on the contrary the coach begins to roll back upon no which rolls back upon no which rolls back upon no and so on until no is heard to curse and swear nearly a quarter of a mile behind


black driver louder than before


pill


horses make another struggle to get up the bank and again the coach rolls back ward


black driver louder than before peeeill


horses make a desperate struggle


black driver recovering spirits hi jiddy jiddy pill


horses make another effort


black driver with great vigour


ally loo


hi


jiddy jiddv


horses almost do it


black driver with his eyes start ing out of his head


lee den


lee dere


hi jiddy jiddy


leeeeee


they run up the bank and go down again on the other side at a fearful pace


it is impossible to stop them and at the bottom there is a deep hollow full of water


the conch rolls frightfully


the insides scream


the mud and water fly about us


the black driver dances like a madman


suddenly we are all right by some extraordinary means and stop to breathe


a black friend of the black driver is sitting on a fence


the black driver recognises him by twirling his head round and round like a harlequin rolling his eyes shrugging his shoulders and grinning from ear to ear


he stops short turns to me and says we shall get through sa like a fiddle and hope a please you when we get you through sa


old ooman at home sir chuckling very much


outside gentle man sa he after remember old ooman at home sa grinning again


aye aye well take care of the old woman


dont be afraid the black driver guns again but there is another hole and beyond that another bank close before us so he stops short cries to the horses again easy easy den


ease


steady hi


jiddy


pill


ally


loo but never lee


until we are re duced to the very last extremity and are in the midst of difficulties extrication from which appears to be all but impossible


and so we do the ten miles or there ubouts in two hours and ahalf breaking no bones though bruising a great many and in short getting through the distance like a fiddle


this singular kind of coaching ter minates at fredericksburg whence there is a railway to richmond


the tract of country through which it takes its course was once productive but the soil has been exhausted by the system of employing a great amount of slave labour in forcing crops without strengthening the land and it is now little better than a sandy desert overgrown with trees


dreary and unin teresting as its aspect is i was glad to the heart to find anything on which one of the curses of this horrible institution has fallen and had greater pleasure in contemplating the withered ground than the richest and most thriving cultivation in the same place could possibly have afforded me


in this district as in all others where slavery sits brooding i have frequently i heard this admitted even by those who are its warmest advocates there is an air of ruin and decay abroad which is inseparable from the system


the barns and outhouses are mouldering awaythe sheds are patch ed and halfrooflessthe log cabins built in virginia with external chimneys made of clay or wood are squalid to the last de gree


there is no look of decent comfort any where


the miserable stations by the railway sidethe great wild woodyards whence the engine is supplied with fuel the negro children rolling on the ground before the cabin doors with dogs and pigs the biped beasts of burden slinking past gloom and dejection are upon them all


in the negro car belonging to the train in which we made this journey were a mother and her children who had just been purchased the husband and father being left behind with their old owner


the children cried the whole way and the mother was miserys picture


the champion of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness who had bought them rode in the same train and every time we stopped got down to see that they were safe


the black in sinbads travels with one eye in the middle of his forehead which shone like a burning coal was natures aristocrat com pared with this white gentleman


it was between six and seven oclock in the evening when we drove to the hotel in front of which and on top of the broad flight of steps leading to the door two or three citizens were balancing themselves on rocking chairs and smoking cigars


we found a very largo and elegant estab lishment and were as well entertained as travellers need desire to be


the climate being a thirsty one there was never at any hour of the day a scarcity of loungers in the spacious bar or a cessation of the mixing of cool liquors but they were a merrier people here and had musical in struments playing to them onights which it was a treat to hear again


the next day and the next we rode and walked about the town which is delight fully situated on eight hills overhanging james river a sparkling stream studded here and there with bright islands or brawling over broken rocks


although it was yet but the middle of march the weather in this southern temperature was extremely warm the peach trees and magnolias were in full bloom and the trees were green


in a low ground among the hills is a valley known as bloody run from a terrible conflict with the indians which once occurred there


it is a good place for such a struggle and like every other spot i saw associated with any legend of that wild people now so rapidly fading from the earth interested me very much


the city is the seat of the local parlia ment of virginia and in its shady legis lative halls some orators were drowsily holding forth to the hot noon day


by dint of constant repetition however these constitutional sights had very little more interest for me than so many parochial vestries and i was glad to exchange this one for a lounge in a wellarranged public library of some ten thousand volumes and a visit to a tobacco manufactory where the workmen were all slaves


i saw in this place the whole process of picking rolling pressing drying packing in casks and branding


all the tobacco thus dealt with was in course of manu facture for chewing and one would have supposed there was enough in that one storehouse to have filled even the compre hensive jaws of america


in this form the weed looks like the oilcake on which we fatten cattle and even without refer ence to its consequences is sufficiently uninviting


many of the workmen appear to be strong men and it is hardly necessary to add that they were all labouring quietly then


after two oclock in the day they were allowed to sing a certain number at a time


the hour sinking while i was there some twenty sang a hymn in parts and sang it by no means ill pursuing their work meanwhile


a bell rang as i was about to leave and they all poured forth into a building on the opposite side of the street to dinner


i said several times that i should like to see them at their meal but as the gentleman to whom i mentioned this desire appeared to be suddenly taken rather deaf i did not pursue the request


of their appearance shall have something to say presently


on the following day i visited a plan tation or farm of about twelve hundred acres on the opposite bank of the river


here again although i went down with the owner of the estate to the quarter as that part of it in which the slaves live is called i was not invited to enter into any of their huts


all i saw of them was that they were very crazy wretched cabins near to which groups of halfnaked children basked in the sun or wallowed on the dusty ground


but i believe that this gentle man is a considerate and excellent master who inherited his fifty slaves and is neither a buyer nor a seller of human stock and i am sure from my own observation and conviction that he is a kindhearted worthy man


the planters house was an airy rustic dwelling that brought defoes description of such places strongly to my recollection


the day was very warm but the blinds being all closed and the windows and doors set wide open a shady coolness rustled through the rooms which was ex quisitely refreshing after the glare and heat without


before the windows was an open piazza where in what they called the hot weatherwhatever that may be they sling hammocks and drink and dose luxuriously


i do not know how their cool refections may taste within the ham mocks but having experience i can report that out of them the mounds of ices and the bowls of mintjulep and sherrycobbler they make in these latitudes are refresh ments never to be thought of afterwards in summer by those who would preserve contented minds


there are two bridges across the river one belongs to the railroad and the other which is a very crazy affair is the private property of some old lady in the neigh bourhood who levies tolls upon the towns people


crossing this bridge on my way back i saw a notice painted on the gate cautioning all persons to drive slowly under a penalty if the offender where a white man of five dollars if a negro fifteen stripes


the same decay and gloom that over hang the way by which it is approached hover above the town of richmond


there are pretty villas and cheerful houses in its streets and nature smiles upon the country round but jostling its handsome resi dences like slavery itself going hand in hand with many lofty virtues are deplo rable tenements fences unrepaired walls crumbling into ruinous heaps


hinting gloomily at things below the surface these and many other tokens of the same description force themselves upon the notice and are remembered with depres sing influence when livelier features are forgotten


to those who are happily unaccus tomed to them the countenances in the streets and labouring places too are shocking


all men who know that there are laws against instructing slaves of which the pains and penalties greatly exceed in their amount the fines imposed on those who maim and torture them must be prepared to find their faces very low in the scale of intellectual ex pression


but the darknessnot of skin but mindwhich meets the strangers eye at every town the brutalizing and blotting out of all the fairer characters traced by natures hand immeasurably outdo his worst belief


that travelled creation of the great satirists brain who fresh from living among horses peered from a high casement down upon his own kind with trembling horror was scarcely more repelled and daunted by the sight than those who look upon some of these faces for the first time must surely be


i left the last of them behind me in the person of a wretched drudge who after running to and fro all day till mid night and moping in his stealthy winks of sleep upon the stairs between whiles was washing the dark passages at four oclock in the morning and went upon my way with a grateful heart that i was not doomed to live where slavery was and had never had my senses blunted to its wrongs and horrors in a slaverocked cradle


it had been my intention to proceed by james river and chesapeake bay to balti more but one of the steamboats being absent from her station through some accident and the means of conveyance being conse quently rendered uncertain we returned to washmgton by the way we had come there were two constables on board the steam boat in pursuit of runaway slaves and halting there again for one night went on to baltimore next afternoon


the most comfortable of all the hotels of which i had any experience in the united states and they were not a few is barnums in that city where the english traveller will find curtains to his bed for the first and probably the last time in america and where he will be likely to have enough water for washing himself which is not at all a common case


this capital of the state of maryland is a bustling busy town with a great deal of traffic of various kinds and in particular of water commerce that portion of the town which it most favours is none of the cleanest it is true but the upper is of a very different character and has many agreeable streets and public buildings the washington monument which is a handsome pillar with a statue on its sum mit the medical college and the battle monument in memory of an engagement with the british at north point are the most conspicuous among them


there is a very good prison in this city and the state penitentiary is also among its institutions


in this latter establishment there were two curious cases


one was that of a young man who had been tried for the murder of his father


the evidence was entirely cir cumstantial and was very conflicting and doubtful nor was it possible to assign any motive which could have tempted him to the commission of so tremendous a crime


he had been tried twice and on the second occasion the jury felt so much hesitation in convicting him that they found a verdict of manslaughter or murder in the second degree which it could not possibly be as there had be


yond all doubt been no quarrel or pro vocation and if he were guilty at all he was unquestionably guilty of murder in its broadest and worst signification


the remarkable feature in this case was that if the unfortunate deceased were not really murdered by this own son of his he must have been murdered by his own brother


the evidence lay in a most remarkable manner between those two


on all the suspicious points the dead mans brother was the witness all the explanations for the prisoner some of them extremely plausible went by construction and inference to inculpate him as plotting to fix the guilt upon his nephew


it must have been one of them and the jury had to decide between two sets of suspicions almost equally unna tural unaccountable and strange


the other case was that of a man who once went to a certain distillers and stole a copper measure containing a quantity of liquor


he was pursued and taken with the property in his possession and was sentenced to two years imprisonment


on coming out of the jail at the expira tion of that term he went back to the same distillers and stole the same copper measure containing the same quantity of liquor


there was not the slightest reason to suppose that the man wished to return to prison indeed everything but the com mission of the offence made directly against that assumption


there are only two ways of accounting for this extraor dinary proceeding


one is that after undergoing so much for this copper mea sure he conceived he had established a sort of claim and right to it


the other that by dint of long thinking about it it had become a monomania with him and had acquired a fascination which he found it impossible to resist swelling from an earthly copper gallon into an ethereal golden vat


after remaining here a couple of days i bound myself to a rigid adherence to the plan i had laid down so recently and re solved to set forward on our western jour ney without any more delay


accordingly having reduced the luggage within the smallest possible compass by sending back to new york to be afterwards for warded to us in canada so much of it as was not absolutely wanted and having procured the necessary credentials to bank ing houses on the way and having moreover looked for two evenings at the setting sun with as well defined an idea of the country before us as if we had been going to travel into the very centre of that planet we left baltimore by another rail way at half past eight in the morning and reached the town of york some sixty miles off by the early dinnertime of the hotel which was the startingplace of the fourhorse coach wherein we were to proceed to harrisburg


this conveyance the box of which i was fortunate enough to secure had come down to meet us at the railroad station and was as muddy and cumbersome as usual


as more passengers were waiting for us at the inndoor the coachman ob served under his breath in the usual self communicative voice looking the while it his mouldy harness as if it were to that he was addressing himself


i expect we shall want the big coach


i could not help wondering within my self what the size of this bigcoach might be and how many persons it might be designed to hold for the vehicle which was too small for our purpose was some thing larger than two english heavy night coaches


my speculations were speedily set at rest however for as soon as we had dined there came rumbling up the street shaking its sides like a corpulent giant a kind of barge on wheels


after much blundering and backing it stopped at the door rolling heavily from side to side when its other motion had ceased as if it had taken cold in its damp stable and between that and the having been required inn its dropsical old age to move at any faster pace than a walk were distressed by shortness of wind


if here aint the harrisburg mail at last and dreadful bright and smart to look at too cried an elderly gentleman in some excitement darn my mother


i dont know what the sensation of being darned may be or whether a mans mother has a keener relish or disrelish of the process than anybody else but if the en durance of this mysterious ceremony by the old lady in question had depended on the accuracy of her sons vision in respect to the abstract brightness and smartness of the harrisburg mail she would certainly have undergone its infliction


however they booked twelve people inside and the luggage including such trifles as a large rocking chair and a goodsized dining table being at length made fast upon the roof we started off in great state


at the door of another hotel there was another passenger to be taken up


any room sir cries the new passen ger to the coachman


well theres room enough replies the coachman without getting down or even looking at him


there ant no room at all sir bawls a gentleman inside


which another gen tleman also inside confirms by predicting that the attempt to introduce any more passengers wont fit nohow


the new passenger without any ex pression of anxiety looks into the coach and then looks up at the coachman now how do you mean to fix it says he after a pause for i must go


the coachman employs himself in twist ing the lash of his whip into a knot and takes no more notice of the question clearly signifying that it is anybodys bu siness but his and that the passengers would do well to fix it among themselves


in this state of things matters seem to be approximating to a fix of another kind when another inside passenger in a corner who is nearly suffocated cries faintly ill get out


this is no matter of relief or self con gratulation to the driver for his immove able philosophy is perfectly undisturbed by anything that happens in the coach


of all things in the world the coach would seem to be the very last upon his mind


the exchange is made however and the passenger who has given up his seat makes a third upon the box seating himself in what he calls the middle that is with half his person on my legs and the other half on the drivers


go ahead capen cries the colonel who directs


golang cries the capen to his company the horses and away we go


we took up at a rural barroom after we had gone a few miles an intoxicated gentleman who climbed upon the roof among the luggage and subsequently slipping off without hurting himself was seen in the distant perspective reeling back to the grogshop where we had found him


we also parted with more of our freight at different times so that when we came to change horses i was again alone outside


the coachman always change with the horses and are usually as dirty as the coach


the first was dressed like a very shabby english baker the second like a russian peasant for he wore a loose purple camlet robe with a fur collar tied round his waist with a particoloured worsted sash grey trousers light blue gloves and a cap of bearskin


it had by this time come on to rain very heavily and there was a cold damp mist besides which penetrated to the skin


i was very glad to take advantage of a stoppage and get down to stretch my legs shake the water off my great coat and swallow the usual antitemperance recipe for keeping out the cold


when i mounted to my seat again i observed a new parcel lying on the coach roof which i took to be a rather large fiddle in a brown bag


in the course of of a few miles however i discovered that it had a glazed cap at one end and a pair of muddy shoes at the other and further observation demonstrated it to be a small boy in a snuff coloured coat with his arms quite pinioned to his sides by deep forcing into his pockets


he was i presume a relative or friend of the coachmans as he lay atop of the luggage with his face to wards the rain and except when a change of position brought his shoes in contact with my hat he appeared to be asleep


at last on some occasion of our stopping this thing slowly upreared itself to the height of three feet six and fixing its eyes on me observed in piping accents with a complacent yawn half quenched in an obliging air of friendly patronage well now stranger i guess you find this amost like an english arternoon hey


the scenery which had been tame enough at first was for the last ten or twelve miles beautiful


our road wound through the pleasant valley of the susque hanna the river dotted with innumerable green islands lay upon our right and on the left a steep ascent craggy with broken rock and dark with pinetrees


the mist wreathing itself into a hundred fantastic shapes moved solemnly upon the water and the gloom of evening gave to all an air of mystery and silence which greatly en hanced its natural interest


we crossed this river by a wooden bridge roofed and covered in on all sides and nearly a mile in length


it was profound edly dark perplexed with great beams crossing and recrossing it at every possible angle and through the broad chinks and crevices in the floor the rapid river gleamed far down below like a legion of eyes


we had no lamps and as the horses stumbled and floundered through this place towards the distant speck of dying light it seemed interminable


i really could not at first persuade myself as we rumbled heavily on filling the bridge with hollow noises and i held down my head to save it from the rafters above but that i was in a painful dream for i often dreamed of toiling through such places and as often argued even at the time this cannot be reality


at length however we emerged upon the streets of harrisburg whose feeble lights reflected dismally from the wet ground did not shine out upon a very cheerful city


we were soon established in a snug hotel which though smaller and far less splendid than many we put up at is raised above them all m my re membrance by having for its landlord the most obliging considerate and gentle manly person i ever had to deal with


as we were not to proceed upon our jour ney until the afternoon i walked out after breakfast the next morning to look about me and was duly shown a model prison on the solitary system just erected and as yet without an inmate the trunk of an old tree to which harris the first settler here afterwards buried under it was tied by hostile indians with his funeral pile about him when he was saved by the timely appearance of a friendly party on the opposite shore of the river the local legislature for there was another of those bodies here again in full debate and the other curiosities of the town


i was very much interested in looking over a number of treaties made from time to time with the poor indians signed by the different chiefs at the period of their ratifi cation and preserved in the office of the secretary to the commonwealth


these signatures traced of course by their own hands are rough drawings of the creatures or weapons they were called after


thus the great turtle makes a crooked penand ink outline of a great turtle the buffalo sketches a buffalo the war hatchet sets a rough image of that weapon for his mark


so with the arrow the fish the scalp the big canoe and all of them


i could not but thinkas i looked at these feeble and tremulous production of hands which could draw the longest arrow to the head in a stout elkhorn bow or split a bend or feather with a rifle ballof crabbes musings over the parish register and the irregular scratches made with a pen by men who would plough a lengthy furrow straight from end to end


nor could i help bestowing many sorrowful thoughts upon the simple warriors whose hands and hearts were set there in all truth and honesty and who only learned in course of time from white men how to break their faith and quibble out of forms and bonds


i wondered too how many times the credulous big turtle or trust ing little hatchet had put his mark to treaties which were falsely read to him and had signed away he knew not what until it went and cast him loose upon the new possessors of the land a savage in deed


our host advanced before our early dinner that some members of the legisla tive body proposed to do us the honour of calling


he had kindly yielded up to us his wifes own little parlour and when i begged that he would show them in i saw him look with painful apprehension at its pretty carpet though being otherwise oc cupied at the time the cause of his un easiness did not occur to me


it certainly would have been more pleasant to all parties concerned and would not i think have compromised their independence in any material degree if some of these gentlemen had not only yielded to the prejudice in favour of spit toons but had abandoned themselves for the moment even to the conventional ab surdity of pockethandkerchiefs


it still continued to rain heavily and when we went down to the canal boat for that was the mode of conveyance by which we were to proceed after dinner the weather was as unpromising and obsti nately wet as one would desire to see


nor was the sight of this canal boat in which we were to spend three or four days by any means a cheerful one as it involved some uneasy speculations concerning the disposal of the passengers at night and opened a wide field of in quiry touching the other domestic arrange ments of the establishments which was sufficiently disconcerting


however there it wasa barge with a little house in it viewed from the outside and a caravan at a fair viewed from within the gentlemen being accommo dated as the spectators usually are in one of those locomotive museums of penny wonders and the ladies being partitioned off by a red curtain after the manner of the dwarfs and giants in the same esta blishments whose private lives are passed in rather close exclusiveness


we sat here looking silently at the row of little tables which extended down both sides of the cabin and listening to the rain as it dripped and pattered on the boat and splashed with a dismal merri ment in the water until the arrival of the railway train for whose final contribution to our stock of passengers our departure was alone deferred


it brought a great many boxes which were bumped and tossed upon the roof almost as painfully as if they had been deposited on ones own head without the intervention of a porters knot and several damp gentlemen whose clothes on their drawing round the stove began to steam again


no doubt it would have been a thought more comfortable if the driving rain which now poured down more soakingly than ever had admitted of a window being opened or if our number had been something less than thirty but there was scarcely time to think as much when a train of three horses was attached to the towrope the boy upon the leader smacked his whip the rudder creaked and groaned complainingly and we had begun our journey


chapter xii


and be not drunk with wine wherein is luxury but be ye filled with the holy spiritleph


v


s father i would now be happy that you would point out to me the temporal blessings that flow from temperance f that i wgl also do most cheerfully


the first


great benefit of temperance is that a man is by it alivay inpossessibo of that gift which god has bestowed upon him namely reason


recollect that i now mean temperance in eating as well as in drinking


possessed dof the right use of reason man is lordoftlie creation andmaster of himself


from this it necessarily follows that his thoughts words and actions are in ac cordance with the law of god and they beingso he is happy in mind


no matter whether he abound in riches orpine in po


verty


if such a man be rich allethose under his authority are happy if it he not their own wish to be unhappy and if such a man be jioor he rejoices inthat beatitude epoken


by christ blessed are the poor inspirit


poverty loses its sting for the consolation of a good conscience fills theheart with joy in the midst of afflictions


whether such a man be master or tservant his dutiesare strictly performed andthose amongst whom he lives esteem him ron account of his virtues


if sickness approach him he is recoiiciledto the will of god and if death call upon him he is prepared to meet his god not as a rigorous judge of wickedness but as a merciful rewarder of a wellspent life


s icharles oqalley i e jairi seb d ragoo


n l t apter xviu


tiwrivit colga lotrts


i hadnot been many weeksa resident of old trinity ere the flattering repiuta tion my chum mr francis webber had etcquired etendedalso to myself and by uniiversal consent we were acknow ledged the mnost riotous ill conducted and disorderly men on the books of the university


were the lamps of the squares extinguished and the college left in total darkness we were sum mioned before rheean


was the vice provostserenaded with a chorus of trom bones and french horns


to our taste in ssnusicwas the attention ascribed did a auddenalarm of fire disturb the congre ation at morning chapel messrs web ber atd omalley were brought before the board andi must do them the justice to say that the most trifling circumstan tial evidence was ever suffient to bring a conviction


reading men avoided the hbuildi gnwherewe resided as they would have done the plague


ourdoi like those of a certain classc precinct comn memorated by a latin writer


lay oppen night and day


while moustached dragoons knowingly dressed fourin


bndmen fox hunters in pink issuing fdith to the dubber or returning splash ed from a run with the kildare bounds wwere everlastingly seen passing and re passing


within the noise and con u sion resembled rather the mess room of a regiment towards eleveti at night than the chambers of a college student vh ile with the double object iof affecting to be in illhealth and to avoid the reflectione that daylight occasionally inspires the shutters were never opened but lamps and


candleskept blways burning


such ias no


old square in the guiodly days i write of


all the terrors offines and punishments fell scatheless on


the head ofmy worithy chum in asct like a wwell known politicalicharacter whose


pleosure and amusement it has been for some years pastto alk through acts of


parliament andc deride the powers of


the law so did mr webber tread shis way serpentining through the statute book evr grazing but rarely trespassing upon some forbidden groutndwhich might involve the greatpunishment of expul siin


so expert too had he become in hbis special pleadings so dexterous in the law of the university that it was no easy matter to bring crime home to hins and evenwhen this was done his pleas in mitigation rarely failed of success


there was a sweetness of demeanoura smild subdued tone about him that constantly puzzled teo worthybeads of be college how the accusations ever broughtagainst hinm could be founded on truth that the pale delicateldoking student whose harsh backing cough ter ifioed the hearers couldbe thebo iseroune performeron a key bugle or the terrifid assailant of watchmen was something t


o


absurd for belief and when mr


wehber with his hand upon his beartn and inbhs most dulcet accents assured them that the hours he was not engaged sinreoding for the medal were passed an the soothing society of a few select and intimate friends of literary tastes and re hfined minds


who knowing the delicacy ofhis lialthbhere he would cough wdre kindenough tosit wiih him for an boltr ot so f


i the evening the delusion was perfect and the steryof the deans tilotous habits having got abroad the charge wasusually suppressed


like most idle men webber never bad a moment to spare


there was nothing berdidnot do except read


trainitg a hback for a race in


the tphoenixarrang in a rowing matchgetting up a mock


duel between two white feather acquain tapeeswere his almost dailyavocations besides that he was at the head of many organized societies instituted for various benevolent purposes


one was called the association for dicountenancing watchmen another the board of works whose object was principally the mbelishment of the university in which to do them justice theirlabours were suceasing and what with the assistance of some black paint a ladder and a few spoluids of gunpowder they certainly con trived to rffect many important changes


upon an examination morning some thundred luckless jibs might be seen perambulating the courts in the vain effort to discover their tutors chambers the names having undergone an alteration that left all traces of their original pro rprietors unnttainable


doctor


irancis


jmoney having become dotor full meowsdoe torare bteingby the chhiige f


itwo etters doctor aperomney irobinson


romniulus and remus be while upon occasions like these there eould be but little doubt of master itranks intentions upon many others so eubtle were his inventions so well aomtrivedl his plots


it became a matter


considerable difficulty to say whether rbher ahap which betel some luckless acquaintanee were the result of desigp or uterm accident and


not


unfrequently well disposed individuale were found con deling wish poor rpanh ugpon bis ftgaoaneeofsome college rule or ete qetre his breaeb of which had beed ng


and deliberatelt planned


of this atter derription vas o circumstance bleh corcturred about this time and which soome who nay throwan eye over ihese iages willperhaps remember


the dean having heardand indeid teirparations were dfit iitended o seccre secrecy that webbder had destin edto iiutertain a party of his friends at diiiier on a certainiti day senta most pre emptory order forb hls appearance at uommons his name being erased from the sick ilistr and a pretty strong hint cobinveyed to him that any evasion upon bls piartbld be certinly followed by an inquiry into the real reasons for his absence


what was to be done


that was the very day he had destined forhis dinner


to be sure the majorityof his guests were college men who would understand the difficultv at once but still there were others officers of the th with whom he was constantly din ing and whom he could not so easily put off the affair was difficult but still webber was the man for a difficulty in fact he rather liked one


a very brief consideration accordingly sulfied and he sat down anti wrote to his friends at the royal barracks thus dear power have a better plan for tuesday than that i had proposed


lunch hereat threewell call it dinnerin thd ball with the great guns i cant say much for the grub but the company glorios


after that well start for luean in the dragtake our coffee


strawberriesic and return to no for supper at ten


advertise your fellows ofthis change andbelieve me


s ost unchangeably yours


faarz wvassan


saturday


accordingly as three oclock struck six dashingluoking light dragoons were seen slowly sauntering up the wmddle of the dininghall escorted by webber who intfull academic costume was leisurely ciceroning his friends and expatiating upon the excellencies of the very remark able portraits which grace the walls


the porters looked on with some sur prise at the singular hour selected for sightseeing but whatwas their astonish ment tofind that when the party arrived at the end of the hifllinstead of turning back again they very composedly un buckeled their belts and having disposed of their sabres in a corner took their places at the fellowstable and sat down amid the collective wisdom of creek lectures and regius professors as though they had been mere mortals like themselves


scarcely was the longlatin grace con cluded when webber leaning forward enjoined his friends in a very audible whisper that if they intended to dine no time was to be lost


we have but little ceremony here gentlemen and all we ask is awfair start said be as he drew over the soup and proceeded to help himself


the advice was not thrownaway for each man with an alacrity a campn ig usually teaches


made himself master of some neighbouring disht a very quick interchange of good things speedily fol lowing the appropriation


it was in vain that the senior lecturer looked agbast that the professor of astronomy frowned the whole table indeed were thunder struckeven to the poor viceprovest himself who albeit given to the consm fortsof the tablecould not lift a morsel to his mouth but muttered between his teethmay the devil admire me but theyre dragoons


the first shock of surprise over the porters proceeded to inform them thatexcept ellows of the university or fellowcommoners none were admited to the able


webber however assured them that it was a mistake there being nothing in the satue to exclude the th light drts goons as he was prepared to prove


meanwhile dinner proceeded power ann phis party perforriing with great selfsatisfaction upon the surloins and saddles about themregretting orlyfrom time to time that there was a most un accountable abserce of wine andsug gesting the propriety of napkins when ever they should dine toere again


whatever chagrin these unexpected guests caused among their entertainers of the upper table in the lower part of the ball the laughter was loud and un ceasing and long before the hour con eluded the fellows took their departure leaving to master frank vebber the task of doing the honours alone and un assisted


when summoned before the board for the offence on the following morning webber excused himself by throwing the blame upon his triends with whom he said nothing short of a personal quarrela thing for a reading man not to be thought ofcould have prevented intrudingin the manner rela ted


nothing less than his tact could hase saved him on this occasion and at last he carried the day while ban act of the board the th light dragoodi were pronounced the most insolentcorps in the service


an adventure of his however got wind about this time and served to en lighten many persons as to his real character who had bitherto been most lenient in their expressions about him


our worthy tutor


with a seal for our welfare far more priseworthy than suc cessful woe in the habit of


summening to his chambers on certain mornings of the week his various pupils whom ihe lectured in the books for the approaching examinations


now as these sceances were heldat six oclock in winter as well as summer in a cold freless chamber tire lecturer lying snug


amid his blankets whilewe stood shivering around the walls the ardour of learning must indeed have proved strong that prompted a reg ular attendance


as to frank he would ha e as soon thotight of at tending chapel as orfpresenting himself on


such an oc asion


not so with mre


i had not yet grown hacknied enough to fly in the face of authority and i frequently left the whili table orbroke off in a song to hurry sorer to the doctors chambers and spout homer and ihesiod


i suffered on in patience till at last thle bore became so insupportable that i told


my sorrows to iy friend who listened te meout and promised me succoi


it so chanded that upon some evening ib each week dr mooney was in the j labit of visiting some iriends who re i sded a short distance from town and


j nding e night at their house le i of course did not lecture the tfllowiog rj oorninga paper placard announciiag no lecture being acfixed to the door on such occasions


frank waited patiently till heperceivedthe doctor affixingthis announcement upon his door one even ing and no sooner had he left college than he withdrew the paper and de parted


on the next morning he rose early and coneealinghimself on the staircase waited the arrival of the venerable damsel who acted as servant to the doctor


no sooner had she opened the door and groped her way into the sittingroom than frank crept torward and stealing gently into the bedroom sprung into the bed and wrapped himself up in the blankets


he great bell boomed forth at six oclock and soon after the sounds of feet were beard upon tbe stairsone by one they came alongand gradually theroom was filled with cold and shiver ing wretches more than half asleep and trying to arouse themselves into unap proach to attention


whos there


said frank sinlckint the doctors voice as he yawned three or four times in succession and turned in the bed


collission omalley nesbitt c said a number of voices anxious to have f all the meritsuch a petinanee could con fer


wheres


webber absentsir chorussed the whole party


sorry for it said the mock doctor webber is a man of firstrate capacity and were he only toapply i am not cer r lain to what ealinence his abilities might not raise him


come


collissonany ithree angles of a triangle are equal to are equal towhat are they equal to


here he yawned asthtugh


he would dis i locate his j w r


any three angles of a triangle are i equal to two rightengles said collisson f in the usualsing song tone of a freshman


as he proceeded to prove the proposi stion his monotonous tone seemed to have lulled thedoctor into a dosefor in a few moments a deep long drawn snore announced from the closed cur tains that he listened no longer


after i a little time however a short snort front the sleeper awoke him suddenly and he called out go on


im waitingdo you ethink i i can arouse tat this hour of the morn ing for nothing but to listen to your bungling


can no one give me a free i raiislatlon of the passage


this digression from mathematics to c lassics did not surprise the bearers though it somewhatconfused them no one being precisely aware what the line inquestion might be


try it nenbityou omalleysilent allreallythis is too bad


anindistinct muttering here from the crowd was fl


lowed by an announcement from the i doctor that the speaker was an ass and his head a turnipnot one of you capable of translating a chorus fromn f euripides on od papal


papai c


which after all means no tore than soht whilhelu murder why didyou die c


what are you laughing at gentlemen


mayl ask doe


it become a set of ignorant illiurforiied savages yes


savages i repeat the wordto behave in this nmannerwebber is the only manilhave with common intellect the only man among you capable of tdistinguishing himself but as forlyou i bring you before the board ill write to your friends ill stop yjrotir college indulgnces ill confine you to the walls


ill be damned eh this lapse confused him


he stam mered stuttered endeavoured torecover himself but by this time we had approached the bed just at thea moment whenmaster frank well knowing what he night expect if detected had bolted from the bliankets and rushed from the tror


in an instant we were in pursuit butt he regained his chambers and double locked the door before we could overtake him leaving us to ponder over theinso lentotirade we had sopatiently subtritted to


that morning the afair got windall over college


as for us we were scarcely so much laughed at as the dbctor the world wisely remembering if such


were the nature of our mornings orisoins we might nearly as profitably have re ia rosined snug in our quarters


such was our life in old trinity and sstrange enough it is that one should feel tempted to the confession


but i really must acknowledge these were after all happy times and i look back upon them with mingled pleasure aod sadness


ihe noble lord who so pathetically lamented that the devil was not is strong in him as he used to be forty years before has an echo in my regretsrthstthe istudent is not so young in me as when these scenes were enacting ofwhtch i write


albs and alack


those fingers thatt were wont todouble ip a watchman are now doubled up in gont the ancles tha once astonished the foair now only in terest the faculty the very jests that set thb table in a roar are become as threaid bhre as my idress continuations and i lharles omalley having passed through every gradation of cotilihg years from i long countiy dances to short whist from i nine times nine and one cheer more to weac


negos and a fitof coughing for chorus find myself at the wrong side eof


but stop this is becoming per sonal soi shall tonelode my rhiapter sand with a bow asgraceful as rheuma


stism iermits say to bne and all of my kind readersfora briefseasonadieu


mare


antoinette on tue chevalier of the red house conlinuedfrom colonial times


feb j chapter xm maurice could not have flown quicker had he had wings


the streets were crowded with people but maurice only remarked them because they re tarded his progress


it was remarked in every group that the convention was sitting that the majority of the people felt offended that their re presentatives were prevented from turning out a circumstance extremely probable for the tocsin was heard sounding and the cannons thundering their nightly alarm


but what did maurice at that moment care for cannon or tocsin or whether the deputies could or could not go outfreely since the defence did not rest in his hands


he ran on that is all


whilst hastening fonvard he pictured to himself genevive awaiting him at the little window that looked into the garden so as to hail as far as she could obseive him with her charming smile


dixmcr no doubt would be informed of this happy return and would tender his large hand to maurice so freely and loyally


he liked dixmer


lie even that day liked morand with his black hair and green spcctuclcs under which he believed he saw lurking a sullen eye


he loved the whoe creation for he was happy


he would willingly have scattered flowers ou the heads of all men so that all might be as happy as he


nevertheless poor maurice was deceived in his hopes as every one is nineteen times out of twenty who judges by and from the heart


instead of the sweet smile which awaited maurice and which he expected to reap in the distunce genevive had determined on only showing to maurice a cold politeness thus offering a feeble barrier to the torrent which threatened to overwhelm her heart


she retired to her chamber and would not descend until called


alas she also deceived herself


dixnier alone did not deceive himself


he spied maurice through a wicket and smiled ironically


citizen morand phleginatically colored the black tailed pieces which were to be applied to the fur of a white cat to represent ermine


maurice pushed the little gate in the alley to enter familiarly into the garden according to custom on the door opening the bell sounded in such a manner so as to indicate that it was maurice


genevive who was standing before the closed window started


she let the curtain drop which she pulled aside


maurice experienced a sensation of severe disappointment on entering the house gerievieve was not waiting him at the windoweven on entering the little saloon where he had taken leave of her he did not see her and he was compelled to announce himself ns if his three weeks absence had made him a com plete stranger


his heart was oppressed


maurice saw dixmer first who ran towards him and pressed him in his anns amidst exclamations of joy theu genevive descended


she had struck her cheeks with the handle of her motherofpearl knife to re ca the blood but she lind not proceeded twenty steps before the forced flush had ebbed to her heart oiuu


maurice saw genevive appear under the shadow of the doorway


he approached smiling to kiss her hand and then only perceived how much she was altered


she on the other hand remarked with alarm how thin maurice was as well as the feverish lire of his look


you are here then sir said she in a tone the emotion of which could not be subdued


she had decided in addressing him thus in a different accent


good day maurice


why are you such a stranger


the reception seemed cold to maurice but dixmer cut short all crimination and recrimination by ordering dinner as it was nearly oclock


maurice on passing to the diningroom per reivedthat a cover had been laid for him


then the citizen morand arrived clothed in the same browncoloured dress


he wore his spectacles his black locks and white frill


maurice was as kind as he could be when the whole was before his eyes being inspired with infinitely less alarm when nt a distance


in fact what probability was there that genevive loved this little chemist


he must have been deeply in love and consequently a great fool to keep such trash in his head


besides the moment would have been badly chosen to entertain jcalonsy maurice hud ia his waistcoat pocket generievcs letter and his heart beat with joy beneath it


genevive had resumed her serenity


there is a something in womans organization which makes her in the joy of the present forget the misery of the past as well as the menaces of the future


genevive finding herself happy became mistress of herself that is tosay calm yet affec tionateanother shade which maurice could not comprehend


loria would have found out an ex plication in parny bertin or gentilbernard


the conversation turned on the goddess of reason the full of the girondins and the new faith which transferred the heritage of heaven to a distaff being the principle events of the day


dixmer pretended that ile would not have been dissatisfied had the invaluable honor fallen on genevive


maurice laughed at that


but genevive supported her kusbtmds view of the cn se whilst maurice looked at both utterly astonished that patriotism should reach that point so as to mystify the mind of such a rational man as dixmer i or mislead such a poetic character as genevive


mormid developed the theory of a female politician by reference to tberoigne de merecourt theheroine of the th of august and madame roland the oui of the girond party


then in passing he launched some observations against the female knitters which made maurice laugh


they were cruel railers against those patriotic females who were latterly known under the hideous name of the guillotine hckers


ahl citizen morand said dixmer let us respect patriotism even when it wanders astray


as for me said maurice i find it to be a fact in patriotism that the women are always sufficiently patriotic when they are not too aristo cratic


you are right said morand but i frankly acknowledge i consider a woman contemptible when she affects the manners of a man as i consider a man a coward who insults a woman even if she were his greatest enemy


morana thus naturally led maurice upon delicate ground


he replied with an affirmative nod


the fists were opened


then dixmer like a herald who proclaims hostilities added an instant an instant citizen morond you will except female enemies to the nation


a silence of several seconds duration succeeded this rejoinder to mo rnds answer and maurices nod


maurice first broke it


let us except no one said he sadly


alas it seems to rae that the women who have been enemies to the nation are sufficiently punished in the present day


l do you spcde of the temple prisonersof the austrian mid the sister nnd daughter of capet exclaimed ditmei with a volubility which drowned the exprcsbion of his voice


morand grew pnle whilst awaiting the answer of the young municipal and one might have said hudone seen him that he must have wounded his breast with his nails so deeply did he work his hands


certainly said maurice i allude to them


what said morand in a suffocated voice is it true citizen maurice as reported


what do they say asked the young irian


that the prisoners arc cruelly maltreated at times by those who ought to protect them there are men said maurice who do not merit the name


there are cowards who have never fought and who torture the vanquished to convince themselves that they have been victims


j


you are not one of that class i am sure manricet exclaimed genevive


li madam replied maurice i who now ad sdress you ascended the scaffold as a guard when the late king perished


i had my sabre in my hand leady to slay any one who would have attempted tosave him however when he approached me in spite of myself i took off my hat and turning towards my mencitizens said i to them i warn youibat i shall pass my sabre through the body jofthejirstmanwho insults this lidivanl king


oh li defy any one to say that a single cry tipa raised by my company


it was i again who wrote with my own hand the copy of the thousands of placards affixed to the wallb of paris t when the king returned to varennes whoever salutes the king shall be floggedwhoever insults him shall be hung


well continued maurice yitliout remarking the terrible effect these words produced in the ussembly well i have then proved that i am a good and open patriot and that i detest kings and their partisans


well i de clare in spite of my opinions which are merely profound convictionsin spite of the positive as surance which i feel that the austrian had her share in creating these evils which have desolated france no man not even santerre himself should insult the exqucen in my presence


citizen interrupted dixmer bowing his head in the manner of a man who disapproves of such hardihood you must be pretty sure of us to utter such words as these before us


before yon asbefore all dixmer


and i should add she will probably perish on the same scaffold as her husband butt i am not one of those who are frightened by women i respect always what


i ever is weaker than myself


and the queen asked genevive timidly has she ever by chadee testified to you maurice that she was sensible of a delicacy to which she was not accustomed


the prisoner has thanked me many times for my respectful conduct


in that case she will be rejoiced when you are on guard


i believe so replied maurice


then said morand trembling like a woman since you avow that which no other person dares do now that is to say the possession of a generous heart you do not persecute the children


me said maurice


ask that infamous simon if he knows the weight of a municipals arm before whom he had the audacity to beat the little capet


this reply produced a spontaneous move ment at dixmers table all the guests risiug with respect


maurice alone remained seated quite unconscious as to the cause of this flight of admiration


well said he in astonishment what is the matter


i thought there was a summons from the work shop said dixmer


no no remarked genevive i at first thought so too but we arc deceived


all resumed their places


ah i it was you said morand in a trembling voice who was the municipal of whom they talk sb much as having nobly defended the child


they spoke of it said maurice with sira t plicity almost sublime


oh there is noble heart said morand rising hastily so as not to commit himself and re tiring into the workshop as if pressed for time


yes citizen answered dixmer yes it was spoken of and we may say that every man of feel ing and courage praised you without knowing you


let us leave him unknown said genevive


the glory we would confer upon him would be a dangerous acquisition


thus in this singular conversation each without knowing it had uttered expressions of heroism devotedncss and sensibility even to the very ex tremity of affection


chapter xiv


dixmer was informed just as they left the table that his notai y awaited him in the countinghouse


he made an excuse to maurice whom besides he was in the habit of thus quitting and proceeded to meet his legal agent


the business wjs concern ing the purchase of a small house in the street la corderie facing the temple gardens


the pro perty could scarcely be called a house the whole being nearly in ruins but he intended to rebuild it


the bargain was effected with the proprietor


that very morning the notary had seen him and they agreed upon the price viz francs


he now came tohavethecontractsignednnd draw the money


the proprietor was to vacate the house that day and on the following the workmen were to be ad mitted


when the contract was signed dixmer and morand attended by the notary proceeded to the street la corderie instantly to inspect the new acquisition for it was purchased without examina tion


it was a house situated about wheie no is at present rising three stories surmounted with a garret the basement had formerly been let to a wine merchant and was provided with magnificent cellars


the proprietor above all boasted of the cellars they formed the most remarkable portion of the house


dixmer and morand seemed to at tach hut a moderate interest to the cellars however both of them as if out of compliment descended to what the proprietor called his subter ranean regions


contrary to the custom of pro prietors he had not exaggeratedthe cellars were supcib one of them extended under the street la corderie and they heard the rumbling of the car riages overhead


dixmer and morand did not apparently appreciate the cellars and even spoke of blocking them up because although excellent for a wine merchant they were useless to a quiet citi zen who meant to occupy the whole


after the cellars they visited the first second and third stories the last of which overlooked the gardens of the temple


they were as usual occupied by the national guards who alone enjoyed them since the queen no longer walked out


l ixmer and morand recognised their friend widow plumeau attending with her usual activity to the business of her can teen hut doubtless their desire to be recognised in turn was not very great for they concealed them selves


the proprietor however made them notice l tlie advantages of the prospect equally val ied as i agreeable


tlie purchaser then desired to see the roof the proprietor uo doubt did not expect this for he had not brought the key but softened by the roll of assignats notes which he had seen he descended for the key


i was not deceived said morand this house will answer our purpose admirably


and the cellar


what do you say about that


that it is a dispensation of providence for it will save us two days labour


do you think it runs in the direction of the canteen cellar it inclines a little to the left hut that does not signify


but asked dixmer how eau you follow a subterranean line with certainty to terminate where you please


keep yourself easy my dear friend that is my business


i suppose we give from here the signal that we are always watching only that the queen could not see it from the platform


the roof alone is on a level i believe and yet i doubt it


it does not signify either toulan or mauny may observe it from some opening and will ac quaint her majesty


dixmer made some knots in the end of a calico curtain and shoved it out of the open window as if the wind had effected it


then having shut the door and as if impatient to visit the roof they both went to await the landloid on the stairs so that the woi thy mon never saw or thought of this floating curtain


the roof as morand imagined did not command the summit of the tower


this was at the same time a difficulty and an advantage a dif ficulty because they could not communicate by signs with the queen an advantage because that very circumstance removed all suspicion the highest houses being necessarily the most strictly watched


we must murmured dixmer find the means through mauny toulan ortisons daugh ter of telling her to be on her guard


i will provide for that answered morand


when they descended the notary attended in the saloon with the contract signed


i tis well said dixmer the house suits i me pay the citizen the sum of francs agreed upon and let him sign


the proprietor scrupulously counted the sum ard signed


you understand citizen said dixmer that the chief clause is that i take possession this very evening so that i may after tomorrow put in the workmen


i agree lo that citizen


you may take away the keys


this evening at eight oclock


it will be completely free


ah pardon me said dixmer did you not inform me citizen notary that there was a passage by the strees porte foin


yes citizen said the jroprietor but i closed it up for having only one servant the poor devil was too fatigued being compelled to attend to bothdoors besides the entrauoeis only so far blocked up that it may be made available again by two hourb labour


will you convince yourselves of that citizens


thank you it is unnecessary resumed dix mer i do notattach much importance to this entrance


both retired after having for the third time reminded the proprietor of his promise to vacate the premises by oclock


at oclock both re turned followed at a distance by six or seven men to whom in the midst of the confusion that reigned in paris no attention was poid


the two entered first


the proprietor had kept his word the house was completely empty


they closed the outer shutters common to all parisian houses with great care


they struck a light and lighted the candles which morand had brought in his pocket one after the other thesix men entered they were the ordinary guests of the master tanner the samesmugglers who wished to kill maurice and who had sincebecome his friends thedoors were closed and they descended to the cellar


this cellar so much despised during the day was become at night the most important part of the house


they heard as the landlord truly remarked the carriages rumbling over head a circumstance which fully proved that they were in reality beneath the street


in the first place they stopped up every aperture by which any curious person might see into the interior


when morand turning up an empty cask began tracing geometrical lines on a piece of paper


whilst he was thus busily engaged the others conducted by dixmer left the house followed the street la corderie and at the corner of the street de beauce stopped before a covered cart


from this conveyance a man silently distributed to each the instruments used by the pioneers


to one he gave a spade to another a pickaxe to this one a lever to that one a mattock


each concealed the instruments they received under their ridingcoats or mantles


the miners then proceeded towards the house and the cart disappeared


morand on their return had finished his work


he went straight to an angle of the cellar


there said he dig away


the workmen immediately commenced their labour


the situation of the prisoners in the temple had become more and more serious and above all more and more miserable


for a moment the queen madame elizabeth and madame royal had expe rienced some hope


the municipals toulan and lepitre touched with compassion for their august prisoners had testified much interest for them


at first little accustomed to these marks of sympathy the poor women were distrustful


but people sel dom mistrust when they hope


besides what could happen worse to the queen


separated from her son by a prison and from her husbaud by the grave


to march to the scaffold like the latter that was a fate of which she had long accustomed herself to think and to which she finally became habituated


the first time that toulan and lepitres turn came to be on guard the queen asked them if they were really interested in hei fate to recount to her all the details attending the death of the king


it was indeed a lad trial by which she tested their sympathy


lepitre was present at the execution and obeyed the queens order


the queen asked for the journals which reported the execution lepitre promised to bring them when next on duty which happened every three weeks


during the kings sojourn there were four mu nicipals in the templeon bis death there were only three one who kept guard during the day and two who watched at night


toulan and lepitre invented a stratagem by which they were always on duty together


the time of duty was fixed by lot on one ticket was written hay on the two others night


each drew his lot from a hat and chance decided who should be the nightwatchers


every time toulan and lepitre were assorted to


gether they wrote day on the three lots and pre sented the hat to the municipal whom they wished to throw out the latter plunged his hand into the provisional ballot urn and necessarily drew out a i ticket on which day was inscribed


toulan and lepitre destroyed the two others murmur ng against the chance which gave them always the most difficult duty as well as the most tiresome that of the night watch


when the queen had once trusted the two guardians she put them in communication with the chevalier of the red house


then a plan of escape was arranged


the queen and madame elizabeth were to fly disguised as municipal officers as for the two children madame royal and the young dauphin it has been observed that the lamplighter of the temple was always accompanied with two children about the same age as the prince and princess


it was therefore arranged taat turgy should assume the dress of the lamplighter and carry off madame royal and the dauphin


i we may now inform the reader who turgy was


ho was an ancient attendant on the king brought i to the temple with part of the household of tlie tuileries for the king at first had a well or ganised table service


the first month cost the nation from to francs oow but as one may easily conceive such prodigality could not continue the commune gave orders to discharge the cooks turnspits c one single attendant was preserved and that was turgy


turgy thus became a natural gobetweenfrom the prisoners to their adherents because he could go out a d consequently carry lttters and bring back answers


in general these letters were rolled up like corks and put into the flagons of almond milk which were brought to the queen and ma dame elizabeth they were written with lemon juice and the words remained invisible until brought near the fire


all was prepared for the escape when one day tison lighted his pipe with one of the paper coiks


as the paper burned he saw letters gradually appear he extinguished the paper which was half burned and carried the frag ment to the council of the temple


there it was held to the fire hut they could only make out some detached words the remaining half having been burned


they however recognised the queens handwriting


tison when interrogated related several kindnesses which he imagined he saw on the part of lepitre and toulan towards the pri soners


the two commissioners were denounced by the municipality and forbidden to enter the tem ple turgy remained


but distrust was awakened to the highest degree


he was never left alone near the princesses and all communications from without became impossible


however one day madame elizabeth handed turgy a goldenhandled fruitknife to he cleaned


turgy suspected some thing and whilst cleaning it the handle came off


it contained a letter which was merely an alphabet of signs


turgy restored the knife to madame elizabeth but a municipal who was present seized it and examined the knife the handle of which also separated fortunately there was no letter withinbut the municipal nevertheless confiscated the knife to himself


it was then that the indefa tigable chevalier projected the second attempt about to be carried into effect through the medium of the house dixmer had purchased


in the mean time the prisoners by degiees lost all hope


the queen had been alarmed by the cries in the street which reached her and from which she learned that the destruction of the girondins was intended they being the last support of moderation she was seized with a a profound melancholy


the giron dins once dead the royal f imily had not another friend left in the convention at seven supper was served


the municipal as usual examined each dish unfolded one after the other the nap kins and bioke the macaroni and nuts lest any letter might be concealed


these precautions taken the queen and princesses were invited tobe seated in these simple words widow capet you may cat


the queen bowed her head in token thnt she was not hungry


but at this moment madame royal came as if to embrace her mother and said in a low voice sit down to table madam


i believe turgy made a sign


the queen started and lifted her head


tnrgy was before her with a napkin on his left arm he touched his eye with his right hand


the queen immediately alose and took her place at table


the two municipals were present at the repast for they were forbidden to leave the princesses a moment alone with turgy


the queens feet and those of madame elizabeth met under the table and exchanged a pressure


as the queen sat in front of turgy none of his gestures escaped her


besides all his movements were so natural that they did not and could not excite distrust on the part of the municipals


after supper the same precautions were observed in re moving ob in serving


the least crust of bread was picked up and examined after which turgy went first then the municipals but tisons wife remained


this woman had become furious ever since she was separated from her daughter of whose fate she was completely ignorant


every time the queen embraced the madame royal she was seized with an excess of fury resembling madness


the queen whose maternal heart comprehended a mothers grief often paused before she gave herself that consolation the only one that remained to her viz to press her daughter to her heart


tison came to seek his wife but she declared she would not retire until the queen was in bed


madame elizabeth took leave of the queen and entered her chamber


the queen undressed and wentto bed as well as madame royal


the woman tison then took the candle and retired


the municipals were already extended on their rude couches in the corridor


the moon that pale visitor of the prisoners sent a diagonal ray right to the front of the queens bed


for a moment all remained calm and silent in the chamber


then a door turned softly on its hinges a figure passed the ray of moonlight and approached the head of the bed it was madame elizabeth


have you seen anything said she in a low voice


yes answered the queen


did you understand so well that i can scarcely believe it let us see repeat the signals


firstly he touched his eye to show there was something new then he changed the napkin from left to right which signifies that they are now oc cupied with our deliverance then he put his hand on his brow to signify that the aid he announced came from the interior and not from the exterior then when he was asked not to forget the milk to morrow he made two knots in his handkerchief


it is therefore the chevalier of the red house noble heart


i it is him i said madame elizabeth


are you asleep daughter asked the queen


no mother answered madame royal


then pray for him you know


madame elizabeth regained her room without noise and during a few minutes the voice of the young princess was heard communing with god during the silence of midnight


this occurred at the precise moment that under morands directions the first stroke af the pickaxe was given in the cellar of the house in the rue corderie


co personal adventures of master humphrey


thle old curiosity shopcihapter xxxir


mns


janlys wrath on first learning that she had been threatened with the indignity of stocks and penance passed all description


the genuine and only jarley exposed to public scorn jeered by chil dren and flouted by beadles


the delight of the nobility and gentry shorn of a bonnet which a lady mayoress might have sighed to wear and arrayed in a white sheet as a spectacle of mortification and humility


and miss monflathers the audacious creature who presumed even in the dimmest and remotest distance of her imagination to conjure up the degrading picture i am a most inclined said mrs jarley bursting with the fullnnss of her anger and the weakness of her means of revenge to turn atheist when i think of it


but instead of adopting this course of retaliation mrs jarley on second thoughts brought out the suspicious bottle and ordering glasses to be set forth upon her favourite drum and sinking into a chair behind it called her satellites about her and to them several times recounted word for word the affronts she had received


this done she begged them in a kind of deep despair to drink then laughed then cried then took a little sip herself then laughed andcried again and took a little more and so by degrees the worthy lady went on increasing in smiles and decreasing in tears until at last she could not laugh enough at miss ilonflathers who from being an object of dire vexation became one of sheer ridicule and absurdity


for which of us is best off i wonder quoth mrs jarley she or me


its only talking when all is said and done and if she talks of me in the stocks why i can talk of her in the stocks which is a good deal funnier if we come to that


lord what does it matter after all having arrived at this comfortable frame of mind to which she had been greatly assisted by certain short interjectional remarks of the philosophic george mrs jarley consoled nell with many kind words and requested as a personal favor that whenever site thought of bliss monflathers site would do nothing else but laugh at her all the days of her life


so ended mrs jarleys wrath which subsided long before the going down of the sun


nells anxieties however were of a deeper kind and the checks they imposed upon her cheerfulness were not so easily removed


that evening as she had dreaded her grandfather stole away and did not come back until the night was far spent


worn out as she was and fatigued in mind and body she sat up alone counting the minutes until he returnedpenniless broken


spirited and wretched but still iotly bent upon his infatuation


get me money he said wildly as they parted for the night


i must have money nell


it shall be patd thee back again with gallant interest one day but all the money that comes into thty tands must be minenot for myself but to use for thee


remember nell to use for thee i what could the child do with the knowledge she had but give him every penny that came into her hands lest he should be tempted on to rob their benefactress


if she told the truth so thought the child lie would be treated as a madman if she did not supply him with money he would supply him


self supplying him she fed the fire that burnt him up and put him perhaps beyond recovery


dis tracted by these thoughts borne down by the weight of the sorrow which she dared not tell tortured by a crowd of apprehensions whenever the old man was absent and dreading alike his stay and his return the colour forsook her cheek her eye grew dim and her heart was oppressed and heavy


all her old sorrows had come back upon her augmented by new fears and doubts by day they were ever present to sher mind by night they hovered round her pillow and haunted her in dreams


it was natural that in thie midst of her affliction she should often revert to that sweet young lady of whom she had only caught a hasty glance but whose sympathy expressed in one slight action dwelt in her memory like the kindness of years


site would often think if she had such a friend as that to whom to tell her griefs how much lighter her heart would bethat if she were but free to hear that voice she would be happier


then she would wish that she were something better that site were not quite so poor and humble that she dared address her without fearing a repulse and then feel that there was an immeasurable distance between them and have itheo hope that the young lady thought of her any more


it was now holiday time at the schools and the young ladies had gone home and miss monflathers was reported to be flourishing in london and damag


ing the hearts of middleaged gentlemen but nobody said anything about miss edwards whether shite had gone home or whether site iad any home to go to whether she was still at the school or anything about her


but one evening as nell was returning from a lonely walk she happened to pass the inn where aihe stagecoaches stopped just as one drove up and there was the beautiful girl site so well remembered pressing forward to embrace a young child whom they were helping down from the roof


well this was her sister her little sister much younger titan nell whom she had not seen so the story went afterwards for five years and to bring whom to that place on a short visit she had been saving her poor means all that time


nell felt as if her heart would break when site saw them meet


they went a little apart front tlhe knot of people who had congregated about the coach and fell upon each others neck and sobbed and wept with joy


their plain and simple dress the distance which tihe child had come alone their agitation and delight and the tears they shed would have told their history by themselves


they became a little more composed in a short time anti went away not so much hand in hand as clinging to each other


are you sure youre happy aister said the child as they passed where neill was standing


quite happy now she answered


but always said the cltld


ahl sister why do you turn away your face


nell could not help following at a little distance


ithey went to tile house of an old nurse where tile elder sister had engaged a iedroomn for the child


i sitsll come to see you early every morning she said antd we can be jogether all day


vwhy not at nighttime too dear sister would they be angry with you for sltht


whly were tits eyes of little nell wet that night with tears like those of the two sisters why did site bear a grateful heart because they had met and feel it pails to think thiat they would shlortly part


let us not believe that any sulfish referenceun conscious thougllh it might have heunto her own trials awoke thits sympatlhvy burt thank god that the innocent joys of others can strongly move us and that we even it our fallen nature ihave one source of pure emotion wllich must be prized in heaven


by mornings cheerful glow but oftener still by evenings gentle light the child with a respect for the short and happy intercourse of these two sisters which forbade her to approach and say a thankful word although she yearned to do so followed them at a distance in tllheir walks and rambles stopping when they stopped sitting on the grass when they sat down rising when they went on and feeling it a companionship anddelight to be so near them


their evening walk was by a rivers side


lhere every night the child was too unseen by them unthought of unregarded but feeling as if they were her friends as if they had confidences and trusts to


gether as if her load were lightened and less hard to hear as if they mingled their sorrows and found mutual consolation


it was a weak fancy perhaps the childish fancy of a young and lonely creature but night after night and still the sisters loitered in the same place and still the child followed with a mild and softened heart


she was much startled on returning home one night to find that mrs jarley had commanded an announcement to be prepared to the effect that the stupendous collection would only remain in its pre sent quarters one day longer in fulfilment of which threat for all announcements connected with public amusements are well known to be irrevocable and most exact the stupendous collection shut up next day


are we going from this place directly maam said nell


look here child returned mrs jarley


thatll inform you


and so saying mrs jarluy produced another announcement wherein it was stated in consequence of numerous inquiries at the waxwoik door and in consequence of crowds having been disappointed in obtaining admission the exhi


bition would be continued for one week longer and would reopen next day


for now that the schools anr gone and the regular sightseers exhausted said mrs jarley we come to the general public and they want stimulating


upon the following day at noon mrs jarley established herself behind the highly ornamented table attended by the distinguished effigies before mentioned and ordered the doors to be thrown open for the readmission of a discerning and enlightened public


but the first days operations were by no means of a successful character inasmuch as the general public though they manifested a lively in terest in mrs jarley personally and such of her waxen satellites as were to be seen for nothing were not affected by any impulses moving them to the payment of sixpence a head


thus notwithstanding that a great many people continued to stare at the entry and the figures therein displayed and re mained there with great perseverance by the hour at a time to hear the barrelorgan played and to read the bills and notwithstanding that they were kind enough to recommend their fitends to patronise the exhibition in the like manner until the doorway was regularly blockaded by half the population of the town who when they went off duty were relieved by the other half it was not found that the treasury was any the richer or that the prospects of the estab


lishment were at all encouraging


in this depressed state of the classical market mrs jarley made extraordinary efforts to stimulate the popular taste and whet the popular curiosity


certain machinery in the body of the nun on the leads over the door was cleaned up and put in motion so that the figure shook its head paralytically all day long to the great admiration of a drunken but very protestant barber over the way who looked upon the said paralytic motion as typical of the de grading effect wrought upon the human mind by the ceremonies of the iromish church and discoursed upon that theme with great eloquence and morality


the two carters constantly passed in and out of the exhibitionroom under various disguises protesting aloud that the sight was better worth the money tihan anything they had beheld in all their lives and urging the bystanders with tears in their eyes not to neglect such a brilliant gratification


mrs jarley sat in the payplace chinking silver monies from noon till night and solemnlycalling upon the crowd to take notice that the price of admission was only sixpence and that the departure of the whole collec tion on a short tour among the crowned heads of europe was positively fixed for that day week


so be in time be in time be in time said mrs jarley at the close of every such address


remember that this is jarleys stupendous col lection of upwards of one hundred figures and that it is the only collection in the world all others being impostors and deceptions


be in time be in time be in time i to be continued


a clergyman of the church of enolanus evlooiuma on e ciurcit of rosme and it is through their spiritual descent from the roman bishop and his predecessors that our primates and their suffragans derive their clearest title to govern the church of christ in england at this very day


it is not therefore for us to look with jealousy or distaste upon the ancient glories of our nursing mother in the faith


it is not for us to seek to pare away expressions or to reduce to their minimum of meaning the glowing testimonies of antiquity to that mothers purity and honour


she it is true has since abandoned us and because we refuse to bow down before the idols whom she has in these latter times set up refuses to recognise us as her children


we however have not separated from her we have formed ourselves into no new sect or party but by gods blessing continue within the pale of that catholic community to which she first admitted us


nor can her recent tyranny prevent our eyes from reverting to the shining indications of her pristine worth or our hearts from burning within us as we gaze with emotions of exalted pleasure akin to those with which an affectionate and duteous child delights to survey the cherished mementos of parental excel lencethe rev j tv


bowdens life and pontifi colate of gregory the seventh


the catholics and the queen


the subjoined circular has been addressed by the rev william hogarth vicar general by command of dr mlostynbishop elect of the northern district to the catholic clergy and laity of the northern district


dearly beloved brethrenthe announcement of hier majesty having given birth to a princess has diffused a lively joy throughout very portion of hier dominion


her imajestys ca tholic subjects fully anticipate in this national joy


to this happy event we have all been looking for ward with delight


our delight however has not been unmixed with anxiety for besides knowing that the disposer of all things holds in hiis hands the reins of all human things and the prince and the peasant are alike his tenantsatwill we well remember on a very similar occasion in the case of the late princess chartlotte and her infant the slid den transition of life and promise to a premature death which cast the whole nation into the deepest mourning


mindful of that day of national allic tion and humiliation let us with warmest gratitude thank the disposer of kingdoms and empires for having preserved thie life of our beloved queen in thle dangers of childbirth and given us confident anticipations of the safety of the infant princess


but let us also earnestly pray that our beloved queen and lher infant may be preserved in life and hiealththat with the blessings of divine provi dence her majesty may long rule over her devoted people and that her reign may be blessed with peace prosperity and hisppinessdear rev sir on the first sunday after the receipt of this pas


toral you will please to read it to your people and announce to them some early subsequent day on which you will offer up the holy sacrifice of the altar adding the collect secret and post commu nion pro gratiarum actions and after the mass you will say or cause to be sung the te deum


by order of dr mlostyn signed william lhogarth vicar generalnovember true greatness t cannot admire the man who possesses one virtue in high perfection if hie does not at the same time possess thle opposite virtue in an equal degree as in thle case of epami nondas who united the extremes of valour and of meekness without this it is not an elevated but a fallen character


greatness does notconsist in being at one extreme but in reaching both extremes at once and occupying all tlhe intermediate space


perhaps this is in no case more titan a sudden movement of the soul from one extreme to the other and like a burnitg brand whirled quickly round so a circle it is never but in one point of its course at a time


still this indicates the energy of tihe soul if not its expansionpuscal


ifarlhero are thousandl of men for fear of want want all their lives and thousands every day for fear of dying suffer worse titan the pangs of dentil


ltheo demon fear at all times trembles at impossible events


why should we grow pale at hideous fictions of our own l we should at all times endeavour to be serene and mas tets of ourselves prepared for what may come leaving time rest to heaven


james clarence siangan


chapter iv


farewell the tranquil mind farewell content


amid the glow of soul which i experienced through the change in my situation from absolute bondage to comparative liberty i could not forget the links that bound me to those who still depended on me for the very breath of life


that they ap peared as indifferent to my powers of endurance as the storms are to those of the rock they assault was nothing to me


that they were in health and in the prime of life while i was in a state of chronical illness aud old in soul though young in years touched me little or nothing


they were still my parents and onlyjis such could i regard them


i willingly overlooked the maxim of st paul that the elder should lay p r the jroungcr


y i


r dir fttmily arid riot the younger for the elder


within about nine months after the termination of my apprenticeship a situation was offered me in a solicitors office the salary derivable from which though humble enough was sufficient to elevate us in some degree above the depths of our former pov erty and this situation i accepted not gladly for a foreboding of what was to come haunted me now with more intense force than ever but resignedly and in the full belief that i was merely fulfilling a destiny which i could not oppose and which i had no right to arraign


i weary the reader by calling on him for ever to listen to a tale of unmitigated calamity


but as i am bound to adhere to strict truth in this autobio


graphy he will kindly forgive as well the monotony of general reflection as of particular detail which he encounters


by and bye i may invite his attention to more cheerful and consolatory matter


at


pre sent the scroll which i am compelled to unroll be fore him is like that of the prophet written within and without with mourning and lamentation and woe


andperhaps those who are desirous of un derstanding the motives rather than of listening to a cold recital of the actions of another may find some interest in perusing a record which i willingly ad mit embodies hardly a sentence upon which the mere worldling or willing would care to expend a moments reflection


i had not been lmg installed in my new situation before all the oldinalidies under which i had la boured returned with double force


the total want of execise to which i was subjected was in itself sufficient to tell iith ruinjus effect upon a frame whose long cjntinued stale of exhaustion had only received a temporary lelief fio n the few months cliamre of hig


tn wliili t hnp irlvnrfpi


s rntnihn ngencies also combined to overnliel


n and prostrate me


he


coarie ribaldry the vile ud


ulgai oaths and the brutal isuliffeieuce to all that is tiue and good and beautiful m the uimerse of my office companiensj aflfccledmelin a manner difficult to conceive


myttiivous and h potinnanacil idl ings almost verged down upon insjnitv


seemed to myself to be shut ttip in a cavern with serpents and scorpions and all hideous and monstrous things which writhed iand hissed aiound me and dis charged their shine and venom over my person


these hallucinations were considerably aided and aggiavatcd by the pestiferous atmosphere of the office tlie chiiriney of which smoked continually and for some hours before the


close of the day emitted a sulphurous exhalation that at times liter ally caused me to gasp for breath


in a word i felt utterly and thoroughly miserable


the wretched depression of my spirits could not escape the notice of my mother but she passed no remark on it and left me in the evenings altogether to myself and my books for unfortunately instead of endeavouring somewhat to fortify my constitution byappropriat


ing my spare hours to exercise i consumed these in unhealthy reading


my morbid sensibilities thus daily increasing and gaining ground while my bodily powers declined in the same proportion the result was just such as might have been anticipated


for the second time in my life nature succumbed under the intolerable burden imposed upon her j and an acute attack of illness removed me for a sea


son from the sphere of my irksome and melancholy duties


my place in the office was assumed by my younger brother john a stout and healthy lad of nineteen who had already acquired so ne slight ex perience in the mysteries of scrivenery and attorney ship and i returned home


my confinement to bed on this occasion was not of long duration but though after the lapse of a few days i was able to crawl about once more i was farindeed from being recovered


a settled melan choly took possession of my being a sort of torpor and weariness of life succeeded to my former over excited sensibilities


books no longer interested me as before and my own unshared thoughts were a burden and a torment to me


again i essayed the effect of active exercise but was soon compelled to give over from sheer weakness and want of animal spirits


i indulged however occasionally in long walks into the country around dublin and the sight of hills fields and streams to which i had long been unaccustomed produced in me a certain placidity of mind with which had i under stood my


own true interests for time and eternity


i ought to havo remained contented


but contented i did not and would not remain


i desired to be aroused excited shocked even


my grand moral malady for physical ailments i also had and singular of their kind was an impatience of life and its commonplace pursuits


i wanted to penetrate the great enigma of human destiny and my own to know the beall and the endall the yort that could happen here or hereafter the final denouement of a drama that so strangely united the two extremes of broad farce and thrilling tragedy and wherein mankind played at once the parts of actors and spectators


if i have perused any books with feelings of pleasure they were such as treated of the wonderful and terriblo in art nature and society


descriptions of battles and histories of revolutions accounts of earthquakes inundations and tempests and narratives of moving accidents by flood and field possessed a charm for me which i could neither resist nor explain


it was some time before this feeling merged altogether iii another the sentiment of religion and its ineffable mysteries


to the religioui duties enjoined by my church i had always been attentive but i now became deeply devotional addicted myself to ascetic practices and studied the lives of the saints with the profoundest admira tion of their grand and extraordinary virtues


if my mind had been of a larger and sterner order all this had been well enough and i should doubtless have reaped nothing but unmixed advantage from my labours but constituted as i was the effect of those upon me was rather injurious than beneficial


t gradually became disquieted by doubts not of the great truths of faith for these i never questioned but of my own capacity so to speak for salvation


taking a retrospective view of all the events of my foregone years reflecting on what i bad been and then was and meditating on what it was probable tltat i gnoulll llvk to be i began to tlliuu with beings may have been created expressly for unhappiness and i knew that cowper had lived and perhaps died in the dreadful belief that he himself was a castaway and a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction


scruples of conscience also multiplied upon me in such numbers in the intervals between each of ray confessions that my mind became a chaos of horrors and all the fires of pandemonium seemed to burn in my brain


i consulted several clergymen with regard to what i should doin this extremity


most of them recommended me to mix in cheerful and gay society one alone i remember counselled me to pray


and pray i did for i had so held myself aloof from the companionship of others that i knew of no society with which i could mix


but i derived no consolation from prayer


i felt none of that confidence in god then which thanks to his almighty power and grace i have since so frequently known


the gates of heaven seemed barred against me its floor and walls of brass and triple adamant repelled my cries and i appeared to myself to be sending a voice of agony into some interminable chasm


this deplorable in terior state one which worlds and diadems should not bribe me into experiencing again continued for about a twelvemonth after which it gradually dis appeared not through progress of time not through any process of reasoning or indeed any effort of my own but remarkably enough pre cisely through the agency recommended by my spiritual advisers


chapter v on the south side of the city of dublin and about ililuvyfl iiuw


ull uvcuuu wllltu uluuivi luc uuuli nuily of that part of the similar road extending from harolds cross to dolphins barn stands a house plain in appearance and without any parti cularity of external structure to attract the passeu gcrs notice


adjoining the house is a garden with sort of turret lodge at the extreme end which iook forth on the high road


the situation is lone and un picturestjue ana ho who wouiu


yaise iu u nnt must be actuated by other and deeper and possibly saddei ieelings than any that such a scerif would be likely to excite in the breast of the poet and artist


perhaps he should be under the influence of such emotions as i recently experienced in passing the spot after an absence from it of seventeen years seventeen years


let me rather call them seventeen centuries


for life upon life has followed and been multiplied on and within me during that long long era of passion trouble and sin


the pompeii and herculaneum of my soul have been dug up from their ancient sepulchre


the few broken columns and soli tary arches which form the present ruins of what was once palmyra present not fainter or a more imper


feet picture of that great city as it flourished in the days of its youth and glory than i as i am now of what i was before i entered the career to which i was introduced by my first acquaintance with that lone house in


years of so much mingled pleasing sorrow whither have ye departed or ra ther


why were ye allotted me


you delivered me from sufferings whichatleast were of a guiltless order and would shortly in a better world have been ex changed for joys to gjve me up to others the bitter fruits of late repentance which await no recompense and know no change save change from severe to severer


but alas


thus it was is and must be


my plaint is chorussed by millions


generation preaches to generation in vain


it is ever and every where the same old immemorial tale


from the days of adam in eden to our own we purchase knowledge at the price of innocence


like aladdin in the enchanted subterranean garden we are per


mitted to heap together and gather up as much of the hard bright gold and diamonds as we will but


r


nnm


f itnrnfntn nnfnmlinii from tlio frpflll natural green pastures and healthful daylight


in the course of my desultory rambles about the suburbs of the city it would sometimes happen that i should feel obliged to stop and rest even though nothing better than a hedge side or field hillock afforded


me the means of a few minutes rcposr


the reader will therefore imagine me reclining rather than sealed on a long knoll of grass by a stream side beyond rathfatnain and closely ad jacent to roundtown while the sun is setting on an evening in june


i held in my hand a book with the covers turned down it was lei pensies dc pascal


as i lay revolving in my mind some of the sublime truths contained in this celebrated work i was somewhat suddenly approached and accosted by a fashionably dressed and intelligent young man whom i had twice or thrice before observed saun


nhmit tliin nniirhhourhood


mav i ask ho inquired the nature of your studies


i placed the book in his hand he looked at it for a moment and then returned it to me without speaking


you dont read frenoh


biiid i interrogatively


o yes i do ho replied


who does not nowadays


but that is a very unhealthy work