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^RIL. 1906 PRICE 15 CENT
METROPOLITAN
\
Young Again, eh f
That's it exactly
/ And a woman is as
old as she looks" —
HAND
C A DAT in
r circulation,
fresh
removes dead
under skin to appear.
and exhilaration, quickens
fairness
and allows the clear,
skin,
Be fair to your skin,
t
and it will be fair to you— and to others.
HAND SAPOLIO IS
SO PURE that can be freely used on a new-born baby or the
il
•a aft
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INDEX TO VOLUME XXIV
ARTICLES.
I'AOE.
ADVEXTTRES IV SOCIETY : : : . . .
: :
A Chinese Kextlkmax • - 71»
AMKUH'AN n.l R ffdMKX . » ^ - • 422
AMKHICAN OKKICIAL SOCIETY ^ ^ - - QOH
AMERICAN SOCIETY WOMKX 1! '1 - -
!
-ipii -.
FICTION.
ADOLESCENCE OF NUMBER 87. THE Annit u Sthix<:kh . . 211
Illustrated with n photograph.
ALKALI DUST Ciiaimfk M Hi.ittos • - 2S3
Illustrated by Ira D. Cassldy.
ALL'S FAIR Uklett BrmiKSH 15
ATTACK IX THE RUE DE LA PRESSE. THE .... Leoxahp Mkiiki. k • - 81
Il'ustrated by II S. Potter.
d by Google
II INDEX TO VOLUME XXII/
Paoe.
BALL AND THE BRACELET, THE HoMEIt SAINT GAI DENS - - £15
Illustrated by C«rl N. WernU.
HAHNETT, JOHN (PROFESSOR OF ARCH/EOLOGYl Clarence Edward XIi I.fobo • 111
Illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson.
BROADWAY VILLON, A
BROTHER RABBITS BBAR III 'NT .... AKTIII H TllAlX
Joel Chandler Harris
til
222
Illustrated by J.
Bl'FFALO SPIRIT, THE
XI. C'ondtf.
AitTin it Hemino .... iaa
Illustrated by tlit- author.
CRLMSON WIGWAM. THE Theodore Roberts • - 2111
Mason ....
Illustrated by John <Vcll Clay.
(1REAT MONOPOLY.THE - A. E. W. 6_l>i>
HOSTAGE: OR, ALONG THE POTOMAC, THE Thomas Nelson Paue - - 607
Illustrated by Herman Pfelfer.
HOW BROTHER RABBIT BROt'GIIT FAMILY TROI III E
ON BROTHER FOX Joel Chandler Harris - - 400
Illustrated by J. XI. Conde
INSANITY OF SAXI. THE RtCIIABD WlUTEING - - - 241
JI STICK OF THE GODS Lieut. Hooh m. Kku.v,
Illustrated by the author. IT. S. A. 332
Leonard XIekrick 112
LETTER TO THE
LITTLE WOODEN
Dl
TIGER.
< IIESS. A
THE ....
- • -
-
XI avne Lindsay •
1L C Wall.
Illustrated by
XIINNIE VS. DANNIE (A Story of San Francisco Before
the Earthquake) Wallace In win -
Illustrated by
STAMPEDE THE
Frank Parker.
Rex E. Beach .... usi
Illustrated b\ D. C. 1 1 utrhlsnli.
hist
1 led bv Charles Livingston Bull.
1 r.i
William Hamilton Osborne
WALL STREET RAID OF SHIFTY SHIFT. THE
Illustrated bj Dan Sayre Groesbeek.
George ix lai
WANDERINGS OP LOV THE LPCKT. THE C. Ilt •
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INDEX TO VOLUME XXIV iii
POEMS.
AlXISO.N YEWELL - - za
APART Curtis Hidden Paue -
fll2
A "T "M.N COLOR-SCHEME, AN
I I Marian Warner Wildman . Z2fl
AT THE RIPPLING OK THE CORN Cait. William Page Cabtkb . 22fi
BALLADE OF Sl'MMERTTDE, A Clinton Scollaru - fi07
II with a photograph.
DAPHNE Robert I'ndehwood Johnson 444
Illustrated by Phllllppa Ward.
EASTER SONNET. AN .III. Dcrand
IAN 38.
EVENTFUL DAT, THE - EDMt'ND Yance Cooke • 4«*>7
CRPIAI
DOOMSMAN. THE Van Tasskl Slti-hev • 41-1Rfl
FANTASlhS
ADVERTISING SECTION. THE Alfred s. Hartzell - •
3211
ALWAYS IN SEASON D\n Sayio: HMHMBKCK - ma
BACHELOR'S OATH. A Richard Kirk am
BEWARE! BEWARE! ... II MIMl.D SlSMAN - 332
BYE BABY B1NTING Oliver IIerford - •
im
Drawing by Gilbert White.
COMIC OPERA HONGS Carolyn Wells -
201
CONFESSIONS OF PR1SCILLA PRIM -
- Prances Maple • -
BM
CT'STARD PIRATE. THE • Gedroe R. Bm LL 18Q
173137 Google
iv INDEX TO VOLUME XXIV
1'AGE.
EQUATORIAL CURRENTS WAUUhCI Iuwin . Sfll
FRANK CRITICISMS JCLIEN Joseph SON
FUSSY MOTHER, THE ... Annie Willis McCilloiuh
- 0«:t
QM
1118
Illustrated
FAVORITE DIET
INTELLECTUAL INDIGESTION
l>y William A. McCullough.
R
G. R.
E. Leppkbt
Bkay
.... 2fi2
IM
MODERN SYBARITE Nan MK Ryki> Tl'KXKU - 3112
MUCK-RAKERS, THE W. D. Nksbit - - 303
Courtesy of Vutlirr'M Weekly,
OCTOPUS. THE J. M CONDI Qli3
PHILOSOPHY IN RHYME Ji lien Jokei'Iison - • • 2fi2
QUESTION OF THE HOUR. THE Comstock - 331
QUIET SUNDAY IN OUR VILLAGE. A Pi nch Gii2
RARE COMBINATION, A Anna Mahewson 132
MCR\ED HIM RIGHT Oliver HkbFOU ... - -
131
SILVER LININ<;. E 'I'll Richard KlKK • ti£3
SWEDISH INSTRUCTIONS Pl'SCH S31
TEASING OF THE SENATE, THE Goliath B. Flip - 3115
TERRIFYING POSSIBILITY. A 322
THERE WAS A LONG SILENCE BETWEEN THEM SIIKFTIHU) Clarke - TIM*
COLOR FRONTISPIECES.
GRAND ENTRANCE TO THE BRIDGE AT THE PAN
AMERICAN EXPOSITION
From Ibc water color draw ing by F. Hopklnson
Siullb. Currere & Hastlr.gs. Architects.
THE COLT
Drawn for The Metropolitan Magazine by Rob-
ert l~ Dickey.
THE FISHING GIRI •
G21
SEPTEMBER • » 151
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• » - *
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i
Digitized by Google
From the Water-C olor Drau-ing by F. Hopkinso* Smith.
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ThA Metropolitan
VOLUME XXIV APRIL, 1906 NUiMBER I
|liliM«iMFV,p^V 'p^, ( l S
_ fl|
f^SK^^MONG all the varied which may add more to the beauty of
problems of construc- a landscape or may so seriously detract
tion wh i c h present from it.
be its purpose, there Is nothing human ditions of the country, or to the growth and
Copyright, 1906, by Th« M»t»ofoi.itan Magazinb Comfanv.
Google
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klkvaiion or nm Km»f<.»*-Ei> mamiatian ii-nminai. viaiion <>i i ki-: nk\v v<ikk am« huouni.v n iikiuok.
development of the city as does almost indeed made too little of these natural
any other architectural structure. It is conditions and have too seldom realized
therefore evident the most serious
that how much the large bodies of water the —
thought should be given to the character Sound, the Ocean and the Rivers mean to
and design of such lasting monuments. the inhabitants of the City, not only for
New York is destined to have more purposes of navigation and pleasure, but
bridges of colossal size than perhaps any also for comfort and beauty. These waters,
other great city in the world. The geo- whose tides twice a day bathe the shores
graphical Conditions which are most natural, of our city, mean more to us than we can
almost like those of Venice, isolate the realize, and
to appreciate this, one need
city on an island, and this island is becom- only to some western inland town to
visit
ing more and more overcrowded. The longing for our own environment.
feel a real
large ImkHcs of water in the immediate New York has grown too large for Man-
neighborhood of the metropolis impose hattan Island, and it must reach out and
varied conditions ujx>n the bridge builder, over the waters as well as under them.
which will for many generations to come Our highway-, must be extended, giving
bring about wonderful developments in most interesting problems to the engineer
this relation; and let us hope that these and the architect for many generations to
great bridges will make the city more come. Let us hoj>e that the authorities
beautiful. If only our municipal authori- who are now doing so much in this direction
ties continue to take the intelligent interest will some day force the railroads to have
which the present administration so visibly more respect for private property instead
manifests, this hope may be realized. It of destroying, as is so often done, the
would l>c difficult to picture how beautiful entire appearance of those portions of
the future city may become when in time the towns they |>ass through, seeing only
these bridges make their impress ujxm the the commercial side or how much money
many miles of our water front. We have can be drained from an ever patient but
Digitized by GoogI
Draw* by Jultt OtUrin.
THE CHEAT NEW APPROACH ON THE MANHATTAN Ml'K TO UK NEW VOMC ASK BHOOKLVN
t ItKIOUK AS I'KOI'USEU HV THE
ARCHITECTS CARRKRB • HASTINGS.
constantly moving and growing popula- owners. When one considers the enor-
tion. It is indeed to note how
pitiable mous cost of hundreds of miles of railroad*
often, especially in our smaller cities, the from place to place, it is apparent how com-
railroads build walls through the heart or paratively small would be the increased ex-
center of a town, and make them none too penditure if some thought were given to
good for mere cellar construction with ugly making such constructions in some way add
guard rails of pipe, without the slightest to the character ofany railroaded town.
consideration of the fccljngs of the property Since the recent manufacture of wrought
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a. .
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THH FAMOtS HltiH BKID'.K ACROSS THR IIAKI EM IUVER.
was afterward sent to Paris, where it was building, wc must consider the fact that
exhibited at the Academy 0
of Sciences. prior to i860 the bridges for the railroads
It was not until 1840 that any great iron were generally designed by the railroad
bridges were built in this country, excepting engineers and executed in the shops of the
suspension bridges, where iron links were railroad companies. This made an emer-
used in the cables and suspenders, the floors gency demand, and naturally little thought
being of wood. To realize the great in- was civen to esthetics or to the permanent
fluence railroads have had upon bridge character of Mich constructions. Later the
=1 aj v ^f»^
railroads pave the building of these bridges tions, designs were to become the
their
to construction companies who furnished property of the railroad companies, so that
Ixith designs and bids at the same time, and they might obtain competitive bids from
it is only in recent years that the engineers different contractors.
in this class of work have emerged from It is unfortunate that many, though by no
these construction companies to enter into means all, of our highway bridges have been
the general practice of this profession. designed by engineers who have obtained
In designing bridges and writing specifica- their education through these channels, so
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A niKSFBLTIVK VIKW OK TIIK N K W HI V KVVKI I IMAM. HKIIM.K.
it is not surprising that there has been a problems brought about by iron construe
marked disregard for the architect and his lion, theremust be more collaboration bc-
work. Unquestionably until modern times tween engineer and architect in order to
most engineers knew more about architec- produce better results from the practical,
ture than they do to-day, as also did archi- as well as from the artistic jxnnt of view,
tects know more about engineering, but This would, indeed, be an advantage not
with this modern tendency of differentiation only in that it would make the bridge more
and with the multitude of complicated beautiful, but I believe that there would
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NEW YORK'S GREAT BRIDGES 9
together, the architect and engineer would adhered to unless it were in some way and
produce most satisfactory results. In mat- somehow beautifully expressed.
ters of construction, the architect mainly Leaving the architect out altogether in
sees the qualitative side of things, while the the scheming of the bridge is as though he
engineer sees the quantitative side. A thing were to be left out of the designing of tall
builds well that looks well and that follows buildings, because so-called skeleton con-
the bws of architectural proportion and struction has come into the building prac-
is unquestionably more economical. Alas, tice. Such tall buildings arc bad enough
a strange sense is that sense of beauty as it is, but they would not be endurable
whose alienee is as often wanting in human if there were to be an exhibition in our
character as is the >;cnse of humor, and the public streets of their unclothed and un-
man is as unconscious of this shortcoming adorned >keletons.
in the one case as in the other. He some- There is a great hope for the future de-
times even seems to have a sort of disdain velopment of bridge- in that there seems
for any thought of the l>cautiful, and the to be a tendency among financiers more
deplorable mistakes he makes because of closely to consider the question of main-
this fact areas incurable and as incorrigible tenance as related to original cost in large
GROl'ND PLAN OF THE MANHATTAN TRRMINAI. OF THR NRW VOKK AND HKOOKl.YN Ilk HIGH.
construction enterprises, and this will un- was firstevolved by the Etruscans; if this
questionably induce them to build mure is true, it is indeed coming near to Rome.
hirgely of stone and brick than has been Such wonderful bridges as the one built
the case until this generation. In fact, it by Ca-sar Augustus at Rimini or the Pont
is already the present policy of the Penn- du Gard, the great aqueduct situated about
sylvania Railroad to build stone bridges twenty miles from Nime^ built across the
wherever practicable. It means much for river Gard and attributed to Agrippa; the
art. To everything there is a season, and bridge of St. Augustus at Rome started by
a time, for every purpose under the heavens. Adrian, and many others too numerous to
In the construction of stone bridges, the mention have scarcely ever been surpassed.
Romans were the first great builders. There seems to have been a |>eriod between
Bridge building was in fact one of the most this time and the twelfth century when
interesting problems they had to solve. In few bridges of importance were built, and
architecture and construction, they were it was between the years 1 1 78 and 1188
indeed a most original and artistic people; that the famous bridge of St. Henezet at
loo little appreciated and studied by mod- Avignon was built. Several other beauti-
ern Anglo-Saxons. They were the fore- ful bridges soon followed, similar to it in
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1MB N»W WILLI AMSRIXG .K HKKllKK COMF1 K ION, AS MCH.N
I » Kl>M I MS lor of IKK fcA.M ||>UI K.
than from '.he artistic, ll would seem of the great masonry anchorage necessary
almost a sacrilege to criticise the old to receive the four cables pulling each at
Brooklyn Bridge, cither from the archi- alxmt the rate of ten millions of pounds.
tectural or the engineering |>oint of view. We felt that the masonry should be indi-
It is too much a j»art of us which we have cated above the roadbed by some masonry
learned to revere as old New Yorkers design, and with this in view we designed a
rather than to criticise; nor will I criticise colonnade, as seen in one of the accom-
the new Williamsburg Bridge. I refrain panying illustrations, thus forming a court-
from criticism on general principles, he- yard of stone as large as a city block and
cause I believe criticising individual work one hundred and twenty-five feet alxive
often does more harm than good. the water, making a vivid contrast with the
When we were asked to design in col- necessary forest or iron work. The foun-
lalwralion with (lie engineers the new dation for the lowers and a large portion
Manhattan Bridge now in course of con- of the anchorage for this bridge, which is
struction, before l>euinning our studies situated Ixjtween the old Brooklyn and
we rode in an automobile over the Brook the new Williamsburg Bridge, is already
lyn Bridge, returning by way of the Wil- completed.
liamsburg Bridge. We were much im- A much mooted question in the news-
pressed with the added interest in the papers and elsewhere is, whether these
Brooklyn Bridge, due to the fact that the bridges arc all to be made through thor-
towers of that old structure were of stone oughfares, and with this in view, we were
rather than of iron, giving more color and asked to design a station at the entrance
variety to the composition. We fell greatly to the old Brooklyn Bridge, the first studies
the need of stone above the roadbed in the of which accompany this article. An
proposed Manhattan Bridge, the third large interesting condition confronted us, and
bridge to be built across the East River; one which ihe critics of thi« project do not
and with this in view we took advantage seem to understand. We were asked to
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Phatograpkcd/or Tub Mutkoi'olitan Mai, wink by Arthur Hewitt.
Google
14 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
design this station in such a way that it hunched half way out on its roadbed.
should meet the conditions now existing, All tramways or trains on the level of
and at the same time he so built that it the roadbed of the bridge will, according
would be possible at a small exjiense to to the new plan, go under ground, and
adapt new conditions in case of through
it to those that arc elevated will remain elevated
traffic. In this case such a station would at the entrance to the height of twenty-
not lx? a terminal, but a stopping place on five feet, so as to make the desired vista
the way. It is unfortunate that this fact |K)ssible. This, at the same time, will be
has been so little understood, as I believe a wonderful relief to the congestion at
it would silence much opposition. The this point, because the entire ground floor
problem as presented to us by the Bridge will be free and open for circulation, while
Detriment is in other ways most inter- the waiting rooms or stations will be above
esting. Jt is pro|K>sed to design a building and below. This is one of the mt>st inter-
in such a way that a vista through a great esting architectural problems we have
triumphal entrance arch, showing the old ever had to study, and if carried out, it
stone towers, may be obtained by people will offer for further study a most engaging
walking on Broadway or in the City Hall architectural problem. The development
Park. one of the greatest bridges
Here is of a great city an evolution, and we need
i>
in the world, and yet, with the present de- make no effort to find ways to beautify
plorable and unpractical entrance, one our city; they exist everywhere if we will
does not know when in this neighborhood but recognize them when they are offered
that the bridge exists until one is actually to us.
Google
ALL'S FAIR
BY G F.LETT BURGESS
OL must ha ve been a ro- "I was thinking about you all the time,"
he said.
"I suppose ought to be sorry that I
I
came down here to trouble you, but really
I didn't know you were to be here, and I
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16 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
reached in triumph, though the victor)' "I'm almost frightened," she said,
brought ruin to u fresh white duck gown. putting her hand for an instant upon his;
"Where is it?" she said, craning her "it docs seem so terribly real —
almost as
neck to peer into the shadows under the if we were digging up vour dead child-
roof. hood."
"I'm afraid you can't get any nearer "Well, you can bring it to life if any-
unless you dare to walk along that timber," body can," he laughed, sinking his spade
he said. in the soil.
"No, thank you. I won't try it at She jumped atop the Ixirrel and watched
present. You go over there and read it
him as the hole grew deej>er and the mound
to me." of earth beside it grew larger. She was
He walked boldly across the narrow smiling through half-closed lids, ceasing
beam to where, in the gloom of the roof, suddenly whenever he looked up. "I'm
a patch of lettering, done crudely in red afraid you're going to l>e a boy again and
paint, shone out. There, he read aloud: allow me to remain an old lady," she said.
" / didn't ever bury any old treasure at all.
"Under nailin knot number two pear
tree, line to summit 1 8, toward S corner I never did anything interesting but play
barn 5. Dou-n 3." with my
dolls and write in my diary."
"Do you want me to write it down?" He stopped, buried to his knees in the
excavation, and looked up at her eagerly.
he asked.
"Yes," she cried, "we must dig it up "Did you keep a diary?" he asked. "By
Jove, i'd like to sec it! I tried it once,
immediately."
He drew out a pencil and note-book and but I gave it up after the first week— the
copied down the directions and rejoined weather part bored me so. Won't you
let me see it?"
her on her perch. In a few moments more
they were standing in the sifted sunlight
"Cio ahead and dig! This suspense is
terrible."
of the orchard, and she pored over his
memorandum. "I won't dig another stroke unless you
"I don't understand it," she complained. promise to let me see it."
"That's because you've never been a "You're taking an unfair advantage of
boy. Any youngster who has ever read me, but I'll see if I can find it in my trunk.
I think I brought it down here with me.
Poe would find this as clear as day. Wait
until I get a spade and I'll show you." But you must hum- now."
Returning from the house with a spade "I* haven't told vou I'd let you see this
and a yardstick, he walked over to the vet."
*
pear-tree and drew up a barrel, which he "Then you'll never see my diary, and
ascended. it's a good deal more interesting than your
" I used to think this bough was terribly old treasure."
high, when I was a boy, but I can reach He dug furiously for a few moments and
it easily from here. This must lie the then his spade struck against a rock.
knot, although the bark has closed over "Ha-ha!" he cried, "didn't that sound
the nail. Now watch where this stone falls." hollow and sepulchral enough?"
"Oh, I see, now! You go eighteen feet She jumped off the barrel and kneeled
towards the summit, I suppose," she excitedlyupon the edge of the hole to look.
said, referring to his notes, "is that hill it He a flat slab of stone and threw it
lifted
over there? My! you did take a lot of up. Underneath, in the rusty remains of
trouble over it,didn't you?" what had once been a tin box, he scraped
"Yes, csjxriallv as I did it at night." the earth asideand discovered a glass lx>ttle
"Why, you couldn't see the hill at night." whose cork was buried in a mass of red
"You don't know anything about ro- sealingwax. He held it aloft in triumph.
mance! You have to dig the hole first "Behold," he cried, "the lost treasure
and measure afterward when you're a of the Incas!"
truly pirate." "I'm going to open it," she announced.
With her assistance he gravely measured He nodded and she dropped it on the flat
off the distance, then went five feet toward stone. A roll of brown stained paper fell
the corner of the barn where a single sprig out.
of wild turnip grew. Here he removed As she unfolded and read the scroll his
his coat and took up the spade. head was perilously near hers. She did
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ALL'S FAIR
not seem to notice it, though the color "You promised." He reached out his
swept up over her cheeks. She felt his hand.
hair brush against her temple, but read on "Did I? Well, take it then." She
without moving. (
handed it to him and walked away through
The manuscript was printed in crude the trees toward the barn, while he sat
letters, some backwards, the large mingled down beneath the pear- tree to examine
with the small in childish guise. At the her gift. He smiled, as he turned the
lx>ttom where his name was signed a dis- pages of the little book, at her conscien-
colored dime was fastened by a faded rib- tious records of fact and fancy. Upon
lx>n to a blob of sealing-wax. the fly-leaf was written in a girlish ham!
The document ran thus: the name Jane Gladden, and the dates
were those of eighteen years ago. He read
"I, hereby, sware, bing of sound for a while in silence, tasting her ex|)e-
mind that I will not marry or riences day by day, until at last he turned
wedd any lxxly unless they are a leaf to find a more introspective chronicle.
named Jane and must have light Then he laughed aloud.
brown hair. I must be two years "I have decided that I shall not
older or the wedding will lie null
marry until I am twenty-six years
and void notwithstanding. In tes-
of age like mamma was and He
timony, whereof, I have hereby
must be twenty-eight like papa.
signed my name and seal.
I like the name of Richard l>est
Richard Montoomery, of all names because it means
Captain-general."
brightness."
She looked up, and, seeing him so near, He put the book in his pocket and went
Parted suddenly aside. He didn't spare after her. As he rea ched the barn-door
her in his glance, and his eyes questioned a voice greeted him from high among the
hers anxiously. rafters. "Come up here," she cried, " if
"I feel as if I'd been eavesdropping," you've finished your vivisection."
she said; "I had no idea little boys took He climbed up to find her balanced
things so seriously." perilously upon the upper beam. It
"No more seriously than men do," he was his turn to blush now. He held his
said, meaningly. breath as she came boldly towards the
"Little boys always change their minds." platform.
"This one never did." "Have you read it?" she asked.
Her eyes dropped and her fingers His answer was to take her in his arms
plucked at her handkerchief. Then, seem- and seek her lips. From this comfortable
ingly against her will, a smile blossomed position, her next question came a bit
on her face. "I'd like to keep this for shyly.
reference," she said. "I don't quite un- "Weren't we silly when you were ten
derstand it yet." and I was eight?" she said softly; "al-
"You may have it on condition that you most as silly as we are now," she added.
get me your diary immediately." "I think we are very wise," he replied.
"My diarv is very silly. It's much "It's very comfortable to think that this
'than this."
sillier She hesitated, watch- has l>een going on so long."
ing his pleading look. "We must have written our confessions
"Please hurry and bring that little girl at just about the same time," .said she.
here. A little 1k>v of ten is waiting for her." "Yes," he assented, "it doesn't seem
She tossed him a smile and was off, eighteen years ago, docs it?"
running through the trees to the old house. She broke into a little storm of laughter.
It was some time before she returned, much "No," she exclaimed, "by the looks of that
more slowly. She was reading a little book red paint on your sleeve, I should really
as she walked. think it was only yesterday."
"I'm sorry," she said, "but I really "And by the looks of the new ink spot
can't show it to vou. It's altogether too under your finger nail," he replied, "it
foolish." might almost have happened to-day."
Digitized by Google
BY M. H. SQUIRE
character, and it certainly Is an artist's to make several changes and wait about
|>aradise. I don't mean by that a place and the last train crawled every bit of the
where good artists go, for it is mostly way. To cap the climax, as we neared
pretty Ixid stuff you sec when you walk Rot hen burg, we jKissed a collection of
up behind them and gawk as I always do; miserable huts named on the sign jnist
hut you could sketch right out in the mid- Schweinsdorf— Pigsville. But I was more
dle of the main streets here and few people than reconciled at the first glim|>se of the
would notice you. Artists are so common, moat and towers and the street beyond,
the people are used to them and do not framed by the archway of the gate. A
think them imbeciles. It is a genuine man was urging an ox-team through which
old town, not marred in any way by mod- dragged a heavy-wheeled cart, and another
ern buildings, and not a note out of tune. fwssed with a squealing pig in a bag under
Even the electric street lights are dim and his arm. There were promising cobble-
hung to suggest old street lamps. The stone cross-streets that turned and dis-
walls with their many gates and towers appeared; low arched doorways, massive
are just as they were in the Middle Ages; doors with great hinges and knockers,
you wouldn't he much surprised to see a rows of little windows full of flowers, a
knight with waving plumes ride down the high wall and an overhanging chestnut
street; and he would he more in harmony tree.
than the tourist of reality with his little Every evening we walk through a grove
green hat and red book. In Nuremlterg of little birch trees just outside the Klingen-
things are too inconsistent. There you go Thor to a summer-house on the peak, and
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20 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
sit and watch the night creep over the valley toes. The Gasthaua sum Goldenen Lamm
and the sunset die on the city walls looming with its primitive emblem swinging out
high because of the hillslopes there. Only over the street shows a fantastic knight and
it is a true lovers' spot and sometimes we lady brandishing tankards and set off by
are conscious of being rather in the way. a long verse which I haven't as yet found
To-day is King Otto's birthday (Otto time to copy.
is king of Bavaria) and big white and blue The Burg Garten or public park is laid
flags arc hanging from the Kathaus and out on the site of the old castle founded
the Postamt, and two yellow stage-coaches in the ninth century and whose only re-
for outlying towns have just driven off, mains are a massive tower and the crum-
their drivers wearing big blue and white bling ruins of the Chapel. It is on a high
pompons in their shiny hats and tooting spur jutting out over the valley with superb
"God Save the King" on their bugles. views of the Tauber Thai and town. In
The Tauber is a mere creek wending its the summer-houses and under the trees,
serpentine way between and around high women knit while watching their l»abies
hills, now and then dividing or spreading play; children romp and risk their lives on
into shallows with wide gravel beds. It the walls; old men gossip in groups, smok-
is crossed by old stone bridges; one is a ing fantastic pipes whose china liowls arc
curious affair with a double row of arches painted with gay hunting scenes; tourists
one above the other, dating from the four- infest the place with their guide books
teenth century. Its banks are lined with and field -glasses, artists with their traps.
old mills and farm houses and scraggly There are beautiful promenades, too,
|x>plar trees; while behind the hills rise on the slopes just below the walls, and
high, cultivated to the top in patches of lynches along them where you can sit and
every shape and color and outlined with watch the busy life at your feet, and listen
little evergreens. The town sprawls along to the hum of the mills along the Tauber.
the top of a ridge of hills which twist and The reason the old-time character of
turn so that you can get several fine views this town is so well preserved is that no one
of the walls with their many towers and is allowed to rebuild or remodel, not so much
the red roofs of the houses. The towers as put in a window, without social Miper-
are square or round, turreted or otherwise, vi-ion of the city fathers. A hotel man once
finished with high-pointed roofs and pierced built an addition to his hotel and these city
with narrow slits of windows. Those over fathers were so mad about it. they were
the gates have clock.-, with blue dials and going to make him take it all down, but
gilt ornamentation. An artist'sits in front were finally satisfied in some way, and since
of every one. then are very strict about such things,
In the streets are many old foiinlains, making sure that everything is consistent
mossy and weather-worn, some surmounted and the mediaeval character in no wise
by stone figures— usually that of a woman lost. They do not even have beer-gar-
with a mirror; sometimes it is a merman dens where bands play because the people
with two tails, one tucked under each arm of the Middle Ages did not so amuse
or a rampant lion with tightly curled mane. themselves.
St. George spearing a very squirming We have quit our first hotel. I am
Dragon caps the Hertcrich Hrunnen in rather sorry, for the view from our window
the marketplace, Leautiful with the faint was simply panoramic; house-tops and
remains of old lime color and gilding; all towers with swallows careering around
around the basin are grotesque heads. them, roads accented with little trees
For centuries it has supplied the town with zigzagging from the different* gates down
clear, cold water flowing ceaselessly from its to the valley below, the hills opposite
several sjjouts. backed by blue ridges of distant moun-
The houses have high-pitched roofs with tains. And when we tired of that, there
the gable end usually turned toward the was Schmidt in the court l>elow busily
street, its edge fashioned into steps or —
painting from his model an old man lean-
graceful curves or ornamented with pin- ing upon a cane — his absorbed glare, his
nacles. The facades are often decorated frenzied gestures, and his final prancing
with prettily colored scrolls and curly- my curiosity till I saw
satisfaction whetted
queues, signs, escutcheons, verses or mot- him on the Hcrrenstrasse one afternoon,
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Drattrn by M. H. Squirt.
A PICTURESQUE BY-STREET,
Google
22 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
surrounded by an admiring group while he whiskers like Uncle Sam or trim their
dashed in a background for his carefully beards into little tufts on each side of the
finished figure, the one painted in the court- chin, like clipped poodles. They are
yard in the mornings. You bet he was nearly all large, with good figures.
never caught in the messy stage; when he I don't believe they are all so domineer-
was found, he usually had nothing to do ing, nor the women all such drudges as
but "twiddle his little camel's hair brush" we are told; a kind-faced professor who
and gloat over the admiration he excited. has been at the inn for the fxist week waits
You simply can't escape the artists here. on his wife with the devotion of an American
If you climb the steps of the Klingen- husband. The wife is sick upstairs, mine
Thor and walk on the walls as did the host says from over-exiling and drinking,
watchers of old, looking out of the peep- while his Frau declares she is simply too
holes at the country beyond, you arc sure to lazy to come down and go about
to meals
see a jwinter strutting with pride before his hunting for a house; meanwhile, the poor
. easel in the heart of a field, getting a com- husliand and father, single-handed, looks
prehensive view of the walls and towers on after the six children at meal time, sharing
his 3x6 canvas. Strolling along the pictur- his beer with the eldest boy.
esque Roder-Gasse, you come uj«m an This inn has certainly all the ups and
imaginative creature putting a mounted downs, the irregularities and inconve-
knight— plumes, armor, caparison and all niences that make the Dickens' inas so at-
— into his painting of the Roderbogen and tractive. Uy day we must grope our way
Marcus Thurm. Women sit around in through the dark, narrow corridors, feel-
pairs doing little water-colors; and there ing for the unexpected step. At night, to
is a tall bony one with an irritating smile lie sure, there is an electric light (the only
who always going about sizing up places
is modern improvement) but the maid is so
and picturesque bits, though I never saw economical with it she runs upstairs ahead
her |>aint anything. Then there was a of us to turn on the lights in the corridors,
red-cheeked German girl who makes and I suspect turns them out again the
careful pencil sketches. Every morning she minute we are safe in our room.
g«>o about with her sketch book, her gouty The other day we took a nice long walk
mamma hobbling along a block or so be- down the valley and ended by climbing
hind her, both in flopping sun-hats. The the Engelsberg; it wasn't fun beating your
rest of the day they spend drinking beer way through brambles and tripping over
at one of the tables hedged in by decora- the roots of trees, but there was a glorious
tive little trees in front of the hotel. view of Rotlicnburg from the tup and of the
There is one advantage, models are not valley with its gorgeous autumn coloring;
so hard to get. My pet, Lisa, knew just and after we had walked till we were tired,
what was wanted when Sue got her for me; we stopped at a nice little cafe where there
said an artist had painted her once before is a garden with trees, and arbors covered
— in costume, on the ste]>s of the old with scarlet vines. You can't walk far on
Rathaus door. She has a charming Fra a German road without finding some such
Lip|K> Lippi face and a raft of little brothers place.
and sisters so that she now and then has It is Tuesday and, as frequently hap-
to missan engagement in order to look after j>ens on that day, there is a wedding. Three
them. Her mother doesn't allow her to men hums were on the high tower of
with
accept money for posing so I have to deluge the Rathaus playing solemn music,
old
her with chocolate drop with greater de- firsttoward the Exist, then West, North
triment to my purse. —
and South proclaiming it from the house-
The Germans are great travelers; the men top in very truth. They play a chorale to
delight in costumes, they wear green hats the four winds several times a week (a
with feathers in them. They remind me carefully preened old custom) and when
of pigeons, always pruning themselves and a wedding is to take place are paid to make
posing to be looked at, pulling their mus- it extra long and mournful I suppose.
taches till the ends stick straight up. Sue Marriages are celebrated only on Tuesdays
thinks hem very attractive and the fatter
1 and Saturdays; those are the good-luck days
and pinker and cleaner they are. the more it would be Ixid luck on any others.
she adipires them, even though some have Much is made of the legends and his-
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1
A MEDIAEVAL CITY *3
lory of this town as is natural where thev thing was in a great uproar, Tilly called
lay so much stress on their past glories. for drinks and a trembling bar-maid
The shop-windows are full of big glass cups brought him a great stirrup-cup of Tauher
with painted figures of the Emperor, the wine; he drank from it and passed it on to
seven Electors, and other worthies (souve- some of his men, and Mill it wasn't emptied
unwary tourist); and in some of
nirs for the when suddenly struck by its size and being
the decorations of in a better humor
inns and wine rooms from the wine, he
a man is pictured said in jest:
drinking out of such "If any man of
a cup, accompanied you can 'empty this
by verses alluding to full cup at one
a Gcorg \T usch and draught, I will show
to a Meister-Trunk. mercy and spare the
We wondered town."
about it till we found At this all the
a local guide-book people stood and
with the explana - >tared, notone dar-
lion. It seems this ing to undertake it
Xusch by famous (the cup held three
his
drink saved the town m quarts) until Xusch,
several centuries ago. thinking that would,
He was a Senator at least.be the pleas-
and a son of the inn anter death and
keeper of the Rother probably used to
Hahn (Red Cock) drinking a great deal,
which is still stand said he would try it.
inga little way down ^^^^^
Everybody was
the street here. breathless with sus-
Many of the inns pense, fearing he
are hundreds of would give out be-
years and are
old fore emptying the
run under the same cup, but on and on
names they have al- he went till the last
ways borne. Well, drop was drained.
during the wars of He had only strength
the Reformation, this enough left to hand
was a Protestant the cup to Tilly and
town and was be- say : "Thy promise."
sieged and taken by when he fell fainting
Tilly after a spirited to the ground. He
resistance. He en- recovered a fewin
tered the place fol- days, however, and
lowed by his train lived to be eighty.
and proceeded to THE TAl HER THAI.. And Tilly kept his
the Rathaus where word. Xusch s fam-
the Hurgermeister and the Senators were ily were given titles and honors and he was
assembled, and in the barbarous style of made a hero since he saved the town. His
thc»sc days ordered that they all be be- descendants still live here and have the cup,
headed. Then there was such wailing and the very cup, which they show to tourists
entreaties from the wives and children and who want to see it. There is a play,
townspeople, that he finally said he would " Dei Meister Trunk," given in the Rathaus
be content with the death of four, but the every year to commemorate this event, but
rest would not listen to this and said all of the chief actor doubtless side-tracks his
them or none, or something to that effect, wine.
and the Burgermeistcr was sent off to get Sometimes on the fronts of the bakery
the executioner. At length, when every- shops you notice a coat-of-arms. This
24 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
i.sbecause in Vienna during stormy times the wall. The corpse dropped to the ground
of war long ago, the enemy was one night but the soul stuck to the wall and a black
tunneling under the walls to gain an en- stain is there to this day. I can't say if
trance to the city. The Inkers, who work this Is all true, but some day I shall go over
at night baking bread for the next day, to the archway under the church and sec
heard them and gave the alarm, thereby if there is a black stain on the wall. I
saving the city. As a reward the Em- shall know then, that it is the peasant's
peror gave to the bilkers throughout the soul sticking there all these hundreds of
Empire the privilege of having coats -of - years and whole story is true.
that the
arms. Some days ago we were out sketching,
We noticed a stork's nest on top of one Sue doing the Taubcr Thai with its au-
of the inner towers. Our hotel man said tumn clothes on, while I had scared up
they were just beginning to come back some pigeons all ruffled up on the roof of a
after an absence of centuries. It seems little white house with reddish criss-cross
a watchman on the old Rathaus once threw pieces and some verses in fancy German
from the tower a nest with little storks in it lettering. An old woman trundling a
away down to the ground below, and they wheel-barrow passed along the road and
were all killed; at which the jxarent storks stopped to ask if our hands didn't get cold
were so enraged, they brought a burning sketching in such chilly weather. Then
straw and set the tower on fire and all the she asked where we came from. Sue told
storks left the town. It is a fact that the her and the old woman dropped her
inside of the tower was completely burned wheel-liarrow and threw up her hands.
and that the storks really did all leave. "Von Amerika! Mein Gott, Fraulein,
Another tale is about an old church, von Amerika!" She didn't pay so much
the Chapel of the Holy Blood. It had an attention to Sue because she sjx>ke Ger-
altar, a very sacred affair, which was re- man, but she looked upon me as the pure,
moved to the Jacob's Kirche when that unadulterated article because I spoke only
was built. So when the altar was gone, English. She examined my coat, my skirt,
of course, the Devil slipped into the Chapel. my hat, exclaiming all the while, "Von
But the townsjicople paid no attention to Amerika!" She passed the next day and
him and acted as though he were not there, again stopped to look upon me and say,
which irritated him quit? a bit; and he was "Von Amerika!" Presently she seemed
in such a bad humor one day that when he to tear herself away from me with a mighty
heard a peasant swearing at hi> team as he effort and went painfully hobbling off,
parsed under the arch outside, he rushed mumbling under her breath, "Von Ame-
out, grabbed him up and threw him against rika, von Amerika!"
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A nRIOHT MORNING
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IN A DUTCH GARDFN.
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h
O'HARA'S EASTER GUEST
BY THEODORE ROBERTS
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26 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
sit —
up all night an' an' shoot first, maybe! "Lord, b'y," exclaimed O'Hara, "then
O'Hara no feel bad if he kill me! Den why , ye've tramped all day on an empty belly!
me care if O'Hara get bullet in hees belly ? Help yerself to a taste out o' that bottle
Dis beeg wilderness don't b'long to no dirty beyant the big painted almanac there."
Irishman. All trapper got good leave to He laughed good-naturedly. "That alma-
take pelt here." nac," he continued, "was give to me
by as pesky a little pink-faced missionary
parson as ever I see. That was five year
Mike O'Hara sat up sharply and tossed ago." He laughed again. "An' while ye
his blankets aside in the same movement. take a nip, I'll put on the kettle an' the
A second lxfore, he had been deep in dream- bacon," he concluded.
less slumber. He paused, listening keenly, David Brant stcpjxd over to the corner-
one leg across the edge of the bunk. There shelf whereon stood a highly-colored church
it was again A weak, appealing rap, rap of
: calendar propped against a black bottle.
knuckles on the planks of the door. He He glanced at the calendar; then he un-
crossed the cabin noiselessly and took up a corked the bottle and set it briefly against
heavy sheath-knife from the table. his lips.
"Who is it?" he asked, with his lips to For hours the two sat before the fire,
the frosty crack of the door. though the matter of eating was soe>n over
"A stranger to this country side, David with. Brant did the talking the big trapper
;
Brant, in want of food and shelter," replied puffed at his pipe, leaning back in his rough
the untimely visitor. scat and chuckling freely at Brant's stories.
For a heart-beat the big O'Hara stood All the time he kept his eyes on his soft-
uncertain. Then he tossed his sheath-knife voiced guest.
behind him, dropping it among the blankets Some of Brant's stories were purely
of his bunk with sure aim, and drew back humorous; others were keenly pathetic; all
the bolt. were homely—of the hearth, the cabin and
"Ye be welcome to what food and shelter the soil. At first his talk dealt altogether
I have," he said, peering into the unreal with the wilderness and frontiers of the
light beyond the gloom of the doorway. Eastern Provinces, of Newfoundland and
"Give me a hand," said the stranger. of the elesolate Labrador. Bulked forward
With a flutter of curiosity at his tough in his chair, with his beard in his great
heart Mike assisted David Brant across hands, O'Hara gave his undivided atten-
the sill and shut the door after him. tion and seemetl to catch, in the stranger's
"Set down an' make yerself easy," he voice, the accent of many vanished com-
invited, "an* I'll be havin' the water t>oilin' panions of camp and trail. He wondered
in no time at all." at that, belt with no disturbing curiosity.
He threw dry wood across the red coals Later, David Brant changed the scene
on the hearth. He lit a battered lantern of his stories to a certain tiny hart>or on the
and set it on the table against the wall. east coast of Newfoundland; and O'Hara,
Then he turned and surveyed his uninv ited with his eyes half closed, went back, by
guest. What he saw was a slim man in faint trails of memory, to the gray fish-
garments of gray blankets, red stockings and stages and the clustered cabins. He nodded
moccasins. The face was bearded and thin and nenlded. His great face settled between
and tanned. It carried signs of age and his hands, and a dream of youth led him
suffering, indications of youth and hope, away from all the harshness and greed of
in equal measure. A meager pack, blanket- the later years.
rolled and backed with snow-shoes of the
Micmac pattern, lay at his feet. Belt-axe
and rifle leaned against the log wall. Of fire and opal and pearl was the lift
"D'ye know," said O'Hara, "that when and growth of the forest dawn; but Micmac
I heard your voice it seemed familiar like. Jim, peering from the one tiny window of
But I ain't seen ye before, have I? Ye're his shack, thought nothing of the glory of
a stranger about these parts, I take it." Gexl's morning. He snatched his Win-
"I have been away to the westward," chester to his knee; his thin lips hardened;
replied the other. " Now I am heading for then his brows wrinkled for a second, only
the salt water. My grub ran out yesterday." to smooth themselves immediately. He-
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MIZPAH 27
sighed with relief and laid his rifle along the heart of ye wit his talk. An' look a-here,
the floor. Jim— will ye come over an' mug-up with
"Good," he muttered, "O'Hara, he me? It's Easter Day, ain't it ?"
forgot hees gun. He look tarn jolly, "I guess so," stammered Jim, perplexed.
too!" "Easter Sunday, for sure," remarked
Mike O'Hara advanced, unarmed, up O'Hara.
the hillside clearing. He rapped awkwardly Suddenly he pulled off a mitten and ex-
on the door, with a mittened hand. The tended his hand. Micmac Jim took hold
Micmac opened to him cautiously. ofit very cautiously.
MIZPAH
BY ANITA STEWART
An angel, radiant and bright, Her eyes, like two clear pools most deep,
Is watching over me, Gaze ever into mine,
Who hovers near me day and night, And looking there she seems to see
And guards me tenderly Not ravages of time
She guides my feet o'er the rough stones, Nor want— nor care— but something there
And whispers low to me. That makes her own eyes shine.
v
Her hair falls all about her face Her folded wings are qui 'ring still
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Cvfyright, iqoj, by Vndtrwood & Underwood.
A BRIEF EASTER SERMON DELIVERED BY POPE PIUS X. TO THE REVERENT CROWD
IN THE COURTYARD OK ST. PETER'S IN ROME.
" Eatttr Ottfrraitcei t'm Emrtrff.
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AN I-.Asjhn MORNING ?K<* Ksshin IN AMSTERDAM.
Y> the European mind with gold, while on his head is a towering
Easter is an annual fcs- triple-golden miter. By his side are borne
tival only second in im- huge fans of peacock feathers, symbolizing
portance to Christmas. the watchful eyes of the Church. It is a
The Easter holiday picture of blinding, dazzling grandeur, as he
is scrupulously, nay is carried through the reverent crowds that
enthusiastically! ob- throng the church towards the altar. After
served throughout the celebrating the mass, accompanied by an
Continent from Italy to Norway and from escort of richly clad officials, he is carried to
France to Siberia, and the methods of its a Ixilcony over the central doorway, where
observance are for the most part quaint and he pronounces the benedic tion and absolu-
interesting. The most impressive of these tion to the surging sea of humanity spread
ceremonies that which takes place at St.
is out in the square below him.
Peter's in Rome, whenthe Pope personally In Spain, and particularly in Seville, the
conducts the mass and outstretches his jew- processions wind through avenues of spec-
eled hands in benediction over tens of tators in stately spectacle. In long lines
thousands of devout Catholics gathered tableaux, which illustrate the story of the
before the great cathedral. Saviour's latter days on earth, are borne aloft
From the Vatican the Pope enters the on cars drawn by gaily caparisoned horses.
church in a state of splendor with which no One tableau shows the Last Supper, another
sovereign can compete. He is carried in his the Betrayal, and so on; but the center of
chair of state, with its richly decorated can- interest is the body of the Cofraidias holding
opy of silk, his gorgeous robes glittering aloft huge candles, banners and crosses.
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AN EASTER VOTIVE OFFERING BEING CARRIED TO CHURCH IN A NORMANDY TOWN.
Google
EASTER OBSERVANCES IN EUROPE 3 1
The Cofraidias wear tall, conical caps, the the people, and the clergy have baptized the
front of which cover the face, with two metropolitan, whilst the spectators bow and
small openings for the eyes, and, descending cross themselves incessantly. After a ser-
below the waist, are the letters "L H. S." vice of two hours, the metropolitan ad-
surmounted by a cross. The most remark- vances, holding a cross which the people
able featureis the girdled cloak ablaze with throng to kiss. He then retires to the sanc-
precious stones, loaned for
the occasion by the wealthy
ladies of the city.
In Russia the feast of all
day of all days, is
feasts, the
Easter, and high and low,
from czar to serf, from
prince to pau]>er, it is cele
brated according to the
means of the celebrant.
On Easter eve at midnight,
the exquisite bells in the
great tower of Ivan Veliki,
in the Kremlin, at Mos-
cow, are heard to perfec-
tion. On the preceding
Sunday (Palm Sunday) the
people buy palm branches,
artificial flowers, and
branches bearing waxen
fruits to lay before their
icons. On Holy Thursday
the metropolitan has washed
the feet of twelve men rep-
resenting the apostles in the
cathedral. Then, at mid-
night, on Easter eve the
great bell sounds, followed
by every other bell in Mos-
cow, and the whole city
blazes into light, while the
tower of Ivan Veliki is illu-
minated from its foundation
to the cross on its summit.
The square below is filled
with a motley throng and AN ITALIAN BASTKH 1'KOL ESMON
stuck in it, waiting for a blessing. The followed by a peal from a thousand bells
interior of the Church of the Rest of the announcing the stroke of midnight, he
Virgin is thronged by a vast multitude bear- emerges ina plain purple robe and announces
ing wax tapers. The mctro|>oIitan and his "Chrislos voscres" (Christ is risen). Then
clergy, in robes blazing with gold and pre- kisses of love are universally exchanged,
cious stones, have made the external circuit and most remarkable of all, the metropoli-
of the church three times, and then, through tan, on his hands and knees, crawls around
the great doors, have advanced toward the the church, kissing the iconson the walls, the
throne between mvriads of lights. No altars and the tombs, and through their
words can describe the light, the color, the opened sepulchers the incorruptible lxxliesof
blaze, the roar of the universal chant. De- the saints. After this no meeting takes place
scending from the throne, the metropolitan without the words "Chrislos vosrrts," and
has sprayed with holy water the clergy and the answer, " Vo istine voscres " (He is risen).
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AN BAST BR CEREMONIAL IN A SWISS CANTciN.
Amid all this tumult, a procession, headed the heaps of red colored eggs, lumps of
by the priests, each bearing a taper or a sugar, pots of honey, plates of preserved
torch, passes around the church, and then fruit, all these painted, illuminated, vari-
the last ceremony, the blessing of the food, colored, strange-looking eatables, and in
takes place about three o'clock in the morn- such quantities, have so curious an effect,
ing. The rich who have the means of con- that one can hardly help supjxjsing the im-
secration at hand, do not find it necessary to portant ceremonies are to end at last in
cany their food to church, and generally child's play.One looks into the faces of the
they are content with the species of conse- reverend and white-bearded fathers to see
cration a good cook can give, but the poor whether they are not masked children who
cannot enjoy their Master breakfast till it will, at last^ throw off their disguise, and in
has been blessed by the priests; perhaps the midst of all their flowers and fruits, end
they have a foreboding how ill it is likely to the affair with a dance. It is not necessary
sit upon the stomach weakened by long fast- to observe them long, however, to know that
ing. The spectacle in tin church is most these childlike people are quite serious. As
extraordinary; the |>eoplc range all their the priest advances, sprinkling to the right
dishes in long rows through the entire length and left, and pronouncing the blessing,
of the church, leaving only space enough while his attendant keeps up a constant
between for the priests to pass; the increas- chant, the j>eople press closer and closer,
ing numbers generally comj)el the forma- crossing themselves and keeping a sharp
tion of lines outside the church, and even watch that their flowers and food get their
a considerable distance round it. The huge due share of the purifying waters. " Rati
tv
and oddly shaped loaves called Kulitshc, usltka" is heard here and there, sdes moi
the towers of white chef sc, into which many ptishka " (Father dear, my
Easter dish has
colored leaves of spice are interwoven, the got none). Breathless with haste others
former decorated with flowers, the latter come running up, and as they untie the cloth
bearing a burning wax-taper on its summit, containing their dishes, they supplicate a
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EASTER OBSERVANCES IN EUROPE 33
moment's delay from the priest, who is The wealthy do content themselves
not
generally good-natured enough to comply. with the real eggs dyed with Brazil wood,
The Easter egg plays a very imjx)rtant but profit by the custom to show their taste,
jwrt in Russia at this time of the year. St. and scarcely any material can be named
Petersburg, lying in a plain, procures her that is not made into Easter eggs. At the
eggs from a great distance, Moscow, in par- im|>erial glass-cutting manufactory several
ticular, supplying large quantities. On a workmen employed in
halls are filled with
very moderate calculation, there cannot be cutting flowersand figures on eggs of crys-
less than fifty million eggs used at Easter in tal. Part of them are for the emperor and
the capital, for, as it is always customary at empress to give away as presents, and as
Easter, on greeting an acquaintance, to' the recipients get many of these things, they,
press an egg into his hand, many individuals of course, give them away again to their
dispose of a hundred or more. It is amusing friends and favorites, who the next Easter
to visit the markets and stalls where the bestow them in their turn elsewhere, so that
painted eggs are sold. Some are jxaintcd in these eggs often travel to amazing distances.
a variety of patterns; some have verses in- One, which came from the imperial palace,
scribed on them, but the usual inscription is is known to have ]>assed through number-
the general Easter greeting "Christos less hands of high and low degree, till its
vosrres," or "Eat and think of me," etc. last possessor, having let it fall on a
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34 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
with Christ — the new teaching
of the Gospel.
"If any be pious and a lover
of God, let him enjoy this beau-
tiful and bright festal gather-
ing," chants the high priest, and
at the close, when the last notes
of the have died away,
choir
and the sonorous voices are
heard no more, the priests make
their way through the throng to
tables by the main entrances,
where they distribute gaily col-
ored genuine Easter eggs to the
crowds of worshipers, accord-
ing to the ancient custom and
as a sign of rejoicing.
In Munich and Vienna, the
churches on Good Friday are
the scene of a very striking pic-
ture of the burial of Christ. A
figure of the Saviour is carried
in state around the church to
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6 ^
with an escort of while-robed choristers the peasant children go round, from house
chanting hymns, and in Bavaria the peas- to house, tagging for eggs, and carrying a
ants form processions, hundreds, some- wreath of green leaves stuck on a long stick.
times thousands, strong, heralded by a man This stick and wreath they call their "Palm
bearing a gigantic candle. Paschen," which really means Palm Sunday,
One most peculiar of these conti
of the and it may be so called because they make
nental celebrations of Easter is that which the wreath on that day. They parade the
for centuries has been practised by the village streets, singing as they wave their
monks of Roncevaux. As day breaks on wrcatLabove their heads:
the morning of Good Friday, a long pro- "Palm, Palm Paschen,
cession of the monks files out through the Hei kockerci.
gateway of the abbey, each bearing on his Wcldra is het Paschen,
kick an enormous and heavy cross, by way Dan hebben wy een ei.
of annual penance and in imitation of what Een ci-twee ei,
they consider to have Iwen one of the sever- Het derde is het Paschei."
est forms of Christ's physical suffering. Which may be roughly translated into
Through hamlets and villages, this pathetic English as:
procession makes its. way, in spite of the "Palm, Palm Sunday,
trembling knees and aching muscles, while Hei kockerei.
the villagers, with t«ire and bowed heads, do Soon it will be Easter,
homage to the cross. That their penance And we shall have an egg.
may lack nothing of severity, these monks —
One egg two eggs,
strike into the country, choosing the steepest The third egg is the Easter."
and roughest paths. They visit the farmhouses and seldom go
The pretty Dutch custom of eitrlikken, away empty-handed. When they have col-
its simplicity in striking contrast to the gor- lected all the eggs they want, three or four
geous functions described, must not be over- apiece, they boilthem hard, and stain them
looked. For a whole week before Easter, with two different colors, brown with coffee,
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A PROCESSION OF GREEK PATRIARCHS ON THE WAY TO THE HOLY SSPULCHRR IN
JERUSALEM ON RASTER SUNDAY MORNING.
Google
38 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
or red with beet-root juice, and then on dark of " Holy Saturday," the valleys
light to
Easter Day, they all repair to the meadows of the country of towering mountains are
carrying their eggs with them, and the paraded by bands of musicians, wearing
" eiertikken"
takes place. The youngsters wide-brimmed hats wreathed inflowcrs,and
sitdown on the grass and each child knocks singing Easter hymns to the accompani-
one of his eggs against that of another in ment of their guitars. As the bands step
such a way that only one of the shells breaks, bravely out, making the valleys ring with
and the child whose egg does not break their sweet singing, the children flock after
wins and becomes the possessor of the them, and from every village on their line of
broken egg. march the inhabitants stream forth to give
Picturesque, indeed, is the observance of them greeting and to join in the festival of
the Easter festival in the Tyrol. From day- thanksgiving and joy.
A Rt'SSIAN BOVAHI) lilSTKinirTINr. F.ASTKK ALMS TO TUB INDIGENT PR. AS ANTS OS MIS RSTATR
AN EASTER SONNET
BY JULIAN DURAND
Season of self-denial, yearly sent, Sackcloth and ashes all her days beguile
Now come the weary, melancholy weeks Psalter and prayer-book, morning, noon
To steal the roses from Myrtilla's cheeks, and night
And all Love's happiness to circumvent Companion her. But wait till
Her garb betokens her imprisonment Easter ! Then,
She walks in silence, and she seldom speaks Once more shall you behold her sunny smile,
Save in the service when her conscience Under a hat that is her heart's delight,
seeks And in your fancy, hear her say
Celestial comfort in the days of Lent. Ah, men !
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THE GARDEN
BY FRANCES A. SCHNEIDER
Praa-ing by S. Schneider.
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l>rav>n by Htrmann C Wall.
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THE DOOMSMAN
BY VAN TASSEL SUTPHEN
ILLUSTRATED BY HERMANN C. WALL
been received. Torch signals had probably side streets. The square itself had l>een
been sent during the night from the High thoroughly cleaned, or it would have been
Bridge announcing the fact of the arrival a veritable sea of slush. Astonishing!
and now all was bustle and excitement. but as the sun's rays l>ecame more and
Outside of the White Tower stood a slave more inclined to the vertical, it became
holding the bridle of a horse whose hous- apparent that the day would not only be
ings were of the most gorgeous description, warm but actually hot.
a blaze of crimson cloth and gold thread. Constans had grown tired of making his
The owner's spear, with its fluttering observations at long range; he resolved to
pennon of embroidered silk, stood close at descend and mingle boldly with the people
hand and upon the banneret, Constans, in the square. He had only Quinton Edge
with his glass, made out the symbol used to fear,and it would be easy to keep out of
by Quinton Edge, a raven in mid-air tear- his way. Moreover, this was the golden
ing a skull in his beak. Evidently, he was chance for him to pick up some intimate
to command the guard of honor who would information about the defences of the
escort thereturned warriors down the Citadel Square; such an opportunity might
Palace Road and the hour must Ix* close not occur again.
at hand; on even' side were gathered Carefully adjusting the details of his
trampling steeds and hurrying men. ecclesiastical costume, Constans prepared
A trumpet sounded and Quinton Edge, to descend. His last act was to cast a
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42 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
perfunctory glance in the direction of boys, and priests. Down with it right
Arcadia House, and it seemed that his eye cheerfully or take a sousing in the butt
caught the flutter of something white. He itself— to drown there or drink it dry."
raised the binoculars it —
was true, the It was not a prudent thing to do, but
signal was there, a handkerchief tied to the Constans was angry. Seizing the ox-horn,
lattice-blind of the northern window. he dashed its contents full in his tormentor's
Constans frowned and reflected. It was face. Kurt the Knacker, half strangled,
only last night that the girl had asserted fell back coughing and breathing stertor-
her entire ability to look after herself it — ously. It was a critical moment, but luckily
was like a woman to be so soon of.another the temper of the by standers was in mood
mind. And there was Ulick, Ulick who to be amused. A great roar of laughter
would have shed the last drop in his veins went up and under cover of it Constans
to serve her. Yet she would have none of managed to push his way on through the
him and she had deliberately tied Constans' crowd and so reach the open square.
hands in exacting the promise that he should Stepping into one of the empty guard-
not reveal her whereabouts to the man who huts he quickly divested himself of cowl
of all things desired to serve her. and cassock and rolling them up into a
Yet his promise must be kept. He would bundle, he tossed them into a dark corner.
go again to Arcadia House sometime during His under suit was made of the ordinary
the afternoon or evening, for the matter was gray frieze worn generally among the
not one of absolute urgency. In the latter Doomsmen and now neither Prosper nor
case two signals would have been displayed the witnesses of the fracas at the gate would
and there was but one. So dismissing the be likely to identify him.
matter from his mind for the present, he Constans gazed about him with lively
made his way to the street and mingled interest. Yet so accurate had been his
boldly with the crowd that was continually previous bird's-eye observations that he
passing in and out of the North Gate. found but little to add to them. He
With an air of easy unconcern, he di- noticed, however, that a banquette of
rected his steps towards the entrance. A earth, rammed hard, ran around the inside
harsh croak greeted him and he recognized periphery of the walls, affording vantage
the familiar voice of the crippled scoundrel for the defenders to discharge their arrows
who called himself Kurt the Knacker. He and other missiles over the parapet. But
glanced up to see that worthy ensconsed in as Constans quickly saw, this same terrace
a snug corner of the gateway and sur- would give useful foothold to the besiegers
rounded by his accustomed cronies, the should the top of the wall once be gained.
warders on duty. Instead of being obliged to draw up their
"Hola! shipmet," said the Knacker in scaling ladders or risk the sixteen foot drop
a tone that was doubtless intended to be to the hard surface of the enclosure, they
affable. "Your master yonder was of too had only to jump onto the banquette and
proud a stomach to clink can with us, but from thence to the ground.
you will be more amiable. There's a fresh A gang of carpenters were putting the
cask on the trestles and not a token to finishing touches to an elevated platform
pay." which stood near the entrance to the White
Without troubling himself to reply to Tower. A crimson canopy warded off
the Knacker's hospitable invitation, Con- the sun's rays and the structure was prob-
stans tried to press forward and seek con- ably intended for the accommodation of
cealment again in the crowd. But Kurt Dom Gillian. A large chair stood in the
reached out and caught his sleeve. "No center of the dais and over it a gray wolf -skin
skulking, reverend sir," he said maliciously. had been carefully draped; certainly, this
"Which shall it be? A swig from my must be the official scat of the wolf himself.
comfortable black-jack or a full toss of the But as yet it stood empty.
horn?" How blazing hot the sun was! And
One of the guardsmen held out a full yet this was only the day of the vernal
ox-hom of wine and the knacker seized it equinox; it was most extraordinary 1 Every-
and forced it into Constans' hand. where the gutters ran streaming with water,
"After all, the good malt is for stronger the snow melting under the unexampled
stomach-; wine is the tipple for women, heat of the solar rays like wax in a candle
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THE DOOMSMAN 43
flame. The atmosphere seemed abnormally XVIII
close and heavy and Constans found him-
self actually panting for breath. A PROPHET OF EVTL
As the hours dragged on, Constans felt
a vague uneasiness pressing down upon him Straight to the steps of the scarlet-draped
and he could see that the people also were platform rode Quinton Edge. Flinging
growing restless under the unaccountable himself from the saddle, he mounted to
delay. The laughter and talk little by Dom Gillian's side and bending over whis-
little died away men stood in silent groups
; pered a few words in his ear, inaudible even
staring through the open gale, up the long to those who stood nearest. And yet the
avenue of the Palace Road, shading their people knew that woe had fallen upon Doom.
bent brows under their hollowed hands. Like flame upon flax the voiceless signal
Would they never come! eaped from heart to heart; here and there
With noon a small diversion offered. in the crowd appeared little centers of dis-
Four negro slaves carrying a litter issued turbance, the strong ones pushing the weak
from the door of the White Tower. There forcibly aside, that they might the quicker
was no mistaking that gigantic form, that fill their own gasping lungs; an inarticu-
great head with its mane of coarse white late murmur rose and swelled, like to the
—
hair the old Dom Gillian. With infinite stirring of innumerable forest leaves under
difficulty, the attendants succeeded in hoist- the breath of the rough north wind. Quin-
ing the unwielding bulk upon the platform ton Edge heard and turned to face the
and into the great chair. The people people.
looked on in silence; not a murmur of "It is true," he said, and gripped hard
applause greeted the appearance of their upon the rail on which his hand rested.
lord. And with equal indifference did "A child's trick it was, but the South-
Dom Gillian regard his people; plainly landers are men of smooth tongue and our
he was wearied, for his hands rested heavily brothers were encumbered with the cattle
upon the arms of his chair and he neither and perhaps over-confident, now that their
spoke nor moved. A slave stood on cither faces were turned at last towards home.
hand wielding a large fan; presently the Six score brave men
—" he stopped and
gaunt figure seemed to collapse into a swallowed at something in his throat.
huddled heap, the eyes closed and Dom "The ambuscade was well planned and
Gillian slept placidly in his chair, the gray the Southlanders had enlisted the aid of
wolf-skin upon his knees. the wild men, to their shame be it said. So
Again, the slow hours dragged along. our brethren found themselves hemmed in
The sun had already passed the zenith, at every point. Yet they sold their lives
the barbacuc files were dying out, on the at a good price and they are mourning
western skyline rested a cloud in bigness to-day in the Southland, even as we arc.
like to a man's hand and of the black- Not a Doomsman set out upon his long
ness of night itself. Would they never journey to the shadowland but that a
come! southron was forced to bear him comj>any.
Far down the aisle of the Palace Road It was well done — a good fight, the sword-
a black dot stood out boldly against the point driven home, and then the dropping of
snowy background. A moment later it the curtain. Hail! a hail! to our brothers
had resolved itself into the figure of a horse who have ]>assed beyond. One and all,
and his rider. The man was riding fast, a hail! a hail!'"
heedless of the slippery, dangerous footing; A few wavering and uncertain voices
now he was at the gate and the close-packed took up the cry, but it quickly died away
crowd pressed back to give him room. On before the uplifted hand of Pros|x*r, the
and on, with the red drops falling from his priest. He had pushed way steadily
his
bloody spurs, until he drew rein at the very- through the crowd and was now standing
steps of the platform. And no man durst in its outmost rank directly opposite the
speak or move as Quinton Edge flung him- platform.
self from the saddle and ascended to where '"There were six score who rode away,"
the Lord Keeper of Doom still slept placidly he said, addressing himself directly to
in his great chair, with the wolf-skin upon Quinton Edge. " Six score, and how many
his knees. have returned?"
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44 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
An insolent question in the manner of appeared; the dragon had swallowed at a
its asking, but the Doomsman's answer gulp the dismembered fragments of the
matched it well. day; such was the darkness that a man
"Four that I counted, but there may be could not see his neighbor's face, though
a straggler or two to come in later. Does their elbows might be touching. A panic of
the Shining One no longer know where his fear seized upon the people in an instant the
;
own thunderbolts have struck, that he sends whole mass was in what the mathematicians
his hired servants to gather up the gossip call a state of unstable equilibrium.
of the market-place?" "To your holes and dens!" shouted the
"The All-Wise both sees and knows," priest, now quite beside himself in his
retorted the priest. "It is the people fanatical exaltation. "Begone, I say! and
you deceive who have need to look and pray that the walls may bow their heads
listen, if haply they may understand. You to hide you from his countenance, mighty
have dared to take the name of the Shining and terrible. He speaks again, he speaks
One upon your lips; stand forth now like again! Woe, woe, -to the city of Doom!"
a man, if you would face him in his wrath." Again the firmament seemed cleft in twain
During the past few minutes it had grown by a fiery sword, again the earth trembled
suddenly dark; the sun had disappeared under the reverberations of the tremendous
and a curtain of opaque cloud was rapidly electrical discharges. The effect upon the
overcasting the sky. A peculiar, yellowish overwrought nerves of the throng was in-
light had replaced the radiance of day, and stantaneous; as one man the crowd turned
under its rays the faces of the people ap- and made for the exits from the Citadel
peared wan and pinched. Was it indeed Square. Even the personal attendants
an omen ? upon Dom Gillian were affected by the
" But what does your god demand that panic and leaped over the guard rails of
his anger may be turned away?" asked the platform into the struggling mass of
Quinton Edge. "Doubtless the material humanity below. In less than five minutes
offerings upon which his faithful priests the enormous square was deserted, save
depend for their easy, unearned living. for a few crippled and infirm stragglers,
Sides of fat beeves and measures of wheat, and Constans himself thought it prudent
not forgetting a cask or two of apple wine to withdraw to the shelter of one of the
or corn brandy." empty guard-huts, from whose doorway
But the priest, disdaining to answer the he could watch the progress of events.
still
taunt, had already turned and was shaking Only Prosj)er, the priest, remained in
directly to the |>eople. the open, standing there with uplifted hands
" Is it that you seek a deliverer and find and gazing steadfastly into the sable vault
none? But how shall the Shining One above him as though it were the very altar
keep faith with you who turn your feet away of his god. Quinton Edge called to him,
from his sanctuary and bring no victims to but he answered not. Then the Dooms-
his altars? Has he not called to you daily man, leaning far over the balustrade of the
— and have you not stopjxxi your ears? platform, touched the priest sharply on the
And now that ye call in turn, shall he indeed shoulder with his truncheon of office.
hear? Already is your woe come upon "Come up here and help me with the
you, children of Doom, perverse and dis- Lord Keej)er. These cowardly dogs have
obedient generation. See how his anger all sought their kennels and left us to shift
is writ in letters of flame upon the heavens, for ourselves."
listen to his voice as he speaks in his wrath." With quiet deliberation Prosjwr gathered
A flash of lightning accompanied the up his long, black robe and ascended the
priest's last words and the crash of the steps of the platform where Quinton Edge
thunder came almost simultaneously. The met him.
obscurity was momentarily increasing and Suddenly the obscurity lightened. A
the gigantic nimbus cloud -band now heavy downpour of rain was imminent,
reached far beyond the zenith, its slate- but the sky had lost its terrifying as]x?ct
blue edges contrasting vividly with the of abnormality; the yellowish haze, that
green and saffron tints of the narrow strip in superstitious eyes presages some dread-
of clear sky that still remained visible. ful convulsion of nature, had drifted away
And in another moment that too had dis- In-fore the rising wind— it would be a |>elt-
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THE DOOMSMAN 45
ing shower and nothing more. Quinton their wan faces, upon which the stinging
Edge looked around, smiling. hail beatdown. Soldierly men they were,
"So it was only a player's effect; an made no complaint, but Ulick
too, for they
opportune conjunction of bad news and was not one of them. A moment later
bad weather that Is hardly likely to occur Constans saw him bringing up the rear on
again. The next time that the Shining a big bay horse. He had a blood-soaked
One condescends to forge his thunder bandage about his head and looked thin
bolts
" and careworn, but he was alive and Con-
"They will fall from out of a cloudless stans felt glad at heart for his friend. He
sky," interrupted the priest with a savage managed to catch Ulick's eye as the train
vehemence that in spite of himself shook swept by and for an instant the latter drew
the cool confidence of the Doomsman. rein, bending low over his saddle bow as
Yet the latter flung back the challenge he whispered to Constans standing in the
contemptuously. shadow of the guard hut:
—
"Words, words painted bladders with "In half an hour at the old library," and
which to belabor the backs of fools and then with passionate eagerness: "Esmay,
children. It calls for a buffet of sturdier have you seen her?"
sort to convince a man." "Yes," answered Constans, and the next
The priest measured his adversary coldly. instant could have bitten his unthinking
'"Let it be a blow then," he said with bitter tongue in twain.
irony, "since a prating mouth knows no
other argument than the mailed fist. Hut XIX
you shall not see the hand that smites, nor
even know the quarter from whence it I\ QUINTON KDC.K'S C.ARDKN
comes."
A dozen big raindrops spkushed down, It was late that night when the friends
and from the distance came the patter of finally parted. Their interview had been
the advancing hail. Quinton Kdgc drew a trying one; it might have ended in a
himself up stiffly; the necessity of immedi- serious estrangement had Constans Ijeen
ate action was a relief more blessed than of a nature less straightforward or Ulick
he would have cared to own. He stepped of disposition less generous. Friendship
hurriedly toDom Gillian's chair and, putting between men is a beautiful thing, but of such
his hands under the armpits of the old man, delicate poise that only the touch of a finger
lifted him unresisting to his feet. isneeded to dispbee it. And the disturb-
" Help me with him to the W hite Tower," ing hand is usually that of a woman.
he said with curt command, and Prosper Esmay had come between them, and it
obeyed in silence. Together they managed needed but the mention of her name that
to get Dom Gillian down the rickety steps a certain inevitable constraint should at
and across the open space to the entrance once manifest itself.
of the Tower, barely gaining the shelter ^ We'll have to drop the subject then, or
when the storm broke in earnest, the rain rather, leave it where it began," said Ulick,
coming down in great gray masses as breaking the final pause. "Perhaps it's
though the laboring clouds had been literally just as well that I don't understand the
torn asunder by the weight of their burden. —
reason why it's even possible that you
For a few moments everything was blotted don't know clearly yourself. I shan't ask
out by the deluge, then it lightened again you to tell me."
with the coming of the hail, and Constans Coastans flushed and was angry with
drew in his breath sharply as he saw a himself at the evidence of a weakness so
little cavalcade trotting slowly through the unexj)ectcd. "It can't go on in this way,"
North Gate from the Palace Road. First he said decidedly. "Neither of us could
came a few of the escort guard and behind wish that and it lies with me to make it
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46 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"He under the shadow of the south-
lies An hour passed and there was no sign
—
ern pines one of the first to fall that morn- of her appearance. Constans grew rest-
ing when the storm of gray goose arrows less, impatient, uneasy, until finally inac-
drove down upon us. A good end and tion became intolerable. Certainly Esmay
j>erhaps the better one." should have come by this time, suppos-
Constans was silent. Here was one of ing that she had observed his answering
his contingencies that existed no longer; signal. She might be absent, ill, a pris-
with Boris out of the way, the decision that oner.
Ksmay must make was enormously simpli- He looked searchingly at the silent
fied. Or was it still more infinitely com- and apparently deserted house; the hold
plicated ? With a woman to consider, the thought struck him to examine it more
question was not so easy to answer. Nor closely, even at the risk of discovery. He
would he attempt it. He rose and put out had his rope-ladder with him and at a
his hand, "I am going to tell her," he said pinch could make a run for it. Along the
simply, and Ulick, in his turn, had no northern wall of the enclosure there was a
further word to say; so they parted. wind-break of evergreens that would pro-
It was not until noon of the following tect him up sunken carriage way, and
to the
day that Constans found opportunity to set surely he could venture thus far and then
out for Arcadia House. The abnormally trust fortune and his own wits for the next
high temperatureof yesterday still prevailed, move. He owed that much to Esmay
although the sky was clear; and everywhere seeing that he had failed to answer her call
could be heard the sound of running and at the time that it was made.
dripping water. How hot the sun was! The piece of open ground was some
it might have been midsummer instead seventy yards in width; he crossed it at
of the last of March; how oddly sounded speed and dived into the shadow of the
the premature chirping of the birds in the trees, keeping close to the wall as he worked
leafless trees! along towards the sunken way. He reached
Arcadia House was once more in sight, the road without misadventure and dropped
and Constans' first thought was for the lightly down upon its stone-paved surface.
signal. It was still flying from the cupola It was cool and damp in this semi-sub-
window, but that fact of itself meant little. terranean causeway; the stone flagging
All or nothing might have happened in the was blotched with lichenous growth and
twenty-four hours that had elapsed since fern flourished ranklv in the wall crevices.
its first setting. Constans sUmkI for a moment gazing up at
The rope-ladder was in its hiding-place the blank facade of the north wing won-
and Constans, by its aid, was quickly on dering how hot to proceed. Then sud-
the garden wall. Here he waited for an denly a face appeared at a window; Esmay
instant to look and listen. herself was looking down upon him in
All was quiet and there was no sign of wide-eyed astonishment. She hesitated,
life in the closely shuttered house. The then motioned him toward the eastern or
SHOW in this exposed and sunny enclosure river side of the house, and he obeyed
had entirely disappeared; there would be unquestioninglv. Following the driveway
no fear of his footprints being noticed. around, he found himself l>efore the wide,
—
The dogs but F.smay had assured him pillared |>ortico that masked the front of
that they would be kept in leash so long as the main edifice; springing up the steps,
the signal was flying. He wasted no fur- he met her standing at one of the French
ther time in reflection, but descended into windows that opened off the drawing-room
Ouinton Edge's garden. of the mansion. She drew back, inviting
The plantation of spruce trees screened him to enter.
him for the moment; then he ran quickly "You are very foolish," she said in a
across space and reached the
the open whisper, yet l«>oked upon him approvingly,
shelter of the pavilion. It was empty; but as a woman always must upon the man
he had expected that; he had previously who dares.
set his answering signal at the window of a "I told you that I would come," he
house overlooking the garden at the back, answered. " Yesterday it was the unex-
and he would now have to wait until Esmay jx.'ctcd that happened, the return of the
should find opportunity to join him. expedition. Between the storm and Ulick
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THE DOOMSMAN 47
intrigues and he could not but conclude that one is prepared to pay, and roundly too.
Esmay had become a more necessary factor Remember that I too am of his blood and
than ever in their successful development. have dwelt in his house."
Ulick was now the sole heir to the old Dom The girl's eyes grew cloudv and troubled.
Gillian and he was openly hostile to Quinton "There is the town itself," she faltered.
Edge. Only through Click's passion for "Surely among so many people there must
this slip of a girl could the Doomsman hope l>e some chance for a livelihood— there is
to control him; what an admirable stroke work "
then to snatch the card from his hand before "Not and for such as
of the honest kind
he had a chance to play it. Against an you," he retorted. "Must I make you un-
enemy like Quinton Edge one must make derstand ? Look at yourself then in the
every blow tell. glass behind you." Suddenly he took her
"I will help you," he continued aloud. hand lietween l>oth hi* own. "Who
"But where, at this short notice, to find a would dare hint at work to those finger>,
a boat?" so slimly white and to that pink roscleaf
"There is a canoe which is generally kept of a palm. But one may live delicately,
moored at the private dock; you can see it even in Croye."
from the terrace. It is a good, stout dugout The girl recoiled as though from a blow,
"
and, oh and Constans felt the shame of having
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
actually struck one. "But not you," he sharp, staccato yelp of a hound at field,
stammered and raged inwardly at himself. Yes; the dogs were out and already they
She forgave him in a look of divinest were at work ranging in great semi-circles,
serenity. "But Esmay," he said humbly, alert with the joy of the chase. Constaas
She smiled to him to go on. drew a deep breath as he watched them.
"You are thinking of the world beyond, Already they were nearing the pavilion;
—
but indeed you do not know it its cruelty in a few seconds at the farthest they would
to the weak, above all to a woman. It is a be giving tongue upon the striking of his
hard and evil world believe me, while here scent. He must decide quickly then and
"
at least he turned to Esmay.
"Here the least of all," she interrupted, A vague suspicion gathered in Constaas'
but would not look at him to make her mind as he looked upon her mute agony
meaning clearer. and misinterpreted it.
"Yet you see how I could not let you " What is it ?" he asked with rising anger,
go alone or even with Nanna," he urged. but she answered no word. The memory
"Yes; I understand that. What is it of the ancient betrayal flashed back upon
that you wish me to do ?" him full force.
Constans started. Was he then pre- "Perhaps another bracelet of carbun-
pared to make himself responsible for cles?" She shrank back as though he had
this young creature's future? Of course struck her.
she could not remain longer in a position "Esmay!" he said roughly and shook
so dangerous and equivocal, but why- her by the shoulders.
should she not be reasonable? It was Then as she gave no sign, he flung
still
true that Nanna was quite capable of her from him and strode away, the flame
managing the boat; he had only to assist of a fierce anger in his heart. To die here
them to get away and give the word to the base fate of a runaway slave upon
Ulick that he might follow. Ulick would whose trail the waster has set his hounds
go to the end of the world to serve her. no, should not be! Yet with only his bare
it
A thoroughly sensible solution of the hands, for there was not even a billet of
problem and then in a twinkle Constans wtxxl lying about —
well, the struggle should
forgot that he had ever wanted Esmay to be over the more quickly. Then he be-
l>e reasonable, forgot the faith owed to a thought him of the boat that Esmay had
friend and the vengeance sworn against told him was always kept moored at the
an enemy, forgot times and seasons and private landing stage. The dock could
the j>eril in which they stood, forgot all l>e seen from the rivenvard windows. He
things save that he was a man and she was glanced out and saw that the canoe had
a woman and that he had suddenly come disappeared. He turned to the girl and
to desire her alxivc all else in life. announced the fact. "If indeed it were
Esmaystood waiting for the answer to ever there," he added. It seemed as
her question. She looked at him in- though her eyes pointed to the door lead-
quiringly; then her eyes dropped swiftly ing to the other part of the house, but he
l>efore the sex challenge that leaped forth shook his head. "I would rather meet
from his. There was a little silence; the it in the open," he said coldly.
[To he continued]
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ARE AMERICANS INTELLIGENT?
BY A CHINESE GENTLEMAN
Editor's NOTE: .1/ least one of the distinguished gentlemen composing the Imperial
Chinese Commission, which august and interesting body oj social investigators has just
sailed away from our shores, will devote himself at once to a book dealing largely with Amer-
ican manners and customs. This volume will doubtless arouse world-wide attention. It
is the good fortune of The Metropolitan Magazine to be able to present at this time the
views of the Chinese gentleman who, though preferring to remain incognito, does not take
advantage of his anonymity to criticise America and the Americans in any but a calm and,
it must be confessed, a just and truthful manner.
we have Senator B —
They represent the type; on the other hand
- and Senator S
were the Earl and Countess of The
Earl sat on the right of the host; beyond
.
who are estimable men, but not gentlemen, that no question of precedence came up.
and types of that class. There Is always one great dinner feature
I ventured to ask why she did not consider — this is the story teller. He is always
Senator B a gentleman, as I had often dressed as a gentleman and he tells the
met him and found him a most courteous most amusing stories, and all the gucst>
person. are of a piece, they all could tell stories.
"He lacks the pose, the bearing, and, Suddenly the conversation would lag, and
above all, he does not feel like a gentleman," some one would whisper: "The senator is
said this terrible critic. "Senator B telling a story."
is a politician pure and simple. You would The conversation had been on "tipping'*;
not offend him by telling him that he was giving servants presents for the service t hex-
not a gentleman, as he knows it. Ah, this are paid for, which is one of the blemishes
is the cross that so many of our 'leaders' on American life.
in America have to bear," she continued. "My wife isn't here," said the senator,
"They dress, ape and even look like gen- "so Her mother, my
I will tell the story.
tlemen, but they know they are not." mother-in-law, has been spending the win-
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
tcr with us." (Here every one laughed, but years. One occupied the second floor and
myself, and they all laughed heartily when one the third; they never met. Finally,
I said I couldn't sec anything funny in such in due course of time, the man found him-
a visit. I suppose it was some insidious self dying. The priest was called and he
joke.) "My mother-in-law on leaving, failed received the last offices of the Church. Then,
to tip the maid who had been very attentive just as he was dying, he turned to his weep-
to her, so when she left, to prevent the ing valet, who knew that this was an end
servants from talking, I gave the girl ten of his clothes supply, and said, 'Augustus,
dollars, saying that it was from the departed take this down to my wife.' It was a card
guest. At that moment the bell rang and in which bore the letters P. C. C. (Call to take
stepped my mother-in-law. She had missed leave). A card which ladies or gentlemen
the train; this was hard luck enough," send to friends when they are going to take
(laughter from ever)' one), "but before I a long journey."
could intervene, the maid stepped forward This story created much merriment
and making a little Swedish courtesy said: despite its solemn nature, and illustrates
'
I wish to thank Madame for the ten dollars the importance of the story at the American
she left with the master for me. " ' dinner; also how opposite arc the lines of
I have a list of over forty different thought of Americans and Chinese.
''mother-in-law" stories, all making light All the stories were "good" from their
of thus relative, that in China is highly re- standpoint, but while I laughed, I found
sected, and I was surprised when all them barren of real wit. Indeed, I rarely
the guests laughed. Aside from the ques- understood them until they had been ex-
tion of a joke on a near relative, it appeared plained.
to me bad form, as they say, to joke at the The Earl told a story at the expense of
expense of his wife. the English.
I mentioned this to my companion, at Two gentlemen were crossing a bridge
which she laughed heartily at my innocence. when one said to the other:
The senator had merely used his wife and " Dean, do you like bananas? 1'
his imaginary mother-in-law to aid in the "Yes," replied the Dean.
effect of the story. He was not even a A year later, and, as it happened, on the
married man. same day and hour, the Bishop and Dean
The conversation drifted upon the sub were crossing the same bridge, and when
ject of unhappy marriages, and I startled in the center the Bishop said "How?"
the guests by venturing the suggestion that "Pried," replied the Dean. This was
one cause of trouble was they expected too received with roars of laughter.
much of one wife. Some rich men in All these stories were told in a natural
Asia have one hundred wives, and divorce way; that is, they were suggested by the
is unknown. conversation, each guest in telling a story
"A Mormon come to judgment," said saying: "That reminds me of a story"
some one. then telling it.
"You are fighting nature," 1
against To be a good story teller has an imj>or-
said. "Man Is theanimal, yet
highest tant Waring upon a man's career. He In-
your |M?culiar religion, or the adoption of comes famous as such and it is not too
your religion, permits a man to have but one much to say that you read more about the
wife, when nature intended him to have as stories told by distinguished Americans
many as he could support. In all animals, than any of their acts.
in all the higher animals, the male has a The stories of Daniel \Yel>ster and Abra-
herd or a number of wives, as did the ham Lincoln are told to-day with infinite
prophets of old. This is your trouble to- gusto, while the story of George Washing-
day—lack of wives." ton and his hatchet Is taught in the schools.
Consternation was depicted on the Karl's I soon saw that unless I had a stock of
face, and I saw that 1 had put my foot into stories I would be considered very stupid,
it. Some one kicked me under'the table, so as I had read up a lot of the old Dervish
and one of the guests, to divert attention, stories, I retailcfl them as original with
doubtless, from my line of thought, told great success.
this story: Conversation soon turned on the mistakes
"A man and his wife had not spoken for of imitation, and I promptly said:
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ARE AMERICANS INTELLIGENT? 5«
"That reminds me of a story: A young his country stood at the head, while Senator
girl of a small town in the Shanto prov- H claimed that America led in every-
ince was married to a young man who to her thing, and as he was somewhat overheated
dismay turned out to be not over bright, and with wine and whiskey, he drove the Earl
her pride made her make every effort to from the field, and finally, they all appealed
disguise this. to me, and I, of course, said that they were
"To some she said he is a great student, both wrong, that China led in all things.
his mind is occupied with thoughts which It did not take me long to learn that the
we do not understand; to others she said gentlemen present were well posted on. but
that he had taken a vow to appear simple one side, and this was particularly true of
for a year in order to humiliate the flesh. the ladies. One of the latter made the
" One day he was invited to the house of a claim that American women led all nations,
relative who also had recently married, and and when she was through and had re-
who boasted of the fine mental attainments ceived the congratulations of all, I said
of her husband. The wife of the simple "Madam, the statistics of your country-
husband was in a great quandary, fearing men and countrywomen are not so flatter-
that he would commit some gross error, so ing," and, amid dead silence, I told them in
she urged him to follow the actions of this a general way what I knew about the in-
distinguished man, and do just as he did, telligence of the Americans, and in about
all of which he promised. Late in the the following words, my opportunity having
evening he returned, and his wife seized come, as I was requested to resj>ond to a
him and said, 'Did you disgrace as, or did toast. I said:
you do exactly as your uncle's nephew?' "You have in America a population of
" 'I copied him in all except the frothing ninety millions, more or less; according to
at the mouth,'' was the amiable reply. your claims, nine-tenths of these would be
"It appeared later that the man selected above the average. What are the facts?
as a model by the wife was subject to fits, Out of this enormous body, you have but
and when he fell upon the floor, the visitor 12,000 or 14,000 men and women who
flung himself down also, and imitated him have achieved enough intellectual prom-
so closely that every one supposed that he inence to lift them above the average; of
too had fits." As the Americans say, "I all these, but a twelfth or fourteenth are
brought down the house," with this story. women, so out of 90,000,000 of souls, you
"Speaking of fits," said a Senator after have but 1,400 women who have shown
the laugh had subsided, "reminds me of a brains sufficient to place them on a plane
doctor named Adams who lived in my above the common herd, who live and die
native town. He was called in to attend without being heard of. Of this small
my uncle who had some very strange symp- group of pseudo intelligent people, about a
toms. The old doctor puzzled over it for fourth live in New York, and New England
some time, then rose and handed him some produces the most.
pills saying, 'I don't know what is the mat- "In China we have 600,000.000 souls
ter with you, but take these pills, they will accordingtosomeestimatcs.and 400,000,000,
throw you into fits and I am Hell on fits '." according to others, and the percentage of
This, too, was received with laughter, ultra-intelligent men Is fifty times as large
and one lady told a story on old age, as a as in America. Our principal is education;
take-off on the story which it appears was true, it is not like your own, and some of
antiquated. your illiterate politicians appear very
In polite society, you never, at least, strangely educated to me, as in our country
where ladies are, hear a story with a double we have had what is virtually civil service
meaning, but you invariably hear tales for ages, and even' office holder keeps his
where the point turns on an oath. Clergy- position by virtue of his having passed a
men of the Episcopal Church who are very very severe classical examination. My
prone to this, and the number of
liberal are ancestor of particular note in what would
"swearing" stories I heard at dinner would be fifteen hundred years ago, was an as-
make a book. tronomer of distinguished |>arts, and we
Finally, the conversation drifted upon the have had many of your arts and sciences
relative intelligence of great nations, the for ages.
Earl claimed that in literature and science, "Chinamen visited America a thousand
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52 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
years before Columbus was heard of. Your had a hand that was absolutely valueless,
native American Indiaas could trace their but he drew one card to give the impression
ancestry back to far Cathay thousands of that he held a good hand, and then, by
years ago had they preserved their annals, backing this worthless hand by piling on
and so I might go on and speak all night, the bets, he "bluffed out" all the rest and
tellingyou of the inventions which fill your made a fortune. The "bluff" is a natural
patent office which were stolen from China. characteristic.
The Yankee Is famous for his 'cutcness,' The English language Is very difficult.
but does not stand investigation. When
it In our language the Americans claim that
the first Yankee sea captain entered China, some words have different meanings ac-
he made a list of all our inventions and ap- cording to inflection, but American words
pliances, and when he returned to America, have meanings according to their use and
he began to invent things and get them the surroundings.
patented. I have seen scores of patented Thus at breakfast, the butler or servant
articles that have been known in China for says, "Will you have some toast ?" Which
two thousand years. The patents your is roasted bread, crisp. At a dinner they
inventors did not discover in China, they have a toastmaster who proposes the toast
found in the Pompeiian Museum in Rome. which is now a sentiment to be followed by
Assuredly, you Americans are not remark- a speech.
able originators, you are adaptors. You A man says to your polite inquiry as to his
devour the idea of some one else and pre- health, " buily," meaning good, vet this is the
sent it in a new and charming guise." name of a scoundrel who is bad.
My criticism was received in the l>est of say Hell, but Hades is
It is im|H>litc to
good nature. After this dinner I was in- quite correct. I am constantly laughing
sums that change hands over it are as- seeds raised in Georgia and sold to the
tounding. European olive oil men, who send it back.
I saw a senator who is a multi-million- Did you ever hear of so strange a people?
aire wager thousands against another. He Are Americans really intelligent 'i
J"A was one of the most hundred an' ninety dollars, an abidin'
imminent c itizens of that suvren state for a faith, an' had just reached that age where
time, belli* as I was the only human In-in' I knew more than the man who invinted
in one ind of it. The Governor, in To the dictionary. I didn't get over that until
|>eka, held down the other ind. Also, I I was forty. No man does. So, I decided
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THE MAN WHO FOUND KANSAS 53
•
to go West. There, so the ginirous an' got so I was afraidgo of him at all at
to let
beneficent government told me, were home- all, for if I did I'd never be able to see him
stead claims lyin' around invitin' Amer- again, he was that thin. Everytime he
ican citizens to settle on 'em an' grow swa lived yer could trace the hay he et from
up with the country. If yer lived on his eye-teeth to his diaphragm because of
one of thim for five years without dyin' the lump it made in him. So finally I ar-
it was yours. It looked easy, an' at that rived at Oakley which was forty miles from
time I didn't know the government was Kinsley, so me map said.
playin' a joke on the unsophisticated an' "In Kansas in thim days they grew the
effete East. land shark, a bird of prey who always had
"The government was that thoughtful one hand in yer pocket, an' the other hand
an' deceptive about it all that it sint me a was a cloven hoof. He was the first type
map, showin' the homestead lands in of the high financier, an' was indigenous
Kansas. An' there on the map in letters to the adjacency of anything that was free.
so big they simply shouted for yer to look One of thim attimpted to clutch me, but
at thim, was the city of Kinsley, an' near I only had seven dollars left an' his reg'lar
it the Buckner River. Judgin' be the size price was tin. So he took it out in abuse
of the letterin' on the map, I figured that an' tellin' me what he intinded doin', bein'
Kinsley was at least as big at Philadelphy, as he didn't get the seven.
an' me heart simply palpitated to get out '"Where are ver goin' anvhow?" says
there an* become a property owner, me he.
never havin' owned anything prayvious to '"Beyond Kinsley,' I says, 'where I'm
that time but a good old Irish thirst. An' goin' to settle on me magnificent estate
the Lord knows I got that honest. near the Buckner River.' I says, 'if I can
"So I kissed me brothers an' sisters an' find it,' says I.
fathers an' mothers good-bye, and prom- "'An' if I ever jiass that way,' says he,
ised to sind for thim all whin I made a '
I'll make ye jump in the river.' he says.
million dollars, an' thin I bought a railroad ''An' thin the bystanders pried me teeth
ticket for Newark, New Jersey, to To- loose from his ear, an' I continued West.
peka. I waded into the West, quotin' Be this time the one ninety an' the abidin'
Horace Greeley at ever)' other step. I faith I started with was down to abidin'
felt in me bones that I was goin' out there faith, except the seven dollars, an' I hur-
to show that country how to grow up. Me ried on toward Kinsley with that. The
wisdom was that infinite at the time that Lord knows I needed it.
I felt I was doin' the West a great favor be "I druv an' druv an' druv, due south-
condescendin' to lind it me presence. It west l>e west, be the compass, across miles
ain't so great now. an' miles an' miles of land as fiat as a ball-
"I wint straight to Topeka, which at that room floor an' just aliout as fertile. That
time contained six saloons, the Governor whole day 1 seen, not a house, nor a tree,
an' some other buildin's of no consequence. nor a sign of a livin' thing. Whin I struck
In Topeka I got me outfit. It consisted camp that night I knew just how Adam
of one hoss, which cost me forty dollars an' felt when the good Lord set him down in
he was that thin yer didn't have to open the the middle of the universe. Some fried
door t#) let him out of the stable he came— bacon an' corn bread cheered me internal
through a crack. Also, I purchased a works some, an' all night I listened to the
wagon an' some other doin's principally serenades of inquirin' coyotes.
sow belly an* corn meal. Being that "Next day I started again. On till
delicate in me innards an' disinclined to alxiut noon I druv, seein' nothin' an'
coarse food I laid in a great supply of these inhalin' so much dust me lungs felt like
delicacies. Thin, armed with a compass, a brick yard. Thin, blessed l)e the Lord.
I set sail across the boundin' prairie for I saw a man on horseback comin' toward
Kinsley. me.
'T have never bin to Hell, of course, but '"Glory Hallelujah,' says I to meself,
I'll bet it isn't any hotter than a Kansas I says: '1 don't care if it's Captain Kidd
prairie in summer. The heat sizzled up or the James Ikjvs,' says I, 'I'm goin' to
at me an' the hoss, an' the latter beast lost speak to him,' I says.
flesh at even- step. After a day or so it How do?' says he, when he came up.
"
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54 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
'"Good mornin',' says I. 'Can yer tell only man I met in Kansas who was per-
me,' says I, 'where the city of Kinsley is?' lite an' didn't expect to be paid for it.
says he. 'Yer're now on Commonwealth I says. 'The Theatre, the Citv Hall or
Avenue,' he says, 'the main street of the Post Office?' says I.
Kinsley,' says .he. "'Come an' I'll show yer the real city of
•
'"Oh, says I. Ts that so?' I says. Kinsley,' he says, 'where they measure
'How it has changed,' 1 says, me havin' from,' says he, an' he led me off through
in mind that metropolis I had pictured in the grass. 'Yer sec,' says he, as he wint,
me innocence. Is this all of it ? says I.
' ' 'Kinsley is only three years old.' he says,
4
" Yes,' says he, 'this is all of it. ' Right 'an' it isn't built up very thick yet,' says he.
over there behind yer,' says he, p'intin' to '"So I see,' I stys. 'The houses on
a place as bare as the pa of yer hand, mm Commonwealth Avenue,' saysI, 'arc some
floor makes it very Rennasaince,' I says. an' he p'inted to a white stone about as big
"'An' there's the theatre, right here in as a pic-plate. 'That is the cinter of our
front of yer,' he says. thrivin' an' progressive city,' says he.
"Ts that so?' I says, as I looked at that. "'An' yer say the city's three years old ?'
'Who is playin' there now?' says I. says I, l(K>kin' at the pie-plate.
'"An' right over there's the Post Office, '"Yes.'savs he.
he says, never crackin' a smile. "'My,' says I. 'Isn't it small for its
"'Sly, my, how the conveniences are age?' I says. "Somebody is liable to pick
crowded together,' I says, not knowin' l>e up the city of Kinsley.' I says, 'an' throw
this time whether he was crazy or I was. it at a coyote,' says I.
T think I'll have to go over after awhile "It was only be the Grace of the Lord
an' get me mail,' I says. 'I'm expectin' a that I met that man. He et some of my
little billy doo from King Edward,' says 1. sow belly an' I took another drop from his
"Then the stranger laughed. It w;i> flask, good old Irish
an' he sampled a little
one of thim honest laughs that comes from whuskey I hap|>ened to have by me, an'
the vitals of a white man. all was peace an' contintment. Then he
"T dunno,' I says, 'whether yer're rode on his way. His name was Dick
jokin' with me or not,' says I, 'but if yer Miller an' later he was lynched for stealin'
are I can lick yer.' 1 says. a h»>ss, but he was a good man, rest his soul.
'"Keepyer pants on, brother,' he says, "Just about the moment that grand an'
cheerful like. 'Yer're from the East an' noble hoss-thief's head disappeared behind
yer've come out to take a "homestead claim,' the horizon, I realized that 1 faced a prof)
says he. T know, because I've met others 1cm. It was this: If me claim was due
of yer,' he says. But this really is Kinsley
'
west from Kinsley, an' sixteen miles away,
— all of it,' says he. how the flivil was I to know whin 1 got to
"1 don't suppose yer ever felt like sittin' it? An' I don't believe there's any rule
down in the middle of a bigsome prairie of algebra that will throw any great light
an' weepin' yer heart out ? Well, I did, on that subject. I wint over an' sat down
I was that dissap'inted. I was over- on the city of Kinsley, an' brought me giant
come that when the stranger offered me a intellect to bear on the problem. The
drop from his flask I took nearly all of it hoss, meanwhile, amused himself Ik* chewin'
before 1 recovered. Thin I unbo>omed me the whiskers off Commonwealth Avenue.
hopes an' ambitions to that strange man, "'Now.' says I to mesclf, 'now,' I says
an' he treated me like a brother, bein' the 'we'll think this thing out, Sunset,' says
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THE MAN WHO FOUND KANSAS
I. An' I sat there an' held me head an' came there, except prairie dogs an' an oc-
abused me ancestors for not puttin' more casional coyote an' me tongue was stickin'
in it until the hoss had et up the City Hall, to the roof of me mouth, through lack of
an' thin a great light came to me. action, whin one day I spied a movin'
'"I have it,' says I to meself. 'I ought speck in the distance.
to be in the State Department,' I says. " 'Be the shades of St. Patrick,' I says,
'There are five thousand, two hundred an' 'it's something bigger than a coyote, says '
eighty feet to a mile,' says I, 'an' it is twelve I, an' as it came nearer I saw it was a man
feet two inches around the wagon wheel,' on horseback. That was a red-letter day
says I. 'Therefore,' I says, 'the wagon in me life.
—
wheel will go into the mile !, An' thin I "Whin the man came up, who do you
wint stark, ravin' mad, an' takin' a stick suppose it was? The land shark, bird of
I figured over two acres of the prairie, prey from Oakley. But I was forgivin'.
arrivin' at the conclusion that all I had to " '
I would shake hands with the devil,'
do was to count the revolvements of the says I to meself, 'if he'll only let me talk
wagon wheel six thousand nine hundred to him a little bit,' says I. For, me lad,
an' forty-three times, an' some odd tints. the silence of the desert is a maddenin'
An' I had to keep goin' west, climbin' any thing, an' me bein' considerable loquacious,
loose trees an' jumpin' any ravines that felt it pressin' on me.
might be there, which thank the Lord there " 'Good mornin',' says I, when the shark
weren't. came up.
—
"That's what I did kept goin' west, "'Hello,' says he. 'Settled are yer?*
countin' as I wint. Can yer imagine a he says.
human bein' in full possession of the in- "'Some,' says I. 'I am some incon-
telligence the Lord gave him sittin' on a venienced, however,' I says, 'be the failure
wagon with a compass in one hand, the of me retinoo of servants to arrive,' I says.
reins in the other an' countin' the revolve- T miss me valet so,' says I.
ments of a wheel with the third ? In the '"Like it out here?' he says. An' be
first five miles I tore up me shirt, tyin' it in this time I could just see devilment leakin'
strips about the wheel so as I could tell out of his eyes. They shone like a oil's
whin it had turned all the way over. In in the growin' dusk. His ear was all
the next five miles I used up me undershirt, healed up, where I had masticated it, an'
an' whin I had finally counted the sufficient he wasn't thinkin' of that, but the failure to
number of revolvements I was attired in get me tin dollars set heavy on his soul.
low neck pants, me hat an' me shoes. An' " 'Yes, I like it,' says I. 'I've just built
I maintain that that was not a decent way me house,' I says, 'an' all the plumbin'
to move into a new neigh borhood. ain't in yet,' says I, 'but I'm fairly com-
"Me eyes were nearly out from lookin' fortable,' I says.
three ways at once, at the hoss, the com- '"Got a lot of stuff planted, I see,'
pass an' the wheel, an' me back had sun- says he.
bllsters on it so high that they were cooler "'Yes,' says airily, 'the Lord only
I
at the top than they were at the bottom, knows what's goin' to come up,' I says, 'but
bein' that elevated. But I was home. something's set out all right,' says I.
The hoss fell down in his tracks an' I fell " 'Think yer'll stay here?' he went on.
I'll serve me time,' I says, 'five years
14
beside him an' we slept it off like a couple *
tuous estate an' swelled with pride. The anything to drink?' he says.
river was five miles away, an' there were " 'The only five miles over there,'
river Is
grow, an' I was gettin' so I could look me "I have never yet had the pleasure <>f
own property in the face an' not fall dead lookin' the devil in the face, whatever hopes
at its desolation. I may have of the hereafter, but I'll w;iger
"Not a livin' soul had I seen since I me pipe that his countenancial appurten-
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56 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
ances are more invitin' than that fellow's isn't paid. I changed mine on the spot.
was at that minute. I stood in fear an' trimbling with me knees
'"Think yer'rc smart, don't yer? 'says he. knockin' together that loud that they
'"Pretty fair,' says t 'I know enough sounded like a drump corps in the distance.
to keep me money,' I says. Me breath came in short |>ants, as it were.
"'Yer know what I've come here for?' Ginirally spcakin' he had me flirtin' with
says he. death most outrageous. An' judgin' be
'"'No,' says I. T
don't think though the expression about his lips it was the
it was for yer health,' says I. most amusin' thing he had ever seen in
'"I'm a government officer,' says he. his life.
'An' I've come here to serve a writ of ejec- '"Will yer move?' savs he.
tion. That means thatyer get off this '"I will,' says I, an' I did.
claim an' that at once,' says he. An' he "Me foot lit in the midst of his commis-
babbled on about me bcin' on the wrong sary department an' I made a giniral wipe
spot, an' that I oughter have paid him an' at his gun. It sint a shot palpitating into
took his advice in the first place, an' all the blue heavens. I may say without
that time I was just figuring where I should boastin' that I was a sizable buck thim
plant me teeth. He never knew how close days an' whin I got hold of his wind, an'
he came to losing that other ear. began to beat his intellectuality to a pulp
"He rambled on an' on an' finally drew with his own revolver he weakened. Thin
out a paper an' waved it at me an' the boss, I took him out an' tied him to his hoss,
who was lookin' on in blessed innocence. hand an' foot —an' the Ixird knows I
"'May I see the paper?' says I. 'It's needed that rope, too.
gcttin' dark out here,' I says. Come in an'
'
'"Does yer hoss know where yer live?'
have a little something while I look at it,' says I.
I says, that meek an' humble that it would "'Yes,' says he, that weak an' feeble
have deceived St. Patrick himself. An' I like I was almost sorry for him.
led the way into the dugout, figurin' con- " 'That's lucky for yer,' I says, 'because
siderable an' he folio win'. that's where he'll take yer,' says I. 'An'
"Inside I motioned him to me sump- the next time yer go to serve a writ of de-
tuous divan, the same bein' the head of a jection on anyone,' I says, 'be certain to
barrel of potatoes, but the only scat in pick out a man of yer size,' says I, 'an' take
that ind of Kansas, thin I made meself him when he's sick,' I says.
comfortable standin' up an' lighted the "Then I took a bull whip an' hitt that
candle. After all these hedoodlemcnts he hoss of his across the place where
it would
handed me the paper. do the most good, an' he an' the land shark
" 'Perhaps,' I siys, 'ver'd like to see my cut a scared stripe through the adjacency of
papers,' I says. Kansas into Oakley. I heard later that he
" They're no good,' says he.
'
'
Yer move reached there all right, but he never wor-
now,' he says, 'or I'll put a hole in yer,' he ried me any more. Anyhow I (aught him
says. a lesson.
"An' bless yer soul I was lookin' deep
down a revolver before I knew it. Now
in
there isn't anything on earth calculated " By the way, I have a little very line old
to make a man change his political faith Irish whuskey — if yer will ? Yes ? This
so suddenly as lookin' into the business way! A little tipple for the stomach's
ind of a gun, particularly when his taxes sake, says I."
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A SCKMI FIQII THB SECOND ACT UP "Mill. MOUIS1K,"
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58 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
heights hehind Paris the still favored
;
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From tht fainting bf Franz tvn L.iMlmk.
HUTil SlIIKfr AS SXKN UV A M1THD GUMMAS' ARTIST.
their holiday; young hussars, booted and great artist if the thing could be done with-
spurred and gaily uniformed; the matronly out studying and without interfering with
and shrewish owner of the establishment, a the questionable pleasure he gets in spend-
woman with a passion for her two daughters ing his mother's bounty. These and a bluff
and her millinery business; a shrewd, middle-aged count, the aristocratic note of
penurious merchant who Is helped by her the piece, sum up the important persons.
girls, but often caught and cajoled amus- Pretty Fifi, petite, milliner and little
ingly by a shiftless, handsome son, a pleas- slavey at the bonnet shop of ivory and gold,
ing young rake who would like to become a looking very alluring in her short skirt and
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6o THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
beginning of the opera. It
is with the love that laughs
services indefinitely hecause she speaks gardens of St. Mar, the home of the tyranni-
several languages and can sell more unde- cal uncle, that Fifi and Etfenne meet for the
sirable hats than any other salesgirl ami first time since the milliner girl sought out
secure better prices for them. Madame her broader career. There the romance of
Modiste, if you please, would marry Fifi the couple has its happiest manifestations.
to her worthless son and so keep her talents In the gardens at nightfall, under canopies
in the family and her son out of mischief. of vari-colored illuminations, with Paris
The Count the while is busy at his own dis- showing in myriad jets of light in the back-
ruption plans. ground below. Fifi triumphs. The scenes
This much of the plot we get fairly at the here arc frequent and charming; one a
Google
KRITZI SCHEFK AND WALTER I'KKCIEVAL IN THE SECOND ACT OK '•
MLLE. MODISTB,"
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A REAL COMIC OPERA 65
delicious bit of coquetry before a fortune- ncnt smile; the pretty nose so eloquent of
teller's booth, with Fifi posing as the seercss scorn when tossed at an angle of, say forty-
and Etienne a lovelorn swain who would five; so demure and submissive when tilted
have his hopes renewed; another quicken- at, say ten; the mobile mouth, now teasing,
ing our sympathies through the gladness of with dimpled comers; again fascinating by
Bent, the American who discovers in the its brave but utterly hopeless efforts to be
handsome prima donna his wistful prottgte stern. All this familiar sorcery with some
of the bonnet shop three years back; charms that arc new she exercises in win-
another, Fifi's amusingly whimsical en- some sway in her new success.
counter with the Melodious all of
count, where her wit them, and admira-
and cleverness and bly suited to her
beauty entrance him mimetic genius are
at last. her numbers in the
You now have be- <>|)cretta. Afterhear-
fore you a slight out- ing her sing these
line of the incidents lyrics and seeing her
that make up the Fifi in all the char-
play of Mile. Mo- acter's changing
diste;a faint limn- phases, one unhesi-
ing. The art that tatingly concedes
interprets its stage that Fritzi Scheff Is
form is full and a comedienne, and
rounded. The de- comes away from
portment of the en- the performance
sembles is another with added admira-
tribute to the splen- tion and affection
did stage direction for this little Vien-
of the production. nese who speaks four
The success of its languages fluently
simple forms is a besides voicing Eng-
lesson to members of lish as one who had
the directing craft. studied its variations
Thai Mile. Modiste a lifetime instead of
had Victor Herbert to but three years.
interpret its moods In her singing and
will indubitably in- acting in the present
rJCITZI SCHKFF HAS A W1NM.N (i SMILE Mil or AKLH to-
sure for the book a qilKTRV AND A BIT Or IMFKKTINENCB. production she ad-
vastly increased vol- heres to the general
ume of hearers. But Mr. Blossom's product disposition toward simplicity. Whether she
with its common -sense humanity, whimsical reaches this result by an adroit manipula-
characterization that Is yet life and truth, tion of the experience secured by the round
its wit and its logic, would seem to warrant of rdles she has sung and played, by the
the conviction that it would win popular authority that would ]>erforce come to one
favor even if otTcrcd in the form of comedy of her temperament as a consequence of
without musical adjunct. prolonged practice and tuition, is neither
By this time every one knows of Fritzi here nor there. In Mile. Modiste, she Is
Scheff's triumph as the little milliner. Before a little milliner, with just the ways that we
the inaugural performance at the Knicker- would look for in a little milliner of her
bocker Theater in New York was half over, kind; just such a little milliner's timorous-
her success in the part had been recorded ncss; just that same quality of pcrtness,
by wire north, east, west and south. It wit, vivacity, and tenderness. By force
was a great personal triumph. of its appeal to all classes because of its
Every one who has enjoyed her perform- impress of truth the graceful comedienne's
ances during her grand opera seasons has new role must stand at the fore of all the
fallen easy captive to her irresistible bland- operatic interpretations she has left behind.
ishments; her arch coquetry; her imperti- This Is saying a great deal when her favorite
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66 THE iMETROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
repertory is reviewed: "Oscar" in Ballo Romeo and Juliette, the part that first
Maschera; " Chcrubino" in .\ozzedi Figaro; brought her to the attention of Maurice
"MuscUa" in La Bohemc; "Zerlina" in Grau, the happy accident that later gave
Don Giovanni; "Marguerite" in Faust; her to the grand opera of America and now
"Nedda" in // Pagliacci, and many other presents her under able auspices to the
roles, including "Juliette" in Gounod comic opera field. R. H. R.
THE MESSAGE
BY MAURICE BALDWIN
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THE SANCTIFIED MAN
BY T. JENKINS HAINS
ILLUSTRATED BY M. J. BURNS
HEN Mr. Leonard to read the texts under the bright blue sky
Holbrook bought the while sitting alone upon the quarter-deck
fine yawl Dartmoor, he without being interrupted by talk of guns
did so with the clear and fishing lines. Then the small but
understanding that his cleanly kirk upon the shell -road could lie
wife would accompany visited daily, and the good old man who at-
him on a voyage tended to the religious affairs of the fishing
through the inland wa- village,was more than willing to be honored
ters of the Eastern coast of the States to by so distinguished a visitor. Yachts were
Florida. The vessel was something over like manna, only they did not drop from the
sixty feet on the water-line and fitted up with skv, but were not the less appreciated for
as much magnificence as a small craft of that fact.
that size could well be. She had many tro- The fourth morning the Dartmoor broke
phies in solid silver, won in many hard- out her blue pennant on the star-board
fought races, which adorned her cabin, and spreader, showing that Holbrook had gone
when Mrs. Holbrook beheld her interior she away for a day's sport. John Bunyan came
capitulated. down to the dock and stepped aboard Jubi-
.
Mrs. Holbrook l>elonged to what was ter John he was called among the pilots of
termed an "exclusive set." She went to the Core Bank, for he had lived at the inlet
church more than once a week, and the pas- just above the beginning of the Florida
tor of the million-dollar edifice in New York reef. He sidled aft and met the quarter-
had much to thank her for. master, who stopped him, but as he was
"A poor person might be pious, but known as a good pilot and had brought
ugh," he explained with a shrug to the sex- the vessel in behind the "bulkhead" safely,
ton one evening, and he made it his duty to he was allowed certain privileges. The
keep alive the fires of reverence which had master came forth to meet him.
been installed at an early age within Mrs. "Mornin', Cap'n," said John, slouching
Holbrook 's gentle breast. up and pulling forth a rank mullet roe from
It was with many misgivings that she fi- his pocket and nibbling the end.
nally became willing to trust herself upon the The master acknowledged the salutation
Dartmoor, for although she had faith in with a grunt.
abundance, it was of the usual feminine va- "Youse don't take no passengers on a
riety which is best nurtured under pleasantly yacht, hey?" he ventured.
artificial conditions. The dangers of the "No," said the skipper, decisively, with
sea, however, were shown to be very small the vision of the possible passenger before
indeed upon a fine craft, especially within him.
the confines of the sounds, and she had sailed "Youse ain't allowed to hev?"
as far down the coast as Beaufort. Here "Exactly," said the Captain.
it was decided to remain for a few days "It's too bad!" exclaimed John.
and enjoy the rural life of the tar-heel, and "Yes, it is," answered the Captain, heart-
while Holbrook fished and hunted every ily, his face expressing nothing of the sorrow
minute of the too short days, Mrs. Holbrook he might have felt at the limitations of his
passed the time aboard in pious and pro- license.
found repose. It was delightful to be able There was a moment's silence during
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68 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
which the Captain looked aft at the reclining length, suddenly raised his head. The mo-
form of Mrs. Holbrook. She sat reading in tion was not unlike that of a turtle poking
the shade of the after awning with a rug over forth his nose, for increased the man'sstat-
it
her feet to keep off the chill of the autumn urc a full foot and he stopped, looking at the
air. Captain out of eyes that seemed to hold both
"Did youse ever hear of the sanctified a challenge and a half-hidden fear. His
people?" asked Juhiter John, presently. shaved chin had a stubble of black hair, but
The Captain had not. it failed to cover the great square jaw except
"Well, they live down near the Jubiter in spots. A line of white teeth showed be-
Inlet where I used to run. There's one o' the tween the partly 0|>ened and the Cap-
lips,
fellers ashore here now an' he wants to go tain hesitated to take in theman's appear-
back home. It would be a mighty big ac- ance more him off the
fully before ordering
commodation if youse could take him with boat. The vessel gave a tug at her moorings
—
youse don't youse think it could be done, and the gangplank took a sudden slue to one
hey? He'd pay a little." side. The next instant the Captain gave a
"How much?" asked the Captain, spring for the string piece of the wharf. He
slightly interested. missed it by a fraction of an inch and fell
"Well, say in money, but then his
I can't heavily against the timl>er and overboard,
services air wuth somethin'. He's an all landing in the water with a rousing splash.
round able man, an' he'll say the prayers fer The accident caused a cry of alarm from
yer." Mrs. Holbrook which brought from the
'T see," said the Captain, with a grunt. depths of the cabin her son Richard. He
"There's nothin' doin'?" came bounding up the companion way as
"Nix," said the Captain, shortly. rapidly as a boy of twelve could. Jubiter
"Well, naow, that's too bad. Hut think John stood spellbound, looking over the side
it over, Cap'n, think it over." while the boy, the cook and a sailor rushed
The skipper edged to the rail and sniffed to the rail to lend a hand and get the skipj)cr
suspiciously. back aboard.
"If it's just the same to you, Jubiter, I'll The tall stranger, however, had antici-
thank ye to get to lor'ard with that mullet pated their arrival by a few seconds and
roc. Whew! " said the Captain. jumping on deck, leaned over the side and
Jubiter John looked pained. He put the reached a long thin arm down to the Cap-
pocket and turned
rest of the fish roe into his tain who came spluttering to the surface.
to go. At that instant the Captain started He seized the collar of the coat asit came
and looked up the dock. A huge figure of a clear of the water and without apparent ef-
man hove in sight and came slowly down the fort raised the Captain to the fleck. The
shell fill towards the yawl. motion was one of such ease, the Captain be-
The was dressed in black cloth of
figure ing a short, heavy fellow, that a close ob-
clerical cut, the broad shoulders squared server would have marvelled at the man's
across and the hands folded behind. The strength, but in the excitement little notice
stranger's head was not visible owing to the was takenof it. The stranger had saved the
fact that he bowed it over until nothing but Captain from the sea, and Mrs. Holbrook,
the top of a shiny tall hat showed in front of who had now advanced to the rail, thanked
him, and he looked almost like a huge turtle him warmly for his services.
with his head drawn inside the shell. The The look of challenge died away from the
black tails of his coat flapped about his legs man's eyes and one of fear came in place.
in the sea breeze as he strode slowly down to He shuffled uneasily under the woman's
where the Dartmoor lay. gaze, but finally controlled himself. Then
Mrs. Holbrook noticed the man about the without a word he lifted his face heavenward
time the Captain started up the gangplank and clasped his hands before him.
to intercept him coming aboard. Visitors "The ways o' Providence air unbe-
were not always welcome to the skipper of knownst," said he, slowly, closing his up-
the yacht, and it was his duty to see what turned eyes and standing like some huge
they wanted. The Captain had hardly statue carved in wood. His voice was so
start ed well up the narrow way, when the soft and gentle that it brought a smile to the
stranger, who had reached the inshore end face of the boy who stared at him insolently.
of it and was about to proceed flown its But the rest were impressed by the man's
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>IIK *n>K i)<i THK > -l 1 • •« IN'. »K.(> LIKE A MVAN.
strangers and went below to change, for the the hand o' Providence what makes it so,
air was cool. an' I kin stand it. The ways o' Providence
"I am sure I should like to repay you for air unl>eknownst."
your bravery, Mr. Mr. — " l>egan Mrs. ''Very well, then, we leave to-morrow
Holhrook, "but I hardly know how to morning at daylight. My husband will lie
thank you, sir." back l>cfore sundown and you may come
"Mr. Jones is his name, ma'am," said aboard to-night," said Mrs. Holbrook.
Jubiter John, "an' youse kin repay him at " Won't you come aft ? I am sure the walk
once." must have tired you. It is a long way to the
Mr. Jones looked somewhat abashed at village."
this, and the stranger's look of defiance The tall Mr. Jones glanced at Jubiter
came into his eyes again. John and then followed the lady to the quar-
"He's the sanctified man I ware tellin' ter-deck, where he folded up like a huge
theCap'n of jest before he fell overboard," jack-knife in a deck chair, to listen to the
went on Jubiter, "an' all he wants is a pas- somewhat vague but religious conversation
sagedown the coast a ways. The settlement of his new patron. He sat there for a full
isdown near where I used to run." hour, seldom even answering questions
—
"Ah, a clergyman, a country clergy- which were put to him and not offering a sin-
man, I see," said Mrs. Holbrook. gle sentence of his own volition. When he
"I reckon that's about it," said Jubiter arose to go, he looked askance at Mrs. Hol-
John. brook, then he raised his face heavenward
"Mr. Jones," said Mrs. Holbrook, "I and said, solemnly: "The ways o' Provi-
should be very glad, indeed, to aid you down dence air unbeknownst."
the coast. You know the yacht is small and He turnedin a moment and went rapidly
you might have to sleep in the Captain's to the rail near the dock, leavingMrs. Hol-
state-room. you would not object to that
If brook staring at him.
arrangement, you arc more than welcome to "Ain't he a long one, say," said young
the voyage." Richard, "an' them legs -Gee whizz!"
"Ah, madam," said the tall man. sol- but at that instant the tall man sprang to
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7° THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the wharf and hurried off, hearing nothing, washing down of the vessel's decks. He
and Richard received a severe rebuke. tailed onto the gaff-topsail halyards and
"Mydear," said Mrs. Holbrook to her sweated up that piece of canvas until the
husband that evening. "I have taken the block nearly parted from the masthead with
liberty of inviting a country clergyman to ac- the strain. Even the Captain, who had
conipanv us down the coast. He will be here spent the night sleeping upon the galley
this evening and I hope vou will be civil to floor, felt that he had, indeed, an able sea-
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THE SANCTIFIED MAN 7>
"Do
you think we'll have good weather, —
"I never was in jail only for a month.
Captain?" asked the tall man, starting in at It was the penitentiary," corrected the tall
a plate of prepared oats. man, his small voice almost dying away.
"Naw," snapped the skipper, who still There was something very sad in his tone;
held vision of his night's rest upon the galley something so touching that even the steward
floor. hesitated at olieying the skipjxr's orders.
" D've mind me sayin' a thank ve fer the "An' to think," slid the Captain, "that
vittles.'hey?" Jubiter John should play it so badly on us."
"Do yer prayin' to yerself," snapped the He ate his meal in silence on the other side
Captain. of the little room, while the vessel plunged
The long man raised his eyes and mut- and ran down the slopes of following seas,
tered something in his soft voire. creaking and straining so that he soon left
"No matter if the vittles is bad an' poor, — for the deck:
I'm thankful. The ways o' Providence air The sanctified man sat eating slowly, in
unbeknownst," he said as he finished. spite of the motion and cries from alx>ve, as
"What's the matter with the whack?" the men shortened sail to case the racing
snarled the Captain. "Ain't it good enough craft in the sea. He was lost in thought.
fer yer ? I'll lay it's a sight better'n you been The memories of his sufferings were uj>on
used to gettin', an' that's a fact." him and as the sad years rolled back, he
" I didn't say it wasn't good," said the tall seemed to stand again upon a ship's deck
man, hastily, in a gentle tone. " I only said I giving orders to a crew who obeyed as only
was thankful even if it wasn't any good." deep-water men know how. His had been
"Huh," snarled the Captain, " tryin' to a long, hard road, indeed. The surly Cap-
sneak out of hev ?"
it, tain was forgotten and his insults were as
"A sanctified man never fights," said the though they had never been uttered.
big fellow, in a small voice, "for if he did I While he sat there eating slowly and
would break you up in little pieces." thinking over the past, he became aware
"Well, a sailor fights an' don't you fergit that the door leading to the main saloon was
it," snarled the Captain. "You want to try open. Through it he caught a glimpse of
the breakin' game a bit aboard here, you shining silver as the Dartmoor rolled heavily
long-legged sky-pilot. What the thunder to starboard, letting in a flood of sunlight
d'ye call a sanctified man anyways, hey?" through her side ports. A huge urn or cup
"Don't ye know?" asked the tall man, weighing many pounds and of solid silver,
mildly, his eyes taking again that peculiar was firmly planted upon a shelf near the end
look of fear they often held. of the saloon. Upon it was an engraving of
"Naw," answered the skipper. a yacht under full sail with the legend
" Well, he's one what's been tried. A man "Dartmoor" with "1898" beneath. Evi-
that'sbeen off the path an' come back again. dently the trophy of that season and prob-
He's taken the oath to do no more harm ably the greatest she had ever won. It was a
nothin' but good. He's sanctified." superb piece of ware and the man looked at it
"No more harm! What harm hev ye for a long time, while his face gradually took
done, hey?" asked the Captain, sharply. on a hard expression and the strange look of
"Well, I served my time out all but — defiance and challenge came again into his
three years," said the tall man, fearfully. eyes. He had suffered much, but there was
"What?" gasped the skipper. something within him that was stirred by
I served my time out, nearly out. It was the glint of that silver. Twelve long years
only fifteen years I got. I'm all right and among a certain class of men had implanted
have papers to prove it. One of the men new weaknesses and developed those he had
they thought I killed got well again. The already possessed. He was forgetting him-
money was divided among my pals. I didn't self under the flashing of that reflected sun-
get a cent of no, not a cent. But the past
it ; light
is past. Let
die!" it Suddenly he was aware of a small hand
"An' you calls yourself a sanctified man, stealing within hisown and he turned with a
you bloomin' convict, hey? Steward, set cry of alarm. A look of despair came across
these things somewhere else. I may not be his face and his wide jaws set firm.
particular as to friends aboard ship, but I "I didn't mean to scare you," said Rich-
draw the line at catin' with jail-birds." ard, glancing backward at the steward who
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72 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
was busy with the morning meal. ''You in the almost calm spot between the seas. It
don't look like you scare easily. I heard was a little thick to the westward, but
what old square-head said to you. Don't although the land could not now be seen
you mind him. He'll eat with you— an' af- there was a good stretch of water plainly
tell me what you done."
terwards you can visible.
"Good God," murmured the man, and The sanctified man stood near the wheel
seized the boy in his arms. looking occasionally into the binnacle where
"Don't hug me; I ain't no girl." cried the compass card swung a good three points
Richard, and the tall man sat him on his each side of the lubber's mark, as the vessel
knee and smilingly patted his head. broached or paid off in the sea.
"I reckon we'll go on deck." said the "D'ye ever adjust that compass?" he
sanctified man, in a few minutes. "They'll asked, mildly, of Mr. Holbrook.
want some help reefm' the mainsail pretty — "Ever what?" asked the owner, con-
big sea to run her under all lower canvas." temptously.
And he took the lad's hand and went for- "Do you ever sec that the card swings
ward through the forecastle to the scuttle true?". asked the sanctified man.
and so on up to the sunlight above. Mr. Holbrook looked at the tall man with
The morning was now well advanced. undisguised pity. What should a clerical
Eight-bells struck off and the head of Mr. man know about navigation, he thought.
Holbrook appeared emerging from the cabin The poor country clergyman was evidently
companion way. The sea was sparkling in a bit ignorant concerning compasses,
the sunshine and the quick combers running although every school boy knew that the
before the freshening breeze were covering magnet swung north and south. He at-
the surface with patches of white. The top' tempted -to explain the matter in a wearied
Sail hail been taken in and all hands were tone, but when he had finished the tall man
lowering down the mainsail to close reef it. only smiled and his expressive eyes showed
The sanctified man tailed onto the main traces of amusement. He said nothing.
sheet and soon had the boom nearly amid- Finally he ventured:
ships. Then the sail was lowered slowly, the "If I were you, I would let her head a lit-
men handing in the canvas to ease it on the tle more to the eastward."
lazvjacks and toppinglift while the Dtirt- Mr. Holbrook walked away giving a little
nioor ran along under jigger and jib Iwfore a grunt of disgust as though he had been hold-
sea that was rapidly .shifting to the eastward. ing intercourse with a lunatic. As he never
Mr. Holbrook came on deck and watched spoke to his Captain except to tell him
his Hying fabric, taking a hand and passing where he wanted to go, he had a rather
reef-points under the jackstay along the lonely time on de< k and took to playing with
boom, which were all carefully pulled out his son by sitting at one etui of the cabin
again and passed under the foot-roping of house and throwing a line to him at the other
the mainsail 'by the careful skipper. and then pulling upon it.
Mrs. Holbrook decided that as the motion The sea became rougher during the day,
was very great she would remain where it af- but in spite of it, dinner was served in the
fected her the least. It would be time saloon. Mrs. Holbrook appeared at last and
enough go on deck after dinner when the
to bravely tried to play the part of hostess to
beauties of an afternoon at sea might be ap- her guest. Holbrook had always shown an
preciated. aversion to piously inclined people, and a
Mr. Holbrook soon went below to break- clerygman's presence gave him extreme an-
fast and took his son with him. When they noyance as it prevented his picturesque How
appeared again the mainsail was set close- of words. As adjectives were a weakness of
reefed, and the jigger rolled up letting the his, the conversation would have lapsed into
yawl run easily with more headsail. She monosyllables, had not Mrs. Holbrook de-
now rose on the following .seas like a swan termined to do her duty.
and as she would reach the crest she would "I suppose," said that lady, "you have
rush wildly along the slanting side, her nose many sailor men in your congregation, Mr.
pointing downward and the full weight of Jones.
the gale in her canvas, until the sea would The tall man looked at her sharply. He
run from under her, letting her sink slowly thought of his "congregation" and won-
into the trough where her canvas would flap dered. Did the lady know what he was?
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He >EI/E1> TIIK HOY AND rLL'MiEU HI LtCW AKD.
at his host. " 1 le never did time." the man's great frame.
tall He had eaten
"Never what?" asked the lady. very little for days and the effects of good
A sharp kick upon the shin Ixme from food and strong drink were very strengthen-
young Richard caused the sanctified man to ing. The look of challenge took the place of
raise a full foot higher in his seat. alarm in his large expressive eyes and his
"What's the matter?" he asked quickly. great square jaw seemed to set firmer. 1 la If
"Aw, tumble," said the irreverent Rich- of his cigar disappeared between his teeth,
ard. which closed upon it with the set of a vice.
Mrs. Holbrook looked at her son sharply. They went aft again in time to meet Mrs.
"Whatdid you do? Do you want to be Holbrook coming fin deck assisted by the
sent from. the table!?? she said.
4
»
Captain, who placed rugs for her in a
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THE SANCTIFIED MAN 75
steamer chair in the cockpit. It was getting Holbrook saw something forward and
thicker and the wind was now well to the made his way toward the bow followed by his
eastward of north, but there was no harbor son, who turned to look back at the tall man.
nearer than Cape Fear, and the Captain had "Serves her bloomin' well right fer turn-
many reasons for not wishing to stop there. in' me out," growled the Captain into the
He would run along close to the land and ear of the helmsman. "Next time she'll Ik*
after passing would be in Long Bay, where a bit more careful alwut takin' passengers."
he would have a fair wind to Charleston, Mr. Jones sat looking out over the sea.
one hundred and fifty miles ahead, making The veil of mist that hung over the land
a run of more than two hundred miles from held many images for him. He saw how it
Beaufort. This would get the yacht well was aboard. His year of reformation had
down the coast to where they might expect taught him many things, and the lesson he
good weather.. was learning was not entirely new. He
"I think," said the tall Mr. Jones, during gazed sadly at Holbrook. He ha J felt
a break in the conversation, " I would head drawn toward the man, but after all, in spite
the vessel off shore a couple of points. You of his assumed contempt for holy men, he
know the Frying Pan runs well off here. It was more of a hypocrite than the veriest vil-
will be breaking in three fathoms with this lage parson he had ever met.
breeze. The ways o' Providence air un
" He arose slowly, unkinking his long frame
"Never mind about Providence, Mr, like the opening of a jack-knife. Then he
Jones," said Holbrook, with a wave of his tossed his cigar over the side and went to his
hand. "The Captain will look out for the room. He was an outcast aboard that
yacht. You needn't be scared. Tell us yacht and he knew it. The privacy of his
about the sailors you get in your flock. How room was much better .than the inhospitality
you learned all about boats from them." of the deck.
Mr. Jones drew himself up a good foot. All the long afternoon he sat there think-
His head went up in the air and the look of ing. He was not a strong man save for his
defiance came into his eyes. great muscular frame. He had fallen before
"The only fellows that got sent up with and he was now trying to do what he could
me were Jack Elwell and Harry Morrell," to atone for it. The thought of the silver in
said he. the after cabin came to him and his vacilla-
"How do you mean sent up with you?" ting spirit could not quite get the glistening
asked Mrs. Holbrook. vision out of his brain, for after all, these
"Well, they were caught straight enough," were his enemies. They could never
jieople
said the tall man, sadly. be anything else as long as human vanity
"You mean they had to be caught and and conceit endured. Even the miserable
sent to you for spiritual teaching?" asked little prig of an owner who ridiculed clergy-
Mrs. Holbrook, with a smile. men need not be spared. It might do his
" Well,cr — not exactly," said the tall man, small soul good to have to part with some of
in a voice which died away to a whisper. his treasures. He pondered, while the light
"Ha, ha, ha, a good one on you, Mr. failed and the look of challenge came into
Jones," said Holbrook. his eyes. I [e had a powerful frame and had
"Well, you see," went on the tall man, nothing to fear. And all the time the Dart-
slowly, "you don't seem to understand just moor ran to leeward with the lift of the
what I am." He looked at the Captain, who northeast sea behind her.
stood near at the wheel, but whose face was It was just Ix-fore eight-bells, when a man
like a mahogany mask. who had gone forward on lookout hailed
"Why, you are a clergyman, are you the Captain.
not?" asked Mrs. Holbrook. "Something white dead ahead, sir," he
"A convict," said Mr. Jones, slowly. cried>
There was a long silence. Holbrook rose The sanctified man heard and thought of
and went to the further side of the yacht. the untrue compass. The next instant there
Mrs. Holbrook sat a few moments and was a dull reverberating snore alongside as a
looked out to sea. Then she motioned to giant breaker burst into a white smother and
the steward, who was at the companionway, rolled away in the darkness. It was break-
to take her wraps below, and she disap- ing in three fathoms, and the yacht was rac-
peared down the steps without a word. ing to her end.
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76 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
There was a rush of feet on deck. Wild The sanctified man
reached the deck by
cries came from afl, where ihe Captain had dint of a fierce struggleup through the for-
rolled the wheel hard down and was strug- ward companion. The men who were be-
"
gling with the sailor to get the jigger on her low follower] as best they could; swashing,
and force her off shore. She had not floundering through the flood and loosened
fittings, and they
managed to get aft
in time to get a line
to the sailor who
had been at the
wheel and who was
now close along-
side. The Captain
was gone.
All the time the
Par/moor wasdrift-
ing to leeward and
into the breakers.
She had swung off
again under the
pressure of her jib,
and just as the tall
man seized the jig-
ger halyards to gel
the after sail upon
her, she struck on
the Frying Pan
Shoals. The next
sea rolled over her
and was the begin-
ning of the end.
Mr. Holbrook
had been below all
this time, and he
now appeared at
the companion with
his wife and boy.
The sea that fell
over the wrecked
craft nearly
drowned them and
washed Richard
back into the
cabin. Mr. Jones
roared out for the
men to get the only
small boat left
alongside, and his
THE TAI L FORM OF A MAN STAr.c.RRISr. UV TMH FKAOI rARRYINc. SUMRTIIIM. IN HIS ARMS. voice rose to a deep
sonorous yell. He
touched yet, but as the yawl came to in the led ihe way himself to the falls,wherc the small
gale, she brought up broadside in a sea that boat t ra iled to leeward, the da vits having been
burst upon her with the weight of an ava- torn out bodily with the weight of the break-
lanche, heaving her on her lee beam and ing seas. The hauling part was still on deck
washing everything off her, fore and aft. anrl he handed in the line quickly, the three
The water poured down the companionway sailors and steward taking heart at his exam-
and flooded the cabin. ple and helping all they could. Mrs. Ilol-
Google
THE SANCTIFIED MAN
brook was placed in the small l>oat and her peered down into the darkness below. The
husband waited not for an invitation to fol- cabin was not quite full of water and he
low, but floundered in after her. The three climbed down, feeling for the magnificent
sailors sprang aboard. At that instant a cup he had seen there the day before. His
giant sea rose to windward. It showed for a hand touched it, although he was now al-
'second in the ghastly phosphorescent glare most shoulder deep in the water. A mat-
of the surrounding foam. Then it thundered tress floated against him and he seized it.
over the doomed yacht. The cork within would float him and his
When the sanctified man came up from prize. He tried to find something else that
the blackness below, he was just aware of would float, but just then a torrent of sea
the vessel's outline some fifty feet away to water rushed below and he saw that if he
windward, and he struck out strongly for would get away at all he must soon start.
her. In a few minutes he was alongside. A He lugged his prize to the steps and started
great sea broke over her again, but he held to drag it clear. He reached down in the
well under the rise of her bow and managed water to get a liettcr grip of it and his great
to cling to the trailing debris. Then he fingers closed upon a human hand. Then he
climbed on deck. There was nothing living made out the form of the boy with his head
left there. He looked for the boat.Jxit it had still above water, clinging to the topmost
disappeared. Then he was suddenly aware step of the ladder. He peered into the child's
of a bright light and as he looked he remem- face and saw the frightened eyes open and
Ix-red the Ha Id Head tower which marks the look at him. Then he stopped and stood
dreaded shoals of Cape Fear. motionless upon the ladder.
He knew he was a mile or more from the In all his work he had only been a few
-
beach and all the way was the rolling surf. minutes, but those few minutes had been
It was a desperate swim at any time, but in minutes of his old life, the life of a sailor.
a northeast gale, with the sea rolling high, it The late past had Wen forgotten and he was
was useless to think of anything human at- now a shipwrecked mariner, getting ashore
tempting it without artificial aid. He clung as best he could, saving what he might from
to the stump of the mainmast and tried to a wreck. Hut the touch of the boy's hand
live through the torrents that swept over him brought him back again to the realization of
by getting directly in its lee. This was the his condition. The hand of an enemy's son,
only way he could stay even a few moments but the hand of one who had treated him
aboard the vessel. She was lifting still with kindly. The mattress would not hold all
each succeeding sea and driving higher and three. It would
Ihj between the boy and the
higher upon the bank, but she had not cup. He sworesavagely at the piece of sil-
broken up badly yet. Yachts like the Dart- ver, held an instant, then started to
it for
moor could stand a tremendous pounding hurl it from him. In the precious seconds he
before going to pieces, but he -knew that was making a desperate fight. He gripped
nothing could stand the smashing long. Be- it again w^ith both hands and held it l>efore
fore daylight there would be not a stick to him. A sea roared over the wreck and half
show that a fine ship had gone ashore in the smothered him, pouring down the open
night. companion.
The cabin scuttle was oj>en and he won- He dropped the heavy cup, seized the
dered the cabin was full of water yet. The
if half-fainting Richard and quickly passed a
silver was still there and belonged to the lashing about him. Then he seized the cork
man who could save it. There was a chance mattress and l>oy and plunged to leeward.
for him and he was already looking about in In the dim gray of the early morning, the
the blackness for a proper spar or piece of keej>er of the bald Head Light House saw
wood to float him for the struggle in. It the tall form of a man staggering up the
might be just as well to try to take in a little beach carrying something in his arms. He-
extra weight along with him, for he would ran down the steps of the tower and met the
not start until he could get his float. tallstranger and relieved him of his burden
In a smooth between two seas he made a of a still living but half-drowned boy.
dash for the companion, springing along the "His mother and father are crazy with
coamings of the skylight to get a footing, for grief," said the keej>er. "The woman is » Ty-
the deck was at a high angle. He reached it ing all the time that it was the will o' God,
and clung under its lee for shelter. Then he because she had a convict aboard her yacht.
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78 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
If you arc the Captain, you had lietter bring said the tall man, hardly above a
in a voice
the lad to her yourself. I reckon she'll be whisper. "You take the fellow to her
little
careful what kind o' passengers she takes — I'll go and get some clothes on."
alxxird again, and take your word for things The light-keeper strode away with the boy
aboard her boats." in his arms. The till man stood still for sev-
" Does she think it was because a convict eral minutes, looking after him. When the
was aboard, the vessel went ashore?" asked keejKT reached the dwelling he turned and
the tall man. drawing his half naked figure saw the tall man still standing there in his
up to its full height. soaking trousers, his giant torso looking like
"Sure, she says the Captain didn't want the statue of a sea-god. "The ways o'
A woman
him. mighty
too," said the keeper.
fine religious she i>, Providence air mighty strange," muttered
the sanctified man. slowly to himself —
"I reckon I won't bother her just now," ''But somehow I feel that I won."
ALTRUISM
BY ALLISON YKWELL
ness.
The bounty of its tre asures And tears shall only blind us.
Shall heap with vast replenish- If thorns that pierced our feet shall
ing leave
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lira-ant by /'. W. ihUhanty.
i
With proper little boys,
Google
itrmwm /•) It .V Potts*.
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THE ATTACK IN THE RUE DE
LA PRESSE
BY LEONARD MERRICK
ILLUSTRATED MY H. S. POTTER
ing his pen in the air, Pitou. "She is an actress, then, this
"there were four suit- Claudine? At what theater is she blazing
ors fur the Most Beau- —the Montmartrc?"
tiful of her Sex. The "How often I find occasion to lament
firstyoung man was a that your imagination is no larger than
musician, and he shut the Quartier! Claudine is not of Mont-
himself in his garret to create a divine melody, martrc at all, at all! My jn»or friend, have
which should he dedicated to her. The sec- you never heard that there are theaters on
ond lover was a chemist, who experimented the Grande Boulevards?"
day and night to concoct a unique j>erfume "The rumor has reached me, I confess.
which she alone might use. The third, who So, you betake yourself to haunts of fash-
wasa floriculturist, aspired constantlyamong ion ? Now I begin to understand why you
his bulbs to evolve a lavender rose which have become so prodigal with the blacking.
should immortalize the lady's name." For some time I have had the intention of
"And the fourth," inquired that luckless reproaching you with your shoes our —
composer Nicolas Pitou, "what did that finances are not equal to such luster."
fourth suitor do?" "Ah, when one trulv loves, money is no
"The fourth suitor waited for her every object!" said Tricotrin. "However, if it
afternoon in the sunshine, while the others is time mis-sj>cnt to write a sonnet to her,
were at work, and married her with great it is even more unprofitable to pass the
eclat. The moral of which is that, instead evening justifying one's shoes." And,
of cracking my head to make a sonnet to picking up his hat, the poet ran down the
Claudine, I shall be wise to put on my hat and made his way as fast as his legs
stairs
and go to meet her." would carry him to the Comedic Royale.
"1 denouement is arrived
rejoice that the He arrived at the stage door with no
at," Pitou returned, "hut it would l>e even more than three minutes to sjwre, and dis-
more absorbing if I had previouslv heard cing himself in a graceful attitude,
of Claudine." waited for Mdlle. Claudine Hillairet to
"Miserable dullard!" cried the }M>et. come out. It might have been observed
"Do you tell me that you have not pre- that his confidence deserted him while he
viously heard of Claudine? She is the waited, for although it was perfectly true
only woman I have ever loved." that he adored her, he had omitted to add
'
A-ah!" rejoined Pitou. "Certainly Ilia ve that the passion was not mutual. He wa-
—
heard of her a thousand times only she has conscious that the lady might resent his
never been called 'Claudine' before." presence on the doorstep; and, in fact,
"Well, well," said Tricotrin, "we are all when she appeared, she said nothing more
liable to errors the heart.
of Claudine, tender than
" Mon Dim,
however, represents the devotion of a life- again you! What do you
time! I think seriously of writing a tragedy want?"
for her to appear in." "How can you ask?" sighed the poet.
Copyright, iQob. h Lt.'nard St,, rii < in the Unit,
. J States of A irrrica
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82 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"I came to walk home with you lest an which disconcerted him hardly less than
electric tram knocked you down at one of the her annoyance.
crossings. What
a magnificent perform- "It is impossible to be angry with you
ance you have given this evening! Superb!" long," she declared, "you are too amus-
"Were you in the theater?" ing. Also as a friend I do not object to
"In spirit! My spirit, which no official you violently. Come, I advise you to be
can exclude, present every night, though
is content with what you can have, instead
sordid considerations force me to remain of crying for the moon."
corporeally in my attic. Transported by "Well, I am not unwilling to make a shift
admiration, I even burst into frantic ap- with it in the meantime," returned Tricotrin,
plause there. How perfect is the sym- "hut friendship is a poor substitute for the
pathy between our souls!" heavens —and we shall see what we shall
"Listen, my boy," she said, "you are see. Tell me now, they mean to revive La '
crazy, and I am sorry for your relatives, Curieuse' at the Come\iie, I hear. What
if you have any, you must be a great grief part in it have you been assigned ? "
to them. But I wish you to understand "Ah," exclaimed Mdlle. Hillairet, "is
that I cannot have you dangling after me it not always the same thing? I dust the
and talking this bosh. What do you sup- same furniture with the same feather
pose can come of it?" brush, and I say 'Yes,' and 'No,' and
"Fame shall come of it," averred the 'Here is a letter, madame.' That is all."
poet, "fame for us both! Do not figure "I swear it is infamous," cried the poet.
yourself that I am a dreamer. Not at all! "It amazes me that they fail to perceive
I am practical, a man of affairs. Are you that your gifts are buried. One would
content with your position in the Com&lie suppose that managers would know better
Royale? No, you are not. You occupy than to condemn an artiste d' esprit to per-
a subordinate position; you play the r6le of form such ignominious roles. Also the
a waiting-maid, which is quite unworthy critics! Why do not the critics call atten-
of your genius, and understudy the ingenue, tion to an outrage which continues year by
who is a portly matron in robust health. year? It appears to me that I shall have
The opportunity to distinguish yourself to use my influence with the press." And
appears to you as remote as Mars. Do I so serious was the tone in which he made
romance, or is it true?" this boast, that the fair Claudine began
'Tt is true," she said. "Well?" to wonder if she had, after all, underrated
"Well, I propose to alter all this, I! I the position of her out-at-elbows gallant.
have the intention of writing a gTeat tragedy "Your influence?" she questioned, with
and when it is accepted I shall stipulate an eager smile. "Have you, then, influ-
that you, and you alone, shall thrill Paris ence with the critics?"
as my heroine. When the work of my "We shall see what we shall see," re-
brain has raised you to the pinnacle for peated Tricotrin, significantly. "I am
which you were born, when the theater not unknown in Paris, and I have your
echoes with our names, 1 shall fall at your cause at heart— I may make a star of you
feet, and you will murmur: 'Gustave— yet. But while we are on the subject of
love thee'!" astronomy, one question! When my ser-
"Why does not your mother do some-" vices have transformed you to a star, shall
thing?" she asked. "Is there nobody to I still be compelled to cry for the moon?"
place you where you might be cured? A Mdlle. Hillairet's tones quivered with
tragedy! Imbccilel I am a comeclienne to emotion as she murmured how grateful
the finger tips! What should I do with to him she would be, and it was understood,
vour tragedy, even if it were at the Francais when he took leave of her, that if he in-
itself?" deed accomplished his design, his suit
"You are right," said Tricotrin. "I would no longer be hopeless.
shall turnout a brilliant comedy instead! The poet pressed her hand ardently and
And when the work of my brain has raised turned homeward in high feather; and it
you to the pinnacle for which you were was not until he had trudged a mile or so
born, when the theater echoes with our that the rapture in his soul began to subside
names "
under the remembrance that he had been
She interrupted by a peal of laughter talking through his hat.
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THE ATTACK IN THE RUE DE LA PRESSE 83
arises how this thing, of which I s]>oke so how that is to l>e managed, but obviously
confidently, is to be effected. What do it is the only course. / must write what is
you suggest?" to be said, and La Yoix must believe that
"I suggest that you allow me to sleep." it has been written by l^abarregue! Come,
replied Pitou, "for I shall feel less hungry we are getting on famously, we have now
then." decided what we are to avoid."
"Your suggestion will not advance us," "Shades of D'Artagnan, Athos, Portho>,
demurred Tricotrin. "We shall, on the and Aramis," cried Pitou. "This will l>e
contrary, examine the situation in all its the doughtiest adventure in which we ha\e
l>earings. Listen! Claudine is to enact engaged."
the waiting-maid in 'La Curieuse,' which "You are right, it is an adventure
will be revived at the Comedie Royale, in worthy of our steel — by which I mean our
a fortnight's time; she will dust the Empire Sted pens. We shall erlightcn the public,
furniture, and say 'Yes' and 'No' with all crown an artiste, and win htr heart by way
the intellect and animation for which those of reward; tha is to say, / shall win her
monosyllables provide an opening. Have* heart by way of reward. What your own
you gras|K*d the synopsis so far? (itiod! share of the Unity will be I do not recog.
On the strength of ihis performance, it has nize, but I promise you, at least, a generous
to be stated by the foremost dramatic critic half of the dangers."
in Paris, that she is an actress of genius. " Mycomrade." murmured Pitou, "even
Now, how be done? How shall we
is it to loyal! But do you not think that La Yoix aili
induce Labarregue to write of her with an smell a rat ? What about the handwriting.?"
outburst of enthusiasm in Li Yoix?" "It is a weak point which had hardly
"Labarreguc?" faltered Pitou. "I de- presented itself to me. Could I have con-
clare the audacitv of your notion wakes me structed the situation to my liking, Labor-
up!"- regue would have the custom to typewrite
"Capital!" said Tricotrin, "we are mak- his notices; however, as he is so inconsider-
ing j>rogress already. Yes, we must have ate as to knock them off in the Cafe de
Labarreguc —
has never Urn my motto
it IT'.urojie, he has not that custom, and we
to do things by halves. Dramatically, of must adapt ourselves to the circumstances
course, I should hold a compromising pajier that exist. The probability is that a crit-
of Laliarregue's; I should say, 'Monsieur, icism delivered by the accredited messenger,
the price of this document is an act of and signed with the familiar 'J. L.,' will be
justice to Mademoiselle Claudine Hil- passed without question; the difference in
lairet.' Is agreed? Good! Sit down—
it the handwriting may be attributed to an
you will write from my dictation ?" amanuensis. When the great man writes his
"However " said Pitou. next notice, I shall make it my business to
"However— I anticipate your objection - be taking a bock in the Cafe de l'Kurope, in
I do not hold such a paper. Therefore order that I may observe closely what hap-
that scene is cut ! Well, let us find another! pens. There is to be a ri petition gintrale at
Where your fertility
is of resource? Mon the Vaudeville on Monday night; on Mon-
Dim! Why should I speak to him at all ? " day night, therefore, I hope to advise you of
" I do not figure myself that you will speak our plan of cam|»aign. Now do not sjieak
to him —
you would never get the chance." to me any more; 1 am about to comjxisean
"Precisely my own suspicion! What eulogy on Claudine, for which 1-aharregue
follows? Instead of wasting my time will in due course receive the credit."
-eeking an interview which would not be The |M»et fell asleep at last, murmuring
"
granted dithyrambk phrases; and if you sup|H»c
"And which would lead to nothing, even that in the soberness of daylight he re-
if it were granted!" nounced his harebrained project, it is cer
"And which would lead to nothing even tain that you have tuner lived with Trico-
if it were granted, as you jxiint out; instead trin in Montmartre.
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84 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
No, indeed, he did not renounce it. On Claudine be amazed next day ? I shall not
Monday night —or rather the small hours
in breathe a word to her in the meantime, I
of Tuesday morning — he awoke Pitou shall let her open La Voix without expecta-
with enthusiasm. tion, and then —
Ah, what joy will be hers!
"Mon i>Uux," he exclaimed, "the even- '
The success of the evening was made by the
ing has been well spent! I have observed, actress who took the rile of the maid-ser-
and I have reflected. When he quitted vant, and had perhaps six words to utter.
the Vaudeville, Labarrcgue has entered But with what vivacity, with what esprit
the Cafe" de l'Europe, seated himself at his were they delivered Even- gesture, every
!
favorite table, and written without cessa- sparkle of the eyes betokened the true come-
tion for half an hour. When his critique dienne. For myself, I ceased to regard the
was finished, he placed it in an envelope, fatuous ingenue, I forgot the presence of the
and commanded his supper. All this time, famous leading lady; I watched, absorbed
I, sipping a bock leisurely, have accorded the facial play of this maid servant, whose
to his actions a scrutiny^worthy of the brains and beauty, I predict, will speedily
secret police. Presently a lad from the bring Paris to her feet.
'
office of La Voix has appeared; he ap- "Is that what you mean to write?"
proached Labarregue, received the envel- "I shall improve upon it. I am con-
ope, and departed. At this point, my bock stantly improving —
that is why the notice
was finished*, I paid for it and sauntered is still not finished. It hampers me that
out, keeping the boy well in view. His I must compose in the strain of Labarregue
route to the office lay through a dozen himself, instead of allowing my eloquence
streets which were all deserted at so late to soar. By the way, we had better s|>eak
an hour; but I remarked one that was even to Lajeunie on the' subject soon, lest he
more forbidding than the rest, a mere alley should pretend that he has another en-
that seemed positively to have been designed gagement for that night; he is a good boy,
for our purj>osc. Our course is clear, we Lajeunie, but he always pretends that he
shall attack him in the Rue de la Presse." has engagements in fashionable circles."
"Really!" inquired Pitou, somewhat The pair went to him the following day,
startled. and when they had climbed to his garret,
"But really! We shall not shed his on the sixth floor, found the young literary
blood; we will make him turn out his pock- man in bed.
ets, and then, disgusted by the smallness "It shocks me," said Pitou, "to perceive
of the swag, toss it back to him with a cuff that you rise so late, Lajeunie; why are
on the car. Needless to say, that when you not dashing off chapters of a romance ?"
he escapes, he will he the bearer of my ''Mon Dieu" replied Lajeunie, "I was
criticism, not of Labarregue's. He will making studies among the beau mondc
have been too frightened to remark the until a late hour last night, at a reception;
exchange." and, to complete my fatigue, it was im-
" It is not bad, your plan." possible to get a cab when I left."
" It is an inspiration But to render it ab-
! "Naturally; it happens to cverylxxly
solutely safe, we must have an accomplice." when he lacks a cab-fare," said Tricotrin.
"Why, is he so powerful, your boy?" "Now, tell me, have you any invitation from
"No, mon ami, the boy is not so power- a duchess for next Thursday evening?"
ful, but the alley has two ends I do not— "Thursday, Thursday?" repeated La-
desire to be arrested while I am giving a jeunie, thoughtfully. "No, I believe that
lifelike representation an Apache! I
of I am free for Thursday."
think we will admit Lajeunie to our scheme, "Now, that is exclaimed
fortunate!"
as a novelist he should appreciate the sit- Tricotrin. "Well, we want you to join us
uation. If Lajeunie keeps guard at one that evening, my friend."
end of the alley, while you stand at the "Indeed, we should have been most
other, I can do the business without risk of disappointed otherwise," put in Pitou.
In-ing interrupted and removed to jail." "Certainly; I shall have much pleasure,"
"It is true. As a danger signal I shall said Lajeunie. "Is it a supper?"
whistle the first bars of my fugue." " No," said Tricotrin. "It is a robbery. I
"G»kk1! And we will arrange also a shall explain. Doubtless vou know the name
signal with Lajeunie. Mon Dieu! will not of 'Mademoiselle Claudine Hillairet?'"
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THE ATTACK IN THE RUE DE LA PRESSE 85
"I have never heard it in my life, Is make you Pitou will be at the
celebrated.
she in Society?" other end. I and the apple-cheeked boy,
"Society? She is in the Com<klic Roy- who is to die, that is to say, to be spoofed,
ale. She is a great actress, hut— like us will occupy the center of the stage; I mean
all — unrecognized." the middle of the alley. And on the mor-
"My heart hleeds for her. Another row, when all Paris rings with the fame of
comrade!" Claudine Hillairet, I, who adore her, shall
" I was sure I could depend upon your have won her heart."
sympathy. Well, on Thursday night, they "Humph," said Lajeunie. "Well, since
will revive 'La Curieuse' at the Com&lie, the synopsis has a happy ending, I consent.
and I myself propose to write Jules Labar- But I make one condition, I must wear a
regue's critique of the performance. Do crepe mask! Without a crepe mask I per-
you tumble?" ceive no thrill in mv role."
"It is a gallant action. Yes, I grasp " Madness " objected Pitou.
!
" Now lis-
your watch in your hand." the boy identifying me. Good, on Thurs-
"It is at the pawnshop." day night then. In the meantime we shall
"Well, well, of course it is; since when rehearse the crime assiduously, and you
have you joined the realists? Somelxwly and Pitou can practice your whistles. It
else's watch, or a clock. Are there no is agreed."
clocks in Paris? You say, 'I shall give With what diligence did the poet write
you until the clock strikes the hour.' That each day now! How lovingly he selected
is —
even more literary you obtain the sol- his superlatives! Never, in the history of
emn note of the clock to mark the crisis." the press, had such ardent care been lav-
"But there is no convict," demurred ished on a criticism —
truly it was not until
Tricotrin; "there are clocks, but no con- Thursday afternoon that he was satisfied
vict." that he could do no more. He put the
"No convict? The messenger is not a even
jiages in his pocket, and, too impatient
convict ?" to be hungry, roamed alxnit the Quartier,
"Not at all— he is an apple-checked reciting to himself the most hyperbolic of
l>oy." his periods.
"Oh, it is a stupid plot," said Lajeunie. And the dusk gathered over Paris, and
"I shall not collaborate in it." the lights sprang out, and the tense hour-
"Consider!" cried Tricotrin. "Do not crept away.
throw away the chance of a lifetime; think It was precisely half past eleven when
what I offer you! You shall hang about the three conspirators arrived at the doors
the end of a dark alley, and whistle if any- of the ComeVlie Royale, and lingered near
body comes. How literary again is that! by until the audience jmured forth. Lahar-
You may work it into a novel that will regue was among the first to appear. He
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86 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
paused on the steps to take a cigarette and "Fat one," exclaimed the poet, "I starve
stepped briskly into the noise and glitter —give me five francs!"
of the boulevard. The young men followed, "Hein?" stammered the youth, jumping.
exchanging feverish glances. Soon the "I have not five francs, I!"
glow of the Cafe de PEurope was visible. "Give me you have empty your
all —
The critic entered, made a sign to the pockets, let me see! If you obey I shall
waiter, and seated himself at a table. not harm vou; if you resist, vou arc a dead
Evervixxiy gazed with interest at him. boy."
Wherever he went he was waited upon and The youth produced with trepidation, a
llattered by players of continental fame sou, some cigarettes, a ball of string, a
especially by the fair members of "the pro- clasp knife, a young lady's photograph, and
fession." To those who did not know, the Labarreguc's next moment
notice. The
cafe habitues whispered, "There is Labar- the exchange of manuscripts had been
—
reguc see, he comes to write his criticism deftly accomplished.
on the revival of La Curieuse'!" Lahar-
4
"Devil take your rubbish," cried the
regue affected serene unconsciousness of Apache. "I want none of it there! Be —
all this, but secretly he lapped it up. Oc- off,or I shallshoot you for wasting my
casionally, he jKissed his hand across his time."
brow with a gesture profoundly intellectual. The whole affair had occupied less than
Few people remarked that at brief inter- a minute; and the three adventurers skipped
vals three shabby young men strolled in, to Mont mart re rejoicing.
who betrayed no knowledge of one another, And how glorious was their jubilation in
and merely called for bocks. None sus- the hour when they opened La Voix and
pected that these humble customers plotted read Tricotrin's pronouncement over the
to consign the celebrity's criticism to the initials "J. L." There it was, printed
flames. word for word, the leading lady was dis-
Without a sign of recognition, taciturn missed with a the ingenue received a
line,
and impassive, young men waited,
the three sneer; and column was a
for the rest, the
their eyes bent upon the critic's movements. panegyric of the waiting-maid. The
By and by Labarregue thrust his " copy triumph of the waiting-maid was unpre-
in an envelope provided by the waiter. cedented and supreme. Certainly when
Some moments afterwards one of the young labarregue saw the paj>er, he flung round
men asked another waiter for the materials to the office furious; but La Voix did not
to write a letter. The paper he crumpled desire jwople to know that it had l>een taken
in his pocket; in the envelope he placed the in, so matter was hushed up, and
the
forged critique. Labarregue went around pretending that
A quarter of an hour pissed. Then a he actually thought all th<»e fine things
youth of about sixteen hurried in and made of the waiting-maid.
his way to Labarreguc's table. At this The only misfortune was that when
instant Lajeunie rose and left. As the Tricotrin called victoriously upon Claudine,
youth received the "copy" Tricotrin also to cbsp her in his arms, he found her in
sauntered out. When the youth again hysterics on the sofa —
and it transpired
reached the door, it was just swinging be- that she had not represented the waiting-
hind Pitou. maid after all. On the contrary, she had
The conspirators were now in the right at the last moment, been promoted to the
order— Lajeunie pressing forward; Trico- part of the ingenue, while the waiting-maid
trin keeping pace with the boy; Pitou a had been played by a little actress whom
few yards in the rear. she much disliked.
The boy proceeded swiftly. It was late, "It is cruel, it is monstrous, it is heart-
and even the Grande Boulevards showed rending!" gasped Tricotrin, when he
few pedestrians now; in the side streets grasped the enormity of his failure. "But
the quietude was unbroken. Tricotrin light of my life, why should you blame
?"
whipped on his mask at the opening of the me for this villainy of Labarregue's
passage; when the messenger was half-way "I do not know," she said. "However,
—
through it, the attack was made suddenly you bore me, you and vour 'influence with
with determination. the press.' Get out!"'
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0
A BROADWAY VILLON
BY ARTHUR TRAIN
" There is no essential incongruity between rime and culture.'*
i
—
Oscar Wilde, " The Decay 9/ Lying.*
' was five o'clock. Sun he devoured the page with his eyes, his
f
g day afternoon, and the hollow face filled with peculiar exaltation.
''^^y^ sunbeams had
slanting Then he expelled a cloud of smoke sucked
5 , crawled across the bed from the glowing end of hi> cigarette,
.^1; . :^ and up the walLs and tossed away the butt, and thrust the l>ook
vanished somehow into into his hip-pocket.
the ceiling when Vol-
taire McCartney came "O -would there -cere a heaven to hear!
to himself, kicked off the patchwork quilt, O would there were a hell to fear!
elevated his torso upon one elbow and took Ah, welcome pre, eternal fire.
an observation out of the dingy window. To burn forever and not tire!
The prospect of the Palisade* to the north-
west was undimmed, for the wind was blow- Belter Jxion's whirling wheel.
ing fresh from the >ea and the smoke from And still at any tost to /eel!
the glucose factory on the Jersey side wis Pear Son of God, in merry give
making straight up the river in a long, My soul to flames, but—let me LiVF.f"
black, horizontal bar, behind which the
horizon glowed in a brilliant, translucent He turned away from the window and
mass of cloud. McCartney swung his thin pale against the gaudy west his profile
legs clear of the lx?d and fumbled with his shone drawn and haggard. Restlessly
left hand in the pocket of a plaid waistcoat he filched his pocket for another cigarette
dangling from the iron }>ost. The act was and tossed himself wearily into a painted
unconscious, equivalent to the automatic rocker. The cat awakened, elongated
groping for one's slippers which jwrchance herself in a prodigious and voluptuous
the reader's own well-regulated feet per- yawn of her whole body, dropped to the
form on similar occasions. The pocket in floor and leaped with a single spring into
question yielded a square of white tissue her master's lap.He stroked her sadly.
which the fingers deftly folded, transferred " Isabeau! My poor Isabeau! I envy
to the other hand, and then filled with —
you creature perfect in symmetry, per-
tobacco. Like others nourished upon fect in feeling!"
stimulants and narcotics, McCartney awoke The cat rubbed her head against the but-
absolutely, without a trace of drowsiness, tons of his coat. McCartney leaned kick
nervously ready to do the next thing, what- his head. The little room was l>are of or-
ever that might chance to be. His first nament or of furniture other than the
act was to pull on his shoes, the second chair, save for a deal table at the foot of
to slip his suspender over his rather narrow the bed, bearing a litter of newspa|>ers and
shoulders, and the third to light the cigar- yellow pad -pa per.
ette. Then he sauntered across the room
to the window-sill, upon which slept pro- "/ am discouraged by the street.
foundly a small tortoise-shell cat, and The pacing of monotonous feet!"
picked up a pocket volume, well worn,
which he shook open at a point designated murmured the man in the rocker. The
by a safety match. For several moments light died out above the Palisades; the
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88 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
cat snuggled down between her master's " Dose is pooty, eh ?" he remarked to his
legs. neighbor. "I trow you for die Schnapps,
" Dear Son of God, in mercy give eh?"
My soul to flames, but let me timet" McCartney watched them covetously as
they emptied the leathern shaker, solemnly
he added softly. Then he the cat
lifted counting the spots at the conclusion <>f
gently to the floor, threw on a short, faded each cast.
reefer coat, and opened the door. "Here, let me show you how," vol-
"Well, Isabeau, it's time for us to go out unteered their guest. "Poker hands."
and earn our supper!" He rattled the dice and poured them forth.
They came up indiscriminately.
"Not so goot, eh?" commented the
McCartney gazed solemnly down from German. "I'll trow you. I'll trow enny-
the small rostrum upon which he was boty mit clear dice. Venn dey ain't loated
standing at the end of the saloon without I can trow mit emnyboty." He held them
so much as a smile in answer to the roar
of appreciation with which his time-worn
up to the light. " Dese
"Three times for a
is clear —goot."Mc-
dollar," said
anecdote had been received. Cartney.
"Dot's goot!" shouted an abdominal "So," answered the German. He threw
•
Dutchman,' pounding the table with his carefully, and counted two sixes, two aces,
beer mug. "Gif us 'n odder!" and a five. He left in the sixes and threw
"Ya!" exclaimed his confrere. "Dot I he others. This time he got an ace and
feller, he was a corker, eh?" He put up two fives. Once more he put them back,
his hands and making a trumpet of them but accomplished no better result.
lxawled at McCartney. "Here, kommen "Now, I'll show you," said McCartney,
sie unt haf a glass bier mit us!" and emptied the shaker. The dice tumbled
Three teamsters, a card-sharp, a porter, upon the table to the tune of two aces, two
two cabbies, and a dozen un class ibles sixes and a five. He put back the sixes
nodded their heads and stamped, while the and the five and threw another ace, a
bartender passed up a foaming stein to three and a five.
the performer. McCartney blew off the "I win," he remarked. "You don't
froth, bowed with easy grace to the as- know how!"
sembled company, and drank. Then he "Vat's dot?" Don't know how, eh!"
descended to the table occupied by the roared the other. "I trow you for [file dol-
Germans. lars, see? Gif me dose leetle dice." He
"May you all have better luck than the threw with a heavy bang that shook the
gentleman in my story," he remarked. table. Again he got two sixes, two aces
" Hut I for one shall go straight to the other and a five, and put back the latter. This
place. Heaven for climate — Hell for so- time he secured another ace and leaned
ciety, eh? Hoch der Kaiser!" back and took a heavy draught of beer.
The Germans threw back their heads and Full house! Beat dat eef you can!"
laughed boisterously. McCartney tossed the dice carelessly
"Make that beer a sandwich, will you? upon the board for two fours, one ace and
Here, bill, bring me a slice of cold beef two fives. To the amazement of the Ger-
and a cheese sandwich!" mans, he left in the ace and returned the
The bartender opened a small ice chest other four to the shaker. This time he
and produced the desired edibles, to which got two more aces. His last throw gave
variation in their offered hospitality the him another ace and a five.
two interposed no objection, being in fact "Zum teuffel!" growled the German,
somewhat in awe of their intellectual, if thrusting his hand into his pocket and
not distinguished guest. As McCartney drawing forth a dirty wad of bills. " Here,
ate he pnxfuced a handful of transparent take your money!" He handed McCart-
dice. ney six dollars.
"Ever see any dice like those?" he "Kind sirs, good night," remarked Mc-
asked, rolling them across the wet table. Cartney, thrusting the bills into his waist-
The first German examined them with ap- coat |M>cket and arising from his place.
proval. "I must betake me hence. Experience is
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A BROADWAY VILLON 89
the only teacher. Let me advise you never place again by the pull of the shaggy horse.
to play games of chance with strangers." Sometimes all started in different directions
The two Germans stared at him stupidly. at one and the same time and the semblance
"You don't understand? Permit me. to a skeleton snake was heightened even —
You saw the dice were not loaded ? Very the ominous rattle was not wanting. The
good! You examined them? Very good Victoria looked restful to McCartney, whose
again.- Your powers of observation are legs were always tired.
uncultivated, merely. The stern mother
of invention — that is to say necessity — has "Why should uc jret that others ride?
obeyed the law of evolution. Three of the Perhaps dull care sits by their side, >
dice in my pocket bear no even numbers. And leaves 11 s foot men jreef"
The information is well worth your six
dollars. Again, good night." he hummed to himself, recollecting an old
"Betruger!" cried the loser of the six college glee. ;
dollars, arising heavily and upsetting his All the same that old bandbox looks not
beer. "Dot skivinded us mit dice
feller uncomfortable. How long is it since I
'
geloaded ! Sheet I
Sheet I have used a cushion! Poverty makes
They blundered toward the side en- a poor bed-fellow!"
trance, while McCartney side-stepped into last equipage swung by, McCart-
As the
an adjacent portal. Long Acre Square ney few steps in the same direction
t(K)k a
gleamed from end to end. Above him an and clamored in. He had become a
electric display, momentarily vanishing "footman" in fact, but a very undignified
and reappearing, heralded the attributes and luxurious footman, who lay back with
of the cigar sacred to the Scottish bard. his feet crossed against the box in front
Peering through the haze genereated by of him. Of all the lights on Broadway none
the countless lights a few tiny stars repaid glowed so comfortingly for McCartney as
diligent search. A scanty number of the tip of his cigarette.
pedestrians were abroad. The pantheon "My answered," he remarked,
prayer is
of delights shone silent save for an softly to himself. "Thus do I escape the
occasional clanging car. The Germans 'monotonous feet.' Had I only Isabeau
passed in search of an officer, excitedly I should have attained the height of human
jabbering about the "sheet." Their angry —
happiness to have dined, to smoke, to
expressions reverberating along the con- ride on cushioas under the starlight, to
crete, fading gradually into the hum of the have six dollars, and not to know where
lower town. —
one is going a plethora of gifts. So I
Then slowly into view crept one of can spare Isabeau for the noRce. Doubt-
those anachronisms of the metropolis — less she would not particularly care for the
huge, shaggy horse slowly stalking north- delights of locomotion."
ward, dragging a rickety express wagon Thus Voltaire sailed northward, noticed
whereon reposed a semi-somnolent yokel. only by solitary jiolicemen and lonely
Hitched by its shafts to the tail of the wagon wayfarers. Near Eightieth Street his
trailed a decrepit brougham (destined, eye caught the burning circle of a clock
probably, for country depot service), |K)inting at half past nine, and he stretched
behind this a debilitated Stanhope buggy, himself and yawned again. They were
followed by a dog-cart, a spyder, a buck- passing the vestibule of an old church
lxurd, with last of all a hoodless Victoria. which contrasted quaintly with the more
This picturesquely mournful procession ambitious modern architecture of the neigh-
of vanished respectability staggered hesi- borhood. From the interior floated out
tatingly past our hero, who regarded it with the gray unison of a hymn. McCartney
vast amusement. To his fanciful imagina- swung himself to the ground and listened
tion it appeared like the fleshless vertebrae while the skeleton rattled up the avenue.
of a sea-serpent slowly writhing into the "Egad!" thought he, "yon prayerful
obscurity of the night. Occasionally one folk are not troubled with my disorder.
of the component dorsals would strike Hell is for them what Jersey City is for
an inequality in the pavement and start me— a vital reality."
upon a brief frolic of its own, swinging out A woman, her head shrouded in a worn
of line at a tangent until hauled bark into gray shawl, approached timidly and sta-
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9° THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
lioned herself near the door. McCartney The hymn ceased and the congregation
could see that she was weeping and that she began to |xiss out. McCartney retired
had a baby her arms. He grumbled a
in into the darkness of a corner, scrutinizing
bit to himself at this business It did not every face among
the worshippers. Last
suit his fancy— his scheme, who had of all a little old man scuffling along
came
planned a continuation of this night of with the aid of a cane. His snowy heard
comedy so auspiciou.*ly begun, and dis- gave him an aspect singularly benign.
liked any incongruity. McCartney Laughed to himself.
"Broke?" he inquired without rising. "Grandpa, I trust we shall become bet-
The woman nodded. She was really ter acquainted," he remarked under his
weeping, he could see that. breath, as he followed the old fellow down
•
What's the matter?" the street.
"Dancleared out the flat and skip|»ed
ye-terday afternoon. We've had nothing
to cat— me and the kid— all day." The loud vibrations of the l>ell in the
"Let's look at your hands." deserted rooms of the floor below brought
The woman held out a thin, rough, red no immediate response, and instead of. a
hand. McCartney gave it a glance and brighter blaze of hospitality, the light in
continued: the hall was hurriedly extinguished. Mc-
"What's your kid*, name?" Cartney only pressed his thumb to the
"Catherine." round receptacle of the bell the more
McCartney gazed at her intently. assiduously, repeating the process at vary-
" I.ook here, do you think those folk* ing intervals until the light again illumined
in there would help you?" the door. A shadow hesitated upon the
•
I don't know. It's better than the late curtain, then the door itself was slowly,
Island." doubtfully opened, and the old man
"Don't try it," advised McCartney. shuffled intothe vestibule peering suspi-
"They'd think you were working some ciously through the iron fretwork. Mc-
game on 'em. Leave hi* graft to me."
l Cartney without going too close he knew —
The woman started back, half frightened, well the dread of human eve*., face to face-
but -McCartney's smile reassured her. looked nonchalantly up and down the
"Here's yours on account." He handed street, realizing that he must give his
her the five-dollar bill he had secured from quarry time to regain the self-possession
the German*, "/know how. Von don't. this midnight visit must have shattered.
You need it. / don't." He waved aside After a pause the bolt was shot and the
her thank*. "Now go home, and, listen door opened uj»on its chain.
to me, don't take Dan back— he's no "Was that vou ringing? What do vou
good." want ?"
The woman hurried away, and with her "Yes, it was I who rang. 1 trust you'll
departure silence fell again. excuse the lateness of my call. It's im-
McCartney seated himself upon the curb perative for me to see you."
and lit still another cigarette eyeing the " Who are you ? And what do you want
door c.\]>ectantlv. Once he arose and to see me about ?"
dropped a piece of silver into the poor-box
4
My name is Blake. Blake of the
inside the porch, listening intently to the '
Daily Dial.' It is a personal matter."
loud rattle it made in falling. It was "l)on't know you. Don't know anv
clearly the *olc occupant, for no answering Blake. Don't read the 'Dial.' What is
clink came in response. the j>ersonal matter?"
"For God's sake, sir, let me speak with
"Alas for the rarity you. It's a matter of life and death. Don't
Of Christian charity deny me, sir. Hear me first."
Under the The little old man closed the dour, a
couple of inches.
Softly murmured McCartney. "Want money, eh?"
" You will be lonely in there
all by your- "Help, sir. Only a word of sympathy.
"
self, littleHere'* a brother to keep
one. I've a dying child
you company," said he. pushing in another. "Can't you come round in the morning ?"
Digitized by Google
A BROADWAY VILLON 91
"It will be too late then. I implore you appeared into the darkness, struck a sul-
to listen to me for only a few moments. phur match, a fact noted by his guest, and
I've been waiting two hours upon the side- with some difficulty lighted a gas jet in a
walk for you to return and it's too late for grotesquely proportioned chandelier. The
me to go elsewhere." gas which had blazed up, he turned down
The door opened sufficiently for the old to half its original volume.
man to thrust his face close to the crack "There, sit down," said he, pointing to
and inspect his visitor from head to heels. a mahogany chair shrouded in a ticking
Evidently McCartney's appearance and cover, and settled himself in another on
the manner of his speech had made an im- the opposite side of a great desert of table.
pression which was now struggling with McCartney did as he was bidden, mentally
prudence and common sense. The Deacon, tabulating the additional facts offered to
moreover, had a reputation to support. his observation by the remainder of the
It would not do to turn an applicant away room. There was evident the same bare
who might be in dire extremity and who — vastness as in the outer hall. Two more
might go elsewhere and carry the tale with oils, one of mythological, the other of re-
him. ligious purport, balanced each other over
"Won't a bed-ticket do you, eh? And the wings of a huge black carven sideboard. '
come in the morning?" For the rest the yellow and brown wall-
McCartney saw the vacillation in the paper repeated itself interminably into the
other's mind. shadow.
"I'm sorry, but I mast see you now, if at "Feel better?" asked the Deacon.
all. To-morrow might be too late." "Yes, much," answered McCartney.
The owner of the house closed the door, "I'm used to going without food. The
unslipped the chain and retreated inside the body can stand suffering better than the
hall to the foot of the stairs, leaving the mind —and the heart."
way free for his visitor to follow. Mc- "Let's try and fix up the body first,"
Cartney entered, hat in hand, and shut the remarked the Deacon, opening a com-
door behind him, catching at a glance the partment beneath the sideboard. "Here,
austerity of the furniture and walls. To try some of these," and he placed a plate
him every inch of the Brussels carpet, the of water biscuits upon the table.
ponderous, polished walnut hat-rack, the McCartney essayed more or less suc-
massive blue china stand with its lonely cessfully to eat one, while the old man
umbrella and stout bamboo cane, and the retreated into the pantry and after a hol-
heavily framed oil copy of St. John spoke low ringing of water upon an empty sink,
eloquently. returned with a thick tumbler of Croton.
"I must ask your pardon again, sir, "Good, eh? Nothing like plain flour
for disturbing you. But a man of your food and Adam's ale! Now, what is it
character, as you have no doubt discov- you want to say. I must be getting to
ered, must suffer for the sake of his repu-
tation. I
" McCartney hastily swallowed the last
McCartney swayed and seized a yellow- of the biscuitand leaned forward.
plush portiere for support. In a moment "If I could be sure my dear wife and
he had regained control of himself ap- — child could have this to-night, I should be
parently. happy indeed. Oh, sir, poverty can be
"A touch of faintness. I haven't eaten —
borne but to see those whom we love
since morning." He looked around for a suffer and be powerless to help them —
chair. The old man made a show of con- can hardly address myself to you, sir. I
cern. have never asked for charity l>efore. I'm
"Nothing to eat! Dear me! Well, a hard working man. I had a good posi-
well! Come in and sit down. Perhaps tion, a little home of my own and a wife
I can find something." and child whom I loved devotedly. I care
Deacon Andrews led the way past the for nothing else in the world. Then came
stairs and swung open the door to the the chance that ended so disastrously for
dining-room. It had a musty smell, just us. I thought it was the tide in my affairs,
a hint of the prison pen at noon time, and you know, that might lead on to fortune.
McCartney shuddered. The old man dis- My wife was offered a position in a travel-
Digitized by Google
92 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
ing company at sixteen dollars a week, where I was known I had l>etter return and
and they agreed to take me with them as earn enough money to send for them as
press agent at thirty-five — fifty dollars a soon as I could. The manager let me
week all told. Can you blame us?" use his pass back to the city. 1 reached
"I don't approve of play-acting," said here three days ago, but I have found no
the Deacon. work of any sort. Some of the press boys
"Don't think the less of my wife for have shared their meals with me, but for
that. She meant it for the best." Mc- the moment I'm penniless. Meantime,
Cartney's face worked and he brushed his my wife is lying sick in a strange household
eves with the kick of his hand. and my little girl may be dying!" Mc-
".Look here, what's the use wasting Cartney sobbed brokenly. "I'm at my
time," interrupted the Deacon. "How do last gasp. nowhere to sleep to-night.
I've
I know who you are?" No money buy breakfast. I can't even
to
"You have onlv mv word, sir, that Is pay stamp to write to them!"
for a postage
true." "What street did you stay in at Roches
" What did you say you did for a living ? " ter?"
"I'm a reporter. I live by my pen, sir, "1421 Maple Avenue," shot back Mc-
.and I write articles on various subjects for Cartney. "I wish you could see mv
the newspapers. I have even written a little Catherine —
she's such a tiny Will of
very modest book. Hut the modern public sunshine. Every morning she used to
has crude taste in literature," sighed come and wake me, and say "Come,
McCartney. Daddy, come to breafcrust!' She couldn't
"Well, go on, now, and tell me about pronounce the word right I hope she —
your trip or whatever it was," said the never will. She called the little dog I
Deacon. gave her a fox 'terrial' dog. Some people
"
I gave up for the time, as 1 said, the sav children are all alike. If thev could
precarious livelihood of a space-writer. —
only see her if she's still alive. Why /
We sublet our rooms. I spent what little wouldn't give ten cents to live if I could
money I had saved ufmn a costume for my only make sure Kdith would have enough
wife, and we started out making one-night to get along on and give Catherine a de-
stands." cent education. I want that girl to grow
"What was the name of your play?" up mto a fine noble woman like her
inquired theDeacon abruptly. mother. And to think the last time I saw
"'The Two Orphans,"' replied Mc- her she was lying in a stuffy hall bed room
Cartney without hesitation. "We got in a third class lodging house, her little
along well enough until we reached Roches- forehead burning with fever, with my |>oor
ter, and there the show broke down went — sick wife stretched beside her. fearing to
to the wall. We were stranded, without move lest she should wake the child. She
a cent, in a theatrical boarding-hou>e. may l>e dead by this time, for I've had no
My wife was taken down with jienumonia work for three days, and I've been able to
and little Cathie
"
—
send them nothing nothing! Thev mav
"Little what?" asked the Deacon. have been turned out into the streets, for
"Short for Catherine caught the croup. — the t>oard bill was a week overdue when I
We had nowhere to turn. I pawned my left them. Don't you see it drives me
watch to pay our board bill. We were nearly mad? I'm worse off a thousand
sleeping in a single room— the three «>f us. times than if I stayed there with them.
For days tramped the streets of Roches-
I Sometimes I think there can't be any
ter looking for some work to do, but I was God, for if there was He'd never let me
absolutely friendless and could find noth- suffer so. And all for a little money
ing. My wife got a little better, but just because pay the fare back to
I can't
little Catherine seemed to grow worse. I my sick wifeand dying Wiby— my jioor,
pawned my wife's wedding ring, all my sweet, little Wiby!"
clothes but those I have on, even my baby's McCartney's voice broke and he buried
tiny little bracelet we bought for her on his haggard face on his arms. For a mo-
her second birthdav Oh, God, how I suf? — ment or two neither sjx>ke, then the Dea-
feredl We talked it all over and decided con sighed deeply.
that as New York was the only place "You do seem to have had hard luck," he
Digitized by Google
A BROADWAY VILLON 93
remarked awkwardly. McCartney was still man!" He broke into a mirthless laugh.
too overcome with emotion to reply. "Allow me to return your generous answer
" I reckon I'll have to break my rule and to my application for assistance. codeA
help you without references. I don't be- of morals of my own, which doubtless you
lieve in giving as a rule, unless you know would not appreciate, compels me to re-
who you are giving to." store what is obviously ten times more
He put his hand in his pocket. precious to the donor than to the re-
"But I'll do it this time." He placed cipient."
two quarters upon the table. He fillipped the two coins across the
"There, half a dollar'U keep you nicely table into the lap of his host, who still
for a while. Of course, there's no use crouched furtively with his head near the
sendin' money to Rochester. Your land- table.
lady can't turn sick folks into the street, " It makes me sick to look at you! Who
and if she does they can go to the hos- could gaze without disgust upon the spec-
pital
" tacle of an ossified creature like yourself,
He paused, startled by the look on Mc- creeping through bare, deserted old age
Cartney's face, for the latter had risen like towards a grave mortgaged to the Devil
an avenging angel, white and trembling. Ugh! It is the horridest spectacle I have
Pointing at the two harmless coins, he seen in a month."
cried "You're mad!" muttered the old man
"Is that your answer to the appeal of a with hoarse fearfulness.
starving man ? Is that all your religion has "Sometimes, but not now!" retorted
done for you ? Is that how you obey your McCartney. "I'll hold my evening ses-
Lord's teachings? 'Cup of cold water' sion for Misers a moment longer. I pity
indeed! Cold water! Cold water! That's you, Lord Pin-head Penurious! I pity
what you've got instead of blood; you you that you should have gone through
withered old epidermis! You miserable, life, a small term of say sixty years, in
dried up, apology for a human being!" such stupidity. Sixty years of grubbing,
He paused for breath, sweeping the room of weighing meat and. adding figures, of
with indignant scorn. watching the prices fools pay for stocks,
"I know your kind! You old Christian and how many days of U]et How many
Shylock! You bought those chromos at good deeds? Oh, marvelous lack of wit!
an auction! You took that old sideboard What know you of real happiness? Let
for a debt — yes, a debt at 18 per cent, in- me introduce myself, since you're so blind.
What do you think I am, my good old
terest. You don't pay a cent of taxes.
You sing psalms and wear out your trousers Noddy Numbskull?"
on the platform at the prayer-meeting, "Crazy!" gasped the old man. "Do
and then loan out the church's money on be quiet!Let me get you something more
worthless securities. You're too mean to to eat."
keep a cat, for the cost of her milk. You "A at your service.
thief, Oh, don't
read a penny newspaper and take books start. not carry away your mahogany
I'll
out of a circulating library. You put a sideboard nor your bronze chandelier. I
petticoat on these chairs so your miserly steal only to keep myself in purse to —
little body won't wear out the seats." live. You dig to add "to the column of
The lean vagabond half shouted his figures in your pass book. I walk among
anathema, the pallor of his face and brow the gods. My brain is worth twenty gray
darkening red from the violence of his bags like yours. I have thoughts and
passion. It was the very ecstasy of anger. dreams in terms to you unintelligible. I
Before it the little man with the white hair can live more in a week than haply you
shrank into himself, diminishing into his have done in the course of your whole
chair, seeking moral opportunity of es- crawling existence. What do you know
cape. of the spirit? Behind your altar sits a
McCartney looked at the two coins calf of gold. You grovel before it and
contemptuously. slip out at the bottom the shekels you
"Bah!" he exclaimed in disgust. "Half drop in at the top. To you the moon will
a dollar for a dying child and a starving always be made of green cheese, that
woman, to say nothing of a shelterless '•orbed maiden with white fire laden!'
Digitized by Google
94 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Your hands arc callous from counting needles into his wrist) and yet I wouldn't
"
money, your brain is change with you! I'm more of a man than
The old fellow arose. "Leave my you. My very wants are sweeter than
!
housr- ! Get out of here any joys your brutish senses ran ever feel.
He was an absurd more than
figure, not
five feet high, in hisblack broadcloth suit 'O would there were a heaven to heart
and string he faced McCartney's
tie as O would there were a hell to fear!
blazing eyes, and the latter laughed at him. Dear Son of God. in men y give
"I will fast enough. But you sec I'm My soul to flames, hut let me live!''
having a sensation living. I'm doing t
good. Oh, yes, I am. If not to you, at "Vou don't know what that means!
least to mvself. Do vou think I'll ever Haven't the vaguest idea. You're a
forget little 'Cathie'? God! How I mummy. You'll l>e the same ten thou
could have loved a real child! And I've sand years from now. I suppose you think
I need —
it'll keep me alive for another my torture, ami my salvation!"
twenty-four hours, without this." He held The glow came hack into McCartney's
up a nickel-plated hvjiodermic syring •. eyes and he repeated—
It shone in the gaslight, and the old man "Yes, that picture of little Catherine
started back and held out his hands. was worth more than two quarters. It
"Don't shoot!" he cried in senile terror. ought to have been good for twenty dol-
"Carrion!" cried McCartney. "Why lars. It's worth more than that to me."
do I waste my time on you? Why? Be- McCartney's voir had grown strong and
•
yon — —
// a wretched, drugged, wilted, McCartney pierced him through and
useless bundle of nerves twisted into the through with swimming eyes.
image of a man; a chap born with a silver "And her memory was only worth two
spoon, with gifts, who tossed them all into miserable quarters? You lie, you wretched
the gutter — threw 'a pearl away richer ttld man, you lie!"
than all his tribe'; a miserable creature who The old fellow started back. The door
Can't live without this (he pressed the banged. McCartney was gone.
Digitized by Google
THE TOWER
BY ELSA BARKKR
bark
Digitized by Google
Digitized by Google
THE WORLD AT LARGE
TIN DREW CARNEOIK Thomas HASTINGS is probably the mont
Digitized by Google
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( fpyright, /<JOO, tjr Untierxm>od & I Urt ;i <<«<i
W IHH HVRxTV-ROl'RTII >svf. rk-M.\ m Kl.k »TION OF Mi- IISKRGRR l\MIH Ti AT CARKEGIR HAI
i 1 I . TlfK
SrAMlHNO KIGIRR is MMNUn T. WAMIIM,T«>N AMI TIIK TMKRB HUN SKA1BU DIRRlTLV MtHIKU
TM» SrBAKCM ADR MARK TWAIN-, JOMPN H. CMOATR AMI RuHRRT C. UliUIN,
span the Last River fn)m Brooklyn to Man cratic supervisor for his ward. Young
hattan. How the chief architect of this great McC'all went to the public .school in Gander
new enterprise in the person of Mr. Hast- Bay and served for a while as a butcher's
ings will prove to the world that even a boy in a market at Clinton Avenue and
bridge may serve its strenuous mission and North Pearl Street. He enteral a business
still he picturesque, may be gleaned from school in Allxmy and was graduated in
the hitter's ]>aper in (lie present issue of this 1865. Two years Liter he got a place as
magazine. clerk in the old Albany State Currency
Assorting House at a salary of $60 a month.
John Ai «;t STlNK Met' ALL, former Presi- A few years later a friend got him a job as
dent of the New York Tale Insurance Com- bookkeeper in the Connecticut Life Insur-
pany, who died in Lakewood, N. J., on ance Company agency at Albany. There
February 18th, is officially recorded as the he got his first knowledge of insurance
victim of cirrhosis of the liver, though no affairs. As President of the New York Life
one will dispute that his death was primarily Insurance Company he received $75,000 a
the result of grief and a broken heart over year.
the unfortunate turn of affairs in the great
organization which he controlled for a THK othfr day, there was celebrated in
period of fourteen years. He was born in New York the twenty-fifth anniversary of
Albany on March 2nd, 1840. His parents the founding of Tuskegee Institute by
were of Irish extraction. His father kept a Booker T. Washington. Aided by Mark
little corner grocery store in the district Twain and Joseph H. Choatc, Mr. Wash-
known as (lander Hay and was the Demo- ington made an appeal for a larger endow -
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100 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
ment of (he institution. It needs $3,000,- boycott that is on in some parts of China
000; it is shy just $1,775,000. There were against American manufactures and impor
2,000 more applications for seats at this tations has extended to the Americans
Carnegie Hall gathering than there was themselves who find themselves uncom-
room. Crowds blocked the streets about fortably located in China. Hut the visit of
the entrance to the hall. It looked like the Imperial Commission will doubtless do
political camjKiign times. When the doors much toward readjusting the views of the
were opened there was a great rush for seals Chinese powers that lie, and the threatened
and in a few minutes every available inch trouble between this country and the Yel-
within the building was filled, excepting the low Empire if averted will be largely due to
boxes which were reserved for those who the. |>ersuasions of the really scholarly gen-
came later and who might be induced to tlemen in queues who have been lately
give some part of the needed million li Miking us over.
and a half of dollars. Certainly Carnegie
Hall was never more crowded ami rarely THE recently published magazine "ap-
has it contained a more brilliant audi preciation" of the Hon. Mark Fagan,
ence. mayor of that delectable territory known to
milroad travelers, mapmakcrs and some
With characteristic Oriental inqui>itiw- politicians as Jersey City, will not, one
ness the Im]x?rial Chinese Commission, strongly suspects, make him supremely
recently sent to this country to ascertain happy. While the intent of this biographi-
just how civilized or otherwise we arc as a cal rhapsody was bom of a wholesome and
race, have discovered all our weakne—c- praiseworthy motive, the result can beany-
and some of our strength and have finally thing but calming to one of Mr. Fagan's
dejKirted with bulky rolls of hieroglyphic candid temperament. It may be true he is
notes and a rather deep-routed conviction proud to be the "Christian Mayor" of a
that we meanwell if we do not always know more or le>s pagan community, but one
how do things calmly and without fuss
to doubts with a full-grown scepticism if the
and noise. That the Chinese do not sin- Hon. Fagan enjoys posing before a careless
cerelv love us these daVs we know, and the world as a man whose lack of decision
UKNP.BAL PKCDKKICK U. GRANT, HIS STAFF AND TWO OF THE CHINESE IHHMM HIGH COM V ISSIONHka.
Digitized by Google
1'notograpnrii Jor Tit* MkTnukh itaH MaOASMM t>jr W. M. Vttmii-r U tyde
drives him flown uj>on reverent knee-cap must surely be adjustable in a less inspira-
whenever any unusual difficulty confronts tional manner. This mu^t he true in Jersey
him during the prosaic round of his day's City if not elsewhere. Seeking Divine guid-
work at the Jersey City seat of government. ance in the solution of petty political prob-
If this Mayor is the genuine Christian man, lems may indeed be justifiable at times even
his character delineator would have as bc- in Jersey City, but not, it is ventured, with
lieve, he is less likely to resort on so frequent the recurrent persistency suggested by the
occasion, as we are assured, he does to respected Mayor Pagan's too picturesque
invoke the Deity's aid in matters which analyst.
Digitized by Google
THE CORNER OF A HOLE ON MANHATTAN ISLAND THAT REPRESENTED AN OUTLAY OK
NEARLY TWO MILLION DOLLARS
ed by Google
ONH END OF THE PENN SV LV ANI A KAILKOAD's $^5,000,000 KXCAVATION IN MANHATTAN.
And the real estate dealers of the city world, is to occupy four blocks in the heart
would agree with him. Never before in its of the city, the site selected extending
history have excavations represented such from Ninth avenue to Seventh avenue
fabulous sums as they do at the present and from Thirtv- first street to Thirtv-
Digitized by Google
104 THE iMETROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
third st ret t. These four blocks
at one the appraisers stepped
city in, fixed
time comprised a densely populated resi- fair on the condemned property,
prices
dence and business section, conducting and occupants were legally ousted.
the
its varied businesses along almost every As soon as the various premises passed
line of commercial activity. Hut when into hands of the railroad company
the
it was decided that the railroad station they were turned over to professional
was to occupy this territory the little city wreckers, who at once demolished the
was doomed to l>e wiped off of the map. buildings, no matter how new nor how
Of the property comprised within its handsome. All fell under the ruthless
limits the railroad company l>ought in the sway of the new order, in one instance a
open market as much as it could purchase, - large apartment house, but newly built
enormous prices being paid, the respective and expensively outfitted, finding its way
owners of the houses, apartments, stores, lo the graveyard of the dealer in second-
hotels and other business structures natu- hand material.
rally desiring not to give up the possession Sixteen million dollars is a conservative
of the places in which they were comfort- estimate to place on the value of the build-
ably settled without being unusually well ings alone that were thus destroyed to
compensated. Hut while some sold read- make way for the digging of the big hole.
ily company others
to the agents of the Sixteen million dollars worth of structures
fought with dogged resistance not to be were resolved in a few months into a mass
ousted from their homes of a lifetime, and of debris! Hut under these buildings had
the courts had to be resorted to. Then stood four city blocks and these blocks,
FulNDVTION AM> STKIX rtlFAL WOHK IK THP. ih,,x»v»x» HOI.B AT FIFTH MHM'I AM> THIKTV-FUL K [ H IsTHFF.T,
NEW YORK.
AMtTIIKk Vlktt 09 INK SAME HOLH IN THE l.KOCND.
even denuded of their buildings, repre- tram roads have l)ecn laid, and through
sented a total of nearly $8,000,000 more, which hundreds of workmen arc digging,
in land. Into this eight millions of land, drilling and blasting their way down to
purchased at a cost of three times that the depth required for the foundations of
amount, an army of workmen was turned. the subterranean station. This will be
The great $25,000,000 hole was com- at a distance level with the bottom of the
menced !The excavations, originally start- two tunnels that have been bored under
ed at many points within the four blocks, the Hudson River from the New Jersey
by the closing of Thirty-second street, to the New York shore, and through which
have been united into one gaping cav- the trains of the Pennsylvania road will
ern, crossed by a narrow bridge, which enter the station.
is Kighth avenue. Here the street is sup- Almost as great as this in the area that
ported on a trestle-work from which |>ass- it will cover is the excavation for the pro-
ersby can look down at either side into jected additions to the terminal station of
a yawning abyss thirty to fifty feet below. the New York Central Railroad, work on
This great hole, stretching for two blocks which is already well under way. This
on lx>th sides of the avenue is all that is undertaking, like the former one, necessi-
left of the once populous district. It is tated the condemnation of several hun-
now a mass of rock and debris, over which dreds of buildings, which were purchased
Google
THIS ISTMK MOST VALUABLE HOLE IN THE GROUND IN LOWER NEW YORK-IT IS
Google
EARTH HOLES WORTH MILLIONS 107
}d by Google
TERMINAL SITK. FOUR CITY BLOCKS AND SRVBRAL HUNDRED UULDINl.s WBRH
WAV FOR THIS BIG GAP.
Google
A MM K vt'AKKV IN THf MKW \'jkk lemkal K:MI.muauS IUUAT tXCAVAIIOH aim>vk nutTV.-KCONii sikkki.
plctetl Trinity building. This unique office of modern office building-, having an as-
structure i> owned by the Trinity corpora sessed valuation of
$4,500,000.
lion, the wealthiest landed society in the Just behind thi> building and a little
United States. It occupies a lot 42 feet closer to the Hudson River, is now situated
wide and 212 feet long, at Broadway and what is probably the most valuable hole
Trinity Plac e, in the heart of the financial in the section of New York City.
down-town
district. When the old office building was The not a large one, but it is directly
lot is
destroyed and the land laid bare for the between the Rector street stations of two
commencement of operations for the new elevated railroads, on the plot bounded by
building it, had an assessed value of over Rector and Greenwich streets and Trinity
$2,000,000. Hut when the foundation Place. This excavation has a superficial
caissons had been sunk and the cellar floor area of al>out 17.000 square feet, and a
laid, ;it a level of twenty feet below Broad- cellar depth of thirty feet below the curb,
way, this mere hole irt the ground, dug and while the caissons of the retaining Walls
made permanent by retaining walls and were sunk to depths of from 40 lo 50 feel
cement represented an outlay of
flooring, before they -truck the rock necessary for
over $2, 500,000! It is doubtful if the foundation. This great, jagged earth
owners of this hole would have parted with puncture, walled in and floored with con
it for a sum far in exec s of that figure, crete, represents a cash value of about
for out of it "p'w one of the handsomest Si. 650.000. and a potential earning power
EARTH HOLES WORTH MILLIONS 1 1
of many times that sum, since its owners It is intended that the building shall ulti-
intend to spend on it $2,500,000 in the mately occupy the entire block l>etwcen
erection of an office building 23 stories Fifth and Madison avenues from Thirty-
above ground and with several stories fourth to Thirty-fifth streets. This land,
beneath the street. This building is to which has been purchased for that purpose,
l>e notable by reason of several innova- has a value of alxmt $6,000,000. At pres-
tions in its construction. It is the first ent it consists chiefly of a great gaping
building in this country and probably the hole! An uncompleted
portion of the
first in the world in which the foundation structure, stone and marble, eight
of
caissons were sunk in entire sections of a stories occupies the Fifth Avenue
high,
height reaching from the underlying bed- front of theblock, while the Madison
rock to the street surface. The lot was Avenue side still shelters a row of dwelling
entirely surrounded to a depth of from 40 houses, occupied by tenants holding un-
to 50 feet by the series of solid masonry expired leases, between these contrasting
Cabsons, forming, when in place, one con- ends lies the immense hole, drilled through
tinuous and practically water-tight wall, the solid rock to a depth of sixty feet Inflow
six feet thick. The caissons were driven the surface of the street. It is estimated
down to bed-rock in sections thirty feet that the cost of the excavations for Un-
long, six feet thick and of the required building (including the foundation walls)
height, each section weighing about 400 will be in the neighborhood of $450,000,
tons. an item which shows that the digging of
But of all the earth punctures in New sixty-foot holes in the bed-rock of Man-
York that one having the greatest com- hattan is no idle task. From the cellar
parative value is the excavation for a new floor of this cavern costing $6,500,000 will
department store on Fifth avenue, diagon- rise a building to the height of ten stories,
Waldorf Astoria hotel.
ally opposite to the eight of which will be above the street level.
A .(-> r >: VtBW Iff at, Nl « VUNK CBNTKAL& FI FTBIK-BLOCK BARTH HOIS.
Google
THE GREEN WORLD
BY ANNIF. WILLIS McCULLOUGH
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PhattgTapkiL Study by Aliet Bt>*tkton.
Google
A SCENE r*0«l "TMK I ITTLK OUY IAI>\," tMK WCCSM7VJ NKW KM h\ (MANNING POtLOOC.
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Digitized by Google
THE DRAMA OF THE MONTH "7
Shaw was calling me a Romantic, he forgot
that he was the most perfect specimen extant
of that very school. All reformers are
Romantics. The great humanitarian move-
ments are Romantic. Pity, whether egoistic
or altruistic, was not known to the classi-
cal world. The plays and novels of Victor
Hugo, the first great Romantic of the thea-
ter, are chiefly humanitarian and there-
fore Romantic. Mr. Shaw, who is an in-
tellectual anarch,and not the socialist he
so fondly imagines himself, has written
plays which are, despite their modern
themes, Romantic in their essence. Like
all the Romantic writers, Shaw is inca-
pable of character creation. His theater is
peopled by Shaws, by various opinions of
Shaw regarding the universe. He could
no more erect a play in architect fashion
as does Pinero than Pinero could handle
the multitude of ideas so ably assimilated
and set forth by Shaw. Nor can the
Irishman conceive and execute characters
in action as does Paul Hervieu. The
truth is that Paul Hervieu is thrice as
modem as Shaw; that in "Law of Man," H. KBBV8S SMITH AS "LONAWANUa" IN THE INDIAN
"The Nippers," "The Labyrinth" (the PLAY ENTITLED "THE KBbSKIN."
—
form of the Shaw play. And, remem-
ber, this fact abates not a jot of their enter-
taining quality. We are viewing them now
as drama—and they fail the critical test.
Shaw is a Romantic. He worships him-
self romantically, and when he does not
write of himself, he no longer interests.
His is an interesting personality. It quite
overflows the picture of the world made by
his brain. Thus it is that the characters
in his plays are but various facets of his
own person. If he were a close observer
of life, as well as a superb satirist, he
would be an objective dramatist. He
has, for example, portrayed several Amer-
icans. He he understands the
believes
American character. He certainly abuses
it. But what an eye-opening experience
will be his when he comes to America and
studies its people! A Romantic, then, he
is incapable of depicting any character but
Digitized by Google
*
*4
—
him as a Romantic the Romantics who music of Chopin, as to harmony and struc-
described themselves so admirably and ture (Ballades, Scherzos, Preludes and
with such art, but could not paint the world Studies); the music dramas of Wagner;
about them. and at least two plavs of Maurice Maeter-
Mr. Barrie is also a Romantic, though linck, "Pellcas and Mclisande" and "The
on a lower intellectual level than Mr. Shaw. Death of Tintagiles." These were quite
He has, like Daudet, the gift of pity and new; their like had not lx*en seen or heard
tears; but he slops over so hoj>elessly on before. Ibsen, the thunderer, did not
every occasion that one soon feels that it is originate a new dramatic form; his prose
Barrie the man that is weeping, not Barrie plays formally considered may l>e traced
the artist. Mr. Barrie has more charm to Sophocles, even to St ril>e. But Maeter-
than Shaw, but he, too, cannot force his linck gave us a novel dramatic sensation,
muse to build a play sound as to structure. and while it is the critical fashion to call his
Formless fantasies, whimsical fain,' tales, dramas "static," much really happens in
clever anecdotage, fulminating satire, these them; that is, we feel it hap|>cning though
about sum up the substance of both Barrie we do not always see the action. With
and Shaw's plays. And let me add that Maeterlinck the drama is a sixth sense; he
a Romantic seldom constructs an immortal divines, rather than creates types of energy.
play. W here are the plays of Hugo and And so the reaction against the spineless
Company? Where are the snows of play is beginning. W'e arc weary of these
yester-year? opened floodgates of conversation, of dia-
If we are sure of anything in this world logue that merges into the monologue of
of unchanging change, it is that the nine- the agitator. The same old human stuff is
teenth century gave us in music and drama scattered around us, and the dramatist,
three absolutely new forms. The piano wary of the wind of public favor, is going
Digitized by Google
L ETHEL BARRYMORE IN " ALICE SIT-BY-THE l- I RE.
Google
t'koto ty Otto Satt'Hf Co.
MAKIK ttOMU, LKAIHKG WOMAN WITH WILLIAM (.ILLKT1K IN Nik >' AV "CI.AKK'E."
lack to it. Pincro's last success may he a bid.- fair to Mr. Shaw.
die with Mr. Pinero,
sign of the times. was the fashion to
It whose beaver-shaped brow indicates his
flout such a strong specimen of stage archi- beaver-like proclivity for design and struc-
tecture as "The Gay Lord Quex," yet what ture in his dramas, will outlast a wilderness
a solace it would be to-day in the mid->l of of the wits, sentimentalists and rhaj>si>dists.
all this shallow characterization, this shaky N» art is so narrow in its formal scope, no
drawing and melodramatic daubing! The art implies :o many restrictions upon its
epigram play was revived by ( Kcar Wilde; it practitioners, as the art of (he theater.
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'ftrrirAt by
Ctfyright fir Aim Bought**.
Atu< Bottrtittn. tMO.
lQOt>.
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122 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
sweet and vermicular. It is what our Ger- the talk of the town in twenty-four hours.
man brethren would call Bandwurm. In it The vaudeville now "exploits" him. He
I saw Miss Ethel Barrymore endeavoring isa great actor, and his seven fold charac-
to suppress her adorable self, crush the one to thinking of the mystery
terizations set
Ethel in her, subdue the Barrymore of her, of human multiple consciousness. Here is
to fit a nice, ladylike r61e, a mother who a superb example for the psychologists,
is misunderstood by her children. It is worth far more than the experiment ings
all pleasing tomfoolery with as much re- with abnormal personalities. De Vries is
lation to to art, to the theater, as is
life, a normal man and actor, yet he flashed
the pollywog. In despair I read "Mrs. seven distinct personalities before us in the
Warren's Profes- clever little Heyer-
sion " after I left the mans play.
playhouse to rid my- "The Fascinating
self of the sickly Mr. Vanderveldt,"
surf of Barrie's fu- Mr. Alfred Sutro's
tile and
brackish new comedy at
ideas. And
I as- Daly's, did not re-
sure you I do not peat the impression
care much for this made by his "Walls
particular play. But of Jericho." The
any astringent for thesis is slighter, the
the mental palate characterization not
after the Barrie con- so strong, the con-
fitures. struction far weaker.
His "Little Mary" But there is brilliant
marked the low- dialogue, and the
water mark of company, headed by
dramatic formless- Miss Ellis Jeffreys
ness. "Alice," etc., and Frank Worth-
is a trifle better. I ing, do full justice
do not include "The to the English play-
Admirable Crich- wright's work. If
ton" as that clever the story had been
piece was first writ- more credible and
ten by Ludwig Ful- the chief r61e a more
da, then adapted sympathetic one, we
without acknowledg- hSTBLLK YVBVI M UKTII, I'KIMA UOMA IN " )l Al l V LAND. could easily pardon
ment. However, The the essential arti-
Barrymores triumph if Barrie does not. Miss ficiality of the situations; as it is, you can't
Barrymore is not an Ellen Terry for whom become deeply interested in these people
the part of Mrs. Grey was written, nor does of Mr. Sutro's.
she fully express the character, but she Far more real because more sincere,
has tender and motherly moments. John though not so sophisticated in dialogue or
Barrymore improves, and in the cur- structure, Channing Pollock's "The
is
tain raiser, "Pantaloon," is a very effective Little Gray Lady," produced at the Garrick.
clown. Herein Lionel Barrymore tops We remember Mr. Pollock for his excellent
his familv. His Pantaloon is an exceed- adaptation of Frank Norris's "The Pit,"
ingly clever impersonation. Beatrice Ag- a novel lacking in dramatic essentials. He
new, in Ixrth the Barrie plays, displayed has transferred the homely and gossiping
her versatility and personal charm. She is atmosphere of a medium-class Washington
worth watching in the future. I can go boarding-house to the boards and has con-
"Peter Pan," but no more Barrie for me trived to tell with excellent art a moving
if it is to be of the "Alice, where art thou ?
" little tale; he also revealed a genuine gift
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THE DRAMA OF THE MONTH 123
Albaugh, Jr., Charles Gay and the a mild followed "Zira" at the
stir. It
company generally arc excellent inter- Princess Theater here with Henry Miller
preters. in the principal r6le. The piece was a
"The Galloper," by Richard Harding failure, though it was on a plane far supe-
Davis, at the Garden is farce-comedy of a rior to several of the season's successes.
superior order, and as enacted by the clever Possibly the general gloom of the plot was
Raymond Hitchcock is a thing of joy, if the reason; otherwise there are bold char-
—
not a beauty forever to alter the old saw. acter drawing and strong situations. Mr.
Mr. Davis struck his gait in " The Dictator," Miller was admirable, and Guy Stand-
and he is now a prime favorite with the ing, Harry Woodruff, Fred Thome and
New York public. In "The Galloper" MLss Warren were all that could l>e desired.
he has re-shaken the kaleidoscope of his I confess I am still surprised at the short
memory and we get a lively picture of life of this play, which suggested a close
journalism en route. It is well worth study of Ibsen, but after all was original
seeing. and suggestive. Compared to Barrie's
" Gricrson's Way," H. V. Esmond's play, latest —but there, you have had enough
first saw the light in London and it made of Barrie and my lack of amiability.
Digitized by Google
ELEANOR ROBSON STARRING IN CLYDE FITCH'S NEW PLAY "THE GIRL WHO HAS
EVERYTHING."
Google
Google
ELSIE JAMS IN "THE VA.NDERBILT CUP."
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Give me a line, a rod and bait, Is all this mad foolishness share
A nook beside a shady pool, Till April is well on the wing,
And let me have that charming fate But for goodness' sake please to forbear
Of being just an April fool! From being a poet in spring!
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THE CUSTARD PIRATE
Out upon the splashing waters Rich, old, sallow Custard Pirate
Cruel, crusty Custard Pirate Pacing up and down their low craft,
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FANTASIES
A LENTEN LESSON
It was early in Lent,
SERVED HIM RIGHT lo* hi. job a, comic editor of Woodvillt Topics?
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
A RARE COMBINATION
In Nineteen Hundred's latter days, Whereat — (describe it if you can!)
When winsome Babbie met our gaze, Bewitching, birdlike Peter Pan
Her author heard the cry of praise An air>', fairy flight began:
We tipped that butler well with fame "More, Barrie, more! "
Though Little Alary was a pill We sit with Alice by her fire,
That none could swallow, well or ill, And like a flame the call mounts higher
. Anna Mathewson.
METROPOLITAN
MAGAZI
i
N E
it
to send (or our new catalogue " S-32 " showing the best designs.
M E RIDE N BRITANNIA CO., Morlden, Conn.
NKW YORK (lo<CTm»tkni»l 8Uw C*., 8»ecci»»r> CHICAOO
HAHILTOy. CAS API
BERKSHIRE
UEgoAin
SAGE OF PURITY,
RIGHTNESS^BEAUTY
ossession of strong beau-
teeth through life means
I
IT IS iszno use
Cents at DuKjqist
SAMPLE ^EE
tEff/foiTit Co.loveff.Mm. 1
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Dra-j>n /or Tht Mttrt^ctitmn M.ifaiint by Rohtrf / ntrhry.
THE fni.T.
by Google
The Metropolitan
Magazine
VOLUME XXIV MAY, 1906 NUMBER II
cially and artistically, as to encourage their is in France that this picturesque audito-
continuance and render likely their adop- rium, with no roof other than the blue vault
tion as a permanent feature among summer of heaven, has assumed the dignity of an
amusements. In New York and other important institution. In size, grandeur
Copyright. 1006, by The Metropolitan Magazine Company.
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IMS AKbNA-TIIEATM OF RfUlKKS, III R1N«. A MEIiKAKsAL u» "US H(. k & 1 BS," WIIH
and interest of historic association, the great open-air theater is possible, the public is
open-air theaters in the southern provinces more and more disinclined to enter a
are equaled nowhere else in the world. closed-in theater. It is also a fact that the
The open-air theater, indeed, may he said taste of the public, especially France, in
to have originated in France, and there are where the love of the drama is more cultured
two important reasons for this. One is the than in other countries, is growing in favor
fine weather that generally prevails in the of this kind of spectacle, which at least pre-
southern provinces during the summer sents the attraction of novelty. Certainly,
months, when sometimes weeks pass with- never has there been such a widespread
u
out a drop of rain falling; the other is the interest in nature theaters," as they are
large number in those parts of colossal termed, as at the present time.
arenas, relics of the Roman occupation of In addition to the ancient Roman the-
Gaul, and the majestic ruins of which are aters at Orange, Nimes and Aries, and the
to-day in a state of perfect preservation. flourishing but mcxlcrn " antique" theater at
These arenas were originally modeled upon Beziers, there is the recently constructed
the antique theaters of Greece and Rome, open-air theater at Cautcrets, the well-
and at the present time they arc practically known health resort in the Pvrenees; and
in as good condition as when the theater last year an entirely new open-air theater
flourished in the days of the Ca?sars. was built and oj>cned at ("hampigny, quite
There are certain effects obtainable in an near Paris, a place associated with an his-
open-air theater, especially when performing toric struggle during the Franco-German
antique tragedy, which cannot be obtained War. This is the only properly conducted
with the same intensity in the glare of the theater in the open air near Paris.
footlights of a closed-in theater. Besides, The most celebrated of the ancient Ro-
during those months of the year when an man theaters is the one at Orange, in the
TUB VAST STAGS-SET BtPKiSBNTIKC A SChNU OlTSIIHt TH« WALLS OF tlgZIEKS.
by Google
VIKW IIF TIIK AM IKKT KOMAN VIIKATftK <>* llRAM.K, IHOWIM (M OF lHt FAMOUS WALL,
created by the composer for production Sully rouses the vast audience to a perfect
under those conditions cannot adapt itself frenzy of enthusiasm. Shakespeare would
to the altered acoustic conditions involved be a perfect gold mine for such a theater as
by the open air. But the voice is more this. "Julius Ca?sar" was jierformed last
pliable, it can adapt it>elf to the changed summer, and it was a triumph. How thrill-
conditions with the roult that even.' sound ing would an adequate performance of
can be heard. For music to be a success in " Maclieth" or " King Lear" be! Imagine
an open-air theater, it would be necessary sitting in the almost total darkness of the
that it should lie especially composed for vast amphitheater, with only the stage
the purpo>e. The difference between music lighted up; above one's head is the pro-
composed and music composed
for a theater fundity of the starlit heaven the night
;
for the open air would be something like breeze fans into the face an impression of
the difference between a painting framed is a faint,
reality of nature; possibly there
to adorn a room or art gallery and scene weird rustle among the leaves of neigh-
painting. boring trees; the presence of the eternal
In the same way every play would not be stars puts the mind into communion with
suitable for performance in such a theater as the spirit of the past as set forth in the grim
that at Orange. Tragedy is almost neces- tragedy which is being enacted on the stage.
sary,and the tragedy should be conceived Surely under no other circumstances could
on majestic and simple lines. Of all plays and over-
theatrical illusion l>e so complete
that have l>een tried at Orange, the most whelming. Those capable of writing trag-
successful has been Sophocles' "(Fxlipus edies on the grand classical lines should set
Rex," in which the great tragedian Mounet- to work lo write works especially adapted
Google
1:1.-. S1AI.K WI1H IIS Hi.-lkfhs sM> THR M 1 1 I hi I K >i Of SKATS FOK TDK .U IllF.Mf.
for production in the open-air theaters, for in given results which prove that the ancient
countries with a moderately warm climate, a form of open-air amphitheater merits the
renaissance of theatrical art might result attention of others than antiquarians. The
from the development of such theaters. performances at Orange arc now certain to
Until last year the performances in the old l>e yearly affairs; in fact, there is a strong
Roman theaters of France had the character movement on foot to raise Orange to the
of religious ceremonies in the worship of the dignity of a French Bayreuth. for the glori-
past. The interest in them was antiquarian fication not of one man but of the art of the
rather than theatrical. The performances past, which, being a thing of beauty and a
were regarded rather as a duty due the dead joy forever, is still the art of the present.
pa>t than a possibility of dramatic art devel- The old Roman theaters at Nlmcs and
opment in the living present. La t year, Aries are arenas, and have little in common
however, the productions at Orange were with the theater at Orange except the anti-
not mere attempts to reconstruct the quarian interest and the dignity of the
theater of the past; they were enhanced by architecture. It is true that theatrical per-
the resources of modern stage craft. The formances are given there also; but the
idea was to make the performances im- arenas are letter adapted for big s|>ectacular
pressive independently of the antiquarian performances with ballets and a big orches-
interest. M. Raoul Gunsbourg, manager tra. The arena at Nimcs is nearly circular,
of the theater at Monte Carlo, was at the measuring 1 2 yards one way and 100 yards
head of the enterprise and he has received the other way. It will hold 23.000 persons,
praise from every quarter. The experiment, all of whom have plenty of room to stretch
though still to a certain extent tentative, has their legs and are by no means crowded.
by Google
i3« THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
performed. The principal
thing to be feared in these
open-air theaters is a sud-
den thunder-storm, when the
audience is liable to get wet
through before it can reach
shelter; but such an event-
uality is not common. Since
i8q6 at Orange, Nhnes and
Be/.iers only four |>crform-
ances have been interrupted
by rain.
It is in the arena at N'lmes
that seats are cheapest
Tlu-re are 3,500 specially re-
served seats at 12 francs each
(S2.40); 4,000 at 7, 5 and 3
ami I H UK VIEW OK THK THEATER AT nkANCB, WIT It A l.LIMOK OF TUB TOWN francs that is to say, a dol-
IIFVONO. lar and a little over and a
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THE OPEN-AIR THEATERS OF FRANCE
pigny-la-Bataille, a few miles outside of theaters of this description it is necessary to
Paris. Ithas the advantage of being in reduce scenery to most simple expression.
its
close proximity to Paris and is an intelli- In fact, in the theater at Orange no scenery
gent application of the principle of the an- at all is used; but there the magnificent and
tique theater to modern requirements. Its venerable wall renders scenery unnecessary.
founder and present manager is M. Albert At Champigny M. Darmont decided to
Darmont, a talented romantic actor and have a stage setting designed which would
tragedian, who has toured a great deal with be as it were a synthesis of all scenery re-
Madame Sarah Bernhardt as her leading quired in classic drama and tragedy. This
man. M. Darmont had acted several fundamental stage setting, which might be
times in the ancient Roman theaters of the walls of an ancient city, the ramparts of
France and also in the modern open-air a city of the middle ages, or the outside of a
theater of Cauterets, and was much struck fortified castle or temple, is, of course, sus-
by the possibilities of these "al fresco" spec- ceptible of modification to suit the exigen-
tacles, both from the point of view of art and cies of any particular scene. But in the kind
of popular favor. He accordingly visited of play which is cultivated on the open-air
all the open-air theaters he could find in stage, strong emotional situations, the inter-
Europe, and after this preliminary study pretation of passion and good elocution are
set to work to found one which should con- of far greater importance than mechanical
tain all the advantages of all those he had tricks of scenery,which in the open air cease
visited. At Champigny-la-Bataille, where to have the same power of causing illusion
he was born and where he has a house, he that they have in an enclosed playhouse.
found a site available for his purpose. It The " Theatre de la Nature " at Cauterets
was necessary to make a considerable cut- is also quite modern and its services to
ting in a hill side in order to get space dramatic art have been rewarded by a sub-
enough for the stage; then, on the other vention from the State. Another well-
hand, it was necessary to raise the down- known open-air theater of France is that at
ward slope of the hill until it acquired a Bussang in the department of Vos^es. It is
slope in the contrary direction, and on this entitled the "Theatre du Peuple," and
upward slope in front of the stage are resembles the theater at Oberammergau in
arranged the seats of the auditorium. In that the actors are all local residents. The
sd by Google
KXTKRIOR OK THE GREAT ARENA AT NLMES WHICH WILL HOLD TWENTY-THREE
THOUSAND PERSONS.
INTERIOR VIEW OF THE NlMES ARENA MADE READY FOR AN ACROBATIC PERFORMANCE
AND A BULL FIGHT.
Digitized by Google
HOME SONG H3
plays performed are not, however, of a those Belgium, Switzerland and
in else-
religious character. Other open-air thea- where on the Continent,
tcrs, in addition mentioned, are
to those open-air theaters continues
If the idea of
the Theatre dc la Mottc Sainte Heraye, to be intelligently developed, in a few years
belonging to M. Corneille; M. Robert de la there will not he a summer resort which
Villeherve's theater in Normandy; that at does not possess one, and the fine weather
Ploujean in the department of Finisterc, months, instead of being a dead season for
and the ruins of the ancient
that at Dijon, dramatic artists, will be the occasion of
Roman theater at Saintes in the department renewed activity in a higher and healthier
of Charente Infericure, not to mention branch of their calling.
HOME SONG
BY CHARLES P. CLEAVES
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WITH THE COLORS
BY HERBERT LAWRENCE STONE
BLUE-COATED reg- of the village, and, at the forks of the road
iment of infantry swung just beyond, halted for orders as to the direc-
down the turnpike that tion to take and the ground to l)e occupied.
formed the main thor- The troops following closed up and came to
oughfare of the little a stand, choking the pike with tired, dusty
village, with an easy men who threw themselves on the green
stride that had been Ixanks that lined the road to snatch what
id acquired by sixteen rest they could during the welcome delay.
months of vigorous campaigning. The As the column broke ranks, a small boy
tired, dusty feet swept mechanically back who had been watching the passage of the
and forth with monotonous rhythm, to the troops with fascinated gaze, his dangling
clattering accompaniment of dipper, can- bare legs swinging kick and forth in time
teen and bayonet scabbard slung over the with the infectious swing of the regiments in
hips. The white dust of the roadway, front, slid off the gate|>ost where he had
stirred by the ceaseless tread, rose shoulder been sitting. Edging past the knots of men
high and settled with irritating persist- seated along the roadside or leaning care-
ency over weather-stained uniforms and lessly on their gun barrels, he worked his
blanket rolls. From the fences that Or- way toward the head of the last company
dered the pike, separating it from the houses that had passed, in front of which his alert
behind, curious faces looked distrustfully out eyes had caught sight of a lad of about six-
upon the passing column with its sun-tanned teen who, with a drum slung over his shoul-
men, while the soft swish of feel and ac- der and the visor of his fatigue cap rakishly
couterments drifted U|>on the still, warm air unfilled, hat! been whistling immoderately
and fell u|»on apathetic ears. "The Girl I Uh
Behind Me."
For two days the army had been in the When he found him in the confusion of the
neighborhood. The distant roar of artil- mingling commands the drummer had
lery had come faintly from the southward, slipped his shoulder out of the drum-belt
while thin columns of blue had been creep- and was seated on his instrument in the
ing along the roads of the valley below. But middle of the road, bantering some of the
this was the first of them to break the peace men with youthful assurance. The boy
of the village, which had up to this time es- threw himself on the grass that Ijordercd the
caped the actual contact of the war. path, where he could watch him to his heart's
The head of the column had gotten clear content. Admiration shone from the small
Google
WITH THE COLORS H5
faceand the boyish soul wandered off into a the road, "an' wants a chance to get under
realm peopled by soldiers and drum boys. fire, which is mor'n you ever did."
The lad seated on the drum could not but The lad flushed guiltily, not knowing how
be conscious of the attention he was receiv- toanswer the taunt.
ing, but he took his worship nonchalantly, "Doesn't he fight in battles?" asked Jim,
pretending not to notice it. looking solicitously toward the object of his
"I sav, sonnv, what town do vou call admiration.
this?" A boisterous laugh greeted the innocent
The boy by the path was brought back to question.
earth by the question and flushed with "Him? No! We sends him to the rear
pleasure at finding himself addressed by one with the comp'ny baggage an' the wagons
of the prostrate soldiers. when there's any fightin* goin' on."
"Keedysville, Frederick County, sir!" The
boy's face fell at the shattering of his
" Keedysville? Never heard o' the place. idol, while the drummer looked sheepish
How far 's this from Sharpsburg ?" and, after vainly endeavoring to earn' off his
" About five miles, sir. But Sharpsburg's humiliation and stem the current of chaff
full of the rebels. Mr. Piper was over there which followed, edged uncomfortably out of
yesterday and I heard him tellin' Rulett's earshot.
folks about it. A squad of their cavalry But the fall of his hero did not long
rode through here yesterday, too, recon- dampen Jim's ardor, and he soon trans-
'oitrin'." ferred his boyish enthusiasm to the color-
The soldier whistled. sergeant, who had joined the group with the
"Which way was they headed, did you colors of the regiment and who had conde-
hear?" he said, adding more to his com- scendingly turned back the end of the water-
panions than to the boy: " I guess we've got proof covering to give the boy a glimpse of
'em on the run this time." the bright-colored silk beneath.
" I hope so. Tommy Rulett says that one "Why do you keep the Hags covered?"
rebel can lick three Yankees, and I fought the youngster had asked ingenuously. " I
him just to show him it wasn't so. It isn't thought they was always flyin' when you
true, is it?" were on the march." Whereupon the color-
The men who were near enough to over- sergeant, big, good-natured Ben Falls, ex-
hear this conversation laughed at the in- plained to him that it was only on dress
cipient spirit cropping out. parade or in action that the sacred colors
"Father said when he went away that saw the light of day; and told him the names
we'd whip 'em before the summer was over. of the engagements which the regiment had
Father's in the 5th Maryland. You don't earned the right of having embroidered u, on
know him, do you ? Henry Fry's his name. —
them Bull Run, Glendale, Seven Pines,
Mine's Jim Fry." Malvern Hill, Yorktown; names that in
"We hain't done it yet, son, and from the themselves meant nothing to the youngster,
way we've commenced we hain't likely to and yet the very sound of which, inspiriting
this year, tho' I guess we've got 'em started in their suggest iveness, fired the small soul
now, like enough," and the soldier smiled at his side.
indulgently at the little fellow's overtures Longing as only a boy can long for the
while disclaiming the honor of his father's day to come when he would be old enough
acquaintance. to be one of them, the little fellow prattled
"I wish I was old enough to 'list," went frankly on with his new friends. He was
on the small belligerent. " Don't you think still asking questions and listening blissfully
I could get 'em to take me as a drummer? I to the answers of the soldiers when a young
know I could keep up with the regiment and woman came to the door of the house behind
I shouldn't be afraid in a battle. How him and looked anxiously at the troops
old do 'vou have to be before they'll take blocking the road. Standing upon the
you?" stone step she leaned lightly against the
The men grinned, sizing up the sturdy broad door frame and let her eyes wander
little frame topped by the earnest, boyish expectantly up and down the turnpike as if
face. hoping to catch sight of a familiar figure
"He's lookin' for your job, 'Bonesy,'" among the halted troops in front of her.
calledone of them to the drummer seated in Over her head flapped a small, printed
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146 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Union flag, the awkward angle at which it nearer as company after company got
pointed toward the ground testifying to the started. As the color company shuffled
unskilfulness of the hands that had nailed back to attention and swung into its stride,
it there. the officer took his leave with a promise to
The captain of the company, happening send the little errant home.
to look up, noticed her and, suddenly re- All that afternoon the small tow-head
membering that he was thirsty, arose from looked wistfully out over the fence as regi-
the hank where he had been sitting with his ment after regiment, tanned and soiled
back against a tree trunk. Flicking the from its hard summer on the Peninsula, filed
dust from his shoes with a pair of soiled by. It was twilight as the tail end of the
gauntlets he stepjwd across the path and, corps straggled through the place, and in its
opening the gate that led to the house, wake, fast on one flank among the raff of
started up the walk with an easy swing of wide-eyed village boys and negroes, fol-
self-assurance. The blue handkerchief —
lowed Jim unable longer to resist the call
knotted at his throat to protect the neck of desire, oblivious to time, hardly conscious
from the sun only served to set off the of where he was going. It was but a mile
bronzed face above, with which the dusty or so beyond the village that the brigades of
army blouse seemed in such })erfect keeping. the corps went into bivouac under the early
He raised his cap, with the clover corps stars of mid-September, and once there the
badge on its front, carelessly as he ap- boy had no trouble in finding his friends of a
proached the doorstep. few hours before, having rcmemlxred the
"I beg your pardon, but may I have a numl>er of the regiment from the figures on
glass of water?" the men's caps.
The ruse was so obvious that the girl smiled After supper that evening the young cap-
as she brought it to him from the house. tain of K Company ran across him, recog-
When he had drunk it the officer seemed in nizing at once the yellow hair and the enrap-
no hurry to go, and seated himself on the tured face. The service band attached to
stone steps at the girl's feet. one of the regiments of the brigade was
"You didn't hap|»en to see anything of cheering the boys with a few favorite selec-
my brother in the road as you came up, did tions, and the small Jim, unconscious of
you ?" asked the young woman. " A small, everything save the joy and uplift of the
light-haired boy of ten? He disappeared moment, had planted himself in the fore-
from the house as soon as the soldiers came most rank of the circle that had formed
in sight. He's been so excited ever since aliout it, so near that the vibration caused by
the army's been in the neighborhood, and so the drums and bass brasses made his small
afraid that it wouldn't get near enough for stomach while his whole body
tremble
him to see, that I could hardly keep him at thrilled at thevolume of sound. He had
home." never even heard a regimental band before.
" I guess you mean the little chap I no- "Hi, there! What are you doing here?"
ticed talking to the men. ( )h, he's all right. and the captain brought his hand down on
I left him making friends with the companv. Your sister'll be worry-
the boy's shoulder. "
He's already won the color-sergeant's heart ing her out about you.
life You 'd l>etter be
and unwittingly discomfited the drummer." gettinghome as fast as you can. Do you
The girl laughed. know the way?"
"He's been crazy atxiut soldiers ever The boy, startled, looked crestfallen at
since father went to war. Talks about the words.
them all day and dreams about them all "That's so; I'd clean forgotten about
night, I reckon. It's well for me he isn't a Sis."
few years older, for if he were I couldn't He disappeared into the darkness, picking
hold him and would be left entirely alone. his way in and out among the company fires,
There are only the two of us to look out for which were now fast dying down. Hut the
the place now that father's gone. I do hope Fates were against him, and instead of get-
you won't have an engagement here, tho' ting home he passed the night under the
they say Lee's army is in the neighborhood." same blanket with his friend, the big color-
Far down the pike the head of the column sergeant, to on his way the next
lie sent
had got in motion again, the sharp com- morning. Ben Falls had quite a brood him-
mand of "fall in" ringing out nearer and self at home, and a long absence had made
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WITH THE COLORS 147
him particularly susceptible to a childish moment they are halted by a fence, running
treble. parallel with the column, which is quickly
It was not yet daylight the next morning torn from the ground by many hands and
when an officer searching among the sleep- thrown flat, and on they go again until they
ing men came across a drum \roy stretched are met by a staggering fire of musketry
out l>etween two tall pirates with his feet that shakes them somewhat. The line is
toward the cold ashes of a tiny fire. He quickly redressed and they struggle on
shook him gently by the shoulder. against an ever-increasing hail of lead that
"Get up, Bonesy,' and give us the
'
thins the ranks cruelly at every step.
reveille, and then go to the rear with the The attack at last having lost its impetus,
division wagon trains. We'll have work to the torn line comes gradually to a stand,
do today." wavers for a moment, and, as if swayed by a
The lad crawled out of his snug berth into common impulse, the men drop forward on
die dew-laden night air, and sleepily tight- to their faces. Pressing their bodies close
ened the drum cords. After a preliminary to the earth to get what cover the ground
tap or two to make sure that he was awake, affords, they hang on and hold what they
he broke lustily into the familiar roll. have gained until reenforcements shall come
Day was just breaking as the troops got up. Two hundred paces in front of them
into motion after swallowing their hastily the enemy, posted l>ehind a stone wall and
made tins of coffee, the slender columns of in a sunken road, keeps up an intermittent
fours picking their way silently along the fire, forever on the lookout for a raised head
roads that led down to the creek flowing or a shoulder hunched up into shooting posi-
through the bottom of the valley. It was tion —the tiny jets of dirt spurting up along
sun-up when the first regiments of the divi- the front of the prostrate line testifying to
sion crossed the ford, knee deep in muddy the accuracy of their range.
water, and gaining the high ground on the In the front rank Ben Falls slips the butt
far side deployed in a thin line of brigade of his staff from the socket of his belt and
front and waited for the rest of the division plants it with a vicious jab in the earth
to follow. It was a tedious wait, for the before his face so that he can hold the colors
ford was narrow and they were galled by a upright with his hands.
battery of the enemy hidden in a wood, A half hour passed with no relief in sight.
which, after harmlessly exploding a few The big color-sergeant was beginning to
shells over their heads in getting the range, feel cramped in his awkward position when
opened a well-directed fire on their extended he suddenly felt someone tugging at his foot,
front. Fromthe hills in the rear some and an instant later a hand fumbled at his
Union artillery searched the woods above belt. He twisted his neck so that he could
them in a vain endeavor to silence the trou- look down without offering a target to the
blesome guns. men doing the shooting, and was startled at
After a time the inaction and the steadily seeing a crop of badly rumpled yellow hair
growing number of casualties began to get at his waist.
on the men's nerves. " By all that's holy, how did you get here ? n
"What are they holding us here for?" was all he could say.
" Where are the other brigades ? " " Crawled up from the rear line. I fol-
"Why don't they put us in ?" lowed 'cm over the creek and up the hill.
The anxious questions, muttered under They told me the regiment was on ahead, so
the breath, ran down the lines. I come. Is this a real battle ?"
The officers were watching them closely, "Yes, my son, this is what wecalls a
apprehensively. battle and 's about as hot a proposition as
"Steady there! Steady in the center! your Uncle Ben ever ran into. You'd
!
Stand fast on the end better crawl to the rear the same way you
They are ready at last, the other two come as quick 's you can, and don't stop till
brigades have formed in line of battle some you're on the other side of the creek."
distance behind them, and away they go, up The yellow head lx>hhed up an instant to
the slope, over the stubble fields, glad at look at what was going on in front, only to
last to be on the move, the action and the be brought quickly down again by Ben's big
sense of power in the long, unbroken, ellxiw- hand on the back of the neck.
touching line steadying the men. For a " You want to be careful how you do that.
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i
48 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Our frien's over there is powerful straight men it reaches. It is broken a little as it
shooters. Come to think it over, I don't passes through the second, but does not
know but what you'd be safer here than falter. On it comes, and as it nears that
tryin' to crawl back over that half mile in the torn front line the men, lying prone, sepa-
face of the promisc'ous shootin' our rear rate a little to give it free passage. With a
lines is makin' out to do," and Ben rolled rush it has swept through, a few of the
over on his side and with one hand pulled choicer spirits of that tired brigade rising
the boy close into the curve of his body, from the burrows they have made and join-
shielding him from the front with his huge ing in the charge, while the rest retire behind
frame. " Now lie there and don't move until a crest of land to reform the shattered regi-
they put the other division in, when you can ments.
scoot for the creek." The captain of E Company, rallying his
Jim snuggled up to his friend and for men to get them back to some shelter, stum-
a while was quiet, listening to the incessant bled over the outstretched legs of Ben Falls
crackle of the musketry in front. But with and was dumfounded at seeing a tow head
his active little brain he could not be silent sticking up above the color-sergeant's
long. shoulder and a couple of small, brown hands
"Where's the drummer; is he here?" gripping the flagstaff. A narrow ribbon of
The question jMipped out suddenly. red trickled down over one white wrist and
The corners of Ben's mouth twitched in dripped slowly from the elbow of a sodden
spite of the seriousness of the situation. sleeve.
" No. He's to the rear." A glance sufficed to show that Ben would
The boy breathed an audible sigh of satis- never carry the colors again, and calling a
faction. corporal to take them, the officer l>ent down
" I'm fightin' with the colors, ain't I ? Is it and picked up the boy in his arms. On
hard work holdin' cm?" feeling their protection the small body re-
Some time later, it was hard to gage the laxed and the tired eyes drooped, but l>efore
flight of time lying there hugging the ground. giving way to the fatigue. that was stealing
Jim felt a spasmodic contraction of the body over him, now that the sense of security had
sheltering him, and the colors of the regi- come, the eyes opened again, as with an
ment rocked unsteadily for a moment and effort,and lcx>ked up into the face of the
then fell forward on to ihe ground. captain.
The line facing them set up a yell of " Have the Johnnies gone ?" The moving
triumph that must have carried clear across lips framed the question. " Have we beaten
the creek. A soldier lying a few files from 'em?"
the flag left his place and started to crawl His arm was dressed at the field hospital
toward the color-sergeant, when he saw an established among
the willows that fringed
arm go out and Ihe colors slowly and un- the banks of the creek in the rear.
steadily come up again. So Ben was all That evening, just as day was going in a
right, after all. Wounded, jK-rhaps! The blaze of glory on the western horizon, the
man crept back to his place and the thin line peace of the hour l>eing broken only by the
set up a feeble cheer. They were near the distant thunder of artillery to the south, a
end of their tether. dusty army ambulance, with numerous rents
For another half hour the tattered square from stray shells in its canvas top, rumbled
of silk waved defiantly over the gallant line, up to the gate of the brick house.
holding so hardly what they had gained, the The captain of Company K jumped
target of a perfect rain of lead. At last, far down from the seat alongside the driver and
in the rear, they heard a cheer— faintly at from somewhere in its interior gathered
first. So help is coming, after all. They gently in his arms a small bundle and started
are not to be left to their fate. The men of with it up the path. He was met halfway
Kimball's division will soon be with them. to the house by a flying figure with terror-
Again they hear the cheer, nearer this time, stricken eves.
followed by a volley of musketry, and the "You needn't be alarmed," he said.
fire from the wall in front is diverted for the "He's all right; merely a shot through the
time and flies harmlessly over their heads hand, which the surgeon says '11 take a week
toward this fresh advance. On it sweeps or so to heal. Only keep him at home, or
up the slope, over the first line of prostrate there's no telling where he'll be next Fol-
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THE MAY MOON 149
lowed us over the creek and I found him in The looked up and smiled through
girl
the thick of this morning's battle. The tear-swimming eyes at the young officer.
surgeon's coming over to-morrow to look The captain had difficulty in swallowing the
him over and dress the wound." lump in his throat, and for the first time in
Her eyes looked gratefully into his as she his life was at a loss for an answer.
took the precious bundle from his arm. " The little chap is clear grit, all right," he
The boy stirred, and looking up, recognized said at last.
the anxious, loving face bending over him. He turned, and walked away through the
A momentary gleam of excitement flashed gathering darkness toward the camp as the
from his languid eyes. girl disappeared into the empty house.
"We've whipped 'em, Sis; whipped 'em "And I should say the girl's made of the
good and driven 'em acrost the river into same stuff, from the look of thing>," he
Virginia. They'll never be comin' back added thoughtfully. " Guess it must run in
here, I reckon." the blood."
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AND THE
m
SHIPS SEA
BY JOSEPH CONRAD
to recover the true sea physiognomy of a
ship brought down to her bearings, looked
HIPS!" exclaimed an more accessible. Their less steeply slant-
elderly seaman in clean ing gangways seemed to invite the strolling
shore togs. "Ships!" sailors search of a berth to walk on
in
and his keen glance, board and try "for a chance," with the
turning away from my chief mate, the guardian of a ship's effi-
face, ran along the ciency. As if trying to remain unperceived
vista of magnificent among their overtopping sisters, two or three
figureheads that, in "finished" ships floated low with an air of
the late seventies used to overhang in a ser- straining at the leash of their level head-
ried rank the muddy pavement by the side fasts, exposing to view their cleared decks
of the New South Dock. "Ships are all and covered hatches, prewired to drop
"
right. It's men in 'em
the stern-first out of the laboring ranks, dis-
Fifty hulls, at least, molded on lines of playing the true comeliness of form which
beauty and speed, hulls of wood, of iron, only her proper sea-trim gives to a ship.
expressing in their forms the highest And for a good quarter of a mile, from the
achievement of modern shipbuilding, lay dockyard-gate to the farthest corner where
moored all in a row, stern to quay, as if the old housed-in hulk the "President"
assembled there for an exhibition, not of a (drill-ship, then of the Naval Reserve)
great industry, but of a great art, over- used to lie with her frigate side rubbing
whelming the initiated beholder by the re- against the stone of the quay, above all
lated seduction of their fine lines, and, in these hulls ready and unready, a hundred
the monotonous, unfaltering perfection of and fifty lofty masts, more or less, held out
crystallized classic rule of design, the va- the web of their rigging like an immense
riety of their individual aspect. They were net in whose close mesh, black against the
gray, black, dark green, with a narrow sky, the heavy yards seemed to be entangled
strip of yellow molding defining their and suspended.
sheer, or with a row of painter ports deck-
I It was a sight. The humblest craft that
ing in warlike decoration their vast flanks floats makes its appeal to a seaman by the
of cargo-carriers that would know no faithfulness of her life; and this was the
triumph but of speed in carrying a burden, place where one beheld the aristocracy of
no glory other than of a long service, no ships, the noble gathering of the fairest and
victory but that of an endless obscure con- the swiftest, each bearing at the Im>w the
test with the sea. The great empty hulk carved emblem of her name, as in a gallery
with swept holds, just out of dry-dock, with of plaster casts: busts of women with mural
their paint glistening freshly, sat high-sided crowns, women with flowing robes, with
with ponderous dignity alongside the gold fillets on their hair or blue scarves
wooden looking more like unmov-
jetties, round their waists, stretching out rounded
able buildings than things meant to go arms as if to point the way; heads of men
afloat; others, half loaded, far on the way helmeted or bare; full lengths of warriors,
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THE HUMBLEST CRAFT THAT FLOATS MAKES ITS APPEAL TO A SEAMAN BY TIIK
FAITHFULNESS OF HEK LIFE.
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
of kings, of statesmen, of lords and prin- mostly, and had the air of being more con-
cesses, all white from top to toe; with here versant with the times of high water than
and there a dusky turhaned figure bedizened with the times of the trains. I had noticed
in many colors of some Eastern sultan or that new ship's name on the first page of my
hero, all inclined forward under the slant morning paper; I had stared at the unfamil-
of mighty bowsprits as if eager to begin iar grouping of its letters, blue on white
another run of eleven thousand miles in their ground, ujxm the advertisement boards,
leaning attitudes. There were the fine whenever the train came to a standstill
figureheads of the finest ships afloat. But alongside one of the shabby, wooden, wharf
why, unless for the love of the life those like platforms of the Dock Railway line.
effigies shared with us in their wandering She had l>een named, with proper ol*er-
impassivity, should one try to reproduce in vances, on the day she took the water, no
words an impression of whose fidelity there doubt, but she was very far yet from " hav-
can be no critic and no judge, since such an ing aname." Untried, ignorant of the ways
exhibition of the art of shipbuilding and had been thrust among that
of the sea, she
the art of figurehead carving as was seen renown ed company of ships to load for her
fr< m year's end to year's end in the open- maiden voyage. There was nothing to
air gallery of the New South Dock Quay- vouch for her soundness and the worth of
side no man's eye shall behold again ? AH her character but the reputation of the
that patient |>aie company of queens and building-yard whence she was launched
princesses, of kings and warriors, of alle headlong into the world of waters. She
gorical women, of heroines and statesmen looked modest to me; I imagined her diffi-
and heathen gods, crowned, helmeted, bare- dent, lying very quiet, with her side nest-
headed, had run for good off the sea, ling shyly against the wharf to which she
stretching to the last above the tumbling was made fast with very new lines, intim-
foam their fair rounded arms, holding out idated by the company of her tried and
their spears, swords, shields, tridents, in cx|>cricnced sisters, already familiar with
the same unwearied, striving forward pose. all the violences of the ocean and the
tween ships closing upon one another to pass have been better heartened and comforted
by and draw apart in the open immensity had she only been able to hear and under-
of the sea. stand, than by the tone of deep conviction
The elderly resectable seaman, with- in which my elderly, resectable seaman
drawing his gaze from that multitude of repeated the first part of his saying: "Ships
spars, gave me a glance to make sure of our are all right. .
." .
fellowship in the craft and mystery of the His civility prevented him from repeating
sea. We had met casually and had got the other, the bitter part. It had occurred
into contact as I had stopped near him, to him that it was perhaps indelicate to in-
mv attention being caught by the same sist. He hadrecognized in me a ship's
thing he was looking at aloft in the rigging officer, very possibly looking for a berth
of an obviously new ship, a ship with her like himself, and so far a comrade, but still
reputation all to make yet in the talk of the a man belonging to that sparsely peopled
seamen who were to share their life with after-end of a ship where her reputation
her. Her name was already on their lips. as a "good ship," in seaman'- parlance,
I had heard it uttered between two thick is made or marred.
red-necked fellows of the semi -nautical type "Can you say that of all ships without
at the Fcnchurch Street railway station, exception ?" I asked, being in an idle mood,
where, in those days, the every-day male because, if an obvious ship's officer, I was
crowd was attired in jerseys and pilot-cloth not, as a matter of fact, down at the docks
Digitized by Google
SHIPS AND THE SEA '53
•
to "look for a —
berth" an occupation as faults glossed over as things that, being
engrossing as gambling and as little favor- without remedy in our imperfect world,
able to the free exchange of ideas, besides should not be dwelt upon too much by
being destructive of the kindly temper men who, with the help of shijjs, wrest out
needed for casual intercourse with one's a bitter living from the rough grasp of the
fellow creatures. sea. All that talk makes up her "name,"
"You can always put up with 'em," which is handed over from one crew to
opined the respectable seaman judicially. another without bitterness, without ani-
He was not averse to discoursing either. If mosity, with the indulgence of mutual de-
he had come down to the dock to look for pendence, and with the feeling of close as-
a ljerth, he did not seem oppressed by the sociation in the exercise of her perfections
anxiety as to his chances.He had the and in the danger of her defects.
serenity of a man whose estimable charac-
ter is fortunately expressed by his personal
appearance in a perfectly unobstrusive yet II
convincing manner, which no chief officer
in want of hands could resist. And true This feeling men's pride in
explains
enough, I learned presently that the mate ships. "Shijjs are all right," as my middle-
of the Hyperion" had "taken down" his aged, respectable quartermaster said, with
name for quartermaster. much conviction and some irony. But
"We sign on Friday and join next day they are not exactly what men make them.
for the morning tide." he remarket!, in a They have their own nature; they can of
deliberate, unconcerned tone, which con- themselves minister to our self esteem by
trasted strongly with his evident readiness the demand their qualities make upon our
to stand there yarning for an hour or so skill and their shortcomings upon our
with an utter stranger. hardihood and endurance. Which is the
'Hyperion, " I said. " I don't remem-
1
*'
more flattering exaction it is hard to say;
ber ever seeing that ship anywhere. What but there Is the fact that, in listening for
sort of a name has she got?" upwards of twenty years to the sea-talk
It appeared frorn his dlscoursive answer and ashore, I have never
that goes on afloat
that she had not much of a name one way detected the true note of animosity. I
or another. She was not very fast. It won't deny that at sea, sometime-, the note
took no fool though to steer her straight, he of profanity was audible enough in those
believed. Some years ago he had seen her (hiding interpellations a wet, cold, weary
in Calcutta, and he remembered being told seaman addresses to his .ship, and in mo-
by somebody then that on her passage up ments of exasperation Is disposed to extend
the river she had carried away lx)th her to all ships that ever were launched, to the
hawse-pipes. But that might have lwen whole exacting brood that
everlasting,
the pilot's fault. Just now, yarning with swims deep waters. And I have heard
in
the apprentices on board, he had heard curses launched at the unstable element
that this very voyage, brought up in the itself, whose fascination, outlasting the ac-
Downs, outward liound, she broke her cumulated exj>erience of ages, had captured
sheer, struck adrift and lost an anchor and him as it had captured the generations of
chain. Hut that might have been through his forbears.
want of careful tending in a tideway. All For all that has been said of the love that
the same, this looked as though she were certain natures (on shore) have professed to
pretty hard on her ground -tackle. Didn't it ? feel for it, for all the celebrations it had
She seemed a heavy ship to handle, anyway. been the object of in prose and song, the sea
For the rest, as she had a new captain and has never been friendly to man. At most
a new mate this voyage, he understood, one it has been the accomplice of human rest-
couldn't say how she would turn out. . . . lessness, and played the part of dangerous
In such marine shore talk as this Is, the abettor of world-wide ambitions. Faithful
name of a ship slowly established, her fame to no race after the manner of the kindlv
made for her, the tale of her qualities and earth, receiving no impress from valor and
of her defects kept her idiosyncrasies com-
; toil and recognizing no final-
self sacrifice,
mented upon with the zest of personal gos- ity of dominion, the sea has never adopted
sip; her achievements made much of, her the cause of its masters as those lands have
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«54 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
done where the victorious nations of man- fascination that has lured so many to a
kind have taken root, rocking their cradles violent death, its immensity has never been
and setting up their gravestones. He loved as the mountains, the plains, the
—
man or people who, putting his trust in the desert itself, have been loved. Indeed, I
friendship of the sea, neglects the strength suspect that, leaving aside the protestations
and cunning of his right hand is a fool! and tributes of writers who, one is safe in
As if it were too great, too mighty for com- saying, care for little else in the world but
mon virtues, the ocean has no compas- the rhythm of their lines and the cadence
sion, no faith, no law, no memory. Its of their phrase, the love of the sea to which
fickleness Is to be held true to men's pur- some men and nations confess so readily
poses only by an undaunted resolution Is a complex sentiment wherein pride
and by a sleepless, armed, jealous vigilance enters for much, necessity for not a little,
in which perhaps there has always been and the love of ships, the untiring servants
more hate than love. Odi et onto may of our hopes and our self-esteem, for the
well be the confession of those who con- best and
most genuine part. For the
sciously or blindly have surrendered their hundreds who have reviled the sea begin-
existence to the fascination of the sea. All ning with Shakespeare in the casual line:
the tempestuouspassions of mankind's
More jell than hunger, anguish or lite sea,
young days, the love of loot and the love of
glory, the love of adventure and the love down to the last oliscurc seadog of the "old
of danger, with the great love of the un- model," having but a few words and still
known and vast dreams of dominion and fewer thoughts, there could not be found,
jx)wer, have passed like images reflected I believe, one sailor who has ever coupled
from a mirror, leaving no record upon the a curse with the good or bad name of a ship.
mysterious face of the sea. Impenetrable If ever his profanity, provoked by the hard-
and heartless, these a has given nothing of ships of the sea, went so far as to touch his
itself to the suitors for its precarious favors. ship, it would be lightly, as a hand may,
Unlike the earth, it cannot be subjugated at without sin, be laid in the wav of kindnes>
any cost of patience and toil. For all its on a woman.
AT MOST TMH SBA HAS I'LAIKD THE PAHT Ot PAM.KKIH S ftMTTOB Of \VI >K I l>-\YH K
i AMKIIIKSS
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THE BUFFALO SPIRIT
BY ARTHUR HEMING
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR
HERE, my sons, are oVer the last of the buffalo, and to turn
the Buffalo Hills," said aside the white men who were ever bring-
Standing Wolf, ad- ing evil among our people, and who had
dressing At -tick, or the ruthlessly destroyed the buffalo of the
Caribou, and Wa-pis- prairies. It told him, too, that as our
tan, or the Marten. people had always shared the country with
"In the old days," the buffalo, we could still hunt them, pro-
he continued, "no vided that due resjicct were paid to the
lunter dared sleep in that region because slain.
of the Wetigoes — evil spirits that roamed "On that trip my father had great suc-
the hillside forest —and time many
in my cess; no evil thing crossed his trail.
Wetigoes have been seen in these woods. "It is true, my little band
sons, that this
Often have hunters gone forth never to and a larger band beyond the Athabasca
return. and the River of Peace are the last of all
M Ooo-koo-h(x), your grandfather, who the buffalo. The Great White Father,
was killed when I was but a boy, told me to redeem the folly of the Long Knives
that once when he was hunting buffalo in (Americans), has set his Redcoats (Mounted
these very hills, a great storm compelled Police) to guard the few that remain.
him to spend the night in the Wctigo woods. For the white men it is a good law; let
When dusk came to warn him of the night's them keep it. For us it is different. To
approach, he set to work to build a brush us the buffalo belong. We will hunt them
wind-brake as a shelter from the blast. as our fathers did; and if the Redcoats
While scraping away the snow, he was follow our trail, we shall show them that
startled by a whispering voice among the when white men travel in the Strongwood
swaying trees, and awe held him listening. country they are but as children.
Judging the voice to be the voice of a good "Now, my sons, it is growing late. We
spirit, he became fearless and l>egan to talk must push on, if we are to sleep to-night
with it. It was the voice of the great among the Buffalo Hills."
Buffalo Spirit. It told him that, if he Down the slojx; they went. Standing
wished to tarry overnight among the hills, Wolf, as trail beater, led the way; the
he should pitch his camp beside its resting Marten, immediately preceding the dogs,
place, and no harm should befall him. followed his father at a little distance;
" At once he began to search the woods the Caribou, holding back u|>on the trail
lest darkness should overtake him before line, brought up the rear. At the stee|>est
he had found the abiding place of the part of the descent, the Caribou found it
Buffalo Spirit. Just as night was creeping difficult to control the sled. A curly root
up the hillside, he found a great rock caught the toe of one of his shoes. Tin-
shaped like a sleeping buffalo. Beside trail line gave a sudden jerk. He lost his
it he gladly made his camp. The roar of balance and tumbled down the bank head-
the storm kept him from turning in; and, long. The sled, freed, plunged upon the
while he sat beside the fire drowsily smok- dogs. They rushed frantically down and
ing his pipe, the Buffalo Spirit told him overran the Marten's shoes. In a moment,
many things. four dogs and a boy- in a struggling heap
"It told him that it was there to watch crowned with an upturned sled ami almost
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the metropolitan magazine
Facing this, Standing Wolf
reverently addressed it, and
placed upon it tobacco from
his fire-bag, as an offering
to the Buffalo Spirit. This
done, all turned to making
their camp. Standing Wolf
r
went off in search of dry
trees for firewood. The
Marten busied himself shov-
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THE GREAT BEAST GAVE ONE LEAP INTO THE A K.
I
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58 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
and headed camr, which he
straight for the trail for some distance; and, on coming
reached as darkness was setting in. After to a sheltered spot, found in the snow
supper all squatted before the fire, smoking eleven imprints of various sizes, showing
their pipes and talking about the morrow's where the buffalo had lain during the
hunt. previous night.
"My sons," began Standing Wolf, "the The wind being favorable, the hunters
way of hunting buffalo is unlike that of moved forward, taking the utmost care to
hunting moose or caribou; and it is easier. approach silently.
The buffalo— on account of his short legs Fresher signs began to appear. At an
is a heavy walker. He breaks through opening in the wood, they saw where the
ice or crust that a moose of the same weight buffalo had been feeding. The snow had
passes over. Snow to the depth of a child's been tossed and pawed about in search for
knee, though it moose at
troubles not the buffalo grass— a grass which cures naturally
all, makes hard traveling for the buffalo. upon its stem and becomes an excellent
When the snow is thickly crusted, he makes hay, eatable throughout the whole winter.
little attempt to escajx*, and easily es- — Keeping to the timber, the hunters made
pecially with dogs —
can he be run down. a slight detour to gain a better view of the
" My sons, do not fire head on. Our prairie. Cautiously they crept through
guns are smooth-bores, and the balls may the underbrush, uncovering their guns,
glance aside. Wait for a chance to get a and cocking and priming them as they
rear or a broadside shot." went. When the trees began to thin out,
Next day, as they had decided to move avoiding the oj>enplaces, they moved
camp, the Indians had eaten a hasty break- silentlv on in the shadows of the ever-
fast, packed the sled and harnessed the greens. Suddenly, Standing Wolf stood
dogs before the Northern Lights had gone still, and gazed through the branches of a
to rest. They swung out upon the track spruce at something just ahead. The
that Standing Wolf had beaten on his boys, following close behind, with their
return from the sunny side of the southern eyes on their leader, paused, too, for a
hill. They were under way nearly two moment, and then assured that they were
hours before dawn rose through the upper not observed, crept forward.
branches of the eastern trees, and sunrise There, in a field of dazzling white, was
found them examining some broad tracks a small herd of the little-known "wood-
that ran like a trench through the forest. bison." The bulls were quietly feeding,
"The fresh signs are still some distance while the cows and calves lay basking in.
away," said Standing Wolf, "and, as this the sunshine. They were handsome crea-
place is not too near, it will be good to tures, somewhat larger than the prairie
camp on. bison, —
and probably owing to the fact
Slake no noise, my sons, for, though the
'•
of their sires having lived for a century,
wind is right, sound travels far through the at lea.>t, the sub-arctic timber their
in —
winter forest." coats were darker and richer in color than
He decided to leave the dogs behind those of their brothers of the prairie.*
To prevent them from gnawing themselves Cautiously whispering to the Marten,
free, he tied each by the collar to one end Standing Wolf said: "Abide here, my son;
of a stout stick, the other end of which the Caribou and I will work round. When
was made fast to a tree. To keep them we fire, the buffalo may run this way; and,
from barking, he muzzled them. perhaps, you may have a second chance
The Indians had gone but a scant mile for a broadside shot. Don't get excited,
when they came uj>on a trail that had lx*en my son; take steady aim. Remember, we
broken the day In-fore. A little farther
t
want the skins not to sell to the trader but
on thev found tracks made that very morn- to use as robes. Try first for the cows and
ing. Standing Wolf, when trailing an calves since their hair is the softest. Don't
animal, always took care not to disturb
• More itian a hundred years ago, Alexander Macken
the tracks, in order that - should occasion lie recorded that, when lie discovered the »»reat rivet
arise —
he could back track the trail, and by that now bears his name, he iound herds of bison living
in the (uresis of Athabasca Some writers, however, as
Studying the signs determine exactly what sert that the so-called wood-buffalo migrated from the
prairies to the far northern forests during the period
to expect from his quarry. Before con- when the hide hunters were busy exterminating the bi*or
tinuing his advance. now, he back-tracked of the Western State*.
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i6o THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
fire at an old bull unless you have missed to be mortally wounded, as the herd swept
the others." by, he brought his weapon to bear upon a
"Which shall 1 shoot first?" asked the two -year -old, and killed it. Then he
Marten. stepped up to the bull. It was dead, but
" Try for the standing row," replied his still its savage gaze was fixed upon him.
father; "creep up a little closer, hut don't Stooping down, he drew the edge of his
fire until I do." knife across its eyes, for he dared not skin
Standing Wolf and the Caribou turned the carcass while the glassy orbs were star-
and passed silently among the denser ing at him. He, with the rest of his tribe,
growths until they had found another point believed that each of the larger and wiser
from which they could approach the game. animals of the forest embodied the spirit
There Standing Wolf left the Caribou and of some departed brave, and that the spirit
pushed on a little farther to the right. could not take its leave until the eyes had
Slipping off his snowshocs, he crouched lost their luster.
low, and wound his way from tree to tree, The Caribou soon joined him and,
;
until l»etween the quarry and himself only wondering what had become of the Marten,
one intervened. Taking careful aim the both set out to find him. His tracks told
while, he addre>sed the buffaloes in kindly that he had gone off at full speed in pursuit
tones too low pitched for them to hear: of buffalo. As they hurried along, they
" GtKxl day, my big brothers, I am Stand- heard another shot; and, when at last they
ing Wolf of Spirit Lake. My family needs overtook the lad, they saw him peering over
rolxrs, and I have journeyed far to ask you the brink of a snowdrift at a wounded bull
for yours." who lay rolling in the snow feebly struggling
He fired. The report of the Caribou's to rise.
gun, and a moment later that of Marten, The boy was saying in a gentle undertone:
followed. While the sounds went crashing " My brother, be not angry, for it is the
from side to side of the oj>ening, one cow Master of Life who is calling you."
fell over
without even rising; another, With the last word he fired, and the bull
leaping up, wheeled suddenly, ran a few lay dead.
yards, and sank slowly down. For a Their hunt having proved a success, they
moment the startled herd snorted and gazed hastened to skin the animals and cut out
alM>ut in wonderment. A second later, the choicest parts of the meat, lest the car-
they galloped for the shelter of the woods. casses should freeze before their task was
Hastily recharging his muzzle-loader finished.
with powder, Standing Wolf drop|>ed a Next day they broke camp, and, l>efore
ball into the barrel, and without adding leaving the hills, visited the resting place
a wad or ramming the bullet home, struck of the Buffalo Spirit, and once more placed
the butt of his gun against the hard snow upon the stone an offering of tobacco.
and dipped* a cap upon the nipple. Leap- Then they began in earnest their long
ing up, he dodged quickly back among homeward journey. Tor five days they
the bushes, ran to a clump of trees that plodded on without incident. On the
stood a little farther out on the barren, morning of the sixth day they smelt smoke.
then, throwing him>elf upon the snow, Standing Wolf went ahead to investigate.
crept upon hands and knees to a tree that He found two white men in a half-starving
M<mk1 alone. The sound of hoofs beating condition. During a snow-storm they had
heavily upon the hard snow grew louder. lost the packet trail and had stumbled upon
As he glanced round his evergreen screen, Standing Wolf's trail. This they were
he saw a wild eyed bull galloping towards following in the belief that they had re-
him. On it came, slashing it* huge head gained the right road. Two of their dogs
from side to side, and snorting and bellow- had starved to death. Taking compassion
ing with rage. When it was almost upon upon them, Standing Wolf gave them
him, and In-fore he could bring his gun to liberally of his buffalo meat, and, bidding
his shoulder, he heard the Caribou fire. them follow him, soon set them upon their
The great beast gave one leap into the air, true course. He showed them, also, how
and then fell heavily to the ground. Jump- to follow an unseen trail by the feel of the
ing to his feet. Standing Wolf stood with foot; so that, should another storm arise,
his gun in readiness, but, seeing the bull they might not again lose their way. More-
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HE STOOD FOR A LONG TIME WITH HIS HEAD BOWED REVERENTLY TOWARDS THK
NORTH-WEST, FOR HE WAS COMMUNING WITH THE BUFFALO SPIRIT.
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over, he gave them a rough map of the peared. Long double shadows clung to
region, drawn upon birch bark, and then their heels as they strode through the
bade them farewell. desolate muskegs. From afar, the prowl-
As the northern trend of the packet trail ing beasts of the night watched them speed-
lay for nearly a day's travel in his direction, ing over the snowy expanse.
Standing Wolf followed it. That evening On nearing the edge of the forest, Stand-
he came upon a camp of Wood Crecs, old ing Wolf looked back over the lake they
friends of his, and decided to remain with had just crossed, and beheld, far behind,
them for a few days. About four o'clock a fire. Spelling the dogs just inside the
next afternoon the yelping of dogs was timber screen, the Indians rested upon the
heard to the south, and the Indians quickly sled and watched the flickering light upon
hid the buffalo skins in the woods. A the distant hill. It was blinking at ir-
half-breed came running through the for- regular intervals. It was a signal fire.
est. It was Kipling, the famous runner, Their old friend, Ka-Kaik, was passing
who was breaking the trail for the Mac- a blanket in front of the flames to spell a
kenzie River packet (Mail), and who was warning to them that the police had again
a friend of Standing Wolf. He informed set out upon their trail.
the hunter that the Mounted Police were They resumed their journey at once.
already upon his track; that two white men After a couple of hours' run, they halted
had told the Redcoats that they had seen in the heavy timber to infuse some tea.
three Indians with fresh buffalo meat Refreshed, they again took to the road.
and green buffalo hides in their possession. Midnight saw them upon their old trail
At once the camp was all excitement. —the one they had made during their west-
Each man lent a hand at harnessing the ward journey. The going was now easier,
dogs, packing the sled, or cooking a hurried and they settled down to a steady pace.
snack Standing Wolf and his sons.
for All night long they traveled. Dawn
The dog whip almost
distant cracking of a found them still under way. When they
threw them into a panic; but when Kipling had reached the eastern shore of a lake
had assured them that his partner had some five miles wide, Standing Wolf bade
promised not to let the police train pass the Caribou climb a neighboring hill to
his dogs, the Indians quieted down, and see if the police were in sight. Driving
waited until the other half-breed hove into the dogs behind the hill, the hunter stopped
sight. to cook breakfast, while the Marten un-
"Now, my son," said Standing
At-tick, harnessed and fed the weary "geddies"
Wolf, "show me
you are not unworthy
that — as sled dogs are called in that part of
of your Let your pace be as fast
name. the country.
as that of the Caribou. Go ahead and The Caribou returned with the news that
beat the trail." he had seen three men and a dog-train
Having bidden his friends adieu, Stand- come out uj)on the lake.
ing Wolf was turning to go, when Ka-Kaik, Harnessing the dogs, they resumed their
or the Hawk, addressed him: flight.( )n they went through heavy timber
" My brother, we know that you are not where the wind rarely penetrated, and
only a great hunter and a strong runner, where the snows had sifted gently down
but a wise man, too. We are sure that the among the trees, decorating the forest with
Redcoats will never find the buffalo skins beautiful white forms. All that day the
in your possession. The white dogs are fugitives put forth their best speed. I'pon
nothing but a pack of liars and thieves crossing a lake, they were surprised and
who rob us of our land, and then try to mortified to find that the police were only
imprison us for hunting the game that the a couple of miles behind. As Standing
Master of Life has given us. But you, Wolf urged the dogs op, he thought of what
my brother, are well named Standing Wolf; his life would be in the white man's prison.
as if in rivalry— the Northern Lights ap- The dogs had great difficulty now in
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"GOOD DAY. MY BROTHER THR BUFFALO SPIRIT TOLD ME THAT
I VOL' HOLLO HELP
US TO ESCAPE THE WHITE MAN'S LAW."
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1
4 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
keeping up usual gait.
their By mid- through. All day long they plodded
night they were on the point of exhaustion. steadily over the vast field ofsnow whose
They had now been about two weeks upon dazzle threatened them with snow-blind-
an unbroken trail, while the police dogs ness. This was the hardest day of all;
had not only started comparatively fresh, for, though they had on their large hunting
hut had had a well-beaten path to follow. shoes, measuring from five to six feet in
Standing Wolf halted the train, and told length—they frequently broke through.
the boys to feed the dogs while he ascended Fortunately, their dogs, on account of their
Bear's Head peak. light weight, were spared this ordeal.
The night was brilliant with the glory By two o'clock in the afternoon they had
of the Northern Lights. On the summit reached the lower end of Long Lake, and
he stood for a long time with his head bowed were then about six miles ahead of the
reverently towards the north-west, for he police. After a short run through the
was communing with the Buffalo Spirit. woods, they came to Moose Horn Lake.
The 1k>vs had finished their supper when Upon entering the forest on the farther
he returned to the fire and told them that he side, Standing Wolf halted the train close
had been talking with the Buffalo Spirit, to the place where the old black bear was
and that it had advised him to change his hibernating. In a few minutes he found
course. the exact spot. A frosty formation about
" My
sons," continued he,"be not afraid. a little hole told where the bear was lying
The Buffalo Spirit has shown me how we in its "wash."
may gain an advantage over the Redcoats, Breaking away the icy rim, he jabl>ed his
and how the old black bear now lying in axe-handle into the hole, and vigorously
his 'wash' near Moose Horn Lake will prodded the bear to awaken him. Pres-
not only help us to prove that the white ently the drowsy beast l>egan to bestir
man is nothing but a child when he travels himself. When he had poked his snarling
the strong-wood country, but will also help head out of the hole, Standing Wolf raised
us to turn the Redcoats from our trail." his gun, and taking aim, said:
Once more they started. Now Standing " Good day, my brother, I am going to
Wolf way. Turning from the old
led the trouble you. The Buffalo Spirit told me
path, he broke a new trail to Long Lake that you would help us to escape the white
—a lake running for twenty miles or more man's law. I need your paws. Turn
almost parallel to the trail they had just your head away, my brother, for I am
abandoned. By sunrise they had reached about to kill you."
it, and then Standing Wolf explained win- When the bear was dead, he told the
he had turned so far out of his way to travel boys to light a fire and unpack the buffalo
ufMin the open. skins, while he skinned the bear. After
" My
sons, the Buffalo Spirit advised me removing the skin and claws from the
to leave the old trail that runs through the liar's paws, he directed the Marten to
shadowed woods, and to travel upon this draw the skin of the fore-paws over the
lake instead. Have we not small dogs and toes of his moccasins, and then to pad the
big snow-shoe*? When the sun rises empty spaces with moss. Stretching the
higher, the crust will l>e weakened and we skin of the hind feet over his own moc-
shall have the advantage over them; our casins, he took a tump-line and loaded
big shoes will bear up our weight, and our most of the buffalo skins upon his back;
little dogs will leave the crust unbroken; while the Caribou assisted the Marten to
but the Redcoats and their dogs will be load himself with those that remained.
forever floundering through. "My son," he said to the Marten, "be
"Now, my sons, strike out with a light careful to tread only upon your toes. Your
heart, for the sun is rising higher and the foot prints are to represent those of the
old bear is waiting to help us to fool the fore-feet of a bear, while mine are to repre-
Redcoats." sent those of the hind-feet. Now lead the
As the warmth of the sun increased, way, and remember that if we fail to de-
Standing Wolf >ent the Marten, the lightest ceive the Redcoats, we shall spend many
of the party, to run before the dogs, while moons white man's prison."
in the
he and the Caribou ran on either side of Away they went, cautiously picking their
the sled to lessen the chances of breaking way here and there among the bushes and
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SOON THEY RECOGNIZED THEM TO BE MEMBERS OK TDK MOUNTED POL1CK.
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1 66 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
turning in and out between the trees, but and by now their dogs must lie nearly
all the while taking care to tread where the exhausted."
snow was firmest, the more easily t<> outwit The young men, ready for any adventure,
the polite. They played the game with acquiesced at once. The exchange was
zest. From time to time they halted to soon made. Muk-wah's dogs were hitched
scratch here and there among the under- to Standing Wolf's sled without it having
growth, to turn over a rotten log, or to paw been moved from the track on which it
up the soft snow after the manner of bears came from the Buffalo Hills. The three
in search of roots or mice. In a word, young men slipj>ed their feet into the
they left faultless signs of the passing of a thongs of the others' shoes, and, chuckling
hungry bear. at the thought of outwitting the white men,
About a quarter of a mile from the trail set off u|M>n their northern journey.
they found a suitable spot in which to Muk-wah's sons were little more than
cache the robes. When they had disposed out of sight, when Standing Wolf and the
of them, they made a little detour, and boys made out three men coming up the
returned to where they had left the Caribou lake. Soon they recognized them to be
cutting up the carcass. To complete the members of the Mounted Police. On
mystification, they walked about the bear's their arrival, Standing Wolf invited them
"wash" with careless steps; and. finally, in to supjxT. After the meal and an inter-
Standing Wolf put on his snow-shoes and change of tobacco, all smoked in silence.
trod upon the bear tracks to make them When were out, the ser-
at last the pipes
look as if they had been there before the geant through his half-breed interpreter
Indians had arrived upon the scene. When told Standing Wolf that he was trailing
all this had been done to their satisfaction, three Indians who had been killing buffalo.
they loaded the sled with as much meat as As the trail from the Buffalo Hills led to
the dogs could haul, headed straight for his lodge, he advised him to hand over the
home, and in less than an hour reached skins and save further trouble.
their lodges. " I am not aware that any of my people
There they found three Indians who had have ever brought buffalo skins to this
halted on their northern journey to spell camp," replied the hunter.
their dogs and drink a cup of tea with " Then
I must search your lodges," re-
Standing Wolf's women. They were young joined the sergeant.
men, sons of Standing Wolf's friend, "You may," returned the now reficent
Muk-wah, on their way to hunt caribou Indian.
many miles north of Spirit Lake. Without The police hunted high and low without
waiting to join them in a cup of tea or a discovering any trace whatever of either
smoke, Standing Wolf addressed them: buffalo robes or of fresh bear's meat or
" My sons," I see you are traveling light, skin. They were more bewildered than
and that your dogs are fresh. That is ever upon finding that the trail they had
well, for the Buffalo Spirit told me that followed from the Buffalo Hills continued
the sons of my old friend, Muk-wah, would beyond the camp in a northerly direction,
be ready to do me a service. We have and that another new trail from the south
been to the Buffalo Hills, and have had a had l>een made by the very snow-shoes and
successful hunt. The Redcoats are ujion sled lying there before their eyes.
our trail, yet they do not know our names, Darkness put an end to the search. At
nor have they seen the men whom they daybreak the jKilice again examined the
pursue. You, my sons, are great runners trailsabout the camp, but their investiga-
and brave men. You will be glad to lead tion only added to their bewilderment.
the Redcoats on a fruitless chase, especially To their questioning' Standing Wolf re-
when you know that you will be helping plied:
" Why do you pale-faced children question
your father's friend. I ask you to trade
sleds with me, and to wear our snow- a man whom you do not trust? Cannot
shoes instead of your own. As a present you read the signs in the snow? If you
I give you the skin and the meat of the look a little sharper, you will find that the
bear I have just killed. There is little trail of three men who came from the west
danger, my sons, for the Redcoats have passed through here yesterday, and that it
been without sleep or rest for several days, leads off again to the north. They did not
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WAS IT FOR THIS WE MET? 167
The police consulted together. The tell me, who hel|>ed you out of the holei*
sergeant asked Standing Wolf the nearest I will not give you away."
way to Fort Determination. Shaking the half-breed's hand, Standing
"I will show you, if you pay me," he Wolf replied:
replied. "The Buffalo Spirit."
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t%ttqgrMfA i-jf A Ike Seagate*
-"/<. May."
Google
IN MAY
BY MARY ELLIOTT
THE STAMPEDE
BY REX E. BEACH
ILLUSTRATED BY I). C. HUTCHISON
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LkiUVUvV REACH I'OKTH SUDDENLY AND STRANGLED 1 1 1 M AS HE SAT
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172 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
it. Three of 'em are down with scurvy, so they stood ready for the run. They stored
this one came over the mountains for fresh carefully wrapped bundles of matches in
grub. It'll be the biggest stampede this pockets, packs, and in the lining of their
camp ever saw." Maynard became inco- caps. The
preparations had not taken
herent. twenty minutes.
"How long ago did you meet him?" "Too bad we ain't got some cooked grub,
Crowley inquired excitedly. like chocolate or dog biscuits," said Crow-
"About an hour. I came on the run lo- ley, "but seeing as we've got five hours'
calise he'll get into camp by eleven, and mid- start over everybody, we won't have to kill
night will see five hum] reel men on the trail. ourselves."
Look at this -he gave me a map." The Maynard spoke hesitatingly. "Say, I
sj>eaker gloatingly produced a scrap of told Sully about it as 1 came along."
writing-paper and continued, " Hoys, you've "What!" Crowley interrupted him
got five hours start of them." sharply.
" We can't go; we haven't got any dogs," "Yes! I told him to get ready, and I
said Buck. "Those j>coplc from town promised to give him the location an hour
would catch us in twenty miles." afteryou left. You sec he did me a good
" You don't want dogs," Maynard turn once and I had to get back at him
answered. "It's too soft. You'll have to somehow. He and Knute are getting fixed
make a quick run with packs or the spring now. Why, what's up ? "
breakup will catch you. I wish I could go. He caught a queer, quick glance between
It's big, I tell you. Ix>rd! How I wish I his partners and noted a hardness settle
could go! into the lined face of the elder.
They were huddled together, their eyes "Nothing much," Buck took up; "I
feverish, their fingers tracing the pencil guess you didn't know about the trouble,
markings. A smell of burning food filled the eh ? Crowley knocked him down day before
room, but there is no obsession more abso- yesterday and Sully swears he'll kill him on
lute than the Cold lust. sight. It came up over that fraction on
"Get the packs together while me and Buster Creek."
Buck eats a bite. We'll take the fox robe "Well, well," said Maynard, "that's bad,
and the Navajo. Glad I've got a new pair isn't it ? I promised though, so I II have to
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THE SI UVlffcDfc, 173
this trip bid fair to combine the killing grind ley smashed in half way to his hips. He fell
of a long, fierce stampede, with the bitter forward bodily and the ice let him through
struggle of man and man, and too well he till he rolled in the water. Buck skimmed
knew the temper of his red-headed partner over more lightly, and, when they had
to doubt that before the last stake was reached the solid footing, helped him wring
driven, either he or Sully would be down. out his garments. Straightway the cloth
From the glare in their eyes at passing, it whitened under the frost and crackled when
came over him that either he or Knute they resumed their march, but there was no
would recross the mountains, partnerless. time for fires, and by vigorous action he
The trail was too narrow for these other could keep the cold from striking in.
men. He shrank from the toil and agony They had threaded up into the region
he felt was coming to him through this; and where spring was further advanced, and
then, with it, there came the burning Gold- within half an hour, encountered another
hunger; the lust that drives starving, broken overflow. Climbing the steep bank, they
wrecks onward unremittingly, over misty wallowed through thickets waist deep in
hills, across the beds of lava and the forbid- snow. Beneath the crust, which cut knife-
den tundra; on, into the new diggings. like, it was wet and soggy, so they emerged
It neared eight o'clock and although dark- saturated. Then debouching onto the giare
ness was far distant, the chill that follows ice, the boy had a nasty fall, for he slipped
the sun fell sharply. and his loose-hung pack flung him sud-
As they swung out onto the river, their denly. Nothing is more wicked than a pack
fatigue had dropped away and they moved on smooth ice. The surface had frozen
with the steady, loose gait of the hardened glass-smooth, and constant difficulty beset
"musher." Buck looked at his watch. their progress. Their slick-soled footgear
They had been gone an hour. refused to grip it, so that often they fell;
"The race is on!" said he. always awkwardly; occasionally, crushing
Though unhurried, their progress was through into the icy water beneath.
likewise unhindered, and the miles slipped Without warning Buck found that he
backward as the darkness thickened, hour was very tired. He also found that his pack
by hour. Straight up the fifty mile stream had grown soggy and quadrupled in weight,
to its source, over the great back -bone and tugging sullenly at his aching shoulders.
into the unmapped country, their course As daylight showed they slipped harness
led. If they hurried they would have first and hurriedly gathering twigs, boiled a pot
choice of the good claims close about the of tea. They took time to prepare nothing
discover)', if they lagged —Sully and his ox- else, yet even though the kettle sang speed-
eyed partner would overtake them, and ily, as they drank, from around the bend
beyond that, it was unpleasant toconjecture. below, came voices. Crowley straightened
M We'll hit water pretty soon! " Crowley's with a curse, and, snatching his pack, fled
voice broke hours of silence, for they were up the stream, followed by his comjjanion.
sparing of language. They neither whistled They ran till Buck's knees failed him.
nor sang, nor spoke, for Man is a potential Thereupon the former removed a portion
body from which his store of energy wastes of the youngster's burden, adding it to his
through tiny unheeded ways. own, and they hurried on for hours, till they
True to prophecy, in the darkness of mid- fell exhausted upon a dry moss hummock.
night, they walked out upon a thin skin of Here they exchanged footgear, as Buck now
newly frozen ice. found his feet were paining him acutely,
"Look out for the overflow! She froze owing to the tightness of his rubber boots.
since dark," Crowley cautioned. "We're They proved too small for Crowley as well,
liable to go through." and in a few hours his feet were likewise
On all sides it cracked alarmingly, while ruined.
they felt it sag beneath their feet. It is bad, Noon found them limping among the
in the dark, to ride the ice of an overflow for baldhills of the river's source. Here timber
one may crash through ankle deep to the was sparse and the snows had likewise
solid body beneath, or plunge to his arm- thinned, so to avoid the convolutions of the
pits. stream, they cut across points, floundering
They. skated over the yielding surface among "niggerheads"— quaint wobbly
toward safety, till, without warning, Crow- hummocks of grass -being thrown re-
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74 THE M ETROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
peatedly by their packs which had devel- hung up in the hills and starve before the
oped a malicious deviltry. This footing was creeks lower enough to get home."
infinitely worse than the reeking ice but it Small streams freeze solidly to the bottom
saved time, so they took it. and the spring waters wear downward from
Now, under their stiff mackinaws they the surface. Thus they found the creek
perspired freely as the sun mounted, until awash, and, following further, it became
their heavy garments chafed them beneath necessary to wade in many places. They
arms and legs. Moreover, mosquitoes, came to a box canyon where the winter snow
which in this latitude breed within arms' had packed, forming a dam and, as there
length of snow drifts, continually whined was no way of avoiding it without retreating
in a vicious cloud before their features. a mile and climbing the ragged bluff, they
Human nerves will weather great strains, floundered through; their packs aloft; the
but wearing, maddening, unending trivi- slushv water armpit deep.
alities will break them down, and so, "We'd ought 'a took the ridges," Buck
although their journey in miles had been chattered. Language slips forth phoneti-
inconsiderable, the dragging packs, the callv with fatigue.
driving panic, the lack of food and firm "No! Feller's apt to get lost. Drop into
footing,had trebled it. the wrong creek—come out fifty mile
Scaling the moss-capped saddle they away."
labored painfully, a hundred yards at a "I bet the others do anyhow," Buck held
time. Back of them the valley unrolled; stubbornly. " It's lots easier going."
its stream winding away like a gleaming "Wish Sully would, but he's too wise.
ribbon, stretching, through dark banks of No such luck for me." A long pause. "I
fir, down to the S'ukon. After incredible reckon I'll have to kill him before he gets
effort they reached the crest and gazed back!" Again they relapsed into miles of
dully out to the southward over a limitless silence.
jangle of peaks; on, on, to a blue veiled Crowley's fancy fed on vengeance, hatred
valley leagues and leagues across. Many livening his work-worn faculties. He
square miles lay under them in the black of nursed carefully the memory of their quar-
unbroken forests. It was their first glimpse rel, for it helped him travel and took his
of the Tanana. Far beyond from a grovel- mind from the agony of movement and this
ing group of foot-hills, a solitary, giant peak aching sleep-hunger.
soared grandly, standing aloof; serene, The feet of both men felt like fearful,
terrible in its projMirtions. Even in their shapeless masses; their packs leaned back-
fatigue, thev exclaimed aloud. ward sullenly, chafing raw shoulder sores;
"It'sMount McKinley!" and always the ravenous mosquitoes stung
"Yep! Tallest wart on the face of the and stung, and whined and whined.
continent. There's the creek we go down, At an exclamation, the leader turned.
see!" Crowley indicated a water course Miles back, silhouetted far above on the
which meandered away through canyons comb of the ridge, they descried two tiny
and broad reaches. " We foller it to yonder figures.
cross valley; then east to there." To "That's what we'd ought a done. They'll
Buck's mind, his gesture included a tinted beat us in."
realm as far reaching as a state. "No they won't. They'll have to camp
Stretched ujmmi the bare schist, command- to-night or get lost, while we can keep goin'.
ing the back stretch, they munched slices We can't go wrong down here; can't do no
of raw bacon. more than drownd."
Directly, out toward the mountain's foot^ Buck groaned at the thought of the night
two figures crawled. hours. He couldn't stand it, that was all!
"There they come!" and Crowley led, Enough is enough of anything and he had
stumbling, sliding, into the strange valley. gone the limit. Just one more mile and he
As this was the south and early side of would quit; yet he did not.
the range, they found the hills more barren All through that endless phantom night
of snow. W ater seeped into the gulches till they floundered; encased in freezing gar-
the creek ice was worn and rotted. ments; numb and heavy with sleep, but
"This'll be fierce," the Irishman re- morning found them at the banks of the
marked. "If she breaks on us, we'll be main stream.
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THE STAMPEDE 175
" Youlook like hell," said Buck, laughing Skookum District now. It takes six men
weakly. His mirth relaxed his nerves sud- to organize. Weill We organized. We
denly, till he giggled and hiccoughed, hys- made laws. We elected a recorder. I'n» it.
terically. Nor could he stop for many If you don't like our rules, yonder is the
minutes, the while Crowley stared at him divide. We've got the U. S. Government
apathetically from a lined and shrunken back of us. See!"
countenance, his features standing out Crowley's language became purely local
skeleton -like. The younger man evidenced but the other continued unruffled.
the strain even more severely for his flesh "We knew you-all was coming, so we
was tender, and he had travelled the last sort of loaded up. If there's any ground
hours on pure nerve. His jaws were locked hereabouts that we ain't got blanketed, it's
and corded, however, while his drooping purely an oversight. There's plenty left
eyes shone unquenchably. further out though," and he swept them a
Eventually they rounded a bluff onto a mocking gesture. "Help yourselves and
cahin nestling at the mouth of a dark valley. pass up for more. I'll record 'em."
Near it men were working with a wind- "What's the fee?"
lass, so, stumbling to them, they spoke "Ten dollars apiece."
huskily. Crowley swore more savagely.
"Sorry we ain't got room inside," the "You done a fine job of hoggin', didn't
stranger replied, "but three of the boys is you ? It's two and a half everywhere else."
down with scurvy, and we're all cramj>ed But the recorder of the Skookum District
up. Plentv more folks coming, I s'pose, laughed carelessly and resumed his wind-
eh?" lass.
The two had sunk onto the wet ground "Sorry you ain't pleased. Maytx? you'll
and did not answer. Buck fell with his pack learn to like it."
still on, and the miner was
utterly lost, As they turned away, he continued, "I
forced to drag the bundle from his shoul- don't mind giving you a hunch, though.
ders. As he rolled him up, he was sleeping Tackle that big creek alxmt five miles down
heavily. yonder. She prospected good last fall, but
Crowley awakened while the sun was still you'll have to go clean to her head 'cause
golden; his joints aching excruciatingly. we've got everything below."
They had slept four hours. He boiled tea Eight hours later, by the guiding glare of
on the miners' stove and fried a pan of salt the Northern Lights the two stumbled back
pork, but was too tired to prepare anything into camp, utterly broken.
else, so they drank the warm bacon grease They had followed the stream for miles
clear with their tea. and miles to find it staked by the powers of
As Buck strove to arise, his limbs gave attorney of the six. Coming to the gulch's
way weakly so that he fell, and it took him head, to be sure, they found vacant ground
many moments to recover their use. but refused to claim such unpromising ter-
"Where's the best chance, pardner?" ritory. Then the endless homeward march
they inquired of the men on the dump. through the darkness! Out of thickets and
"Well, there ain't none very close by. through drifts they burst, while fatigue set-
We've got things prettv well cov- tled on them like some horrid vampire from
ered." the darkness. Every step being no longer
"How's that? There's only six of you; involuntary, became a sejxiratc labor, re-
you can't hold but six claims, besides dis- quiring mental concentration. They were
covery." half dead in slumber as they walked but
"Oh we can! We've got powers of
yes, their stubborn courage and smouldering
attorney: got 'em last fall in St. Michael; rage at the men who had caused this, drove
got 'em recorded too." them on. They suffered silently, l>ecause it
Crowley's sunken eyes blazed. takes effort to groan, and they hoarded
"Them's no good. We don't reckon 'ize every atom of endurance.
'em in this district. One claim is enough Many, many times Buck re|>eated a
for any man, if it's good, and too much, if poem, timing his steps to its rhythm, rend-
it's bad." ering over and over till it wore a rut
it
"What district you alludin'at?" ques- through his brain; his eyes fixed dully upon
tioned the other ironically. "You're in the the glaring fires above the hill tops. For
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176 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
years a faintness came over him with the "There ain't any fraction there," the
memory of these lines: other averred loudly. "We own them
"Then dark they lie, and stark they lie,
claims. I told you we had everything cov-
ered."
rookery, dune, and flot,
And the Northern Lights came down o* "You record them fractions!"
"I won't do it! I'll see you in "
nights to dance with the houseless
Crowley reached forth suddenly and
snow."
strangled him as he sat. He buried his
Reaching the cabin, they found an army thumbs in his throat, forcing him roughly
of men sleeping heavily upon the wet moss. back against a bunk. Further and further
Among them was the great form of Knute, he crushed him till the man lay pinioned
but nowhere did they spy Sully. and writhing on his back. Then he knelt
With much effort they tore off the con- on him, shaking and worrying like a great
stricting boots and, using them for pillows, terrier.
sank into a painful lethargy. At the first commotion, the cripples
Awakened early by the others, they took scrambled out of bed, shouting lustily
their frozen footgear beneath the
stiffly through their livid gums; their bloated
blankets to thaw against their warm bodies, features mottled and sickly with fright. One
but their feet were swelled to double size liftedhimself toward the Winchester and it
and every joint had ossified rheumatically. fellfrom his hands full cocked when Buck
Eventually they hobbled about, preparing hurled him into a corner where he lay
the first square meal since the start two — screaming in agony.
days and three nights. Drawn by the uproar, the stampeders
Still they saw no Sully, though Crowley's outside rushed toward the shack to be met
eyes darted careful inquiry among the horde in the door bv the young man.
of stampeders which moved about the "Keep back!"
cabin. Later, he seemed bent on some hid- "What's up!"
den design, so they crawled out of sight of "Fight!"
the camp, then commencing at the upper "Let me in!"
stake of Discover}', he stepped off the claims A man bolted forward but was met with
from post to post. such a driving blow in the face that he went
It is customary to blaze the boundaries of thrashing to the slush. Another was hurled
locations on tree trunks, but from topo- back, and then they heard Crowley's voice,
graphical irregularities, it is difficult to rough and thnxity as he abused the recorder.
properly gauge these distances, hence, many Strained to the snapping point, his restraint
rich fractions have been run over by the had shattered to bits and now passion ran
heedless, to fall to him who chained the through him, wild and unbridled.
ground. From his words they grasped the situation
Upon pacing the third one, he showed and their sympathies changed. They
excitement. crowded the door and gazed curiously
"You walk this one again— mebbe I through the window to see him jam the
made a mistake." recorder shapelessly into a chair, place pen
Buck returned, crashing through the and ink in his hand and force him to exe-
brush. cute two receipts. It is not a popular prac-
"I make it seventeen hundred." tice, this blanketing, as the temper of the
The claim above figured likewise, and watchers showed.
they trembled with elation as they blazed "Serves 'em right, the hogs," some one
their lines. said, and he voiced the universal sentiment.
Returning to camp they found the re- That night as they ravened over their
corder in the cabin with the scurvy patients. meager meal, Knute came to them, hesti-
Unfolding the location notices, his face went tatingly. He was greatly worried and ap-
black as he read, while he snarled angrily: prehension wrinkled his wooden face.
" Fraction between Three and Four and
' ' "Saav! W'at vou t'ink 'bout Sully?"
'Fraction between Four and Five,' eh? "I don't know. Why?"
You're crazv." "Bv Yingo, Av t'ink' he's lose!"
"I reckon not," said Crowley, lifting his "Lost! How's that?"
lips at the corners characteristically. In his dialect, broken by anxiety, he told
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THE STAMPEDE 177
broke. With it, broke the delirium of the sinking its beak into the object, tore hun-
five hundred. The valleys roared and grily.
bawled from bluff to bluff, while the flats With a shout they stumbled forward,
became seas of seething ice and rubbish. lacerated by the jagged slide rock, only to
Thus, cut off from home, they found their pause aghast and shaking.
grub was gone, for every one had clung till Sully lay crouched against a boulder
his food grew low. As the obsession left where he had crawled for the sun heat.
them, their brotherhood returned; food Rags of clothing hung upon his gaunt frame
was apportioned in community; and they through which the sharp bones strove to
spoke vaguely of the fate of Sully pierce, also, at sight of his hands and feet
For still another half fortnight, they lay they shuddered. With the former he had
about the cabin while the streams raged, Covered his eyes from ihe ravens, but his
and then Crowley spoke to his partner. cheeks and head were bloody and shredded.
Rolling their blankets they started, and He muttered constantly, like the thick whir-
although many were tempted to go, none ring of machinery run down.
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78 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"Oh, my God!" Buck whispered. these many days. Now his every muscle
Crowley had mastered himself and knelt was dead and numbed with pain. Only his
beside the figure. He looked up and tears mind was clear, caused by the effort to
lay on his cheeks. force movement into his limbs. WTien he
"Look at them hands and feet! That was stopped walking he fell into a half slumber
done by fire and frost together. He must which was acutely painful. When he arose
have fell in his own camp fires after he to redrive his weary body, it became freak-
went crazy." ish so that he fell or collided with trees. He
The garments were burned off to elbow was bloody and bruised and cut. Carry a
and knee, while the flesh was black and raw. dead man ? It was madness, and besides he
Tenderly they carried the gabbling crea- felt an utter giving away at every joint.
ture down to the timber and laid him on a He was too tired to make his reasoning
bed of boughs. His condition told the grim plain; his tongue was thick, and Crowley's
tale of his wanderings, crazed with hunger brain too calloused to grasp argument,
and hardship. therefore, he squatted beside the muttering
Heating water, they poured it into him, creature and wept impotently. He was
dressing his wounds with strips from their asleep, with tears in his stubbly beard, when
underclothes. Of stimulants they had none, his partner finished the rude litter, yet he
but fed him the last pinch of flour together took up his end of the burden as Crowley
with the final rasher of salt pork, although knew he would.
they knew that these things are not good for "You'll kill us both, damn ye'" he
starving men. For many days they had groaned.
travelled on less than quarter rations them- "Probably so, but we can't leave him to
selves. them things." The other nodded at the
"What will we do?" vampires perched observantly in the sur-
" It ain't over twenty miles to the Niggers. rounding firs.
we can get help back. D'ye
He'll die before Then Ijegan their great trial and tempta-
reckon we can carry him?" tion. For hours on end the birds fluttered
It was not sympathy which prompted from tree to tree, always in sight and
Crowley, for he sympathized with his boyish hoarsely complaining till the sick fancies
companion, whose sufferings it hurt him of the men distorted them into fouJ, gibing
sorely to augment. It was not pity; he creatures of the Pit screaming with devilish
pitied himself, and his own deplorable con- glee at their anguish. Blindly they stag-
dition; nor did mercy enter into his pro- gered through the forest while the limbs
cesses, for the man had mercilessly planned reached forth to block them, thrusting
to kill him and he likewise had nursed a sharp needles into their eyes or whipping
bitter hatred for the man, which misfortune back viciously. Vines writhed up their
could only dim. It was not these things legs straining to delay their march and the
which moved him, but a vaguer, wider dank moss curled ankle deep, slyly tripping
quality; an elemental, unspoken, indefin- their dragging, swollen feet. Nature hind-
able feeling of brotherhood throughout the ered them sullenly, with all her heart-
length of the North, teaching subtly, yet breaking implacability. They reeled con-
absolutely and without appeal, that no man stantly under their burden and grew to hate
shall be left in his extremity to the cruel the nigged barked trees that smote them so
harshness of this forbidding kind. cruelly and so roughly tore their flesh. Oft-
"Cam- him?" buck cried. "No! You're times they fell, rolling the maniac limply
crazy What's the use ? He'll die anyhow
! from his couch, but they dragged him back
and so'll we if we don't get grub soon." and strained forward to the hideous racket
Buck was new to the country, and he was a of his mumblings which grew louder as his
boy. delirium increased. They were forced to
"No, he won't. He lived hard and he'll tie him to the poles but could not stop his
die hard, for he's a hellion — he is. We've ghastly shriekings. At every pause the
him in!"
got to pack dismal ravens croaked and leered evilly from
"By God! I won't risk my life for a the shadows, till Buck shuddered and hid
corpse
—
'specially one like him." The lad his face while Crowley gnashed his teeth.
broke out in hysterical panic, for he had From time to time other birds joined them
lived on the raggedest edge of his nerve in anticipation of the feast, till they were
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THE STOLEN KASABA 179
ringed about, and the sight of this ever- door. Having seen other mountain streams
growing, grisly, clamorous flock of in the break-up, he waited philosophically,
watchers became awful to the men. They hunting ptarmigan among the firs back of
felt the horny talons searching their flesh the cabin.
and the hungry beaks tearing at their eye- He had lost track of the days, when,
balls. down the gulch, in the morning light, he
descried a strange party approaching.
A dog sled and birch-lwirk practice cover- Two men bore between them a stretcher
ing both banks of the Yukon for two hun- made from their shirts. They crawled with
dred miles yielded Doc Lewis sufficient dreadful slowness, resting every hundred
revenue to grub stake a Swede. Thus he feet. Moreover, they stumbled and stag-
slept warm, kept his feet dry, and was still a gered aimlessly through the niggerheads.
miner. He did not believe in hardship, and As they drew near he sighted their faces
eschewed stampedes. Yet when he had from which the teeth grinned in a grimace
seen the last able-bodied man vanish from of torture, and through which the cheek
camp on the Skookum run, he grew restless. bones seemed to penetrate.
He scoffed at fake excitements to Jarvis, He knew what the signs boded. For
the faro dealer, who also forebore the trail years he had ministered to these necessities,
by virtue of his calling, but he got no satis- and no man had ever approached bis suc-
faction. cess.
A fortnight later he rolled his blankets "It is the rape of the North they are
and journeyed toilsomely up the river valley. doing," he sighed. "We ravage her stores
"Better late than never," he thought. but she takes grim toll from all of us." He
Arriving at the empty shack of the moved the hot water forward on the stove,
Negroes, he camped, only to awaken during cleared off the rude table, and laid out his
the night to the roar of the torrent at his instrument case.
Hansen, the head clerk, had in charge was waiting to finish the moti kasaba.
this trinket that would cost four lakhs of "Hasn't Hansen been here yet?" Dodd
rupees— $1 25,000. All day he must keep queried.
his eyes on the priceless pearls, and at mid- "No, sir."
night take them to the vault in the show- "That's strange; hope he is not ill; must
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be, —
though must be. Send a peon to his broke off and rubbed his hands together
bungalow to ask." nervously.
Dodd adjusted the combination, swung The search brought forth nothing; and
the heavy iron door and stepped into the it was with a cry of relief Dodd heard a
vault. Then he gave a cry of alarm. The gharry clatter up to the front door and
silver casket which should have contained stop. ''Ah!" he said eagerly,
"here is
the kasaba yawned emptv. Mr. Hansen at last; now" Hiswe'll
"Who has taken the head-dress?" Dodd voice broke and he leaned against the door
gasped, wringing his hands and turning jamb.
frightened eyes upon Bums. Burns descended alone from the gharry
—
"Nobody, sir; they couldn't the vault and in his white face was a look that
—
was locked vou opened it voursclf, sir." frightened the manager.
" Where is Duttoo ? Where is Dimitri ?" "Come into my office don't speak," —
"Here is Duttoo, sir; he is waiting." he whispered, grasping Burns by the arm.
"Where is the kasaba, Duttoo?" Dodd Inside he said: "Now, what is it?"
gasped; "where have you put it?" "Hansen hasn't been to his bungalow
The frightened Hindoo stared in be- since yesterday. He lives in a chummery
wildered astonishment. out on the Tollyjunge Road, and his com-
"Speak! Do you hear?" And the man- —
rades are anxious they can't understand
ager grasped him roughly by the shoulder. it. He was always so steady, sir."
Burns interposed, saying: "Duttoo is "My God! Here, Burns, take a gharry
frightened, sir." Then turning to the — —
quick go to police headquarters and
goldsmith he added gently: "Tell the tell Mr. Creighton, the Chief of Detectives,
Burra Sahib when you last saw the kasaba, that I want to see him. Give him my
Duttoo." compliments, and ask him to please come
"Last night when the big clock struck at once. But not a word to anybody,
twelve times, Hansen Sahib took the mind — silence."
kasaba and his little lamp. He unlocked In fifteen minutes the detective chief ap-
the strong door that is between here and peared, and the jeweler explained his
our little workshop, and he passed through. trouble.
Then the sahib locked it again, and I went "I'll put Teck on this," the Chief said.
out the back door, as Kushna, the durwan, "You've heard, of him, Mr. Dodd? He
will say. And now here am I waiting for brought the Nawab of Kojac to book over
the work; that is all Duttoo knows, huzoor." poisoning the Resident. And he found the
"Call Gopal Singh," Dodd commanded; Nizam's jewels that were stolen when the
and when the durwan of the front door Nizam was here last year. Yes, Teck is
came, the manager asked if Hansen had the man; I'll send for him at once. I'll
passed out the night before. have a look about, myself, in the mean-
"Yes, huzoor, surely Hansen Sahib went time."
out at midnight and locked the front door "Thank you, Mr. Creighton. I do
behind him," Gopal Singh answered. hope you are successful. I have a feeling
"No one went in because I and Pcroo that there has been foul play. I'll give a
Singh rested on our charpoys against the reward— yes, ten thousand rupees for the
outside of the door." recovery of the kasaba."
"Did Hansen Sahib carry anything?" Again Burns was dispatched in a gharry
Dodd asked. to police headquarters, and presently re-
"Nothing, huzoor." turned with a short, chubby round-faced
"Ah, I have it," the manager declared. little man who looked quietly at Dodd out
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CffyrigAt, /ifuO, ky Undtrivood tr* Uitdtrweod.
HR DID NOT KNOW THAT IT WAS Nl STRM SITTING ON THR hOK Of THB NRW GHARRY HE BKCACKP.
broken into the place. If we can locate I tell you the Thakore's eyes were unholy
him, we shall find the pearls. He has in their vicious jealousy. He knew that
yielded to the temptation, I fear." the Maharajah was going to wear this at
"It wasn't Hansen," declared the mana- the durbar."
ger firmly. "I would trust my life with "And you think he may have put the
him. There's been foul play, I'm sure." durwans up to stealing it, out of revenge?"
"Whom do you suspect?" Teck clicked Teck asked.
in a soft, gentle voice. "He is capable of doing it, I know that.
" Perhaps the durwans. I've had Gopal He came to the guddi (throne) through the
Singh for some time, but I've just discov- murder of his uncle."
ered that Peroo Singh, who has come " Well," said Teck, " I want an hour to
lately, is a subject of the Thakore of Bha- look about. Shut the front door, let no
rana." one in or out, and we'll hold another little
" What connection ha^ the Thakore with conference here in one hour. It is now"
the case?" Teck asked. Teck raised his eves to a clock on the wall
"Well, there is fierce rivalry between the "what! Half-past eleven? Ah! I sec, it
two princes. They happened to meet is stopped."
here yesterday, and nothing would do "It is just eleven o'clock, Mr. Teck,"
Darwaza but he must have the pearl Dodd advised, pulling a watch from his
kasaba and try it on, just to anger Bharana. pocket. "That clock must have stopped
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182 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
last night— it was going yesterday. My they are quite distinct," he said; "one is
man has forgotten to wind it." from a pearl of exquisite luster, the other
Dodd arose, went to the clock, which carried a slight purple shade."
consisted of the works, a dial plate, and "Then Hansen is dead, instead of being
the weights and pendulum hanging down a thief," Teck declared.
the wall without an enclosing box. He "You think the durwans killed him?"
swung the pendulum and the cloqk started the Manager asked in a hoarse whisper.
off. "The durwans had nothing to do with
" It is not run down —
odd it should have it. They could not get in the front door
stopped," he added. "Well, we'll meet until Hansen had unlocked it as he passed
here at twelve again." out. At that time the vault would have
" I will go to my office, send out Detective —
been locked they couldn't get into it."
Thorns on Hansen's track, and return at "I hadn't thought of that," Dodd com-
twelve," the Chief said. mented.
" And I will be upstairs, Mr. Teck, if you "There was a struggle in the vault. As
wish any information," the manager added. Hansen was placing the kasaba in the
"That will give you the whole lower floor silver casket he was struck from behind;
to yourself. The durwans and assistants the kasaba fell from his hand, struck the
are at your command." side of the casket —
there is a little glint
The detective drifted casually about the of gold there which I can show you, plain
showroom; had the heavy iron shutters of as a footprint in soft clay; and these pieces
the front windows lowered; tried the lock of pearl, that are not from the one Darwaza
of the front door with the manager's dupli- broke yesterday, were some of them on the
cate key; examined the iron-barred win- floor of the vault, and some in the casket it-
dow, the vault, the private office where self."
he had sat with the manager; and finally " But Hansen walked out the front door,"
walked out the front door and sauntered objected Dodd.
casually up and down the sidewalk with "No, he didn't."
his hands in his pockets. Then he hailed "The durwan saw him."
a gharry and drove to the municipal offices, "He saw a man dressed in Hansen's
where, for five minutes, he consulted a city clothes. Hansen always had a few words
map. At twelve o'clock he was back of greeting with the durwans when he went
waiting for his Chief, and together they out; this man hurried off with a gruff
were ushered into his private office by the salaam. The durwan admits that he didn't
Manager. see there was very little light.
his face,
"What was Hansen like, Mr. Dodd?" Gopal Singh says that was at 12.30, and
Teck asked as soon as they were seated. Hansen left the workshop at 12. That
—
"Was he athletic would he fight if cor- gave them half an hour for the job."
nered?" "But you said thty did this, Mr. Teck—
"Yes, he was a Birmingham man; he only one passed out."
would be a tough customer to overcome." "Through the door; the other went out
" Hut they did him up, the cowardly the way they came in and took Hansen's
sweeps!" Teck execlaimed. bodv. The job was done by Ives Hol-
Dodd "You don't mean
started.
" born."
" Yes, a thousand pounds to a goose-
it's "Holborn!" the Chief gasped.
berry that you'll never see Hansen again, "Yes. While I've been watching here
dead or alive." for him— I had advice from Scotland Yard
Teck drew from his jx>cket some tiny that he had headed this way after the
fragments of pearl. —
Brighton Hotel robbery he slips in and
"Ah!" exclaimed Dodd, "the Mahara- does this trick under my very nose. And,
jah broke that pearl yesterday." Mr. Dodd, I can tell you this, if Holborn
Teck placed in the palm of his hand two had done it alone, we might say good-by
additional pieces of broken pearl, and to your pearls; but, luckily, this time he
asked: "You arc an expert, Mr. Dodd; needed an accomplice "
are these pieces from the same pearl?" "One of my employe's, Mr. Teck?"
With a powerful glass the Manager ex- "No; fortunately it's next door to a fool,
amined the shell in Teck's hand. "No, a sailor— I mean a fool at this sort of work.
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i8 4 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
As you have Hansen carried a little
said, slab that " Tcck drew from his pocket
lamp, so our friend was enabled to see the a heavy sheath knife and pried up the
pearl kasaba. The two thieves crept to the slab of marble. Then he lifted another,
vault, knowing that Hansen would close and Dodd and the Chief looked down a
it when he came out. No doubt he was black hole through the cement and gravel
taking a good-night look at the beautiful that underlay the marble, and up from the
kasaba, and, as his back was turned, they hole came a damp, sickening odor as from
pounced upon him like two Thugs. Han- a sewer.
sen had placed the lamp on the little shelf "That is the way they came in," Tcck
just above the casket where you will find said; "they drove a little tunnel from the
a ring of oil. It is likely he was struck sewer and worked up. It was pure chance
from behind with an iron bar or a sand- their coming into the office —
but that didn't
bag and never made a sound. Holborn re- matter. That sewer empties into' the
alized the situation at once there is no — Hooghli River at Barna Ghat. It is low
cleverer thief in the world than Ives Hol- tide at six o'clock and they could not have
born. got out until that hour. That is why they
" Observe that he took nothing but the meant to cut the bars. Hansen's body
pearl crown. That was so that it would has probably been carried out to sea by
be supposed your man had disappeared this time. Thus is not the first time Ives
with this that he had in charge. Holborn Holborn worked from a sewer; it is an old
saw Hansen bolt the shop door on the inside trick of his in England.
and knew that he would not go back that "Now," continued Teck, "we'll cover
way; and on the ring that held the key was up this hole. See how cleverly Holborn
another that fitted the front door, so he put this piece of studding across to hold
knew it was his habit to go out that way. the marble slabs where the cement was cut
He exchanged clothes with the dead man, —
away brought it with him on purpose, no
way they had come
sent the sailor out the doubt. And now we must find the sailor.
in with the body, covered up his tracks, Chief, will you come with me, sir. First,
put the crown on his head beneath a cap of course, we must go and adopt the garb
or soft hat, and walked out." of ship's officers —
anything will do. You
Dodd and the Chief sat with their heads can open up shop now, Mr. Dodd. We've
craned toward the little, blue-eyed man got all the clues we can obtain here; I forgot
who sjK>ke in the monotonous tone of one to mention that at the bottom of that hole
who reads from a book. in the tunnel are the small -heeled foot-
" Now," the jeweler asked, " how do you prints of a sailor's boot, and also the broader
know they came here at 11.30 as you say, footprints of a landsman. However, this
and how could they get out of the building doesn't matter, for we know that it was Hol-
with a dead body?" born and a sailor without this additional
"Your clock was stopped at II.33 last proof."
night as you said. That meant that some The Chief and Teck drove first to Radii
one unfamiliar with its position on the wall Bazar where they purchased the brass-
had struck against the pendulum at 11.33. buttoned white coats and caps of steam-
And as some one had been in the building ship officers in a second-hand shop. In
who could not have got in from above, as the gharry, as they drove to Barna Ghat,
I discovered when I investigated, and the two detectives attired themselves in
could not have passed the durwans at the this garb.
door, he must have come up from below. " According to the city plan," Teck said,
A little trip to the sidewalk showed me the as they came to the river, "the trunk sewer
iron grating over a sewer-vent, and the empties just below Barna Ghat. We can't
stoppage of the clock suggested that the see it now for the tide is high. We'll tackle
entry had been made in your office." these sampan men just above the ghat for
Tcck rose and with his cane tapped a trace of our sailor."
along the marble fliM>r, saying: " It was "A sailor who has deserted because he
very simple, once started in the right way, struck a Bengali boatman took a sampan
to find the drum note." He stooj>ed from here to a ship about six o'clock this
and rolled up the end of a Persian morning," Tcck said to a grizzled boatman
rug. "And here, you see, is the marble who came forward "and here is a reward
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IK AND OUT AMONGST THK NATIVES ON TUB SIDEWALK STRADDLES THREADED HIS WAY.
of five rupees to the man who will help us times over his shoulder. Yes indeed, he
find him." was the one that was pursued."
"Huzoor, even I, Kmir Ally, put such a "Very good, Emir Ally," Teck said;
sahib on yonder steamer this morning at "here are five rupees, and see, Emir, here
the time the Sahib says," replied the boat- arc five more, and you will wrap these in
man. "Indeed, Huzoor, it was in my your dhoti (cloth) when you have gone with
mind that the sailor sahib had been up to us to the steamer and pointed out the man."
evil, for he was all of a mud. And even "I will go. Get into my sampan,
as he spoke to me for hire, he looked many Huzoor."
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THK METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"No, Emir; this budmish (r°fi u e) might six the pock-marked sailor who was Strad-
see the number of your boat and know our dles came to the landing ghat opposite the
errand. We will go higher up and take "Carnatic." There was no gharry stand
another sampan come!" — at that point, and Straddles eagerly en-
Presently, under the Bengali's guidance, gaged the one he found casually waiting.
they swung alongside the steamer "Car- "To the Esplanade, gharry wallah," he
natic" that lay moored in the river. said.
Instructed by Teck to make no sign, At that hotel Straddles discharged the
Emir Ally recognized a small, pock-marked gharry and passed in to the ground floor
sailor as his passenger of the morning. saloon, which was for sailors, to wait until
Teck made his mission known to the night had come.
Captain, who said that the identified man When the sailor came forth again in an
was known as Straddles. He had signed hour, he did not know that it was Rustem
on the ship the day before indeed, had — sittingon the box of the new gharry- he en-
only come on duty that morning. The gaged, neither did he see as the gharry
" Carnatic " was sailing next day and was turned into Dhurrumtullah Road a na-
picking up a crew. tive, who was Teck, clamber to the little
The Captain had Straddles' bag searched seat that projected from the hind anxle,
quietly, and hidden in the toe of a sock and crouch there; nor did he know that
was found a silver boats'n's whistle. As behind in another gharry followed the
Teck had instructed, this was not removed, Chief and Runjeet, a Punjabi policeman.
and every evidence of a search was ob- Eor over half a mile straight eastward
literated. No one but the Captain and along Dhurrumtullah Road Rustem's ghar-
Chief Officer knew of the search, or why ry clattered. Suddenly Teck felt the
the two sahibs in ship's uniform had come vehicle tip low on one side. Peering
aboard. The Captain promised to give around the side, he saw the gleam of a
Straddles leave to go ashore if he asked white trouscr leg, then another foot was
for it. thrust out, and the bodv of the sailor edged
"And he'll ask for it to-night, Captain," half through the side door till his feet
Teck said; "don't give it tohim before sun- rested on the low step.
down whatever you do. We'll be waiting Teck slipped to the street and darted to
for him." the sidewalk. As he did so, the sailor
As Teck went over the side he noticed dropped to the ground and Rustem, all
the small, foxlike eyes of Straddles watching unconscious of the desertion, drove his
him curiously; and to lull the sailor's gharry on into the darkness and dis-
suspicion, he called loudly to the Captain: ap|>eared. Teck chuckled softly as he
"There'll be a hundred tons of jute come thought of Rustem's astonishment when he
alongside to-night. That'll finish your would presently find himself alone with his
cargo. We'll send you a new steward horses.
from the office." "Very clever,Mister Sailor-man," the
On shore Teck paid Emir Ally his ten detective muttered to himself; "the scent
rupees and said to the Chief: "I'll take now grows warm."
that big native ]H>liceman, Rustcm. we'll In and out amongst the natives on the
dress as native gharry wallahs; I'll hire a sidewalk Straddles threaded his way, and
gharry and lie in wait here at this landing behind trailed the detective. Once, as the
ghat for Straddles. As he'll have impor- gharry that followed drew up to him, Teck
tant business on, and probably has had slipped from the sidewalk and raised his
motley already from Holborn. he'll hire hand; then he was bark to the walk and
my gharry. And having money, first of trailing his quarry.
all he'll want a drink, so he'll drive to the At the second street, a small lane, a
Esplanade, where all good sailors drink. sailor turned in past a row of little native
So if you're to hunt with me to-night, shops. Beyond these was a high pucca
Chief, you can post yourself at the Espla- wall, and at a heavy wooden gate ri this the
i
nade corner at six. We'll need a deter- sailor stopi>ed, turned, looked carelessly up
mined man or two if we run Holborn to and down the lane, then knocked.
earth; he's a bad one." Teck, bargaining for some sweetmeats,
As Teck had foretold, about half-past saw the gate oj>en, the sailor disappear
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THE STOLEN KASABA 187
within, and then the gate was closed. The "Now, durwan," he added in a low
detective went back to Dhurrumtullah, at voice, " we are police sahibs. Whose bun-
the corner of which waited the Chief and galow is this?"
Runjeet. "Baboo Ram Chunder's," the durwan
"We must capture the durwan at the gasped when the cloth was taken from his
gate before he can give an alarm," Teck throat.
advised; "so Runjeet must knock, and "All right.And in there are two thief
tell the durwan that he has brought the sahibs, and unless you lead us to them
Sahib's purse that was left in the Sahib's quietly, you will be sent to jail; also, in the
gharry. The durwan, hoping to steal the meantime, this little gun which I have here
money, will be drawn. You know the will kill you if you make a noise."
Thug trick of a handkerchief to smother Teck drew a strong cord through the
—
his cry, Runjeet only don't break his neck
.
handcuffs, passing the end to Runjeet,
The Punjabi's white teeth gleamed in and added: " If the durwan gives a warn-
the flickering light of the shop lamps, as ing to the thief sahibs you are to kill him."
he unwound his kummerbund (sash) and " Huzoor, I will lead you to the little room
held it loosely in his hand. wherein are the two sahibs with Baboo
Teck and the Chief, standing with their Ram Chunder. Huzoor, have pity upon
backs to the wall, waited while Runjeet, Ramatha, for I am a man of a large family."
with Oriental duplicity, played upon the They slipped through the gate and Teck
cupidity of the gatekeeper. shot the bolts behind them. Then, led by
" Kilhn hail" the durwan's voice asked, the captive, they passed through a little
in answer to the policeman's knock. courtyard in which a fountain played
"I am the gharry driver to the Sahib, amongst crotons and aloes. It was per-
who has just gone in," Runfeet answered, fectly dark. The heavy walls of a ptuca
"and here is his purse with ten rupees building rose a gloomy blur against the
that the Sahib has lost in my gharry." night sky. They circled this on a cement
There was the clink of a chain, the rasp path, coming to a set of steps at the back.
of a bolt, the creak of hinges as the heavy Up the steps and across a broad veranda
gate was swung to a crack; a lean black they passed, and leading, the durwan
arm was thrust through, and a voice said: brought them to a spiral stairway that
—
"Give me the purse, brother I will give wound up a corner tower of the building.
it to the Sahib." As they passed, a servant called sleepily
"Call the Sahib," Runjeet answered, from a charpov on the veranda: "Kuhn
"that I may give it into his hands. How hair'
do I know that thou are not a thief? all— " It is I, Ramatha, the durwan, brother,
durwans are of the robber caste," and he —I go to the Baboo Sahib " he answered,
jingled the rupees seductively in his hand. as they stooi silent in the darkness.
" Give it to me, brother," the gatekeeper "Salaam, Ramatha, thou old fool!"
answered, "and thou mayst keep a rupee the servant replied.
for thine honesty in bringing it; the Sahib At the top of the winding stairway, they
will not mind." The gate opened a little stood on a landing, and from a latticed door
wider, and the speaker, in his eagerness for little blades of light crept weakJy into the
the money, thrust his shoulder and one darkness of the hall. Ramatha touched
leg through. Teck on the arm and with his manacled
"Ah, brother, thou art indeed the dur- hands pushed him gently toward the door.
wan," Runjeet exclaimed; "here are the Through a chink Teck surveyed the
rupees, and give me the one that is my interior.Four or five brass lamps held
dustoor." cocoanut oil, in which floated lighted dips,
Teck heard a rustle, a gurgling, stifled their soft glow showing the detective, at
cry,and at their feet on the ground lay the one end of the room squatted on a silken
gatekeeper, his voice strangled in his throat cushion, a fat Bengali Baboo. Beside
by the twist of the policeman's kummer- him stood a huge gaunt Punjabi leaning
bund. on a tulwar (curved sword). In front 01
Teck clicked a pair of handcuffs on the the Baboo, seated on the floor, tailor
durwan's wrists, saving to Runjeet, " Easy fashion, were Straddles and Ives Holborn.
bhai (brother), don't choke him." And in the center of this group upon a
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1 88 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
square of black cloth rested the pearl- The Baboo's guard raised his tulwar. As
studded gold kasaba. he did so the Chief's pistol crackled and
The inmates of the room were evidently a bullet ripped through the giant's shoul-
bargaining. Teck saw the Baboo reach der. He spun around like a top, reeled,
behind him and take from a small iron and fell across the iron box.
box a sheaf of Bank of England notes. He "Oh, it's you, Mr. Bloomin' Teck!" said
held them in his lap. Ives Holborn said Ives Holborn. "I'd know your bloody fat
something and the Baboo threw the notes voice if you was dressed like a coster.
back into the box angrily, grasped the snake- Wot's the little gyme? Here, Straddles,
like stem of his hookah and puffed, then y'u swipe, behyve. These gents is visit-
blew the smoke through his nostrils as if ors from Scotland Yard— wot's the gvme,
in disdain. Teck?"
Teck touched the Chief and drew him "We've come for the pearls, Holborn,
gently to the chink in the door, whispering and you and this terrier. Put the irons on,
in his ear: "See we need not wait. You Runjeet," Teck added. "Hold out your
have your pistols, I have mine; the door wrists, Straddles, and vou, too, Holborn.
is not even locked. We'll just step through That's right!"
and cover them and Runjeet will snap the That was the evening of the igth, and
darbies on their wrists." on the morrow, the 20th, Darwaza wore
Teck whispered this in the policeman's his pearl kasaba at the durbar. Ives Hol-
ear, and then: "Ready! Now!" born and Straddles are still doing time in
A wrench, the door flew open, and Ives the Andaman Islands for that job.
Holborn, springing to his feet with an Hansen's body was never found and his
oath, looked into the muzzle of a big Web- murder was never brought home to the
ley revolver and heard Teck's voice saying: murderers.
" Put up your hands, Holborn. A wrong The Baboo got a year in spite of his
move and you're a dead man. Now, Run- protestations that he knew nothing about
jeet, the darbies, please." the theft of the pearls.
THE PIPERS
BY CLINTON SCOLLARD
Weft of grass and osier-plume, Still you raise your silvery din.
I, at one with them and you, "Peep!" I hear you, "peep!" and
For the dancers of the rain; Till your iterant measure seems
To your gnomic melody Tangled in the mesh of dreams,
Burst the buds on bush and tree; And the morn has amber birth.
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Painted/** The Metropolitan Magazine by Emit Herinf. t
THE BURGLARS.
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THE DOOMSMAN
BY VAN TASSEL SUTPHEN
ILLUSTRATED BY HERMANN C. WALL
hobnailed boot catching the animal squarely hand still shakes, and small wonder; may I
on the flank. The portico had no guard you a sup of brandy from my flask?"
offer
railing and the dog, fairly taken off her But Constans shook his head. He felt
balance, was precipitated headlong to the his strength returning fast and his mind
terrace below. Constans shouted exult- was clear again; he could not accept aught
antly, but there was still Blazer with whom from the hand of Quinton Edge. The latter
to deal. Before he could recover his own shrugged his shoulders and went on easily:
poise the brute had him by the throat and "Fortunate that I happened to be re-
was bearing him downward; man and dog turning from a little excursion on the river,
rolled together on the stone-paved floor of for my pets are difficult to manage. Quin-
the gallery. Something passed with the ton Edge straightened up and passed his
swift rustle of wind-distended garments, lace-edged handkerchief across his lips.
but Constans could see nothing, his eye> Then with smooth irony: "An honor in-
being blinded with the acrid foam from deed to entertain so unexpected a guest at
the animal's jaws. Fortunately, the high, Arcadia House; to what happy chance am
standing collar of leather that he wore pre- I indebted?"
vented the dog's teeth from fastening on "That I am here should Ik; condemna-
his actual throat, but that advantage could tion sufficient for your purpose," said Con-
not endure and already he could feel that the stans slowly. " I have nothing to add to it."
animal was shifting his hold. Then as he "You know alike the strength and weak-
despaired, his right hand struck upon some- ness of Doom. We have lost heavily in the
thing round and hard in the outside pocket expedition to the South; even- man in the
of his doublet; it was the handle of the reserve must now be called upon to fill up
loaded revolver that he had carried now for the depleted ranks. Dom Gillian is fast
a month past. A sudden effort and he sinking into the grave, where Boris already
managed to seize it; without attempting to lies; Click, who must now succeed, in the
draw it from the pocket he pulled the trig- Ordinary course, has only physical courage
ger. The report followed and immediately to recommend him. That is not enoughif
he felt the dog's grip relax; he pushed the Doom is to remain mistress of the world.
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190 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"Yet our weaknesses are patent, no
if turned to adjust the jabot of fine lace about
less apparent are our springs of power. his neck, and that he might have both hands
Here is Doom and here alone will you find free, he laid upon a wicker table the object
that unity of feeling and of action which he had been carrying. Constans saw that it
makes for empire. Were the Stockaders was a sprig of May Bloom, a glorious clus-
and the House People to join hands, they ter of pink and white blossoms.
could overwhelm us in a night, but they will "I am waiting for my answer," said
not, since jealousy chokes an ever- widening Quinton Edge.
chasm. Moreover, it is a strong position Constans tried to command his voice, but
that we hold here in this wilderness of stone, he could not speak, and Quinton Edge
when every brick is a man a moat of deep
; turned to Esmay:
water on every side, the further protection of "We have both of us omitted to remem-
a network of rubbish-choked streets and no ber where courtesy is first due. Madam, I
thoroughfares, and at the heart of the should have informed myself of your pleas-
labyrinth a citadel provisioned for a ten ure in this matter."
years' siege, behindwhose walls one man The girl involuntarily threw up her hand
may be counted as equal to a score of the as though to protect her face from the cut of
enemy. There is no need for boasting; this a whip-lash.
is the truth as you know. "No, oh, no!" she stammered faintly.
"Yet there is one thing lacking —a brave The Doomsman laughed jarringly:
man to lead, and a brain to guide. Ulick "Yet I must ask you to reconsider; nay,
may possess the strong arm and doubtless I even to use what arts you possess to induce
have the wits, but I fear that, like oil and this short-sighted young gentleman to ac-
water, we two shall never mix. Besides, I cept my generous proposition. For, mind
may grow weary of the business, or the time you, there is a consequent upon his refusal
may come when I must turn my back upon and yours."
it all. Yet I could not be content that chaos —
"A consequent of course. And it is "
should reign in my stead. I must leave a "A lofty one. He mounts either to Dom
man behind me, and that man is you, Con- Gillian's chair or to the yardarm of the
stans, son of Gavan. Black Swan. A spy's death for a spy— it is
"Nay, but hear me out. Apostate, rene- but justice."
gade —
I know what you would say. Yet Esmay turned to Constans:
what are these but words, mere words. "Surely it were shame enough for any
You are alone in the world," and here for woman to find herself made part of such a
just an instant Quinton Edge dropped his bargain. But my humiliation goes even
eyes, although the even tones of his voice deeper, for I must parade my poor wares
never wavered. " You owe no debt of grati- before you like a huckster, beseeching you
tude to either Stockader or Houseman. A to buy. My
lord, it is for your life, and I
crust from one, a bone from the other; and am but a flower, that it may please you to
they would have done as much for a starv- wear to-day and cast aside to-morrow.
ing dog. You see that I have watched you Buy of me, my lord, and at what price you
longer than you have been aware. will —
it is for your life."
" And so I offer you the first and the last The girl's voice,\ibrant with feeling, sunk
men crave. The first
of the things that all suddenly into a whisper, harsh and insist-
is love, and she who stands there is fair, ent.
else why do I find you in my garden ? The "Be quick; he will not wait overlong."
last is power and it is the world that I put She plucked with desperate resolve at his
under your feet." sleeve. " Do you not understand the men
;
Hestopped abruptly and seemed to catch are coming, you can hear the rattle of the
at something mounting upward in his throat. sheaf-blocks, at the garden of the galley
Then, with emotion the more rv.arked from Constans!"
it« evident repression, he contin' sd: But Constans looked only at his enemy,
"There is still the blood-debt between us, Quinton Edge. "I am ready," he said
and I promise you it shall be paid and to the coldly.
last drop." Esmay passed quickly through the long
Again silence fell between them for the window and so into the drawing-room.
space of a full minute. Quinton Edge To her overexcited senses, the silver whistle
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THE DOOMSMAN 191
was already sounding in her ears, and a "Doom not trouble us, and why
will
gradual faintness mounted to her brain, should we concern ourselves about the flay-
even as water rises above the swimmer ad- ing of a few fat burghers. As for your ideal
vancing through the shingle to the first republic, stuff of dreams, lad! Take an old
sh<xJc of the surge. There was an armchair man's word for it."
in the center of the room, and she strove to Piers Major of the River Barony spoke
reach it. Hardly a dozen steps away, yet it decidedly, yet withal not unkindly, for he
seemed as though hours passed before she had been blood-brother to Constans' father,
gained it. Then, in deadly truth, she heard and he liked the boy for his own sake.
Quinton Edge blow his whistle and the dark- "A dream, I tell you," continued the
ness closed in upon her. old man, " a dream and nothing less.
For the second time the Doomsman raised There is the Greenwood Keep, and it still
the whistle to his lips; it slipped from his remains no man's land. True, the house
fingers and fell to the garden table standing was badly gutted by the fire, but there L>
at his side. plenty of good timber in the forest, and
As he bent to recover it, the subtle, up- even- man among us will be glad to lend a
rising scent of the May Bloom struck him hand to the reconstruction of your fortunes.
like a blow; a dark flush overspread his Finally there is your tall cousin Alexa,
brow. Then he spoke quickly, insistendy: 'Red' Oxenford's daughter. Methinks
"The canoe is still at the landing-stage. she looks upon you not unkindly and she
Go, while there is yet time." bade me be sure to bring you to her coming
With imperious eagerness he seized Con- of age to-day. The whole country-side will
tain by the shoulders, slewing him around be present, and you may bag all your birds
and pushing him toward the steps that led with one fairly shot bolt. What say you?"
to the terrace. " It cannot be," he said shortly. " Believe
11
Go and you have seen and
forget all that me that Iam not ungrateful, but my own
heard in Doom, the Forbidden. You and way is plain, and I must take it."
vour secrets are known, be content to leave " It may be so," said the old man som-
my people with theirs. And to me my berly, "but, Constans lad, we should be on
memories." our way if we would not have the pretty
The madness of protest, of resistance, Alexa furrowing her smooth forehead over
was still upon Constans and yet he found our empty seats at her birthday board.
himself to this stronger will.
yielding Holal Wiilem; the horses and quickly."
Mechanically he leaped to the terrace The way to Deepdene, "Red" Oxen-
below, thence ran on to the landing-stage, ford's stronghold, led through the forest,
and had the boat in the current, which was and the green drive was a pleasant place on
running out on a strong ebb tide. Half a this brightest of May mornings.
mile further down, he ventured to make a A couple of miles farther on and they
landing. The dozen or so of rifles and store came to the crossing of the Ochre Brook.
of ammunition that he had left in hiding at As they rode their horses into the ford, a
this point were too precious a treasure to be wild dog that had been lapping at the brink
abandoned without an effort. When he had started up with a snarl under the very feet
transferred the last case of cartridges to his of Piers Major's steed. The frightened
canoe it was heavily laden, but Constans horse plunged and reared. His master,
bent lustily to his paddle, shaping his course retaining his seat, with the unconscious
to the southward, the direction of his old master)- of the born horseman, drew his
home on the West Inch. hunting knife and made an ineffectual pass
at the ugly beast.
" Hold there ' shouted Constans. " Back
! '
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192 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"It is one of the ancient secrets," said the bush. An inarticulate sound arose from
Constans, and explained as best he could the closely packed throng in the enclosure,
the mechanism of the revolver and the the exhalation of a universal sigh.
chemical composition of its explosive car- "Red" Oxenford had made neither
tridge. sound nor sign. He stood motionless, his
" In a secret place, some three miles from daughter's head cradled in the hollow of his
here," went on Constans, " I have in store a mighty arm; he stared stupidly at the girl's
dozen similar weapons, together with as face, so pitifully white and small it seemed,
many of a larger pattern, rifles as they were with its virginal coronal of flaxen hair
anciently called. Also abundance of am- then he fell in a heap like to a collapsing
munition. Put them in the hands of brave wall.
men and would not the odds be in our Piers Major gently withdrew the holt
favor, even if the Doomsman outnumbered from the wound and held it up to view. Its
us?" message was plain to all, for none save the
" Yet may not our enemies provide them- Doomsmen feathered their arrows with the
selves with the same means of offense?" plume of the gray goose. Only now the
"No," said Constance decidedly. "It quills were stained to a darker hue.
took me a month's hard work to get what I " It is her blood," he said, and the pol-
have into serviceable condition. Besides, ished shaft of hickory snapped like a straw
the weapons are useless without the car- between his fingers. " Her blood—of Doom
tridges of gunpowder and lead. Of these shall we require it." And all the people
only a small quantity remained fit for use, shouted and then stood with uncovered
and I secured it all." head, while the young men bore away the
The old man's eye brightened. " Good," body of Oxenford's daughter on their locked
he said laconically, and relapsed into his shields and gave it to her mother.
abstracted mood. That night Constans rode out from
It was a joyous and inspiring spectacle Deepdene at the head of twenty picked
that presented itself when they finally drew men, leading them to the secret place where
rein before the doors of Deepdene. he had stored the guns and ammunition
Laughter and the popping of corks were to that he had brought from Doom. Two
be heard on every side, for this was a gala days of practice with the unfamiliar weap-
day, the coming of age of the maiden Alexa, ons, and on the morning of the third the
"Red" Oxenford's only daughter. little squad, reinforced by a company of
The sports were of the sort characteristic a hundred stout men-at-arms, recruited
of such a gathering — wrestling and foot- from the country side at large, set out upon
races, target shooting and bouts at cudgel the northern road.
play and night stick, and lasted well into Toward noon they passed through
the afternoon. Crove. It had been their intention to stop
Fifty yards outside of the main palisade here for the mid-day meal, but none cared
stood an oak tree. Under the Stockade law to propose a halt after entering this strange
no standing tree should have been permitted city of silence. Ordinarily, the central
at a less distance than one hundred paces, square would have been filled with a volu-
but the oak was such a fine specimen that ble, chaffering crowd, it being a market day;
"Red" Oxenford had allowed it to remain; but now there was not a living thing to be
a fatal error. seen, not even a hog wallowing in the ken-
A bowstring twanged musically, the nel or a buzzard about the butcher stalls.
arrow sped to its mark, the fair, young "What think you?" said Piers Ma jor to
breast of Oxenford's daughter, and in her Constans. "Is it the plague?"
father's arms the maiden gasped and died. The answer to the riddle was given as
All this in the space of time in which a cloud they turned the corner by Messer Hugolin's
of the bigness of a man's hand might pass house. The strong-room on the ground
across the sun. Down from the lower floor stood empty and dopoiled of its treas-
branches of that accursed oak dropped the ures, yet the gold and silver had not been
light figure of a man garbed all in gray. carried away, but lay scattered about in the
"Stop him!" called a weak, uncertain voice, filth of the street as though utterly con-
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IT IS IIKR BLOOD," HE SAID. " AND OK DOOM SHALL WE REyL'IRE IT
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194 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the broken window was the body of Mcsser leading the way. " Don't stumble around
Hugolin, Councilor Primus of Croye, like that ; here, take my hand."
dressed in his scarlet robes of office, and Prostrate in front of the main switch-
with a great, gold chain about his neck. l>oard they found the old priest, a mere
His head was bowed upon his breast so that anatomy of a man with his cheeks shrunken
the face was not visible, and for this indul- like parchment to the jaw, and his wasted
gence* Constans gave inward thanks. limbs no larger than those of a child. Yet
"Ride on," commanded Piers Major he was alive and conscious, the deep-set
shortly, and the cavalcade clattered forward. eyes glowing with auspicious fire as they
It was not worth while to linger where once turned upon his unexpected guests.
Dom Gillian's tax-gatherers have passed. "Starving," said Nanna briefly, and pro-
ceeded to force a few drops of wine, from a
pocket flask, between his lips, while Esmay
XXII. ran for a basket of food, which had been
brought along as an offertory in their as-
Esmay sat in the gardens at Arcadia sumed character of worshipers. The stimu-
House. It was the loveliest of Spring days lant acted powerfully and within an hour
and there were blossoms everywhere. Prosper was so far restored as to be able to
For the sun must still shine and the dew partake of some solid food. Then he in-
fall and the waters flow for all that hearts sisted upon getting to his feet, a gaunt and
of flesh break and die; it is the first knowl- terrible figure in his black cowl and rusty
edge indeed of this inexorable law that cassock.
causes the cup of bitterness to overflow. "I have my work to do," he reiterated
That night she went to Nanna and an- stubbornly; "I must be preparing the har-
nounced her intention of paying another vest field for my lord's sickle, and already
visit to the " House of Power." the time is ripe for his appearing. Behold
"Our lord cannot be wholly unmindful and believe."
of his children," she said, "and light may- With a firm step, he approached the
come to us from the Shining One." switchboard and turned one of the control-
But the practical Nanna shook her head. ling levers. A flash of light, succeeded by a
* It is
supposed to be sufficient grace for a stream of crackling sparks, leaped from the
woman, if the Shining One deigns to accept free end of a broken wire at the other end of
the gifts that she lays upon his altar." the building, and a pile of straw lying near
"We will go dressed as men; there is it burst into flame. An expert in electrical
everything we can want in the presses up- engineering would have understood that a
Now, Nanna " broken wire must be in proximity to a mass
stairs. dear
And of course Nanna yielded, for she of metal, and that the powerful current was
saw that her darling's heart was set upon being visibly hurled across the gap. Esmay
this foolish thing. Quinton Edge was still uttered a cry and even Nanna shrunk lack.
absent in the Black Swan, and it would be Prosper smiled bitterly.
an easy matter to hoodwink old Kurt; he But the two women stayed neither to see
was always fuddled with ale nowadays. nor to listen further. Hand in hand they
To-morrow would be Friday, the dav of the gained the street and ran in the direction of
weekly sacrifice; they would make the trial the Citadel Square, heedless of the rain
then. which was now beginning to fall. Several
It was hard upon noon of the following blocks away, they paused breathless and
day when the two women drew near to the exhausted, compiled to seek shelter in a
temple of the Shining One, guided by the doorway from the fury of the storm.
diapason of the great dynamo. Nanna, Nanna disappeared into the house for a
clad in doublet and small-clothes, swung few moments; now she returned from her
jauntily along, one hand on dagger hilt and voyage of discovery, wearing an expression
careless challenge in her snapping, black of gravity quite new to her. " Come," she
eyes, the picture of a swaggering younker. said," I want to show you something."
But Esmay at (he last moment
could not She drew Esmay after her down the
bring herself to don the habiliments ex- draughty passage that led to offices of the
clusively masculine. long since deserted dwelling-house. There
" Prosper must be within," said Nanna, was a large apartment at the end of the
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THE DOOMSMAN
passage, the kitchen, to judge from the char- xxm
acter of the fittings. The room had been
formerly lighted by electricity and Nanna It had lieen Constans' original plan to
pointed out a lamp-wire whose free end was cross the river some miles alx>ve Croye and
dangling in close proximity to a lead water- so avoid attracting the attention of the
pi pe. Underneath was a small heap of oil- Doomsmen, should any of their parties lie
soaked rags. "You remember what we a -field. The expedition would then move
saw at the House of Power," said Nanna cautiously down the east bank in the hope
significantly. of surprising the guard at the High Bridge
Esmay examined the wire carefully. At and so gain entrance to the city. But Piers
the broken end the insulating fabric had Major, at the council of war that first even-
been stripped off and the copper scraped ing, brought about a reconsideration.
clean and bright with a knife blade. Here "Tis against the Citadel," he said
was the evidence of design unmistakable. shrewdly, " that we should rather choose to
"I found this on a nail in the passage," direct an unexpected Wow. The bridge
went on Nanna, and held out a bit of cloth may be carried by a rush, but not so the
that had been tom from a garment. It was stone walls that guard the heart of Doom.
of that peculiar weave worn only by the In that assault a man's life must be paid for
priests of the Shining One. each rung gained on the scaling ladder. We
Esmay looked at it with troubled eves. have no batteries with which to hammer at
"What does it mean?" she asked, but the gate hinges, and as for a sietre —
well, if
Nanna only shook her head. is weary work starving out rats whose for-
"Of course, I remember what happened tress is a granary in itself. Let us move
at the temple," said Esmay hesitatingly. indeed, but cautiously, prudently."
"We saw him turn a handle and the wire a "There can be no argument against a
hundred feet away s|K>uted fire. If a hun- strategy so obvious," said Constans quickly.
dred feet, why not half a mile?" "The effectiveness of the blow depends
"It is a trap," asserted Nanna decisively. upon its force plus its unexpectedness. The
"Come away." Doomsmen will l>e doubly discomfited in
They walked down the street. knowing neither the nature of the stroke that
"What could Pros|>er hope to catch in slays them nor the quarter whence it comes."
such a snare; for whom could he have set "Aye, man," broke in Oxenford im-
it?" asked Esmay, putting into audible patiently, " but all this is words, not deeds.
language the question over which both were What can we do so that Dom Gillian hangs
puzzling. " Unless," she went on thought- from his own doorpost l>efore a second
fully, "unless this is only one of many." sun ?"
rising of the
Nanna nodded: "Dozens, hundreds of "I propose then," answered Piers Major,
them and scattered all over the city." "that the score of men who are armed with
An undefinable foreboding struck chill at the new weapons shall take boat down the
Esmay's heart. She could not reason out riverand make a landing to the south of the
the source or the nature of the threatening Citadel Square, remaining in hiding until the
I>eril, but she knew certainly that it existed. moon to-morrow night. The
rising of the
How and when would it come? main body will force the High Bridge at the
As they passed a street corner that com- coming dawn and should be able to drive
manded a view of the Palace Road, Nanna the Doom?mcn to cover within the next
caught Esmay by the arm and bade her twelve hours. Then the frontal attack in
look. Towering head and shoulders above force and the gun fire from l>ehind. If they
the slowly moving throng of idle men and follow each other at the proper interval our
gossiping women, strode Prosper, the victory is assured."
priest, and as he went he proclaimed the "It was your idea that I should go with
woe that must shortly come upon the city, the flanking party?" asked Constans.
a message to which none gave heed, "Yet " Naturally, since you alone know the
three days and Doom the Mighty is — city. We can reach the Citadel Square from
fallen, is fallen! Our lord has called upon our side without difficulty, for it is a simple
his people to turn to him, ere it be too matter of hewing our way thither. But
late, but they will not heed. He has with your party it must be the progress of
spoken and I will obey him!" the snake through the grass."
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Without further parley the plan proposed voice calling to old Kurt and bidding him
was adopted. Piers Major would command saddle a horse with all speed.
the main body in person, about one hundred Nanna's eyes glowed. "It is something
and fifty men in all. Constans selected big," she said excitedly, and began scram-
Piers Minor, son to Piers Major, as his bling into her masculine attire. " Something
lieutenant and, somewhat to his surprise, thatis worth our while to know about," she
Oxenford elected to join the smaller com- continued resolutely.
mand. " It is the better chance," he ex- "But Nanna " began Esmay doubt-
plained grimly, "for my getting a face to fully.
face look at the old gray wolf. And " Do you suppose that our master is going
surely Dom Gillian must be expecting out to pick flowers? Help me with this
me." buckle, little sister, and talk not so foolishly."
Fortunately, the question of transporta- And forthwith Esmay submitted to this
tion for the river partywas quickly settled. new Nanna in doublet and small-clothes
One of Messer Hugolin's flat-boats, coming who spoke with authority and took such
down from the upper river with a cargo of tremendously long strides, and contented
hides, had anchored for the night a half mile herself with an admonition to caution and
up-stream ; it was an easy matter to impress helped the impatient one to depart. She
crew and vessel into service. The hides feared lest she might meet Quinton Edge
were tossed ashore and by midnight the as she remounted the stairs and flew along
expedition was ready to start. the corridor to her room, but she regained
The long night wore away and presently its shelter undisturbed and sat there trem-
the sky was streaked with the faint pink and bling, when she heard his step in the hall-
saffron of the coming dawn. A landing was way, his knock at her door; then it opened,
made without difficulty, and Constans hur- and Quinton Edge stood before her.
ried his men onward, every minute being "Come," he said gently, and Esmay
precious. obeyed, being yet faint with terror lest his
He had determined to make use of his hands should touch her. And this he must
old quarters in the "Flatiron" building on have guessed for he drew aside and passed
the south side of the Citadel Square, and his out first, motioning her to follow. The
relief was great when the last man passed door leading to his suite of apartments
within the shelter of its walls. The major- stood open. Esmay hesitated.
ity of the men curled themselves up in some "Yes," said Quinton Edge, and the girl
convenient corner and resumed their inter- turned and searched his face. She did not
rupted slumbers. Constans posted himself understand what she saw there, yet it con-
at a window overlooking the Square with tented her and she crossed the threshold.
the intention of keeping close watch on all Quinton Edge followed, reappearing almost
that passed below. But in spite of all his immediately and carefully locking the door
efforts Nature insisted upon her rights and behind him.
he too slept. He descended the stairs and passed out
Over at Arcadia House, Nanna being to the eastern portico where his horse should
wakeful with the torture of an aching tooth have been in waiting. It was not there and
happened to glance through the north win- Quinton Edge grew angry.
dows of the room occupied by the sisters, "Kurt!" he called, once and twice and
and saw a dull-red glow on the horizon of a thrice. Then at last the delinquent ap-
conflagration. She aroused Esmay, and the peared. The sullenness of sleep was still
two girls watched it wondering. upon him and when his master would have
"It is the morning of the third day," said reproved him for his tardiness, he answered
Esmay, and Nanna nodded. back insolently.
The fire was a long way off, low down on " Enough 1" said Quinton Edge, and
the northern sky line. But every now and struckhim across the mouth with his riding
then a long, crimson streamer would leap whip. Then vaulting into the saddle he
upwards, almost to the zenith, showing how spurred through the gateway, riding hard
great and vehement the conflagration must for the northwest.
be. As the two girls stood watching it, they Old Kurt gazed upon his master.
heard a window in the main part of the "Thirty lashes at Middcnmas," he mut-
tered, "and now this— this
"
house flung up sharply and Quinton Edge's
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THE DOOMSMAN .197
Three hours later a slight, boyish figure Three hundred yards away the allied
scaled the wall and dropped into the sunken forces came suddenly into view, but it was
way. Nanna hastily entered the house and close to sunset, the time for the evening
ran up to Esmay's room. Great news in- meal, and, as though by mutual consent,
deed! But where was the child. "Esmay," both sides laid aside their arms for the
she murmured in a half whisper, and passed homelier utensils of the cuisine. •. ,
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198 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Piers Minor, keeping as closely as possible "A woman!" he said confusedly, and
worked his way slowly to the north-
to cover, blushed as unrestrainedly in his turn.
ward and toward the camp of the allies on "You will have to trust me, you see," she
the Palace Road. But being unfamiliar said coldly.
with the topography of the district, he in- The abashed Piers Minor murmured an
sensibly kept edging into dangerous proxim- indistinct assent.
ity with the ^Citadel Square; suddenly he "And you will not forget my message?"
found himself within a short block of its "No, no! He shall have it at the earliest
eastern front. He turned to retreat and moment"
possible
came face to face with a slender, black-eyed "Very good— it is understood then.
youth who must have been following close Now you may go."
upon his heels. Discovered he tried to Piers Minor had not a word to say. He
dodge, but Piers Minor was too quick and accepted his orders meekly, but as he turned
they closed. The youth struggled gallantly, to go he managed to stammer out, "Of
but the Stockader had all the advantage in course —to meet again."
strength; in another moment Piers Minor Nanna, to her own infinite amazement,
had his antagonist crushed helplessly into a answered with a look that meant yes, and
comer. He looked at the lx>y contemptu- knew that he had not failed to so under-
ously: stand it. She walked over to the Citadel
"Not a sound, mind, or I'll twist your Square, and entered after some parley with
throat as I would a meadow lark's. Why the sentinels on the walls.
were you following me?" A little crowd of women and elderly men,
The black eyes snapped back at him un- gathered about an ox-cart in the center of
winkingly. the square, attracted her attention. They
—
" Let me speak then you hurt me." were listening to a speaker who, standing
Piers Minor grudgingly loosened his hold upright in the wagon-body, was haranguing
upon the slender throat. them earnestly. Nanna recognized him
"Goon, then." Prosper, the priest.
"You are a Stockader and there is a It was the old story —
repentance, the
young man with you, fair-haired and with wrath of the Shining One and the immi-
dark eyes— Constans by name? Do you nence of the judgment.
know him?" "To-day, to-day, even to-day and Doom
"Well, and if I do?" is fallen, is fallen!"
"Tell him that last night Esmay disap- "There will be mischief worked to-night,
peared and yet still remains in Arcadia if he leaves the fortress," said Nanna to her-
House. He will understand, for he knows self, and shook her black-polled head
Quinton Edge." sagely.
" I will tell him," said Piers Minor. " And
now what am I to do with you ?"
The boy laughed nonchalandy. " We may It did not take long for Constans to arouse
part as we have met,
with no one the wiser." and collect his little band; tired of the long
" I am
not so sure of that," said the other hours of inaction, they were only too glad to
suspiciously. "You are a Doomsman and respond to the summons.
—
you know me to be a Stockader a spy if Under the south wall of the citadel they
you like. If it were for myself alone, I halted. It was rapidly growing dark and so
might trust you, but so much may hang " far their advance had met with no challenge
The boy tried by a sudden movement to from the ramparts. Hut there was noise
slip under Piers Minor's detaining hand. and shouting in plenty, coming from the
The shock displaced his cap, a treacherous direction of the North Gate. There were
fastening gaveway at the same instant and but two guards on duty here and they were
a mass of long, black hair tumbled down easily surprised and securer! before they
upon the youth's shoulders. Even then could give an alarm. As one by one the
Piers Minor, being of masculine slow wit, rest of the company ascended the scaling
might not have guessed the truth but for a ladder, they were ordered to throw them-
bright blush that overspread brow and selves prone on the broad, flat top of the
cheek, a confession that even his dull senses wall to await the final signal. Over at the
'
could not misinterpret. gateway the clamor grew momentarily
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THE DOOMSMAN 199
there were blows of axes on wood and clash kneltdown and tried to move his friend into
of arms, and the confused crying of many a more comfortable position. The crushed
voices. chest sank horribly under his hands and
he was obliged to give over. " Close to me,"
Piers Major had advanced promptly whispered the dying man, and Constans
upon receiving the message brought by his bent his head to listen.
son. The phalanx of marching men was " It is of Esmay," he said*. " Nanna has
protected from arrows, darts and ordinary — —
but just now told me a prisoner Arcadia
missiles by a continuous covering formed of
their ox-hide shields, the latter being held
—
House you will go to her?"
"I will go," he said gently, and took
horizontally above the head and interlocked. Ulick's hand in both his own. The storm
The defence had been quick to recognize center of the fighting had moved away
the character of the attack and had done from them; above their heads the stars
their best to repel it. The front rank had shone serenely; Constans could not speak,
now reached the barrier and the axes, but he pointed them out to his friend.
wielded by strong arms, fell furiously upon
the wooden leaves of the gate. Constans Piers Minor, fighting as became his stout
felthis throat contracting and his heart breed, in the press at the gate, chanced to
beating furiously. " They must be quick," rescue a boy from being crushed to death.
he muttered. Then with a shout, as he The lad had been crowded up against the
sprung to his feet: "Through, thev are projecting angle and was quite breathless
through!" when the burly Stockader, arching his back
He sprang down upon the banquette; against the pressure, broke the jam by sheer
there was no need for any uttered order to strength and pulled the sapling out of his
his followers. Shoulder to shoulder the dangerous position. But what a fine color
men leaped to the ground and raced across came back into the white cheeks as the
the open square to the North Gate through twain recognized each other!
which the allies were pouring pell-mell, "You!" said Nanna, and at that mo-
intent on securing foothold in the open. ment she would have given all she possessed
The Doomsmen, forsaking the now useless in the world for just a skirt. So ineradi-
walls, met them stubbornly, man to man. cable, in its ultimate extremity, is the femi-
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200 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"Come! "said Nanna, and dragged at her XXY.
companion's sleeve.
Piers Minor did not hesitate. " As you Not an instant too soon did Piers Minor
will," he said briefly, and Nanna flashed and Nanna reach the open stre The wind
hack at him a brilliant smile. Hand in hand had shifted back to the northwest and the
they sped through the now deserted passage- fire,breaking out in one place after another
way of the North Gate. from the gale-scattered brands, was coming
down upon them in great bounds, as though
it were some gigantic beast of prey. A
For the last time Constans bent his lips thick, suffocating smoke choked their
to the ear of thedying man. " Click!" he throats and nostrils; they could neither
called. There was no answer and Constans speak nor breathe. And the darkness lic-
felt the hand that lay in his was growing came impenetrable; this must be the end
cold. He trembled, for this must be Death and Piers Minor bit his lips sharply to keep
who now stood between them. "Click!" his senses. Then by the mercy of God, a
he cried, and for one brief instant the soul fierce counter-current drove the smoke back
looked out from the hollowed eyes. a little way, they ran at full speed toward
"The sun!" he said, and smiled as one the southeast.
who, having kept the watches of a long There was the shining of the river; now
night, looks upon the dawn. "The sun!" they could see the pier and the boats of the
he said again and his spirit went forth to shad-fishers lying alongside. Piers Minor
meet it. Constans laid the body tenderly cast off the largest and most seaworthy-
to one side and rose to his feet. looking of the lot and, without troubling to
"The sun!" A vivid glare beat down and bail out the standing water, he brought the
around him. "The Sun! and rising in the craft broadside to the wharf and held out his
west!" hand to Nanna. But she was looking to
A vast shaft of flame shotupward to the the northward, where the gilded cupola of
zenith; therewas a rush and a roar, as of Arcadia House shone out against the sky.
many and all along the western.skv-
waters, Neither moved nor spoke.
line pinnacles and cornices stood out. "Come," he said gently.
etched in crimson line. The entire quarter The girl turned slowly. "She is there,"
of the city directly west of the Citadel she said and pointed to the north. " I must
Square was in conflagration, and the get to her, my little sister."
flames, l>orne on the wings of a northwest PiersMinor swung himself up on the
gale, came driving swiftly down. A rain of wharf and seized her. " You shall not," he
red-hot cinders fell about him. said roughly.
A shout of terror went up from Dooms- She tried to wrench herself free; she
man and Stockader alike. The fighting struck him full in the face. But Piers Minor
ceased and a rush began for the gates. only smiled grimly and held on the tighter.
men, women, children, cattle, victor and van- And then, to his astonishment, this tiger-cat
quished, all constrained by the one common l>ecame suddenly metamorphosed into a
impulse to seek safety in flight. To add to dove. Her breast heaved and she turned
the confusion explosions began to be heard her head away; he knew that she was weep-
in the north and south and immediately the ing just like any other weak woman.
flames broke out in these latter .quarters. W hereat Piers Minor smiled again, but not
Where then lay the path of safety ? grimly, and held her a little closer.
Constans, running toward the southern "Listen," he said, and forced her gently
rampart, where he knew he should gain his to look at him. " It is impossible to reach
ladder, saw a tall figure just ahead of him. Arcadia House; even now the fire is there
He recognized Quinton Edge, but the l>efore you. You must believe that Con-
Doomsman had reached and scaled the wall stans received the message and was able to
before Constans could overtake him. Yet get there in time. Believe it, because it is I
he caught a glimpse of his enemy pro who tell you."
feeding rapidly in a southeast direction. She did believe and thanked him with a
Constans followed immediately, tightening look that sent the blood to his temples.
his belt for the hard run that lay before Then being a woman,
she hesitated again,
him. but suddenly felt herself lifted bodily off
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THE DOOMSMAN 201
her feet and swept, with a rush, down the sense on edge. A door a short way before
wharf. One little gulp of regret for her lost him stood partly ajar and there was a light
—
independence and she yielded deliciously. in the room ; Constans guessed that it must
The boat rocked from side to side, then it be the first of the private apartments be-
shot out upon the open river, impelled by longing to Quinton Edge.
Piers Minor's lusty strokes. He looked in. The room was a large one
and luxuriously furnished. An ancient
hanging lamp of brass hung from the ceiling,
The streets were as light as noonda and
•
diffusing a soft radiance; the curtains that
Constans found no difficulty in keepir 1 the concealed the deep window-seats were
flying figure in sight. But run as he would closely drawn, and had Constans made his
he could not gain a yard upon him. observations with more care he might have
"Arcadia House," muttered Constans noticed that something moved behind them,
under his breath, as he noticed the direction an unwieldy bulk that gathered itself as
taken by the runner. Arcadia House, and though for a spring. But he took no ac-
why? There could be but one answer to count of these smaller things, his eyts being
that question after Nanna's message, con- full of Esmay only, and surely that was she
veyed to him through Ulick's dying lips. who stood there in the shelter of Quinton
Esmay had disappeared and yet had re- Edge's arms.
mained in Arcadia House. He, who knew Well, he could kill them both and almost
Quint on Edge, would understand. Con- at the single stroke, since they stood with
stans told himself grimly that he did under- their backs to the doorway and were quite
stand. This insolent wanted the girl, just unconscious of his presence. But upon sec-
as he had desired many another thing in life, ond thought he determined to wreak positive
and it had always been his way to take what vengeance on Quinton Edge alone. It was
he coveted. shame to strike a woman and unnecessary
During this last quarter of an hour the —it would be her punishment to five. Dis-
progress of the conflagration had been per- passionately, he reviewed his decision and
ceptibly slower. The flames were now reaffirmed it it was now the time for action.
;
making their greatest headway due south But he had delayed just a moment too long.
and Arcadia House would be in compara- Before he could take that first forward step
tive safety until the wind shifted again. the one who waited behind the window cur-
The pass-key rattled in the lock of the tains had passed before him, an ungainly
postern door and Quinton Edge entered the figure of a man who limped upon one knee
sunken way. Some one came forward swiftly and whose black beard fell like a curtain
to meet him, a slim, womanish figure dressed before his cruel mouth and hps Kurt, —
in white. Constans' heart gave a great whom men called the " Knacker." A knife
bound, for whc but Esmay carried her small was in his hand and he struck furiously at
head with so irresistible a grace? She held Quinton Edge.
out her hands as Quinton Edge reached her "This for the thirty lashes at Midden-
side, but he crushed her into his arms and mas," he shouted, "and this " but here
kissed her on the lips. They walked slowly Constans' rapier passed through his throat
down the terrace, turned the corner of the and he sank back gurgling horribly and
eastern portico and disappeared. Constans tearing at his windpipe.
running up was just an instant too late; he It had all happened so quickly that the
heard merely the sound of the closing door. two living men could only stare alternately
By a supreme exercise of will Constans at each other and at the helpless burden
stopped short of the insanity that impelled that lay in Quinton Edge's arms. A slim,
him to thunde r on the barrier and demand white figure with that red stain upon her
admittance. He had no difficulty in forcing breast —spreading, spreading
one of the French windows of the drawing- Constans gatnered himself with a mighty
room. Then he went forward thrcugh the effort. " Let me help you," he said quietly,
half-opened door and into the main hall. and between them they carried her over to
Constans, with his rapier held shortened the couch and laid her down. A pitcher of
in his hand, found his way to the staircase water stood on a near by table and Con-
and began the ascent. At the turn of the stans moistened the pale lips. They parted
second landing, he stopped With every with a little sigh and the eyes of his sister
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202 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Issa opened upon him. " Little brother," "There was no one among us who had
she whispered and smiled happily. Quin- any knowledge of surgery and so I had to
ton Edge, kneeling at the couch, started up —
be content with simples cold-water com- '
with a smothered cry and involuntarily presses for the wound and tea made from
Constans made as though to yield place to the blossoms of the camomile flower to
him. But Quinton Edge shook his head and subdue the fever in the blood. So the days
stood back among the shadows. dragged by until the turn for the better
" Little brother," said Issa again and put came; little by little I nursed her back to
out a weak wavering hand. life again and in time we came safely to
Doom.
"Arcadia House was a secure hiding
XXVI.
place for my treasure and during all these
Ithad been very quiet in the room for a years no one has even guessed at the secret.
long time. They had tried to make the I had no need to trust my servants, for they
dying woman more comfortable upon the knew nothing; the walls had neither eyes
couch, but every attempt to move her had nor ears and I kept my own counsel.
only resulted in the wound breaking out Until to-day no man's eye but mine has
afresh. It was cruelty and so they
to persist looked upon her face.
gave it over, waiting for what must come. " But even yet you do not understand.
Now it seemed that Issa slept, for her Have you forgotten then that the body may
eyes were closed and the lines of pain had be in health and yet the soul be darkened ?
wholly disappeared from the smooth, white She had come back to life indeed, but it was
brow. the life of a butterfly in the sun, unconscious
Constans had not attempted to speak; of all else than the light and warmth that
his mind was still seeking its wonted bear- surrounded it. For her, the past had been
ings and he was afraid. His sister, Issa! sealed; to me, the future. Do you under-
the little Issa with whom he had played at stand now? A woman grown and yet as a
fox-chase and grace-hoops! new-born babe in heart and mind. What
The pale lips moved and she spoke almost was there for me to do but to bear my pun-
fretfully: ishment as patiently as I might, the cup of .
" Is the night never to be gone ? And the love ever at my lips, but never to be tasted."
hangings at the windows are so heavy. Constans kept silence for a little space.
Where is mv father?" When he spoke it was haltingly.
"
Constans had risen and gone to the 44
44
Then youthink you — think
window, intent on flinging it wide open. She recognized you could you not hear
;
in a maze. This Quinton Edge must have of that last night at the Keep."
perceived, for he spoke gently, making it 44
And for the same reason you have kept
plain to him that this was indeed the ver- vourself out of sight," said Constans coldly.
itable maid whom they had lx>th loved and The man trembled. 44 Yes; I am afraid/'
not some revengeful disembodied shadow he answered, and Constans, for all his bit-
from the under world. And having come terness of heart, was fain to drop his own
finally to believe this, Constans was com- eyes.
forted and desired to hear the matter in A series of muffled explosions startled
full.
44
Tell me," he said and Quinton Edge them. Quinton Edge moved softly toward
went on: the outer door.
44
The fire must be coming
44
was weeks and weeks that she lay
It nearer," he whispered. "I will make sure
silent and motionless upon a pallet of dried of our position and return within a few
fern, her only shelter the thatch of a moun- minutes. Hush she is sleeping again."
!
tain sheepfold. And even that poor refuge But when Constans went and stood by
had been hardly gained; once or twice upon the couch Issa was looking at him with
the journey thither I thought that she had wide opened eves.
died, in my arms. "Constans— little brother," she said
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THE DOOMSMAN 203
weakly and yet with an infinite content. lay in his was growing cold, but the knowl-
He dropped to his knees beside her and edge had ceased to concern him; the numb-
tried to answer, but could not. ing brain no longer registered the messages
"Surely, it must be close to morning sent by the nerves. He was conscious only
now," she went on slowly. " I cannot re- of an immense weariness, of an overwhelm-
—
member it must be that I am still so tired ing desire to sleep. The maiden Issa's hair
—it is strange. In the morning— it cannot lay within the hollow of his arm, a pool of
be far distant
"
—and now to —to
sleep rippled gold; it was like looking down into
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204 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
from the River Barony and pronounce in the waters of the lower bay and the broad
person upon its merits. For let it be known salt seabeyond the sand-dunes.
that Piers Minor had lost no time in bring- Suddenly on the darkened eastern sky-
ing home his bride, and both he and Nanna line a bright light flashed out, in color like
had insisted that Esmay must live with to a star and yet incomparably more bril-
them. liant. And the light was not fixed but con-
Now thev were standing in the Great Hall tinuallychanged its base, as was shown by
watching the swallows as they circled the broad band of rays that now swept the
around the red-capped gate-house and the surface of the sea and then traced their
white doves cooing in the eaves. A silence luminous way on the overhanging clouds.
had fallen between them and Constans, Another shift and the shining pathway
leaning abstractedly against the window reached to their very feet, illuminating with
casement, seemed to have forgotten of its fierce radiance every object within its
Esmay's very existence. Quietly she turned focus, down to the tiniest shell upon the
and left him, impelled by an irresistible beach. Esmay, startled, clung to her hus-
desire to know if he would notice her band's arm.
absence and would follow her. Hardly "What is it?" she asked fearfully.
had she stolen five steps away than she It is only one more of the things that we
•"
heard him start and turn to seek her. A cannot understand," said Constans thought-
sheer delight coursed through her veins fully. "An unknown star, but why should
and she began to run. we presage of it evil rather than good?
"Esmay!" he called, but she would not Nay, whatever it brings must be good, if
stop, gathering up her skirts in both her we can but bring ourselves to believe and
hands and speeding like a startled fawn. hold fast that which is true."
She heard him laugh and come running He drew his wife's face to his own, and
after; a sudden terror smote her and she there, full in the radiance of the unknown
looked about for a hiding place. A door star, he kissed her on the lips.
presented itself; she clutched the h;.ndlc
desperately, but it refused to turn. Seeing
her discomfiture, Constans believed that he Early that same evening Sub-Lieutenant
was entitled to enjoy his triumpn. He Jarvison, watch officer of the electric
walked up with leisurely delil>eration. cruiser Erebus, reported to his commander
"You are a goose," he said severely. that the landfall had been made six points
She assented meekly. away on the port bow. Captain Indiman
—
"To run away like that so foolish, when immediately hastened to the bridge of the
I had something serious to say to you. vessel and or/ered that the engines be
Why do you suppose 1 brought you here? stopped and the customary signals shown.
Why should I want you to see the house But no reply was received to the rockets
why did I build it at all ? Be good enough displaying the red. green and white colors of
to answer me, young lady." the Antarctic Republican Navy; plainly the
She looked up at him with the most inno- land was not inhabited, at least at this point
cent expression in the world. " Why ?" she of its coast. Tlic enormous search-light was
echoed as though mightily puzzled and im- put it shone out like a sun
in requisition;
mediately the male creature became miser- u{M>n the darkened waters. Up and down
ably bewildered and lost his confident bear- from side to side swept the giant beam and
ing in the twinkling of an eye. now they could see that the lowland on the
—
"The reason you know the reason left rose gradually into a considerable head-
why," he stammered and then she came to land. Beyond opened the wide waters of
his aid. what must be a great bay. Captain Indi-
"Yes, I know, but tell me." man reflected for a moment and then gave
And thereupon he did tell her and, as it an order to his executive. The latter saluted
happened, the "reason why" was precisely and turned to ol>ey.
what each of them had imagined it to be. Under half speed and with a leadsman in
A year later and Constans and his wife the the Erebus
chains, moved slowly
sat on a high point of land that overlooked toward the unknown coast.
THE END.
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TMB SOFT FOOT-WAV OF THE TRKB-HOKIISRBD LANS IS A KK1.IKF FROM I UK
XARIJKNRU sURfACR OF THB MACAUAMIZBD TUKMI'IKE.
LL roads lead to sages of the city, and there was sunk and
Rome," quoted the old hopelessly lost.
Roman, and it was the No people appreciated the value of good
truth that no matter roads more than the Romans, and as every
how far away in his river ran to the sea, all great roads of his-
great empire, even the tory fed into the deltas of some city some-
shepherd's track or where. But in the old days when a jour-
jwth began, wider and ney of one hundred miles was not to be
wider it grew until it joined one of the busy considered lightly, there were but two
highways that, across forest land and desert, methods from which the traveler could
over hill and valley, led on and on until it choose, his own legs or by aid of those of
emptied at last into the labyrinthian pas- some other living creature. How mar-
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2o6 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
\ clous ii is when wc consider how ihe great, life on the outside country) as now, Le-
closely-packed centers of ancient times twecn sunrise and sunset, hurl themselves
existed. Think of the capabilities of a back and forth, in and out of New York
single freight train drawn by a hundred- alone.
ton engine, and compare it with the ca- Transportation is the problem ; the ways
pacities of a clumsy, loaded wain, groaning along which people can move and the
behind slow-movit g' oxen; compute how means to move them, are the great ques-
many thousands of patient, burdened backs lionsof the hour, and all roads lead to Town.
ofmen or beasts it took to supply the daily We have tunneled beneath the ground
wants of any of the old wallet] towns of and the river; we haw thrown great Hying
even the medieval ('ays. How the great arches over our intervening waterways; we
arteries of travel must have been thronged have networked the surrounding country
at times! How they poured in and out! with lines of humming trolleys, and the
Kipling has drawn a picture vibrating ferry-boats swing with the regularity of
with movement and color, fairly pulsating pendulums, from pier to pier. Incoming
with the essence of human life, when he or going armies of men spend large frac-
describes in "Kim" the great trunk road tions of their lives uj>on the road. They
of India. Thousands of bare or sandaled have traveled many times the distance to
feet polished the stones of the footways the moon and back. The faithful servants,
that convergei at city gates; the endless
I electricity and steam, fetch them in ami
grinding of the rough-shod wheels wore out. The same unvarying number of foot-
dee]) and everlasting ruts in the stone pave- steps have brought them to their homes
ments. Yet not so many people, in a and offices. The same unvarying revolu-
month of thirty days, entered or left any tions of whirling wheels have carried them
of the old walled capitals of Greece, or from the journey's beginning to its end.
Rome, or India (that, like our modem Far above the level of the roofs of the
populous centers, depended for their very dwelling houses, we have built great cities.
peopled by transients.
The metrofwlis is like
the feeding ground of
great migratory flocks
who ome t in the morn-
ing to pick up their liv-
ing, to fill their mouths
and fill their pouches,
and retire at night to
their home nests and
roosting places.
It is a moot question
whether, when every-
thing is finished, and
the underground system
and the new-projected
bridges shall be com-
pleted, this feverish
crowding and discom-
fort of the flight-hours
will be over. Every-
thing has been worked
for the end of that great
goal, the desideratum of
our modern life: the
saving of a few minutes
of our precious time! A
man will risk his life to
cross before a moving
car in order to save the
second would
that it
THE HEAVY ACCOMMODATION TRAIN* TICK T THKIK DADS IVIIV MORNING AM*
I I
and push at the entrance gate of a railway what the transient guest of the city wants.
station to gain a foothold on a crowded Fast train service and an accurate time-
platform that will save him a few minutes table are what the commuter seeks. The
of a half-hour journey. We wonder how delay of five minutes compels him to rail
our forefathers existed without many things upon his fate and kick against the pricks.
that have become necessities of our modern The withdrawal of a suburban train will
struggling life; and we may well wonder incite a local revolution. How we envy
how our descendants will greet the prob- the quiet nerves of the people of the older
lem, for in the past, the present and the day who traveled by coach and postchaise!
future, it has been, is now and ever will be A lame leader or a broken trace occasioned
the same. The city has crept along the old no nervous searching of spirit-second
coach road, flung itself out upon the banks watches. People should be the wealthiest
of the waterways, and scattered its roosting who can afford the time to spend upon a
places on the far hillsides, but all roads journey. But no such privilege is reckoned
lead to Town. in theirphilosophy. As economy Is the
The heavy accommodation trains pick privilege of the rich, they exercise it in the
up their every morning and roar
loads saving of fractional minutes.
l>ack with them every night. Social clubs It requires a serene, old-fashioned mind
on wheels have 'grown into existence; to enjoy a ride on top of a coach, in these
palatial passenger coaches have been swift moving days. The sixtv-mile-an-
chartered by communities, and each mem- hour automobile has become the fad of the
ber rents his chair and has his name upon millionaire, and the tense hand on the
it, as he has upon his pew in church. The steering gear has taken the place of the
shortest way in and the quickest way out is light touch on the guide rein.
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208 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
fare at the expense of his shoe leather, he
is seeking the city.
Some one once dog was a true
said that a
cosmopolitan, and he would be at home
in a hut, hovel or palace; but dogs are snobs
compared to horses. Dogs to a certain
extent can choose their masters. With a
horse it is different; his allegiance is trans-
ferred with his ownership; he may miss a
familiar hand at the reins, or a familiar
presence in his stall; he may resent harsh
treatment, and he has a retentive memory
for localities, but he is forced to go as he is
directed, pondering often, it may well be
supposed, over better days. But the horse
in the abstract has had, and always will
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THB KKBBV-aoATs SWIM, Willi 1MB KKGl'LAfttTY OP mWDCLl'MS FROM riEK TO PHIK.
forward and his day is post, it is generally seas. What would the shippers of years
only the strength that is left to him that gone by think of a single vessel that will
gives him an excuse for existence. Unless he take as a cargo the loads of one hundred
is fortunate enough to become a pensioner, freight trains of twenty-five cars each, yet
and end his days in the ease of paddock that is the earning capacity of the new-
and pasture, and fall arc sure.
his decline est steamship. And over the roads from
One of the great arguments that the somewhere it must come to town and
clubs and societies formed for the better- pass out again. Millions and millions of
ment of the conditions of our highways people yet unborn will spend large frac-
have advanced is that of the humanitarian tions of their lives in coming and going,
side of it. Heavy work will shorten the to and fro, as their fathers did before
life of a draft animal as it will a man. them. How will they do it? No wonder
Roads hub-deep in mud will take more out it sets men thinking! Who is so wise as
of a horse in a month than a year of easy to prophesy the end and point out the
hauling. Within the past ten years, almost solution ? It has been suggested that the
every State of the I'nion has awakened to narrow passage in the East River between
the necessity of improving the highways. Long Island and Manhattan, about where
Vast sums have been expended, for the Blackwcll's Island now separates the chan-
true economy of the principle has at last nel, may some day be filled in for the space
come to be understood, even by the farmer, of a mile or more in width, and that out to
who for a long time could not be aroused the eastward the metropolis will spread,
sufficiently to take any interest in the sub- and that on the extreme end within the
ject. sheltered waters to the northwest of M( in-
The big cities are the shipping centers, lands Point a great shipping port will grow,
and as our foreign trade increases, so does and from there the great lines of railway*
the problem. Much of what comes in increase the numl)er of threads in this
along the roads goes out across the high spider's web of roads that lead to Town.
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THE ADOLESCENCE OF NUMBER
EIGHTY-SEVEN
BY ARTHUR STRINGER
HE prairie drift-snow away, slowing down gradually, until he
shrilled and whined was able to jump from his tender's rear-
N rU j-
•"
under the slowly mov- board to the pilot-bar of the wildcat, and
/ ing wheels, as the cn- then scramble perilously up to the cab and
"a J gine and tender for close the throttle. So Web had accepted
Number Three backed his subscription gold watch with a grin and
down the ice - hung taken a little pride in his promotion.
water-tank. To Web "Uncommon cold!" repeated the stran-
Ross, up in the cab, it sounded loud and ger, stepping a little nearer. His face
ludicrous, like the squealing of a train- was muffled in the upturned corner of
load of hungry pigs. his heavy overcoat, and he cluttered his
In the thermometer against the wall of heels, boyishly, on the trodden snow'.
the squat little Canadian Pacific station- Web was busy watching the black oil
house the mercury was frozen in the bulb. drip into the polished brass cup.
It was at least forty degrees below zero. "Cold as hell!" he answered, offhanded.
Just how much colder than that it might "New engine, eh?" asked the black-
be, neither Web nor the thermometer coated stranger, not to be shaken off.
could tell. "Yep," said Web, with his handful of
But as the high-shouldered young en- waste, as he petted the great shimmering
gineer swung down from the cab steps, with piston-rod, very much as a winning jockey
his oil-can and his waste in his hand, he might rub down the withers of a race-horse.
noticed that the snow crunched sharp and "Yep; she's new enough!"
crisp under his boots, like dry charcoal, He looked up at her approvingly. She
and he could feel the sting of the keen air stood a good fourteen feet from the crest
in his nostrils. of the rail to the top of the boiler-shell.
"Cold work, eh?" said a voice, almost "He is a big fellow, isn't he?" remarked
at his shoulder. the amiably disposed stranger.
Web looked round, unconcernedly, as The driver of the twelve-wheeled monster
any man of solemn responsibilities should. snorted aloud.
Three months before he had been a wiper " Fellow ? She's no fellow She's worn
!
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212 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
knew that by the way in which Web rubbed lumber-train had come to grief, and not
down the polished cylinders. without loss of life.
" I've seen her wobble along, in her sore- "Well, I guess there's nothing much
legged kind o' way, doin' her mile in forty- doing, this kind of weather, anyway,"
seven seconds!" remarked the stranger, with his muffled
" Then what would she do that run from but companionable laughv*
Police Creek to Dcerhead in, if she was Web swung himself up on the cab steps,
pushed?" the stranger asked. for out of the clear, windless air of the late
" You'll sec her do it in thirty-five minutes afternoon they could hear the incoming
to-night, if you're on board!" answered the West - bound scream, and scream, and
young engineer. He turned to wipe a stain scream again. Then across the open
off her boiler jacket it —
was almost the prairie glare they could hear the reverl>er-
same touch that a mother gives to wipe ant rumble and roar. A moment later
away a child's tear. "Just wait until she she wheeled into sight, belching a pennant
finds herself! She's still kind of ashamed of pearl-colored steam, with rose-tinted
o' showing her ankles now, which ain't edges, in the late afternoon sun. She
good for a girl who's got to do the most staggered to a standstill, her great shoulders
loose-jointedwork that steam and cylinder hunched arrogantly up, panting and blow-
was ever set at." Web chuckled at his ing with what seemed a sense of her own
own personifying jocularity. "She's too importance.
skittish yet, and needs another month or A man ran crunchingly down the plat-
two of pettin' down and coa.xin' out, and form with a sheet of yellow flimsy in his
then you'll see that eighteen by twenty-six hand. The black-coated stranger boarded
cylinder of her's getting in its fine work!" the train.
The stranger was on the cab steps, peer- As Web disappeared behind his oil-
ing about the tender and boiler head and stained canvas curtain the burnished bell
cab windows. swung noisily once or twice, a cloud of
"She's got to learn her table manners pearl and old-rose steam surrounded the
yet, too," saidWeb. He was young, and twelve great wheels, Number Eighty-seven
he liked to talk. "She eats coal like a grunted a response to the throttle-move
—
hog has the dirtiest habits of any Brooks and seemed to shake herself from her sleep.
/ ever saw! But me and Tom's been The drift snow shrilled and whined, and
teachin' her things, and she's willin', the great steel belly, in which a family
mighty willin', to learn!" might house, hissed forth her power, and
" I see you haven't got those white train- the East-bound was on her way again.
markers on, instead of green!" laughed Many eyes watched her curiously from
the stranger, waving his gloved hand the squat little station, for already the
toward the waiting express cars. news that she carried two armed guards on
" No, by Gawd, but we've got two Win- board, and that her express-car safes held
chesters and two picked men on board, forty thousand dollars in Ashcroft gold-
and I guess they'll answer about as well!" dust, had spread about the little frost-bound
"I hear that Collins, who ought to be town. But as Web's friend had hinted,
going out on this run, kind of flunked!" it was not felt to be exactly the right sort
"It's a lie," cried Web, like one of the of weather for road-agent romancing.
Brotherhood, "he's sick! He's damned
near dead,' that's what he is — wife sittin' Web was happy. He found nothing
up two nights, puttin' plasters on him!" depresMng in the silences and the snowy
The reference was twofold. Some ami- desolation of the northern twilight. The
able lunatic had written to the Division snow glare, with the on-coming of night,
Superintendent saying he needed a few had died down, and the endless, undulating
thousand dollars, and desired the road, if plain of white had taken on a tint that
they cared to treat with him before certain seemed the softest of pinks. Now it was
things might happen, to place white markers blue, lifeless, steel blue; and Number
instead of green on their East-bound ex- Eighty-seven and her train, to Web, seemed
press. This in itself was nothing. But a feverish needle of life flashing across some
three times in two weeks switchlocks had limitless fabric of blue-tinted silence. It
been tampered with, and a local and a seemed warm and homelike in the cab,
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THE ADOLESCENCE OF NUMBER EIGHTY-SEVEN 213
for TomWasley, who was firing for Web, "To save your head getting a hole in it.
had closed the overhead ventilator, to keep Pull that lever, you damned numskull,
out the penetrating night air. He and or I'll plug you!" And he sealed his
Tom were facing what two older runners determination with a sharp oath.
had shied at, yet each of them appeared Eighty-seven slowed down, shudderingly.
unruffled, undisturbed, altogether at home. "Now you climb back and cut off this
To them it was prosaic; all in the day's
Tom
—
engine and tender quick!"
Web has hesitated to weigh his chances
work. And old did not even resent
the younger man's presence on "the in a hand-to-hand tussle, but the ever-
throttle-side." With one it was the reck- menacing gun-barrel gave him no chance.
lessness of youth; with the other, the He felt that perhaps his moment would
resignation of age. come later. At any rate, he decided, as
As Eighty-seven took the sharp curve he swung sulkily down before his oppressor,
at Titburn Bridge, and the heavy coaches he would have to wait for that moment.
twisted and creaked in her wake, Web put Already the train men were marveling at
a hand on the sand-lever, squinted at his the stop. Sixty seconds would give him his
gauge, and let her take the up-grade wide chance.
open. Web knew that the working-pres- But the man in the black overcoat was
sure of his eighty - seven - inch boiler was wary, and Web knew that the hand
well over two hundred and ten pounds; th«t was reckless enough to hold up the
he knew the length of her main rod was Imperial Limited would not be apt to
within an inch or two of nine feet, and that hesitate very long before a life or two, when
her great piston-stroke of thirty-four inches he found his chances for escape cut off.
could make her lick up distance like a But still it was worth the fight, if he could
thirsty hound. She seemed so responsive, only get a chance.
"so all-fired ready to learn," as Tom had He climbed back into the cab with nimble
put it, so eager to show her new-found sulkiness, yet with that ever-present barrel
speed and strength, that Web, keeping a of steel bristling somewhere about the back
strained eye out for the switch-lamps as they of his neck.
pounded down into Police Creek, felt a "Now send her aheaJ, full speed. And
wordless resentment for the wreckers who I want you to remember, young man, that
had the heart to endanger so fine and I know this road a little better than you
finished a goddess of steel. He felt that imagine. When we're a mile this side of
she was almost human. Deerhead, with the bridge and the little
"I'd say she was slobberin' less than mission church on the left, I don't want
usual," he called to Tom Wasley. He any slowing up. I want you to go through
turned from his window, and saw that the that Deerhead station yard at a mile a
fireman was not in the cab. minute. You understand?"
Instead of Tom Wasley he beheld the "I've got an inkling," answered Web,
black -coated stranger who had spoken giving the lever another notch or two.
with him at the beginning of the run. It He looked at the other man grimly, and
filled him with a quiet and sullen wonder grinned.
that this stranger should be menacing him "Ain't this expensive work?" he asked.
with a glimmering pistol-barrel. "Maybe it is, but it's the kind I like,"
"I want you to slow down," he said answered the stranger. He groped back-
quietly, but firmly. Web noticed that ward to the tender, and with his. free hand
through each swing and lurch of the cab Hung down two heavy satchels and a
the menacing revolver pointed undeviat- canvas mail-bag cut in half.
ingly at one point just between his eyes. From the mail-bag fell a little shower
"I want you to slow down, and do it of letters. Web noticed that each one of
pretty quick, too," said the stranger once these letters, for all the careless way in
more. which the stranger kicked them together
"What's all this joshin', anyway?" on the grimy cab floor, bore a registered
demanded the amazed engineer. stamp. Web assumed, from this, that the
"I'm not joshin'! Stop this train, and operations in the express and mail car had
stop it quick!" been carefully and thoroughly carried on.
"What for?" demanded Web. He wondered, vaguely, if the' two satchels
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2I 4 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
held the Ashcroft gold, and he also won- back to Deerhead —and I don't think
dered if old Tom Wasley had been hauled you'll gain anything by being in too much
back over the tender and locked in with of a hurry, cither!"
the messengers and mail clerks. He Web grinned, and put on the pump
questioned, too, if the one man had done his again, for the steam was hissing and sing-
work alone. Then a still more appalling ing through the gauge-cocks, blue and dry
thought came to Web; he himself would and hard.
be called up on the carpet for the part he "You'd better fire up again," suggested
had been forced to play in the whole busi- the highwayman.
ness. "We're hammerin' her pretty hard,"
Web decided that nothing could at least demurred the young engineer.
be by talking. Sulking did no good.
lost "It'll do her good."
He must simply grin and bear it, and wait "But she's my engine, and I've got to
his chance. watch her!
He turned to the highwayman, who had "She's got to travel faster, I say."
guardedly flung the scattered mail into Web glared across the swaying cab at
the open sack, and knotted it at the top. his enemy. This was all he got for it;
"How far are we goin', anyway?" asked this was all his thanks for pounding the
Web. He had been wondering how long spirit out of her, and threatening those
it would be before the abandoned train beautiful big six-foot driving-wheels on
crew had the news of the hold-up on the that pounding track.
wire, and where the first interference from "I tell you I've got to save her crown
the outside world would come from. sheet," declared Web.
Eighty-seven wasn't flinging herself; Web "Crown sheet bedamned! I've got to
knew she hated to leave her train behind. get past Deerhead before Sanderson gets
" You're going just as far as I say," was his wire in, and, by God, it won't go easy
the curt reply. " And from the look of that with you if I don't, either."
lower gauge you'd better fire up a little." "I tell you the water's giving out,"
Web had hoped for a chance, with the yelled Web. This was a lie, though the
heavy steel shovel once in his hand; but young guardian of Eighty -seven almost
at eveiy move he saw the lynx-like eye of wished it was true.
his enemy following him. So he shoveled " Then push her through to the last foot
in sullen silence. After all, it was all in and as fast as she can make it, too!"
the day's work. It might have been Web was about to retort, angrily, but
another open switch, and another eight as his glance instinctively fell along the
cars overturned. He had hoped, at first, glistening line of steel under his pilot an
that Number Eighty-seven would "lay idea came to him. He had suddenly
down on him"; now, as he glanced out remembered that only one thing could
into the blue-white desolation of the frost- happen if she took the switch at the Deer-
bound prairie, he knew that nothing good head station-yard at that rate of speed.
could come of being stranded in emptiness, Seventy miles an hour over a loose-jointed
with the mercury on the lower side of the —
point-switch there could be only one
forty mark. outcome! But it would put a stop to this
He watched the pointer on his steam high-handed traveling, and to the career
gauge go higher and higher, shut off the of his black-coated friend, and she would
injector for a minute or two, and threw the go over on the left, he felt sure, so he could
lever back to the last notch. He began jump for it from his cab step.
to worry a little about the driving-wheels Web's second idea was not such a happy
— caststecl did strange things, sometimes, one. It would mean the death of Number
in sixty degrees of frost —
but the man had Eighty-seven. It would be killing her,
asked for speed, and he was giving it to to gain his point. It would seem like
him. murder. It meant crippling and breaking
" Keep this up until we're twelve miles her spirit— just when she was beginning
past Deerhead, right through. When we to know what life was, just when she was
want
get to the stretch of timber there, 1 beginning to answer to every touch, and
you to slow down. When I drop off I obey every move and order. Sht would
want you to go right ahead— no running never treat him in that way!
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THE ADOLESCENCE OF NUMBER EIGHTY-SEVEN 215
But he mu
decide quickly, he told him-
t She had given him as good as she had
self, for already he could catch the glimmer taken!
of the Deerhead yard lamps. Even at the The jolting engine shuddered to a
best there was risk in it; even at the and over the dry, hard snow
standstill,
best, he told himself, it was cruelty to the sounded the whirl of feet and the cry of
old girl. excited voices. Web swung himself down
"Pound her through," ordered the high- from the cab steps, Eor all the cold, oily
wayman, as he called her a foul name, and drops of sweat clung to his gray-white
clung to the swaying window rail at the forehead, and the muscles in his jaw were
other side of the cab, "and let her blow working like leather-covered injector-valves.
up when she damn please." "What's happened there? What's hap-
Web clamped his jaw, and again shut pened?" cried the Deerhead night operator,
off the injector to allow her to pick up. running up with a lantern.
Then his hand shot out to the whistle Web leaned against the driving-rod, for
lever, and her sudden shriek tore a hole under his oil-stained overalls his legs were
in the silence of the prairie night. shaking and quaking. Then he wiped
"What in hell d'you mean by that ?"cried his forehead, and cursed hysterically.
the other man, leaping forward, white with '*
I bust you up, old girl I bust you up,"
!
rage. he moaned.
"But that's orders." He picked up a piece of broken steel,
"You take your orders from me, this bright like silver on the raw edge, and gazed
time! I don't want that whole town at it stupidly. Then he dropped it, and
swarming down to the track, you fool!** laughed a little. The first effects of his
Web watched the switch light dance shock were passing away.
and swim up to them. He stood ready, "What happened down here, anyway?"
waiting. the operator was demanding.
It was the unexjweted that hapjxMicd. Web looked at him, and then gazed at
He could feel the pound of the switch his disabled engine, regretfully. Then he
point, the quick lurch and swing. In pointed toward the cab.
another moment he cx{>eetcd to feel the shud- "By (iod, O'Higgins, she's human,"
dering thud of his wheels on the sleepers. he declared, inconsequentially, but with
Instead of that a mass of steel tore whistling great conviction.
through the left-hand side of the cab, "Who's human? What's human?"
earning away iron and woodwork as it "This old girl of mine! She's human,
went. Then came another, and another. I tell —
you and I've gone and broken her
Web understood what it meant. The spirit!"
huge rim of one of the great driving wheels He groped about the injured wheel
had broken, and fragments of it kept sorrowingly, shaking a melancholy head.
cannonading up through the frail shell of Then he looked up and called out to
the cab as the great mass Hew madly round. O'Higgins, the operator.
Instinctively Web's arm shot out to the "There's a road-agent up in that cab
lever, and he shut her off. He turned to you'd better look after. Yes, I say a road-
explain why. He had, for a moment, even agent. You mav think I'm a fool, O'Hig-
forgotten the presence of the other man. gins, but I'll blister in hell // Eighty-snot
And that menacing gun-barrel might have didn't turn and hold the CUSS up. herselj!"
barked out at him by mistake, and it would The operator swung back the oil-stained
have been all over, forever. canvas curtain, and peered into the cab.
Web gasped, and the sound was like air "Poor old girl!" said Web, fingering
rushing into an opened breaks-tube. The the raw edge of the broken steel. Then he
highwayman lay against the tender-sheet, wiped his forehead, and shook his head
unconscious, with his cheek torn open. again.
Eighty-seven had got even with him. "I'll get hell for this," he said, de-
She had held him up! She had can- jectedly, taking >till another spiritless look
nonaded him with her 1m)11s of wrath! at his broken engine.
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THE GREATEST HORSE IN THE
WORLD
BY ROBERT L. DICKEY
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR *
E was a strange charac- scape and loved the flowers of hedgerow and
ter. I met him the first wood, marsh and meadow, as only they are
time some years ago loved by those close to the soil. Horses,
it doesn't really matter however, were his passion, and it was to them
how many on one of — and their deeds on the turf that he paid his
my many visits to one highest homage. He had, on rare occasions,
of Kentucky's
great been able to see the running of some of the
nurseries of the thor- great classics of the Turf and these had been
oughbred horse. He had, he informed me, marked in his memory as the red-letter days
been born and raised in the Blue-Grass Re- of his life.
gion and could not remember when horses Having given you a slight impression of
and their doings had not been the leading the man, I will let him tell his story of the
interest in life for him. As a boy he had "greatest horse in the world" in his own
access to a large turf library and had filled way, only wishing it were possible to clothe
his mind with performances and pedigrees the telling in that soft southern accent which
until he was a veritable walking stud-book. was one of the chief charms of his odd little
He could enumerate the winners of the tale.
Derby and Oaks from early in the last cen- " It was May and one of those mornings
tury and knew the history of the St. Lcgcr as of that most delightful of months when a
well as the most enthusiastic Yorkshireman. visit to the bigfarm was sure to be pro-
The deeds of '"Boston" and "Lexington," —
ductive of one of its greatest charms a call
"Bassctt" and "Longfellow" were, to his on the foals and their dams. The air was of
mind, far greater than those of the lights of that singular softness so welcome to the
literature and the bar which his state had so worshipper of Nature and gave every prom-
liberally given his country. All his life had ise of a day full of such beauty as is showered
been spent in Kentucky and when he could in profusion in the South in spring. It was
get away from the duties of a small clerical a privilege and a joy to be alive. Every
position, he was watching the young things song-sparrow and field lark seemed to give
come along at some stock farm in the neigh- voice to the thought in the rollicking music
borhood. He never had hoped to actually they >ent ringing over meadow and wood.
own a horse, but many a "crack" had gone The blue-grass of the paddocks was dotted
out to battle for honors in the great world of here and there with splashes of the golden
the Turf whose breeding had been the result yellow of the dandelion, giving to the color
of advice or opinion expressed by him. He scheme the note this homely but beautiful
would follow the careers of these horses with old weed alone can supply.
an interest so absorbing that all else in the "Along, through the far paddock, I had
world seemed of small import. The birds wandered and had chosen a seat under a
he knew intimately and all the wild things of friendly oak for a smoke. I had lighted my
wood and field were not mere acquaint- pipe and was preparing to sit in the shadow
ances, but lifelong friends. He appreciated of the old tree and quietly drink in the
most fully what constituted beauty in land- beauty around me, when, just across a
•Se« color front ispirre. little stream that hurried along ;il my feet. I
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218 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
saw him for the —
time a chestnut colt
first most colts of his type, but by Futurity time,
with a white blaze. What a colt he was! with two or three races to initiate him to the
Here was at last the one I had in my mind's game, he would be a force to reckon with.
eye all the years. He had popped out from " Yes, there he goes down the long strip of
behind his mother (you remember her; she brown track towards the starting point far
swept the filly stakes clean ten years ago) away up the straight course. I can see him
with a couple of startled jumps, and catching in his place in the line. A gleam of copper
sight of me, stop|>ed short, raised his ex- reflecting back the warm August sun in a
quisite head and gave me a look of searching hundred sparkling tints. A red and white
inquiry. Having satisfied himself on that jacket above him. Both boy and horse
point, he stood quite still and I seized the seeming molded in one piece, so harmo-
opportunity to 'look him over.' What a nious is their movement. He is like a
young horse! If I had had the making of young prince of the blojxl, and more than
him to order he could not have nearer fitted holds his own in that field that nearly always
my ideal. All my life I had been dreaming is composed of the best youngsters of the
of a chestnut horse with a white blaze that year. I am straining my eyes up the course
should be the one greatest of all horses, and as there is a small cloud of dust moving
now here he was. He was that beautiful down on the stand. Gradually small mov-
shade of chestnut that at maturity takes on ing figures are plain at the base of the cloud.
the tints and hues of burnished copper. Is there a glimmer of gold and red there?
Starting just above his soft brown eyes and Yes! There it is scurrying along the rail
ending at the nose was a blaze of white holding the coveted place in the rush
which was repeated again on three of his across the elbow. There is a cracking <\£-
slender legs. The high-mettled nicer in whips, a rattle of flying hoofs, and there,
—
embryo that's what he was. Speed stood creeping away from his field, is a chestnut
suggested in every line of his supple body, colt with a wide white blaze. A few strides
and courage of the do or die quality was his and I see him flash past the post, a winner of.
by every right of inheritance. I had seen the greatest of races for two-year-olds. That
his daddy carry his weight and win over was a performance worthy of him and one
many of the best horses of his time, and that presaged, for him, a future commen-
wind up his turf career with a sensational surate with what his sire and dam had done
performance over the heart-breaking two before him.
miles and a quarter of the old Louisville *'
Again the scene is the Bay. Two years
Cup. And his dam had, as I mentioned have rolled around. It is June and the big
before, spread terror to all owners of crack Handicap is the event of the day. No race
fillies, East and West in her day. Already in the calendar has ever seemed to me so
she had proved her title to be considered one fraught with importance as this one. A
of the Belgravian dams by giving the Turf a glance at the table of its winners reveals
couple of more than useful performers. names thathave been household words
•*
At last here was the one. The horse among those who love a horse for what a
that would be what no horse before had horse can do. The winning of this race
—
ever been would do what no horse had would set the seal of greatness on a horse
ever done, and all because he filled me with that Englishmen accord to the winners of
a sense of such a wonderful combination of the gold cup at Ascot. And now this chest-
perfection in physical form and inherited nut colt was facing the crucial test of his
strength. As he stood there in all the career. He, of course, must carry an im-
beauty of his young vigor he was the very post in accordance with the wonderful form
epitome of the high-bred racehorse. Yes, displayed as a two-year-old and the handi-
here was one fitted by Nature to take his capper was sure to have him near the top.
place among those whose deeds were sung "Here he comes through the paddock
wherever the thoroughbred had a place in gate. The same old swing to his white-
the hearts of men. . . . blazed head. A little more muscular and
" I see him as a two-year-old. His first mature. A finished type of a racer trained
time under colors. His first real baptism of to that point of perfection that will enable
fire. Yes, he would perhaps show a little him to carry his burden over the dreaded
greenness in his initial effort. Would no mile and a quarter. As he strides through
doubt be awkward and overgrown like the paddock he seems to realize what is
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220 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
before him and brought to a stand out under lightning-like leap of color. A quick open-
the trees, raises his head aloft and looks out ing and closing as of a many hued fan, and
over the crowd with that keen intelligent the field streams toward me in a shift of
expression horses have. A mob of enthu- movement so sudden I cannot for the
siastic lovers of the thoroughbred gather moment find my hor>m I can hear the high,
about him and he is holding court like the shrill voices of the Ik>vs ringing like rifle-
king he is. Across the lawn from the stand shots above the heavier beat of the many
comes the shrill note of a cornet. There is hoofs as they thundered by me through the
a tightening of girths, the jockeys in their first quarter of a mile. Another moment
many hues and colors are mounted and the and my eye catches the red jacket. There
parade to the post has begun. As the he is— his white splashed head swinging up
horses file by the stand there is here and and down in that rythmic movement that
there a flutter of applause as each horse is marks the thoroughbred racing with a re-
recognized. A beautiful slender head with serve of force. He is lying third on the rail.
a white blaze is turned toward the applause A splendid position. Around the turn by
as though in recognition of the tribute, and I the paddock there is another jumble of color
see my hero in his place in the line going for- and again the warning cries of the jockeys
ward a soldier into battle. The mus-
like as the field folded together in the sweep of
cles of his mighty Hanks play under his the big curve. What is that winnowing
copper coat like those of the tiger, and his through the field. A hooded head, a game-
step is as light and spring)- as that of a cock neck, and a long, lean, brown body
premier danseuse. There are giants in that carrying a green jacket. A spasmodic
field filing up the straight, but none is might- shuffle of a jockey's arms, a quick nervous
ier than he. As they break the line and flick of a long black tail, and I saw a light-
canter toward the barrier, that chestnut weighted flying thing with open daylight
bounds along like a rubber ball, pulling his between her and the rest of the field. There
boy over his neck as though unable to re- is the chestnut still on the rail, head and
strain the desire to break into that wonderful head with that slashing bay of the orange
stride that had carried him along at the head and blue jacket. All around me I hear the
of his field so many times. What is that cries: 'They'll never catch her, she'll set a
varminty thing under the green jacket fol- pace that will kill those heavyweights.'
lowing at his heels ? That looks like a foe- They're thundering on through a cloud of
man worthy of his steel. A brown, long and dust past the post that marks the point
lithe as a snake. A hooded head on a neck where the race is half over, and still that
as lean and clean as a game cock's. That hooded head is leading them. Can they
one looks like racing and so does this big up- stand the strain of that awful pace? Some-
standing bay under the blue and orange thing must crack pretty soon. Out and
jacket. It will l>e a fight to the bitter end around the wide upper turn that brown is
with this pair, or I don't know horses when showing the way. They are ncaring the
I see them. That hooded thing carries no bend into the stretch and that boy in the
weight pad. Must U* one of the light red has made no move. Is he beaten ? Has
weights. She looks like a hard nut to crack that awful pace through the back stretch
if she gets away
in front of her field. All I killed that rare burst of s|x-ed he always dis-
ask is that my
horse can be with her. head played at this point in his races. No!
and neck, into the stretchand if she can then There is a slight upward movement. A
resist his bull-dog rush she will deserve the pair of heels lightly touch his flanks, and as
honors. the three leaders swing into the stretch but a
They are at the post. An array of shift- length separates him from that brown thing.
ing sparkling color far up the long brown I can feel his rush. I can see that fearless
band of the straight. I can see now and light in his eye. Yes, he is coming. Three
then in the moving mass of boys and horses splendid, struggling thoroughbreds rushing
an atom of red above a gleam of copj>er toward me. Hay on the rail, chestnut in
splashed with white. That is my chestnut the center and hooded brown still a short
—
knight of the white blaze the bearer of the length in the lead. Ah, that awful pace is
red banner. I hear the old familiar roar of beginning to tell its tale. The boy in green
the stands like a sudden crash of artillery is riding viciously with whip and steel. The
and I know the race has begun. There is a boy in red is lifting his horse with every art
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THE GREATEST HORSE IN THE WORLD 221
known to him, and his heels arc beating a and the delicate pointed cars that play back
tattoo on the chestnut's gleaming sides. A and forward to express his dffferent moods.
roar is following them down the stretch, "Yes, he is all that he gave promise of
proclaiming first one and then the other. being, and more. Out there he stands a
Will he wear her down ? Can she hold her monarch. His noble old head raised high
advantage? Even- stride he is coming to and his shrill challenge hurtling across the
her. The tumult of the stand is deafening, fields isechoed back by the blue-blooded
but my cars and eyes arc senseless to all save matrons of his harem. Through the pad-
the oncoming rush of that chestnut horse. docks, youngsters are playing; one and all
They're at the distance. His flaming eyes carry his escutcheon, the white blaze down
and distended nostrils arc nodding at her their faces. He has come into his own. A
saddle. He is relentless as the prize-fighter glorious future is his. As the years shall
before his failing opponent. There is a pass, these sons and daughters will again
falter in the stride of the brave brown mare. carry his name into the places where men
A slight swerving to the right of the hooded play the great Game ....
head, and in a flash a white blazed chestnut " The afternoon was waning and as I sat
face has flung past her and it is over. there under the oak I realized that I had
only been day-d reaming. Had been play-
•'Across the paddock under the elms I ing at make-believe as we all do at times
can see again that glorious chestnut horse in when we are children. Hut of one thing I
the full majesty of his maturity. There is was sure, and that was that for the time
the familiar white blaze and the glistening being I had really owned a great horse.
white st*>ckings of his flint-like legs. That nothing could ever rob me of that day's
" He is of fuller pattern than that day at experience. I picked up my pipe, and as I
the Hay when he had shown all the world of slowly returned to the old farmhouse I
horsedom that he was a king, and now he caught a glimpse of a brown mare with a
was spreading his empire to the stud. His chestnut colt playing at her side far down
beautiful head has changed little. There the fields. A wood-thrush's vesper hymn
is yet the clear bony jaw; the long slender came to me from the edge of the grove, and
muzzle; the big mellow-brown eye that away out on the meadow a negro's musical
flashes into fire when his interest is aroused; voice sung with the returning cattle."
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•* 1.RMK RABBIT LAY DAB, UK MP, TWIL HE OOT GOOD AN RRSTBA."
1
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BROTHER RABBIT'S BEAR HUNT 223
and she gave him an explanation that he mought not 'a' liked dat kinder fun what you
had no desire to hear; he asked his grand- kin have when you go b'ar-huntin', but Brer
mother, and she laughingly referred him to Rabbit wuz monstus fond un it, kaze dc
Uncle Remus. "He can tell you alxmt it kinder huntin' what he done wuz a mighty
much better than I can," she said. quarc kind, an' de fun what he git out'n
Thus it happened that the little hoy was it wuz de kin' what make 'im laugh twel he
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224 THE ^METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
down on a log an' chaw
der terbacker an' tell all
dey know'd an' lots mo'
besides. One day Brer
Rabbit wuz gwine down
de road, des ter be a-
gwine, when who should
he meet but Brer Fox an'
Brer Wolf. Dey wuz am-
blin' an' a-ramblin' 'long
tergedder, des ez chummy
ez vou please, laughin' an'
talkin', an' oP Brer Rab-
wid um. At-
bit j'in'd in
ter while dey sot down
by de side er de road,
an' got ter talkin' 'bout
der neighburs an' 'bout
de dull times in giner'l.
" Brer Fox say dey ain't
nothin' 'tall gwine on, no
parties, no picnics, an'
RABBIT Vr A*' 'LOW DAT DBV AIN'T NO Mil no bobbycues. Brer
Wolf say he's a oP set-
the bear than he was when he hit and tle man, an' he ain't keerin' much fer
kicked the tar-baby." parties an' dem
kinder doin's, but he like
Uncle Remus laughed heartily. "I fer ter see young folks 'joy deyse'f whiles dey
'speck yo' pa done gone an' top vou er young an' soople. Brer Rabbit he up an'
'bout de tar-baby. OP Brer Rabbit s'ho' 'low dat dey ain't no dull times wid him,
wuz in a mighty close place dat time, but kaze it look like he got sump'n n'er fer ter
ef you take notice, he ain't stay dar long. do eve'y minute er de day whedder he's at
No, suh! Not him!" home or whedder he's abroad. Brer Wolf,
"But, Uncle Remus!" exclaimed the he ax, 'What you doin' right now?' an'
child, "why did he want to hunt the bear? den he look at Brer Fox an' wunk one eye.
I don't see how he showed his sense by "He wunk mighty quick, but not quick
doing such a thing as that. He ought to 'nough fer ter keep Brer Rabbit fum
have known better." ketchin' a glimp' un it. Brer Rabbit wipe
"Well, honey, you ain't got no needs his mouf sorter slow like, an' look up at de
wid de ups an' downs
fer tcr j>ester yo'se'f clouds floatin' by. He
'low, he did, 'Well,
er oP Brer Rabbit. Ef he got sense, er frien's, ef I hadn't seed you -all, I'd 'a'
'a'
ef he ain't got none, it don't make no dif- been well on fer ter look at my
my way
funce now, kaze de op times is done gone, fish-traps, an', dat done, I'd 'a' come
an' ef 'twan't fer deze op tales nobody 'roun* by my turkey blin'. I ain't got
wouldn't know dat dey y'ever wuz any oP too much time, nohow you kin fix it, an'
times." Saying which, Uncle Remus when I docs set down, it's a thrip ter a
filled his after-dinner pipe and turned to ginger-cake dat I draps ter sleep 'fo' any-
his unfinished task, whatever it was. body kin head me off.'
But the boy was by no means satis-
little "Brer Wolf say, 'Wid me it's diffunt.
fied to let the matter go at that. He wanted When I lay by my crap, I allers take a
to know why Brother Rabbit hunted Brother little recess, an' pass de time er day wid
Bear, and how the hunt ended; and my ncinhlw)rs.' Brer Rabbit 'low, 'Dat's
he was so jiersistent about it that the old what make me stop here a little minnit.
negro was compelled to tell him the story When I gits home my oP 'oman is sho' ter
in self-defense. ax me who I seed an' what dey say, an*
" I.)ey wuz one time," said Uncle Remus, how wuz der folks an' der famblies. You
"when de creeturs had laid by der craps, know how de wimmin is —dey '11 tantalize
an' dey ain't got nothin' ter to do but set de life out'n you twel you tells um who you
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BROTHER RABBIT'S BEAR HUNT 225
seed an' what dey had on. But me! I des a braggin', but when he make um shake
ain't got time fer ter tarn-. I'm fixin' han's, dey 'gun ter feel sorter skittish, yit
up fer ter go on a big b'ar-hunt termdrrer, dey wa'n't no gittin' 'roun' a bargain what
an' it's a-gwineter take up all my time fer dey done shuck han's On.
ter git good an' ready. My ol' 'oman "Brer Rabbit ain't stay so mighty long
been beggin' me not ter go; she say she's alter dat; he say he gotter go an' make all
all uv a rrimble, she so skeered I'll git his 'rangements fer ter bag de game an' ter
hurted somehow er somewhar. But dat's bobbycuc it atterwuds. He flipped Brer
de way wid de wimmin ; dey make out dey Wolf an' Brer Fox his so-long, an' ax um
are monstus skeeiy, but when you fetch de fer ter meet 'im at de same place de ncx'
game home, dey allers ready fer ter clean day. 'Meet me right here, frien's,' sez
an' seal' it, an' fix it up fer de table.' ol' Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'an' EH show you
"When Brer Rabbit say dis, Brer Fox sump'n dat'll kinder stir you up an' make
an' Brer Wolf flung back der heads an' you feel like dat dey's sump'n gwine on
laugh fit ter kill. Brer Rabbit, he 'low, roun' here same ez what dey is in de
'Frien's, what's de joke? Be sociable an' j'inin' county, whar dey hunt b'ar cve'y
le' me laugh wid you.' Sez Brer Wolf, day in de year 'ccp' Sunday.'
sezee, 'We er laughin', Brer Rabbit, kaze "Dey say dey'd be dar, ef nothin' don't
you say you gwine b'ar-huntin'. You happen, an' dey ax Brer Rabbit what must
know mighty well dat you ain't big 'nough dey fetch fer ter he'p 'im out, an' he 'spon'
fer ter ketch no b'ar. Why, I'm lots bigger dat all he want um ter do is ter head Brer
dan what you is, an' I'd think twice 'fo' I B'ar off when he git Mm on de run. 'I'll
started out fer ter hunt Brer B'ar.' Brer show whar ter take yo' stan',' sez ol' Brer
Rabbit, he kinder smole one er his ol' Rabbit, sezee, 'an' all in de roun' worP
time smiles. He 'low, he did, Yes, Brer '
you got ter do is ter stan' yo' groun' an' not
Wolf, you er lots bigger dan what I is; git skeered when you see 'im comin', an'
but will you an' Brer Fox head 'im off ef make a little you gwine ter ketch
fuss like
I git 'im on de run ?' Brer Fox, he up an' im But you don't hatter put yo' han' on
'spon', sezee, 'You git 'im on de run, Brer im; I'll do all de ketchin' dat's gwineter
Rabbit, an' we'll head 'im off; I'll promise be done. All I ax you is ter stan' whar
—
you dat much we'll head 'im off cf you I'll show you an' make out you gwineter
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" ATTER Willi.*, PRPR KMIDIT AX HHKR n' IKK I* HK HKAR UK I ATM' »»WR,"
hc'p me. All you got tcr do is zackly what kinder grin, an' sav, sezee, 'We'll be dar,
—
you say you'll do head 'im off when you sho!'"
see 'im cominV At this point Uncle Remus paused to
"Brer Rabbit went on down dc road, indulge in a hearty laugh, and it was some
, singin' one er de oP time chunes, an' Brer little time before he resumed. He laughed
Wolf an' Brer Fox sot whar he lef urn an' so long indeed, that the little boy was
look at one an'er. Atter while, oP Brer moved to ask him what he had found that
Wolf say, sezee, 'What de name er good- was so funny. This inquiry seemed to
ness you reckon he's up ter?' Brer W<»lf have no effect on the old negro. He con-
grinned one dem ar grins what make coP tinued to laugh, and when he ct aid laugh
chills run up an' down yo' back. He low, no more, he chuckled, all the time watch-
he did, 'He des tryin' fer ter fool us; he ing the little boy, although he pretended
done got de idee dat we er skeer'd. Kf we to he looking in another direction. Finally,
go dar, he'll say he mighty sorry dat he however, he became more serious, and set-
ain't fine Brer B'ar, an' ef we don't go he always as-
tled himself in the attitude
dar, he'll laugh an' tell it eve'ywhar dat sumed when telling a story.
we wuz fear'd fer ter stan' up ter our part "Well, suh, Brer Rabbit went down de
er de bargain.' OP Brer Fox grinned his road a piece, an' got off in de bushes, an*
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BROTHER RABBIT'S BEAR HUNT 227
lay down an' des roll'd over an' over wid OP Miss B'ar sot out de cheers, atter
laughin'. Bimeby he lay right still, an' dustin' um wid her apern, an' Brer B'ar
a little up in de tree, holler
bird, settin' an' oP Brer Rabbit sot dar an' confabbed
out, 'Run here! Run here!' 'N'er bird des like two oP cronies.
say, 'What de matter? What de matter?' "Atter while, Brer Rabbit ax Brer B'ar
De fust bird make answer, Brer Rabbit'
is he hear de lates' news, an' Brer B'ar
dead! Brer Rabbit dead!' T'er bird say, say he don't speck he is, kaze he ain't went
'Don't vou b'lieve it! Don't vou b'lieve out much, he been so busy cleanin' de
it!' Brer Rabbit lay dar, he did, twel he grass out'n his roas'n-y'ear patch. Brer
got good an' rested, an' bimeby he jump Rabbit pull his mustaches, an' look at Brer
an' crack his heels tergedder, an' put out B'ar right hard. He 'low, he did, 'Well,
fer home like de booger-man WUZ atter *im. suh, dey's big news floatin' roun'. Brer
" He went home, he did, an' split up Wolf an' Brer Fox, dey say some un been
some kin'lin' fer his oP 'oman fer tcr git gittin' in der roas'n-y'ear patch, an' dey say
supper wid, an' out four five er his
frail dey done seed some tracks in dar what look
chillum, an' den he sot in de shade an' mighty s'picious, mo' speshually when dey
smoke his seegyar. Atter he done e't got on der fur-seein' specks.'
supper, he comb his ha'r, an' tuck down "OP Brer B'ar sorter shuffle his foots
his walkin' - cane, an' put out thoo de an' cross his legs. He say, What did dey'
woods, fer ter go ter de place whar Brer do den? Whyn't dey foller up deze yer
B'ar live at. He got dar, atter so long a tracks what dey seed so plain?' Brer
4
time, an' hello'd de house, an' oP Brer Rabbit 'low, sezee, It seem like dey
B'ar come shufflin' out an' ax him in. know'd purty well whar de tracks wuz
OUT fVtt UMf>U l>H KIVVRR, AN' 'LOW, 'WHAT DR KAMI BR bWUM
IS l>R MA.1-I RR >' "
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228 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
gwine um, an' dey wuz fear'd fer
ter lead 'What de name er goodness is de matter?
ter foller um, less'n dey had mo' comp'ny You sholy must 'a' heern sump'n out-
fer ter come wid um.' Ol' Brer B'ar lean dacious in yo' rambles, an' now dat you
down he did, an' knock de ashes out'n done woke me up, you des ez well ter tell
his pipe, an' den he look at Brer Rabbit an' me about it,' but ol' Brer Rabbit, he's
grin twel his mouf look red an' hot. He dat tickled dat he can't fish up words fer ter
say, 'Fear'd fer ter foller de tracks, wuz tell 'er; all he kin do is ter laugh an' cough,
dey? Well, you can't blame um much, an' wheeze an' sneeze, an' keep dis up
mo' speshually cf dey know'd de tracks. twel it look like he bleeze ter strankle er git
What dey gwine do 'l>out it? Dey ain't smifflicatcd. But you better b'lieve dat
gwineter des set down an' let der roas'n- ol' Miss Rabbit sot up wid 'im twel she
y'ears walk off down de lane, is dey?' fin' out all 'bout it. An' she ain't laugh
"Brer Rabbit kinder helt his head on when he tell 'er; she shuck 'er head an'
one side, an' look at Brer B'ar. He 'low, Mow, 'You'll keep on wid yo' foolishness
sezee, 'I wuz des comin' ter dat, Brer B'ar, twel some er dem yuther creeturs will
when you broke in on me. De news what —
ketch you in yo' own trap an' den what
I hear dat Brer Wolf an' Brer Fox is
is me an' de chilluns gwine do?' Ol' Brer
gwineter have a big b'ar-hunt. Dey done Rabbit laugh an' say dat dey's been wid-
sont der invites ter some cr de neighbors, ders an' noffuns y'ever sence de worl'
an' de neighbors will do de drivin', whiles 'gun ter roll.
dey does de ketchin'. Dey ax'd me ef "Now, Brer Rabbit done tell Brer Wolf
I wouldn't he'p do de drivin' an' I tol' an' Brer Fox dat de b'ar-hunt wuz gwineter
dat I'd be mo' dan glad.' Brer B'ar come off bright an' early, an' dat dey mus'
look hard at Brer Rabbit an' Brer Rabbit be dar whar he lef um at, an', sho 'nough,
look in de fierplace. You said dat ? You
'
when he went down de road, dar dey wuz. »
siid you'd be mo' dan glad?' sez ol' Brer He know'd dat dey'd been talkin' 'bout
B'ar, sezee. Brer Rabbit, he 'low, 'I 'im, kaze dey look right sheepish when
mos' sholy did. I tol' um dat I'd git you he come up behime um. He ax um is dey
started, an' den dey kin do de ketchin'.' ready, an' dey say dey is, an' he tell um fer
"Ol' Brer B'ar laugh, an' when he do ter come on, kaze dey ain't got no time fer
dat, it soun' like thunder a-grumblin' way ter lose ef dey gwine ter git any b'ar meat
out in de hills. He say, sezee, How much 1
dat day.
uv a fambly is dey got, Brer Rabbit ? An' '
" Dey went 'long, dey did, but when
Brer Rabbit, he "'spon', sezee, 'I can't tell dey git ter whar de bushes wuz thick an'
you, Brer B'ar, kaze I ain't neighbored wid de shadders black, Brer Wolf an' Brer
um fer de longest. I don't like um, an' dey Fox kinder hung back. Brer Rabbit see
—
don't like me an' dat's de reason dat I dis, an' he say he hope dey ain't noways
come fer ter tell you de news. I had de bashful, kaze ef dey gwineter he'p him
idee dat maybe you'd like fer ter take part ketch de b'ar, dey got ter stan' up like dcyer
in dis big b'ar-hunt dat dey gwineter have.' well an' not be droopy like deyer sick.
Brer B'ar kinder scratch his head an' lick Bimeby dey come ter de place whar dey
his paw fer ter slick over de place. He say, wuz a blin' paff runnin' thoo de woods,
sezee, It seems like I'm bleedz ter be dar,
'
an' Brer Rabbit, he say dat he want um
kase cf I ain't, dey won't be no fun 'tall.' ter stan' right dar, an' ef de b'ar come by
"Well, dey sot dar, dey did, an' lay der dey wuz ter he'p 'im ketch 'im.
plans, an' laugh fit ter kill at de ol' jokes "Sez ol' Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'I'm a-
dat dey swapped wid one an'er, an' de ol' hopin' dat I'll ketch im 'fo' he gits dis
talcs dey tol'. Dey sot dar, dey did, twel fur, an' ef I does, I'll holla; but cf he's too
ol' Mis* B'ar hatter come in an' tell um quick for me —ef he gits de idee dat I'm
fer goodness' sakes ter go ter bed, kaze ef atter 'im, an' starts ter run 'fo' I gits my
dey sot up an' went on dat away, dey won't han' on 'im, mo' flan likely he'll come dis
be no sleepin' fer her an' de chillun. Brer way. Ef he do, des stan' yo' groun', kaze
Rabbit jump up when he hear dis, an' I'll be right behime 'im; des make out you
tell um all good night, an' put out fer home, gwineter grab 'im an' hoi' on ter 'im twel
an' when he git dar he can't git ter bed fer I kin git 'im, an' den our day's work will
laughin'. Ol' Miss Rabbit, she stuck her be done.' Brer Wolf an' Brer Fox sav
head out fum under de kivver, an' 'low, dey'U do des like Brer Rabbit tell um,
Digitized by Google
an' iky tuck <ler places. Wid dat, Brer dar! Head 'im off! HoF 'im twel I git
Rabbit went lopin' thoo de woods des ez dar!' OF Brer B'ar wuz a-comin' like a
gaily ez a race-hoss. pot a-bilin'. His mouf wuz wide open an'
• " I>e place whar Brer Rabbit make urn his tongue hangin' out, an' de blue smoke
take der stan' wa'n't so mighty fur fum de riz fum 'im eve'y time he fetched a pant.
place whar oF Brer B'ar live at, an* 'twa'n't "Brer Wolf an' Brer Fox stood der
skacely no time 'fo' Brer B'ar wuz on de groun', kazc dey fcar'd dat Brer Rabbit
run, wid Brer Rabbit close behime 'im. would have de laugh on urn ef dey broke
Brer Fox an' Brer Wolf hear a mighty an' run. Dey stood dar, dey did, an' do
racket gwine on in de woods des like a harry- like dey wuz gwine ter ketch Brer B'ar.
cane wuz a - churnin' up de leaves an' de He come on wid his head down, an' his
trash, an', mos' 'fo' dey know it, here comes he run, he fetched
breff comin' hot, an' ez
Brer B'ar, wid Brer Rabbit close behime Brer Wolf a swij* wid one han' an' Brer
'im. Dey'd 'a' got out'n de wav, but dev Fox a wi|>e wid t'er han'.
hear Brer Rabbit holla, 'Head 'im off, "Well," said Uncle Remus, looking
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230 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
hard at the little lx>y, "dey ain't no use fer fum dat day ter dis, Brer Wolf an' Brer
ter go on wid dis tale. Dc swij>e dat Fox been givin' ol' Brer B'ar all de elbow
Brer B'ar fetched um come mighty nigh room dat he needs by day er by night."
takin' out der vitals, an' ef you never is "Did Brother Bear hurt them very
hear hollerin' befo', you mought 'a' heern much?" asked the little boy.
it den. But Brer B'ar, he kep' on a- "Hurt um! Why, he ripped open der
runnin', wid Brer Rabbit alter him, an' hides fum y'ear-socket ter tailholt. For de
ez dey run, dey laugh fit ter kill; an' time bcin' dey wuz mighty nigh mint."
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THE WORLD AT LARGE
QUIET litlle woman country, or, indeed, in any other country,
with a wonderful ca- are few, and Mrs. Fleming is in the front
pacity for hard work is rank of them all.
i-^H Mrs. Williamina Paton
Fleming, the astron-
omer. She is really one William H. Taft, Secretary of War, will
of the best-informed as- not, he has declared, accept a place on the
tronomers in America. bench of the United States Supreme Court.
She is curator of the astronomical library Moreover, he says he will surrender his posi-
of the Harvard Observatory, to which she tion in the Cabinet if President Roosevelt
has !>een attached for a period of twenty- so wishes. It is an open secret that Secre-
five years. She directs the work of the tary Taft has the Presidential bee securely
large staff of young attached to his bon-
women who consti- net, from whence it
scientific cir-
She is a modest
It* penser of justice may
be taken as an inti-
mation to the coun-
try at large
Ohio, the incubator
that
Digitized by Google
I'kfitttgrafik frv Jrtsir T<irivx Hrah.
WILLIAM H. TA FT, MCUTAIV OF WAX, MTHO HAS KSfUSIO A FLACK ON THK SC'PHKMK c i>! nr URN 1
It TO IMPKOVB
Hl» CHANCK& ink INK MKXT k 11 KM
I M NOMINATION,
1 I
•
'•
:
The death of Susan B. Anthony at the cobbler for the use of the venerable Speaker
age of eighty-six removes from the world of of the House. The boots complete " Uncle
thought and action one of its most pictur- Joe's" South Carolina outfit, the movement
esque figures. The chief accomplishment to clothe him in raiment the sole growth and
of Miss Anthony's life was the organization product of the Palmetto State being started
in i860 of the National Woman's Suffrage by Representative Wyatt Aiken of South
Association. Her vigorous fight for the in- Carolina, who presented the Speaker with a
dependence of her sex never ceased until the suit of homespun jeans and who followed up
by Google
Google
Digitized by Google
Cffjrritkt. /got> kf I'ttitrrivocti A Umdtrwmi.
M'gAKCR JOSHPH O. CANNON IN lll!> FAMOL'I M'lT OK HOMHMI S.
the gift with numerous other articles of per- transmitting the footwear, "the number
sonal adornment and comfort from his con- fell somewhat short of expectation and
stituents, until now the Speaker, with his equalled only about the normal Republican
wool hat and hand-made hoots, is garbed vote in off years. It became necessary,
from crown to sole in South Carolina rai- therefore, to rely upon the efficacy of cer-
ment. tain undigested securities to settle '.he score.
The boots are of the style worn by states- It will probably stir your sporting blood t<>
men of an earlier day. They cost fifteen be told that the humble Representative of
dollars and were paid for by popular sub- the people who charged himself with the
scription, the limit of contribution being one performance of a high, patriotic service, did
cent. not suffer at this psyc hological moment
" But," said the editor in his speech from an attack of cold feet."
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Copyright, moj, ij Aivin Lamgdan Cohmrn.
A PHOTO ItirKESMON Or THE BIOUKLVK DHiUl.ll.
I ~ / ' and sensitive artist- gift at the first snapshot as well as at the
I ,/ M photographers now
• last contribution to The Salon by a veteran.
I ^kf I living. This seems But printing remains the test of the genuine
I impossible at his age expert.
—— .- -, I — twenty-three;
but as Very few photographers excel in more
he began at eight, he has fifteen years' than one process. Among our best men,
technical experience behind him. Hence, the elder use platinotype almost exclusively
no doubt, his remarkable command of the for exhibition work. People who cannot
one really difficult technical process in see the artistic qualities of Mr. Evans' work
—
photography printing. Technically, good say that he is "simply" an extraordinarily
negatives are more often the result of the skilful platinotype printer, and that any-
survival of the fittest than of special crea- body's negatives would make artistic pic-
tion; the photographer is like the cod which tures if he printed them. The people who
produces a million eggs in order that one say this have never tried (I have); but there
may reach maturity. The ingenuities of is no doubt about the excellence of the
development which are so firmly believed printing. Mr. Horsley Hinton not only
in by old hands who still use slow "ordi- excels in straightforward platinotype print-
nary" plates, and develop them in light ing, but practises dark dexterities of com-
enough to fog a modern fast color-sensitive bination printing, putting the Jungfrau
plate in half a second, do not seem to pro- into your back garden without effort, and
duce any better result than the newer timing being able, in fact, to do anything with his
svstem which is becoming compulsory now methods except explain them intelligibly
that plates are panchromatic and dark to his envious disciples. The younger men
rooms must be really dark. are gummists, and are reviled as "splod-
The latitude of modern plates and films, gers" by the generation which cannot
especially those with fast emulsions super- work the gum process.
imposed on slow ones, may account partly But Mr. Coburn uses and adapts both
for the way in which workers like Mr. processes with an instinctive skill and
Evans get bright windows and dark corners range of effect which makes even expert
on the same plate without over-exposure photographers, after a few wrong guesses,
in the one or under-exposure in the other. prefer to ascertain how his prints arc made
Google
Copyright, t<?oj, by Alvin Lmmgdcm O'ft'
A fUNTRAIT Ut INK ANIM BV HIMSELF.
by the humble and obvious method of platinotype, whilst preserving the feathery
asking him. The device of imposing a delicacy of the platinotype image.
—
gum print on a platinotyp* ;i device which Lately, having condescended to oil paint-
has puzzled many critics, and which was ing as a subsidiary study, he has produced
originallv proposed as a means of sub- some photographic portraits of remarkable
duing contrast (for which, I am told, it is force, solidity, and richness of color, by
of no use) —
was seized on by Mr. Coburn multiple printing in gum. Yet it is not
as a mean* of getting a golden-brown tone, safe to count on his processes being com-
imite foreign to pure or chemically toned plicated. Some of his finest prints are
Digitized by Google
I .'fyrighi, l<*>5. fir Atl in /.angifpu Ciifmrn
Digitized by Google
COBURN THK CAMER1ST *39
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"A I.RKA) IX'W 0» A WAKKIIOVM IX A IMKTV LuNDON STKKIt I .
the Chestertonian resemblance to Balzac, If you consider thai result merely a lucky
and unconsciously handled his subject as blunder, look at the profile portrait of
Rodin handled Balzac. You may call the myself en patseur a mere strip of my head.
placing of the head on the plate wrong, Here the exposure is precisely right, and
the focusing wrong, the exposure wrong, the definition exquisite without the least
if you like; but Chesterton is right; and hardness. These three portraits were all
a right impression of* Chesterton is what taken with the same lens in the same
Mr. Coburn was driving at. camera, under similar circumstances. But
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THE INSANITY OF SAM 241
doubt, this story of my him, and have the full particulars of his
jMMir friend Sam — who, case, we would soon set him free. But there
in full possession of his was no doing this by ordinary means.
sanity, and with unfal- Formal visits of this sort that take place
purpose, never
tering without witnesses, who arc also spies, were
till he got him-
paused quite out of the question. Only long con-
_J self shut up in a lunatic fidential intercourse, for a period, with the
asylum, where he languishes to this present wronged man, free from all supervision,
hour, despite every effort to liberate him. could give us what we wanted, to make out
Yet, so it was, and for the simplest reason a case of redress.
in the world. A chum of ours Tom by — Sam was naturally of a chivalrous, not to
name— had lately been snatched from the say of a Quixotic turn.
midst of us, and sent to a private institution " I'll do it," he said, one day, when we
of this sort. We had all three come together had talked over ways and means for the
at an army coaching plate. To l>e quite hundredth time. I'll sham eccentricity till I
candid about it, there was strong suspicion get them to run me into the same lock-up.
of foul play on the part of Tom's uncle, a re Then, as soon as I get poor Tom's story, I'll
tired major at the head of the establishment make England too hot to hold them till they
who hoped ultimately to have the hand let him out."
ling of his nephew's considerable fortune. "Absurd!"
We had contrived to let the captive know " Nothing of the kind; the most practical
that a rescue would be attempted. We felt proceeding in the world."
CrfyrigAt, /ijob, by Rhhard H'Ai/eimf. in tkt Unittd StatM of Amrrita
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242 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"Suppose they don't put you into the worked up an entirely one-sided quarrel
same asylum." with the butler, and asked him if he wanted
" There's no other within twenty miles. to fight.
—
The same doctors and they will be the " I wish I could see more into your game,"
—
same, no doubt the same jug." I said, when we met that night.
"Ridiculous!" "Why?"
"But do condescend to particulars. "Well, you are so off and on, hot and
Why?" cold. You're mad enough when there's no-
" Inever heard of such a thing." l)ody looking; but the moment they send for
"Oh, as to that, Kddicott Well, I'm a witness, you might give points to a dove."
going to have a shy at it anyway. I shall "That's my low cunning. The insane
start shamming mad to-morrow, and mind are the greatest hypocrites alive. I'm done
you back me up." for in no time if they take me at that."
" I don't like the look of it; it's too wild." The offer of a few days' rest put him in a
" Do stop thinking so much about your- real temper, as threatening unnecessary
self,mv dear fellow. What about the under delay. He now had an upset with the chief,
dog?"' on some frivolous pretext, of course, entirely
" But where do I come in as backer?" unconnected with the real matter in hand;
" In this way. Your cue is, I've been very and gave it to him with a straightness that
funny lately, though you haven't cared to left nothing to be desired.
speak about it; and I ought really to be Then the) wrote to his relatives.
-
kept this side up with care." One of these came— Colonel Dinning-
He quite knew what he wanted; I only ham, a good old fellow, but, I should say,
half knew what I did not want. It te hardly rather soft. Then Sam began
his wretched
necessary to state the result. I agreed to by-play again. He
took the Colonel by the
stand in with him; and I was the only |>er- arm, trotted him all over the grounds, and
son in his secret. sang the praises of the tutor and his family.
Next morning he entered into the busi- The old chap was mystified, and it seemed a
ness of losing his wits with the most stu- bit too deep for the others too. At any rate,
pendous gravity. He began gently to de- they never thought of making an excuse for
velop a fit of unreasonableness that would putting him away, or even of turning him
have tried the temper of a saint, He mud- out. I fancy they were unwilling to have a
dled his work, sulked when they tried to help second affair of the same sort so soon after
him, and fmallv stormed under a mild re- the first. It might get the place a bad name.
buke. He was clever enough, of course, to He wished them all anywhere for fools, at
make it easy-going at first. He suffered the our next private conference, and afterward
storm to pass off in a fit of gentle melancholy plunged into greater extravagancies than
that spoiled our bridge party that evening, ever, by way of forcing the pace. He began
and sent most of us miserable to bed. I to read a'l the advertisements in the papers
wished him good night, when he was taking —at any rate those relating to food and
his candle, but he cut me dead. health —and professed to regard their
Next day he was belter, only he wouldn't authors with almost religious veneration as
speak to a soul, except in answer to a ques- the witnesses of truth. There was nothing
tion. He did his work, wrote his letters, but which he was not ready to believe in this
insisted on taking them to the post. And line, or to do. He spent much of his leisure
he broke up the bridge party again, by in leaping over a fence as a test of the effi-
spending the evening in what seemed to cacy of his diet. And, on days when the
be elaborate preparations for making his result seemed satisfactory, he asked us, as
will. a particular favor, to address him as Sunny
They bad the family doctor -not the mad Sam. He hanged his hill of fare even-
(
one as yet— to luncheon, next day. The morning; and he may be said to have
artful patient veered round into perfect breakfasted on fads. W hen they offered
propriety for the occasion, and talked like him meat, he pushed it from him and wailed
a book. The doctor looked puzzled; the out a supplication for protein. He clam-
wicked uncle, foolish. But as soon as the ored for nuts at the most unseasonable
man of science had gone away, leaving a hours; literally threw a dish of asparagus
confidential prescription for golf, poor Sam to the dogs, wallowed in raspberry juice and
Digitized by Google
THE INSANITY OF SAM
mineral waters, and professed to regard his him be murdered — for that's what it's com-
progress in the absorption of albumen as ing to— he'll walk."
others regard their progress in virtue. "Banquo's ghost."
When he wanted another slice of toast, he "You annoy me."
used the idiotic formula "pass the bread- "You are certainly mad enough, in all
stuffs." There was no limit to it. He reason."
ordered a monster weighing apparatus and "Well— why don't they play up to me?"
a pocket tape and used them at every meal. " It's funny," I said, " there was nothing
You would find him at lunch in his soli ary the matter with poor Tom, and see where he
chair, nibbling a banana, and waiting to is now The bigger the crank, the worse the
!
leave off at the turn of the scale. chance, one might almost say."
When anything went wrong with him— " Well, do say it, say it again," he said,
and of course something went wrong pretty brightening up as if struck with a sudden
well every day —
he tried to cure himself idea.
with advertised medicines. His room be- " What on earth do you mean ?"
came a sort of museum of these prepara- "Nevermind; say it again."
with testimonials, and pinned up under "That'll do," and he snapped his fingers
headings that seemed to include all the ills with huge satisfaction and danced about the
in the heirship of flesh. Now and then lu- room.
invited strange beings to his room, under- I felt really uneasy about him. " You're
stood to be patentees, and offered them their quite sure you haven't been carrying this
"
own pills and draughts as light refreshments, thing on too long ?
not invariably. I thought, to their satisfac- " Perhaps so; but I shan't have to carry
tion. He had tabulated five and twenty it on much longer, Good night."
prescriptions for dyspepsia, each warranted " But really do explain won't you ?" ;
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244 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
without a word of warning, or the slightest to the gate. The dear old chap seemed
change of countenance, he quietly took off much distressed.
his dress coat, and offered his shirt-sleeved "
Give him one more chance," I heard him
arm to the old lady with a bow. She was say. " It would be such a dreadful blow to
too utterly upset to decline it; and still dis- his poor mother."
cussing the beauty of the evening with the " Once more, then, for her sake, Colonel;
easiest manner in the world, he handed but only one. I have my own familv to
her in. think of."
nearly wrecked the dinner at the start.
It There was a knock at my door. It was
The terrified woman could hardly mut- my poor chum. He seemed quite upset.
ter the responses; and the Colonel and "Read that! You see there's no time to
the head of the house exchanged looks of lose," and thrusting a bit of dirty paper
consternation. It was impossible to pass it through the chink, he went back to his
over in silence, yet the Major was evidently room.
at a loss as to the right thing to say. At It bore just these words in lead pencil:
length he ventured on " Look alive, Sam."
"Dinner Mr. Filby; billiards after,
first, Ourhostess held her weekly tea-party
if vou don't mind." next day. There was the usual gang— the
"Thanks; but I don't think I'll play to- baronet's wife, the lord of the manor's
night, it's so warm." daughter, and so on; myself, by accident, a
In all my life, I have never sat down to drawing-room minstrel, you know the type,
a more wretchedly uncomfortable meal. and a young fellow in orders who was so
They were naturally unwilling, in the cir- regular that we used to call him the curate
cumstances, to make a scene about it; but in charge. The chatter was in full flow
they were silent and embarrassed, as when, to our surprise, Sam dropped in.
though hesitating between the impulse to He said very little at first, but bustled
pitch him out, with his coat after him, or to about with the muffin, and with an occa-
offerhim the long-dcsircd strait waistcoat sional sigh of weariness looked longingly
in He alone seemed wholly un-
exchange. toward the door.
moved. And as to conversation, I am bound " You are very silent," said the old lady in
Digitized by Google
THE INSANITY OF SAM 245
raising the wages of the agricultural labor- after all; but what about the two old dere-
ers all round, and, what was worse, giving licts who can't do a stroke, and who get five
most to those who were able to do least. A shillings more, not to speak of jelly and port
ditcher, with a family of five, who had wine from the house ?"
rubbed on for years at fifteen shillings and "You sec they want it more."
his firewood, the current wages of the "They're so entirely useless."
county, was instantly raised to a pound, and "So entirely helpless, too, I do assure
his coals. At the same time, an old couple, you."
almost bedridden, who lived mainly on a " Do you call that paying people accord-
pittance from the parish, and scraps from ing to their services?"
the houses which they had to fetch in all " No; only paying them according to their
weathers, were advanced to twenty five *hil wants."
lings, and put under the care of a nurse pro- "I give him up," said the Colonel, when
vided by their employer. The milk allowance this came to his ears. It was as good as
from the house was continued; but Sam ac- done now. Kach of the doctors saw him
tually carried it himself to save the old gaffer separately, and wrote his certificate, and
thetoilof mountingthehill. This, by the way, the certificates were laid before a Justice of
made the ditcher extremely discontented. the Peace. All three were for detention;
He began to shake his head over his master and in due time he was ready to be taken
with the rest, and to declare that he ought to away.
lie put away. In fact he loudly expressed The comedy of the transaction was ex-
his readiness to "go into the box" against quisite. They thought they were fooling
him, should anything of that sort l>e re- him when they |>ersuadcd him to accom-
quired. pany them in a carriage for a short drive.
The doctors, and a family lawyer who now He knew he was fooling them when he as-
had his finger in the pie, pressed Sam hard sented to their proposd to a call on an old
on this point. He was deaf to all argument, acquaintance and the carriage drew up at
though always with the suavity which was the door of the very asylum in which our
the most exasperating thing about him. friend was confined. Sam had expressed a
"It will raise wages all over the county," wish for my company and I was accommo-
they urged, dealing first with the ditcher's dated with a seat on the box. After the quiet
case. completion of the formalities in another
"So much the better; that's just what I room, he was handed over to the urbane
want to do." proprietor of the establishment. They
" But it won't leave a jx-nny of profit for promised to call for him soon. He begged
the estate at the end of the year." them not to hurry and. we drove away. I
"Then we'd better give up farming and had no opportunity of shaking to him, but
take to something else." he gave me a wink of triumph which I shall
" The man was very well satisfied before." never forget. And when I got home I found
" He'd no right to be, j>oor devil. I as- a letter which he had somehow contrived to
sure you I cut it as low as I possibly could. get posted, and this is how it ran:
Did you ever happen to look at the soles of " Dear Kddicott:
"
his children's shoes? "Glory, I've done it at last! By the time
"Tut, tut!" said the solicitor, but one of you get this I shall l>e under the same roof
the doctor's gave him a warning look. with our poor chum, and hard at work on
"The irreducible minimum, that's all I his case. We'll have him out in no time,
want for them. Why, even now, they get and bring that old villain, the Major, to the
freshmeat only three times a week." stool of rejKMitance. But burn this a> soon
"Stuff and nonsense!" said the solicitor, as you have read it, and don't give me away
losing his temper again. "Where do you by any premature disclosures.
come in?" "It was slow work at first, I must say,
" Only after the others, of course. But and I was feeling as tired of it as you were,
I've gone on getting board and lodging so but, after all, the farce has given me infinite
far." delight.
"Very good, very good, indeed," said the "And now for my secret the secret I
mad doctor, trying to pose him on the other couldn't confide to you for fear you should
case. "The ditcher can do his day's work spoil the game. You remember that day
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246 THK METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
when I was sd down in the dumps and you air outside. I was madder than ever. But
said something, without knowing it, which where was the madman ? Choose between
put me on the right tack. What you said these silly people, stuffing themselves into
was this, '
the bigger the fool, the worse the indigestion, and the wise man with a care
chance of getting into an asylum.' That was for his health. Was I less wise when I said
just it; I saw in a dash that I had all along nothing when I happened to have nothing to
been going in the wrong line in playing up say ? Why, the finest order in the world is
to them with mere extravagance and absurd- founded on a rule of silence; and who was
ities. My outrageous tempers, all my wild the sage who said he had sometimes re-
waste of good money with the advertised pented of talking, never of holding his
foods and advertised medicines, wouldn't do tongue ? My treatment of my work people
the trick, though they might have proved capped the climax, in fact, it has sent me to
any man as mad as a March hare. They the madhouse at last. Yet, what is it but
were willing to make all sorts of excuses for a touch of pure reason in human relations?
me, so long as I merely behaved like a You know the immortal maxim, the finest
contribution of the ages to the science of
fool.
" Then came your wonderful tip that gave
—
life 'From each, according to his powers;
me the secret at
last. And the secret is just to each, according to his needs.' It is a
this: you want everybody to think you
If whole gospel of the higher life, yet you have
mad, you have only to live according to only to act on it to find yourself in a mad-
reason. The moment I saw thi> the thing man's cell."
was done. We're all so frightfully sympa- We very soon had Tom at liberty. Noth-
thetic to eccentricity, so horribly hostile to ing could stand the array of facts which his
sense and truth. As soon as I began to be friend collected and smuggled out, and
reasonable, they were read} -
to put me which I got published in the jwipers.
away. removed a garment because I
I There is but one drawback; poor Sam
didn't want to wear superfluous clothing on himself, as I have already not ed, remains
a hot day. They shook their heads over me there to this day. It is regarded as a hope-
at once. I rose from table as soon as I had less case. I am publishing this as a last
had enough, and left a dining room with and, I am bound to add, a despairing
the atmosphere of a kitchen for the pure effort to procure his release.
Or well or ill,
Digitized by Google
BY JAMES HUNEKER
AD Mr. Charles Froh- set before a Parisian audience a play as
man but selected the distinctly American in its motives and
cast for Paul Hervieu's characterization as Thomas' "Alabama."
" The Labyrinth," that What would be the result
? Would even
play would have been the finished art of Le Bargy or Julia
the most talked of pro- Bartet be capable of that strange trans-
duction during a sea- mogrification which gives at stroke a char-
son which has seen acter and its racial coloring? I doubt
aunched such successes as " The Lion and it. Naturally the example selected is a
the Mouse," "Man Superman,"
and difficult one, for it will be said, and justly,
Davis. I waited several weeks for the plays by Henri Lavedan scalding in their
inevitable rawness of the machinery to satire, many of them diabolically vulgar.
wear away, and was rewarded by witnessing Indeed, Livcdan was a master hand once
a smooth and life-like performance. It at the Comedie rosse, which title I need not
would be exaggeration to say that the tell you is the equivalent of the cynical,
American version of Lavedan's argumen- blackguardly piece written for the boule-
tative drama — the proportion is two-thirds vards. Hut as he is now an Academician,
argument and one-third drama— may be wearing the palms of erudition and re-
compared to the one at the C'omddie-Fran- spectability, Lavedan has somewhat altered
caise. Rather let us invert the proposition. the pitch of his rather blatant pipes. Brain-
Suppose the French players attempted to he had always— brains and the sixth sense
Digitized by Google
248 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
—
The story is simple to bareness; strictly
speaking, it is not a plot, but a thesis at-
tacked and defended by a doctor and a
priest. This thesis is feminine. A duchess
with a morphine-soaked husband has
fallen in love with the doctor who handles
the case. A manly fellow, his name a
famous one, and he is of a lovable personal-
ity. He is an atheist. This would not prove
Google
KATIIKHINU UKKV AND UIJdL I (•- K . I . 1 I . IN '"THE MUttKIM.
sincerity dwells in his concern for the meeting of the brothers, though without
sinner — veiled and unknown to him in the the interest of the unexpected, is very strong.
twilight of the confessional —
who relates That cither of the two men would force
her temptation, makes of him a hunter their down his oppo-
respective opinions
of souls. He hunts the soul of the Duchess nent's throat would not be a likely occur-
through three acts, and though he is the rence in This episode at moments re-
life.
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250 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
ardor of her lover's arguments. Luckily
the Abbe returns. High time! —as Scho-
penhauer exclaimed when he finished the
first act of "Die Walkure" and read Wag-
ner's stage instruction
— "ijuick curtain."
The woman is sent away and the play-
begins. No more capping philosophic
dialogue now. Two males are face to face.
We feel the elemental passions, the passion
for the woman's body and the passion for
the soul of the woman, borne down by
the ferocious spiritual ambition of the
priest, him coward
the doctor turns on
fashion and accuses him of a more than
priestly interest in his penitent. It is a
legitimate though somewhat stale dramatic
device — in fiction its counterpart is legion.
The curtain falls on this white-hot situa-
tion. It saves the play.
The third act cuts the knot by killing
off the dissolute duke, thus enabling the
lovers to wed. a lalnir-saving trick,
It is
dear to old-fashioned meJodramatistS. To
see it employed by such a master as l.ave-
dan is disconcerting. One thing he has
achieved in this act an atmosphere of —
dissimulation and self-deception that is
DALLAS WEI.Fr.HI) AND ANMK HI I.HKS IK MM. IHH'KINV admirable. The accusation of the doctor
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A KCRKR FKnii kli IIARl* NMMMi IkAVM . !-\ "nil-. UALLUI-fcM.
rankles. Both Abbe" and l>uchess arc un- formany sins thrust upon him by Mr-.
» omfortable in each other's presence. Humphrey Ward and other "cerebral"
Thanks to the suave wisdom of the bishop playmakers, by his thoroughly straight-
the ways are made plain and the brothers forward interpretation of the lover. He
reconciled. One goes to the far East to was fervent and bellicose, passionate and
wear, |>erhaps, the martyr's crown. The always the man of breeding. Fay Davis,
other wins the woman by marriage. May who once played "Iris" in London so as
hap that is the Abie's revenge! The to please Mr. Pinero, was, no matter what
ethical problem is far from being solved may have been said of her lack of tempera-
satisfactorily. 1 should suggest as a sub ment after the first night of "The Duel,"
title: "The Duel; or How to be Moral sufficiently high bred, and in sounding the
though Married." essential shallowness of the Duchess'
The characterization, naturally enough, nature, she proved herself an artist About
.
played the priest in the romantic key. He life;one was " made" in America a Yankee
wore his robe with an air. The man of born; the other was as big as a barrel, red
the world was apparent under his soutane. of visage, and wafted to her neighbors in
But he was compelling at both act ends; the railway coupi a mingled odor of cognac,
especially stirring was the fire of his speech garlic and patchouli. So let us fancy Miss
in the battle with his brother which closes Davis as a credible woman of rank. She-
Act II. Guy Standing redeemed himself was very modish, if not violently amorous.
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<».A.S(.fc!y >J AKK AM» . IIAKl.KN KKltMo.NI> IS llAtlll t.K \V > M Cl F.NNH U It-AV " OAMjOM
Hut was this Duchess a being with red Throwing off as it does so much matter
corpuscles in her vein- ? for discussion, "The
Duel'' has been the
F.ben Plympton as Monseigneur Bolene most discussed play of the season. And in
was perfection. Not in Paris was the a season with " Mr>. Warren's Profession "!
character better interpreted, with such Lavedan has held the Males squarely in
silken subtlety, with such impressive ear- balance until the la>t act. Then, true
nestness, with ;>uch a world of tender pity cynic that he i>, he could not forbear having
and diplomacy. But one actor on the His prie>t vacillates.
his fling at the clergy.
Knglish-spcaking stage could have rivaled The Abbe
doubts himself. This self-
Mr. Plympton in the part William H. — casual ry soon dis|>cllcd by the firm
i-
Thompson; and I can recall this same admonishments <>f the bishop. But was
Plympton, a slender, young man playing this new motive not an obtrusion in the
Sebastian to the Viola of Adelaide Neilson. generally symmetrical scheme of things?
Google
RICHARD HARDING DAVIS. THE Al'THOR OK "THE GAU.OPEK," AND RAYMOND
HITCHCOCK, THE PRINCIPAL OK THE PLAY.
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FRANCIS WILSON AND ELLEN MORTIMER IN " THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBER "
Google
LAWRENCE DORSAY AND MIRIAM NESBIT IN "THE EMBASSY BALL."
Digitized by Google
. -
MARIE DRESSLER AND KDWAKD CONNELLY IN THE WEBER TRAVESTY "THE Syt'AW
MAN'S GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST."
EDWIN ARDEN AND BIJOU FERNANDEZ IN THE "ALL-INDIAN" DRAMA " THE REDSKIN."
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COMIC OPERA SONGS
BY CAROLYN WELLS
There's the nautical song of the ocean blue, and the various winds that blow;
It tells of poor Jacky who's fond of his 'baccy, and winds up with a Yeo-heave-ho
Then the Love Song is a tender strait), addressed to the stars above;
Whose Lydian Measures dilate on the pleasures of chronic, incurable love.
There's the Topical Song, where again and again the singer asserts with glee
Of the train that he misses, or the girl that he kisses, 44 There's nothing in that for me! "
Boom! Ta, ra, ra, — there's the trumpet-blare!
We're all of us partial to melody martial and a military air.*
There's the Drinking Song with its clinking cup, and its rollicking, frolicking boys,
It may be Bedelia, or Julia or Celia, but its all about just one girl.
The Motor Song is a general mix of Bubbles and Goggles and Bluff,
14
It's made up of hooting, choo-chooing and tooting, and the singers go Puff! pufF'
puff!"
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— - • - » • •
FANTASIES
PHILOSOPHY IN RHYME
BY JUUEN JOSEPHSON
41
Great Oaks from little Acorns grow," 'Tis said that Justice has no Eyes:
That Coin has reared from Less. When Money talks she hears.
SPORTY MONK: Don't iwallow the watch, you chump! OU "Uncle" Fox will give you enough
Digitized by <
OUT-OF-DOOR NUMBER
JUNE 190d PRICE 15 CENTS
HAND
SAPOLIO is
au rwm
p| TO IT that can be freely used on a new-born baby or the skin of the most
it
delicate beauty.
SO SIMPLE that can he part the invalid's supplv with beneficial results.
it a of
au rrinr
Gffc
WMW«4WWO ArTftlTQ as bring the small boy almost into a state of "surgical
t0
cleanliness" and keep him there.
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AMONG THE SAVAGE MOROS
BY MAJOR R. L. BULLARD, U. S. A.
ently interesting, principally for their very were greatly influenced by Arabians.
differences from other j>eoples. To stran- This has imposed upon the Moros, who are
gers, whether visitors of a day or dwellers plainly Malays, the belief that all are
still aftermonths, they are the subjects of purely and straightly descended from
never-ending comment and discussion. seven Arabian cadi, one being the fore-
How they developed the characteristics, father of each of the seven tribes now
haughtiness, hornet -like tem|>er and sujx.'- found alnjut Lake Lanao. To their simple
rior bravery, which distinguish the Moros faith there seems no inconsistency between
from the other Filipinos, is still a matter this story and the evident fact that two
of conjecture. No one has yet certainly of t ese tribes are very young, and even
traced their origin. Language and race now, before the eyes of all, being built up by
lead us to class them with other Philippine wanderer> atul free lances from the others.
Copyright, 1906. by Tmb Metropolitan Magazine Company.
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MOKD MAUKhT-fLAlK
Through these seven Arabian cadi all ins, his wife, or wives, and her, or their,
the Moras refer themselves back as direct fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, cousins,
descendants of the Apostle of God, and and the families and relatives by marriage
beyond him in a short line, straight and of all these; but we comprehend him
wholly devoid of kinks and doubts, to when we come to know that with the
" Adam, who, when he made his lir>t Moros, family is the sole protection of
pilgrimage to Mecca, put his children in the individual. Thievery and aggression
a knot-hole in a forest tree for safe keep- are the prime characteristics of the Moro.
ing!" Of this genesis and ancestry they and on the power and prestige of family
are fond of boasting and are perfectly he relies to save himself from loss by these
sure. crimes when committed by others against
With them, however, family is not himself and from punishment for them
simply a matter of foolish pride. It is of when committed by him against others.
real importance. We may at first smile If he should injure his neighbor, how
at the scruffy fellow who upon his first shall he save himself from just vengeance!
introduction to us, tells us who were his He turns to his family. If another rob
father and mother, his uncles, aunts, cous- or injure him, how shall he be avenged
• N | UK M»» t.kANDF,
AT MANM, 1HILIPPJNK IM.ANUS.
of his enemy! He turns to his family. people to work cutting and felling timbers
And so, everready to avenge his wrongs and prepared to have the United States
and especially to cover his wickedness, his erect like public buildings in his own village,
family stands by him for good and all, his all with the maintaining before
idea of
aid, protection, and succor. the public, for a time, equal importance
No Moro any rank can brook a sup-
of with his neighbor. His labor was lost,
position, muchless an implication or in- his timbers rotted, and his people became
sinuation, that thereis any one higher than discontented. To "save his face," to
himself. This is a touchy peculiarity maintain his public prestige, to be held
that leads him into many absurdities and whether with or without reason a man —
follies. In a certain Moro village, public of influence, these are the strongest desires
buildings were being erected by the United of the datto's heart. "You rule much"
States Government. To the mind of a is the sweetest and surest flatten- to his ear.
neighbor datto this seemed a grievous Of the mental abstractions, government
public implication of his own and his and policy, as separate from persons, they
town's inferiority; whereupon, in the most have no conception. It is beyond them.
ostentatious manner, he put his whole Their datto alone stands for something.
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266 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
The words Louis XIV.
of I'FAil e'est
'
without regard to what he represents.
moi," may be repealed proudly by all It is the personality, not the office, that
Moro dattos to-day, and there are thousands appeals to them.
of tht?m, equal, sovereign, independent Among them there are countless magis
states, a dozen often within a radius of a lerial names, but these are titles, not
mile. Rule, even in the same town, is as offices; and except the arbitrary, personal,
varied as there are dattos. "There are whimsical authority of the datto, there
many dattos and all are different" is a is no government. As there is no govern-
matter of pride and boast, and among ment, so there is no public spirit in even
them it isa settled custom to work out separ- the best Moras. A proposition to contrib-
ately the equation of every individual man. ute to the common good is wholly rejected
For an officer of the government, therefore, under all circumstances. It is not under-
1c represent government, or policy, or any- stood at all.
is not conceived by
thing else than himself W hile not unproductive, they are not a
Moros. The officer must l»c observed, numerous people. The normal frame of
measured, and estimated for himself alone their mind is suspicion and distrust of each
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Copyright\ t(J(X>, fiy L'nderwo&ti L'ntit-r:iwJ.
A Fll.mNii III ll-Ht.HT AT joio. nr. iiAJu, IN lilt-: HIS iMt, It 1HH « H.Mh H>MKKK
I MX HI Nl<kfci> Mukos w kUU
•tRlMNTIV kil l H' V AMKklt AN TMixils.
II
other. Their
hornet like temper never prosperity and increase numlnrs. Not-
in
permits a state of jwace. Few fall in withstanding they have a written language
battle, hut the hard conditions of continual and some knowledge of arts, this lack of
enmity, strife, watchfulness and losses order and government effectually proclaims
from ambushing and robbery effectually them savages.
prevent industry, foresight and all other The incoherence of the people, the large
qualities and conditions that conduce to number of small chiefs, illu>tnitcs their
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-IWK". <> miiib MOHO»—<( SIKEBT IN JOI.O.
seriously as the old Knglish law declared, all to die kris in hand.
In fear of loss they
"The King can do no evil." sleep on these precious arms or with them
An inordinate mililarv conceit is also tied to the body. For the same reason their
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AMONG THE SAVAGE MOROS 269
cannons are kept lashed to timbers in their independent, not cringing and secretive.
houses. Firearms, indeed, are their main Their aggressions, like the aggressions of all
danger with civilized people. If they see savages, arc by stealth; but stealth, how-
the opportunity thereby to secure such ever exasperating, is not lying or treachery.
arms, Moros can never resist the temptation Probably never was a people more circum-
to rob and murder. To get them they will sj>ect in the use of their tongues about each
risk all, lose all, and never whimper. To other, because with them a loose tongue has
them without the best arms, death were bloody consequences.
preferable. It is true that truth-finding is a tedious
They are all thieves, or rather robbers. process in all important matters; but con-
What they want, they reason, is ri<;ht for sidering Moro character, conditions, and
them to have. To take it is a question not politics,no more tedious than among other
of conscience, therefore, but solely of policy. peoples. Always it is necessary to bear in
The Koran says that the thief's hand is to mind that the most reliable and honorable
be cut off. They do not stand against this, Moro has some enemy upon whom he de
but popular feeling here steps in and pro- sires vengeance, or rich neighbor whom he
vides a test of innocence, a mere oath of the desires to plunder. The world over allow-
accused or his family, which is so easy and ances must be made for ignorance, ill-will,
so simple, and which makes proof of guilt and self-interest. Making these allowances,
so hard, that in a country l>eset with thieves the resultant of truth is found about the
one never hear* of a thief caught or of a same with Moros as with other peoples.
hand cut off. Thievery is a part of them; Fines, wounds, and death are looked upon
the whole people condone it. with equanimity; imprisonment, with hor-
But to say, as has been said, that all ror. Mapait, a Moro arrested and brought
Moros are liars is not true. "Lying is the to trial, convicted and sentenced to six
vice of slaves," not of free men, and the months' imprisonment for horse-stealing,
Moros arc and have l>een free; no man thus writes me:— '"Shoot my arms off so
more so. They have had to lie to mas-
not that I barely live and let me go." Two
ters because they have had no masters. young men sentenced to imprisonment for
Where not friendly, their hostility, wholly slave taking, on receiving sentence, and
unlike the Filipinos, has been open and repeatedly since, have begged for death in-
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
stead, and have tried to make the guards haps a rod to the next state line, into the
kill them. That freedom, however, which open arms of the next datto, and be forever
they so highly prize themselves, the Moros beyond the power of extradition and punish-
treat with uttercontempt in those who fall ment. Indeed, it is only when a stronger
under their power. They have scourged the catches a weaker in the very act that crime
whole Philippines in countless far-reaching is ever punished. Uattos being always inde-
slave-taking expeditions. Nor have these pendent and generally unfriendly, never
wholly ceased under American rule. Our care to help each other execute justice.
army in the Philippines is still punishing Such have been the conditions during all
them. their known history, and
a worse state of
Between them, people of the same race, anarchy and injustice hard to conceive.
is
Google
MOIIO SAIIM-.h IS TIIK MltKBTS Of -
and stunts the other. Her costume is a side of her head, which gives her a little bit
Digitized by Google
NATIVE GIRLS OF Gl AM.
mother, and money and slaves and ponies can the anxious parent tell for sure that the
and carabaos to her father, so large a price first suitor, who has paid but half his instal-
often that he can only pay by instalments; ments, can ever come to time with the bal-
and time always fetches its complications in ance due. That is a question and, a bird in
love-affairs. A more able suitor often the hand being worth two in the bush, he
tempts the father with another offer, better starts another courtship on the instalment
or prompter payments, or even cash. How plan with the last comer, forgetting to return
MLiriNC) JiATIVK 1 1 ( i
,'>(•'.
Google
mukO uovs ir> KATIVH koaiS
their parents' ignorance. She isher hus- resource. If a wife leave him, by custom, a
band's property, yet proportionately to their Mora husband must don a woman's skirt
states of advancement, not more so than her for a few days, and it is no uncommon tiling
white sister, and she, equally with the latter, thus to see the husband made the butt of the
knows how to make her husband fetch jeer> and ridicule of his neighbors.
home silk thread, perfume, face powder, In jxiint of difficulty in dealing with
penknives, etc. Her husband may send her Moras, after their religious differences from
away in divorce at his will, not out Into the us and their incomprehensible mental pro-
"cold world," because the Mora world is cesses, comes the multiplicity of independ-
not cold to the divorced woman. She loses ence among them, the difficulty of distin
do standing, nor is she therein wholly without gui>hing the territory, the town and the
people of one datto from those of another, ment for their thievery and ill-doing, the
or separating the friendly from the un- large town of Bacayauan has been gerry-
friendly. There are often many sovereign mandered out of existence, one part, after
independent stales in a single square mile, another of it fetching forth a new name of
and all differing in their conduct. To its own, proving that it had never been any
separate, to distinguish each according to part of the bad town of Bacayauan, and
its conduct, requires great patience and dis- keeping up this process until the last square
crimination if officers of the American Gov- inch had passed into other and innocent
ernment are to deal with them. The shrewd jurisdictions and Bacayauan was no more.
Morns have sometimes seen and taken ad- After the mobility of steam navigation,
vantage of this. Thus, to avoid punish- within the last fifty years, had driven the
Digitized by Google
A NATIVU M"K<> (-AKKIAoH.
Moro from the seas, he became a landsman, tractive, a family graveyard, a place of
hut he did not like it. In consequence of his death, his defence, not a place of ease, or
many enmities and jealousies and the inse- comfort, or rest. It is a fortification against
curity of life and property among his own even his nearest neighbor. His house is a
people, he has likewise been forced to be- poor one, poor even for the tropics. His prem-
come a home-stayer, but he has not for that ises are filthy and disease-infected; family
reason become a home-lover or a home- and slaves, dogs, chickens, goats, |>onics, and
improver. His home, indeed, is most unat- carabaos live together for mutual safety.
For security against thieves and enemies he
sleeps with his head against the dixir of his
strong box, his arms by his side, his chickens
on the roof, his valuable household goods.
|>onies, and carabaos tied to the timbers of
his house, or even to his body. One would
think to find him thus a nervous wreck, but
not so, though as already noted his temper
flashes unreasonably and without warning.
Of Oriental conservatism yet observant
of new things and ready to learn; not ill-
humored but hostile to strangers; Savage
and holding human life of little value, but
not cruel; brave, yet a thief; of the same
religion and blood as his neighbors, yet
without brotherhood with them and ever
ready to fight against them with strangers;
poor as a beggar yet haughty and overbear-
ing; asserting ever his own trustworthiness,
yet putting little faith in his friend, of whom
he exacts the most binding oath in even
trivial matters of trust; fond of company,
yet breaking up into the smallest groups,
the Moro is a being of many contradictions
and inconsistencies,
.
Loving trade and
maintaining many markets, he ha's none of
the trust of his fellows necessary to trade,
but looks at an effort to borrow, ur a request
for credit, in no other light than a manifest
ON» OF l>ATTu HANG'S SONS. attempt to rob. Spanish missionaries, who
by Google
AMONG THE SAVAGE MOROS 279
at the time of American occupation had
begun to try to take hold upon them, sjx>ke
always ill of them and had little faith in
their |M>ssibilities; hut it is well to rememl>er
that the zeal and devotion of these good men
spent itself and turned to disappointment
before the stubl>orn Mohammedanism of
1^ _5
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Photograph hj Alice Bough ten.
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THE WORD OF SUMMER
BY RLSA BARKER
.
Counting over my lost labors,
—"Alkali l>mt"
Digitized by Google
AL.KALI DUST
BY CHAKLES M. HOKTON
ILLUSTRATED BY IRA D. CASSIDY
the mare handed me one before she left, I rolled a coat and placed it beneath his
been crawling all day for shade. Strike a head. Then I stepj>ed away.
match, will you? God, but it's a night!" Now came again the tense quiet of the
Strange; but without a cringe, I stopped night, its its oppressiveness—
blackness,
and turned. The rapid beating of my shook it Back Kast I had a home.
off.
heart slumped to normal, and I put forth a Hack there somewhere in that country he
careful foot in the direction of the voice. too had a home. There was no mistaking
It fell short. I advanced the other; there the well shaped head, the nose of refine-
was a constrained groan. ment, the Eastern tongue— ever its own.
"Careful, friend my hip.— Oh, it's all I liked the fellow. I only hoped he
right! Why in blazes don't you strike that would talk. Again I turned to him.
match? Got any?" "Boston, New York, or Philadelphia?"
I struck a light. Poor fellow! His hip I ventured; and I felt his head turn toward
undoubtedly was broken. It lay stretched —
me his eyes pierce the night to engage
away from his body, and he was on his mine. The reply came in a voice hard and
back. A leg of his trousers had been torn dry.
away and the limb lay exposed. His "Boston, son— and a woman."
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284 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
perhaps it was; but I knew it.
Instinct, believe it! — —
She she " He dropped to
Delicacy, Western delicacy, withholds one his back. Again he was on his elbow.
from pointing that way. What but woman "Back there she is, the cause of all my
sends man from Life to loneliness and — lone plays, all mywanderings, the
listless
thoughts that sting you back of the eyes — the— " He stopped. Then he began,
a pain that wheels you right about and rapidly, "Back there is one who caused
sends you striding from it! my first mind-agony, my first heart-rending,
"Single?" I asked, for several reasons. —
my my present indecency. There, back
"See here, Sammy—that isn't it, per- there, she is, the one who sent spinning my
haps, but it'll do. Sammy, were you ever little world; the one who sent me from all
so loved by a girl that you had to leave her, that is dear, all that makes life worth
had to quit the country l>ecause you loved living, all that keeps a man to his mother's
her,had to cut deliberately all communica- teachings! And where? Why to this?
tion,had to close her from your memory, And you know what this is — I've seen your
to — no one who looked like her, to
to see kind before." There was silence. Soon
blank from your life the whole image her — he broke it. "Come, Sammy, loosen up.
smile, her eyes, her hair, her music, her I need it. I want to know of others who
her soul? Damn it, her very soul! Did suffer because of them —
but not to know
you, Sammy? Think what that means'." they suffer so hard." The man dropped
The abrupt change unnerved me. But to his back and was still. I sat, my knees
it had started me thinking, thinking over drawn up and my head resting l>etween,
a whole chain of events in my life— thinking listening to his heavy, irregular breath-
out there on the plain in the black stillness ing.
of night. I couldn't see the man didn't — I didn't answer him right away —
want to. I desired to be alone. The couldn't. Slowly, reluctantly, my thoughts
girl in my life slipped back to a little suburban town
—
" Son, this strap ease it a trifle please."
— "back there," where the streets ran up
I kneeled beside him and rewound the evenly from a main thoroughfare, lined
belt. It was not unwelcome, this inter- with elms and maples, the houses regular
ruption to my thoughts; the whole subject and pretty. And before I could shut it
always left me sick at heart. Still that out, shut out that last scene, it came
indefinable longing to be alone! I turned tumbling upon me in my helplessness.
away. She stood before me, as 1 beheld her that
"Where to?" he broke in. "Can't you last night, brown from the sun of a summer
sit here and talk ? You're a decent chap- spent in the mountains. We talked as —
blamed decent. Sit down!" we had before she went away, but I knew
I wheeled and sat beside him. Then I something was wrong. And as I approached
wondered what the dawn would bring. the subject of our plans for the winter-
It was apparent that we should remain December was to have seen us wedded
here till daybreak. Then something must her head fell in silence. Do you know
l>e done; what, I was unable to collect —
what it means is there anything so
my thoughts to determine. clutches your heart in a grip of steel,
"Sam" — he was tender, this fellow burning steel, as the knowledge that you
"what brought you to this ungodly country ? have lost? Perhaps you know and can
Wait —you needn't tell me. I'll let you understand. There was left to me one
know why I'm here. And I can't say thing. I loved the girl would always—
why I do either, Sammy. There seems to love her. To make her happy, ever my
be something within impelling me on. one desire, was still left to me. I believe
It's true!" And he reached out a hand to I kissed her as I left the porch. Later I
know that I was close beside him. closed my practice and set out a knight- —
" Hack there to-night, Sammy, under errant. I learned the particulars, he was
this same great dome — perhapsthere
to-night out West— that was all I knew somewhere —
she too is gazing straight at it — is a out We>t. I would bring him l>ack.
pair of eyes looking a love that was mine Two years I slipped from camp to town,
a love that 1 need. Back there to-night from town to camp. And now here to-
livesone who is happy .... one who is night, under a black, cheerless sky, was I
happy. Though I can't, Sammy — I can't reviewing it all. For a moment I thought
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286 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
I would tell him —our cases were parallel the range, and creep farther and farther
yet, were they? down the throwing a pale pink
valley,
Sleep might overtake him -perhaps it over the landscape, sending shadows
had already! Then dawn and a way out. slinking off into the light. A whinny from
"Let's have it. Sammy?" my horse aroused me. I arose, and turned
I recoiled —
he had been so still! to the man sleeping at my feet. I gazed
"Let you have it, my friend why? — long and earnestly.
—
You've enough without mine." I evaded A second whinny disturbed me and I
him. Our natures were different. Then wheeled. Far above two great buzzards
a thought struck me. "How came you to circling round and round, faded into the
leave, friend, in the light of the fact that haze. From a neighboring sand-hill a
you loved and were loved in return ? jack -rabbit appeared, paused a quivering
Never a happier combination!" And I moment, then scurried away. The morn-
sat close beside him. ing light grew brighter. A third whinny
" Listen " He s|>oke deliberately, spoke
!
and the horse now slowly wended his way
as though each word was a piece torn from toward me. And again I turned to the
his heart. "Listen! When a girl is man at my feet. His hair had fallen away
engaged, when she hesitates to inform you from a broad, clear forehead, his face in
because she dreads the unhappiness to calm repose was not that of a man
but a
follow, and when finally she is compelled boy. And as I gazed, the faintest smile
to tell you! God, but it was hard! Thai's began to play alxiut his lips. I wondered
all, Sammy — that's all!" it —
he knew if he knew that his troubles
were almost ended. Mine? Hut what
I saw the first rays of dawn break over uf mine!
TO PHILLIDA IN TOWN
Osf. smile from you and the paved highways fling
by Googl
Copyright, iqoi, by Robert Howard Kutull.
A hki.ii.ak.
A BUNCH OF BUCKSKINS
BY OWEN WISTER
ILLUSTRATED BY FREDERIC REMINGTON
Digitized by Google
fcrt* T^W*
;
*
Cofirright. tool, by Robert Howard K unfit.
IAVALKV inrkii.
must not confess to each other the patent they were; one glance, and age, nice, vir-
truth that whatever Mr. Remington may tues, —
misdoings and epoch all these things
choose to do requires no introduction from were plain. Mr. Remington did not have to
me, or indeed from anybody else. Vet here print anything below his Old Ramon; ail
i> something that is perhaps of interest. the facts about Old Ramon (save his names
When these eight personages of Mr. Rem- and employment) stare you in the face; I
ington V arrived by express, although no could have sjx»tted the individual through a
descriptive names or labels of any sort were field-glass. Two hot races at least in him
affixed to them, one glance as I took them are mixed —and by the mixing spoiled. I
out of the parcel sufficed to reveal to me who cannot tell you by what precise magic Mr.
by Google
' -ii
AK OLD-TIMK TRAPPER.
Remington has done this, by what touch of the keynote of the composition; and, start-
his wand he hasstruck into being a creature ing with that, the whole thing blends in one
of double evil so apparent. I only know consistent harmony of worthle»-ne>> Look
that, having passed the time of day with such at his low-minded hal. You will think I am
half-breeds long enough to l>c familiar with fanciful: but you shall change your mind at
what I may call their symptoms, I recognize once. Compare this hal with the hat of the
all the symptoms in Mr. Remington's suc- solemn and dreamy old trapjwr or with the
cessful mongrel. Old Ramon may have one worn by the Arizona cowboy. Xone of
scouted for the military; but this led him to them, it may be conceded at once, are hats
no trail to the angels. His face, of course, is that you would term genteel; yet while the
Digitized by Google
Copyright, iqoi, ty ftehert llcveard Rutirll.
AN ARIZONA COWBOY.
Google
C'fiyrighl, tqoi, by Kobtrl ll^nuard liuwll.
A NORTII-WKST H AI.K-MkKF.D.
Google
Ctfyrigkt, 1901, ly Rvbert /Am-a rj Kutittt.
A HLACKrOOT DkAVK.
hat of the cowboy goes with a man who, if dishonest. Once again the inevitable hand
you happen to annoy him, might abruptly of art has wrought the man and his clothes
shoot you, he would not shoot you in the of one consistent piece. Returning to our
back. With all the lawless courage and Old Ramon, pray consider his hat once
brutality of the Arizona cowboy there is again before we leave it. I will not go so far
nothing about him cringing or oblique; and as to assert that, if placed on the head of a
his hat is exactly like him. If you will now shiftless haymaker it would not be in keep-
look at the somewhat decayed edifice which in«» with that context: juxtaposition has a
crowns the head of the trapper, poverty you deal to do with the meaning of all objects in
will see in it, and many storms of rain and this world. Hut I can positively say that
snow; and if you were to beat it against a this Mexican's hat could not possibly be
rock, it fe likely that the alkali dust would worn by either the trapper or the Arizona
fly from it like flour from a sack. Vet with cowboy without glaring inconsistency. This
all these humble qualities, this hat is not harmony of just detail makes itself evident
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MISFORTUNE 295
aH over Old Ramon . Look at his contempt- deny myself one ardent exclamation of de-
ible saddle blanket, look at the rope bind- light over Mr. Remington's army packer.
ing the splintered stock of hisrifle; and then Mule and man, they are simply astonish-
see in his smaller saddle-blanket the touch ing. A volume could be written about the
of the Indian. I suspect his good horse army packer without doing much more to
(which is the only respectable thing al>out record him than this picture of Mr. Rem-
him) to have been stolen. Look at the poor ington's.
trapper's horse. "Poor but honest" is Let me again say (for it cannot be said too
written all over this equestrian group. That often) that all first-rate character-drawing
horse was never stolen. The trapper traded must create an individual at the same mo-
him for a few skins; he is worth about $12, ment that it suggests a type. It is in this
and the trapper was cheated when he that Mr. Remington, when at his best, so
bought him. Notice how he has rubbed his signally succeeds. His work in this should
tail. That is because he has lampers and it set the pace for any man in our country who
itches. In the trapper's long-barrelled rifle is trying, by means either of pictures or of
we have a perfect instance of the signifi- words, to present his fellow Americans in
cance of context in the import of any single imaginative art. So many writers, so many
detail. You will notice that his stock, too. painters, achieve only the type; but that is
has had to be spliced. He cannot afford not doing much more than the photographic
a modern weapon. Now the difference camera can do. Almost anybody with ob-
between the rope-mended stock of Old servation can make you see a railroad car
Ramon's rifle and that of the trapper's is conductor, or a policeman, by telling you
that the half-breed has not been able to steal something that very possibly you could
a better gun, while the trapper has not been have told them. So when Mr. Remington
able to buy one. draws you a half-breed or an Arizona cow-
Thus we might go on through each pic- boy, he not only makes a generalization,
ture of the eight.There is, indeed, not one but creates a personality. And so here is
that fails inwhat every characterization of greeting to his " Bunch of Buckskins," and
the first rank should always be, namelv may he go on picturing our history for the
both an individual and a type. I cannot coming generations.
MISFORTUNE
BY ARTHUR POWELL
The blast which, passing, leaves me life unmaimed
I have no right to call an evil thing;
If it has taken somewhat, that it claimed
Was grossness; there is left the eagle-wing!
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THK WNAI K WA> I ITKKAi I.Y HAl LRU l>OWN.
^*)HI angler held a pol- "Did you sec that fin,sir? Five foot, if
ished vibrant nobiwood an inc h, and the light lavender half circle on
n td with a grip of iron, its back?"
hut the line dangled "Suppose I had caught it. and I think I
listlessly in the wind. could have played it; it was not over six
It had come whizzing feet in length, not longer than a big tuna."
at him with the roils of " Why, the dam would have bitten the
J;i snake a second be- launch in two; she could do it, sir. She
fore, and had perceptibly whitened
his race was thirty feet long and had teeth like
beneath the coat of tan that one takes on spikes."
along the Kuroshiwo in California. The angler laughed.
"Did you sec it, Jack?" he asked the The boatmen around the channel islands
boatman and gaffer who had
jerked the of Southern California have a pronounced
lever of the little launch and was sending respect for the "killer" the small-toothed—
her inshore at the tup of her speed. whale that frequents these waters the year
"Did I, sir? 1 think. I did. You're the round. The angler had been trolling with a
first gentleman ever played a killer." small sardine for the amber fi>h, and a
" I don't know about playing," replied the school of killers or orcas had quietly come
angler; "I only hooked him and he went up, the infant of the school had seized the
into the air." bait, been hooked and sprang into the air,
" Yes, sir,"answered the gaffer; " but he showing its entire length. As the tail knife-
was hooked all right, and it was the old one like dorsal fins of the old whales pierced the
that ran under the line." water ever\-wherc, showing that they were
Google
A TIGER OF THE SEA 297
excited,the boatman stood not on the that blue that seems a reflection of the sky.
order of going, but immediately put in Suddenly not far from the rocky cliffs of the
toward shore. Not that he was a coward, islands a large whalebone whale shot into
far from it; he knew the possible danger the air, flung itself out of the water, return-
when a young whale had been attacked and ing with a mighty crash, so near a boat that
the adult animal can find the cause. The the occupant saw the details of what was
adult gray whale has been known to follow a apparently a tragedy. As the monster rose,
boat so far inshore that she beached herself clinging to head were seen several black
its
in frantic endeavors to reach the human de- and white which appeared to be
creatures,
spoiler and many a lonely grave in the sands fastened to it, and the leap of the whale
of Lower California might have had as its to shake them off. The whale evidently
epitaph, " Killed by a revengeful whale." sounded and came out of the water a moment
Few animals known to man possess the later like a catapult, swinging its tail about
savage and murderous nature of the small and around with relentless fury, striking
whale-like animals known as killers or blows that would have wrecked a large
orcas. They pass under various names as vessel at contact.
black fish, killer, orca, kill fish, sea tiger, and The whale, which was sixty or more feet in
deserve all the titles. The shark may be a length, was attacked by these hounds of the
man-eater; is a sodden blood-lustful brute, a sea, the orca or killer; they had seized it by
scavenger of the seas, a midnight prowler its huge lips and were clinging with all the
seeking devious paths to accomplish its ferocity of a pack of bulldogs. In vain did
ends; but the killer charges the largest of all the giant swing its deadly tail. The nimble
animals, the whale, and the story of its life is foes leaped over it, avoiding it with ease,
one of relentless carnage. directing their attacks at its most vulnerable
point — the throat, lips, and tongue.
" Whole kingdoms fell Impelled by the fascination of this duel of
To sate the lust of power; more horrid still sea monsters, the observers drew nearer and
The foulest stain and scandal of our nature, watched what was in all probability one of
Became Us boast, One murder made a
' villain^ the most remarkable sea fights ever wit-
"
Millions, a hero.' nessed by man at so close a range. They
were so near that the blood of the whale
Lines which might well apply to the orca changed the water about them from tur-
in its raids upon the animal life. quoise blue to encardine; and the waves
For a number of years the writer has created by the leaping and rushing of the
watched the movements of a school of orcas ponderous body made their boat rise and
in the Santa Catalina Channel, one of which fall, as though on a heavy sea. The orcas
was hooked by an angler in the manner de- tore the wide lid-like lips of the whale, biting
scribed. They are present the entire year great pieces from the tongue, and crazed
presumably, but arc more common in the with the lust for blood, rent the huge creature
summer months, sailing up and down, hav- until it seemed completely cowed, lying on
ing a rendezvous off what is known as the the surface, making ineffective swings from
tuna fishing grounds, a range of five or six right to left, rising, then sounding in a fury
miles in extent, from Long Point on the of indecision and fright.
island of Santa Catalina to the sea lion For nearly half an hour this combat con-
rookery on the south end. The reason for tinued, then whale, apparently ex-
the
this is obvious, as the savory tuna is a tid-bit, hausted, was hauled down and dis-
literally
a bonne bouche for the orca, and doubtless ap|>earcd. The following day
the orcas
the greatest of all fishes often falls a victim were sailing up and down the channel as
to its rapacity. Then, too, the sulphur- though nothing had happened.
bottom whale frequents the Santa Catalina As they leaped into the air when attacking
Channel, numbers being seen at even' cross- the whale, an excellent opportunity was
ing, as well as the gray whale, each of which afforded the spectators to observe their
is at times a victim to the fury and rapacity beauties, as this tiger of the sea is a most
of these smaller but toothed cannibal whales. striking and attractive animal. They ap-
Such an attack was witnessed several peared to be twenty or twenty-five feet in
year* ago off the Bay of Avalon. The chan- length, the skin a polished jet-black marble-
nel was as smooth as a disk of steel and of like surface, devoid of the slightest parasite,
Digitized by Google
1MB SKA Tlf.KK MKANi. INTO
grotesque organ of vision; and as though to photograph these animals, but with |H>or
emphasize its oddilv, the orca had a vivid success. But once I had favorable condi-
pronounced crescent - shaped saddle of tions and was nearly on top of them, when
creamy maroon color Just in front of the one of the party became demoralized at their
tail fin and partly encircling it. size and we had to turn back. On another
I have frequently seen this in contrast occasion I followed them in a heavy launch
with the velvet black of the back, as the big and succeeded in reaching a point just over
killer swam slowly along with dignified pace the tail of one; but the big creature did not
Digitized by Google
THE AIR SHOWING ITS ENTIRE LENUTH.
come up, at least within a reasonable dis- the largest and cannot be mistaken, as its
tance, but forsome minutes I looked down dorsal fin is as remarkable in its way as the
upon the animal as the boat's bow cut upper lobe of the tail of the thresher shark.
through the boiling water occasioned by the It is often six or seven feet in length, tall,
working of the screw-like tail just beneath slender,and rigid except at the very top,
me. which occasionally falls over in the air. The
Once observed the leap of a sixty or
I long-finned orca claims the northern regions
sex'enty footwhale in these waters, un- as its hunting grounds, while the maroon
doubtedly to avoid its enemies, the orcas. saddle variety is found in warmer latitudes
The giant rose slowly and deliberately out of off Southern California, though this is by no
the water until it appeared to stand on its means a hard or fast rule. In the North
tail on the surface —
an absorbing spectacle Atlantic is found the ( )rca gladiator, a fierce
— then gradually sank into the sea. In at- and relentless creature, and Ksihricht is
tempts to photograph a large whale I fol- authority for the statement that this animal,
lowed so closely that the prow of the boat or a specimen twenty feet in length, was
apj>eared to be directly over the tail that seen to kill and eat thirteen por|H>ises and
was working like a large propeller forcing fourteen seals, the animals l>cing taken from
the tons of flesh along. the stomach after capture.
There are two orcas well known in the The long-finned orca is a fury in every
Pacific:Orca alcr, with its saddle of ma- sense. It roams the seas, enters bays, fol-
roon, and Orca rectipenna. The latter is lows up rivers and preys upon animal life of
sd by Google
THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
allkinds, from whales of the largest size to shark line five or six hundred feet long, a
salmon. It has been known to .swim near heavy hook constructed for the purpose, and
to rocks in hope of snatching seals or sea to the extreme end of the line fastened an
lions from their rookeries, and is at times iron-bound 1k>x. The hook was baited
successful. with a thirty-pound amber fish and floated
Some years ago a whaler in the North- in the pathway of the killers, some ten miles
west had killed a large whale, and had the out in the channel. After several days of
animal alongside, when it was attacked by a came swimming
waiting, a long line of killers
school of orcas. They doubtless were half- along, and by rare good fortune ran foul of
starved and crazed by the scent of blood that the amber fish and took it. The line was
extended away a long distance, probably held until it came taut, then four of the fish-
followed it up like hounds, immediately ermen pulled; and that they hooked the
attacking the whale. The men with spades huge creature was evident, as it leaped into
and lances cut and slashed at them, inflicting the air and swung itself so violently that it
terrible blows; yet, despite this, the orcas dropped partly on its side, lashing the water
literally tore the whale from the ropes and for a few seconds, then sounding. During
carried it off. this brief struggle, the remainder of the
The orcas are very clever and intelligent, school apj>eared to be intensely excited,
a fact illustrated in their method of cap- darting about as though in search of the
turing their prey. They know that the cause of attack, then sounding. In a few
breeding season of the seals in the North- seconds the line was jerked overboard and
west is a propitious time for feasting, and the launch plunged ahead, her bow deep in
assemble promptly and play havoc with the water, the men going aft to lighten her.
both young and old. They even attack The killer towed them four or five miles,
animals as large and well armed as the then finding it impossible to move the animal
walrus, and show their cunning by swim- or haul it in, or the launch over it, they cast
ming far under the ice Hoes, coming up near off the line and box. The killer had now
the walrus herd, butting through the ice reached the deep part of the channel, given
with tremendous force, and in the confusion by the fishermen as "no bottom, "and appar-
seizing the young which have been lying on ently appreciating this fact, the killer
the backs of their mothers in fancied sounded and carried the large white box out
security. The jaw of the huge man-eater of sight. That it exploded under pressure
shark, with its many rows of serrated teeth, was probable, as it did not come up, at
is a menace, but it does not compare to that least, was not found, and the big game
of the orca. The head of the latter is ex- anglers, who had hooked one of the largest
tremely powerful, and the heavy jaws arc of sea animals capable of being hooked after
provided with great tusk-like ivory teeth, the fashion of fishes, returned to shore, con-
well devised to c rush and tear the largest of vinced that a " killer" could not be stopped,
animals, its method of attack well justifying at least in this manner.
the title the tiger of the sea. Killers have l>een harpooned on the Cali-
The capture of so vigorous an animal as fornia coast, but the oil taken does not jus-
the orca or killer as a sport would hardly tify the danger of the chase. It is not diffi-
appeal to one familiar with its ways. Off cult in summer to creepupon them. A
the channel island of Southern California, large whaleboat was put within ten feet of
where the maroon saddled as de-
killer, an orca, the harpooncr successfully tossing
scribed, is common, it has never attacked his weapon into it just back of the saddle.
any one, and except on very rare occasions Into the air went the vicious and powerful
displaying a disagreeable ofliciousness, tailof the orca, just missing the boat, fan-
demonstrated by following up Ixiats, once ning the atmosphere a few seconds, then
chasing a small boat nearly to the rocks, disappearing with a force and speed that
doubtless in curiosity, jnissibly thinking it was ominous. The "stare all" of the
was some kind of a whale like itself. Hut whalers was shouted at the second of impact,
the dignified procession of orcas on certain and the double ender shot backward, as the
warm days was so attractive and inviting to harpoon's thud sounded. Like a snake the
certain landsmen that they determined to coil of rojK' leaj>cd into the air, and the old
take one, or at least to make the attempt. whalers stared at the rapidity of the move-
The party provided themselves with a heavy ment. It appeared like a nebulous cloud, a
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302 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
phantasm of indistinct snake like coils poised plunge again and again into the heart of the
for a strike. Kuroshiwo.
This killer evidently assumed a position The sea rising under the strong west
twenty or thirty feet below the surface, and wind, the channel was filled with white caps.
for some time ran like a racer, coming The orca seemed to gain strength with the
slowly to the surface to breathe, then to contact, and sped on and on until the
drop and renew the rush from this unseen patience and endurance of the men was
and terrible enemy that was clinging to its about exhausted. The open sea was before
very vitals and could not be shaken off. them, still no one said cut away, though it
The killer finally carried them into a heavy was evident that if the orca was killed, it
sea where the pace was so fierce and uncom- could not be towed in through such a sea to
promising that they took everything as it port, ten miles distant. What could be
came. No rising over seas here, they hit done? They gave a mighty haul on the
them strong and full, cut and bored through steel wire-like rope; the loud chanty was
them, the spray caught by the wind beating swept away from their lips by the wind, then
against their faces and like specters of the without warning the tension of the wire
sea rising from the crests of waves to beat relaxed, the game rushed savagely to one
them back. The fishermen laid back on side, came up into the air, as though in fear,
the line and hauled, one dropping off to bail and fell, a slack line telling of the finish.
now and then, but despite every effort they Whether the orca had been killed or car-
could not gain a foot. For some time this ried off by a huge shark, or whether a com-
sea tiger ran madly through the seas now — panion had cut the lines was never known;
on the surface, where the tail fin cut the but many were the views and opinions as
water like a knife, then plunging down, as the boat fell away before the strong west
though with the demoniac idea of carrying wind and ran down the channel for the little
the unseen enemy with it; but being an air bay. now hull down, seemingly on the edge
breather, it was forced to the surface to of the world.
Google
GUNNING AND FISHING IN
NEW YORK CITY
BY ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE
EING an Englishman friends, who had lived on Manhattan Island
who had spent six days all their lives, had learned something about
housed up on an ocean the Greater City.
liner, he arrived in New- Without knowing the exact itinerary of
York City with a de- our English visitor on that day of his happy
sire to kill something. hunting, it may be of interest to speculate
-41 Indeed, he had brought somewhat upon the course he may have
J rods, guns and game- pursued, and to point out one or two other
bags for just that purpose. localities within the corporate city limits
Perhaps he was a trifle disappointed to from which he also might not have returned,
learn that Virginia deer were no longer to be empty handed.
found on Broadway, and that duck shooting He probably l>egan his journey with the
was considered poor on Fifth Avenue. He Long Island ferry at Thirty-fourth Street.
was told that in certain jungle districts he Whether he took the train or trolley car on
might "see the elephant" and "buck the the other side is not known, but in either
tiger," but that the sort of game he could case it is more than likely that he crossed the
bring home in a bag was thought to be ex- Flushing meadows, and realized that those
tinct in the metropolis. wide reaches of salt marsh lay within the
Being an Englishman, he was not dis- land of his desire.
couraged. He crossed over into the bor- He doubtless took advice at Flushing and
ough of Queens, next morning, all alone, went on toward Jamaica. If he took the
and put his traps into a boat, somewhere in Jamaica car, it is possible that he got off at
that misty mid-region that lies between Kissena Brook, and with the luck that ac-
Jamaica and Coney Island. That night he companies such expeditions took one or two
—
came in late, tired and triumphant. From trout without leaving the bridge. They
his game-bag he dumped ducks of several were not large trout, but there were the
kinds, a rabbit, two quails, a gray squirrel genuine wild, Long Island trout, said to be
and a teeter snipe. From his fish basket he the most jierfect of the genus jontinulis.
emptied speckled trout, pickerel, and salt- From Kissena Lake, showing through the
Water fishes of various kinds. He had trees just below the bridge, he could.have
rarely en joyed such a clay of "killing things." taken his pickerel, if he had good luck, and
When his friends got so they could speak it is conceded that luck was a necessary
they askedhim if he had aLso met the "ele- qualification on this particular day.
phant" and the "tiger," and why they were By and by, when the sport lagged a little,
not in his bag. But this, of course, was a car came along and he pursued his pleas-
lost on the Englishman. He merely ob- ant way. Perhaps he got off a mile or two
served that there was really very good sport farther on to pick up a pair of quails that he
in the metropolitan districts if one but knew heard calling to each other in a hay field.
where to find it. It was believed that he He may have shot the rabbit there, too,
had taken the fresh-water fish from some- though I am more inclined to believe that he
body's preserves. It was quite certain that got the cotton-tail in the woods beyond
he had killed out of season. No matter he — Jamaica and the squirrel not far from the
was leaving for the West next morning. He same locality. He could have added a
was quite contented and happy, while his trout or two, as well, for a fine brook with-
Digitized by Google
THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
out a name crosses the tracks beyond the reliable, one was killed within the Greater
car stables. Then he came to a road house, New York limits.
where he rested and had something cool and Had our sportsman journeyed into the
refreshing while he waited on the stage that borough of the Bronx instead of Queens he
leaves every hour for Idlewild, a sportsman's would have fared hardly so well. He would
resort on Jamaica Bay. have found a beautiful country, whose ac-
Itmust have been at Idlewild that he char- cessibility and ease of settlement has re-
tered the boat and began his real career of sulted in a corresponding scarcity of game.
luxury and destruction. Here was a sports- Nevertheless, lower Westchester is not
man's paradise indeed. The tide was just without its sport, and with gray and red
coming in, the day was warm and still, with squirrels, cotton-tail rabbits, trout from the
rain in the air, and the sun filtering through Bronx River and some salt-water fish from
a mottled sky. It was a day when fish the Hudson or the Sound, he would have
—
swim high and ducks fly low v. hen shore made a fairly good showing. There is fox
birds call to one another from amid the hunting, too, in Westchester, though farther
sedge. Long reaches of water lay every- up the county.
where, with arms and inlets that wound ba>. k But it is on Staten Island, I believe, that
into the meadows where the tall salt grass our Englishman would have felt most at
made perfect ambuscade. No
sport in the home. He would have caught little in the
metropolitan districts ? Why it fairly kept way of trout or other fresh-water fish, and
him busy! With his rod set, he could reel beyond a cotton-tail or so, his bag might
in a two-pound weak-fish one minute and have shown a scarcity of game. TheSe*
bring down a black duck the next. There things would not have mattered if he had
was nothing better than this, even at home. brought with him a card of introduction to
No wonder he came in late that night, and the Country Club on Dongan Hills. Here
no wonder he came in full handed. He had a pack of sixty English foxhounds would
selected an ideal day, and he had by great have made his heart glad, and he would have
good luck stumbled upon the ideal locality. joined in the hunt that twice a week during
There is no better salt-water fishing in the spring and fall begins with an eagerly de-
proper season and at the right moment voured hunting breakfast, followed by a
than may be found in Jamaica Bay, and chase of the red fox that leads the horsemen
there is no better haunt for water fowl. a wild and merry race across the hills and
Yet the metro|>olitan game preserves are downs, over field and through thicket, to
not confined to this locality. Had our end at last with the captured brush, and a
friend stopped in the Flushing meadows, he mighty hunting supper at the close of day.
might have had fairly good luck in bringing This would have been sport worth while
down black duck, brant and "old wives," this would have been "home" indeed.
and perhaps a red head or a mallard. Had As a matter of fact, it is not very gener-
he taken a boat in Flushing Creek and allyknown that wild trout may be taken and
fished out toward the sound, he would, wild game killed within the corporate limits
with his luck, have filled his basket with of New York City. Certainly I have found
black fish, flounders and striped bass. Had but few that seemed to know that foxes, and
it been later in the season, he could easily not always foxes bred for the purpose, but
have brought back a hundred young blue the genuine wild reynard, are chased on
fi>h, known as snappers, and had it been Staten Island. The city limits are very ex-
earlier or still later, he could have returned tended. A good slice is taken off of West-
loaded with tomcods. chester county at the north —the whole of
Following along a fresh-water creek, our one end of Long Island, at the east, while
English cousin might have picked up a Staten Island entire is included at the south.
muskrat, or in a wooded place he would There are wooded districts within these
perhaps have shot a 'possum slinking away boundaries— brushy hills and swampy thick-
amid the undergrowth. It is unlikely that ets —
some of them well - nigh inacces-
he would have discovered any raccoons, sible. There are fresh-water streams and
though this animal is a native of Long lakes, and there arc vast areas of salt water:
Island, and only a short time ago, according also, there are wide set meadows or marsh-
to Dan Beard, who, being more of a natur- lands where the waters of ocean and bay
alist than a sportsman, is regarded as fairly and sound swept long ago, and where salt
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GUNNING AND FISHING IN NEW YORK CITY 305
creens and inlets still make and ebb with the the overflowing streams, he forgets that he is
tide. Such haunts as these are ideal, and cold and wet and hungry, and he does not
the creatures that have held them against walk home, but drifts there in a golden cloud,
three centuries of civilization are not to be and during all the rest of the season mag-
easily drivenaway. nifies and multiplies those three little fishes
It is not my purpose to compile a sports- until the miracle of the loaves and fishes
man's calendar, or to indicate any number seems a rather poor performance.
of exact localities inGreater New York Meantime there has been some shooting.
where any particular kind of fish or game The season is open on waterfowl up to the
may be found. For one thing, sportsmen end of April, and in and about Jamaica Bay
are expected to know the calendar pretty black duck, wood duck and "old wives,"
well themselves, while as for localities I have with an occasional wild goose and even
never been able to give or to obtain any ex- swan have been brought down by indus-
act addresses, outside the markets, where fish trious sportsmen. Cotton-tails have been
and game are quite certain to be at home. pursued across the snow, and though the
In a general way, the metroix>litan sport- early part of the year is not open season on
ing season may be said to open with flounder cotton tails, the law provides for their
fishing. The flounder is not a handsome being hunted by landowner's permission,
fish. He is flat and shapeless— his color is which is not difficult to obtain, for farmers
not inviting, and his eyes are put on wrong. have no love for the bunnies, who some-
There was a mistake made in setting his times do serious damage to their early vege-
mouth, too, but it is too late to correct these tables. In the Bronx and upon Staten
things now, and the flounder comes early Island there has been duck and rabbit
and may be caught from the Manhattan shooting also, but on a smaller scale. An
docks, from both shores of Long Island occasional mink, and even an otter, have
Sound, from boats in the lower bay, from liecn killed along the Bronx River, 'pos-
almost anywhere, in fact, where salt water sums have been brought in by night hunters,
ebbs and flows. He is the beginning and the red fox and the anise seed bag have
of the fisherman's year, and with the first been pursued by the more aristocratic of the
days of sun, the fever gets into the fisher- suburban sportsmen. There is another
man's blood, and he begins to rake out his hunting season in the autumn, with ducks,
tackle and to multiply his record of the snipe, plover, rail and small game to be had
season before. Sport levels all ranks. The for the shooting, and with a repetition of the
East and North River docks show a motley fox cha.sing over the Dongan Hills.
collection, rangingfrom the well-dressed man Summer is game, but
the close season on
of business, down through several types of it is high tide in and manners of
all sorts
workingmen, to the nigged but happy street salt-water fishing. About Manhattan Isl-
boy and the soiled and indigent incapable and, and along the water front of Brooklyn,
who has hobbled out for an hour's forgetful- the flocks and slips are frequented by a
ness and a touch of sun. motley crowd of anglers. Soldiers fish
Tomcods and stri|>ed bass follow the from the piers and bulkheads of Gov-
flounder for salt-water fishing. Trolling ernor's Island, while the shores of Staten
for striped bass on Ixmg Island Sound is a Island and Long Island Sound are so popu-
noble sport, and even the catching of tom- lar that the proprietors of fishing boats and
cods is a diversion not to be despised. In bait plants thrive sufficiently during a season
the fresh-water streams of Long Island, the to enable them to live comfortably, not to
trout season begins with the last (lav's of say luxuriously, during the remainder of the
March. It is projjer for the suburban New year.
Yorker who lives anywhere in the neighbor- Steamboats of considerable size make
hood of Flushing, or Jamaica, or Little daily excursions to the lower bay, carrying
Neck, to have a whip at the streams on crowds of fishermen to the teeming waters
these days, or at the latest on the first day of inside the Hook, and if one may judjje from
April, whether the weather be cold or hot, the hilarity and musical demonstration of
wet or dry. If he catches one trout on this the home-returning parties, it is certain that
first day's sport, he is happy. If he catches they have had a happy if not a profitable
two he is exalted. If by any chance he time, and that their catch has been sufficient
should lure a third from the chill waters of unto the day.
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3 o6 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
I must not make especial mention
fail to a tough piece of meat and a landing net are
of the weak-fishing. The weak-fish, also the implements required, and any water
known as the sea-trout and squeateague, that is salt and shallow and quiet, and per-
comes in June,and is plentiful within met- haps a bit weedy, will do for a place. The
ropolitan limits. In Jamaica Bay, when the crab is there and he will bite. Not only that,
tide is coming in, I have taken two and but he will hang on until you have had
three pound weak-fish as rapidly as I could plenty of time to get him in the net. The
cast and reel. The run is not likely to last solid German with his family who have put
more than an hour at a time, but that hour in a day of crab fishing are the pictures of
is sufficiently exciting, and the fisherman is happiness in the evening, for their day has
ready to rest and count his catch when it is been full of the joy of pursuit and their
over. Snapper fishing, too, in August, is basket is filled and heavy with the crust and
rapid work. On a good day I have taken claws of capture. Now blessings light on
two and sometimes three at a pull about as him who first invented this same crab
rapidly as I could run the machinery. I also the perch, the porgy and the fluke, and
must not foget the oysters and clams that the sinuous and elusive eel. In the metro-
abound along the shores of Greater New politan game preserves the trout and the red
York. Little Neck Bay is the original fox may become extinct, but the portly
home of the celebrated Little Neck clams, porgy, the unprepossessing flounder, and
while the fame of New York oysters is the crusty and combative crab will give joy
world-wide. Then there arc the soft clams. for a thousand years to come. Our game
What a joy to put on a bathing suit and preserves are not the best, of course. Our
spend the day swimming and digging soft species are not always the choicest, nor in
clams, alternately, and there is nothing in numbers the most abundant. Many of
the world quite so good as the steamed soft us stray farther afield for our sport, but
clam, served with drawn butter sauce. having counted the cost and the returns of
Neither must I forget the crab. Far be it many a reputed wood and stream and
from me to neglect that clumsy old duffer, com|>ared them with those within the
who, crusty though he be, has afforded so confines of the Greater City, it is my con-
much innocent amusement to old and viction that while one may not always
young. No specially made five or seven fare so well here as did our lucky English-
ounce rod is needed for crab fishing; no man, he may easily go farther and fare
skill that comes of long practise. A >tring, wor>e.
Digitized by Google
WHERE "SPECKLED BEAUTIES"
ARE
BY LOUIS RHEAD
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR
•
KNOW a brook, with- under a bridge that has been the scene of
in an hour's ride of a many a fishing tug-of-war.
great city, where I can The house, with its low moss-grown
wade and cast the gables, protected and shaded by three
is
fain' -fly and see the giant willows and a towering locust tree,
trout dart from silvery planted there when the house was built.
ripples, seemingly con- On my arrival the sweet-faced old
scious that I am there, wife Ls the first to take my creel and
to place their golden bodies in my fern- proudly show my skill. Her care in
lined creel. How well the poet knew, how placing the "speckled beauties" on the
intimate with nature and the longings old willow pattern dish doubly repays for
that are called forth in the lines, "When all those drawbacks one bears without a
tulips bloom in Union Square!" What —
murmur fearful and wonderful feather
angler is there who, sauntering past those beds in which a merciful providence saves
tulips, sees the light, fresh-green budding one from being smothered; chairs with
trees, the lively sparrows busy making legs sadly cracked or one or more of them
love or fighting for a mate, but uncon- missing; doors that will neither open wide
sciously finds his thoughts at once trans- nor shut tight, and a host of useless things
ported to such favored spots. The feeling that we expect otherwise but never get at
is so strong one cannot put it away; one a country farm, to say nothing of the
has to pack up tackle and bag and be off. terrible dishes cooked for my special
As the train approaches my destination, benefit and by pretence enjoyed. I accept
I get out my rod from its case. The flies them all, and never think of complaining,
are tied on the cast, ready to put together for these sons and daughters of the soil
the moment we reach the station, where "don't keep boarders." I am their city
the agent well knows the habits of his guest and friend who, on leaving, finds it
visitor, and carries off the bag to be called difficult to repay them for all the incon-
for by my farmer host, while I trudge off veniences made by his presence in the
up-stream, to fish down right farm
to the regular routine of their farm duties.
where I board with the homely but kindly Despite their protests, he knows full well,
occupants. I am the ever welcome har- down in his heart, the money is most
binger of spring. No son could be wel- acceptable, and really needed.
comed after a long absence with more It is a source of undying wonder to them
genuine pleasure than I am. Now the how I can cat trout for breakfast, lunch and
long winter of tiresome loneliness is over. supper four consecutive days in the week.
This old timl>ered farm, after two hundred I could not unless cooked my own way.
battles with the winter storms, stands firm One of the important items provided in
on a slope just above the brook which runs my bag is a glas* jar of prepared bacon.
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IIS COMES TO MV NET IN THE riNK OF CONDITION,
Experience of farm bacon has (aught me a the trout, dry them with a towel, dip them
lesson, so I take it along, and every new in beaten eggs and powdered crumbs,
place I go I make a point of overseeing wrap the fish in a blanket of three pieces of
the first cooking of my trout. It is a weak- bacon which can be fastened with small
ness, no doubt, but to cook trout badly is a skewers, drop them slowly in bubbling
crime. I will not permit it; and with many hot fat made of part butter and lard.
apologies and polite excuses I manage to Watch them change a lovely brown color.
have my way. Try it. brother anglers, and Then turn them over 'til both sides are
take note of the following: After cleaning well done. Place them in a dish garnished
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WHERE "SPECKLED BEAUTIES" ARE
with fresh.y picked watercress, and they is as free to him as to me, and that through
are ready to be eaten with plain bread and such as he the brook is fished clean a
butter and a good cup of coffee. fortnight from the opening of the season.
But I have cooked my fish before their These worm-pluggers with tireless industry,
capture. The little stream only twenty- with all their lack of angling skill, manage
five feet wide is but a stretch of half a mile to get all the fish within the law. But the
of good fishing. As I creep near a deep pool trout are not in the humor for his bait.
where I hope to land a brace of trout, I dis- I see a rise close by him, and cast my flies
turb a pair of kingfishers loudly screeching at his very feet, tobe taken in a flash, and
their displeasure at being deprived of their repeated time and again. Still the darkey
fishing. I see a fish rising and prepare plunks away without success. Why did
to make a long cast, but I have not enough I not tell him to fish with a single worm
line out, so I creep nearer till I manage only? For the plain reason that I knew
to place my flies —
a silver doctor, coachman him to be a native who, not having the
—
and black gnat right over their noses. At sense of reasonable limit to his catch,
once they go and 1 run up to test my skill makes my chances, already slim, slimmer
and strength of tackle. He is more wiry still. I leave him there, and soon catch a
than 1 at first imagined, for he goes down glimpse of the farm. My creel begins to
and fastens the line to a sunken log which sag, but the best sport of all is at the bridge.
1 am not aware of; but I hold tight and The water falling over rocks makes a deep,
wade across to the upper end of the pool, shady pool. I can see the trout lie quiet
and, sure enough, I get him off, taking good under the pussy willows, but they dash
care to keep him after that. In a little like lightning up-stream at the motion of
while he gradually gives in and willingly my rod.
comes to my net in the pink of condition. I let them remain for another trip and try
He weighs just a pound, possibly the where a little spring of cool water joins the
largest fish I shall get, at least on this trip stream. They are not rising here, so I
down. must coax them up. This is one of the
In fly-fishing never be in a hurry. Take few places where the angler sees his quarry
plenty of time to look about; watch what and can be still close enough to cast
flies are on the wing and use the best without being seen. And I cast, dry-fly
imitation you have. There are many fashion, through the air two or three times,
things on the river bank to be seen by and like a feathery snowflake the black
—
sharp eyes sometimes a mink, or a musk- gnat touches the surface and floats but a
rat. Then there are many spring flowers second. I can see a couple dart upwards.
just peeping from their beds, the trilliums, The foremost takes the lure. Now for
violets, and the starting ferns just pushing —
my finest skill to creel him without dis-
forth their twisted spikes, the dogwood turbing the others. I lead him off strug-
overhead, and the pussy willows lining the gling with might and main to reach those
brook, while the air is full of lively notes willow roots, but I turn him off down
of song-birds on their way northward, or toward deep water, keeping a taut line and
perhaps to stay through the summer. And soon reel him in. Again and again I go
so I wade along, casting as I go, with back till my basket has an even six brace
varying success on coming to a sudden of as pretty fish as ever angler caught.
turn which forms another grand pool that Happy fisherman with a full creel, tired
I know will add a brace to my creel. But and hungry, I am but a step from the farm.
as I turn the bend I sec a darkey planted I take off my waders, wash my fish and then,
on a big rock holding a pole and a line at seated on the weather-worn arm-chair at the
the end of which is a bunch of worms big corner of the porch, get out my pipe and
enough to choke the largest trout foolish smoke, and watch the golden sun go down
enough to take it. I know that the brook and the evening shadows creep gentlv on.
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" THK CLIFrs" ABOUT THE rARK ROW l'i 1LMM1.
MODERN CLIFF-DWELLERS
BY EARL MAYO
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
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I
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3 i2 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
characteristics of every newly discovered ductors of the comic columns have selected
species it may be said that most of the the caretakers of Harlem flats for their
modern cliff-dwellers represent the genus figure of lordly and despotic janitor? It
junitoris. is an astonishing error of judgment on
The New York janitor has long been their part and aptly illustrates the truth
one of the prominent features of metro- that the career of professional humorist
politan life. To him the joke-makers owe isincompatible with an exact philosophical
a debt of gratitude and the patient resi- judgment.
dents of the city a debt of quite another The Harlem janitor is a poor and petty
sort on which it is not necessary to dwell. despot compared to the exalted- members
The point to which I wish to call attention of his profession who hold sway in the
is this: How is it that the mournful con- domain of great office buildings below
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MODERN CLIFF-DWELLERS 3»3
Fourteenth Street. The flat house Cerberus his fellows occupy the choicest residential
exercises authority over only a few families spots in all the metropolis. They never
at the most, and his immediate subjects are need to worry lest the street-cars run over
mostly abject servant maids and scared the children or burglars rifle their closets
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Copyright by L mJeru-aod If I'ndtrnixxi.
Google
MODERN CLIFF-DWELLERS 3'5
nent inhabitant of a building that shelters a hill-top close to the seashore could give.
during business hours perhaps a thousand Not the most multiplied millionaire can
persons. All day long the hallways re- purchase such an outlook in all the greater
sound with the tramp of many feet, the city as is the portion of the occupants of
reach it he need not hang desperately to a and a half in height, set upon the roofs
strap while elbowing humanity rips the quite as they might be on the street level.
I
buttons off his^coat, nor cling to the tail- Though usually of diminutive size they
board of a Broadway car bristling with are like the cottages which one may often
desperate .passengers ready to commit see in suburban towns or country villages.
homicide in the effort to get home in time Life on a roof may not appeal to the
for dinner. He ascends calmly and un- reader as particularly attractive. It sug-
disturbed to the topmost public floor of gests a limited range of activity, with pos-
his domain. Then opening an incon- sibilities of disaster if one ventures off one's
spicuous door, he climbs a short flight of doorstep in an unguarded moment. But
steps and stands before his own door. it must be borne in mind that these homes
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f
man who indulges a liking for small gar- grounds that their less fortunate fellows
dening. One may see very pretty and lower down may well envy them. The
artistically arranged
groups of outdoor great height might make a child who was
Unburns or clusters of climbing vines or unaccustomed to it afraid, but this feeling
beds of early lettuce on <omc of these soon wears off, and the hitte ones scamper
roofs. There i> bright sunshine all day about as much at ease and less in danger
long in pleasant weather, and the facilities than they would be in the street below.
for growing flowers or vegetables under
The tops of some of the big skyscrapers
^lass an- of the best. One consolation are almost broad enough to accommodate
to the roof gardener is that his neighbor's a game of baseball, although it cannot lie
dogs or chickens can never break in and said that this form of sport is greatly in
overrun his choicest plots to their great favor among the younger generation of
havoc. roof-dwellers. Hut for hide-and-seek and
The children of the roofs have play- tag and a score of other games dear to the
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MODERN CLIFF-DWELLERS 3 1
7
childish heartthe opportunities afforded hours, and the roof-dwellers are far less
by the chimneys and pipes and columns likely to have their slumbers disturbed
of the broad roof could not be excelled. than arc the residents of uptown streets
It is odd to sec little girls giving their doll and avenues.
parties here in mid-air above the busiest Not all the dwellers of New York's
part of the busiest city in the world. Some cloud-kissing heights are janitors and
of the roofs havehammocks and swings superintendents of big buildings. There
and croquet grounds and all the other are a number of cases where olher citizens
equipment of a thorough outdoor play- have learned the advantages of these lofty
ground. dwelling-places and have adopted them
To the older folks too the roof offers as as their homes. The great square tower
many seductive attractions as it does to of the Produce Exchange houses several
the children. The women have tea there families; a number of well-known New
out of doors, unmindful of the hubbub Yorkers have found the Madison Square
that prevails below them in Broadway. Garden tower a pleasant abiding-place,
The men smoke their evening pipes and and in various spots about the city others
chat with visiting friends in calm seclusion have set up their I^ares and Penates on
when the pulsing life of the city streets has the roofs — fifteen or twenty stories above
calmed to silence and the moon is hanging the street. This up-to-date adaptation of
high above the Brooklyn Bridge. A de- the chief characteristic of a prehistoric
serted village is hardly more quiet than adds one more to the many
civilization
lower Manhattan in the evening and night unique features of metropolitan life.
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THE LORD OF THE MARSH
BY HERBERT R. SASS
ILLUSTRATED WITH A PHOTOGRAPH
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
sat a king-bird searching with keen eyes at hLs huge bulk, had blazed at him with
the surrounding air for insects and ready small shot as he passed well overhead.
incidentally to pick a fight with anything But the craft that comes with years and
from an eagle to a wren. To him the great the inherited wisdom of his ancestors, ac-
heron gave a wide berth, for he knew the quired by centuries of experience, had
truculent temper of the little bully and kept him safe from man; and never, during
feared him a.s a man fears a hornet. Other- all his seven years of life on the Carolina
wise he held a straight course, having for coast, had a bullet torn his flesh or even
the most part level marsh beneath him, ruffled a feather of his breast.
though, now and again, crossing some On this October morning, an observer,
wide bend of the sinuous river. Presently, glancing casually at the heron as he stood
when the deepening roar of the surf on the in the shallows of the Stono, would in all
Kiawah beach to the south bespoke the probability have believed the bird asleep.
nearness of the ocean, his strong pinions Only twice in the space of some two hours
ceased their action and, with dangling did he move out of hLs tracks to a position
legs, he slanted gradually downward. a few feet nearer shore; for the tide was
Awkwardly, with a flutter of wings and rising and the water mounted higher about
a craning of hLs slender neck, he alighted hLs slim, strong legs. For many successive
in the shallow water close to the river shore. minutes he stood absolutely motionless
The heron was a strange and noble bird save now and then for the gentle swaying
to look at as he stood two inches deep in of his long black plumes when a flaw of
the muddy marginal water, motionless as wind swept across the broad river. Yet
a figure cut from bronze. From the base the heron was not dozing. The small
of hLs dark-blue crown two tapering black round eyes on either side of the narrow
feathers nearly a foot in length drooped head drawn close down almvc the shoulders
gracefully toward hLs gray shoulders; and were keen and alert as those of a hawk.
over his slaty breast and ash-blue back Nor, in fact, was he even idle. Now and
was spread like a veil a delicate fringe of again, sometimes twice in the space of five
slender snow-white plumes. There was minutes, sometimes not once in half an
nothing in hLs coloring to match the bril- hour, the bent neck straightened like a
liancy of the flamingo or the roseate tints spring and the long, yellow beak darted
of the spoonbill, yet a discriminating eye deep into the water. Once or twice it
would have held him handsomer than came up empty, but usually it held firmly
either; for about his straight lance-like between its two needle-pointed mandibles
beak there was nothing awkward, and his a dripping mullet three or four inches in
whole bearing as he stood erect was stately length. This the heron manipulated skil-
without a trace of ungainliness. Fully fully, so that the head of the little fish
four antl a half feet to the top of his crested pointed inward, for otherwise the fin-
head, he was surely the largest specimen spines would cause it to stick in his gullet;
of his kind that the Carolina marshes had then, with a great writhing of his lengthy
seen in many years; and, indeed—although, neck, he swallowed the dainty morsel. A
of course, he himself was unconscious of moment more and he was again a motion-
the fact —
his great size had many times in less statue, searching the surrounding shal-
his life compelled the admiration of men lows with bright, unblinking eyes for the
who were little given to wondering at bird approach of another victim.
or beast. Rice planters far up the Cooper The sun had mounted high and the
and the Wando marveled occasionally at air above the green flats shimmered and
the immense "blue crane" that stalked danced in the heat when the heron spread
about their fields hunting mice. From his great wings again. This time his
Combahce River as far north as Winyah flight was a short one. Speeding swiftly
Bay, the oystermen who ply the marsh- across the intervening marsh, he arrived
creeks and sounds behind the narrow sea presently at a low, swampy island clothed
islands gazed at him often from the decks with a thick, semi-tropical jungle of scrub-
of their clumsy sloop* and wondered at oak, pine and palm. Into thLs jungle he
his wide spread of wing, though probably slanted down from above and came to rest
each time they took him for a different in a dead live-oak overhanging a small
bird. More than one rail-hunter, astounded fresh-water pond near the center of the
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THE LORD OF THE MARSH 321
island. Here the scenery was inexpressi- passed, a single business in life the pro-—
bly wild. Since the red man had given curing of food. For this business there
place to the white, no human being had are no regular periods set aside; all day.
looked upon this little lake encircled by from dawn to sunset, there proceeds one
dense, impenetrable forest. Dark brakes of long,intermittent meal. So the heron,
tasselled canes and tall, slender reeds when he had caught his fill of dragon-flies,
obscured its margin, and its wine-colored turned tail upon the pond and sought
surface was half-choked with slippery a new hunting-ground. Twenty minutes
water-growths, coated with thick green later he settled slowly down into an old
slime and swarming with minute forms millet field overrun with grass and weeds
of life too small for the naked eye. Above and proceeded with infinite care to stalk
the pool the air was alive with mosquitoes, the timid meadow mice that scurried here
and scores of voracious dragon-flies darted and there along their hidden runways.
to and fro among them, or rested with
extended wings on the tips of the stiff, Some twenty-five miles to the northeast
sparse blades of water-grass. On a half- of Stono River, on a low bluff facing the
sunken log near the center of the pond a waters of Bull Yard Sound, stood one of
dark-colored snake of graceful build lay those fine old plantation houses of ante-
apparently asleep; and close to the rim bellum age that are scattered here and
where the reeds straggled down to the there throughout the Carolina low-coun-
slimy water lurked a short, thick-bodied try. On either side and to the rear mas-
moccasin, submerged save for the small sive live-oaks, centuries older than the
blunt-nose head. Over all brooded an house itself, shaded the surrounding area;
oppressive stillness, unbroken by the song while in front of the high piazza, with its
of a bird or the splash of a leaping fish; tall white pilkirs, stretched a wide green
and, as though to add the last touch of lawn cleared of all trees that would inter-
gloom to the silent pond, three grim black cept the view. Down the middle of the
vultures perched motionless upon the lawn a narrow path led to the edge of the
broken branch of a white-bleaching pine. steep bluff where a scries of step.-, fash-
The great heron was not alone in the ioned out of rough-hewn logs, dropped
dead live-oak by the edge of the pool. On down to a landing which extended
little
other branches of the spreading tree stood some forty feet into the water.In front
two others of his kind. A moment after lay the broad sound and, beyond the
alighting he had uttered a loud, hoarse sound, a vast area of marshland. Be-
call, more like the roar of some wild beast yond this again, purple and hazy in the
than the voice of a bird, and each of the distance, one saw the forest on the barrier-
others had answered similar fashion.
in Island that shuts off Bull Yard from the
Save for this gruff greeting, however, the ocean.
three paid no attention to one another and Two men, accompanied by a handsome
disturbed the silence of the surroundings black and white setter, who had come
with no more raucous sounds. They were around the corner of the house and fol-
not garrulous birds; and, besides, they had lowed the path across the Lawn, paused at
come to the pond with a purpose that would the top of the bluff as a little girl of twelve
not be furthered by noise or movement. or thirteen summers shouted to them from
Now and again a dragon-fly
glittering the piazza. She waved her hand, and
would pause in front of one of the tall, tripping lightly down the piazza ste|)s, ran
impassive figures, peering curiously with swiftly along the path, her loose yellow
its queer compound eyes; and like a hair streaming in the wind. After her.
lightning flash the javelin-beak would squealing and yelping at being left behind,
shoot forward, seldom to miss its strike. scurried pell-mell four furry little black
So for many hours the three perched in the and white puppies apparently not over two
shade above the stagnant pool and took months old.
toll of the foolish gau/.e-winged creatures Dropping the oars which he had been
that came to stare at them. carrying, the older of the men caught the
Among the wader tribe— and, indeed, little up into his arms as she arrived
girl
among most of the lower animals there— breathless,and kissed her.
remains, after the breeding season is "Popper," she gasped, pulling playfully
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322 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
at hisheavy black beard, "you ain't a-goin' the Stono wearied of mouse-hunting.
to take Bess with you, are you ? Me an' Mounting high in the air, he pointed his
the puppies was jus' goin' to play hidc-an'- long beak northeast and for more than
scck with her." an hour and a half flew steadily in that
"Yes, honey," he answered. "We've direction. He passed over miles of dark
got to take her this time. You know old swamp-forest, over wide areas of cleared,
Nick trained to fetch marsh-hens;
Isn't cultivated land, and still wider stretches
and, besides, see how much Bess wants of unreclaimed salt-marsh, braided with
to go. Why, she's barking at us to tell us narrow, winding waterways. Once he
to come on." saw beneath him the roofs and steeples
"Oh, popper! I misses her so much. of a populous city; and twice he crossed
Nick's so lazy, he ain't any fun at all." She over rivers even broader than the broad
hesitated, a pout of disappointment on her Stono. Always as he flew he could see the
brown face; then, brightening suddenly: ocean away to the right; and he shaped
"My, what a big Po' Jo!" she exclaimed, his course parallel to the long white line
pointing up at a huge heron that was pass- of surf. Finally, passing over a plantation
ing slowly over, high in the air. house, with a green lawn in front, on which
Her father gazed at the great bird for a stood a little cluster of dogs and people,
moment, then turned to his male com- he came upon the spacious expanse of
panion. Bull Yard Sound, encircled on three sides
"Duncan," he said, "there's a specimen by vast marshes. Crossing the sound, he
you ought to have in your collection. I sloped gradually downward toward the
reckon that's the biggest blue crane in marsh and alighted on the muddy bank
South Carolina. I've been seeing him off of a small, meandering creek. Wading
and on for the last four or five years, and a little way into the water, he took his
I always recognize him the minute I see
'
stand in the shallows, his bright eyes
him." keenly alert for unwary mullet.
The other, a short, clean-shaven man The queer, faint call of a chuck-wilPs-
with a shotgun slanting across his shoulder, widow somewhere in the distant woods
nodded emphatically. announced the approach of evening, when
"He is surely a splendid specimen and round the wide bend, some fifty yards be-
I'd love to have his skin. But, my dear low the motionless heron, glided a narrow,
fellow, how often have I told you they are square-headed punt. On the forward-
—
herons not cranes, but great blue herons ? " thwart sat a small, clean-shaven man in a
His companion smiled. "You call him brown shooting jacket and corduroy trous-
a heron, I call him a crane and the darkies ers, a shotgun resting across his knees.
call him Po' Jo," he remarked. "What's Behind him crouched a black and white
in a name, anyway? Well, good -by, setter, her eager eyes fixed on the pro-
honey." He kissed his daughter again jecting muzzle of the weapon, her whole
and placed her on her feet. "We'll be silky-haired body tense with excitement.
back before supper and then you can play In the stern, a second man, big and black-
with Bess all you want. We'll bring you bearded, plied a short paddle skilfully.
—
some marsh-hens begging Mr. Duncan's In front of him, on the bottom boards,
pardon, clapper-rails— for breakfast." piled together in a tumbled heap, some
He picked up his oars and followed sixteen rail bespoke the steady aim of the
Duncan down the rough steps to the land- s|>ortsman in the bow.
ing where the impatient setter already Swiftly and almost noiselessly, holding
awaited them. dose to the inner shore, the punt swung
"Take care of Bess," the little girl called with the tide around the sweeping bend,
to him from the top of the blulT. She still hidden from the heron by a little
watched them take their seats with the peninsula of marsh. The paddle, dipping
dog in a square-headed, flat-bottomed now and again into the deep, smoothly
punt; then, whistling to the puppies, raced flowing water, made no splash or ripple
back across the lawn to the house. audible to human ear. Yet the heron
suddenly drew himself erect. A moment
The afternoon was well advanced when he listened, stiff in his tracks, the slim
the great heron in the neglected field near neck craned out to its fullest length; then
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THE LORD OF THE MARSH 323
turning, he ran forward a few steps and, trained and courageous, would not shirk
spreading his wide wings, rose into the her duty. Slowly, with head outstretched
air. The sportsman in the punt jerked and tail rigid, she crossed the intervening
his gun to his shoulder, yet hesitated. It space toward the motionless heron. Three
was not his practise to shoot herons, but paces in front of him she paused. Draw-
here was a noble specimen for his collec- ing her tense body together for a spring,
tion. she suddenly launched herself forward, but
"Shoot, Duncan!" exclaimed his com- her hind feet slipped on the treacherous
panion. "That's the big crane that passed mud and she landed not upon the heron,
over us on the lawn." but close in front of him. Quick as a
It was a long chance with small shot flash, the long beak shot forward; and,
designed for rail; the first barrel only cut even in that supreme moment of terror,
a feather from the heron's wing. But the aim was deadly. The needle noint
through the smoke of the second, almost struck the setter full in one of her large
simultaneous discharge, they saw the great brown eyes and penetrated deep into the
bird, one broad pinion flapping wildly, the brain.
other dangling useless, drop heavily into She had lain there, pitifully still, in the
the marsh some forty yards from the shore black pluff mud for perhaps twenty min-
of the creek. utes,when the two men came upon the
Almost instantly the setter was in the body. Her master, grim and silent, bore
water, striking vigorously for the shore. her in his arms back to the punt and laid
Splashing noisily through the shallows, her gently between the thwarts. Only
she raced a short distance along the muddy once on the way home did he speak, and
bank, then plunged into the marsh. As there was a hoarseness in his voice that
she wormed snakelikc among the close- caused Duncan to raise his eyebrows.
growing blades or, where the growth was "PtH)r Bess!" he said, fondling the long
lower, progressed by short labored bounds, black ears, "you were a good dog, and your
always her black nose was sniffing, sniffing little missus told me to take good care
like a rabbit's, searching the air for a of you."
scent. Suddenly a tainted breath swept That night, a little yellow-haired girl in
across her nostrils, and she turned sharply the big plantation house back of Bull Yard
to the right. A little while longer and she was face to face with her first sorrow.
came upon the spot where the heron had
fallen. She paused but a moment to take To the little girl, sobbing far into the
note of a few spots of blood on the marsh- night over the body of her dead companion,
blades, all bent awry where the great bird came no thought of pity for the other actor
had threshed about with his uninjured in this tragic episode of the relentless feud
wing; then, panting with excitement, that is between the power of man and the
dashed on, easily following the fresh trail. wild creatures that do not own his sway.
At last, on the farther edge of a little In her mind the heron was the murderer
patch of drier ground where the marsh of Bess —poor Bess whose puppies would
grass was low and sparse, the chase had whine for their mother in vain— who never
its ending. Yonder was the quarry stand- again would play at hide-and-seck with her
ing at bay against the dark green wall mistress among the giant oaks about the
of higher growth, the bright eyes wild house. Yet, of the two, the heron was
with terror, the tall crest-feathers erect deserving of the greater sympathy. Wound-
and stiff, the twelve-inch s|»car drawn far ed by f«>es that he had never injured, he
kick ready to strike. At the sight, the dog had struck for his life, and, for the time,
slacked her pace. She had run the game had conquered; but fate had l>een far
to earth; now she must carry it in triumph more merciful had the setter's leap borne
to her master waiting for her back yonder him to the ground. One of the broad
in the punt. Vet this giant bird in front wings that never before had failed him
of her, overtopping her by a good two feet, hung shattered and helpless by his side;
was game of a new kind, and she knew in- and, among the wild creatures, a broken
stinctively that here was a dangerous task. limb, in nearly every instance, means
A cur would have halted in his tracks and death— death, quick and merciful, per-
yelped for assistance; but the setter, well haps, at the hands of some enemy, but
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3 24 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
more probao.y slow and gradual, heralded short, quick bounds of h s .ithe, narrow
by hours or even days of torture. Wise body, his nose close to the mud, drinking
men tell us that the lower animals, less in the strong scent. A moment more and
intricately constructed than man, cannot he would come upon the heron from be-
suffer as we sometimes suffer; yet who hind. But instinct, which is lower than
can gauge the agony that was crowded reason and yet saves where reason is power-
into the last two days and nights of the less, was still alive in the dying frame, and
wounded heron's life? His very size and the heron slowly turned his trembling head.
strength were a misfortune; a smaller, Instantly he saw the danger, and with a
weaker bird would have succumbed more new strength born of terror, he raised him-
quickly, would have l>een spared at least self once more upon tottering legs and
a few of those final weary hours that dragged faced around to meet it.
by as slowly as so many long weeks. The mink, his sharp eyes caught by the
Yet, at the eleventh hour, fate relented. first spasmodic movement, halted. Or-
Dawn of the third day found the heron dinarily he would never have ventured to
back in the little space of open marsh attack so dangerous a foe, but reason or
where he had done battle with the dog. instinct — who can say which ?— had told
Wild with the agony of his mangled limb, him that the heron, whose trail he had
he had traveled on and on through the picked up back yonder in the marsh, was
marsh, but always unconsciously tending in evil plight; and it was not through
a little to one side; and, by a strange coin- curiosity that he had followed up the scent.
cidence, when at last his strength failed Approaching a little nearer, he ran
and the throbbing jxiin grew mercifully rapidly around the wounded bird, seeking
duller as the end drew near, it was close to get behind him; but always he found the
to the scene of the setter's death that he formidable beak pointing fairly toward
had halted for the last time. Swaying un- him, wavering weakly, yet ready to strike;
steadily for a moment, trying in vain to and his cunning marked its wavering.
brace itself on legs that quivered with Suddenly he arched his slim brown back
weakness, the tall form sink slowly down, and sprang close in front of the heron, yet
and the head, unable to support the heavy beyond his reach. Again he leaped, this
beak, wavered lower and lower, until, at time to the side, then, quick as lightning,
length, •'
above the shoulders.
-:«ted close darted in. Once the long spear struck,
The end was Another hour,
surely near. heavily, unsteadily, yet had itgone home,
perhaps, and the pain would be over. with force enough to kill. But the wily
But fortune, suddenly grown kind, mink, dodging easily aside, was past the
spared him that hour. Even as the gieat feeble guard, and a moment Liter the last
heron sank slowly to the ground, Death, throb of jxiin was gone out of the beautiful
sudden and merciful, was pressing haid ash-blue body, lying breast downward in
upon his trail; and presently, at the very the mud, with one broad wing outspread,
sjwt where the stricken bird had emerged motionless save for the gentle swaying of
from the denser growth, apjx?ared a supple, the long plume feathers in the light breeze
slender-bodied mink. As yet he did not that blew from the sea across the waking
see his quarry, and he came on rapidly with marsh.
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AT THE RIPPLING OF THE CORN
BY CAPTAIN WIL: AM PAGE CARTER
And the blushes, oh, the hushes There your own heart lit my lone
Till the shadows of the evening Not so long when we can bear
Stayed around us rich and rare, Hand in hand the tide of tears
How they glimmered, how they Ebb-tide, flow-tide, time and care,
Oh, the gold hair, Sweetheart Lulu! Sweetheart Lulu ! Sit beside me,
Oh, the roses, roses, roses, See the sun-floss down the mead-
How they tumbled at my care, ows,
How they rumpled, how they crum- Floss of ev e, not floss of morn,
Crumpled, rumpled in your hair. Sweet time, floss time of the com.
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ON THE BRINK OF THE FALLS
BY WILLIAM DAVENPORT HULBEKT
ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS
river from shore to There was one other person on the raft,
shore, and that had a man who sat on the woodpile beside the
followed the rear of tent, silently smoking his pipe.
the drive all the way "You're quite a river-driver, Barney,"
from the headwaters said McLain when the story was finished.
of the Iroquois, lay "Think you could birl Tommv Anderson
motionless, tied fast to a tree at either end. off a log?"
Below it,a field of brown logs, jammed "Guess I could try," said Barney, and
tightly in a sharp bend of the stream, rested he laughed, perhaps a trifle nervously.
a little while in its long journey to Lake The man on the woodpile did not stir
Superior. Above, everything was clear nor look up, but for just a moment the light
except for three rafts, each carrying a big of battle gleamed in his gray eyes. In
white canvas tent, which lay moored to the form and bearing he was not unlike Mc-
bank. It was half-past two in the after- Lain, but he was a younger man, ami a
noon, and McLain's driving crew had homelier. His hair and mustache were too
finished their second luncheon, and were sandy to be ornamental, and his face was
taking things easily for a few minutes before too round and was burned to a fiery red
going back to the l>attle of the peavey and by sun and wind. Vet it was a strong face
the pike-pole and the saw-log. The spring and a good one.
sun was bright and warm, and the river "How's that, Tommy?" asked McLain.
flowed quietly between the ranks of pine "Can Barney beat you birling?"
and cedar and spruce and balsam and "I don't know," said the man on the
hemlock. woodpile, but his voice sounded as if
In front of the cook-tent Polly McLtin he did know but didn't intend to say
sat on a box of dried apples, and at her perhaps, also, as if he knew that talking
feet, moored to the edge of the raft, lay was not his strong point.
her own light canoe, in which she had just Two or three of the men had heard, and
come down from "McLain's place" to see word went round the rafts that Tommy and
how the drive was going. Polly was eigh- Harney were to have a birling match. The
teen and was very good to look at. Her crew woke up. Not a man but knew that
father sat beside her on a chest of tea— Polly McLain had been Tommy's best and
grizzled, blue-eyed man
of moderate stature only girl all winter till Barney Taylor came
and stocky whose every move and
build, in the spring and cat him out. Some of
pose proclaimed him a thorough woodsman them thought Barney couldn't have done
— and on her other hand stood a tall and it if Tommy had held on and fought, but
Digitized by Google
"A I l ! 1 I '
Or MOWN LOOS, jAMMKD HOHTLV IN A SHARP BIND or Tilt STKRAU.
"Suppose Tommy can do him up?" Tommy's got money in the bank and a
asked Shorty. thousand dollars insurance in the Macca-
"
"Sure," 'said Velveteens. "Tommy's bees.
a better man than Harney is, any day." "Maybe that's what McLain 's doing,"
No one disputed him. some one suggested.
"Seems to me if I was McLain I'd let A grin went round the group, and Vel-
Barney go over the tote-road, " said another veteens put the finishing touch to the dis-
man. "He's blown in his whole stake '
cuss ion.
every spring for the last five years, and "Maybe Polly's put him up to it," he
Digitized by Google
328 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
said. " Let's go and see the fun, " and they flecks of foam and sent them circling about
all trooped forward toward the boom. like a flock of little white birds. To the
"Get out there on the lop," McLain leftone looked straight up a half-mile of
was saying, "and let's see which is the best tumbling rapids, and in the middle of the
man." channel, extending nearly its whole length,
Between the raft and the boom there was the biggest center jam that he and his
stretched a few feet of open water enough — —
crew had ever had to tackle a long, nar-
to make a very long jump for most men, row pile of logs, thrown together like jack-
though not for a good river-driver. Barney straws in the wildest confusion and resting
cleared it easily, and Tommy started to solidly on the bottom, with the brown
follow. And then came the thing that was water flashing past on either side. Most
not on the program if —
program there of the men were already at work on its
really was. Tommy was not to do up Bar- lower end, only a few rods from the brink,
ney Taylor that day. Instead he was to laboriously picking it to pieces with their
go in debt to him. As he sprang from the peaveys and letting the loosened logs go
edge of the raft he had to glance lack and over the falls. Farther up were Tommy,
make sure that Polly was watching him, Barney, Shorty and Velveteens. Mcl^ain
and that backward glance cost him his aim. watched them rather anxiously. There
Instead of landing lightly and surely on the was a bare possibility that at any moment
boom he went feet first into the river, clean the whole pile might start down the river
under and out of sight. and take the crew with it. So far, how-
There was a general rush, for everybody ever,it seemed more likely that it would
knew that Tommy, like many another first- allhave to be picked out a stick at a time.
class river-driver, could not swim, and that On the lip of the ledge, where the current
the current was almost certain to earn- him ran most swiftly, the water spread out so
under the logs before he came up. McLain thin that it was not more than a foot in
fished for him with a pike-pole, and two depth, and all the larger logs grounded as
or three of the best swimmers plunged in they nearcd the brink, and then went bump-
after him, but came up again empty-handed. ing and rolling and grinding along in a
The water of the Iroquois is about the color smother of spray till they pitched over into
of strong tea, and a very little way below the whirlpool. Now and then a big fellow
the surface it is as dark as a pocket. Polly would catch on the very edge and stay
had not said a word, but her face had gone there till another struck it from behind and
as white as the cook-tent behind her. Sev- pushed it off, and once a huge, hollow
eral minutes went by, and then Barney, timber hung for several minutes with half
peering down between the logs three or four its length out in the air, while the water
rods from the boom, caught sight of his rushed through it and spurted from its
blue cotton shirt, and pulled him out, un- outer end as from a gigantic faucet. The
conscious and more dead than alive. It solid earth trembled under the foreman's
took much rolling and pummeling to bring feet when at last it slowly up-ended like
him to, and when at last he had caught his a monster see-saw and plunged out of sight
breath and found his tongue he sat up and in the boiling pool below. But the trem-
cursed, long and deeply and fervently. bling did not seem to disturb McLain. For
McLain turned to his daughter. eight long months he had been working to
"Polly," he said, "I guess it's time you get these logs out of the woods "by the
were going home." slack- water at the river head," and the
And Polly stepped into her canoe and look of anxiety on his face changed to
paddled away up the river. quiet satisfaction as one after another in
One morning three or four days later quick succession took the leap and went
the foreman stood at the top of a high, speeding away on the last stage of its jour-
steep l>ank, looking down into a narrow ney. The job was almost done. Sud-
wooded gorge. Fifty feet below him the denly a commotion arose among the men
river leaped out over a rocky ledge and on the jam, and he glanced up-stream,
dropped another fifty feet sheer down, caught his breath, looked again, stared for
landing in a whirlpool where bits of broken a moment with all his eyes, and then gave
rainl>ow were gleaming in the mist, and a great cry and dashed away up the river,
where, now and then, the wind picked up going through the underbrush like a scared
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ON THE BRINK OF THE FALLS 329
deer. A canoe, apparently at the mercy held on. For those few minutes he was
of the current, was drifting into the head a hero, whether he had ever been one l>e-
of the rapids. It was too far away for him fore or not, and little by little he worked
to distinguish a face, but the only person himself and the girl up on top of the rock,
on board was dressed in bright pink, and so that they were only partly in the water.
there was only one pink dress for sixty He was feeling the bottom with his feet,
miles up and down the Iroquois. searching for the best footing within reach,
The four men on the upper end of the and presently he rose, very slowly and
jam thrust out their pike-poles frantically cautiously, and stood there holding Polly
as Polly went by, pale and scared looking in his arms. The water came barely to his
and gripping the gunwales with both hands, knees, and the rock served to break the
a broken paddle lying on the bottom in current somewhat, so that he did not feel
front of her, but Tommy was the only one its full force. As long as they stayed where
who reached her, and the steel tip of his they were, they were comparatively safe.
pole just grazed the side of the canoe and But to stay there very long was impossible,
drop|)ed into the water before she could and between them and the river bank the
get hold of it. Before they could try again bottom was slip|)ery, and the rapids,
she was gone, and for a moment three of though shallow, were running their very
them stood staring stupidly after her, swiftest. Very carefully Barney put out
Tommy's face whiter than it had been for one foot and felt the stones as if thinking
twenty-odd years. But there was one man of wading ashore, then drew it hack and
of the four who seemed to know just what shook his head. He dared not try it.
to do. Quick as a flash Barney had rolled McLain had returned and was standing
a log into the water, mounted it, planted his in the edge of the river, shouting at the top
pike-pole against the jam, and with a of his voice, when a log came flying down
mighty shove had sent himself far out into the rapids with a man on it, and Tommy
the rapids. The current caught him, and Anderson made a leap and landed close
away he went. Like a circus-rider erect beside him.
on a barelmck horse, the log bucking and "Where's the rope for the jam-dog?"
rolling and twisting under him and doing he cried.
its best to throw him off, he dashed down "There," said McLain, pointing toward
the narrow water-way between the log- a rock beside the brink, and Tommy
flat
jam and the wooded shore. Polly was snatched it up and dashed away up-stream.
well ahead of him, but he was poling like " Come along, " he shouted, and McLain,
mad, and in the course of a hundred yards puzzled but ready to grasp at any straw
he overtook her and stepped into the canoe. that offered, hurried after him.
And then before he could do anything more Tommy had tied the end of the rope
than catch her up in his arms, they struck around his waist as he ran, and now he was
a rock, and both of them were in the river. rolling a stranded log into the water.
At first he tried to swim, but he could do "You pay out the line," he said.
nothing against that rushing current, and "It's and rotten," the foreman
old
he gave it up almost immediately. If they warned him. "I don't know whether it'll
were saved at all it must be in some other hold or not."
way. Swiftly, but quietly and unresist- "I guess it'll hold two people," said
ingly, they went down the rapids, her bright Tommy. "It'll have to."
dress and his red shirt making a brilliant It'll have to hold three," said McLain,
spot of color in the dark water, till they but Tommy did not answer.
touched another rock over which the river was The log was in the water and was almost
boiling and foaming. Then Barney's right lie ating free when he glanced again at the
arm shot out and caught at the stone, and ro]>e around his waist.
for a minute or two he thought that his "That won't do," he said, and he untied
fingers would be torn to pieces and that the itand took the end between his teeth. A
whole limb would be pulled out by the roots. moment later he was afloat in the rapids
It seemed as if the river was alive and was again, flying toward the falls and poling
tugging at him and Polly with the strength frantically to get out to Barney's rock be-
of a thousand horses to tear them away fore the current swept him past it. McLiin
and pitch them over the falls. But Barney paid out the rope and hurried after him
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Cffyf igkt by t n,iri r.w/ f l/irdrrawt/.
as fast as he could, stumbling along in the the rock, but passed out around it, handing
edge of the water, over the rocks and under the end of the rope to Polly as he went by.
the overhanging trees. And then McLain understood why he had
''He'll never make it," he had said to taken it in his teeth, ready to let go in-
himself as Tommy pushed out into the stantly, and a sob rose in the foreman's
stream, and for a moment it looked as if throat as he took a turn around the trunk
he was right. If the rope had been longer, of a cedar. In all probability Tommy had
so that the start could have been made given his own life to save the other two.
from farther up. the chances would have But it was the only way, McLain could see
been better. But Tommy was making that. If he had held onto the rope, or
the fight of his life, and he not only reached if it had been fast to his bodv, it would have
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ON THE BRINK OF THE FALLS 33i
knocked Barney and Polly over into the For a moment he stood there, his spiked
water, and that would have been the end shoes planted on the rock, and the water
of them. Even a hold on the life-line could swirling about him half-way between his
hardly have saved them then. As it was, ankles and his knees, and as he waited he
Barney was still on his feet, and in another glanced toward the shore and saw Barney
minute they were ashore; but as they turned lay his hand on Polly's shoulder, saw her
back toward the river and looked across shake him off and step closer to her father,
the rapids they saw Tommy, on the very and then saw her lift her own hand and
brink of the falls, literally dancing with wave it to him, Tommy Anderson! Sud-
death. denly a small section of the pile melted away,
He had hardly passed the rock when his and for a few seconds the water in front
log struck Ixittom, swung around sidewise, of him was almost hidden by the brown
and began to roll. And as the log began logs. As they came Hying toward him
to roll, Tommy began to birl, and he birled Tommy jumj>cd for the nearest one, as a
for his very life. Faster and faster and man caught in front of a train might jump
faster, with the spray flying around his feet for the pilot of the engine, and the onlookers
and legs, and the log grinding and bump- watched him breathlessly. If he hit that
ing closer and closer to the verge. There log just right, and kept his feet, there was
are good watermen on the Iroquois drive, still a chance for him. If he didn't it would
but no one in McLain's crew had ever seen be all over in a twinkling. Tommy did hit
such stunts as Tommy did that morning. it just exactly right, but it was coming as if
Long before one could tell it his log was it had been shot out of a cannon, and he
gone, but before it pitched over another had stumbled, bent forward till those on shore
come within reach, and then another, ami thought that he had fallen, struck out
another, and another, and Tommy took them wildly with both arms, made a desperate
in turn, leaping from stick to stick, and ac- leap toward the second log, and fairly flew
tually running up the river on the hurrying across the rolling, tumbling timbers to the
timber faster than it could carry him down, jam.
so that by the time half a dozen had passed A few minutes later he walked straight
him, he was farther from the danger in- up to Polly, where she stood leaning on
stead of nearer it. The crew had grasped her father's arm, and in his face there was
the situation and were tearing the logs out a stern questioning that was not to be mis-
of the jam and sending them down in a understood nor put aside. Polly held out
steady stream, so close together that a her hand.
squirrel could have jumped from one to "O, Tommy!" she said, "I— I—" and
another, and Tommy, cool and steady as she broke down and cried, hiding her face
if he were on the sorting-jack instead of in McLain's coat.
the edge of a cataract, never faltering, All the sternness in Tommy's face melted
never hesitating, never making a mistake into helpless distress and tenderness, and
or a misstep, tnxl death's treadmill, and something interesting would certainly have
—
slowly very slowly —
worked his way kick happened if McLain had not interfered
toward safety. But suddenly Polly gave rather hastily.
a cry and caught her father by the arm. "Come along, Tommy." he said, as he
There had come a break in the procession picked her up in his arms and started
of logs. All the loosest ones on the lower toward the head of the rapids. "You and
end of the jam had been turned adrift, and I'll just put this girl in my canoe and take
there was a little delay while the pcaveys her home to her mother. She's all broke
tore frantically at the tangled mass of tim- up."
ber. It was not half a minute before they But they had not gone far when Polly
were coming again, faster than ever, but lifted her head from his shoulder and
in those twenty seconds Tommy was swept looked kick.
clearback to the brink, and as the last log •Thank vou, Barney," she called.
went over he stepped off into the river. " -ood-by.
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THE AMERICAN SOCIETY WOMAN
BY A CHINESE GENTLEMAN
Editor's Note: Great interest has been aroused throughout the country by the publica-
tion in The Metropolitan Magazine last month oj an article by "A Chinese Gentleman,"
entitled "Are Americans Intelligent?" The sei'erity 0} the author's criticisms and at the
same time the irrefutable justness 0} them, the calm dissection of our national Jollies and social
brutalities, have started a keen discussion on all sides as to the purpose of the astute Oriental
and the ultimate end to be achieved by him. II is air of superiority and finality on all subjects
has been found by many readers quite objectionable. Others find him merely amusing. No
one doubts his absolute sincerity. Speculation as to the author's identity is inevitable, but for
both social and political reasons his anonymity must 1* preserved, for a lime at least. Because
the " Chinese gentleman's" views are always interesting, space will I* given them in several
forthcoming issues.
V any one thing were cipallyby what the Americans call "putting
needed to convince me up a bluff." You recall in one of our wars
of the benignity of Chi- of history a Tartar general had but two
nese philosophy and hundred men and ten camels. He knew
the fact that our com- that the enemy was watching him, so he
placency is well poised, ordered his force to march out one gate of
it would he my expe- the city and in another, forming a complete
rience with American line and never breaking it. When they
ladies of fashion. I am never taken se- reached the interior they changed costume
riously, yet I have been able to condone this and armor, and the enemy who was witness-
greatest slight that can be put upon a gentle- ing the passing of this vast army counted in
man of perfect education, since I have dis- the course of a day tens of thousands of sol-
covered that the American woman cannot diers—counting, of course, the same men
help it. She has not the intellectual grasp over and over; and seeing that the case was
even to conceive the beauties of the Oriental hopeless, having but five thousand men him-
mind and its depth. In short, the average self, he retreated and left to the field the
American woman is not remarkable for her general with his two hundred men. This
mental powers. There is a class of women act of strategy was a " bluff," and the gen-
with small brain power that spend their eral was a " bluffer," and as it took place in
lives aping men, and begging other women the reign of a dynasty eight hundred and
to join them in a revoltand demand all the fifty years before the whites discovered
righN of men. Hut these are the exception; America, I might claim en passant that
the mass of women merely laugh at them. China produced the first "bluffer, "while the
The average woman, when it comes to the "bluff" is not an American institution.
real discussion of weighty questions which The American men resent any reflection
men enjoy, arc mere children. upon the mentality of their women, which is
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THE AMERICAN SOCIETY WOMAN 333
They are framed like men, strong of voice, prise on entering American society to find
heavy of limb, Hat of chest, short of hair. this a complete myth. A charming woman,
Such a woman to whom I was pre- not over twenty, the daughter of a high offi-
sented in the salon of a famous senator's taught me that things are not what they
cial,
wife in Washington said to me, "Thank seem in America.
heaven the time is coming when child-bear- When I told her what I had heard, she
ing will not be considered the sole and most laughed. " Oh, those awful missionaries; so
important function of woman. Woman they have told the poor heathen that ? Well,
has been ground down too long," she anything is good enough for the pagans."
continued, "and when that time comes And then she told me what I saw to be true,
what will you do?" looking me fiercely in that there were the same social classes in
the eye. America that obtained in England, and that
I have not posed as a wit in America, but America was at heart an aristocracy of the
my reply made me famous in Washington, most pronounced type, with the classes as
as I said, "Why, we will have to see Pro- far apart as the poles. They all claimed to
fessor Hacckel,* when that time comes, be equals, but I am sure they never had the
madam." opportunity to put their claim to the test.
This is the woman's rights type, fortu- Let me paint you a picture of American
nately rare, yet they are respected. Such society. I was invited to an evening recep-
women speak at meetings, write exhaustive tion which demanded what the Americans
papers on profound subjects only treated in term full dress. The men were in black: a
cyclopedias, and live in an atmosphere of "cut-away" coat, white waistcoat, cut low
self-adulation and contemptuous pity for to display an expanse of starched bosom,
the heathen Chinamen and the rest of man- and on the wrist was bound a "cuff" as stiff
kind. as the bosom, while the neck was held
I was surprised to learn that such women in place by a band or "collar," equally
ever married, but there are cases. You unyielding, uncompromising and uncom-
will remember in the study of spiders the fortable.
female is large, while the male is often very I was introduced first to a young lady
small and insignificant and frequently is whose costume would have attracted the
eaten by the female. Some of these hus- attention of Buddha himself. We are
bands of the woman's rights party which I familiar with the devout missionary, often
have met in many ways reminded me of thin, and not over beautiful, but this girl
these male spiders. They seemed reversed; was a Hebe. You know I am no longer a
the woman would cut her hair short to be child. I have seen the world, yet I could
manly, while the husband would let his hair not look upon this American woman without
grow long to be womanly. Can you conceive feeling the blood in my face. The mission-
a more singular people ? Yet such a man aries come to China to teach the heathen
thought it very strange that I should wear a Chinese, yet I have never seen a Chinese
"pigtail," and asked me the origin of the woman of the lowest class expose herself as
custom. I told him that we got it from did this young girl to at least three hundred
General George Washington. men. You will say that she was an outcast,
I have mentioned this exceptional type of but there is where you would misjudge a
woman that I may make the average Amer- beautiful and pure girl who sat by her
ican society woman shine by contrast. The mother's side. She was innocent of guile,
latter lacks mental grasp and is really but a and was only the victim of a Christian cus-
child in all thatmakes up the mentality of tom which permits a woman of fashion to
the Orient, but she has a charm of manner, literally appear half-naked before the public
a beauty of person, that forces me to forget at a reception. I may create a wrong im-
Digitized by Google
THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
a third of the bosom was displayed, and the sister at home garbed in this bare and naked
corsage was so formed or designed as to dis- fashion, I believe I would rather see her
play coming maternal charms to the best dead than to think of her as an arouser
advantage. Her beautiful arms were com- of passions, however innocent. Still I am
pletely bare, and it was a mystery to my only a Chinaman; we are behind the age.
heathen soul how the dress was kept or held What think you of sitting with such a
in place. I fully expected to see it drop any person and have her criticise the Chinese
minute and leave the young lady nude to the women because they bind their feet ? " Does
waist. your father's wife bind her feet r" asked my
As I approached and looked down at her fair interlocutrix.
I was filled with confusion, and hastened to "Yes," I replied.
sit beside her that I might not be over- "Horrible," she said, with a delicious
whelmed with mortification but as I sat she
; shiver. "You do need missionaries, my
stood up, and I saw to my horror that her dear Count."
dress was at least six inches lower behind " Not half so badly as you do in America,"
than in front. I have said that her mother I said. " Our women may bind their feet,
sat beside her, and the only difference was but you Americans compress the waist and
that the elder woman made
the greatest dis- deform the entire body, I am told."
play of charms only seen in heathen China She merely raised her graceful eyebrows,
in the nursery. and that was a danger signal.
This girl was charming; how could she be I had ventured on a subject that was
otherwise, for she was modest, virtuous, and Uiboo, yet she wore a metal cage or frame
a type of the young women of fashion in known as a "corset." This affair com-
America, the women in the best society. I pressed all the vital organs and pushed them
have seen at the opera and at great balls of out of place, but it made her waist look
state hundreds of such costumes. small and her hips large and she was satis-
How can such a display of charms be fied. I had this from a female dressmaker
reconciled with the teachings of Christianity of Washington, who permitted me to ex-
as taught by the women missionaries to amine her stock of corsets, and she sug-
the heathen Chinese? I became convinced gested that one would be a good thing for
that the missionaries had turned their backs me. She took in my weak points at a glance.
on the most promising field for reform. She assured me that many American gen-
I spoke to an American friend about it, tlemen of fashion wore them; but I could not
but he laughed. "You will become so prove this and I suspect that she was joking
hardened to it that you will not notice it," he with me. In America no position is so ex-
said; but, shades of Mohammed, there are alted that it will protect one from the joke.
things in life that never pale on the Oriental It ishere that the equality crops out, and in
mind in the least! "
What do you look at a an offensive and disagreeable fashion.
woman's neck for if you consider the expose" The young woman whom I have men-
improper?" asked mv friend. tioned associates with a group or set of
"Is it not intended'that 1 should look?" I people all in her same station of life. She
replied. never met a tradesman of any kind and
"Yes, very possibly; yet if a young lady certain professions were barred absolutely.
should see or suspect that you were looking Thus a doctor of medicine or a lawyer, a
at her display of neck, I assure you she professor in a great university, an architect,
would have grounds for feeling insulted. It an artist, a sculptor, an officer of the army
would be a gross solecism to lie caught at or navy, a clergyman, a senator, a congress-
so ill-bred a trick." man (of standing) she might meet as equals,
I give you this conversation to illustrate providing they were men of the highest posi-
the absolute ambiguity of American meth- tion, culture and refinement; but a dentist,
ods. Was there ever such a contradictory retail merchant of any kind, a school-teacher,
condition under the sun ? a clerk, a musician, a salesman or men in
The Americans may see nothing in this similar classes of trade she would never
display that is wrong, but that young men meet or know anything about. In a word,
can see and still be blind I do not believe. your young American society girl of the best
I see much that I like among the Americans, class is an aristocrat. She has her family
but when I try to picture my modest little traced back to William the Conqueror, who
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THE AMERICAN SOCIETY WOMAN 335
appears to be a popular ancestor just now her command devote hours doing the
will
in America. She accepts the coat-of-arms work of the postman, delivering cards.
of the English Smiths, if her name is Smith, Let us follow this charming American.
or she may use her own crest handed down She may return at six in time to dress for
in the family. She is beautiful, cultivated, dinner, appearing as a divinity, but half-
highly educated in the American sense, has naked, as I have described. I disgraced
a strong moral tone, is patriotic to a degree, myself at a formal dinner not long ago. I
and nowhere in the world, except in China, was given a seat beside the young married
can you find a more charming creature. In daughter of a famous officer. She suddenly
the morning you see her riding in the park, turned to me, reaching over, displaying such
possibly with a gentleman and a servant, or an acreage of neck and charms that I be-
alone, as may suit her fancy. She returns came confused, knowing that I should not
in time to dress for luncheon, and at four look, yet feeling the impossibility of resisting
begins a round of "calls," which can be it, and I deluged my robe with mock-turtle
compared to our official visit, only it is gen- soup.
erally a call in theory only. At which was my second, I
this dinner,
This is a singular illustration of the vaga- was very nervous. I must tell you that
ries of the American mind which has no there is an etiquette for each dish and each
philosophical explanation for nine-tenths of tool, as cutting-knives for meat, scooping
its doings or customs. She has a calling vessels or spoons, and so forth. There
substitute called a carte de visite. It is were ten or twelve of these objects at my
really a sort of social information bureau, as plate which I took for insignia of various
it conveys to the recipient the name of the kinds; they were, however, designed for the
caller, her address and the day on which she various kinds of food, and it was a great
is to be found in her own house beyond up the wrong one at the wrong
error to take
question. If I should call on Monday when time.
her "card" read "Thursday" she would I must have shown in my face my dilemma,
send down word by the maid, who would for the lady at my right, the least embar-
report to the door-kee|>er, generally a negro, rassing to look upon and the most beautiful,
that she was "not at home." You will looked at me a moment, then laughed and
remember how the missionaries impressed said, " I know what you are thinking about."
upon us that "truth" was the corner-stone " I shall be charmed to have you tell me,"
of Christianity. But I digress. I replied, trying to look at her eyes.
Now these "calling cards" could be " You are wondering which end of the row
mailed or sent by a servant just as well, for of knives and things to begin on."
the visiting lady does not go in. She rides "You are an Oriental seeress," I an-
up to the house in state, the footman opens swered, " a reader of the mind."
the door, receives a card, delivers it to the "We have a game in America," she said,
servant, and they proceed to the next house "called 'follow the leader.* I will teach it
on the list which the driver carries. Now to you." So I did as she did, picked up the
the curious part of this ceremony is that the various article* one by one, but it was an
party called upon does not know that the ordeal. Fire! there was a trident of silver;
lady called in person, and there is conse- you used this to spear raw shellfish. Then
quently no objection to the caller putting came a scoop of silver, perfectly rounded,
herself to the trouble, but it is the " fashion." for soup; and there was an etiquette for each
I have spent much time in studying these dish which must have required a college
strange customs of the Americans, but one course to master.
knows what to expect when vou ask them Thus the oyster must not be cut, or mal-
" W hy ?'
»They do not know'" why " them- treated; it must be .swallowed entire, no
selves. The universal reply is, "It is the matter how large; and when I saw six of
fashion." Who but children would be led these huge objects and knew that the eti-
by a phantom like this ? But mark the vain quette of the oyster course demanded that
complacency of the Americans. They look they be .swallowed alive, I was stricken with
upon us and our customs, deep-seated and remorse. 1 regretted that I had ever left
founded on the study of our sages for cen- China. However, the oyster is so adapted
turies, as something'to laugh at, and yet a by nature that it facilitates its own demise.
sane young woman with twenty servants at When I tell vou that one of these molluscans
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336 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
was six incheslong and nearly three wide, the many silver knives would have ruined
you will appreciate my valor. the reputation of a guest at once. The
I had prepared myself in a measure for silver fork was used and nothing else, and so
these trials. I had borrowed several pro- on through many courses. Then there was
found literary works; one was entitled the general etiquette of the table. You
" Don't," others, "The Fashionable Diner must not lean your arms on the table, only
Out," "Guide for Good Society," and the wrist. You must entertain the ladies on
"What's What?" All contained informa- either side of you. You must not talk about
tion on social etiquette, yet there were many- the viands, nor must your conversation l>e
things not in the books. Thus it was a so heavy as to interfere with good digestion,
gross solecism to put the soup spoon in the which the Knglish poet says waits on appe-
mouth; you had to put it to the lips, and tite. Small talk, gossip, "stories, wit is the
pour the soup down the throat without a mode, and I may say that never did 1 hear a
"sucking sound." double entendre at an American table where
To depart from any of these rules would ladies were.
condemn a j>erson at once, and I saw that it Respect for woman is an American attri-
would be impossible for any untrained per- bute. I do not think that it is on account
son to steal into society in America; their of the innocence of the women, but rather
"table manners" would denounce them at that the men have a profound regard for
once. their mothers, and this regard is bestowed
Then came the fish, with its etiquette. on all her sex.
To have touched the salmon with one of I think I like this trait in the Americans.
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THE JUSTICE OF THE GODS
BY LIEUTENANT HUGH M. KELLY, U. S. A.
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THE JUSTICE OF THE GODS 339
but which in his case acted just to the "blind," while Macky was
simply told:
contrary. He had the reputation of being " All right, sergeant, accidents will happen."
the best set up, best drilled man in the The private was one of the few men who
first battalion, and he had more friends knew the sergeant for what he was, and he
than he knew what to do with. His face was not liked by the latter any the more
was open and frank, and as time passed for it.
McNeal trusted him more and more with Of course, realizing that Havey knew
the affairs of the company. On Macky's he was hoodwinking his officer, Macky was
recommendation the quartermaster sergeant a little worried thereby, although he was
was allowed to make purchases for the mess |K»sitive that his position was too firmly
from the company fund, and very little fixed in McNeal's mind shaken by
to be
check was kept on such things. The first any tale that Havey could even if the
tell,
sergeant's word was taken for the exact latter had the temerity to accuse his first
truth at all times, and when a non-com sergeant of irregularities. If his breaches
was to be made, the lieutenant always of discipline had been notorious in the
consulted him and the man he recom- company, the sergeant might have been
mended generally got the warrant. When really bothered, but he was careful that only
cases for discipline came up in the company, a few of his intimates should be aware of
the charges were put in if Macky said them, and as they took part themselves
he had investigated them and they were they would not be in a position to give
correct. In fact, McNeal, who was a evidence. Feeling that he was secure in
most excellent officer, trusted everything McN'eal's regard, the latter being the only
to his first sergeant and boasted that he had officer with the organization, Macky rubbed
discovered a paragon. He bragged about it into Havey even- chance that he got,
his ability to read character; said he could in the hope of driving him out of the
tell an honest man by his eye, and facts in company by transfer or desertion. How-
this case seemed to bear him out. ever, Havey's Scotch sticking power was
It is easy to see the immeasurable differ- like the everlasting rocks and he refused
ence that lay between Havey and the first to budge.
sergeant, and it is not to be wondered at Emboldened by the passive non-resistance
that they had little in common. When shown by the private, Macky's persecution
the former had first come to the company, took on new force. The first sergeant
he had looked from the distance at the manipulated the guard roster so that Havey
sergeant as a man of other clay to be ap- did about a third more guard than was his
proached as one would approach a being share. Havey did the dirty work around
from another world. He worked hard to the company, when there was any, and
please his deity and would have gone to any Havey got "kitchen police" a day sooner
extreme for a word of praise. This he than was his turn. The soldier saw what
rarely got, and as he grew older in experi- was going on, of course, but none of the
ence as a soldier, he realized that his company noticed, as it was done too
idol was a brazen image and just " the same scientifically. He decided that he would
as other men are." never appeal to McXeal, as his faith in the
Havey learned by accident what only existence of justice was shaken to the
one or two of Macky's kindred spirits in foundation. He himself was an injustice
the company knew: that the latter was a embodied and personified. He had never
fraud of the first water and simply had experienced justice since he was thrust into
even- one fooled to a standstill. He the world a foundling, and it was a late
learned to despise the man who lied so day to beg for it now.
smoothly as to avoid detection. He knew Havey's nerve was being shaken, though,
that the first sergeant left barracks
the and the bitterness in him Iwgan to rise and
at night and went down town; that he look out through his gray eyes. Sometimes
missed calls and the next day re]>orted that even Macky, whose courage had been
he had failed to catch the last car and had proven, felt a shiver when he glanced
been forced to stay away all night. This furtively at the man he was persecuting and
happened, of course, before the regiment noticed the growing depth of the line from
left the State-. Havevw
knew that such a the nose to the corner of the mouth, and
tale would have cost him a three-dollar saw the grim >et of the heavy chin l>eneath.
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34© THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
He .vondercd wncthcr or not he was toying after ladrones and a man was lost now and
with a latent volcano. then; but there was no fighting to speak of.
The time passed, and when Macky was It was while threading his way through
discovered one day by Havey disposing of the hot streets down to McShean's saloon
rations to a Chinese merchant, the sergeant on the main plaza, where he expected to
decided that it was indeed time to get him find the sergeant, that Havey first met
out of the company. On trumped-up Pesita Ramano.
charges for various small offences, Macky Pesita was a Spanish mestizo and in
had already accumulated five previous con- spite of her native blood was apparently
victions before Summary Court against of pure Castilian stock. She wore the
Havey, and division orders required that native dress, however, and the low-draped
the next charges should go before C». C. M. jusi waist displayed a neck and shoulders
Thereupon he set about to make the private that would have been the everlasting envy
commit some breach of discipline that ofany Newport damsel. Only generations
would put him in a j>o>ition to get a of burden-bearing ancestors can give the
"bobtail," which is short for dishonorable wonderful and graceful poise of the head
discharge. The fates seemed in Havev's that characterizes the native women of the
favor and he must have scented trouble Philippines. Beauties are seldom found
in the air, for his conduct was |>erfection among the mestizos; but when one is found
itself and no amount of nagging could get she is a joy forever. This girl |>ossessed the
an insubordinate word out of him. Some coal-black eyes and olive skin of her Spanish
of the previous convictions would be out- forebears, and did not spoil the effect of
lawed by time shortly, and Macky knew her hair by drawing it back from the fore-
that it behooved him to act quickly. head as most of the native women do, but
Havey soon got next to what was up and it wore it low and fluffy with a refreshing
gave him grim pleasure to balk the sergeant lack of the painfully ubiquitous cocoanut-
in his purpose by being absolutely model oil.
in his conduct. The continued ill treat- Havey was not a ladies' man; he would
ment was telling on him, however, and he probably have passed on and never noticed
felt that he was losing his grip and that the girl had it not been ordained otherwise.
some day he would answer back and get As she tripped along with a basket of rice
into trouble. Consequently, when he heard under each arm and another on her head,
one day that the sergeant had accused him she made a pretty picture; but the soldier's
of "trying to dig through to Kansas" at blood was jumping through his head and
Zapotc Bridge, he lost control of himself. his mind was set on other things. When
Havey was a primitive man, he reasoned the girl neared him, however, she suffered a
in a primitive manner, and his blood cried small accident that often happens to the
out for a primitive revenge; consequently, native women: one of her slippers was
nothing could satisfy him but that he must jerked from her foot by a stone. Now,
get his hands at his superior's throat or this was nothing in itself, as the Filipino
stamp his face into the mud. He reveled women attend all the dances in these little
in the thought, and all the months of in- sandals, and when they lose one, as they
justice that he had endured rose up before sometimes do, continue the dance and pick
him. He would beat Macky's handsome the slipper up on the next round, never
face into a jelly and he laughed, as he missing a step; but this time when Pesita
strode through the town in search of the slipj>ed her foot back into the chinella and
sergeant, at the vision of two black eyes started off again, it was fast l>etween two
and a broken nose. He did not care what stones and refused to move. Here was a
happened afterward. To smash Macky pretty howdy-do. Her arms were full and
in his lying mouth and knock his teeth she could not help herself, so she looked
down his throat would be worth at least around for aid. It was nearly noon ;.nd
a year on Malahi Island. the blazing street was deserted by all but
At this time the insurrection was prac- herself and the soldier with the dark, angry
tically over and the first battalion of the face whom she saw approaching. The
50th Infantry was stationed at Irriga in girl made the best of a bad kirgain and
the South Camarines. Small detachment^ tailed out to Havey in halting, broken
wire still making hikes into the mountains Knglish:
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THE JUSTICE OF THE GODS 34'
"Ah f
you help me? Me no
suldado, and gloomy now affectedhim as little as
can do este," and she nodded her head at water affects a duck. As for Macky, he
the shoe. ignored him as though he did not exist.
Havey halted and gradually his thoughts The bitterness that formerly accumulated
came back to the present. He looked at and welled up in him, he could now pour
the girl and then at "the shoe, then at the out into the ears of some one who was sure
girl's eyes,and drawing a quick breath, to listen patiently and sympathetically.
stooped and placed the slipper on the The God that he had cursed in his heart
brown foot. Then he got up and looked at and hated now seemed a very good God,
her again and was undone. Clearly love and it was a joy to Ik; alive. Pesita loved
at first sight is not governed by blotxi, race him and was surely enough happiness
that
or "previous condition of servitude." for one man. There is no accounting for
Pesita smiled brilliantly at the man and taste, and the could not have told why
girl
said: she cared for the heavy, silent man. Possi-
"Gracias, me like you, vamoose by me bly it was his gentleness and the way he
poco distancia." laid his heart bare to her. However, she
Havey thought of his half-tasted revenge, was no moralist or psychologist and never
then looked in the girl's eyes once more and attempted to analyze the whys and where-
decided that the bloody sergeant could fores. All she knew was that she loved the
wait. soldier, that he loved her and that she
"Si, seftora," and taking one of her was very happy.
baskets they went off together. Havey gave her everything that hi>
Havey took the girl to her little nipa limited pay would allow, and in return
home on the outskirts, and going in sat in she gave him herself and no question of
the refreshing shade of the banana trees in right or wrong entered their Kden to worry
the rear and watched her pound rice in the them. It was his pleasure to give her little
rude mortar. They talked together merrily, presents as surprises, to dress her prettily,
and as womanlike she wanted to do most of and his money, which was wealth untold
it, she appreciated his comparative quiet to her, and her natural taste combined
and flattering attention. When the soldier produced a charming effect. Her little
returned to the quarters, his head was in nipa shack, where she had lived alone since
a whirl and his ears were treasuring an the cholera took her parents, was fitted
admonition to come kick "^row/o" after up with luxuries that she had never known
retreat. before, and when Havey lounged there after
Havey's conduct at the mess that evening his duties for the day were over, listening to
was unaccountable to the members of the Pesita's little guitar, he felt that after all
company. He said a few words of his he may have done the world an injustice;
own volition and actually laughed once or that there was something worth living for,
—
twice the first time he had been seen to and his happiness would crowd up into
do so for months. Instead of becoming his throat and choke him.
furious when joked about the alleged Havey had no confidence in his good
incident at Zrpote Bridge, he joined in the fortune, though. He felt at times that fate
general snigger and remarked that if he had was simply playing with him as a cat toys
tried to dig through to Kansas, "there were with a mouse, and for the little happiness
others." Macky, who had heard that he had tasted the gods would collect a toll
Havey was looking for him and who ex- of tears. The gloom that had dogged his
pected to be attacked on sight, was com- footsteps since he was a child was responsi-
pletely nonplussed. ble for this unnatural frame of mind; but
Havey's actions during the weeks thai as weeks and months passed and nothing
followed were no less peculiar. happened to disturb the even tenor of his
The weight of the universe seemed to restful existence, he began to think that
have been lifted from his shoulders and a maybe he had been forgotten.
new interest in life looked out from his The fact that Havey had a girl and a
eves. He seemed actually to enjoy his pretty one was not unknown to the members
drill and the rest of his work he performed of the company; but they failed to connect
as though it were a pleasure. The kidding this fact with the change in his character,
and joshing that used to make him silent for while still, comparatively, a very quiet
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342 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
man, he was not the gloomy one he formerly him so? Were not half the women in the
was, and to the joking he received he simply town at his feet ? Had he not all that a
returned a quiet smile. Macky had never man —
could ask for friends, a position of
seen Havev's much-talked-of girl and had trust and honor, and the good-will of his
never paid any attention to the affair, fellowmen ? Why should he enter Havey's
for some time he had let up on the private little comer of the earth and try to steal his
as he realized that there was some force one ewe lamb? Was this the justice and
stronger than he working against him in wisdom of the All Seeing Eye that the
Havey's mind; hut the beginning of the end chaplain was so fond of dinning into their
was at hand. ears on Sunday? If this was a sample of
One evening after retreat, while wending that justice he had had enough of it during
his way across the plaza with ihe battalion his life and was willing that his share be
sergeant-major and the post quartermaster- visited on someone else. Let the All
sergeant, Macky ran full onto Havey and Seeing Eye ignore him and he would take
Pesita, whom he had never seen before. care of himself. He had finally reached
"My! Ain't she a queen?" he remarked. the conclusion that the only justice to be
"Who' is she?" had was that gained by the mailed fist, so
" That's Havev's girl that you've heard letthose in the high places look to them-
'em kiddin' Mm about. Funny, too, that selves.
that woodenhead should cop out such a Macky had started to cut Havey out
l>each," the sergeant-major replied. more in a spirit of jest than anything else;
" Well," said Macky, " if that dead one but this view of the matter was soon ended.
can win himself a happy home like that, In a week he became absolutely infatuated
there ought to be a chance for a handsome with the girl, and when he found that he
hombre like me. How about it?" And could make no impression on her, he was at
he slapped the quartermaster-sergeant on first surprised and then chagrined. Pesita
the back. would walk with him and talk with him,
"Take my advice and keep away. That but any attempt at affection was ignored or
Havey guards her like a gold mine and I brushed aside. He tried lo win her with
believe that he loves the girl oh the level, presents and with his larger pay, he could
and when a quiet fellow like him gets that get her things that she had never hoped
way he's a bad business to fool with," and for in her wildest dreams. These she
the trio walked on. The incident was soon would accept and then laughingly display
forgotten by all save Macky; but on his them to Havey, little knowing the agony it
mind the pretty mestizo's black eyes and caused him when he realized that he could
>ha|>ely ankles were deeply impre»cd. never hope to give her anything that would
The first sergeant lost no time; but the compare with them.
next day he found out where Pesita lived Havey had gradually dropjied back now
and, on a plea of looking for Havey, walked into his old ways and rarely spoke a word
around to see her. A few moments later to any one. The men had joked him at
Havey came in, and when he saw Macky first alxmt the prospect of having "his
sitting there a chill like death entered his lime beat," little knowing how painfully
heart. The snake had found his little real and serious it was to him; but when one
Eden. day he had turned without a word and laid
From that time on Macky haunted
the Burney, the company artificer, cold with
place and Pesita let him come. She knew one blow of his big fist, they decided that
in her heart that there was only one man the game was not worth the candle and
>hc loved; but like all women it pleased her let him alone.
to have admirers, and the handsome sergeant Both Havey and Macky had passed the
was no mean catch. Keside>, it was such joking stage long ago, and when they met
fun to make her big Americano lover their eyes locked and each realized the
jealous. deadly challenge in the glance of the other.
As for Havey, the earth seemed sinking They, at least, knew that it was now a
away under his feet. The overwhelming mutter of life and death between them, and
sen*e of his inferiority as compared with woe lie to the outsider that attempted to
his rival swept over him and bowed him make merry at the expense of either.
down. What right had this man to dog Pesita, seeing the gloom that had dropped
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THE JUSTICE OF THE GODS 343
on her lover, Iried to cheer him up by little were working night and day, and the rattle
endearments and much affectionate acting: of the ambulances bringing in the stricken
but she was enjoying herself and could not soldiers was never ceasing. The lights
l)ear to send the handsome sergeant away burned brightly there through the night,
for good and all. If she had had any and death hovered over the place with grim
doubts of herself she would have done so, presence. The cholera dead receive no
but knowing that she was absolutely in- military honors, but in the hours of the
different to Macky, where was the harm night are hustled away in escort wagons
in having a little fun ? No man can account to be shoved into their cubby holes at the
for a woman's heart, and wonders never St. Francis church on the outskirts of the
cease. This girl cared not a whit for the town. At six o'clock in the evening a
brilliant sergeant, but clung to the dull, man is well and strong; at ten-thirty he is
slow-witted private who had come into her lying gasping on an iron bunk in a tent
commonplace life to be her hero. in the hospital yard; at eleven o'clock he
The hot weather was just coming on; is dead, and by five the next morning he
with it the cholera, and a nameless terror is in his resting-place awaiting the
last
entered Havey's soul at the thought of what "great reveille;" such is the course of the
it might bring to him. It struck the town black cholera.
like a devastating cyclone and the second The hospital corps men were dropping
day two hundred natives were down. with exhaustion and it finally became
They died anywhere and everywhere on — necessary to detail men from each company
the streets, in the corners of the walls— and to assist them in their work. This was a
McNeal, coming down the steps from his "daily duty" detail and it was made every
quarters, found a dead woman and her morning. The devil had gotten into
child lying across his path at the bottom. Sergeant Macky's heart and Havey did
The breath of the plague was in the air. nearly a half more of this duty than was
In the day the sky was black with the his share. What was more possible than
smoke where they were burning the bcxlies, that the latter, working where death was in
and at night it was red with the reflection the air, should be taken by the plague and
of the flames. Neither in the hours of gotten out of the way? The private would
darkness was there sleep for the wean,*, not protest, though he could easily have
for the bells in the churches clanged and proven the injustice that was being done
rolled, and the cholera procession crawled him by the duty roster. The day for
up and down the streets with their illumi- that was over, and the fight was now
nated crosses and weird, nerve-racking between himself and Macky, man to man.
chants. Lethargy fell upon the natives and Havey broke the cholera order daily by
they were willing to sit and let the death seeing Pesita at every possible time.
that none could avoid come and strike Fear for her was a living horror, and the
them down. The burial parties could not thought of what his existence would l>e
make way with the dead fast enough and without her chilled his very soul. He
they sometimes lay in the sun for two days, took care of her to the best of his ability
food for the flics and ants, polluting the and put into practical use what he learned
air with the pestilence. from his work in the hospital. He saw
The most rigid cholera order was pub- that she
boiled all the water that she
lished among the troops, and woe be to him drank; that she used few vegetables and
who was caught violating it. In spite of little fruit, and that she scalded what she
the vigilance of the surgeons and officers, did use. Besides this, he brought chloride
the di>ease struck the battalion and the men of lime from the hospital and made her
began to go down. One of the companies keep the house and its surroundings well
lost as many as fourteen in a week and the disinfected. Native like, she believed more
others in proportion. Strange to relate, in a candle that had been blessed by the
not a man had been taken in McXeal's padre than in all his precautions, and it
company, and he prided himself and required his Constance vigilance to make
boasted that this was the result of his and her follow his instructions. Macky also
Macky's stringent discipline. saw the girl constantly; but both of the
At the big brigade hospital, that had men were careful not to be there at the
formerly l>ecn a convent, the corps men same time, as each knew that the slightest
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344 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
cause would send them at each other's My man, that is a pretty hard question
"
throats. toanswer on such short notice. It is very
While the sickness was sore in the land, wrong to kill a man at any time."
the ladrones in the mountains, taking "Ain't it just as wrong, sir, to send a
advantage of it, redoubled their activities, man out to have some one else kill him?"
and was constantly necessary to send
it "But you must remember that it was
detachments out after them. Whenever Uriah's duty as a soldier to do as he was
a detail of this kind was made, Macky was told."
careful to see that Havey went. Slight "Yes, sir; that's so; but it seems pretty
not a big Remington ball settle the whole hard lines to have to take the chances of
thing for good? Whenever they found the gettin' killed by niggers and bein' shot in
enemy and it was necessary to send forward the back at the same time," and Havey
scouts to reconnoiter and find the lay of moved off, forgetting, in his abstraction, to
the land, Havey was sent, and the private salute.
noticed that on three different occasions "Now, wonder what on earth he is
I
—
balls— Krag balls, too snipped close to talking about," the chaplain thought; but
his head. One of them went through his he soon forgot the whole matter.
hat and another took a long ribbon out of All this time Macky was cursing his luck
his shirtfrom waist to shoulder. At such and raging inwardly. Would nothing kill
times he would tremble and turn cold with this man? He seemed endowed with the
rage, and only the training that had been proverbial nine lives. The strain was
ground into him kept him from rushing beginning to tell on them both. Their
back and braining the sergeant with his faces were paling and hard lines were
rifle. coming about their eyes and mouths.
Great God! Was this going to be forced They both realized that something was
upon him? Would he have to wet his bound to happen, as (heir endurance was
hands with the blood of a fellow soldier reaching its limit.
and superior officer to protect his own life? Then Macky, sitting in the orderly room
The day after the return of one of these one afternoon, had an inspiration. He
detachments, the chaplain was swinging kicked himself that he had not thought of
along the dusty street toward the head- it before. He got out the descriptive book
quarters building when he was stopped by and looked at Havey's record. Too late,
a tired-looking soldier who saluted and and his face fell. One of the previous con-
stood at "attention." victions had been outlawed and one more
" Well, my man, what is it ?" the chaplain set of charges would not put Havey before
asked. a General Court. He could be tried by
"Sir, I have the first sergeant's jier- Summary Court, though, and the confine-
misxion to s|>eak to the chaplain." ment would be good and long, as they
"Well, what is it?" were punishing severely all infractions of
"Sir, I want to ask the chaplain a ques- the cholera order. With Havey out of the
tion. It is about something in the Bible." way for a few months, what might he not
"Well, private, it is part of my duty to accomplish with Pesita ?
know about the Kible as it is yours to know That night, while the officer of the day
how to shoot. What is it vou want to ask was making his rounds, he was accosted
me?" by the fir>t sergeant of " B" Company, who
"It is about King David and Uriah. If reported that he had seen a man enter a
Uriah had a known that the king was native shack and would take the officer
sending him out to get him killed, would there so there would be no mistake about
it 'cr been wrong for him to go back and the evidence.
kill the king like a dog?" When the two walked into Pesita's little
This was a poser and the chaplain had hut, she screamed and hid her face on
to acknowledge it to himself. He rubbed Havey's coat. It took no second glance on
his fingersover his stubby chin and up and the private's part to tell what was up, and
down jaw; but the only solution that
his big as he rose to his feet he gave the sergeant a
came to him was
Sir Roger de Coverlcy's look that turned him pale to the roots of
remark that " there was much to be said on his hair, and even the officer drew back
both sides." appalled by the hatred that flashed from
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THE JUSTICE OF THE GODS 345
the man's eyes. There were no words still sitting there and looked up inwonder
spoken as Havey kissed the weeping girl, that the sun should rise. It seemed a
put her gently from him and, taking his hat, coarse joke that his heart should be torn
followed the officer out into the night. to shreds and the world should go on the
McNeal was wild the next day when the same as if nothing had happened.
case was reported to him. His company Of the days and weeks and months that
had finally been stricken like the rest and followed he kept no account. He did his
now he had someone to make an example work like one asleep, and as he ate practi-
of. Havey was tried promptly and sen- cally nothing he became almost emaciated.
tenced " to be confined at hard labor under He was in a world of dreams, lived in the
the charge of the post guard for three past and, calling back the days he had spent
months and to forfeit ten dollars of his pay with Pesita, was almost happy. The
per month for the same period." rains came and swept the cholera away to
Havey entered on the execution of his the sea for another year at least, and the
sentence grimly. It was not the confine- land rejoiced exceedingly. Suddenly, one
ment or the work that worried him, but the day it came to him with a deadening shock
thought of being kept away from Pesita that shortly his time would be up and he
and the fear that, left alone, she would fail would be free again.
to heed his instructions, and then but — All the pain that he had mercifully
he would not think about that. Fate had escaped during his lethargy came on him
been unkind to him, but surely he would and turned him sick. The dead wall
be spared this last ordeal. against which he had finally run stretched
He saw the girl ever)' day for the first above and before him and there was no
week, as she came to the guard house as outlet. The face of Macky flitted before
the prisoners were turned out for retreat his eyes constantlyand would not leave him.
and stood on the other side of the street. He never slept at night now, but lay and
The eighth day she did not appear and sweltered in the steam that rose from the
Havey's heart dropped like lead. She rain-drenched earth outside. He watched
must be detained for some reason; maybe the bugs fly against the greasy lantern that
she was busy and couldn't come. She hung overhead, and when they fell dead to
would be there the next day. She must the floor he laughed aloud. They re-
be there; she must be there. minded him of himself. That laugh in
The following evening, when they were the stillness of the night was not good to
turned out, Havey strained his eyes up and hear, and the other prisoners rolled and
down the street in search of the familiar groaned in their sleep.
figure, and it was not until the prisoners Macky's face was what worried him.
were marched in that he realized that as It grinned and leered at him from the dark
far as this life was concerned all was over corners and made the blood rush to his
for him. For a moment he contemplated throat and almost stifle him. He could
attempting to escape and going to search not keep his eyes off a little spot he seemed
for Pesita; but the hopelessness of it struck to sec on the pocket of the blouse over the
him and he stumbled blindly and fell upon sergeant's heart, and caught himself point-
his hard bunk. ing at the vacant space and aiming over
What surprised him was that he could his finger as he would a rifle. Then he
not feel the pain much. He only knew would laugh again. That was a foolish
that the inside of his chest seemed turned habit he was getting into, that laughing
to ice and there was a funny throbbing aloud; but it amused him immensely when
across his temples. As the night passed, he realized that he held a life in the crook
however, and he tossed on his bunk, the of his finger. It was so easy.
horror of it burst on him like a flash of The morning came when Havey was to
lightning and he sat up on the edge of his be released. After guard-mounting the
cot with a scream. The ice was still in his old officer of the day called his name and
chest, but the throbbing in his temples had ordered him to report to his first sergeant
turned to a roaring and his head was on for duty. He took up his roll of bedding
fire. Everything was on fire and the world and, instead of taking it with him to his
was falling. When the»sun came in through company, put it in one comer of the guard-
the bamboo bars on the window he was house, telling the sergeant of the guard
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346 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
that he would call for
it later. Then he shot across his eyes. It was market day
put the teeth of his hearers on edge with and the crowds of natives stared after him
another of his grating laughs. After that curiously; but those in front were careful
he went to his company. to make room for him, as his expression
Macky was not in the orderly room, so boded the man who stopped him no good.
Havcy went and got his rifle from the Straight across the square he walked and
artificer. Then he went back to his squad -
halted in the door of McShean's saloon.
room and sitting on his box-locker wiped The smell of tobacco, beer and the
off the cosmoline and oiled the breech bolt. pungent odor of whiskey barrels greeted
members of the company came in
Several him along with a breath of cool, refreshing
and eyed him curiously. It had been air from the shady interior. Havey stood
reported from the guard house that he was in the wide, arched door and gazed about
crazy. him trying to accustom his eyes to the
Havey whistled a little tune and smiled dimness after the glare outside. There
to himself. He knew he was perfectly sine; were several groups seated about tables,
but the ice had come back into his chest and at the far end of the room, with his
and the throbbing behind the eyes bothered back toward him, was Macky with Smith,
him some. When he finished cleaning the the battalion sergeant-major, and Lane,
rifle he fastened on his cartridge belt and the post quartermaster sergeant. Strangely
left the barracks. No one noticed his enough, they had seen the beginning and
departure, although he went without his they were to see the end.
blouse or hat and with his shirt open at the No one noticed Havey; in fact, no one
throat. He followed a familiar path and had seen him. He stood still for a moment
in a few moments came to a little nipa to let the throbbing in his eyes and the
shack on the edge of the town. little, red dashes grow quieter and then
The rank tropical weeds had grown took three steps into the room.
up through the floor and part of the roof "Jim Macky!" The words cracked on
had fallen in. Havey leaned on his ri tie the stillness like a pistol shot. There was
for a moment and then went inside. As he no lack of notice paid Havey now. Macky
entered something seemed to grip his heart rose slowly to his feet, resting his hands on
like a vise. The place was deserted save the table and gradually turning his head
for a prowling white cur that ran out so as to look over his shoulder. It seemed
between his legs. Everything of value had as though his eyes were afraid to meet what
been taken away and the rooms were damp they were going to see. When his glance
from the rain that had come in through the finally rested on Havey standing there with
hole in the roof. The soldier walked his rifle at the order, the sergeant's face
around and touched the walls and lynches was the color of chalk and there were queer,
with a touch that was a caress, and when blue puckers at the corners of his mouth.
he found a little native slipper he fondled The silence in the place was deadly, the
and |>etted it as though it had been a child. only motion being that of the smoke as
He Iwlicved that he had endured all that it drifted lazily out through the door, and
one man could, yet now the agony that the only sound that of the monotonous
struck him shook him from head to foot, buzz of the llies around the spilled l»eer on
and Macky's face grinned at him from the bar. McShean, the barkeeper, had
even- shadow. He threw himself on the started to till a glas> from a bottle and stood
rough bench where Pesita used to sit and like a statue, the liquor filling the tumbler
kissed it. He
could see the place in the and running over the sides to the ground un-
window sill where she had stuck her noticed. The faces of the rest of the men
needles and the little holes were there still. were almo>t as while as Macky's and they
He must go now or he would Ik* c razy as remained frozen in their positions like the
they said he was, so picking up his rifle and spirits in Dore's illu>trations of Dante's
looking about the place once more with dry, "Inferno."
bloodshot eye-, he crept out. The only calm j>crsons in the room were
Havey did not know how he got to the Havey and Lane, the old quartermaster
main plaza. The terrible sun beating sergeant. He had followed events from
down on his unprotected head had made their beginning, and while he did not know
the throbbing worse, and little, red dashes all, he knew much of what had happened.
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THE JUSTICE OF THE GODS 347
In his old-fashioned and primitive code of to be dishonorably discharged from
honor, there was no place for a man of the service of the United Slates, for-
Macky's stamp, and he now sat leaning feiting all jKiy and allowances due him
back with his glass on a level with his eyes, and to be hanged by the neck until
watching the bubbles and waiting to see dead; two-thirds of the members of
justice done. He had not long to wait. the court concurring. The sentence
With a sudden movement Have) dropjied is approved and will be duly executed.
the piece into the position of "load" and Private Havey will be hanged between
jerked one of the venomous shells into the the hours of sunri>e and sunset on the
chamber, the sharp snap smacking the third day of Octol>er, 1000, the Po>t
air like the cracker of a whip. The spot Commander at Irriga arranging the
that he remembered on the sergeant's details for carrying out this order."
blouse seemed to spread and spread till it The order went on to say: " This is one
covered his whole body and filled the end of of the most cold-blooded murders that ever
the room. Then the spell on McShean came to the notice of the Department
was broken, and dropping the now empty Commander. Apparently there was abso-
bottle and the glass to the floor he shrieked: lutely no motive but personal dislike. The
"For God's sake, man, don't shoot!" murderer was worthless and no account,
The answer he received was an ear- as the evidence shows, while the man whom
splitting crack followed by the rattle of he cut off in the prime of his life was a
the rifle as it came to the order. Macky splendid soldier, |x>ssessing the honor and
slowly turned on his heels and settled in a re>peet of his officers and comrades. The
heap to the floor, his body lying in a Department Commander trusts that this
scarlet |>ool that grew larger and larger as execution will have a good effect on men of
it gently and stealthily crept over the stone the murderer's class."
flagging. Without a word Havey turned Havey smiled grimly when the reading
and left, no one attempting to stop him, and was over, and wondered whether the
the wide-eyed natives who had gathered "honor and respect of his officers and
about the door drew back and let him pass. comrades" would do Macky much good
At noon the officer of the day was stopped lying cold in his narrow vault at the St.
in front of the guard-house by a white- Francis church; but he knew that the ashes
faced private with a rifle and without a of Pesita Romano calling from some gray
hat, who saluted and said: dust heap would at least be at rest.
"Sir, Private Havey of 'B' Company At seven-thirty o'clock on the third day
reports that he has just killed his first of October, 1900, Private William Havey
sergeant." was led out to die, and all admitted that he
The officer looked into the man's eyes died like a man.
once and there was no doubt in his mind. Strange to relate, his little pigeon-hole
Turning to the sergeant of the guard, he and Macky's are side by side in the Church
ordered: of St. Francis at Irriga, and if you go there
"Put this man under a heavy guard;" to-day you may read:
and Havey went to the corner and got his
roll of bedding. No 92,
For same murder private Havey,
this Jamks Macky,
Company "
B," 50th Infantry, was hanged First Sergeant Company " B," 50th Infantry,
higher than Haman. A little over a month Killed at Irriga,
later he was led out in front of the battalion Sept. 1, 1900.
at parade and the order was read:
"Private William Havey, Company And next to it:
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THE SUICIDES IN THE RUE
DES VENTS
BY LEONARD MERRICK
AVIXG bought the dusk was already gathering over Paris. The
rope, Tournicquot won- white glare of electric globes began to flood
dered where he should the boulevards; before the cafes, waiters
hang himself. The bustled among the tables, !>earing the
lath-and-plaster ceiling "lasses," the vermouth, the absinthe of the
of his room might de- hour. Instinctively shunning the more fre-
cline to support him, quented thoroughfares, Tournicquot wan-
and at five o'clock in dered, plunged in reverie, until he perceived
the afternoon a lamp-post was out of the that he had reached a neighborhood which
question. As he roamed on, he reflected —
was unknown to him that he stood at the
that a pan of charcoal would have been corner of a street which bore the name " Rue
more convenient after all; but the coil of des Vents." Opposite, one of the dwellings
rope in the doorway of a shop had lured his was being rebuilt, and as he gazed at it—
fancy, and now it would be laughable to this skeleton of a home on which the work-
throw it away. men's hammers were silenced for the night
Tournicquot was much averse to being —Tournicquot recognized that his journey
—
laughed at in private life perhaps because was at an end. Here he could not doubt
Fate had willed that he should be laughed that he would find the last grim hospitality
at so much Le
in his public capacity at that he sought. The house had no door to
Jardin Kxtericur. Could he have had hi* bar his entrance, but, as if in omen, above
way indeed. Tournicquot would have l>een the gap where a door had been, the sinister
a great tragedian, instead of a little droll numl>er " 13 " was still to be discerned. He
whose |>ortraits with a bright-red nose and cast a glance over his shoulder, and. grasp-
a scarlet wig grimaced on every kiosk in ing the rope with a firm hand, crept inside.
the Quarter; and he resolved that at any It was dark within, so dark that at first he
rate the element of humor should not mar could discern nothing hut the gleam of bare
his suicide. walls. He stole along the passage and.
As to the motive for his death, it was as mounting a flight of steps on which his feet
romantic as his heart desired. He adored sprung mournful echoes, proceeded stealthily
" La Belle Lucrecc," the fascinating Snake towards an apartment on the first floor. At
Charmer, and somewhere in the background this |K)int the darkness became impene
the artiste had a husband. How little the treble, for the persiennes had l>een closed,
audience at Le Jardin ExteYieur suspected and in order to make his arrangements it
the passion that devoured their grotesque was necessary that he should have a light.
comedian while he cut his capers, and turned He paused, fumbling in his pocket; and
love to ridicule! How little they divined the then, with his next step, blundered against a
pathos of a situation which condemned him ImmIv that swung from the contact like a
behind the scenes to whisper the most senti- human being sus|>ended in mid air. Tour-
mental assurances of devotion when disfig- nicquot leapt backwards in terror. A cold
ured by a flaming wig and a nose that was sweat bespangled him, and for some seconds
daubed vermilion! Truly is it said. "Not he shook so violently that he was unable to
half the world knows how the other half strike a match. At last, when he accom-
lives!" plished it, he beheld an apparently dead
It was an evening in late Autumn, and man hanging by a rope in the doorway.
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THE SUICIDES IN THE RUE DES VENTS
"Oh, mon Dicu!" gasped Tourniequot. doing here, anyhow? You are a trespasser.
And the thudding of his heart seemed to I shall give you in charge."
resound through the deserted house. "Come, come," said Tourniequot con-
Humanity impelled him to rescue the ciliating!}, "if your misfortunes are more
poor wretch if it w ere still to be done. Shud- than you can bear, I regret that I was
dering, he whipped out his knife, and sawed obliged to save you; but, after all, there is no
at the corddesperately. The cord was need to make such a grievance of it; you can
stout, and the blade of the knife but small; hang yourself another day."
an eternity seemed to pass while he sawed in "And why should I be put to the trouble
the darkness. Presently one of the strands twice?" grumbled the other. "Do you
gave way. He set his teeth and pressed figure yourself that it is agreeable to choke ?
harder and harder yet. Suddenly the rope I passed a very bad time, I can assure you.
yielded and the body fell to the ground. If you had exj>erienced it. you would not
Tourniequot threw himself beside it. tearing talk so lightly about 'another day.' The
and using frantic efforts to
o|>en the collar, more I think of your impudent interference,
restore animation. There was no result. the more it vexes me. And how dark it is!
He persevered, but the body lay perfectly Get up and light the candle— it gives me
inert. He began to reflect that it was his the hump here."
duty to inform the j>olice of the discovery, "I have no candle, I have no candle,"
and he asked himself how he should account babbled Tourniequot; "I do not cam-
for his presence on the scene. Just as he candles in my pocket."
was considering this, he felt the stir of life. "There is a bit on the mantelpiece," re-
As if by a miracle the man groaned. plied the man angrily; "I saw it when I
"Courage, my poor fellow!" panted came Go and feel for it — hunt about!
in.
—
Tourniequot; "courage all is well!" Do not keep me lying here in the dark— the
The man groaned again; and after an least you can do is to make me as comfort-
appalling silence, during which Tournie- able as you can!"
quot began to tremble for his fate anew, he Tourniequot, not a little perturbed by the
asked feebly, " Where am I ? " threat of assault, groped obediently; but the
" You would have hanged yourself," ex- room apj>eared be of the dimensions of a
to
plained Tourniequot; "thanks to heaven, I park, and he arrived at the candle stump
arrived in time to save your life!" In the only after a prolonged excursion. The flame
darkness they could not see each other, but revealed to him a man of about his own age,
he felt for the man's hand and pressed it who leant against the wall, regarding him
warmly. To his consternation he received, with indignant eyes. Revealed also was the
for response, a thump in the chest. coil of rope the comedian had brought for
"Mon Duu, what an infernal cheek!" his own use; and the man pointed to it.
croaked the man. "So you have cut me " What is that ? It was not here just now."
down ? You meddlesome idiot, by what "It belongs to me," admitted Tournie-
right did you poke your nose into my affairs quot, nervously.
— hein?" " I see that it belongs to you. Why do you
Dismay turned Tourniequot dumb. visit an empty house with a coil of ro|)C
"Hein?" wheezed the man; "what con- hein? I should like to understand that!
cern was it of yours, if you please ? Never in . . . Upon my life, you were here
.
my life before have I met with such a piece on the same business as myself! Now if
of presumption!" this does not pass all forbearance! You
" My poor friend," stammered Tournie- come to commit suicide, and yet you have
quot, "you do not know what you say you — the effronterv to put a stop to mine."
are not yourself! By and by you will be "Well," exclaimed Tourniequot. "I
grateful, you will fall on your knees and obeyed an impulse of pity! It is true that I
bless me." came to destroy myself, for I am the most
" By and by I shall punch you in the eye," miserable of men; but I was so much
returned the man, "just as soon as I am affected by the sight of your sufferings that
feeling better! What have you done to temporarily I forgot my own."
my collar, too? I declare you have played "That is a lie, for I was not suffering —
the devil with me!" His annoyance rose. was not conscious when you came in."
"Who the devil are you. and what are you "I have resolved to die because life is
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35" THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
torture," said Tournicquot, on whom these I chose an artiste. If I had my time again, I
detailshad made an unfavorable impression. would choose in preference any sempstress.
"The same with me! A woman, of The artistes are for applause, for bouquets,
course?" for little dinners, but not for marriage."
" Yet," sighed Tournicquot, "a woman 1" "I cannot agree with you," said Tour-
"Is there no other remedy? Can you nicquot, with some hauteur. "Your expe-
not desert her?" rience may have been unfortunate, but the
" Desert her ? I pine for her embrace! theatre contains women quite as noble as
"Hein?" any other sphere. In proof of it, the lady I
"She will not have anvthing to do with adore is an artiste herself!"
me!" —
"Really is it so? Would it be indis-
"Comment ? It is love, then, with you ?" creet to ask her name?"
" What else ? A passion eternal." "There are things one does not tell."
" Oh, mon Diru, I took it for granted you " Perfectly. But as a matter of interest ?
were married! But this is droll. You would There is nothing derogatory to her in what
die because you cannot get hold of a woman, —
you say quite the reverse."
"
and / because I cannot get rid of one. We " It is a fact. Nevertheless
should talk, we two. Can you give me a " Also I shall be dead by to-morrow."
cigarette?" "True, I was overlooking that. Well, the
"With pleasure, monsieur," responded reason for reticence is removed. She is
Tournicquot, producing a packet. " I, also, known as La Belle Lucrece.'"
'
will —
take one my last." " Hein ? " ejaculated the other, jumping.
" If I expressed myself hastily just now," "What ails vou?"
said his companion, re-fastening his collar, "She is my Wife!"
—
"I shall apologize no doubt your interfer- " Your wife ? Impossible!
ence was well meant, though I do not pre- T tell you I am married to her —she is
tend to approve it. Let us dismiss the inci- 'Madame Beguinet.'"
dent; you have behaved tactlessly, and I, on "Mon Dieul" Tournicquot, faltered
my side, have perhaps resented your error aghast; "what have I done!"
with too much warmth. Well, it is finished! "So? . You are her lover?"
. .
I will confess that I think vou are being "Never has she encouraged me recall —
rash." what I have said? There are no grounds
" I haveconsidered,"rcpIiedTournicquot; for jealousy —
am I not about to die because
"
" I have considered attentively. There is no she spurns me ? I swear to you
alternative, I assure you." "You mistake my emotion— why should
"I should make another attempt to per- I l>e jealous. Not at all I am only amazed. —
suade the lady — I swearI should make an- She thinks I am devoted to her? Ho, ho!
other attempt. You
are not a bad-looking Not at all. You
'devotion' by the
see my
fellow. What is her objection to you ?" fact that I am about to hang myself rather
" It is not that she objects to me —
on the than live with her. And you, you cannot
contrary. But she is a woman of high prin- bear to live because you adore her! Actually
ciple, and she has a husband who is devoted you 'adore' her! Is it not inexplicable!
to her— she will not break his heart. It is Oh, there is certainly the finger of Provi-
like that." dence in this meeting! . Wait, we . .
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THE SUICIDES IN THE RUE DES VENTS
self without restraint to you, monsieur," " Do you not tell me that her only objec-
said Tournicquot, "because circumstances tion to your suit has been her fear that she
which we both regret naturally cause me to would break —
my heart ? what an hallucina-
regard your existence in the light of a mis- tion! —I shall approach the subject with —
fortune. To answer you with all the deli- tact, with the utmost delicacy! I shall inti-
cacy possible I will say that, if you had been mate to her that to ensure her happiness I
cut down five minutes later, life would be a am willing to sacrifice myself. Should she
fairer thing to me." hesitate, I shall demand to sacrifice myself!
"Good," said M. Beguinet, "we make Rest assured that if she regards you with the
progress. Your income ? Does it suffice to favor that you believe, your troubles are at
support her in the style to which she is ac- an end- the barrier removes itself, and you
customed? What may your occupation be?" join hands. . . The candle is going
.
tenance. Now the happy medium jumps to Who shall read the future ? Awhile ago
the eyes; for you, for me, for her the bright, they had been strangers, neither intending
sunshine streams! I shall efface myself; I to quit the house alive; now the pair issued
shall go to a distant land —
say Brussels from it jauntily, arm in arm. Both were in
and you shall make me a snug allowance. high spirits, and by the time the lamps of a
Have no misgiving; crown her with blos- cafe gave them welcome, and the wine gur-
soms, lead her to the altar, and rest tranquil gled gaily into the glasses, they pledged each
— I shall never reappear. Do not figure other with a sentiment no less than fraternal.
yourself that I shall enter like the villain "How I rejoice that I have met you!"
in melodrama and menace the blissful
the exclaimed Beguinet. "To your marriage,
home. Not at all! I myself may even re- nion vieux, to your joy! Fill up, again a
marry, who knows? Indeed should you glass— there arc plenty of bottles in the
offer me an allowance adequate for a family cellar. Mon Dieu, you are my preserver —
man, I will undertake to re-marry I have — must embrace you! Never till now have I
always inclined towards speculation. That felt for a man such affection This evening !
will shut my mouth, hein ? I could threaten all was black to me; I despaired; my heart
nothing, even if I had a base nature, for I, was heavy as a cannon-ball— and suddenly
also, shall have committed bigamy. Suicide, the world is bright! Roses bloom before my
bigamy, I would commit rather than live feet, and the little larks are singing in the
with Lucrece." sky. I dance, I skip! How beautiful, how
" But Madame's consent must be gained," —
sublime is friendship better than riches,
demurred Tournicquot; "you overlooked than youth, than the love of woman; riches
the fact that Madame must consent. It is a melt, youth flies, woman snores. But
fact that I do not understand why she friendship is — Again a glass! It goes well,
should have any consideration for you, but this wine. Let us have a lobsterJ I swear I
if she continues to harp upon her dutv, have an appetitie; they make one peckish,
what then?" these suicides, n'esi'-re-pas? I shall not be
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
—
formal if you consider it your treat, you "It is natural."
shall pay. A lobster and another bottle, " Is it not ? I desire to explain myself to
hein ? At the expense of vou, or me?" you, you understand are we not as brothers ?
;
"Ah, the bill all in one!" declared Tour- Oh, I realize well that when one loves a
nicquot. woman, one thinks always that the faults
"Well, well," said Beguinet, "you must are with the husband; believe me, I have
have your way! What a happy man I am! had much to justify my attitude. Snakes,
Already I feel twenty years younger. Vou dirt, rages, what a manage!"
would not believe what I have suffered! My "Rages?" gasped Tournicquot.
agonies would fill a book. Really! By na- " I am an honest man," affirmed Beguinet,
ture I am domesticated, but my home is draining another bumper; "I shall not say
imjx)ssible — I shudder when I enter it. It to you, 'I have no blemish, I am perfect.'
is only in a restaurant that I see a clean Not at all! Without doubt I have occa-
tablecloth. Absolutely. I pig. All Lu- sionally expressed myself to Lucrece with
crece thinks about is dress." . more candor than courtesy. Hein ? Such
"No, no," demurred Tournicquot; "to things happen. But" — —
he refilled his glass,
that I cannot agree." and sighed pathetically "but to every
"What do you know? You 'cannot citizen,whatever his position whether his —
agree '1 You have seen her when she is affairs may have prospered or not— his
laced in her stage costume, when she minces wife owes respect. Hein ? She should not
and prattles, with the paint and the powder, throw the ragoHl at him. She should n».
and the false hair on. It is I who am 'be- menace him with snakes." He wept. "My
hind the scenes,' mon ami, not you! I see friend, you will admit that it is not genlille
her in her dressing-gown and her curl pa- to coerce a husband with deadly rep-
pers. At four o'clock in the afternoon! tiles?"
Every day! You 'cannot agree'!" Tournicquot had turned very pale. He
" Curl papers ?" faltered Tournicquot. signed to the waiier for the bill, and when it
" But certainly! I tell you I am of a gentle was discharged, f it regarding his companion
am most tolerant of woman's
dis|K)sition, I with round eyes. At last, clearing his
it says much that
failings; I would have throat, he said nervously:
hanged myself rather than remain with a "After all, —
do you know now one comes
woman. Her untidiness heris not all; to think it over— I am not sure, upon my
toilette at home revolts my butsensibilities, honor, that our arrangement is feasi-
—well, one cannot have everything, and her ble?"
salarv is substantial; I have closed mv eves "What?" exclaimed Beguinet, with a
to the curl pa{>crs. However, snakes are violent r>tart
—
"not feasible? How is that,
more serious." pray. Because I have opened my heart to
"Snakes?" ejaculated Tournicquot. you, do you back out ? Oh, what treachery!
"Naturally! The beasts must live; do Never will I believe that vou could be
they not support us ? But Everything in its
' capable of it!"
place' is my motto; the motto of my wife " However, it is a fact. On consideration,
•All over the place'! Her serpents have I shall not rob you of her."
shortened my life, word of honor!— they " Hase fellow. Ycu take advantage of my
wander where they will. I never lay my confidence. A contract is a contract !
head beside those curl papers without the "No." stammered Tournicquot, "I shall
terror of finding a cobra-de -capelk) on be a man and live my love down Mon- I
the pillow. It is not everybody's money! sieur, I have the honor to wish vou 'good-
Lucrece has no objection to them; well, it night.'"
is very courageous —
very fortunate, since "Hi, stop!" cried Beguinet, infuriated.
—
snakes are her profession but /, I was not "What is then to become of me ? Insolent
brought up to Miakes; I am not at my ease poltroon— vou have even destroyed my
in a zoological garden." rope!"
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O actress of the English- to such an extent that he attended two din-
>pcaking stage to-day ners a night. Then Mark Twain, Robert
better deserves a suc- Hunter, and a body of men, whole-souled
cessful Fiftieth Anni- in their desire for freedom on earth,
versary Jubilee than offered him their best services. But their
Miss Ellen Terry. So promises were still in a nebulous state when
with the encouragement
of Queen Alexandra,
unusual impetus has been lent to the move-
ment recently started in London to give a
benefit in honor of the actress on April 28th,
and to raise for her a fund for the purpose
of " placing Miss Terry beyond any future
anxiety regarding her comfort, as a tribute
to her beloved personality, and in homage
to her art." Here in the United States the
best of New York philanthropists, Mark
j
Twain, declared himself for the cause.
has,
In his company stands a small committee,
formed of her most intimate friends, who
desire to express their admiration for her
personal qualities, and for the results of her
life, devoted to a beautiful and ennobling
Maxtm Gorky arrived in New York not suddenly the wind changed. Entertain-
long ago heralded as a liberator with the ments ceased. Scandal -mongers began to
spirit of Garibaldi. For a time he was feted fill the daily journals with more or less
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354 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Stadium at Athens on the second occasion
of the modern Olympic games, between
April 22nd and May 26th, give every prom-
ise of making a most substantial showing,
despite delays in organization, insufficient
funds, preliminary bickerings, an unusually
rough voyage on the "Barbarossa," and a
cinder laden welcome in Naples. Ameri-
cans may congratulate themselves that
these men represent their country without
restrictions of social cast, for the list of com-
the present conception of foreigners that we discussions of negro lynching* in one city,
produce a medal-grasping body of athletes. of race wars in a second, and of the separate
In addition, may the American Team be education of white and black children in a
rewarded by success in every event but the third. How the "ciders" of the United
Marathon race! That, at least, belongs to a States feel toward this problem needs no
Hellene. other comment than that of the illustration
of Booker T. Washington standing in the
During the past winter the public has company of Charles \V. Eliot, Andrew
been the victim of the usual endless printed Carnegie, Lyman Abbott, J. G. Phclps-
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MUI DIIKS OF AM K M AN C I VI 1.1/ ATIOX,
Stokes, Robert C. ( >gden, Geo. T. Mac- have told us of the two practical royal sub-
Aneny, and Mollis Burke Frisscll. scriptions of $40,000 each. But still more
interesting to humanity is the news that
Th£ recent eruption of Vesuvius has their Majesties, with only a few of their
shown being vastly
this republic that besides court, were to be found among the most
popular with their subjects, the King and daring of those who remained close to the
Queen of Italy arc more than mere figure- volcano; that the Queen refused to leave
heads in their country. Our newspapers Torre Annunziata until suffocating condi-
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KIMC VICTOR EMMAS'! EL AND 111 EE* HELENA.
Google
35» THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the mountain, the wind suddenly shifted and Chesapeake Hay lacks a fishing power
drove the ashes from the hard-pressed vil- dory. Besides there is little novelty in the
lagers, while a stream of lava threatening story that "A tug drew the life-boat to a
the center of the town, ceased to flow, even point as close to the wreck as the depth
of water would permit."
One wonders, then, why
the life-saving service is
proud of its tardy accept-
ance of modern conditions.
Perhaps it is because if
such a boat as this had
been in commission at At-
lantic City during the past
winter, a fishing smack
would not have made its
successful rescue of the
passengers of a grounded
coasting steamship.
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360 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
graph them in all the picturesque an-
cestral trappings which they value so
highly.
It was by a rare stroke of good luck that
Major Moorhouse obtained pictures of the
Iwin great -grandnicces of Chief Joseph
of Xcz Perce war fame. He had secured
consent from the mother, Him-ye-an-hi-hi,
to photograph the children, Tox-e-lox and
A-Iom-pum. She had prepared the pa-
pooses for the event, and the artist had set
Ins camera.
He had provided an extra plate holder,
and, when the twins began to cry vigor-
ously, after one plate had been exposed,
he quickly placed the extra plate in the
camera and "snapped" them as they were
crying.
Peculiar interest attaches to these Indiaas
twins, from the fact that they are the sec-
ond pair ever born on the reservation, and
the only pair now alive. Their being alive,
too, many assert, Is contrary to the dictates
MAJOR LSB MOON HO USE. of Indian superstition, for it is commonly
Google
Copyright if Lee Moorhtute.
relieved that Indians never permit twins to native bunch-grass grew high knee all over
live. It is their l>elief that twins arc signs the valleys and hills, affording food for
of the displesaure of the Great Spirit, hence thousands of hardy cayuse ponies, twin
they are usually done away with as soon as girlpapooses were horn to the tribe.
born, helpless victims to the Indians' super- These were the daughters of Qui a mi-
stitious dread. som-keen, Cougar Shirt, the chief of the
The older Indians say that a great many Cayuse tribe. As the years passed these
years ago, before the advent of the pale maidens grew more beautiful. Reaching
face, when the mountains were full of game, womanhood their wondrous charms smote
and the streams were full of fish, and the the young braves of the tribe, and there
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362 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
was keen rivalry among those who would
win them for their wives.
So great was their beauty that their fame
spread to the countries where other tribes
lived and hunted, so that, finally, two dash-
ing Bannocks came to visit the Cayuses here
on the reservation. Their visit was under
the guise of friendship; but, beneath their
pleasant exterior, was a fierce and stern
determination to carry these beautiful
Indian maidens to the Bannock country
and there to keep them. Watching their
opportunity when the girls were away from
the home tepee for a short distance, each
of the young Bannocks seized one of the
twins, swung them on their horses, and
rode out of the village as fast as their hardy
ponies could carry them.
Quickly the abduction was discovered,
hastily a council of war was called, and
two hundred warriors, headed by Cougar
Shirt, were in hot pursuit. Near the sum-
mit of the Blue Mountains, with the Ca-
yuses a few miles behind, the two young
Caff right t>y Ltt .l/wrinnn
Bannocks came across a party of their own
M iss apRM-Ilt- Ks, THR bKI I K UP «IMI«>H
>
*
Cu/.i right py Ltt Moerkoutt.
Dl'SK ON THI UMATILLA RESERVATION.
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Co/jtrigkt by Let AfeerAomr.
braves who were out hunting. The twias nocks who had stolen them from their
were transferred to fresh horses, and by a native village.
short rut through the mountains, Chief In accordance with the Indian nature,
Cougar Shirt and the pursuing party were and in compliance with the Indian concep-
soon eluded and left behind. tion of his duty, Chief Cougar Shirt regis-
The Bannock braves, with the captured tered a solemn vow to avenge the insult.
maidens, in due time reached their home on Upon his return home he despatched runners
Snake river. There was a joyous marriage to the Umatilla and Walla Walla tribes,
ccremonv, and the Cavuse maidcas were bidding them come to a great council of
joined in matrimony to the young Ban- war. Soon thereafter a great pow-pow
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THE VANISHING RACE 36 5
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t'o/yi ifht 6y l.tt Mocrhouif.
Tox-c-lox and A-lom pum, the twin (McKay) creek, which flows through the
girl papooses, were born on How-tim e ne southern boundary of the Umatilla reser-
vation. The parents' names arc Ha-hots-
mox-mox (Yellow Grizzly Bear) and Him-
ye-an-hi-hi (White Fawn). When Hira-
yc ftn-hi hi presented her lonl with these
twins, Ha hots mox-mox, subtle and cun-
ning, wanted them to grow up and honor
him in his old age. When it came to the
ears of old Chief No Shirt (Si-ah-sum) that
Him ye an-hi had given birth to twin
hi
girls, an edict went forth that the ancient
law of the tril>c must l>e complied with, and
the twins must die. But Ha- In »ts -mox-mox
spread the impression among the tribesmen
that the twins came as a good omen for the
nation.
He was an orator of no mean parts, and
induced the chief to assemble the tribe.
The Cayuse Nation assembled at the prin-
cipal lodge. That two human lives were
at stake weighed not an iota with these
Copyright by Lrt M.vri.smr
Indian men. They must be reached
through other arguments. The tribe's
VAKIMA SA4.I.V. selfishness and superstition as personified
Google
Copyright by Ltr Mcerkenit.
Digitized by Google
Google
INDIAN RESERVATION.
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Co/jrrig/i, It) /.tt Mth rhimif.
'
{ £Wl£F HILLY SKOM-SKEV PAYING OFF A COWBOY.
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Copyright by Lit Moorhouit.
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Ci»/ir//A/ by Lee Mocrfiautr .
•
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Google
TREASURE 375
in the men, must l>c the means of saving chief of the Cayuse's; the curious pictures
the twins. of the medidne men; the war chief on his
Ha-hots-mo.\-mox made a speech. He pony the side of a great stream; the
at
told the tribesmenhow he had been away artisticrendering of his picture of Tum-
hunting deer on the Little Minem; how water Falls; the poetic groups of tepees in
in the night, when his cuitan was grazing the vast rolling country of the Umatilla
near by on the bunch-grass and he himself reservation, and the admirable portrait of
had laid down to rest, he had had a vision, Chief Joseph which was chosen by the
and in the vision had been promised these Historical Society of Washington for re-
twins who were to be the sign of good for- production on the monument erected last
tune to the whole tribe. June to that greatest of Indian generals.
AH Indian braves are believers in visions Major Moorhouse is doing a great work
and Ha-hots-mox mox's vision prevailed in his pictorial history of a vanishing race,
on the tribe council, and the twins lived. and his thousands of photographs will pre-
Major Moorhousc's pictures need no serve to future generations faithful records
word of commendation, as they speak for of a time that has gone by and of a pictur-
Ihemselves. However, it is hard to refrain esque people who are rapidly and irre-
from calling particular attention to his trievably passing out of our national ex-
wonderful portrait of Fish Hawk Head, war istence. —R. H. R.
TREASURE
BY W. A. FRASER
Men came to steal the rubies and lingered for the gold;
And Time, enchanted, loitered, and this maiden ne'er grew old.
AND YET
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An Appeal to Mr. Mansfield
BY JAMES HUNEKER
OME years ago, per- closer than ever to his Mansfieldian man-
haps ten, I gravely nerisms; has added many r6les to his
warned Mr. Richard already vast repertory ; has steadily grown
Mansfield that if he in popular and critical [Alas!] favor, and
did not mend his his- to-day the accredited head of the stage
is
jKMiters, personal representatives, musi- field and add injury to insult bv dedicating
cians and press agents with whom he came it to him. It will be called' " Der Fall
in contact. Not a res|x>nse; not even a Mansfield," which means, the horrid case
challenge to play, at sight, new piano of Richard.
music for four hands. Instead —and oh! But oh! Richard, oh! Mon Rail—us the
how this rankles — instead, he has clung —
song has it do, before you take that
Digitized by Google
RICHARD MANSriILI) IN "A PARISIAN ROMANCE."
final Curtius-like lca|> into the chasm let of all dramatic clergymen Welcome
\
of prosperous obscurity, do before you your cadenced step, all hail to your elo-
actually abdicate, play for our benefit quent elbows, more power to your binocu-
one big modem r61cl You gave us two lar glare —
all these and other things would
admirable presentations of Shaw's super- but go to swell the general chorus of your
scoundrels; give us the real tiling, give us masterly interpretation. Masterly it would
an Ibsen play if you can, with your —
be though I would probably be the first
subtle, imaginative art galvanize such a to fault it; but never mind that. Critics are
clanking thing of bones and rattling rhetoric but human, and our copy l>ooks say that
as Roger Chillingworth, think what you to err is human. The main thing, lieber
—
could do perhaps, in the privacy of your
—
study, have done with such a tremendous
Mansfield, is for you to devote the last
year of your arti>.tic existence to the per-
character as Rosmersholm, the very Ham- formance of notable modern plays, just
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37» THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
out with all the passion of an avenging
soul. It was superb. And in the first act
there was expressed with an easy control
of the dramatic gamut, love, scorn, wrath,
sardonic humor. Oh, Mansfield has the
full octave to his intellectual and emotional
instrument. But I venture to suggest
that "Don Carlos" is hardly in his key.
The irritating side to this question is that
he has been circling about, but not quite
touching, the class of plays in which he
would l>e pre-eminent. He is distinctly
modern — pardon the abused word — yet he
clings to the romantic style of fustian in
which Irving excelled. Why no«. "The
Bells" and be done with it Mr. Mar.sfield?
It is a better play, antique melodrama as
it is, than "Dr. Jckyll and Mr. Hyde;"
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THE DRAMA OF THE MONTH 379
nificent in its intensity, in its delineation
of anoverwrought mind, which you showed
us when Dostoiewsky's "Crime and the
Punishment" was adapted by Charles
Henry Mcltzcr under the title of "Rodion,
the Student;" after that episode of sus-
tained horror and madness, the tortures
of Mathias' conscience would l>e an easy
adventure for your bold technique.
Schiller in English! No, certainly not
in the lx)tched, mutilated version presented
by the Mansfield Company. Old-fash-
ioned, Schiller may be; his action is not
the rapid, miming of to-day's stage with its
hustling, cross-fire dialogue, and its fatal
lack of beauty or deep meanings. But
Schiller is Schiller. He demands trained
actors. He demands actors who can use
their voices, who can sj>eak with intelli-
isa "young person" who formerly ''kept cockney, who steps out of a Phil May sketch
company" with Samuel Hopkinson — Hut he inherits a huge fortune and forgets
his Eliza for the giddy fascinations of Lady
Thy ra Egglesby and the sacred "inner"
circle of English aristocracy. Eliza never
deserts him. As the sunflower is to the
sun, as the magnetic needle to the pole, so
Miss Dibbs follows the evolutions of her
beloved Sammy. She has a heart and she
is thrifty. When she calmly asks the
astounded group in the last act what is to
l>ecome of her in the general settling up,
you feel as if in the presence of an im-
mutable force of nature. So does Sammy.
He actually gloats over the fact that he
gets her and not the haughty I^idy Thyra,
and that between them they have out-
witted the cold-blooded gang of high bred
sharpers.
The praises of Dallas Welford have been
variously sung, though not unduly. He
is, with his peculiar individuality, his
curious little jxTson and his finished acting,
that ram avis, a low comedian of the first
rank. Nothing funnier has been seen in
New York for years than this hitherto
unknown English actor. A Tittlebat Tit-
mouse of low scxial degree, he is a hundred
CVRIL SCOTT, IN "TH» I'RINCK CMAr. times more real than Samuel Warren's
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3 8i THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
which Mr. Harry Woodruff, not the play's
the thing. Francis Wilson is himself again
in "The Mountain Climber." Gustave
Kerkcr, and Joseph Herbert are enjoy-
able in "The Social Whirl. "Gallops"
proved to be good sport. Benjamin
Chapin as "Lincoln" was positively un-
canny in his evocation of the great dead.
It is a remarkable assumption of an al-
most impossible character, dramatically
sj>eaking. Etienne Girardot proved to be
war *-<
equal to his old form in "Charlie's Aunt"
and the revival was a success.
The wave of normality which swept over
me last month has, as yet, shown no signs
of receding. I am tired of purple cows
with psychic freckles. I may end in ad-
miring Sousa's music and Mr. Mansfield's
mannerisms. I certainly smiled at I^aw-
rance D'Orsay in "The Embassy Ball."
record in America.
WAKIIILU.
A success is "Brown of Harvard," in 1>AVU>
ANNIE RUSSELL IN THE NEW PLAY " FRIEND HANNAH " TO BE PRODUCED IN THE PAI.l.
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RUTH ST. DENIS IN HER NATIVE EAST-INDIAN DANCING COSTUME.
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FANTAS ES I KM
EQUATORIAL CURRENTS
BY WALLACE IRWIN
Oh, Pm a truthful tar, I are, Three times around the world I whirled
As truthful as can be, On that Equator zone,
And this is me veracious story-ory- Three times past tropic Zanzibar,
oh: and then again
I started from Madrid, I did, The men of Borneo cried, 44
Oh !
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392 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
A MODERN SYBARITE
BY NANNIE BYRD TURNER
Historians in their records glance One time the stoic soul of mc
Or otherwise; and cite as one But, ah, my Lady comes this way,
Whose whole night's rest was troubled And memory stays to rumple
A TERRIFYING POSSIBILITY
(THE YOUNC BEAR up a tree and tauntingly I: "Oh! Mr. Moose, do be careful not to catch coid.
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Courtr,? 0/ Collier , Weekly.
'OUR NATIONAL SPORT.
"THE MUCK-RAKERS"
"What are the bugles blowing for?" said They're i the exposers, they are callin' of 'em
down,
To tum i» out, to turn us out," D. Phillip* They are huntin' of 'em hotly from New York to
Mid. Packin'town,
"What makes you look 10 white, »o white?" Mid They will chuck 'em in a lake o' ink an' let 'em
Lawaon-on- Parade. swim or drown—
"I'm dreadin' what I've got to hear,"
J.
Lincoln They're exposin' the exposers in the
Steffens Mid.
They're expoiin' the exposers; it would make your «I all this bloomin* row," said Lay
hair turn gray
To reflect on what will come when they expose each "I think Mi» Tarbell aw it first," Rex Beach rose up
expose, and said.
When they find a newer frenzy or a treason every " What's all that noise that shakes the ground?" Hid
day La w son -on Parade.
-
They're exposin' the exposers in the mornin'. " It's Teddy Roosevelt's muck-rake speech," a pale
reformer Hid.
"What makes Charles Russell breathe so 'art?" asked There exposin' the exposers, there is trouble in the air,
Lawson-on-Parade. There are Folks and Hadleys coming from concealment
« It's bitter cold, it's bitter cold," V. Jungle Sinclair everywhere.
Hid. And they'll all write stuff, and talk, too, when they've
«' What makes Miss Tarbell look so faint ? " »id Lav got the time to spare
on- Parade. They're exposin' the exposers in the momin*.
"A touch of sun, a touch of sun," S. Hopkins W. D. NESB1T.
— In the iVru> York Timtt, April 17, 1906.
by Google
Muckrake Magazine
proof of the duplicity of the American mind and its readiness to grasp a
new circulation boom.
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FANTASIES 395
Google
39^ THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the earnest purpose of this magazine
It is aging examples
to place a copy of each issue in the hands of in the gentle pur-
every man, woman and child in these suit of " How to
United States. Live on $200 a v.
Year," coupled
"EVERYBODY MUST KNOW HOW with exalted
ROTTEN EVERYTHING IS" standards of mo-
rality, peace and
is our motto, borrowed from an educa- good - will, with
tional hint malice toward
dropped by nonc,has silenced
Mr. Ridgway many a promis-
aiEverybody s ing young knock-
M agazine in a er at the very
recent speech outset of his ca-
in which he reer and stilled
declared to his many a voice V
audience that that otherwise
AN KAKI.Y NCTVKR Or TDK
they did not might have l>een SENATOR.
realize " how raised in anger
rotten every- against the predatory peculations of perni-
thing is," and cious politicians.
we do not pro- This is by no means intended to be a
pose to have jK-rsonal aspersion on Mr. Bok's character,
the pages of for as Colonel Harvey has so justly re-
this magazine marked in Harper's Bataar: "Let me but
prove an ex- have the circulation of The Ladies' Home
ception to this Journal and I care not who writes my
general rul editorials."
ing. If there is
THE SENATOR 5 PAVOMTR Give the Devil His Duel
EOLATIONS, paper enough
in this coun- The one bright and shining spot in the
try to print the enormous edition re- record of Senator Gotrich is furnished by
quired for the purpose, every Carnegie his military career, when he and Colonel
Library in the country shall have at least Mann marched at the head of their respect-
one copy of this magazine. We shall, at ive commands in an unsuccessful attempt
to get shot for their country's good in 1861.
Our artist has so graphically portrayed
the present surroundings of Senator Gotrich
that our graft editor's task of painting him
in his true colors has been greatly lightened
by the dramatic force of these striking pic-
torial arraignments. Mere words seem
almost superfluous. " Where did he get the
of innocuous desuetude, and whose encour- THE SKNAToK AT TIIF. HEAD OK III* I lillMAM'.
FANTASIES 397
Digitized by Google
39 8 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
TN order that the papers Ihrougiwut the country may join the great muckrake movement,
* we have reproduced the following sample attack from the New York "Sun" which will
serve as an admirable model jor beginners in graft editorship. In fad, by substituting
local names and addresses, thearticle may be used entire, practically as it stands, thus giving
every paper in the country a chance to get in the exposure game and boom its circulation
at the expense of the "Interests."
Digitized by Google
t
FANTASIES 399
cruel knife handle of the cutlery trust upon He lives where ?
At 643 East Seventeenth
which the babes of the masses are being im- Street. The Board's own records show it.
paled ever)' Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 His home is by the banks of the East River,
o'clock. Treason! It's a hard word, but where in the hot, tenant-killing summer
Treason! he may watch the ships pass by and enjoy
If confronted with the damning evidence the life-giving breezes from the sea. How
of the printed rollcall the traitors would
probably sneer and laugh cynically. Hut
letus assume that some new member, some
one with at least one arm still free from the
tentacles of the "Interests," might try to
explain it away by saying that there had
been a typographical error. Well, then, let
us see. Let us look further down that list,
name of
to the Philip Harnischfeger of The
Bronx home — address 1360 Washington
Avenue, business address 1360 Washington
SENATOR CiOTRICH's WIFE AND DAUGHTER AT
Avenue. And this man represents the teem- THE HOISR OF SENATOR CLARK*.
ing thousands of The Bronx. Does the
public need more? about his constituents, fools and moles.
Alderman Brown from the Twenty-ninth. They see that home by the river built up
(Here we find a new manifestation of the with the spokes from the very wheels of the
power of the Interests.) Brown's business pushcarts of the people, and when Ken-
is given at 18 Wall Street. That is but two neally passes by they crowd about to get a
minutes' walk from the nod.*
office of August Belmont. There's treason in
Where does Brown live? their very feet. The
At 44 West Forty-fourth soles of their shoes are
Street, only two blocks the willing instruments
from an express station of the interests. Let us
on August Belmont's trace the ramifications
subway. And yet the of Varnish Trust.
the
public is blind. Suppose Eook down with me for
the welfare of the public a moment from the Ex-
demanded the closing up SENATOR AND MRS. GOTMICH AT IIOJIL. posers' Gallery upon
of the express station al- that sodden crew. They
together or the filling in of the subway. Can are tipped back in their chairs and the
there be any doubt as to how Alderman feet from every district arc on the desks
Brown would vote on that question? But scraping the varnish from the chamber
this man has the effrontery to go to his furniture of the credulous people. Can we
business every day, to go to the Board of blame the traitors? Not altogether. Each
Alderman every Tuesday with head erect. man knows that if at the end of the season
And they say, " Oh, well, he's all right." his desk did not need revarnishing he would
Take' Kenneally from the Eighteenth. appeal to his constituents in vain for re-
election.
Would any Alderman care to tell his
mother how he voted yesterday on Special
Order 16, introductory number 382, which
required a four-fifths vote? That is a
matter which cannot be taken up in detail
even in this article, no matter how fearless
we arc striving to be. But the reader is
referred to page 1141 of the minutes of
March 27, 1906, made special order for
Digitized by Google
4 oo THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
April 3, igo6, at 2 p.m. How did they vote the working people. We have already called
on that ? Ij& the people take up the cry, let attention to the fact that Alderman Brown
the voters demand of their representatives lives but two blocks from a subway express
how they voted on Special Order 16! station. What do we find next ? The cobra
The board almost blundered yesterday of monopoly draws itself above ground every
when Alderman Peters Tuesday afternoon at
introduced a resolution 1 130 o'clock to take toll
gotten gold to protect "climate conditions." the silk hat and frock coat. What did he
Why was Timothy P. Sullivan in Hot wear thirty-five years ago?
Springs, Va., when that ice plant resolution
[Erratum. \n the last article it was stated by an
was introduced? inadvertence that the member from the Ninety-fourth
district accepted a bribe of $10,000 for his vote in the
Even memory is ravished and thrown Kreat side-walk show case permit scandal. He was
upon the heap of sacrifices to the " Inter- overheard to say that he'd almost be willinK to Rive
r
ttnttfrt
CHARACTERISTIC ATIITLLKS OF SENATOR GOTRKIt IN HIS FAMol'S SPEECH ON THR PANAMA HAT SCANDAL.
Digitized by Google
? . ECIAL SUMMER FICTION NUMBEI
JULY 1906 PRICE 15 CENT!
METROPOLITAN
MAGAZINE
uBifoAin
Nature, my child,
has given you useful
and beautiful jewels, stroncj
pearls of teeth, and these you
must wisely care for
J^UBi/oAm. the spark lino;,
fragrant dentifrice is whac.
you must use to cleanse pre-
serve and beautify these
J/y priceless gems.
Jfoawmfwr. T/s wise ro use
25 Cents
at druggists /. ,
The
Style-
Spoons
The prevailing taste is for the more elaborate designs in spoons,
lorks. knives, etc. The illustration shows lour exquisite patterns
oi the famous
"
1847* ROGERS BROS."
ware —
the silver plate that ever since ROGERS BROS, discovered the
electro-plating process, sixty years ago, has kept the lead in qual-
ity and beauty. Sold by leading dealers. Send lor catalogue "f-Tf
MKKIDEN UH1TANM1 CO., McHdaa, < <>,>».
(iBMfBUKBtl 8ll»«f IV.
by Google
Digitized by Google
THE LAND OF THE BUFFALO
AND LION
BY STANLEY P. HYATT
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
I by Google
A kHDDKMAN LION,
have done their deadly work. The stately did intervene on his behalf, the total num-
bison in North America was virtually bers remaining could be counted by units,
instead of, as formerly,
WJ by tens of thousands.
In South Africa, (he
quagga, most beautiful
of all the equine tribe,
was completely wiped
out of existence by the
Hoer hunters, who de-
stroyed thousands in
mere wantonness, sim-
ply for the pleasure of
killing. The same fate
befell that ungainly
creature, the swart wil-
debecste, the white-
tailed gnu of the natu-
-
- - '
, f hu ralists, at the hands of
the same race, which,
with the unthinking im-
A IIP V. V I.I) M i
providence that charac-
terizes so many of its
was
extinct before the majority of the nation acts, thus deprived itself of an important
aware that he was even threatened with source of food supply. The swart wilde-
extermination; and when, at last, the law beestcs were shot down solely for the sake of
Digitized by Google
their livers and their long white tails, the Its antelopes alone were once enough to
latter being highly prized as fly whisks by place it in the frontrank; and though these
the Boers. The enor-
mous herds which once
inhabited the high pla-
teau of the Transvaal
disappeared as com-
pletely as the quagga
had done; and to-day,
with the exception of
one or two in parks
or zoological gardens,
there is not a single
specimen left.
Digitized by Google
404 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
ten years ago, swept like a cyclone through Southern Rhodesia, there are still large
the continent, those which remain are still herds running in the low bush-veldt on the
sufficient in themselves to justify many a border of Portuguese East Africa. No one
district being described as a sportsman's ever interferes with them. In the winter
Paradise. they retreat to the densest jungle, where it is
The great territory which Cecil Rhodes impossible to approach them unheard; and
added to the British Empire, and which now in summer they go down to the great mud-
bears his name, has always teen famous for flats which border the Sabi River.wherc they
the shooting to be obtained within its bor- are almost as sife as in the jungle; for no
ders. True, the total amount of game in it white man would venture into that deadly
to-day is small compared with that of fifteen valley at that season of the year, when the
years ago, prior to the coming of the Char- ground is a vast marsh in which breed mil-
tered Company. The advance of the while lions of mosquitoes, the air quivering with
—
man the building of railroads, the develop- the stilling, exhausting heat and heavy with
ment of —
mines and agriculture has. natu- the reek of putrid vegetation, while the
rally, driven the wild animals out of many constant torrential rains arc in themselves
districts, while the rinderpest played havoc enough to render life a veritable misery.
among the buffalo and antelope; but in The local natives, on their part, never in-
its vast area there are still great tracts of to hunt the elephant. They regard him,
veldt where the game is almost as plentiful not as game, but as a M'Tagati, the incar-
as it was in the days of Livingstone or nation of an evil spirit, and consequently
Gordon Cumming. do their utmost to avoid him. In Northern
Of the great game,
as distinguished from Rhodesia, on the other hand, there are yet
the "big game," the elephant takes first plenty of elephant lobe found, living in more
rank by reason of his size. Although prac- reasonably situated districts.
tically unknown now on the high plateaux of The immense size of the great pachyderm,
THE LAND OF THE BUFFALO AND LION 405
his acute sense of smell and hearing, coupled away, then double round, pick up the track
with the smallness of his brain, the only of the hunter who is following him, and
really vulnerable spot, combine to render charge from behind; or, hidden in some
him one of the most dangerous of game; but, clump of bush, he may await his pursuer,
none the less, the hunter who wishes to put and rush out on him as he passes.
his own nerve to the most severe test possi- The buffalo, however, is diximcd. The
ble had better leave the elephant and go in nations have proclaimed him a nuisance,
search of the Cape buffalo. The latter is and ere many years are past he will be
the real king of the forest the much-vaunted
; found only on reservations, where small
lion is a fool beside him, a low coward. A herds will be preserved as specimens. No
man may have shot lions without feeling a animal suffered more heavily than he from
tremor, and yet lose his coolness when he the rinderpest. Whole tracts, once the
sees a buffalo preparing for a charge. The feeding-grounds of tens of thousands, were
bulk of the creature, the enormous mass of denuded by the scourge. These districts
frontal bone which protects his head, even had formerly been infested with the tsetse-
from nickel-plated bullets, his ferocity, cun- fly, the deadly little insect which destroys
ning and agility, place him in a class by all domesticated animals; but when the
himself; for no other beast possesses such a buffalo had gone, the fly disappeared also;
combination of offensive and defensive qual- and further investigation showed that there
A HII'l-OI'OTAMl N.
ilics. An unwounded buffalo will often was some intimate connection between the
attack a man on sight; while one which has two. So the great beasts were sentenced to
been but not disabled, becomes a veri-
hit, extinction; their name was removed from
table incarnation of vindiclivene». Some- the list of game animals for whom a close
times he will come thundering down im- seasoni> provided; and they are now classed
mediately after being touched by the bullet among the vermin which may be destroyed
but more often he will pretend to run wherever and whenever found. But it is
Google
406 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
often easier to pronounce a sentence than where game is easily obtainable, and make a
to carry it into effect. The buffalo loves the considerable stay there; but their real home
thickly wooded, low-lying, swampy coun- is the whole veldt. They may kill a donkey
try, where few white men ever go; and it in one village to-night, and to-morrow catch
will be some years before the king of the a water-buck forty miles away. If the lion
African forests meets the fate of his distant only slew as much as he could eat, he would
cousin, the American bison. be less hateful; but he will often kill four or
The natives place the lion next in rank to five oxen, and content himself with devouring
the buffalo; but hate him more bitterly, the entrails of one. He is a low, crafty
because he is more often in evidence. The brute, one that takes no risks; for, unlike the
buffalo has his own haunts; and. if undis- leopard, he will never leap a wall unless he
turbed, he leaves others alone. The lion is can sec what is on the other side. A paper
ubiquitous: his domain is the entire country. fence would keep him away from a herd of
The attitude of the white man is somewhat oxen, provided the latter themselves did
similar to that of the native. The king of not break out, through terror of his growling
beasts as described in books is a fine ani- and his smell.
mal—ferocious, certainly, but none the less The lion's roar is the subject of another
noble. The king of beasts as he exists in fiction; not that he is incapable of making
fact is an unmitigated nuisance. The stock the most terrible, awe-inspiring sound emit-
owner loathes him for the havoc he causes ted by any living thing, but because when
among the herds, and even more for he is roaring he is harmless. It is the lion
AN HI KI HAS I IUW
the endless anxiety his very presence in which keeps quiet that is to be feared; for,
the country entails. There is no security as a rule, the male and female work in
against him. He is always traveling; and couples, and the one that makes the noise is
though there are certain districts which merely driving the game down the wind to
can truthfully be described as lion-infested, the silent partner. The lion's method of
the lion's lair itself is a fiction of the story- killing, too, is misunderstood. The strength
books. A pair of lions may find a spot of his jaw, terrible though it is, is as nothing
UigitizGcJ by
THE LAND OF THE BUFFALO AND LION 407
compared With
to the force of his blows. beasts. The natives say that the man who
one stroke of his paw he can break the back would kill lions must be continually glanc-
of a bullock as he springs over it; and the ing behind him; that when he sees a man
AN BLAND HILL.
writer has seen a native with his head and approaching, the lion lies flat on the ground
neck literally telescoped by one of these with his face down between his fore-paws,
awful downward pats. and not until the intruder is well past does
Generally speaking, the Rhodesian lion he raise his head and look at the retreating
is not a man-eater. A small variety, found figure. An altle-bodied Rhodesian lion will
in the Zambesi valley, sometimes combines always avoid a man, if possible; and only
into packs from eight to twelve in number, when he is wounded will he turn on his
and raids the native villages; but the ordi- pursuer. Probably, if statistics were avail-
nary species, the great tawny lion, never eats able, it would be found that ninety-five per
human flesh, save under compulsion, when cent, of the white men killed by these
he has become too old and stiff to catch brutes met their fate while foolishly follow-
wild game. Then he begins to haunt the ing up one which they had hit. In a single
water-holes and mcalic-lands round the respect only does the lion deserve his name
villages, and snaps up unprotected women —
of "king of beasts" on the score of
and children; but his career as a devourer strength he is certainly the first. He can
of human flesh is generally short; for the drag a large bullock over rough ground
fact of his having acquired the habit proves with the greatest case, while he can carry
that he has lost his agility, and he is there- a mule on his back after hoisting it there by
fore easily killed. some strange sideways jerk of his head. I le
The hunter who goes out with the inten- can leap a live-foot fence with a full-sized
tion of shooting lions will probably return a donkey gripped in hi> mouth. Otherwise,
disappointed man. No animal is more speaking from a seven-years' experience in
difficult to find than the pseudo king of lion country, the writer has no hesitation in
Digitized by Google
408 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
larger animal is unable
to crack. He is a slink-
ing, cowardly, treach-
erous pest, with not one
redeeming quality; for,
even when he is killed,
his skin is valueless.
The jackal is harm-
less, except among the
hen-roosts; and though
his mournful, wailing
note is apt lo be an-
noying, no man in his
senses would dream of
wasting ammunition on
this unhappy - looking
scavenger. The wild-
cats, of whom there is
a seemingly endless va-
A KKMIIll I K UUI.I
more trouble-
riety, are
some; and though they
describing ihc king of beasts as a fraud- at are but seldom shot, the natives manage to
least so far as his alleged nobility is con- trap a considerable number. The leopard
cerned. His regal attributes lose some of is common throughout Rhodesia, and, like
(heir glamour when one learns that the so- the lion, a source of continual worry to
is
called monarch frequently lives for days at stock - owners. He is, however, an easy
a time on such plebeian food as field rats; beast to kill, for he lacks both the cunning
and the vision of the kingly creature sitting and the swiftness of his bigger relative; al-
patiently on a tlal rock,
waiting for the rodents
to come out from un-
derneath, is a rather
unheroicone. But then
the lion of the lx>ok.s
and the lion of fact are
two very different
beasts.
Besides the lion,
Rhodesia alsoj>o-.-essi -
an unpleasantly varied
selection of minor
beasts of prey. The
hyena — the foul-smell-
ing creature with the
harsh, rasping voice
which the natives not
unnaturally imagine to
be the horse of the \
Kvil Spirit, is omni-
present. There is no
Digitized by Google
THE LAND OF THE BUFFALO AND LION
The buffalo, ele-
phant, and lion do not
complete the list of the
great game of Rhode-
sia; for within its bor-
ders can also be found
the giraffe, the rhinoc-
eros and the hippopot-
amus. The two former
are growing very rare
now, which, in the case
of the rhinoceros, is a
rather fortunate thing,
for this ungainly, pur-
blind creature —which
can only see clearly
some thirty yards, yet
has keener organs of
scent and hearing than
any other animal is — A KOODOO HULL.
always a danger to the
hunter, if only from its cheerful habit of the famous "sjamboks" of the Boers,
charging blindly through the camp at night. while the thick layer of fat with which he
The hippopotamus, that other weird survi- is coated is much prized for cooking pur-
val from the antediluvian age, is still to be poses; his feet, too, make a dish which, for
found in all the large rivers and marshes. delicacy of flavor and nutritious qualities,
But regarded from a sportsman's point of isprobably unequalled.
view, as a game animal, the hippo is a fail- The term "big game," as distinct from
ure; for, though his great bulk and thick great game, includes all the larger buck or
hide make him difficult to kill, unless hit in antelope. Of these Rhodesia |>ossesses an
his one vulnerable point, behind the ear, unequalled collection. First in rank comes
the eland, a beautiful
creature, which often
scales more than a
large ox, and one that
is easily killed on ac-
count of its slow, lum-
bering gait. On some
of th*c large open flats
in the neighborhood of
the Limpopo the old
Boer hunters used to
chase the eland on
horseback, and, as they
drew alongside the ex-
hausted animal, stab
him behind the shoul-
der with a native spear.
The koodoo, once the
most common of all the
large buck, were nearly
exterminated by the
rinderpest, and in 1807
there is little danger or excitement attendant thousands of their beautiful horns could
on the chase. From a commercial stand- be picked up on the veldt, but since then
point, however, he is worth slaying, his skin their numbers have increased again, and
being valuable for whips and walking-sticks, to-dav thev can be found wherever there
4io THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
are steep, wooded kopjes with sheltered, swiftest and most ungainly of all buck.
grassy valleys in between. The stately They can usually be seen in the neighbor-
roan antelope is seldom seen far away from hood of the innumerable huge anthills, on
the gray, drear) mopani veldt; but his the top of which a bull always stationed as
1
is
AN HLKTHAST.
districtwithout having a vision of the great beeste, are, on the other hand, extremely
black and white bodies thundering through easv to shoot, on account of the insane curi-
the bush, and finally disappearing in a thick osity they exhibit with regard to the hunter.
cloud of dust. The sable are usually found It was a similar inquisitiveness on the part
in troops, varying from ten to fifty in num- of the swart wildebeeste which enabled the
ber; but those with the finest heads always Boers to exterminate the whole species in
run singly, owing to the fact that, after they the course of a few years. The other gnu,
reach a certain length, the backward curve the blue wildebeeste, is still very plentiful in
of the horns is so great that they become certain districts of Rhodesia, being generally
useless for fighting purposes, and conse- found in company with the zebra, who also
quently the owner is ejected from the herd shows a great partiality for the society of the
by the younger bulls. roan antelope. The true sportsman leaves
The water-buck loves the dry, leafless the zebra alone, for, when dead, he is quite
bush on the banks of the great sand-rivers. valueless, except as meat for natives. It
The coloring of his body blends with that might bethought that these strongly-marked
of his surroundings in an extraordinary creatures would be very noticeable on the
manner; and it is no uncommon thing for veldt; but, as a matter of fact, the reverse is
even an expert native sln>oting-boy to pass the case. A few hundred yards off, the
within a few score yards of a troop, and not black and white stripes seem to coalesce
see it until the animals break away. A into a gray blurr which is almost indistin-
curious peculiarity of the water-buck is that guishable; and, even when close, standing
the cows, which have no horns, only keep among the bush he loves, the zebra is
company with the bulls for a month or two extraordinarily hard to make out.
during the year; and it is probably for this Nature has provided for the safety of the
reason that the lions succeed in killing more denizens of the veldt to the best of her abil-
of them than of any other species of big ity. The roan antelope loves the gray bush
game. with the general coloring of which his coat
On the high veldt one finds the tscsel>c, blends perfectly; the tsesebe finds no cover
Google
THE LAND OF THE BUFFALO AND LION 411
on the open high veldt on which he lives, There a peculiar fascination about
is
but has a wonderful fleetness to make up for hunting on the frontiers of civilization in
this disadvantage; the impala, a bright Africa, a joyous sense of freedom which one
reddish brown buck, runs only on the red never seems to feel so strongly elsewhere.
sandy ground; the yellow reedbuck has his Theunconventionalityof the life, the knowl-
home among the tall, dry grass; the little edge that beyond you there is nothing but
klipspringer changes in coloring from savagery, that you are far away from the lies
greenish-brown to yellow as the leaves on and shams of civilization, face to face with
the kopjes undergo a similar change; and the crude realities of life, a primitive man
so on. Only the sable antelope seems un- amid primitive conditions, holding your
provided for, his great black body and white position among the natives by the force of
undersides being visible anywhere; but your own character, not by the support of
the hunter soon learns that this magnificent a distant and little-heeded government.
creature is compensated for his appearance There are things on the veldt one never
by a keenness of hearing and scent which forgets, memories which remain, clamorous
render him more difficult of approach than and insistent, even after the lapse of years.
any other game, excepting, of course, that The creaking of the wagon as it jolts over
curious monstrosity, the rhinoceros. the rough track; the swaying forms of the
The list of the smaller buck in the Char- patient, tired oxen seen dimly in the
tered territory is a long one. The impala, moonlight during the long evening trek;
the rooibok of the Dutch, abound in the the sharp purposeful crack of the giraffe-
bush veldt. The reed-buck, duiker, stein- hide whips; the hoarse cries of the Kaffir
buck, bush-buck, grysbok, can be found drivers; the vicious note of the rifle; the
everywhere; while among the granite dull thud of the bullet striking flesh; the
kopjes are thousands of the dainty little savage shout of exultation from the natives
klipspringcrs, the chamois of South Africa. as the buck falls; the smell of the fresh
A WATKKBl'CK WLU
In addition to these, wild pigs, wart-hogs blood; the long rides through the silent
— most hideous of created things ant- — bush; the nights by the blazing camp fire;
bears, and various weird varieties of the the growling of a lion in the next valley
badger tribe, can be found by those who mingling fitfully with the snarl of a hyena
care to search for them. In the native just outside the circle of firelight; the pic-
fields are thousands of guinea-fowl ; while turesque squalor of the native villages, the
partridges and quail can be heard, if not drums, the rattles, the dance, the shrill
seen, in every part of the veldt. tones of the women rising above the deep
Digitized by Google
4 I2 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
gutturals of the men; the voice of the the veldt calling will hear it aiways. Other
guinea-fowl saluting the dawn with harsh, recollections may grow dim, or fade away
grating persistence; the anxious note of the entirely, new ideals and ambitions take the
wild-goose calling to an absent mate; the place of those of earlier days, but he who has
acrid smoke of the cow-dung fire on the once come to know the veldt, as the hunter
high veldt where the wood is scarce; the must know it, can never be quite the same
sickening delays on the banks of the flooded man again. He may leave it forever, shake
rivers; the glad frohness of the morning itsdust from his feet; but, ever)' now and
air; the days when you went wet and hun- then, even among the most prosaic sur-
—
gry, and the days of plenty what man who roundings, all the old memories will surge
has known all these can ever forget them, —
up anew, and he will if he be a true man
or ever think of them without wishing him- — think gratefully and longingly of the
self back once more among the old famil- days he spent in that distant southern
iar scenes ? Those who have really heard land.
Digitized by Googlei
m
IT~lTTiTT
I *
I C -
! * 1
U Tilt' ii
J*
*
m
I
A
THE HOLLYHOCKS
BY ELSIE CASSEIGNE KING
Digitized by Google
«
The following story was awarded one of the prizes in The Metropolitan Magazine's
$2,500.00 short-story contest.
Digitized by Google
JOHN BARNETT, PROFESSOR OF ARCHEOLOGY 415
All my energies have been spent in the study "Yu prospeck them holes like this.
of this race, and now, a man well past mid- Picket right here. Git to work thinkin'
dle age, weak and sickly, I am here. My what yu'd like to strike an* put it down as if
future depend* on my success. If I can go yu'd struck it. Make th' maps out o' yu'r
back with all tnat I believe I can find if left mind an' if they asks yu for pictures show
undisturbed in my work, I will become 'em yu'r machine. Yu c'n smash it easy.
famous and my old age will be provided for. "That there canyon is a stacked deck.
It is a very serious matter to me, I can as- There's a whole lot more chanct o' cashin'
sure you, Mr. Thompson. in over there than over to Spotted Dog on a
"I have told you this because I am going Sunday. Yes sir-e-e. One man passed so
to ask you to assist me by evading any ques- fast he didn't have time to ask Old Peter for
tions that may be asked you as to my being a pass to th' Happy Huntin' Ground, he
here. I do not ask you to lie, only to evade. didn't. Anyhow? yu spot where them hole-
The man I spoke to you about is my rival, in-th'-walls arc so yu c'n ride th' other way."
rich, strong and healthy, having everything Barnett looked at him reproachfully.
I lack. Will you help me in this matter? "Thank you, my friend, I will indeed be
All I want is fair play, and with this assist- pleased to stay with you, for I frankly admit
ance to make up for life's handicap let the that I have no desire to become acquainted
Ix'st man win." with the hotel accommodations of Three
"Mr. Iiarnett, I'll do what you want an' Fingers. As to my attempting to enter the
I'll do some on my own hook, too. I got a cliff city, you must not try to deter me. I
room in that there depot an' I got a broncho appreciate your reasons, but the journey
outen th' shack there, an' all yu got to do is was too fatiguing and costly to shirk any
straddle th' ornery cuss an' go any place yu may arise.
dangers that
want. "The maps, data, and photographs are
"I'm worse than a homesick pup out here the most important, for the college has
by my lonesome. Yu see, I was a cow quite a complete collection of pottery and
puncher afore I tackled poundin' th' key, skulls, and if I were to give much time to
an' I don't see the boys very much. Of pottery I would be slighting more important
course, they sure call around some, but it's things, and furthermore, I am sure that I
when I'm poundin' my ear mostly an' then can make valuable selections from the col-
th' first thing I goes for is my gun. They lection of your predecessor, for a man who
sometimes shoots th* depot up a whole lot cared for that sort of thing would know a
from over So I was sort of fig-
th' tracks. valuable specimen when he saw one, and I
urin' that yu'd be more homelike right here am almost positive that I will make valuable
by me than over at th' hotel yonder. An' finds among them. As it is, I will attract no
secin' as I got a spare bed, as mother used to unnecessary attention and be thankful that
say, I'd be a whole lot tickcled if yu'd bunk this city has no newspaper.
with me. Yu got to reckon on th' tender- "But you mentioned the fact that a man
foot proposition too. Th' boys ud have more lost his life in an attempt to enter the dwell-
fun out o' yu than they'd get out o' a stam- ings. Will you tell me how and when it
pede. occurred and who the man was? Do you
"I c'n put yu onto a whole shebang full know his motive? As I am going to make
o' those mud jars.
Yu sec my pre-de-ccssor the same attempt all the information that
was a locoed sort o' animulc an' had th' mud you can give me will be of value."
jar tremens fit to kill. When he tried to "Well," replied Thompson, "I guess
draw quickcr'n Piute Ja_k, he left a nice yu'r right about seein' it through, an' what
herd o' them aforesaid jars. Some arc yu said about them pots is O.K., too. Th'
a-runnin' on four hoofs yet an' yu c'n cor- chap that cashed in was a tenderfoot, o'
rall all yu want. course. He was plum loco al>out a machine
"But yu c'n l>et yu'r last bilcd shirt agin like yu'rn. Nothin'd do for him but to git
th' wherealjouts o' a frisky flea that yu don't some pictures o' that hole, because nobody
want to go moscyin' 'round them there di!T had none. Yu see one o' th' boys told him
joints promiscuis like, for they're as full o' about it an' re-marked that it was a hole
trouble as a cockeyed 'Pachc lookin' for that'd never git its picture took. Well, say,
glory. Yu trail along by my signs an' yu'll mister man went plum otT'n his feed when
live a whole lot longer, s'avy ? he heard that an' sure 'nuff piked off th'
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4 i6 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
next day to corrall some. We all told him worth a gun. Th' barrel is about i-even
that th' cards was stacked agin him, but we inches long, I reckons, an' she throws a
never thought o' th' real danger. Th' boys whole plenty o' lead. She's a Colt, she is.
cottened to him for his sand an' three of an' that says a whole lot. Have yu got a
'em went along with him, he supplying a rifle,too?"
plenty o' firewater. Say, th' irrigator that Laughing at the inference in his last
that tenderfoot toted with him sure took th' question, he disappeared into the office,
cake, an' him a-spoilin' it chasin' it down returning shortly with a Winchester re-
with water! peating rifle of the 1886 model, which he
" Well, they located th' joint all O. K., an' proceeded to clean and oil, though it needed
let him down with a lariat rope. All to onct neither.
he yelled like all get out an' they pulled him "I'll just look her over an' see that she's
up. He passed pretty sudden. Th' west all here. She holds 'leven shots when she's
wall o' th' canyon gets sunny an' warmedall full up.She shoots a long way, too."
up in th' afternoon. Th' rattlers come out The hours passed slowly and the crimson
to sun themselves. He went bumpin' down sunset flared up into the sky and began to
th' side pushin' himself off from th' wall fade into the long twilight. One by one the
with his hands, an' th' snakes got mad at reddish-yellow lights began to show in the
bein' disturbed an' filled him with a-plenty windows across the tracks. The penetra-
o' poison. They buried him on th' way fell on the town.
ting silence The mournful
back, he swelled so." howl of a coyote quavered from the dusty
"Well, Mr. Thompson, I am going to sage brush and occasionally the hum of
try it, but long before the sun gets very voices, indistinct and muffled, and the tinkle
warm, and I am going to wrap a blanket of the cracked piano wandered feebly across
around me, wear gauntlets, and drop a net the sandy plaza.
over my hat to my shoulders. How much of The two men sat and smoked, the inter-
a drop is it to the opening?" mittent glow of their pipes growing fainter
two an' a half lariats. That
"It's about and fainter as the ashes deepened, until the
makes about a hundred feet. An' it's a only light was that of the stars. They were
couple a-hundrcd from th' hole to th' bottom discussing the morrow's trip and perfecting
o' th' canyon, too. their plans.
"If yu play th' blanket game, I reckon yu A man silently flitted into the shadows of
won't get hurt, but yu better tote a pole the building, lingered awhile, and as silently
along to push otT'n th' wall with. Yu got to flitted away and entered the office of the
take my repeater an' th' six-shooter with yu hotel, where he sat and smoked, listening to
an' a bottle o' red-eye for bites. That's a the stories that passed around until he and
bully scheme about gittin' there ahead o' the night clerk were left alone.
th' sun. Blamed if I don't think yu'U make He was a man ;
every inch told of strength
her all right. Better take some o' th' boys and agility, his six feet of manhood so well
along to pull yu up, too." proportioned as to make him appear shorter.
"No, my friend, I have had too much ex- A well formed head, capped with brown
perience in climbing to need assistance of hair, sat on a corded neck of bronze. His
that kind, and as to the revolver, I have eyes were a mild blue and continually half
one," drawing a small, pearl-handled revol- closed, but nothing occurred in his vicinity
ver of the bull dog type in confirmation of that he did not know of. He sat facing a
his words. mirror cither by accident or intent, so that
Thompson stared at it a few seconds and the space liehind (lis back was covered by
then reached over and took it. He weighed his eves. His clothing was a conventional
it critically, looked at the bore and the suit of blue serge, from under the coat of
small, short barrel and a grin flickered which protruded the tip of a silver-studded
across his face. holster.
" Yu don't call that a gun, do yu ? Why. As the clock struck two he quietly arose,
man, that's a death warrant. Yu can't hit a nodded 10 the clerk, and went out. Soon
saloon at twenty paces with that there toy. the diminishing gallop of a horse was heard
Here," drawing his own long barrelled and the tired < Urk, deprived of his comuan-
revolver, "is a gun! This here baby c'n ton, went to sleep.
shoot when th' man that's a-hokling it is Meanwhile, the agent and his scientific
Digitized by Google
JOHN BARNETT, PROFESSOR OF ARCHEOLOGY 417
guest sat lost in their reveries and the pro- ford. Pike along 'till yu gits to th' top an'
fessor began to feel secure. then go south agin. 'Twon't be long 'till yu
A sounded remote and low.
whistle comes toan arroyo. Th' town ain't fur from
Thompson went out along the track and that. Don't git too hot-footed 'round that
polished up the switch lights, gazed long there canyon. Take it easy like an* yu'll not
into the darkness of the east, and returned git in so much trouble. Well, good luck.
to his chair. Here! Hold up a minute! I ain't got th'
The rails clicked,tuning up from nothing blanket on."
to a clear, distinct sound and finally a light, As Thompson came into sight with the
circling off on the desert, showed where the blanket and the archaeologist's valise, Bar-
"Southern Arrow" was making up lost nett asked him to get a crowbar, adding that
time. Another whistle, now a shriek, caused he would probably ne<d it.
several doors to open and a few heads When all was secured to the agent's satis-
emerged to see it pass. faction, Barnett cheerily bade his big-
With a rush and roar, a blaze of light lit hearted friend good-by and galloped off.
up the immediate darkness and the rear His mount found the traii in the darkness
lights careened off towards Arizona, lighting more by instinct than by sight, and soon
up the track litter that chased them. the lights of the station were left far be-
"Twenty minutes late an' goin' like hell," hind.
volunteered Thompson. "God help her if An hour before him rode another horse-
she hits cattle to-night!" man. It was the man in the blue serge suit,
After an interval he added, "I've seen but on the lapel of his coat there was now a
that there streak go by here so hang'd fast gold badge, and as the light increased the
that I've mixed up her headlight with her hoof-prints of his horse showed plainly in
tailcnders. Bob MacCullough runs her on the sand of the trail.
this itretch an' there ain't a happier man Barnett did not notice these tell-tale
when he leaves th' cab than his fireman. marks, and if he had, he would have thought
Bob played out two last month. She waters nothing of them for the trail was a well used
about fifty miles farther on." one, and many horses might have passed
Finally, with a yawn, Thompson arose, that way. Had Thompson been with him,
kicked his chair against the wall of the the fresh made tracks would have made him
depot, stretched and said: "Yu better turn cautious, but to city bred eyes they told
in now. It's past nine an' yu got a hard nothing. And besides, the danger that Bar-
day's work ahead o' yu. I'll get a rope an' nett feared, he thought to be behind. His
fix things up an' call yu at two-thirty. Take very soul quivered with elation, for the un-
the bed, for 1 always use th' bunk. I'll tell bounded plain was the personification of
yu about that fxxl some time. So long." freedom, and to him freedom meant a great
At half past two Thompson called the deal.
sleepy tenderfoot and saddled the horse As the sun rose he was crossing the
while Barnett ate his breakfast. canyon. When he had crossed the arroyo
As he finished eating Thompson was he began to look searchingly at the rocks
fastening the lunch and a coil of carefully on both sides of the chasm.
knotted rope to the rawhide strings of the Finding the one for which he was looking
saddle. he dismounted and, taking his horse in be-
Barnett mounted and took the rifle, which tween two towering boulders where it was
he slung over his shoulder, and strapping hid from sight, unsnapped the bridle rein
the Colt around his waist, listened to the and fastened one end of it to a cactus stump.
agent's instructions. When he was satisfied that it was securely
"Th' Mexican trail's out there about five tied, he took the rifle and came out cau-
minutes' gallop," indicating it with a sweep tiously to reconnoiter. Seeing nothing to
of his hand, "and when yu hits it go south cause him apprehension and not dreaming
for about an hour. Yu'll find a big boulder that he formed the target for a revolver that
that splits the trail. That's where you never missed not over fifty feet away, he re-
strike west. After while another trail'U turned to his mount and reappeared with all
cross yu. Follow that over th' bed o' th' pack but the olanket.
of his
creek. There ain't no water there now, so Without hesitation he walked over to a
yu won't have no trouble gittin' acrost th' oblong stone and, sweeping away
large, flat,
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4i 8 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the sand on it, uncovered a cross deeply cut dried brick, it seemed to be of another
in its surface. world. It was hard to realize that in this
Placing the crowbar under one edge, he mighty catacomb, a race had lived and
managed to move it after repeated efforts. died; that its lofty roof had rung to the
As it slid back it revealed an irregular open- noises of peace and war, and that in those
ing that was about two feet across at its narrow streets a people had thronged where
widest part, and from which a burst of foul now was seen no living thing.
however, followed by fresh.
air issued, soon, Directly across from him Barnett saw a
"Not much fear of snakes in that hole," building more massive than the rest. It was
he chuckled, as he lowered his valise into it of three stories, each smaller than the one
with the rope that Thompson had sat up Inflow it, and with many loopholes in its
kite to sleepily and laboriously knot. walls. The lower story had no openings,
At the thought of the agent working on it, save one that was just large enough to admit
he laughed aloud. In that laugh, however, a man if he entered on his hands and knees.
an interested observer noticed a certain This structure was the citadel, and in it was
tenseness that told of an insistent fear and that for which he had come.
of nerves strained to the point of collapse. Barnett had paused at the sight, even
Indeed, the echo, rebounding from the op- though it had not changed since he had
posite wall of the canyon, startled him so seen it last, and in his mind, asleep or
that he dropped the rope, which slid to- awake, he had pictured it many times as he
wards the hole until arrested by a fallen now saw it.
cactus, and, seizing the rifle, peered, panic Turning quickly he glanced up the pas-
stricken, about him. sage. It was very dim and besides, he was
Reassured by the oppressive silence, he too slow. Had he turned more quickly, he
hid the weapon under the edge of a rock might have seen a figure flattening itself
and, taking a small lantern that he had against the wall where it was lost in the
brought in his valise and tying it to his belt, irregularities of the stone and the darkest
descended into the shaft, this being com- parts of the shadows.
paratively easy on account of the notches A sigh of relief escaped him and, reaching
that he found cut into the wall. up, he pulled on a chain that lay hidden in a
Five minutes passed and a man in a blue groove in the wall. A plank slowly lowered
serge suit, whose eyes were now fully itself and bridged the fosse.
opened, came out from behind a mass of He smiled sadly as he recalled how he and
boulders and dead cactus. lie hid the rifle the others had placed it there. He thought
again under a cactus that had fallen some of the time that Harris had excitedly burst
distance from the shaft and, hastily twirl- into the room where he and the rest had met
ing the cylinder of his revolver to make to make their plans, and announced that he
sure that it was in perfect working order, had learned from the whiskey-soaked lips of
swiftly and silently entered after Barnett. an Indian of a place where' no one would
Reaching the bottom, Harnett glanced up. ever think of looking for them. He pro-
•Seeing nothing but a piece of blue sky as duced a crude map and a note book and in a
large as his hat, he untied the valise and, short time it was decided to look into the
drawing the revolver, strode down the slop- matter, and if the place existed and was as
ing passage. He seemed to have liecn there represented to accept his find as the safest
!>eforc from the way he passed other open- place to work. They had journeyed south
ings without the least hesitation. After to the canyon separately, and near the
making several turns, he at last came to a end of an exhausting search under the hot
deep cut, whose sides were |>erpendi< ular sun, had stumbled on it as they were
and that could have stopped an army had its leaving in disgust.
opposite bank lx"cn defended. It was the Returning to Phcenix they had purchased
old defense of the passage, and all the an outfit and installed it after a trying
diverging passages that he had passed were journey across the alkali plains. They had
only blind alleys to confuse a foe. gone back to Pho?nix to lay in a supply of
Below him, ensconced in a mighty fissure, provisions, and as the toast to success was
lay an ancient city. Dim in the early light, being tossed, Connor, of the Secret Service,
almost dark in fact, silent as a tomb and surrounded them with his deputies and cap-
with its terraced houses of stone and sun- tured them all. There were enough old
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JOHN BARNETT, PROFESSOR OF ARCHEOLOGY 419
crimes fastened to them to send them up. Removing the silk and rubber from each,
Wilson received twenty years, Harris got two dies came into sight
eighteen, Johnson had twelve years and Hastily examining them, he placed them
died in prison, and he himself had received on the floor and danced with joy. They
fifteen. were safe and uninjured! All his term he
He shook the reverie from him and —
had thought of them so the click of the
crossed the plank, entering the inclosurc wheels of the train on the rails had driven it
that inclosed the citadel. Before crawling into his soul.
through the low door, he glanced up the They were his alone! He had to share it
passage once more and, sure of his safety as with no one! He must work hard and fast
he was, all of his fears crowded upon him, and then cross the Rio Grande and once in
for Connor was a man to be feared more Mexico he could send them into the United
when one felt safe than at any other time. States with ease.
He trembled with fear and joy fear of — He turned to the bundles of paper he had
Connor and that the things for which he found and counted them, finding five.
was there might be spoiled or gone, and joy Opening one of these he found five smaller
at having come so far in safety. The excite- ones. In one of these he found many
ment that took hold of him blanched his smaller packets, each encircled by a white
face and there was a peculiar elation that silk strip, on which was printed "100."
weakened him. There were twenty silk strips.
Dropping on all fours, he crawled into the "One hundred to a ribbon and twenty
building and went up the ladder that led to ribbons makes two thousand to each small
the third floor, where he saw a bulky object package," he muttered, "and five of these
covered with canvas. Tearing this off he to each of the five large bundles makes
uncovered a printing press as free from rust twenty-five. Twenty-five times two thou-
as the day they had set it up, for the dry air sand is fifty thousand. Not much danger of
allowed none to form. In a box beneath it my working in my old age."
was a complete set of forms. Taking sev- He rewrapj>ed all but one of the ribboned
eral cans of ink from his valise, together packets, and turned to the dies. After wip-
with an oil can, he proceeded to oil the ing them carefully he placed them in the
press. press. Working for a while, he put in a slip
He found several bundles of paper in a and worked as long again over it. Finally
recess of the machine. This paper was pre- he removed the slip and, waiting for it to
pared by a chemist who was among the best dry, warmed it on his naked calf, all the time
in his profession, and the silk threads were rubbing it with tobacco-stained hands to age
so perfectly inserted as to defy all but the it. The gloss wore off and the slip had be-
most expert. Johnson was the one who come as perfect a counterfeit of a slightly
made it and could have made a fortune in worn twenty-dollar bill as had ever been
legitimate work. made.
As he did these things he was becoming As he turned to the door to go down to
more nervous each minute, and realizing at the better light where he could examine it to
last that the most important part of the greater advantage, he looked into the muz-
whole process had been strangely forgotten zle of a Colt's 44, and an even voice broke
in his feverish haste, he hurried to a corner the silence.
of the room and frantically tore at the stones "Come,
Perkins, though you probably
in the floor. prefer Bamett, the government wants those
He shook many emotions that he
so with dies even more than it wants you, and I
had to cease.Fear at the loss or injur) of 1
think it will have both. There is no use to
the precious articles ran through him like struggle— you know me too well for that, so
fire. Cold sweat rolled from him and he the best thing for you to do is to put the dar-
thought he would choke. bies on," tossing him a pair of handcuffs.
Summoning all his will power he calmed " If you hadn't been so eager to get out of
himself and soon had a stone loosened and that tunnel, you could have jx>tted me with
up. He tossed it aside and brought forth a the greatest ease as I came down and no one
packet well wrapj>ed in many folds of oiled wouhl have been any the wiser. Well—
silk and rubl>er. Unrolling these he came your mistake was my salvation and it cer-
upontwosmallcr packets similarly wrapped. tainly is too late now.
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4 2o THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
" I see that you have still got that gift of towards the Dropping oil, lamps and
trail.
scientificlying— that child cow-puncher at everything, he drew his revolver and
the station will feel like a plugged cent, or a started out towhere two riders, a large and
counterfeit bill, which is more pertinent a small man, the horse of the latter roped to
just now." that of the former, were trotting towards
Barnett was dazed. It was so unex- the station.
pected, had happened so quick, and he
it Before he had come within the range of
had so safe that he was in no way pre-
felt his revolver, the sun sent the glitter of a
pared for it; and fifteen years in the peni- badge and he stopped and stared.
to his eye
tentiary had not improved his nerves any, Before he could shout, the muzzle of his
and especially when confronted by the man own rifle swung up and covered him.
who had sent him there. Those mild blue "Drop your shooting-iron, agent," called
eyes, mild but at the same time deadly, and out the big man.
the unwavering muzzle of the silver- He didn't heed the command, but clung
mounted revolver showed him that he could to it and shouted, "Damn yu, who are yu?
do nothing. \Miat*s up?"
"My God! It is Connor!" "Connor, of the Secret Service, and you'll
That cry told all. In no manner was be up if you don't house that gun quick."
Barnett able to cope with him. He bowed Thompson noticed the handcuffs then,
his head and the bill dropped from his and did so, striding out to meet them.
nerveless fingers. He mechanically picked Barnett could not look at him.
up the bracelets and snapped them on. Connor, still holding the rifle at a handy
His spirit, so long weakened, was broken. A angle, spoke for him.
sob shook him, but he controlled himself "This is Mr. Thomas W. Perkins, known
a little and said nothing. for the time being as John Barnett, professor
Connor disarmed him, picked up the bill, of archaeology, though even a polished liar
and writing the word "COUNTERFEIT" —
sometimes makes a mistake it should have
across the face and back with a fountain been ethnology, who is the last of an old
pen, slipped it into his pocket. He detached gang of counterfeiters. He has just served
the plates from the press and, wiping them a fifteen year term and has successfully
off, fired a shot into the face of each, thus earned another. You will please flag the
ruining forever the delicate lines, for fear Southern Arrow for us to-night and we will
that somehow he might lose them and some bother you no more."
one else profit by it. Taking up the valise Thompson swore softly and nodded, add-
and placing the dies in it, he ordered Bar- ing shame -facedly, "Don't forgit to leave
nett to move. that Winchester an' th' Colt. I lent them to
As Barnett emerged from the mouth of a scientific cuss-— well, he's a real live scien-
the shaft he thought of the rifle, but his fear tific liar o' th' XXX
brand. An' for God's
of the man who followed made him pause. sake keep it quiet. If th' boys ever get onto
It was too late then and, indeed, he could this I'll have to stand treat for a month."
not have found the weapon, although he did Taking Barnett to the station, where he
not know it. watched him all the rest of the time, Connor
Connor stepped out and walked over to related all the incidents and the history of
the cactus, where he uncovered the gun to the case to the agent, and showed him the
the astonishment of his prisoner, who lost exhibits; namely, the dies and the plates.
all hope of escape when he saw that. He "By the way, agent, I brought your
was no match for Connor in any way and he blanket along— it's out in the shack."
knew it. "No wonder he wasn't 'fraid o' snakes.
Slipping a lariat over the head of Bur- Thompson, yu ass, yu're a damn fool,"
Connor led it to where his own
nett's horse, sadly murmured the agent to himself.
was picketed and, ordering Barnett to As the rear lights of the express wobbled
mount, sprang into the saddle and started off into the darkness that night, a crest-
back to Three Fingers. fallen cowboy-operator stood squarely in
As Thompson was filling his lamps that the center of the track, with his hands on his
afternoon he happened to glance out hips, and swore.
Digitized by Google
THE GIRL GRADUATE.
" i>H, BB WISER THOV !
lNSTHllCTBU THAT TRI E KNOWLEUOR LEADS TO I.OTK."
- William H'oritworik.
Digitized by Google
THE AMERICAN CLUB WOMAN
BY A CHINESE GENTLEMAN
HE American nation First. Women who
wish to attain noto-
began life in 1776. riety. They the club an oppor-
find in
America was discov- tunity to read original papers, poems and
K p|
a „
!
•
'
ered by the Anglo-
Saxons about 1300.
China knew of its ex-
—
verses as the members have rules by
which they agree to listen to the literary
productions of fellow members.
istence several thou- There is no escape. The reader or
sand years before. speaker is gratified and the tortured listener
The civilization of the American is so is repaid by the knowledge that she will
recent that it really is a thing of yesterday, have an opportunity to also read; revenge
and when the men of Germany, France, must be sweet to these club women.
England and all Europe were barbarians, Second. Women who by this way in-
dressed in skins, killing their food with crease their acquaintance.
clubs, China was a great civilized nation, Third. Women who dislike household
with a literature, an art and many sciences. work.
Cathay was well known to the men of Fourth. Women who really and honestly
medieval Europe as the land of wonder- believe they are contributing to human
ful civilization. Where were the Ameri- knowledge and happiness by reading
cans in the year 1200 ? In that year Persia papers and poems on all cognate and pos-
sought out the astronomers and doctors sible subjects.
of medicine and engineers of China. There are clubs for all purposes. Thus
Two thousand years l»efore Christ, women join forces and form a club to —
China had a written language, and we study the mental development of the child.
have the records of the reign of Gaou At the meetings you will hear profound
(2556 B.C.) showing a cultivation so per- dissertations upon the subject by women
fect at that time it is evident that thou- who have never borne children. I have
sands of years before the Christian era seen a book on "The Infant, How to Bring
—when all Europe was a forest and man It Up," by a spinster.
possibly a debased cannibal —
China, Almost every city in the American Union
Cathay or Kitai was in possession of all has a Shakespeare Club, but you never
that makes a civilized race, and was a hear Shakespeare discussed. Then there
great nation. is the Mothers' Club. One I attended
I repeat these facts, well to even' known was addressed by a woman who had never
schoolboy in China, to emphasize the l)ecn a mother ; at least, she was addressed
ignorance of Americans, whose land was as Miss Doctor The members did
.
owned by the Indians, whom they robbed not see the joke that was evident to the
in 1402 and the following years. "heathen Chinee" present. The audi-
At almost every function I have attended ence was made up of mothers and they
I am looked upon as a "heathen," as a "took it all in." was unprejudiced
It
sort of a child grown up, as a representa- testimony. The lovers of some poet, as
tive of a land that is rolxxi with ignorance Browning, will have their club, and there
compared to America. is a club for every possible subject under
Among the many invitations I have re- the sun; and I am not doing them an in-
ceived was one to meet some " club women." justicewhen I say that in the majority of
The club woman is an American product. instances the mental pabulum is equal to
It is now fashionable to l)clong to clubs, the occasion.
hence as a rule the clubs arc made up of: I was the invited guest at one of these
Digitized by Google
THE AMERICAN CLUB WOMAN 423
clubs, and requested to speak on the would find a single instance of anything
effect of Christianity upon the Chinese. in China to compare to it in horror.
I fancy my friends will not ask me to speak I charged them with sending teachers
to them again on this subject at least. to us who were needed at home, and I ad-
I began by telling them that China had vised them with all good nature to investi-
an estimated population of 400,000,000 gate the Chinese people before they came
men, women and children, and that I had to the conclusion that a civilization of thou-
arrived at the years of discretion, but per- sands of years needed "saving" by Amer-
sonally had never heard of divorce in icans at least.
China. I had secured some divorce sta- This woman's club had little to say when
tistics from American authorities, and if I concluded,and I understood later that
Idid not prove to these ladies that marriage they considered me extremely bigoted and
was a failure in America— I, at least, made impertinent.
them think. It is considered an impertinence in
I explained to them that we in China America to differ with a lady.
considered it somewhat singular that a There were some clever women in the
nation should send so many men and club. After it was all over a very charm-
women to convert China when they had —
ing indeed, beautiful —
matron (for a club
so lamentable a state of affairs at home. woman) approached me and said:
u
I showed them that many of the up- , will you be offended if I speak
risings in China were entirely due to the very plainly to you?"
missionaries, and assured them that I was "Madam," I replied, "nothing you
going to use all my influence when I re- could say would offend me— it would be
turned to China to induce our govern- impossible."
ment to send missionaries to the United "Then frankly," she said, "I think you
States. are a fraud. You pretend to be dignified,
I explained that the main difference expressionless, but I know you are laugh-
between our religion and theirs was in de- ing at us, at our peculiarities, our weak-
tail. We believe in the dictates of good nesses. Don't deny it."
as expressed by Christians, and we had I did not deny it; and I became very
their doctrines long before Christ was born. charming woman,
well acquainted with this
If the Christian religion is so perfect, who happened to be the only one I met in
how is it that crime is so rampant in every allAmerica who took me seriously and
nook and corner of your land? I asked. jx-nctratcd my real thoughts regarding
You profess to believe that we are doomed the Americans.
to perdition. How about your criminals, She told me it was impossible for the
divorce, murder, theft? All are rampant average American to look upon me as a
in every part of America. man with a mind, on the same plane as
To reach China the American mis- that of their brightest men. To them I
sionaries had to pass through 600,000 was a pagan, a heathen, an unbeliever.
prostitutes, and 1,000,000 half as bad. "Do you know, ," she said, "I
There are 500,000 divorced women in am, as an American church woman,
America— for cause; there are almost as ashamed of some of the men and women
—
many men for causes equally gross. we send out to China ? We don't send the
The number of murders in the United l>cst always, and I see the funny side of
States in five years equals that of China it just as you do."
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424 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
would laugh —yes"—so we both laughed was gross; yet a gentleman would not, of
together. I wish I could convey to you course, make an exhibition cf himself—
the charm of these American women. The but the temptation was strong.
attention this woman paid me certainly I often feel that the American is the
could not be due to my personality no, — cheapest of "snobs," yet he has many
no. She was making a subtle attempt to splendid qualities of heart and mind. I
convert me by pretending to agree with usually pacify myself by remembering that
—
me what wit, what cleverness! all peoples are peculiar. It is well to keep
I feel that I am inadequate to the task in mind your own weaknesses.
of giving you an idea of this class of Amer- To illustrate a social incongruity, Mr.
ican society. They were of the middle class, A ,rich and influential, a power in
yet some of their leaders and members the world of finance, is himself rather
were to be met in general society regularly. crude and his wife lamentably so.
I was asked a thousand times if some- His daughters are educated like prin-
thing could not be done to mitigate the cesses, have all the polish and culture
hard lot of Chinese women. I always possible. The contrast was great. In
replied by saying that I had always wished their city these young ladies were not
that I might do something to mitigate the received in the best society, and they moved
terrible lives of the American women the — to another, doubtless mortified. It was
scores of families packed in tenement so here; the old and best faction would
houses in great cities, who work like slaves not receive them, and they were obliged
and have no future. to go abroad, where one married a man
It is singular that the Americans do not with the rank of a prince of the realm,
suspect that we too have different classes which gave her rank at once in Europe.
rich, poor, criminal, and all the rest; but What would be their position should they
they seem to "lump" all Chinese women return to Washington?
in one class, as a crushed race, with bound I was told by an American that people
feet, bought and sold as slaves, stupefied would "fall over themselves" doing them
with opium, yet the Americans virtually honor, but I can hardly believe this; the
sell their daughters. The European mar- real American "society woman" of the
riages of American girls to titled adven- inner class never forgets herself, as her
turers a cause of laughter to foreigners,
is position is founded on birth.
absolutely no social standing n, ..ic Lrge descendants arc the "400" of to-day."
city in which she made her home. I pay my "heathen" homage to these
I knew that when she married her multi- people, whom it has beenmy delight to
millionaire assumed all the debts
father meet in Philadelphia, New York and Bos-
of her husband, and gave them an income ton. They
arc the real Americans ; birth and
that a prince would have considered lib- ancestry are the real test of an aristocracy.
eral, yet this newly made society woman I know my ancestor Li flourished 2,000
had the audacity to accuse my nation of years ago and am proud that I can show
permitting the sale of wives. There have the descent, and I honor the American
been times when in my heart I felt malig- who complacent and self-satisfied in the
is
nant toward these people, whose ignorance heritage of even 200 years, recent as it is.
Digitized by Google
ABINGDON SQIMRS.
*
:
~ 4v Ato ILL
"
fijj who touches ever so food collectors foraged with pokers and
^'-(M^ A lightly the life of a hooks of various sizes. There women
X^bpm
^*tM,V~-<j^ come
citv > thcrc
some time
must
a
drank almost, if not quite, as much as men.
There every corner grocer)- had its bar,
*
S sM'. : '
A vague feeling that glit- where mothers often sent for beer or whis-
V* "J ... ter and beauty must ky, which was entered on the family pass-
tjfo? -
<. .
have their seamy side. book as tea or sugar. There were laid
He would be all the more conscious of this the scenes of the early remembrance of
state of affairs if several years ago he had many waifs—of the thousands of children,
seen the streets of the New York East Side, orphaned and dependent, who are thrown
where live the most deeply poor of the city. on the mercy of others.
This locality then presented picture after To care properly for these children and
picture of thoroughfares lined with barrels to direct the evil of their hereditary tenden-
or boxes into which ashes, old iron, broken any number of
cies into healthful channels,
dishes, garbage and dead animals
rags, orphans and destitute
institutions for the
were jumbled. There an army of rag- poor have been established in New York.
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426 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
of a territory; that two were
members of Congress; two sher-
three district attorneys;
iffs;
Digitized by Googlei
THE PLAYGROUND OF PUBLIC »T*P&.
Strangely enough only twenty-one per cent, the orphanage, still make use of the cun-
of its charges have been Americans, the ning tricks of begging or stealing that the
majority representing the thickly populant sting of poverty has taught them.
immigrant districts of the East Side, where
blacks mix with whites, Hibernian with
Hebrew, and impassive-eyed Germans and
curly-headed Norwegians with midget de-
scendants of Erin. Not all of these little
ones are wholly orphans, as often one par-
ent, generally the father, is living, yet surely
their adoption by charity produces better
results than the exposure of these innocent
waifs to the ill conditions of make-shift
homes in the tenement districts, to bad
food, to evil surroundings, and to juvenile
impressions that are not easily eradicated.
One little child, for instance, after being in
the asylum for a year, was asked why his
teeth were out in front. His lisped reply
when he said that
bore pathetic significance
he guessed he had swallowed them as " papa
had knocked mama's teeth down her throat
one day." Such a state of affairs hardly
seems abnormal when, on reading the
census taken in April, 1902, it is found that
the average income for 561 households was
under four dollars a week, and that these
respective families included 845 adults
and 2,066 children. No wonder the puny,
half-starved creatures, when brought to "fAPM, HUTM?"
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428 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
This asylum, as in the case of others, goes thought that in its work lies the solution of
to work in a practical way to save its the servant girl problem, for each pupil is
youngsters from the results of their early put through an exact training in preparing
training at as small an expense as is decently the food and serving it. Charts of the vari-
possible. Their fundamental ideas arc ous animals from which comes our meat
built upon the Manual Training school supply are hung on the walls and diagramed
S) stems, which cover the practical indus- to show the proper cuts. Lists of food
tries. For instance, in this one orphanage classified according to dietary value arc
over 1,500 shoes were made during the past memorized from neat copy-books in which
year by the shoemaker and his forty boy have been entered tried receipts. These
assistants. Incidentally, after working little maids are greatly in demand and are
hours, the same teacher instructed his flock often more proficient in culinary science
in a cornet kind, which on festal occasions than their older mistresses. One girl was
delights an appreciative audience. It runs sent into the home of a family living in the
like fiction to note that the baker and his country, where it was requested that she
ten boys bake all of the bread and rolls used prepare a certain dish for tea. " I am afraid
in the Asylum, and that the tailor, with it would not be appropriate," the youthful
seventy boys, made 1 ,830 pairs of trousers, Minerva of the pots and kettles ventured.
and other articles. In the dining-room some such awfully long digestion."
of the older girls wait on the table, while As the beginning of things, after all, the
below the kitchen presents another evidence nursery presents an unusual degree of at-
of the work of young hands. The excel- traction to the visiting stranger. "It is
lence of this latter department suggests the like a huge flower garden," the head of the
FLKASl'KB AMD BUSINESS.
department remarked. " Each posy is dif- plump young Swedish friend, Benny, with
fercnt and requires different treatment, poppy-red cheeks and bright blue eyes,
Some need pruning; was looking out ot
that little over
girl the window over the
there with the high ragged foliage of
forehead already has green trees.
a taste for beer and "Would you like
liquor. I have to live in the sky,
taught her that it is Abie?" the one
fat
medicine
sick people take
and only
lit-
m asked very gravely.
"No, I wouldn't,"
Abie shot back with-
out any indecision.
° Yes, but
tle, smiling Jewess your
on the bench at the mama an' my li'l
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AN AUGUST AFTERNOON IN A FREK BATH-HOl'SI.
clothes and hoard. It will not lx- long, here with the traditional institutional fea-
however, before advantage may he taken of tures, including nature study, athletics, hor-
the present intention of estahlishing the ticultural and agricultural pursuits.
segregate system in ideal cottage homes, In the same way the New York Foundling
presided over hy a mother who shall supply Asylum at East Sixty-eighth Street, between
the parental requirements to her hrood. Third and Lexington Avenues, has shel-
To end the New York Juvenile Asylum
this tered 35,000 children since its founding in
has purchased two hundred and seventy- 1869. The term "foundling" suggests an
seven acres of land a hove Ardsley, known as unfortunate child, rohhed of its birthright
Echo Hills. A new rdgimc will be combined by the sin of others, and destined to bear
SAND GAMES UK THE KOUf Of AN BAST SIDE SRTTLKMKNT »l (LUING.
through life the stigma of obloquy and tered overManhattan Island, continued
shame. Charity has devised the means to on these same lines, and housing chil-
restore to it what an unkind accident of fate dren of both sexes who
dependent are
has denied. Here the radiant-eyed, bright - on charity for Summarized,
existence.
facedchildren know their greatest sorrows in there are the Colored Orphan Asylum at
the mishaps of their dolls —
a broken leg or a West 143d Street; the Orphans' Home and
mutilated nose. Since the ulti-
mate object of this institution
is to effect the adoption of the
children into respectable fami-
lies, the black -robed sisters
make them as attractive to the
eye as is possible, with clean,
Digitized by Google
432 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
90th Street.which accommodates
% at present over two hundred; St.
%^ ...
Digitized by Google
THE WAIFS OF A GREAT CITY 433
rich; the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan country where is afforded ample opportunity
Asylum, incorporated in 1832, on Amster- for the promulgation of the segregate system
dam Avenue between 136th and 138th of living as illustrated in the "cottage
Streets, which is taking care of eight hun- home" plan. It is interesting to note the
dred waifs, and its branch institutions at generosity with which the public responds
Eleventh Avenue and 161st Street swell to the needs of the orphans. The donations
that number to over one thousand; the cover all material wants, and include boxes
New York Infant Asylum at Amsterdam of hats, shoes, stockings, clothing of all de-
Avenue and 61st Street has reared thou- scriptions, flowers, candy, ice-cream, books,
sands since its founding, and is filled to-day; toys and the smaller luxuries. Eccentric
the Asylum of St. Vincent de Paul at 215 banquets are often made. A recent sub-
West 39th Street, incorporated in 1868, has scription received bore the words "A
a capacity for two hundred and thirty-seven, message from Mars." In face of the mani-
and receives orphans preferably of French fest philanthropy of the Earth, directed by
descent. Nor is this all, for it must be borne ministering hands to the best possible means
in mind that innumerable institutions which for the individual, there does not seem to be
formerly occupied inadequate quarters in any necessity to ask assistance of other
the city have wisely been removed to the planets.
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A SONG
Helen Hc^Whitnejc
The sky is more blue
than the eyes of a boy,
A riot of roses
entangles the year,
Ah, come to me, run to me,
fill me with joy
Dear: dear, dear
^v\vXi."
v.: ^».-/**
Digitized by Google
Digitized by Google
TUB "NIAGABA," A nA*K-BICCIl», TWIN-STKtW VHS5.KL OF I44J bKU» TONS.
Digitized by Google
THE HULL OP TUB " VIZCAYA " WA& BROKEN IN TWO, AND THE FORWARD Tl'RHBT GI N POINTS SKYWARD.
States waters. Early this year, however, he crests of the long swells. No head sails
made his most interesting voyage to the were set, her foresail and mainsail were
West Indies, visiting the principal ports double reefed, and in her port rigging an
in the Caribbean Sea, Nassau, Santiago, American ensign flew union down as a
Kingston and Port Antonio, Jamaica, Cien- signal of distress.
fuegos and Havana in the order named. As the yacht ncared the disabled vessel it
Leaving her anchorage off the New York needed but a glance to sec that she had been
Yacht Club station at the foot of East leaking, for she was almost waterlogged and
Twenty-third Street in December, the helpless. Her hawsepipes were down to the
Niagara had scarcely passed Scotland water's edge, and she rolled dangerously in
Lightship when she fell into the hands of a the trough of the sea. She was the Belle
heavy northeaster that led to her first ad- O'Neill of New London, lumber-laden, and
venture. It came about midway between bound from Georgetown, N. C, to New
New York and Bermuda on the second day York.
out, when the yacht's quartermaster with Mr. fiould offered to take off the crew,
his spy-glass made out, far off on the east- but her skipper, John Simmons, did not
ern horizon, the masts <>f a schooner whose want to abandon his vessel. Instead he
hull was barely visible when she rose on the asked to be towed to the nearest port, which
ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE SPANISH MAIL STEAMER "ALFONSO XIII."
Digitized by Google
I
was Norfolk. Not being able to comply swell, the Niagara made good time, arriving
with the request, a week's supply of pro- early the next morning at Santiago de Cuba,
visions was sent over to her in the Niagara's where two days were spent by the party
cutter, manned by a
volunteer crew, in
charge of Chief Mate
Gabrielson. Three
days later the Belle
O'Neill arrived safely
in Norfolk.
Proceeding on her
course, the Niagara
made excellent time to
the south'ard, so that
the light at Nassau was
sighted at 3:40 on the
morning of December
20. The yacht was
hove to until daylight,
when the pilot came on
board and took her 10
the anchorage in Nas-
sau's beautiful harbor,
with its cry>tal green
water.
After a couple of
days of sightseeing in
and about Nassau, the
cruise was continued to
Kingston, Jamaica.
There visits were made
to the beautiful Hope
Botanic Gardens and
drives were taken to
the Constant Spring
hotel and to the Gov-
ernment botanical gar- TUB M'KKCNUtH TXK« AT KAN AN KILL.
J I'
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442 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the general* fund appropriated by the Gov- theMorro at Santiago. They were all that
ernment. remains of the once powerful Spanish war-
Close by, on another part of the hill, is ships Ahnirante Oquendo and Vizcaya.
The former's bow
points seaward, and
her smokestack lies al-
most across what little
is left of her upper
works. Stops were
made while the pho-
tographer of the party
took pictures of them.
The hull of the Vizcaya
has broken in two. One
of her military masts,
with its top, is still
standing, but at an an-
gle, and the forward
turret gun points sky-
ward. Both vessels lie
exposed to the full fury
of southerly and east-
erly gales, and they are
liable to disappear at
any time.
The harbor of Cien-
fuegos was reached at
noon of the same day.
Forty-eight hours were
spent in that ancient
town, rich in historical
interest, while the Span-
ish-American war spots
were visited.
Thence the voyagers
went by rail from Cien-
fuegos to Havana, while
TMB MONUMENT BRECTBD TO TMB OfPICEKS AMI MSN OP TH E UNITED STATES ARMY
ON THE SITE OF TUB OLD BLOCKHOUSE ON SAN JUAN HILL, the yacht, following a
few days later, arrived
the great cebu tree now known as "the sur- there on January 13. All the points of interest
render tree" of San Juan Hill, under the in and about Havana were inspected, includ-
wide-spreading branches of which on July ing the Fronton building at the corner of
16, i8g8, Frederico Escario, the Spanish Concordia and Oquendo Streets, where the
General, and Lieut. -Col. Ventura Fontan fascinating game of Jai Alai is played.
surrendered to Major- Generals Wheeler and There arc scats for thousands of spectators,
Lawton, commanding the American army, and immense wagers are won and lost on the
and signed the capitulation document that game.
ended the war in Cuba. The Malccon, meaning in Spanish em-
Steaming to the westward on January 5, bankment, or wall, was often visited. It is
from the narrow entrance of Santiago's a beauty spot of Havana, and one that
harbor, out of which Cervera's fleet of war- never fails to delight the visitor. It has an
ships came to meet their doom on that interesting history. In 1762 it was a bat-
—
memorable Sunday morning July 3, 1898 tery called "La Punta,"intended to supple-
— the Xiagara's owner and his guests were ment the heavier guns on the Morro, across
soon able to make out with their glasses the entrance to the harbor. In the siege of
two black and seawashed hulls, close in- Havana by the British, the guns of La
shore, six and eight miles respectively from Punta were only silenced when the guns of
Google
A CRUISE IN SOUTHERN SEAS 443
the Morro, in the hands of the enemy, were sidewalks and seats are thronged with men,
turned upon it, and its surrender marked women and children who linger in the
the end of the city's resistance. The tropical moonlight, or beneath the electric
American engineers have recently trans- lights, listening to the splash of the breakers
formed it from a waste space, a receptacle and fanned by the soft sea breezes, while the
for refuse, into a well-kept park and recrea- band plays popular national airs.
tion ground, behind the substantial sea wall And when at last the yacht started on her
extending in a curved line from the north- homeward voyage she carried as her final
west bastion of La Punta to the west side impression of Cuba the mute reminder of
c f the end of the Prado. A music-stand of the indirect cause of the Spanish-American
classic design occupies the center of the —
War the wreck of the battleship Maine,
park, supporting by twenty Ionic columns lying where she sank in Havana Harbor on
an entablature and dome which bears the the night of February 14, 1898. All that is
names of great composers. The Malecon visible now is the military mast, a boat der-
overlooks the gulf, the harbor with its rick, and a wreath of faded flowers; the lat-
shipping, and Morro Castle directly oppo- ter, pendent from the mast, are placed there
site, with its tall lighthouse. In the cool of annually by the officers and men of the U. S.
the evenings and at sunset the driveways, Navy stationed at Havana.
And her backward look is saucy, and the colt's toss of her head
Well, a boy likes chasing better if the colt be thoroughbred.
—
And her mouth 'twas made for smiling, winning you against your will.
With its Cupid's bow and dainty teeth, like young cadets a-drill.
And the careless pagan laughter such as by the river's brink
Charmed Apollo in his Daphne as 'twere some delicious drink.
And they say the way is weary for the man that follows whim
Till the brilliance of the little lawless graces shall grow dim
And the girl's piquant surprises may be tedious in the wife,
In the game of life the trump is, not the spade of subtle art,
Power's club, or riches' diamond, but, believe me, boy, Love's heart.
Digitized by Google
Google
THE HEART OF THE GOVERNOR'S
DAUGHTER
BY THEODORE ROBERTS
ILLUSTRATED
HREE French vessels, the lesser sleep to the greater with crushing
under the incompa- strokes of cutlass and club. WhQn the
rable DeLancey, brief fight was over, the conquerors of
dropped anchor in the largest of the ships heard noises for-
Petty Harbor at an ward, like the thumping of irons on a
early hour of a Novem- bulkhead. A speedy investigation was
ber night. A cautious made, with the result that six English
landing was made upon prisoners, shackled hand and foot, were
the little hamlet; but, to the disgust of the discovered in the hold These proved to
invaders, the cabins of the fishermen were be Captain Sir Edward Bradley and five
found to be empty. DeLancey promptly men, all survivors of the sloop-of-war
of his
ordered the stores and fish-stages to be Vixen which DeLancey's squadron had
fired. Without waiting to admire the con- sunk but a few days before.
flagration he set out, with a motley force and feeding the prisoners,
After freeing
of infantry, mariners and Canadian Indians, the men Harbor (accompanied by
of Petty
for St. John's. He dragged two cannon the sailor-baronet and his men) set out
along with him. It was a new idea and on the trail of DeLancey's force. They
worthy of the indomitable Frenchman were well armed and keen on the quest.
this of marching upon the English strong- They knew the ground in daylight or dark.
hold from the south. The journey itself Knoll and barren and pond, lying unseen
was no mean undertaking for a winter in desolate and wide confusion, held
night. His plan was to establish his force neither menace nor delay for them.
behind the ridge of the long hills thnt • • • • • 0 • . .
Heedless of their flaming property, they the harbor opened, hill-girt, secure. Behind
dragged half a dozen skiffs from hiding- the fish-stages along the northern shore clus-
places in the rocks and pulled out to the tered rough dwellings and stores and the
French vessels in the harbor. Thirst stonc-and-timber house of the governor.
for revenge was hot in their great breasts. The green waters of the harbor were bitter
They found the guardians of the ships cold. Snow lay on the bleak summits
nodding at their posts; and sped them from round about and along the rough footways
Digitized by Google
CLINOK, 1KB GOVEKNOR'5 DAUCKTCK.
Thickets of spruce-tuck, black as if they had ensign above the fort until the ruddy bunting
been scorched bv fire, filled the clefts be- shone like a jewel. It set the snow-clad rocks
tween the rocky ribs of the hills. Knolls of a-glistening. Rising and dispersing on the
granite stood out, cold and gray. wind, the plumes of smoke from the lowly
Presently, halfway up the eastern slope of chimneys took on tints of pearl and opal.
Digitized by Google
44 8 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
In the fort, in the crooked street and whispered —
"a child that has learned
aboard the anchored brig, hearts of men nothing of the wonder of love."
beat with renewed hope and courage. A She trembled against him.
lad of Cork, repairing the flooring of his "Captain MacGregor," she faltered,
fish-stage, sang at his work. The boat- "Captain MacGregor has taught me to
swain of the brig, his hair freshly greased love."
and tied, climbed to the high forecastle and In a second the governor swung from
played a rustic ditty on his flute. A soldier tenderness to severity. His arm slid from
in a scarlet coat, with great belts crossed on his daughter's shoulders.
his chest, whistled along the ramparts of the " He is brave," cried the girl defiantly.
fort and decided that, with the sun shining, "A swashbuckler," said the governor
the surrounding summits were not unlike harshly.
the tors of Devonshire. "He is a gentleman. He is generous.
Even the governor, weather-hardened He is kind," continued Elinor.
sea-dog that he was, was stirred by the sun- The governor lost control of his temper.
shine. He closed the book which he had "By heaven," he cried, "am I to be sent
been reading by the fireside and stepped to to dame school again? D'ye think, be-
the window. But his daughter Elinor kept cause the smoke of French guns has stung
her chair by the ruddy hearth and gazed in my eyes now and then, that I can no longer
the flames. read my man ? Am
I to be told, by a chit of
"I'll wager," said the sailor-governor, a girl, who's a gentleman and who is not;
" that by this time Edward is beginning to who is brave and who a coward; who is
weary of breaking and capturing French generous and who mean ?"
ships. His is too fine a heart for the dirty He stormed up and down the room,
work of blood-letting." feeding his hot mood.
Elinor neither replied nor turned her "So you love MacGregor, do you?" he
head. cried. " Love him because of his red
" It is in my bones," continued Kempton, cheeks, and black eyes, and swagger! Love
still looking out at the sunlight, " that he is him because he is the only presentable man
even now on his way to St. John's and — in the colony —
while the truest heart in the
with some new verses in his pocket, too. world drives his ship after the French, out
Gad, but what a blessing it is to be young on the smoky sea. By gad, I don't believe
and a poet!" it of your mother's daughter!"
After a moment of nervous hesitation, the "Father, vou do not understand," she
"
lady rose from her seat and went over to sobbed. "I'love
the window. Her lovely cheeks were color- "Love," cried the sailor, huskily; "will
less. Her fine eyes held many lights and — you teach me of love? Girl, I read your
among them were lights of determination heart like a book. I read it with eyes that,
and timidity and shame. She laid a furtive have kept dry and bright through longing,
hand on the governor's arm. "Father," and exile half-way round the world. I have
she said, " dear father, will you not see that I seen cripples inspire the love of fine women
do not love Sir Edward Bradley ?" —ay, and hold it; but never a man with a
The governor stared at her, incredulity crippled soul. Has this MacGregor kept
and astonishment in his face. the love of his —
own father? of his own
"But," he cried, "why, dear heaven, clansmen ? —
of the lads who obey him ?
Nell, you loved him right enough six Not he, for all his glowing eye and ruddy
months age." cheeks!"
"I was a child then," she stammered, The governor paused to recover his
lowering her eyes from his. breath. Elinor sobbed rebelliously. How
"But you are betrothed to him, my girl," dare he make such a shameless, foolish
he replied, cool enough now. thing of her new-found love ? How dare he
" You are cruel," she cried. " You want say that he knew more of her heart thanshe ?
to break my heart." The blood surged furiously in her cheeks,
Very swiftly, in one of his sudden changes but, for all that, she did not look her domi-
of mood, the governor put his arm about her neering parent in the eye.
shoulders and drew her to him. A shouting arose in the streets. The beU
"Why, Nell, you are still but a child," he rang frantically in the tiny chapel. Calm
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PSYCHOLOGY 449
of feature, cool of eye, the governor stepped hill. The red flag still flared above Signal
briskly across to his daughter. Hill.
"The French, I'll wager!" he exclaimed. The fire on the governor's hearth had
At that moment the door of the room flew burned itself down to ashes. The early
open and Sir Edward Bradley rushed in. dusk filled the room, shrouding the dainty
" The French are dragging their guns over figure of the governor's daughter. Suddenly
the hills to the south," he cried. " DeLancey the girl started up, with a trembling hand on
is in command and the Canadians are with either arm of the chair. The outer door
him. We rounded their left flank." had swung open. A shuffling of feet
The governor, without a word of greeting, sounded in the passage. With a little cry
sprang past him and ran from the house. she ran to the door of the room and pulled
Elinor sank into a chair and stared at her it wide. The governor, hatless, his stout
lover of six months ago. Bradley knelt coat torn and unbuttoned, stepped across
beside her for a moment, with his lips to her the threshold and caught her hand in his.
hand, his slight body trembling. His The men, with a muffled burden, were at
fine face, thinned by recent hardships, his heels.
flushed desperately. "Who is it?" she cried, clutching at her
"I shallcome back," he whispered, "as father and staring into the 'gloom.
soon as Dclanccy is beaten. Have no fear, For a second he leaned close, with ques-
dear heart." tioning eyes on her face.
He rose from his knees, reluctantly. For "Your Scot is safe," he said gently.
a second he looked down at her with shining "But who is there?" whispered the
eyes. Then he turned and strode from the girl.
PSYCHOLOGY
BY HENRY BARTLETT MORRILL
I see a maid before me,
Roguish, sweet, and fair;
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MODOC WAR REMINISCENCES
BY GERHARDT BRADT
ILLUSTRATED BY F. T. JOHNSON
Uncle Sam and the Modocs, Mr. Con- little meat as of too much Klamath that
nolly has produced anecdotes that deserve precipitated that war in the lava beds."
a place as illuminative vignettes, cast on Very illuminative is Mr. Connolly's
Mr. Brady's picture of the strife in the land description of the scene just after the
of burnt out fires. troopers had "jumped" Captain Jack's
"I wish to take gentle issue with Dr. camp on Lost River on the morning fol-
Brady concerning the causes of that war," lowing Thanksgiving Day of 1872. " Peace-
began Mr. Connolly, in taking up the ably, if possible, forcibly, if necessary,"
thread of his adversions to the Tule Lake had been the instructions given Captain
expedition of Captain Jackson and his Jack>on as he set out on his mission to
troopen. "The issue is by no means bring the recreants into camp. Two
vital, and should be the cau^e of no con- representatives of the Indian Bureau ac-
troversy. It is mentioned for the sole companied the detachment, and until the
purpose of presenting what the men in the parleyings and overtures of these two
ranks at that time— and some of us even were proved unavailing, the military was
to this day— believed to be the chief cause to be held in abeyance. When the Modocs
of the trouble with Captain Jack's band. realized that they were surrounded, they
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'
AARON BROWN, INDIAN AGRNT, AND ONI APPLRGATR, M i'-Al.KNT, ADVANCED TO THE CONFAB."
raised their arms in token of surrender. civilian officials had exhausted every en-
The troops arranged themselves about the deavor to conciliate. To the cavalrymen,
cluster of wickiups as a crescent girdle the passage of the squaws and children
of blue, between the horns of which Aaron from the camp to the seclusion of the sage-
Brown, Indian agent, and one Applegate, brush could have augured but one thing
sub-agent and quartermaster commissary, the removal of the non-combatants in
advanced to the confab. The blue belt case hostilities should result. This appre-
of cavalrymen was supposed to be doing hension of possibility became a certainty
nothing but form a stage setting of military as an occasional warrior was seen to leave
demonstration which was planned to the knot of conferees, go to his tent, re-
assist the efforts of the Indian agents, and move gun and ammunition. Brown and
also to act as a deterrent for such redskins Applegate also noted the fact, but, still
as might attempt to escajx: to the sage- hoping, they said, " He good Indian, come
brush, in the rear of the wickiups. But bick again." The tension on the spirits
the alert eyes of the men in the uniforms of the soldiery grew almost unbearable as
could not fail to note what was going on, they saw unmistakable evidence of im-
though they were powerless to act until the mediately forthcoming trouble.
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"This my home. Here stay until die." had been ordered to burn the camp of
These words from Bogus Charley marked Curly Headed Doctor, which had been va-
the first direct evidence of the failure of cated under the fire of the afternoon be-
the parley. Still the soldiers could do fore, when he saw Crawley, unkempt, partly
nothing, for the work was yet in the hands dressed and hatless, emerge from his door
of the civilian agents. When Scarfaced and defiantly face a knot of men com-
Charley raised his rifle to his shoulder with posed of the settlers who had retreated on
deliberate aim at Captain Jackson, the the previous day. During the night their
soldiers perforce were yet under orders anger at the epithets of Crawley on ine
not to give evidence of firing. For full forme visit had been fanned to white
five minutes the redskin kept his gun heat over discussion as to Crawley's re-
pointed at the officer and for full that missness in not notifying the Broady,
space the doughty captain looked the Brotherton and Miller families along the
Modoc in the eye. The signal came from cast shore of Tule Lake of the coming of
an Indian in the sage-brush fronting, and the troops. Troops meant hostility with
a little to the right of, the crescent-shaped the Indians, and hostility spelled murder.
line of soldiers. At the same instant In fact, Miller had been murdered by
Scarfaced Charley and Captain Jackson the Modocs because they argued as a
exchanged hostile compliments, the one friend of the Indians he should have told
with his rifle, the other with his revolver, them. But to the angered men around
both without visible effect. And the Crawley's door that morning, Crawley
Modoc war had commenced. was deserving of death, because he had
While this was going on at Captain not saved the lives of the settlers. The
Jack's camp, there was excitement over doomed man heard the threats of lynch-
across Lost River in the vicinity of Craw- ing as he lay in his bunk, the unguarded
ley's ranch, near which Curly Headed conversation of one of the settlers having
Doctor had a camp of eleven wickiups. penetrated the cabin. That Crawley meant
Lieutenant Smith was the only regular, business was clearly discerned in his atti-
though there were twelve civilians with tude. His revolver was in his belt. A
him, settlers from the vicinity of Tule Lake. torrent of profanity and repeated taunts
At the first sign that hostilities had com- of the cowardice of the men on the previous
menced with Captain Jack's hand, Lieu- day was poured at the knot of men.
tenant Smith and ten civilians advanced " You who want something of me, step
toward the camp of Curly Headed Doctor, out here one pace or twenty, and I'll dis-
leaving two men in charge of Crawley's pose of your whole white-livered rabble
buildings. The officer and eight of his of skulking cowards!" yelled the infuriated
men were mounted, expecting to have to Crawley.
run for it later, but Crawley and a man No one moved. Crawley's course had
called "Jack of Clubs" advanced on foot. completely cowed them.
This imposing array was halted by the In the fight at Captain Jack's strong-
Doctor's men and then made precipitate hold on the 17th of January, 1873, there
retreat to the shelter of Crawley's barn. were times when not an Indian could be
The panic of the horsemen was so great seen by the troopers, but the head of a
that they were leaving the footmen behind, soldier peering for a mere instant from
when Crawley's imprecations and oaths behind a projecting rock drew the fire of a
at being deserted deterred some of the dozen guns from as many places where
riders. "Jack of Clubs," being very the Indians were hiding in the crevasses
deaf, had not heard the shooting, and was of lava. The distance between the lines
not aware what was transpiring until it was often slight, as may be understood
was too late. An Indian bullet found his from the incident of Captain Perry, lying
jaw and neck as he turned to join in the behind a rock, severely wounded by a
retreat. bullet which entered his side and also broke
Crawley's taunts hurled in an invective an arm. In his torture of suffering from
of profanity, when he did reach shelter, the wound, also from the bitter cold, he
found result in a narrowly averted tragedy groaned aloud, only to hear the shout from
on the following morning. Sergeant Con- some unknown crack in the lava:
nolly was returning with a squad which "Oh, you big squaw Irian 1 What for
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MODOC WAR REMINISCENCES 453
you cry? Get up and go home. Me no tions, "and be no soldiers or
there will
hurt you more." shooting or reservations over there." The
Knowing full well that he would be good man was dilating on the happiness
potted the instant he exposed himself to of the hereafter, when Jack interrupted
view, Captain Perry did not accept the him with:
invitation. He suffered intensely until "You like 'em thtre?"
the Modocs were forced back and assistance " Of course. And I shall see the pearly
came. On the same day and only a short gates and the great white throne," con-
distance away, Sergeant Connolly re- tinued the chaplain.
ceived a bullet in the groin. He would " You no 'fraid ? Heap skookum, yes ?"
doubtless have been scalped had it not interestedly pursued the condemned man
been for the bravery of Lieutenant Bou- to be launched into eternity on the morn
telle, who removed him to a place of of the morrow.
safety. Boutelle is now living at Van- "Whyshould I be afraid? There I
couver, Washington, and is a retired cap- shallbe with the Father, the Son and the
tain, the only survivor, so far as Mr. Con- Holy Ghost in a world free from trouble
nolly knows, of the Modoc war, who is and want and conflict."
now a resident of Washington, himself "You go to-morrow. I stay. Give
excepted. you twenty pony," was the reply of the
Before the summer of 1873 was over, wily chief, while the smiles which wreathed
Sergeant* Connolly had recovered from the faces of the men in blue were not com-
the effects of his wound at Tule Lake, and pletely invisible to both the chaplain and
was on duty once more at Fort Klamath. the chieftain.
He came to know all the prisoners there The immediate end of Captain Jack
confined awaiting execution, and it so was not one in which bravado figured.
happened that he was sergeant of the Indeed, he seemed the least resigned of -
guard in charge of the death watch on the the quartette. Schonchin, Black Jim and
night preceding the execution of Captain Boston Charley stood the scaffold with
Jack and his fellows. The chieftain pre- far less perturbation than their chief.
served to the last hour of his existence Perhaps the: array of the hated soldier}',
those mental qualities which made him an drawn up n a square about the scaffold,
:
adept at parley. Chaplain Heckenberg did much to overcome the stolidity and
came to the guardhouse to administer self-control of the vanquished and broken
parting consolation of Christianity to the chieftain. Boston Charley made a final
doomed. The chaplain was a good man, request of his executioner, a corporal of
but also of that type which does not always infantry. Just as the black cap was to be
adjust the sense of its consolation with drawn over his head, he asked for a chew
a fineness to the character of the consoled. of tobacco, and the request was not de-
He actually exhorted Captain Jack, hero nied.
of one of the bloodiest short wars of Amer- Grim mementoes of the Modoc war
ican history, and a redskin who had faced have been preserved by Mr. Connolly, in
death at a thousand junctures, to meet the form of the cap worn by Mary, sister
death gladly and with no fear. of Captain Jack, a piece of the rope on
"Ugh!" sullenly muttered the famous which the great Modoc guggled out his
Modoc, as he looked inquiringly into the last gasp, and one of the black caps drawn
face of his spiritual adviser. over the heads of the condemned, in this
"All will be rest and quiet in the world instance improvised from the outer part
beyond," pursued the man of consola- of the old army haversack.
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9
N the day that Gardiner kisses, her name leapt to him out of the
landed in New York Herald.
he had been absent "Mrs. Barn- Gardiner of Chicago, wife
from his wife for six of the well-known dramatist, and the presi-
months. This was not dent of the newly formed League for the
Gardiner's fault; she Suppression of Impropriety, has opened a
had remained in Chi- campaign against ladies' 'elbow sleeves,'
cago by her own wish which she declares are full of danger to the
when business took him to London. For purity of the young men of the land."
one thing, she had begun to lose her interest "Great Scott!" gasped Gardiner. The
in his business —
he wrote the "books" of blood left his cheeks. He sat staring at the
—
musical comedies and for another, she paragraph, paralyzed.
had begun to pronounce Europe "deca- Pauline, the woman he loved, the woman
dent" and "effete." who had been such a delightful girl, was
He had not seen her for six months, and notorious had — become the most obnoxious
he boarded the train with impatience. He kind of crank! His color returned with a
was very fond of Pauline, though during the rush — he turned red, red with shame, at
last year or so he had observed the increas- his wife's prurience.
ing seriousness of her outlook with dismay; He ate my
little on the journey, and
she was not— and he could not persuade slept nota wink. He could not shrug his
—
himself that she was quite so amusing as shoulders at her with a laugh, ludicrous as
she used to be, quite so companionable. she was; it was for others to laugh to him, —
She remained, however, quite as enchant- her husband, the situation was simply pain-
ingly pretty, and the fancy of her svelte ful. All at once Gardiner felt as if he were
figure in his arms, of the welcome of her married to a stranger, felt that he was bound
beautiful eyes and lips, was so imperative to a wife whom he did not know, and whom
that Gardiner could hardly interest himself he shrank from knowing. What could
in the bundle of newspapers that he had their life together be now? A continuous
bought. conflictand humiliation!
As he turned them over, he thought again Oh, but she should be brought to her
of her recent letters; they had been disturb- senses He would not permit herself to make
!
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MRS. I1AKKY GARDINER OF CHICAGO. PRESIDENT OF THE NEWLY FORMED LEAGUE FOR
THB SUPPRESSION OF IMPROPRIETY.
Digitized by Google;
45 6 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
—
but not quite and as a surface car rushed " Perfectly,"he agreed.
him home, the population were streaming "That's all right, then!" she said cheer-
down town to their offices, and giving one fully; "I was afraid you'd want to argue
another the German for " Good-day." about it."
Pauline was writing letters when he "So, my darling," added Gardiner, "you
—
opened the parlor door. " Barry darling!" had better not protest any more."
she cried, dropping her pen; and for a " What ?" she faltered. '
moment he was holding the Pauline of their "I say that you had better not protest
honeymoon. " Why didn't you cable ? " she any more, for, as you see, you are placing
said breathlessly. "What boat did you yourself in a very false position."
come by?" "My dear Harry! I don't think you have
" I got through sooner than I expected; I grasped the sense of what I say."
thought I'd surprise vou." " I think I have," said Gardiner. " You
"Dear old boy! Well!" point out, with undeniable truth, the incon-
" Well ?" He noted that she had adopted gruity between your own campaign and my
a Quakerish costume that made her as un- plays. Well, obviously, since we can't have
lovely as nature allowed. " What have you both, you must stop your campaign."
got on ?" he asked. " Is that le dernier cri f " "Oh, no, indeed," she exclaimed; "you
She looked a trifle embarrassed. must stop the plays."
"I dress like this now," she said; "all the "Are you serious?" inquired her hus-
women of the League do." band after a slight pause.
" I saw something about your League in " It is far too grave a subject for me to jest
the paper on board the train," answered upon said Pauline with cold dignity.
it,"
—
Gardiner. " You know, Pauline but we'll "You propose that I should renounce
talk about that by and by! Well, dearest, my means of livelihood in order that you
the show went fairly well in London, and may have a free hand to make yourself a
I've a commission that's going to mean laughing-stock?"
money. You received the press notices I "You arc scarcely polite," she flamed.
sent?" "Your subject not polite," re-
itself is
"I received them, y-e-s," she murmured. turned Gardiner; " as a matter of fact,
it is,
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THE PROPRIETY OF PAULINE 457
anything to do worth doing, that's your was a wofully different return from
It
—
trouble your father is a successful business the one he had pictured, and since he was
man, and he brought you up to a life of too loyal to make his moan to friends, the
leisure. Then you married— and we have only condolence that he received was her
no family. It is an implanted instinct in parents'. Her parents were hardly less dis-
your sex to dress something or somebody; mayed than Gardiner himself; but even
in the nursery you dressed dolls; in different they were unsatisfactory, for they had
circumstances, you would now dress chil- counted on his homecoming to put a stop to
dren; as it is, you want to dress other her folly, and were inclined to reproach him
women. Indulge the natural inclination for weakness.
—
with artistry design models!" "You should exert your authority, my
"Oh, this is preposterous!" she cried; boy," urged Mr. Hummel; "if argument is
"you are talking to me as if I were an idiot no good, you should exert your authority!
I am engaged in very necessary and very I'm astonished that you don't forbid such
—
noble work and work, moreover, that is blithers—you're her husband!"
essentially woman's province; if the way "She got the bit between her teeth and
our sisters dress provokes impure thoughts, bolted while I was away," returned the
it is for us to tell them so, and insist on a harassed young man. " What's gained by
reform. Do you suggest that the movement my 'forbidding' ?— I can't lock her up! It
should be headed by men?" puzzles me that you couldn't restrain her at
" I suggest that there should be no move- the start—you're her father!"
ment at all." "Well, well, it's no use our reproaching
" You would allow the evil to flourish un- each other," said Mr. Hummel testily.
checked?" " The question is, what's to be done ? She's
"The only evil exists in the minds of the making America mighty unpleasant for us;
meddlers." I'm afraid to pick up a comic paper nowa-
"That the merest fudge.
is As a man of —
days and her mother proposes to reside
the world you know very well that it is." permanently in Paris. I cannot quit Chi-
" As a man of the world I know
very well —
cago myself it is considerably rough on a
that the 'movement,' as you call it, pro- man to be left a grass widower because his
vokes precisely the kind of thoughts that daughter's husband is unable to control her."
you are eager to suppress. And, anyhow, I " You have my earnest sympathy," de-
resent my wife's getting up in public and clared his son-in-law. " I am sure you real-
talking about these things. It makes me ize also that the situation is not all clams
ashamed." ^
and candy for me — I have to live with her!
"It would make me ashamed," she re- Apart from my
natural aversion to my wife
torted, " to know that I neglected vital work serving as material for the comic papers,
because I feared the sneers of the worldly!" it is discomfiting to know that she regards
After that the president did not speak to notion of our traveling through life side by
him for the rest of the day, of course; and it side, not of our tugging silently in opposite
was in these circumstances that he returned directions."
to Chicago. "Talk to her, Harry," exclaimed Mr.
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458 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Hummel; "talk to her, my boy! Give her "Quite so," said Gardiner. "I fully
a kiss, and take her to dinner at a restaurant understand. Circumstances compel one or
— come to a tender understanding; she has the other of us to make a sacrifice, and I've
a good heart, although she is out of her cast myself for the part I'll cancel my con-
!
head. A few affectionate words may ac- tract to supply a play next fall, and I'll
complish wonders." never write another line for the stage unless
"Well," assented Gardiner heavily, "I you wantme to."
will have a final shot at it. But I am not "But— but how are we to live?" she
sanguine; and as to kisses and restaurants, faltered.
she has no leisure for such frivolities—she " Well, that's the drawback— I ought to
is too busy writing pamphlets and address- have said that we must collaborate in the
ing the League. sacrifice! Your father has promised me a
Now if Gardiner had not loved his foolish berth in his office; he has been very liberal,
—
wife sincerely if she had not been, in spite considering that I haven't an atom of busi-
of her new phase, the only woman on this —
ness training he's going to start me at
—
planet for him the story could have had twenty dollars a week. In a boarding-house
but one conclusion: he would have found we can manage comfortably on twenty dol-
outside the house the companionship that lars a week; and he has offered to raise me
was denied to him within, and "The End" to thirty at the end of a year if I get the
would have been written "Gardiner v. hang of things."
Gardiner and somebody else." But he "A boarding-house?" Her voice was
—
did love her sincerely so sincerely that the faint.
ridicule with which she covered him was " It's
a bit rough on you, I know, but it
insignificant to his mind beside the fact of seems the only way out. We can't go on
their estrangement — and after many sleep- like this —and naturally we can't run our
during which he questioned how
less nights, own house on the salary. Anyhow, you'll
he could win her back, he devised an ex- be free to continue your mission, and my
periment. trade won't be jarring your sensibilities."
One morning he had another chat with "It is most generous of you," stammered
Mr. Hummel, who was in the real estate Pauline; "I appreciate your concession
and in the afternoon, when Pau-
business, very much."
from a meeting, he said to her,
line returned "Dearest, I am doing it as much for my
" Pauline,my dear, can you spare me ten —
own sake as yours I'd rather lose twenty
minutes?" trades than my wife! We'll get out of this
"Is important?" she inquired with
it place at once— try
to let it as it stands—
surprise; "I have a good deal of work to and, if you have time, you might look
do to-night." around for as decent a pension asyou can
"It is important," admitted Gardiner; strike. I we could afford fifteen dol-
think
"iK-sides, I think it will please you. You lars a week, ehThat will leave us five for
?
mast see, Pauline— in fact, you pointed it dress and we mustn't reckon on
sundries;
out to me when I came back from Europe the rent from the house right away I guess —
that your work and mine clash —
and the it'll be quite a while before we find a
discord has separated us. Well, I'm not tenant."
going to be a humbug and pretend that I've That night it was Pauline who was sleep-
tome to like your work, but I'm immensely less; and when she went down to break-
fond of you, and I can't bear to lose you. fast, a person on the sidewalk was fixing a
So I've concluded to get out of the theater, notice board which announced that the villa
darling! I don't exjwet you to throw your was to be let furnished.
arms round me instantcr, of course — The average boarding-house of America
know I must prove myself in earnest first; is less suicidally depressing than that of
but when a few months have passed and England; not only are the food and the
you see that I mean it, I hope things will —
cooking far better human people stay in
lie as they were between us, eh ?" American boarding- house*, whereas in
"Oh, Barry," she murmured, "I you
know I shall always love you, don't you,
— England boarding-houses are supported by
a class apart, a class that one never sees
dear? It isn't that 1 love you any less but ;
anywhere else. Gardiner's discovery, how-
"
my conscience ever, was distinctly below the average. In
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THE PROPRIETY OF PAULINE 459
this establishment one could board— that "I would not have believed that you
is to say, one could occupy a "hall* room" could be so cold and cruel," said Pauline.
—
and partake of two meals daily for five " Where is your father's heart ? And what's
dollars a week, and some of its patrons were the trouble with mama's ?"
as low as the terms they paid. The presi- " You would be discreet not to refer to our
dent's conscience gave her scant encourage- hearts," quavered her mother; "remember
ment as she descended to the basement at that your wilfulness has broken them! I
the clashing of the supper bell, and glanced never guessed I should live to claim that
at the slop-made faces of the company. my son-in-law was too indulgent to my
The young men's voices sawed her nerves, daughter; but I have arrived at that opin-
and the apparel of the young women set her ion!"
teeth on edge. Almost she would have pre- Pauline returned to the bedroom.
ferred elbow sleeves to virtuous garments She wrote her speeches now at a toilet
that were so hideous. The negro waiters table, and they were less eloquent than
—
ungloved in Illinois Street clattered the when she had drafted them at a Chippen-
crockery as freely as if the supper-table had dale escritoire. The weeks lagged heavily.
been a sink; and when she sent away her Somehow her interest in the League was not
plate, a black hand tossed her knife and so absorbing as it had been her own hard-
;
fork back to her, to be retained for the next ships occupied her mind more insistently
course. than the salvation of young men. Indeed,
" We shall get hardened in time," whis- when she regarded the specimens in the
pered Gardiner cheerfully, observing her boarding-house, she was, in moments of
dcsiKindence; "buck up!" exasperation, inclined to hold it of no
After supj>er some of the company ad- importance if young men were saved or
journed to the parlor, where one of the not.
voung women strummed a selection from And while she sat alone in this glum
"The Belle of New York"— and Pauline apartment of an Illinois Street boarding-
spent the evening weeping in her bedroom. house, a wonderful thing happened. The
She went to see her parents on the mor- President of the League for the Suppression
row, and proposed that her father should of Impropriety vanished! Nobody saw
take Barry into partnership. her go, nobody knew where she went, no-
"The place is impossible," she explained; body ever found her again; the President
"we cannot hope to exist on twenty dollars of the League, with all her fads and
a week! I think the least you might do, tantrums, popped into space— and Pau-
papa, is to pay Barry five thousand a year." line the perfect wife, Pauline the lovable,
"How's that?" said Hummel, highly came back!
gratified to perceive that the experiment It was six o'clock — her
husband would
was working so well. soon be in. She darted to their portman-
"Then we could have our own home teaus; and the enchanted spot every-
in
again. Our privations are frightful— the thing went j>ell-mell and helter-skelter until
negroes do not even wear gloves!" she unpacked what she had sought— her
"Does Barrv make this proposition him- most elaborate evening frock and his dress
self?" clothes. Never had she done her hair so
"No," she said; "Barry does not know swiftly, never had she looked so entrancing
that I have come to you." as when her toilette was complete.
" I am relieved to hear you say so. See She heard him on the stairs, and rose to
here, rosebud! If your husband had taken greet him, suppliant, coquettish, triumphant
any stock in my advice, he would have all at once.
hustled along in his own trade whether you "Great Scott, I've struck the wrong
were sane or not. He concluded to quit, room!" gasj>ed the young man; "excuse me,
and I could not permit you both to starve. madam!"
But I am already paying Barry eighteen " Barry," she said, laughing and crying,
dollars a week more than his services are "will you write some more plays, please,
worth to me, and my affection has reached and take me to a theater to-night? And,
the limit. It has to be definitely under- —
Barry" the fashionable figure crept closer
stood that I do not contemplate carpeting and wound her bare arms about his neck
the path of madness with greenbacks." "will vou kiss a fool?"
Digitized by Google
HOW BROTHER RABBIT BROUGHT
FAMILY TROUBLE ON
BROTHER FOX
BY JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS
ILLUSTRATED BY J. M. CONDE
Digitized by Google
HOW BROTHER RABBIT BROUGHT FAMILY TROUBLE 461
Digitized by Google
4 62 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
way dey does
funt level, dey wouldn't see de guess at; you des knows it by yo' nose an'
now; what dey sec would be a little mo' yo' two big toes.
slonchways, an' den cve'ybody would git "Let 'lone dat, de pullets an' de puddle-
duck mought not
'a' b'long'd ter de
one what Brer Fox
tuck um fum, an'
I boun' you dat
'twould take a
mighty long time
fcr tcr hunt up an'
s'arch out de nick-
names an' de pet-
tygrees er all dem
what had um 'fo'
Brer Rabbit
drapped um in his
rasher -bag." Un-
cle Remus paused
to take note of the
direction of the
wind and the ap-
pearance of the
sky; then he sighed
and closed his eyes.
After awhile, the
spiritseemed to
move him, and he
straightened him-
self on the work-
bench, and ex-
"DA* I>EV WUZ, NO KR.KK, NO rtU-BTS." changed the some-
what uncomforta-
diffunt idecs. Well, de diffunt eyes an' dc ble seat for a chair.
diffunt idees dat folks mought 'a' had, dat "I'm mighty glad you spoken 'd up an'
des zackly what de creeturs got. What dey say what you did, honey," he remarked,
see dey see slonchways, stidder upcndickler. "kaze a leetle mo', an' I'd 'a' up an' 'a*
Folks got dcr ways, an' dc creeturs is got whirled in, an' 'a' tol' you dc t'er pert er dat
dcr'n, an' dcze yer ways wuz proned in tale 'bout Brer Rabbit an' de pullets an' de
urn fum de fust. puddle-duck; I sho would, an' den you'd
" Creetur law ain't folks' law, nohow you 'a' felt so mighty sorry 'bout de way de
kin fix it," Uncle Remus went on, with the creeturs look at things, dat you'd 'a' went
unction of a country preacher. "Dar wuz behime de smoke-'ouse an' 'a' boo-hoo'd
ol' Brer Fox, wid his pullets an' his puddle- des like yo' gizzard wuz gwinc ter break in
duck; an' you done got de idee dat Brer two."
Rabbit done wrong when he work his head The gave the old negro a quick
little lx>y
an' han's fcr tcr git holt un um. But le' me glance of reproach. " Why, Uncle Remus!"
ax you dis: Whar did Brer Fox git um ? He he exclaimed, "I thought you always fin-
ain't git um at home, kaze he wuz totin' um ished a story when you begun it you said so ;
jump. Xow, you kin put it clown an' carry harness two bosses one at a time, less'n you
four, dat wharsomever Brer Fox lay han's on got a man fer ter he'p you; an' when youer
um, he ain't buy'd um, an' needer wuz dey tellin' a two-hoss talc, you hatter tell um
gun tcr 'im. Dat much you don't hatter one at a time. Ef I wuz ter try fer tcr tell
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HOW BROTHER RABBIT BROUGHT FAMILY TROUBLE 463
um once, you'd run ter de house an'
lx>fe at sugar you! honey you! What make you
I'll
tell yo' granny dat oF man Remus had done fetch vittles home ef you gwinc ter sen' it off
gone an' got rid er his sev'm senses, an' wuz ag'in ? What you wanter put yo'se'f ter de
tryin' fer ter gi'you a pood strong dose er trouble er totin' it ter dis house, when you
Chinee; an' when you done dat, Miss Sally know you gwineter gi' it 'way des ez soon ez
sho would preach my funer'l march. I you turn yo' back on de place? An' what
wan't lxirn'd yistiddy, an' I take notice dat business you got sen 'in' oF Miss Rabbit de
yo' daddy ain't got de double-bairl gun, an' two fine, fat pullets what you brung home,
dat Miss Sally don't have but one hoss fer which dey made me dribble at de mouf de
ter haul her ter church Sundays. Dat ar fust time I seed um? An' I ain't mo' dan
double-b.uggy dat yo' daddy use ter drive seed um 'fo' here come ol' Brer Rabbit,
up dar in Atlanty would look mighty funny a-bowin' an' a-scrapin', an' a-simpcrin' an'
ef it had mo' dan one hoss hitched ter it. a-sniggcrin', an' he 'low dat you done sont
Lawsy, yes! Evc'ything is mo' lamer now 'im fer de pullets. Ef it had 'a' des 'a* been
dan what it use ter be; an' I bet you right his own 'lone sesso, he'd 'a' never got dem
now dat ef <lc trufe wuz know'd we er pullets in de roun' wort' —
I'd 'a' gouged out
on our heads."
stan'in' his goozle fust— but here he come wid a
The little boy was obliged to laugh at this letter what you writ, dough you know'd
whimsical explanation, and this gave Uncle good an' well dat when it comes ter writin'
Remus as much pleasure as the stories gave I dunno B fum Bull': -Foot.*
the child. " Ef you'll wet yo' thum', an' " Brer Fox shuck his head; he say he ain't
turn back in yo' min' 'twon't be hard fer you never writ no letter, kaze he dunner how,
ter reckennember dat Brer Fox toF Brer an' it seem mighty funny ter him dat his
Rabbit dat ef he kin git dem two fine, fat sugar-honey an' dumplin'-pic don't know
pullets fum his <>F 'oman, he's mo' dan dat much. OF Miss Fox, she 'low, she did,
welcome fer ter git um. But when Brer dat dumplin'-pie ain't chicken-pie, an' den
Fox say dat, de pullets wuz
bangin up at Brer Rabbit house;
1
amble 'long twel he come ter de do'. By pullets ter ol' Brer Rabbit an' his fambly,
dat lime ol' Mi-s Fox wuz >o mad dat when yo'own chillun, 'twix' yo' laziness an'
she can't say nothin' an' do jestice ter hcr- de hard times, is gwine roun' here so ga'nt
se'f, so she des stan' dar an' make motions dat dey can't make a shaddcr in de moon-
wid de broom what she had in her han\ shine? You know mighty well none —
" Brer Fox, he wipe de persweat off 'n his better —
dat we ain't never is neighbor'd wid
face an* eyes, an' say, 'It seem like ter me dat kinder trash, an' I dunner what done
dat I hear you talkin' ter some un des now; come over you dat you er takin' vittles out'n
what wuz you savin', sugar-honey?' S<M>n vo' own chillun's mouf an' fecdin' dat
cz she kin ketch her breff, she 'low, 'I'll Rabbit brood.'
>
Digitized by Google
464 the Metropolitan magazine
" Brer Fox vow an' declar* he ain't done "But whiles he laughin', he laugh too
no seen uv a thing, an' his oF 'oman vow an' Fox hear him. He say ter
loud, an' Brer
declar' dat he is, an' she shake de broom so his oF 'oman, 'I'm gwine ter git some
close und' his nose dat he hatter sneeze. rabbit meat fer ter make up fer de chickens
Den he 'low, Does you mean fcr ter stan'
'
what you done give 'way. You be sweepin'
dar, flat-footed, an' right 'fo' my face an' here in front er de do', an' I'll slip roun' de
eyes, an' whar yo' own chillun kin hear you, back way, an' come up on him when he
an' tellme dat you tuck an' gi' Brer Rabbit ain't thinkin' 'bout it; an' whiles you
dem ar fine, fat pullets what I brung home? sweepin' make out you talkin' ter me like
Does you mean fer ter tell me dat?' She I'm in de house.' So said, so done. Miss
say, 'Ef I done it, done
kaze you writ
I it Fox she sweep an' sweep, an' whiles she
me a 'pistle an' tell me
do it.' Brer
fer ter sweepin' she make out she talkin' ter Brer
Fox 'low, Is you got dc imperdencc ter tell
' Fox whiles he in de house. She say, ' You
me dat des kaze Brer Rabbit han' you a better come on out'n dar an' go on 'bout yo'
piece er paper, wid sump'n n'er marked on business ef you got any. Here I'm constant
it, you ain't got nothin' better ter do dan ter a-gwinc, fum mornin' twcl night, an' dar
up an' gi' 'im de fine, fat pullets what I you is a-loungin' roun', waitin' fer Brer
brung fer ter make some chicken-pie?' Rabbit fer ter play tricks on you. You
"Dis make oF Miss Fox so mad dat she better come on out'n dar an' go fin' sump'n
can't see straight, an' when she git so she n'er ter eat fer yo' fambly.'
kin talk plain, she vow she gwine ter hurt "Dat's de way she talk, whiles she wuz
Brer Rabbit ef it tuck a lifetime fer ter do it. pcrtendin' ter sweep, an' des 'bout dat time,
An' dar wuz Brer Fox des ez mad, cf not up come oF Brer Rabbit wid a mighty per-
maddt-r. Dey bofe sot down an' grit dcr lite bow. He tuck off his hat, he did, Good'
tushes, an' mumble an* growl like dey talkin' evenin' dis evenin', Miss Fox. I hope I see
ter dcysc'f. Brer Rabbit wa'n't so mighty you well, ma'am.' Miss Fox 'low dat she
fur off, an' he laugh an' laugh twcl he can't ain't cz peart ez she look ter be, an' mo' dan
laugh no mo'. dat, her oF man layin' in dc house right now
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HOW BROTHER RABBIT BROUGHT FAMILY TROUBLE 465
wid a mighty bad case er de influendways. beat my Brer Rabbit, he put his
time!'
Brer Rabbit say he mighty sorry, but it's han' over his mouf an' cough sorter sof; he
what we all got ter look out fer, kaze 'zease 'low, he did, 'You'll hatter skuzen me,
an' trouble, an* one thing an' an'er, is all de ma'am,' sazee. 'I'mafear'd I done gone an'
time makin' de roun's er de places whar said sump'n dat I oughtn'ter say. When I
folks live at. Den ol' Brer Rabbit kinder knows what I'm a-doin', I never likes fer
hoi' hishead on one side an' sorter smile; he ter come 'twix' man an' wife, ef I kin hc'p
up an' ax, he did, Miss Fox, how you like
' myse'f— no, ma'am, not me! Yit Brer Fox
dat cut er caliker what King Lion sont you is right dar in de house an' you kin ax 'im,
fer ter make a frock out'n? Reason I ax, ef you don't b'lieve me.'
I'm a-gwine ter see 'im dis evenin', an' I "Fer one long minnit, Miss Fox wuz so
'most know dat he'll ax me ef you like de mad dat she hatter wait twel she cotch
pattern.' her breff 'fo' she kin say a word. Lot's er
"Miss Fox lean her broom ag'in de wimmen would 'a' stood up dar an'
house, an' put her han's on her hips, an' squealed, but Miss Fox, she helt her breff.
make Brer Rabbit say over what he done Quick cz she kin, she holler out, 'No, he
tol' er. Well, well, well!' sez ol' Miss Fox,
'
ain't in de house; he's out yan' tryin' fer ter
se'shej'de King sont me a caliker frock, an' slipup on you 'bout dem pullets.' 'I'm
I ain't never lay eyes on it! Ff dat don't glad you got dat idee,' sez Brer Rabbit,
Digitized by Google
4 66 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
sezee,
1
'kaze it's liable fer ter keep down " Dey put der heads tcrgedder, dey did,
trouble. Ef you wuz a man, Miss Fox,' an' collogue an' confab 'bout how dey
sezee, '
you mought git de idee dat he seed gwinetcr git even wid Brer Rabbit, kaze dc
me comin' an' wuz hidin' out kaze he King ain't sont no fine caliker frock, an'
fear'd I'd ax you 'bout dat frock what dc necder is dey got der two fat pullets. Dar
King sont you. It sho wuz a mighty purty dey wuz, no frock, no pullets, an' Brer
piece er caliker, an' cf I'd 'a' know'd den Rabbit still cuttin' up his capers an' playin'
what I know now, I'd 'a' got it fum Brer his pranks on eve'ything an' cvc'yl>ody.
—
Fox an' gi' it ter my ol* 'oman I sho would !
Dey say dey wuz gwine ter ketch 'im cf it
" Wid dat, Brer Rabbit make his bow an' kilt eve'v cow in dc island, wid a couple er
light out fum dar; an' he wa'n't none too steers thow'd in fer good mcdjur. Dey
soon, nudder, kaze he ain't mo' dan got in wuz gwine ter hide close ter de places whar
de bushes whar he kin hide hissc'f, 'fo' here he hatter jxass by; dey wuz gwinetcr do dis
come ol' Brer Fox. He look all roun', but an' dey wuz gwineter do dat, but whatsom-
he ain't see nobody but his ol' 'oman, kaze ever dey done, dey wuz gwinetcr ketch up
Brer Rabbit done gone along. Brer Fox wid Brer Rabbit.
say, sezee, Whar is dc triflin' scoundul ? I
'
" Now, den, it takes two ter make a har-
seed 'im stan'in' right here whar is he? — gain, an' one mo' fer ter see dat it's done all
Whar he gone?' Ol' Miss Fox, she up wid right. Brer Rabbit, he know mighty well
de broom an' hit him a biff side de head dat none better— all dc gwines-on in dat part er
come mighty nigh knockin' 'im inter one er dc country, an' he make his 'rangermcnts
dc j'inin' counties. Dat's whar he is,' se'-
'
'cordin'. He been use ter keepin' his eye-
she, an' she fetch her ol' man a whack ball skunt when all 'uz peace, but when dey
'cross de backbone, dat soun' like ol' Miss wuz any trouble ahead, he wuz so nervious
Jenkins a-bcatin' dat ol' rag kyarpit by dat he'd kick out wid his !>chinie foot ef a
hittin' it ag'in dc fence. weed tickled 'im. When it come down ter
"Ol' Brer Fox tuck a notion dat he been plain ncrviousness, he can't be beat.
struck by lightnin'; he fell down an' roll "Brer Fox can't make a move but what
over, an' by dc time dat ol' Miss Fox had Bre r Rabbit would know 'IhhU it he know'd
;
mighty nigh wo' de broom out, he fin' out when he went out an' when he went in, an'
what 'uz happenin'. He holla out, 'Why, he keep sech a close watch on um dat 'twuz
laws-a-masscy, honey! What de matter wid e'en about all he kin do fer ter keep Brer
you? What you biffin' me fer? I ain't Fox fum ketchin' Alter so long a time,
'im.
Brer Rabbit! Ow! Please, honey, don't Brer Rabbit got tired er leadin' dis kinder
bang me so hard; I ain't gwine do it no life. He could 'a' put up wid it mayl>c a
mo'.' Ol' Miss Fox says, se'-shc, 'Ah-yi! fortnight, but when it run over dat, he got
you owns up, does you ? You ain't gwine plum* tired, Brer Rabbit did. Yit it look
do it no mo', ain't you? Now, whar my like dat luck wuz constant a-runnin' his
fine caliker frock what de King sont me?' way, kaze he been dodgin' roun' in dc
ain't
An' all dc time she wuz talkin' she wuz bushes, tryin' fer terkeep out'n Brer Fox's
wipin' 'im up wid de broom. Mon, dc way —
way he ain't been doin' dis mo dan a week,
she beat dat crcetur wuz a start-natchul when dere come word fum ol' King Lion
scandal. fer go an' see 'im. It seem like de' place
"Well, when Brer Fox got out'n reach, whar he stuck de brier in his ban' wuz
an' she'd kinder cooled down, she up an' kyo'd up too quick, an'had done turn inter a
tol' 'im bout de caliker frock what King —
bile—a great big un an' it got so dat de
Lion had sont 'er, an' she ax 'im what dc King had ter walk dc Ho' all night des like
name er goodness is he done wid it, an' ef yo' pappy use ter do when he had de toof-
he ain't brung it home onbeknownst ter her, ache.
who in dc dashes an' de dickunses is he gi' " Well, Brer Rabbit ain't no sooner git dc
it to? He vow he ain't seed no caliker word dan he run right straight ter dc place
frock, an' she 'low dat he done say, whiles whar dey done der kingin' at, an' 'taint
she wuz a-biffin' 'im, dat he ain't gwine do take 'im long, needer, kaze I let you know,
it no mo'. Brer Fox say he ain't know honey, when Brer Rabbit take a notion fer
what she wuz beat in' 'im fer, an' he was ter go anywhar right quick, he des picks up
mos' blccze ter promise not ter do it no mo', de miles wid his feet an' draps um off ag'in,
kaze she wuz hurl in' 'im so bad. de> like a dog sheds fleas. He got dar, he
Digitized by GOO;
THE EVENTFUL DAY 467
did, an' when he see how bad de bile wuz, wrop yo' han' up
a fox-hide. Not only
in
he kinder shuck his head an' rub his nose dat, but de hide mus' be so fresh dat it's
des like de sho' 'nough doctors does. He warm.'
ax urn whyn't dey tell 'im 'bout dis when de " Den Brer Rabbit make out he 'bout ter
bile 'gun ter show, an' dey say dey been cry. He 'low, ' tell my oF
I can't b'ar ter
huntin' fer 'im high an' low, an' dey can't frien' good-by, kaze we done had many a
fin' 'im nowhar an' nohow. night tergedder, up an' down an' roun' de
" Brer Rabbit put on his specks an' 'low, worl'. De sooner you gits Brer Fox here de
'Tut, tut, tut! Ef dis ain't too bad! I'm better —but I'll hatter ax you fer ter le'me
fear' dey ain't but one kyo fer a place like out de back way, an' I'll go off some'ers in
dis. I hate might 'ly ter be de 'casion er any de woods an' wonder at de flight er time an'
trouble, but it look like I'm des a-bleeze de changes dat de years is brung.' Den he
ter.' King Lion kinder flinch an' frown bow ter King Lion; he say, De nex' time I '
when he hear dis, but Brer Rabbit say dat see you yo' han' will be well, but whar will
de trouble ain't for him, but fer one er his Brer Fox be ?' De King he say, Why, I'll '
And says, " If you're out of it, give me some death! "
George needn't hoot us
Cesar had Brutus,
And Cromwell turned Charles to a Guyasticutus.
At seven fifteen Tommy Jefferson rose,
Not waitin' to put on his collar or clo'es,
And wrote, " Men are equal and also are free.
Though mighty few of 'em are equalin' me."
Words of promise
Written by Thomas!
Where's the gazabo can pilfer 'em from us?
First in scrappy
Times, or happy;
No wonder the country lias christened him " Pappy."
Hip, hurrah!
Ain't we the best that the world ever saw?
Digitized by Google
HOLT OF THE ALCANTARA
BY F. WALWORTH BROWN
!!]HAT are you going to fully. "I don't exercise such a wonderful
do about it?" Allen authority over Dicky, you know."
leaned back in the A girl came out on the veranda, a Jail,
wicker and lazily rolled mass of dark hair, and
athletic girl, with a
a cigarette. eyes that looked one slowly and calmly in
"It's a hold-up, of the face. Holt rose instantly and offered
course, but there's no her a chair.
justice to be had down "You've got to go home, Dicky," said
here. The only thing we can do is pay." Allen abruptlv.
He was a big man, was Allen, assistant "Home! Why?" asked the girl.
manager of the Alcantara Coffee Planta- " There's going to be trouble down here.
tions, and indispensable in his way, for the Revolution, you know."
lazy peon needs the visible evidence of "You're going to stay, aren't you?" she
authority, and Allen was visible for a long asked innocently.
distance. sometimes it seemed to
But "Why, yes, I'llhave to stay. It'll be no
Holt, the manager, that Allen
general place for girls, though."
lacked something which a white man in a "Oh, I guess I can stand it if you can,
half-breed country ought to possess. Billy. I think I'd rather stay and see the
Holt, black-headed, black-bearded, black- fun."
eyed, short and stocky, leaning forward Holt eyed her admiringly. She was
in his chair, looked like a bad man to mis- worth two of her brother, and Billy Allen
handle, and he bore that reputation. But wasn't a bad sort, at that.
his voice when he spoke was smooth, im- " I've been down less than a month and
passive, calm, with a rather affected drawl. you want to send me home."
"Of course we can pay and skip the — "Really, Miss Allen," said Holt, "we
quarterly dividend. That means explana- may have very rough times. Don't you
tions. Besides, I hate being held up. think "
It's
time Caballa was shipped anyway. He's "What are you men planning, anyway?"
squeezed this country long enough. Better cried the girl. " Do let me in. I can keep
send your sisterhome." a secret."
Allen sat up with a jerk. Holt regarded her for a moment in silence.
"Do
you mean " "It's very important that this secret be
"I'd rather spend the money exploiting kept. Miss Allen. I've only just told your
Porcos than buying protection from Ca- brother."
balla," said Holt. Dicky held up her right hand with mock
"Is the country ripe for it?" solemnity. "I solemnly swear," she said,
"Always. Only thing it isn't ripe for but at Holt's unsmiling face her hand
is peace and quiet." dropjxxl and her eyes became grave.
"And that's the reason for the guns and "1 beg your pardon," she said. "I
the everlasting drilling in the sun." didn't understand. Of course, I don't
"Exactly. Wonder you didn't grasp it want to pry. And if you wish it I'll go
l>efore." Holt's tone bore a hint of home."
sarcasm. " I've invited Porcos to make us a "I'll tell you," said Holt instantly, "and
visit. He'll be here to-night. And say, you can decide for yourself. We'll
send your sister home by the first boat." Billy will be rather lonesome if you go."
, "I will— if she'll go,"' said Allen doubt- Dicky turned toward him and their
Digitized by Google
47© THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
eves met in a swift glance of understanding. her brother, as though he washed his hands
Holt's iron orbs never wavered. Dicky's of her. "It's sheer idiocy, but if you will,
dropj>ed and she flushed the least bit. you will," and he rose and sauntered off.
"You sec," said Holt, with perfect con- Dicky slipped into his chair, facing Holt,
trol of his well-modulated tones, "we do who was still studying her out of narrowed
business down here under a concession eyes.
from the government. It has fourteen "Well?" she said presently.
years to run from next May. Well, they've "I was thinking how the ordinary woman
canceled it. Caballa's at the bottom of it. would have moved creation to get away,"
He's the dictator, you know, and his he said slowly.
country's particular curse. I could go to "Thank you," said Dicky. "I don't
him and fix things up in fifteen minutes." believe you meant that to be nice, though."
"Youwon't do it," said Dicky eagerly. "I'm quite sure I meant nothing else,"
"No, I won't do it," said Holt with a said he, and she felt his strong eyes upon
quick smile. "I prefer to use the money her and flushed again, to her great disgust.
in another way. We've been looking for a She was not quite twenty-two.
move like this. He's been trying to black- Ten days later they were awaiting news
mail us for months. I've armed our peons from Porcos; Dicky with open irritation
— there are two hundred of them — and at the delay, Allen with a nervous expec-
Hilly here has drilled them pretty thor- tancy that did not fit his bulk, Holt without
"
oughly the appearance of any emotion whatever.
"Not knowing why," interjected Billy The ex-President had l>een at the hacienda
in an aggrieved tone. the week before, a short, black-headed man
"And that's what the range was for," with fiercely waxed mustachios, and a
cried Dickv. melodramatic manner. He had bowed to
" Exactly," said Holt. " They can shoot the floor before Dicky, his hand upon his
fairly well even now. Over in Madura, heart, and Dicky had properly despised
living in exile, is a gentleman named Porcos him.
who will fill our bill, I think. He's no " He's not to be trusted," was her verdict
better than the rest of them. It's hard to and no one rose to argue the point.
find one that is, down here. They're all Holt had supplied him with funds to a
grafters, but I've had dealings with him limited amount wherewith to start an up-
he was president till Caballa ousted him— rising in Querco district, and he had
and he understands that blackmail doe>n't departed as he had come, Ijctwccn days.
go with the Alcantara. We pay our taxes "A bird in the hand is worth two in the
but we don't pay anything else." bush," quoted Dicky at the end of the week.
"There's going to be the deuce of a "Sup|K)se he's run away with the money?"
ruction, Dickv, and vou'd better go home. "I didn't give him enough," said Holt.
That's the truth," said Allen. " At least, if it was enough he's a cheaper
"It was left to me, wasn't it?" Dicky scoundrel than I think."
appealed to Holt. Then one evening an Indian runner came
"Yes," he admitted, "but " into the hacienda and fished a letter out of
"No 'huts' alxuit it, please. If you his dirty loincloth. Holt broke the seal
think I'm going to miss it, you're mistaken. with as steady fingers as though it related
I chouse to stav." to some matter of business detail. The
"But listen,' Dicky," said Allen with others, watching closely, could not detect
genuine concern, whereupon she went over the shifting of a muscle in the calm face,
and sit on the arm of his chair and gagged whereby to guos its imjM)rt.
him with her o|>en hand. " It's all right," said the general manager.
Holt watched her approvingly through " Porcos seems to have started a very
half->hut eyes. She was a kindred spirit. respectable little rebellion up in Querco.
It might prove embarrassing, but he was Says he has five hundred men fairly armed.
candid enough with himself to admit he Says he'll move on the capital to-morrow.
should have hated to see her go. Asks us to coojK-rate. Guess we will."
"Thai's settled," said Dickv. "Now "Oh, 1 wish 1 were a man," cried Dicky.
don't fuss, Billy." "What c;;n a woman do?"
"You always were your own boss," said "There are people who are glad you're
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HOLT OF THE ALCANTARA 471
not," said Holt slowly, and Dicky glanced of their liberties, the accursed Caballa.
at him only to turn away very quickly. Wet from the press these were scattered
Holt sent a message to Porcos saying he over the country at the hands of swift
would join him with the Alcantara battalion Indian runners, preparing the way for
at Santa Cruz, twenty miles south, and the conflagration when Porcos arrived to
fifteen from San Diego, the capital, and apply the match.
preparations were begun at once for starting And Porcos did not come. Day after
in the morning. day slipped by and brought no word even.
"I shall go, too," announced Dicky, but And Porcos was essential. It was out of
there Holt put his foot down. Allen would the question for two Americans to rouse the
have to go, for the men recognized him as country* against even so gross a miscreant
their military leader. But Mackelvey, the as Caballa. The proclamations had been
foreman, with a sufficient guard, would issued in the name of the general. There
remain at the hacienda, and Dicky would were indications in plenty that the country
be left in the charge of Mrs. Mac. would rise under the proper leadership.
" And I wish her joy," said Allen when he Volunteers came in daily, by twos and
heard of this arrangement. "You'll turn threes— good men, too, as first volunteers
the poor woman's hair white in a day." always are. But they came expecting
And Dicky looked at her brother wither- Porcos and they would not act without him.
ingly and Holt thought he understood. On the fourth day reports came of Ca-
In the gray of the dawn they rode away balla's mobilization of the forces. The
south, followed by the trudging column of regular standing army of the Republic con-
swarthy peons, each with a Springfield over sisted of only 900 jK)orly drilled soldiers,
his shoulder and a cartridge l>elt about his but all males between the ages of eighteen
waist by way of uniform. Dicky watched and thirty-five were subject to emergency
them go, her heart full of bitterness at her call. With Porcos leading a revolutionary
sex. At the edge of the plantation where movement, Holt felt certain few of these
the road dipped into the rank jungle of the would obey the summons of Caballa.
tropical forest, Allen waved a careless hand That afternoon found Holt closeted with
to her and Holt turned in his saddle and Allen in solemn conclave on the situation.
gravely removed his hat. She noted the A scout sent to Querco had arrived with the
difference and was conscious of the subtle news that the first intimation of rebellion
compliment in that grave salute. Then in that district had been the arrival of their
the jungle swallowed them and Dicky felt own proclamation.
very lonely and useless. " Porcos has skipped, or sold us out
The marching column reached Santa mavbe both. Anvwav, we've got to do
Cruz toward evening and found Porcos not without him," said Holt. ."We're in too
yet arrived. Holt led his men through the deep to back out. We've got to put the
gaping crowd in the plaza and out to a low thing through or quit the business and the —
ridge south of the town, where the men the Lord hateth a quitter."
next morning threw up breastworks, and " But we can't stand up against the whole
sat down to await the arrival of the general. country," objected Allen.
It was an excellent position. The left •'Very true," said Holt, and outlined a
flank was covered by the Cuema river and startling plan.
by stretching the line to rather dangerous "Gad, it's risky," was Allen's comment.
tenuity and re-fusing his right wing, Holt "The whole thing's a
said the risk,"
was able to occupy a knoll which thus general manager. "But
a ground-hog it's
In the nanru of the much abused goddess Half an h«>ur later Holt mounted and
of Liberty, he requisitioned the only printing rode north with somewhat ostentatious
press in the town and set it running night regard for the eves of men.
and day, producing proclamations which "That man's a maniac," said Allen to
high-sounding phrase-
set forth in excellent, himself,and spent the evening and all the
ology the evils of the present misrule, and next day spreading the news that Porcos
called upon all citizens to rise under the would surely arrive within thirty-six hours.
leadership of that tried patriot, Maximo And quite according to schedule, in the
Porcos, and overthrow the tyrant, this thief short tropical twilight of the following
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47?- THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
evening, ;i horseman rode up, unattended, like fire during the night, and morning
to one of the sentries. found volunteers coming in from all
I am General Pottos," he said.
" " Con- directions. Half the male population of
duct me to Colonel Allen." Santa Cruz was in the trenches by daylight
The sentry called the officer of the guard. and when Holt and Allen emerged from
The lieutenant found a short, stout man, their quarters and rode along the crest
whose mustachios twisted wickedly upward inspecting the |x)sition and making final
in waxed jmints, and who wore a tarnished disposition of the troops, they were received
military uniform and a slouch hat. He with tremendous applause.
was very pompous and condescending and Porcos had been out of the country for
the lieutenant took him at his own valuation three years, a political exile, and if he had
and himself conducted him to headquarters. lost tlesh in that time, who would wonder
Allen looked up as the two entered and at it? Hesides it might be doubted if a
instantly clinched his teeth to repress a single man in the hundreds who greeted
wild desire to laugh. Porcos, just within Holt so enthusiastically had ever laid eyes
the door, stood twisting his belligerent on the actual Porcos.
mustachios into fiercer effrontery, meantime From time to time Holt raised his hat in
looking down upon them in the acme of pompous salutes to the shouting men. His
gratified vanity. Then Allen plaved up. dignity was that of one greatly wronged
"Ah, General," he said. "Glad indeed but bending graciously to accept amends,
to see you," and led Porcos to a seat with his gravity imperturbable, his condescen-
every appearance of the sincercst deference. sion all-embracing. And the men went
The lieutenant departed duly impressed wild, while every hour brought fresh in-
and Allen lay hack and let himself go. stalments of eager volunteers.
The pomposity fell from Porcos like a By noon the forces of Caballa were in
garment, and Holt emerged, shaven as to sight deploying in the valley below and
the chin, and waxed as to mustachios, but evidently the dictator was bent on crushing
no more Porcos than Allen himself. the rebellion at a blow. At three o'clock,
"You'll do," gasped the latter. "Gad, after a useless bombardment of solid shot
if I hadn't known I'd have swallowed it from a couple of ancient smoothbores,
myself." which did no damage whatever, he drew
"It's got to do," said Holt. "How are up his troops in platoon formation and sent
things?" and Allen plunged into an account them forward to assault the position.
of the situation. The situation was bad. That was more than Holt had dared to
" ('abulia's moving against us with not hope for. If they did come as skirmishers
less than a thousand men," said Allen. in extended order, the affair might have
" Ought to be here in the morning. We have Ix-en doubtful. As it was, however, once
three hundred at the outside, counting he was certain of the point at which the
volunteers." column aimed, Holt massed his men in the
Holt mused a moment while Allen looked trench at that part of the line, and he and
him over and went off laughing again. Allen rode back and forth along the ridge
"Get all through with it," said Holt. holding the excited men firmly in check.
"You've got to act like a judge on the Here and there a man loosed his piece at the
bench, public."
in approaching column, but in the main the
" Did Dicky see you?" asked Allen. two succeeded in holding the eager riflemen
"She cut down these clothes," replied in leash till the front rank of the enemy
Holt as though the recollection was rather was not fifty yards from the crest.
amusing. "This is your old academy Then in the slow, calm tone that breeds
uniform with subtractions and additions. delilnTation, Holt gave the word to aim,
I've been practicing for twenty four hours. and the men leaned forward on the parapet
She thought I'd do." and snuggled to their pieces.
"You'll do unless Porcos himself turns "Fire!" snapped Holt and the crest
up." leaped with a sheet of flame. It was an
"If Porcos turns up now. he'll meet overwhelming volley, not to be faced a
with a severe frost," said Holt rather second time. The column was thrown
sivagely. into instant wild confusion. Caballa had
The new-, of the general's arrival spread mi>calculate.l the resistance to be met, and
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HOLT OF THE ALCANTARA 473
his troops knew
Without giving them
it. " She wad come, " said Mackelvey
a moment to reform, even had they been wearily.
inclined, Holt rode his horse over the "Your excellency," said Dicky with a
trenches on to the slope, and lacking a bow to Holt. " General Porcos is back.
sword, seized his battered hat and swung He passed the hacienda this afternoon."
it round his head. Holt offered her a chair.
"Forward!" he yelled. "For Liberty! "You saw him?"
Down with the tyrant!" He was melo- "I interviewed him," she said. "He
dramatic to the last degree and the result seemed rather angry."
approved his wisdom. "Why?"
Roused to enthusiasm that would not " Because he said some one had used his
recognize denial, the men in the trenches name to start a revolution. He says he
followed as one man. The government and Caballa are good friends. He's coming
troops had already had enough and did not down to straighten things out.I'm afraid
await their arrival. Throwing down their I've ridden Mr. Mackelvey rather hard to
arms, howling with panic, they fled away get here ahead of him."
headlong, madly, utterly undone. Some "I'll no deny it," said Mackelvey.
begged quarter and received it only to "How many has he with him?" asked
seize again their weapons, and shouting Holt.
for Porcos and liberty, join in the pursuit. " He had eighteen when he left the ha-
It became a rout. Caballa got away on cienda," said Dicky. "He expected to
horseback and was never headed till safe reach San Diego to-night, by wav of
in the palace. Some of his men were dis- Cordova."
persed over the country. More changed " I'll have to send you, Allen," said Holt.
their politics like a garment and joined the " It's three miles west. Take enough of
victors. At dusk Holt and Allen halted our own men, and if you catch him, send
for the night at Cuerna, a village only them back to the plantation with him,
five miles from San Diego. The victory under Mac's command. Mac, you go
was complete. The whole country was along."
shouting for Porcos. It remained but to Allen and Mackelvey departed, and
march to the city and take possession. Holt turned over his and Allen's quarters
"Won't this make Porcos sick when he to Dicky. The roads from the city were
hears of it?" said Allen with the laugh of clogged with people hurrying to hail the
a boy. victor, thirteenth hour converts, who
"He's playing some game of his own," hoped by excess of present zeal to hide the
said Holt. "I don't know what, but we'll tardiness of their change of heart. And
find out before we're done. I shouldn't among them came none other than Canoza,
be surprised if he's bought his peace with Caballa's secretary of state.
Caballa by selling us out." Holt received him with pompous dignity.
About nine that evening while the two Canoza looked at him closely with a startled
men were making plans for the entry into air.
the city next day, an altercation arose "Your excellency is not well?" he
without. questioned. Then suddenly he started
"I must see the general," said some one back.
in English. "It is a remarkable disguise, Senor
"No one is to be admitted," said the Holt," he said sarcastically. " But I have
guard in Spanish. seen General Porcos within the week. I
"What does he say?" came the first am not deceived. The army shall be
voice. informed."
"He'll no see ye." He turned to the door with an ugly look.
"That's Mac," said Allen, getting up. " Porcos
—
yes. An American im[M>stor
Holt was already on his way to the door. — never!" he cried, striking his breast.
He spoke to the sentry, and Dicky, followed Then Holt laid hands of iron on him.
by the dour-faced Scotchman, entered. There was a short scuffle and Canoza
"What does this mean, Dicky?" said dropped into a chair. Holt sat down
Allen. "Don't you know it isn't safe? opposite him.
The country's all up." "1 think we can arrange this," he said
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474 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
coolly. "In fact I need you. So Porcos Canoza immediately assumed the reins
sold us out?" of government and in the event proved
"You moved too quickly for us," said equal to the emergency. Holt, clean-
Canoza sadly. shaven, and clad in civilian's clothes, de-
"And where is Porcos?" parted unobtrusively for the Alcantara
Canoza raised his hands and shrugged Plantation with Allen and Dicky and the
his shoulders. balance of the formidable two hundred.
"How should I know, Senor?" he said. Dicky and the general manager seemed to
"We thought him yet once more a traitor find each other's company highly enter-
when we heard of you." taining and nxlc together most of the way
"Well," said Holt, "since we can't lay up.
hands on him, I'll have to use you. You "What do you think of it?" asked Holt,
won't object to being president, I sup- with a laugh. " I wish I could have gotten
pose." off about ten feet and looked at myself."
It was not the scheming Canoza to " You were worth it," said Dicky cheer-
evince any timid shrinking from such a fully. " You're better looking though with-
call, and the details were soon arranged. out a beard."
At midnight Allen came in with the news "I'm glad you didn't go home," said
that Porcos was on his way to the hacienda, Holt. "Porcos might have made us
escorted by Mackelvey and forty of the trouble."
Alcantara guards. The capture had been "What are you going to do with him?"
quite bloodless and simple, Porcos' valiant "Oh, he'll be glad to get over into
eighteen having incontinently taken to Madura again when he learns that he's
their heels. officially dead and buried."
Next day came the triumphal entry into " And had a hand
to think that I in his
the capital, Holt riding at the head of his taking off," mused Dicky.
victorious troops through streets lined with "Why," asked Holt slowly, after a half
the shouting jx>pulace. Dicky rode with mile of silence, "did you intercept Porcos
her brother in the crowd that followed and when he passed the hacienda?" and the
seemed to enjoy herself immensely. eyes on her face.
girl felt his
A provisional government was im- She leaned forward pretending to rear-
mediately proclaimed, Porcos being named range her bridle.
and Canoza, as per agreement,
as president, "Because," she said, "at first, you know,
vice-president. One of the first acts of I thought— it was vou."
the new government was the renewal of "Do you think," said Holt steadily,
the grant to the Alcantara Coffee Company, " you like this country well enough to live
for an extended period, " in consideration down here?"
of the services renderedby the said com- Again Dicky leaned forward and fumbled
pany during the recent disturbances." with her bridle. Then she straightened up
That accomplished, Porcos sickened and and looked him straight in the face.
died. The di>ease was announced as of "I might," she said, smiling, "if an Ex-
a malignant nature, and the desire of the Prcsidcnt of the Republic should ask me."
stricken public that the remains should lie As they rode up to the hacienda, Mrs.
in state, was reluctantly overlooked. An Mackelvey nudged her husband.
immense concourse of citizens followed the "Look at the twa o' them," said she.
funeral cortege to the grave after private "I'm o' the ojxjcnion," said Mackelvey
services in the palace, and many were judicially, "thut Meester Holt wull be
moved to tears as the body of that great gittin' himseP a general manager."
and noble patriot was lowered into the "An' no harm neither," said Mrs. Mac.
earth. "Most men need 'em."
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fhaUgrafh by A tut Houghton.
" w M EKE ONC« THE WOODLAND PORTA L GATED, WIDESPREAD."
THE FOREST
BY LURANA W. SHELDON
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MINNIE VS. DANNIE
A Story of San Francisco before the Earthquake
BY WALLACE IRWIN
ILLUSTRATED BY DAN S. GROESBECfC
OUR o'clock spoke swung open. A fat man with a black beard
glumly through the was stolidly leading a little girl by the
musty corridors of City hand. She was crying softly. A large
Hall. The day's seri- woman in bright lavender seized the child
ous business of dodg- at the door, the hairpins falling from her
ing issues and begging loud, bronze hair as she leaned over.
questions under the "O
honey, dear, you ain't a-going to
Grecian nose of Jus your mamma, arc you?" she said..
forgit
tice, of roguery defending knavery, of keen "You ain't a-going to let 'em keep you
blades splitting hairs between sheepskin away from me always always —
"
covers, was now over, and the shoddy, The child buried her face in the mother's
blundering, ill-lighted building was sinking vivid tresses.
into torpor like a monster worn out by "No, mamma," she wailed, "I want to
ugly deeds. The shysters had withdrawn go with you — I want —I want you to go
from the police-courts to the police-station; with papa!"
the District Attorney was stepping into The woman set the child down and arose
his cab at the curb; the janitors, jovial and melodramatically.
noisy officials, were swabbing down the "Go with him—go with that— that "
pretentious tiles of the "Grand Rotunda," "Come on, Babe," said the man, lifting
piling the spittoons in high and perilous the child carefully to his shoulders, "she
columns along the wall. don't know what she's a-talkin' about
Two reporters met in the hallway in front she never did."
of Superior Court No. 10. The elder and Judge I.eggett, enclosed in his
sitting
taller halted the other nervously, holding high rostrum, resembling an elephantine
him by the shoulder, much as a deputy stops throne of black walnut, stroked his lean,
a runaway witness. " Great thing you got gray jaw and gazed out of the window
out of the Murdock trial yesterday great! — over the dingy roofs of Mission Street. He
The 'evening' fellows are going all over sighed. "Well, to morrow's a holiday
the files at the County Clerk's office; but —
good fishing at Sausalito I wish some of
I know it's no use looking there. Come these operations —
the painful ones could —
along, I'm going down to the office." be performed under anesthetics," he
"Can't go yet," said the younger man thought. He, too, had been having a hard
with a grin. "Got to telephone —and day.
look up a few things." A bailiff arose and closed the door. The
A deep line appeared over the elder's Clerk smiled mechanically, consulting
thick, black eyebrows. his records.
"Nothing doing, I suppose," he ven- "Minnie McSwecny versus Daniel Mc-
tured carelessly. Swceny, desertion," he drawled.
"Nothing at all," said the younger. Among the shadows in the rear of
"I'm just going to stay awhile and watch the courtroom three figures sat drawn
'em take a turn at the divorce mill." into a melancholy knot the plaintiff,
;
The dark, oval door of Court No. 10 the plaintiff's mother and the plaintiff's
MINNIE FS. DANNIE 477
gentlemanly witness. Mrs. Haumgarten, "Say, dat's funny — reel odd!" she
who flanked the plaintiff on the right the young lawyer involun-
shrilled while
with a look of vigilant disapproval, was shrunk back a few steps. "Daniel
tarily
an elderly, full-faced German woman McSweeny crool to me? W'y he was
who, with roving black eyes and convex lame/ I had 'im dat trained an' docile I
nose, decorated and overtopped by a hat could of harnessed 'im with bot' me eyes
of green plumage, presented the appear- shut
"
ance of a warlike and cynical parrot. To "Order!" snapped the Judge while the
the left the gentlemanly witness, a short
man huge shoulders, grinned with care-
of
ful diplomacy from mother to daughter.
His gray eyes shone warily from a face
which glowed uncomfortably like a hot
stove; his thick hair, rolled and pasted over
his forehead, had been carefully parted
and combed with a florid sweep behind
the left ear. His coat was buttoned very
tightly across a white, starched, collarless
shirt, on the breast of which, as if to explain
the absence of a necktie, a diamond scarf-
pin glared.
" Vy don' you go up to der Chooch, Min ?"
the mother was saying, nudging the girl.
"Naw, let 'er alone!" said the man on
the other hand in the tone of the practised
peacemaker, 41 she knows all right!"
A pink-cheeked lawyer came down to
them the full length of the courtroom.
"Well, come on," he said, "hurry up,
the Court's waiting! Mrs. McSwceny,
this is your mother, I suppose —
and this
this gentleman —
is this Daniel McSweeny?" bailiffturned away and the clerk smiled
"Nix, it iss not!" squawked the parrot- behind his book.
like Mrs. Baumgartcn. "Please tell me, The questions continued. Daniel Mc-
if you are dot schmart, how can Tannic Sweeny had been an efficient 'longshore-
McSveeny l>ecn present ven he iss de- man until he got into difficulties drink, —
serted already? Vot you say?" irregular work, periodical idleness.
"Hick Geary's me name— H. J. Geary— "And then what happened?"
and I come to fix de lady "
"Wha' d'ye t'ink?" asked Minnie re-
"Call the witness!" roared the Judge,
and Minnie McSweeny walked palely to
proachfully.
quit."
"Dan quit, dat's all plain —
the stand. She was pretty, small and "Have you anything more to tell?"
neatly dressed. Her black eyes constantly asked Court impatiently, for
the the
sought the her small, red fingers lay
floor, shadows were now lengthening into five
meekly her lap.
in o'clock.
"How long ago were you married to "Jest one t'ing, yer Honor," the fire-
Daniel McSweeny?" asked the pink young works again blazing in her eyes, "I want
man. me walkin' papers an' I don' see w'y I
"Two years a-comin' nex' July," an- don' git 'em! I didn't come here to be "
swered the girl, her eyes still fixed upon the "Trim it, Min! Don't rag de Court!"
floor. came the even, diplomatic voice of Mr.
" Did he support you up to last May?" Geary from the rear of the courtroom.
"Sure, none better." The
witness dismissed, Hick Geary took
"Was he ever cruel to you —did he ever the chair. He mauled his black felt hat
beatyou?" with a beefy fist and sat painfully erect,
The black eyes suddenly snapped from his tight, blue trousers stretched to crack-
the carpet like twin firecrackers. ing-point over his enormous knees.
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478 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"Did you know Daniel McSweeny?" The young lawyer folded his papers
asked the lawyer, consulting his watch. in an inside pocket and walked briskly
"Yes, sir, sure I did," answered Hick away down the corridor. The plaintiff
in his even, diplomatic tone, "an', honest, and her escort filed sadly out.
"You don'd git no ali-money," Mrs.
Baumgarten was explaining,"pecause
der defender haf deserted."
Mr. Hick Geary continued in a voice of
immeasurable calm, "Dat's all right, but
"
I sh'll always t'ink
"Veil, oplige oder peoples py finking
mit yourself!" shrieked Mrs. Baumgarten
as the party separated at the portals of
justice.
* * *
The coastwise sailor and the deep-sea
tar, world-weary and throat-parched, per-
haps from unaccustomed contact with dry
land, turn eagerly from the piers to the
gaudy-faced saloons which smile bril-
liantly, like volcanic islands, along the dun
and troubled billows of the water-frogt.
The more discriminating 'longshoremen
shun these rather too obvious grottos of
enchantment and steer a direct course
up Pacific Street to scatter careless silver
at "The Old Anchor" or "The Sailor's
Rest." Here, with boastful electric-blue
front, lures"The Grapevine" or at least —
it so officially recorded in the city di-
is
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MINNIE FS. DANNIE
almost directly under the light, sat Mr. "So Dannie was de real Frenchman
Hick Gear)' in the act of flicking cigarette —
w'en he worked but it was w'en he drew
ashes from the lapel of his Sunday coat. 'is pay dat he passed 'em all. You know,
A half -empty "stovepipe" loomed before Otto. He was Willie -off -de -yacht a-
him. hangin' out de free drink sign till 'is friends
"Veil, Hickory, you are gitting to be was lined up like bums before de ticket
sooch a great dood already so?" wheezed — window at a soup festival. Beer never
—
Otto. "Sooch a grand clo'es vot you are seemed to cost nobuddy nothin' 'ceptin'
—
rearing maype you vill be calling mit Dannie. Den Monday mornin' come.
der Balace Hotel und ordering more lop- Dannie tired? Aw, say! fresh as a fifteen-
sters und champagne as you can git mit
"
cent —
bunch o' vi'lets and jest about as
Otto's. Ven vill der vedding poor. Plain, common guys like you and
"Cut out de coddin', Otto," said Hick. me, Otto, it's up to us to economize but —
" Every beautiful gazabo's got to butt inter w'en a feller's born like Dannie wit' ready
sassiety sometimes, ain't he? I've been money in de muscles of 'is shoulders, he
de leadin' lady at a divorce party dis after- don't worry. He makes it easy and he
noon."
"Diworce! ach! Who iss it?"
"Minnie McSwceny versus Dannie Mc-
Sweeny, desertion," said Hick dispas-
sionately gazing into the depths of his
"stovepipe." Otto stared blankly, hold-
ing a blazing match till it smouldered low
and seared his fat fingers.
"Don'd tell me sooch t'ings!" said
Otto, tears springing to his pale eyes.
"Minnie und Tannie!
vould rader I
j>elieve dot mein hand vas separated from
mein wrist!"
"You ain't next, Dutch you never —
was like me," said Hick in his even, diplo-
matic tone. "I sh'll always t'ink dat
Dannie McSwceny was a vurry disap-
pointed —
man and if yez say it's irrelevant,' 1
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4 8o THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
pay-envelope of a Saturday night and pull "But oh, it was her dat was de candy!
it away from yez wit'out pain or incon- You couldn't look at no tulips, because
venience.' Min Baumgarten was de whole bouquet!
"I says dat to 'im. And de nex' day Honest, she was lovely. Pink dress and
was Sunday. De Journeyman Butchers' —
white lid golden hair a-hangin' down 'er
Entertainment and Beneficial Soci'ty was back like taffy. Couldn't git near 'er un-
annual picnic at Shell Mound
a-givin' ther less vcz had a ticket of admission. Best
—
Park dat was de fourt' annual picnic dey —
gents on de boat and it was sure a swell
gave dat summer. Early in de mornin' cluster— hung around 'er free deep all de
I dropped Dannie inter some swell clo'es way over.
and we went. Took de ten o'clock ferry- "And where was Danny? A-leanin'
boat and say! it was grand. Everybuddy agin de rail, never raisin' 'is eyes from de
was Tony Lorenzo Association
dere. water, blushin' red like a toy balloon.
from Lombard Street, every Dago of 'em "'Come on, Dan!' I says, nice and
diked out in lily-white pants and red curtyus, 'starch up and I'll interdooce
yez.'
"'Scratch me,' says Dan, swallerin' a
lump, 'scratch me. I ain't in. I was
raised a pet an' some o' dem mutts might
Wtil k on mc
*
off rag-time in such quantities dat it almost dances, but durin' a breathin' spell I drug
scuttled de ship. And gurls! Say, ferny- Dan 'round to where she was a-settin'
nine blossoms was draped over dat ship 'longside of Tony.
like floral offerin's at a Chinee funeral. "'Miss Baumgarten, dere's a fren' o'
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MINNIE VS. DANNIE
mine wants to know ye, and here he is,' holler,'Hullo, spaghetti! ye reco-nize de
says I, a-pointin' to Dannie. langwidge, don' yez!'
" Min looked up, wrinklin' 'er nose reel "I seen trouble a-comin'.
scornful. " We got back into 'Frisco 'bout supper
"'Who is yer fren'?' she in -quires wit'
a giggle.
"'McSweeny's me name,' says Dannie,
speakin' up reel bold and jaunty, 'Dannie
McSweeny, ma'am, and de nex' dance is
de lancers.'
"'Oh, is it?' says Min.
"'Sure, Flossie,' says Dan a-settin' down
nex' to 'er —
an' wha* d'yez t'ink he done?
Took 'er lily hand in dat great mitt o' his,
an' de nex' minute had kissed 'er, a good,
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482 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
and dcy joined
solos an' cley sang doo-cts, "'Ladies an' gents,' he said, 'Mister
hands an' gave a Neopolitan Cakewalk up Lorenzo, bein' a fruit peddler, is ust to
an'down de aisles atwecn de tables. Toby, fightin' wit' cabbages an' seltzer-water.
who was short an' fat, an' Tony, who was I don' do it dat way. Will Mister Lorenzo
long an' slim, ccrt'nly did look comical please step out onter de sidewalk, or will
prancin' along de room, dodgin' chande- I be obliged to carry 'im wit' me?'
liers an' kickin' over chairs wit' ther high- "Tony's mout' dropped open an' 'is
mony he sudd'nly turned to Dannie's dyin' is bein' tenderly cared for,' he says,
table wit' a grin, picked up a siphon o' 'an' de survivors is still a-runnin' in de
sody-watcr an' squirted Dan square in de direction of Nort' Beach.'
eye wit' it. "So sayin' he turned up 'is coat-collar
"Dan rose up from de table, an' gee! an' set down nex' to Min in de vacant
how big he l(x>ked! He wiped 'is face chair w'ich had been vacated by Tony
wit' 'is napkin an' made a reel nice spiel. Lorenzo. De members of de Tony Lo-
MINNIE VS. DANNIE 483
renzo Association went right on eatin' spa- "Well, by de end o' de first year Dan
ghetti. had joined de Saturday Night Club pretty
"'You're pretty fresh, ain't yez!' says reg'lar. Every time he'd come home wit'
Min, kind o' soft. a ballyhoo Min 'd re-fuse to give 'im anny
"'Sure!' says Dan, layin' 'is hand —
supper ust to toss cups an' saucers at 'im
acrost hers on de table. an' 'im to help hisself.
tell Dan was most
Hick Geary emptied the schooner before a cripple from de way she mauled 'im,
him in one Thor-like draught. but he never took it serious. Ust to come
" Und den dey vas married," said Otto,who down to de wharf an' tell us how Min had
was busy filling a decanter with green syrup. busted a rockin' chair over 'is head, an'
"Dey was dat," said Hick, "an' a right laff as if he'd married de sweetest lady
rough-house marriage it was. Dey went atween Nort' Beach an' Rincon Hill.
to live in a t'ree-room shanty on de East "Onct he arrived at 'is peaceful cot at
slope o' Telegraft Hill, jest above de quarry about half past two g. m. in de mornin'.
on de very flagpole o' Creation, w'ere yez It was Janooary an' a ice-cold drizzle was
could stand wit' de billygoats in de still a-drippin' in from de Gate. Dan climbed
o' de ev'nin' an' look 'way acrost de docks up de hill reel tired. Set down on de
over Goat Island an' Alcatraz an' de Gate front porch. Eights out, door locked.
wit' de Dago mackerel fleet a-blowin' in Pretty soon Min peeked out t'rough a
ahead o' de fog. windah. 'Sippose ye t'ink ye're a-comin'
"Min she started in to rag Dan somp'n in?' she says. 'Dat's wat I expects I was
turribul; but Dan he didn't care if she led to t'ink,' says Dan quite merrily.
t'rew 'im off de hill, so long as she come 'VVdl, set dere an' tink awhile,' says Min.
down an' tied up 'is head afterward. Dan 'Dis ain't no all-night hotel!' an' wit' dat
worked pretty reg'lar dem times; made bang goes de windah. 'She knows wat
—
wages an' bought Min clo'es de swellest to do all right!' says Dan, a-chucklin' an'
bunch o' sweeps on Telegraft Hill, all to hisself as he stretched hisself
a-laffin'
right, all right. Did Min t'ank Dan out in a comfortable puddle an' went to
kin'ly fer wat he done? Not while ye're sleep. I reckon he'd o' froze to deaf, but
livin', Otto. Wenever ye'd see 'im in Min sneaked out an' covered 'im wit' a
public Dan 'd be a-reachin' out kind o' rubber slicker as soon 's he was fast
bashful to take Min's hand. She'd jerk asleep.
it away quick an' say, Aw, quit yer foolin'!'
' "Well, dem was sure happy days fer
Den Dan 'd try to explain, an' Min 'd Dan. Always some excitement; an' he
say, 'Say, Dan, ye got a head on yez like never quit a-feelin' proud o' Min an' de
a bell— nuthin' in it but a tongue, an' dat's way she was nex' to 'er job.
all de time a-clappin'.' "But come las' May somp'n busted.
"Dan didn't mind. He was proud of it. Dan come up to 'is qui't home nest as
He'd wink kind o' sly an' say to me, 'Ain't usu'l expectin' to be greeted wit' a ton o'
she de 'cute one!' coal. No such t'ing. Min had de table
"After dey'd been married 'bout six all set fer 'im white an' pretty. Floor
mont's Dan got fightin' de bottle agin an' swept, l>ed made. Dan walked in an' set
Min growed hostile. One Saturday night down to de table, kind o' watchin' out o'
he come home a-rollin' a distiller)' in front de corner of 'is eye for a chunk o' china-
of 'im. He'd no sooner hit de house dan ware to up an' hit 'im. Nuthin* did.
dere was a racket like a truck-load o' fur- Min, who was busy cookin' beefsteak an'
niture a-fallin' t'rough a bay windah. Min onions, smiled qui't an' pleasant an' put
was arguin' wit' 'im. Nex' mornin' Dan de prub on 'is plate as gentle as a maiden's
come down to work wit' a bandage draped prayer.
'round 'is left eye. He was a-chucklin' "'Say, Min, I reckon I stayed out kind
and a-laffin' to hisself. An', w'en de o' late fer supper, didn' I?' says Dan at
Sacrimento Swede, a-pilin' orange crates, last.
siggested he didn't see no such awful funny "'Oh, did ye?' says Min in a mother-
joke a-hangin' 'round, Dan says, 'See dat come-fan-me I'm-dyin'-away tone o' voice.
fracture?' he says, a-pointin' to 'is eye an' *"I blowed most o' me pay, but I paid
jest bubblin' wit' joy; 'she done dat wit' de grocery bill down to Coster's,' says Dan,
a stove-lid. I tell yez, she's a corker!' gittin' ready to jump.
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484 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"'Dat's good,' says Min, a-lookin' out plate twict an' set it down. He looked
o' de windah. dc saddest way at Min, who was a-sewin'
" Dan never et much supjKT. He went by de door, not a-makin' anny disturbance.
to bed worried an' got up worried. Nex' He started to lift a mout'ful o' corn beef,
mornin' he come down early to dc pier but dropped 'is knife on 'is plate.
an' worked like a steam derrick all dav, "Sudd'nly a turribul t'ought twisted up
but he drunk neat w'iskey at noon, an' 'is face like a jumpin' toothache. He got
by eight o'clock at night was pretty good up, walked over to de wall an' put on 'is
wit' himself. Never went home dat night hat. He opened de door, stoppin' a minute
or de nex'. Stayed away a week. to swaller 'is tonsils as he looked at Min.
"Fin'lly, after he'd spent all he could "'I'm on now, Min,' he says, 'I tumble.
make —
or borrah struck you fer a stake, You don' love me no more.'
didn' he, Otto? —
he drawed togeder 'is "I never seen 'im since, Min never seen
nerve an' climbed up Tclegraft Hill agin. 'im since. Whcr's he gone? Search me
I>e door of 'Is shanty was a-waitin' ajar —
an' de water-front you won't find 'im."
fer 'is return. De front room was as neat A tall, sad Jackie with a "Wyoming"
as wax. Min was a-settin' by de door ribbon around his cap was eating cloves
a-smilin' dat gentle an' fergivin' smile. De from the tray on the bar. Two Swedish
fam'ly broom was a-leanin' up agin de 'longshoremen sat in the corner, their
wall, but she never reached fer it dere was ; bland, square gaze turned stolidly in the
a nice empty beer bottle a-seltin' handy direction of Mr. Geary.
an' convenient, but she never grabbed it, "Say, Otto, wat's de matter wit' yer
stove-lid stayed on dc stove, cups an' steam beer to-night?" asked Hick, shoving
saucers on de table, all peaceful an' har- forth his schooner.
monious. Dan seen dem t'ings an' gazed "Vat iss der matter mit it? Does it
all a-blank, not knowin' w'at to do. nicht come cold enough?" asked Otto.
"A warm an' comfortin' supper was "Yes, Dutch, it comes cold enough."
hein' kep' fer Dan in de oven reg'lar — "Docs it nicht come sharp enough?"
blankit w'en it was all laid out on de table. "Sure, it comes sharp like a razor."
Min led Dan gently over to de table an' "Veil, vat iss der matter mit it?"
helped 'im into a chair. Placed before "It don't come often enough," said
'im a large-size plate o' corn beef an' cab- Hick, winking to a Swede as he sifted some
bage an' a cup o' coffee. Dan lifted de mealy tobacco into a brown cigarette paper.
THE FORTUNE-TELLER
BY WITTER BYNNER
TURNING the secrets from her pack of cards, For she was quick to share the good that came.
Warning of sickness, tracing out a theft, So that pik- mothers turned at last and slept.
Guarding from danger as an omen guards, And loafers gruffly reverenced her name. . .
Her hand grew withered as it grew more deft, Yet more than all she gave away, she kept!
Till in the stuffy parlor where she lies, Kept red geraniums on her window-sill,
Now to these clients, neighbors, debtors, friends, Kept a gay garden in that narrow plot
Truest is proven of her prophecies,— Fenced in In-rund the house,— you'll find there still
"
••
/ shall be dead before December ends Her hoe, her rake, her rusty watering-pot!
That old man. facing us, who many years Bright, in the midst of all these dingy yards,
ISo.isted the subtle wonders of her art, Her roses, hollyhocks and pansies grew;
Now hear him, how he tells us with his tears As though some happy jester in the cards
The simpler, larger wisdom of her heart. Whispered the sweetest secret that he knew.
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SIC TRANSIT-GLORIA
BY GUY WETMORE CARRYL
That it's jolly in a trolley it were jolly to pretend.
" Ting-t'-tong! Ting-f -tong-tong-long! "
// there's ever any room it is at the other end!
" Ting-t'-tong! Ting-t''-tong-tong-long!"
Knees and elbows all around you, jolting, jabbing. VU be bound you
Wouldn't care to have to stand it very long,
All this clutching and this clinging, all this swaying and this swinging,
And this gong!
" Ting-t' -tong-tong-tong!"
and done, isabout all that riding amounts walking with a limp. Sooner or later, it
to, nowadays. That does not alter the will he going around on one leg. E fduri-
fact, however, that, with the coming of bus unum is a very noble sentiment. The
automobiles and rapid transit of one kind same cannot be said of plures in uno par- —
or another, Shank's Mare is going out of ticularly if the uno be a public conveyance.
fashion together with other equines. Mod- We Americans are notoriously good-
ern society is well-nigh as shy of using its natured and long-suffering, but there is
legs as it is of talking about them; and such a thing as carrying good-nature to an
presently, if we go on at this rate, these extreme. At present, it is pertinent to
hitherto useful appendages will have be- inquire whether we are prepared to stand
come, before we know it, merely rudimen- anything and everything from the com-
tary, and our arms abnormally developed panies who pretend to transport us in com-
and strengthened as a result of hanging fort from one place to another. Appar-
on straps, as are those of our alleged an- ently we are; and the mightier the com-
cestor the anthropoid ape, as a result of pany, and the more modern the convey-
hanging on branches. I use the word ance, the more we stand. The which is
"alleged" advisedly. Surely there is little no mere idle figure of speech.
enough to be proud of in the contemplation Whatever it may be in the way of an in-
of the average family tree, without chasing justice, a discomfort and an imposition, your
back some millions of years for the purpose crowded trolley is a fertile field for the
of populating it with the unsympathetic study of human nature. Primarily, it
and avowedly plain-featured chimpanzee. teaches you that, whatever your Lick of
VVc may have descended from the branches, beauty may be, it cannot compare with
but from the anthropoid ape? Perish the that of others. If it is true that beauty is
thought only skin deep, it is plain that beauty, like
Admitting the need of public convey- the eel, has become used to being skinned.
ances, which one is compelled to do so long The operation has been performed, with
as babies, bundles and locomotor ataxia consummate efficacy and dispatch, upon
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486 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the faces of an overwhelming majority of ill-fittingclothes, searching a well-worn
those whom one meets in the average Euclid with near-sighted eyes. It is harder
trolley. This is undeniably true, but none to give up Euclid than his seat, but he does
the less uncharitable. After all, they can't both, with a sigh. He Is never so near-
help it, the poor things! But then, after sighted that he cannot see a woman stand-
all, one can't help being uncharitable. It's ing. There remains, also, the man escort-
more comfortable than the other thing. ing another woman. He yields his place
Charity, you know, suffereth all things. promptly. He does not dare to retain it.
That's a pretty hard load on the shoulders And thus Is the only instance in which one
of charity! woman has cause to be grateful for what
To come back to our fellow-trolleyers another woman will think!
place aux dames! The ladies —
bless 'em ! Failing these, there remain yet others:
are not to be judged by appearances. Were the white-haired gentleman with an old-
they, we should arrive at the conclusion fashioned air; the employee of the road,
that not one in fifty of these who board a who has no right to be there at all; the well-
trolley has the most remote conception of brought-up little boy; and the nervous old
where she Is going, or how to get there. lady, who is looking over her shoulder to
They scramble on, with an eagerness which see she has passed her street, and is liable
if
seems to suggest that this particular car to get off at any moment. All these are
Is the last which will ever pass, and when possibilities, if not probabilities; but if it is
they have recovered breath (I am merely to be by deliberate sacrifice and not mere
a man; I cannot know how this is done in chance that our lady gets her seat, she must
the case of a woman, but it seems to be be pretty, or white-haired, or burdened
accomplished by turning her veil up across with a baby. Otherwise, she stands not
her nose), they appeal to the conductor: the ghost of a show.
"Does this car go the Asterisk Avenue?" Those desiring to make an elevated train
"Yes, madam." will find the following recipe useful. Take
"Oh, pshaw! Please let me off at the one trolley-car, multiply its capacity by
next corner!" four and its contents by eight, pack tightly,
They depart with an air of wronged in- and leave to simmer.
nocence, leaving their fellow-passengers Yes, it is the trolley all over— four times
consumed with curiosity to know whether —
over with three unintelligible youths in-
their object in getting on was to be taken stead of one bleating the incomprehensible
somewhere as a surprise, an object at once names of ought -to be familiar localities;
defeated by learning the name of their and in some sense it is the Declaration of
destination. Such evidence of instability Independence as well. For here "all men
is fatal tocontemplated matrimony, and —
are created equal" in sharpness of elbow
some one is always contemplating matri- and heaviness of foot! And "all men are
—
mony even in a trolley. The latter has endowed with inalienable rights" in par- —
confirmed more bachelors than the sup- ticular, the right to make every one else
posedly sage advice of Punch. consumedly uncomfortable, in consideration
Provided she remains, the fair passenger of a five-cent fare! Here, however, quota-
has to consider the question of annexing a tion from the immortal document ceases
seat, for a trolley with a seat already avail- to be applicable. Reference in this con-
able is a trolley unworthy of the name. nection to "life, liberty and the pursuit of
The woman of experience makes a rapid happiness" would be sarcasm too painful
survey of the field. At once to be elimi- to be pardonable.
nated from her calculation are the Italian Where do they come from, these people?
laborer, the fat man with a newspaper, and Where to are they bound ? What have they
the Irishwoman's child. The first wouldn't in those parcels ? What have they in those
if he could, the second couldn't if he would, hearts? What a mystery! Here, in little
and the mother of the third has something more than the compass of an ordinary room,
for which she has not paid. All three are are packed some two hundred persons who
satisfied. They have no further ambition; have never seen each other before, and will
and it is the class without ambition which never, it is likely, sec each other again.
is not apt to rise, or cause to rise. Side by side, they sit or stand: The man
There remains the awkward youth, with who will reach home to find that he has a
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SIC TRANSIT— GLORIA 487
son, and the man who will reach home to "Lift" —with intention; not because it
find that he no longer has a father; the is English, you know, but becaase it is im-
woman desperately in need of money, and possible to concede that there is anything
the woman who could and would give it elevating about the modern process of
did she but know the want; those who will getting from the " gurr-r-round " to the
never see another day, and those who would top floor, or vice versa. The Great Trunk
be glad of that assurance; the sick, the Line, that's what it is— and ever)' trunk
sound, the poor, the rich; the wretched and packed!
the happy; the bank president, and the There is some curious fatality about a
thief who rob his vaults six hours later;
will lift,whereby those seeking the first floor
the l>achelor, and the woman he will marry; inevitably getin first, and having been
the churchman, and the criminal; the saint, firmly wedged in at the back by later
and the sinner; sorrow, joy; hope, despair; comers who are going higher, are com-
courage, cowardice; all herded together, pelled to fight their way out when the time
and knowing as little of each other's to- comes, with heaves and convulsions which
day's as of their own to-morrows What 1 rend the crowd asunder. The operation
a tragedy! What a comedy! What a of getting out in this fashion or of having
farce! others do so is extremely cheerless.
There is, withal, a rare touch of humor There is always nx>m for one more,
in the situation. The offensive shove, more commonly for half a dozen, and as
which under other conditions would be a the latest arrivals are packed in at the rear,
swiftly resented insult, is here no more than there arc "oomphs" which suggest mal-
an unavoidable inconvenience. A sacri- treated ribs. The limit of endurance is
fice of comfort which one would begrudge calculated to a nicety, and, when it has
one's nearest and dearest is here yielded been reached, the starter touches a meta-
freely to total—and extremely unprepos- phorical match to its, and the rocket as-
sessing —
strangers. The man whom you cends. Siss! Boom! Ah-h-h! are at We
would not invite to your dinner table is the first floor, with our brains and esoph-
here pressed close against your heart or — agi below our lungs. The man with a
spinal vertebra, as the case may be. Imus stump of a Communipaw third between
Deo for the sense of humor! If it were not his thick fingers has hU back against the
for that, the elevated train must long since "No Smoking" sign; the fat woman's lap-
have been howled down by its infuriated dog (and she must have a hard time find-
victims —
and we should have had some- ing the lap to put him in) has been twice
thing worse! stepped on, and has twice remarked " Yip!
We hear much of the brutal gateman, reproachfully; and your derby, And mine,
of his coarse voice, of his slave-driving and the next man's are "blocked." One
methods, of his surly replies. My dears would suppose that the Operation of
the creature is a saint upon earth! He fc> "blocking" (as advertised) would produce
a fig growing on the thistles of human im- quite another effect. In brief, we have
becility, and it is little short of a miracle gone up in an elevator. Facilis descensus
that he is not more wizened, and crabbed, —and that's more than can be said of
and sour than he is. Let us reason to- ascensus!
gether upon this. Pity the elevator-boy, man though he
And it isn't any better in an ordinary lift. be! Well-nigh as great a martyr as his
"Going up? Going down? Let 'er go!" fellow sufferer, the elevated guard, he is
When you're hustled, and you're bustled, the brown-liveried and brass-buttoned
and you're bundled, and you're bijjed. Charon of a modem, perpendicular Styx.
'
"Going up? Going down? Let 'ergo!" He pulls the rope, and we do the unrest-
To the upper story speeding, you arrive all He runs the only elevator which goes
bruised and bleeding: against the grain. He is the human mer-
The stairs are surely better, though they're cury which rises in the tube, but, while
slow, others hurry away to business or friendly
Than this thing that makes us dizzy, keeps calls, is out in the cold, and so comes
left —
us busy, takes us whizzy! down again.He is the victim of mistakes
And it's Oh! of others, and constantly downs the things
"Going down? Let 'er go!" he ought not to have downed, and leaves
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488 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
undowned the things which he ought to other people's floral tributes, and wonder-
have downed. Pity the elevator-boy. ing if we will give due credit to their own.
Sic transit gloria mundi: —such is transit, Above all, they are covertly referring to the
the glory of the world! first meals of the voyage, when it is not a
And the transatlantic liners? The con- table d'hote, but a table d'hote— which is
ditions ore the same. quite a different thing.
"Write from Havre! Bon voyage! All The bugle blows. "All ashore that's
ashore!" going ashore!" Thank goodness! We
Every berth thereon is twins, and there's are alone, with a vista of distinctly waving
nobody to blame. handkerchiefs, and the thought of the in-
"Write from Havre! Bon voyage! All —
evitable and mortally disagreeable.
ashore!" Alone, did I say? The steamer chairs
We may eat if we are able, but we'll take the are so close that the arms overlap, and
second table! grind in a fashion to rend the nerves. Con-
Every year our feUow-tnctims number sultation with the bath steward reveals the
more; fact that others have already consulted,
And our steamer chairs they crowd as shotdd and that as a result we must bathe at five
never be allowed. bells (a thought to make cowards of us
What's it for? all or else at three bells (when one meets
!)
"Bon
voyage! All ashpre!" all one's acquaintances in the gangway!).
Here, on the pier, the crowd which is Alone!
transit's prime characteristic reaches its Are the passenger-lists out yet? Out,
limit. Each of us has six friends to see us monsieur —
all out, half an hour ago. Are
off, and each of the six arrives in time to see the table seats assigned ? Not all the sec-
us on. How nice it is of them to come, and ond table seats as yet, monsieur. And my
how deplorably in the way they are! In steamer trunk Mille pardons, monsieur,
?
the bustle and confusion one has barely it is in the cross gangway, quite near; the
time for a word with them, so, as a matter other gentlemen arrived before monsieur,
of fact, they might better have stayed at and their trunks were put in the cabin.
home, for a friend unheeded is a friend un- There is no more room.
needed. And their tears are an infliction. Yes, that's it exactly. There is no more
There is more brine above the water-line room —
nothing but other people's elbows.
than below. Their parting injunctioas The world Is full of public vehicles, and the
are an infinite discouragement. It is de- public vehicles are full of the public. It
pressing to find that life is going to be all has been said that it would be possible to
wrong until we reach Havre, and all write crowd the entire population of the globe
afterward. Then they give voice to the into the State of Texas. That may or may
time-honored sentiment, "Say au revoir, not be true. Frankly, I don't know. But
but not good-by," and oiftr thoughts fly I do know that it is manifestly impossible
forward to meals to come, and recognize to crowd the entire population of the globe
in the words a bitter, unnecessary truth. into one trolley car, or elevator, or even
They introduce us to people we might have elevated train, and I move we stop trying!
been so happy as never to have known, Oh, give us back the horse car of the pre-
and never by any possibility know the peo- historic time.
ple to whom we might have been so happy Give us " Ting. Ting-a-ling. Ting-a-
as to have been introduced. They dwell ling."
upon future meetings when we are going The horrid, torrid horse car, with its lazy
abroad for the express purpose of avoiding little chime.
them, and express the conviction that we Give us "Ting. Ting-aling. Ting-a-
shall never meet again when we would ling."
give our heart's blood to remain with them. It smelt of mackintoshes, and of rubbers and
They are very singular, the friends who galoshes,
—
come to see as off and very, very plural I That rusty, musty car without a spring,
But at present they are raising a riot in But its ways were not as vapid as the transit
the saloon— in the only saloon wherein one that is rapid.
can raise a riot without imperilling the Drat the thing!
proprietor's license. They are disparaging Give us "Ting. Ting-a-ling."
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MISS HERMAN-MISSIONARY
BY H. T. GEORGE
ILLUSTRATED BY GORDON GRANT
monds, assisted —" it was an account of |>oured out among a savage people. Now
her last reception, the night she met the that she saw him— a slender little man with
Bishop. The slippers fell from Miss Her- delicate white hands that seemed, in their
man's hand. She sat on the floor and black coat- sleeves, to miss the soft frills
stared at her own name, at herself "in of his robes —
she knew that here was one
black lace and diamonds, " the insignia of who had found it —
The Meaning of Life.
her complacent guild in that lost life she So she welcomed him with the pathetic
had renounced. The vapid little descrip- eagerness of one idly groping for one who
tion brought it all back sharply -her has richly found. She coaxed a substitute
friend's brilliant drawing-room, the gay for her place, and she drew the Bishop
gowns, the soft laughter, the empty, weary, —
away into a shadowed corner where the
never-ending pretense of pleasure. W hat music and the laughter came to them as
did they know of life, Miss Herman had from a far distance, and the solitude made
wondered, resting in a moment of unso- them a holy place.
licited ease behind her punch bowl. What And the Bishop talked to her of his work
did she know herself? And vet surely, among his people —
the mysterious dark
somewhere, life held a Meaning? Be it people of his choice. Unconsciously the
never so stern, never so forbidding, how Bishop was an actor. What he had seen
she would welcome a meaning! he made her see, what he had felt she felt —
Women of thirty, even women who find the loneliness, the tragedy, the ache of it all
vague comfort in limp leather Swinburnes, — the glory of sacrifice, the passion of pain.
and deem death only less sad than life, can She leaned to listen, this woman of the
smile at their own soul weariness when, world "in black Lace and diamonds," and
incongruously as now, it comes upon them. he saw that she was hungry-hearted, and
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MISS HERMAN— MISSIONARY 491
had prove' the husks of life. He saw, too, Miss Herman sighed. "Really, Miss
8 fanatic's glorious vision of what she Mason, it isn't my
business to get Jane out
might <lo, a woman like this, refined and of the pantry," she said. "Let her stay
pitiful and strong, among his people. if she likes. She can't starve there. In-
"Come," he said to her softly, his deli- deed, it's a pretty tenable jx)sition. She
cate lingers stroking her tensely clasped may starve us."
hands subtly. "Come to us, child. We Miss Mason shook her head over the
need you— women like you. Your life is new teacher's levity. "You don't know
empty? Fill it with the joys and wants of the child," she said. "She's been here two
other lives, darkened lives, lives going out years now, and we've had the same ex-
for want of you?" perience ever)' time."
Meanwhile in St. Mary's school for In- "Then there's no danger, " Miss Herman
dian girls, on the farthest confines of his retorted. "If she has given in before she
district, there were only two teachers and will this time."
the matron. The Bishop, a little dismayed The matron, a portly woman, asthmati-
when, apart from the shadowy lights, the cally inclined, appeared panting at Miss
soft music, the woman with the hungry Mason's elbow and, finding herself super-
eyes, he began calmly to consider the placing seded in her errand, took up the corner
of this very new
material, decided to send sat ion at this point.
her as a teacher to St. Mary's school for "But it was her father who brought her
girls. here before, " she explained. "And he
Miss Herman, reading the line in the has a wonderful influence over her. This
torn newspaper, fell to laughing, silently time he sent her mother— and her mother
and not hysterically, and the tragedy of is a fool."
the past week was relaxed. After all, it "Yes. They were late, waiting for her
had escaped being a tragedy. had even It father to get back to the reserve and bring
come dangerously near the farcical. She her. But he had to go away again, and
would go back to the old order of things sent her with her mother. And now she's
that was all; to the well-bred raillery of in one of her mad fits, and her mother
her friends, the round of well-bred social wants to take her home. She thinks we're
duties, the long empty hours, when one abusing her, and if that idea spreads we'll
has such cruel leisure for memory. She have every girl taken away when they break
shivered a little, remembering, and then —
camp to-morrow else we'll have trouble!"
frowned because she had shivered. The matron moved heavily away down
"You cannot eat your cake and have it the bare echoing hall, and the seamstress
too," she told herself, severely. "And followed timidly.
you have proved that loathing afternoon Behind them the grim import of the
teas floes not argue your fitness for a mis- thing came slowly to Miss Herman. To
sion. You
are not big enough for a mis- have trouble— the words carry always a
sion!" She stamped her letter to the vague and fearful threat even to those who
Bishop conclusively. have worked longest among the people
The seamstress put her head in at the and scoff most easily at the chance of harm.
door. Little formalities of knocking were And to Miss Herman, a stranger among
unknown at St. Mary's an omission — them and loathing them, there was a pos-
which, like the steel knives and forks and in the phrase the more ominous
sibility
many minor items, was to an aesthetic because the less understood.
degree annoying to Miss Herman. Miss Herman looked down at the row
The seamstress was a consumptive with Behind
of tepees in front of the school.
big eyes and a lisp, and her rapid ascent of them were the lumber wagons which had
the stairs had sit her to coughing. brought them; among them the sturdy
"Well, Miss Mason?" asked Miss Her- little prairie horses grazed. And in front
man, rather sharply. of them, peaceably enough, the fathers and
"It's Jane Lasange, Miss Herman," mothers of the St. Mary con-
girls sat
gasped the seam>trcss, with very horrified tentedly in the slant of the afternoon sun,
eyes. "She's locked herself in the pantry waiting for the outdoor services to begin.
now, and she says she won't come out till Dark-faced, inscrutable, eternally mys-
her mother comes to take her home!" terious, they faced this woman from an
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492 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
ancient civilization with the question of humbly. But what dead man turns from
their race —
the question their generation
— upon the fierce un-
his eternal rest to look
has never answered "What would happen rest of life?
if they should decide to make trouble?" Out of the Sabbath stillness a cry —
Peaceable enough to look at, surely. child's cry— rang in shrill reply to her
The matron or the missionary, at that musing. Standing at the top of the narrow
moment donning his robes, would have stairway she saw a sudden backward wave
laughed at Miss Herman's vague fear. in the line of blue uniformed girls in the
She herself laughed, looking down at Jane hall below. Then a clamor of voices,
Lasange's mother, who sat a little apart guttural and excited, broke forth among
from the others, crass-legged in the sun- them, the matron's storming above them,
burnt grass, her bead eyes fixed anxiously the seamstress pleading tearfully, the two
on the square-whitened mission building. other teachers mingling warning with ad-
An old woman or a young one? Miss vice. But after that first wild cry— the
Herman could not say. A wicket! woman cry of an animal trapped, of a hawk caged
or a good one ? Her face did not tell. She — the first voice was silent. Miss Herman
differed in no way from the thirty other went quickly down the stairs.
mothers who were there. Sitting blanketed Against the outer door, crouching like
and bent and uncomely in the sun she a sinewy little panther to face the de-
was the pitiful type of the motherhood of moralized line of her mates, the uncannily
her race — ugly, ignorant, grotesquely sus- blue eves glaring through the veil of night
picious. Who was the white man who black hair, Jane Lasange defied the host
had taken her to wife, Miss Herman won- of her oppressors. And in her lean little
dered. For she had heard of John Lasange, brown hand a carving knife, gleaming
the richest squaw-man on the reservation, cruelly, assisted her materially in her de-
and the blue eyes of the fierce little creature fiance. A sudden passion of admiration
who had cowered opposite her at supj>er made Miss Herman {muse to watch her
the night before had spoken strange tales and then she saw the matron's motUed
to Miss Herman's unaccustomed curiosity. white face and realized the danger of the
—
Did the man mistreat her this uncouth situation. If the child's mother responded
squaw of his who had borne him his chil- in animal fashion to the cry of her cub— if
dren? Or was he kind to her in a con- the madness of revolt spread among the
temptuous fashion because she was the children in the hall and their i>coplc without,
mother of his children, and belonged to no less childlike in reasoning— what not
him like other of his cattle ? Because she might happen if they made trouble?
was the mother of Jane? They said that "What did she say?" Miss Herman de-
the love between Jane and her father was manded of the matron.
a wonderful thing to know. Did the "She said she would kill the first one
woman know what love meant or the — who tried to hold her— and she will," the
man, low-fallen as he must be or the — matron added grimly. At the door Jane
child, with her brown skin and her blue Lasange, one hand behind her, was turn-
eyes, poor helpless little mixture of igno- ing the knob cautiously.
rance and passion, rebelling against fate? The matron took an ostentatiously firm
She tried to laugh at her own defeat, but Step toward her— and retreated precipi-
her eyes fell upon a picture on her bureau tately before a savage thrust of the gleam-
— a picture that had not dared to face the ing blade. Her voice shook a little as she
light for twelve years, until now, in a strange addressed the rebel.
land, where no one knew the lines of it. "You may go home, Jane," she said
Suddenly she stooped to it, kissing it "Your mother
with futile cajolery. shall
not with her lips, but with her eyes. "O, take you. He a good little girl, and come
my dear, my dear." she cried softly, M I am to church quietly with us now. Then we
so worthless a thing, and you were so full will see.
of promise. If I had only one thing to Jane Lasange flung her head back,
spend my life on save your memory. If shaking the long straight mane from her
you could only come back to point me out eyes, and Miss Herman saw thai they were
the way!" mad with fever.
She waited before it with clasjK-d hands, "I go to my father —so— with my knife
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MISS HERMAN— MISSIONARY 493
door, and stood staring at this new woman, She bent above the child and touched
the knife between them. the wide-spread masses of her hair with a
"Give me the knife, Jane," the woman dirty russet finger. Then she straight-
repeated. There was silence while they ened herself and drew her blanket closer.
looked at each other. Suddenly the child "Yas. Be very angry if she come back.
laid it in the woman's outstretched hand. —
So I go now while she sleep.
And then she fell at the woman's feet, Miss Herman would have spoken to her
sobbing wildly. comfortingly, but there had come upon
And Miss Herman, stooping with a swirl this rude lump of flesh the dignity of the
of dainty skirts and floating laces, lifted the eternal mother-pain that forbade words.
little blue calico figure in her arms. "Good-by," she said softly. "We will
"Go out to the service," she said softly be very good to her."
to the matron. "Tell her mother she is Far down the mist-gray prairie road she
with me." saw the huddled figure of Jane's mother
And she carried Jane Lasange up to her riding away silently in the dumb ache of
room and laid her on her own bed gently. her loneliness. The pathos of it all rose
Then she knelt beside her, and held her up blindly before her, and she knew of a
close, until at last the small body ceased sudden the meaning life holds for men
to shake in the paroxysms of the child's and women who have grown to love this
tearless sobs. people. Kven she whose every previous
She laid it gently back against the pillows instinct loathed them would tarry among
then, and watched the ugly little brown them for a little, that she might lift a cor-
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494 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
ner of the darkness from the perplexed smiled and held my hand and did not
soul of a child. die."
She turned to meet the child's eyes and And Jane Lasange smiled, a weird, un-
started and shivered at their wide bluencss childish little smile, wise with a great
in the dark face. Then she came swiftly wisdom.
to the bedside. "You do not understand because you
"You have been sleeping," she said are all But you will not laugh nor
white.
cheerily. "Are you rested?" tell me I am
very wicked, and you will not
"I was not sleeping," Jane Lasange said let them take me away while I call him.
very distinctly. "I was dying. I heard So I have told you a secret thing. If you
—
my mother I felt her fingers on my hair. love very much, so much your heart cries
Then I was almost dead. Something go in you always, and you arc so lonely, lonely,
break in my heart. But I let her go be- lonely you are dying —
then you call very
cause you spoke truly. My father would hard and the soul you love comes to you.
be very angry if I do not stay. I His body will come if it can, but if it can-
promise him to stay and be very good not, then just the soul of him. And you
and not make him sad. Only I forget must be very brave, else you are frightened
—
and want to kill people all the white peo- and die when you see his soul."
ple in the world except my father and — She nodded her head very wisely, smiling
then you. He has told me about a woman again the strange, unchildish smile. She
like you —
a woman very white with eyes had slipped from the bed and knelt by the
not afraid— like a man. I thought about —
window not the window facing the feast-
it all when my heart broke and I was dying. scene of her people, but the one looking
And now I think I will not die, because it to the hazy autumn western sky.
is very good to live beside you. But I And Miss Herman knelt beside her,
must see my father. I must call to him. clutching the bony little brown claws on
All night I will call to him, and then in the the window-sill.
morning if he does not come I will surely Her face was very white Miss Her- —
die." man's. None of her friends had ever seen
Miss Herman looked at the child again, that face where the desperate hunger of
—
and a cold little fear the horror of the her heart peered from her burning eyes
unseen and the unknowable grew in her — the primitive, impotent anguish of the
heart. Yet the fever was no longer in the starved soul. It was a terrible face if
blue eyes. They were very quiet eyes and there had been any one to see it and the —
the light in them was like the light in white most terrible thing in it was the cunning
stones that glitters but does not burn. hope that lit the horror in the eyes.
"You cannot call your father, dear," '
—
"Tell me!" she whispered "is it more
she said, but not convincingly rather ap- — frightful than death —
to see a soul ? Could
pealingly. " He is— how far ? -thirty miles it do more than kill you? It wouldn't
from here across the prairie!" drive you mad, would it? Even if it were
Outside on the grass the matron was the soul of a dead man ? Even if his body
sujKrintending the distribution of supper —his dear, beautiful strong body were —
for her guests. Her voice came up to —
eaten by worms?"
Miss Herman in consolingly material dic- Her voice rose into a wail— she shook
tation as to dried-apple pies and corned the child's slight body in the tempest of her
beef. Buther own room, facing her
in longing. —
"Tell me would it drive you
unblinkingly, Jane Lasange explained the mad? To sec a dead man's soul?"
matter in hand simply. The child drew away from her im-
"Oh yes, I can call htm. I have called patiently. "Be still!" she whispered com-
him before and he came in the night when mandingly. "I am calling him. He can-
it was very dark —
his soul— and smiled at not hear me if you talk so loud. If you
me. Then I went to sleep. And once are afraid, you do not call. Only if you
when he was hurt and near to die it was — must see him or die."
the first winter they have sent me here Miss Herman laid her face against the
his heart called to me softly —so— ' Esta window. "I must see him or die," she
toto vrinl Blue eyes — little blue eyes!' said clearly. "And I am not afraid."
And I ran away and went to him and he Downstairs the heavy doors were bolted
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MISS HERMAN— MISSIONARY 495
for the night — the tramp of many feet and he quieted it with a word. She saw
passed their door as the girls went to their him wave his quirt in greeting to someone
rooms. The matron bade the missionary among the tepees below the school.
stirred
—
good-night the seamstress and the under- Then he rode beneath her line of vision
tcacher went creakingly to bed in the next and she faced again the morning-flooded
room. The lights in the Agency store a prairies, and her own awakening.
mile away blinked in the darkness and As the matron tried her door, she turned
were gone. The slender thread of the and unlocked it. The matron viewed her
new moon slid back below the rim of the with astonished and unwontedly approving
empty earth. The stars came out and a eyes.
far coyote barked at them through the "Dressed already?" she exclaimed.
prairie stillness. "Jane must have kept you awake all night.
And the child of two races and the Well, thank Heaven, Lasange is here to
woman of an arrogant wise one knelt see her. I call it a blessed coincidence."
together by the window. She stepped aside to let him enter, and
At last a cock crowed, shattering the then, being a very busy woman with break-
heavy darkness. A cow lowed to her calf fast for many to order, she went away.
in the pasture; a dog howled at the scent As he hesitated in the doorway, Miss
of day. In the west a faint gray shadow Herman saw how he was changed. With-
of the dawn was cast. out the glory of the rising sun upon it, the
And then Jane Lasange, gazing wide- face was a marred face, seamed with other
eyed into unseen distances, let her hands scars than the crimson relic of an old fray
slip from the window-sill. " He is coming, that ran from chin to temple. There was
she said, drowsily. "At first I could not much gray in his hair, and deeper
his eyes,
tell— he was not listening. But now set, she noticed vaguely, than she had
he is coming." known them, were eyes old with much
And lying straight in every line of her seeing.
after the fashion of her mother's race, she He brushed his hand across them as he
slept, breathing softly in the dawn. looked at her. "I— I beg your pardon—"
Hut Miss Herman still knelt, her eyes he began, and his voice died. So for a
straining into that empty west until it filled moment they looked at each other. Then
with golden clouds, like flame-shot smoke he laughed, and the laugh too was new to
from the burning glory of the hidden east. her and not good to hear. " I I was seeing—
Then she rose from her knees, staggering visions — that
was all," he explained. "I
with cramped muscles, her eyes blind with thought at you were some one I knew.
first
the morning, straight, and strong, and cruelty of it— "there is not even hell left
beautiful, his lifted face catching the fiery for me."
splendor of the east. Suddenly, the sun She looked at him gravely for a long
itself burst somewhere into the sky, and a —
moment remembering the man who had
low shaft of white light shot to meet him, left her twelve years l>efore, in the soIkt
so that he rode down it glorious, like Sir beauty of young hope and great aspi ra-
Galahad of old. tions.' He broke the silent scrutiny with
A dog ran barking forth to meet him, another short laugh.
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496 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"You think I have changed? Well, I wound in the sweet smell of dead grasses,
have. I am not exactly the sort of man whispering comfort against her heart. She
Grace Herman ever knew. But Grace had left very far behind her that woman
—
Herman " his blue eyes on her face were who had found comfort in Swinburne and
black with the old-time fervor of admira- the intoned prayers of a dim cathedral.
tion for all things beautiful
— —
a picture, a After an hour she saw John Lasange ride
woman, a horse "Grace Herman, after away. He shook hands with the mission-
twelve years, is much the same girl I lost ary and the matron. The girls gathered
my heart to twelve years ago. Only you — in the sweet young morning to watch the
—
have improved. You were a shade too going of Jane's father, and he flung small
thin then. You have improved." coin down among them, laughing, and the
His eyes, with something deeper and people who had come up from their tents
darker than admiration in them some- — nodded to him, grinning.
thing she had never known in any man's There was something vaguely medieval
—
eyes before called the blood to her face, about the scene. The head of a clan fling-
scorching it, and leaving her heart cold. —
ing largess to the rabble a knight riding
"I think we have both changed in twelve forth among his henchmen. There had
years," she said quietly. always been about him potential dramatic
And then suddenly the eyes changed effects, a certain kingliness, a physical
left her — —
forgot her were glorified with need to be a leader among men. And
love and pride and longing. And Jane, —
*now he was the richest squaw-man on
waking with eyes as wide as though they the reservation.
had never slept, flew like a dart straight to Suddenly he swung sidewise in the sad-
her father's arms. dle, and reaching down, caught his daugh-
Her voice, no longer strained in shrill ter against his breast and held her, silently,
tensity, crooned in childish, broken mur- closely. Then he set her down gently, and
murs against his shoulder, and her little waving his broad hat in a final, inclusive
brown hands stroked his rough check in farewell, he galloped down the long white
very ultimate bliss of satisfaction. road that led into the east.
And the man held her high in his big Miss Herman watched him with grave
hands, caressing her, holding her so from eyes until he rode into the horizon, and
all the world. then with her head upon her outstretched
"
Esta toto win! Blue eyes, little blue arm, with her crumpled Sunday finery
eyes! Father's daughter!" he whispered. flecked with straws, with the field mice
And the child answered in a contented scampering beneath her, she slept in the
babble of soft gutturals. hay-mow. And her sleep was empty of
The woman, watching them, thought —
dreams for the first time in twelve years.
with a sharp little contraction in her throat W hen she woke the sun had crept into
that she could have wished, twelve years the mid-roof of the heavens, and Jane
ago, no greater blessing for the man she Lasange sat cross legged in the hay, watch-
loved than to see him so, with the child ing her with unwinking eyes. Miss Her-
of his love in his arms. Also she thought man smiled, stretching out a drowsy hand to
of the woman who had ridden away in the the child.
twilight the night before — the woman who "So you have seen your father, little
had said "I am mother to her — me!" Jane?" she said gently. The small black
And she went out at the doorway and head nodded proudly.
left them alone together. "It was as I said. While he slept he
In the early morning while the girls of heard me call him— he said it was very
St. Mary's slept, she went down to the strong — the voice of my heart going out
stables and climbed the narrow ladder to to him. He said it was as two voices
the hayloft. and he rose, and rotle. All night he rode,
All her life she had dreamed dreams may go
so that to-day he to the far place
sad, beautiful dreams to which the hysteric where men wait for him. And all night
mysticism of the night before had come he heard the calling."
as an ecstatic climax. And now she had And Miss Herman, in the material wis-
awakened, and in the awakening crept dom of the garish day, had no better ex-
away like any wild hurt thing to nurse her planation to offer for his coming.
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MISS HERMAN— MISSIONARY 497
"And now you are very happy?" she glad, dear," she promised largely. And
asked softly. then her spirit quailed before the task she
Jane shook her head gravely, her som- had set herself. How should she make her
ber eyes narrowed to two pale slits of fire. —
understand little Blue-eyes with the fire
"My father is gone," she explained. heart— that her happiness lay through
"And all my heart. But this I was to pain, and ultimate gladness through gates
give you—only you— and you must make of parting?
me glad." "Will you understand then," she asked
Miss Herman read the note, scrawled humblv, "that all I do, I do because I love
in the old reckless hand on a page torn you?"'
from a tobacco-reeking notebook. The child looked at her with swift sus-
"I am leaving the child with you, and picion.
you must be good to her. Because in the " You shall not take me from him, " she
old days the boy you used to know loved cried. "You shall not! You shall not!"
you, and all his dreams of angels had your The eyes that were like her father's
face. He did not tell you then. He darkened; her brown hands clenched un-
waited until he should be a greater man til the knuckles were white blurs upon them.
more worthy of your womanhood. And Miss Herman hesitated. She thought of
while he waited, here in a wild land, he her awakening, of the real man who had
went wrong. He got into trouble. The stood above her dead ideal, crushing it
man who was killed was not the greater forever. She thought of the child's brown
victim. So he ran away from himself, and skin and savage passions, and all the
now he has left himself so far behind that hideous meaning of them. And she
he can give you no news at all of the boy thought of the dear, sad, beautiful secret
you used to know. But all that was best that had been hers these many years. The
in that boy— all that he hoped might some- delicate illusiveness of her grief had made
—
time make you love him is in the child, it sweet to her, but she saw with a flash of
and all that is least bad in the man he has inspiration that only the truth could help
come to be clings to the child. But the her now— that in the child's barbaric brown
child —do you know what is in store for hands she must lay her secret.
—
her little Blue-eyes with the fire heart? "That it is because I love your father?"
Unless you take her into your heart lor — she asked firmly.
the sake of the boy that was? Take her Then Jane Lasange laid her hand trust-
away with you. Lift her out from among ingly in the hand of this alien who a week
us. Help her. And some day, when she before would have shuddered at the touch
is a woman, forgetting her father but not of the dark fingers.
hating him as she must do if she stays tell — "If you love my father you will do all
—
her why you made her white for the sake things to please him," she said assuredly.
of the boy that loved you —
Grace!" "And all things that please him are good.
Miss Herman folded the paper softly in For my father is the best man in the world
her fingers. He had loved her then in — and the richest squaw-man on the reser-
the days when she had wondered. And vation," she added wisely.
there had dwelt in him the possibilitv of— As they came down from the haymow
this! the matron met them.
Jane Lasange lifted her eyes to Miss "I think," she said acridly, "you have
Herman's face. "It is very good to do made a mistake in choosing your mission,
what my father says," she advised calmly. Miss Herman. Do you realize that your
"My father is the richest squaw-man on classeshave waited all the morning?"
the reservation. And he says you are to " I am sorry, " Miss Herman apologized
make me glad." humbly. "But I think" —
her warm
Miss Herman leaned and kissed the ugly fingers closedmore tightly upon Jane's
brown forehead softly. "You shall be "I almost think I have found my mission. :
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THE SHADOW
A Story of a Future Day
BY OWEN OLIVER
ILLUSTRATED BY FRANK PARKER
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THE SHADOW 499
you will remember. We
should have pre- perimenting to this end when it happened.
ferred to mark them obviously to warn Poor old Denton! If ever a man labored
people against them; but we conceded to with an unselfish desire to benefit society it
popular clamor that the rays should be ap- was he. You will help us to suppress it,
plied in some inconspicuous place. Per- Dr. Fielding, if only in the interests of other
sonally I thought it the most valuable idea people? Suppose some unscrupulous per-
of the century. I think so still. However, son got hold of the idea, for example."
the public wouldn't have it. "I will help you to suppress it," I agreed,
"Denton was grieved at the abandon- "in the interest of other people; not from
ment of the scheme. So was I. He was sympathy with you or the injured man. I
not a man who struck at trifles. Neither consider the project a diabolical one."
am I. We decided to work the process our- We arranged to watch Denton in turns,
selves. His first idea was to brand convicts and I took the first spell. He did not stir,
from a distance, somewhat in the manner or open his eyes, and I fed him by injecting
of wireless telegraphy; but the difficulties concentrated nourishment. Henryson re-
were insuperable. So many prison officials lieved me at four o'clock.
would have had to be taken into confidence "Nothing has happened," he announced
that the matter was sure to leak out. There- with a sigh of relief.
fore he conceived the idea of generating and "What did you expect to happen?" I
loosing upon the world a large quantity of asked.
the rays, which would automatically settle • "I didn't know. You see he had accu-
upon persons of criminal intention, and mulated a huge amount of the rays you —
brand them. I approved of this scheme. can't make them in small quantities and —
Henryson disapproved." ifthey had been set loose? But I suppose
"It would have branded the whole they were all destroyed by the explosion.
world!" Henryson cried. "You and me You were right when you called it a dia-
and Fielding— all of us. Criminal inten- bolical project. I ought to have stopped
tion! We all have it; but most of us fight them."
it. Who shall say that it will prevail till it " You really believe they could have done
does? God and man judge us by our it/"
deeds. You promised me not to do it." "I know they could. Well, well! You
"We
recognized Henryson's objection," go and have your tea."
Vassall corrected him calmly, "and prom- My tea was waiting in my little room as
ised not to use the rays until we found usual. I sipped it while I read the after-
which would act only upon persons of noon paper. I was pouring out the second
marked and preponderant criminal tenden- cup when my eye caught a paragraph in
cies. The original rays would mark the leaded type, under the late news.
skin of anyone with whom they were
—
brought in contact good, bad, or indiffer- The Brand 0} Cain—Astounding Mark on
ent. Denton found, however, that they a Murderer.
could be modified so as to act only in cer-
tain cases; and that their selection of per- At Bow Court an extraordinary
St. Police
sons was governed, not by the nature of the blackish-grey mark suddenly appeared on
skin, but by the temperament of the individ- the face of the man Smith as he pleaded
ual and the physical organization which "Not Guilty" of the murder of Maude
is so closely connected with this. At last Farringdon. Her sister, who was in court,
he invented a variety, which he termed the shrieked out that it was the brand of Cain.
malfactory rays, having a special affinity On being shown the mark in a looking-
for the criminal classes. By experiment glass, Smith lost all control of himself, and
with a dilute form, which marked temper called out, "I did it! I did it!" The court
rarily and almost imperceptibly, he found was adjourned for a medical inquiry into
that, out of ioo cases, 37 were undoubtedly the state of his mind.
criminal, 32 were probably so, 19 were I dropped the teapot, which broke upon
doubtful, and 12 were wrongly marked, as the table, and rushed down to Henryson. I
fa r as we could judge. Henryson insisted do not recollect how I told him; but I
that we must improve upon this result be- think could only point to the paper.
1 I
fore freeing the rays, and Denton was ex- remember that he kept pacing the room and
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500 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
muttering,"The Judgment Day! The dred. All sorts and conditions of people
Judgment Day before its time. Good Lord were attacked, and under every variety of
deliver us!" circumstances. Two low women were
We telephoned for Vassall, but he had marked as they fought in a courtyard, and
started before the message arrived. He two society ladies as they whispered scandal
brought all the evening papers. One of over afternoon tea; a missionary as he
them had a facsimile of the mark. It was visited in a slum, and a brute as he kicked
like a blotchy, four-leaved flower, like this: his wife; an employer as he gave witness
against an embezzling clerk, and the clerk
as he stood in the dock; a prominent mem-
ber of the Stock Exchange as he closed a
deal, and a Cabinet minister as he answered
a question in the House. One or two of the
victims had almost lost their reason with
fright.
" They must have intended doing some- —
thing," Vassall "said;"but we don't know
that they would have done it." He had
altered his tone since Henryson suggested
that his own friends might be attacked.
"The evil that will come would have come
"There's enough of the cursed stuff to anyhow," Vassall persisted. "You would
brand all Europe," Henryson said, after a only add to it. Some of those who are
long silence. branded may repent. Some of them may
"If it only brands murderers and evil- be quite innocent. Some of them may be
doers the world will be better for it," Vas- your friends, and Fielding's, and mine.
sall retorted. He tried to speak confidently, You shan't do it, Henryson."
but his voice shook. " I will," Henryson shouted. "I shall go
"It won't," Henryson cried. "You —
and tell the police, the press everybody."
know it won't, Vassall. There will be the He made for the door; but Vassall seized
doubtful cases; and the cases of those who the poker from the fender and sprang
are innocent. Suppose it marks some of toward him. He stopped suddenly, drop-
your own friends? Your mother, your ped the poker, and stood pointing with
sister, the little niece you are so fond of, a shaking hand to the looking-glass. A
who is just going to be married ?" blurry, shadowy black, four-leaved shape
"Don't," Vassall cried suddenly. had come upon his forehead. He swayed a
"Don't!" He put up his hands as if to shut little, and I took his arm and helped him to
'A DLL-REV, SHA1KJWY I>LA(-K, KOI R-LEAVED Ml APR MAD [OMR (TON HIS FOREHEAD.'
"Isn't there any remedy?" I asked. My In the afternoon the mob threw things
voice sounded listless. I hadn't slept ail and broke some of the windows, but fortu-
night. nately they had no great supply of missiles.
"If there is, only one man can find it." Then they threatened to lynch Denton, and
He jerked his hand towards the uncon- made some ugly rushes. The police had to
'scious man on the bed. "Can't you doc- take refuge within the hall, and we barri-
tors bring him to for a moment? Henry- caded the place as well as we could, but the
son? Fielding?" mob brought straw and tar-barrels and
We shook our heads. We
could only threatened to burn the building. Vassall
wait for nature. Interference meant death. addressed them from a window, and re-
About this time one of my fellow doctors minded them of the harmless and helpless
suggested to me a connection between the patients, but they only hissed and howled
'
shadow and Denton's experiments. It was at him. They were an evil-looking set of
common gossip at the clubs, he said. ruffians, and most of them were marked
The next morning the rumor was in the upon their faces with the shadow. We
papers. A mob howled around the hos- stood at a side window with our revolvers,
pital in the afternoon. The following day ready to shoot anyone who tried to fire the
there was a larger mob, but it was kept back pile,and ultimately some troops arrived
by a couple of dozen policemen. Vassall from Chelsea Barracks and dispersed the
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502 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
crowd. Vassall proposed to make a clean Heaven knows I did it for the best I feared —
breast of everything to the prime minister them, too, suspecting that they were marked
in the morning, and ask for a permanent insome hidden place. So I dropjnxl away
from my friends, till at last I mistrusted all
men; and all women—but one.
The one was Margaret Landon; and she
was the reason why I did not run away from
the world, like Henryson and Vassall. We
had been friends for three years, and we
were growing better and better friends.
We knew what it would come to, but we
were both busy with our work (she was an
artist) and had not hurried the inevitable.
Now, however, that the shadow had come,
I wanted to shield her from the evil that I
could not warn her against. About a fort-
night after Denton died I called at her house
and proposed to her. She accepted me
very frankly.
"You have made me very happy," she
said. "Do you know, I have been foolish
enough to wonder if you liked someone else
better. You seem to have changed so
lately. You have been worrying about
something, haven't you? Tell me about
it, dear."
"I have been overworked," I apologized,
"like most doctors. That is all. Well, I
have been worried. It is— the shadow that
has come upon the world."
"Is that all? I shouldn't trouble too
much about thai, dear. It is distressing,
of course, if it shows, and if people mind it.
'
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THE SHADOW 503
She drew her hand from mine and looked doing the evil that they intended. About
at me strangely. three per cent, of "his poor people" were
"I am sorry that you hate it, dear," she wrongly marked, he thought. "And none
said quietly. "So very sorry. I could of them are wholly bad," he protested.
cover it skilfully with my paints; but I'd "The shadow has taught me a lesson, Field-
rather hurt you than deceive you— and per- ing. You will not be so unhappy if you
haps you love me more than you hate the learn it too. It is to look for the good in
mark." She drew her sleeve back a few people as well as the evil. The shadow
inches from her wrist, and there I saw— what when you do that." Like
isn't so terrible
I saw! Merciful God, don't let me think Vassall, hewas cheerful; but he had aged
of it! I shall go mad —
mad! I stared at it greatly,and he was troubled with a cough
and made no sign. that seemed to tear him to pieces.
"It makes no difference to my love of "But I do not matter," he said, "or you.
you," she whispered pleadingly. Her eyes
were moist and shining.
I did not decide for myself between Mar-
caret and the shadow. The room seemed
whirling around, and I could not think for
myself. They fought it out between them
in my mind; and Margaret won. I raised
the slim, white wrist to my lips and kissed
the disfiguring mark; and then she lost her
calm and flung herself into my arms. I
caught a glimpse of my face in a mirror,
looking over her fair hair. It was working
horribly. I wondered if I had gone mad,
or was going. When I got back to the
hospital I fainted, and they told me I must
take a complete rest. So I went away.
I spent a week with Vassall. He was
almost worn out from his unceasing labors
in the laboratory, but brave and cheerful.
He intended to devote his life to finding a
way of obliterating the shadow, he declared,
and when I retorted that the memory would
remain, he said that no one had any right to
rcmemlwr the intention of evil, when no
evilwas done. " I bear the brand of Cain,"
he said, "but I am not a murderer. The
mark makes me charitable toward men,
because I misjudged Henryson. I would
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5 o4 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
of them cheated me, others robbed me. make no sign. If I do not sj>cak I shall go
Two made a murderous assault upon me, mad; and the world will go mad if I speak.
and I was laid up for a fortnight. Well, I will not speak. They kept the secret
After this mv horror of the shadow and and died and so will I
;
those who bore it grew deeper and deeper. I am feeling very ill to-night, and my
•SIIK |i K N'T DOWN OYER MR AND KISsftD MI AND ClIIKD A LI 1*1 LH \ «KY MJfTLY.
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THE SHADOW 505
all in white, with a gold brooch that I gave more," she said slowly, "or on anyone.
her at her neck; and I gave a little cry of The mercy of God that blots out our
delight, because she was such a fair thing transgressions!
to see. Then I remembered the shadow and "There is no shadow on my heart," I said
tried to cover my eyes; and she saw that I boldly,and I raised myself on one arm and
was awake, and bent down over me and put the other round her. "Only a great
kissed me, and cried a little, very softly. I white thought of you, sweet Margaret."
liked her to kiss me, even if she bore the "You do not even ask how the shadow
shadow, and I smiled, and tried to speak; came," she asked, with a great light in her
but the sound would not come at first. eves.
"You must keep very quiet, dear," she " I do not care," I told her. " You are—
warned me. " Don't try to talk." you."
"I must," I protested feebly my voice — She laughed a and cried.
little
proudly
—"/
never told you, dear We are —
She brought the key and put it under my not just one mean or evil deed that we plan;
pillow. Then she kissed me again, and I not all the mean and evil things that we
went Whenever I woke I felt for
to sleep. plan. They are only the shadows Our —
the key. was always there, and I got
It tears wipe them out, and the memory of
slowly better. She was very gentle with —
them God sets white marks for the good
me, and humored me in everything; and that we do— Hark!"
the doctor said that she had saved my She rose and opened the window. A
life. "You would have worn yourself out sound of music and singing came in, and
with your ravings," he said. " She is a good the ringing of church bells and the scent of
woman, Fielding; and you arc a lucky flowers. The sunlight played in her hair;
man." and she lifted her arm like a saint pointing
"A
good woman," I echoed; but the up the long, long way to Heaven.
memory of the blurry shadow on her wrist "It is a day of thanks for those who bore
came up with my memory of Margaret. I the shadow and are clean," she said.
set my and put the shadow against
teeth "They do not know what it meant. We
Margaret, and Margaret against the shall never let them know. They will have
shadow; and Margaret won. no memories to hurt. We shall remember
"Roll up your sleeve, dear, and let me — and honor those who wore the mark of
look at the shadow," 1 asked when she came their temptation and did no wrong.— Dear
in. There was a pink rose on her breast, love, it is a world of temptation and ill-
and another in her hair, and the roses were resolve; but God gives us strength to over-
coming back to her cheeks, and her eyes come."
were soft and shining. She was as fair as "Margaret," I -cried, "Margaret." I
she is. There nothing else like her.
i: struggled to rise, but could not; and she
"You arc not strong enough to bear a flew intomy arms.
shock yet, dear," she said. "You shall give me a little white flower,"
I laughed, and my laufjh had a ring for she whispered, "to wear hidden on my arm
the first ame since Denton came to the hos- — for token of the love of a brave man that
pital. keeps a woman good."
"All the shadows in the world cannot But I gave her a little black misshapen
• shock me if they arc on vou," I told her, flower, uncertain of outline as the shadow
"my dear!" had been, and told her to wear it that all
She sat down beside me, and stroked my mi^ht see. The sun shines brightest where
hair for a while before she answered. the shadow has been!
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THE WORLD AT. LARGE
I CHARD HARDING Revolution. Like the Old South Church
DAVIS has a record and Faneuil Hall in Boston, and the Betsey
Ross House and Independence Hall in
^hort - story writer, a Philadelphia, this New York building has
^ war
novelist,
* orrespondent, a
and a dram-
long been coveted by almost every Ameri-
can patriotic society in existence. Persons
atist, all in the space interested in the city's past were stirred a
TtWT*»yg=ic:.''~^ of fort v t wo vears. At year or so ago by a movement planning a
present he is work- campaign of demoli-
ing assiduously in tion and restoration
hishome in West- that would leave the
chester County. old building where it
What will come is now, but with its
Digitized by Goo
CnrttM/ rf tkt Srm Yerk Htrald.
THK rKAl NCKS TAVERN IN COLONIAL DAVS.
roofed structure, quite different in looks itpassed to Samuel Fraunces and became
from its present storehouse-like appearance. the Inn that it has remained until this day.
The square yellow bricks, brought from As the years pa»ed, it saw in turn the foun-
Holland, still remain, but the red roof tiles, dation of the New York Chamber of Com-
the gables, the solid green shutters and the merce, the coming of the Engli.>h, the
roomy out-sheds have given place to mod- evacuation of the Queen's troops, the re-
ern needs. De Lancey and his wife held turn of the Continentals, and finally the
the property until their death in 1762, when retirement of the first General of a United
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508 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
States Army on December4th, 1783. Sure- at Broadway and Vesey Street, has not seen
there can be no better place to maintain
ly, such a delightful assembly of maids and
a monument to patriotism than in lower dames in furbelows and short gloves, crino-
New York City, where even,- eye is turned lines and side curls, and men in high collars
to money -get ting. and stock ties, peg-topped trousers and
Axotiii r incident that should lead white socks as assembled in its halls one
modern thoughts toward the New York evening last April. Some time ago it oc-
City of the past came with the Spring, for curred to several persons bemoaning the
since the gay days of the ball of the Racket quickly disappearing section of "Old New
Club in 1848, the gray-pillared Astor House, York" that there ought to be a novel in-
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THE WORLD AT LARGK 509
Digitized by Google
5io THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
aing the George William Curtis prize for sent out the escort primarily in courtesy to
oratory at Columbia College. Mr. Seme, Father Sherman, and secondly that the
who is of the senior class, and twenty-four two officers in the squad might make a
years old, intends to sail for Europe in the study of the old march from Chattanooga
near future, that may study law at
he to Atlanta, sketch the country and prepare
Oxford University.* he succeeds there as
If an account of their trip that might be
well as he has succeeded here, he ought to studied by the school of officers at Fort
offer a splendid example of how little the Oglethorpe, where the military maneuvers
color has to do with the man. of the Georgia campaign and the last year of
the Civil War have been carefully exam-
ined. If Father Sherman wishes to study
Tite bitter aftermath of the Civil War the 1864 campaign between Atlanta and
has died to a large extent with our grand- Savannah for sentimental or historical
fathers' generation, yet such a tactless reasons, no one will deny that he has a
blunder as that recently made by the son of perfect right to do so, and if he should
General Sherman on commencing a march travel in a carriage as a private citizen, the
from Georgia to the Sea with a military Southerners would undoubtedly give him
escort from the Twelfth Infantry raised a hospitable welcome. If it is wise that offi-
just wail of indignation that shows how cers should investigate the details of that
long old wounds remain unhealed. Briga- campaign in connection with the field of
dier-Qeneral Duval, commanding the de- operations, that, as well, would undoubtedly
partment of the Gulf, has explained that he pass without objection. Manifestly there is
nothing improper in either
the officers or the priest go-
ing over the historical
ground alone. The rub
comes when the two objects
are joined together, the re-
search of the officers, and
an acknowledged and offi-
cial act of courtesy toward
Father Sherman.
through his love for the American people, the problems of their relations with each
and his sense of equity that assured him other in the feeling that they must do all in
y Google
WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL-SOLDIER, WRITER, AND STATESMAN.
Google
THE WORLD AT LARGE 5i3
Digitized by Google
DOWIl's FIRST OFFICE AND RESIDENCE IN ZION CITY.
an escort at Lens, the most violent center spite the fact that many privates were in-
of the discontented region. There he had jured and one officer killed. The disturb-
promised his audience sympathy and no ances have passed, but only because M.
troops as long as their demonstrations re- Clemenceau has succeeded where others
frained from physical violence. But to the have failed.
leaders' disgust, they discovered that as soon
as they took advantage of his light hand, he
brought the military into action. However, THOUGH John Alexander Dowie has
his composure restrained the soldiers from never reattained the height of notoriety
firing, and kept them at the task of break- which he gained in his missionary trip to
ing up the mobs by the use of cavalry, de- New York in the Fall of 1903, yet his col-
lapse and partial resurrection
this Spring has brought him
again before his much -craved
public. Trouble has continued
to brew for Elijah III, with
greater or less intensity, ever
since the fatal eastern campaign
of three years past, but last
April broke out
active revolt
under the leadership of Over-
seer Wilbur Glen Holiva. At
that time this lieutenant took
advantage of the prophet's ab-
sence in Mexico to refuse to
obey further orders from the
man characterized as an im-
moral, incompetent leader. Be-
fore the chief could return the
discontent in Zion had spread
rm TABERNACLE AT ZION CITV. into a movement by the mem-
THE WORLD AT LARGE 5i5
bers of the Church and Dowie's own wife shown by their leader, the late Carl Sehurz.
and son, to oppose the elected of God In Germany an excitable college insurrec-
as the religious leader, to suspend him tionist, in this country from 1856 on, a
from member- master of Eng-
ship of the lish speech at
Church, to tear the age of thirty,
him from his a champion of
temporal pos- honest money
sessions in Zion and of civil ser-
Citv, and to ac- vicereform, a
cuse him of soldier, a jour-
teaching polyg- nalist, a senator,
amy. But Bo- and a secretary
liva,as head of the interior,
striker, made- he established a
hard work of record of sincer-
his position in ity and courage.
hghting for the This fighter
assets and in for civil liberty,
explaining that, if born at alater,
while his chief age, might have
was a charlatan carried to a suc-
too rank fqr cessful issue his
words, he, the struggles for lib-
lieutenant, typi- erty in his native
fied all that was land. But half
noble and solid suffocated by
in character. the pall of inac-
Besides Dowie, tivity that set-
though sick with tled over his
heart trouble, people in his
had lost none of youth, he came
his energy, and here to find vent
like other gen- for his still ac-
erals of history tive energies.
waited to clutch Here then he
at chance as it THK LATA CARL SCHITRZ. fought for the
passed. The liberation of the
opportunity came in the form of a mild slave; he disputed the drifttoward the lower-
famine, and a general epidemic of small- ing of political standards in the administra-
pox. Then the pudgy finger warned the tions of Grant; he marked his name on the
host in the auditorium that the judg- reforms of the public lands and the Indian
ment of God was calling upon ''The Chil- Bureau; and, in later years, he cham-
dren of Zion to forsake their false prophet, pioned the anti-imperialistic party. He
Boliva." The effect of the threat was felt so gave his best understanding of political
deeply that it was not long before Dowie byways to make clear to Americans the key-
had won back a large share of his followers, notes of their issues. The land of his adop-
and had established himself in a position, tion must continue to feel his hand for many
clerical and temporal, equal to that of his years. The land of his birth has expressed
enemy. It is hard to guess what will be its sympathy with this message from its head
Elijah's next move. It is harder to imagine " Please convey to the family of Carl
a Zion City without Dowie. Schurz my sympathy on the passing
sincere
away of this eminent man, who rendered
his new home valuable services in war and
The often praised qualities of German- peace, and at the simc time never denied
Americans were never more typical, more the German blood in his veins.
brilliant, or more distinctive than when "William I. R."
Google
BY JAMES HUNEKER
BIG heart should not present time, supererogatory. This is a pa-
serve as an excuse for thetic fallacy, though not
in the Ruskin
mediocre art. Yet, sense; let us call
the fallacy of pathos.
it
after theSan Francisco But anyone who has followed the spon-
catastrophe and the taneous outbursts of prodigality on the part
demonstration of prac- of the men and women of the dramatic
tical sympathy on the profession,managers included, must realize
l>art of theatrical folk, that came from generous
their offerings
criticism of their work seems, at the natures, and their acts not the result of
mere temperamental vanity. One un-
fortunate person —
and parson insinuated —
that a desire for notoriety prompted our
players in their noble, untiring efforts to
aid the stricken city on the coast. He was
buried very properly by the press of the
country and his obsequies attracted no
mourners. The trouble is that the actor,
man and woman, is soft-hearted. There is
something in the practice of their art that
loosens both the heart- and the purse-strings.
—
He may be improvident the actor but he —
seldom turns away from the appeal of a
fellow-creature. Skinflints area rarity
among the players. Usually he is a marked
man who has such a reputation. The
moralizing world has its fling at stagefolk,
but in a crisis it is the theatre that is first
in the field. The old saying that actors
stick together must go by the board after
the way they responded to the call of their
fellow-man in the far West. They are for
humanity, and charity is lex non scripta
of the craft.
It behooves us to heave our critical
brickbats with a light wrist. Aim for the
WHS. riSXK AS " DOLCK." scenery, kill a musician or two, but spare
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*
THE DRAMA OF THE MONTH 5i7
the actors, even spare the "supers." This the theatres. Ah! the circus. No, the
d propos of the past month in the theatres. circus must keep for another month. Per-
There have been many bad plays, the haps, as it is the very tip of the season's
—
usual number of bad no! this time, at tail, we had better survey the footlight
least, I'll practice what I preach; I'll say fruits of the —
year most of them dry and
as little of the actors as possible. With dead now. This smacks of a cowardly
what joy would I indulge in a "killing" evasion, but you will see that it is not; lo!
of the operatic the poor dram-
gentlemen who atist is left to
flock here from warm the cruel
Italy, Ger- cockles of the
many, and elsc- critic's heart,
where, and or that malevo-
quietly decamp lent region
when their ser- where a heart
vices are most is supposed to
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5 i8 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
columns might be evoked by one of those because of its superior quality, but because
inhuman machines known as "an au- of the gracious presence of Maude Adams,
thority on theatrical data"). As a rule the good fairy of the American stage. To
it is safe for a critic to damn a season
when passed; bad preponderates over
the
the good in the acted drama; besides, it
sounds more ship-shape to blame than to
praise. Our motto, you know, is Nil
admiraril But, at the risk of crying
"Wolf" in vain —after all my shilly-shally-
ing — therehardly anyone who will not
is
few genuine successes. Mr. Shaw's " Man he participated in another and significant
and Superman," Mr. Klein's "The Lion success, Henri Lavcndan's "The Duel."
and the Mouse," and Mr. Barrie's " Peter I call "The Duel" significant, for it is a
Pan" — the latter heading the best, not serious play, making considerable de-
THE DRAMA OF THE MONTH 5i9
maims on the attention of its audiences, Richard Harding Davis was happily
and nevertheless it was a winning card, inspired in "The Galloper," a genuine
greatly to some prophets' surprise. For farce; while George Ade drew several
blanks in the dramatic lottery. "The
Good Samaritan" and "Just Out of Col-
lege" are not pure specimens of this humor-
ist. Augustus Thomas must be sloughing
his style, or else, because of his European
residence, his work is suffering from a sea
change. "The Embassy Ball" suited
Laurance D'Orsay better than its public.
Winston Churchill was found wanting in
"The Title Mart." Belasco's "The Girl
from the Golden West" proved another
momentous success for the Belasco Thea-
tre. It was staged and acted in a remark-
able fashion. The Indian plays I cannot
rave over, though "The Squaw Man"
struck me as being nearer "the real thing"
than Mr. Brady's production with its "real"
redskins. The truth is that Cooper and
Chateaubriand, from whom the melo-
dramatic and rhapsodic Indian emanates,
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Google
Digitized by Google
Google
THE ADVERTISING SECTION
BY ALFRED S. HARTZELL.
'Tis said that advertising is the life of The corpulent read how to grow quite
business trade, languishing!}- lean
And industrial stagnation would result The cadaverous find means their angu-
but for its aid. larity to screen.
Google
FANTASIES
LIGHT STRUCK
FIRST BEETLE: Cre.it Heaven- What's the matter here
! I
SECOND BEETLE: Matter? Only the boys set WillieSrerly up to turning on bis light
in Photographer Mole's dark mom and spoilt every plate in the establishment.
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FANTASIES
A BACHELOR'S
OATH
1 swore to be single.
A bachelor's ingle.
I swore to be single,
save me.
SWEDISH INSTRUCTION
I swore to be single. INSTKUCTKKSS (to exhausted cla-s, who have been
Much comfort it gave me! hopping round the room for some time): "< ome Come
! I
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FANTASIES
BEWARE! BE WARE!
BY HAROLD SUSMAN.
I said to Maude,
So Maude was held, and held quite
So Maude was left, and left alone.
For Maude said that I did quite right. But her affections I'd outgrown.
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• • .
' • .
Digitized by Gpogle
The Metropolitan
Magazine
VOLUME XXIV AUGUST, 1906 NUMBER V
French Congo, if not in all Africa. I dower for months past," Robertson wrote.
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534 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
" You may have heard hints ahout the which lent a fierce expression to the
great South American scheme in which straight glance he sent me
a heavy mouth
;
he is interested. 1 told him that you and a chin relatively small, veiled with
were the only man for the emergency. a gray beard. His forehead was capa-
There will he glory and a fortune in it cious his general aspect hawklike
; vul- —
for you; so don't fail to call, and put turelike, his enemies might have said.
your hest foot foremost." There was a and
self-conscious dignity
Robertson is a good fellow and was rigidity about him which reminded me of
once respectable. But he got to know an Oriental idol, but I judged him to be
Glendower, and that took all individu- in reality a man of emotions and quick
ality and independence out of him. You temper, this side of him, which he dis-
cannot chat with him five minutes on any guised, having been meant by nature to
topic but he will drag in the name of balance the comprehending and organiz-
Glendower. His type is familiar; I need ing faculties of his intellectual part. Even
not further describe him. Unfortunately, before he spoke his bearing indicated that,
he thinks he can confer no greater favor in self-defence against parasites and peti-
on his friends than to extol them and tioners, he had adopted the bullying habh.
M
recommend " them to his idol. Having and I was on my guard, because, being
no tact or discrimination, this fatuity upon the whole disposed to like him, I
sometimes gets him into trouble. wished to spare him the mortification of
Glendower is regarded as the head or- running athwart my hawse.
ganizer and field marshal of high finance He did not rise from his chair or offei.
in this country rnd is one of the (so his hand, but indicated the chair near him
called), busiest men in the world. This by a movement of the head, and said in a
does not mean that he has ever in his life deep voice : " You are Captain Coven-
been worthily and beneficently busy, but try? Sit down, if you please."
only that he is one of our most inveterate " Thank you," I said, and remained
and successful players at the great, fash- standing.
ionable game of money-making, possessing His black eyebrows twitched, as if her-
as he does a brain and temperament sin- alding an arrogant rejoinder, but after a
gularly adapted to that sort of misdirec- moment he resumed " You are com-
:
five and sixty, bald, with heavy eyebrows, terest in your objects, and I'm sure we
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536 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
can be of no service to each other." I and amuses my friends. All this I set
spoke with the Rood humor that I felt, down here, so as to be quit of the topic
looking him in the eyes, which rounded and also to account fo- my introduction to
with stern astonishment, and I added, Glendower, who is understood to be par-
" I'm willing to believe that you didn't ticular about the qualifications of the per-
know you were and to regard
offensive sons w hom he selects to use in his enter-
this interview as never having taken prises.
place." Then I went out, felicitating my- III.
self upon being so quickly and justifiably
rid of the Glendower incubus. Three days after reaching London
Glendower's card was handed to me at
II.
my lodgings in Gower Street, and in he
That afternoon I left New York, and walked, with his hand held out. I saw
-
while I am on the ocean I will say a few at once that this was the man and not
words about myself necessary to make this the financier. He was smiling, but there
narrative intelligible. was a curious earnestness and anxiety in
Meeting me in London, Cairo, Mel- his expression.
bourne, Yeddo, or where not, you would " I apologize," were his first words.
give me no second glance; there is no " and this isn't about business, anyhow,
disguise better than a suit of everyday not chiefly, but you're the first man who's
clothes. I am under six feet, not notice- snubbed me since I was a boy in college,
ably broad-shouldered, of quiet demeanor, and I had to make sure vou were real.
taciturn and low-voiced, and my face When I found you'd left New York I
shows only the lean, aquiline contours of shut my desk and came after you. Going
my New England ancestry. The rudi- on to Africa, eh? Well, I'd have fol-
ments of my
mental training were got in lowed you there. This means more to
a New England
college; spontaneous me than you might believe."
reading has familiarized me with the lit- We had a long talk —
ii. fact, we weie
erature of imagination of all ages, and I together thirty-six hours, after which he
have theoretical and practical acquaint- went back to New York, and I sailed, not
ance with arts and sciences, including for Kabinda, but for Buenos Ayres.
engineering and navigation (my title of Glendower, with his professional bog}'
captain is nautical, not military). Of mask off, is a good man wasted. This
diplomacy, too, I know something, and game of business is an inhuman game, as
can speak the language and adopt the I told him, and renders solitary and un-
customs well enough for ordinary pur- social those who assiduously play it. I
poses of most countries that I visit. I was touched by the boyish fervor with
feel genuine kindness for my fellow crea- which world-worn old slave of the
this
tures, but have few friends, and of them very means whereby he sought to rule
one only who commands my whole con- mankind grasped at the companionship of
fidence — a woman, of whom it is not now a man absolutely alien from all that was
my cne to speak. Nor will I say more of the substance of his life. With incoher-
my spiritual and religious complexion ent and awkward energy he poured forth
than that, in my theory and experience of thoughts and feelings long moribund in
life, the material world plays but a minor him, in which for years he himself had
role. 1 love and seek untamed nature in lost faith. It was pathetic. " I once met
men and things; ambition I have, but it Chinese Gordon," he remarked. " You
is of the abstracted kind. I may as well remind me of him in some way you and ;
add. to explain some passages further on, he woidd have been a pair! With either
that I have never met a man, savage or of you within my reach I'd have been an-
civilized, who was, at all points, my other man." On my side. I was frank
match in physical strength, activity, and with him. and we became friends.
endurance. In this I take no pride, sine;" Of the "business" he said: "Chili's
in serious emergencies I rely upon powers best revenue is from the nitrate beds on
other than physical, but I do take real the east side of the Tarapaca pampas, be-
pleasure in it: it is often convenient, af- tween the coast Cordilleras and the An-
fords me healthy pastime, and surprises des. At present rates of working they'll
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53* THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
br exhausted in fifty years, but the pe- Andean chain, for a solution of which
culiarity of nitrates is that moisture dissi- we might have to go back to a time ante-
pates 'em like snow, and if the drought dating the Pizzarros, when the power of
that has lasted in that valley for twenty the Incas w as supreme.
thousand years were broken the wealth
of Chili would be gone like mist. But IV.
then the soil of the pampas it used to — On the Glendow er affair I saw persons
be the bed of a sea —
would develop im- and things in Buenos Ay res, Santiago, the
mense fertility —
grow fruit and vegeta- Tarapaca, Lima, and other Peruvian
bles enough to supply a continent. Mil- places, and rounded up in La Paz, more
lions of people could live paradisaical than two miles above sea level, in the
lives there, and the circumstances could be Bolivian Andes. There, having been oc-
created." cupied nearly a year, I made up my last
" Yes," said I,
" by tapping the Andean report and was released to my own de-
lakes on the north and w est." vices.
" It would pay better than nitrates in My La Paz was an old
chief crony in
the long run," he w ent on " only the ; German named Dichter, who had lived
Chilians aren't thinking of the long run. thirty yearsthe country and spoke
in
but of Now, especially as they calculate Spanish with a strong Fatherland accent.
on having the Paradise after the nitrates Small, dry, and stooping was he to hwk at,
are done with." with a round head stuffed full of sagacity ;
M
Well, what are your calculations?" a Senator of the Republic and also emi-
I asked. nent rubber trade.
in the But on his
" Chili's neighbors are her enemies," he human side he was sentimental and ro-
11
said, and would co-operate to down her. mantic, a student and a collector of old
Money and a few engineers could let in Spanish traditions and Indian legends.
those streams upon the desert then veg- — On such topics I was an indefatigable
etation, clouds, rain, and the end of the listener.
" " All accounts agree," quoth he in his
nitrates and Chili !
" How will you do it? And what will slow, emphatic, gutteral tones, " that
"
you get from it? somewhere in these mountains east of Illi-
Thereupon he unfolded a project of mani there is a vela nuuire surpassing any
really Napoleonic daring and ingenuity, other in the world. Once in about a hun-
of which the world may presently hear dred years turns up somebody who has
more, though not from me. Finally I seen it. The last one, I knew him Juan —
him that I would go over the ground Coama; it was twenty years ago. But he
told
for him and make a report, " but for pri-
— " Herr Dichter tapped his bulging
vate reasons of my own, different from forehead and shook his bony hand " he —
yours," I added. When he began to make was crazed, mein l.wber ; nothing could he
distant hints remuneration I ex-
about tell straight, only that there was treasure,
plained to him that I had inherited from immense, the mine of the Jncas. How
my father a money, which was in-
little came he upon it, what happened then, he
vested in the fisheries and brought me an could not tell, but he spoke of demons
income of about four thousand dollars. who guarded it and tried to kill him. So
So I could not accept even my " ex- also say the Indians of this place; it is
"
penses," not to speak of the ridiculous one of their Maerchen!
fortune he had in mind. I had learned . "That there are demon guardians?"
how to travel cheap, and, unless free- said [, resting my elbows on the table.
footed, I could accomplish nothing. Upon " Well, it is like this," rejoined the
this understanding we parted, and now Senator, after relighting the last inch of
you know how I happened at this time his cigar. " They have it that the great
to visit South America, where I had an kings —the Incas —
in order to reserve to
adventure which, among many odd ones themselves the secret of the big lode had
of mine, seems to me unique. It has isolated in the mine a number of work-
nothing to do with that project of Glen- men, with women, so as to establish a
dower's, at least, not logically, but it dis- and
sort of hereditary caste, born, bred,
closes one of the many mysteries of the dying underground, with nothing to do
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THE MEN OF THE DARK 539
but to get out the metal, seeing and know- Amazon rivers as carriers, as occasion
ing nothing of the outside world. This served.
race, they say, still exists, cut off from We took the trail in the early dawn,
the rest of mankind by the slipping of the though the summit of Illimani, ten thou-
strata, ages ago, blocking up the means of sand feet above our heads, had already
exit. In this seclusion they had acquired caught the rays of the sun. turnedWe
the character of gnomes, or demons, with his huge flank and set our faces north-
supernatural powers." eastward. The road led down deep que-
" What do they live on ? " I asked. bradas, or ravines, and the scene was ster-
" Partly on their own old people and ile, naked, and sublime. Amid the pre-
on a certain proportion of the children, vailing masses of gray granite and black
replied Herr Dichter. " They also, no basalt I noticed a good deal of quartz and
doubt, devour chance travelers who may limestone, in some places showing the
fall into their clutches. But we may dis- porous formation with which I was fa-
miss all that as foolishness; it is the veto miliar in the West Indies. Yotalu went
madre that ..." ahead, leading the mule, and I came
" There is only too much gold circu- after, rejoicing and expanding in the vast-
lating in the world already," said I; " I ness and wildness of the surroundings. I
care nothing about that, but the troglo- was exhilarated by the thought that for
dytes " —I rubbed my finders in my hair, more than half a year I should not look
the roots of which were crinkling at the upon the face of a civilized man. Yotalu
conception which my imagination had was to accompany me for a hundred miles
drawn of them —
" I would give all the
"
or so only, afterward handing me over to
gold for a sight of them! another tribe with which he had affilia-
Others matters retired this conversa- tions. But I looked forward to making
tion to the back of my mind, but I had the greater part of my journey entirely
occasion to recall it a few months later. alone.
At noon we stopped for dinner on a
V.
shelf of rock overhanging an almost ver-
I left La Paz
the last day of October, tical gorge, at the bottom of which a tor-
meaning to journey across Brazil to Para, rent rolled in music. We had brought
at the mouth of the Amazon, and thence from La Paz enough fresh provisions to
work up to the west of the Guianas to last two days and a quantity of concen-
examine the region of the great buttes. I trated food in tins. There was no tim-
set out with a single mule and a Bolivian ber at this altitude for a fire, but Yotalu
Indian, Yotalu, a short, lithe-bodied, big- had gathered some jar ill scrub here and
;«
headed fellow, with a flat, good-humored there, and as he squatted at his cooking I
face and a ragged sheaf of coal-black hair. climbed to the top of a pinnacle of rock
He wore a poncho and a loin cloth and hard by, which hung on the side of the
carried a bow and arrows and a knife. I precipice like a turret on a medieval cas-
had a hickory shirt and deerskin leggings tle. Through a gap in the range this
under my poncho, and a long rawhide gave me a glimpse of the great valley
lariat wound about my waist; with the below, palpitating in the heat of a tropical
exception of a stout cudgel, I carried no sun. The air I breathed was, in the shad-
arms, having found that savages can be ow, as keen as that of Labrador.
controlled by the eye and the bearing. On I wore, strapped by a leather .thong
the mule were packed a shelter tent, cook- round my wrist, a small compass, two
ing utensils, beads and knickknacks for inches in diameter, but of excellent make,
barter, and a few changes of clothing. In set in platinum. I unfastened it and
a belt under my shirt were some gold and placed it upon a level surface of the rock
silver coin and my letter of credit. Dich- to get my bearings. The quebrada which
ter and my other friends were astonished we were following seemed to bear to the
at the smallness of my outfit, but I relied south, below, but still further down I
upon my bodily efficiency and my experi could see what appeared to be its con-
ence. I expected to make the journey of tinuation, again deploying to the east and
about two thousand miles in from six to north. Doubtless, however, it would be
eight months, using the Madeira and easy to go astray in these tortuous defiles.
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540 THK METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
A
condor, sailing down from the south- a great many of them and they were
west, unconscious of my presence on what trained to seize and carry off lambs and
was perhaps one of his accustomed other small domestic animals and occa-
perches, alighted so near me that I could sionally even Indian babies. They were
have seized his leg with my outstretched never seen to devour their prey, but bore
hand. But before I could make the at- it away to some inaccessible retreat in the
tempt Votalu called to me from below recesses of the mountains, where they de-
that dinner was ready, whereupon the livered it to their masters, a hideous and
great bird, with a deep croak of surprise, bloodthirsty horde of fiends, or possibly —
pitched forward from his station and but this was a point I could not determine
flapped heavily away. As he did so he — were themselves the fiends,
the birds
revealed something that brought a croak temporarily disguised under the form of
of surprise from me —
a broad gold ring condors. Yotalu added that any person
riveted round his naked shank, with a upon w hom one of the devil-birds cast its
bit of chain of the same metal attached eye was foreordained to calamity, and my
to it. The next moment he had sailed adventure consequently made him augur
away through empty space a hundred ill for the prosperity of our journey.
yards eastward then, with a tilt of his
;
Verily, he looked to me as though he
wings, he disappeared round a gray profile would fain embrace any pretext for get-
of the ravine, a quarter of a mile off. ting quit of me and the burden of my
Thinking curious thoughts, I clam- sinister fortunes.
bered down to Yotalu's dining room, and And it was at this juncture that 1
we ate our meal with good appetite. The missed my compass from my wrist and
Indian was an admirable table compan- remembered having left it on the rock tur-
ion he smiled much, confined his remarks
; ret at our noon camp, which was by this
to approving and congratulating grunts, time some five miles in our rear. It was
and ate stupendously. It was not until an instrument too useful to be abandoned,
dinner was done and we were readjust- but it would not be safe to send back
ing the mule's load for departure that I Yotalu for it in his present disaffected
asked him whether the people of his tribe condition it would be the last both of the
;
were in the habit of taming condors and compass and of him. I must, then, re-
chaining them up with gold chains; it was trieve it myself, and by so doing I should
an enlargement of falconry new to me. gain the advantage of blocking his retreat
Great and instantaneous was the back to La Paz, which I suspected him to
change wrought in Votalu by my inquiry. be meditating. He would have no alter-
His amiable countenance was overcast native but to proceed in our present direc-
with trouble and dismay, and he broke tion, and it would be easy for me to over-
forth into ejaculations and utterances take him before dusk —
it was now near
most voluble in his native tongue, differ- three o'clock. I was in my usual sound
ent from the semi-Spanish jargon which condition of w ind and limb and was con-
we had been wont to use in our inter- fident of making an average of five miles
course, the purport whereof was only par- an hour.
tially intelligible to me. His smiles were In telling him my purpose I added the
gone, his gestures and bearing denoted suggestion that it was I, not himself, that
lively uneasiness, and this excitement was the devil-birdwas after, and that my tem-
succeeded by a mood of heavy depression. porary absence would therefore conduce
By rallying him and breaking jests to his own safety. My
explanations did
upon him I tried to restore his spirits, but not put him at his ease, but he probably
if was long before he recovered any part felt that there was nothing better to be
of his composure. My Yankee curiositv looked for, and he dejectedly acquiesced.
is. however, insatiable under certain cir- As provision against accident I took
cumstances, ami by denrees I began to get from our stores before starting a water-
light upon the grounds of his manifest proof box of matches and a roll of Italian
agitation. moccolo. In one of my pockets I always
These gold-ringed condors, it appeared, carried a large clasp-knife with several
were not unknown to the local Indians, blades. Thus equipped I felt equal to
who called them devil-birds. There were any emergency, but I did not know then
Digitized by Google
THK MKN OF THK DARK 54'
as well a* afterward what secrets those nith,was declining toward the west, and
Andean rav ines concealed. it threw his gigantic shadow wheeling
At the hend of the path I turned and along the cliffs. I was shod for the rocks
saw Yotalu standing heside the mule, ob- and I held my way at a round pace, the
serving me
with a serious and even por- steel rivets in my heels striking sparks
tentous I waved him encouragement,
air. from the granite, each impact driving a
to which he responded by silently lifting flat echo into the stillness. There were
his right arm, and the next moment I had places where a slip would have had evil
the Andes all to myself. results, but I was under the sway of an
exhilaration which seemed more psychical
VI.
than physical ; I never slackened my speed
To labor I had left my
lighten my and made leaps which appeared prepos-
poncho behind with the Indian and the terous. I shouted with delight and
mule, and the cool, thin air, reaching my whirled my cudgel round my head like
body through my shirt, made exercise de- an Irishman at Donnybrook. The devil-
lightful. I maintained a jog-trot up the w ith careless indolence in ad-
bird, sailing
rugged acclivity, and it was barely an vance, as he had assumed the function
if
hour when I saw the turret jutting out of guide temporarily relinquished by
from the wall of the gray canon. Yotalu, responded at times with his harsh
Meanwhile, I had observed that a con- cry, and my brain, intoxicated by vigorous
dor, though whether it were the same motion in that fine air, amused itself with
with which I had already made acquaint- fancies of a secret bond between us, and
ance I could not determine, was accom- even played with the odd notion, which is
panying me in my ascent sometimes he ; perhaps common to many, that by a slight
hung in the air over my head, with no additional exaltation of the will I would
perceptible movement of his wings; some- be enabled to rise from the solid earth and
times he would alight on a point of rock float like a soap bubble. Once or twice,
ahead of me, resuming his flight as I indeed, this suggestion gained such power
drew near. I was not unprepared, there- as nearly to lure me over the precipitous
fore, to find him perched upon the tur- verge of the path, following insensibly the
ret when I came in sight of it round a capricious divagations of the condor, but
curve of the way. Nor did he forsake another influence (to which I have al-
his position until I had actually begun to ready alluded and which is always present
climb toward him. He then launched in the deepest part of my consciousness),
himself leisurely into the void and brought warned me back in season. But as I went
up, with much waving of his huge pin- on the prevailing rhythm of my movement
ions,on the brink of the path below which gradually led my thoughts to the contem-
I had lately traversed. As he swept past plation of interior scenes, until it was only
me at dose range I caught the glint of my exterior faculties that took note of
gold upon his leg. and the moment's the actual environment —
the snow-whit-
glance he sent me recalled by a fantastic ened peaks, the shadow-haunted abysses,
fieak the inquisitory look of Glendower the steep declivity of the winding trail,
when I first entered his office a year be- and the persistent winged creature ever
fore. suspended before me, like the mystic em-
If a man have any imagination, such blem of the Egyptian Osiris. So passed
perceptions in the solitude of desolate an hour, and another hour, and I was
mountains lose none of their effect. I beginning to anticipate overhauling Yo-
had laughed at Votalu's extravaganza, talu, when of a sudden a vast boulder
but I knew that there arc strange things blocked my path and I came to a halt.
in the world. And the spirit in a man At the same moment the condor uttered
has its epochs, in which unlikely contin- a cry and, plunging downward, disap-
gencies and remote associations assume a peared in the low er recesses of the gorge.
which reason cannot interpret.
significance The abrupt cessation of motion was
found the compass where I had left
I confusing for a few minutes, an interval
it, and 1 lost no time in beginning my during which my soul resumed her ac-
return. The condor, stretching his wings, customed seat and my sounding pulses
preceded me. The sun, long past the ze- subsided to their normal flow. My into\-
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542 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
ication was past and I became fully cog- chanced there was no other way.
; I
nizant of my situation. should have to leave the lariat, but that
The sun had sunk below the giant was one of the conditions to be accepted
shoulder of Illimani, and the entire west- in this duel between the Andes and me.
ern slope of the Andes lay in twilight. I spent some time in finding a reason-
The profounder depths of the ravines ably safe holding-place for my line; then
were already obscure. The silence filled very cautiously having unwound the slen-
the ears like adamant; even the whisper der thong from my body, I made it fast
of the stream was hushed it had appar- ; and began my descent. By and by I hung
ently passed into an underground channel. suspended over an abyss whose depth I
Directly athwart the trail lay a rent-off could only conjecture. Certain memo-
fragment of the cliff, which might have ries and hopes near to my heart passed
fallen from above or might have been through my mind and I let go and
heaved into its position by some seismic dropped through the air. I seemed to
spasm, comparatively recent. It rose sev- drop a long way.
eral times as high as my head the right ; However, I alighted in a roughly cir-
end of it was jammed against the wall cular basin, ten feet in diameter, filled
of the canon the other descended into the
; to the brim with sand and accumulated
dry bed of the torrent. I looked back up rubbish, deposited there in past times by
the way I had come, but all seemed dis- the torrent. It was a hard cushion, but
torted and perplexed the trail was lost
; itsaved broken bones, and I rose none the
in the general incline of the mountainside, worse for a few bruises. The loose end
roughened with the tumultuous tumble of of the lariat dangled fifteen feet above
amorphous rock-masses. The devil-bir.l my head. It may serve the turn of the
had misled me, after all. next adventurer who follows my trail.
I thought it over. Plainly I had di- Meanwhile, in my first bout with the
verged from the right path; for Yotalu mountain I had fared well and was ready
and the mule could not have passed this for the next.
barrier. The point at which I had left But my path now lay directly down the
it was indeterminable; it might be miles bed of the stream, which was much en-
back. Should I return or go forward ? cumbered and prevented speed, especially
Darkness was coming on the attempt to
; in the gathering darkness. As I advanced
recover the right trail might lead me more the walls of the canon approached each
astray than ever, and I should not know other and became steeper, leaving over-
it even if I found it. On the other hand, head a strip of sky, in which hung a
to go on would at least bring me down bright star, which I took for Antares. I
the mountain; it was probable that this had made up my mind that I must camp
had been a real trail before the obstruc- alone and fasting, when I heard in the dis-
tion occurred and could be taken up fur- tances a murmurous sound, which grew
ther down, and it was possible that it louder as I went on, the sound of rusbing
might rejoin at some lower level the road water. The stream, which had passed
which Yotalu had followed. The choice underground above, had again risen to the
I made must be made quickly. I resolved, surface. I deemed it of good augury; if
if it were go on.
practicable, to I could keep to the water it must in time
A short scramble brought me to the top bring me to the great watersheds below
of the barrier. From there I looked down and the tropical forest. In half an hour,
a vertical drop of about one hundred feet, after not a few stumbles and minor falls,
but I saw that by edging along toward I had reached the spot where the torrenr
the north the height would be lessened. welled up from the ground. It showed
It took me ten somewhat risky minutes black, with whirling eddies streaked with
to reach the most favorable spot; a pro- lines of foam. It formed a wide pool, per-
tuberance of the rock prevented me from haps fifty yards across, from the further
seeing the bottom of the channel, but I side of which the stream apparently pur-
estimated that it could not be more than sued its regular course north and east.
seventy feet. My
lariat was fifty feet I began picking my way round the mar-
long; by attaching one end to a projecting gin to the right, when I came upon an
knob and sliding down, the fall could be oblong object floating out upon the sur-
Digitized by Google
THE MEN OF THE DARK 543
face, a short tether connecting it with the this seemed to slacken, and on dipping my
shore. It was a raft of some kind, and hand over the side I found that the canoe
near upon a boulder was squatting an
it was nearly at rest. I gave a few tentative
odd figure, which I took to be a dwarfish strokes with the paddle, and with a light,
man, black, with high shoulders and with grating noise the canoe grounded on a
no visible head. But as my feet crunched low bank.
upon the loose gravel this questionable
figure emitted a throaty screech and hur-
VII.
tled upward into the air — evidently my Perfect darkness and silence act upon
old companion, the devil-bird. I lost sight the mind somewhat as physical pressure
of him almost immediately, but he had does upon the body. Kneeling motion-
given my nerves a twang that recalled the less in the bolsa, I felt as if I were in
I reasoned thus: The bolsa could not sounded with extraordinary loudness and
have come down from above it must have ; was repeated in numberless echoes, dying
ascended from below there must there-
; away in remoteness and again renewing
fore be a possibility of making the return themselves during several minutes. It
trip. might be the property of the
It was as if I were in the center of a vast
devil-bird, who might be a gnome in dis- drum, and certainly the space around me
guise, but even so he had done me a ser- must have been ample. This perception
vice of which I would not hesitate to broke the spell. I got to my feet, drew the
avail myself. There was the contingency, canoe up out of the water and stood w ith
of course, that I might be carried over the painter in my hand, waiting for the
some cataract and be dashed to pieces, but uproar which this occasioned to subside.
I had the courage of my extremity. I When all was still again I pulled out the
stepped into the canoe, slipped the painter matchbox and struck a match. After the
and was off. blinding effect of the glare had passed I
Of the features of this voyage I can lit an end of the moccolo and, raising it
give no circumstantial account, inasmuch above my head, looked about me. What
as could see very little and was con-
I a wonder is light!
scious mainly of motion. The motion was The infinite black void rushed together
swift and often much agitated it was ; to assume form. The human spirit, till
punctuated by collisions, and thrice I now an atom hung in blind space, re-
passed over rapids which w%ere practically gained dimension and locality. An irrei:-
falls; no other craft could have survived ular dome arched high above me, covered
such treatment. I was swung this way with sparkling points and diversified with
and that and I was wetted to the skin, pendent, tapering masses. Below ex-
but I was not thrown out and I stuck tended a rocky floor, merging into the
to the steering paddle. Meanwhile the gleaming black mirror of the water. On
black walls on either hand seemed to grow the margin beside me rested the bolsa
taller and closer together; at length the which had borne me hither and must be
and the altered sound made
star vanished the means of my escape. For the stream,
by the waters apprised me that I had which flowed into the cavern, must flow-
entered a cavern. The darkness was now- out of it, and my only security lay in
absolute, but there was still the sense of following it through all its windings.
forward movement. Presently, however, But miles might lie between this spot and
Digitized by Google
544 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the exit, and as light was essential to my which were caused by my advance. Some-
progress, at least until the current as- times they were like voices whispering dis-
sumed a decided flow, there was no time persedly, or again like the light tread of
to waste; my moccolo would not burn unshod feet. And once, passing the en-
more than two hours. I made my dis- trance of a lofty corridor, I heard three
positions promptly. metallic strokes, like a signal, but they
Iknotted the painter of the bolsa to were so swiftly merged and multiplied
the end ofmy staff (which I carried slung into softening echoes that their first sug-
across my shoulders when not in use), gestiveness was dissipated, though the
pushed the craft back into the water and thought remained that I might not be the
was thus able to walk on the margin, or the only mortal who had found a
first
drawing the canoe along beside me. way into this treasure-house of nature.
Holding the moccolo aloft in my left hand All at once the channel of the stream .
and with the staff in my right, I set forth narrowed and turned abruptly toward the
without more ado. Unless the stream north. At the same time the surrounding
ran into a sinkhole, whither I could not walls approached each other and the high
follow it, there seemed to be no reason vault was lowered, till I found myself in
why I might not reach the outlet safely. a tunnel of black basalt, down which the
Relief from the preoccupation of life water swept with a deep murmur, and a
and death gave me leisure to observe the breeze drawing through made the flame
changing aspects of the cavern. It did of the moccolo waver on the wick. There
not differ greatly from other caves which was no longer space to walk dry shod, and
have been explored, with their marvels of I was splashing onward mid-leg deep,
stalactiteand stalagmite, their rainbow while the bolsa, floating in advance, was
crystals and their splendid mockery of tugging at the line. In a moment I
fantastic architecture. But this was a slipped on a slimy pebble and fell flat,
magic cabinet, in which all metals and and the moccolo was extinguished with a
minerals had been assembled. Corridors hiss.
branched out to right and left, giving I was up again at once, with the moc-
glimpses that led to grottos of Aladdin. colo and my staff still in my hands.
In some places springs oozed from the Nothing serious had happened, yet I felt
walls, embossing them with mosslike as if I had had a world snatched from
forms of bright tints. There were great me and received in return an abyssmal
alcoves of white spar, reminding me of nothingness. It was impossible to relight
the crystallized sugar candy which I used my taper until I had regained dry land —
to covet in shop windows when a boy. and where might that be? I stretched
The glassy stream reflected the arches and out my left arm ami moved cautiously
pendants, making a duplicate magnificence, forward. At length I felt the con-
the midway of which I moved. The tact of the damp side of the tunnel.
weight of the mountain rested upon these Keeping in touch w ith this, I forged on-
pillars and architraves, but I forgot it in ward, step by step, the bolsa all the while
the illusion of airy traceries and aspiring pulling like a living creature. There w as,
lines of ornament. In so gorgeous a Plu- I repeat, no new cause for anxiety never- ;
tonian palace Proserpine might have been theless, a rush of strange emotions was
content to spend a moiety of immortality. surging within me. can indicate this
I
From time to time I glanced at my vague feeling ^10 better than by compar-
compass and was reassured to find that ing it to the attack of a flock of harpies
the general direction in which the stream striving to drag my wits asunder. Appo-
was leading me was still northeast. Pres- sitely enough, too, there recurred to my
ently, too, I noticed that the water had mind a grotesque old Irish superstition —
begun to slide gently forward, though I that he who should trip and fall on All-
could otherwise detect no variation from Hallowe'en night was in fairyland when
the horizontal in the floor of the cavern. he got up again. This was the night of
And I fancied, but it might have been the hobgoblins, and I had certainly
fancy only, that faint sounds occasionally tripped and fallen.
reached me, proceeding from I knew not The foolishness that is bound up in the
what direction, but distinct from those heart of a child reappears occasionally in
Digitized by Google
THE MEN OF THE DARK 545
the man ;
and nervous tension play-
fasting out of a pure vein of the metal, which
tricks with will and judgment. In that crossed the chamber and had been
black, bewildered, treacherous tunnel in wrought in situ. If so, I stood in the
the bowels of the mountain 1 had a silent presence of a mass of treasure equal per-
but energetic struggle with the traitor haps in value to all the rest that men had
that lurks in every man. Then that collected since history began. veto A
deeper influence once more resumed con- madre, indeed This, then, was the mine
!
tiol. I reverently acknowledged her of the ancient Incas and doubtless of the
blessed succor, and I was not again more ancient Piruas, in the twilight of
recreant to the obligation of her nobility. old time.This was the spectacle that had
I went on again, and soon the recession crazed Juan Coamo twenty years before.
of the wall on my left and the tread of The statue represented the great god Uira-
my foot on the naked rock told me that cocha, the Founder of the World, and in
I at the exit of the tunnel and
had arrived this lost and lightless cavern, where never
was on the threshold of another chamber. a ray of daylight had penetrated since the
I secured the bolsa and had recourse to creation, had been carved these symbols of
the matches. The astounding scene which the faith of the legendary Worshippers of
the light revealed paints itself in its every the Sun I stood long in a sort of trance,
!
and passed out beneath an archway in the gave the stern features life, and for the
eastern side. The domed ceiling, which second time that day the spirit of Glen-
rose to ten times my height above the dower looked upon me. Was not he the
floor, displayed an emblem evidently de- modern incarnation of the great god of
signed to represent the sun; there was a the Hatun Runas? Was not the god
broad disk of gold, from which descended Glendower's prototype? Well, then,
with regularity long rays, reaching nearlv should I not treat him as cavalierly as I
to the base of the walls. At the north did Glendower?
end of the hall rose a dais, or throne, on
which knelt or squatted a figure about VIII.
eight feet in height, with a long beard The visible and palpable presence of
and barbaric ornaments, the whole carved incalculable gold does, however, a sort of
grotesquely but powerfully in pure gold. violence to the mind, comparable with
Supported upon a low pedestal in front what would be the effect of a miracle in
of this figure was a circular and polished nature. It outdoes precedent, reason, and
plate of gold, the size of a large center- imagination, and by the very vastness of
table. Behind the statue and the throne its suggestions of material power bank-
there was left a vacant space some yards rupts, as it were, the resources of the
in depth. The throne itself appeared to mind. Glendower, for all his potential
be of the same precious metal, curiously efficiency, was personally only a man, and
elaborated in aborescent forms, and ex- not a man of the highest type it had been ;
tending from it on either side and seem- easy to resist him. But this Glendower
ingly incorporate with it was a solid para- of gold was the thing itself that the other
pet of five feet elevation, continued till it stood for —
the naked, undeniable, brutal
met the walls of ihe chamber on the right fact. The dominion of the earth could
and left. This parapet —
though I could not be offered in a shape more direct and
hardly credit the testimony of my eyes — defiant. Let me but follow back the
was likewise of gold, so that upon con- stream to the open air, return to civiliza-
sideration I was impelled to the conclu- tion, choose a body of helpers (Glen-
sion that throne and parapet, and possibly dower himself by preference), and all that
the statue also, were in truth bodily hew:i this god of gold could bestow would be
Digitized by Google
Digitized by Google
THE MKN OF THE DARK 547
already strengthened me —
now in the of ape; at all events, I realized that Dich-
prime and pride of my life —
what might ter's report of the treasure-guarding de-
glory of them —
they are sadly fa- as long and muscular as a gorilla's. Stark
miliar to human nature. All the while naked were they all, hairless from crown
the inmost recessess of my soul held the to sole and with skins having the dead
answer — in accepting this gift I must sur- whiteness of unbaked dough; never had
render the ideals and the faith of my sunshine rested on these malformed
life and yield myself a slave io the giver. shapes. And I felt that their blood, too,
Before coining into dollars this insolent must be colorless.
effigy I must kneel down and worship Their bald heads were relatively small,
him. And how, after such abasement, contracted in front, protuberant behind,
could I sustain the pure and simple maj- with ears grotesquely exaggerated. Their
esty of her look to whom all in me thnt loose lips disclosed irregular teeth, the
was worthy was bound? No. im- My canine of the upper jaw enlarged into
mortal birthright was worth more to me veritable tusks. Their noses were broad,
than the contents of this Andean cavern. flat cushions, with open holes for nostrils;
Yet I compromised so far (being my- their long faces had white, pendulous
self very full of human nature), as to re- cheeks and chins shelving back into the
solve to take away with me some concrete throat. Some of the creatures were awful
evidence of the reality of this experience. degradations of the female form.
The old Incas, for whose glory their But their eyes! I hesitate to add to the
slaves of the mine had, as I supposed, nightmares of the world by describing
erected this image, had done with earthly them. That a dozen generations of total
riches and would not grudge me a me- darkness, following perhaps a thousand
mento. So, leaving the bolsa on the bank, years of seclusion from the sky, should
I crossed the floor to the throne. I laid have made these troglodytes blind this —
my hand upon it, and what at a distance I might have expected. But the phenome-
I had mistaken for foliated carving was non which had ensued turned my soul
in truth the result of natural crystalliza- sick.
tion — the rarest of all conditions under A nameless instinct, persisting and in-
which gold is found. The throne and the creasing through ages from parent to off-
entire parapet were auntouched
virgin, spring, correllated with the sense of sight,
mass of the metal thus transfigured, and had remained within the sightless eyeballs,
the vein doubtless continued indefinitely causing them to project more and more
through the walls of the chamber. The and endowing them with abnormal
statue, which was part of it, had alone powers of motion, until now where eyes
been moulded by hammer and chisel. had been were soft white tentacles, like
My hand had chanced to rest upon an those of a snail, with similar retractile and
aggregation °f the crystals which had as- protrusive faculty. Creeping and hob-
sumed the semblance of a pair of out- bling toward me, whimpering and yelping
stretched wings, and this mass, perhaps a one to another, the hobgoblins directed
foot in length, was so slightly attached upon me the sensitive ends of these mol-
to the main body that by no great exer- luscous horns, which evidently conveyed
tion of strength I was able to wrench it some special perception of my quality and
away. At this moment a noise —
a yelping movements. May I never again know
or barking sound —
behind me made me such horror as was wrought in me by
whirl about like a boxer in the ring. the aspect and onset of these white Men
The lower part of the chamber be- of the Dark!
tween me and the stream (and the bolsri Meanwhile their number continually
on which my life depended), was occupied increased, one after another issuing from
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548 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the eastern archway. Their purpose was cocha. They were, at all events, more
not to be mistaken. Though feeding formidable at that juncture to me than
mainly on fish snared in the stream, their all theheathen gods of the pantheon.
craving was for stronger meat, and al- The spread of their wings filled the
ready in imagination I could feel their chamber, and in the fetid breeze which
slavering tusks tearing at my throat. But they created the little flame of my taper
1 had no intention of making a meal for wavered, and in that wavering light I saw
them. A
reluctant fighter, never offering for the last time the turmoil of the whole
offence and seldom called on to defend obscene spectacle — the struggling bodies
myself, when need comes I am not insen- of the hobgoblins, with their clawing
sible to the lust of battle. But
thought
I arms, dripping jaws and exploring tenta-
that I might make a rush through this cles; the confused evolutions of the con-
blind crowd to the bolsa, once in which dors, turning and swooping in the con-
the stream could bear me out of their fined space; the gleam of the golden sun-
reach. A
knife I had, but I shrank from rays on the walls; the yawning mouths of
killing the wretched victims of a mon- the tunnels, from which the blackness of
strous wrong, who but acted out a nature darkness was ready to leap forth and oblit-
which others had perverted. On the erate all things, and on his throne the
other hand, I had not given due weight to grim god whose creatures these were, sat-
the disability I suffered in having to guard urninely contemplative. Buried a thou-
with one hand the precious moccolo. But sand yards deep in the mountain's bowels,
I had no leisure to devise plans of battle, with the ransom of the earth within reach,
for of a sudden and with surprising activ- I confronted this hideous offspring of the
ity one of my adversaries leaped upon me, ancient lust for wealth and sent one
clasped round my body his muscular arms thought to the pure stars, and the laugh-
and sank his teeth, with a snarl, in my ing sunshine and the fragrant forests and
shoulder. the shining rivers, and to her in whose
It was the shoulder of the arm that soul that immortal beauty and sweetness
bore the moccolo. With my other hand found their reason —
and then the black
I instantly seized him round the neck wing of a vulture dashed out the flame,
the cold, slimy feel of which sent through and midnight swallowed all.
me shudder of disgust —
and as his jaws As the light went out I had noticed
and arms relaxed at my grip I whirled his the position of the bolsa, twenty paces dis-
body aloft and dashed it on the rocky tant, half out of the water, with the pad-
floor. It quivered for a moment and lav dle swinging at the stern, and now I was
still. concentrated in the single purpose to hold
Forward plunged the others, but to my that direction and fight through to that
dismay they flung themselves not upon me, point. With both hands at liberty I could
but upon the helpless body of their com- put my whole strength into the effort.
rade, and a scene of wolflikc bestiality But even my strength, unaided, must have
not to be portrayed ensued. I tried to failed. The great wings buffeted my
kick them away from their prey, but a di- head my face was torn by the beaks and
;
version occurred that forced me to look talons; from below, my legs were seized
to myself. with an outrageous grip in the struggle
One of the creatures threw back his to throw me down. The very number
head and uttered piercing ululation — of my antagonists was to my advantage:
signal to which the response was prompt. they attacked one another, and snatched
Like fowls gathering for their meal at one the other away from me, but the
the clucking of the farmer, out from the battle was still very desperate. Once I
space behind the statue, where they had stumbled and was brought to my knees,
been harbored, flew up, flapping and and instantly my shoulders were covered
screeching, a horde of the devil-birds. with loathsome, clinging bodies; they hung
The gigantic vultures, in addition to the on my neck, and an intolerable force was
office of purveyors, towhich they had bearing me to the ground. But then, ver-
probably been trained, may have been re- ily, I fought a good fight, and power came
garded as sacred by the posterity of the upon me as upon Samson of old. Some
idolaters who carved the golden Uira- of the blows I dealt wept astray, but those,
Digitized by Google
THE MEN OF THE DARK 549
that met no
their unseen quarry needed from lack of food, I became collected and
repetition. A condor must have swooped calm. What might await me I knew
upon one of the creatures mounted on my not, but I knew that the Power which
back, who, to defend himself, took his had preserved me was guiding my flight
fingers from my throat; I caught one of still, and my soul, dwelling at ease, re-
lu's feet in both my hands and swung his viewed the scenes through which I had
body from side to side, clearing a path. passed as if they were the story of an-
But in the fierceness of this work I had other, to whom it had been given to be-
lost my direction and knew not where the hold, as in a symbol, the monstrous issues
bolsa lay, and for a moment I faltered, of the thirst for gold and the fate of its
thinking my end was near. victims.
Then the midst of that blind fury
in The bolsa took a sudden leap. A blow
and whirlwind of conflict in which I was as if dealt by the mailed hand of a giant
plunged outwardly I was made aware of struck my forehead, and I fell back sense-
an inward spiritual tranquillity and eleva- less.
intercept me, I turned and walked to the was swathed in a cloth saturated with
bolsa, stepped into it and grasped the some aromatic liquid. The humming-
paddle. And no sooner was this done, birds darted away and in their stead ap-
and I had pushed off from the shore into peared a flat, broad, brown countenance,
the current, than the spiritual vision was with a solicitous expression, as of a nurse
withdrawn and I once more groped in for an ailing child, which made me smile.
thick darkness, with the bewildered din It was the face of Yotalu.
did not It
clamoring in my ears. seem strange that I should be there and
But immediately the noises became muf- he with me. He gave me something cool
fled as the boat shot down into the eastern to drink and I closed my eyes and slept.
tunnel, though doubtless, unaware of my I awoke feeling better and sat up; Yo-
escape, the fight continued. I made no talu was squatting near me. It was late
attempt to paddle, but held the oar at the afternoon by the sun and I was hungry.
stern, by the sense of touch merely keep- Yotalu gave me food and fruit; I was
ing the boat parallel with the set of the refreshed and my strength came back to
stream. Onward I swept, the breeze of me. I recalled my adventures to the
my progress fanning my face, and once blow that knocked me unconscious, and
more the black silence settled round me, then I opened my mouth and asked Yo-
but bringing now a sense of blessed rest talu many questions. After answering
after sore labor. At times the course them he in turn interrogated me. As we
swerved to the right or to the left and my talked the humming-birds came back to
speed increased or diminished; the view- the trumpet-flowers for their evening re-
less space about me expanded or con- past, and methought how much more
tracted, but main the journey was
in the agreeable are they than devil-birds; how
even and uneventful, and an hour may much more pleasant arc trees and flowers
htfi'e passed by, during which the blood than vein madres, and the living vault of
driVd on my wounds, which were but su- heaven than domes of rigid rock, however
ial, and, though with vigor abated bespangled with precious crystals nay, —
Digitized by Google
55° THK MKTROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
how much sweeter and lovelier was Yo- bolsa no visible occupant drifting
with
talu than the grisly Men of the Dark! down way and
the current, turning this
And yet Yotalu was no beauty. Mean- that as came, and indolently delayed
it
while the mule, stabled between two ot by here a snag and there a shallow. He
the great flanges of the fig-tree, munched captured it, and lo! my lifeless body in
his provender, stamped his neat hoofs and the bottom of it, defaced by many wounds,
wagged his slender ears in peace. with but the shreds of my hickory shirt
Yotalu's tale was simple. After I left remaining and with a great black hruise
him he had 'continued down the trail till across my forehead. Upon further exam-
dusk. After supper, fearing devil-birds ination it turned out that the demons had
and giving me up for lost, he went on till not altogether made an end of me, and h<;
he reached the forest and camped at <t made me the subject of his savage thera-
point where a stream, descending the peutics. All was now well, but where, he
mountain from the west, flowed beside the wondered, did I procure the bolsa?
path. He had intended, with chastened To this problem I could suggest no
sorrow at my fate, to seek the nearby hab- solution more plausible than that the de-
itations of his tribe and enjoy with them mons had used it as a bait for possible
the booty of the mule and its load. victims. As a matter of fact, it remains
At early dawn, however, going to the a riddle to this day. I told him so much
river bank for water, he had noticed a of my adventures as I deemed it expedient
Digitized by Google^
he should hear, and we agreed th
bump on my head must have been g
by the low brow of the archway throu
which the stream made its exit from
cavern, miles above.
THE MEN
ably at the moment when I had faced " Let us get out," said L turi^g)away
about to confront the Men of the Dark from the maniac uproar. sa^^me ^1
I had unconsciously thrust them through thing almost as bad up in the Andesj ind
the leathern strap round my wrist, where I barely escaped with my life,
"
they stuck all through the battle and my cocha any relation of yours?
subsequent voyage. He stared, but I have never told him
When, after further adventures, I re- what I meant.
'
Digitized
fiiiinc; wrrti mvufrs thf CVUNHKM for a paris iottrrt
where State Lotteries still exist. It is days of Anne the beginning of the last
till
argued that as the gambling instinct cannot century, and was finally abolished in 1826
be wholly on the ground that it injured public morals.
eradicated or In France the lottery dates back to 1533,
even suppress- but the first that was properly authorized by
e d , a n d is law came six years later, when Francis L
m oreover granted permission to a certain Jean
bound to find Lauren! to inaugurate in Paris as many
an outlet lotteries as he should think necessary. For
somewhere, it this, Jean was to pay "2,000 Tournois
is advisable to livres." Sixty years later the Government
take advan- took this very profitable business into its
tage of it for own hands, and used it freely for raising
the benefit of funds for the payment of mercenary troops
the State and and other war expenses.
Society at Sometimes, however, the lottery was used
large. for more peaceful and amiable purposes.
This is the Louis de Gonzaguc, Due de Nivernais, is
view taken in said to have started a small yearly lottery of
Italy, which 1,000 crowns to provide marriage portions
may be called for "sixty poor and virtuous maidens of
the home of Picardy, Berry, and adjoining parts."
the lottery; an The General Hospital of Paris was
M Al'GUSTF CHAL'&SARO. A WORKMAN IN institution founded in 1658 by the proceeds of a lottery,
Aft I MOM FOUNDRY. WIIU WON ON* which, by the the committee of whichwas headed by the
OF THE LARGEST PRIZES
way, is said to Archbishop of Paris and the President of
have or ginated in ancient Rome, but is the Parliament. Furthermore, in 1701
probably as old as man himself, In the there was a lottery to buy fire-engines for
days of the Republic, the adiUs threw Paris, and nearlv a score of churches and
amongst the crowd tablets entitling the public buildings — St. Louis, St. Roch, St.
bearer to certain prizes. Nicholas, St. Sulpice, the Pantheon, the
Nero and Heliogabalus had also some- Military School, etc. — owe their existence
thing of the nature of a " bran-tub," the to this means
prizes ranging from a dead dog to the of raising r
governorship of a province. From what money. In
we know of the character of those opulent the case of St.
tyrants, however, we may surmise that the Sulpice, the
lots were distributed not by chance but by proceeds of
design, and in inverse ratio to the merits of the lottery
the recipients. The fawning parasite was were not
pretty sure to get a rich province, or a fully sufficient, and
equipped trireme; whilst to the lot of the in conse-
honest, capable statesman fell the dead dog, quence one
the live locust, or an order for a free lunch. tower/emains
The lottery, as we understand it, origi- to this day
nated in the Republic of Genoa early in the seventeen feet
sixteenth century, and was regarded as such lower than
a pleasant and convenient method of raising the other.
money that it was quickly adopted by- As the Con-
other countries. The first lottery in Eng- vention aim-
land appears to have been in the year 1560, ed at a Spar- X Al FHONSB GIOT. WHO liRRW A #100.001
and the went toward the repair of
profits tan simplicity at the lottery of the
r '
NATIONAL EXHIBITION Of 1900
harbors and other public: works. There ol manners,
were not many lotteries before the Com- the Procureur-General of the Commune of
monwealth; and the institution was mani- Pari* — Chaumette — had no difficulty in
nature to commend itself to
festly not of a persuading that Assembly to abolish
the Puritans; but it flourished from the the lottery in 1793. (And yet six years
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THE SPANISH METHOD OF SORT INC THE M'MBERED BALLS IS EVES MORE PICTT'RESQrE THAN THE FRENCH
Sltdrid draun III tttci Gnrrnmmi Imm tilth Chnamai. The fta I mm diarihuud li vfuar</t if Ll.000,000 and txeiumtnl rum hlik
T/u itnud Oim otundt iht dravdnf It intrmmi. Tht nil tain u lAr Trtamn I' £40.000 It £50.000.
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THE ROMANCE OF STATE LOTTERIES 555
later was re-established, and promptly
it of one of the bonds held by the bank. The
made up for lost time.) At first there " punter," in fact, borrows the title to one 01
was only one wheel in all France at — more bonds for the day; and if one of the
Paris —
but very soon there were others numbers should chance to be drawn, he, of
at Lyons, Bordeaux, Lille, and Strasburg. bond at market
course, buys that particular
Napoleon introduced the lottery along price, and receives whatever prize it may
with other " blessings " into all the have won.
provinces he conquered, and established It is possible that if one of these borrowed
wheels at Hamburg, Amsterdam, Turin, bonds won a big prize the banker might feel
Florence, and Rome. It is reckoned that very sore, and perhaps try to prove the
the " Conqueror of the World " scooped in bargain invalid; but that contingency has
about nineteen million francs a year — never, so far as I am aware, arisen. In
worth about as many dollars at present Italy, where the Government Lottery still
currency rates flourishes and annually brings several
A little later (1810) there were one hun- million dollars into the Treasury, the
dred and fifty offices in Paris alone, and method of drawing is peculiar. The pur-
over nine hundred in other parts of France. chaser of a ticket selects five numbers, the
But the public soon began to discover that highest of which must not be above ninety,
lotteries were an unprofitable form of and these are indelibly printed or punched
speculation, and as a result, the number of on his ticket.
offices decreased rapidly. In 1836 a law On the day of drawing a wheel containing
was passed forbidding the sale of any kind ninety numbered rolls of paper is placed on
of property by means of "lots" or pre- a platform or balcony overlooking a public
miums determined by chance. That law place. A child, blindfolded, draws out five
is still in force in France, but permission is of these papers, one at a time, and they are
readily obtained to organize a lottery for unrolled and posted on a large board. A
any charitable purpose all— the more ticket-holder who has one number right out
readily, perhaps, because the Government of the five receives ten times his stake, and
claims the questionably modest sum of ten times as much for each succeeding
twelve per cent, on the prizes, in addition to number.
a stamp duty of two cents on each ticket if Thus a man who staked a humble lira
the price is two dollars (ten francs) or more. might get $20,000 if he had all five numbers
The Municipal Loans of the City of right —and more still if he had put down
Paris and other towns, also semi-official the numbers in the same order in which
undertakings like the Panama Canal, are they came out —
but it is considerably over
allowed to pay off their bonds by half- a million to one against him in the first
yearly drawings, at which the holder of the case, and many millions to one against him
first numl>cr drawn from the wheel receives in the latter.
a prize of from $40,000 to $100,000; the Luckily for the Government, the Italian
next two, half as much each; a score of peasants,who are the main support of the
other prizes of various amounts, and, lotteries, are ignorant of mathematics and
finally, some hundred or more bonds are intensely superstitious. Every incident of
paid off at par. daily has its proper number; and if on a
life
A plan like this or a similar kind may be luck day they meet a funeral, wedding, or a
necessary to lure "stocking purse" capi drunken man, see a street brawl or an acci-
talists into investing; and the fact that it is dent, or a man carrying a ladder, they at
so generally used in certain countries may once consult a little penny pamphlet and
be taken as proof that it is successful. But "plunge" on the number indicated thereon
it is immoral, and is employed —
though not as suitable to the circumstances.
very extensively, it must be owned as a— Not infrequently, in South Italy, a
vehicle for gambling pure and simple. startled stranger will be implored to give a
Anybody who wishes for a chance in one set of numbers, but he will do well to refuse,
of these lotteries, but does not possess any or leave the town before the drawing takes
of the stock, can go to a bank, a day or two place, or he may suffer for his failure or
before the drawing, and, on payment of success.
twenty cents, he will receive from the A few years ago a hermit lived in a cave
cashier a slip of paper bearing the number on one of the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.
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556 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Being a holy man, he was supposed to in the presence of three officials one of —
know the secrets of Fate, and for that reason whom represents the State and each one—
was continually pestered by the country of these has a
people for "tips." For a long time he key of one of
refused, but one day, to get rid of a noisy the three
crowd who were interfering with his devo- locks of the
tions, he mentioned five numbers hap- t r a p-d o o r.
hazard. The numbers
The crowd went away with vast gravity are drawn by
and backed them, and, very unfortunately for a boy from
the hermit, three of the five proved winners. the National
After that the poor man's once lonely cell School or the
was beset day and night. He was com- State Orphan
pelled to give another set of figures for the Asylum, who
next lottery, and, as might be expected, not rolls his
one of them proved right. The disap- sleeve up to
pointed gamblers returned to the cell and the shoulder,
belabored the poor old man so unmercifully takes out a
that he died a few days later. cylinder, and
The Italian system is manifestly unfair, drops it on a
for it is more than probable that in many silver platter.
instances nobody wins a first prize In It is then car-
France, on the other hand, it is certain that ried to the
all the prizes advertised will be duly drawn. chief oflicial,
1
When there are not more than a million WnO OpenS It, BUR nil THOl'OHT OF WINNINU
tickets, each number is enclosed in a small and solemnly tuoo.ooo
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y Google
55« THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the possessor of a ticket or a bond, the $100,000 drawn for at different times in
drawing of a lottery is a dull business. connection with the bonds of the Interna-
is There tional Exhibition of 1900. One of them
nothing was won by M. Alphonse Giot — a house
amusing painter at Sury, near Bourges. When this
about it, un- humble artisan was told of his good fortune
less he takes he displayed no emotion, but said, "Well, I
a cynical de deserved it, for I have five children to keep.
light in But it will make no difference to me. I
watching the shall go on with my business just the same,
radiant hope but there will be more butter in the spinach !
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THE ROMANCE OF STATE LOTTERIES 559
— two dollars — without breaking open must own, though, that I felt a bit nervous'
his little daughter's money-box. The 'till I got a telegram confirming the news'
prophecy proved true, and each landed and, even then, I did not sleep much that
$50,000. The one cousin was elated, night." Having so far enlightened her vis-
but the other said, "I care little for itor, Madame dropped the conversation to
the money, for my wife is in such poor go and sell a cent's worth of cotton to
health, that I fear she will not live to a trooper, and, when she came kick, went
enjoy it." on
One winner— M. Breton, a farmer at "I shall leave here shortly, and live near
Montrouge, just outside of Paris actually — Paris, where I have a cottage and a bit of
looked miserable when he was told that he land; but I shall pull down the house and
had gained a hundred thousand dollars. build a bigger one. I was going to leave
"For," he said, "I had worry enough the regiment anyway, so my g<x>d luck won't
before, to look after my little farm and my alter my plans, though it will make them a
family, and now 1 have a fortune as well to bit more extensive."
bother me." " I sup|>ose you will have a motor car, at
That is an exceptional case, however, and least," the reporter suggested.
M. Breton would have found no difficulty in " Mon
Dieu, turn, Monsieur," she replied,
getting one, at least, of his troubles off his with a laugh; "but 1 will keep a horse and
hands. Fortunes seldom fall to people carriage and a coachman. I have not
who do not want them, though they often arranged anything yet though, except that I
do to persons who do not need them. am going to give each company in the regi-
There have been several instances of ment a cask of good wine when I leave, and,
bankers winning the big prizes at the as I have no heirs, I am going to adopt the
drawings of municipal loans and lotteries. two orphans who drew the prize for me."
This, however, is not a matter for surprise, It will be noticed that Madame Hofer is
as they, of course, hold large quantities of no exception to the general rule, for lottery
stock, and contribute liberally to lotteries prize winners in France almost invariably
held for charitable purposes. A few years pull down their house and build a greater.
ago Baron Alphonse de Rothschild won the Not infrequently the number of the lucky
first prize of $100,000 in the lottery organ- ticket is carved or otherwise displayed on
ized by the world-famous comedian Coque- the facade of the new dwelling.
lin for the Home for Aged Actors, and the Sometimes the money is used to found
great financier generously refused to claim or extend a business. In one case within
it. Such generosity is probably unique. my knowledge, Mile. Antoinette T ,
The latest instance of philosophical calm the daughter of a sailor who died at sea,
on the advent of good fortune is that of won one of the minor prizes in a lottery —
Madame Hofer, who only a few weeks ago $4,000 started a milliner's shop, and is —
won the great prize of a million francs doing splendidly; and Ernest Toche, for-
($103,000), in the Paris Press Lottery. This merly a clerk in one of the large dry goods
hard-working woman keeps the canteen of stores of Paris, is now the proprietor of a
the 28th Regiment of Dragoons at Sedan —
prosperous business of his own.
of tragic memory — and a reporter who But Fortune, being a blind and fickle
called upon her the day after she had goddess, does not always bestow her gifts on
received the good news found her calmly the most deserving; and though she may
selling refresl.mcnts and dry-goods to the enrich a few of her favorites, she disap-
soldiers. points millions.
"I suppose you want to know how I One of the most singular phases of hu-
news?" Madame Hofer said.
received the man nature in connection with lotteries
"Well, a gentleman called here yesterday would seem to be that some of the persons
and said he was the manager of the Bank. who invest in them refuse to accept any-
I guessed what he had come about, for I had thing but the very largest prize. There is
three tickets in the lottery. lying before me as I write a long list of
'"How much?' said L prizes— one of $60,000, fourteen of $^0,000
"'The million,' he replied. I was over- each many others of verv rcsj>ectable sums,
;
come for a minute, but soon recovered, for I and more than 1,500 of $ioo each— not one
guess there was nothing to swoon about. I of which has ever been claimed!
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»
MODERN ENGLISH BEAUTIES'
BY JACKSON CROSS
ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS
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5^2 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
founded a scientific and technical school not need this reflected light to bring her
for boys and girls on her Essex estate, es- into prominence.
tablished a hostel in Reading in connec- The Countess Sybil of Westmoreland is
tion with a college for training the daugh- the daughter of the fourth Earl of Roslyn.
ters of professional men in horticulture She married in 1892. Both she and her
and dairy, poultry, and bee keeping; and husband are devoted to the out of doors
offered a permanent home at Warwick for and she is nearly as expert as he at shoot-
seventeen crippled children. Her real ing or following the hounds. They spend
work, one might say, is society, and to much of their time at Apethorpe Hall,
these philanthropic schemes she turns as Wansford, Northamptonshire, where he
enthusiastically as though they were her is a major of a battalion of militia.
recreation. She is the president of the Surely no one has forgotten the wed-
Essex Needlework Guild and has pub- ding in 1895 ,n New York of Consuelo,
lished an account of household gardening. daughter of W. K. Vanderbilt, to the
But not the end of her versa-
this is Duke of Marlborough. The Duchess is
tility. an expert horsewoman and
She is as well known in America as in England.
rides to Warwickshire and Essex
the She spent some time in New York and
hounds, and takes a keen interest in all its vicinity last fall and was a prominent
athletic sports. With all this she finds figure in the spectators' stand at the auto-
time to follow contemporary literature, mobile races for the W. K. Vanderbilt
and during her leisure moments is seldom Cup on Long Island last October.
seen without a book in her hands. She The Countess of Mar and Kellie has
owns 23,000 acres of land and divides her been pointed out as a most striking Eng-
time between Warwick Castle and Easton lish type ever since her girlhood. Miss
Lodge, Dunmow, Essex. Muriel Wilson in appearance is perhaps
The Princess Henry of Pless is quite a the most distinctive of all these women.
different type. Less statuesque than the Lady Naylor-Leyland, who married the
Countess of Warwick, there is a quick second Baronet, is another American girl
grace about all her movements. Although who has attained a high place in English
her home for a large part of the year since society. She is the daughter of William
her marriage in 1 891 to Prince Henry has Chamberlain, of Cleveland, Ohio. She
been Furstenstein, in Germany, she re- spends most of her time at Lexden Park,
mains an Englishwomanthrough and in Colchester, where she takes an active
through. She
is the daughter of Col. interest in the welfare of her husband's
Cornwallis West and is seen in English people, whom she has made her own.
society almost as frequently as in German. The gracious and charming manner of
The Countess of Chesterfield has long Lady Helen Stavordale has carried her
been acknowledged one of the most beauti- popularity into every corner of England,
ful and best liked women in England. and she has many friends in all classes of
The second daughter of Charles Wilson, society.
M. P.. she married the tenth Earl in 1900. These are only a few of the most beau-
Mrs. Horminan has recently attracted a tiful and distinguished women of the
great deal of attention because of her un- mother country. England is filled with
usual beauty. It is interesting to turn from beautiful women indeed one need go no
;
these two women to Edith, Viscountess further than Warwickshire itself to find
Castlereagh, whose heavy hair shades a inspiration for a volume about them. But
rarely perfect Grecian face. She is a this selection has been carefully made, and
prominent figure in London during the it is representative. These portraits are
season and at the country houses when from life, the very next thing to life; and,
London for a space draws into its shell after all, they are just about sufficient unto
and drowses. Her husband is adjutant of themselves; they need no apology and
the Royal Horse Guards, but she does small elaboration.
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WATCHED tm IMIAIUt\STS liO »V."'
Well, there he sat a-lwisling them black Broken heart and guano fertilizer! Pete
beauties on his lip and talking, talking — was sure romantical.
gee, how yap could waste the con-
that By moonrise we had wiped the inside o'
versation! Spoke English fluent and the jug and Mexico seemed small 'longstde
natural, bein' a San Diego half-breed. of us. "Come and be a smuggler," says
His heart was broke, he said, because he Garcia, so arm in arm we sauntered along
loved an Injun girl who went and married the wharf and walked right into piracy.
a padrone. I don't know nothing about ships, but
"Then," said Garcia, "what remained? I'm sure that Garcia's wasn't no flowery
Nothing! I went to the coast. I wanted barge for perfume. In size it was small.
to be a priest or a bandit. Not having In shape it resembled a bath-tub that had
an education I tried the bandit business. been jilted by a ferryboat.
And now," he says, slow and impressive, " What d'ye call it ?" I asks, as one speaks
"I'm a-smuggling guano fertilizt-r off the of infants and diseases.
"
Bird Islands into the States." Lolita Sanchez de GuadtUtjara" says
sailwe shied out to sea. Once we sighted So twenty-four hours wc lay in La Playa
a schooner a-smokin' close to -hore. She a-waitin' for the W olverine to clear out.
was a safe distance, so Garcia looked awful At the end o' that time Garcia got another
brave. demijohn, then there was more poetry,
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PELICAN SMITH AND THE SMUGGLER KING 577
and more talk about the beautiful Lolita The Wolverine now began a-moving
Sanchez. out to sea, the silver ray o' light playing
As the shades o' night and the lickcr in right and left, up and down, in circles that
the demijohn was fallin' fast, Garcia began looked a million miles long. The devil
a-gettin' braver and braver. loves fools and we had a good start. The
"I dee-fy the United States Navy!" he "woollies" came puffing over the waves
says, jumping up. and our creaky boat went shooting along
"Anv damn fool can do that," I says. like a lop-sided cannon ball with that
"Sitdown!" search-light a-reaching out for our heels.
"No, no!" yells Garcia. "We will sail She was coming closer and closer. We
acrost 'er bows! We will board 'er in the could fairly feel that ghostly white glare
darkness! Come here, vou China pig! burnin' into our clothes. Then suddenly
Wake up, Bill!" a black cliff loomed ahead out of the sea,
"No good, no good! You all samee too a high surf was a-swearing on the rocks.
muchee heap loco!" yells Lee Bong, jump- We'd struck the Coronado Island.
ing for the wharf; but Garcia nabbed his Garcia forgot to curl his mustache and
pigtail with one hand and his blue cotton his teeth was a-chatterin' something fierce.
bundle with the other, so Bong came back "We could hide in there," he says,
and went to work in perfec' order. Almost "but it's impossible. We'd be wrecked."
before knowed it sails was up and we
I "All right," says I. "It's impossible-
was on a fooi's adventure. Last I
off let's do it anyhow."
seen o' Jingo Jo he was standin' with his There was a wide cut in the cliffs and
mouth wide open just as if a hole had been the sea a-spouting through, howling like
singed in them door-mat whiskers. a dervish. We rode on dynamite. The
As we rolled farther into the bay we Lolita stood on her ear, buck-stepped, took
could see a flash o' lights over white sides the bit in her rotten teeth and flew like a
where the Wolveri ne was a-lyin' like a spook bird. The sea soused us, our keel scraped,
in thechannel. Garcia, in his daffy humor, but still we hung on. Suddenly the trouble
drew up so close to the neat, white vessel stopped and we swum quiet like a duck in
that you could 'a' tossed peanuts into the still water. Fools butt in where angels
hatchways. The sight o' the ship seemed to walk around.
make him more sentimental than ordinarv. The Wolverine was now right up close,
"Ah, Lolita " he began. the white fingerof her search-light running
"Cut out Lolita!" I groans, "and let's slow-like over the island, swingin' toward
git out o' here." .
us till it came to the crack where our boat
As we swung around in the wind some- floated. Here it stopped, trickled in
thing must of attracted the attention of among the boulders, sniffed at the rocks
the cutter's crew, for a whistle blowed, a and surf, then moved on. . They
. .
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578 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
wash-boiler, why me off. I'll walk." to facts, measurements, and statistics, ye
jest let
"You all same so muchee
sawbee! him know?"
long-talk he no can do!" says Bong, rising " Dark," he says. " Hair like the night,
scornful out of a bundle o' rags. eyes o' topaz. A woman like the heroes
Well, we limped around for two days was a-huntin' for. Stately robust
" —
a-trying to swaller enough wind to blow "Fat?" I inquires carelessly.
us into Encinada. During that time, "No, stately!" says Garcia, kind o'
there being nothing much to do, the King snappish.
kep' harkin' back to his love affair till the " Me catch 'em too," says Lee Hong.
rest of us wanted to jump overboard. He " Me catch 'em one, two, thlec wife all —
didn't look much like a pirate no more, up Shanghai."
neither. Them han'some velvet pants o' Finally at dusk as we staggered into
his hadn't took water very well —
shrunk San Diego Harbor, a tug full o' Mexican
customs officers hailed us. No sooner had
wc sighted 'em than there was a plump!
and a plunk! in the water as the cook and
Lee Bong went over the side.
" I shall never surrender!" said the King,
but I knowed durn well he was afraid to
jump over and swim for it.
ACaptain climbed aboard and touched
Garcia on the shoulder. Three rurales
up and grabbed mc by the suspenders.
" It's bed-tick pants and the stone quarry
for my next five years," I thought to
myself, but the King was a-jabhering like
a coffee mill with the Captain. Pretty
soon the Greasers took us in tow and ties
us to a stake about three rods from the
water front. Then Garcia and the Captain
done some more sabe-talking, and his
military gave some orders to the
nibs
soldiers who hung a
lantern to our bows
and got back in the launch. Garcia
handed a demijohn to the Captain, who
bowed and smiled; both of 'em smiled;
and the first thing I knowed the Captain
and the jug crawled over the side, pulled
for the shore and left us alone in the boat!
"I explained," said Garcia, "that a
night on shore might inconvenience us, so
the Captain, an efficient officer, volunteered
to watch us from the shore and arrest us
in the morning. He has the jug."
The Mexican night was shuttin' down
as black as velvet now. The lantern at
our bows made fiery snake-tails in the tide L
"'A WOMAX UKB INK HltHnF". WAS A-IU'NTIN ' FOR.
that gurgled past the hull. The King
in places and clung to his physique like stood in the stern a-gazing like a wounded
damp dish-cloths around a stove-pipe. dove out over the black water. "Here
Sunsets affected him partickilar bad. comes Lolita again," I says, groaning to
"Ah, but she was beautiful!" he would myself —
but I was wrong. He was a-think-
sigh. " Don't you think them blushing ing up the only practical plan of his brilliant
tints o' sky can compare with her dama-k poetical career.
cheek. They sure can't." He sneaked over to the bows, reached
"Say, Garcia, honest," I asks at last. down and brought up the lantern, walked
"What did she look like —
cumin' down soft as a fly on eggs to the :>take where we
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PELICAN SMITH AND THE SMUGGLER KING 579
was moored and hung the lantern over the go by — Injun kids, a goat, four hens,
six
top. Then taking off his hat and placing a yeller dog, a priest, a drunken sheep-
it careful on the stake above the lantern, herder. Pretty soon up strolled a large,
he drawed his knife and cut the moorings. leather-colored lady of about forty summers
We drifted away, and together
flapped up the old, greasy sail.
"Adios, Captain!" says Garcia,
"watch well ou lantern, which will
remain perfectly quie ."
Dawn found us a drifting along a
clean, deserted beach somewheres be-
tween Mexico and nowheres. On
the horizon we could see a black
cloud o' Mnokc which we sort 0* felt
was after us.
"Garcia," says I, "the time has
come when we've got to duck out o'
this elegant and commodious yacht."
"Adios, Lo "
"Fergit 'er!" says I, pulling him
to the rail, "and come on!"
We made two very neat splashe
as we went into the wa er. The
surf rolled us up onto the beach and
we cut for the chapperel like a pair
o' wet kittens. There wasn't much
time to lose, as we could see the In-
spector's tug loomin' bigger and
bigger. Safe on the hills, among the
trees, we looked back. Agoin' sad
and docile-like out to sea, a-lookin'
'"rr n mv Loirr*.' hk <niim"
more than ever like a disappointed
bath-tub. was the Lolita Sanchez de and two hundred averdupois. She wore
GuadeUijara bein' towed along by a tug. a brunette mustache and was a-smoking
The Smuggler King jest >>wallercd a lump a cigar. You couldn't have bribed a blind
and walked on. man to call 'er beautiful.
By noon, a pair o' sad and muddy hoboes, Something was the matter with Garcia.
wfc dragged into San Xavier. Castro, He jumped up holdin' his heart.
who kep' a restaurant, fed us chile con came. "Mira / Look ! It is my Lolita!" he
We hadn't much about as we sat
to talk sobbed.
by the window and watched the inhabitants "Gee, Garcia, you are a Poet " I j-ays.
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5*>
"AND IN HER SEEMS THE LIUHT THAT DREAMS IN THOUGHTS OF OTHER DAYS "
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THE LITTLE WOODEN TIGER
if
BY MAYNE LINDSAY
lUA'STRATFD nY CIURU* LIVIMiSTON KVI.L
^HK road through the Lathom, the Nymoorie brewer and sports-
hills from Kamora man. There w as just enough keenness in
to Nymoorie, which the air to make a young man happy; he
is summer resort
a hung the reins on his pony's neck and sat
perched sufficiently back with his hands in his pockets, whis-
1 high above the Timli tling an aged popular air. He was so far
valley to give view away from mundane matters, and the
Bff^^t^ <™ across it to the Hash of pony so busy picking a footfall round a
two great rivers Mid the shimmer of tlv curve of the track, that between them
plains, runs wild through a glory of hang- they barely missed precipitating an old
ing forests, of decked precipices, of purple man. who was sirring on the edge of a
ranges, spread in layers to the sun. And it steep descent with his feet dangling, head-
is remote and unhackneyed, better known long into space.
to big gray apes and forest rangers than to "Here, I say!" Sanderson said, with
the traveling Englishman. the ready inclination of one careless per-
Sanderson, of the Survey, was dawdling son to blame another. " You shouldn't
down it one May morning on his way hang half over the precipices. it's not
"
from a boundary to the hospitality of the place for a grandfather. Whew-ew!
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THE LITTLE WOODEN TIGER 583
He gave a whistle as his eyes took in the one, the end of a good friendship; for
spectacle before him. "Did we do that? the other, a weakness that will not let
It felt to me as if the pony only brushed me advance. I, who am an old man,
against you." desire to return to Mai Gunga at the
The old man had
gathered himself to- time of bathing; also it is expedient that
gether and was rising slowly to the road, I leave the country of my friends behind
hugging a tattered blanket about him. me." He spoke less to his hearer than
He was very ragged, very unkempt; his to himself. " This is no great matter,"
legs shook and his turban was a meager he said again with a half smile, and indi-
wisp. Sanderson waited for the profes- cated the wound. " I have lived my life
sional beggar's whine. He had his fingers in the way of the beasts and I have, per-
upon a rupee and he had dismounted he ; haps, caught from them their easy heal-
was, as a matter of fact, taken aback by ing. It will close in three days; if it
the discovery that the old fellow had were not that the muscle is touched to
suffered a recent and disagreeably gory lameness it would not be worth another
mishandling. Though it did not seem thought."
possible with Gunga Din's light little "Are you a hunter?" Sanderson said
hoofs. " The preserver of the poor did rather eagerly. He had missed a good
his servant no injury," the old man said, shikari badly in his recent ride; he would
and now he turned square to his inter- have given something to have the jungle
locutor and was eying him with a frank- craft at his finger's ends.
ness that was quite unlike the cringing " A
if No, my lord, I am no hunter,"
He shook his head at the man
said with a sudden gravity.
of a beggar.
pony, wagging a finger, half smiling, half
the old
" Had been
I "
—
He looked down at
stern. Gunga Din pricked up his cars his legs again and his mouth tightened.
and blew through widening nostrils as if " Never knowingly have I taken life; in
he understood this speech was addressed return for which these others would nev-
to him. ertheless take mine." He hobbled a step
" And thou, scatter-brained one Thou ! and winced and looked helplessly up the
mayst thank other than thyself that road.
I am not now at the bottom of the khud. Sanderson, too, looked up it, having
innocent blood upon thy foolish head! the Englishman's natural shamefacedness
Yet thou meanst it no harm, my child heavy upon him. Then, reassured by the
thou art not of the savage forest, savage empty landscape, he wrinkled his nose at
thou hast a kindness for us men-folk who the blaze of sunshine, tilted back his sun
have enslaved thee." hat and said
Sanderson threw his doors open to an " Mount my pony, ;/, and I will walk
unexpected interest. Here was a droll beside it. . . . This is as it should
character to find out upon a jungle-side, be, for I have two sound legs and yours
ten miles from nowhere. He laughed as are crippled. You of
shall tell me more
he spoke again. yourself and the misfortune that has be-
" Am
I forgiven with the beast, my fa- fallen you as we go together."
ther?" He cut the old man's protestations short
" There is no forgiveness possible for by coercing him into the saddle. Gunga
an not committed." the old man said
ill Din moved forward, and the survey offi-
placidly. Then he looked down at his cer strode out briskly, sufficiently in time
legs, limped to the inner side of the road with the bracing crispness of the morning
and seated himself, eying them ruefully, to take the prospect of a ten-mile walk
upon a boulder. with complacence. He liked delving, too,
" They are torn there is a great gash
: in the native mind and he had already a
below the knee. I am glad it is not we feeling for this stoic over and
elderly
who have done the thing," Sanderson said. above his curiosity. So he stifled his pro-
He looked closer, from the drawn old face tege's flow of thanks with a question and
to the uglv flesh wounds on shank and put his best foot foremost.
calf. " Are you going to the bathing fair at
" not trouble me as much as
They do Gangapur? Well, that is a long tramp
the two matters that they forbode. For for old legs. And who are these friends
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5*4 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
of yours, whose friendship stands no He pointed to where a few snapped
longer? Such as you should be a village twigs, the light impress of a tiny hoof,
patriarch, my father, having the place of the faint suggestion of a pad upon a piece
honor by the well when there are tales to of recently fallen earth, made a diversion
be told." in the roadway. Sanderson stopped and
The pilgrim kicked his bare heels into examined the trail, amazed at the detail
the pony's band, and Gunga Din wrig- with which the old man proceeded to em-
gled skittishly. They were advancing bellish his statement, as he took a turned
with a high mountain wall upon the one stone, a drooping leaf, the lie of the coun-
side, and on the other a sheer descent, try, for his evidences. If this was not a
garlanded with foliage, to a tinkling wa- hunter he had at least full measure of the
tercou rsc. Sanderson had to step back for hunter's lore. He listened for the next
caution, so that he missed part of the half hour, a pupil sitting attentive at a
answer to his questions. master's feet, while the queer old figure
"... hold by no herding with on the pony's back unrolled a precious
village came back indistinctly to
fools," store of jungle craft. It was palpably the
his ear. " My
friends are a free people, harvest of a life spent in untrodden tracks
even though they be my friends no more." and wild forest places; yet what he did
" Softly, my beauty " Sanderson said ! there or of what stock he came Sander-
to the pony, overtaking it.
" Why is that, son, without quite knowing why, was un-
jif" able to discover. They dropped over a
"Why? Because they cannot help high hill-brow at last, and there was the
themselves; because they must do as their first zinc roof of Nvmoorie, flashing into
nature bids them. So, now that I am the eye of the noonday sun. The pilgrim
old, they, whose law it is to slay the use- scrambled out of the saddle when he
less ones and the weaklings, would have saw it.
slain me. By my wit, which is still a " My lord will ride forward again, and
little beyond them, I escaped and now I ; if he will take the blessing of an old man
shake the dust of their country off my . .No, but acts of charity are not
.
feet, and if haply I come through it forgotten. Though he turn them aside,
without injury I return to the mother of the blessings still undoubtedly descend.
rivers to purify myself. For indeed I The protector of the poor goes to Lathom,
have a desire toward the meditations of sahib f"
holiness and a peaceful end to follow it." " Do you know him? " Sanderson said,
"Hum! understand so much of the
I astonished at the sound of the familiar
affair. But your own people set upon name.
you simply because you were old and in- " If I know a little of the life of the
firm? That is difficult to believe, fa- '
forest, should I not also have heard of
ther. It is the way of the beasts of the Lathom, sahib, who is a most mighty
jungle, but it is not the way of men; no, hunter? He, too, slays — he slays the
certainly not the hillmen, who are an slayers: it is no more than justice, though
easy folk, glad to live and to let live, from it isforbidden to such as I."
what I know of them." Sanderson stood still, looking at him.
The old man twisted suddenly in the He was unwilling to let him go; a sym-
saddle, and his eyes — quizzical, shrewd, pathy had leapt into being between them.
baffling — twinkled at the speaker. He He was puzzled and half skeptical, but
put his hand up to his beard and ruffled it. he was also pleased, and he had been
"At! the hillmen! The sahib is right gloriously entertained. While he hesi-
and it is not their way they live each : tated he caught sight of an expression re-
man for himself, and God alone may flecting his own image in the old man's
protect the communitv. But my people eves. It was a regret. He, too, was
are — have the way of the beasts; where- loth to part companv with a congenial
fore I travel and bear them good-will spirit. Sanderson, big and ruddv and in-
no longer. . . . See. my lord, a tensely English, and the little shambling
guru! ran this way at dawn, and he might bundle of rags looked each other fairly
well run, for there came a leopard be- in the eyes, as friends of equality and
hind him, and he himself was spent." long standing might have done. The old
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586 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
man's hesitation, however, covered some- nodded a greeting, looking up from his in-
thing beyond his reluctance. In the sec- spection of a rifle barrel. Gun cases and
ond that followed a silent return to the game bags matting, and a
littered the
conventional attitude he laid a hand upon shikarri waited behind them.
the other's sleeve. "Tents to go on at once, d'ye hear?
" My lord, before you go hence! Is it To be pitched above Harigur, and dinner
for the sake of the good hunting that
"
you sharp at eight for two." Then to San-
seek Lathom, sahib f derson " Well: How long does it take
!
" Eh? Well, partly, I suppose. There to ride from Kamora? There is some
is nothing to be done in Nymoorie; but lunch left, but whether it is worth eating
he half promised me the chance of a tiger is another matter. Good news to follow
at his plantation in the Timli valley, if it, too; better than a non-punctual chap
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"
ANOTHER TAWNY OUTLINE PADDING CAUTIOUSLY TOWARD HIM '
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5»» THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
liness upon the native bed that occupied until the morning. It was therefore with
the greater part of it. There was a brass some astonishment that he found himself
basin on a w icker stool and a tin mirror awake again while it was still dark, an
hung at the tent pole. Lathom afield was astonishment that merged into indignation
no believer in superfluities. He pulled off when he struck a match and saw that it was
his coat and began to wash away the after- not yet one o'clock. He was w idc aw ake,
noon's dust by the light of a very ineffi- too, while other people slept he could
;
cient lantern placed upon the floor. hear Lathom 's snore and the less muffled
He came up out of warm water with a note of the man on watch, who w as pal
sudden alertness of hearing tingling in his pably taking his ease somewhere close be-
ears. His back was turned to the door, hind the tents. And then, cutting sheer
and it was at the door that something had across these familiar noises came the sud-
been about to happen. He wheeled and den repetition of an interruption already
there was nobody there; but the echo of experienced —the heavy breathing, the
a heavy breathing remained to him; the snuffling of something that moved before
deep snuffling of an animal at the chink his door.
between canvas, wall and curtain. Well? The Survey officer sprang out of bed,
That was nothing, of course; a pi-dog at his nerves a-quiver, ruffled by an anger
the most. He not know why the
did that had a tinge of fear in it. He must
tingling persisted, nor did he combat the get to the bottom of this; face it and lay
instinctwhich set him to finish his dress- it bare. He pulled the upper part of the j
ing with his face to the entrance and at tent-flap aside quickly to surprise w hat" J .
der him, set the ripe fruits of experience against which his foot was pressed. He
at his service. stood frozen, immovable; ami he saw the
" Well, good night," the brewer said spotted back of a leopard, the muscles
at theend of an hour. " An early start, rippling under the loose skin. It stretched
remember." And Sanderson went duti- itself while he looked, edged closer to
fully to bed, lit by the clear st#rshine, with him and pushed its whiskers sideways
no more thought of odd sensations. He along the curtain as might a cat to whom
looked drowsily at the quiet scene before his master stoops.
he turned in; there were the dark. lofty Sanderson did not do the obvious thing,
ridges, the dying embers of the fire; the though his rifle stood within reach and
white, mysterious mist rolled across the his cartridge belt touched him where it
sleeping valley. The tents had a curi- dangled on the pole. He did not lift a
ously intrusive air. perched airily upon finger while the creature rumbled out a
the great shoulder of the hills; theywere huge, stentorian purr, a giant among
a presumptuous advance guard, an inva- purrs, turned its neck and caressed their
which they
sion of the silent country into common barrier with the other cheek. Six
had been flung. Sanderson wondered feet away the tip of its tail twitched
vaguely for a moment where his pilgrim plcasurably. scuffling a tiny dust out of the
was sleeping, under what cave of a sand.
crowded bazaar, with his heart thirsty for If it had been a dream! Rut it was
the clean breath of the jungle. He fin- nothing of the kind he heard Lathom 's
;
gered his watch chain, upon which hung snores and felt the sharp air of the night.
the souvenir of their brief friendship. The leopard rose to its feet, came, as it
He slept as soon as his head touched were, alongside and presented first one
the pillow, with every prospect of oblivion flank and then another to the friction of
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*
PURRED AND ROSE PONDEROUSLY TO BE PATTED
Google
59Q THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the canvas. Its peaceful intentions were made no inquiries about his night's rest
not to be doubted, but the young man's and he was glad to see the Timli valley
pulses were jigging too lively a measure about them and hear the crowing of a
for comfort. jungle cock welcome them to the lower
Howlong he would have remained mo- forest lands.
tionless while the brute did him its clumsy- They came to the Marwari farm, a
homage he could not have said, tor a sec- thatched bungalow ineffectually defended
ond incident to cap the first brought the from the primeval jungle by a scrubby tea
encounter to a close. It was, if anything, garden, in time fur breakfast and the
more incredible; but it was no less tbe eager report of a villager in waiting on
tact that the suggestion of another tawny the veranda. There had been another
outline padding cautiously toward hini kill. The tiger was a king among tigers;
from the lee of Lathom's tent roused a he, Moti Ram, had seen him bound into
burst of impatience. Another! Oh, the the high grass no later than two evenings
thing was absurd, had been startling, but since and his bones had turned to water
would be simply grotesque if it happened at the spectacle. The lives of the village
twice over. He came near to a shout of were in jeopardy; the servants of the
hysterical laughter. It uas another. Huzur prayed humbly for his good sport.
Well — And if he desired service —
"S's-sh! Hutt-t! S's-sh! " he said and " Abdul Karmi will sec to all that,"
flapped the curtain at the big blunt head Lathom said, dropping pice into the man's
below him exactly as if he were warning hand. " Go and tell him what you have
off a pariah. The beast drew back, flat- told me, //. Couldn't be better, Sander-
tened its ears, depressed its neck. The son, could it? The buffalo lies where it
purring stopped, and involuntarily San- was killed; machan in the
we'll have a
derson held his bieath at his own au- tree above and we'll get him to-night, if
it
dacity. Then the leopard moved unwill- Allah is good. Come to breakfast now,
ingly away and slunk out into the full my boy, and I'll show you the old battle-
starlight, to be followed at a stealthy trot fields afterward, when I've talked to the
by its mate —
if it were its mate indeed. shikarris."
They jogged silently over the brow of the They went into the dusty, sparsely fur-
hill they dipped below it.
; The land- nished dining room, smelling of matting
scape was empty again and the chorus of and long disuse, to which wide French
snores returned to supremacy. windows led from the veranda. It was
Sanderson went back to bed quite con- comparatively cool inside when the kit-
vinced that he was to spend a sleepless matgar closed the doors; but the stew of
night, pondering this amazement. He a hot-weather day had settled beyond. A
eyed it shyly from every point of view hush had closed over the jungle, ringing
which presented itself; finally he decided the bungalow about with its oppression
that it would not bear daylight mention except the hum in the cookhouse and its
and that he would hold up the telling of chink of dishes, nothing but the two
it loj- a bit. He did not know that he sportsmen's voices broke the heavy .silence.
would speak of it at all; was " Every living thing but our party is
it by
George! ii was not far removed from be- nodding," Lathom said, rising from the
ing ridiculous; in any case it would make table and feeling in his pockets for a well-
a narrative that there was every excuse loved pipe. " This place at noonday ?s
for not taking seriously. of 'em Two like the Sleeping Beauty's Palace the —
One was bad enough —
was preposterous very flies upon the wall are overdone."
— prepost He
tumbled back into
. . . He went to the door and opened it. " If
the healthy sleep of youth and awoke to you are not afraid of the heat come across
"
find the dawn coming grayly in, the hot with me. . . Hullo
. !
tea steaming at his bedside. The brewer He leapt back into the room, running
was already about, the soul of busy energy. toward the corner where the shikarri had
Oh, yes. it had happened but he had not ; laid his gun. Sanderson, impelled at the
the smallest intention of making a fool same instant toward the doorway, collided
of !. i.nself to Lathom. He rode down with him, was dragged back and wrenched
the hill silently. He was glad his host himself free again.
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THE LITTLE WOODEN TIGER 59
"Come away, you young fool!" ing inside again. His were queer
legs
Lathom cried tumbling a car-
hoarsely, now; there was a reaction coming He
tridge into his "
alive!
rifle. Man
Don't sat down abruptly beside the table and
"
you know a tiger when you see one ? poured himself out a tot of whisky. The
Sanderson stepped clear of the door into sweat had started to his forehead, in sym-
the veranda. He was not scared this pathy with that which was streaking
time, perhaps because it was broad day- Lathom's countenance. " This is only the
light; he was, if anything, unnaturally ex- second —
third time. You wouldn't have
hilarated. This was his affair; he was believed the others, but I don't suppose
conscious of a triumphant thought that you'll doubt your own eyes. Whew, how
"
he was going to show the veteran, for hot it is !
once, a startlingly new experience. Here, " This is enough to make a man doubt
to be sure, it was, large and live in bulk, anything," Lathom said, mopping his
blinking solemn yellow eyes at him a — brow. " Or believe anything. Great
veritable tiger, squatting with decorous Scott. Were you born in a menagerie,
air, hugely complacent, upon the dusty young man
"
? A
tiger a ti ! —
floor. " I don't know," Sanderson repeated
Heheard Lathom snap to the breech of densely. " I'll tell you all I know, if you
the rifle behind him. Obviously there was like; it's not much." He related his
no time to be lost. Afraid of that! It night's adventure. " But it's going to
was a cat —
no more a rank-smelling, ; I'm afraid that's the devil of
spoil sport, ;
overgrown cat that was anxious to be it; could no more go out in cold blood
I
friendly. He walked up and stood be- now and shoot that great stupid brute
fore it, and it sniffed at his legs and purred than I could smother a baby. There's a
and rose ponderously to be patted. Jt paternal feeling ... 1 can't explain
went a little against the grain to touch; . . . once the natural creeps are
but if nothing less than the fullest dem- left behind. I'd better go back to Timli,
onstration would suffice He put ... I think."
his hand on the great flat head and rubbed The brewer protested, but he was firm,
the stubbly hair upon it. though the actual tears of disappointment
Lathom was gasping now, wheezing were not far from his eyes.
apoplectically, as a heavy man will do " Oh, I'm beastly cut up about it. I
when he is staggered. The tiger's claws, can tell you. It's the roughest luck.
drawn in and out in its delight, rasped . . . Thank
you awfully, all the
upon the matting. Sanderson, intoxicated same." began to turn some ofHe
by his success, cuffed it lightly over the Lathom's cartridges reluctantly out of his
ears. pocket on to the table. " Oh, yes, I must
" There, that'll do! " he said presently. go," Sanderson persisted, and from that
"Get out o' this! You're beastly high, no persuasion could turn him. He went
y'know ; get away ! Jan, you brute " He ! accordingly when his pony was rested,
fairly pushed its head aside to make it riding away with his head down, 'witch-
move. He knew what would follow; the ing angrily at the thick vegetation down
sulky, sidelong glance, the slinking away the forest lines, as perplexed with his own
the whole affair was as easily foreseen, by obstinacy as he and the man he had left
the light of that which had gone before were by the strange occurrence that had
and his own full-grown familiarity, as induced it.
ABC. He had, of course, completely forgot-
The tiger shuffled down the steps and ten the yesterday's pilgrim. Turbulent
was instantly a khaki shadow moving thoughts and uneasiness had swept him
toward a khaki jungle, a big, sheepish, clean out of ^.ind. It was therefore with
discomforted beast going to kennel after a shock of brisk ^'collection that he turned
a snubbing. Sanderson turned round to from the wilder jungle track into a sandy
see Lathom, for the first time in his life, main road that cut (he valley from moun-
fail to take a hunter's opportunity. tain to river and saw the old man in per-
" Do you often —
? " he said when he son, placidly alone, waiting on a donkey's
could speak. back at the meeting of the ways.
" I don't know," Sanderson said, walk- " You! " Sanderson said and pulled up.
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592 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
suddenly alive to possibilities that had sign it, if not to the virtue of the little
"
hitherto escaped him. The queer old fel- wooden tiger?
low with his jungle craft! Was it too He looked Sanderson's face,
full in
improbable to hope for light, here, upon where incredulity chased bewilderment
matters that had proved so baffling and slow conviction crept after incredu-
through the day? lity, and he laid a lean old hand upon the
" Well, you are the very man I want other's arm to steady him.
to see, I believe," he said. " You have " Ah, but there lies the truth, sahib,
got down in good time. Did you come close to the foot; no need to search for it
because you knew I was here? Oh, never farther afield! I, too, am a friend of the
looked from it to its owner, bewildered man, the wornout friend, savage, pitiless;
and a little impatient at the irrelevancy. things to kill, or be killed by, devoid of
" That has nothing to do with what I understanding. Lathom, sahib, goes hunt-
was going to say," he said. " Your trin- ing to-night, surely. Go, my lord go, —
ket, fit Here it is; take it if you will. I my friend, and take your king's sport with
was about to come to you
"
— him. See, I wrap the little wooden tiger
" For answer to a riddle," the old man to my heart again. It goes with me to
said, and out shone his queer, equal's smile the river, to the holy city, where the
again. " But, first, is my lord so sure unclean beasts dare not tread, to the
this has naught to do with that he de- sanctuary for a tired old wanderer."
sires to know? Has he, perhaps, had the He pulled at Sanderson's bridle and
friendship of the beasts for a night and a turned him back to Marwari. And there,
day? And if so, to what would he as- in the divided ways, they parted.
"
TH«V IOI.GBP SILENTLY OVU tnr. BKOW OF THE HILL '
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When daisies pied and violets blue,
:.P$ifew6y Google
—SMOKES
THF ANGLEX HIS Mf8 1
upon the escarpment of the railroad bed play makes Jack a dull boy." So much
that the river, those sentinel-like
flanks as to play. And as to fishing, bear in
loungers naturally attract the attention of mind that the earliest and most venerated
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AN ANXI01S MOM NT
I'
authority on the subject, the genial, char- cent recreation than angling." The
itable, wholesome-minded, lovable I/.aak judgment of two and a half centuries has
Walton, after giving the reasons ad- affirmed the findings and effected a sen-
vanced up to his day for and against timental and piscatorial apotheosis of
action and contemplation, affirmed, Walton. So these humble disciples, the
" That both these meet together and do great majority of whom, perhaps, have
most properly belonc to the most honest, never heard of their gentle master, need
ingenuous, quiet and harmless art of fish- no further justification.
ing." With excellent judgment also he He who takes the trouble to make a
commended the riverside as " the quietest closer inspection of these anglers by the
and fittest place for contemplation." And city-side wili discover that they represent
concerning recreation he declared :
" God almost every condition of life. Perchance
never did make a more calm, quiet, inno- the laborer and the Wall Street broker
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\
\
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la A1H fOP A DAV'i H-HIM.
may bp found, if not actually side by side, not idlers, but men who work hard and
at no great distance apart. The mc- snatch a few hours, as occasion permits
for quiet recreation. Besides
propinquity and economy, there
isthe advantage at times of very
good fishing, and always the
majestic river, typifying at once
the ceaseless flow of time and
the resistless force of nature.
Though anglers will be found
all along the river front, there
are preferred places. The most
notable of these are a little fish-
ing pier at the foot of Eighty-
eighth Street and the adjacent
rocks; the long pier at Ninety-
sixth Street the railroad bed
;
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A HOVC.H WT» PTlP A NAT
occasionally anywhere along the river eels, these fish are not to be caught
front. The old Sugar House is espe- throughout the season. The striped bas»
cially good for silver perch, while the makes its appearance about the middle of
HI tlAIIING
tackle may find it hard to
repress a smile at the pon-
Ninety-sixth Street pier is noted for tom- derous poles and clumsy wooden reels em-
cods, or frost fish, and eels. Except ployed by the Germans and, indeed, the
OFF POH THK DAI
majority of anglers by the city side. But to run the gantlet of much good natured
every worthy disciple of the amiable mas- chaffing. It was at the height of the bass
ter ought, from his own experience, to be season and he was asked on all sides what
inclined to look leniently on the imperfec- he expected to catch with " that switch."
tions of the humbler fellows of the craft. He replied, with ambiguous modesty,
There is a story of an expert fly-caster " Anything that comes along." The
who, while whipping a Long Island stereotyped comment was: " I'd like to
stream one day, found a small boy sitting see you get hold of a five-pounder." Sub-
upon a bridge with a bit of common line dued expressions of surprise, however,
tied to the end of a pole he had cut from reached the angler's ears when he made
a neighboring thicket. his first cast, and before the season closed
"What luck, my son?" asked the ex- one or two of the skeptical had an oppor-
pert. tunity to seehim handle something bigger
" They ain't a-bitin' yet," replied the than a five-pounder. Within a week he
lad. The expert went his way and met landed a fifteen-pounder and a twelve-
with poor success. Returning by the pounder, and the fame of his exploits,
same bridge in the afternoon, he found with reverent exaggeration, is still fresh
the lad still sitting with a
there, but along the riverside.
string of trout that excited his admira- It is all bottom fishing in the North
tion. I myself once saw by the city-side River. For some reason that has never
a boy with two or three yards of hand been explained the bass will not rise there-
line, baited with a fragment of dead sand to a troll, as it does in the East River,
\\orm hook and bring to the brink a ten
; the Sound and elsewhere. Fishing with
to twelve pound bass, while his better a float is equally futile. As the current is
equipped neighbors never got a decent strong the line must be heavilv weighted.
strike the livelong day. A lozenge shaped sinker will be found
Afew years ago an angler appearing the best to avoid catching in the rock
in neighborhood of Eighty-eighth
the crevices the use of one hook is conducive
;
Street with a twelve-ounce bait rod had to tranquillity of temper. The hook
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COMPORT AND SPORT
should be of medium size, on a three- foot jumps and pulls in the fish, if
to his line
leader, fixed to the line about two feet he can. Anglers with the rod fish almost
above the sinker. The best line is a as much at ease, but with the eye instead
twelve-thread one, and it should be of the ear. The rod is propped against a
at least hundred feet long.
six Big rock or pile, at an angle of forty-five to
fish cannot be landed with light tackle sixty degrees, and the owner keeps his eye
without ample line, and the refinement on the tip, which will vibrate to the
of the art and the keenest sport are in- slightest nibble.
volved in the use of light tackle. Blood There is a wide difference of opinion
and sand worms are the only available between individuals as to what constitutes
bait in the early spring. The former will sport. By some anglers it is found in the
generally be found the more killing. number of fish taken. Others find in it
Shad roe in season, cut into strips about the quality rather than the quantity of
as long as the first two joints of the index the catch and the exercise of skill inci-
finger and securely tied in cheese cloth dentally required. It follows that not
will probably be found more effective for uncommonly a craftsman will be encoun
bass than either. In the fall the best bait tered angling with two or three rods, or
is shedder crab. half a dozen handlines, or an assortment
Nowhere else, perhaps, is such an easy- of both. Generally speaking, such a
going, contemplative exhibition of angling craftsman is not held in high esteem.
to be witnessed. The
angler sets his line, Yet good nature is the prevalent feel-
reclines against a convenient post or ing by the city-side. Stones are swapped,
boulder, smokes his pipe, and chats leis and something else, with which every
urely with his companion until the fish fully equipped angler is provided, while
rings the bell. That is the handline an- the mind is droned into forgetfulness
gler. The line is secured to a piece of of business cares by the subdued hum
stout wire, on the free end of which is of the great city. Still, this secluded re-
hung a little bell. When the fish takes treat is not entirely secure from incursions
the bait the bell jingles. The angler of trade, for during the day the frank-
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ANGLING BY THE CITY SIDE 605
furtcr man will come with his rolls and grandeur of the rock-walled river, whose
linked memorials of overworked horseflesh. fluid force has escarped the foundations
Fish arc probahly, like some men, of the everlasting hills. He may ask him-
pretty constant feeders, yet many circum- self how many thousand, indeed million,
stances appear to affect their feeding. In years it has spent in cutting its bed out
the ocean and tidal rivers the state of the of those majestic Palisades. How feeble
tide ^has a notable influence. Possibly in comparison appear man's most con-
they have a feeding place for each stage spicuous triumphs over nature, the rail-
of the tide; but experience has shown that road train that thunders at his back and
on the best known grounds they will take the great steamboats that plow the seem-
a bait toward the turn of the tide better ingly yielding surface of the mighty
than at any other time. The wind, too, stream. But when night has concealed
has its effect. The east wind is the most the evidences of nature's sturdy, unceas-
unpropitious. On
the Jersey shore there ing industry and the lights of passing
is a saw, " When the wind is in the west boats reveal the prevailing darkness, the
the fishing is the best," but I have seen subtle tie of association will lead his
more frequent verification of that quoted thoughts to the wonderful and mysterious
by the angler's master: story engraved in nature's own handwrit-
" When the wind is south ing upon the surrounding rocks. Strange
It blows your bait into a fish's mouth." and ineffaceable characters, observable in
Those familiar with his words will also abundance on the descent to the water-
remember that he says to his pupil, " You side, that tell of a period when the noble
are to know there is night as well as day- Hudson was a sub-glacial rivulet, when
fishing for a trout, and that in the night Manhattan Island, now so populous and
the best trouts come out of their holes." so splendid with man's achievements, was
That is true also of the striped bass. a bald bedrock, and the peaks of the Cats-
The contemplative angler may sit by kills and of the Adirondacks were hidden
day and surrender his thoughts to the beneath a vast plateau of ice.
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A BALLADE OF SUMMERTIDE
BY CLINTON SCOLLARD
ILLUSTRATED WITH A PHOTOGRAPH
ENVOY.
Afar from the work-a-day woe,
From all, saving Love's trammels, free,
With one little maid that I know
It's O to be down by the sea
AMERICAN OFFICIAL SOCIETY
BY A CHINESE GENTLEMAN
N China we have an into the office of the Six Companies, who
opinion of America said that the Government had discovered
and its people formed that I was not a part of the legation and
or based upon the ex- that I was going to be arrested that after-
pressed opinions and noon.
statements of the mis- Heexplained that there was one way
sionaries. out of the difficulty. He would prevent
We are a simple- it by the payment on my part of $100,
hearted, guileless people — there is no with which he would bribe the officials.
question as to that —
and when I first I told him I would consult the Presi-
came to America I firmly believed that I dent of the Six Companies, and he left.
should find the perfect land and a people On the way across the continent I was
morally without a blemish. robbed of $25 outright while asleep on
I believed this, as it would never occur the night car, and I was also relieved of
to a Chinaman to send an army of re- a dollar by a man who rushed into the
ligious teachers, men and women, away car at a station and said he had a tele-
from their own country when there was a gram for me, charging me $1. As the
positive demand for them at home. train was starting I paid it and found I
We had no little trouble in landing, had an empty envelope. I congratulated
although I was accredited to the Chinese myself that I reached Washington with
legation as an attache, this being the only any funds, as had I joined even one of
way by which I could avoid the Exclusion the many games of " poker " to which I
Act, my real mission at that time being to was invited by attentive Americans en
attend University. route I am confident I should have been
What was my amazement when I was impoverished before I reached my destina-
approached by a fine looking American, tion.
evidently an official, though I could not The Americans make a great point of
prove it, who
boldly offered, through a " stories," tales, at the dinner. I recall
villainous looking Chinese interpreter of one which applies. A clergyman, after
the lowest type, to " see me through and preaching to a large out-of-doors congre-
get me a set of papers " for $100. gation, passed around his hat, begging for
To accomplish this I should have had contributions of coin. After a long time
to lie and swear falsely, and the American the hat was returned to him, but empty.
official to commit forgery, perjury, and to He looked at it a moment and said,
swear falsely and commit several other " Well, brethren, I'm thankful to get the
crimes. hat back."
I was honestly amazed and asked him I was thankful to reach Washington in
if he understood the crimes he would have funds, with my clothes on my back and
to commit, to which he answered with a my queue intact, and that trip was enough
wink and a laugh. to show me that our ideas of the Christian
I threatened to report him, but the in- fortitudeand morality of the average
terpreter told me that he had power American were a delusion and a snare, and
enough to have me sent back to China. I can state that of all the tens of thou-
" Arc all Americans like this? " I asked sands of Christians I nave n let I doubt
my countryman. " Oh, no," was the re- if was one who lived the life
there
ply, "he is a very nice man; some are preached and advocated by the mission-
very bad." aries in China.
I passed the custom house officers, but There is not a man in America who if
the next day Iwas approached by another struck upon one cheek would turn the
in Chinatown as I was passing other. He might, but he would first
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AMERICAN OFFICIAL SOCIETY 609
knock the smiter down and accomplish borne lightly on the wave of current opin-
what they call " wiping the earth with ion; but puncture it with the probe of
him." fact and investigation, and it is gone and
The Americans arc very pugilistic, and you have an empty skin, shriveled and
the Irish fight as a pastime. not pleasant to contemplate.
once shocked a missionary at Wang
I At a reception of the President he did
Chow by asking if there was not a clash me the honor to indicate that one of the
between the sentiment, turning the cheek ladies of the Presidential party would like
at a blow and that other Biblical senti- to speak to me, and I found myself en-
ment, " An eye for an eye," but the latter gaged in an interesting group.
is the American plan. If an American I had through Mr. our ,
strikes another in the eye it is returned English friend in China, obtained letters
with force, and boys are encouraged to to the very choicest people in America,
fight out their troubles. and naturally formed my estimate of
If an American possesses a beautiful American society from them but these —
wife there are thousands that covet her, official ladies! What shall I — must
say I
and that many succeed is shown by a di- say anything? Some were charming —
vorce rate that has no equal in the world. indeed, all ladies are — but en masse they
They not only covet the wife, but the ox, impressed me as suburban. There must
and the ass, and anything that a neighbor have been forty ladies behind the Presi-
has that strikes their fancy, and there are dential party, but there were not over four
countless thieves and bands of robbers that or five who looked at me as though they
make a business of stealing. had ever seen a Chinese gentleman before.
I also believed that an American Chris- The rest looked at me as a curiosity.
tian would not bear false witness, but I These ladies were dressed beautifully,
learned that in every city there were num- and I am going to use them to illustrate
bers of men who were regularly in the what is known as " official society " in
business, and a lawyer friend assured me America, but I must digress to say a word
that it was very profitable in murder regarding the claims of the Americans to
cases. An alibi could be proved for $50, extreme morality.
said my friend. He said he ought to As I was passing through the crowd I
know, and I believe he did. He was one saw on the outskirts a tall, remarkably
of the cleverest poker players I met in striking woman. Her face told of the
America. patrician type, and it bore an amused
By must not be understood that
this it smile as she heard the remarkable ques-
all Americans are bad or criminal. I tions these ladies asked me and the similar
only supposed that they were all perfect ones I passed back.
Christians, like the missionaries, when in I made a point of reaching her and was
reality they are like other nations — good, presented to the wife of one of the most
bad, and indifferent; yet, singularly influential Senators. She was one of the
enough, I find that Americans claim to most remarkable women I met in Amer-
be the most perfect people on the face of ica. The first word she said was,
" you appear to be amused
the earth. I heard this from a judge on ,
the Supreme Bench, from Senators, gen- at the curiosity you arouse." I laughed
erals of the army, from people in every and replied
—
:
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6io THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
We are far from perfect, in fact," and did not rise with him, but as my friend
her deep eyes saddened. " I fear there is said she had adamantine virtues, her hus-
some radical defect in the people or the band was doubtless consoled.
Government, though it is well to remem- These women displayed their origin at
ber that we receive from 300,000 to 600,- once by some slips of dress. They in-
000 immigrants every year, possibly not the variably ot'rr-dressed, wore quantities of
scum of other nations, but successful citi- jewelry of a poor quality, so far as real
zens of a country do not, as a rule, leave art was concerned. One lady wore a
it, and America is confronted with a mar- gigantic watch set with brilliants upon
velous and difficult problem, the assimila- her left breast. I supposed it to be an
tion of the peoples of the world, the mak- order of some kind, as the face of the
ing of ideal citizens. watch did not show, and asked her what
" Has transmutation been discovered in order it was.
China ? " she asked suddenly. " This is the "This," said the witty "official,"
problem of America, the making of pure " stands not on the order of its going it is ;
gold out of brass, iron, copper, silver, and the order of time —
it is a watch." Al-
lead, or the good citizen out of the peoples most the ladies wore watches on the
all
of every nation. Is it any wonder that left side of the body, over the heart, and
our President cannot go abroad without a I understood that well bred people wore
guard, or that our murders and divorces them at the waist or not at all.
exceed those of most nations of the The wives of Congressmen are the
"
world ? most numerous faction of the " official
" You are the only American I have set." My friend described them as a " job
met," I said, " who does not claim that lot " — an insidious joke, I fancied. Now,
this country leads the world and is abso- the Congressman isvery likely to be a very
lutely perfect." common sort of person. A lady who
America is a remarkable nation, and if seemed to know told me that not one
its people would not claim for it absolute Congressman in ten holds a good social
perfection, and upon the platform, bench, position, home.
or any, at They were
and stage claim for it all the virtues of and associated with politicians,
politicians
time and eternity, its critics would be dis- and only in exceptional instances were
armed. Its splendid men, its noble build- they men of highest cultivation.
ings and cities, its energy and mechanical I had an opportunity to meet many of
skill, mark the Republic as a shining light the " Congressional set," who in default
in human progress, yet when an enterpris- of other game probably preyed socially
ing newspaper owner displayed his mar- upon each other. There were many fine
velous press I could not resist reminding men among them, but the majority were
him that we had printing presses in China, very ordinary clay, and their wives what
books and type, over a thousand years might be expected. My
friend defined
ago, when the buffalo was the " leading them in these words, " good, honest,
citizen " in Washington. home-loving, domesticated women," and
Official society is made up of the wives truth demands the acknowledgment that
of Senators and Representatives, the wives those I saw looked it.
of the judges of the Supreme Court, the The Congressman is elected for two
wives of the heads of great departments years; the salary is small, and really able
and the wives of Army and Navy officers. men, unless rich, cannot afford to take it;
This is entirely distinct from the perma- hence Congressmen are usually place-
nent society of Washington, the old hunting politicians.
families, who have been there for years. The ladies of the Senate —
that is, the
MyAmerican friend posted me on the wives of the Senators —
as a cule, are
many affectations of the ladies who were about the same class, though a degree more
legally equal. arrogant. A Senatorial lady would not
One of the " Cabinet " ladies was par- call on a Congressional lady first, and some
ticularly obtuse, or, as my friend said, im- of the real struggles of American history
possible. Her husband had
been a poor have been to determine the exact position
farmer or something of that kind years of these ladies, who are often so insistent
ago, and he had married a woman who as to involve society in a war of words.
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AMERICAN OFFICIAL SOCIETY 611
The Senator's wives a are all rich, as of the wives of such a Senator. He had
man must be rich, as a rule, to become a made millions, but all their money did not
Senator, as he often, if current report is polish the wife. She was the " holy ter-
to be relied upon, has to buy himself into ror " of the official set. She entertained
office. This is managed by " political dukes, lords and princes of the blood by
bosses," who engage to " land " a candi- mere force of what the Americans call
date, and the boss controls what is known " nerve," and always stood at the head of
as the " sack," and the " sack " controls the line next to her lovely and highly edu-
votes. The Senator is elected by the State cated daughters and " paralyzed the
Legislature, and, in plain English, the guests by the originality of her language
Senators, if dishonest, have a vote for sale and her disregard of any known rules of
on any question. speech." She confided in me one day that
This may appear to be a vicious charge she would write a grammar herself if she
from an alien, who is also a heathen, but had time.
I venture the statement that there is not On the other hand, I have met many
a State Legislature in the Union that has delightful people in " polite official socie-
not at times been influenced, in part, by ty
" —
such men are said to be in politics
" career."
bribes. for a They desire to work
If a rich Senator has had a struggle to upward, as the Presidency is open to
get into office it is assumed in America any native born citizen of the United
that his " money talked." Many of these States.
Senators have been ignorant men miners, — The absurdities of American society
bar-keepers —
men of low instincts, but by strike the alien with especial force, as in
sudden discovery of gold they have be- China and in England every man knows
come rich, and the Senate becomes their his place and keeps it, but in free America
ambition. Sometimes such a Senator even' one does not know his place and
irakes a fair appearance when garbed as strives to climb into the one above. As
a gentleman, and the poor wife, who has a result, there is no peasant class men —
been a laundry woman, is thrust into the are laborers, but their daughters aspire to
limelight of publicity, to make a " spec- be ladies and to ape the rich.
tacle of herself" before the "official so- To my mind, the gravest problem in
ciety." Again, this is reversed, and the America is the impossibility to create a
wife rises to the occasion and completely peasant class that shall riot be ashamed of
overshadows the " Senator." honest peasant labor, a class of labor
I met several Senators' wives in Eng- whose sons will not all aspire to be pro-
land and France, and it was the gossip of fessional men or to live in great cities.
the clubs that the wife was in search of Country life is not encouraged, yet we in
the social recognition obtainable in Eu- China know that the teeming millions in
rope on a cash basis which money would the interior regions provide the sinews of
not buy at home. war and peace.
The most preposterous figure it was Yet when all are equal the building up
ever my good fortune to meet was one of a peasantry is almost impossible.
natural that such a protest as the following should come from the vicinity of
// is
Plymouth Rock. The letter has been forwarded to the Chinese Gentleman, and al
though he has not yet had time to reply, it is to be feared that when he does he wilt
pessimistically compare the Mayflmver's journey to the voyage, renowned in Celestial
song and story, of his famous ancestor, Ki Gow, to the island, Yai Yama, some time
before 2000 B. C. Eoitor. —
Bostov, June 5th, 1906. I. I believe you are a Chinese.
In re your article in The Metropoli- II. I believe you are a gentleman.
tan Magazine. III. I believe you have been admitted
My Dear Chinese Gentleman: into communion with certain people, com-
Why this v is being written only the monly known as members of fashionable
God of the Irresistible Impulse knows. society.
Let there first be recited my articles of Why these things are accepted as facts
faith may be more because of Boston birth and
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612 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
New England training than because of in America, and nowhere are those lines
anything else, since we of the Northeast so easily broken and crossed. The pos-
have less acumen in detecting fakes than session of wealth the writing of a big
;
they of New York or Chicago, who, from selling, though vile and filthy, book; the
brotherly instinct, know a fakir when acting well of a part in a play any of —
they see one. these things will serve, in this extraordi-
You are certainly justified in your re- nary country-, to elevate a person of no
bukes. Those whom you appear to have previous position whatsoever into the high-
met in this country deserve far worse est degree of what you correctly call fash-
than you have written. ionable society and which you wrongly
Your air of " superiority and finality," confound with aristocracy.
while natural attributes of a cultured Surely if you had simply applied the
Oriental mind, might easily be induced in test of your own country's customs to the
the mind of an Occidental by the atmos- qualifications of your social friends here
phere in which you have made your you must have seen your error.
studies and your observations. Was your father a rich rice planter?
Granting you all this, I nevertheless Did he amass a fortune to serve as a
absolutely deny your major premise. The ladder for you two? Are you the most
cleverness of your article is only exceeded popular actor of your time, or did your
by the narrowness of your point of view. sister write a book that sold into twenty
The American society woman, or girl, editions? If you are of the Chinese aris-
is not, in one case out of a thousand, a tocracy, are these the things that made
true aristocrat in any proper sense of the you of it?
word. So far as I am able to judge, you It is not easy to come upon a member
have yet to meet a true American aristo- of our American aristocracy, any more
crat; at least, it is certain your writings than it is easy to " butt in " upon a Chi-
give no hint of your having had that nese mandarin of the highest degree.
elevating experience. Please understand To give you full credit, I think you will
distinctly that I do not mean to intimate know, without being told, when you meet
that it would be necessary for you to come a true American aristocrat.
to Boston to find a specimen of this rare If you resent, or can refute, anything
species. that I have written, and care to express
It is strange that an Oriental mind of your resentment, or to set forward your
such " depth " and containing such " beau- refutation, the editor of The Metropoli-
" should have fallen into so common a
ties tan Magazine can give you my address.
mistake. If you are indifferent, I shall remain
You must have discovered that in no simply,
country in all the world, save perhaps in Sincerely yours,
India, are caste lines drawn so sharply as A Boston ese Gentleman.
APART
BY CURTIS HIDDEN PAGE
How many brooks run by-
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DEAD VIOLETS
BY LEONARD MERRICK
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT EDWARDS
F
you ever want me, So it had grown to be his custom to
to you from the end though what was once an impulse of de-
of the world " he ! votion was now a falsehood the weak- —
had said, and she had ness of a sentimentalist reluctant to wound
answered, " I shall a woman and his self-esteem, by admitting
always want you, but that he had exaggerated the importance of
I shall never write, his feelings. And each December the
and you must never come." She was mar- woman welcomed the lie with smiles and
ried. tearsand believed that he loved her still.
It was in May that they parted ; they When the lie was five years old he met
parted on the day of her confession that she her again. It was in Bond Street, and he
cared for him. The virtue was hers, not had sent the violets to Paris two or three
his; yet because he loved her truly and days before,
realized that she was too good a woman " Phil " !
to defy her conscience and be happy, he As he turned and saw her he thought
acquiesced in her decision —
refrained how much better looking she used to be;
from pleading with her, refrained from she was young still, no more than thirty,
trying to see her again. but she had longed for him on even day
His only indulgence was to send violets of the five years, and her tears had blot-
to her home in Paris for the ninth of De- ted some of the girlishncss from her face,
cembcr; the ninth of December was her As he turned and saw her the woman
birthday, and violets she had once told him thought how^ his mouth had twitched
were her favorite flower. He did not when he said, " I'd come to you from the
scribble any greeting with them, did not end of the world." It is among the un-
even inclose a card he was sure that she
; acknow Icdged truths that sentimentality
would know who sent them, and it light- may much ferment as enduring
create as
ened his pain to feel that she would know, love, and he had suffered even more vio-
Indeed, to recall himself to her thus mute- lently than she, though he hadn't suffered
ly was a joy, the only joy that he had so long.
M
experienced since the day of the " good- What are you doing here in Decerti-
fy
"; almost it was as if he w ere going to ber? You're the last person I should
her, that moment in the London florist's have expected to sec," she said,
when he held the flowers that would reach " I go south to-morrow."
" "
her hands she did not seem so lost to him
; Lucky man !
" "
for the moment, the separation did not And you ?
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BBUEVB THAT SHE WAS STRUGGLING '
t Google
6x6 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
than once she had been tempted to write other women's in the room. In that mo-
to him that her courage had broken down ment Orlebar saw the humiliating truth.
all resistance seemed to have left her as But he didn't want to see.
she stood looking in his eyes again. " It's a long time since we had tea to-
" Flats," she added in a voice of com- gether, Lucy."
posure, " are so abominably dear in Lon- " Yes," she said.
don." "Well? What have you got to tell
" Where are you staying? " me?"
" In apartments Bayswater." — " I think I told you everything in the
" Bayswater must be a change from street ; at least — "
what have you been do-
Neuillv? It was a jolly little place you ing all the time?
u
had in'Neuilly." Trying to kill it."
" It was rather jolly, wasn't it? Mv " You're working in London now, eh ? "
— my husband's people wished us to come " Yes, I've chambers in the Tempi?.
over; they thought they might put him Rather swagger compared with the little
into something over here. Of course, in shanty in the Rue Ravignan! How did
"
Paris it was cheap, but there were no you come to take up journalism ?
prospects." "Some one suggested it and my —
" I understand." twaddle seemed to do. It's pretty sicken-
" There's some talk of a secretaryship ing. I'm not on any of the chic papers
if a company is floated." It was so nat- — they wouldn't stand mr."
ural to be telling him everything now " What's the idea it doesn't pay very
"
—
they had met. " It would be a very good well, does it?
thing for us." " Not on my kind of paper; I get a
«'
I hope it'll come off." guinea a week, but Oh, why should I —
"Yes — well, how are you? I'm al- bore you with all that?"
ways seeing your name 'One of the — " You don't bore me, Lucy."
novels of the year
" '
!
" Well, I I prefer to do it! —
You
" They aren't so good as the novels that don't know everything; his people have
nobody read." never forgiven his marriage they think —
"Not quite. Why?" marriage has handicapped him so badly,
" I'm turning out what's wanted now. and you may be sure they blame me more
One has to live." than him it's always the daughter-in-
;
" Yes —
still, isn't it a pity to to
"
— — law's fault! We've only their allowance
" Oh, one gets tired," he said. " Ideals to live on —
it isn't pleasant to be kept by
"
make lonely dwelling places. Let mc people who resent your existence!
take you somewhere and give vou some " Poor little woman! No, I didn't
tea." know."
" ought to go to some shops; I'm up
I
" Oh,
not so bad as all that! Still.
it is
" Earning it —
I'm doing fashion arti- uncomfortable when I meet them not
cles." such a dead weight. have to go there We
" You? Do you mean it? Well, come to dinner on Sundays, and it's rather aw-
and have some tea first." ful they tell me what a splendid career
;
It was very early and there were vacant he would have had if he hadn't mar-
"
tables in the alcoves. As he sat opposite ried !
months! And now he was sipping his tea that you had things like that to put up
without emotion and observing that her with. 'V ou alwavs seemed so light-hearted
clothes compared unfavorably with the in Paris."
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DEAD VIOLETS 617
" I didn't meet his people in Paris. Be- He knew
dismally that her consent had
sides, things alter in five years." come too late; that there would be noth-
" 1 am so sorry for you, dear." ing now to compensate him for the scandal
" Oh, I dare say it's my fault I sup- !
— no months, or weeks, or even an hour
pose I don't do all I ought to make up of rapture. They got up, and he put the
for what I've cost him; it's difficult to do half-crown on the desk and followed her
all you ought when when " her voice — — into the street.
snapped —
" when you sometimes wish to After they had strolled a few yards in
God that you hadn't done so much " ! silence he said, as it seemed obligatory,
" Perhaps you'd have done better to " You've made me very happy " !
come to me after all," said Orlebar heav- She answered, "I'll try to!" He
ily he couldn't think of anything else to
;
wished that she had said anything else —
say. it was painful.
" I good woman.
tried to I be a " We'd better have a cab. Where shall
thought you'd forget me; / wanted to for- we go — Will you come
to the Temple?
"
you ? Why did you send me those flowers drive there with me."
" " Can you get away in the morning, or
every year ?
" Were you vexed with me for sending shall I put it off? " he asked in the han-
"
them ? som.
" You know I wasn't vexed." " No, I can get away — he won't be
" I'm glad. I sent some to Paris the back till the evening."
other day." " Back from where?"
" Did you? I wondered if you would. " He went down to his people to-day —
I've been rather impatient for my birth- they're in Brighton now. What time's
days. What
a confession a woman im- — the train?"
patient for her birthdays! I never meant
" Ten o'clock —
from Charing Cross I ;
to see vou any more, though. I swore I was going by Folkestone and Boulogne.
"
wouldn't!" Are you a bad sailor?
" But you wanted to, didn't you ? " " No, I like it. We'll meet at Charing
^ "
Her cup was neglected now she leaned Cross, then ?
—
;
back in her chair, her hands clenched in " Yes; in the first-class waiting room
"
her lap. if vou're sure it's not too early for you?
" Didn't you " he repeated.
? " It's all right —
is it real, Phil ? Half
"Oh, don't!" she said in her throat. an hour ago we hadn't seen each other,
" I can't bear it, Phil!" and now —
it's to be all our lives! Oh, I
"
"What?" hope vou'll never be sorry I wonder? !
while he sat wishing that he hadn't said it. we care for each other." he said.
The waitress
asked if they required At the club he ordered a big whiskey
anything else and put the check on the and a small soda.
table and took her tip. The place was " You're off to Rome soon, aren't
filling and a " ladies' orchestra " began to you ? " said a man in the smoking room.
twang their mandolins. " You novelists have all the luck! "
" Do you want me? " she said, raising 4
Yes," said Orlebar. The man was
her eves. the editor of a daily paper; it occurred to
"Do I 'want' you?" What else the novelist that he was about to provide
could he reply? the paper with some surprising copy,"
" Very well, then." She nodded. "I'll also that the editorial greeting would be
go ! Let's get out of this — do you mind ? less informal when they met again.
My head aches." And his boob? The sale of his next
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6i8 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
books would drop in this virtuous country. no longer seemed so hopelessly impossible
If she had been " Lady " Somebody the to conceal his regret, and when he strode
public would have called the case " ro- into the station it was with a very fair
mantic " it—would have been a big show of impatience. But his heart leaped
advertisement then —
but without the as he saw that she wasn't there. He sat
glamour of a title they would only call it on a couch, glancing alternately at the
" disgraceful." clock and the doors and praying that she
When he woke in the morning Orlebar wouldn't come.
remembered that there ought to be a half She entered just as he was feeling san-
bottle of Pommery in the bath room ami . guine.
he had it in lieu of tea, with some biscuits. "My darling! " he murmured; " here
The wine lightened his mood a little; it you are
could say little more than, " How pale you didn't know what a wrench it would
are!" and, "Which are your trunks?" be — "
Then they were alone, and the door had " You'll get over it."
been slammed, and the train moved out. " I'm not sure. Perhaps I shall al-
" Darling " he said again. " Well ? "
"
! ways —
do you think I've made a mis- —
"
Well ? take?" Again she waited breathlessly. If
"It seems too good to be true." His he would only seize her in his arms If he !
tone was lifeless. would only cry, " Let them all go to the
" Does it."" devil, and remember met"
" Doesn't it to you?" " If you feel like that," he said feebly,
"I think it's true," she said with a " of course, I hardly I —
hardly know
tired smile. what I can say to you."
"How vou are!" he repeated.
pale " You can't think of anything to say? "
" Didn't you sleep?" she pleaded. " There's nothing
"
nothing —
" Not much. I've been wondering." I'm overlooking?
"Wondering? What?" " There's time one gets over anything
;
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620 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
up about it. Go
back and make the best he strove to acquire a manner of tender
of a bad business —
it'll be easier for you gravity she discerned the improvement in
to bear than the other, anyhow! We'll his spirits every time he spoke.
see about a train for you as soon as we Her train arrived in town at a few min-
get in." utes to four, and she re-entered the lodg-
At Folkestone Harbour they ascertained ing house some hours earlier than her
that there would be an express to Charing husband. The fire had gone out, and
Cross at two o'clock, and he paced the she had to wait, shivering, till it was
platform with her till it was time to say lighted before she could burn the note
M
good-by.' Exhilaration had given him she had left on the mantelpiece for him.
an appetite, but she answered that she A little box addressed to her had been
wasn't hungry, so as he had missed his delivered during her absence. When the
boat he decided to drive to a hotel on the servant left her at last she dared to touch
I^eas and have an elaborate luncheon when it, and fell to sobbing as if her heart would
she had gone. His glances at the playbill! burst. It contained the violets Orlebar
on the walls showed him that San Toy had sent in token of his love.
was at the Pleasure Gardens, and he fore The box had been redirected from
saw himself cheerfully among the audience Paris. Owing to the delay the violets,
in the evening. He was feeling, on a sud- now that they had reached her, were quite
den, twenty years younger, and hard as dead.
Lank an' long an' lean o' limb — Look at Tim Tuck size up his man
That's him! An' sc: n
And Joe, his trainer, with a side The quickest place to land him one
()' pride, In fun,
Like he was father of a kid! An' kind o' draw him out a bit!
The work both night and day? The winners when the pace is set,
way —
Well, say!
"Get into it! I like your luck,
Tim Tuck!"
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^
Edited by Homer Snint-Gtiudens.
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JOBI CHAN' HUM MARKS AT HB Hi Ml tN ATLANTA. GEORGIA
still clings to that old-fashioned custom Brother Fox," July number of this
in the
of wearing his hat in the house. No one periodical, and " Th? Most
Beautiful
would wish him to do otherwise, for it Bird in the World," which
will appear in
is this very flavor of by-gone days in his August issue, present an excellent example
writings that holds the readers of his ear- of that mellow and lasting brand in litera-
liest tales still faithful to his- later yarns ture that earns its undisturbed nook in the
in The Metropolitan Magazine. In- heart of its public, quite in contrast with
deed, such stories as " How Brother the more hectic and more temporary fame
44
Rabbit Brought Family Tr<> :blc on achieved by the best sellers" of the day.
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THE WORLD AT LARGE 623
In Atlanta Mr. Harris is making for him- the good fortune to be able to take
self a literary shrine, despite his modesty advantage of a natural hole in the
and unconscious simplicity. ground. The entrance to the cave frcm
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624 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
it was shown apart from a half that clear the inevitably sad result of army
dozen sculptors, whose position demands men stepping outside their bailiwick to
that they receive their commissions di- countermand the judgment of men who
rectly, there arc an equal number of art- have devoted their lives to producing good
sculpture. When the American people,
and therefore the American press, reaches
a point where it will insist upon fair and
open contests, adequately judged, in such
cases, the present tendency toward good
results in our art at large will at once re-
ceive an encouraging impetus.
that owns
to tend the wheel of the largest vessel of
ists unusual creative power, besides
of
kind in the world. It is reported that
many younger men of ability, who can its
with —
com- she acquitted herself gracefully
reach their public only through such
Since many of the statues an* the help of two sailors.
petitions.
is but natural that
military
of soldiers, it
bodies hold control of the committees
The people of the United States, more
of awards. Hut these officers have yet to
good especially those of German extraction,
learn that though often the; may be
are with a liking for raw meat in various
fighters, even more frequently they
The Von Steuben and Ma- forms, have learned that their lives must
bad artists.
new
be subject to the inconvenience of a
comb competitions exhibit the excellent
the food bugbear. No one has ever enter-
results that can be obtained by placing
tained any foolish notions about the beauty
arangement of details and power of award
acknowledged of a slaughter-house. No one has ever
in the hands of sculptors of
liked to think of such things. Yet prob-
worth. The failure of such a work as
moment most every
Sherman statue in Washington makes ably at the present
the
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THfc R. C Rtl'KMPIK. Tilt MCT.rtT Jtn.lNfi VrSSBL AFLOAT
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THE WORLD AT LARGE 627
such a fete as a skee jumping contest un- at Thirty-fourth street. The line that
harassed by the slightest fear of any stray has its structure nearest completion is
bomb. the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western,
whose Hohokcn sheds need scarcely more
With the young Jay Gould leadin g the than a roof to be finished. The Penn-
amateur ranks of court tennis, and with sylvania Railroad is still digging at its
twenty-year old William Hoppe
carrying allbefore him in his
professional province of balk-
line billiards, the past months
have furnished renewed exam-
ples of the fact that the province
of active sport belongs to youth.
Chess, or games requiring de-
liberation, and placing a pre-
mium on the results of long ex-
perience, by nature are the rec-
reations of the mature. But a
contest that demands either agil-
ity of body or clearness of eye
and balance of nerves must look
to the pliability and freshness of
younger men. Both Gould and
Hoppe have won all of their
victories while retaining the
good feeling of the ousted cham-
pions. That should be so, as
otherwise there is nothing left
for age but to quarrel with na-
ture over its forcing all human
beings toward their legitimate
development and decline.
TIIK THAIS NHFON Of TM» l>H tWAKK. LAC hlWAV.I A WEST Hit* UAH-ROM)
nearly adequate to deal with
their passing crowd within the next few tunnel and blasting at its foundations, but
years, on the completion of such new when the New York station has been com-
buildings as those for the New York Cen- pleted the passenger rooms will reach al-
tral, and the New York, New Haven most four blocks in one direction and two
& Hartford Railroads, at Forty-second blocks in another. The appearance of the
street, and for the Pennsylvania Railroad, Station will not resemble am other of its
\ Google
YOU SABE ME
BY WALLACE IRWIN
BASED ON A TRUE EPISODE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO FIRE
ILLUSTRATED BY GORDON ROSS
The roots of the town, and the Reaper Serving-man, cook, and waiter,
Mowed us with flame — then I saw Roust-about, general slob —
The faith of a Race that's deeper That's what the Chinee-hater
Than any Exclusion Law. Calls " taking a white man's job."
Who, from their fat positions, Bong was the Home Protection,
Mentioned " the white man's share." And held his position high.
The white man's right to bully Gentle he was with the baby —
The race with the braided queue — Never was cross or grim.
Kick 'em from boat to alley, Used to explain. " Oh, maybe
Cheat 'em bench and pew. "
in I catchem liT gal like him!
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'
THE BAY LIKE A BROKEN MIRROR GLARED TO THE SMOKING SKY
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632 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
When I left for the office early, How I tore to the station,
Then I'd chuckle to Bong, "You Chinker, We squeezed in the trains like cattle
Take care of 'em both, d'ye see? " Packed in the slaughter-stall
So the coolie would grin like a tinker And when we pulled out of Seattle
And answer, " You sabe me! " The night was beginning to fall.
Bong, though his head was level, Traveling men and sailors,
And sneered at the " Christian joss." Touts from the Coast resorts,
He learned from the heathen sages Spoke of their homes like brothers
III.
II.
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634 THE METROPC TAN MAGAZINE
Twenty-four hours at the ferries "He had brought them food from the
ruins,
I searched the mad thousands through.
And seemed to be keeping house.
Haggard and wan I looked upon, Squat on his heels he was cooking their
Beggars, burdened with riches, Bong's face was black from the burning,
Muttered and toiled ahead — But his grin it was good to see,
When I called from the throng, '
Take
I called aloud in the face of the crowd,
care of 'cm, Bong!
"
Who looked with the eyes of the dead. And he answered, ' You sabe me! '
Then some one spoke from the clamor This was my neighbor's story.
With a voice that I seemed to know, And well you may understand
" They are safe back there on Portsmouth How I could not speak till the tears from
Square — my cheek
They were warm under cover, And of all the pure Christian blessings
IV.
the child,
" I fctchem — you sabe me! "
THE BALL AND THE BRACELET
BY HOMER SA I NT-G A U D ENS
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARL N. WERNTZ
CAN'T play bad golf, bracelet at the end of the match. For-
becauseevery one tunately she had learned also that Mr.
knows my game, but Hecht, the good-humored, the coarse, the
if I'd guessed earlier persistent,had carried to her father his
that Mr. Hecht was suit of her, which she had so carefullv
the donator of that avoided, and that the two had concocted
bracelet, with little this scheme to catch her love napping.
me for the victim, I'd " Teddy, you should watch Mr. Hecht
have failed in the preliminaries." Sit- stare atme," she exclaimed, coming out of
ting beneath the hemlocks by the first tee, her reverie.
Beatrice looked up at Teddy from under " Docs Mr. Lewis mind, I presume? "
"
her wide brimmed straw hat, and fero- " No, he does not. Why
should he?
ciously rattled her bag of sticks. " ' Cause, ain't you an' he been keepin'
Teddy did not seem impressed. Teddy company some sence you put mc behin' th'
"
only hunched his suspenders over his blue bunkers so much, I dunno?
linen shirt to show that he was man,
a Beatrice tweaked Teddy's ear.
for suspenders are not really needed on " Anyhow, Sallv Keenan ought to beat
ragged short trousers. Then he grinned me!"
and replied: " Sally wants to. Ever seen Sally look
" Send them over the bunker and there at Mr. Hecht? Don't know why she
won't be no trouble, I suspect. Never cares, though, even if she scores in the
had use for Mr. Hecht, anyhow. Wears red-headed class. Mr. Hecht couldn't
a safety pin under his tie." hit a puffball! Here they be! Gimme
Beatrice adjusted her rather elaborate that!"
and immaculate bolero jacket. She cer- Teddy
snatched the bag from her hand,
tainly did not look like a girl who could and extracted a ball and the driver, which
play accurate golf, though her reddish he presented to his mistress before start-
brown cheeks contrasted with her blue ing off.
eyes and matched her dark hair in a " Mind you get it over the bunker,"
fashion that suggested more or less fa- he called back as he ran towards the long
miliarity with the out of doors. mound that skirted the plateau, a hundred
M
And if you tell Henry Lewis or any and ten yards away.
one else how I heard my Dad and Mr. Beatrice looked down at the crowd
Hecht fixing up this plan to give that gathering on the club porch below, and
bracelet for the ladies' match, which I'd then gazed away over the brown and
be sure to win, I'll — I'll drive a ball into green New England hills fading up the
your back." valley in the haze-laden distance. She
Teddy looked wise. smiled when she remembered the excite-
" I dassant tell Mr. Lewis! " Here he ment that had spread among those girls of
winked. " I don't want to tell no one the city colony when the announcement
else. You ain't gone on Mr. Hecht, I appeared that a bracelet had been put up
guess." anonymously as a prize for the winner of
Beatrice flushed, for she had just heard the ladies' tournament. Then she rose
her father and Mr. Hecht discussing their as the gallery came up the path, her
dramatic plan to reveal the latter's iden- opponent, Sally, in the lead. As always,
tity as the anonymous donator of the Sally's stocky figure was the personifi-
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BEATKIUL LOOKED UP . . . FROM UNDER A \VI DE BRI MM I l> DTRAW HAT"
THE BALL AND THE BRACELET 637
cation of hot though cautious energy, shot that landed at a fascinating distance
with, for its banner, her flaming red hair, on the near side of the bunker. Henry
untaught by any hat, and tumbled to the meanwhile had come close to Beatrice,
last degree. It was strange, Beatrice and now whispered to her as he patted
thought, that despite the furious gossip the little tower of sand for her ball.
which had been maintained as to who was " Play a snappy game and you are sure
the giver of the bracelet, only the uncom- to take your lead
"
—
municative Sally had guessed the right Beatrice looked at him and smiled
man. It was even more strange that gently.
now after beating all in their respective " I'll do my best to deserve your confi-
strings, they were to meet in this final dence, Henry. I've been the happiest of
round, Sally, who wanted most of all to pupils."
win, and she, who wished before every- " And I of teachers," he went
otv -
thing else to lose. " What's that wiggly mark on the
Close behind her adversary, though out ball?" she queried, feeling that the situa-
of breath, followed the beaming Mr. tion was becoming over tense.
Hecht, dressed in the latest and most vio- " That," said Henry, pointing to the
lently cut and colored sporting suit that red design that resembled a miniature
could be procured in the city. Open in water-wheel more than anything else.
his right hand he carried a red velvet- " that's a sphastica. I put it there for
lined box containing the bracelet of a luck. So don't lose your nerve, if you
brand most emphatic in the display of its love me."
costly charms. " I do love you. You do love me,"
"Ladies and gentlemen! Oh, ladies thought Beatrice, swinging her club.
and gentlemen " he puffed to the more
! Then with a gentle click the ball rose
leisurely members of the gallery. " The through theair and cleared the bunker.
donator of this bracelet has suggested to "There's your shoulders," called Mr.
me such a poetic idea! I shall drop the Hecht. " Never touched the brush of
trifling bit of jewelry in the last hole, so that hurdle."
that the charming young lady who wins Beatrice glanced up. Curiously enough,
the match may take out the prize with the radiant Mr. Hecht was patting the
her ball. You can be sure that the giver's back of Henry, who also muttered a
"
heart will go with such a well-earned cheerful " Good luck!
gift." Here he gazed quickly at Sally Immediately after they were all walk-
and long at Beatrice. " Now, get a wig- ing forward, and Beatn'ce found herself
gle on. beside her father.
Beatrice turned away in disgust. It " Better not lose this match." he re-
was a relief to let her eyes rest on those marked earnestly; " there's more than the
of Henry, who had spent the summer prize depending upon it. Mr. Hecht has
teaching her a perfect golf form, and told me that he loves you, and that he
a clean, effortless game. Mr. Hecht's put up the bracelet for you to win He's !
hold out to Beatrice two badly sunburned blow to parent and lovers. Sally's
fists. ball lay the distance of a good approach
" Choose," she said laconically. shot from the urecn, but Teddy stood
Beatrice chose and lost. Sally stepped ruthfully scratching his head above when*
to the tee, and led off with a cautious the sphastica-marked sphere nestled in the
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THE BALL AND THK BRACELET 639
roots of an elm that stood beside the she led, and with equal despondency when
fair green. she lost; how they vied with each other
" Well,
it's your luck 'taint a wood- in carrying her sticks up the hill when
chuck's hole, or it might have gone down Teddy was ahead, and how they would
there, mention," he remarked philoso-
I have taken turns at teeing her ball, had
phically to Beatrice as he handed her a she permitted it. But she allowed her-
niblick. self the gratification of insisting that
" Sh-h," she whispered, bending over Henry alone could accompjish this prop-
her shot. " Look at Mr. Lewis and Mr. erly.For Henry regarded her in silence,
Hecht watching me." holding her heart in his still, blue eyes,
"Both look peaked," commented whereas Mr. Hecht could not but give
Teddy. vent to his excitement in the glowing
In two strokes the ball came out to a terms of the metropolis.
position beside that of Sally, but the han- "Ain't it a gamble! Ain't it worth
dicap proved fatal. Beatrice evinced no the money even if she does get pulled!
chagrin, however, for on the following Why, she makes Miss Kcenan look like
hole her brilliant play made good the defi- a crab " she heard him whisper to her
!
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640 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
He rose and stepped back. Henry and Mr. Hecht. Another shot
" You don't know what's good for you, was from a bad lie, but she used her
Henry, or you wouldn't be so anxious." brassey, regardless of consequences, with
Bw.it net,smiled at him. excellent results. She saw her two lovers
"
1 know what's pood for us," he an- shaking hands in joyous excitement, while
swered, as he watched the sunlight filter- Sally plodded on as thoughtfully as ever,
ing through the pine branches over her to lose by two strokes.
white dress. " If I didn't I'd say things But the follow ing stretch offered a new
— things that I long to say all through. proposition. At the correctly uncomfort-
You don't realize how pretty you look. able distance before the driving point rose
That hat shades your cheeks and eyes, but a short but high grass bank. Sally, as
your mouth and chin —
Oh, drive that usual, passed by the left of the obstacle,
ball!" he finished, running towards the purposely sacrificing a stroke, while, after
crowd below. her own fashion, Beatrice sent her ball
She drove. The ball cleared the hill- directly towards the bunker. little A
top, and disappeared from sight, with puff of dust rose from the top of the
Teddy scampering in its wake. The pro- bunker, and a patch of white gleamed
cession climbed the rise. Sally used her in a snug and impossible corner at its
brassey for a clean shot over the crest, and foot. Thereat the lovers stood silent and
then Mr. Hecht led the others in a race mournful. Father toyed nervously with
up the grade. his beard. The gallery looked bored.
" And
she never turned a hair to get Sally hardly kept from changing counte-
that drive over. But she'd droop like a nance. But Beatrice and Teddy, with a
dcwladen daisy if you put your arm combined laugh, rushed down the dip
around her," Beatrice heard him say. from the tee, and racing for the hazard
" That's the sort of girl for me," an- hopped on its top to await the others with
swered Henry; "always full of life, the cheeriest of smiles.
always cool, always pretty." "Where's the joke?" glumlv asked
"
Never sits with her knees apart and Mr. Hecht.
her wind broken," went on Mr. Hecht " Here," called Beatrice, pointing to
till his voice died in gasps. the ball " first try I've missed to-day."
;
The crest was reached, and the view And the remark seemed to bring renewed
disclosed Sally's caddy standing by her mirth to both her and the boy, until
ball fifty yards down the slope, and Teddy Henry came up and stood close to them.
seated on a bit of quartz outcrop, sobbing " Take the game steady, girl," he ar-
in his hands. gued softly. " You can't w in in such a
" Your ball's in the lake," he gurgled ; spirit.
" struck this durn stone — only one in the Beatrice looked at him. " Henry, you're
" Go back and play
field! I'm a hoodoo! Better throw me dense," she sniffed.
"
in the pond ! with your friend Hecht."
Then, overcome by his grief, he suited Henry looked puzzled. " He wants
the action to the word, and, regardless you to win as much as I."
of dripping clothes, plunged after the " I know it! I know it! That's why
ball as it floated from the bank. The I like to make him suffer! See him
sphere was dropped in its place, and the clutching that prize in his pudgy fist. He
game went on, with the gallery walking never looks at Sally poor Sally!— But
disconsolately to the hole, and even Sally he's been offering it to me all the way
conscious that a fly struggled in the oint- round." Then she turned her back to
ment of her success. use her mashie. She succeeded, as always,
" You've got four more chances," she yet Sally had gained her lead and held
remarked to Beatrice as she joined her it to the end. Beatrice was one down
at the tee, " and every one knows you're and two to play. Then again she came
the better player." to her own, and the score stood a tic at
For the next hole the luck shifted. the next to the last green.
Beatrice took a risky chance at a sand " Ain't it a gamble," Mr. Hecht mut-
bunker. The ball cleared it properly, tered. " There's a girl who'll land in the
while she noticed a smile on the faces of finish and never loosen her starch."
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642 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Henry glanced " I suppose that's
up. father allows me to say that I love that
because you never land, and your starch wrist. I love that waist. 1 would clasp
is always loose?
" he asked. it, too. Will you accept the bracelet as
" Exactly," answered Mr. Hecht, good a token —
as a token as a token — — "
" We're not there yet." closest finish I ever saw. Worth all
grasped her club and looked
Sally kinds of a gamble! " He crossed to Bea-
thoughtfully at the corner of the trees. trice. " I am sorry," be went on. shaking
Evidently she struggled with temptation, her hand. " Damn it — it's your match
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644 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
donor, Henry came up to Beatrice as she " You you shbuld have won," she
see,
stood alone watching the congratulations said in a tone, " but the Fates were
low
being given her rival. kind to me, and and — —
1 wanted to so
" I'd have sworn that the ball fell much, because —
and, besides, I don't be-
here," he muttered. " Beatrice, I'm ever lieve you did."
" It's
so sorry, for you've made me such a happy Beatrice squeezed her hand.
summer that I wanted it to bring the very- your game," she answered. " I wish you
"
best ending to you! "luck."
Beatrice looked up at him. " Do you Then Beatrice and Henry did not re-
"
wish that with all your heart? join the crowd on the last green, but
" With all my heart." started home together through the still
" Then can't you see that I didn't want backroads. For a .time they said nothing
to — that I didn't mind losing this match, to each other, though somehow they had
and that you can make me happy if you come to a point where they walked hand
care. The sphastica is luckier than you in hand.
think." " You did win for this summer, after
" Can I? " said Henry, drawing closer. all — yet I don't quite understand," softly
" Is it?" remarked Henry at last.
A contented smile spread over Bea- " Don't you?" said Beatrice, squeezing
trice's face. " Look out! " she exclaimed, his fingers.
backing away. " Here comes Sally." There was a rustling in the bushes be-
Sally walked slowly toward them, hot, side the road, and Teddy crawled out
dishevelled, triumphant, with the bracelet into the grass-grown track.
41
on her wrist. Gee, but I had to cut cross th' pas-
" I'm obliged for a very pleasant game," ture to catch you folks," he grinned.
she said, holding out her hand. I don't
" 44
Here's the thing she played with. We
feel that I deserve to win, though I am ain't allowed to keep them, I suspect."
proud to do so, for you show much the Beatrice pounced upon the boy, snatched
best golf. My ball still lies over there. the ball from his grass-stained fingers, and
Won't you place another here, and play examined the much-scarred sphastica.
" 44
out the hole, just for fun? See it, Henry!" she exclaimed.
44
" Thank you," said Beatrice, taking a When I learned just before this last
ball from her bag and dropping it where game that Mr. Hecht gave
the bracelet,
she stood, as Sally turned away. intending to win my —
my esteem, we
" Yes, go on," agreed Henry, " and planned it out, Teddy and I, that every
win —
for our summer." time the ball went over the horizon he
Beatrice flushed happily. " I'll win if was to throw it in the drain, or in the
I am able —
for our summer. But, boy, lake, or in something convenient. So
I lost — for our summer — too." when the ball got lost on the last hole I
"don't understand," replied Henry.
I knew that young Napoleon had taken
"Don't you?" remarked Beatrice, chance by the forelock. Teddy," she con-
making a beautiful approach shot to the eluded, " I'm going to kiss you
44
edge of the green. Naw, don't!" he cried, struggling
Sally sent her ball to the same locality, manfully. But she did.
and they both holed out in two puts, with Then Henry came over beside her and
Beatrice in the lead. Again Sally came smiled as he placed his arm gently around
41 "
over to Beatrice. her waist, saying, Kid, skip!
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IBSEN AND THE CIRCUS
BY JAMES HUNEK.ER
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS
" It's early mid-summer," he curtly re- yer — No, I confessed to myself, I
—
!
plied. Wc were silent. I hail revolved had not been to the circus for let me
a scheme for telling the story of the Ibsen see — how many years? At
least twenty
plays without adding to my reader's per- or thereabouts. tame cats away
Critics are
sonal discomfort. It was to be called. from their regular haunts, and I hold to
"Ibsen on Ice"; but evidently the edi- this, though Mr. Brady believes the re-
torial temper was not propitious. He verse. In the playhouse, armed with our
spoke little hammers, we are as brave as
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ri Will HIS.. lli'KM MISHIT
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IBSEN AND THE CIRCUS 647
" Have you ever seen Hedda Ga- knew Hedda Gabler. Why didn't I ask
bier?" I Rosa Wedsted, the
asked of her about Rosmersholm ? Rebekka West
Finland giantess. We
were wedged in had Finnish blood in her veins! Careful,
front of the long platform at the Garden,
upon which were Krao, the missing link;
Mile. Ani, the snake enchantress;' Lion-
elle,the lion-faced boy; Marie, the Eng-
lish fat girl —
oh! so fat; the human
skeleton, the Welsh giant, the Lillipu-
tians, tattooed man, iron-skull man,
dancers, jugglers, gun-spinners, lady musi-
cians, and the three-legged boy. The
noise was terrific, the air dense with the
aura of humanity. I was enjoying this
" bath of multitude," as poor Charles
Baudelaire called it, when the confounded
Ibsen idea popped out of my mouth. The
largest lady in the world regarded me
coldly.
" No, I don't care for Ibsen. Shoo!
Shoo! Sardou for mine," she said. I
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648 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
careful — this obsession must be
Ibsen that time, and 1 have been reading Horace
overcome, else will I be inquiring of the Traubel lately, hence the excusable lapse
giraffes if neck or nothing is the symbol
of Brand — All or Nothing, of course —
How stupid
Among the animals I regained my equi-
hearted aunt —
she is in Paradise now, I
hope; again my heart tugged like a bal-
loon at moorings, as the clowns leaped
into the ring, grimacing, chortling and
altogether fascinating me with their in-
humanity. One nerds the pen of Brother
Henry Watterson —
the eloquent pen of
his Maison Felix days, and, above all, his
flow of sentiment —
to describe those glo-
rious years, when we were so desperatelv
unhappy. But other days, other ways. I
A GUNMAN TIMW.EH
sighed as I tore myself loose from the pre-
know sounds like bad Walt Whit-
this hensile trunk of a friendly baby elephant
manese, but Walt lived in Camden at a:.d passed into the huge auditorium,
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IBSEN AND THE CIRCUS 649
where once Gilmore and SeidI had played. pleasure, and I felt sorry for him.
Child-
Ah! the sad, bad, glad, dear, dead tire- hood is ever anarchistic. But I only had
one collar, and it was well that the matter
ended thus.
Hurrah! Here they come! A goodly
band. The
clowns, the clowns! Some
hieraticowl of wisdom has said that the
clown is the epitome of mankind. He
certainly stands for something, this " full-
fledged fool," as T. Hamilton, the Bard
of Alliteration, and Programme Book has
" Surcharged with the Roe of
it. Fun,"
is a happy phrase. Odd's fish ! There is
only one Hamilton. And what a Rabe-
names, these mcrrv clowns:
laisian list of
The musical clown, Bumpkin, August
clown, German Broadface, Tumbling
Pantaloon, Grimacer, Odd Zany Zany —
is good ! —
the Hot One, Cracker Jack,
Austrian Looby, Zoon, Funny Rustic,
AK EQUESTRIENNE
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650 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Pierrot, and Merry Andrew!
If the Bolossy Kiralfy's " Peace," America's Im-
years have passed these lively rascals and mortal Triumph, doesn't interest me in the
least. I dislike allegories, particularly at
a circus. A
symbol I can wrestle with.
An allegory, a pageant of the nations,
Japan and Russia shaking hands, is a
hollow mockery, for open-mouthed bu-
colics — I will have none of it. [Still,
the girls were pretty — what I didn't sec
of them.]
It was with relief, after more bellman-
ship from the man in the silk hat and
premature spiketail coat, that we saw the
elephants majestically enter. Then the
horses. And the show was really let
loose. Tumblers and wire-walkers;
women who stood on their heads and
smiled; plastic poseurs; Oriental jugglers:
Dallie Julian and Fred Wedgett, who
would be invaluable in a park runaway,
for they jump all over their carriage and
horses as if earth had lost its power of
gravitation ; men and women mid-air
risked their necks on trapeze and rope
when they swung to the tap of the drum
and launched themselves like human pro-
jectiles, read a programme advertise-
I
'
WOMRN MID-AIR "
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IBSEN AND THE CIRCUS 651
natural. If he fell — well, Mr. Schift family of acrobats stir the pulse; but it
would not feel the strain in the Japanese is the jockey races, the Roman chariot
loan. But those white women
and white lads, they are of our
race. It would hurt us if they
were hurt. I'm only writing
what most people feel, hut do
not say; just as some go to see
dips of death and other diver-
sions on the rim of eternity,
with the faint, unexpressed hope
that something may happen, ex-
actly what, one does not dare to
formulate. The Englishman
who followed the circus longing
to see the educated lion eat the
uneducated lady was not, we
have been assured, disappointed.
The lady was eaten, the lion
shot, and the Englishman dis-
1=1
appeared. What an amateur of
delicate sensation that gentle-
man was, like Nero, Napoleon,
Jack the Snipper, De Quincey,
Dr. Parkhurst, and Hedda —
— no.no! Not Hedda! Perish
Hedda, and let us return to our
equestrians! The Vorlops, Pa-
risian whirlwind dancers, de-
light our sense of rhythm and
BASE BACK RIMHS
terns as they madly dance. An Italian more sensible. Then The Limit, " Le
652 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Tourbillon de mort," came crashing
la the various spectacles, ear-drums fatigued
down the incline, turned a summersault by the blare and bang of the monster
band, my collar ruined by Johnnie's shoe-
maker, my temper in rags from the pant-
ing, struggling army of fellow-beings, I
and landed with a harsh thud. " The had written a dozen obituaries of the Bard
King of Terrors " can be always cheated of Christiania and the Land of the Mid-
of his prey on these mechanical terms. It night Whiskers. [This joke is of 1904
is the woman who goes aloft on a trapeze vintage, as Oliver Herford will testify.]
and, swallow-like, darts through space to For me pattern et circenses and Walt.
death — or the nets. It recalled the Next month I shall discuss the Cemetery
thrilling scene in " Ghosts," when Regina Drama in Lapland. Until then, so long!
drinks the " property " champagne! You see, Whitman has finally expelled
But enough ! Filled up to the eyes with Ibsen from my cortical cells!
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Google
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FIERCE AND BLOODTHIRSTY TERRORS OF THE AFRICAN JUNGLES
TWO BUSINESS LETTERS —
BY ANNE WARNER
HEY were both em- I'm .writing now. My guest is a nice
inently business men feHow — rather and prosaic, but a
fat
one was only in good sort; however, won't waste time
I
town for twenty- discussing his build and temper.
four hours, the other " Your letter that should have come
had taken him to his by yesterday's mail didn't reach me till
club for lunch. The this morning, and I was blue and worried
native was forty and all night in consequence. I always think
tall and spare; the visitor was forty-five that you are ill. I get so wretched over
and rather stout. One was a widower the mere fancy that I don't dare even
and one was a bachelor, both were hur- contemplate what would become of me if
ried and pressed for time even for— you should really find yourself unable to
lunch time. write some day. If you could have seen
"You'll want to wash," said the host how restless and anxious I was last night
hospitably, " I'll go into the writing- you would understand how earnestly I
room and draft that telegram while you mean this. Please, darling, do not forget.
go- " When the letter did appear this
" No, I washed and brushed at the morning, took precedence over a big
it
hotel before I came over," said the other, business mail and I had hard work bring-
" but I'll come in with you and make a ing myself back to the consideration of
list of those schedules while I have them market values, I can assure you.
clear in my head." " If this rush is over by the end of next
" All right," said the first. They went week, I am promising myself three days'
in and sat down at two desks that had a vacation, and where do you suppose I
high dividing partition between them. contemplate spending them ? You'd never
The host then seized a sheet of paper, guess, and I'll never tell until I know
and wrote: that I am positively coming.
" My Dear Little Girl: " Do you know, sweetheart, that
" I have a man fromout of town to luncheon is ordered —
that we have to be
lunch and if don't write you now I
I somewhere at two o'clock, and that I am
know I shan't have a minute later. That supposed to be writing a telegram?
wouldn't do, you know and I know, so Well, it's so, and for that reason I must
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'
662 FANTASIES
stop. Don't be cross about such a short wrote a love letter in his life —
you'd
note, dear — it brings the usual amount wonder, too, if you could see him.
of love. "If I can get a spare quarter of an
" Yours always, hour this afternoon, I'm going to get you
a bracelet that I saw in a window. It's
"
Are you done ? " he asked the guest. quite the prettiest trifle I've seen in ages.
".Yes, oh yes, almost," said the other I have the name of the jeweller so I can
man, " I'll just run my eye over the write for it anyway, and you'll let me try
figures once more," — and this was what it on — won't you ? and —
he re-read hastily: " Bother take that fellow, he's finished
" My Very Own his telegram and is ready to go. Can't
11
I'm here all safe and a beastly trip — write any more, dearest.
was honestly glad that the day was not " A thousand kisses from
i< >>
come that you would be forced to share
it with me. For you will share every "Figures right?" asked the host so-
trip with me, won't you? —
it's what I'm licitously.
living towards, you know —
you and I " Seems so," rejoined the guest.
everywhere together forever. " I'll go and send this and be back in
" I'm here to lunch —
the guest of the one second," said the host, " I never like
man I came to arrange things with. He's to leave a telegram to the waiters."
a good sort —
lean and conventional as He hurried out. When he was gone
they make them. I dare say that his the guest felt in his pocket and found his
blood is red, but he don't give one that smallest change was a dollar.
impression. Odd, how few men really " Here," he said to the boy who stood
live, isn't it?But we owe him a debt all at the door, " get a two-cent stamp for
the same, for it was his wanting to write this and get it into the box in a hurry.
a telegram that gave me a chance to You can have what's over."
write this letter. I wonder if he ever Then they lunched.
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FANTASIES 663
THF OCTOPUS
My friend! observe the Octopus! For, being well supplied with arms,
He doesn't make a lot of fuss, He has no need to writhe and twist,
When on the organ he performs, This double action organist.
/. M. Condi
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66 4 FANTASIES
A mother's always fussing when a fellow A mother's always fussing when you're
wants to climb; starting out to play;
She's 'fraid he'll fall and hurt himself, She thinks you'll get run over if you hurry
11
and says, Some other time." 'cross the way
She's 'fraid to have him coast down hill, She's 'fraid to have you go too near the
for fear he'll break a limb ; fountain in the Park,
And just because he might get drowned And, mercy! how she worries if you stay
he must not learn to swim. out till it's dark.
FANTASIES 665
A mother's always fussing when you're A mother's always fussing, even on the
visiting the Zoo, holidays;
And if you go too near a cage she'll catch The Christmas Tree's not lighted up, for
right hold of you. fear you'll get ablaze
And when you're at the window she says, She'll only give you, on the Fourth, torpe-
" Don't lean out too far " ;
does, caps and such
She never lets you go alone on train or And, goodness! on Thanksgiving Day she
"
trolley car. says, " Don't eat too much!
DANGEROUS.
I wonder how 'twould seem to have a
mother who don't fuss?
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666 FANTASIES
Digitized by Googl
Silver
ior Gilts
Silveris the first thought
when considering gifts for any
season or occasion.
Silver is the one thing that permits of
duplication —
any amount being acceptable.
No more graceful compliment can be extended than
an offering of rich silver, elegant in design, perfect in taste,
and in the newest shapes.
JJBlJOAm
as a dentifrice, is tin- children's
delight. It is also a blessing,
as the delicious flavor and
fragrance makes the opera-
* Hon of cleaning their teeth
«i pleasure to them. There
is no age limit to it s benefits
SAMPLE FREE
THE HOSTAGE
OR, ALONG THE POTOMAC
A ONE-ACT PLAY
Dramatis Persons.
IEUTENANT-COLONEL WINTHROP BARTLETT,
U.S.A. A good looking young officer of about 25, who
iswounded and convalescing at Kent Manor, an old
Colonial Mansion on the north bank oj the Potomac.
MAJOR U NDSAY GRAHAM, C.S.A. A n old classmate
oj Colonel li.'s; a prisoner 0) war in Kent prison
under sentence of death as a hostage. lie is about
the same ai'e and height with Colonel B., and like him
is wounded. He wears his ri^ht arm in a sling.
LIEUTENANT {Colonel by btrvd) JOSEPH CREW.
Formerly a negro-trader in the South, but who, having
been run out oj the South, becomes superintendent of
Kent Prison.
MISS ROSAMOND BARTLETT. Sister of Colonel Bart-
iett: about 20; slim, piquante and very pretty.
MAMMY CAROLINE. Major Graham's old colored mammy; whose age is about 50,
and who having come on to nurse her young master and not being allowed to see him
has been engaged temporarily as a servant by Miss Bartlett.
ZEKE. Mammy Caroline's son; pompous, self-important and lazy, in service of Colonel
Bartlett.
GUARDS AND COURIERS.
Placr.
Kent Manor, an old ( 'olonial Mansion, in a fine park on north bank oj Potomac, from
Copyright. I'AK>. IrffTMl Mil I null I \v Mv.a/.INK i .
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668 THK MKTROl'OUTAN MAGAZINK
which family have rejugeed, occupied temporarily by Colonel Barllcll during his ion-
valescence as headquarters
Time.
The very close of the Civil War.
Scene.
Open Court Kent Manor, partly paved ; with colonial arcade on either side, and
at rear o]
officers right In Court, flowers and shrubs. Two doors and an alarve L. Over
and left.
Curtain Rises.
dyah won't let a soul see him! He always jump at you wuss dan dat ef you don't tell
hated my chile. I wonder ef dat Zeke ain't me. Did you see him ?
never comin' hack [She steps up on bench ZEKE, See who?
and preps over wall. A voice is heard outside Mammy [shipping him]. Your young
singing.] master yonder in dat prison.
"Olc master run, ha-ha! ZEKE. I ain't got no young ma-tcr. I'sc
I)e darkies stay, ho-ho! free.
Itmus' he now dat dc kingdom am comin' Mammy [slapping him in earnest]. Don't
"
In de year of jubelo! foolwid me, hoy! You know who I mean.
Mammy. Rat's dat worthless Zrke of Did you git in to see him ?
mine now! [She jumps down and turns to ZEKE, Yes. I seen him last night [Re- —
door.] I'll meek him
sing de wrong side <»f comes serious] for de last time.
his mouf he didn't find out what I send
ef Mammy [sharply]. What's dat? Is he
him to find out. [Enter at batten door, Zeke sick ?
THE HOSTAGE 669
Zeke. No. Wuss than dat. Mammy [taking the letter from him]. Go
Mammy. What's wuss than dat ? —
He on 'bout your business, boy. I know he
ain't dea — ain't said dat. He knows you too well. I'm
Zekk. Not yet, but dey's gwine to shoot gwine to find out what's in dis letter. [She
him. turns to door L. U E.] Miss Rose. .
sends dis by a good man. Pay him well. always hated my chile. Oh, my po' young
You can trust him intircly." master!
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670 THK METROPOL TAN MAGAZINE I
Zkke. He's gone! Didn't I tell you so? shooting an innocent man. It Is monstrous!
Rosk [reading]. "I have told the hearer Colon el Bartlett [gravely]. It is one
that you would reward him." of the laws of war. He Is a hostage and
Zeke. See dyah What did I tell you ?
! suffers for another.
Rose [reading], "Return him to his Rose. Did you know that he had drawn
master as a runaway nigger." a blank and given it to a brother officer who
Zeke. What's dat! had a family?
Mammy. Lord! I Itnowed it. An' <lat Colonel Bartlett. Oh, yes! I told
fool boy meckin' out he ken read [To Zeke.] them that. I even put in my telegram that
!
I hoj>c now you satisfied. Go, hoy, and find he had once saved my life. Of course, I
de Cun'l, maybe he can save him. Hurry could not tell how when I had shot at him he
for vour life, you heah! Hurrv! [She drives fired in the air, but I stated the fact and I
Zeke out R.V.E.] ( )h, ef de Cun'l was ju>t asked his life as a personal favor.
here he'd try to save him, 'cause he's a Rosk. And the reply ?
good man, ef he is a Yankee. Colonel Bartlett [taking out a dis-
Rose. "If he is a Yankee" indeed! patch]. Was, "ImjKJssible." [Hands dis-
Well, let me tell you that he has gone to patch to her.] That fellow Crew has blocked
telegraph to Washington to try to save him, me.
if he is a Rebel. Rose [reading], "Impossible. Su|>erin-
MAMMY [excitedly]. Oh! Thank tie Lord tendent of prison reports your story untrue.
for dat !When will he l>e back ? [She climbs Major Graham was properly selected for
up on bench and looks over watt.] execution." Signed, "Secretary of War."
Rosk [mounting bench and looking over [In horror ] That creature Crew! To take
wall]. He ought to be back now. He was his word! He is a murderer !
in a great hurry. Perhaps he got the re- Colonel Bartlett [soothingly]. Oh!
prieve and took it straight to the prison. The laws of war —
[They both look.] Rosk. Were made for justice, not cruelty.
Mammy. Pray de good Lord he did. 'A Colonki. Bartlett [speaking moodily].
watched jxit never biles.' To think of old Lindsay Graham, the life of
Rosk [shading her eyes]. There is a man our class, being shot to death against a
coming; but — he is not my brother. prison-wall by a turn-coat dog like that
Mammy [peering^Dat's de man up Crew! Heigh-ho! It's bitter!
yonder at the prison. I know dat man. Is Rosk. Why did you not try the Presi-
seen him many a time. He used to be a dent ? He has a great, kind heart, 'with
nigger-trader down home befo' de war and malice toward none and charity for all.'
runned away when de war come an' jined de Colon kl Bartlett [urari'ly]. I could
Yankees. [.I voire outside R. V E. calling, . go no further than the Secretary of War.
Zeke! Zeke!] He is my superior.
Rosk [eagerly]. There is my now
Rosk. But the President is the superior
brother
[She jumps down.] He miM have come the Does the poor man know that
of every one.
other way. I will see if he got the reprieve. your efforts have been in vain ?
Mammy. Oh! Thank de Lord! [They Colonki. Bartlett. No. That fellow.
turn to R. U. E. Enter Colonel liartlett R. Crew, was in a rage over an escape that took
U. E. Rose runs forward to meet him, jol- place la>t night and had left word to let no
hnvrd by Mammy.] one see him.
Rose. Brother, were you successful? Rose. An escape of prisoners! Oh!
Colonel Bartlett [\\earily shaking/it's Brother, I am afraid. They must be des
hcatf]. No. [Sinks into chair.] perate men.
Rosk [horrified]. What! Vour telegram Colonel Bartlett. oh! They will not
has not been answered? come where an officer has his headquarters.
Colonki. Bartlett [despondently: taking Rosk. Oh! If that poor fellow had only
off his sword]. Yes. There is no hope. gotten away!
Mammy. Oh Lord! My young master! Colonel Bartlett [shaking his head].
My chile! My chile! [She thro~.es apron over It would have done him no good. They are
her head and rocks from side to side. Exit certain to be recaptured. Crew is scouring
Mammy slmvlv, /.. V. E.] the country, and they cannot get across the
Rosk. It i>' terrible! To think of them river. Every boat is locked. Well, I must
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"Bl'SIES HKR>H.K WITH PACKING WHILL LISTENING."
672 THE MKTROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
go and give orders to have a sharp lookout Crew [to Zeke pompously]. Colonel Crew,
kept. And then 1 must make my arrange- Sir. [Salutes Colonel Bartlett.] Good morn-
ments to leave this afternoon to join my ing, Colonel Bartlett. A fine day to get rid
regiment. [Rises and tries to walk. Sluggers of Relx;ls, eh ? [Bowing low to Rose.] Good
and catches at table.] Oh S morning, Miss Rose. You are looking
Rose [springing to his side and supporting unusually — ah —
handsome this morning.
him solicitously.] Oh! Brother how pale [Colonel Bartlett returns salute stiffly. Rose
you are! You are far too ill still to go back to bows coldly. Passes over to her brother.
the front. [// elps him to a chair.] Speaks to him in undertone ]
Colonel Bartlett [recovering]. No! I Rose. I don't wonder the prisoners try
must go! The war is almost over. Rich- to escape from him. I shall escape. [Starts
mond has fallen. Lee has abandoned to retire L. U. E.]
Petersburg and with his veterans worn to a Crew [eagerly]. Don't go away, I beg
mere remnant, is trying to reach Johnston; you, Miss Rose. You will be interested in
and when the last battle Is fought I must be what 1 have to sav.
with my men. [He takes up his sword and Rose [coldly]. I hardly think so. [Walks
tries to put it on.] over to trunk and busies herself with packing
Rose [hel ping him buckle on sword]. Oh while listening.]
I feel as though I had just gotten you bade Crew [addresses Col. Bartlett]. You have
from the dead. You have been father, heard of the escape last night ? I under-
mother, everything to me. And to have you, stand you have been up to my place ?
after all the fatigue and danger, go again Colonel Bartlett. Yes. I heard and
seems so dreadful. [Brushes away a tear.] I nxle up to what you call your place to see
Colonel Bartlett [jondly patting her]. the prisoner in whose fate I informed you
Why, is this the little girl who four years ago that 1 was interested: Major Graham.
helped me buckle on my sword and l>ade me Crew [somewhat anxiously]. What did
go and help save the Union? Don't you you learn there?
know that the only danger for a soldier is Colonel Bartlett. I learned that I
being left behind ? could not see him because — [Pauses].
Rose [wipes her eyes]. Yes — yes, I know Crew [very anxiously]. Because —
— of course, you must go. But oh! If they Colonel Bartlett [coldly]. You had left
were only conquered and the war were over! orders that no one was to have access to him.
Colonel Bartlett. What we want is Crew [recovering himself]. Yes, yes.
not conquest, but peace and the Union. Those arc the orders from headquarters.
Rose [warmly]. No. I want peace, but I You arc very much interested in him ?
want them conquered too; conquered! Colonel Bartlett. Yes, I am inter-
Colonel Bartlett [laughing and pat- ested in even' gallant young man whose
ting her]. As soon as they lay down their unfortunate fate it is to come under the un-
arms they will be our brothers again. happy law of reprisals, and particularly in
Rose [vehemently]. Not mine! Never one who was my classmate and to whom I
mine! I wish their fate were in my hands. once owed my life.
Colonel Bartlett [laughing]. My! Crew [looking at Rose significantly]. You
What a fire-eater! You are almost as bail as were unsuccessful in your efforts to secure
"Colonel" Crew, who wants tohangthemall. his pardon?
Rose [smiling]. Not as luul as that. Colonel Bartlett. How do you know
Colonel Bartlett [walks cner and that ?
reaches up to take down the flag]. But this Crew [pompously], I know many things,
flag is broad enough to protect them. Even Colonel Bartlett and I have come to de- —
against their will it will protect them. Here, mand your aid in apprehending the prisoner
you will have to take this down. I cannot. who escaped last night.
[Supports himself against wall or table.] Colonel Bartlett [coldly]. Demand?
Rose [mm-ing <n<er and mounting chair to It is my duty to do whatever an officer and
take down flag]. 'If any man pulls down a gentleman should properly do, and I shall
the flag shoot him on the spot!' [Enter do it irrespective of any demand by you.
Zeke R. V. E. announcing a visitor.] Crew. Ah! And in particular to demand
'/eke. Mister Crew. [Enter Crew in I mean ah — —
to request that a close—
gatuty militia uniform.] watch be kept about this house here.
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THE HOSTAGE 673
Colonel Bartlett. That shall be done Rose. Oh! 1 hope they will capture him
too, but it is not likely that prisoners will alive.
come where a Union Officer has his head- Crew. You need waste no sympathy on
quarters. him. I am not sure I would not rather have
Crew. Humph! I don't know. him dead. He is a desperate fellow.
I do not
believe in allowing such a hotbed of treason Rose [clasping her hands and looking at
as this place to remain as it is. It ought to her brother]. Oh! Is he desperate?
be burnt to the ground. Colonel Bartlett. Poor devils! des-
Colonel Bartlett [turning on him]. perate enough, I fancy! [Showing Crew the
Lieutenant Crew, the orders are that this door.] Lieutenant Crew, I will join you
place is not to be interfered with in any way outside.
beyond what is requisite for the proper use Crew. Lieutenant Colonel Crew, if you
and benefit of our troops, and I mean to see please.
that these orders arc carried out. Colonel Barti.ktt. Well, Lieutenant
Crew [aside]. You are damned sqeamish Colonel Crew, be so good as to wait for me
about the property of rebels! [To Colonel outside. [Exit Crew, R. U. E. reluctantly;
Bartlett] There is no u*e in becoming ex- looking over his shoulder at Rose. Col. Bart
cited. I suppose you arc aware that at least lett takes up pistol and turns to door.] What
two of the servants in your employ arc spies a blackguard that fellow is! I could stand
for the rebels and have been trying to get being shot, but not being his prisoner. He
into communication with prisoners under adds another terror to war. Rose, I will
my very nose ? never be taken prisoner.
Colonel Bartlett. I am aware that an Rose. Would it not be terrible?
old negro woman who is employed here tem- Colonel Bartlett [thoughtfully]. There
porarily, was the nurse of Major Graham, is no fear of his not catching him. He has
and came here hoping to see him — which had too much experience chasing runaway
you prevented; but whatever she may have slaves. [Lays pistol down on table and turns
wanted she has had no opportunity to injure to door.]
any one. Rose. But suppose he should shoot you!
Crew. No opportunity! Suppose I He must be a desperate man. [She takes up
should state to you that she and her son had pistol timidly.]
aided —
I mean had aided prisoners to es- Colonel Bartlett [smiling]. What are
cape ? you going to do with that ? Protect me ?
Colonel Bartlett [coldly]. I should Rose. Yes. I am going with you.
question that statement. [Handles pistol.]
Crew. And that ah — —
the prisoner Colonel Bartlett [dodging]. Look
who escaped has been traced in this direc- out!I am more afraid of you than of him.
tion ? A woman is a dangerous creature anyhow,
Colonel Bartlett. I should say that he but with a pistol —
would be caught. Rose. Pshaw! Men are such cowards.
Rose [coming forward and looking at her [She lays pistol down on table, 'with relic}.]
brother anxiously]. Coming in this direc- Colonel Barti.ktt [laughing]. You
tion ? stay here and catch him if he comes here.
Colonel Bartlett. Naturally he would I will be back after a little. [Exit Col. Bart-
make for the river and try to get across to lett R.C. /•;.]
the other side. But if he comes this way he Rose [talking to herself with her eye on
will be recaptured. My people arc on the the door]. I trust they will catch him. He
lookout for him. might be the very one to shoot my brother.
Crew. Oh! He cannot escape unless Oh! I wish he had not escaped. [She turn*
someone helps him, for he is wounded. I to pack trunk. Suddenly over the rear wall
have offered a reward for him dead or alive. where top of hushes show, a young man
We shall have him before dark. springs, loses his balance and jails, springs
Rose [solicitously]. Oh! Is he badly up quickly, catches sight oj the pistol on the
wounded ? table, seizes it, turns, and faces Rose who is
CREW. Not as badly as I would like or as much startled.] Oh! [Advancing upon
he will be if I can get a chance at him. Young .\fan.] Who arc you? What are
[Handles his pistol.] you ? What do you want ?
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Google
THE HOSTAGE 675
Young Man. Who arc you? Who is Young Man. I was to have been shot
here? to-day.
Rose [imperiously]. Tell me who you Rose [astonished and agitated]. Oh! Are
are. What do you want ? What are you you Major Graham If you will promise no^ !
erate Officer who escaped from prison last on table near her] There! A woman's wit
night,' trying to make my way across the is better than a pistol. Where shall I go?
river to get back into our lines. Rose [steps past and lifts flag]. Here!
Rose [starling back]. Oh You are the Take these! Under this!
!
— I
Young Man listens and cocks pistol. Rose Rose [coldly]. Yt>>. I received it and —
turns to him.] Promise me you will not use returned it.
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676 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
or unknown does not concern me. I re- voice calling.] Open this door. Open it, 1
turned your letter because 1 did not wish to say-
bold any communication with you. Did Rose [listening]. There he is now.
y ou see my brother outside ? [Starts toward Major Graham. Let him stay there.
R. U. £., then hastily turns back to jormer Who is the officer whom he asked you
position bejore alcove.] about ?
—
Crew. He has goneoff to send another Rose. He is my Never mind who he —
message to save a rebel who would shoot is. You must go.
him on sight. [Advances to her.] You are Major Graham. Is he the handsome
in love with some one else ? fellow 1 have seen at a distance? Tall, with
Rose [haughtily]. Whether I am or not good shoulders and his arm in a sling?
Is no concern of yours, Lieutenant Crew. I Rose. Yes. Now you must go. He will
will bid you good afternoon. [Turns toward be back here immediately.
L. U. E. Glances at flag whuh is moving, Major Graham. I hepe I shall not meet
and turns back again, facing Crew. Oh! him. Do you like him ? He said you rlid.
[Addressing Crew.] You say the prisoner Rose. Yes. I love him better than —
was seen to come into this house? [She seizes pistol in Major Graham's hand
Crew. Yes, but as you have been here and takes it from him.] You pre mised me
all the time it must have been some other not to use this. [Picks up unijerm coat.]
part of the wall —
the garden-wall, j>erhaps? Here is a coat. It has a Major's straps on
Rose [hastily]. Yes. There is a garden- it. It will just fit you.
wall — there Is an unused wing with some Major Graham [holds coat at arm's
empty rooms in it. You might search that. length and looks at it smiling]. Do you call
Come this way. [She leads him out R. E. 2. that a decent suit ?
Enter Major Graham from under flag as Rose [fifing up]. Yes I do. Put it on at
door closes. His beard is trimmed and he is once.
dressed in clean linen and wears a pair of Major Graham. I am afraid if I saw
uniform trousers.] myself in it I might shoot myself. [Sounds
Major Graham. That scoundrel! To of door breaking outside.]
dare even to speak to that angel, much less Rose. Quick! I hear him ccming. [She
pay his addresses to her! If ever I get hold helps him into coat.] Go in there and lock
of him I'll — [A step is heard outside R. E. 2. the door as you go in. I will entertain him.
Major Graham springs to table and picks up Major Graham [smiling]. Let me lock
pistol. Turns to flag. Hesitates to lift it. him in and you entertain me.
Addresses flag.] Well, I never expected to Rose. Goon! Hurry! Here! [Takes key
be under your protection again, but —
from pocket and hands it to him.] Tr is is the
[Knob of door R. E. 2 turns] —
here goes. key to the lock of our boat. You must slip
[Steps behind flag. Enter Rose R. E. 2. out of the door hew nd the dressing room.
Crosses over rapidly.] Go through the box walk. Let y< urself
Rose [calling in undertone]. Quick! through the gate at the corner of the garden,
Major Graham, you mast go. Major and from there to where the boat lies
Graham. chained to the root of a Teat sycamore tree j
Major Graham [lifts flag and steps out]. is only twenty steps.
Did you call ? Major Graham. I owe you my life, but
Rose. Yes. Quick! [Shows surprise at before I go I beg you
his changed appearance. Aside.] How im- Rose. Go. I beseech you. They are
proved he is! You must get away from here coming.
instantly. He will be back directly. Major Graham. 1 will go, but not until
Major Graham [coolly]. Where is he? you tell me your name. To whom do I owe
Rose. I left him searching the vacant my life?
wing. [Points over her shoulder.] I think I Rose. Why do you wish to know ?
heard the lock spring as I came out, but he Major Graham. That 1 mav remember
will be released as soon as he can make any it in my orisons.
one hear him, and you must go. Rose. My name is Rosamond. But you
Major Graham. At least, let me thank will forget it.
you for my life and tell me to whom I owe it. Major Graham. The Rose of the World.
[Knocking heard in distance and Crew's Forget it ! I will never foget it or you as long
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THE HOSTAGE 677
as I live. You are an angel, and some day, draws him over and makes him sit in chair
if I live, I will find you and prove it to you. on top of sword and other articles.] There,
[He kisses her hand.] now be comfortable.
Rose [turning away and then turning Colonel Bartlett. I am not com-
back.} Where arc you going? fortable. [He rises impatiently and faces
Major Graham. Back home. I have her.] Rose, what is going on here ? There
you to thank that instead of being shot like is something mysterious I cannot make out.
a dog I shall have a chance to strike one Rose. Nothing. There is nothing mys-
more blow for the South. terious. Men are so suspicious.
Rose [in alarm]. Oh! You are going Colonel Bartlett. Why cannot I go
hack to fight ? into my own dressing room ?
Major Graham. Yes. There must be Rose. Because I have a surprise for you.
one more fight. And once more I shall ride Colonel Bartlett. What? You look
at the head of my men. I have this to thank quite pale.
you for. Rose. Oh! Such a surprise! [She pinches
Rose [drawing back]. Oh! Just what my her cheeks.] Pale! Nothing of the kind. I
brother said. Suppose you should meet him I am just as rosy. Besides, I was afraid —
Promise me if you meet him you will not Colonel Bartlett. I know. Afraid I
shoot him. would get hurt.
Major Graham. I promise that. Rose [nodding]. M-hm-hm.
[Colonel Bartlett's voiceheard without, Colonel Bartlett. Well, you need
calling.] Zeke, come and take my horse. have no apprehension. Let's take down the
Rose. Go. I must stop him. Good-bye. flag now. We must be off soon. I am ex-
Major Graham. No. Not good-bye. pecting a dispatch every minute.
Some day again, when the flag of freedom Rose. Oh! No! Leave it until the last
flics, I will see you. thing. [Site strikes an attitude and laughs
Rose [lifting the flag and drawing it a forced laugh.] "If any man touches the
partially about her.] Go. This is my flag of flag shoot him on the spot." Brother, can-
freedom. I am what you call a Yankee. I not you get rid of that creature, Crew? I
am a Northerner. cannot bear him in my sight.
Major Graham and lifting her
[stooping Colonel Bartlett. He is not in your
hand to his lips]. You are an angel, and sight now.
angels have no latitude. [He kisses her Rose. But I mean in the house. The
hand. Exit under flag. Enter R. U. E. very thought of him makes my flesh creep.
Colonel Bartlett.] [She looks toward dressing room door and
Colonel Bartlett. Well, little Sis, how shudders.]
are you getting on packing? Colonel Bartlett. Is he in there?
Rose [stammering]. Did you catch him? [He steps toward door. Rose catches him
Colonel Bartlett [taking off his sword]. quickly.]
The President ? Don't know yet. I sent a Rose. Oh! No! He is in the other end
message as you suggested. of the house.
Rose. No. I mean the escaped prisoner. Colonel Bartlett [turning]. Well, I
Colonel Bartlett [laying his sword will get rid of him in short order. I will
down on chair]. No. Did you ? order him out. As if a Rebel could be har-
Rose. Yes. I mean I don't know. I— bored in this house under the very flag! It
mean —
No. Is ridiculous!
Colonel Bartlett [turning as i) to Rose [stammering]. Yes, think of it!
enter alcove]. What are you talking about ? Under the very flag! Ha! Ha! Ha! [Exit
Rose [steps in front of him and laughs Col. Bartlett hastily R. E. 2. Enter Major
neri'ously]. Nothing. I don't know what I Graham smiling.]
was saying. Where are you going? Major Graham. Well done. I did not
Colonel Bartlett. Into my dressing think you were such an actress.
room if you will let me by. [He tries to put Rose [agitated]. Oh! I cannot do it! Oh!
her aside.] I ought not to have deceived him! He trusts
Rose [catching him by coal]. No, you me. I must undeceive him. [She starts to
must not go in there. You look so tired. go after Colonel Bartlett. Stops and faces
You must sit right down here and rest [She Major Graham.]
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678 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Major Graham [sealing himself and halj Major Graham. Hut as my captor you
smiling). All right, I am your prisoner. must pity me.
Rose. Oh! I don't know what to do. Rose [listening L. E). Some one is com
Why did you come here? ing. Go. [She lifts flag and glances in;
Major Graham. Because God had put drops flag over door.) Oh! It is Crew. You
an angel here to help me. are too late. Here. [She hastily takes off
Rosk. Do not you know that as a Yankee her apron and wraps it around him. Takes
I hate you ? up uniform coat and throws it over his arm.]
[Enter Cr w L. E.]
Crew. Damn him! Where is he? Crew [unable to gel pistol free. Shouting].
Rose [to Major Graham in tone of author- Handcuff him. Tie him. Tic him tight.
ity]. Go take this coat and do as I told you. [To Rose.] It makes no difference. He will
Major Graham. Yes, Madam. [Glances be shot this afternoon, or better still, hanged
at pistol and hesitates.] Shall I take this ? for being in that uniform.
Rose [hesitatingly]. I wonder if my Rose. Oh! Hanged? That uniform!
brother — ? No, leave it there. What have I done!
Major Graham [bowing]. Yes, Madam. Crew Yes, Hanged!
[triumphantly].
[Exit L. U. E.] Ha, ha! You thought you had outwitted
Crew [to Rose]. Who is that ? Where me. See what has come of it. Ah! This
have I seen that man before? is fine! To catch him in our uniform and
Rose [warmly]. word! Sir, I On my hang him as a spv! That is a good one!
think your inquisition has gone far enough. Rose [half dazed]. Hanged! Oh! Im-
Where is my brother ? possible. You
could not be so wicked. You
Crew. He has gone to get another dis- know that he not a spy, that he has just
is
Crew. You refuse me because of some Rose. Then revenge yourself on me. I
Crew [following her and looking in at door high as Human and at once. [Enter L. U.
cautiously]. Shoot him! Damn you! Shoot E. Major Graham, bound with rope and
him, I say. [Jerks out pistol.] Let me shoot brought in by two guards. A bandage on his
him. head and his arm is tied up. To Major
Rose [springing out at door and catching Graham.] Ah, my young man, I have you.
his pistol]. You shall not shoot him. Don't Major Graham [bows silently to Rose
you see he is unarmed and already wounded. and then turns to Crew]. Yes. It is not
'
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THE HOSTAGE 679
trapped. You thought you were safe under No; that would please you too much. I will
ihe protection of this patriotic young lady, wait and hang you. [Enter Caro- Mammy
but I knew where you were all along. line L.U.E. She sees Major Graham, rushes
Rose. Oh! What a fp Ischood [To ! over and embraces him, crying.]
Major Graham.] You do not believe that ? Mammy. Oh! my Chile! my Chile.
Major Graham. Not a word of it. I What is dey doin' to you!
know him of old. Major Graham. Why, Mammy! Dear
Crew. You will know me better in an old Mammy. I'm all right.
hour or two when you are mounting the Crew [catching hold of Mammy Caroline].
gallows. Get away from him.
Rose [shuddering]. Oh! [To Crew, Mammy [wheeling on him]. Don't you
fiercely.]You shall not insult him. tech me! Don't you lay yo' hand 'pon me.
Major Graham [quietly]. He cannot If you doss I'll tyah you limb from limb.
insult me. [She brandishes a pair of scissors
Crew. But I can hang you. Crew [backing away]. You black harri-
Major Graham. And I can hang and dan. I'll have vou shot. [Ij)ttd knocking
stilldefy you. Do you think that when outside R. U. E.] Who is that ? [Enter
death is what every soldier faces even' day Guard hastily. To Guard.] Arrest this
as an incident of his duty that I should fear woman. Lock her up.
it [To Rose.] Do not disturb yourself. It
? Mammy. -Yes, he can 'rest me, but don't
isthe fate of war. you tetch me or I'll meek you think every
Rose [to Crew]. If my brother were here nigger you ever sold is on yo' bn vk.
you would not dare do this. Guard [handing Crew a dispatch]. A
Crew [scornfully]. Your brother Isnot courier just brought this for Colonel Bart-
here and I am in command now and I order lett. Says it is urgent.
you to leave instantly. [To guard.] Take Crew. Colonel Bartlett is away. I will
thisyoung woman to her room and if she take it. [Opens it.] Hell! [Glances at
attempts to return arrest her. Lock her up. Guard and changes lone.] Oh! That's all
Major Graham. You hound! right! Where Is the messenger ? Tell him
Rose [to Guard]. Do not touch me. I to wait.
will go. [To Major Graham.] My brother Guard. All right! But I think he has
willsoon return. Do not despair. gone. [To Mammy.] Come on old woman.
Crew. Your brother and you will have Mammy. All right. I'm gwine. [To
enough to do answering charges of treason Crra. You wait till dc
1
.] Cun'l comes. He'll
for harboring Rebels; the enemies of your settle you. [.S7/<* lays scissors on table. Exit
country. Guard with Mammy R. U. E.]
Rose. We the enemies of our country! Crew [calling]. 'Guard! Guard! Hell!
It Isyou and your like who are the enemies I must see him. I will have him shot in-
of our country and its disgrace. stantly. [Stuffs dispatch in pocket and looks
Major Graham [to Rose]. Bravo! Well at Major Graham.] You are safe enough. 1
said! I will never despair while I have your guess, till I get mv squad. Guard! [Exit
compassion. [Exit Rose /,. U. E. To Crew hastily R. U. E.]
Crew.] You blackguard! If I were only Major Graham [soliloquizing]. Well, it
free for one moment! is all If it had only been in battle at
over.
Crew. Ha, ha, ha The wheel has turned
! the head of my men! It is hard to go this
and the negro-trader whom you used to way. but after it is all over it is all the same,
despise is — I suppose. This rope cuts cruelly. [Enter
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68o THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Rose sojtly L. Gazes around and U. E. pistol on table.] I am your prisoner. [Re-
Major Graham.]
passes over to who pauses inside L. U. E.]
enter Rose
Rose. Can you forgive me? If I ha<i Colonel Bartlett. No, you are not a
dreamed of this! I thought you might meet prisoner at all. I have good news
my brother! [Takes out a dispatch. Enter Crew R. U. E.
Major Graham [startled]. Oh, it is you! He pulls out a pistol.]
There is nothing to forgive. You did all you Crew. What it this ? Don't stir or I will
could. [He groans.] shoot.
Rosk. You arc in pain. Colonel Bartlett [stepping in jront o)
M ajor Graham. It is nothing Only — him and putting him aside angrily]. Put
the rope my wounded arm.
t uts into that up. [To Major Graham.] A courier
Rosk.can cut it. Wait! Where is a
I has come with a dispatch from the President
knife ? [She gels the scissors, locks door and saying that the officer for whom you were
then cuts rope.] There, you are free. Take held has been sent through the lines. You
this and make a dash for liberty [Hands have been exchanged and are free. [Enter
hint a pistol] and forget mc. — — Mammv.]
Major Graham. I will never forget you. Mammy. Oh! Thank de Lord! for all
You have saved my life twice. Good-bye. his mussies. [To Crew.] I's free too — Does
Hut before I go, will you give me that rose? you see mc ?
[Indicates rose which she wears.] Colonel Bartlett [to Crew]. I will
Rosk [UJting hand to rose]. Why ? trouble you for my dispatch which you
Major Graham. That I may remember suppressed.
you. Mammy. He's got it right in he pocket.
Rosk [quickly]. That you may remember I seed him put it dyah.
me? You just said that you would never Crkw [handing dispatch to Colonel Bart-
%
forget. lett]. Damn him! Why didn't I shoot him
Major Graham [stammering]. No! You before? [lie jails back towards door and
know I will never forget you. But give it to exits scowling.]
me as a token of the divine compassion of Rosk. Exchanged! Free! Oh, brother!
— of an enemy. [She throws herselj in Colonel Barlletrs
Rose [unpinning a small flag jrom her arms.]
drcs* and holding it out to him]. Here, I will Colonel Bartlktt. There, there, little
give you this to remind you of the flag I love. Sis. Don't cry! [To Major Graham.] This
Major GRAHAM [taking a step hack]. No, is my sister. She has been much interested
not that [Stepping jorward as she continues
! in your fate.
to hold it out.] Yes, I will! I will take it for Rosk [wiping her eyes]. I am so glad you
what it has been in the past, when it was the are free. I felt like a murderess,
Hag of my fathers. Major Graham [taking her hand]. My
Rosk [handing it to him]. For what it has fate Is still in your hands.
been, for what it is and for what it shall be Colonel Bartlett [smiling]. She Is a
in the future. terrible fire eater. Worse almost than —
Major Graham [putting the flag in his Rose [putting her hand over his mouth].
breast pocket]. G<M>d-hye! Hash.
Rosk. Good-bye! [Gives Major Graham Colonel Bartlktt. She is for con-
her hand which he kisses.] Good-bye. Go! quest.
[She moves over to L. U. E. and exits slowly. Rosk. Brother please hush. —
Major Graham moves to R. V. E. looking Colonel Bartlktt. I have other news.
over shoulder at Rose. Enter Colonel Bart- Lee has surrendered.
lett R.U. E ] Rose [delighted]. I xe surrendered ? Oh,
Major Graham [raising pistol presents thank God! The war is over.
it toColonel Rarilett's breast.] Halt ( >ut of ! Major Graham [agitated], Lee sur-
the way, or you are a dead man. rendered? Impossible! [Cheering up.]
Coi.onki. Barti.ktt [coollv]. What is all Oh, you mean one of the younger Lees. 1
this? know Marse Robert has not surrendered.
Major Graham [lowering pistol si owl v]. Mammy. Nor; dat he ain't!
My God! Winthrop Bartlett! That was a Colonel Bartlett. Yes, he has. Gen-
close call. I thought you were Crew. [Utys eral Lee surrendered his army to General
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I HEARD A VOICE
Grant at Appomattox this morning, aver him]. Yes, we all have one flag now
Major Graham [turning and sinking and thank God for it! — The flag of your
into a chair beside table]. My God, it is over! fathers and of ours.
The cause is lost. We have no flag now. Major Graham [kisses her hand and
Rose [lifting flag and throwing it partly buries his head in his arms on the table.]
[Curtain.]
I HEARD A VOICE
BY THEODOSIA GARRISON
I heard a voice in the darkness singing
(That was a valiant soul I knew)
And the joy of his song was a wild bird winging
Swift to his mate through a sky of blue.
Digitized by Google
THE WALL STREET RAID OF
SHIFTY SHIFT
BY WILLIAM HAMILTON OSBORNE
ILLUSTRATED BY UANSAYRE CiROE&BECK
Digitized by Google
"fcVKKY UKOOK I* tKKATION II AS OUT MIS BYE I PON THIS THINS'
under its breath, " ten million dollars let Smith, the man, as one who was a fellow
loose for a quarter of a mile in Wall crook. Woe, woe, woe to the crook who
Street, without burglar proof safes, elec- at the last came to know the name that
tric wires, automatic alarms, or any- belonged to the man, for those to whom
"
thing! it was revealed were men caught in a net
It was indeed an event in the career of that was to spread itself across the ages
a moneyed institution, rather than an inci- in the cages up'the river. For the rest, old
dent. Witheridge, the president, took Boneset Smith looked like any other man.
time by the forelock and communicated Witheridge and Peters, of the bank, being
with the department headquarters of po- each innocent of crime and men of in-
lice. Headquarters responded with alac- finite discretion, found themselves face to
rity ; it did the best it knew how, for it face with the man, the hoarse whisper of
sent down to the bank old Boneset Smith. his name still ringing in their ears.
Witheridge, the president, and Peters, " Here's how," said old Boneset Smith
the cashier, did not know, could not real- as he sat closeted with the president and
ize,the extent of the concession that Head- the cashier one day, getting down to busi-
quarters was making. For they were two ness almost before he ha^I settled in his
of the very few men in the Borough of chair " now, look a-here.
; We
know and
Manhattan permitted, to look upon the you know that even' crook in creation has
face of Boneset Smith and to know his got his eye upon this thing. But that's
name. Many men knew his face, and all it is. It begins there and ends there.
many knew his name, but there were few We don't care so much about that. When
who know both at one and the same in- it comes to a job of this size most of the
stant. The crooks knew Boneset Smith, guns shut their eyes and dream day
the name, as the power behind the Head- dreams and build castles in Spain, and
quarters' throne. They knew Boneset such. They hold each others* hands and
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684 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
chops and look on and wish that
lick thrir second-story men, strong arm men, yegg
they was it. But, look a-herc. They men, all sorts and conditions, that ever
don't dare. They ain't got sand. I know was. He's a bold, bad man."
'em — the whole " When he's out of jail," interposed the
gang." He smiled cashier.
easily. " I'm telling " When he ain't asleep," corrected
you, Mr. Wither- Boneset. " Still," he added, M as you say,
ed ge," he continued, he's in jail, and he's in for good, and
" that there's only- that's a comfort."
one man in the uni- The president breathed more freelv.
verse that'd dare to The words, the manner and the presence
have a try, only one of Boneset Smith had restored confidence
that's got the grit, to within him.
swing a blame big " And now," remarked the president,
" "
thing like this in what do you suggest?
broad daylight; only Boneset Smith hitched his chair for-
one. And, say, it's ward by the length of a foot or two.
some lucky for you " Now listen and I'll tell you," he re-
scratched his head. " His real name," he sure, that's all."
answered slowly, " is —
Shifty Shift. He's The other nodded, disappeared and re-
got others, too —
lots of 'em. But that's turned after an absence of a quarter of
his real name. Shifty —
it's his name and an hour.
it's his nature, too. They caught him " He ain't likely to come out," he an
over there in Jersey by a fluke. We nounccd to Boneset.
never caught him here. We
don't seem "Till — when?" asked Boneset.
good enough to do it." Old Boneset " Till — notime,"answered other
the
sighed regretfully, wistfully. " I don't man; " he ain't cotnin' out, because he is
know," he went on, " that there's any- out. He got out yesterday."
thing I'd like to do so much as to nail Boneset Smith, a man unaccustomed t'i
Shifty good and hard. I know all about emotion, sprang from his chair as though
him — I know everything he's turned off. shot.
But we can't get the evidence. There's " \V — what
!
" he exclaimed. " Shifty
the rub. And yet," continued he, expecto- Shift yesterday ? "
out Suddenly, he
rating in disgust, " over there in Jersey slapped his thigh. " I'm a pin head," he
they did it by a fluke." He shook his exclaimed. " I forgot one thing. I for-
head. " He's a big man," he went on, " is got that Shifty could be good. I was fig-
Shifty Shift, and, what's more, he's got uring on Shifty bein' bad, even in a jail.
every crook in the Borough of Manhattan And he's been good, and his allowance
in the hollow of his hand. Look a-here. gets him out. And I'm a pin head for nor
You're the head of a syndicate of banks, thinking of it."
as you might say. Well. Shifty, he's the " You couldn't help it," interposed his
head of the biggest syndicate of swindlers. deputy.
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THE WALL STREET RAID OF SHIFTY SHIFT 685
" It ain'tscreamed Boneset.
that," " Right away," said Boneset.
" It's because I didn't figure on it, that's The president and the cashier looked
what. Don't you see! I ought to be each other in the face. Then each burst
broke almost just for not figurine; on it" forth with the same name upon his lips.
He pulled his hat down over his eyes and " Mackerley," they said, " he's the man
turned swiftly upon the other men. — for sure."
"If Shifty was outside the walls of " Are you sure? " asked Boneset. They
11
Trenton yesterday," he exclaimed, he's were. Mackerley had been with the bank
in New York to-day. You reckon him up so long that the memory of man ran not
and let me know and be blamed careful to the contrary.
not to let him know." " Tell me all about him first," said
(
Boneset Smith went back to the bank Smith.
and told the bank about it. They told him.
" We got our work cut out for us," he " Fetch him in," he finally announced.
said ;
" it'll be war to the teeth. I know " I think he'll do."
it. And there's two things that the time Mackerley was fetched, and came. He
has come to do. The one is to get the was a burly individual of middle age; a
bank's wad safe man with a good
across the street. right arm and with
That's the biggest the stamp of ap-
thing to you. The parent honesty upon
second is to nail his features.
Shifty Shift good And then they
and hard, for once took a step that was
and all. That's the momentous that —
biggest thing for might be fatal.
me. But it's a big They told Macker-
thing to you, too, ley what they had
and to the Bankers' to tell,and Mack-
Association. It's a erley absorbed it.
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686 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Bonesct Smith was
right, for Shifty he wouldn't touch a dollar, nor ten, nor
Shiftwas a formidable foe. His strong- a hundred, nor a thousand, nor, maybe,
hold had ever been his knowledge of ex- fifty thousand. But hasn't he got his
isting conditions. He price?" He swung his fist down upon
invariably found out the table. " But the porter of a bank
everything. acker- M don't live that won't take half a million
ley, the porter, had and no risk —
and this fellow ain't dead.
known at three Not yet! He's all alive; and he's to get
o'clock. Shifty Shift a half a million clean, and everybody's
had known at six. mouth is to be kept shut about him, no
"
At midnight Shifty matter what may happen. Understand?
called his clan to- "Half a million?" they protested;
gether — the clan " it's a good deal for him, Shifty."
that he held in the " A good deal nothin'," answered
hollow of his hand. Shifty; "ain't I tellin' you that he's the
"Gents," he said man on the inside? And it's the man on
genially, " Archime- the inside that's got to get the goods.
des said — "
With him we can swing the job ; without
The gents expec- him the job worth to us not a soo
ain't
"
torated quite as gen- markee. Can't you understand ?
ially. "Whoin They understood and they knew that
thunder," they in- Shifty Shift understood. And though the
quired, " was Archi- bank had started in with energy to pre-
"
medes? pare its plans, Shifty and his crowd trod
Shifty stiffened closely on its heels. Boneset had been
with dignity. ** He's a friend of mine," right. It would be war to the teeth.
he answered, " that I met down there in " It's a good thing," Witheridge would
Trenton. And he was the chap that said, say to Peters, " that we've got a good
'
Gimme a place to stand and I can move honest chap like Mackerley."
the world.' That's him —
that's Archi- " It's a blamed good thing," Shifty
medes. Well, we don't need no place to would tell his crowd,
stand. We can sit, the whole crowd of " that we run up
us, in a butter tub; for I got something against a straight game
better than a place to stand, I'm telling like this Mackerley.
you that." It's more'n luck. It's
"What have you got?" queried his Providence."
first lieutenant. Little by little ru-
Shifty nodded. " / got a man on the mors began to crop out.
inside," he answered. And little by little it
Digitized by Google
THE WALL STREET RAID OF SHIFTY SHIFT 687
about the spot on Wall Street for an hour Bank. Half a dozen or more of heavy
or two. They saw nothing —
heard noth- trucks clattered up Broad Street and
ing. swung into Wall. A cordon of police on
Shifty Shift only laughed. He knew special duty, stiff, stern and forbidding,
well enough that the bank had no more dropped suddenly from the clouds and sta-
intention of moving on Tuesday, April tioned itself upc the sidewalk. Stray po-
•
10th, than it had of flying from one side licemen came running on a dog trot from
of the street to the other. He knew that all directions. And suddenly the offtcc-
Mackerley knew that the time would be going crowd understood that the ten mil-
Saturday at nine o'clock, and that the lions now were actually going over. Ex-
tunnel was as mythical as it was imprac- citement reigned supreme. It was an ex-
ticable and expensive —
and impossible. citement engendered and fostered not only
For the bank had no more right to tunnel by the anxiety of the daily press there —
Wall Street than had Shifty Shift. And were vague rumors of a daylight attack
Shifty, active as he was, sat down and that was feared and had been provided
reasoned with himself. He saw that so for and might possibly be made.
far as he was concerned there were just But the crowd, if it expected anything,
three men in whole world one was
the ; was disappointed. There w& no attack,
Boneset Smith, one was Mackerley, the no attempt to prevent the peaceable re-
porter, whom he had bought, body and moval of the bank's worldly goods into
soul, and the third was himself. the bank's new home.
Then there was Mickey Walters and There was nothing save confusion.
— the gang. He had use for the gang, or There was plenty of that, and it could not
he never would have let them into the well be helped. For the bank had its se-
thing. The coup d'etat would depend curities and its cash packed in long steel
largely upon the finesse of the gang. fireproof boxes, such as are found in the
Mickey Walters was his right-hand man, big vaults of a safe deposit company.
a new acquaintance, but a thoroughly These boxes packed well on the big trucks,
good lieutenant, whom Shifty had known but there were many of tbjem, filled chiefly
by reputation for years. Like many great with securities. Truck after truck, so
men, Mickey Walters had risen up in loaded, was sent across the street. Upon
this crisis, and Shifty acknowledged to each was a driver at the head and two
himself that Mickey was the man for policemen at the tail. And there were
him. Mickey was indefatigable, obeisant, six trucks, six drivers and twelve police-
subservient and obedient —
and original. men detailed upon the trucks.
Shifty knew that he had the superior And Mackerley was engineering it all.
force with him. Mackerley and Mickey And Boneset Smith was nowhere in evi-
Walters and himself, all leagued together dence. It may be that he was closeted
by the certainty of a big reward, with a with the president and cashier, keeping a
discreet and expectant gang behind them watchful eye upon it all. It may be that
all these ranged upon one side. And upon he was at Headquarters; no one saw him;
the other — only Boneset Smith. no one knew where he was.
" After the trick comes off," said Shifty And where was Shifty Shift, where
to Mickey Walters, " old Boneset Smith'U Mickey W r
alters, where the gang? Echo
look like a sick dog with a tin can tied to answers, for there was but the big, surg-
him. That is, if he don't look that way ing, merry crowd; the trucks driving
now. I ain't much on old Boneset's looks, hastily to and fro; the shouting of orders;
"
for I ain't never seen 'im. Have you ? the whipping of horses; the starting off
" I see him onct," answered Mickey, of loads, the return for more — noise,
shivering slightly at the recollection, " but laughter, merry jest; and that was all.
I wasn't stuck on the looks of him. I kin
" Hurry up» hurry up!" It was ever
beat him out on looks myself." the injunction of Mackerley. "Get a
" He can't be much then," returned "
move on there !
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688 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
reference to a string of uniformed por- a crowd composed of the gang, covering
ters who bore among them a long, with its cries the trick that had been
chained row of the fireproof boxes. turned. And that trick! It was easily
" This is the cash." That was the turned. All that it required was that the
thing that Mackerley, with his eyes, had driver of the truck that Mackerley had
said to the alert driver of the truck in loaded at the last should keep on, uncon-
question. cernedly, in his course —
on and on, and
" Em ready for it." That was the an- — round the corner. And he did it, this
swer conveyed by the nod of the driver's driver. And he and his truck, and the
head. two policemen glanced for an instant
" Load her up," commanded Macker- back at the howling crowd, as they turned
ley to his gang of porters. And they the corner, and then, to all intents and
loaded hastily and in silence. And the purposes, disappeared completely from the
load, with its driver and its quota of po- face of the earth.
licemen, started off, one of six trucks go- There was just one man in the whole
ing to and fro. world who could have turned that trick
At that very instant something hap- as it had been turned, just one«man who
pened. A
seventh truck, the counterpart could drive lazily and unconcernedly
of the other, suddenly rounded the corner through the streets of the city, through
and started for the new bank building. the whole length of New York, forget-
Upon this seventh truck were a driver ting to remember that behind him at any
and two uniformed officers; upon it were moment he might hear the shouts of pur-
many safe deposit boxes, the counterfeit suers. That man was the man who,
presentment of the other outfit. So that when he at last reached the interior of an
there was this seventh truck, and the old, dingy, deserted stable on the East
other truck, and five others, all in mo- Side, leaped from the driver's seat and
tion, and —
the crowd. burst into a roar of laughter.
And suddenly some one shouted that " By George," he said, " we've been
"
the ten millions was on this truck, this and gone and done it. Eureka !
14
seventh truck. It may have been Mack- Eureka! " answered one of the police-
erley, it may have been some one in the men, removing his helmet and r vealing
crowd. At any rate the curious
multi- the innocent countenance of Mr. Mickey
tude, shouting in glee, danced about this Walters; "what's that?"
seventh truck as it wended its way toward " Archimedes said that," returned
the entrance of the new bank. Shifty Shift " Archimedes, formerly of
;
" The cash, the cash! " the crowd cried One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street
"
musically; " here is the cash! and now of Trenton, over in New Jersey.
Pandemonium reigned. But the pan- Eureka! we have been and gone and done
demonium did not affect the equanimity it."
M
of the seventh truck. It kept steadily to Let's finish up, then," said the other
its course, backed up in front of the new officer, another member of the gang;
M
building, and the force at the new build- let's stow the stuff away."
imr started in to unload its boxes. Boxes That night the gang kept under cover.
filled with — what? They wanted to. Not one of them even
Only knew that the metal-
Shifty Shift ventured our to buy a paper. They were
lic boxes seventh truck were
in the held together at the trysting place, not by
filled with brick. Only he, and perhaps fear, but by desire, for to the victors be-
Mackerley, knew that this seventh truck long the spoils, provided they're on hand
was an interloper, dressed in the same to get the spoils. And they were all on
garb, drawn by a team of the same color, hand ; all sorts and conditions of men,
mounted by men of the same size and each licking his chops, each '•tretching
general appearance, as was another truck forth his hand for his promised portion
that bore upon its axles a burden of two of the swag.
million five hundred thousand dollars. Shift presided with his usual
Shifr>'
Only he. and possibly Mackerley, grace. He was surrounded by strong
kn*w that the crowd of business men was steelhoxes and at his right hand stood
not a crowd of business men that it wa* ; Mickey Walters.
Digitized by Google*
" '
I l)ll> IT." UK THI'SriKHKi). '
I Kill IT AND I Dill — YOU'"
" Cough up all the keys you've got," Then he muttered an exclamation of dis-
said Shifty Shift. The crowd obeyed, but gust.
the locks would not yield. They were " Thunderation " he said, "it's all !
locks made to resist keys, not to respond wadding and there ain't no powder."
to them. He was right. The box did not con-
" Wait," said Mickey Walters, finally tain what Shifty called a " soo markce."
scurrying away; " I'll get an axe." There was paper, but no paper money.
In a moment he returned, breathless, Half an hour later a disappointed
with a rusty implement in his hand. crowd of men stood rubbing their hands
" Stand off," he cried. And then he and looking disconsolately into each
rained blow after blow upon the rcfrac- other's faces.
tory hasps and staples. And suddenly a "Done — by
thunder!" exclaimed
muffled shout went on. The box had Shifty Shift in despair; "nothing but pa-
yielded and its cover flew wide open. per —
nothing but that. Done and by —
Some fifteen men plunged forward to a measly bank To think of that " He
! !
stuffed into the top of the box to hold the Mickey Walters, standing at his side,
contents down. At least, so it seemed, lifted his axe high in the air and brought
Shifty Shift pulled and pulled and pulled, it down with a resounding crash upon
Digitized by Google
690 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
the table. " I did it," he thundered, " and he asked ; " that there honest porter of
I'm responsible for it. I did it, and I the bank? I'd like to meet him, just
did —
you!
"
once, and that's enough."
Shifty Shift didn't know what it all " Vou'll meet him," answered the cap-
meant, but he and his gang were wrought tain of police, "just once, and just
up to the highest pitch. They started enough. That once," he added, " will be
forward with outstretched arms to tear when Mackerley is on the witness stand."
the soul out of the man who had bc- "Mackerley!" went on Shifty Shift;
'
trayed them. " to think of me
being done up by a guy
Then they stopped as suddenly as they like Mackerley!There ain't only one
had all begun. For of a sudden the spa- man me if he lived
that could ever touch
cious and dimly lighted apartment had be- to be a hundred and he ain't ever —
come Headquarters men, some
lined with touched me yet. And that's old Boneset
in uniform and some adorned with clothes Smith."
that were plain. Mickey Walters stepped forward and
" I guess," drawled the men from touched his hat. " Excuse me, Mr.
Headquarters, " that you'd better quit. Shifty Shift, my name is Boneset Smith."
We've got the whole crowd with the He sighed. " Queer world, this," he
goods on." remarked. " Mackerley, he was the in-
Shifty Shift never moved a muscle. side man bank, and I was the in-
in the
" What goods? " he asked. side mai. in the gang. And now," he
of the law laughed. " You
The officers added, " they'll all be inside men, all but
walked into neat," they said.
it Mackerley and me."
To think," said Shifty in a disgusted
" • An officer brushed into the place. He
tone of voice, " that that there bank has nodded to the captain. " The patrols has
got my nice new boxes that I had made come," he said.
a purpose, all filled with my nice new Thus ended the raid of Shifty Shift
bricks! It's a shame in 'em to do it." He upon the Wall Street Bank. Wall Street
lapsed into silence, but once more plunged is still unmoved and so is the world. For
into animated conversation. Archimedes never found a " foothold " —
"Where is that fellow Mackerley?" nor indeed did Shifty Shift.
THE PEDDLER
BY WITTER BYNNER
IIXl'STRATKO IN COLOR BY EV|[, HKRINO I
KRONTISHIKCK)
Has he at home a wife and child in need Be as it may, the stakes are pretty small
( )f every penny that he brings them Beside the chance of helping where it's
back ? due,
Has he, perhaps, an older mouth to feed — And if it matters any way at all,
Children and parents both, to feel the The losing of a dime, it's not to
lack ? you.
Or has he under some concealing board For, just as I did, first you had a look
Enough, and more, to keep him till he And found your yellow laces getting
die? old —
Is he at evening greedy of his And that's the kind of shoestring that I
hoard, took —
A meaner and a richer man But he it was who bought and we who
than I ? sold
Digitized by Google
THE roJIMOU HOtWK FLY WHIC H CARRIKS TVfHOln
Digitized by Google
Google
TUP UINI.KH IXANT tOVSK
Some of the insects presented very cu- was no easy task. As for the worm, it
rious problems — for example, the cod- was a comparatively simple matter, the
dling moth, which is the mother of the model, two feet in length, being made in
worm that is so disagreeably common in clay, and reproduced in composition of a
the apple. Examined under a strong yellowish color. These two, together
magnifier, the whole of its body is seen to with a proportionately magnified counter-
be covered with what looks like feathers; feit of half an apple, worm-eaten inside,
and to counterfeit these on a large scale serve quite nicely to illustrate this par-
Digitized by Gc
INSECTS FROM BROBDINGNAG 695
A CHINCH BUG
Digitized by Google
TIIR MM> THAT (.ROWS fN JFKSFV
tiny (the winged adult looks like a mos- under the direction of the Government,
quito in miniature), devours $40,000,000 to represent them in such a way as to
worth of wheat every year. make them understood. Only some of
This, however, is not a story ahout them are exhibited in the accompanying
destructive insects. It has to do merely photographs. In the collection described
with the models which have been made, there are huge bees, crawling around on
Digitized by Google
nils FR1IOW LIVUS IN URB
a gigantic piece of comb; cotton-boll photographs here with presented, the in-
weevils (creatures with long snouts, sect greatly magnified, the picture show-
which destroy $20,- ing, near the end of
000,000 worth of the back, the two
cotton in Texas tubes through which
every twelve- the fluid is drawn.
month), and several One of the most
huge specimens of curious of these
the " plant louse," giant models is a
showing different cockchafer, which,
stages of develop- however, was ob-
ment of this inter- tained from France,
esting creature. and has the pecu-
The plant louse is liarity of opening,
much the same thing so as to show the
as a rose-bug, and " inside works " of
its habit of sucking the insect. It is
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69 8 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
selves, who, comparatively speaking, are philosopher to be the beginning of knowl-
only a few. edge.
In one of the accompanying pictures, The bug that eats the cotton's foe, pre-
by the way, is shown the most valuable sented herewith, is the first published
bug ever discovered. It is the famous photograph of the " kelep," or Guate-
" lady-bird " beetle, called by naturalists malan ant, which has been imported into
Vedaita, which saved the orange industry this country for the purpose of extermi-
in California from destruction. Within nating the boll-weevil of the cotton.
a few months it literally ate up the scale The kelep is not really an ant, but,
bugs —
enough of them, at all events, to more properly speaking, ant-like. It is, in
prevent them from doing any more mis- fact, a species entirely new to science, a
chief —
and, thanks to their help, oranges social insect related to the wasps. At
from the Golden State are now more home, in Guatemala, it dwells in colonies
market than ever.
plentiful in the of 300 or 400 individuals, in burrows un-
To the casual eye one mosquito is der ground and its favorite food being
;
pretty- much like another. It seems that the weevil of the cotton-boll, it attacks
way, because our vision is not adapted for that pestiferous creature with such fe-
distinguishing small details of structure, rocity and persistence as to reduce it
but the fact is now well known that there to practical harmlessncss, economically
are many species of mosquitoes, which dif- speaking.
fer widely in appearance, physical make- Though harmless to man, the kelep is
up and habits. Seen under a powerful a ferocious creature of prey. The boll-
magnifier, the malaria mosquito is alto- weevil, however, is its chosen game al-
gether unlike the yellow fever mosquito, ways; and its habit is to wait patiently
and neither of them resemble at all closely on a twig of the cotton plant until the
the common swamp mosquito, which has victim comes along, thereupon pouncing
striped legs. Considered merely as works upon it, stinging it to helplessness, and
of art, these gigantic insects, which might devouring it.
Google
THE GREAT MONOPOLY
BY A. E. W. MASON
OR many years the was a letter of introduction, written by a
mystery remained a professor at Melbourne University, who
dark and haunting had been an acquaintance of mine twenty
problem. It con- years before, when we were both under-
cealed a tragedy — graduates at Balliol. I had never liked
of so much we all him then I liked him less now for thrust-
;
with a card and a letter, and I read for were sharp and extremely mobile, and his
the first time the name of Reuben Clinch. eyes were steady.
There was an address upon the card, "I am afraid. Professor Royle, that I
Digitized by Google
THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
anxiety and disappointment come into his " Then," I hastened to interrupt, " I
eyes, and 1 hastened to add " But I am
: shall be still more useless to you."
none the less very glad to see you." "Arc you sure?" he asked earnestly.
1 motioned him to a chair near the Hear me first before you answer." He
open window, and he sat down in it. learned forward impressively. " I have
"I am glad to hear it," he said with a discovered how to fix the oil in wool."
smile; "for I know no one at all in " I assure you that this is all Greek to
was speculating upon my willingness and things than other men. But one could not
my ability to serve him; and somehow I but be pleased to know that one had a
was impelled to say to him reputation even in Australia. The smile,
M
Well, I must see what I can do for too, with which the compliment was ex-
you. I go very little into the world my- pressed was undoubtedly winning.
self. But I can make you an honorary " Well, tell me about your discovery,"
member of my club," and Reuben Clinch ] said.
smiled, and the smile was supercilious. And he began. Frankly, the man was
There was suddenly revealed to me a na- wonderful. He had enthusiasm, he had
ture masterful and rather intolerant. But confidence, and he was determined that I
in a moment the contempt had gone, and should listen and understand. It ap-
he was leaning forward, with his hands peared that the difficulty of fixing the oil
upon his knees, as though he was concen- had been the one great hindrance in the
trating his mind upon persuading me to woollen industry, that experts had been
serve his turn. in vain try ing to overcome it for many
" I did not come here to enjoy myself," years. At last, thanks to a practical expe-
he said quietly. " Will you let me tell rience of sheep farming, combined with a
"
you what you can do for me ? mind scientifically trained, he, Reuben
" Certainly," I replied, sitting back Clinch, had discovered the great secret.
with resignation in my study chair. The dying of cloth would be simplified,
Clinch looked out into the garden for a the processes, the machinery of the York-
few moments, his eyes resting upon the shire factorieswould be superceded, the
great leafy trees, and, beneath their shade, whole industry would be revolutionized.
the green lawns, splashed with sunlight. Colossal fortunes would be made, and
" It is quiet here," he said. "A
very prices would be lowered for the public.
pleasant place for a man to work in," I seemed to be listening to a great com-
and then he turned his eyes to me, and mercial epic. The man was magnetic.
said quietly, " I have made a great dis- He made me see the great discovery in
covery." the great, which it ap-
wide aspect in
My heart sank at the words. pealed to him. It was a great romance
" It is of a scientific kind, I presume," which he unfolded, a romance which hat!
I said wearily. begun with a boy tending sheep on an
" Yes." upland farm of Australia, and was to
" I am not well versed in scientific mat- end in the multiplication of factories, and
ters," I protested, " but I can give you the capture of the entire world's trade in
some letters to scientific men of eminence, this industry for England.
who will be a help to you." He stopped and said abruptly:
Reuben Clinch smiled again. "
Now, what want you to do for me,
I
" Thank you, Professor, but I am sat- if you can, is to give me a strong intro-
Digitized by Google
THE GREAT MONOPOLY 701
It was still more astonishing, I think, that and of his discovery. Speedy shrugged his
I was actually able to comply with it. For- shoulders and laughed.
tune was once more siding with the master- " An impostor," said he.
ful. For one of my few friends was a pros- It was my own thought, but now that
perous wool merchant in the City of Lon- it was expressed by another man I no
don, Mr. Ralph Speedy. I knew little of longer felt so sure of it. Something of
the commercial side of Speedy 's life, but the glamour which Clinch had thrown
was aware that he held a high reputation over his subject came back to me.
and that his opinion was thought of value "It would be a great discovery?" I
in his trade. My
friendship with him asked. " A method of fixing the oil in
was due to another aspect of his character. wool would produce this startling revolu-
"
He was a man with a great reverence for tion in the industry?
the classics, though with little knowledge. " Undoubtedly," said Speedy. " But
He would quote Horace upon occasion, everybody has had a shot at it. No one
without, it is true, either accuracy or ap- has succeeded. It is a secret which will
positeness, but with an amiable diffidence never be discovered."
which quite prevented criticism. And, " It might be worth while seeing the
above all, he behaved towards those for- man," I suggested. " I confess that he
tunate few who are really scholars with impressed me."
a respect which I find much too rare. Speedy looked at me with surprise. It
" Yes," I said doubtfully, looking at was no doubt as strange to him as it was
Reuben Clinch, " I can give you such an to me that I should be in any way inter-
introduction. But it will be better per- ested in the subject.
haps if I first see the man I am thinking " Oh," he said abruptly, " let's go and
of." see him now." He took up his hat and
A shade of disappointment darkened We went out.
upon my visitor's face. Clinch had taken rooms in Duke Street,
" You will not forget ? " he said anx- St. James's, and thither we drove. We
iously. found him in.
"No," I replied. "And if I do, I " I have brought Mr. Speedy to see
think vou will probably call and remind >ou," I said.
me." Clinch's face flushed with pleasure,
Mr. Clinch laughed, wrote his address and he shook me warmly by the hand.
upon a card, and went away. I turned " That's very kind of you, Professor," he
back to my Homer and very quickly for- said. " I did not expect it. I under-
got all about Clinch and his famous dis- stood quite clearly this morning that you
covery. did not want to see me at all. I was
In the afternoon, however, as I was prepared to hear nothing further from
taking my daily walk, he recurred to my vou." Then he turned to my friend and
mind. I wondered at the strange spell bowed.
he had cast upon me. I laughed at my " Mr. Speedy's name is, of course, very
momentary obsession as at some foolish well known to me. I could not hope for
hallucination. He was probably an im- better assistance."
poster, a quack! And, lo! all the time I Speedy did not respond with any
was unconsciously walking, not to my warmth to this greeting.
usual haunt on an afternoon, the rooms " I no assistance," he said
promise
of the British Academy, but down Cheap- coldly. " You must first prove to me the
side towards the City. I woke to the genuineness of vour discovery."
direction of my walk when I was only " Of course," said Clinch.
a few yards from my friend Speedy's He placed chairs, and we sat down.
office. Since I was so near I might as Then he went to a cupboard, and took
well go in. out two small bundles of wool. These
" What?" said my friend genially as I he brought across the room to us.
entered his office " you have deserted
; Here is the natural wool," he said,
Parnassus and the streams of Helicon? holding out one of the bundles.
Sit down." Speedy took it and examined it, and
I told Speedy the story of my visitor laid it aside.
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702 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
" Yes," he said. very well remember Speedy looking out
Clinch handed him the second bundle. through the windows upon the Surrey
" Here is wool from the same clip woods, and seeing nothing whatever of
alter my treatment." the foliage as we passed. He was a
Speedy took the second bundle and bent stoutly built, strong man, in face and fig-
his head closely over it. I saw his face ure an impersonation of common sense.
change from its indifference. He fingered But on this morning his eyes were alight.
the wool and examined it in every part. Clinch had thrown his spell upon him,
That he was interested was clear enough, too.
but what he actually thought that was — " There's a colossal fortune in this," he
another matter. His face gave us no said. " Oh. not merely for us, but for all
clue, and he did not speak. We waited Yorkshire, for England. We
shall so sim-
upon his decision in a great suspense. I plify and economize in the cost of produc-
say we, for indeed I believe that I was tion, not a country- will be able to com-
more excited than Reuben Clinch. pete. We shall hold a monopoly
"
a —
At last Speedy put the bundle down. monopoly in cloth !
" Yes," he said gravely, " this is gen- In his ears, too, the great commercial
uine." epic was sounding loud.
He went to the window and stood look- "Think what that means!" he ex-
ing out upon the street. I had no doubt claimed. "Think what it means! I
that the same dream which had been mine don't think it wise to go for a patent.
this morning was his now. I did not Keep your secret, Clinch! There's no
move, neither did Reuben Clinch. But I fear that any one else will hit upon it.
looked at Clinch. He was now quite We must get Bradford to come in. Oh,
calm. Speedy's statement was no more it can be done. There will be opposi-
than he expected. He was sitting quietly, tion, of course, but we will break that
unconcernedly in a chair, his whole atti- down. Meanwhile Ell finance you."
tude that of a man who knows he is right. Speedy was quick to act once he had
Speedy turned back from the window. made up his prudent mind. A house was
" Still I make no promises," he said. taken, furnished, near to the Marble
" I make you a proposition, however. I Arch, and overlooking Hyde Park. It
have a house in the country. Will you was a good house and well furnished.
come down with me on Friday? I will " We must do the thing well," said
then place in your hands some wool. I Speedy. " No parsimony and no fire-
will provide you with whatever chemical works." Servants were engaged, an ex-
products you require, or you can bring cellent cook —
upon that point Speedy
what you require yourself. I will give laid the greatest stress —
a butler and a
you an empty room, which you can lock, footman. Within a fortnight of the visit
if you like, on the inside. But you must to Dorking, Clinch was installed, and
there fix the oil in the wool I give you." that notable series of dinner parties began
Clinch bowed. which was to prelude the revolution in
" accept the test with pleasure."
I the woollen industry.
" Wry well, then, we catch the 4:30 I was present at the first, which was
train from Waterloo to Dorking on Fri- also the smallest. There were only six
day afternoon." Speedy turned to me. seated along the dinner table, three
" Will vou come, too, or will it bore leading Yorkshire manufacturers, Speedy,
you?" Clinch and myself. I can see that party
" No," I answered eagerly. " I shall now, even after this lapse of time. The
be very glad." big dining room, with its polished ma-
The experiment was entirely successful. hogany, its dark hangings, its air of
It was conducted under the strictest sur- comfort, the round table, w ith its decan-
veillance. Clinch himself insisted on be- ters and silver, and Pratt, the burly,
ing searched before he entered his room. shrewd Yorkshireman, leaning across the
And when the finished wool was produced table, with his cigar tilted upwards from
the last of Speedy's distrust vanished for- the corner of his mouth. He had one
ever. We all three traveled up to London hand upon the sample of wool. I remem-
together on Monday morning, and I ber what a contrast he made to Clinch,
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THE GREAT MONOPOLY 703
who opposite to him, with his pale
sat As entered the room I saw that mat-
I
face, dark eyes, and rather supercilious air. ters had progressed. There were quite
" Who
knows how the things done?" twenty people present, most of them, so
asked Pratt. " How
many are in the far as I could gather from the conversa-
secret?" tion which went on about me, the smaller
" Only myself," answered Clinch. Bradford manufacturers. Speedy sat next
"Let's see!" said Pratt. He looked to me, and I asked him how things were
towards me, and looked away again. going.
"You? No. You don't! But, Speedy! " Finely," he replied. " We are going
What of you, eh?" to effect a great combination. The public
" I, only, know the secret," Clinch re- announcement will be made in less than a
peated. explain to you now
I will month. You and he looked round
see,"
three-quarters of the process. The other the table, " we have already come to the
quarter I keep to myself until you come smaller fry. They must come in, or be
into the scheme." crushed out of the trade altogether."
" That's fair," said Pratt. The dinner was in most respects a copy
M
I will confess to you that the three- of those which had gone before. The
quarters will be of no help to any man samples of wool were sent round and ex-
who does not know the rest." amined. Some portion of the process was
It seemed to me a dangerous plan. But explained, and questions were invited by-
1 looked at Clinch. He had no hesita- Clinch. One difference I noticed. There
tion, no fear. He leaned back in his seemed more anxiety on the part of the
chair, perfectly secure that no one of his questioners to know what would be the
hearers would penetrate his secret. He actual cost of the alterations they would
explained the process, while those about have immediately to make in their busi-
listened keenly to very word he ex- — nessesand factories than to estimate the
plained it with a deliberation which was subsequent profits which would follow
almost careless. I, of course, could not when the process was in use.
understand a word. But I understood " They seem to be niggling," I said to
from the faces of the others about the Speedy.
dinner table that the scheme was being " Theyare the small men, you see,"
comprehended and thought good. Clinch said Speedy.
stopped. The party broke up rather late. It
" Another word, and the cat's out of was past twelve when Speedy and I, who
the bag," he said. " I stop here, gentle- had remained to the last, took leave of
men." Clinch. He came through the hall to the
" Very well," said Pratt. He had let door with vis and glanced up at the clock
his cigar go out. He threw it into the as he passed it.
grate and lighted another. " I speak for " I won't ask vou to stay on to-night,"
myself," he went on. " The thing's good he said. " Good-bye."
enough for me. I'm in, Speedy." That was the last was ever
to see of
I
summer holidays were coming on. and I We had gone perhaps a quarter of a
think only one more such party took place mile when a man came up behind us.
before the early autumn. I am not quite passed us, and walked quickly on ahead.
sure, for I left London myself, and trav- He was evidently wearing evening dress,
eled to Greece, in order to follow by sea and a light overcoat above it. I clutched
and land the actual wanderings of Odys- Speedy by the arm.
seus. The hot weather gave me fever. I " Surely that's Clinch," I said.
was delayed in my undertaking, and I only "Is it? Where?"
returned to town in November, just in I pointed out the man, who was now-
time to deliver the first of my lectures. It some distance in front. I had not seen
was in the second week of that month anything of his face, so that I was not
that I was again present at a dinner party certain.
in the house by the Marble Arch. " It looks like him, certainly." said
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704 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Speedy. " Rut one can't be certain. And, "Two days ago. That's the fatal
"
anyhow, it's no business of ours." thing. have lost two days, and if it's
I
At jumped into
the next corner Speedy — he paused for a second, as though he
a hansom, and drove back westwards to feared speak
to the words even to him-
his home. I got into an omnibus, and self— " if it's foul play, the loss of those
jolted along to Gray's Inn. Thither, two days may just stop us from ever find-
three mornings later, Speedy came to me. ing him. Let's get into a hansom."
He was terribly agitated. He refused to He put his hat on his head, helped me
tit down, and paced the room in the great- into my overcoat, and hurried me out of
est distress. the room. We
went down into the
" What do you think ? " he exclaimed. Gray's Inn Road, and hailed a hansom.
" Clinch has disappeared." " Scotland Yard," cried Speedy, " and
I started up from my chair. as quick as you can." He was in a
" Disappeared " ! fever.
" Yes, vanished completely. There's " Keep a lookout on your side, Royle,"
not a trace of him, not a clue to his where- he said, " while I talk to you. I'll look
abouts —nothing, absolutely nothing." out on mine. One of us might see him.
At once, just for a second, my old sus- Not much hope, but we mustn't miss a
picion flashed across my mind. Was 11
chance. You see, there has been some
Clinch an impostor? " I asked myself, and sort of an affair, I know. Who she is,
I only asked the question to dismiss it. I what she is, whether she is any particualar
did not utter it aloud. one, I don't know. But Clinch has gone
" When did he disappear? " I said. away before. Only he has never stayed
" Three nights ago. You remember we away. He has disappeared only he has ;
dined at the house." come back again. That's why I have lost
I uttered a cry. two days. I thought he would come back
" It was he, then, who passed us in until this morning."
Oxford Street?" "He may have eloped," I suggested as
" No doubt of it,", said Speedy. " The the cab turned down Chancery Lane.
butler told me that he left the house im- " I have thought of that. But would
mediately after he was free of us. Why he?" exclaimed Speedy. "Would he,
didn't we stop him?" He dropped into with all this colossal future waiting for
a chair. The
very chair in which Clinch him? I don't know. These quiet, secret
had sat in the early summer, when he paid men vou never —I am know. But
me his first visit. afraid of something else."
"Oh, why didn't we stop him?" he "Of what?"
repeated. He was wringing his hands like " Of one of those queer accident things
a woman in distress. which strike a man down just as he is
" You know why we didn't stop him," coming into his kingdom."
I replied. I had never seen Speedy so moved. I
Speedv lifted his head and answered: would not have believed it possible that
" Yes." he could have been so moved by the loss
" Are vou sure there was no love af- of any one who w as not very dear to him.
fair?" But Clinch had thrown his spell upon us
Speedy knitted his forehead over that both.
problem, and then he cried out in despair: " Here we are," Speedy cried as the
" I don't know. He never opened out, cab stopped.
did he?" We told our story to the Inspector, and
" No," I replied. " But there might as he listened I noticed that a smile of
be letters in the house." amusement struggled into his impassive
"There's nothing —
absolutely noth- face.
ing. have been at the house all the
I
" Oh. I know what you are thinking,"
morning. Not one of the servants knows said Speedy. " You arc thinking that
a thing. There's not the merest scrap of Clinch has fooled us, that he is an im-
writing that will give us any help." postor and has done a bolt. But that's
" When did you first hear that he had not true. I know very well what I am
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THE GREAT MONOPOLY 7o5
genuine. He must have made a huge for- The butler nodded his head.
tune if he had stayed here." " Yes, sir," and he added, " You were
He took all the details which we could dining at the house on the night when
give him down in a book, and as he wrote Mr. Clinch was murdered."
them down I realized how meagre they "Murdered?" I exclaimed. "Are
were. The house in the Bayswater Road you sure of that ? He disappeared. That
was searched from floor to ceiling. We is all we know."
waited with a lingering hope, for a month, " Oh, yes, sir, he was murdered," the
for two months, for three. The police butler persisted. " I know well." Then
could discover nothing. Clinch had dis- he looked around him. " It's so very
appeared. He carried with him his secret. long since, sir, that I'll .tell you how I
No one knew the last process by which the know. That evening as the gentlemen
oil was fixed. The house by the Marble were leaving I helped two of them on
Arch was given up, and the great mo- with their coats. They took no notice of
nopoly of cloth became once more a dream. me. They were thinking of other things.
1
Speculation was rife as to the reason of I heard one say, That means ruin to us,
Clinch's disappearnce. The view which you know,' and I heard the other reply,
1
gained most adherents held that he had It would mean ruin, but it will never
been lured on that night of his last dinner come off. You'll see.' I didn't take
into some foul den and then murdered much words at the time, sir,
notice of the
for what he had upon his person. But but remembered them afterwards. I
I
thirteen years later I learned the truth. remembered, too, that they were spoken
I was crossing Westminster Bridge one with a great deal of conviction."
November evening, about six o'clock, on " But why on earth didn't you come
my way to Waterloo Station. It was an forward and say that at the time ? " I
evening of fog, although the fog was not asked.
dense. As I passed beneath a lamp post The man shuffled his feet.
there came out of the fog towards me a " Well, I didn't remember the
sir,
man whom I seemed dimly to recognize. names of the gentlemen. I didn't see
Then he passed on. I walked slowly on what good it would do, Mr. Clinch hav-
my way for a few paces, trying to recollect ing gone, and and —
well, I told my—
where I had seen his face. I stopped again wife about it and she said 'Hold your :
automatically and looked back. I saw the tongue! It won't do you any good to be
man had stopped, too, just as I had, and mixed up in it.'
"
that the And upon
was looking after me, as I was looking butler touched his hat again and disap-
after him. I turned and walked towards peared into the fog.
him. Slowly, it seemed to me reluctantly, I remembered now that that party was
he in his turn came towards me. As we a party of the small men. I recollected
met he touched his hat. how the conversation had run on the cost
" I seem to know your face," I said. of the alterations consequent upon the
" Yes, sir," he replied. " You are Pro- revolution of the trade once the process
fessor Royle. I was butler to poor Mr. was adopted. And this is clear: the great
Clinch over there at the Marble Arch." monopoly which was so to help England
At once I remembered. The story had was stopped by a crime, and the crime
grown rather dim to me by this time, but was committed by one of the smaller men
the butler's words revived it vividlv. who was likely to go under in the process
" Yes." I said. " That was sad." of change.
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TO A CROW
BY ROBERT BURNS WILSON
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f
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"THE CODS OF THE NORTH WERE DANCING BEYOND THEIR WALLS OP ETERNAL ICE •
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THE CRIMSON WIGWAM 709
" hunt a great quarry," he said and
I ; trench he laid a bed of
branches,
fir
he told her, in a few words, of the water springy and aromatic. At the other the
of healing. fire burned brightly, and the white, melt-
" Let me go with you," she pleaded, ing walls reflected the heat to the couch
clinging to the furs on his hreast. of boughs.
" Nay," he whispered, " for how could In the middle night Wolf Master
I rememher the sufferings of the village awoke. The fire was low. Stars twin-
and the end of the quest, with your hun- kled frostily in the violet dome of the sky.
ger and weariness ever near me? Then A light wind ran in the huddled firs and
would I forsake the trail, that I might blew an occasional wisp of snow across
hunt food for you and build you a warm the trench. Wolf Master fed the fire
lodge." with a few sticks from the pile of dry
The maiden saw the truth of his words. wood which he had gathered before re-
For a moment she clung to him — and tiring. As the flame shot up two great
then turned away. So they parted at the wolves slunk away from the edge of the
edge of the forest, where the new snow trench into the shadows of the trees.
lay gray and unbroken under the gray sky. By the red sunrise Wolf Master found
The girl went back to the stricken lodges, that his snare had been robbed. There
and the brave stepped between the frozen was blood on the snow. Under the thin,
spruces and broke his trail up the wooded new drift he discerned the tracks of
slope. wolves. Anger stirred in him, and a hot
To the west he set his face, flashing desire to hunt down the robbers; but duty
through the lifeless wood up to the lifeless held him to the westward trail.
barren. Along wind ran before him, be- Night after night he set his nooses, at
tween the levels of brooding sky and blan- the end of each weary journey; and night
keted earth. It died in a thicket of black after night the same pair of wolves, fol-
spruces, like awounded animal in its den. lowing like grim shadows, devoured his
The gray canopy of heaven hung lower, quarry. At last all of his dried deer meat
and snow descended in silent, revolving was eaten and hunger gnawed him. The
curtains of white. Wolf Master bent his narrow, unknown sea still lay a day's
head to it and held on his way; and love march ahead. Death faced him and
was a fire in his heart that warmed his trotted behind him in the open. Better
courage against the ghostly desolation. to seek if while his blood had still some
All day he traveled, breaking a trail that warmth from the last scanty meal than
•
twisted and turned, yet held true to the to wait for it to tear him at the last with
westward course. So the expert woodsman double agony. So that night he built no
has ever traveled — saving his strength by fire and set no snare.
edging thickets rather than breaking Twice, in quick succession. Wolf Mas-
through, and taking a dozen steps around ter drew his bow and sped the heavy ar-
wind-fall and boulder rather than risking row. The dog-wolf snarled and sprang.
a strain by leaping across. The she- wolf yelped and crawled forward
The storm of snow ceased about noon. with her hellv in the snow. The flint
The sky cleared, and a cold draught of knife struck the dog-wolf in the shoulder,
wind came down from the north. When and tore hide and muscle. Again it
the early twilight began to gather over struck, this time wedging between two of
the gray waste, Wolf Master sought a the gaunt ribs. Then the hands of the
resting place in the heart of a thicket of man closed on the neck of the beast. The
firs. There, with one of his racquets, he final struggle was brief.
dug a trench in the drift. Near by he Aday's journey hack from the western
found fresh tracks of a hare, and above coast lay the great red carcasses. Wolf
it, between two small spruces, he set a Master had taken ti.e pelts from them,
loop of fine thong. Returning to the and a little of the flesh. The red foxes
trench, he built a fire and broiled a frag- found them and fed to their heart's con-
ment of dried deer meat. He wisely chose tent. Jays and snow-birds pecked at the
to make his first day's journey short, so frozen hones.
as to season himself gradually to the toil Wolf Master stood on the shore of the
that lay before him. At one end of the narrow sea. gazing westward and across.
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THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
He could not see the Crimson
Wigwam, for the sun was still
low in the east. Ice fringed
the gray tide, and the rocks
were drifted with snow. The
farther shore lay like drifted
smoke along the uneasy wa-
ters. The air was bitterly
cold and in all that wide out-
;
Google
THE CRIMSON WIGWAM 7 ir
onto the desolate waters. The raft rode Shortly before dawn a northing and
so deep that it was awash with every landward current drew the raft toward
wave. It was sluggish, too, ami the reck- the shore of the unknown land. Sea-birds
less voyager hail to work desperately, with swooped above it, veering and returning.
his pole of spruce, to get it clear of the A brfght figure waded into the water and
shore. Once away from the rocks the lifted the body of the brave from the
wind helped him. He paddled until he sodden raft. The face of the god was
was tired, standing upright, with the icy tender. The arms of the god were strong
water streaming over his moccasined feet. and warm.
He found it no easy matter to keep his
halance, so sidling and erratic was the
action of the sea. When Wolf Master recovered con-
The wind from the cast drove a white sciousness he found himself lying on a
fog heforc it. hlew out like dropping
It caribou hide in the open. The blood ran
smoke. The rugged coast of the great warm in his veins. Weariness had left
island, the unstahle floor of the sea, and him. He was clothed in a new coat made
the unknown coast ahead, were all hlotted from the skins of silver foxes. Gloves of
from Wolf Master's vision. Unseen mink skin were on his hands, and on his
birds, with harsh, affrighting voices, cried feet were moccasins trimmed with dyed
around him. Toil-spent, chilled to the porcupine quills. Beside him, in a bag of
bone and sickened by the unfamiliar mo- oiled skin, lay what he knew to be the
tion, he lay prone on the raft and clung Water of Healing. He sat up and looked
to the straining thongs of hide by which about him. In front ran the narrow sea,
it was held together. Indifferent to dan- gray as steel under the high sun. Beyond
ger, and weak beyond naming, he sank, it lay the rugged shores of the great island
at last, into a profound slumber. from which he had come. But nowhere
The sleep of exhaustion lasted many could he see the Crimson Wigwam.
hours. The wind slackened and fell. He fastened the bag of water to his
The fog thinned and rolled southward. belt and got to his feet. A strange sensa-
The sea quieted. The sun shone in the tion of buoyancy — of strength and light-
west, illuminating the walls of the Crim- ness —
possessed him. He sprang into the
son Wigwam till they burned like fire. air and felt the invisible currents firm
Soon the dusk flooded from the east and under his feet. Then he knew that he
stars glinted overhead. Weird voices wore the magic Moccasins of the Wind.
floated on the bitter air —
the voices of So he ran eastward, swift as flying brant,
the spirits of the wilderness. In the north high across the gray sea, the black hills
a red curtain fell across the stars, shook and the white desolate barrens.
east and west with silver and violet in its
folds, and wavered along the hill tops.
The gods of the north were dancing, be- In the chief's lodge in the village on
yond their walls of eternal ice. the River of Three Fires sorrow crouched
Wolf Master's sleep of exhaustion in the shadows. The daughter of the
slowly deepened towards the verge of the chief lay unconscious, stricken with the
sleep of death. The while his blood sickness. From the outer glare came Wolf
pulsed slower and slower he dreamed of Master, her lover, with the Water of
summer and love. His leather garments Healing in his hands. Kneeling beside
were frozen stiff, and the raft was heavy the couch of skins, he held it to her lips.
with a casing of new ice. And still he Straightway she opened her eyes and —
slumbered, dreaming of summer along the life was returned to them, and love still
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THE STRAIGHT PATH
BY CHARLES WADSWORTH CAMP
ILLUSTRATED BY C D. HUBBARD
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7 i
4 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
nized, that he would be able to think a " Well, I've never seen you looking
peaceful way out for both of them. better," Mrs. Randall declared.
After a few moments' silence she placed " I didn't expect to be so honored," he
14
her hand on his. " They're not calling answered with a half-hearted laugh. I
you back, Freddy? You're not strong never supposed, mother, that your solici-
enough yet." tude would carry you so far from the
His glance took in her plain, neat beaten paths. And Claire —
gown, which somehow fitted her charm- " Freddy, I didn't come to see how
ingly. This unwelcome recall to his old many pounds you had gained," his mother
lifehad not altered the great fact. " My said, skirmishing.
mother is driving from the village and — " It isn't very clear in my mind what
a friend of hers. It's a little sudden." we did come for," Claire put in.
He viciously spoiled a mole's industry. " I best for you to come
thought
it
She felt his trouble vaguely. " Aren't under the circumstances," she explained,
you glad ? " " Something Bob Frazer said ? " he
"1 hope I'm always glad to see my questioned, anxious now to have the battle
mother, but it's surprising; haven't heard started.
from her in three weeks." " Your father always had a way of
" Are you wondering whether to tell going to the point. Of course," she went
her about me?" Perhaps neither of on with an impetuosity that showed how
them had put it into words before, but uncertain she was of her ground, " we all
both had accepted it as a foregone conclu- know what an utter idiot Bob Frazer is."
sion. Her question brought the situation " I might question his judgment in this
to him barer and more unpleasant than case," he replied, " but I would scarcely
ever. Had he not come here to conva- call him an idiot."
lesce; had this crisis not arisen, it is "We don't believe him naturally — at
conceivable that up to his wedding day, least, I don't. I thought it best to wait
he would never have felt himself bound until we had
reached the ground, where
to Claire by his careless yielding to his the silly story could be disproved, before
mother's insistence. And now she was telling your future wife."
coming with Claire. Could it have been He turned to Claire, bowing mockingly.
Bob Frazer, whose talk had brought " Yes, I'm it," she confessed. "Now,
"
them? Frazer had been out the week what's it all about?
before, and he, of course, had eyes. But "Nothing, I'm sure," Mrs. Randall
he had accepted it all as a matter of hurried on. " Bobby Frazer's quite
course. Claire had hidden in some remote, crazy."
corner of his brain for weeks. " Let's move into the shade, and then
" If you think it better not," the girl you can tell me where they've taken him,"
said, rising. " I know you will do what- Claire suggested mildly.
ever is best. I'll go into the house now." " You'd better come right on into the
" Yes, I'd rather see them alone for a house," Freddy proposed. " Mrs. Rin-
minute. I'll bring them in. Good-bye, ger'sgone over to the Stillwells' for the
Kate." day; but Kate's here."
He watched her until the screen door "And who is Kate?" his mother
had closed behind her, then turned his asked. "The help?"
eyes to the bend in the road around which " Scarcely. She's Mrs. Ringer's niece,
they must come. In a few minutes they and — and —"
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THE STRAIGHT PATH 7i5
" How disreputably picturesque!" she a satisfying one. After a time he braved
sniffed. the unwilling piano, playing a hymn —
" It's been here for more than a hun- the only thing that occurred to him.
dred years," he asserted, " and it's never Then he took a book, but his eyes sought
been out of the family." continually the head of the stairs. Would
" Like the owners," she declaimed, she never come back? He romantically
" worn out and faintly amusing." pictured her suffering, until finally, yield-
He jerked the screen door open and ing to his own, he threw discretion to the
followed them into the darkened interior. winds, and, leaning against the newel
Kate rose from a chair in the chim- post, called, at first hesitatingly, then
ney corner and advanced uneasily. He louder,more insistently:
glanced from one to the other of the two "Kate! Kate!"
young women. No sane man, he knew, But she made no answer and he tried
would hesitate for a moment; but in or- again, and after that until his mother re-
der to prove his sanity, he would have to plied :
violate tradition, fly in the face of his "Well, what is it, Freddy?"
small but powerful world, and the — " Nothing, nothing," he answered.
thought would not leave him what — " It's time for my milk and egg; that's
would she, herself, say? all. suppose I can get it myself."
I
" Kate, my mother has just been say- " Where are the maids? "
ing that she doesn't like old things, so I've " I didn't know you had brought
brought her to you." them," he snapped, and went onto the
The girl moved forward as though to porch, slamming the door behind him.
offer her hand, but Mrs. Randall's formal He tried to find comfort in thoughts of a
bow repelled her. He turned to Claire, relapse, but, counting the weeks since he
but his mother was not letting the had left the hospital, ended by smiling
opportunity slip. She nodded towards grimly.
Claire. Kate did not reappear until dinner
"And I," she said, "want to present time. The men had taken their baskets
you to my son's fiancee." to the field,and the four had the room
Her avaricious grasp at the chance to themselves. Kate said never a word
shocked him. " This is Miss Claire during the meal, for Mrs. Randall's
Everett," he amended. attitude suggested total ignorance of
" I didn't know —
" she began, but he her presence. Claire's conversation suf-
interrupted her, catching her comforting fered from a severe effort and Freddy
;
interpretation of his mother's introduc- tried to confine his interest to his dinner.
tion. Oddly enough, it was Irish stew, and
" No, I am the one and only son." Mrs. Randall had no more appetite than
She flushed and after a moment turned the rest of them. It scarcely once dis-
pale, but that was all. This time her tracted her attention from the weighty
hand went out and Claire took it. sentences of which her son was the sub-
" I'm awfully glad," Claire drawled. ject and his future the predicate. Claire,
" Have you been helping Frcddv get he guessed before the meal was finished,
well?" had measured the situation, and he was
" think I have," she answered cheer-
I curious as to her feelings.
fully. " And I'm glad to meet you." Afterwards Kate left them, and his
Her tone disturbed him more than mother with a sigh occupied the sofa.
ever. It suggested the shifting of all her "What a relief!" she said. "Come
values, the slipping away of youth. here, son. and let's have a cozy chat.
"Of course, you will stay to dinner," Now that this silly story has been dis-
she went on, " and you'll want to rest. proved, I apologize for ever having taken
You must have had an uncomfortable any stock in it."
trip ; such a hot day."
it's " I can't stop, mother."
Without once glancing at him. she led " Why not? Where are you going? "
the way up the stairs. He paced the floor " You ought to know how ill I've been.
waiting for her return, hoping she would The doctor insists on my taking a brisk
demand an explanation; yet at a loss for walk after meals."
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THE STRAIGHT PATH 717
Mrs. Ringer's small daughter, bare-footed I've been, I'm a poor sort. Claire and 1
and swinging a pail, coming in from the have never cared a snap of our fingers
fields. for each other."
44
"Have you seen your cousin Kate?" That's nonsense then you couldn't
;
cornfield. He came upon her suddenly but our families were taking care of all
through the trees, so that she had no those minor details. So it didn't occur to
chance of escape. She was seated de- me to tell you about Claire. I hardlv
jectedly on a fallen log, where a spring once thought of her. She seemed so for-
had hollowed a deep basin in the clay. eign to what was between us. I was
Had she been weeping, as he had half entering a new world, so perhaps it was
expected, he would have felt surer of him- purposely that I kept her out. It was so
self,but after the first glance she kept engrossing, so natural, that I took it for
her eyes on the ground, while he rustled granted that everybody would be as
through last year's leaves and stood be- pleased as I was."
44
fore her. It isn't clear at all. I don't see the
Her self-possession routed the dra- . use of this. You belong to her, any-
matic utterances he had prepared on the way."
44
way from the house. " What are you I don't, and nothing could make me
doing here all alone?" was the best he now, no matter what happens. You see,
could muster. dear, I've never known Claire very well.
44
It is cool here," she answered. When my mother told meshe wanted me
"Now, Kate—" he began. to marry her, I laughed.
4
What will
"Wdl?"
44
Claire say?' I asked.
4
Claire's a good,
This isn't getting anywheres." He sensible girl,' she said. Then I got an-
44 "
Is it what my mother said?
4
waited. gry, and mother wept until I said yes.'
44
She raised her eyes then. Oh, you She assured me that I needn't bother
have made me so ashamed of myself." about it for a long time, and I haven't
He sat down beside her and started to bothered about it once since. I told
44
tear a twig to pieces. It is I who Claire I wasn't going to lose any sleep
should be ashamed, and I am; but all over it, and that she'd better not either.
this can't make any difference to us." She answered that insomnia was heredi-
It makes all the difference," she an- tary in her family, so she wouldn't have
44
swered quietly. I feel as though I had any illusions in any case. Now, Kate,
grown old since they came." haven't I a right? Is there any social
44
I know, Kate, that you think I'm a code that insists on my making three
sad scoundrel." persons utterly miserable for all their
44 "
I hope not that. I hope it was just lives?
because you were weak. Only I wish — 44
If there is, it isn't a good one," she
weak people wouldn't drag other people answered.
into their weaknesses."
44
You understand, don't you? "
Her voice shook a little, but when he " Not
quite, and I can't see why I
made an effort for her hand, she drew it should, truly." There were tears in her
away. eyes now, and, leaning over, he put his
44
You must try to believe me." he said. arms about her and kissed her.
44 44
don't minimize the shock to you.
I If There is no reason why you should,
I hadn't been crreless and weak, as you since you can't doubt the important thing.
say, this couldn't have happened. I I will take care of the rest. All I want
wouldn't have had it happen for the to know is that you will help."
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7is THE METROPOI [TAN MAGAZINE
" I guess ! will help," she said slowly. I'm taking. Now you may say whatever
" I think I'd better." jou please, but 1 have nothing more to
say."
" Do
you mean to tell me," she said,
" that you walked all the way from the He found Kate and Claire together on
house without your hat?" the bench under the trees. The girl had
" I wasn't thinking of hats," he laughed. picked up a garden trowel which she had
"Then I'll have to make you one. been using that morning, as though glory-
You might have a relapse." ing in her bondage to the soil but she ;
" I rather hoped for it this morning; was much interested in something Claire
and not once to-day have I taken the cus- was saying. As he came up Claire
tomary milk and egg." smiled.
She tied a knot in each corner of his ^
"It's all right, Freddy" she said.
handkerchief and, rising, placed it on his " You believe it, and I guess it's true.
head. You couldn't have done anything else. Is
" Now," "
he said, " let's go face the the debate all over?
music." " Yes," he answered, " and the parental
She paused at the barnyard gate. " You melodrama has been played out. Not a
had such a glorious future," she said cent."
plaintively. "What will you do?"
" And I hadn't done a thing to deserve " I've got something, and I'll go to
"
it. This is justice! work. Maybe that's better, too."
" Please be serious.
I'm sorry you arc A little later theunexpected climax
going to disappoint your mother." came. They were waiting for the car-
" I hope before long that she will see riage to take the two visitors to the sta-
it was the only thing. I'm going to try to tion. Mrs. Randall was nursing her sor-
show her now." row alone one end of the veranda, and
at
He walked boldly in at the front door. the others were talking pleasantly by the
Mrs. Randall's face was red, and Claire door, when a big touring car turned in
as soon as she saw him got to her feet. at the gate. Kate with an exclamation of
He felt that he was interrupting comba- surprise ran across the grass to meet it.
tants, not conspirators. His mother sat Mrs. Randall watched the tall, middle-
up. aged man at the wheel stop the engine,
" For heaven's sake, Freddy, where did and, jumping to the ground, lean over and
"
you get that thing on your head ? kiss the girl watched it with a sickening
;
" Kate put it there," he said simply. feeling of gratitude. She joined the
Claire smothered a laugh and went onto others. " I knew she reminded me of
the v eranda. somebody," she said feebly.
" This has gone quite far enough," his " And now," Claire asked, " you can
"
mother said. " I want you to pack your bear up under my broken heart ?
trunk. You are coming hack to the city Hut Mrs. Randall turned for the greet-
with me." ing of the newcomer. " I remember
" No, I'm not, mother." now," she said, " you told me last w inter
" You're quite strong enough; if you're she would finish school this year. But
not, you can go somewheres else." whv have you kept her away from us
" That isn't it at all. It's simply the all?"
Declaration of Independence." " Look at her," he answ ered. " Don't
" I won't have it," she said. " That you see? I have raised her the best I
"
hopeless creature! could without her mother."
" You mustn't say those things about Mrs. Randall went to Claire and wept.
her." "Oh. Kate!" she moaned, "why didn't
" Your sense of honor must prevent "
you tell us?
H " I thought it was just myself," Kate
you.
" If it did it would be a mistaken sense said. " I didn't know it made any dif-
of honor. Just this problem doesn't come ference."
to even' man. If it did he would have " And it didn't," Freddy answered
one honorable course, and that's the one stoutly; " not the least in the world."
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ADVENTURES IN SOCIETY
BY A CHINESE GENTLEMAN
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720 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
one of the finest houses in the city; what (9) Picking the teeth in public.
they call a " mansion " in America, huilt All or any of these things would stamp
without regard to expense ami decorated a man and advertise him as a " cad," as
with the taste of a second-rate or class only the common people commit such so-
furniture dealer; " loud, and plenty of it," cial sins.
as my friend said. You could tell the imitation lady by:
Entering the drawing-room, wc found (1) Overdressing.
the host and hostess; he, a small, under- (2) Overuse of jewels.
sized man, who looked the picture of de- (3) Wearing jewels over gloves.
spair in evening dress, and the lady a (4) Wearing watch pinned on the
large, gross woman of undoubted Irish bosom.
lineage. If I hadmy doubts as to this, they (5) Her lack of poise and manner.
were brushed aside the moment she spoke. The host took me by the arm and car-
As my young friend said, " The moment ried me into a large room, where a negro
she opened her mouth, she fell into it," as was dispensing drinks, and most of the
she had a brogue that was rich, rare and men took a " toner," a cocktail of whisky,
racy. She was a blaze of diamonds, and that was supposed to give one an appe-
her dress, being black velvet covered with tite.
steel ornaments, she appeared to be cov- My host had been a miner, who had in
ered with gems, and I could not divest some way acquired an interest in a mine
myself of fbe Idea that she was the and had literally tumbled into wealth.
leader of the ballet in the march of the He had been a bar-keeper, cowboy, sailor,
Amazons which I had seen the night pre- and had never seen a gentleman or lady
vious at one of the play houses. She had a in his life, except at long range. His
collar of diamonds about her throat, each wife had been a bar-maid (his enemies
one being a four-carat stone, and a crown said, his mistress), and was at one time
upon her head was studded with them the laundress of a camp. In a calico
and as she stood beneath an electric light, dress she would have passed as an ordi-
arranged especially to illumine her, the nary type of an Irish- American, but in
spectacle was stupendous. She had rings velvet and gems she was a " horror." I
on over her glove —
a glaring horror even quote my friend, though I am not sure
in America —
and the husband wore a that he did not say a " holy terror."
big gold chain over his black evening dress These people had everything that money
vest — a small act that stamped him at could buy, they had moved to Chicago,
once as an ignorant parvenu. I mention then to New York, had built a " man-
this that you may understand the compli- sion " and had imitated rich people in
cations of the American etiquette. Thus, every way; servants, clothes, gems, horses
a man may have billions, but should he do and carriages. They had everything but
such a thing as this, it would be seen- at social recognition, anil it was reported
once that he was a fraud, that is, not a that the " Colonel," as my host was
bred gentleman. called, had sworn to have that or " bust."
I have here seriatim a few " breaks," But New Yorkers fought shy of them.
as my jovial diner-out friend calls them, They lived on Fifth Avenue, but no one
that would condemn a man at once: came to see them, and so they drifted to
( )1
Wearing a big chain with even- Washington, and, in the hands of several
ing dress. clever men and women, they had accu-
(2) Hating fish with a knife (merely mulated a following, but of a p<x»r class.
touching it). There were plenty of Congressmen, some
(3) Making a noise in eating soup. army and navy officers, a few Senators
(4) Putting soup spoon into the and a lot of others, but none of the really
mouth. best people.
(5) Placing the elbows on the table In England it is a very common thing
while eating. for a poor aristocrat to take money for
(6) Expectorating in public. introducing people into society, but in
(7) Smoking on the street. America it is not so common yet it is:
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ADVENTURES IN SOCIETY 72i
"free" sense, was steering this strange detail. remember this man taking me
I
craft along the devious channel to the through his rooms to show me his paint-
port of society. In fact, once under the ings. They were, in the main, by the
influence of his patron's cups, he con- best masters, and I am sure had been
fessed to me that he had a " hard job." bought by my young friend, but in the
One incident will illustrate the trials midst of the gems, with a Rembrandt on
and tribulations of this excellent but one side and a De Haas on the other, was
impecunious young person. He had ar- one of the cheapest daubs I have ever
ranged our dinner, had selected the seen. I called attention to it, and he
guests, had procured a lady to coach the said that it was something he had picked
hostess, had had a rehearsal and supposed up himself.
that everything was all right, but as we " Do ye know," he said, " there's half
passed into the dining-room, the hostess a million dollars in this room in paint,
on the arm of Senator I heard a , and to my mind it's all rot. That there
groan he caught my eye, and there, on
; painting that I paid ten dollars for will
the center of the table, was a big bowl knock the spots out of them all."
of toothpicks. It appears that the Colonel This was my last call at that place. I
had dropped into the dining-room at the sent my valet with a card. I couldn't
last moment and had noticed that they stand it. But a year later I met my
"
had " forgotten the toothpicks ! friend, and he unbosomed himself. He
The nature of the " set " the guests had been discharged. The Colonel had
belonged to was soon evident. They all decided to give a big reception and had
drank too much, even the women, and insisted on my friend " rounding up " the
after dinner it appeared to be the ambition vice-president, at least; but he could not
of the host to " fill up " the guests, none do it, so the Colonel gave his party, and
of whom needed any urging. invited over one thousand people he did
I would give a large sum if I could not know, the wealth and fashion of the
remember all the conversation and forget city.
all the " stories " which were told after The Americans have many slang
the ladies left the table. I sat next to the phrases to illustrate certain points; one is,
host, and he slapped me on the back and "That night it snowed." Well, it
said: "Fill up your glass, Mikado; snowed that night —
that is, no one re-
drink hearty, me boy. Do ye know," he sponded but the little band of time servers
said in a burst of confidence, " I always and the society reporters. But the next
had an idea that a chink was a sorter day the papers were filled with reports of
d fool? Be if I'd been told
heavins, the " reception," and the " names of those
when I wasCalifornia that I'd be
in invited " filled several columns, all of
setting at me own
table with a Chinaman which, doubtless, was paid for.
ten years later, I'd have denounced the The peculiar conditions in America,
man as a liar. Why, you're a regular the possibilities of making wealth sud-
gintleman, like meself." denly, produce hundreds of such people,
" No, no," I protested, " you do me and they cannot be avoided when making
too much honor, Colonel." a study of the people.
" Divil a bit," he replied. " But, tell My young friend, very much of a wit,
me, are there more like ye in China? I in his way, classified them. And one day
thought they was all bloomin' Turks, he confided to me that he was in love
laundrynien, and vegetable sellers." with the daughter of a " climber." This
This man was as impossible as a hog; family had progressed a little farther.
in the best American society he would They had started in a mining camp
not have been admitted to a gentleman's twenty years ago, where the father had
house, on any terms, but he had invested been almost everything. They had a son
thousands of dollars in Washington, and and four daughters, whom they had sent
was a large contractor as well, and there to Europe to be educated, and the young
were some decent people who came as a people as they came home presented a
matter of policy, but their wives were marvelous contrast to the father and
"
always " sick " or " abroad/' mother, who belonged to the " awful
It is not a pleasant subject to follow in class.
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722 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
All would have pone well, but the the best French, English, and German so-
mother daugh-
insisted in- introducing her ciety, and had studiously kept himself in
ters to society and would stand in line — the background. Imagine the shock when
" a sight to behold." One daughter mar- this refined girl came home and saw this
ried into the army, to a man of about their man! Hut did she spurn him? Was she
own class, ami all were beautiful women, ashamed of him? No, no. I met no
but the parents mortified them until the nobler a woman in America than this
end. one, and when we parted, after a most
I conceived it a singular feature that interesting conversation, she said, " I
these people should recognize their limita- should like you to meet my father." And
tions and determine to give their children she led me over to a corner where sat the
all the educational benefits that money " funniest " couple mortal man ever
could buy, and then were unable to resist looked at in polite society. Was she
the temptation to shine with them, and ashamed of them ? Not at all. Commend
eject their crudities into the lives of their me to this type of the American girl.
children to such an extent that the press Deep in her soul she knew they were
made them a common laughing stock. laughed at, yet she stood by them. She
An army officer told me that in their married an excellent gentleman, a man of
efforts to make a social place for their wealth, honor, and position.
children, they called on all the officers of In New York I found an interesting
the army and navy, and that when the state of affairs socially. I saw palaces
calls were returned they found the old built by "social climbers"; I saw them
lady at the head of the line, a female in all stages. One of the most beautiful
" Bombastes Furioso," and next to her palaces, said to cost millions, was closed.
four of the most beautiful and cultivated It had been built by one of the wealthiest
young women in America. men in America, whose wealth was
It was said by Holmes, one of the counted by millions. He bought men,
American poets, that it took three gen- legislatures, senates and commercial
erations of college men to make a gentle- bodies, but he failed at the one thing he
man. This may be, but my young friend cared most for. He could not buy social
assured me that this did not applv to recognition. The best New Yorkers
women — they bridged the chasm in w ould not call on his wife, and those who
twenty years. did left their wives at home. It is said
When I last saw my friend, he was de- that this man spent millions in thing to
liberatingwhether he could marry into a force his way into the best society, but
family with such a mother-in-law. failed utterly and completely, and finally
You meet such families all over Amer- closed his palace and left the city.
ica and can classify them and trace them I met men who were the fourth and
even to the day when the parents have fifth generations from nothing, and at the
died and the children are fixed in society Union Club I lunched one day with a
of some kind. In Washington I met a party of ten gentlemen, all of whom were
woman at an ambassador's reception who representatives of the best people and so-
had the face-marks of a very
all common ciety. A friend who knew my interests
type of the I rish peasant woman — a type and line of studies gave me the history of
once seen not easily forgotten, yet when the families of the men present.
this woman spoke to me she conversed in One was the descendant of a particular
French, Italian, German, or English. She friend of George Washington, and his
was a woman of perfect refinement and name can be found in all the old drawing-
culture, yet she had the " appearance " of room lists by referring to the daily papers
a low Irish type. I made some inquiries of the time of Washington.
and found that her father was a " hot: Another was the great, great-grandson
trotter." a common, low type, and her of a well-known pedler of that date, and
mother the same. He had " struck it another was a common " Dutch gar-
rich," and the little girl when only seven dener " production.
years of age had been sent to a convent in In a word, the descendants of the people
France, and the father had paid vast sums who at the time of Washington were
to have her educated and introduced into " nobodies " had caught up to the gentle-
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RIPPLES 723
men of that period, and I was told as a only when the Republic was established,
fact that the wife of the young man whose but also in England.
father was a pedler claimed to be the The people of the United States arc
leading lady of New York. aristocrats at heart. Those who are not,
But the real " society " of New York, hate the others, and all the rich ape it
and of Boston, Philadelphia, and of other and strive for recognition from their bet-
cities, is made up of the descendants of ters, all the while crying out, " All Amer-
men who were gentlemen of standing not icans are equal."
RIPPLES
BY ST K W A RT CARTER
Of wise admonishing.
Symbol of Constancy.
Digitized by Google
A GAME OF DESPERATION
BY ANNE WARNER
ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN CECIL CLAY
der had been a handsome boy himself — open as he spoke. " It's such a tough
some twenty years ago. He had no ill- case, uncle. You see, I'm so young I
feeling towards Fate for having dealt him don't count, and she's grown to rather —
twenty years more than Botolph he — turn — —
to " The words died on his
knew with a curious smiling little twist lips as his eyes began to follow the writ-
in the left corner of his right eyebrow, ten lines.
that Fate had not been so awfully cruel "Oh, Scott, what shall I do now?"
in what she had altered during those the unhappy youth next cried. " I'm
years. A black mustache with a glint of sure I don't know what to do. She —
"
gray, some fine deep lines about the eyes " Can't you turn itover to me? " Cad-
and lips, an ironical gayety, a charming wallader was still standing there beside
savoir-faire, abandon, laisser alter —
well, him. "What's the difficulty?"
let Botolph pray for an equally good col- "She wants me to drop in about ten
lection oi French words w hen he should o'clock and interrupt whoevcr's there. I
come to be forty — that was all that his often do that for her. Her mother goes
uncle wished him.
"
to bed, and they badger her so " Bo- —
" D n it, I shall never be ready ! tolph was now buttoning his gloves.
It was a cry of woe, as the dresser " Why couldn't I go? " asked the uncle.
searched in a drawer of gloves and found " You don't know her," said Botolph,
no pair of delicate pearl gray —
only two now from the closet, where he was seek-
for the same hand. ing his opera cape, " and besides you're
Just then the bell rang.
M
older than she is —
she can't bear men
—
I'll go," said the uncle, ceasing to older than she i —she " He was
tilt his foot and rising slowly to a sense dumb under stress of finding the clasp to
of friendliness in need. It was a boy with the cape.
a note. I'll engage not to bother her!
" said
"Give it here!" Botolph exclaimed Cadwallader. concealing his amusement
with a snatch. Then he groaned aloud. admirably. " I'll break up the tete-a-tete
Digitized by Google
II
Google
726 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
and promise to come away and leave her so wild over the way he puts in his glass,
unscathed." and so nervous for fear he will ask me to
M
It's long letter," said Bo-
quite a marry him again!
tolph, snapping an opera-hat out to be " Oh, can't you come in at ten o'clock
sure that that particular one worked. " I and break up the mceeting? Come breez-
haven't time to read it all." It was plain ily in and kiss me. That will make him
to be seen that the flesh was weakening see stars, for he's awfully jealous, and
fast. " Of course, I couldn't get away at maybe he'll go. There is no harm in
ten o'clock."
" I'll read
your kissing me —
I could have been your
the letter," the uncle de- mother if we'd all been Chinese and I'd
claredimperturbably. " Of course, no married young. Do, for pity's sake,
one would expect you to be able to get come! I tell you I am being driven mad.
away at ten o'clock." You are a dear, and I count on you to
"That's her picture in on the easel," save me. Don't ask if I'm in, for I'm
said the nephew " the one that you asked
; almost sure that he's bribed Clinton he —
me if it was any one I knew, and I said coughs before he comes in, just as if he'd
no. I do hope I'm not doing anything been bribed. Don't you consider it aw-
but what's decent." fully low down to bribe my servants to
" Certainly you're not." cough in my own house? You don't think
i ou re sure so r he could be bribing Mamma to be ill, too,
" Absolutely." do you ? She has been ill so much lately.
" It'll be so good of you, uncle." Oh, dear, I am getting suspicious of every
" Don't speak of it." one. But I trust you. Don't fail me.
"The address is on the top of the "This is a mere line, but I'm always
letter." so rushed, you know. Yours,
Botolph was gone! Laurence Cad- " Catherine Theron.
wallader went to the dresser, took up the " P. S. — Clinton says I am out, say
If
letter, returned to the chair which he had you'll wait. I shan't be out. I am quite
vacated five minutes before, and began to positive that he has bribed Clinton. It
read would be just like him —
a man that
" Do you know, my dear boy, I am on won't take four no's for one answer.
the verge of insani'y! He is absolutely " You will come —
won't you ?
driving me mad. I begin to fear that it
" P. P. S. —
I am trusting you to come."
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A GAME OF DESPERATION 727
He walked slowly back to the sleeping The man looked thoroughly startled,
room as he reflected on the situation, and and while he hesitated Cadwallader en-
the latent fires of chivalry and some other tered the hall.
fires stirred within him. He had not "My hordcrs w as —
" began the ser-
come to forty with his eyes, and his mous- vant then, but the caller was giving him
tache, and all those fine French words his coat and hat, and saying:
quoted above, without having won out in "There, there, my good fellow, Mrs.
many a contest where desperation fought Theron wrote a note
"
—
—
hard with determination, and the gender "But my horders " began the ser-
of each noun swayed now this way and vant again. However, Cadwallader was
now that. As he leisurely noted down well on his way upstairs, reflecting as he
the address of the letter, and then with went on the vast advantage of savoir-faire,
an equal leisure divested himself of his abandon, laisser aller. since here he was, a
velvet house-coat, he felt all sorts of stranger, entering a lady's drawing-room
pleasant thrills of confidence in himself. unannounced, and not in the least uncer-
He drew alternately on either side of his tain as to what sort of a welcome he
moustache before the mirror, noted the should forthwith win for himself.
splendid square angle of chin and collar, There were two curtained arches at the
smiled a little into two well-pleased eyes bead of the staircase, and some slight
that smiled back, sought street-gear and sound drew the visitor to enter that which
began to prepare for the fray. led to the rear room. He parted the
It was just one hour later that a cab draperies and entered, but the room was
deposited this champion of one woman in so large, and the furniture and screens
distress at Mrs. Theron's door. The and plants so curiously interspersed and
house was large and imposing, and ap- intermingled, that at first he could not see
pearing very dark from the outside. If the the lay of this new species of land at all.
drawing-rooms were lighted, the stuff of But again a sound guided him, and he
which their curtains were made was un- went boldly forward, passed between a
commonly good stuff and most snugly ad- palm and a bra/.ier, encircled a sort of
justed on either side. The clocks were fountain of electrically lighted crystal,
just striking ten as Cadwallader mounted skirted the edge of a long standard of
the steps. He felt a certain secret satis- tattered pennants, and came all of a sud-
faction over being so exactly on time as den into the complete light.
he pressed the What an introduc-
bell. Into the complete light in more senses
tion it would
be —
his few laughing than one.
words as to being a poor apology for Before the fire stood a man and a
his nephew's unavoidable absence. His woman. The man was a head the taller
gloved hand strayed to his moustache once and had a clean-cut English face, gray
more as he thought of it. eyes, straight brow, and an aquiline nose.
It was a great while before the door Cadwallader had no way of knowing
opened, so great a while that he was just what his mouth was like, for the very
about to ring again when a rattle of the good reason that it was pressed against his
knob stayed his intention. The next in- companion's, she being securely encircled
stant a form that he felt positive to be by his arms and apparently very well con-
that of the rascally Clinton stood before tent with her situation.
him, and in the rascal's face he saw Then the man saw the intruder.
amazement slowly overspreading compo- "My word, Kitty!" he said, with a
sure. slight and Mrs. Theron, turning
start,
" Mrs. Theron expects me," said Cad- and seeing Cadwallader, gave a real
wallader authoritatively, and presented shriek and cried
his card as he spoke. "Why! —
it isn't any one I know!
" Askin' yer pardon, sir, Mrs. Theron's And I told Clinton not to" let any one in,
hour." even if I did know them !
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728 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Later, without making any
Botolph, " I am so desperately in love that it's
comment, forwarded him this note: altogether beyond belief. I cannot see
M
You Dear Boy how I ever refused him four times. To
" It was so lucky that you did not come, think it was Fate all along! You know I
after all.Because the fifth time I ac- always said so. I fear I am becoming
cepted him, and it would have been too quite aBuddha. I always did like cash-
annoying to have been interrupted. We mere shawls they make up — into such
were a little interrupted, anyway, by a lovely tea-gowns. But, dear me, you are
man that Clinton thinks thought we were too young to care about that sort of se-
the next house. It was very awkward, rious views yet, and, beside, we are going
but, of course, we were engaged, so he out to drive, and I only have ten minutes
might have expected it. for this and my hat. That is why this is
" I want you to come to see me, but be only a Don't forget to come and
line.
sure that you let me know first, for Clin- see me. Don't forget to let me know first.
ton has the strictest sort of orders now, Don't think it will do to <ay that you are
and I fully intend to discharge him if he expected, for Clinton has strict orders not
makes another blunder. I have suffered to let in any more people that I expect
so much at his hands that I am really until long after we are married. Yours,
quite out of patience. as usual, K. T."
LOVE'S IMMORTALITY
BY ELSA BARKER
Among those things that make our love complete
And high beyond all others I have known,
This knowledge is not least : That we have sown
Together seeds of beauty that shall greet
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" OJ»H 'I'U SAIL VP AN* SAV ' HOWIIV ! '
AN UK YI.'THEK'O 'Fl'SK TO 'SKCIS
1
"
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WWW AN' an'
teresting things they saw, and resuming every time it hears a noise, but will continue
their walk whenever Uncle Remus thought scratching for its food in the fence corners
the child had rested long enough. and under the bushes, until the observer
The squirrels ran noisily over the leaves ventures too close, and then, with a cheery
that winter had flung on the ground, and little trill, it will fly away.
went home by jumping from tree to tree; In its coat of black and brown and white,
birdsthat the city-rtlised child had never seen it is a very pretty bird. Its markings are
before, flitted in the bushes,or w .nt hopping, peculiar, but nature has laid them on so
or running on the ground. The little boy that they harmonize effectively with its sur-
was interested in all of them, but the joree roundings in wood and swamp. The en-
seemed especially to attract his attention, thusiasm of the little boy was such that
and he was for stopping whenever he heard Uncle Remus felt obliged to clip its wings.
a scratching in the dead leaves and trash. This he endeavored to do, not by arguing or
The joree is a very lonely bird, and you disputing, but in away quite characteristic.
would judge that it was mortally afraid of The little boy had said over and over
man; but it is not so shy as its habits would again that the joree, with its comical hop,
lead you to believe. It is not for flying away back and forth, as it stirred up the leaves
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THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BIRD IN THE WORLD 731
and trash, and its peculiar coloring, was the call 'im de Coogly Bird, some call 'im de
funniest as well as the most beautiful bird Cow-Cow Bird, an' some call 'im de Coo-
he had ever seen. Coo Bird — some say 'twuz a ladybird, an'
" Dat bein' dc case," remarked Uncle den ag'in some say 'twuz a gemman bird.
Remus with a judicial air, "you ain't never By good rights, she oughter been a lady-
is see de Baltimer bird." bird, fum de fuss she kicked up, an' I boun'
"Oh, yes!" said the child; "don't you she wuz. It's des like I tell you 'bout de
know you showed me the hanging nest, and name, yit, call 'er what you please an' when
told me it was the Baltimore bird ? Grand- you please, she ain't gwinter come fer yo'
mother says it is the oriole." callin'. She'd 'a' come long ago ef callin'
"She do, do she? Well, ef she sesso, I would 'a' fotch 'er, kaze, fum dat time ter
speck it's so, but you ain't gwine ketch me dis, some er de yuther birds been hollin' an'
twis'in' my tongue 'roun' fer ter talk dat callin' 'er. Dey been callin' 'er sence de
kinder outlandish talk —
not me! An' I day dat all de birds had der semblement
knows dis, dat ef anybody don't wanter call des like white folks, an' niggers, too, fer dat
dat bird de Baltimer bird, dey don't hatter. matter, when dey wanter up an' out a man
I been callin' it dat a mighty long time, ef what ain't been doin' nothin' in de roun'
you take one year wid an'er, an' ef it's worP but gittin' pav fer settin' 'roun* doin'
y'ever fotch de bird any bad luck, I ain't nothin'."
never y'ear tell un it. I ain't gwine ter "Don't you mean a convention, Uncle
'spute wid you, honey, 'bout de joree; in Remus ?" inquired the lad. " Papa's gone
his place an' whar he b 'longs at, dey ain't no to Atlanta to attend a convention."
better ner no purtier bird; but when it comes "Dat 'zackly what I mean, honey, 'cep-
ter savin' dat he's de purtiest er all de birds, pin' dat yo' daddy oughter be right here
why, dat's de way de lawyers talk when dey now wid his ma. But dat's needer here ner
er jowerin' in dc court-house. When it dar, ez de man sez 'bout de flea what he
comes ter de purtiest bird er all de birds, ain't cotch. 'Way back yander, when de
she's done gone away too long ago ter talk clouds wuz thicker dan what dey is now, an'
about, an' nobody can't fin' her. She when de sun ain't had ter go to bed at night
wa'n't de purtiest bird des kaze some un ter keep fum bein' tired de nex' day, de time
sesso; not her —
no, suh! She wuz purty come when dc crccturs, fur an' feather,
kaze all de yuther birds sesso. Dey done ain't had much ter do, mo' speshually dc
'cidc it — dey done 'grec ter it —
an' you birds. Dey flew'd 'roun', dey did, an' fed
can't rub it out. Dey ain't wanter sesso, tergedder widout fightin', an' made der
but dey bleeze ter do it; dey wa'n't no houses in dc trees an' on de groun', an' dey
gittin' 'roun' it. One bird ain't like de wuz all des ez sociable ez you please. But
idee er savin' chit any udder bird is purtier atter while dey ain't had much ter do, an'
dan what she is, but dey bleeze ter do it, when dat time come dey got ter wranglin'
alter dey seen what dey ^eed. an' 'sputin', des like folks does now. One
" I ain't never is seed dis purty bird 'ud sail up an' say Howdy ? an' de yuther'd
' '
myse'f," the old man went on, "an' de nex' 'fuse ter 'spon', an' dar dey had it. While
man you ax will tell you de same; but I de gemman birds wuz gwine on dis away,
done hear tell un 'im —
ef he wuz a him. de lady birds wuz des ez busy. Dey 'sputed
Time an' time ag'in I hear folks tell de tale 'bout der feathers an' 'bout der looks 'twcl
— some one way an' some an'er, but it all it seem like dey wuz gwine ter be sho' 'nough
come ter dc same thing in de cen'— dar wuz war, kaze de most un um had bills an' claws.
dc talc." " Atter while, dev fin' dat dis kinder doin's
"But what about the bird?" the little ain't gwine ter pay, an' so dey bowed ter one
boy asked. an'er, mighty perlite, an' make out dey
"Shucks, honey! ain't I des a-tellin' yo' gwine on 'Iwut der business. Well, dey played
dat 'twa'n't des a plain bird; you kin say like dey wuz mighty busy, but dey soon j:it
dat 'bout all un um but dis un, which she tired er dis, an' dey say ter deyse'f dat dey'd
wuzde purtiest bird on de face er de yeth. die dead ef day didn't run 'roun' an' have a
I'm kinder rattled 'bout de entitlement ser dis chat wid de neighbors; an' here dey went,
yer bird, kaze it seem like dat dem what axin' de news, an' tellin' dat what ain't
fust 'gun ter tell de talc kinder got de name news. One say she hear dat Miss Red
mixed up wid der own foolishness. Some Bird up an' 'low dat she de purtiest er all de
. ... »
* *•
. • • . v r
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732 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
birds, an' dar dey had it, squallin', chat- an' dey study, dey talk an' dey tilk, but dey
terin' an' squcalin'. Dc word went 'roun' ain't hiton nothin'. Little Miss Wren wuz
an' when itcome back ter whar it started, it de spryest, an' she had a slice er temper wid
ain't look like its'f. 'Twuz Miss Blue Bird, salt an' pepper on it. Dey talked so fast
'twuz Miss Jay Bird, 'twuz Miss Dat an' an' dey talked so k>ng dat she wuz skeer'd
Miss T'other. It seem like dat eve'y one she might git sorter sassy, an' she up'n say,
un um think dat she de purtiest. '
Ladies, le' me make a rrovc an' motion.
"Well, suh, de 'spute got so hot dat dey Ix;'s p'oc'astinate dis session uv our confab,
had ter be sump'n done —
dey wa'n't no two kaze some un us mought say sump'n dat de
ways 'bout dat. Miss Wren an' Miss Blue yuthers won't like. De sun gittin' mighty
Bird an' Miss Robin put der heads tcrged- low anyhow; le's put off our ecloguin' twel
der, an' ax how deygwinter stop de 'spute. termorrer. We'll go home an' ax our oP
Na'er one un um 'pended on der good looks, men what dey think, an' dey'll tell us what
but der havishness wuz cr de best, an' dey dev kin —
you know how men folks does:
wanted ter stop de jowerin*. Dey study dey knows eve'ything 'ceppin' dat dey
..»<m> Ufa*
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THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BIRD IN THE WORLD
does know, an' dat dey done fergot. Dey'll "Yasser!" the old man continued, "dey
tell us, an' when we go ter bed we kin dream had two 'semblements. De 'greement wuz
on it.' dat all de lady birds, er all kin's an' color,
"Miss Blue Bird an' Miss Robin 'low dat wuz ter be dar, an' all wuz ter march by de
dis de smartest thing deyy'ever is here, an' place whar de one dey had chosen fer ter
dey 'gree ter what little Miss Wren say. pick out de purtiest wuz ter be scttin' at.
Dey put on der things an' marched off home De one dey choosened wuz ol' Brer Rabbit,
fer ter feed de chillun an' put urn ter bed. so dat de savin' mought come true —
Bright an' y'early de nex' mornin' dey met
at de same place, an', atter dey got over der
1
When you
choosen a creetur,
J)es shun de bird-eater.'
gigglin' an' der howdy-doin', dey start up de
confab whar dey lef off. Miss Robin say In dem
days, de doctor done top Brer Rab-
she can't think uv a blessed thing. She say bitdat debesteatin' fer htm wuz honey-an'-
dat when she ax'd her ol' man 'bout it, he up clover an' sweet barley, an' he wuz st'ickin'
an' 'low'd dat she better jine 'im in huntin' to dat kinder doin's. When de time come
bugs fer de chillun fer ter play wid, stidder fer de fust 'semblemcnt, Brer Rabbit wuz
gaddin' fum post ter pillar. An' de yuthers right on de spot, wid a fresh plug er ter-
raise der wings, an' sav, 'Well, well!' an' backer, an' a pocketful er honey-bee clover.
'Who'd 'a' think it?' De birds all come, des like dey say dey
"Miss Blue Bird 'low dat when she ax would, an' when some un motioned ter
her o'l man 'bout it, he say she better stay Brer Rabbit fer ter say de word, dey 'gun
at home stidder gwine 'roun' spreadin' ter march 'roun' an' roun', one by one, an'
scandaliousness thoo de neighborhood. two by two. Dey ain't been marchin' long
Miss Wren kinder hunged her head like 'fo' Brer Rabbit shuck his head an' sot
she 'shame fer ter tell 'bout her speuncc. down ag'in.
She say dat her ol' man wuz monstus sassy "'La, Brer Rabbit!' dey say, 'What de
twel she toP 'im dat ef he wanter change his matter? We er all here; whyn't you pick
boardin'-house he wuz mo' dan welcome. out de purtiest? We ain't gwine ter peck
Wid dat, he whirled an' ax her why in de yo' eyes out.' 'I dunno so well 'bout dat,'
name er goodness don't she 'swade 'urn fer sez oP Brer Rabbit, sezec. You say you er '
ter have a big 'sembly er all de lady birds at all here, but ef I got my two eyes you ain't
some place er 'nother whar dey '11 have all here. No, ladies! You'll hatter skusen
plenty er room, whar dey kin all march me!' an', wid dat, he he did, an'
riz up,
'roun' an' let somebody pick out de pur- make sech a nice bow dat ol' Miss Swamp
tiest in de whole crowd, an' den when dat's Owl's mouf 'gun ter water. Dey say,
done all de balance un um must be put 'Lawsv mussv! Who's missin'?'
under de needcessity er 'greein' ter what de " Brer Rabbit he 'low, Whar Miss Coo- *
picker picks. Ef he say de owl is de Coo Bird? I put on my s{>ecks, but I can't
purtiest, den all de yuther birds got ter sesso see 'ejr. Is she any whar's?'
'roun' here
too; ef he say de buzzard is de purtiot, Dey looked all 'roun', in de corners, an'
dat's de way it got ter be. under de bushes whar anyliodv mought
"'La, me!' scz Miss Robin, 'did you hide, but dey ain't fin' de Coo-Coo Bird.
y'ever hear de beat V Miss Blue Bird 'low, An' a mighty good reason, kaze she wan't
'
Now, ain't dat des like a man You may
!
' dar, le' um hunt whar dey would an' s'arch
not b'lieve it, but de three tuck up wid de whar dey might. Den Brer Rabbit up an'
Idee, an' when dey talked it over wid de bal- 'low, Lidics, all, we bleeze ter p'oc'aslinate
'
ance er de lady birds, all un um say it's des dish ycr 'semblement, an' put it off twel you
fine, an' dey tuck up wid it quicker dan kin sen' word ter de Coo-Coo Bird, kaze
a cat kin smell a mackerel layin' on de shelf. you can't do nothin' 'tall widout 'er. She
De funny thing 'bout de whole business wuz got ter be in, er she won't bide by de choose-
dit dey had ter have two "semblements." ment. You
des bleeze ter git her in ef you
"That certainly was funny,*' said the little gwine ter stop de 'sputin'. Dey ain't no
boy, so seriously that Uncle Remus closed two ways 'bout dat.'
his eyes and sighed. He never could recon- " Den dey all 'gun ter look at one an'er,
cile himself to the fact that a little child an' giggle, an' make a great 'miration 'bout
could be almost as old fashioned as a grown how sharp Brer Rabbit wuz. Some say dat
person. dey don't think dat de Coo-Coo Bird is
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4 i f
*>
'ty/
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THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BIRD IN THE WORLD 735
Rabbit, an' axed how she wuz gwine ter When dey fin' 'er, dey say, 'Why n't you
come out in de parade, an' Brer Rabbit say come ter de 'semblement, whar dey gwineter
dat she'd have a mighty good chance ef choosen de puniest er all de bird tribe?'
'twant fer her footses an' her scaly legs. He She 'low, La, I got sump'n else ter do sides
'
'low dat ef she come dar wid dem, she won't trvin' ter fin' out who de purtiest; an', mo'
have no show a tall, an' dar dey had it, up dan dat, how I gwineter come when 1 ain't
an' down. An' 'twuz de same way wid all got no cloze ter w'ar? No, ma'am! You'll
un urn; dey tried fer ter make oP Brer Rab- hatter skusen me! Go on an' parade on yo'
bit, which he wuz gwine fer ter be de judge, Bullyfard, an' I'll parade at home.'
look at urn thoo dey own eyes. "Dey try ter tell 'er dat dey bleezc ter
"While all dis wuz goin' on, dey wuz have her dar, so dey'll all be sachified, but
dunlin' up de Coo-Coo Bird, an' atter so she shuck her head, and went on clcanin'
long a time dey foun' her right whar dey her house. Dey 'swaded, an' dey 'swaded,
moughtcr foun' her at fast, stayin' at home an' bimeby she say dat ef dey'l loan her
an' lookin' atter de house-keepin'. But some cloze among um, she'll go; ef dey don't,
'twuz a mighty quare thing 'bout de Coo- well an' good —
she won't budge a step.
Coo Bird: she ain't got a rag er cloze ter 'er An' so dar 'twuz. Well, all de yuther birds
back. Whar de feathers oughtcr been dey kinder collogued tergedder, an' dey say dey
wan't nothin' but a little bit er downy fuzz. better loan her some cloze. Dey went 'roun'
Digitized by Google
73° THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
an' got a feather fum eve'y bird, an' fum ol' Brer Rabbit, an' he ain't tellin* nobody
some un um two. Ol' Miss Ost'ich know'd 'bout it.
she ain't stan' no chance in de parade wid " De yuther birds hunt fer her,
but dey
her bony neck an' long legs, an' she sont de can't fin' 'er, an' deycr huntin' plum twel
Coo-Coo Bird a bunch er de puniest feath- yit, huntin' eve'ywhar, an' a-callin' ez dey
ers you ever is lay eyes on. "hunt. Dey do say dat when de big owl
"When de time come fer de 'semblement, he ain't axin' 'Who cooks fer you-
hollas,
Miss Coo-Coo wuz dar, an' dressed up tit all?' He's sayin', 'Coo-Coo, Coo-Coo!
ter kill; an' when dey all 'gun ter march, she whar you at ?' an' de turtle-dove hollers,
wuz at de head er de crowd, an' stepped 'Coo Coo, Coo-Coo, Coo-Coo, Coo-Coo!
along ez gaily ez you please. Well, day Coo-Coo-OO !' an' e'en down ter de rooster
wan't no two ways 'bout it, Miss Coo-Coo callsout 'fo'day, an'all thoodenight,' Please
wuz way yander de purtiest er de whole fetch my feather back!' An' so dar you is!
gang. De way she look, de way she walk, Coo-Coo Bird done flew'd away, an' all de
de way she hoi' 'cr-se'f, de way she bow an' yuther birds huntin' fer 'er. An' dey tells
s'luteumall — eve 'ything put 'er in de front me," remarked Cncle Remus, after a
place. Brer Rabbit stood up, he did, an' pause, "dat when folks think de birds is
wave his han\ an' dey all stop still. Den pickin' deyse'f an' straightenin' out dcr
he say dat dey ain't no doubt an' no s'pic- feathers, dey ain't doin' nothin' in de roun'
ions but what Miss Coo-Coo Bird wuz de worl' but secin' cf de one what dey loaned
purtiest er all de birds, an' dey all 'gree wid de Coo-Coo Bird is done growed back."
'im. Den dey wuz ter have a dance, but The little boy made no comment, but
'fo' de music struck up, Miss Coo-Coo say seemed to be waiting for the story to end.
dey must please excusin' her, an' wid dat, The old negro threw his head back, and in a
she slip inter de bushes an' wuzgone — done sing-song tone made this announcement:
gone! Gone fer good, an' dey ain't nobody " Jig-a-ma-rig, an' a jig-a-ma-ree!
seed her fum dat day ter dis, less'n maybe Dat's all de talc dat 'uz tol' ter me!'
Digitized by Google
THE WANDERINGS OF LOU
THE LUCKY
BY GEORGE C. HULL
ILLUSTRATED IN COLOR BY BMIL HER1NG
acquired a saloon, and was consequently fesh,' tell him for me to beware the
enabled to sit down with screen doors heathen Hindoo," and the old " con
open, and the while he blew the collar man sighed sorrowfully and emptied his
from a mug of beer, eye with more com- glass at a draught.
placency than was his wont in bygone " You remember the day in Denver
days, the patrolman pace his beat past the that I was called into the front office, and
place of the "
1
Golden Mitt." the old man said it was time for me to
'
To Lou and the brew which he dis- break the chains which held me in the
pensed came one who had known him in City of the Plains, and hunt for other
"
years long gone, when, a disciple of one though not greener fields?
" Soapy " Smith, the portly Lou, as a " Yes, and the map you had all covered
quick change artist, had aided in spoiling with lead pencil marks, which you called
the stranger within the purlieus of Den- your horoscope."
ver. " The same, son. Them pencil marks
" Son, I'm sure glad to see you," ejacu- was circles which I had drawn around
lated the fortunate one, when he had care- places which the powers that be had an-
fully identified his visitor. " Sit down nounced was unhealthy as a residence for
and take something. I ain't laid eyes on me. Well, the night after my sorrowful
anybody I knew in Denver since I re- session with the old man,' I draws the
'
turned from my travels. Son, I can tell fatal mark around Denver, and then looks
you of some wanderings which w ill make for a new place to go. Son, what's my
them of my late lamented friend and surprise and grief to find that there ain't
teacher, '
Soapy,' look like a gentleman's a town of any size at all in the whole
game after Deep Sea Jimmy and a
'
' country that don't have a ring around it
'
Hold out has butted into it."
' on the map. I casts a mournful eye on
The visitor expressed himself as being Mexico, and remembers some things
willing -- nay, anxious — to hear the which happened there, but which ain't
tale. " The last heard of you in Denver," got nothing to do with this story, and I
1
he said, " the piratical craft Lucky Lou
'
draws a line clear around the whole coun-
was on the rocks at Manila." try of Mexico. Then I pipes the Phil- ' '
"Ye may well sav rocks," responded ippines, staked off in a corner by 'em-
the erstwhile " Kig Mitt," "but they selves, ami my mind's made up. The '
wasn't the kind that I've been on some Philippines,' I says to Shasta Sam. who is
few times in these here United States, in also contemplating a move, '
is the place
tow ns that I won't name —
where you for an aggressive business me. man like
make little ones out of big ones with a Along with the rest of the cultured and
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738 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
beneficent lights of civilization which our inspector here,' and he slaps himself across
nation is casting upon them, I will add the chest.
my little ray. It's up to me to teach our " When I hear he's been promoted I
little brown brothers the gentle art of let I was fixing
loose of the five case note
separation without reparation. Me for to sliphim and clasps two yellow twenties
the deep sea and fair Luzon.' together. Your blind,' 1 said, reaching
'
" Shasta tries to dissuade me by point- out my hand, ye never saw me.' '
ing to South America and Alaska as likelv " He jumps back like he had been bit
places. Nixy 'em both,' says I.
'
South '
with a snake. Don't try that on me '
Americans has greasers for police, and again,' says he, or I'll swat ye with this
they shoot amiable financiers like me for bit of teak,' and he flourishes the club
little or nothing. As far as Alaska is wild.
concerned, think of what happened to my " So that's the teak,' I responded, still
'
poor old pard and mentor " Soapy " of thinking of the poetry and the elephant,
sainted memory, who was brutally shot '
and what's come over you since last we
'
boo, and consequently become a trifler brothers is losing a lot in the way of
with the naked truth, when there was education.'
absolutely no necessity for it. So I " My
bad luck stays with me. On the
couldn't trust him. Shasta naturally feels way to Hong Kong I'm seduced into sit-
bad, but the day I leave he gives me a ting in a friendly game in the smoking
book writ by a man named Kipling, which room. My instincts get the better of me,
Shasta 'lows is descriptive some of the and a long gent with white side whiskers
place for which I'm bound. I'll bet the and a linen duster, lets out an awful yell
poor unfortunate stole it, but the book was when I parts him from i.IOO 'dobe samo-
all right and I read it going over. leons. Perhaps he piped the clutch in ' '
" When I lands in Manila the first my sleeve, for I had my coat off on ac-
'
phants a piling teak,' but on the bridge of suspicion the rest of the way. Worse!
across the creek I do see Dennis Murph>, When we get to Hong Kong his whiskers
him who used to walk a beat on Larimer has a drag, and while I'm sitting on the
street —
ye know him. I don't let Denny veranda of the Grand Hotel, hoisting a
see me 'pipe' him off, for I've got busi- long one in a green glass and thinking
ness in the city, but he ain't so careful pleasant thoughts, up comes a fussy per-
about me. Hullo. Lou.' he sings out.
'
son in a big white hat. man,' says '
Me
'
When did yez come in ? I stop and
'
he. 'a word with you.'
notice that he's got a sort of yellow uni- " As many as you like,' I respond po-
'
want to see the palm trees and the tinkly record, you knaow; Manila, you knaow;
temple bells and smell the spicy garlic Murphy you knaow.' ,
smells.' » " 4
" '
Ye
are not,' says he sweetly the ;
'
off short, '
and I go — Pronto! '
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Digitized by Google
1 /a- '.'./,>: ;. j ! I/./, •./»/<•<•
Digitized by Google
THE WANDERINGS OF LOU THE LUCKY
o'clock,' says the inspector and walks off, any longer you would have lost it,' says a
leaving mc to wonder why all the police voice at my elbow. turned and there
I
their start on board that boat. you tell me where the Governor's palace
" As usual, there was the little game is ?
'
he asks.
in the smoking room, and I was there " Son, I knowed him for one of the
with the Little Giant Hold Out,' my
' '
perfesh '
from that one question, for
travels looking for scenery, and at the many a time in I asked a Denver have
direction of the police, having cost some suffering stranger on the street as to the
money. The Little Giant never failed
'
' location of the smelters, this being prepar-
me before, but, son, she sure went back atory to buying him a drink, and then
on me this time, and I was forced to drop showing him some mineral specimens and
her overboard to save my self-respect. a poker game. Do they do it the same '
" In the party that was playing on this way?' I asks, with some respect in my
boat was a young appearing person whom eye.
I took for a Chink,' but who answered to
' " '
Just the same,' he laughs.
1
What's
'
awhile to look at the happy little Jan w ith envy, and I figures if it goes through
boys paddling around. I might as well
'
that I'll get the finest thirst parlor on
have lost the diamond, too,' I says aloud Broadway, with a pull whereby I can
to mvself. have Murphy, of Manila, put back to
"
*"If you'd stuck by the " Little Giant shoveling cinders in a gas house.
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740 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"
In the first place,' says
'
after Ma turned pious on account of your past sins,
ordering the chow, we've got to go to '
and giving your money away so that you
India.* can die easier. A fakir giving money
" '
Not for me,' I breaks in, '
I've trav- away instead of collecting it will make a
eled enough. I'm going to have some big hit, and you'll be all the goods.'
traffic with the " Yankees of the Orient," " Ma,' I remarked at this point,
'
I'll '
as I believe the Japs is now called. Be- be a king all right and stand for being
sides, I need the money.' called a fakir and for being dirty and
" 1
You'll not stay here, for two rea- pious, but you nor nobody else can make
sons,' says Ma sternly. In the first place,
'
me give away money. I ain't been raised
I've had dealings with the skunable in that way. I'm getting other people to
these parts before and they ain't got noth- give it to me, with as little unpleasantness
ing left. In the second place, the police as possible. In this respect I'm like the
is on to me and they will be put wise to genuine fakirs, and you'll have to think
you.' up some other business for the part.'
" ' Both reasons is good,' I murmured " Ma looked up at me with a sneer all
regret'ully ;
1
after my experience I don't over his yellow face. And you were '
doubt one or the other of 'em.' Soapy 's right-hand man ? he said sarcas- '
too. What's more, you arc going to be a deadly enemies. It's against their re-
dumb fakir, for you don't know the lan- ligion to touch anything that has to do
guage.' with dead animals, and soap is made out
" There's
'
where you get off on the of fat. Why, the Hindoos and the Eng-
wrong I shouted
foot! and I was good
'
, lish had an awful fight because the heathen
"
I'm one of the best " con
4
and sore. thought the cartridges he was getting was
men in the world, and I'll turn fakir for greased with cow's fat. Don't ever men-
nobody. I hate these 'phony hoop pcdlers tion soap to a Hindoo. What we arc
and the patent medicine rummies, and I going to sell 'em is water just plain old —
despise a thief. Nobody can remove the muddy water.'
epidermis of a sucker quicker than I can, " '
Comeout of the trance,' I sneers
but I'll point out a thief to the fly cops sarcastically. I've seen easy marks in
'
any time. There's a bi^ difference be- my time, from gents that fought to get
tween a " con " man and a thief, but be- the electric pad made out of cayenne pep-
tween a fakir and a thief there ain': arv per and sawdust, to them that bought
to speak of.' chances on a turkey raffle I was running
" '
You have got the dope all wrong,' once, when it was plain to all eyes that
says Ma impatiently. India 'A fakir in there was no turkey, but the foundation
ain't the same as a fakir in your country. of our noble " profesh " is the idea most
The Hindoo fakir is a holv man. and people have of getting something for noth-
even-body worships him. He don't do ing. Water is not something, but vice
anything but sit around and take the versa. There —
money people give him, on account of " '
l et me talk,' savs Ma impatiently,
his general dirtiness and piety. Now, my 'and I'll show you where this thing lies
scheme is this: You are to be the King on the solid foundation you speak of.
of Ballayabad, under a vow of silence, This water we are going to sell is holy
Digitized by Google
THE WANDERINGS OF LOU THE LUCKY 741
water from the Ganges, which is the holy which was uneventful, because I wouldn't
river to wh*ch the Hindoos pray and play cards with Ma, and nobody else
down which they like to float when they would play with either of us, and cast
are dead, it being considered a certain your eye on the spectacle of Ma and me
pathway to the Hindoo heaven. It's also doing business in Calcutta. See me, col-
supposed to be good medicine. What bet- ored up good and yellow, with a dab of
ter combination do you want? If they wood ashes on my head to show repent-
are sick it makes 'em well, and if they ance, and with nothing much else on me
are dead it makes 'em holy. By selling but dirt to show that I am holy. I have
this water wc minister not only to their three bars of grease paint on my forehead
physical and spiritual ills, but to their to show I'm about as sacred as there is
financial ills, for with each and every going, according to the brand. See Ma
bottle the holyKing from the mountains dressed about as I am, but with only one
of Afghanistan gives away money. This bar, showing that he has just commenced
money, being wrapped in a package with to climb the holiness ladder by associating
a little vial of holy water, is given to the with me. Ma making a terrific
Picture
poor deluded heathen in exchange for one spiel in the Hindu language, and me sit-
rupee, Hindoo money, the King only con- ting on a mat, dumb, wrapping up little
senting to take the money for the benefit bottles of muddy water, and making them
of his faithful servant, being under a vow poor heathen believe I'm putting a ten-
to give his own money only to the poor, rupee note in each and every package.
and not for any service done. In selling Imagine a thousand cussing and fighting
the water, the royal fakir makes only one Hindoos, each with a rupee in hand, fight-
condition, and that is that the package be ing to get to me first. Think of having
not opened for one month after its pur- to haul the money to the bank in a wagon,
chase, the intervening time to be spent by and of thousands following me and kissing
the Hindoo in making prayers for the my footprints in the muddy street. Son,
memory of the King's great grandfather, there ain't no brand of poppy vapor which
who was ate up by a tiger and didn't for could have shown me a dream like the
this reason get to float down the Ganges reality. In one week we cleaned up one
into the Hindoo heaven. The penalty hundred thousand rupees, and then I re-
for violating this condition will be the gret to state something happened which
disappearance of the money into thin air. dashed my happiness to earth, and made
Sec now where the human nature comes me the keeper of a rum shop instead of a
in? The people that pay their good gorgeous potentate."
money will obey the condition for about Lou the Lucky held up two fingers for
two weeks at the most, then somebody the benefit of his bartender and groaned
will get curious and tear a little hole in at the recollection of what he was about
the package, and there won't be any money to relate. " Son, when
I said to look out
there. What? They ain't got any kick for the heathen Hindoo, I meant not
coming? They see you put the money in. only the pure blood one in his native
If it ain't there it's because they broke the jungle, but also, and especially, any that
charm by peeking. Those that don't fall has got Connecticut Yankee bl6od in
by the wayside won't find the holy King their viens, for they are so crooked that
from Afghanistan or his pardner either no honest confidence man should ever as-
when the month is up. " Human curi- sociate with 'em. One, Mahadeo Suddoo
"
osity " and the " something for nothing Govindrow Smith, a putty-faced Eura-
'
gags rolled into one! Ain't it a winner? sian, bilked his side pardner out of all
" It sure is,' I says,
'
and I have to '
his money and all the confidence he ever
hand it to you. No wonder you landed had in the members of his '
profesh.'
on my roll coming here.' Also, he did it s<> nicely and
such an in
" At Ma's suggestion, I went and original way I feel to tell about it,
that
hocked my diamond in a Chinese pawn although it'sknock on myself.
a
shop for nine hundred samoleons, and "It was this way. I was just cleaning
didn't sleep that night for dreaming of up after the week's prosperous business
millions. aforementioned, with the intention of be-
" Son. draw a curtain over the journey, ing a white man for one night, when in
Digitized by Google
742 THE METROPOI TAN MAGAZINE
Ma rushes in a state of fearful excite- rupees for every one that he has in gold,
ment. He closes all the doors and win- silver or papermoney, as a bonus. If he
dows and peeks under the bed, and then don't accept this proposition he goes to
he comes close to me and whispers, The '
and we get half of the money, any-
jail,
'
stuffs all off!' how."
"'Keep cool/ I said, 'and tell me " Ma me in the eye when
didn't look
about it.' he was telling me
this, but I was too in-
" '
The Hindoo on to us,' says
priests is terested time to notice it much.
at the
Ma, '
and they are going to have us run '
That's a pretty decent proposition, Ma,'
out of town for hurting their own graft. I said, and we'll just skin the priests out
'
Some of the Brahmins at the temple has of that bonus money. I always wanted
done so poorly this week that they ain't to see the inside of their church,anyhow,
had enough to eat.' and look at the 'cathen idol made of mud,
" That's their misfortune,' I answers
'
which they call the great Gawd Budd, of
coldly, and as for being run out of town,
'
which the poet sings, but I ain't going to
I'm willing to go right now.
!
got We take the cash money there. They might
enough knock us in the head and bury us in the
'"That's the 'they
point,' says Ma; basement of the church. A certified check
ain't let us get away with the
going to for the money is all they can see, and
coin. They
are going to point us out to they can give us the cash.'
the English cops, and they will surely " Hell! shouted Ma, getting excited,
'
'
confiscate the money, with half to the in- w hich was suspicious if I had only no-
former.' ticed it.
'
Do you think this is New York
" It's a
'
low down way of doing busi- City, and that you're doing business with
ness,' I remarked, worried like. '
Any- a bunch of brokers on the Stock Exchange,
thing else? talking about certified checks? Why.
" The priests
'
made a proposition to these poor, ignorant priests is over three
me,' says Ma slowly, looking at me, as I thousand years behind the times. They
now remember, in a very foxy way. don't know what a check is, nor what a
" '
Why didn't you say that before?' I bank is. They keep their money hid in
demanded. Where a proposition is made
'
the temple, and the cold cash money is all
to a " con " man it means only one thing, they know. We got to take the money
and that's money.' there to do business.'
" And then Ma went on to tell me " Cupidity, in thinking of that extra
that the priests in the temple being graft- two hundred thousand rupees, got the best
ers themselves, and their ancestors having of mycaution, and I told Ma that I was
been in the same line for thousands of in on the play. I slipped a gat in my '
'
years, had got wise to us right away, but pocket, and me and Ma started for the
admired our nerve so much that they was temple at sunset, each of us carrying a
willing to do the right thing, so they got a sack containing fifty thousand rupees in
cut. The priests figured that if we could gold mohurs and Bank of India notes.
make a bunch of money on the street that " Ma
seemed to know the way, which
we could make four times as much by struck me as being awful round-about.
doing business in their temple, besides giv- We had a native buggy, with two horses,
injj such a reputation to the place that and it seemed to me an hour before we
the Hindoos would all go there for the commenced bumping over big rocks, and
next hundred years, and the collections Ma "announced that we would have to
would amount to an enormous sum after walk the rest of the way.
we were gone. " I got out, with one hand on the 1 gat,'
" The main squeeze at the temple told
'
and looked at the temple. It was dark,
me to tell you,' said Ma, that " if the 1
but I could see that it appeared to be
white fakir will consent to do business in tumbling down, and I thought of what
our temple for one month, we will give would happen to them priests in a real live
him half and furnish protection. In addi- city,where they had building inspectors.
tion, if he brings the money which he We climbed up a lot of steps and walked
has received for the week to the temple into the temple. There we found three
to-night, I will count out to him two priests, as I thought, sitting on the floor,
Digitized by Google
THE WANDERINGS OF LOU THE LUCKY 743
with a big box in front of 'em. All the for Ma and put him out of and business,
light there was came from some wicks while I felt sorry for him, I couldn't help
burning in saucers full of oil. Ma intro- thinking of the way he had trimmed me
duced me to the priests in their own lan- on the boat, and of the fact that my for-
guage, and the main guy, who was a dried tune was doubled. After awhile an ox
up yellow man, with bushy white whis- cartcame along and I hailed the driver.
kers, gave me the office of the con men, ' '
We loaded the box on and drove into
to show me that there was nothing new town to the little hut where and I Ma
on the face of the earth, as the Bible had been stopping to keep up the fakir
says. gag.
" After Ma had palavered with 'em a " Here I washes off my fakir clothe*
bit,the old man threw open the lid of the and bids 'em farewell forever, and, put-
box and motioned for me to look. I ting on my Christian clothes, becomes
never saw so much gold money in one once more the best con man in the
'
'
and running off with the box, but the old registers my right name, so that all the
priest gave me a look which made funny world may see. Then I takes the box to
feelings run up and down my spine, so we a room, and, pulling down the blinds,
got downto business. For every piece of makes preparations to gloat a little over
money took out of our sack the old man
I the coin. As I am unlocking the box, I
would take two pieces out of the box, and some about poor Ma.
soliloquize You '
face. It took a long time to finish the born under the same star which twinkled
count, and both Ma
and I was glad when in the blue when Lou the Lucky was
it was over. The box was pretty near born. You played a fine game of poker,
empty when we got through, and Ma and have had the little instru-
I'd like to
suggested that we put our money in it ment you what good did it do
used, but
and leave the sacks. This was agreeable you ? A tiger may have et you last night,
to the priests, and the old man took up or Old Whiskers, the priest, may have
our sacks and emptied them himself into slipped around and strong-armed ye,
the box. Then he locked it and gave flu- thinking you had the money. Mebbc the
key to me. Although the money was driver of the buggy abducted you, I
mostly gold and paper, the box was heavy, dunno. Anyways, I can't start the police
and Ma and I had a hard time getting it looking for you, for they might pet in-
out of the temple. Before we went Ma quisitive about me. Peace be to your
stood good for our appearance, saying that ashes and may you sleep well, wherever
we'd be there early the next day, and the you are, for as a schemer jour head was
old man winked and said something that worth a pile of money and then I opens
'
;
4 '
sounded like, You had better come! the box. Son, I am willing to swear to
Then he and the other two melted away this day that as I done so I heard a merry
into the darkness, and Ma and I started ha! ha! and had a feeling of disappoint-
for the rig with the box of money. It ment, thinking that Ma had come back to
was so heavy that when we got to the top claim his share. Then I cast my eyes
of the steps leading down to the road, Ma into the box and almost swooned away,
said for me to sit on it and rest, while he for instead of the gleaming gold and
went to see if the driver was where we bright, crisp paper money, there was about
had left him. I sat there for a long time, half a bushel of pebbles and gravel. For a
thinking of what I was going to do with moment I stood there petrified, and then
the money and about fretting Murphy, of with a fearful curse, I began scrabbling
Manila, fired, and then I began to wonder around in the gravel, thinking maybe it
where Ma was. I stood on the chest and had sifted over the money in some way.
hollered for an hour, but I heard nothing Not a cent did I find, but at the bottom
but hoot owls, and there didn't come a of the box was a note addressed to me and
sound from the temple. When the gray a small package. With tears of grief run-
light of morning began to show. I made ning down my cheeks. I tore open the
up my mind that somebody had about laid envelope and read the following:
Digitized by Google
744 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
"'Dear Old Pal: Giant," as you probably remember.
" When I found
1
you leaning over the When you get a little stake together by
railing at Yokohama you said that you hard work, use it, my own invention, on
thought your name ought to be Mr. Bates, the way home. When you get enough
a Mark. I am of the same opinion now to buy a little business, throw the instru-
as yourself. (Jetting money from you is ment away and keep out of temptation,
like taking candy from a puny infant. It and so no more.
grieves me some
to announce th«*i the
money which I amassed through your aid,
Mahadeo Suddoo Govixdrow
Smith.'
is needed by me and some friends in a
little speculation, relating to the smug- " Son, I felt a feeling as if I was falling
gling of cheap rifles to the poor, benighted some distance, and the next thing I re-
heathen Afghanistan.
in member was climbing up the temple
I
"
' I can imagine that a bunco man steps, having run the whole way. I rushed
buncoed is the most pitiful sight on earth, into the place, but it was empty, save
great Gawd Budd.' As I stood
1
and for this reason will give you some for the
good advice and tell the story of the plot. staring at him he seemed to wink at me.
In the first place, you made a sad mis- '
'Eathrn idol made of mud I shouted !
'
take in coming to a country where the in my frenzy and give him a kick. The
confidence man flourished for thousands of pote's suspicions was correct, for he fell
years before your country was discovered over and broke into a thousand pieces.
44
by old Columbus, who was somewhat the There ain't much more to tell. I
goods himself in a small way. adviceMy hung around Calcutta looking for Ma un-
to you is to go back to your own land, til the police ran me in for a
1
vag,' and
and confine future operations in your line I did thirty days on the same kind of
to short changing intoxicated persons in a rocks as they have here. Then, broken
cheap saloon. All you know of the game hearted, I shipped on a sailing vessel go-
isn't even the alphabet of it here. As to ing to Australia. Because of my feelings,
the disappearance of the money, would I won't repeat what happened on that
say that the venerable person you thought ship. Having my wages when I got to
was a priest, is my great uncle on my Sidney, I dressed up and took passage on
mother's side, Rajaram Dass by name. a boat for New York. The Invincible '
He's a Mahatma and a thirty-third degree Pocket Picker was the works. When
'
juggler. The reason you didn't find any the lady with the lamp in her mitt hove
gold in the box is simple. There never in sight, I counted up and found I had
was any in it. Good old uncle made you about $G,ooo and the ill-will of an aston-
think you saw money, just as you made ishing number of persons, who couldn't
the Hindoos think you were wrapping sec how it was done, but had their sus-
money up in the packages. Talking about picions. I trim Ma's parting gift over-
mental money, you've seen it. You can board off Sandy Hook.
now go back and tell 'em what you seen " Now I am the sole proprietor of the
the Hindoo jugglers do. 'Golden Mitt.' The police respect me,
" 1
Because I am somewhat sorry for and all the buncoing I do is to make my
you, I am giving you the " Invincible own brand of red likker everv night in the
Pocket Picker," which beats the " Little cellar."
Digitized by Google
CHARLES JAMES FOX
British Advocate for the American Colonies, 1774-1802
BY HOMER SAINT-GAUDENS
September the thirteenth marks the centennial of the death of Charles James Fox,
an English statesman of power and versatility, who defended the cause of the Ameri-
can colonies in the British House of Commons during the War of Independence.
Digitized by Google
CHARLES JAMES FOX 747
coalition ministry. That position, too, was spoken a public word in favor of coercion.
as short lived as the one that went before, Yet his independence in advocating the
since the enmity of the King quickly came Dissenters' Relief Bill, and his critical
to the fore again and forced him back attitude towards the RoyalMarriage Bill,
into the ranks. The only reached
last call had been resented by the King, who was
him in the final year of his life, 1806, waiting an opportunity to curb this dan-
when Lord Grenville refused to form a gerously zealous young man. As a re-
ministry without him, and he received the sult, after a week's pressure on the part
appointment of Foreign Secretary, a posi- of the Crown, Lord North nerved himself
tion that his disease of dropsy almost for- to send the following letter to Fox
bade his filling. The early days of his
private life were passionate and uncon- " Sir:
trolled in the extreme, but years bred " His Majesty has thought proper to
temperance, and in 1795 he married order a new commission of the Treasury
Elizabeth Bridget, with whom he lived to be made out, in which I do not see
in great contentment until his death. your name."
Americans would better appreciate what That note should be guarded in Ameri-
he did for them, if they understood the can minds, for it meant that thereafter
stir aroused in the English Parliament the young man employed all the powers
previous to the War of the Revolution of his nimble tongue in their behalf. Al-
by the stern and unconciliatory attitude most simultaneously with his shift the tea
maintained by the colonists. If the Brit- was thrown overboard in Boston harbor,
ish Government had used forebearance in and the Crown added fat to the fire by
these trying circumstances, the ultimate po- attempting to break the charter of the
litical changes might never have taken Commonwealth and to take away the free
place, but the ministry under Lord North government of Massachusetts Bay. Then
misunderstood the strength of their adver- Fox took up his friendship with Rocking-
saries, and, fearful of surrendering any ham and Burke, and headed a last effort
atom of their rights, began to harass the to turn the King to a more pacific state
colonists and to provoke a contest, on the of mind. If Lord North had possessed a
principle carried across the water in the strength of will equal to his intelligence
time of Charles I, that taxation and rep- might have been successful.
these efforts
resentation should go hand in hand. But the Prime Minister desired favor in
There was hope of peace, however, until Court above everything else, and so en-
the most bitter cause of complaint came, couraged the King's unflinching attitude
when, in order to protect the home trade, To no purpose did Fox aim his sarcastic
Parliament constructed a Navigation Act, replies at the of " the Noble
opinions
restricting American subjects to the use Lord" (North). To
no purpose did
of British merchandise and British ship- Burke deliver his great speech on concilia-
ping. This law the colonists eluded in tion. The debate was dragged on pur-
every possible way, especially in their posely untilwhen at last plausible sugges-
dealings with South America, and then tions were sent across the water, they
when the mother country att-mpted more reached their destination only after the
severe restraints, the desire to revolt be- attack on the Concord arsenal had shut
came obvious to every eye. Nevertheless, the door to compromise, and had laid the
a stringent policy was maintained until, on issue between the stubborn wills of two
the renewing of the famous Stamp Act, the most obstinate peoples.
situation reached its climax. Pitt, Rock- Thereupon during the seven years fol-
ingham and Burke had taken up the cause lowing Fox became the leader of the Op-
of the Americans against the Administra- position, and bore the brunt of the attack
tion, but their efforts were pressed none of the majority, believing that the cause
too strongly, and in the end for a tea of liberty in America was the cause of
duty of £i,6<x> a year England found liberty in England. For one thing, he
way to lose America.
itself in a fair had no political reasons for coercing
In the midst of these preliminary broils, America, since, though he was not a free-
Fox lost his position in Lord North's trader in his sentiments at home, he be-
Ministry, though hitherto he had never lieved that America would support an
Digitized by Google
Cmrt,n of FndrHtl Krffrt
Digitized by Google
CHARLES JAMES FOX 749
agricultural community on its seemingly had not been able successfully to support
boundless land, rather than offer indus- one war. The choice, he urged, as al-
trial competition to the mother country. ways, was the withdrawal of the British
Also he grasped the great truth, after- armies from the American colonies.
M
wards used so well in regard to the neigh- For," he said, " the war of the Ameri-
boring territory of Canada, that political cans is a war of passion; it is of such a
freedom was the essential condition of a nature as to be supported by the most
sound and permanent colonial freedom. powerful virtues, love of liberty and of
He saw that British statesmanship would country, and at the same time by those
fall into a sea of trouble, if violence were passions in the human heart which give
done to the self-respect of the colonies. courage, strength, and perseverance to
He had the courage to express his con- man."
victions. With such words, despite defeat after
English nature likes the sound of the defeat, he forced his cause, never giving
word " mastery," and Fox, realizing this, his adversaries breathing spell in the up-
set himself to check the passion it implied, hill fight he was making for his people.
struggling up to the day of his success, Such, too, was the fashion in which he
when Lord North was finally driven from criticised the wretched administration of
office. Indeed, Fox said almost at the Lord North's government, and such was
first : " I take this to be the question — the manner in which he aided the cause of
whether America is to be governed by America. At the end his triumph was
force or management." And " The : the colonies' triumph, since in the year in
noble lord who moved the amendment which he drove Lord North from office,
said that we were in the dilemma of con- the American people were able to free
quering or abandoning America; if we themselves from the British hand.
are reduced to that, I am for abandoning There were older men than Fox who
America." This text he held to through- held his views in the House of Commons,
out the stormy years that followed after but none so virile or active or daring.
the Declaration of Independence, and the The Lord Chatham supported him in all
treaties with France, in his debates against his efforts, but Chatham had such a posi-
Lord North, whom he called a " blunder- tion of dignity to maintain, that he was
ing pirate," reiterating in strong, vigorous forced to exercise a temperance of speech
language that a conquered America would in the least important debates. The same
produce nothing but mischievous, profit- situation applied to Horace Walpole and
less colonies. He felt that by the use of Saville. But Fox in his youth and free
force his government would lose their op- strength, could give vent to his desire to
portunities for trade or commercial ad- speak without premeditated or particular
vantage. He realized that the numerous language. Burke called him the greatest
people beyond the Atlantic, growing in debater the world ever saw. Recupera-
their ideas and sentiments, would require tive power, truth and vigor rather
a standing army to keep them subdued. than length and roundness characterized
He feared that " such an army, trained his discourse.His retentive memory al-
to spirits of men, to trample on
break the lowed him a clear spread of his material,
rights,and to live on the spoils cruelly which gave a proper field to the fertility
wrung from the sweat and the labor of of his invention, heroically turned to
the fellow subjects —
such an army, em- every good cause without counting the
ployed for such purposes and paid by such cost. His summing up never appeared
means, would be a very proper instru- methodical, but remained invariably fas-
ment to effect points of a greater or, at cinating. He was eager for unexpected
least,more favorable importance nearer occasions, whereby he might drive some
home, points, perhaps, very unfavorable new points straight home. His gentle,
to the liberties of this countrv." ardent spirit showed a contempt for po-
Again when the war with France began litical intrigue. He pressed an honest
in 1778, he returned to his subject from a sense of duty and of freedom, rather than
fresh point of view, arguing that his coun- anv ambition for personal advancement,
try should choose which struggle they which set him fighting for English liberty
would engage in, as up to that time they at home and beyond the sea.
Digitized by Google
THE SELLER OF HATE
BY ARTHUR MORRISON
1 -
r
HERE is an English England. But certainly he must have been
county of which it is the most misanthropic man
in all Essex,
saitl the devil
that where men were all smiling, jolly, and
never entered it, for pleasant together in the days when the
c fear of being put into devil feared their honest faces. Luke
;
;
,
-
'
f-
3
:
^
f 4
a pie.
I
At
cannot remember
the moment Hoddy not only hated his fellow-man, but
he kept pigs, and hated them he also kept
;
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THE SELLER OF HATE 751
for life because they weren't guineas ; and and treat them likewise. They hated him
you would have deserved much worse for now, and if he had money how he would
being such a fool. grind their faces! He would grind their
At the close of a warm autumn day faces off their heads, if only he had the
Luke Hoddy stood by his garden gate and money.
scowled on all of the world that he could It was at this favorable moment that
see. The sinking sun flung red gold along the devil ventured out on Cock-a-Bevis
the fields and against the trees and hedges, Hill. He did not come flaming and rag-
and a little child sat to view the marvel, ing, in a way to frighten folk, for to-
and to think wonderful things that it night that was not his business; he came
would long to recall in after life, and fail. dressed very well and neatly, like a gentle-
But old Hoddy hated all the gold in the man of those days, and it struck Luke
world that was not in his own pocket, Hoddy at the time that he looked rather
where there was very little, and that little like the lawyer at Witham. He wore
the only thing he loved. Children also trousers a little tighter than was usual —
he detested, for they were human beings. skin-tight, in fact — with straps. His
A stout, round-faced woman went down swallow-tailed coat was pinched in very
the path, with a baby on one arm and a elegantly at the waist, and his beaver hat
basket on the other, and as she passed she was broad in the crown and wide in the
called " Good night." Luke flung back a brim. He carried a quizzing-cane, and his
savage growl, for this woman was a great black stock looked as though it must have
aversion of his, being always happy, and gone a dozen times round his neck, on a
all her life persistently sending more chil- collar that was half-way up his head be-
dren to play on Cock-a-Bevis Hill. Then hind. Still, notwithstanding this very re-
a girl came, driving cows, and a brown spectable appearance, you must not sup-
lad with her, and neither of them saw pose that Luke Hoddy mistook his visitor.
Luke Hoddy at all, because they were Indeed, he recognized him at once; his
looking at each other. Luke positively beautifully varnished boots looked empty
snarled; and such a villainous twist re- at the toes,and from time to time some-
mained on his face when they had passed thing vaguely disturbed the points of his
that a very small boy, who was coming elegant coat-tails; moreover, his eyes
hopefully up with a halfpenny gripped in would have been enough, glowing there
his greatly desiring an apple, turned
fist, in the dark like dull coals.
and ran, and never stopped until he "Good evening, Mr. Hoddy," said the
reached the goody-shop in the village; so visitor, pleasantly.
that old Hoddy was the poorer by one " Gr-r-r-umph " replied Luke, as near
!
halfpenny, and I am sorry it was no more. as I can spell it. He was no great con-
The day waned, and people went on versationalist, finding a growl expressed
their way to rest from their work, old and the most of what he had to say.
young, men and women, and old Hoddy " I'm very glad to meet you," the visitor
saw the world in little pass before his went on. " I think we should know each
gate, and he hated it at large. Then other, Mr. Hoddv."
there went the carrier, and after him " Gr-r-r-umph."
Paigles, the farmer, on his cob. " It might lead to business, I think."
Paigles was a notoriously poor farmer, " Gr-r-r-umph."
and backward with his rent; it was more " Yes. You'll find me an excellent cus-
than believed, in fact, that his landlord tomer. My command of mon_y is unlim-
would be glad to sell the farm, and that ited — I handle most of what exists, at
way be quit of him, since he shrank from some time or other —
and expense is no
turning Paigles away from the land his consideration, so long as I get what I
great-grandfather had farmed a hundred want. I am prepared to pay, Mr. Hoddy,
years before him. Luke Hoddy grinned heavily."
savagely at Paiglcs's back as it merged in " Gr-r-m." It was a slightly different
the shadows of the trees. If only he had growl this time. Old Hoddy was con-
the money he would buy the farm, sell up scious of a possible opportunity. He did
Paigles, and fling him out. neck and crop. not care what he sold, if only it would
He would buy other people's houses, too, fetch enough money. " I should want a
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752 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
lot," he said; "a plcnshus lot. Money can't go raking about in gutters for rem-
down." nants and scraps, like some starving black-
" You shall have it." guard after crusts. Wouldn't do at all,
" An' 1 won't sign —
no, not nothin' — you know. So 1 prefer to buy whole-
not till I get it,every farden." sale, and you are a perfect quarry a —
The devil laughed — quite a gentle- mine. I am ready to take your whole
Digitized by Google
THK SELLER OF HATE 753
dcrful how People seem
little I tjct of it. have time, intend to adapt the idea to
I
to want it for each other, you sec. People other purposes. It might be made to work
talk a deal about hating me, but they hate with pennies for matches and lollipops and
each other so much more that it's very such things. Good notion, eh? But here
rarely I can get anybody's hatred without are your bill-forms; if you want more you
paying for it. And that is why I am here can copy one of them. And remember, no
for yours." more than five thousand pounds at one
"Gr-r-r-umph! Well, I'll selh But time, if you please. That is the price of
none o' yer bills an' 'ceptances, an' that. the largest quantity of hate the machine
"
I want money down. See ? is able to compress in one day. That is
" You shall have the money before I re- all, I think. Good evening, Mr. Hoddy."
"
ceive the goods. Will that suit you ? And with that he was gone, vanishing
Luke thought that would do, and in a very low and courtly bow, which
growled to indicate as much. somehow slid away backward into the
The devil shadow of
stooped in the shadows, leaving Luke Hoddy standing
the fence, and produced a box,which old there with a bunch of papers in his right
Hoddy had not noticed before. It was a hand, while he balanced the box on the
chest of some hard wood, bound and cor- fence with his left.
nered with iron, and as soon as it rested Old Hoddy stared for a minute and a
on the fence-rail Hoddy grabbed it ea- quarter, and then, convinced that he really
gerly. As a box it was heavy, but not so was alone, he picked up the box and car-
heavy as it should have been if it were ried it indoors. He lit a candle, put on
full of money. In fact, old Hoddy judged his spectacles, and began to spell out one
it empty. of the papers. Thus it read
" There ain't no five thousand pun* in Date
that! " he snarled. On presentation pay to me the sum .of
" Quite so I never thought of pretend-
; £ for hate received.
ing it. This is a little arrangement of my That seemed simple enough. Luke
Own invention, which I will explain." Hoddy sat in a chair, and stared now at
"The night was full dark by now, but a the box. Having done that for a little
dull red light fell on the chest wherever while he turned to the paper again, and
the devil pointed, and so Luke understood stared at that. And at last, when he
all he said. found his faculties shaking down into
" You perceive that the box is locked. their proper places, he got ink and pen,
I shall keep the key, and I advise you, for and filled in the topmost form. He filled
your own sake, not to meddle. It is a it in for the full five thousand pounds,
dangerous thing to open if you do not having a natural desire for as much as he
understand it. The lid, you sec, is a deep could get. Then he signed it, slipped it
one. That is because it contains a separate into the slot,and went to bed.
chamber, into which you slip your bills In the morning he woke feeling par-
for acceptance. There is a narrow slot, ticularly well —
uncommonly well. As
you perceive, just under the upper edge. he got out of bed he caught sight of his
Whenever you wish to do business you face in the jaggy piece of looking-glass
will fill in one of the forms I shall leave that stood on the mantelpiece, and saw a
you, with the amount of hate you wish positive smile on it. He sat for a moment
to sell in money up to five thousand to wonder at this, and presently broke
pounds, and sign it. Then you will slip into a laugh. He remembered a ridicu-
the paper in at the slot and go to bed. lous dream about the devil and a chest.
That is all. In the morning you will re- Sunlight came in at the poky little
ceive the money. But meantime you must window, and the sound of a thousand
sleep. Otherwise the sale cannot be com- birds. The light fell on the corner of a
pleted. Take the box, and remember deal table, and there lay a little bundle
what I say. I shall not call again till I of papers. There was no mistake they —
want some of the goods. Then I shall were the blank bills. Luke Hoddy rubbed
take away the box and leave a fresh one. his fist over his head to clear his thoughts.
Do you know, I'm rather proud of the The thing would seem to have been no
invention of that box. Some day, if I dream, after all. But as he pulled on his
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754 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
clothes remembered the attorney at
he That night he filled in another bill for
Witham. No doubt this was some joke the full five thousand, and in the morning
of his —
Luke had noticed the extraordi- drew out another bunch of notes. Then
nary likeness from the first. But why he went out and caught the children going
should he take all this trouble to put a to school and distributed apples among
sell on a stranger? Luke Hoddy floun- them nothing remained on the tree but
till
dered into the only other room of his cot- leaves; laughing so much at the fun that
tage, and there saw the iron-strapped box rumors arose that old Hoddy was gone
standing against the wall. Truly it was mad. The bank cashier was a little sur-
no dream. There, along the slot in the prised to see him again with precisely the
lid, lay the white edge of the paper, which same amount, and the lawyer was also
he had thought he had pushed well in. a little surprised to have another visit,
Or, at any rate, it was some paper, or and instructions to look out for a few
papers. What was it? He reached and more freehold investments, in addition to
pulled out —
not one paper, but five, and Paigles's farm. But that mattered noth-
each was a thousand-pound banknote ing, and the next day old Luke Hoddy
It was true, then —
quite true; neither banked five thousand more.
dream nor sell, but simple fact. Here Paigles's farm was for sale, and at a
was the actual, indubitable money. Luke moderate price; also there was a deal of
Hoddy sat for a while in the blankest of other eligible property to be had in the
brown and then began to chuckle.
studies, neighborhood, and as the money rolled in
Chuckling, he went out into the open, Hoddy took the first steps toward becom-
and looked across the fields, lusty and ing a landed proprietor of no small con-
sparkling in the fresh morning. A little sideration.
child, carrying a basin in a blue handker- But lawyers have their fees to earn, and
chief, stood amaze to see old Hoddy
in between the first steps and the last there
so merry whereupon he gave the child an
; are a great many more, and in those days
apple for nothing, and sat down to laugh there were more than there are now and ;
pretty closely, and was relieved to find long. Indeed, he was a very rich man,
that, although he was smartly enorgh and he had of late begun to wonder what
dressed, he was not so very much like the he should do with all his money. For the
visitor of last night, after all. The law- credit of human nature I shall nor tell
yer promised to make discreet inquiries the precise figure of old Hoddy's riches;
as to the price of the farm, and Luke and very few would believe in the exist-
Hoddy left him. ence of such* a stock of hate as it would
Digitized by Google
THE SELLER OF HATE 755
scarce been time for a change. He used news of his wealth and amiability spread
to detest the place, but now that all his and multiplied, old Hoddy found himself
hate was sold, he rather liked the situation. involved in such a complication of entan-
He had a design of building a house close glements that there was nothing for it but
by, some day, but meantime the cottage to call in the aid of the VVitham attorney,
did very well, and he resolved in any by whose aid, and the payment of a good
event to leave it standing, and use it some- deal of money, actions for breach were
times. compromised, bigamy averted, and safety
He went out into his garden and be- found in the end by marriage with an
yond the fence, whistling. Presently he activeand respectable widow.
saw the girl coming, driving her cows out But these things came to a head later,
to the meadow, and the brown lad with and, in any case, they have little to do
her, just as they had passed in the opposite with the story. Meantime, the iron-
direction on the evening when Hoddy had strapped box stood in the corner of Luke
received the Owner of the Box. But this Hoddy's keeping-room, full of compressed
time they could not help seeing him, for hate, waiting for the devil to come and
he called to them gaily, with questions fetch it.
about banns and a wedding-day, and a Now, the report of old Hoddy's sudden
promise of a silver teapot when the day wealth went about among the good folk
should come. And when they had passed of those parts, and not among the good
he was reminded to fill a basket with eggs folk only. It reached also two vagabond
and carry them down to the cottage of the thieves, tramping through Witham from
round-faced woman who had so many Springfield Gaol, after a narrow squeak
children. After which, finding his expe- for their neck at the assizes ; and this was
riences in generosity such novel fun, he not the first time they had cheated the
got five shillings' worth of pennies at the gallows. They turned aside from the
Crown and Cushion and gave one to every main road because of the rumors, for a
child he could catch. Seme of them feeble old man of great wealth, living
wanted a deal of catching, for it was not alone in a cottage of two rooms, offered
easy for people to understand this change singular attractions to their inquiring na-
in old Hoddy's habits. The fact was that tu res.
not only had he got rid of all his old They came to Cock-a-Bevis Hill, and
hatred, but when he remembered it he learned enough to make them very hope-
felt a little ashamed, and had a great de- ful ; and that night they took a lantern
sire to make amends. and two bludgeons, and lifted old Hoddy's
Paigles's farm was bought at last, and simple latch with neither noise nor trou-
more than half the parish with it; the last ble. Old Hoddy was snoring sturdily in
fee was paid, and the deeds were locked the other room, but. though they had come
in the strong-room at the bank. Then, willing to stop his snore forever, they
when the time came to sell up Paigles, old checked at the sight of the iron-bound box-
Hoddy lowered his rent instead. And as in the corner. It stood very notable
to the other tenants, he discovered a way among the poor furniture about it, and
of grinding their faces against platters and here, they were well assured, was the best
quart pots, giving them and their families the place could yield the end of their de-
the most enormous dinner, in three barns, sires —
the treasure chest. So they left old
that Cock-a-Bevis Hill had ever looked Hoddy to his snore, and carried the box
down on. quietly out, and up the breezy slope of
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756 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
Cock-a-Bcvis Hill, under the stars. In a an old and respected customer, I'm willing
sheltered hollow near the top they set it to stretch a point. You've found me treat
down, and pried it open with a chisel and ; you very well in our first deal, and I don't
that was the end of hoth of them. want to drop the connection. What do
In the morning Paigles's horsemen you say ?
found them lying dead in the hollow, con- Because, you see, now that all Hoddy's
torted and black, something like men hate was quite gone, Hoddy himself was
struck by lightning; and the box lay by such a very different person that he was
them, plain and empty. a very desirable bargain, and the devil was
When Luke Hoddy learned the news in ready to buy him forthwith.
the morning he looked up the hill and at Old Hoddy chuckled deep and long.
the clouds, and saw that the breeze held " It do seem to me," he said, " as you'd
steady from the west, as it had done the do better in the shires. I count you make
day before and he knew that all his hate
; a poor trade in Essex. At Dedham an'
had been carried away on the winds from Snoreham they be too wide awake for 'ee,
off the south. It had saved the hangman an' too clever at Little Witham; you'd
a double turn, and that was all it had starve at Pinchpoles, an' you can't fob 'em
done, good or bad; what became of it at Fobbing. But a 'shire man alluz was a
nobody could ever tell, though I have fool, an' I count you'd do better right over
heard it conjectured that a good deal of across the Lea, at Much Hadham. What
"
it fell in Germany. you're at now is to buy me, eh ?
| But the Owner of the Box was sadly " At a great price, Mr. Hoddy a noble ;
as possible. He went
cautiously to work, " Yes."
being out of confidence with himself in " Well,if ye go over that an' keep along
the county of Essex, and remembering his by t* hedge you come to another. Know
ancient defeat at Barn Hall — of which I that?"
may tell another time. " Perfectly."
' " Well, Mr. Hoddy," he said, " we've " Other side o' that there's a ditch."
had a little misfortune. It's no fault of " Just so."
yours, of course, and I shall make some " An' a meddy with a tree in the middle
very special arrangements for the guilty — oak. D'ye know the oak, too?
"
Digitized by VjOOQlC
Edited by Homer Saint-Gnudens.
They were lucky to be able to build their Greek tragic actor; for though the Cor-
theatre in the thurnus which
classic sta- raised the
dium of Sol- actors several
diers' Field. inches above
They were the chorus,
all the more the onkos
lucky to find upon the huge
that the con- tragic mask,
crete walls the padding
lent them- on chest and
selves admira- body, and the
bly to open-air large gloves
performances may have
with wonder- produced a
fully good powerful
acoustic prop- i magnat vc
i i
Digitized by Google
SRCRRTART ROOT ANT> HIS WITH COMMAWttRR WIJMtOW AMD UltTTSW AWT PALMER OH *MKI>
FAVflLV.
THH CMAHLWVION JUST BEFORE SA1IJNC
appeal, even with the unfamiliar tongue, the Brazilian government. From the
that held the attention of a fairly large point of view of the United States, it may
audience for fully two hours despite a do much to break down the barriers be-
slow, constant rain. tween this country and those republics of
the south. For, despite the Monroe Doc-
Mr. Kuhu Root's three months' trip trine, the connection of the United States
to South America and the Pan American with the countries of the neighbor conti-
Congress is most fittingly heing made in an nent has been almost exclusively political,
American warship. The Charleston, one while Europe has had the benefit of being
of the hest vessels in the navy of the attached to them by the ties of language
United States, was refitted to afford the and race.
needed accommodations for the diplomat
sent on such an important mission. Yet It was unfortunate, but not unexpected,
the very government which so generously that Miss May Sutton could not repeat
provides such a means of transportation, her foreign tennis triumphs of 1905, and
contains men that only a few weeks ago. lower the colors of all her Kngish adver-
were protesting in the wake of the Hon- saries. Her opponent, Miss Douglass, who
orahle John Sharp Williams against the defeated her, was admittedly playing at
appropriation of a most proper sum to de- the top of her form, after an unvanquished
fray the traveling expenses of the Presi- season in open tournament. On the other
dent, when in the course of his duties it hand, Miss Sutton's preliminary upset in
hecomes necessary for him to go to a dis- Liverpool had shaken the confidence sh;
tant part of the United States. However, had hitherto reposed in herself through an
logic never rises to a government position. unbroken succession of victories. How-
It is to he hoped that the Pan-American ever, she did not go on the court a beaten
Congress will justify the half million dol- girl, but after a bad start played magnifi-
lar appropriation that has been given it by cently, being only overcome by a greater
Digitized by Google
THE WORLD AT LARGE 759
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760 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
from the American artists. These men
say that while they are only too happy to
see the directors of their museum, employ-
ing conservative intelligence towards mak-
ing necessary restorations in old and valua-
ble paintings, they must protest against
extreme or experimental methods of re-
moving dirt, when they are applied to can-
vases that cannot be replaced. No one of
them wishes to assume that an aspect of
age is an element of value in an old paint-
ing. They agree that Mr. Fry is to be
praised in his desire to present the public
with a Velasquez or a Rubens in the
condition that the originator created it.
Trouble has come, however, from the fact
that Mr. Fry has removed the outer
layers and coverings until there remains
the painting that he, and not the con-
temporary American artists, considers as
the one that actually existed in the
days when the old master completed
his work. The artists also feel special
SARAH BERNHARDT ABOI'T TO RAVR FOR KHROPP. APTFR
I
resentment against the curator's treat-
HER FAREWELL AMERICAN TOUR
ment of " The Holy Family," by Ru-
bens, which cost the museum $55,000. come. The artists may be right and again
According to their statement, the over en- the artists may be wrong, for undoubtedly
thusiastic application of has re-
fluid they are piqued that much of the money,
moved from the picture not
only the which they consider should be spent on
grime of years and yellow varnish, but as national art, has gone to buy certain
well has taken out the glow which spread antiques, at what they consider very high
over the canvas, leaving certain of the prices. Also, they were undoubtedly
rubbed the wrong way not long
ago, when the eminent director
was quoted as saying that as the
Romans sought their best art in
Greece, so the United States is
now delving among the treas-
ures of the British Isles.
Digitized by Google
THE WORLD AT LARGE 761
of their homes were still cooling. and women under old elms than he ever
did by a year's unceasing study of
The men and women of the barbaric Miss Charlotte Yonge's " Young Folks'
Great Britain fifty years after the death History of England." To such an
end the efforts of the Countess
of Warwick are particularly
commendable, nor is that the
only direction in which the
pageant has achieved success.
Aesthetics make intangible
talking, but there is no doubt
but that fetes such as these,
if kept up to a certain ex-
tent, would produce lasting
and tangible results in turning
British minds from beef and
shops.
A Nightmare is a modest
beseeming nag of phantasy
AM AlTTOMuait-l rOWKRED MORSE
compared to the hair straight-
of Christ, of the turbulent Great Britain ening apparition the rabbit fiend might
of Norman days, of the liberty seeking meet on a moonlight night, if he came
Great Britain of the years of the signing upon a horse representing the size and
Digitized by Google
762 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
had no better luck with the
Reliance in 1903. Probably
the defeats of these three ves-
sels closed one chapter of the
history of international racing.
Recently the contests between
the American schooners " Co-
rona " and " Elmira," have de-
veloped much interest among
lovers of sport on the water,
for nothing seems so to rouse
up the salt spirit as a thresh
through rolling waters in one
of these large schooners. The
America's cup was won by-
such a boat, and the early con-
tests for that first medal of
the sea were decided in a most
exciting way between two-
stickers. Some of the more
Models of the three shamrocks presented by sir THOMAS UPTON conservative members of the
TO THE NEW YORK VALHT C1.VU
New York Yacht Club are
strength of a lustv automobile as it still unwilling to sail an international
plunged through the country. No won- race under the new rules, which tend
der the New Jersey town commissioners toward more seaworthy constructions
are at their wits' end to keep their road and a return to old conditions. Their
corners in some sort of condition. No contentions will easily break down,
wonder the restricted speed limits are however, if Sir Thomas Lipton chal-
being extended farther and farther into lenges with a schooner. For the rules
rural districts. Think of the hoof marks of the cup races permit the building of
this hundred times enlarged quadruped
would make in the best macadam road.
Yet for all his force, the automobile pow-
ered horse remains a well controlled
beast,and one that the rabbit fiend is only
too anxious to own, since if the mechanical
quadruped were not well in hand there
would be a fine scattering of gravel and
conversation.
Digitized by Google
THE WORLD AT LARGE 763
M
mcreiy turning tne Reliance " into a
schooner, even if they knew she would bo
fast under her altered rig. Besides, for
sport's sake, it would be well to give the
situation a new element of chance. De-
signers in the United States seem to have
proved conclusively that they can place in
wate,r a sloop faster than any such vessel
produced in England. What would hap-
pen in case of a schooner is a matter of
doubt, and it is doubt that breeds excite-
ment.
>y Go
THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
boy, for the water which it
displaces would make a small
pond by itself; yet such a
float not an uncommon
is
Digitized by Gc
766 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
sport, confined venturesome or
to the
the rich. Any
person can engage in it
at any time and acquire its accompany-
ing dizzy feelings in such centers of
harrowing amusements as Luna Park
and Dreamland, Coney Island, or
Paradise Park, Kort George, New
York City. The average stranger
who steps aboard one of these airships
wears a supercilious and confident
smile; but in two minutes he clutches
his seat wondering whether the rope
will break, whether he will be swept
into space as a stone from a sling, or
whether he will become violently ill.
Not long ago the Ferris Wheel had its
attractions, but it was immediately
relegated to the backyard when this
invention put in an appearance.
zed by Google
PAMELA AND I
BY C. S. HULBERT, JR.
IU.t STRATED BY F_ FL'HR
"Bravo, Mr. Gifford! If you keep " The rivals," said I darkly. Pamela
up like that you may yet rival Bobby tittered.
Scott in popularity." "Oh, Mr. Scott, do let me introduce
" Dare I aspire to the proud post of you to Mr. Gifford."
" " Delighted,"
Mayfair idol ? He bowed so did I. ; I
" Cleverer and cleverer! Why, I am murmured, shooting a deprecating glance
immensely proud of myself! It is a great at Pamela.
thing to be able to draw you." She smiled and turned swiftly to me.
" I did not know, Miss Pamela, that " Oh, Mr. Gifford, I do believe I must
you were artistic." have left my handkerchief — my best one
" I might have meant that, even — at Mrs. Leland's. Won't you please
though I didn't. All women are artists, go back for it ? And when you bring it
of course." back you may stop for afternoon tea
" If you mean they paint "
— perhaps." She gave him a fluttering
"It's false!" she exclaimed, laughing, glance, then transferred it to me.
Digitized by Google
768 THK METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
" Mayn't I come if I can't find the about yours. Tell me all about it. An
handkerchief?" said I, bowing to hide a international manage de convenance! It
smile. is quite like a romance, isn't it? Is the
" Perhaps," said "
Pamela again as our lady very fond ?
We were in the billiard room, Pamela there were you would read it, just to
and I. I was practicing some very fancy prove how superior was her taste to
shots and Pamela was sitting on the edge mine.
of the table, swinging one foot and in- "Really! Miss Pamela, I don't won-
dulging in chocolate creams and criti- der you are admired!" I exclaimed.
cism. " Y'ou are so intuitive ; quite like a mod-
I chalked my cue and Pamela asked, ern spiritualistic medium."
selecting a raspberry cream and biting it, " My
spirits are not departed, how-
" Didn't you say your letter was from ever," she said. " But let's have some
the Spanish cousin your mother wants you more of that letter. I won't sit here and
"
to marry some time? have you call me names."
" I'm afraid so,
Miss Crafts," said I in "'I shall be so glad to see you, dear
a spirit of supreme self-abasement. Charles,' " I read. " I hope it w ill be
" I beg your pardon. Mr. Gifford?" mutual," I added softly nodding, as I
" I meant I am afraid I shall have to folded the sheet and placed it with osten-
marry her some time not far off. and I tatious care over my heart.
called you 'Miss Crafts'; I hope you "Dutiful," murmured Pamela; then,
noticed that." " A
soupcon of flattering familiarity goes
" I hardly recognized myself," said she, a long wav with a man."
smiling down at me with one raised eye- " May ask," said I, " if that why
is
— —
I
brow and a perfect warfare of dimples. I have occasionally seen and even er
How unkind of you to suggest that
" felt you, when carried away by your feel-
'Miss Pamela' is a universal privi- ings, place vour hand on a man's arm?"
lege -" " Don't be horrid, Mr. Gifford," be-
"
Not quite as bad as that, Mr. Gif- sought Pamela. She rose and came to
ford r me. " Really, that carnation in your but-
Well, nearly." said I firmly. " Do
" ton-hole is very crooked," and she beg.Ti
you deny that even man you've ever -
to set it straight, with her wavy hair at
flirted with has called you that?" And my chin and her little hands fluttering.
I looked my sternest; not, of course, be- Suddenly she raised her head one ha" ;
1
cause I felt so, but itut of principle. still lay on my breast. " Bobby Scott is
" Denied " exclaimed Pamela. ! " Three really fascinating," she observed, and her
of them, just this last season even, left dimples began to play. I could watch
off the Miss!" and
she flung out her her dimples for hours in perfect delight.
arm me
triumphantly.
at They come and spread as do the ripples
I shot worse than ever. in a still pool when you toss in a handful
" But. Mr. Gifford. since my affairs of pebbles. And then the largest two
don't seem to improve jour aim, let's talk- st rew up the corners of her mouth, and
Digitized by Gc
SUCH WAS PAMELA"
uigmz by Google
77o THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
one on her chin glimmers and flickers like that you show your cousin the hot-house
a light seen through a snowstorm. before she dresses for dinner," she sug-
" Does your present position suggest "
— gested, and satisfied with this piece of
I hegan, but she popped a chocolate in diplomacy, took up her fancy work and
my mouth and that dimple on her chin — began to embroider a wonderfully made
which I call her star dimple flickered — butterfly.
more than ever. " Really," said I as we strolled among
" I think you're outrageous," said she the flowers, " I should pay you some com-
then she laughed. pliments as to your sisterhood with those
Such was Pamela. scarlet roses if I did not disapprove of
And Bobby Scott? I wondered. such conversational subterfuges."
" You pay me a compliment every
She was lovely ; there was no doubt time you speak my name," she smiled.
about that. When my mother sent for Even so easy is it to pay compliments that
me and I entered the mater's snuggery one does it without realizing.
my first thought was that she was the " Your name? How so? "
Spanish gypsy of tradition. Deep, slum- " Oh, my full name, you know. Her- '
warmly black hair; a fine figure, and dim- pet name '
Hermanita means little '
4
how I had said, smiling, that Pamela's such a temptation? It is enough to make
eyes were yellow diamonds, and that she a flatterer of a misanthrope, I assure you,"
had cried, " You talk as though I were a I returned, thinking how well the red
cat!" rose characterized her.
" And this is Cousin Charles," my " And what would it make of one al-
cousin murmured, with a faint pressure ready a flatterer? " she quizzed.
of my
hand. Her manner was subtly " A
fool," I said with conviction.
flattering her eyes almost caressing.
;
" I " I am loth to believe that," said she,
cannot help being agreeably surprised." and, laughing saucily, ran into the house.
" I am afraid your former estimav
must have been poor," said I, somehow " I think," said Pamela; " that Bobby
resenting her lack of dimples. — that Mr. Scott understands me."
She dropped her eyes, still smiling. " Always a pleasant thing to feel," said
" How lovely America is —
and Ameri- I, but I did not think it pleasant.
cans are even more so. You have never " And so," said she, "I am going to
been to Spain, dear Aunt? " she asked. marry him."
M
" Never." said my mother." beg your pardon? " I cried.
I
"Ah. you have missed much. Spain ii " And so," she repeated, " I am going
"Safe, Mr. Gifford? What do you in the manger. I am sure it hurt him to
mean t see the ox approaching.
" Why, do you feel that you under-
"
stand him? We were in the conservatory, Herma
" But," objected Pamela, " how should and I. Mother had just left us; together
I feel confident he understands me unless we had been talking of our approaching
1 understand him?" marriage. And now we stood, each, I
" Oh, well, I thought you might have think, reviewing the past talk.
taken his word for it." Then Herma spoke, breaking a little
" I never trouble myself with the opin- silence, filled only by the scent of a great
ions of others when 1 have plenty of my bunch of her favorite crimson roses that
own. And he is so devoted." I had cut for her.
M " " I would not have you think this a
And you?
" Oh, of course he isn't the first." love match," she said. There was a pearl
" Nor the dearest?" I murmured. ring on her little finger; she turned it
"N-no." said Pamela slowly. "But round and round and her look was far
he is the last," she added, smiling. A away.
moment before I could have vowed that Suddenly I knew.
in her torn- was something moved I knew ;
" There is some one —
in Spain ? " I
that it was moving. said softly.
" After ihc first, the next best is the A blush swept over her. My roses fell
last, I infer?" upon the path. " Yes —
yes! " she cried ;
" Sometimes," she half whispered. " But then her eyes came back to mine and
sometimes — searched them.
" I wonder," said I, abruptly, and it " And there is some one here, I think,
may seem irrelevantly, " if he calls it the she said quietly, taking the flowers I had
'
star dimple 1
'
—
wonder if he under- stooped to pick up.
stands that, as well as others, as one I bent my head.
hat I added, " I shall reserve my con- smiling faintly, she raised one *o
Still
gratulations until I meet Mr. Scott." her lips and kissed it; then she tore off
"Goodbye," said Pamela softly. "And the brilliant petals and scattered them
— Mr. Gifford ! You needn't — quite — among the plants.
forget." With one accord we turned and
I always pitied the much maligned dog walked into the house.
Digitized by
A LETTER TO THE DUCHESS
BY LEONARD MERRICK
OU said to mc last artists who suffered agonies in their youth,
night, Duchess: always tortured by ambition, and dis-
'
You arc a great mayed by their obscurity. With mc it
musician, Socoloski, was quite different. I was more joyous
but a great musician
!
in a tent than I am now
on the platforms.
may
be a great fool I even knew time that I was
at the
I had vexed you. If happy. That much.
says Ungrateful,
~z4Bi I should not know- perhaps, I sound to you ? Still, I shall be
that, forgive me. Perhaps it is common frank.
of me to recognize that I vexed you I — " I was thirteen when I first heard the
shall always be ignorant of the best man- words, '
You will be famous.' I was on
ners. Pray be indulgent to my ignorance. my way to buy some apples, and the dis-
Pray let me write to you boldly, because I cussion that detained me bored me a great
have something to say. deal. So ignorant was I that I swear to
" But how difficult it is! I am a vul- you, Fame said no more to me than
' '
garian, who can only express himself by that one day I would
fiddle with a roof
his violin! I want to say that when you of wood over my
head, and that store-
looked at me so kindly, I was not the keepers and farmers would spell my name
dolt and ingrate that I seemed. I was from a bill at the doors.
very proud, very honored. If I appeared " My
patron had me educated. To
insensible of your interest it was because I him I owe, not only my position in the
had just been stricken by a grief which I musical world, but the fact that I am
dared not hint. able to write this letter. I shall not
" I arrived at your house late last night. wear>- you by describing the years of
You will be revolted to learn what de- study. When I began to understand what
layed me. When my recital was over, lay before me, my apprenticeship looked
and I had escaped from the fashionable an endless martyrdom more than once I ;
ladies who scrambled to kiss my hands, was at the point of flying from it. There
and pull buttons from my coat as keep- is, they say, a special department of Provi-
sakes, I hurried to a minor music hall to dence for the protection of fools it is ;
hear a girl in tinsel sing a trashy song. Providence, no w isdom of my own, I have
I hurried there because I loved her, to thank that I am not still a vagrant
Duchess, and 1 had much to think of scraping to villagers among the show-
when I left. To understand what was wagons. The plans mapped out for me
in my heart when I reached your drawing- succeeded in spite of myself. At last the
room, you must read my love story from time arrived when an agent said, Now '
the beginning —
my very vulgar love story we commence.'
will
that will disgust you. " Of I had come to my senses
course,
" Most of the things that you have before this. So far from hankering after
seen about me in the papers were false — the tents of my boyhood now, I was
anecdotes invented by my agent. The ashamed to remember that I had ever
public ask for anecdotes of their favorite played in them; so far from picturing
artists, and it is business to give the public fame as the applause of shopkeepers in a
what they want. I generally play the shed, I thirsted for something more than
music that they want, though it is seldom the reception accorded mc at my debut.
the music I like best. I say that most Ambition devoured me now. If I have
of the things you have heard about me the right to praise myself for anything, it
were false, but this much istrue: my is for the devotion with which I worked
father was a peasant, and I have fiddled durine the five years that followed.
in a fair. " Well, I made a furore. Audiences
" I was happy. I have been told of rained roses on me, and struggled to reach
Digitized by Google
A LETTER TO THE DUCHESS 773
the platform. Great ladies invited me to Oh, no,' she answered,
4
Nina
It's
their receptions, and bent their eyes on Clicquot's show — good name to choose,
me as if I were a god. I found it fright- eh? The other girl, Eva Jones, and I
fully confusing; under my veneer, under are engaged by her, that's all. This is
my fashionable suit, the peas- I was still my card.' From a battered purse she took
ant who had held his cap for coppers. I a card, on which was printed
discovered that it was necessary for me to
do more than master my art that — I Miss Betty Williams.
was required to say interesting things to The Three Sisters Clicquot.
people frightened me; my popularity
who
suffered a little because I could not do it. " We were near the entrance to the
4
The agent was furious at my bashfulness. buffet. Will you come and have a
1
You must speak to the ladies as if you drink? '
I asked.
were in love with them,' he told me 'or ; "'Oh, I don't think I will, thanks.'
if you cannot do that, be rude! Make an she said.
4
I'm waiting for Eva I might —
effect somehow. You answer as if you miss her.'
were a servant.' " Oh, you'd better come,' I said.
'
44
Many of my eccentric remarks that 44
Wewent in and sat down at one of
you have heard, Duchess, have been com- the tables. She did not strike me as par-
posed with difficulty and practiced with ticularly good looking then the charm of ;
care. The world will not have us as we her face lay in its changefulness, and as
really My
agent often returns a
are. yet I had not seen it change, for her
portrait-poster of me to the printer, with capabilities as an actress were of the slight-
1
the instructions, Put more soul into the est. I saw merely a pale, slim girl, becom-
eyes. ingly dressed in some dark stuff that was
M
I am coming to my love story. It rather shabby; when she lifted her brandy
was no further back than last year that I and soda a finger tip showed through a
first met her. I had given a recital at glove. I wondered why I had brought
Blithepoint, and was remaining there for her in, and was glad that there was no
a few days' rest. One evening I went to crowd to recognize me. It wasn't till she
a variety entertainment in the pavilion on told me so that I was sure she recog-
the pier. nized me herself.
"In the bill were three girls described " She said : 4
have never heard you
1
4
as The Three Sjsters Clicquot.' They play I should love to Did you do good
— the
; !
'
appeared as theatre .attendants pro- business down here ?
gramme sellers who show you to your " couldn't help smiling. Yet it had a
I
box — and sang, to a rather plaintive air, pleasant ring, that question. It revived
that they once hoped to be stars them- '
' the past —
the days when I used to see
selves. And then, having blossomed into the takings divided on the drum!
44 4 4
gauze and spangles, they burlesqued melo- Oh,' she exclaimed laughing, 1 for-
drama. After their turn two of the trio got! Of course, you did I'm not used —
came into the stalls, and by chance we to talking to big guns.' But there was
spoke a strong man had broken a six-
; no embarrassment in her apology
4
she
'
—
pence in halves and thrown the pieces might have been living among big guns
over the footlights one of the girls — all her life.
a*kcd me to let her see the piece that T " 4
How
long have you been at it? I '
Where are your sisters are they really — pay much better and my voice isn't bad.
your sisters?* Of course, it's not a trained voice, but it
Digitized by Google
774 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
isn't bad, ch? have two shows aWe women who awed me, and the women
night next week —
that means five pounds who were awed. In five minutes I was aj>
to me. Good for little Betty!' By the spontaneous as she. Her tones were, for
way, she was not little. the most part, very pleasant, and now
44
What do you do with so much
'
that she was animated, the play of her
money?' One must say something. features fascinated me. When we had
M
our drinks we sauntered round
1
Oh, I've plenty to do with it,' she finished
said. and round the pavilion.
44 4
A husband to keep ?
'
" The performing birds are on,' she
'
" She
nodded gravely. '
Rough ! I've she said as we listened again. What did 4
always found very good pals, though. you think of him ? He's in love with my
When I went into the chorus at the sister —
I mean Eva Jones. You know
Regalia I and a friend of mine hadn't a what a little slip of a thing she is? He
cent between us for 'bus fares; and there wanted to kiss her, and she put on side —
was an old Johnnie one of the syndi- — oh, Eva was very haughty!
44
Sir, how
cate —
who took to us. Quite straight!
"
dare you ? " He had hold of her finger,
He said : Look here, I know you two and he drew her to him as if she had been
girls aren't getting enough to eat I've ; a piece of paper. It was so funny, to see
booked a table at the Troc, and you're her going! He worships the ground she
both to lunch there right through the re- walks on fact!— That was the reason
hearsals. If you can't get away for lunch, his challenge night was a frost didn't —
it's to be dinner; but one square meal a you hear about his challenge night? He
day the two of you are to have regularly, bet that no twelve men in Blithepoint
or there'll be rows. Mind, it isn't to be a could pull him over the line. Then he
meal for more than two! " Her face lit '
got drunk, because she wouldn't have any-
with laughter.
4
There were some boys in thing to do with him —
and they pulled
the chorus just as stony as we were; my him all over the stage. It cost him ten
friend would lunch one day, and I'd lunch pounds, besides his reputation. He cried.
the next —
we'd each take a boy in turn!
44 44
Ah, little girl," he said to her, it is all
But the old man found out what was through you "
1
—
!
44
going on and the Troc was off! It was amazing that on the boards
. . . I've had cases of champagne sent she could not act! As I heard her tell
me, if you please! He was a wine mer- this story, I would have sworn she was a
chant's son —
wanted to marry me; his born comedienne. The exaggerated dig-
screw in the business was about a pound a nity of Miss Jones, its ludicrous collapse,
week. Nice little fellow.
44
He alwavs the humiliation of the strong man she —
called me Jack." He
used to say: "I brought the scenes before me. Go on,' I 4
4 1
can't come the show to-
in the pit to see begged talk some more!
;
Digitized by Google
A LETTER TO THE DUCHESS 775
to my taste, and she had forgotten to take " I wondered
she would notice me.
if
the '
make-up off her eyes.
'
I saw her start she smiled. —
I was so
" I am writing more than I intended I ; pleased that I had come! talked We
had no idea that my explanation would be presently in the passage under the stage.
so long! Siie was very surprised I did not tell ;
" The next night I did walk to their her that I was there only to meet her
lodgings with them. It was Saturday, again. Once more I walked with her and
their last night in the town; on Monday Eva Jones to their door. In the morning
they were to open in a London suburb. I called on them.
Miss Jones had to leave a parcel with an " I stayed in the place four or five days.
acquaintance at the Theatre Royal, and There were luncheons in the private room
in her absence Betty Williams and I paced that 1 had been able to secure at the
the street alone a quarter of an hour, — hotel. I went to tea with them at their
perhaps. She was looking forward to the lodgings. In fine, 1 was very much in
week at home. She was serious to-night love, and I knew that I had been a fool.
she talked to me of her mother and the I knew it for a reason which will be diffi-
4
boys.' I said I hoped she would find cult for you to creJit, Duchess. This
them well and we shook hands
: Good- — '
girl, who took a brandy and soda with a
bye.' The incident seemed closed, but I stranger in a bar, who accepted little pres-
went away with an impression I had ents from others, and dined with men
never experienced before the impression — who had only one motive for inviting her,
of having met some one who ought to remained perfectly virtuous. In different
have been my
very good friend. classes there are different codes she —
" When I breakfasted on the morrow I did not regard her behavior as wrong;
felt blank in realizing that her train had more, if she had committed the act which
already gone. Every day I had to combat she knew to be wrong, she would have
a temptation to run up to that suburb. broken her heart. No matter how much 1
When my holiday came to an end I won- a man cares for a girl,' she said to me
dered if she was in town still. By a once, he can't hold her any more sacred
'
jurer, my
heart sank as I beheld the
and I wasn't prepared to marry her, and she
Digitized by Google
/7 6 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
same throb as the three girls appeared 1 " Duchess, my motive in addressing you
Why should I bore you with details? I is to write the truth, even the truths that
was with her all day, every day. Tea one blushes to acknowledge. When I
and chatter in the lodgings became an in- welcomed the dawn of your interest in me,
stitution, and we grew serious only when I turned to you as a chance of forgetting
ure for the hall. She was not fascinated as I appeared last night. Perhaps, a gen-
!
by her career. How I hate going in
1
tleman might have seized the chance also,
she murmured sometimes as we reached but, I suppose, only a cad would own to
the artists' entrance, with the group of it to you afterwards.
loafers spitting on the curb. And I sat "And I couldn't forget! I never re-
in front, just to see the turn, and talk to sponded to your gaze without wishing it
her again between the first performance were hers. I resented the very gowns
and the second —
in the passage at the that you received me in, because she was
foot of the dirty steps, where such poorly dressed. I hated myself for being
draughts poured through the slamming in your drawing-room while she was
door, and the gas jet blew crooked in its trudging through the rain.
cage. " My
God, it's awful to think of a
"She was fond of me; I knew it. I woman like that —
to have the thought
had only to ask her to marry me —I knew of her beset you as you open your eyes in
that her consent wouldn't be due to my the morning; to think till you're worn
position. There were moments when I out thinking of her, and pray to think of
was very near to asking her. But I was something else; to think of her till you
Socoloski, and she —
a third-rate variety want to escape from your own mind
artist. I shuddered to think what the " Tolerate me a little longer! I have —
society ladies would say if their god nearly done.
stooped —for that matter, what every- " Last Saturday —
it was a year since
body would say. No woman could have I had seen her. I broke down I was —
been more different from the wife I had ready to make her my wife. I wondered
pictured. Yet no woman had ever been if she would look as pleased as she used
in love with a Bohemian but when he ; Clicquot ' might be abroad, that they
draws a portrait of the wife that he de- might have vanished altogether. When I
sires, every man is conventional. Besides, searched the Encore again I —
there were
you, and great ladies like you, had made emotions
me a snob. She drove with me to the "'The Three Sisters Clicquot!' I
station on the day I left. She knew I found it. They were in Portsmouth on
wouldn't go to her again —
I heard it in Saturday; yesterday they were to be in
her voice. That was the only time I felt town. It was impossible for me to go to
dull when I was with her we both — Portsmouth; my prayer was that, after
could have said so much, and were allowed my recital yesterday, I might reach the
to say so little. I remember the look in London hall before she left. I had no
her eyes as the train crept from the plat- means of knowing whether their turn
form. I shall always remember the look would be late or early; all through that
in her eyes as she smiled on the platform recital I was sick with the fear that
" Even a weak man may be strong I might miss her. The audience delayed
sometimes —
in the wrong place I stuck ; me beyond endurance I —
was shaking
to my resolve. At first I still glanced at from head to foot when I escaped. I
the Encore, just to know where she was, threw myself into the carriage, and told
but before long I denied myself this, too. the man to drive like mad.
Fortunately, my American tour started " He couldn't find the stage door, and,
soon afterwards. The change helped me too impatient to keep still, I leaped out and
while it lasted, but when I came back the went to the box office. It was all right —
struggle was as bad as ever. Six months they hadn't been on yet There could be
!
had passed. I was desperate. I didn't no chance to speak to her until the turn
know what to do to keep m/self in hand. was over, so —
just as I used to do I —
Digitized by Google
A LETTER TO THE DUCHESS 777
sat down to wait in the stalls. Just as I Lincoln — she died last month. Hadn't
used to do, I read '
The Three Sisters you heard ?
so long.
11
"'Oh, yes, of course it's always —
I had taken it for granted that they " The Three Sister? Clicquot."
— . . .
would be giving a different song now The new girl's not as good as Betty was
and my heart tightened at the greeting of — do you think so?
1
" Afterwards, found the artists' en- "Well,' she said, ' I must get along
'
I
our eyes questioned each other. young and beautiful, and a duchess, and
I suppose you know about Betty?' exalted me by- your caprice, I could not
she said. be guilty of that —
outrage, that adulter)'
" I could only look at her. towards the dead.
" She's dead
'
she told me.
!
' " Most humbly I beg you to believe
" The last turn was on a comedian ; that I esteem the honor you have done a
was bawling doggerel. I listened to bars man who was unworthy — who was loyal
of it before I whispered, Dead? '
'
neither to you nor her. You will never
" ' She got typhoid when we were in "
pardon me for this letter. Good-bye!
>y Go
y Google
AN AUTUMN COLOR-SCHHMH
BY MARIAN W A R N E R W I L I) MAN
Digitized by Google
Ptn4tfrjfh h Aim Kiuthim
Digitized by Google
SOME ROOF GARDENS
BY JAMES HUNEKER -
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SOME ROOF GARDENS 7»3
boy," he said with that peculiar open-arm and I think I understand New York audi-
Digitized by Google
SOME ROOF GARDENS 785
dog! —
A prettier
many times on the boards. Her bathing
—
A S8IXA DMA AT/ AT
JX 1 Mil I'AH All ROvP OAKDBK
of the Selbini refutes all the heresies of across the street, not daring to take my
Puritanism. But the temperature rose pulse, temperature or respiration in the
when she was on view, and soon I fled transit.
by Google
7 86 THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE
The Aerial Gardens, at the New Am- midget — shall I continue? It was the
sterdam Theatre, are pretty, but, unfor- same old story —a tale thrice told, signi-
tunately, a drizzling rain had set in, and fying boredom seasoned New
for the
the vista of shrubbery and the floors and Yorker, but joy to the uninitiated.
tables, glistening in the wet, were not in-
Erankly, I envy them, our cousins from
the country, our brethren of the East and
viting. So I went into the theatre, where
Manager Harris was presenting a musical West Sides, to whom this glitter and
bustle, noise called music, shrieking called
play by the Yankee Doodle comedian,
singing, and knocking about called com-
George M. Cohan. It was called " The
edy, fill with contentment. It is like the
Governor's Son," and its sub-title was " A real thing, Broadway; the Great White
Summer Song Show."
old-fashioned complications,
A piece
it is
full
like
of
an
Way; in two words —
New York. And
I assure you that it is difficult to revivify
old Palais Royale farce, without the salt.
one's early illusion. I dislike the posture
But the young man Cohan is clever. He of the used-up man, with his air of blase;
makes the most of his native mannerisms, and, really, isn't the roof-garden one of
and he is always droll and entertaining. the particular plagues invented by a ma-
At his age, however, Harry Dixey was lign deity, and further developed as an
an artist. George Cohan is a natural instrument of torture and boredom by the
low-comedian, with a keen eye for sheer theatrical manager! are ail moths We
burlesque traits. Where his forte lies is at some time of our life; Robert Louis
his versatile gripon popular taste. He Stevenson once said that the young man
gives the public a medley of fun, slang, who hadn't made a fool of himself wasn't
music that it likes, and in his own per-
formance there is a sub-acid flavor of
worth talking about —
or an idea to that
effect. (It's too hot to verify quota-
ironic jocularity that appeals precisely to tions!) The roof-garden, then, came into
Broadway. Y ou laugh, and you forget all existence to supply the demand for sum-
about him minutes afterward. But he
five mer foolery, for a new accent in the silly
is amusing and his company capital. His season. Let us feebly commend it let us ;
father, " Jerry " Cohan, I remember long raise our voices in a fatigued hurrah.
as a fun-maker. Ethel Levy, Truly Shat- But for me, my own and
tuck —
amplitudinous now Helen Co- — comparative silence
roof-tree
— anywhere,
its
any-
han, William Keogh. and Jack Webster where away from the blare and glare of
— son of Nellie McHcnry made a — the New York garden. Luckily for that
well-trained ensemble. breezy institution, few think as I do.
So the rain was negligible, and after Hence the al fresco show, with its mo-
an act I traveled to the New Y"ork roof- notonous, mediocre, vaudeville, its easily
garden. There I saw Carrie de Mar. amused humans, and its astute manage-
the Rain Dears, Ned Weyburn's aggre- ment. The roof-garden is an enduring
gation the Carmen Sisters, Chiquita, the
; institution of our Gotham.
A1MAK AMI Wh\BIKNS MAIN IlKAJH AT Till NfcW VOKK KOO* L.AKDU.N
Digitized by Google
Digitized by Google
Digitized by Google
MISREPRESENTATIVE WOMEN
(MRS. GRUNDY)
BY HARRY GRAHAM
Wh en Lovely Woman stoops to smoke Who is it, tell me, in effect,
(A vice in which she often glories), Who loves to center her attentions
When Susan's skirt's a trifle short, 'Tis Mrs. Grundy, deaf and blind
Or Mary's manner rather skittish. To anything the least romantic,
Emits prolonged and startled cries, Since no one in the world can stop her
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796 FANTASIES
The picture or the marble bust A sense of humor she would vote
At any public exhibition The sign of mental dissipations;
The bare, in any sense or shape, And if you wish to make her blench
She looks upon as w rong or faulty And snap her teeth together tifhtly,
Piano-legs she likes to drape Say something in Parisian French
If they are too decoll'te; And close one optic slightly.
" Rien ne va plus! "
For long with horror she has viewed Enfin, alors!
The naked Truth for being nude. She leaves the room and slams the door!
The English Restaurants must close No longer scan the world, I pray,
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798 FANTASIES
ALWAYS IN SEASON
" Why arc the birdies on the wires? " asked little Nellie Gray.
M
They're picking currents, don't you know," said knowing Willie Day.
—Dan-Sayre Groesbeck.
y Google
FANTASIES
f Google
FANTASIES
Google
THE METROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
^ ^^^ <£^S8£^
MORIZ ROSENTHAL
THE GREAT AUSTRIAN PIANIST
has selected for his exclusive use
during his coming concert tour
In writing to advertiser* go. any subject kindly mention " The Metropolitan Magazine."
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Till- METROPOLITAN S ADVERTISING SUCTION
In Writing Papers
there are innumerable grades below the Standard of WHITING
PAPERS — but not any grade above them.
When you ask for WHITING PAPERS, therefore, you
ask for the best papers manufactured in America, the only
American papers honored by the Grand Prix of a Paris
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n
In writing to advertisers on any subject kindly mention "The Metro|K»lttan Magazine."
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is the perfect food that makes and keeps them sturdy, and able to
command money, fame and power.
"There's a Reason"
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Mellir&Food
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THE METROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
M
I HAD WASHED WITH
PEARLINE
several handsome pieces of em-
broidery that were embroidered
with Richardson's Wash Silks
which had been on the road with
teachers. DISPLAYED in shop
windows, HANDLEDby hund-
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every resped SATISFACTORY.
I shall instruct all my teachers
to use PEARLINE in cleansing
Direct to
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You
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You keep in your own pocket the dealers' and
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1
Do you think %$. or $10. or 140, worth tat'ingl If so, you had belter just
Examine our complete line of stoves and ranges for all kinds of fuel: note
their high quality, compare our prices with others and then decide to buy from
actual manufacturers and save all middlemen's profits. All stoves blacked, poli
aud ready for immediate use when shipped. Write now.
Kalamazoo Stove Company, Manufacturers, Kalamazoo, Mica.
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THE METROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
sORIENTAL
J TOOTH PASTE
by simply stirring in water.
Pure, rich milk, from our sanitary dairies, with
the extract of choice molted eeremia, elaborated
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Also in Lunch Tablet form, chocolate flavor. A
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ENGLAND'S FAVORITE DENTIFRICE
100 Years in Use
ASK FOR HORLICK'S;
others are imitations.
Imparts a delicate fragrance to the breath.
Contains the most valuable vegetable antisep- Horlick's Malted Milk Co.,
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At all good itorci -Sold in Pott and Tubes. London, Montreal,
P.St. ARNOLD A CO.. New Yoek. > SOLE IMPORTING England. Canada.
MARSHALL FIELD 4 CO.,Chug*, i AGfcSTS
HEADACHE « NEURALGIA
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DR. WHITEHALL'S MEGRIMINE
Write for s trial box-we send It without coat. If you suffer from headache
or
neuralgia, Megrimlno is a necessity—the most reliable remedy on tbe market.
Cures any headache lo thirty minutes. After one trial you will never be without
it. Twenty years of success places Megrimlno at the head of all remedies
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painful nervous troubles. For sale by all druggists, or address
Th. DR. WHITEHALL MEGRIMINE* CO.. 309 N. Main Street. South Bend. IoA
Gc
THE MF.TROHOUT.-1NS ADVERTISING SECTION
STEINWAY,
the Piano by which all others are measured
and judged, is not merely a local or national
one. It is international, universal, world-wide,
I -
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THE METROPOLITANS ADVERTISING SECTION
SEPTEMBER
EN THE
ADIRONDACKS
No finer place can be found than the
Adirondacks in September*
The air is cool and bracing, the scenery
beautiful and the sense of perfect rest that
comes with the night is delightful.
M AY YORK
(entral
UNLS W
" America's Greatest Railroad."
C F. DALY,
Passenger Traffic Manager,
NEW YORK.
In writing to advertisers on any subject kindly mention " Tbe Metropolitan Magaslne."
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THE METROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
WITHOUT
365 SHAVES
A Daily Shave for a Year for Less Than 2c. a Week
STROPPING
An actual fact proved by nearly ONE MILLION satisfied
users of the Gillette Safety Razor, who find it a great
SAVER and the GREATEST SHAVER.
Actual
Denver, Colo., 15, 1906.
GILLETTE SALES CO.,
Gentlemen— I am glad to be an enthusiastic user of your razor.
hi size of
The twenty blades have given me over 540 shaves, and I have GILLETTE
had the pleasure of creating about seven pleased new users of SAFETY
your razor. (Name furnished on application.)
RAZOR
THOUSAND8 OF SIMILAR LETTERS ON FILE.
ready for
With each razor arc 12 double-edged blades, each blade good for an average
of more than 20 shaves. No
Stropping, No
Honing ; Always Sharp. use
When new blade. New blades 5 cents each.
dulled, insert a
Sold in Drug, Hardware and Cutlery stores everywhere. If your dealer
Triple
won't supply you order direct.
—
PRICES- Triple ailvrr-plaird art with 12 bladrt, S3; Standard combination act with Sharing Silver
Bruah and Soap in tuple aiNtr plaicd hotdera, $7.50. 10 double-edged bladei, 50c.
Ulutttrated booklet und details of our Special Trial orfrr Dialled free. Plated
Gillette Sales Company, 234 Times BJdg., New York.
In writing to advertisers on any subject kindly mention " The Metropo 1,tan Magazine."
byG
METROPOLITAN
MAG A Z I E
A Splendid Trio
Winston Cburcbltl
Ham
J.** Zm
Decides
Cowardice Court
*
.... . .
Bcttiiia von Hutteo
Geo. Ban McCu'cbeoo
NOTE.— Patrons of the LIBRARY who subscribed last year for service, coupled with a year's tubscrip.
tion to THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE, may renew their subscriptions in the same way,
the price for a new book, a TABARD INN LIBRARY Membership, and THE METROPOLITAN
MAGAZINE for 12 Months being $2.00.
ORDER FORM
THE TABARD INN LIBRARY,
.1906
THE TABARD INN
1611 Chestnut
St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Dear Sirs; enclose *J.5u, for which you will enter
I
lot a year's subscription to K TH METROPOLITAN M AO-
my name LIBRARY
AZINEand HlM'SE & GARDEN MAGAZINE, and send
mc by mail, prepaid, a new copy ol the following book
.161! Chestnut St
to be exchangeable at any Tabard Inn Station. Philadelphia.
Pa.
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THE METROPOLITANS ADVERTISING SECTION
Comparisons
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most in favor
Three-stone rings,— three diamonds, or two dia- at the moment,
monds with ruby, sapphire or other precious assure careful selec-
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Five-stone half-hoop rings,— diamonds, or dia- siring assistance
monds alternating with other precious stones,
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Diamond Duchess rings, • " 1906 Blue Book
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Diamond Princess rings, - 44 M $100 Second Edition
A compact, 530-
Diamond Banquet rings, - " " $150 page catalogue,
without pic-
tures or cuts,
Tiffany & Co. make a special feature of reconstructing old family
but replete with
jewels into modern settings
descriptions, prices
and helpful sugges-
tions of artistic
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THE METROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
CkiakerRice
<Puffed>
There something about Quaker Rice that makes it decidedly differ-
is
ent from the ordinary cereal— the more you eat of it, the more you want.
Its dainty lightness, delicate flavor and delicious crispness make you marvel
at the ingenuity that has transformed common rice into such a wholesome
and appetizing food.
Quaker Rice retains all of the goodness of the rice kernel, and by a
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tableness, making it truly the delight of happy childhood.
Quaker Rice should be heated for a minute in a hot oven,
and then nerved with milk, cream or sufrar. Or, you will
find recipe* on the package for makinjr dainty Quaker Rice
confection)*. Quaker Rice in »o easily digested and so pure
and wholesome, that the children can eat all of it they want.
Quaker Kice is sold 1>y grocers everywhere at 10 cents the package.
CnpTTllM. IMC. hf
Tti» Alurrican Ctml C«k
Id writing to advertisers on any subject kindly mention " The Metropolitan Magaslne."
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®l)c Metropolitan Magazine
Imucd Monthly by THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE COMPANY. ^ W. 29th St., New York.
^METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE.
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The October
Metropolitan Magazine
(Special Autumn Number.)
METROPOLITAN
M A O A Z N £ I T IHE October number of The
Metropolitan Magazine will
appeal to men and women of all
it
articles,
interprets ihe
things that are frankly real and human.
Stirring fiction, strong articles, and splen-
make it the most wel-
did illustrations
come, healthy, and entertaining visitor
any American can take into his home.
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is impossible to imagine a more vitally
symposium
interesting of articles than
which will appear
that in THE ME TRO-
POLITAN Magazine for October.
Among others who have written plain
statements of fact of the position of the
companies after the recent investigation
are PAUL MORTON and CHARLES
A. PEA BODY, both reform presidents
of large companies, and both life insur-
ance experts. There will be other papers
written from the point of view of the in-
sured and of the insurer, and the purpose
of each will be to give the truth from all
its readers the very best of the short stories. Recently very
little of ANTHONY HOPE'S work has been published in America.
"Prudence and the Bishop," which ap-
pears in the October number, is charm-
stories,
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which appear at only too rare intervals.
The hero, a Canadian lumberman, is so
I
human that when you lay the story down
V.
you feel as though you had made a new
flesh and blood acquaintance.
T
ing of
HERE
number
a Man."
has been secured for this
also,
IAN MACLAREN, "TheMak-
How long has it been
the latest work of
I literary
construction
importance.
of
George, known as Grandolphus,
a
What effect the
peatdam had on
is too
RcHikt.I Iran thr loll color ln»cn by Kmii. Hrring In
good a story to tell in brief. You must
Tub Oitoikk Mtrntoroi-ITAN Maoazink find out about it for yourself.
THERE"Thetwo ber.
are great stories of seafaring
Persecution of Nathan
men in the October num-
Peters," by T. JENKINS
HAINS, shows how pride wins through
many tribulations, and in the end may
strive to justify itself in tragedy. "The
Admiral and the Tug," by F. WAL-
WORTH BROWN, is of quite a dif-
ferent character, being the account of
how a shrewd Cape Codder intrigued
with South American politicians, be-
came an admiral, and sank three war-
ships with a tugboat, after which he re-
turned to Yankeeland and enjoyed what
he had saved from the above mentioned
unique operations.
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characteristic yarn from Leonard Merrick.
" The Baby Wrangler," by Alice M.
Cleveland, is a story of New Mexico in
which a bank teller, a robber, a baby, its
NKI
THE POND,"another
by Sidney Allen, is
and
article, interesting
To Advertisers:
Only high grade advertisements of thoroughly reliable
THE
MARIVF.T
OF
CLEVERNESS
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THE METROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
20 FINE P0ST MR °s
FOR ONLY
If You Earn Less For the purpose of Intro-
ducing our popular publlca-
tlona and securing new cus-
Eight Cents
I can DOUBLE your Salary or Income toms ra for them, wo will wnd Twenty Fine C olored Peat
,UA[ Po^P* 1 10 »ny addreaa upon receipt of ooly
1"
r*y retching you how to write atrhy* Irttrlligrnt
•
K Vr ? , .*.'" ,, t " " ISSSfi* » U «>P». Thee© carilK
\
are beautifully
i !>*"tTiMt>i^ My fcyVeni <*l tft\itui Hun > Mail 1
I* llie only «»r»e in eii.leme that ha.* tfie hearty theaubjects emtiraie » pleaaliiic variety which Include* Christ-
bMflfMMMt •' the ure.ii etii*rm and M..hen ; inas, haster. saleullue and Birthday designs, coplea of Famous
.!..! I ant aniiou* lo w?nt1 iny IVo*pc-.tivv to* Iitintln K a pictures of Pretty Ulrls.T;. H.llatlleshlpa, slews
KVihcr *»ith the ni>>st reniatk.iMe taatimlle
of
1
Niagara rails, the Brooklyn Bridge, the V. s. Capitol at Waah-
rtrrilivcn in the lu*iur* "I (."rrrHK'tulciiLr in Ukjtoii «ti.| a lint> assortment of romlca. Tbef arc the kind of
vrm tion, H vou are intere»te>l. t *.U thv* post cards thai are acid In some stores at the rate of two for flvs
you huw to c-irn ln>in (25 M per week. cent*. In others as high aa five cents each; at the lowest esti-
mate, therefore, the twentr cards that we offer for rioAf eentt
»if«rr* H. P««fll. ItO Mrapoliua | B ir|, X, T.
Mt-pald are worth to cents ...J
at retail. Thla is purely in Intro-
Suctory offer : we make "
no profit. Satit/artion .< _tr«.iiamee«l
Per Week
mo l.
set£ vtll be rr/un<irrf. Address: W^M. LIFTOA,
lull, r, to. 1*1 CH» Halt flAve.
I
MoW .WaH
66
EVOLUTION OF THE ENGAGEMENT RING.
By She/ Clarke.
Photo Gelatine Print, uxain. PRICE TWEMTf-FIVE CENTS.
TF you have ever been engaged, if you are engaged, ifyou contemplate being
* engaged, or if you know anybody who is engaged, you will want a copy of
this delicate conception of one of the possibilities of matrimony. Thousands
of copies have been sold during the past few weeks.
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THE METROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
-
1 1
f
Edwio Markham hai a message foe you. 000 of them. It is horror enough that men and women
are industrial slaves— but children—
«1 Edwin Markham wrote " The Man with the Hoe,"
which stirred to iu depths the complacency of the ^ Think of it, — ones with no time for play, no
little
SEPTEMBER
c OSMOPOL4TA N 10 CENTS
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in the Making" articles, send $1 for a year's subscription
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BP
fir HO,
gfr
A monthly magazine for the Home-Lover
Jy Every owner of a home who seeks to beautify it will
'ft;/
;
appreciate House & Garden. Each
issue is full of ideas and
plans for the house,its building, furnishing, and ornamentation.
House & Garden is broad in purpose because it deals with the
decoration of the small cottage as fully as with the palatial resi-
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the large estate. Every number has for its object the making of
the home as attractive outside as it is within. The illustrations
are a special feature. No expense is spared in securing the most
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paper. The illustrations are accompanied by sensible suggestions
by practical writers on home and garden topics.
Send us your name and address and ti.oo and it will pay for
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For Sale Everywhere
THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO. 006-16 Arch Philadelphia
**Jr*^m^» !
-- _ .
1
— fz
~
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Publishers l St.
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TReOraplioplione
is tlt&best
have finished reading the two stones you its smoothly drawn characters, all fascinate,
have had a mighty amusing time, and the hold you throughout, and make vou wish it
world somehow looks better from every point were much longer than it really is. It is a
of view. Although Mr. Hawkins is English, love story, and it contains a lesson that no
Digitized by Google
lover should miss. But its charm is quite as story comes from the Canadian lumber camps.
poignant for the old who have not forgotten Whether or not it is really the hoped-for
their sentimental days. visitor is a matter time only can judge. At
least, it is unusually strong, human, and corn-
Dr. John Watson (Ian Maclaren) has pelling. " McPike, Backslider," is the name
steadily traveled the road of British literary of this story, andits author is A. M. Chisholm.
fame. Born
1850, he attended the Stirling
in It will appear in th e October number of this
Grammar School and Edinburgh University, magazine. It possi rsses harsh strength that
completing his education on the continent. fascinates, human touches that grasp your
In 1874 be was licensed by the Free Church sympathy, hurried action that carries you
and became assistant at Barclay Church, Edin- breathlessly along, a nd coloring that gives you
burgh. " Beneath the Bonny Briar Bush," the illusion and mi ikes you friends with its
practically the first work published under the characters. In anj r case, the story is well
name of Ian Mac- worth reading. Mc-
laren, appeared in Pikc is a good man to
1894, and created such meet, think what you
a demand for the au- will of him after you
thor that for several have shaken hands
years one or more vol- good-bye.
umes of his work were
published. Gordon Ross,
Dr. Watson is an whose remarkable
enthusiastic golf drawings accompanied
player. He is well Wallace Irwin's poem
known in this country, of the San Francisco
as he was the Lyman catastrophe, "You
Beecher lecturer at Sabe Me," in the Au-
Yale University in gust number, has re-
1896. cently made his home
His latest story, in New York City.
"The Making of a He himself was a vic-
Man," which has been tim of the earthquake
secured for the Octo- and fire and made his
ber number of The drawings from the ac-
Metropolitan Mag- tual impressions he re-
azine, is full of hu- ceived on the spot.
man nature, and is one Shortly after the crash
that will amuse every- he escaped to Oakland,
one, unobstrusively, and it was from the
teaching a great big waterfront in the
lesson. It has all the
Dr. John Watson Oak Maciaren). th* Famous British early morning that he
delicate charm of the LmsRARv Mam whose Latest Story, "The Making got that wonderful
author's earlier work, OF A MAN." Ali mis IN THE OCTOBER
i'
view of the burning
Metropolitan Magazine which he managed
combined with a cer- city,
tain rugged virility to retain in his memory
that swings you into instant sympathy with until he had put it < )n canvas. Mr. Ross had
the dam-builders, who have
out to make a set known Wallace In vin on the Pacific Coast,
man of the resplendent Grandolphus. and the latter, wh«•n told that Ross was to
illustrate the poem, said that he was the one
The "great short story" is an uncertain man to do it. Poem and drawings came from
guest. Now and then it arrives and we wel- men working from their hearts to crystallize
come it, and treasure it, for the next one may the spirit of what they had known and loved.
be far off. It reminds one of a comet, whose
orbit, constantly altering, brings it within our The model of the Macomb statue was ac-
view at changing intervals. It is seldom credited, through an error, to Albert Jaegers
brought back by prize contests. Persuasion of in the department " The World at Large " in
those who have once achieved it avails noth- the August number. The sculptor to whom
ing. It is an erratic quantity that shapes it- the credit for the model should bave been
self. Something that is very like a great short given is Adolph A. Weinman.
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Id wrltLig lo advertisers un uny subject klndiy mention " The Metropolitan Magazine "
THE MF.TR0P0LIT.4N S ADVERTISING SECTION
ton Peck, Ph.D., L. H.D., and Frank Moore Colby, M.A., assisted by 400 of the
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To learn more about this great work, let us
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Stran d Ma gazine
W. W. JACOBS!
AT HO ME AGAIN!
A new series of short stories by this long-time
favorite of STRAND Readers commences in the
September Number, and hereafter Mr. Jacobs'
stories will appear in no other magazine.
Arrow
Collars
the clupeco process mini-
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77//: MLTROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
THE CREAM OF
EUROPEAN LITERATURE
Up to date and rendered into English by clever
writers. :: :: :: Stories from the pens of the
A AACAZIMft «,
MWtRLD S 1MT
MCTUN
contains one of the most exquisite novels that ever came from
the pen of the famous French writer, J. H. ROSNY,
FIRE FLY
and thirteen fascinating stories by eminent authors, Hungarian,
Spanish, French, Italian, Swedish, Finnish and German.
An education in the best of foreign literature.
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THE METROPOLITANS ADVERTISING SECTION
—
Hydrozone
a treat that will make every nerve tingle.
If you are a lover of beautiful music let us teod
«o
Sold by leading druggists. None
Rider Agents Wanted genuine without my signature.
town and sample
>^C*Mt^St n each
' to ride exhibit
1906 model. Writ* for Social Offrr.
llnnl lm,rul»d
lOOO Mndi>la 9'Vf f%
to $27
ft*
dtpostt. pay the freight and allow Centrale des Arts et Manufactures
TEN DAYS' FRKK TKIAL, dc Paris" (France).
Kt our
Tlrea.roaater-brukea,
ball usual prices.
sundries, etc.
Do not boy till m__57 Prince /,,.
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City.
v
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BaEAD Writ* at
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VlLi; CO., Dept. i'U Chicago
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BOOil A GOOD POSITION sad • line salary to Treat • only until Oct. 80. XXI
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vou Bookkeeping thornuetilv ny mall and mike easea. / Nam*
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THE METROPOLITANS ADVERTISING SECTION
friend,who calls
of
vision.
is the tender, impelling tale of a young himself"a confounded play-actor." but who it much
more than that.
deserter and filibuster who is regener- A girl of many moods, plucky in the hour of trial,
ated by the affection or a woman and sensitive, eternally feminine and charming, whom
both love.
the love of a girl in a quaint Maine village. These, with the sage Colonel; Mr. Lumpkin, with
his megaphonk voice; Joe HefBer, "who ain't
any good '; Jimmy O'Rourke, of "the Cabinet"; a
THE STORY OF typical American mother, and a dozen others, are the
leading characters of a vital struggle of everyday
THE PASS
STEWART EDWARD WHITE has written nothing more charming,
more instinct with the subtle spirit of the outdoors, or richer in humanity and
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Bon
Ami
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A METAL POLISH
A GLASS CLEANER
french novelty
folding Chain Fan
White Silk Gauze, spangled
in steel with bone sticks.
Special price
without span- .
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with spangled
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trated . . . . $2. 50
CARMELITA
220 Broadway, importer of fans New York
CATALOGUE ON REQUEST
In writing to advertisers on eay subject kindly mention "The Metropolitan Magazine.
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THE METROPOLITAN'S ADVERTISING SECTION
MPJ*
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a-
57
MURAD
CIGARE.TTE.S
by the smokers of this class clearly
emphasizes the superiority of Murad
n quality. Made from the most carefully
selected and expertly blended leaves
of the rarest Turkish tobacco, the
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Murad is precisely what a perfect
cigarette should be — full-flavored, rich
Clermont, y'
10 for 15 cents
Now York_City|
S. ANARGYROS, Manufacturer
111 Fifth Ave., New York City
For
Between-
tUal*
Hunger "
out-o'-doort.
J
PENNSYLVANIA CLINCHERS
Racing lype lire limit of ihe
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SI
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in "caramel iortn.
Any dealer can supply you ( 5c. 1 Oc. or $ 1 .60 tin)
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BUFFALO.
I ON DON
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JOHN MACKINTOSH, 78 Hudson St.. New York
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THIS FAMOUS CORDIAL. NOW MADB AT TARRAGONA. M AIN. WAS
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Gloves are the bane of woman's existence not because they wear
out quickly, but because they soil so easily.
Take your own case. How often have you ruined a pair of white
kid gloves, getting aboard a crowded street-car or out of a carriage?
Some day, some one will invent a glove that can be washed. Until
then, the best way to improve the appearance of gloves that have be*
come soiled (other than sending them to a cleaner) is to use Ivory
Soap Paste. It will not remove dirt that has become ingrained in the
leather; but anything short of that disappears before it as if by magic.
IVORY SOAP PASTE: — To one pinl of boiling water add, one and one-
half ounce* of Ivory Soap cut into shavings; boil ten minutes after the soap ii
thoroughly dissolved. Let it cool.
Put glove on hand. Dip a toft flannel into the Ivory Parte and rub it over the
toiled parts. Remove with another toft cloth. Let the glove dry on the hand.
Ivory Patte can alto be used to clean white kid and satin slippers, straw hats,
canvas shoes, etc. It will keep for months if placed in a glass jar with a screw top.
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