rove the halyards through

after some hardship, so that it now works easy and well. This

getting up the mast is no easy matter at any time with the sea we

have, and is very exhausting in our present state. We could only

reward Harry by an extra ration of water. We have made good time

and course to-day. Heading her up, however, makes the boat ship

seas and keeps us all wet; however, it cannot be helped. Writing

is a rather precarious thing these times. Our meal to-day for the

fifteen consists of half a can of 'soup and boullie'; the other

half is reserved for to-morrow. Henry still keeps up grandly, and

is a great favourite. God grant he may be spared.

A better feeling prevails among the men.--Captain's Log.

June 9. Latitude 17 degrees 53 minutes. Finished to-day, I may

say, our whole stack of provisions.(2) We have only left a lower

end of a ham-bone, with some of the outer rind and skin on. In

regard to the water, however, I think we have got ten days' supply

at our present rate of allowance. This, with what nourishment we

can get from boot-legs and such chewable matter, we hope will

enable us to weather it out till we get to the Sandwich Islands,

or, sailing in the meantime in the track of vessels thither bound,

be picked up. My hope is in the latter, for in all human

probability I cannot stand the other. Still, we have been

marvellously protected, and God, I hope, will preserve us all in

His own good time and way. The men are getting weaker, but are

still quiet and orderly.

Sunday, June 10. Latitude 18 degrees 40 minutes, longitude 142

degrees 34 minutes. A pretty good night last night, with some

wettings, and again another beautiful Sunday. I cannot but think

how we should all enjoy it at home, and what a contrast is here!

How terrible their suspense must begin to be! God grant that it

may be relieved before very long, and He certainly seems to be

with us in everything we do, and has preserved this boat

miraculously; for since we left the ship we have sailed

considerably over three thousand miles, which, taking into

consideration our meagre stock of provisions, is almost

unprecedented. As yet I do not feel the stint of food so much as I

do that of water. Even Henry, who is naturally a good

water-drinker, can save half of his allowance from time to time,

when I cannot. My diseased throat may have something to do with

that, however.

Nothing is now left which by any flattery can be called food. But they

must manage somehow for five days more, for at noon they have still

eight hundred miles to go. It is a race for life now.

This is no time for comments or other interruptions from me--every

moment is valuable. I will take up the boy brother's diary at this

point, and clear the seas before it and let it fly.

HENRY FERGUSON'S LOG:

Sunday, June 10. Our ham-bone has given us a taste of food to-day,

and we have got left a little meat and the remainder of the bone for

tomorrow. Certainly, never was there such a sweet knuckle-one, or

one that was so thoroughly appreciated.... I do not know that I

feel any worse than I did last Sunday, notwithstanding the reduction

of diet; and I trust that we may all have strength given us to

sustain the sufferings and hardships of the coming week. We

estimate that we are within seven hundred miles of the Sandwich

Islands, and that our average, daily, is somewhat over a hundred

miles, so that our hopes have some foundation in reason. Heaven

send we may all live to see land!

June 11. Ate the meat and rind of our ham-bone, and have the bone

and the greasy cloth from around the ham left to eat to-morrow. God

send us birds or fish, and let us not perish of hunger, or be

brought to the dreadful alternative of feeding on human flesh! As I

feel now, I do not think anything could persuade me; but you cannot

tell what you will do when you are reduced by hunger and your mind

wandering. I hope and pray we can make out to reach the islands

before we get to this strait; but we have one or two desperate men

aboard, though they are quiet enough now. IT IS MY FIRM TRUST AND

BELIEF THAT WE ARE GOING TO BE SAVED.

All food gone.--Captain's Log.(3)

June 12. Stiff breeze, and we are fairly flying--dead ahead of it

--and toward the islands. Good hope, but the prospects of hunger are

awful. Ate ham-bone to-day. It is the captain's birthday; he is

fifty-four years old.

June 13. The ham-rags are not quite all gone yet, and the

boot-legs, we find, are very palatable after we get the salt out of

them. A little smoke, I think, does some little good; but I don't

know.

June 14. Hunger does not pain us much, but we are dreadfully weak.

Our water is getting frightfully low. God grant we may see land

soon! NOTHING TO EAT, but feel better than I did yesterday. Toward

evening saw a magnificent rainbow--THE FIRST WE HAD SEEN. Captain

said, 'Cheer up, boys; it's a prophecy--IT'S THE BOW OF PROMISE!'

June 15. God be for ever praised for His infinite mercy! LAND IN

SIGHT! rapidly neared it and soon were SURE of it.... Two noble

Kanakas swam out and took the boat ashore. We were joyfully

received by two white men--Mr. Jones and his steward Charley--and a

crowd of native men, women, and children. They treated us

splendidly--aided us, and carried us up the bank, and brought us

water, poi, bananas, and green coconuts; but the white men took care

of us and prevented those who would have eaten too much from doing

so. Everybody overjoyed to see us, and all sympathy expressed in

faces, deeds, and words. We were then helped up to the house; and

help we needed. Mr. Jones and Charley are the only white men here.

Treated us splendidly. Gave us first about a teaspoonful of spirits

in water, and then to each a cup of warm tea, with a little bread.

Takes EVERY care of us. Gave us later another cup of tea, and bread

the same, and then let us go to rest. IT IS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY

LIFE.... God in His mercy has heard our prayer.... Everybody is so

kind. Words cannot tell.

June 16. Mr. Jones gave us a delightful bed, and we surely had a

good night's rest; but not sleep--we were too happy to sleep; would

keep the reality and not let it turn to a delusion--dreaded that we

might wake up and find ourselves in the boat again.

It is an amazing adventure. There is nothing of its sort in history

that surpasses it in impossibilities made possible. In one extraordinary

detail--the survival of every person in the boat--it probably stands

alone in the history of adventures of its kinds. Usually merely a part

of a boat's company survive--officers, mainly, and other educated and

tenderly-reared men, unused to hardship and heavy labour; the untrained,

roughly-reared hard workers succumb. But in this case even the rudest

and roughest stood the privations and miseries of the voyage almost as

well as did the college-bred young brothers and the captain. I mean,

physically. The minds of most of the sailors broke down in the fourth

week and went to temporary ruin, but physically the endurance exhibited

was astonishing. Those men did not survive by any merit of their own, of

course, but by merit of the character and intelligence of the captain;

they lived by the mastery of his spirit. Without him they would

have been children without a nurse; they would have exhausted their

provisions in a week, and their pluck would not have lasted even as long

as the provisions.

The boat came near to being wrecked at the last. As it approached the

shore the sail was let go, and came down with a run; then the captain

saw that he was drifting swiftly toward an ugly reef, and an effort

was made to hoist the sail again; but it could not be done; the men's

strength was wholly exhausted; they could not even pull an oar. They

were helpless, and death imminent. It was then that they were discovered

by the two Kanakas who achieved the rescue. They swam out and manned the

boat, and piloted her through a narrow and hardly noticeable break in

the reef--the only break in it in a stretch of thirty-five miles! The

spot where the landing was made was the only one in that stretch where

footing could have been found on the shore; everywhere else precipices

came sheer down into forty fathoms of water. Also, in all that stretch

this was the only spot where anybody lived.

Within ten days after the landing all the men but one were up and

creeping about. Properly, they ought to have killed themselves with

the 'food' of the last few days--some of them, at any rate--men who had

freighted their stomachs with strips of leather from old boots and with

chips from the butter cask; a freightage which they did not get rid of

by digestion, but by other means. The captain and the two passengers

did not eat strips and chips, as the sailors did, but scraped the

boot-leather and the wood, and made a pulp of the scrapings by

moistening them with water. The third mate told me that the boots were

old and full of holes; then added thoughtfully, 'but the holes digested

the best.' Speaking of digestion, here is a remarkable thing, and worth

noting: during this strange voyage, and for a while afterward on shore,

the bowels of some of the men virtually ceased from their functions; in

some cases there was no action for twenty and thirty days, and in one

case for forty-four! Sleeping also came to be rare. Yet the men did

very well without it. During many days the captain did not sleep at

all--twenty-one, I think, on one stretch.

When the landing was made, all the men were successfully protected from

over-eating except the 'Portyghee;' he escaped the watch and ate an

incredible number of bananas: a hundred and fifty-two, the third mate

said, but this was undoubtedly an exaggeration; I think it was a hundred

and fifty-one. He was already nearly half full of leather; it was

hanging out of his ears. (I do not state this on the third mate's

authority, for we have seen what sort of a person he was; I state it on

my own.) The 'Portyghee' ought to have died, of course, and even now

it seems a pity that he didn't; but he got well, and as early as any of

them; and all full of leather, too, the way he was, and butter-timber

and handkerchiefs and bananas. Some of the men did eat handkerchiefs in

those last days, also socks; and he was one of them.

It is to the credit of the men that they did not kill the rooster that

crowed so gallantly mornings. He lived eighteen days, and then stood up

and stretched his neck and made a brave, weak effort to do his duty once

more, and died in the act. It is a picturesque detail; and so is that

rainbow, too--the only one seen in the forty-three days,--raising its

triumphal arch in the skies for the sturdy fighters to sail under to

victory and rescue.

With ten days' provisions Captain Josiah Mitchell performed this

memorable voyage of forty-three days and eight hours in an open boat,

sailing four thousand miles in reality and thirty-three hundred and

sixty by direct courses, and brought every man safe to land. A bright,

simple-hearted, unassuming, plucky, and most companionable man. I

walked the deck with him twenty-eight days--when I was not copying

diaries,--and I remember him with reverent honour. If he is alive he is

eighty-six years old now.

If I remember rightly, Samuel Ferguson died soon after we reached San

Francisco. I do not think he lived to see his home again; his disease

had been seriously aggravated by his hardships.

For a time it was hoped that the two quarter-boats would presently be

heard of, but this hope suffered disappointment. They went down with all

on board, no doubt, not even sparing that knightly chief mate.

The authors of the diaries allowed me to copy them exactly as they were

written, and the extracts that I have given are without any smoothing

over or revision. These diaries are finely modest and unaffected, and

with unconscious and unintentional art they rise toward the climax with

graduated and gathering force and swing and dramatic intensity; they

sweep you along with a cumulative rush, and when the cry rings out at

last, 'Land in sight!' your heart is in your mouth, and for a moment you

think it is you that have been saved. The last two paragraphs are not

improvable by anybody's art; they are literary gold; and their very

pauses and uncompleted sentences have in them an eloquence not reachable

by any words.

The interest of this story is unquenchable; it is of the sort that time

cannot decay. I have not looked at the diaries for thirty-two years, but

I find that they have lost nothing in that time. Lost? They have gained;

for by some subtle law all tragic human experiences gain in pathos by

the perspective of time. We realize this when in Naples we stand musing

over the poor Pompeian mother, lost in the historic storm of volcanic

ashes eighteen centuries ago, who lies with her child gripped close to

her breast, trying to save it, and whose despair and grief have

been preserved for us by the fiery envelope which took her life but

eternalized her form and features. She moves us, she haunts us, she

stays in our thoughts for many days, we do not know why, for she is

nothing to us, she has been nothing to anyone for eighteen centuries;

whereas of the like case to-day we should say, 'Poor thing! it is

pitiful,' and forget it in an hour.

(1) There are nineteen days of voyaging ahead yet.--M.T.

(2) Six days to sail yet, nevertheless.--M.T.

(3) It was at this time discovered that the crazed sailors had gotten

the delusion that the captain had a million dollars in gold concealed

aft, and they were conspiring to kill him and the two passengers and

seize it.--M.T.

AT THE APPETITE-CURE

I

This establishment's name is Hochberghaus. It is in Bohemia, a short

day's journey from Vienna, and being in the Austrian Empire is of course

a health resort. The empire is made up of health resorts; it distributes

health to the whole world. Its waters are all medicinal. They are

bottled and sent throughout the earth; the natives themselves drink

beer. This is self-sacrifice apparently--but outlanders who have drunk

Vienna beer have another idea about it. Particularly the Pilsner

which one gets in a small cellar up an obscure back lane in the First

Bezirk--the name has escaped me, but the place is easily found: You

inquire for the Greek church; and when you get to it, go right along

by--the next house is that little beer-mill. It is remote from all

traffic and all noise; it is always Sunday there. There are two small

rooms, with low ceilings supported by massive arches; the arches and

ceilings are whitewashed, otherwise the rooms would pass for cells in

the dungeons of a bastile. The furniture is plain and cheap, there is no

ornamentation anywhere; yet it is a heaven for the self-sacrificers, for

the beer there is incomparable; there is nothing like it elsewhere in

the world. In the first room you will find twelve or fifteen ladies and

gentlemen of civilian quality; in the other one a dozen generals and

ambassadors. One may live in Vienna many months and not hear of this

place; but having once heard of it and sampled it, the sampler will

afterward infest it.

However, this is all incidental--a mere passing note of gratitude for

blessings received--it has nothing to do with my subject. My subject

is health resorts. All unhealthy people ought to domicile themselves in

Vienna, and use that as a base, making flights from time to time to the

outlying resorts, according to need. A flight to Marienbad to get rid

of fat; a flight to Carlsbad to get rid of rheumatism; a flight to

Kalteneutgeben to take the water cure and get rid of the rest of the

diseases. It is all so handy. You can stand in Vienna and toss a biscuit

into Kaltenleutgeben, with a twelve-inch gun. You can run out thither at

any time of the day; you go by phenomenally slow trains, and yet inside

of an hour you have exchanged the glare and swelter of the city for

wooded hills, and shady forest paths, and soft cool airs, and the music

of birds, and the repose and the peace of paradise.

And there are plenty of other health resorts at your service and

convenient to get at from Vienna; charming places, all of them; Vienna

sits in the centre of a beautiful world of mountains with now and then a

lake and forests; in fact, no other city is so fortunately situated.

There is an abundance of health resorts, as I have said. Among them this

place--Hochberghaus. It stands solitary on the top of a densely wooded

mountain, and is a building of great size. It is called the Appetite

Anstallt, and people who have lost their appetites come here to get

them restored. When I arrived I was taken by Professor Haimberger to his

consulting-room and questioned:

'It is six o'clock. When did you eat last?'

'At noon.'

'What did you eat?'

'Next to nothing.'

'What was on the table?'

'The usual things.'

'Chops, chickens, vegetables, and so on?'

'Yes; but don't mention them--I can't bear it.'

'Are you tired of them?'

'Oh, utterly. I wish I might never hear of them again.'

'The mere sight of food offends you, does it?'

'More, it revolts me.'

The doctor considered awhile, then got out a long menu and ran his eye

slowly down it.

'I think,' said he, 'that what you need to eat is--but here, choose for

yourself.'

I glanced at the list, and my stomach threw a hand-spring. Of all

the barbarous lay-outs that were ever contrived, this was the most

atrocious. At the top stood 'tough, underdone, overdue tripe, garnished

with garlic;' half-way down the bill stood 'young cat; old cat;

scrambled cat;' at the bottom stood 'sailor-boots, softened with

tallow--served raw.' The wide intervals of the bill were packed with

dishes calculated to gag a cannibal. I said:

'Doctor, it is not fair to joke over so serious a case as mine. I came

here to get an appetite, not to throw away the remnant that's left.'

He said gravely: 'I am not joking; why should I joke?'

'But I can't eat these horrors.'

'Why not?'

He said it with a naivete that was admirable, whether it was real or

assumed.

'Why not? Because--why, doctor, for months I have seldom been able to

endure anything more substantial than omelettes and custards. These

unspeakable dishes of yours--'

'Oh, you will come to like them. They are very good. And you must eat

them. It is a rule of the place, and is strict. I cannot permit any

departure from it.'

I said smiling: 'Well, then, doctor, you will have to permit the

departure of the patient. I am going.'

He looked hurt, and said in a way which changed the aspect of things:

'I am sure you would not do me that injustice. I accepted you in good

faith--you will not shame that confidence. This appetite-cure is my

whole living. If you should go forth from it with the sort of appetite

which you now have, it could become known, and you can see, yourself,

that people would say my cure failed in your case and hence can fail in

other cases. You will not go; you will not do me this hurt.'

I apologised and said I would stay.

'That is right. I was sure you would not go; it would take the food from

my family's mouths.'

'Would they mind that? Do they eat these fiendish things?'

'They? My family?' His eyes were full of gentle wonder. 'Of course not.'

'Oh, they don't! Do you?'

'Certainly not.'

'I see. It's another case of a physician who doesn't take his own

medicine.'

'I don't need it. It is six hours since you lunched. Will you have

supper now--or later?'

'I am not hungry, but now is as good a time as any, and I would like to

be done with it and have it off my mind. It is about my usual time,

and regularity is commanded by all the authorities. Yes, I will try to

nibble a little now--I wish a light horsewhipping would answer instead.'

The professor handed me that odious menu.

'Choose--or will you have it later?'

'Oh, dear me, show me to my room; I forgot your hard rule.'

'Wait just a moment before you finally decide. There is another rule. If

you choose now, the order will be filled at once; but if you wait, you

will have to await my pleasure. You cannot get a dish from that entire

bill until I consent.'

'All right. Show me to my room, and send the cook to bed; there is not

going to be any hurry.'

The professor took me up one flight of stairs and showed me into a most

inviting and comfortable apartment consisting of parlour, bedchamber,

and bathroom.

The front windows looked out over a far-reaching spread of green glades

and valleys, and tumbled hills clothed with forests--a noble solitude

unvexed by the fussy world. In the parlour were many shelves filled with

books. The professor said he would now leave me to myself; and added:

'Smoke and read as much as you please, drink all the water you like.

When you get hungry, ring and give your order, and I will decide whether

it shall be filled or not. Yours is a stubborn, bad case, and I think

the first fourteen dishes in the bill are each and all too delicate for

its needs. I ask you as a favour to restrain yourself and not call for

them.'

'Restrain myself, is it? Give yourself no uneasiness. You are going to

save money by me. The idea of coaxing a sick man's appetite back with

this buzzard-fare is clear insanity.'

I said it with bitterness, for I felt outraged by this calm, cold talk

over these heartless new engines of assassination. The doctor looked

grieved, but not offended. He laid the bill of fare on the commode at my

bed's head, 'so that it would be handy,' and said:

'Yours is not the worst case I have encountered, by any means; still

it is a bad one and requires robust treatment; therefore I shall be

gratified if you will restrain yourself and skip down to No. 15 and

begin with that.'

Then he left me and I began to undress, for I was dog-tired and very

sleepy. I slept fifteen hours and woke up finely refreshed at ten the

next morning. Vienna coffee! It was the first thing I thought of--that

unapproachable luxury--that sumptuous coffee-house coffee, compared with

which all other European coffee and all American hotel coffee is mere

fluid poverty. I rang, and ordered it; also Vienna bread, that delicious

invention. The servant spoke through the wicket in the door and

said--but you know what he said. He referred me to the bill of fare. I

allowed him to go--I had no further use for him.

After the bath I dressed and started for a walk, and got as far as the

door. It was locked on the outside. I rang, and the servant came and

explained that it was another rule. The seclusion of the patient was

required until after the first meal. I had not been particularly anxious

to get out before; but it was different now. Being locked in makes a

person wishful to get out. I soon began to find it difficult to put in

the time. At two o'clock I had been twenty-six hours without food. I

had been growing hungry for some time; I recognised that I was not only

hungry now, but hungry with a strong adjective in front of it. Yet I was

not hungry enough to face the bill of fare.

I must put in the time somehow. I would read and smoke. I did it; hour

by hour. The books were all of one breed--shipwrecks; people lost in

deserts; people shut up in caved-in mines; people starving in besieged

cities. I read about all the revolting dishes that ever famishing

men had stayed their hunger with. During the first hours these things

nauseated me: hours followed in which they did not so affect me; still

other hours followed in which I found myself smacking my lips over some

tolerably infernal messes. When I had been without food forty-five hours

I ran eagerly to the bell and ordered the second dish in the bill, which

was a sort of dumplings containing a compost made of caviar and tar.

It was refused me. During the next fifteen hours I visited the bell

every now and then and ordered a dish that was further down the list.

Always a refusal. But I was conquering prejudice after prejudice, right

along; I was making sure progress; I was creeping up on No. 15 with

deadly certainty, and my heart beat faster and faster, my hopes rose

higher and higher.

At last when food had not passed my lips for sixty hours, victory was

mine, and I ordered No. 15:

'Soft-boiled spring chicken--in the egg; six dozen, hot and fragrant!'

In fifteen minutes it was there; and the doctor along with it, rubbing

his hands with joy. He said with great excitement:

'It's a cure, it's a cure! I knew I could do it. Dear sir, my grand

system never failed--never. You've got your appetite back--you know you

have; say it and make me happy.'

'Bring on your carrion--I can eat anything in the bill!'

'Oh, this is noble, this is splendid--but I knew I could do it, the

system never fails. How are the birds?'

'Never was anything so delicious in the world; and yet as a rule I don't

care for game. But don't interrupt me, don't--I can't spare my mouth, I

really can't.'

Then the doctor said:

'The cure is perfect. There is no more doubt nor danger. Let the poultry

alone; I can trust you with a beefsteak, now.'

The beefsteak came--as much as a basketful of it--with potatoes, and

Vienna bread and coffee; and I ate a meal then that was worth all the

costly preparation I had made for it. And dripped tears of gratitude

into the gravy all the time--gratitude to the doctor for putting a

little plain common-sense into me when I had been empty of it so many,

many years.

II

Thirty years ago Haimberger went off on a long voyage in a sailing-ship.

There were fifteen passengers on board. The table-fare was of the

regulation pattern of the day: At 7 in the morning, a cup of bad coffee

in bed; at 9, breakfast: bad coffee, with condensed milk; soggy rolls,

crackers, salt fish; at 1 P.M., luncheon: cold tongue, cold ham, cold

corned beef, soggy cold rolls, crackers; 5 P.M., dinner: thick pea

soup, salt fish, hot corned beef and sour kraut, boiled pork and beans,

pudding; 9 till 11 P.M., supper: tea, with condensed milk, cold tongue,

cold ham, pickles, sea-biscuit, pickled oysters, pickled pigs' feet,

grilled bones, golden buck.

At the end of the first week eating had ceased, nibbling had taken its

place. The passengers came to the table, but it was partly to put in

the time, and partly because the wisdom of the ages commanded them to

be regular in their meals. They were tired of the coarse and monotonous

fare, and took no interest in it, had no appetite for it. All day and

every day they roamed the ship half hungry, plagued by their gnawing

stomachs, moody, untalkative, miserable. Among them were three confirmed

dyspeptics. These became shadows in the course of three weeks. There was

also a bed-ridden invalid; he lived on boiled rice; he could not look at

the regular dishes.

Now came shipwrecks and life in open boats, with the usual paucity of

food. Provisions ran lower and lower. The appetites improved, then.

When nothing was left but raw ham and the ration of that was down to

two ounces a day per person, the appetites were perfect. At the end of

fifteen days the dyspeptics, the invalid, and the most delicate ladies

in the party were chewing sailor-boots in ecstasy, and only complaining

because the supply of them was limited. Yet these were the same people

who couldn't endure the ship's tedious corned beef and sour kraut and

other crudities. They were rescued by an English vessel. Within ten days

the whole fifteen were in as good condition as they had been when the

shipwreck occurred.

'They had suffered no damage by their adventure,' said the professor.

'Do you note that?'

'Yes.'

'Do you note it well?'

'Yes--I think I do.'

'But you don't. You hesitate. You don't rise to the importance of it. I

will say it again--with emphasis--not one of them suffered any damage.'

'Now I begin to see. Yes, it was indeed remarkable.'

'Nothing of the kind. It was perfectly natural. There was no reason why

they should suffer damage. They were undergoing Nature's Appetite-Cure,

the best and wisest in the world.'

'Is that where you got your idea?'

'That is where I got it.'

'It taught those people a valuable lesson.'

'What makes you think that?'

'Why shouldn't I? You seem to think it taught you one.'

'That is nothing to the point. I am not a fool.'

'I see. Were they fools?'

'They were human beings.'

'Is it the same thing?'

'Why do you ask? You know it yourself. As regards his health--and the

rest of the things--the average man is what his environment and his

superstitions have made him; and their function is to make him an ass.

He can't add up three or four new circumstances together and perceive

what they mean; it is beyond him. He is not capable of observing for

himself; he has to get everything at second-hand. If what are miscalled

the lower animals were as silly as man is, they would all perish from

the earth in a year.'

'Those passengers learned no lesson, then?'

'Not a sign of it. They went to their regular meals in the English

ship, and pretty soon they were nibbling again--nibbling, appetiteless,

disgusted with the food, moody, miserable, half hungry, their outraged

stomachs cursing and swearing and whining and supplicating all day long.

And in vain, for they were the stomachs of fools.'

'Then, as I understand it, your scheme is--'

'Quite simple. Don't eat until you are hungry. If the food fails to

taste good, fails to satisfy you, rejoice you, comfort you, don't eat

again until you are very hungry. Then it will rejoice you--and do you

good, too.'

'And I am to observe no regularity, as to hours?'

'When you are conquering a bad appetite--no. After it is conquered,

regularity is no harm, so long as the appetite remains good. As soon as

the appetite wavers, apply the corrective again--which is starvation,

long or short according to the needs of the case.'

'The best diet, I suppose--I mean the wholesomest--'

'All diets are wholesome. Some are wholesomer than others, but all the

ordinary diets are wholesome enough for the people who use them. Whether

the food be fine or coarse it will taste good and it will nourish if a

watch be kept upon the appetite and a little starvation introduced every

time it weakens. Nansen was used to fine fare, but when his meals were

restricted to bear-meat months at a time he suffered no damage and no

discomfort, because his appetite was kept at par through the difficulty

of getting his bear-meat regularly.'

'But doctors arrange carefully considered and delicate diets for

invalids.'

'They can't help it. The invalid is full of inherited superstitions and

won't starve himself. He believes it would certainly kill him.'

'It would weaken him, wouldn't it?'

'Nothing to hurt. Look at the invalids in our shipwreck. They lived

fifteen days on pinches of raw ham, a suck at sailor-boots, and general

starvation. It weakened them, but it didn't hurt them. It put them in

fine shape to eat heartily of hearty food and build themselves up to a

condition of robust health. But they did not know enough to profit by

that; they lost their opportunity; they remained invalids; it served

them right. Do you know the trick that the health-resort doctors play?'

'What is it?'

'My system disguised--covert starvation. Grape-cure, bath-cure,

mud-cure--it is all the same. The grape and the bath and the mud make

a show and do a trifle of the work--the real work is done by the

surreptitious starvation. The patient accustomed to four meals and late

hours--at both ends of the day--now consider what he has to do at a

health resort. He gets up at 6 in the morning. Eats one egg. Tramps up

and down a promenade two hours with the other fools. Eats a butterfly.

Slowly drinks a glass of filtered sewage that smells like a buzzard's

breath. Promenades another two hours, but alone; if you speak to him

he says anxiously, “My water!--I am walking off my water!--please don't

interrupt,” and goes stumping along again. Eats a candied roseleaf. Lies

at rest in the silence and solitude of his room for hours; mustn't read,

mustn't smoke. The doctor comes and feels of his heart, now, and his

pulse, and thumps his breast and his back and his stomach, and listens

for results through a penny flageolet; then orders the man's bath--half

a degree, Reaumur, cooler than yesterday. After the bath another egg.

A glass of sewage at three or four in the afternoon, and promenade

solemnly with the other freaks. Dinner at 6--half a doughnut and a cup

of tea. Walk again. Half-past 8, supper--more butterfly; at 9, to bed.

Six weeks of this regime--think of it. It starves a man out and puts

him in splendid condition. It would have the same effect in London, New

York, Jericho--anywhere.'

'How long does it take to put a person in condition here?'

'It ought to take but a day or two; but in fact it takes from one to six

weeks, according to the character and mentality of the patient.'

'How is that?'

'Do you see that crowd of women playing football, and boxing, and

jumping fences yonder? They have been here six or seven weeks. They were

spectral poor weaklings when they came. They were accustomed to nibbling

at dainties and delicacies at set hours four times a day, and they had

no appetite for anything. I questioned them, and then locked them into

their rooms--the frailest ones to starve nine or ten hours, the others

twelve or fifteen. Before long they began to beg; and indeed they

suffered a good deal. They complained of nausea, headache, and so on. It

was good to see them eat when the time was up. They could not remember

when the devouring of a meal had afforded them such rapture--that was

their word. Now, then, that ought to have ended their cure, but it

didn't. They were free to go to any meals in the house, and they chose

their accustomed four. Within a day or two I had to interfere. Their

appetites were weakening. I made them knock out a meal. That set them up

again. Then they resumed the four. I begged them to learn to knock out

a meal themselves, without waiting for me. Up to a fortnight ago they

couldn't; they really hadn't manhood enough; but they were gaining it,

and now I think they are safe. They drop out a meal every now and then

of their own accord. They are in fine condition now, and they might

safely go home, I think, but their confidence is not quite perfect yet,

so they are waiting awhile.'

'Other cases are different?'

'Oh yes. Sometimes a man learns the whole trick in a week. Learns to

regulate his appetite and keep it in perfect order. Learns to drop out a

meal with frequency and not mind it.'

'But why drop the entire meal out? Why not a part of it?'

'It's a poor device, and inadequate. If the stomach doesn't call

vigorously--with a shout, as you may say--it is better not to pester

it but just give it a real rest. Some people can eat more meals than

others, and still thrive. There are all sorts of people, and all sorts

of appetites. I will show you a man presently who was accustomed to

nibble at eight meals a day. It was beyond the proper gait of his

appetite by two. I have got him down to six a day, now, and he is all

right, and enjoys life. How many meals to you affect per day?'

'Formerly--for twenty-two years--a meal and a half; during the past two

years, two and a half: coffee and a roll at 9, luncheon at 1, dinner at

7.30 or 8.'

'Formerly a meal and a half--that is, coffee and a roll at 9, dinner in

the evening, nothing between--is that it?

'Yes.'

'Why did you add a meal?'

'It was the family's idea. They were uneasy. They thought I was killing

myself.'

'You found a meal and a half per day enough, all through the twenty-two

years?'

'Plenty.'

'Your present poor condition is due to the extra meal. Drop it out. You

are trying to eat oftener than your stomach demands. You don't gain, you

lose. You eat less food now, in a day, on two and a half meals, than you

formerly ate on one and a half.'

'True--a good deal less; for in those olds days my dinner was a very

sizeable thing.'

'Put yourself on a single meal a day, now--dinner--for a few days, till

you secure a good, sound, regular, trustworthy appetite, then take to

your one and a half permanently, and don't listen to the family any

more. When you have any ordinary ailment, particularly of a feverish

sort, eat nothing at all during twenty-four hours. That will cure it. It

will cure the stubbornest cold in the head, too. No cold in the head can

survive twenty-four hours' unmodified starvation.'

I know it. I have proved it many a time.

CONCERNING THE JEWS

Some months ago I published a magazine article(1) descriptive of a

remarkable scene in the Imperial Parliament in Vienna. Since then I

have received from Jews in America several letters of inquiry. They were

difficult letters to answer, for they were not very definite. But at

last I have received a definite one. It is from a lawyer, and he really

asks the questions which the other writers probably believed they were

asking. By help of this text I will do the best I can to publicly answer

this correspondent, and also the others--at the same time apologising

for having failed to reply privately. The lawyer's letter reads as

follows:

'I have read “Stirring Times in Austria.” One point in particular

is of vital import to not a few thousand people, including myself,

being a point about which I have often wanted to address a question

to some disinterested person. The show of military force in the

Austrian Parliament, which precipitated the riots, was not

introduced by any Jew. No Jew was a member of that body. No Jewish

question was involved in the Ausgleich or in the language

proposition. No Jew was insulting anybody. In short, no Jew was

doing any mischief toward anybody whatsoever. In fact, the Jews

were the only ones of the nineteen different races in Austria which

did not have a party--they are absolute non-participants. Yet in

your article you say that in the rioting which followed, all classes

of people were unanimous only on one thing, viz., in being against

the Jews. Now, will you kindly tell me why, in your judgment, the

Jews have thus ever been, and are even now, in these days of

supposed intelligence, the butt of baseless, vicious animosities?

I dare say that for centuries there has been no more quiet,

undisturbing, and well-behaving citizen, as a class, than that same

Jew. It seems to me that ignorance and fanaticism cannot alone

account for these horrible and unjust persecutions.

'Tell me, therefore, from your vantage point of cold view, what in

your mind is the cause. Can American Jews do anything to correct it

either in America or abroad? Will it ever come to an end? Will a

Jew be permitted to live honestly, decently, and peaceably like the

rest of mankind? What has become of the Golden Rule?'

I will begin by saying that if I thought myself prejudiced against the

Jew, I should hold it fairest to leave this subject to a person not

crippled in that way. But I think I have no such prejudice. A few years

ago a Jew observed to me that there was no uncourteous reference to his

people in my books, and asked how it happened. It happened because the

disposition was lacking. I am quite sure that (bar one) I have no race

prejudices, and I think I have no colour prejudices nor caste prejudices

nor creed prejudices. Indeed, I know it. I can stand any society. All

that I care to know is that a man is a human being--that is enough for

me; he can't be any worse. I have no special regard for Satan; but I can

at least claim that I have no prejudice against him. It may even be that

I lean a little his way, on account of his not having a fair show. All

religions issue Bibles against him, and say the most injurious things

about him, but we never hear his side. We have none but the evidence for

the prosecution, and yet we have rendered the verdict. To my mind, this

is irregular. It is un-English; it is un-American; it is French. Without

this precedent Dreyfus could not have been condemned. Of course Satan

has some kind of a case, it goes without saying. It may be a poor one,

but that is nothing; that can be said about any of us. As soon as I can

get at the facts I will undertake his rehabilitation myself, if I can

find an unpolitic publisher. It is a thing which we ought to be willing

to do for any one who is under a cloud. We may not pay Satan reverence,

for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents.

A person who has during all time maintained the imposing position of

spiritual head of four-fifths of the human race, and political head of

the whole of it, must be granted the possession of executive abilities

of the loftiest order. In his large presence the other popes and

politicians shrink to midges for the microscope. I would like to see

him. I would rather see him and shake him by the tail than any other

member of the European Concert. In the present paper I shall allow

myself to use the word Jew as if it stood for both religion and race.

It is handy; and, besides, that is what the term means to the general

world.

In the above letter one notes these points:

1. The Jew is a well-behaved citizen.

2. Can ignorance and fanaticism alone account for his unjust treatment?

3. Can Jews do anything to improve the situation?

4. The Jews have no party; they are non-participants.

5. Will the persecution ever come to an end?

6. What has become of the Golden Rule?

Point No. 1.--We must grant proposition No. 1, for several sufficient

reasons. The Jew is not a disturber of the peace of any country. Even

his enemies will concede that. He is not a loafer, he is not a sot, he

is not noisy, he is not a brawler nor a rioter, he is not quarrelsome.

In the statistics of crime his presence is conspicuously rare--in all

countries. With murder and other crimes of violence he has but little

to do: he is a stranger to the hangman. In the police court's daily long

roll of 'assaults' and 'drunk and disorderlies' his name seldom appears.

That the Jewish home is a home in the truest sense is a fact which

no one will dispute. The family is knitted together by the strongest

affections; its members show each other every due respect; and reverence

for the elders is an inviolate law of the house. The Jew is not a burden

on the charities of the state nor of the city; these could cease from

their functions without affecting him. When he is well enough, he works;

when he is incapacitated, his own people take care of him. And not in a

poor and stingy way, but with a fine and large benevolence. His race

is entitled to be called the most benevolent of all the races of men.

A Jewish beggar is not impossible, perhaps; such a thing may exist, but

there are few men that can say they have seen that spectacle. The Jew

has been staged in many uncomplimentary forms, but, so far as I know, no

dramatist has done him the injustice to stage him as a beggar. Whenever

a Jew has real need to beg, his people save him from the necessity

of doing it. The charitable institutions of the Jews are supported by

Jewish money, and amply. The Jews make no noise about it; it is done

quietly; they do not nag and pester and harass us for contributions;

they give us peace, and set us an example--an example which we have not

found ourselves able to follow; for by nature we are not free givers,

and have to be patiently and persistently hunted down in the interest of

the unfortunate.

These facts are all on the credit side of the proposition that the Jew

is a good and orderly citizen. Summed up, they certify that he is

quiet, peaceable, industrious, unaddicted to high crimes and brutal

dispositions; that his family life is commendable; that he is not

a burden upon public charities; that he is not a beggar; that in

benevolence he is above the reach of competition. These are the very

quintessentials of good citizenship. If you can add that he is as

honest as the average of his neighbours--But I think that question is

affirmatively answered by the fact that he is a successful business man.

The basis of successful business is honesty; a business cannot thrive

where the parties to it cannot trust each other. In the matter of

numbers the Jew counts for little in the overwhelming population of New

York; but that his honesty counts for much is guaranteed by the fact that

the immense wholesale business of Broadway, from the Battery to Union

Square, is substantially in his hands.

I suppose that the most picturesque example in history of a trader's

trust in his fellow-trader was one where it was not Christian trusting

Christian, but Christian trusting Jew. That Hessian Duke who used to

sell his subjects to George III. to fight George Washington with got

rich at it; and by-and-by, when the wars engendered by the French

Revolution made his throne too warm for him, he was obliged to fly

the country. He was in a hurry, and had to leave his earnings

behind--$9,000,000. He had to risk the money with some one without

security. He did not select a Christian, but a Jew--a Jew of only modest

means, but of high character; a character so high that it left him

lonesome--Rothschild of Frankfort. Thirty years later, when Europe had

become quiet and safe again, the Duke came back from overseas, and the

Jew returned the loan, with interest added.(2)

The Jew has his other side. He has some discreditable ways, though

he has not a monopoly of them, because he cannot get entirely rid

of vexatious Christian competition. We have seen that he seldom

transgresses the laws against crimes of violence. Indeed, his dealings

with courts are almost restricted to matters connected with commerce. He

has a reputation for various small forms of cheating, and for practising

oppressive usury, and for burning himself out to get the insurance, and

for arranging cunning contracts which leave him an exit but lock the

other man in, and for smart evasions which find him safe and comfortable

just within the strict letter of the law, when court and jury know

very well that he has violated the spirit of it. He is a frequent and

faithful and capable officer in the civil service, but he is

charged with an unpatriotic disinclination to stand by the flag as a

soldier--like the Christian Quaker.

Now if you offset these discreditable features by the creditable ones

summarised in a preceding paragraph beginning with the words, 'These

facts are all on the credit side,' and strike a balance, what must the

verdict be? This, I think: that, the merits and demerits being

fairly weighed and measured on both sides, the Christian can claim no

superiority over the Jew in the matter of good citizenship.

Yet in all countries, from the dawn of history, the Jew has been

persistently and implacably hated, and with frequency persecuted.

Point No. 2.--'Can fanaticism alone account for this?'

Years ago I used to think that it was responsible for nearly all of it,

but latterly I have come to think that this was an error. Indeed, it is

now my conviction that it is responsible for hardly any of it.

In this connection I call to mind Genesis, chapter xlvii.

We have all thoughtfully--or unthoughtfully--read the pathetic story of

the years of plenty and the years of famine in Egypt, and how Joseph,

with that opportunity, made a corner in broken hearts, and the crusts of

the poor, and human liberty--a corner whereby he took a nation's money

all away, to the last penny; took a nation's live stock all away, to the

last hoof; took a nation's land away, to the last acre; then took the

nation itself, buying it for bread, man by man, woman by woman, child

by child, till all were slaves; a corner which took everything, left

nothing; a corner so stupendous that, by comparison with it, the most

gigantic corners in subsequent history are but baby things, for it dealt

in hundreds of millions of bushels, and its profits were reckonable by

hundreds of millions of dollars, and it was a disaster so crushing that

its effects have not wholly disappeared from Egypt to-day, more than

three thousand years after the event.

Is it presumably that the eye of Egypt was upon Joseph the foreign Jew

all this time? I think it likely. Was it friendly? We must doubt it. Was

Joseph establishing a character for his race which would survive long in

Egypt? and in time would his name come to be familiarly used to express

that character--like Shylock's? It is hardly to be doubted. Let us

remember that this was centuries before the Crucifixion?

I wish to come down eighteen hundred years later and refer to a remark

made by one of the Latin historians. I read it in a translation many

years ago, and it comes back to me now with force. It was alluding to

a time when people were still living who could have seen the Saviour in

the flesh. Christianity was so new that the people of Rome had hardly

heard of it, and had but confused notions of what it was. The substance

of the remark was this: Some Christians were persecuted in Rome through

error, they being 'mistaken for Jews.'

The meaning seems plain. These pagans had nothing against Christians,

but they were quite ready to persecute Jews. For some reason or other

they hated a Jew before they even knew what a Christian was. May I not

assume, then, that the persecution of Jews is a thing which antedates

Christianity and was not born of Christianity? I think so. What was the

origin of the feeling?

When I was a boy, in the back settlements of the Mississippi Valley,

where a gracious and beautiful Sunday school simplicity and practicality

prevailed, the 'Yankee' (citizen of the New England States) was hated

with a splendid energy. But religion had nothing to do with it. In

a trade, the Yankee was held to be about five times the match of the

Westerner. His shrewdness, his insight, his judgment, his knowledge, his

enterprise, and his formidable cleverness in applying these forces were

frankly confessed, and most competently cursed.

In the cotton States, after the war, the simple and ignorant Negroes

made the crops for the white planter on shares. The Jew came down in

force, set up shop on the plantation, supplied all the negro's wants on

credit, and at the end of the season was proprietor of the negro's share

of the present crop and of part of his share of the next one. Before

long, the whites detested the Jew, and it is doubtful if the negro loved

him.

The Jew is being legislated out of Russia. The reason is not concealed.

The movement was instituted because the Christian peasant and villager

stood no chance against his commercial abilities. He was always ready

to lend money on a crop, and sell vodka and other necessities of life on

credit while the crop was growing. When settlement day came he owned the

crop; and next year or year after he owned the farm, like Joseph.

In the dull and ignorant English of John's time everybody got into debt

to the Jew. He gathered all lucrative enterprises into his hands; he was

the king of commerce; he was ready to be helpful in all profitable ways;

he even financed crusades for the rescue of the Sepulchre. To wipe out

his account with the nation and restore business to its natural and

incompetent channels he had to be banished the realm.

For the like reasons Spain had to banish him four hundred years ago, and

Austria about a couple of centuries later.

In all the ages Christian Europe has been obliged to curtail his

activities. If he entered upon a mechanical trade, the Christian had to

retire from it. If he set up as a doctor, he was the best one, and he

took the business. If he exploited agriculture, the other farmers had

to get at something else. Since there was no way to successfully compete

with him in any vocation, the law had to step in and save the Christian

from the poor-house. Trade after trade was taken away from the Jew by

statute till practically none was left. He was forbidden to engage

in agriculture; he was forbidden to practise law; he was forbidden to

practise medicine, except among Jews; he was forbidden the handicrafts.

Even the seats of learning and the schools of science had to be closed

against this tremendous antagonist. Still, almost bereft of employments,

he found ways to make money, even ways to get rich. Also ways to invest

his takings well, for usury was not denied him. In the hard conditions

suggested, the Jew without brains could not survive, and the Jew with

brains had to keep them in good training and well sharpened up, or

starve. Ages of restriction to the one tool which the law was not able

to take from him--his brain--have made that tool singularly competent;

ages of compulsory disuse of his hands have atrophied them, and he never

uses them now. This history has a very, very commercial look, a most

sordid and practical commercial look, the business aspect of a Chinese

cheap-labour crusade. Religious prejudices may account for one part of

it, but not for the other nine.

Protestants have persecuted Catholics, but they did not take their

livelihoods away from them. The Catholics have persecuted the

Protestants with bloody and awful bitterness, but they never closed

agriculture and the handicrafts against them. Why was that? That has the

candid look of genuine religious persecution, not a trade-union boycott

in a religious dispute.

The Jews are harried and obstructed in Austria and Germany, and lately

in France; but England and America give them an open field and yet

survive. Scotland offers them an unembarrassed field too, but there are

not many takers. There are a few Jews in Glasgow, and one in Aberdeen;

but that is because they can't earn enough to get away. The Scotch pay

themselves that compliment, but it is authentic.

I feel convinced that the Crucifixion has not much to do with the

world's attitude toward the Jew; that the reasons for it are older than

that event, as suggested by Egypt's experience and by Rome's regret

for having persecuted an unknown quantity called a Christian, under

the mistaken impression that she was merely persecuting a Jew. Merely a

Jew--a skinned eel who was used to it, presumably. I am persuaded that

in Russia, Austria, and Germany nine-tenths of the hostility to the Jew

comes from the average Christian's inability to compete successfully

with the average Jew in business--in either straight business or the

questionable sort.

In Berlin, a few years ago, I read a speech which frankly urged the

expulsion of the Jews from Germany; and the agitator's reason was as

frank as his proposition. It was this: that eighty-five percent of

the successful lawyers of Berlin were Jews, and that about the same

percentage of the great and lucrative businesses of all sorts in Germany

were in the hands of the Jewish race! Isn't it an amazing confession?

It was but another way of saying that in a population of 48,000,000, of

whom only 500,000 were registered as Jews, eighty-five per cent of the

brains and honesty of the whole was lodged in the Jews. I must insist

upon the honesty--it is an essential of successful business, taken by

and large. Of course it does not rule out rascals entirely, even among

Christians, but it is a good working rule, nevertheless. The speaker's

figures may have been inexact, but the motive of persecution stands out

as clear as day.

The man claimed that in Berlin the banks, the newspapers, the theatres,

the great mercantile, shipping, mining, and manufacturing interests,

the big army and city contracts, the tramways, and pretty much all other

properties of high value, and also the small businesses, were in the

hands of the Jews. He said the Jew was pushing the Christian to the

wall all along the line; that it was all a Christian could do to scrape

together a living; and that the Jew must be banished, and soon--there

was no other way of saving the Christian. Here in Vienna, last autumn,

an agitator said that all these disastrous details were true of

Austria-Hungary also; and in fierce language he demanded the expulsion

of the Jews. When politicians come out without a blush and read the baby

act in this frank way, unrebuked, it is a very good indication that they

have a market back of them, and know where to fish for votes.

You note the crucial point of the mentioned agitation; the argument is

that the Christian cannot compete with the Jew, and that hence his very

bread is in peril. To human beings this is a much more hate-inspiring

thing than is any detail connected with religion. With most people, of

a necessity, bread and meat take first rank, religion second. I am

convinced that the persecution of the Jew is not due in any large degree

to religious prejudice.

No, the Jew is a money-getter; and in getting his money he is a very

serious obstruction to less capable neighbours who are on the same

quest. I think that that is the trouble. In estimating worldly values

the Jew is not shallow, but deep. With precocious wisdom he found out

in the morning of time that some men worship rank, some worship heroes,

some worship power, some worship God, and that over these ideals they

dispute and cannot unite--but that they all worship money; so he made it

the end and aim of his life to get it. He was at it in Egypt thirty-six

centuries ago; he was at it in Rome when that Christian got persecuted

by mistake for him; he has been at it ever since. The cost to him has

been heavy; his success has made the whole human race his enemy--but it

has paid, for it has brought him envy, and that is the only thing which

men will sell both soul and body to get. He long ago observed that

a millionaire commands respect, a two-millionaire homage, a

multi-millionaire the deepest deeps of adoration. We all know that

feeling; we have seen it express itself. We have noticed that when the

average man mentions the name of a multi-millionaire he does it with

that mixture in his voice of awe and reverence and lust which burns in a

Frenchman's eye when it falls on another man's centime.

Point No. 4--'The Jews have no party; they are non-participants.'

Perhaps you have let the secret out and given yourself away. It seems

hardly a credit to the race that it is able to say that; or to you, sir,

that you can say it without remorse; more, that you should offer it as a

plea against maltreatment, injustice, and oppression. Who gives the Jew

the right, who gives any race the right, to sit still in a free country,

and let somebody else look after its safety? The oppressed Jew was

entitled to all pity in the former times under brutal autocracies, for

he was weak and friendless, and had no way to help his case. But he has

ways now, and he has had them for a century, but I do not see that he

has tried to make serious use of them. When the Revolution set him free

in France it was an act of grace--the grace of other people; he does not

appear in it as a helper. I do not know that he helped when England set

him free. Among the Twelve Sane Men of France who have stepped forward

with great Zola at their head to fight (and win, I hope and believe(3))

the battle for the most infamously misused Jew of modern times, do you

find a great or rich or illustrious Jew helping? In the United States he

was created free in the beginning--he did not need to help, of

course. In Austria and Germany and France he has a vote, but of what

considerable use is it to him? He doesn't seem to know how to apply it

to the best effect. With all his splendid capacities and all his

fat wealth he is to-day not politically important in any country. In

America, as early as 1854, the ignorant Irish hod-carrier, who had

a spirit of his own and a way of exposing it to the weather, made it

apparent to all that he must be politically reckoned with; yet fifteen

years before that we hardly knew what an Irishman looked like. As an

intelligent force and numerically, he has always been away down, but he

has governed the country just the same. It was because he was organised.

It made his vote valuable--in fact, essential.

You will say the Jew is everywhere numerically feeble. That is nothing

to the point--with the Irishman's history for an object-lesson. But I

am coming to your numerical feebleness presently. In all parliamentary

countries you could no doubt elect Jews to the legislatures--and even

one member in such a body is sometimes a force which counts. How

deeply have you concerned yourselves about this in Austria, France, and

Germany? Or even in America, for that matter? You remark that the Jews

were not to blame for the riots in this Reichsrath here, and you add

with satisfaction that there wasn't one in that body. That is not

strictly correct; if it were, would it not be in order for you to

explain it and apologise for it, not try to make a merit of it? But I

think that the Jew was by no means in as large force there as he ought

to have been, with his chances. Austria opens the suffrage to him on

fairly liberal terms, and it must surely be his own fault that he is so

much in the background politically.

As to your numerical weakness. I mentioned some figures awhile

ago--500,00--as the Jewish population of Germany. I will add some

more--6,000,000 in Russia, 5,000,000 in Austria, 250,000 in the United

States. I take them from memory; I read them in the 'Encyclopaedia

Brittannica' ten or twelve years ago. Still, I am entirely sure of them.

If those statistics are correct, my argument is not as strong as it

ought to be as concerns America, but it still has strength. It is plenty

strong enough as concerns Austria, for ten years ago 5,000,000 was nine

per cent of the empire's population. The Irish would govern the Kingdom

of Heaven if they had a strength there like that.

I have some suspicions; I got them at second-hand, but they have

remained with me these ten or twelve years. When I read in the 'E.B.'

that the Jewish population of the United States was 250,000 I wrote the

editor, and explained to him that I was personally acquainted with more

Jews than that in my country, and that his figures were without a doubt

a misprint for 25,000,000. I also added that I was personally acquainted

with that many there; but that was only to raise his confidence in me,

for it was not true. His answer miscarried, and I never got it; but I

went around talking about the matter, and people told me they had reason

to suspect that for business reasons many Jews whose dealings were

mainly with the Christians did not report themselves as Jews in the

census. It looked plausible; it looks plausible yet. Look at the city

of New York; and look at Boston, and Philadelphia, and New Orleans,

and Chicago, and Cincinnati, and San Francisco--how your race swarms in

those places!--and everywhere else in America, down to the least little

village. Read the signs on the marts of commerce and on the shops;

Goldstein (gold stone), Edelstein (precious stone), Blumenthal

(flower-vale), Rosenthal (rose-vale), Veilchenduft (violent odour),

Singvogel (song-bird), Rosenzweig (rose branch), and all the amazing

list of beautiful and enviable names which Prussia and Austria glorified

you with so long ago. It is another instance of Europe's coarse and

cruel persecution of your race; not that it was coarse and cruel to

outfit it with pretty and poetical names like those, but it was coarse

and cruel to make it pay for them or else take such hideous and often

indecent names that to-day their owners never use them; or, if they do,

only on official papers. And it was the many, not the few, who got the

odious names, they being too poor to bribe the officials to grant them

better ones.

Now why was the race renamed? I have been told that in Prussia it was

given to using fictitious names, and often changing them, so as to beat

the tax-gatherer, escape military service, and so on; and that finally

the idea was hit upon of furnishing all the inmates of a house with one

and the same surname, and then holding the house responsible right along

for those inmates, and accountable for any disappearances that might

occur; it made the Jews keep track of each other, for self-interest's

sake, and saved the Government the trouble(4).

If that explanation of how the Jews of Prussia came to be renamed is

correct, if it is true that they fictitiously registered themselves to

gain certain advantages, it may possibly be true that in America they

refrain from registered themselves as Jews to fend off the damaging

prejudices of the Christian customer. I have no way of knowing whether

this notion is well founded or not. There may be other and better ways

of explaining why only that poor little 250,000 of our Jews got into the

'Encyclopaedia'. I may, of course, be mistaken, but I am strongly of the

opinion that we have an immense Jewish population in America.

Point No. 3--'Can Jews do anything to improve the situation?'

I think so. If I may make a suggestion without seeming to be trying to

teach my grandmother to suck eggs, I will offer it. In our days we have

learned the value of combination. We apply it everywhere--in railway

systems, in trusts, in trade unions, in Salvation Armies, in minor

politics, in major politics, in European Concerts. Whatever our strength

may be, big or little, we organise it. We have found out that that

is the only way to get the most out of it that is in it. We know the

weakness of individual sticks, and the strength of the concentrated

faggot. Suppose you try a scheme like this, for instance. In England and

America put every Jew on the census-book as a Jew (in case you have not

been doing that). Get up volunteer regiments composed of Jews solely,

and when the drum beats, fall in and go to the front, so as to remove

the reproach that you have few Massenas among you, and that you feed on

a country but don't like to fight for it. Next, in politics, organise

your strength, band together, and deliver the casting-vote where you

can, and, where you can't, compel as good terms as possible. You huddle

to yourselves already in all countries, but you huddle to no sufficient

purpose, politically speaking. You do not seem to be organised, except

for your charities. There you are omnipotent; there you compel your due

of recognition--you do not have to beg for it. It shows what you can do

when you band together for a definite purpose.

And then from America and England you can encourage your race in

Austria, France, and Germany, and materially help it. It was a pathetic

tale that was told by a poor Jew a fortnight ago during the riots,

after he had been raided by the Christian peasantry and despoiled of

everything he had. He said his vote was of no value to him, and he

wished he could be excused from casting it, for indeed, casting it was a

sure damage to him, since, no matter which party he voted for, the other

party would come straight and take its revenge out of him. Nine per cent

of the population, these Jews, and apparently they cannot put a plank

into any candidate's platform! If you will send our Irish lads over

here I think they will organise your race and change the aspect of the

Reichsrath.

You seem to think that the Jews take no hand in politics here, that

they are 'absolutely non-participants.' I am assured by men competent

to speak that this is a very large error, that the Jews are exceedingly

active in politics all over the empire, but that they scatter their work

and their votes among the numerous parties, and thus lose the advantages

to be had by concentration. I think that in America they scatter too,

but you know more about that than I do.

Speaking of concentration, Dr. Herzl has a clear insight into the value

of that. Have you heard of his plan? He wishes to gather the Jews of the

world together in Palestine, with a government of their own--under the

suzerainty of the Sultan, I suppose. At the Convention of Berne,

last year, there were delegates from everywhere, and the proposal

was received with decided favour. I am not the Sultan, and I am not

objecting; but if that concentration of the cunningest brains in the

world were going to be made in a free country (bar Scotland), I think it

would be politic to stop it. It will not be well to let that race find

out its strength. If the horses knew theirs, we should not ride any

more.

Point No. 5.--'Will the persecution of the Jews ever come to an end?'

On the score of religion, I think it has already come to an end. On

the score of race prejudice and trade, I have the idea that it will

continue. That is, here and there in spots about the world, where a

barbarous ignorance and a sort of mere animal civilisation prevail;

but I do not think that elsewhere the Jew need now stand in any fear

of being robbed and raided. Among the high civilisations he seems to

be very comfortably situated indeed, and to have more than his

proportionate share of the prosperities going. It has that look in

Vienna. I suppose the race prejudice cannot be removed; but he can

stand that; it is no particular matter. By his make and ways he is

substantially a foreigner wherever he may be, and even the angels

dislike a foreigner. I am using this word foreigner in the German

sense--_stranger_. Nearly all of us have an antipathy to a stranger, even

of our own nationality. We pile grip-sacks in a vacant seat to keep

him from getting it; and a dog goes further, and does as a savage

would--challenges him on the spot. The German dictionary seems to

make no distinction between a stranger and a foreigner; in its view a

stranger _is_ a foreigner--a sound position, I think. You will

always be by ways and habits and predilections substantially

strangers--foreigners--wherever you are, and that will probably keep the

race prejudice against you alive.

But you were the favourites of Heaven originally, and your manifold and

unfair prosperities convince me that you have crowded back into that

snug place again. Here is an incident that is significant. Last week

in Vienna a hailstorm struck the prodigious Central Cemetery and made

wasteful destruction there. In the Christian part of it, according

to the official figures, 621 window-panes were broken; more than 900

singing-birds were killed; five great trees and many small ones were

torn to shreds and the shreds scattered far and wide by the wind; the

ornamental plants and other decorations of the graces were ruined, and

more than a hundred tomb-lanterns shattered; and it took the cemetery's

whole force of 300 labourers more than three days to clear away the

storm's wreckage. In the report occurs this remark--and in its

italics you can hear it grit its Christian teeth: '...lediglich die

israelitische Abtheilung des Friedhofes vom Hagelwetter ganzlich

verschont worden war.' Not a hailstone hit the Jewish reservation! Such

nepotism makes me tired.

Point No. 6.--'What has become of the Golden Rule?'

It exists, it continues to sparkle, and is well taken care of. It is

Exhibit A in the Church's assets, and we pull it out every Sunday and

give it an airing. But you are not permitted to try to smuggle it into

this discussion, where it is irrelevant and would not feel at home.

It is strictly religious furniture, like an acolyte, or a

contribution-plate, or any of those things. It has never intruded into

business; and Jewish persecution is not a religious passion, it is a

business passion.

To conclude.--If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one

per cent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star-dust

lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to

be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is

as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial

importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of

his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in

literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse

learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers.

He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has

done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and

be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose,

filled the planet with sound and splendour, then faded to dream-stuff

and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast

noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their

torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now,

or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now

what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no

weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his

alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal to the Jew; all other

forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

Postscript--THE JEW AS SOLDIER

When I published the above article in 'Harper's Monthly,' I was

ignorant--like the rest of the Christian world--of the fact that the Jew

had a record as a soldier. I have since seen the official statistics,

and I find that he furnished soldiers and high officers to the

Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War. In the Civil War he

was represented in the armies and navies of both the North and the South

by 10 per cent of his numerical strength--the same percentage that was

furnished by the Christian populations of the two sections. This large

fact means more than it seems to mean; for it means that the Jew's

patriotism was not merely level with the Christian's, but overpassed

it. When the Christian volunteer arrived in camp he got a welcome and

applause, but as a rule the Jew got a snub. His company was not desired,

and he was made to feel it. That he nevertheless conquered his wounded

pride and sacrificed both that and his blood for his flag raises the

average and quality of his patriotism above the Christian's. His record

for capacity, for fidelity, and for gallant soldiership in the field is

as good as any one's. This is true of the Jewish private soldiers and of

the Jewish generals alike. Major-General O. O. Howard speaks of one

of his Jewish staff officers as being 'of the bravest and best;' of

another--killed at Chancellorsville--as being 'a true friend and a

brave officer;' he highly praises two of his Jewish brigadier-generals;

finally, he uses these strong words: 'Intrinsically there are no more

patriotic men to be found in the country than those who claim to be

of Hebrew descent, and who served with me in parallel commands or more

directly under my instructions.'

Fourteen Jewish Confederate and Union families contributed, between

them, fifty-one soldiers to the war. Among these, a father and three

sons; and another, a father and four sons.

In the above article I was neither able to endorse nor repel

the common approach that the Jew is willing to feed upon a

country but not to fight for it, because I did not know

whether it was true or false. I supposed it to be true, but

it is not allowable to endorse wandering maxims upon

supposition--except when one is trying to make out a case.

That slur upon the Jew cannot hold up its head in presence

of the figures of the War Department. It has done its work,

and done it long and faithfully, and with high approval: it

ought to be pensioned off now, and retired from active

service.

(1) See 'Stirring Times in Austria,' in this volume.

(2) Here is another piece of picturesque history; and it reminds us that

shabbiness and dishonesty are not the monopoly of any race or creed, but

are merely human:

'Congress has passed a bill to pay $379.56 to Moses Pendergrass, of

Libertyville, Missouri. The story of the reason of this liberality is

pathetically interesting, and shows the sort of pickle that an honest

man may get into who undertakes to do an honest job of work for Uncle

Sam. In 1886 Moses Pendergrass put in a bid for the contract to carry

the mail on the route from Knob Lick to Libertyville and Coffman, thirty

miles a day, from July 1, 1887, for one year. He got the postmaster at

Knob Lick to write the letter for him, and while Moses intended that

his bid should be $400, his scribe carelessly made it $4. Moses got the

contract, and did not find out about the mistake until the end of the

first quarter, when he got his first pay. When he found at what rate he

was working he was sorely cast down, and opened communication with the

Post Office Department. The department informed him that he must either

carry out his contract or throw it up, and that if he threw it up his

bondsman would have to pay the Government $1,459.85 damages. So Moses

carried out his contract, walked thirty miles every week-day for a

year, and carried the mail, and received for his labour $4, or, to

be accurate, $6.84; for, the route being extended after his bid was

accepted, his pay was proportionately increased. Now, after ten years,

a bill was finally passed to pay to Moses the difference between what he

earned in that unlucky year and what he received.'

The 'Sun,' which tells the above story, says that bills were introduced

in three or four Congresses for Moses' relief, and that committees

repeatedly investigated his claim.

It took six Congresses, containing in their persons the compressed

virtues of 70,000,000 of people, and cautiously and carefully giving

expression to those virtues in the fear of God and the next election,

eleven years to find out some way to cheat a fellow Christian out of

about $13 on his honestly executed contract, and out of nearly $300 due

him on its enlarged terms. And they succeeded. During the same time

they paid out $1,000,000,000 in pensions--a third of it unearned and

undeserved. This indicates a splendid all-round competency in theft,

for it starts with farthings, and works its industries all the way up to

ship-loads. It may be possible that the Jews can beat this, but the man

that bets on it is taking chances.

(3) The article was written in the summer of 1898.

(4) In Austria the renaming was merely done because the Jews in some

newly-acquired regions had no surnames, but were mostly named Abraham

and Moses, and therefore the tax-gatherer could tell t'other from which,

and was likely to lose his reason over the matter. The renaming was put

into the hands of the War Department, and a charming mess the

graceless young lieutenants made of it. To them a Jew was of no sort

of consequence, and they labeled the race in a way to make the angels

weep. As an example, take these two: Abraham Bellyache and Schmul

Godbedamned--Culled from 'Namens Studien,' by Karl Emil Fransos.

FROM THE 'LONDON TIMES' OF 1904

I

Correspondence of the 'London Times'

Chicago, April 1, 1904.

I resume by cable-telephone where I left off yesterday. For many hours

now, this vast city--along with the rest of the globe, of course--has

talked of nothing but the extraordinary episode mentioned in my last

report. In accordance with your instructions, I will now trace the

romance from its beginnings down to the culmination of yesterday--or

today; call it which you like. By an odd chance, I was a personal actor

in a part of this drama myself. The opening scene plays in Vienna. Date,

one o'clock in the morning, March 31, 1898. I had spent the evening at

a social entertainment. About midnight I went away, in company with the

military attaches of the British, Italian, and American embassies, to

finish with a late smoke. This function had been appointed to take place

in the house of Lieutenant Hillyer, the third attache mentioned in the

above list. When we arrived there we found several visitors in the room;

young Szczepanik;(1) Mr. K., his financial backer; Mr. W., the latter's

secretary; and Lieutenant Clayton, of the United States Army. War was

at that time threatening between Spain and our country, and Lieutenant

Clayton had been sent to Europe on military business. I was well

acquainted with young Szczepanik and his two friends, and I knew Mr.

Clayton slightly. I had met him at West Point years before, when he

was a cadet. It was when General Merritt was superintendent. He had the

reputation of being an able officer, and also of being quick-tempered

and plain-spoken.

This smoking-party had been gathered together partly for business. This

business was to consider the availability of the telelectroscope for

military service. It sounds oddly enough now, but it is nevertheless

true that at that time the invention was not taken seriously by any one

except its inventor. Even his financial supporter regarded it merely as a

curious and interesting toy. Indeed, he was so convinced of this that

he had actually postponed its use by the general world to the end of

the dying century by granting a two years' exclusive lease of it to a

syndicate, whose intent was to exploit it at the Paris World's Fair.

When we entered the smoking-room we found Lieutenant Clayton and

Szczepanik engaged in a warm talk over the telelectroscope in the German

tongue. Clayton was saying:

'Well, you know my opinion of it, anyway!' and he brought his fist down

with emphasis upon the table.

'And I do not value it,' retorted the young inventor, with provoking

calmness of tone and manner.

Clayton turned to Mr. K., and said:

'I cannot see why you are wasting money on this toy. In my opinion, the

day will never come when it will do a farthing's worth of real service

for any human being.'

'That may be; yes, that may be; still, I have put the money in it,

and am content. I think, myself, that it is only a toy; but Szczepanik

claims more for it, and I know him well enough to believe that he can

see father than I can--either with his telelectroscope or without it.'

The soft answer did not cool Clayton down; it seemed only to irritate

him the more; and he repeated and emphasised his conviction that the

invention would never do any man a farthing's worth of real service.

He even made it a 'brass' farthing, this time. Then he laid an English

farthing on the table, and added:

'Take that, Mr. K., and put it away; and if ever the telelectroscope

does any man an actual service--mind, a real service--please mail it

to me as a reminder, and I will take back what I have been saying. Will

you?'

'I will,' and Mr. K. put the coin in his pocket.

Mr. Clayton now turned toward Szczepanik, and began with a taunt--a

taunt which did not reach a finish; Szczepanik interrupted it with a

hardy retort, and followed this with a blow. There was a brisk fight for

a moment or two; then the attaches separated the men.

The scene now changes to Chicago. Time, the autumn of 1901. As soon as

the Paris contract released the telelectroscope, it was delivered to

public use, and was soon connected with the telephonic systems of the

whole world. The improved 'limitless-distance' telephone was presently

introduced, and the daily doings of the globe made visible to everybody,

and audibly discussible, too, by witnesses separated by any number of

leagues.

By-and-by Szczepanik arrived in Chicago. Clayton (now captain) was

serving in that military department at the time. The two men resumed the

Viennese quarrel of 1898. On three different occasions they quarrelled,

and were separated by witnesses. Then came an interval of two months,

during which time Szczepanik was not seen by any of his friends, and it

was at first supposed that he had gone off on a sight seeing tour and

would soon be heard from. But no; no word came from him. Then it was

supposed that he had returned to Europe. Still, time drifted on, and he

was not heard from. Nobody was troubled, for he was like most inventors

and other kinds of poets, and went and came in a capricious way, and

often without notice.

Now comes the tragedy. On December 29, in a dark and unused compartment

of the cellar under Captain Clayton's house, a corpse was discovered

by one of Clayton's maid-servants. Friends of deceased identified it

as Szczepanik's. The man had died by violence. Clayton was arrested,

indicted, and brought to trial, charged with this murder. The evidence

against him was perfect in every detail, and absolutely unassailable.

Clayton admitted this himself. He said that a reasonable man could not

examine this testimony with a dispassionate mind and not be convinced by

it; yet the man would be in error, nevertheless. Clayton swore that he

did not commit the murder, and that he had had nothing to do with it.

As your readers will remember, he was condemned to death. He had

numerous and powerful friends, and they worked hard to save him, for

none of them doubted the truth of his assertion. I did what little I

could to help, for I had long since become a close friend of his, and

thought I knew that it was not in his character to inveigle an enemy

into a corner and assassinate him. During 1902 and 1903 he was several

times reprieved by the governor; he was reprieved once more in the

beginning of the present year, and the execution day postponed to March

31.

The governor's situation has been embarrassing, from the day of the

condemnation, because of the fact that Clayton's wife is the governor's

niece. The marriage took place in 1899, when Clayton was thirty-four and

the girl twenty-three, and has been a happy one. There is one child, a

little girl three years old. Pity for the poor mother and child kept

the mouths of grumblers closed at first; but this could not last for

ever--for in America politics has a hand in everything--and by-and-by

the governor's political opponents began to call attention to his delay

in allowing the law to take its course. These hints have grown more

and more frequent of late, and more and more pronounced. As a

natural result, his own party grew nervous. Its leaders began to visit

Springfield and hold long private conferences with him. He was now

between two fires. On the one hand, his niece was imploring him to

pardon her husband; on the other were the leaders, insisting that he

stand to his plain duty as chief magistrate of the State, and place no

further bar to Clayton's execution. Duty won in the struggle, and the

Governor gave his word that he would not again respite the condemned

man. This was two weeks ago. Mrs. Clayton now said:

'Now that you have given your word, my last hope is gone, for I know

you will never go back from it. But you have done the best you could for

John, and I have no reproaches for you. You love him, and you love me,

and we know that if you could honourable save him, you would do it. I

will go to him now, and be what help I can to him, and get what comfort

I may out of the few days that are left to us before the night comes

which will have no end for me in life. You will be with me that day? You

will not let me bear it alone?'

'I will take you to him myself, poor child, and I will be near you to

the last.'

By the governor's command, Clayton was now allowed every indulgence he

might ask for which could interest his mind and soften the hardships of

his imprisonment. His wife and child spent the days with him; I was his

companion by night. He was removed from the narrow cell which he had

occupied during such a dreary stretch of time, and given the chief

warden's roomy and comfortable quarters. His mind was always busy with

the catastrophe of his life, and with the slaughtered inventor, and he

now took the fancy that he would like to have the telelectroscope and

divert his mind with it. He had his wish. The connection was made with

the international telephone-station, and day by day, and night by night,

he called up one corner of the globe after another, and looked upon its

life, and studied its strange sights, and spoke with its people, and

realised that by grace of this marvellous instrument he was almost as

free as the birds of the air, although a prisoner under locks and bars.

He seldom spoke, and I never interrupted him when he was absorbed in

this amusement. I sat in his parlour and read, and smoked, and the

nights were very quiet and reposefully sociable, and I found them

pleasant. Now and then I would her him say 'Give me Yedo;' next, 'Give

me Hong-Kong;' next, 'Give me Melbourne.' And I smoked on, and read in

comfort, while he wandered about the remote underworld, where the

sun was shining in the sky, and the people were at their daily work.

Sometimes the talk that came from those far regions through the

microphone attachment interested me, and I listened.

Yesterday--I keep calling it yesterday, which is quite natural, for

certain reasons--the instrument remained unused, and that also was

natural, for it was the eve of the execution day. It was spent in tears

and lamentations and farewells. The governor and the wife and child

remained until a quarter-past eleven at night, and the scenes I

witnessed were pitiful to see. The execution was to take place at four

in the morning. A little after eleven a sound of hammering broke out

upon the still night, and there was a glare of light, and the child

cried out, 'What is that, papa?' and ran to the window before she could

be stopped and clapped her small hands and said, 'Oh, come and see,

mamma--such a pretty thing they are making!' The mother knew--and

fainted. It was the gallows!

She was carried away to her lodging, poor woman, and Clayton and I

were alone--alone, and thinking, brooding, dreaming. We might have been

statues, we sat so motionless and still. It was a wild night, for winter

was come again for a moment, after the habit of this region in the early

spring. The sky was starless and black, and a strong wind was blowing

from the lake. The silence in the room was so deep that all outside

sounds seemed exaggerated by contrast with it. These sounds were fitting

ones: they harmonised with the situation and the conditions: the boom

and thunder of sudden storm-gusts among the roofs and chimneys, then the

dying down into moanings and wailings about the eaves and angles; now

and then a gnashing and lashing rush of sleet along the window-panes;

and always the muffled and uncanny hammering of the gallows-builders in

the court-yard. After an age of this, another sound--far off, and coming

smothered and faint through the riot of the tempest--a bell tolling

twelve! Another age, and it was tolled again. By-and-by, again. A dreary

long interval after this, then the spectral sound floated to us once

more--one, two three; and this time we caught our breath; sixty minutes

of life left!

Clayton rose, and stood by the window, and looked up into the black sky,

and listened to the thrashing sleet and the piping wind; then he said:

'That a dying man's last of earth should be--this!' After a little he

said: 'I must see the sun again--the sun!' and the next moment he was

feverishly calling: 'China! Give me China--Peking!'

I was strangely stirred, and said to myself: 'To think that it is a

mere human being who does this unimaginable miracle--turns winter into

summer, night into day, storm into calm, gives the freedom of the great

globe to a prisoner in his cell, and the sun in his naked splendour to a

man dying in Egyptian darkness.'

I was listening.

'What light! what brilliancy! what radiance!... This is Peking?'

'Yes.'

'The time?'

'Mid-afternoon.'

'What is the great crowd for, and in such gorgeous costumes? What masses

and masses of rich colour and barbaric magnificence! And how they flash

and glow and burn in the flooding sunlight! What is the occasion of it

all?'

'The coronation of our new emperor--the Czar.'

'But I thought that that was to take place yesterday.'

'This is yesterday--to you.'

'Certainly it is. But my mind is confused, these days: there are reasons

for it.... Is this the beginning of the procession?'

'Oh, no; it began to move an hour ago.'

'Is there much more of it still to come?'

'Two hours of it. Why do you sigh?'

'Because I should like to see it all.'

'And why can't you?'

'I have to go--presently.'

'You have an engagement?'

After a pause, softly: 'Yes.' After another pause: 'Who are these in the

splendid pavilion?'

'The imperial family, and visiting royalties from here and there and

yonder in the earth.'

'And who are those in the adjoining pavilions to the right and left?'

'Ambassadors and their families and suites to the right; unofficial

foreigners to the left.'

'If you will be so good, I--'

Boom! That distant bell again, tolling the half-hour faintly through

the tempest of wind and sleet. The door opened, and the governor and the

mother and child entered--the woman in widow's weeds! She fell upon her

husband's breast in a passion of sobs, and I--I could not stay; I could

not bear it. I went into the bedchamber, and closed the door. I sat

there waiting--waiting--waiting, and listening to the rattling sashes

and the blustering of the storm. After what seemed a long, long time, I

heard a rustle and movement in the parlour, and knew that the clergyman

and the sheriff and the guard were come. There was some low-voiced

talking; then a hush; then a prayer, with a sound of sobbing; presently,

footfalls--the departure for the gallows; then the child's happy voice:

'Don't cry now, mamma, when we've got papa again, and taking him home.'

The door closed; they were gone. I was ashamed: I was the only friend of

the dying man that had no spirit, no courage. I stepped into the room,

and said I would be a man and would follow. But we are made as we are

made, and we cannot help it. I did not go.

I fidgeted about the room nervously, and presently went to the window

and softly raised it--drawn by that dread fascination which the terrible

and the awful exert--and looked down upon the court-yard. By the

garish light of the electric lamps I saw the little group of privileged

witnesses, the wife crying on her uncle's breast, the condemned man

standing on the scaffold with the halter around his neck, his arms

strapped to his body, the black cap on his head, the sheriff at his side

with his hand on the drop, the clergyman in front of him with bare head

and his book in his hand.

'I am the resurrection and the life--'

I turned away. I could not listen; I could not look. I did not know

whither to go or what to do. Mechanically and without knowing it, I put

my eye to that strange instrument, and there was Peking and the Czar's

procession! The next moment I was leaning out of the window, gasping,

suffocating, trying to speak, but dumb from the very imminence of the

necessity of speaking. The preacher could speak, but I, who had such

need of words--'And may God have mercy upon your soul. Amen.'

The sheriff drew down the black cap, and laid his hand upon the lever. I

got my voice.

'Stop, for God's sake! The man is innocent. Come here and see Szczepanik

face to face!'

Hardly three minutes later the governor had my place at the window, and

was saying:

'Strike off his bonds and set him free!'

Three minutes later all were in the parlour again. The reader will

imagine the scene; I have no need to describe it. It was a sort of mad

orgy of joy.

A messenger carried word to Szczepanik in the pavilion, and one could

see the distressed amazement in his face as he listened to the tale.

Then he came to his end of the line, and talked with Clayton and the

governor and the others; and the wife poured out her gratitude upon him

for saving her husband's life, and in her deep thankfulness she kissed

him at twelve thousand miles' range.

The telelectroscopes of the world were put to service now, and for

many hours the kings and queens of many realms (with here and there

a reporter) talked with Szczepanik, and praised him; and the few

scientific societies which had not already made him an honorary member

conferred that grace upon him.

How had he come to disappear from among us? It was easily explained. He

had not grown used to being a world-famous person, and had been forced

to break away from the lionising that was robbing him of all privacy and

repose. So he grew a beard, put on coloured glasses, disguised himself

a little in other ways, then took a fictitious name, and went off to

wander about the earth in peace.

Such is the tale of the drama which began with an inconsequential

quarrel in Vienna in the spring of 1898, and came near ending as a

tragedy in the spring of 1904.

Mark Twain

II

Correspondence of the 'London Times'

Chicago, April 5, 1904

To-day, by a clipper of the Electric Line, and the latter's Electric

Railway connections, arrived an envelope from Vienna, for Captain

Clayton, containing an English farthing. The receiver of it was a good

deal moved. He called up Vienna, and stood face to face with Mr. K., and

said:

'I do not need to say anything: you can see it all in my face. My wife

has the farthing. Do not be afraid--she will not throw it away.'

M.T.

III

Correspondence of the 'London Times'

Chicago, April 23, 1904

Now that the after developments of the Clayton case have run their

course and reached a finish, I will sum them up. Clayton's romantic

escape from a shameful death steeped all this region in an enchantment

of wonder and joy--during the proverbial nine days. Then the sobering

process followed, and men began to take thought, and to say: 'But a man

was killed, and Clayton killed him.' Others replied: 'That is true: we

have been overlooking that important detail; we have been led away by

excitement.'

The telling soon became general that Clayton ought to be tried again.

Measures were taken accordingly, and the proper representations conveyed

to Washington; for in America under the new paragraph added to the

Constitution in 1889, second trials are not State affairs, but national,

and must be tried by the most august body in the land--the Supreme Court

of the United States. The justices were therefore summoned to sit in

Chicago. The session was held day before yesterday, and was opened with

the usual impressive formalities, the nine judges appearing in their

black robes, and the new chief justice (Lemaitre) presiding. In opening

the case the chief justice said:

'It is my opinion that this matter is quite simple. The prisoner at

the bar was charged with murdering the man Szczepanik; he was tried for

murdering the man Szczepanik; he was fairly tried and justly condemned

and sentenced to death for murdering the man Szczepanik. It turns out

that the man Szczepanik was not murdered at all. By the decision of the

French courts in the Dreyfus matter, it is established beyond cavil

or question that the decisions of courts are permanent and cannot be

revised. We are obliged to respect and adopt this precedent. It is upon

precedents that the enduring edifice of jurisprudence is reared. The

prisoner at the bar has been fairly and righteously condemned to death

for the murder of the man Szczepanik, and, in my opinion, there is but

one course to pursue in the matter: he must be hanged.'

Mr. Justice Crawford said:

'But, your Excellency, he was pardoned on the scaffold for that.'

'The pardon is not valid, and cannot stand, because he was pardoned

for killing Szczepanik, a man whom he had not killed. A man cannot

be pardoned for a crime which he has not committed; it would be an

absurdity.'

'But, your Excellency, he did kill a man.'

'That is an extraneous detail; we have nothing to do with it. The court

cannot take up this crime until the prisoner has expiated the other

one.'

Mr. Justice Halleck said:

'If we order his execution, your Excellency, we shall bring about a

miscarriage of justice, for the governor will pardon him again.'

'He will not have the power. He cannot pardon a man for a crime which he

has not committed. As I observed before, it would be an absurdity.'

After a consultation, Mr. Justice Wadsworth said:

'Several of us have arrived at the conclusion, your Excellency, that it

would be an error to hang the prisoner for killing Szczepanik, instead

of for killing the other man, since it is proven that he did not kill

Szczepanik.'

'On the contrary, it is proven that he did kill Szczepanik. By the

French precedent, it is plain that we must abide by the finding of the

court.'

'But Szczepanik is still alive.'

'So is Dreyfus.'

In the end it was found impossible to ignore or get around the French

precedent. There could be but one result: Clayton was delivered over for

the execution. It made an immense excitement; the State rose as one man

and clamored for Clayton's pardon and retrial. The governor issued the

pardon, but the Supreme Court was in duty bound to annul it, and did so,

and poor Clayton was hanged yesterday. The city is draped in black, and,

indeed, the like may be said of the State. All America is vocal with

scorn of 'French justice,' and of the malignant little soldiers who

invented it and inflicted it upon the other Christian lands.

(1) Pronounced (approximately) Shepannik.

ABOUT PLAY-ACTING

I

I have a project to suggest. But first I will write a chapter of

introduction.

I have just been witnessing a remarkable play, here at the Burg Theatre

in Vienna. I do not know of any play that much resembles it. In fact,

it is such a departure from the common laws of the drama that the name

'play' doesn't seem to fit it quite snugly. However, whatever else it

may be, it is in any case a great and stately metaphysical poem, and

deeply fascinating. 'Deeply fascinating' is the right term: for the

audience sat four hours and five minutes without thrice breaking

into applause, except at the close of each act; sat rapt and

silent--fascinated. This piece is 'The Master of Palmyra.' It is twenty

years old; yet I doubt if you have ever heard of it. It is by Wilbrandt,

and is his masterpiece and the work which is to make his name permanent

in German literature. It has never been played anywhere except in Berlin

and in the great Burg Theatre in Vienna. Yet whenever it is put on the

stage it packs the house, and the free list is suspended. I know people

who have seem it ten times; they know the most of it by heart; they do

not tire of it; and they say they shall still be quite willing to go and

sit under its spell whenever they get the opportunity.

There is a dash of metempsychosis in it--and it is the strength of the

piece. The play gave me the sense of the passage of a dimly connected

procession of dream-pictures. The scene of it is Palmyra in Roman times.

It covers a wide stretch of time--I don't know how many years--and in

the course of it the chief actress is reincarnated several times: four

times she is a more or less young woman, and once she is a lad. In

the first act she is Zoe--a Christian girl who has wandered across the

desert from Damascus to try to Christianise the Zeus-worshipping pagans

of Palmyra. In this character she is wholly spiritual, a religious

enthusiast, a devotee who covets martyrdom--and gets it.

After many years she appears in the second act as Phoebe, a graceful and

beautiful young light-o'-love from Rome, whose soul is all for the

shows and luxuries and delights of this life--a dainty and capricious

feather-head, a creature of shower and sunshine, a spoiled child, but

a charming one. In the third act, after an interval of many years, she

reappears as Persida, mother of a daughter who is in the fresh bloom of

youth. She is now a sort of combination of her two earlier selves: in

religious loyalty and subjection she is Zoe: in triviality of character

and shallowness of judgement--together with a touch of vanity in

dress--she is Phoebe.

After a lapse of years she appears in the fourth act as Nymphas,

a beautiful boy, in whose character the previous incarnations are

engagingly mixed.

And after another stretch of years all these heredities are joined in

the Zenobia of the fifth act--a person of gravity, dignity, sweetness,

with a heart filled with compassion for all who suffer, and a hand

prompt to put into practical form the heart's benignant impulses.

There are a number of curious and interesting features in this piece.

For instance, its hero, Appelles, young, handsome, vigorous, in the

first act, remains so all through the long flight of years covered by

the five acts. Other men, young in the first act, are touched with gray

in the second, are old and racked with infirmities in the third; in the

fourth, all but one are gone to their long home, and this one is a blind

and helpless hulk of ninety or a hundred years. It indicates that the

stretch of time covered by the piece is seventy years or more. The

scenery undergoes decay, too--the decay of age assisted and perfected by

a conflagration. The fine new temples and palaces of the second act

are by-and-by a wreck of crumbled walls and prostrate columns,

mouldy, grass-grown, and desolate; but their former selves are still

recognisable in their ruins. The ageing men and the ageing scenery

together convey a profound illusion of that long lapse of time: they

make you live it yourself! You leave the theatre with the weight of a

century upon you.

Another strong effect: Death, in person, walks about the stage in every

act. So far as I could make out, he was supposably not visible to any

excepting two persons--the one he came for and Appelles. He used various

costumes: but there was always more black about them than any other

tint; and so they were always sombre. Also they were always deeply

impressive and, indeed, awe-inspiring. The face was not subjected to

changes, but remained the same first and last--a ghastly white. To me

he was always welcome, he seemed so real--the actual Death, not a

play-acting artificiality. He was of a solemn and stately carriage; and

he had a deep voice, and used it with a noble dignity. Wherever there

was a turmoil of merry-making or fighting or feasting or chaffing or

quarreling, or a gilded pageant, or other manifestation of our

trivial and fleeting life, into it drifted that black figure with the

corpse-face, and looked its fateful look and passed on; leaving its

victim shuddering and smitten. And always its coming made the fussy

human pack seem infinitely pitiful and shabby, and hardly worth the

attention of either saving or damning.

In the beginning of the first act the young girl Zoe appears by some

great rocks in the desert, and sits down exhausted, to rest. Presently

arrive a pauper couple stricken with age and infirmities; and they begin

to mumble and pray to the Spirit of Life, who is said to inhabit that

spot. The Spirit of Life appears; also Death--uninvited. They are

(supposably) invisible. Death, tall, black-robed, corpse-faced, stands

motionless and waits. The aged couple pray to the Spirit of Life for a

means to prop up their existence and continue it. Their prayer fails.

The Spirit of Life prophesies Zoe's martyrdom; it will take place before

night. Soon Appelles arrives, young and vigorous and full of enthusiasm:

he has led a host against the Persians and won the battle; he is the pet

of fortune, rich, honoured, believed, 'Master of Palmyra'. He has heard

that whoever stretches himself out on one of those rocks there and asks

for a deathless life can have his wish. He laughs at the tradition, but

wants to make the trial anyway. The invisible Spirit of Life warns him!

'Life without end can be regret without end.' But he persists: let him

keep his youth, his strength, and his mental faculties unimpaired, and

he will take all the risks. He has his desire.

From this time forth, act after act, the troubles and sorrows and

misfortunes and humiliations of life beat upon him without pity or

respite; but he will not give up, he will not confess his mistake.

Whenever he meets Death he still furiously defies him--but Death

patiently waits. He, the healer of sorrows, is man's best friend: the

recognition of this will come. As the years drag on, and on, and on, the

friends of the Master's youth grow old; and one by one they totter

to the grave: he goes on with his proud fight, and will not yield. At

length he is wholly alone in the world; all his friends are dead; last

of all, his darling of darlings, his son, the lad Nymphas, who dies in

his arms. His pride is broken now; and he would welcome Death, if Death

would come, if Death would hear his prayers and give him peace. The

closing act is fine and pathetic. Appelles meets Zenobia, the helper of

all who suffer, and tells her his story, which moves her pity. By common

report she is endowed with more than earthly powers; and since he

cannot have the boon of death, he appeals to her to drown his memory

in forgetfulness of his griefs--forgetfulness 'which is death's

equivalent'. She says (roughly translated), in an exaltation of

compassion:

'Come to me!

Kneel; and may the power be granted me

To cool the fires of this poor tortured brain,

And bring it peace and healing.'

He kneels. From her hand, which she lays upon his head, a mysterious

influence steals through him; and he sinks into a dreamy tranquility.

'Oh, if I could but so drift

Through this soft twilight into the night of peace,

Never to wake again!

(_Raising his hand, as if in benediction_.)

O mother earth, farewell!

Gracious thou were to me. Farewell!

Appelles goes to rest.'

Death appears behind him and encloses the uplifted hand in his. Appelles

shudders, wearily and slowly turns, and recognises his life-long

adversary. He smiles and puts all his gratitude into one simple and

touching sentence, 'Ich danke dir,' and dies.

Nothing, I think, could be more moving, more beautiful, than this close.

This piece is just one long, soulful, sardonic laugh at human life. Its

title might properly be 'Is Life a Failure?' and leave the five acts

to play with the answer. I am not at all sure that the author meant to

laugh at life. I only notice that he has done it. Without putting into

words any ungracious or discourteous things about life, the episodes in

the piece seem to be saying all the time, inarticulately: 'Note what

a silly poor thing human life is; how childish its ambitions, how

ridiculous its pomps, how trivial its dignities, how cheap its

heroisms, how capricious its course, how brief its flight, how stingy

in happinesses, how opulent in miseries, how few its prides, how

multitudinous its humiliations, how comic its tragedies, how tragic

its comedies, how wearisome and monotonous its repetition of its stupid

history through the ages, with never the introduction of a new detail;

how hard it has tried, from the Creation down, to play itself upon its

possessor as a boon and has never proved its case in a single instance!'

Take note of some of the details of the piece. Each of the five acts

contains an independent tragedy of its own. In each act someone's

edifice of hope, or of ambition, or of happiness, goes down in ruins.

Even Appelles' perennial youth is only a long tragedy, and his life a

failure. There are two martyrdoms in the piece; and they are curiously

and sarcastically contrasted. In the first act the pagans persecute Zoe,

the Christian girl, and a pagan mob slaughters her. In the fourth act

those same pagans--now very old and zealous--are become Christians, and

they persecute the pagans; a mob of them slaughters the pagan youth,

Nymphas, who is standing up for the old gods of his fathers. No remark

is made about this picturesque failure of civilisation; but there

it stands, as an unworded suggestion that civilisation, even when

Christianised, was not able wholly to subdue the natural man in that

old day--just as in our day the spectacle of a shipwrecked French

crew clubbing women and children who tried to climb into the lifeboats

suggests that civilisation has not succeeded in entirely obliterating

the natural man even yet. Common sailors a year ago, in Paris, at a

fire, the aristocracy of the same nation clubbed girls and women out of

the way to save themselves. Civilisation tested at top and bottom both,

you see. And in still another panic of fright we have this same

tough civilisation saving its honour by condemning an innocent man to

multiform death, and hugging and whitewashing the guilty one.

In the second act a grand Roman official is not above trying to blast

Appelles' reputation by falsely charging him with misappropriating

public moneys. Appelles, who is too proud to endure even the suspicion

of irregularity, strips himself to naked poverty to square the unfair

account, and his troubles begin: the blight which is to continue and

spread strikes his life; for the frivolous, pretty creature whom he

brought from Rome has no taste for poverty and agrees to elope with

a more competent candidate. Her presence in the house has previously

brought down the pride and broken the heart of Appelles' poor old

mother; and her life is a failure. Death comes for her, but is willing

to trade her for the Roman girl; so the bargain is struck with Appelles,

and the mother is spared for the present.

No one's life escapes the blight. Timoleus, the gay satirist of the

first two acts, who scoffed at the pious hypocrisies and money-grubbing

ways of the great Roman lords, is grown old and fat and blear-eyed and

racked with disease in the third, has lost his stately purities, and

watered the acid of his wit. His life has suffered defeat. Unthinkingly

he swears by Zeus--from ancient habit--and then quakes with fright; for

a fellow-communicant is passing by. Reproached by a pagan friend of his

youth for his apostasy, he confesses that principle, when unsupported by

an assenting stomach, has to climb down. One must have bread; and 'the

bread is Christian now.' Then the poor old wreck, once so proud of his

iron rectitude, hobbles away, coughing and barking.

In that same act Appelles give his sweet young Christian daughter and

her fine young pagan lover his consent and blessing, and makes them

utterly happy--for five minutes. Then the priest and the mob come, to

tear them apart and put the girl in a nunnery; for marriage between

the sects is forbidden. Appelles' wife could dissolve the rule; and she

wants to do it; but under priestly pressure she wavers; then, fearing

that in providing happiness for her child she would be committing a sin

dangerous to her own, she goes over to the opposition, and throws the

casting vote for the nunnery. The blight has fallen upon the young

couple, and their life is a failure.

In the fourth act, Longinus, who made such a prosperous and enviable

start in the first act, is left alone in the desert, sick,

blind, helpless, incredibly old, to die: not a friend left in the

world--another ruined life. And in that act, also, Appelles' worshipped

boy, Nymphas, done to death by the mob, breathes out his last sigh in

his father's arms--one more failure. In the fifth act, Appelles himself

dies, and is glad to do it; he who so ignorantly rejoiced, only four

acts before, over the splendid present of an earthly immortality--the

very worst failure of the lot!

II

Now I approach my project. Here is the theatre list for Saturday, May 7,

1898, cut from the advertising columns of a New York paper:

(graphic here)

Now I arrive at my project, and make my suggestion. From the look of

this lightsome feast, I conclude that what you need is a tonic. Send for

'The Master of Palmyra.' You are trying to make yourself believe that

life is a comedy, that its sole business is fun, that there is nothing

serious in it. You are ignoring the skeleton in your closet. Send for

'The Master of Palmyra.' You are neglecting a valuable side of your

life; presently it will be atrophied. You are eating too much mental

sugar; you will bring on Bright's disease of the intellect. You need a

tonic; you need it very much. Send for 'The Master of Palmyra.' You

will not need to translate it; its story is as plain as a procession of

pictures.

I have made my suggestion. Now I wish to put an annex to it. And that

is this: It is right and wholesome to have those light comedies and

entertaining shows; and I shouldn't wish to see them diminished. But

none of us is always in the comedy spirit; we have our graver moods;

they come to us all; the lightest of us cannot escape them. These moods

have their appetites--healthy and legitimate appetites--and there ought

to be some way of satisfying them. It seems to me that New York ought

to have one theatre devoted to tragedy. With her three millions of

population, and seventy outside millions to draw upon, she can afford

it, she can support it. America devotes more time, labour, money and

attention to distributing literary and musical culture among the general

public than does any other nation, perhaps; yet here you find her

neglecting what is possibly the most effective of all the breeders and

nurses and disseminators of high literary taste and lofty emotion--the

tragic stage. To leave that powerful agency out is to haul the

culture-wagon with a crippled team. Nowadays, when a mood comes which

only Shakespeare can set to music, what must we do? Read Shakespeare

ourselves! Isn't it pitiful? It is playing an organ solo on a

jew's-harp. We can't read. None but the Booths can do it.

Thirty years ago Edwin Booth played 'Hamlet' a hundred nights in New

York. With three times the population, how often is 'Hamlet' played now

in a year? If Booth were back now in his prime, how often could he

play it in New York? Some will say twenty-five nights. I will say three

hundred, and say it with confidence. The tragedians are dead; but I

think that the taste and intelligence which made their market are not.

What has come over us English-speaking people? During the first half of

this century tragedies and great tragedians were as common with us as

farce and comedy; and it was the same in England. Now we have not a

tragedian, I believe, and London, with her fifty shows and theatres,

has but three, I think. It is an astonishing thing, when you come to

consider it. Vienna remains upon the ancient basis: there has been no

change. She sticks to the former proportions: a number of rollicking

comedies, admirably played, every night; and also every night at the

Burg Theatre--that wonder of the world for grace and beauty and richness

and splendour and costliness--a majestic drama of depth and seriousness,

or a standard old tragedy. It is only within the last dozen years that

men have learned to do miracles on the stage in the way of grand and

enchanting scenic effects; and it is at such a time as this that we have

reduced our scenery mainly to different breeds of parlours and varying

aspects of furniture and rugs. I think we must have a Burg in New York,

and Burg scenery, and a great company like the Burg company. Then, with

a tragedy-tonic once or twice a month, we shall enjoy the comedies all

the better. Comedy keeps the heart sweet; but we all know that there

is wholesome refreshment for both mind and heart in an occasional

climb among the solemn pomps of the intellectual snow-summits built by

Shakespeare and those others. Do I seem to be preaching? It is out of

my line: I only do it because the rest of the clergy seem to be on

vacation.

TRAVELLING WITH A REFORMER

Last spring I went out to Chicago to see the Fair, and although I did

not see it my trip was not wholly lost--there were compensations. In

New York I was introduced to a Major in the regular army who said he was

going to the Fair, and we agreed to go together. I had to go to Boston

first, but that did not interfere; he said he would go along and put in

the time. He was a handsome man and built like a gladiator. But his

ways were gentle, and his speech was soft and persuasive. He was

companionable, but exceedingly reposeful. Yes, and wholly destitute of

the sense of humour. He was full of interest in everything that went on

around him, but his serenity was indestructible; nothing disturbed him,

nothing excited him.

But before the day was done I found that deep down in him somewhere he

had a passion, quiet as he was--a passion for reforming petty public

abuses. He stood for citizenship--it was his hobby. His idea was that

every citizen of the republic ought to consider himself an unofficial

policeman, and keep unsalaried watch and ward over the laws and their

execution. He thought that the only effective way of preserving and

protecting public rights was for each citizen to do his share in

preventing or punishing such infringements of them as came under his

personal notice.

It was a good scheme, but I thought it would keep a body in trouble

all the time; it seemed to me that one would be always trying to get

offending little officials discharged, and perhaps getting laughed at

for all reward. But he said no, I had the wrong idea: that there was no

occasion to get anybody discharged; that in fact you mustn't get anybody

discharged; that that would itself be a failure; no, one must reform the

man--reform him and make him useful where he was.

'Must one report the offender and then beg his superior not to discharge

him, but reprimand him and keep him?'

'No, that is not the idea; you don't report him at all, for then you

risk his bread and butter. You can act as if you are going to report

him--when nothing else will answer. But that's an extreme case. That is

a sort of force, and force is bad. Diplomacy is the effective thing. Now

if a man has tact--if a man will exercise diplomacy--'

For two minutes we had been standing at a telegraph wicket, and during

all this time the Major had been trying to get the attention of one of

the young operators, but they were all busy skylarking. The Major spoke

now, and asked one of them to take his telegram. He got for reply:

'I reckon you can wait a minute, can't you?' And the skylarking went on.

The Major said yes, he was not in a hurry. Then he wrote another

telegram:

'President Western Union Tel. Co.:

'Come and dine with me this evening. I can tell you how business is

conducted in one of your branches.'

Presently the young fellow who had spoken so pertly a little before

reached out and took the telegram, and when he read it he lost colour

and began to apologise and explain. He said he would lose his place if

this deadly telegram was sent, and he might never get another. If he

could be let off this time he would give no cause of complaint again.

The compromise was accepted.

As we walked away, the Major said:

'Now, you see, that was diplomacy--and you see how it worked. It

wouldn't do any good to bluster, the way people are always doing.

That boy can always give you as good as you send, and you'll come out

defeated and ashamed of yourself pretty nearly always. But you see he

stands no chance against diplomacy. Gentle words and diplomacy--those

are the tools to work with.'

'Yes, I see: but everybody wouldn't have had your opportunity. It isn't

everybody that is on those familiar terms with the President of the

Western Union.'

'Oh, you misunderstand. I don't know the President--I only use him

diplomatically. It is for his good and for the public good. There's no

harm in it.'

I said with hesitation and diffidence:

'But is it ever right or noble to tell a lie?'

He took no note of the delicate self-righteousness of the question, but

answered with undisturbed gravity and simplicity:

'Yes, sometimes. Lies told to injure a person and lies told to profit

yourself are not justifiable, but lies told to help another person,

and lies told in the public interest--oh, well, that is quite another

matter. Anybody knows that. But never mind about the methods: you see

the result. That youth is going to be useful now, and well-behaved. He

had a good face. He was worth saving. Why, he was worth saving on his

mother's account if not his own. Of course, he has a mother--sisters,

too. Damn these people who are always forgetting that! Do you know,

I've never fought a duel in my life--never once--and yet have been

challenged, like other people. I could always see the other man's

unoffending women folks or his little children standing between him and

me. They hadn't done anything--I couldn't break their hearts, you know.'

He corrected a good many little abuses in the course of the day, and

always without friction--always with a fine and dainty 'diplomacy' which

left no sting behind; and he got such happiness and such contentment

out of these performances that I was obliged to envy him his trade--and

perhaps would have adopted it if I could have managed the necessary

deflections from fact as confidently with my mouth as I believe I could

with a pen, behind the shelter of print, after a little practice.

Away late that night we were coming up-town in a horse-car when three

boisterous roughs got aboard, and began to fling hilarious obscenities

and profanities right and left among the timid passengers, some of whom

were women and children. Nobody resisted or retorted; the conductor

tried soothing words and moral suasion, but the toughs only called him

names and laughed at him. Very soon I saw that the Major realised that

this was a matter which was in his line; evidently he was turning over

his stock of diplomacy in his mind and getting ready. I felt that

the first diplomatic remark he made in this place would bring down a

landslide of ridicule upon him, and maybe something worse; but before I

could whisper to him and check him he had begun, and it was too late. He

said, in a level and dispassionate tone:

'Conductor, you must put these swine out. I will help you.'

I was not looking for that. In a flash the three roughs plunged at him.

But none of them arrived. He delivered three such blows as one could not

expect to encounter outside the prize-ring, and neither of the men had

life enough left in him to get up from where he fell. The Major dragged

them out and threw them off the car, and we got under way again.

I was astonished: astonished to see a lamb act so; astonished at the

strength displayed, and the clean and comprehensive result; astonished

at the brisk and business-like style of the whole thing. The situation

had a humorous side to it, considering how much I had been hearing about

mild persuasion and gentle diplomacy all day from this pile-driver, and

I would have liked to call his attention to that feature and do some

sarcasms about it; but when I looked at him I saw that it would be of no

use--his placid and contented face had no ray of humour in it; he would

not have understood. When we left the car, I said:

'That was a good stroke of diplomacy--three good strokes of diplomacy,

in fact.'

'That? That wasn't diplomacy. You are quite in the wrong. Diplomacy is a

wholly different thing. One cannot apply it to that sort; they would not

understand it. No, that was not diplomacy; it was force.'

'Now that you mention it, I--yes, I think perhaps you are right.'

'Right? Of course I am right. It was just force.'

'I think, myself, it had the outside aspect of it. Do you often have to

reform people in that way?'

'Far from it. It hardly ever happens. Not oftener than once in half a

year, at the outside.'

'Those men will get well?'

'Get well? Why, certainly they will. They are not in any danger. I know

how to hit and where to hit. You noticed that I did not hit them under

the jaw. That would have killed them.'

I believed that. I remarked--rather wittily, as I thought--that he

had been a lamb all day, but now had all of a sudden developed into a

ram--battering-ram; but with dulcet frankness and simplicity he said no,

a battering-ram was quite a different thing, and not in use now. This

was maddening, and I came near bursting out and saying he had no more

appreciation of wit than a jackass--in fact, I had it right on my

tongue, but did not say it, knowing there was no hurry and I could say

it just as well some other time over the telephone.

We started to Boston the next afternoon. The smoking compartment in the

parlour-car was full, and he went into the regular smoker. Across the

aisle in the front seat sat a meek, farmer-looking old man with a sickly

pallor in his face, and he was holding the door open with his foot to

get the air. Presently a big brakeman came rushing through, and when he

got to the door he stopped, gave the farmer an ugly scowl, then wrenched

the door to with such energy as to almost snatch the old man's boot off.

Then on he plunged about his business. Several passengers laughed, and

the old gentleman looked pathetically shamed and grieved.

After a little the conductor passed along, and the Major stopped him and

asked him a question in his habitually courteous way:

'Conductor, where does one report the misconduct of a brakeman? Does one

report to you?'

'You can report him at New Haven if you want to. What has he been

doing?'

The Major told the story. The conductor seemed amused. He said, with

just a touch of sarcasm in his bland tones:

'As I understand you, the brakeman didn't say anything?'

'No, he didn't say anything.'

'But he scowled, you say?'

'Yes.'

'And snatched the door loose in a rough way?'

'Yes.'

'That's the whole business, is it?'

'Yes, that is the whole of it.'

The conductor smiled pleasantly, and said:

'Well, if you want to report him, all right, but I don't quite make out

what it's going to amount to. You'll say--as I understand you--that

the brakeman insulted this old gentleman. They'll ask you what he said.

You'll say he didn't say anything at all. I reckon they'll say, How are

you going to make out an insult when you acknowledge yourself that he

didn't say a word?'

There was a murmur of applause at the conductor's compact reasoning, and

it gave him pleasure--you could see it in his face. But the Major was

not disturbed. He said:

'There--now you have touched upon a crying defect in the complaint

system. The railway officials--as the public think and as you also seem

to think--are not aware that there are any insults except spoken ones.

So nobody goes to headquarters and reports insults of manner, insults of

gesture, look, and so forth; and yet these are sometimes harder to bear

than any words. They are bitter hard to bear because there is nothing

tangible to take hold of; and the insulter can always say, if called

before the railway officials, that he never dreamed of intending any

offence. It seems to me that the officials ought to specially

and urgently request the public to report unworded affronts and

incivilities.'

The conductor laughed, and said:

'Well, that would be trimming it pretty fine, sure!'

'But not too fine, I think. I will report this matter at New Haven, and

I have an idea that I'll be thanked for it.'

The conductor's face lost something of its complacency; in fact, it

settled to a quite sober cast as the owner of it moved away. I said:

'You are not really going to bother with that trifle, are you?'

'It isn't a trifle. Such things ought always to be reported. It is a

public duty and no citizen has a right to shirk it. But I sha'n't' have

to report this case.'

'Why?'

'It won't be necessary. Diplomacy will do the business. You'll see.'

Presently the conductor came on his rounds again, and when he reached

the Major he leaned over and said:

'That's all right. You needn't report him. He's responsible to me, and

if he does it again I'll give him a talking to.'

The Major's response was cordial:

'Now that is what I like! You mustn't think that I was moved by any

vengeful spirit, for that wasn't the case. It was duty--just a sense

of duty, that was all. My brother-in-law is one of the directors of the

road, and when he learns that you are going to reason with your brakeman

the very next time he brutally insults an unoffending old man it will

please him, you may be sure of that.'

The conductor did not look as joyous as one might have thought he would,

but on the contrary looked sickly and uncomfortable. He stood around a

little; then said:

'I think something ought to be done to him now. I'll discharge him.'

'Discharge him! What good would that do? Don't you think it would be

better wisdom to teach him better ways and keep him?'

'Well, there's something in that. What would you suggest?'

'He insulted the old gentleman in presence of all these people. How

would it do to have him come and apologise in their presence?'

'I'll have him here right off. And I want to say this: If people would

do as you've done, and report such things to me instead of keeping mum

and going off and blackguarding the road, you'd see a different state of

things pretty soon. I'm much obliged to you.'

The brakeman came and apologised. After he was gone the Major said:

'Now you see how simple and easy that was. The ordinary citizen would

have accomplished nothing--the brother-in-law of a director can

accomplish anything he wants to.'

'But are you really the brother-in-law of a director?'

'Always. Always when the public interests require it. I have a

brother-in-law on all the boards--everywhere. It saves me a world of

trouble.'

'It is a good wide relationship.'

'Yes. I have over three hundred of them.'

'Is the relationship never doubted by a conductor?'

'I have never met with a case. It is the honest truth--I never have.'

'Why didn't you let him go ahead and discharge the brakeman, in spite of

your favourite policy. You know he deserved it.'

The Major answered with something which really had a sort of distant

resemblance to impatience:

'If you would stop and think a moment you wouldn't ask such a question

as that. Is a brakeman a dog, that nothing but dogs' methods will do

for him? He is a man and has a man's fight for life. And he always has a

sister, or a mother, or wife and children to support. Always--there are

no exceptions. When you take his living away from him you take theirs

away too--and what have they done to you? Nothing. And where is the

profit in discharging an uncourteous brakeman and hiring another just

like him? It's unwisdom. Don't you see that the rational thing to do is

to reform the brakeman and keep him? Of course it is.'

Then he quoted with admiration the conduct of a certain division

superintendent of the Consolidated road, in a case where a switchman of

two years' experience was negligent once and threw a train off the track

and killed several people. Citizens came in a passion to urge the man's

dismissal, but the superintendent said:

'No, you are wrong. He has learned his lesson, he will throw no more

trains off the track. He is twice as valuable as he was before. I shall

keep him.'

We had only one more adventure on the train. Between Hartford and

Springfield the train-boy came shouting with an armful of literature,

and dropped a sample into a slumbering gentleman's lap, and the man

woke up with a start. He was very angry, and he and a couple of friends

discussed the outrage with much heat. They sent for the parlour-car

conductor and described the matter, and were determined to have the boy

expelled from his situation. The three complainants were wealthy Holyoke

merchants, and it was evident that the conductor stood in some awe of

them. He tried to pacify them, and explained that the boy was not under

his authority, but under that of one of the news companies; but he

accomplished nothing.

Then the Major volunteered some testimony for the defence. He said:

'I saw it all. You gentlemen have not meant to exaggerate the

circumstances, but still that is what you have done. The boy has

done nothing more than all train-boys do. If you want to get his ways

softened down and his manners reformed, I am with you and ready to help,

but it isn't fair to get him discharged without giving him a chance.'

But they were angry, and would hear of no compromise. They were well

acquainted with the President of the Boston and Albany, they said, and

would put everything aside next day and go up to Boston and fix that

boy.

The Major said he would be on hand too, and would do what he could to

save the boy. One of the gentlemen looked him over and said:

'Apparently it is going to be a matter of who can wield the most

influence with the President. Do you know Mr. Bliss personally?'

The Major said, with composure:

'Yes; he is my uncle.'

The effect was satisfactory. There was an awkward silence for a minute

or more; then the hedging and the half-confessions of over-haste

and exaggerated resentment began, and soon everything was smooth and

friendly and sociable, and it was resolved to drop the matter and leave

the boy's bread and butter unmolested.

It turned out as I had expected: the President of the road was not the

Major's uncle at all--except by adoption, and for this day and train

only.

We got into no episodes on the return journey. Probably it was because

we took a night train and slept all the way.

We left New York Saturday night by the Pennsylvania road. After

breakfast the next morning we went into the parlour-car, but found it a

dull place and dreary. There were but few people in it and nothing going

on. Then we went into the little smoking compartment of the same car and

found three gentlemen in there. Two of them were grumbling over one of

the rules of the road--a rule which forbade card-playing on the trains

on Sunday. They had started an innocent game of high-low-jack and had

been stopped. The Major was interested. He said to the third gentleman:

'Did you object to the game?'

'Not at all. I am a Yale professor and a religious man, but my

prejudices are not extensive.'

Then the Major said to the others:

'You are at perfect liberty to resume your game, gentlemen; no one here

objects.'

One of them declined the risk, but the other one said he would like to

begin again if the Major would join him. So they spread an overcoat

over their knees and the game proceeded. Pretty soon the parlour-car

conductor arrived, and said, brusquely:

'There, there, gentlemen, that won't do. Put up the cards--it's not

allowed.'

The Major was shuffling. He continued to shuffle, and said:

'By whose order is it forbidden?'

'It's my order. I forbid it.'

The dealing began. The Major asked:

'Did you invent the idea?'

'What idea?'

'The idea of forbidding card-playing on Sunday.'

'No--of course not.'

'Who did?'

'The company.'

'Then it isn't your order, after all, but the company's. Is that it?'

'Yes. But you don't stop playing! I have to require you to stop playing

immediately.'

'Nothing is gained by hurry, and often much is lost. Who authorised the

company to issue such an order?'

'My dear sir, that is a matter of no consequence to me, and--'

'But you forget that you are not the only person concerned. It may be

a matter of consequence to me. It is, indeed, a matter of very great

importance to me. I cannot violate a legal requirement of my country

without dishonouring myself; I cannot allow any man or corporation to

hamper my liberties with illegal rules--a thing which railway companies

are always trying to do--without dishonouring my citizenship. So I come

back to that question: By whose authority has the company issued this

order?'

'I don't know. That's their affair.'

'Mine, too. I doubt if the company has any right to issue such a rule.

This road runs through several States. Do you know what State we are in

now, and what its laws are in matters of this kind?'

'Its laws do not concern me, but the company's orders do. It is my duty

to stop this game, gentlemen, and it must be stopped.'

'Possibly; but still there is no hurry. In hotels they post certain

rules in the rooms, but they always quote passages from the State law

as authority for these requirements. I see nothing posted here of this

sort. Please produce your authority and let us arrive at a decision, for

you see yourself that you are marring the game.'

'I have nothing of the kind, but I have my orders, and that is

sufficient. They must be obeyed.'

'Let us not jump to conclusions. It will be better all around to examine

into the matter without heat or haste, and see just where we stand

before either of us makes a mistake--for the curtailing of the liberties

of a citizen of the United States is a much more serious matter than

you and the railroads seem to think, and it cannot be done in my person

until the curtailer proves his right to do so. Now--'

'My dear sir, will you put down those cards?'

'All in good time, perhaps. It depends. You say this order must be

obeyed. Must. It is a strong word. You see yourself how strong it is.

A wise company would not arm you with so drastic an order as this, of

course, without appointing a penalty for its infringement. Otherwise it

runs the risk of being a dead letter and a thing to laugh at. What is

the appointed penalty for an infringement of this law?'

'Penalty? I never heard of any.'

'Unquestionably you must be mistaken. Your company orders you to come

here and rudely break up an innocent amusement, and furnishes you no way

to enforce the order! Don't you see that that is nonsense? What do you

do when people refuse to obey this order? Do you take the cards away

from them?'

'No.'

'Do you put the offender off at the next station?'

'Well, no--of course we couldn't if he had a ticket.'

'Do you have him up before a court?'

The conductor was silent and apparently troubled. The Major started a

new deal, and said:

'You see that you are helpless, and that the company has placed you in

a foolish position. You are furnished with an arrogant order, and you

deliver it in a blustering way, and when you come to look into the

matter you find you haven't any way of enforcing obedience.'

The conductor said, with chill dignity:

'Gentlemen, you have heard the order, and my duty is ended. As to

obeying it or not, you will do as you think fit.' And he turned to

leave.

'But wait. The matter is not yet finished. I think you are mistaken

about your duty being ended; but if it really is, I myself have a duty

to perform yet.'

'How do you mean?'

'Are you going to report my disobedience at headquarters in Pittsburg?'

'No. What good would that do?'

'You must report me, or I will report you.'

'Report me for what?'

'For disobeying the company's orders in not stopping this game. As a

citizen it is my duty to help the railway companies keep their servants

to their work.'

'Are you in earnest?'

'Yes, I am in earnest. I have nothing against you as a man, but I have

this against you as an officer--that you have not carried out that

order, and if you do not report me I must report you. And I will.'

The conductor looked puzzled, and was thoughtful a moment; then he burst

out with:

'I seem to be getting myself into a scrape! It's all a muddle; I can't

make head or tail of it; it never happened before; they always knocked

under and never said a word, and so I never saw how ridiculous that

stupid order with no penalty is. I don't want to report anybody, and I

don't want to be reported--why, it might do me no end of harm! No do

go on with the game--play the whole day if you want to--and don't let's

have any more trouble about it!'

'No, I only sat down here to establish this gentleman's rights--he can

have his place now. But before you go won't you tell me what you think the

company made this rule for? Can you imagine an excuse for it? I mean a

rational one--an excuse that is not on its face silly, and the invention

of an idiot?'

'Why, surely I can. The reason it was made is plain enough. It is to

save the feelings of the other passengers--the religious ones among

them, I mean. They would not like it to have the Sabbath desecrated by

card-playing on the train.'

'I just thought as much. They are willing to desecrate it themselves by

travelling on Sunday, but they are not willing that other people--'

'By gracious, you've hit it! I never thought of that before. The fact

is, it is a silly rule when you come to look into it.'

At this point the train conductor arrived, and was going to shut down

the game in a very high-handed fashion, but the parlour-car conductor

stopped him, and took him aside to explain. Nothing more was heard of

the matter.

I was ill in bed eleven days in Chicago and got no glimpse of the Fair,

for I was obliged to return East as soon as I was able to travel. The

Major secured and paid for a state-room in a sleeper the day before we

left, so that I could have plenty of room and be comfortable; but when

we arrived at the station a mistake had been made and our car had not

been put on. The conductor had reserved a section for us--it was the

best he could do, he said. But Major said we were not in a hurry, and

would wait for the car to be put on. The conductor responded, with

pleasant irony:

'It may be that you are not in a hurry, just as you say, but we are.

Come, get aboard, gentlemen, get aboard--don't keep us waiting.'

But the Major would not get aboard himself nor allow me to do it. He

wanted his car, and said he must have it. This made the hurried and

perspiring conductor impatient, and he said:

'It's the best we can do--we can't do impossibilities. You will take the

section or go without. A mistake has been made and can't be rectified

at this late hour. It's a thing that happens now and then, and there

is nothing for it but to put up with it and make the best of it. Other

people do.'

'Ah, that is just it, you see. If they had stuck to their rights and

enforced them you wouldn't be trying to trample mine underfoot in

this bland way now. I haven't any disposition to give you unnecessary

trouble, but it is my duty to protect the next man from this kind of

imposition. So I must have my car. Otherwise I will wait in Chicago and

sue the company for violating its contract.'

'Sue the company?--for a thing like that!'

'Certainly.'

'Do you really mean that?'

'Indeed, I do.'

The conductor looked the Major over wonderingly, and then said:

'It beats me--it's bran-new--I've never struck the mate to it

before. But I swear I think you'd do it. Look here, I'll send for the

station-master.'

When the station-master came he was a good deal annoyed--at the Major,

not at the person who had made the mistake. He was rather brusque, and

took the same position which the conductor had taken in the beginning;

but he failed to move the soft-spoken artilleryman, who still insisted

that he must have his car. However, it was plain that there was only

one strong side in this case, and that that side was the Major's. The

station-master banished his annoyed manner, and became pleasant and

even half-apologetic. This made a good opening for a compromise, and

the Major made a concession. He said he would give up the engaged

state-room, but he must have a state-room. After a deal of ransacking,

one was found whose owner was persuadable; he exchanged it for our

section, and we got away at last. The conductor called on us in the

evening, and was kind and courteous and obliging, and we had a long

talk and got to be good friends. He said he wished the public would make

trouble oftener--it would have a good effect. He said that the railroads

could not be expected to do their whole duty by the traveller unless the

traveller would take some interest in the matter himself.

I hoped that we were done reforming for the trip now, but it was not so.

In the hotel car, in the morning, the Major called for broiled chicken.

The waiter said:

'It's not in the bill of fare, sir; we do not serve anything but what is

in the bill.'

'That gentleman yonder is eating a broiled chicken.'

'Yes, but that is different. He is one of the superintendents of the

road.'

'Then all the more must I have broiled chicken. I do not like these

discriminations. Please hurry--bring me a broiled chicken.'

The waiter brought the steward, who explained in a low and polite voice

that the thing was impossible--it was against the rule, and the rule was

rigid.

'Very well, then, you must either apply it impartially or break it

impartially. You must take that gentleman's chicken away from him or

bring me one.'

The steward was puzzled, and did not quite know what to do. He began an

incoherent argument, but the conductor came along just then, and asked

what the difficulty was. The steward explained that here was a gentleman

who was insisting on having a chicken when it was dead against the rule

and not in the bill. The conductor said:

'Stick by your rules--you haven't any option. Wait a moment--is this the

gentleman?' Then he laughed and said: 'Never mind your rules--it's my

advice, and sound: give him anything he wants--don't get him started on

his rights. Give him whatever he asks for; and it you haven't got it,

stop the train and get it.'

The Major ate the chicken, but said he did it from a sense of duty and

to establish a principle, for he did not like chicken.

I missed the Fair it is true, but I picked up some diplomatic tricks

which I and the reader may find handy and useful as we go along.

DIPLOMATIC PAY AND CLOTHES

VIENNA, January 5--I find in this morning's papers the statement that

the Government of the United States has paid to the two members of the

Peace Commission entitled to receive money for their services 100,000

dollars each for their six weeks' work in Paris.

I hope that this is true. I will allow myself the satisfaction of

considering that it is true, and of treating it as a thing finished and

settled.

It is a precedent; and ought to be a welcome one to our country. A

precedent always has a chance to be valuable (as well as the other way);

and its best chance to be valuable (or the other way) is when it takes

such a striking form as to fix a whole nation's attention upon it. If it

come justified out of the discussion which will follow, it will find a

career ready and waiting for it.

We realise that the edifice of public justice is built of precedents,

from the ground upward; but we do not always realise that all the

other details of our civilisation are likewise built of precedents.

The changes also which they undergo are due to the intrusion of new

precedents, which hold their ground against opposition, and keep their

place. A precedent may die at birth, or it may live--it is mainly a

matter of luck. If it be imitated once, it has a chance; if twice a

better chance; if three times it is reaching a point where account must

be taken of it; if four, five, or six times, it has probably come to

stay--for a whole century, possibly. If a town start a new bow, or a new

dance, or a new temperance project, or a new kind of hat, and can get

the precedent adopted in the next town, the career of that precedent is

begun; and it will be unsafe to bet as to where the end of its journey

is going to be. It may not get this start at all, and may have no

career; but, if a crown prince introduce the precedent, it will attract

vast attention, and its chances for a career are so great as to amount

almost to a certainty.

For a long time we have been reaping damage from a couple of disastrous

precedents. One is the precedent of shabby pay to public servants

standing for the power and dignity of the Republic in foreign lands; the

other is a precedent condemning them to exhibit themselves officially

in clothes which are not only without grace or dignity, but are a pretty

loud and pious rebuke to the vain and frivolous costumes worn by the

other officials. To our day an American ambassador's official costume

remains under the reproach of these defects. At a public function in

a European court all foreign representatives except ours wear clothes

which in some way distinguish them from the unofficial throng, and mark

them as standing for their countries. But our representative appears

in a plain black swallow-tail, which stands for neither country, nor

people. It has no nationality. It is found in all countries; it is as

international as a night-shirt. It has no particular meaning; but

our Government tries to give it one; it tries to make it stand for

Republican Simplicity, modesty and unpretentiousness. Tries, and without

doubt fails, for it is not conceivable that this loud ostentation of

simplicity deceives any one. The statue that advertises its modesty with

a fig-leaf really brings its modesty under suspicion. Worn officially,

our nonconforming swallow-tail is a declaration of ungracious

independence in the matter of manners, and is uncourteous. It says to

all around: 'In Rome we do not choose to do as Rome does; we refuse

to respect your tastes and your traditions; we make no sacrifices to

anyone's customs and prejudices; we yield no jot to the courtesies of

life; we prefer our manners, and intrude them here.'

That is not the true American spirit, and those clothes misrepresent us.

When a foreigner comes among us and trespasses against our customs and

our code of manners, we are offended, and justly so; but our Government

commands our ambassadors to wear abroad an official dress which is an

offence against foreign manners and customs; and the discredit of it

falls upon the nation.

We did not dress our public functionaries in undistinguished raiment

before Franklin's time; and the change would not have come if he had

been an obscurity. But he was such a colossal figure in the world that

whatever he did of an unusual nature attracted the world's attention,

and became a precedent. In the case of clothes, the next representative

after him, and the next, had to imitate it. After that, the thing was

custom; and custom is a petrifaction: nothing but dynamite can dislodge

it for a century. We imagine that our queer official costumery was

deliberately devised to symbolise our Republican Simplicity--a quality

which we have never possessed, and are too old to acquire now, if we

had any use for it or any leaning toward it. But it is not so; there was

nothing deliberate about it; it grew naturally and heedlessly out of the

precedent set by Franklin.

If it had been an intentional thing, and based upon a principle, it

would not have stopped where it did: we should have applied it further.

Instead of clothing our admirals and generals, for courts-martial and

other public functions, in superb dress uniforms blazing with colour and

gold, the Government would put them in swallow-tails and white cravats,

and make them look like ambassadors and lackeys. If I am wrong in making

Franklin the father of our curious official clothes, it is no matter--he

will be able to stand it.

It is my opinion--and I make no charge for the suggestion--that,

whenever we appoint an ambassador or a minister, we ought to confer upon

him the temporary rank of admiral or general, and allow him to wear the

corresponding uniform at public functions in foreign countries. I would

recommend this for the reason that it is not consonant with the dignity

of the United States of America that her representative should

appear upon occasions of state in a dress which makes him glaringly

conspicuous; and that is what his present undertaker-outfit does when

it appears, with its dismal smudge, in the midst of the butterfly

splendours of a Continental court. It is a most trying position for a

shy man, a modest man, a man accustomed to being like other people.

He is the most striking figure present; there is no hiding from the

multitudinous eyes. It would be funny, if it were not such a cruel

spectacle, to see the hunted creature in his solemn sables scuffling

around in that sea of vivid colour, like a mislaid Presbyterian in

perdition. We are all aware that our representative's dress should not

compel too much attention; for anybody but an Indian chief knows that

that is a vulgarity. I am saying these things in the interest of our

national pride and dignity. Our representative is the flag. He is the

Republic. He is the United States of America. And when these embodiments

pass by, we do not want them scoffed at; we desire that people shall be

obliged to concede that they are worthily clothed, and politely.

Our Government is oddly inconsistent in this matter of official dress.

When its representative is a civilian who has not been a solider, it

restricts him to the black swallow-tail and white tie; but if he is a

civilian who has been a solider, it allows him to wear the uniform of

his former rank as an official dress. When General Sickles was minister

to Spain, he always wore, when on official duty, the dress uniform of

a major-general. When General Grant visited foreign courts, he went

handsomely and properly ablaze in the uniform of a full general, and

was introduced by diplomatic survivals of his own Presidential

Administration. The latter, by official necessity, went in the meek

and lowly swallow-tail--a deliciously sarcastic contrast: the one dress

representing the honest and honourable dignity of the nation; the other,

the cheap hypocrisy of the Republican Simplicity tradition. In Paris

our present representative can perform his official functions reputably

clothed; for he was an officer in the Civil War. In London our late

ambassador was similarly situated; for he, also, was an officer in the

Civil War. But Mr. Choate must represent the Great Republic--even at

official breakfasts at seven in the morning--in that same old funny

swallow-tail.

Our Government's notions about proprieties of costume are indeed very,

very odd--as suggested by that last fact. The swallow-tail is recognised

the world over as not wearable in the daytime; it is a night-dress,

and a night-dress only--a night-shirt is not more so. Yet, when our

representative makes an official visit in the morning, he is obliged by

his Government to go in that night-dress. It makes the very cab-horses

laugh.

The truth is, that for awhile during the present century, and up to

something short of forty years ago, we had a lucid interval, and dropped

the Republican Simplicity sham, and dressed our foreign representatives

in a handsome and becoming official costume. This was discarded

by-and-by, and the swallow-tail substituted. I believe it is not now

known which statesman brought about this change; but we all know that,

stupid as he was as to diplomatic proprieties in dress, he would not

have sent his daughter to a state ball in a corn-shucking costume, nor

to a corn-shucking in a state-ball costume, to be harshly criticised

as an ill-mannered offender against the proprieties of custom in both

places. And we know another thing, viz. that he himself would not have

wounded the tastes and feelings of a family of mourners by attending

a funeral in their house in a costume which was an offence against the

dignities and decorum prescribed by tradition and sanctified by custom.

Yet that man was so heedless as not to reflect that all the social

customs of civilised peoples are entitled to respectful observance,

and that no man with a right spirit of courtesy in him ever has any

disposition to transgress these customs.

There is still another argument for a rational diplomatic dress--a

business argument. We are a trading nation; and our representative is

a business agent. If he is respected, esteemed, and liked where he is

stationed, he can exercise an influence which can extend our trade and

forward our prosperity. A considerable number of his business activities

have their field in his social relations; and clothes which do not

offend against local manners and customs and prejudices are a valuable

part of his equipment in this matter--would be, if Franklin had died

earlier.

I have not done with gratis suggestions yet. We made a great deal of

valuable advance when we instituted the office of ambassador. That

lofty rank endows its possessor with several times as much influence,

consideration, and effectiveness as the rank of minister bestows. For

the sake of the country's dignity and for the sake of her advantage

commercially, we should have ambassadors, not ministers, at the great

courts of the world.

But not at present salaries! No; if we are to maintain present salaries,

let us make no more ambassadors; and let us unmake those we have already

made. The great position, without the means of respectably maintaining

it--there could be no wisdom in that. A foreign representative, to be

valuable to his country, must be on good terms with the officials of the

capital and with the rest of the influential folk. He must mingle with

this society; he cannot sit at home--it is not business, it butters

no commercial parsnips. He must attend the dinners, banquets, suppers,

balls, receptions, and must return these hospitalities. He should return

as good as he gets, too, for the sake of the dignity of his country, and

for the sake of Business. Have we ever had a minister or an ambassador

who could do this on his salary? No--not once, from Franklin's time to

ours. Other countries understand the commercial value of properly lining

the pockets of their representatives; but apparently our Government has

not learned it. England is the most successful trader of the several

trading nations; and she takes good care of the watchmen who keep guard

in her commercial towers. It has been a long time, now, since we needed

to blush for our representatives abroad. It has become custom to send

our fittest. We send men of distinction, cultivation, character--our

ablest, our choicest, our best. Then we cripple their efficiency through

the meagreness of their pay. Here is a list of salaries for English and

American ministers and ambassadors:

City Salaries

American English

Paris $17,500 $45,000

Berlin 17,500 40,000

Vienna 12,000 40,000

Constantinople 10,000 40,000

St. Petersburg 17,500 39,000

Rome 12,000 35,000

Washington -- 32,500

Sir Julian Pauncefote, the English ambassador at Washington, has a very

fine house besides--at no damage to his salary.

English ambassadors pay no house rent; they live in palaces owned by

England. Our representatives pay house-rent out of their salaries. You

can judge by the above figures what kind of houses the United States

of America has been used to living in abroad, and what sort of

return-entertaining she has done. There is not a salary in our list

which would properly house the representative receiving it, and, in

addition, pay $3,000 toward his family's bacon and doughnuts--the

strange but economical and customary fare of the American ambassador's

household, except on Sundays, when petrified Boston crackers are added.

The ambassadors and ministers of foreign nations not only have generous

salaries, but their Governments provide them with money wherewith to pay

a considerable part of their hospitality bills. I believe our Government

pays no hospitality bills except those incurred by the navy. Through

this concession to the navy, that arm is able to do us credit in foreign

parts; and certainly that is well and politic. But why the Government

does not think it well and politic that our diplomats should be able

to do us like credit abroad is one of those mysterious inconsistencies

which have been puzzling me ever since I stopped trying to understand

baseball and took up statesmanship as a pastime.

To return to the matter of house-rent. Good houses, properly furnished,

in European capitals, are not to be had at small figures. Consequently,

our foreign representatives have been accustomed to live in

garrets--sometimes on the roof. Being poor men, it has been the best

they could do on the salary which the Government has paid them. How

could they adequately return the hospitalities shown them? It was

impossible. It would have exhausted the salary in three months. Still,

it was their official duty to entertain their influentials after some

sort of fashion; and they did the best they could with their limited

purse. In return for champagne they furnished lemonade; in return for

game they furnished ham; in return for whale they furnished sardines;

in return for liquors they furnished condensed milk; in return for the

battalion of liveried and powdered flunkeys they furnished the hired

girl; in return for the fairy wilderness of sumptuous decorations they

draped the stove with the American flag; in return for the orchestra

they furnished zither and ballads by the family; in return for the

ball--but they didn't return the ball, except in cases where the United

States lived on the roof and had room.

Is this an exaggeration? It can hardly be called that. I saw nearly the

equivalent of it, a good many years ago. A minister was trying to create

influential friends for a project which might be worth ten millions

a year to the agriculturists of the Republic; and our Government had

furnished him ham and lemonade to persuade the opposition with. The

minister did not succeed. He might not have succeeded if his salary

had been what it ought to have been--$50,000 or $60,00 a year--but his

chances would have been very greatly improved. And in any case, he

and his dinners and his country would not have been joked about by the

hard-hearted and pitied by the compassionate.

Any experienced 'drummer' will testify that, when you want to do

business, there is no economy in ham and lemonade. The drummer takes his

country customer to the theatre, the opera, the circus; dines him, wines

him, entertains him all the day and all the night in luxurious style;

and plays upon his human nature in all seductive ways. For he knows, by

old experience, that this is the best way to get a profitable order out

of him. He has this reward. All Governments except our own play the same

policy, with the same end in view; and they, also, have their reward.

But ours refuses to do business by business ways, and sticks to ham

and lemonade. This is the most expensive diet known to the diplomatic

service of the world.

Ours is the only country of first importance that pays its foreign

representatives trifling salaries. If we were poor, we could not find

great fault with these economies, perhaps--at least one could find a

sort of plausible excuse for them. But we are not poor; and the excuse

fails. As shown above, some of our important diplomatic representatives

receive $12,000; others, $17,500. These salaries are all ham and

lemonade, and unworthy of the flag. When we have a rich ambassador in

London or Paris, he lives as the ambassador of a country like ours ought

to live, and it costs him $100,000 a year to do it. But why should we

allow him to pay that out of his private pocket? There is nothing fair

about it; and the Republic is no proper subject for any one's charity.

In several cases our salaries of $12,000 should be $50,000; and all of

the salaries of $17,500 ought to be $75,000 or $100,000, since we pay no

representative's house-rent. Our State Department realises the mistake

which we are making, and would like to rectify it, but it has not the

power.

When a young girl reaches eighteen she is recognised as being a woman.

She adds six inches to her skirt, she unplaits her dangling braids and

balls her hair on top of her head, she stops sleeping with her little

sister and has a room to herself, and becomes in many ways a thundering

expense. But she is in society now; and papa has to stand it. There is

no avoiding it. Very well. The Great Republic lengthened her skirts last

year, balled up her hair, and entered the world's society. This means

that, if she would prosper and stand fair with society, she must put

aside some of her dearest and darlingest young ways and superstitions,

and do as society does. Of course, she can decline if she wants to; but

this would be unwise. She ought to realise, now that she has 'come out,'

that this is a right and proper time to change a part of her style. She

is in Rome; and it has long been granted that when one is in Rome it

is good policy to do as Rome does. To advantage Rome? No--to advantage

herself.

If our Government has really paid representatives of ours on the Paris

Commission $100,000 apiece for six weeks' work, I feel sure that it is

the best cash investment the nation has made in many years. For it seems

quite impossible that, with that precedent on the books, the Government

will be able to find excuses for continuing its diplomatic salaries at

the present mean figure.

P.S.--VIENNA, January 10.--I see, by this morning's telegraphic news,

that I am not to be the new ambassador here, after all. This--well,

I hardly know what to say. I--well, of course, I do not care anything

about it; but it is at least a surprise. I have for many months been

using my influence at Washington to get this diplomatic see expanded

into an ambassadorship, with the idea, of course th--But never mind. Let

it go. It is of no consequence. I say it calmly; for I am calm. But at

the same time--However, the subject has no interest for me, and never

had. I never really intended to take the place, anyway--I made up my

mind to it months and months ago, nearly a year. But now, while I am

calm, I would like to say this--that so long as I shall continue to

possess an American's proper pride in the honour and dignity of his

country, I will not take any ambassadorship in the gift of the flag at

a salary short of $75,000 a year. If I shall be charged with wanting to

live beyond my country's means, I cannot help it. A country which cannot

afford ambassador's wages should be ashamed to have ambassadors.

Think of a Seventeen-thousand-five-hundred-dollar ambassador!

Particularly for America. Why it is the most ludicrous spectacle, the

most inconsistent and incongruous spectacle, contrivable by even the

most diseased imagination. It is a billionaire in a paper collar, a king

in a breechclout, an archangel in a tin halo. And, for pure sham and

hypocrisy, the salary is just the match of the ambassador's official

clothes--that boastful advertisement of a Republican Simplicity which

manifests itself at home in Fifty-thousand-dollar salaries to insurance

presidents and railway lawyers, and in domestic palaces whose fittings

and furnishings often transcend in costly display and splendour and

richness the fittings and furnishings of the palaces of the sceptred

masters of Europe; and which has invented and exported to the Old World

the palace-car, the sleeping-car, the tram-car, the electric trolley,

the best bicycles, the best motor-cars, the steam-heater, the best and

smartest systems of electric calls and telephonic aids to laziness and

comfort, the elevator, the private bath-room (hot and cold water on

tap), the palace-hotel, with its multifarious conveniences, comforts,

shows, and luxuries, the--oh, the list is interminable! In a word,

Republican Simplicity found Europe with one shirt on her back, so to

speak, as far as real luxuries, conveniences, and the comforts of

life go, and has clothed her to the chin with the latter. We are the

lavishest and showiest and most luxury-loving people on the earth; and

at our masthead we fly one true and honest symbol, the gaudiest flag

the world has ever seen. Oh, Republican Simplicity, there are many, many

humbugs in the world, but none to which you need take off your hat!

LUCK

(NOTE.--This is not a fancy sketch. I got it from a clergyman who was

an instructor at Woolwich forty years ago, and who vouched for its

truth.--M.T.)

It was at a banquet in London in honour of one of the two or three

conspicuously illustrious English military names of this generation. For

reasons which will presently appear, I will withhold his real name and

titles, and call him Lieutenant-General Lord Arthur Scoresby, V.C.,

K.C.B., etc., etc., etc. What a fascination there is in a renowned

name! There sat the man, in actual flesh, whom I had heard of so many

thousands of times since that day, thirty years before, when his name

shot suddenly to the zenith from a Crimean battle-field, to remain for

ever celebrated. It was food and drink to me to look, and look, and

look at that demigod; scanning, searching, noting: the quietness, the

reserve, the noble gravity of his countenance; the simple honesty

that expressed itself all over him; the sweet unconsciousness of his

greatness--unconsciousness of the hundreds of admiring eyes fastened

upon him, unconsciousness of the deep, loving, sincere worship welling

out of the breasts of those people and flowing toward him.

The clergyman at my left was an old acquaintance of mine--clergyman now,

but had spent the first half of his life in the camp and field, and as

an instructor in the military school at Woolwich. Just at the moment I

have been talking about, a veiled and singular light glimmered in his

eyes, and he leaned down and muttered confidentially to me--indicating

the hero of the banquet with a gesture,--'Privately--his glory is an

accident--just a product of incredible luck.'

This verdict was a great surprise to me. If its subject had been

Napoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon, my astonishment could not have been

greater.

Some days later came the explanation of this strange remark, and this is

what the Reverend told me.

About forty years ago I was an instructor in the military academy at

Woolwich. I was present in one of the sections when young Scoresby

underwent his preliminary examination. I was touched to the quick with

pity; for the rest of the class answered up brightly and handsomely,

while he--why, dear me, he didn't know anything, so to speak. He was

evidently good, and sweet, and lovable, and guileless; and so it was

exceedingly painful to see him stand there, as serene as a graven image,

and deliver himself of answers which were veritably miraculous for

stupidity and ignorance. All the compassion in me was aroused in his

behalf. I said to myself, when he comes to be examined again, he will be

flung over, of course; so it will be simple a harmless act of charity to

ease his fall as much as I can.

I took him aside, and found that he knew a little of Caesar's history;

and as he didn't know anything else, I went to work and drilled him like

a galley-slave on a certain line of stock questions concerning Caesar

which I knew would be used. If you'll believe me, he went through

with flying colours on examination day! He went through on that purely

superficial 'cram', and got compliments, too, while others, who knew

a thousand times more than he, got plucked. By some strangely lucky

accident--an accident not likely to happen twice in a century--he was

asked no question outside of the narrow limits of his drill.

It was stupefying. Well, although through his course I stood by him,

with something of the sentiment which a mother feels for a crippled

child; and he always saved himself--just by miracle, apparently.

Now of course the thing that would expose him and kill him at last

was mathematics. I resolved to make his death as easy as I could; so I

drilled him and crammed him, and crammed him and drilled him, just on

the line of questions which the examiner would be most likely to use,

and then launched him on his fate. Well, sir, try to conceive of the

result: to my consternation, he took the first prize! And with it he got

a perfect ovation in the way of compliments.

Sleep! There was no more sleep for me for a week. My conscience tortured

me day and night. What I had done I had done purely through charity,

and only to ease the poor youth's fall--I never had dreamed of any such

preposterous result as the thing that had happened. I felt as guilty and

miserable as the creator of Frankenstein. Here was a wooden-head whom

I had put in the way of glittering promotions and prodigious

responsibilities, and but one thing could happen: he and his

responsibilities would all go to ruin together at the first opportunity.

The Crimean war had just broken out. Of course there had to be a war, I

said to myself: we couldn't have peace and give this donkey a chance to

die before he is found out. I waited for the earthquake. It came. And it

made me reel when it did come. He was actually gazetted to a captaincy

in a marching regiment! Better men grow old and gray in the service

before they climb to a sublimity like that. And who could ever have

foreseen that they would go and put such a load of responsibility on

such green and inadequate shoulders? I could just barely have stood it

if they had made him a cornet; but a captain--think of it! I thought my

hair would turn white.

Consider what I did--I who so loved repose and inaction. I said to

myself, I am responsible to the country for this, and I must go along

with him and protect the country against him as far as I can. So I took

my poor little capital that I had saved up through years of work and

grinding economy, and went with a sigh and bought a cornetcy in his

regiment, and away we went to the field.

And there--oh dear, it was awful. Blunders? why, he never did anything

but blunder. But, you see, nobody was in the fellow's secret--everybody

had him focused wrong, and necessarily misinterpreted his performance

every time--consequently they took his idiotic blunders for inspirations

of genius; they did honestly! His mildest blunders were enough to make

a man in his right mind cry; and they did make me cry--and rage and

rave too, privately. And the thing that kept me always in a sweat of

apprehension was the fact that every fresh blunder he made increased

the lustre of his reputation! I kept saying to myself, he'll get so high

that when discovery does finally come it will be like the sun falling

out of the sky.

He went right along up, from grade to grade, over the dead bodies of his

superiors, until at last, in the hottest moment of the battle of... down

went our colonel, and my heart jumped into my mouth, for Scoresby

was next in rank! Now for it, said I; we'll all land in Sheol in ten

minutes, sure.

The battle was awfully hot; the allies were steadily giving way all over

the field. Our regiment occupied a position that was vital; a blunder

now must be destruction. At this critical moment, what does this

immortal fool do but detach the regiment from its place and order a

charge over a neighbouring hill where there wasn't a suggestion of an

enemy! 'There you go!' I said to myself; 'this is the end at last.'

And away we did go, and were over the shoulder of the hill before the

insane movement could be discovered and stopped. And what did we find?

An entire and unsuspected Russian army in reserve! And what happened?

We were eaten up? That is necessarily what would have happened in

ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But no; those Russians argued that

no single regiment would come browsing around there at such a time.

It must be the entire English army, and that the sly Russian game

was detected and blocked; so they turned tail, and away they went,

pell-mell, over the hill and down into the field, in wild confusion,

and we after them; they themselves broke the solid Russia centre in the

field, and tore through, and in no time there was the most tremendous

rout you ever saw, and the defeat of the allies was turned into a

sweeping and splendid victory! Marshal Canrobert looked on, dizzy with

astonishment, admiration, and delight; and sent right off for Scoresby,

and hugged him, and decorated him on the field in presence of all the

armies!

And what was Scoresby's blunder that time? Merely the mistaking his

right hand for his left--that was all. An order had come to him to fall

back and support our right; and instead he fell forward and went over

the hill to the left. But the name he won that day as a marvellous

military genius filled the world with his glory, and that glory will

never fade while history books last.

He is just as good and sweet and lovable and unpretending as a man can

be, but he doesn't know enough to come in when it rains. He has

been pursued, day by day and year by year, by a most phenomenal and

astonishing luckiness. He has been a shining soldier in all our wars for

half a generation; he has littered his military life with blunders, and

yet has never committed one that didn't make him a knight or a baronet

or a lord or something. Look at his breast; why, he is just clothed

in domestic and foreign decorations. Well, sir, every one of them is a

record of some shouting stupidity or other; and, taken together, they

are proof that the very best thing in all this world that can befall a

man is to be born lucky.

THE CAPTAIN'S STORY

There was a good deal of pleasant gossip about old Captain 'Hurricane'

Jones, of the Pacific Ocean--peace to his ashes! Two or three of

us present had known him; I, particularly well, for I had made four

sea-voyages with him. He was a very remarkable man. He was born on a

ship; he picked up what little education he had among his ship-mates;

he began life in the forecastle, and climbed grade by grade to the

captaincy. More than fifty years of his sixty-five were spent at sea.

He had sailed all oceans, seen all lands, and borrowed a tint from all

climates. When a man has been fifty years at sea, he necessarily knows

nothing of men, nothing of the world but its surface, nothing of the

world's thought, nothing of the world's learning but it's A B C, and

that blurred and distorted by the unfocussed lenses of an untrained

mind. Such a man is only a gray and bearded child. That is what old

Hurricane Jones was--simply an innocent, lovable old infant. When his

spirit was in repose he was as sweet and gentle as a girl; when his

wrath was up he was a hurricane that made his nickname seem tamely

descriptive. He was formidable in a fight, for he was of powerful build

and dauntless courage. He was frescoed from head to heel with pictures

and mottoes tattooed in red and blue India ink. I was with him one

voyage when he got his last vacant space tattooed; this vacant space was

around his left ankle. During three days he stumped about the ship with

his ankle bare and swollen, and this legend gleaming red and angry out

from a clouding of India ink: 'Virtue is its own R'd.' (There was a

lack of room.) He was deeply and sincerely pious, and swore like a

fish-woman. He considered swearing blameless, because sailors would

not understand an order unillumined by it. He was a profound Biblical

scholar--that is, he thought he was. He believed everything in the

Bible, but he had his own methods of arriving at his beliefs. He was

of the 'advanced' school of thinkers, and applied natural laws to the

interpretation of all miracles, somewhat on the plan of the people

who make the six days of creation six geological epochs, and so forth.

Without being aware of it, he was a rather severe satirist on modern

scientific religionists. Such a man as I have been describing is rabidly

fond of disquisition and argument; one knows that without being told it.

One trip the captain had a clergyman on board, but did not know he was

a clergyman, since the passenger list did not betray the fact. He took a

great liking to this Rev. Mr. Peters, and talked with him a great deal:

told him yarns, gave him toothsome scraps of personal history, and wove

a glittering streak of profanity through his garrulous fabric that was

refreshing to a spirit weary of the dull neutralities of undecorated

speech. One day the captain said, 'Peters, do you ever read the Bible?'

'Well--yes.'

'I judge it ain't often, by the way you say it. Now, you tackle it in

dead earnest once, and you'll find it'll pay. Don't you get discouraged,

but hang right on. First you won't understand it; but by-and-by things

will begin to clear up, and then you wouldn't lay it down to--eat.'

'Yes, I have heard that said.'

'And it's so too. There ain't a book that begins with it. It lays over

'em all, Peters. There's some pretty tough things in it--there ain't any

getting around that--but you stick to them and think them out, and when

once you get on the inside everything's plain as day.'

'The miracles, too, captain?'

'Yes, sir! the miracles, too. Every one of them. Now, there's that

business with the prophets of Baal; like enough that stumped you?'

'Well, I don't know but--'

'Own up, now; it stumped you. Well, I don't wonder. You hadn't any

experience in ravelling such things out, and naturally it was too many

for you. Would you like to have me explain that thing to you, and show

you how to get at the meat of these matters?'

'Indeed, I would, captain, if you don't mind.'

Then the captain proceeded as follows: 'I'll do it with pleasure.

First, you see, I read and read, and thought and thought, till I got

to understand what sort of people they were in the old Bible times, and

then after that it was clear and easy. Now, this was the way I put it

up, concerning Isaac(1) and the prophets of Baal. There was some mighty

sharp men amongst the public characters of that old ancient day, and

Isaac was one of them. Isaac had his failings--plenty of them, too;

it ain't for me to apologise for Isaac; he played a cold deck on the

prophets of Baal, and like enough he was justifiable, considering the

odds that was against him. No, all I say is, 't' wa'n't any miracle, and

that I'll show you so's 't you can see it yourself.

'Well, times had been getting rougher and rougher for prophets--that

is, prophets of Isaac's denomination. There were four hundred and fifty

prophets of Baal in the community, and only one Presbyterian; that is,

if Isaac was a Presbyterian, which I reckon he was, but it don't say.

Naturally, the prophets of Baal took all the trade. Isaac was pretty

low spirited, I reckon, but he was a good deal of a man, and no doubt

he went a-prophesying around, letting on to be doing a land-office

business, but 't' wa'n't any use; he couldn't run any opposition to

amount to anything. By-and-by things got desperate with him; he sets

his head to work and thinks it all out, and then what does he do? Why he

begins to throw out hints that the other parties are this and that and

t'other,--nothing very definite, may be, but just kind of undermining

their reputation in a quiet way. This made talk, of course, and finally

got to the King. The King asked Isaac what he meant by his talk. Says

Isaac, “Oh, nothing particular; only, can they pray down fire from

heaven on an altar? It ain't much, maybe, your majesty, only can they do

it? That's the idea.” So the King was a good deal disturbed, and he went

to the prophets of Baal, and they said, pretty airy, that if he had

an altar ready, they were ready; and they intimated he better get it

insured, too.

'So next morning all the Children of Israel and their parents and the

other people gathered themselves together. Well, here was that great

crowd of prophets of Baal packed together on one side, and Isaac walking

up and down all alone on the other, putting up his job. When time was

called, Isaac let on to be comfortable and indifferent; told the other

team to take the first innings. So they went at it, the whole four

hundred and fifty, praying around the altar, very hopefully, and doing

their level best. They prayed an hour--two hours--three hours--and so

on, plumb till noon. It wa'n't any use; they hadn't took a trick. Of

course they felt kind of ashamed before all those people, and well they

might. Now, what would a magnanimous man do? Keep still, wouldn't he? Of

course. What did Isaac do? He graveled the prophets of Baal every way

he could think of. Says he, “You don't speak up loud enough; your god's

asleep, like enough, or may be he's taking a walk; you want to holler,

you know,” or words to that effect; I don't recollect the exact

language. Mind I don't apologise for Isaac; he had his faults.

'Well, the prophets of Baal prayed along the best they knew how all the

afternoon, and never raised a spark. At last, about sundown, they were

all tuckered out, and they owned up and quit.

'What does Isaac do, now? He steps up and says to some friends of

his, there, “Pour four barrels of water on the altar!” Everybody was

astonished; for the other side had prayed at it dry, you know, and got

whitewashed. They poured it on. Says he, “Heave on four more barrels.”

Then he says, “Heave on four more.” Twelve barrels, you see, altogether.

The water ran all over the altar, and all down the sides, and filled up

a trench around it that would hold a couple of hogsheads--“measures,” it

says: I reckon it means about a hogshead. Some of the people were going

to put on their things and go, for they allowed he was crazy. They

didn't know Isaac. Isaac knelt down and began to pray: he strung along,

and strung along, about the heathen in distant lands, and about the

sister churches, and about the state and the country at large, and

about those that's in authority in the government, and all the usual

programme, you know, till everybody had got tired and gone to thinking

about something else, and then, all of a sudden, when nobody was

noticing, he outs with a match and rakes it on the under side of his

leg, and pff! up the whole thing blazes like a house afire! Twelve

barrels of water? Petroleum, sir, PETROLEUM! that's what it was!'

'Petroleum, captain?'

'Yes, sir; the country was full of it. Isaac knew all about that. You

read the Bible. Don't you worry about the tough places. They ain't tough

when you come to think them out and throw light on them. There ain't a

thing in the Bible but what is true; all you want is to go prayerfully

to work and cipher out how 'twas done.'

(1) This is the captain's own mistake.

STIRRING TIMES IN AUSTRIA

I. THE GOVERNMENT IN THE FRYING-PAN.

Here in Vienna in these closing days of 1897 one's blood gets no chance

to stagnate. The atmosphere is brimful of political electricity.

All conversation is political; every man is a battery, with brushes

overworn, and gives out blue sparks when you set him going on the common

topic. Everybody has an opinion, and lets you have it frank and hot, and

out of this multitude of counsel you get merely confusion and despair.

For no one really understands this political situation, or can tell you

what is going to be the outcome of it.

Things have happened here recently which would set any country

but Austria on fire from end to end, and upset the Government to a

certainty; but no one feels confident that such results will follow

here. Here, apparently, one must wait and see what will happen, then he

will know, and not before; guessing is idle; guessing cannot help the

matter. This is what the wise tell you; they all say it; they say it

every day, and it is the sole detail upon which they all agree.

There is some approach to agreement upon another point: that there will

be no revolution. Men say: 'Look at our history, revolutions have not

been in our line; and look at our political map, its construction is

unfavourable to an organised uprising, and without unity what could a

revolt accomplish? It is disunion which has held our empire together for

centuries, and what it has done in the past it may continue to do now

and in the future.'

The most intelligible sketch I have encountered of this unintelligible

arrangement of things was contributed to the 'Traveller's Record' by Mr.

Forrest Morgan, of Hartford, three years ago. He says:

'The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is the patchwork-quilt, the Midway

Plaisance, the national chain-gang of Europe; a state that is not a

nation, but a collection of nations, some with national memories and

aspirations and others without, some occupying distinct provinces

almost purely their own, and others mixed with alien races, but each

with a different language, and each mostly holding the others

foreigners as much as if the link of a common government did not

exist. Only one of its races even now comprises so much as

one-fourth of the whole, and not another so much as one-sixth; and

each has remained for ages as unchanged in isolation, however

mingled together in locality, as globules of oil in water. There

is nothing else in the modern world that is nearly like it, though

there have been plenty in past ages; it seems unreal and impossible

even though we know it is true; it violates all our feeling as to

what a country should be in order to have a right to exist; and it

seems as though it was too ramshackle to go on holding together any

length of time. Yet it has survived, much in its present shape, two

centuries of storms that have swept perfectly unified countries

from existence and others that have brought it to the verge of

ruin, has survived formidable European coalitions to dismember it,

and has steadily gained force after each; forever changing in its

exact make-up, losing in the West but gaining in the East, the

changes leave the structure as firm as ever, like the dropping off

and adding on of logs in a raft, its mechanical union of pieces

showing all the vitality of genuine national life.'

That seems to confirm and justify the prevalent Austrian faith that in

this confusion of unrelated and irreconcilable elements, this condition

of incurable disunion, there is strength--for the Government. Nearly

every day some one explains to me that a revolution would not succeed

here. 'It couldn't, you know. Broadly speaking, all the nations in the

empire hate the Government--but they all hate each other too, and with

devoted and enthusiastic bitterness; no two of them can combine; the

nation that rises must rise alone; then the others would joyfully join

the Government against her, and she would have just a fly's chance

against a combination of spiders. This Government is entirely

independent. It can go its own road, and do as it pleases; it has

nothing to fear. In countries like England and America, where there is

one tongue and the public interests are common, the Government must take

account of public opinion; but in Austria-Hungary there are nineteen

public opinions--one for each state. No--two or three for each state,

since there are two or three nationalities in each. A Government cannot

satisfy all these public opinions; it can only go through the motions of

trying. This Government does that. It goes through the motions, and they

do not succeed; but that does not worry the Government much.'

The next man will give you some further information. 'The Government has

a policy--a wise one--and sticks to it. This policy is--tranquillity:

keep this hive of excitable nations as quiet as possible; encourage them

to amuse themselves with things less inflammatory than politics. To this

end it furnishes them an abundance of Catholic priests to teach them to

be docile and obedient, and to be diligent in acquiring ignorance about

things here below, and knowledge about the kingdom of heaven, to whose

historic delights they are going to add the charm of their society

by-and-by; and further--to this same end--it cools off the newspapers

every morning at five o'clock, whenever warm events are happening.'

There is a censor of the press, and apparently he is always on duty and

hard at work. A copy of each morning paper is brought to him at five

o'clock. His official wagons wait at the doors of the newspaper offices

and scud to him with the first copies that come from the press.

His company of assistants read every line in these papers, and mark

everything which seems to have a dangerous look; then he passes final

judgment upon these markings. Two things conspire to give to the results

a capricious and unbalanced look: his assistants have diversified

notions as to what is dangerous and what isn't; he can't get time to

examine their criticisms in much detail; and so sometimes the very same

matter which is suppressed in one paper fails to be damned in another

one, and gets published in full feather and unmodified. Then the paper

in which it was suppressed blandly copies the forbidden matter into

its evening edition--provokingly giving credit and detailing all the

circumstances in courteous and inoffensive language--and of course the

censor cannot say a word.

Sometimes the censor sucks all the blood out of a newspaper and leaves

it colourless and inane; sometimes he leaves it undisturbed, and lets

it talk out its opinions with a frankness and vigour hardly to be

surpassed, I think, in the journals of any country. Apparently the

censor sometimes revises his verdicts upon second thought, for several

times lately he has suppressed journals after their issue and partial

distribution. The distributed copies are then sent for by the censor

and destroyed. I have two of these, but at the time they were sent for I

could not remember what I had done with them.

If the censor did his work before the morning edition was printed, he

would be less of an inconvenience than he is; but, of course, the papers

cannot wait many minutes after five o'clock to get his verdict; they

might as well go out of business as do that; so they print and take

their chances. Then, if they get caught by a suppression, they must

strike out the condemned matter and print the edition over again. That

delays the issue several hours, and is expensive besides. The Government

gets the suppressed edition for nothing. If it bought it, that would be

joyful, and would give great satisfaction. Also, the edition would be

larger. Some of the papers do not replace the condemned paragraphs

with other matter; they merely snatch them out and leave blanks

behind--mourning blanks, marked 'Confiscated'.

The Government discourages the dissemination of newspaper information in

other ways. For instance, it does not allow newspapers to be sold on

the streets: therefore the newsboy is unknown in Vienna. And there is a

stamp duty of nearly a cent upon each copy of a newspaper's issue.

Every American paper that reaches me has a stamp upon it, which has been

pasted there in the post-office or downstairs in the hotel office; but

no matter who put it there, I have to pay for it, and that is the main

thing. Sometimes friends send me so many papers that it takes all I can

earn that week to keep this Government going.

I must take passing notice of another point in the Government's measures

for maintaining tranquillity. Everybody says it does not like to see any

individual attain to commanding influence in the country, since such a

man can become a disturber and an inconvenience. 'We have as much

talent as the other nations,' says the citizen, resignedly, and without

bitterness, 'but for the sake of the general good of the country, we are

discouraged from making it over-conspicuous; and not only discouraged,

but tactfully and skillfully prevented from doing it, if we show too

much persistence. Consequently we have no renowned men; in centuries

we have seldom produced one--that is, seldom allowed one to produce

himself. We can say to-day what no other nation of first importance

in the family of Christian civilisations can say--that there exists no

Austrian who has made an enduring name for himself which is familiar all

around the globe.

Another helper toward tranquillity is the army. It is as pervasive as

the atmosphere. It is everywhere. All the mentioned creators, promoters,

and preservers of the public tranquillity do their several shares in

the quieting work. They make a restful and comfortable serenity and

reposefulness. This is disturbed sometimes for a little while: a mob

assembles to protest against something; it gets noisy--noisier--still

noisier--finally too noisy; then the persuasive soldiery comes charging

down upon it, and in a few minutes all is quiet again, and there is no

mob.

There is a Constitution and there is a Parliament. The House draws its

membership of 425 deputies from the nineteen or twenty states heretofore

mentioned. These men represent peoples who speak eleven different

languages. That means eleven distinct varieties of jealousies,

hostilities, and warring interests. This could be expected to furnish

forth a parliament of a pretty inharmonious sort, and make legislation

difficult at times--and it does that. The Parliament is split up into

many parties--the Clericals, the Progressists, the German Nationalists,

the Young Czechs, the Social Democrats, the Christian Socialists, and

some others--and it is difficult to get up working combinations among

them. They prefer to fight apart sometimes.

The recent troubles have grown out of Count Badeni's necessities. He

could not carry on his Government without a majority vote in the House

at his back, and in order to secure it he had to make a trade of some

sort. He made it with the Czechs--the Bohemians. The terms were not easy

for him: he must issue an ordinance making the Czech tongue the official

language in Bohemia in place of the German. This created a storm. All

the Germans in Austria were incensed. In numbers they form but a fourth

part of the empire's population, but they urge that the country's public

business should be conducted in one common tongue, and that tongue a

world language--which German is.

However, Badeni secured his majority. The German element in Parliament

was apparently become helpless. The Czech deputies were exultant.

Then the music began. Badeni's voyage, instead of being smooth, was

disappointingly rough from the start. The Government must get the

Ausgleich through. It must not fail. Badeni's majority was ready to

carry it through; but the minority was determined to obstruct it and

delay it until the obnoxious Czech-language measure should be shelved.

The Ausgleich is an Adjustment, Arrangement, Settlement, which holds

Austria and Hungary together. It dates from 1867, and has to be renewed

every ten years. It establishes the share which Hungary must pay toward

the expenses of the imperial Government. Hungary is a kingdom (the

Emperor of Austria is its King), and has its own Parliament and

governmental machinery. But it has no foreign office, and it has no

army--at least its army is a part of the imperial army, is paid out

of the imperial treasury, and is under the control of the imperial war

office.

The ten-year arrangement was due a year ago, but failed to connect. At

least completely. A year's compromise was arranged. A new arrangement

must be effected before the last day of this year. Otherwise the two

countries become separate entities. The Emperor would still be King of

Hungary--that is, King of an independent foreign country. There would

be Hungarian custom-houses on the Austrian border, and there would be a

Hungarian army and a Hungarian foreign office. Both countries would be

weakened by this, both would suffer damage.

The Opposition in the House, although in the minority, had a good weapon

to fight with in the pending Ausgleich. If it could delay the Ausgleich

a few weeks, the Government would doubtless have to withdraw the hated

language ordinance or lose Hungary.

The Opposition began its fight. Its arms were the Rules of the House. It

was soon manifest that by applying these Rules ingeniously it could make