will you walk through ihe iouse i said mir


haredale with a glance towards the window the crazy alshutters of which were closed and fastened


sspeak low


thiere was a kind of awe about the place which would have rendered it difficult to speak in any other manner


gabriel whispered yes and followed him up stairs


everything was just as they had seen it last


there was a sense of closeness from the exclualsion of freshair and a gloom and heavines around as though long imprisonment had made the very silence sad


the hiomely hangings cfthe beds and windows had begun to droop tie dust lay thick upon their sdwindling folds and clamps had made their way through ceiling wall and floor


the boards creaked beneath their tread as if resenting the unaccustomed intruslon nimble spiders paralysed by the tapers glare checked the motion of tlselr hiundred legs upon the wall or dropped like lifeless things upon the ground the deathwatch ticked aloud and the scampering feet of rats and mice rattled behind the wvainscot


as tihey looked about them on the decaying furniture it was strange to find how vividly it pre sented those to whom it had belonged and with whom it was once familiar


grip seemed to perch again upon his isighbacked chair barnaby to crouch in his old favouaite corner by the flte the mother to resumne iher usual seat and watch him as of old


even when they could separate these objects forn the phantoms of the mind wilich they invoked the latter only glided out of sight but lingered near them still for then they seemed to lurk in closets


and behind the doors ready to start out and sud deoly accost them in their wellremembered tones


they went down stairs and again into the room they had just left


mlr haredale unbuckled his sword and laid it on the table with a pair of pocket pistols then told the locksmith he would light him to the door


but this is a dull place sir said gabriel lingering may no one share your watch


he shook his head and so plainly evinced his wish to be alone that gabriel could say no more


in anothlermoment the locksmith was standing in the street whence ihe could see that the light once more travelled up stairs and soon returning to the room below shone brightly through the chinks in the shutters


if ever man were sorely puzzled and perplexed the locksmith was that night


even when snugly seated by his own fireside itlh mrs varden oppo site in a nightcap and nightbjacket and dolly beside him in a most distracting dishabille curling her hair and smiling as if she had never cried in all her life and never couldeven then with toby at his elbow and his pipe in his mouth and miggs but that perhaps was not much falling asleep into the background he could not quite discard his wonder and uneasiness


so in his dreams still there was mr haredale haggard and careworn listening in the solitary house to every sound that sti red with the taper shining through tile chinks until the day should turn it pale and end his lonely watching


to be oontinued


the holy mountain of la s alette


a pilgbimxvgb of the year


by the right rev bishop ullathorne


chapter viii


the prophecy


a few discrepancies are found to exist between the words of the prophecy as seve rally narrated by maximin and melanie


thus where melanie speaks of the hand of my son maximin says the arm of my son


melanie speaks of the potatoes maximin uses the phrase the potatoe crop


but the variations are ver bal and fall most commonly on the particles without at all changing the sense


much greater discrepancies exist in the gospel repetitions of our lords words by the different evangelists


and if in the gospels whilst the substance and the sense remain identical these verbal dis crepancies are taken as an argument in proof of absence of collusion the same argu ment holds good with respect to the narra tives of la salette


it is a common characteristic of many prophecies of the sacred scripture as of other prophecies that they contain two elements one of which is referable to an epoch distinct from the other


the pro phet receives a first and a second revelation at one and the same time


the one refers to events near at hand but often of compa ratively less importance except that it con veys immediate proof of its divine origin through the accomplishment of the event and gives warning to


those under whose eyes the events may fall


the other por tion of the prophecy is more obscure more secret or more distant from the time of its fulfilment


the first prediction of la saletto re garcled the potatoe crop


then the grapes were to rot


then the walnuts were to grow bad


the general failure of the potatoes is a fact but too well known


but at christmas there were to be none left


and it is an authentic fact that in that part of the country there was not a potatoe left that could be eaten in the winter of that year the people of those mountains were dying of hunger


fif teen days before christmas said her kim pi eh ear ted guide to he authoress of echo of la salette there was not a potatoe to eat you could not get for throe francs what now sept you can get for eight sous


the lleligious sisters of corps had their meal prepared with every particle of the bran in it that they might have more


to give to the fa iuisuuu


peopie


the writer just mentioned went on a day in s to a bakers at corps to buy bread


it was on a saturday


do you bake tomorrow


she asked


no madam he replied the ovens are not open here on a sunday since the appari tion our lady has forbidden us


i hud forgotten it was suuday she replied


we do not forget that now madam said the baker we do not want the famine to come back again


the failure of the vines at that time not dreamed of is now a matter of history


and m that district tnere are still many vines in a very bad state


of the failure of the walnuts an important crop for the people i was myself witness this very year


then a famine will come


but the time is not specified


god is not like men to hasten punishment as melanic ob serves


and tins prediction like that of i ninive in forty days ninive shall be de i stroyed in however decisive terms it was uttered seems in a later part of the pro


phecy to be made contingent on the im penitence of the people


childv en under i seven years will be seized with a trembling and will die in the hands of those who hold them


this prediction again seems to be put under similar conditions with the taniine if the people are converted it is a fact that there was soon after the event we are describing a very unusual mortality amongst children in that portion of france


enough of all these predictions occurred to give the people a warning of what might come


they looked on it in this light


a vast conversion has taken place


swearing has coascd amongst those mountaineers and the sunday is observed to a very great extent


there is a great religious change in all the south of france and the pilgrimage to la salette has been amain instrument of this conversion


the bishop of grenoble accidentally mentioned to me that in the parish of which he had made the visitation the day before we met there was not a man who had not inn de his easter communion


there is at this moment a great movement in france through associations and in other ways to bring about a general observance of the sunday


the good effect thus produced was noticed in a protestant newspaper the record though attributing its origin to an imposture


there are also widelyspread societies for


opposing blasphemy and


i


jy


rm


atoning ior its commission xnese move ments have in a great measure flowed from the warnings of our lady of la salette


we must expect to find prophecy couched in prophetic language


the language of god is not the language of man


our lord himself becomes strong in his lan guage and almost seems to exaggerate in his vehemence when he utters his woes on the pharisees or foretells the calamities of jerusalem


but was the strongest language of god by his prophets either an exaggeration in itself or even a vehement figure


a partial conversion modifies the prediction in the event or as at ninive there is an entire conversion and the conviction is not fulfilled


but at jerusalem there was a thorough impeni tence of the jews and the terrible pre diction of our lord was fulfilled to the very letter


the prophecy of la salette has the strong pi am energy and even the rhythm of the ancient prophets


where did these children find tins singular language and how did their minds fall upon so strange a combina tion of incidents


its very unnaturalness has been made one of the main grounds of objection whilst in reality it furnishes a confirmation of its supernatural origin


ty jou linve corn it is no good


to soio it all that you soio the beasts will eat


what comes up will fall into dust when you thrash it


it may here be objected that it is against all the laws of wisdom and prudence to exhort men to refrain from sowing the earth


but this is one of those energetic expressions of which the sacred scriptures abound in examples


its object is to strike the hearer with a vivid sense of the useless ness of toiling and making sacrafices in opposition to the determinations of the al mighty


in a similar way our lord warns those who snail have to encounter the deso lation which he predicted to jerusalem he who is on the housetop let him not come down to tahe any thing out of his house


and he who is in the field let him not go bach to tahe his coat


and in the book of leviticus the almighty gives this warning to his people if you will not hear me nor do my commandments if you despise my latos and contemn my judgments i will quickly visit you with jjovcrli and burning heat and consume your lives


you stialli sow youil seed in vain which shall be devoured by your enemies


but if you will not for all this obey me i toill chastise you seven times more for your sins


your labour shall be spent in vain the ground shall not bring forth her increase nor the trees yield their fruit


the sense ot unv lady a words is this and they are as full of charity as of tcror if you will not be converted at least believe my words


throw not away your corn to perish you will need every grain of it for god will not let the soil produce you more


there shall came a famine but before the famine children under seven years shall be seized with a trembling and shall die in the arms of those who hold them


but ip they are converted the si ones and the rocks shall be changed into heaps of corn and the potatoes shall be selfsoion on the lands


all then depends upon con version or impenitence


a general and complete


conversion will bring with it a wonderful abundance


let any one observe the nature of cultivation in a mountainous country like pauphino and they will bet ter understand the literal seuse of these words


a more extensive cultivation implies its spread over a higher range of stony and rocky heights


and the rocks and stones are literally reduced to soil and changed into corn


and where potatoes are abunr dant to excess they will be imperfectly gathered and will remain selfsown


the almighty spoke of the promised land as flowing with milk and honey


he pro mised if his people observed his laws that the seed time should lay hold of the har vest


and the psalmist says he brought oil from the hardest rock


an objection was raised in the conferences at grenoble


which must be treated here somewhat at length


in some manuscript cojues of the recital of the children it was found that after the words and in the winter when they hnbw not what to do the boys go to mass only to mock at religion those words were found introduced the boys put stones and other missiles in their poclcets to throw at the young women and severel witnesses attested the introduction of these words


this interpolation was traced to maximin


melanie had never spoken it


and maxi min had been asked by various persons why he had ceased to use it


and when further asked if he had never introduced such new expression he answered no


upon this difficulty is to be remarked st


that maximin had never introduced tho interpolated words in any of his ear liest recitals


and that four months after the apparition when m largier visited corps he had ceased to use them


nd


the first time that melanie heard him use these words she exclaimed what are you saying there


did the blessed virgin say anything about that


rd it is an admitted fact that the practice described in these words prevailed at the time in corps and some other parishes so that the words were true in themselves as a description of the fact


th


it is clear that so far from being a contradiction of the text these words are but an application of it to a specific and a recognized state of things


they are an exemplification of its sense a short para phrase which brought it home to the hearers and led to a correction of the abuse


when maximin was examined on this point before


the ecclesiastical com mission he gave a twofold answer


his first was that when he thus recited the passage he was more occupied with the thoughts and the image of the blessed airgin than with her words


his second answer was that he hoard many comments and applications of this part of his recital and was led to ratify such comments by a simple yes


this last answer derives force from his replies to certain questions put by m llousselot before the commission


q has it not been said that you mingled things in your recital which the blessed virgin never said


maximin


yes sir


in a company of women and girls they would have it out of mo that the blessed virgin had spoken of dances and of bad confessions


q well and so what did you answer these women


i told them that the blessed virgin did not say that and as they would absolutely have it that the blessed virgin had spoken of these things i said as i left them to themselves have it just as you like these explanations if we bear in mind maximins habitual way of cutting short importunate and troublesome questionings will shew sufficiently how the words under consideration may have got inserted into some repetitions of his narrative


still it will not explain how he himself introduced them when called to account for it by melanie though it mar show how they got inserted into his own mind and became there associated with the text


i confess i am not satisfied with the


abbe kousselots solution of this part of the objection


i think that maximin may be more satisfactorily cleared of the charge of wilful and deliberate falsification


let me first observe that the sentence in question neither adds to the prophecy nor takes from it nor does it add or take from the sense of the blessed virgins words ir respective of prophecy


it simply points to one of the recognised facts included in those abuses of the sunday which her words denounce


and i need scarcely allude to that widely received theory which


imwnbnnjjimjnia maintains that even


the prophet and apos tles when they record cxteriu sensible and obvious facts amidst their revelations do not receive such facts from direct inspiration but are simply preserved from error in narrating them


nor need i cite gerson benedict xiv br amort or the list of authorities he quotes to show that true revelations even revelations approved by the church arc not always without some mixture in their narration of things unrevcalcd or even untrue so it be in a manner that does not affect the sense and bearing of the revelation itself


and now what is the case of maximin


he often hears repeated a popular appli cation of a part of his application or he sees it himself and it is quite obvious to every other person


it becomes associated in his mind with the words of that portion of his revelation it signalises a known


abuse and on one or a few occasions thinking at the time as he says more of the thoughts and the image of the blessed virgin than of her words he introduces it into his narrative


but no sooner is he asked by his fellowwitness if that is a part of the discourse of the blessed virgin than he noc only does not affirm that it is but he ceases to use it


and when at a later time he is asked if he ever added to the words of the blessed virgin he answers no


eor he had no intention of adding these words as nn imposition and as a part of the blessed virgins discourse


and this answer is in perfect keeping with the whole of his peculiar style and idiom as any one may observe wlio has studied its character


it is just a little trait of that spirit of preaching for which at


this early period he was athirst


the superioress of the convent where he was at school bays of him of that period that had he been allowed the liberty ho would have done very foolish things through his zeal


he could scarcety speak in french and yet be wanted to mount the pulpit and preach


and next he would go to the neighbouring bown of mens and convert the protestants who are residing there


h would say let me go let me go and convert them ill


q


but what will you say to them


maximin


i avill say do as i do do as i do


oh well then replied his friend in raillery you will say be fond of play as i am be thoughtless as i am be in dolent as i am


for all this i certainly am


say on say on and i will say if they do no worse than i do they will not sin so very much


an exception has been taken to the vul garity of the words they go to the sham bles in lent like dogs


bat the objector forgets our lords words to the chanauean it is not fit to take the bread of the chil drcn and cast it to the dogs


or that stronger expression of st peter the dog has returned to his vomit


there is one objection more which is made to the form of the prophecy


why did mary say in the first person six days have given you io labour in the seventh i have reserved for myself and you will not give it me


the objection im plies the answer


it supposes the objector to understand that this is tho command ment of god and not of mary


no one ever took it in any other sense it is a quotation made in the words of tho third commandment when the prophets declare the will of god do they never


speak in the first person


if any one in earnest had ever taken this for a command ment of the blessed virgin there would have been reason in the objection


but it is too ancient and too well known a for mulary ever to bo mistaken


hence preachers speak in this stjle and had these very words occurred as they stand in a sermon it would have attracted no obser vation


there is one question more and it awakens a sublime consideration


why did the blessed virgin come and deliver this prophecy


ah


why


maximin said god had no mother vaca he sent jonas the prophet to speak to the ninevitcs


bvit to us he sent the blessed virgin to bid us to say it to all tho people


who does not know that there is a ministry in heaven as well as on earth and that god has disposed the ministry of ngels and men in wonderful order so that they who serve him in heaven suc cour and defend us here on earth


are we then who have greater helpers in worse condition than the jews who to the latest period of theii church had visions to console and prophecies to warn them


they forgot god but they remembered their prophets and defenders with a certain lingering veneration


so god sent them a vision of the archangel michael or of the prophet jeremias ur lie sent them a new blias who might recall the first to their mind


and our lord appeared with moses and blias by his side


it seems as if when they had ceased to hear him he sent those who were nearer to their nature whom they still loved and were inclined to listen to


and thus in these latter days when faith had grown faint and charity cold among a people who had y radically for gotten their god while still retaining a lingering childs love for their mother god seized them by their last divine aflection


god seems to say within the depth of his infinite mercy they hear me no more


the voice of my son comes not to them


the church they have ceased to know


my day is to them as other days and their blasphemies have turned my wrath against them


is there not one way of mercy left


or shall this people perish in their wilfulnesstf per haps they will listen to their mother


i will try them by their love for her


i will try them by her love to them


perhaps she will bring them back to me and again they may be my people


and who that studies gods ways sees not how as error thickens and the devil gains power his adversary the woman extends her power more and more within the church of god


as those visions of her own st john approach their consum mation clothed with the sun and with the moon beneajjh her feet she is still in labour for the church of her divine son


and so she appears to us from those alps with her crucified son on her breast plead ing his cause declaring his anger avarn ing us of the uselessness of her prayers without our own conversion and weeping celestial tears


she urges us by all a mothers love and by all the sufferings and jong patience of her son


and she points to the two great causes which estrange from god beyond a remedy blasphemy repelling him from us the neglect of his day keeping us away from the reception of the graces which bring back the soul to him


when we have abandoned the ministry of the church the ministry of heaven alone remains


we have no right to it


but god is infinitely merciful and our mother is full of power with god and full of tenderness and love for her children


specimens of russian proverbs the bear does not catch which he will but which ho can


words threaten but fists strike


when the rope is pulled the bell rings


the season spares the sparrow and brings the nightingale into the cage


courage covers the brave man better than the shield covers the coward


the friendship which the nail contracts with the hammer is shown in blows


he who ruins himself starves his neighbour


the oil is as neces sary to the lamp as the wick


during the first year the young wile is like fiery must in the second she decides whether she shall make wine of it or vinegar


the squirrel defends his agility the bearhis strength


you may saddle a sow but you cannot ride her


one learns to eat bread a great deal sooner than one does to earn it


the shadow may be fvr from the sun but


the lisjhfc is the suns com panion


vuin gold the thief steals warm hearts the slanderer


the sea does not care for the friend ship of the wind but the skipper does


envy sees the bridge only not the swamp that it spans


we have both rowed well together said the ily to the boatman when both were over the ferry


the czar does not dwell in the poor mans hut or he vrould know his needs


good advice becomes a vir tue first when it is followed


you may catch finches with a net but not falcons


it is better to beg than to steal better to labour than to beg


the knout dandes finely on the thief s back but the thief does not pipe to it


the belly has an eye for bread be it ever so hard but there is no car for council be it ever so soft


a weminisciruxkd soldier


a laugable cir cumstance took plnee a short time since


as a soldier was carrying the dinner belonging to his mess from the bakers one of his companions coming behind him called attention


when this well disciplined soldier dropped his hands and at the buiuo time the dinner of his unfortunate comrades


chatter viii


one morning about a fortnight after the conversation related in the last chapter mr woods stood behind his counter looking happy and contented


he felt that mary was becoming daily more


kind in


ber manner


his affection and attention to all her wishe had not quite fallen on barren ground


on this morning he had returned to his shop from their cottage unusually happy


it was just twelve oclock


a cab stopped at the door and out of it stepped mary paler than he had ever seen her before


there was a wildness in her look andjn anner most unusual


with a hurried step she traversed the shop and entered the back parlour


john


she whispered


she could say no more but held towards him an open letter woods sat beside lier and casting his eye over thc contents hischeekj too grew paler


you must go kary dear he said placing his arm about her


i cannot reproach myself


i did all for the best


poor fellow


but you


know he was ill and unable to work long before we married


mary shivered but not a tear fell not one had she shed


the letter was from hodgethe first since the day he had written begging her to come quickly and be his wife


in this he wrote feebly with evident difficulty telling her he felt very ill dying hie thought


he had kept his bed for days


he should so much like to see her once more


would she comeand alone


rover he said be on my bed


he doant ever leave me now


thee hasnt forgotten rover mary who rah be fore us across the cold common to th big red house where thee feyther and mother wur


there was childishness still in the love of


the dying man the simpler thoughts and feelings of youthful days shilling apart from the muddj streamof sorrow


mary took the ietterand reread every word


not a tear came


she compressed lier eyelids they burnt like molten lead from their very drought


luke a childwoods led her


you shalhnot go alone mary fie said t will take you down but leave you at d


he was indeed the father then not a word to wound the most sensitive heart


he felt how great mustbe her sorrow strange it was too there seemed not a tinge of jea lousythere was an innate nobility i in tliarmans nimd


helpless she was in his hands and when late that evening he placed her in a fly at d desiring the man to drive to the lodge of isaac stone atsquire selbys she could but press his hand iii thankfulnessher voioe was powerless from anxiety and emotion


the long beautifullane leading teethe lodge was nearly accom plished


the man rove quickly yet not fat onougk forrth anxious heart within


she let down the front glass


i faster


she whispered ih a scaroely audible voice drive fasteritisa long way yet


and she sank back


at last they stoppedit seemed hours toher since shedleft d


au her strength appeared tb have lain dormant for this last effort she sprang from the carriaoe tile lodge gate was open no one watched it thenwell she knew her way into that pretty lo


ige


hodgesroom looked into the park there were flbwers in summer all over the windowsthey had not blossomed yet


through the short muslin curtains glimmered lights


but she did not stop to look


with a hurried step she ran roundto the doorit was open i no one in the outer roomin the other she thought she heard a sob or groan


without a word she entered there were lights and j figures and one lay in the bedshe ran towards it twas hodge hut he was deadquite dead and stilland across his stretched feet lay rover


even he moved not to meet her but lay faith


ful in death with his large eyes watching his dead master


she stood a momentfher very hairseemed uprooted in her agony


tn one instant she took in thought and memories for years


hodges facethe eyes were closed butthe countenance still hore the dying anxiouslook for her comingit had not yet been calmed andpurifiedfrom the suffering of earth hodgehodge


db ee look up


she shrieked to the unsee ing unhearing and dropping om her knees she buried her face on his bosom andburst into tears she had kept them in her over charged brain to shed them in all their bursting agony on his corpse


in that quietroom lie ayiiis allotted time beforeearth claimed her ownand there sat mary she spoke to no one but sat and watched


day and night when sleep came forfa moment over her it was but for that space and then the heavy eye reopened to watch again with a quiet step she followed that dark procession tb the little churchyard where sile and hodge hadso oftenplayed together


she spoke not but calm and cold walkedom it needed some emotion something startling to save her fromidiotcy so absorbed and tearless was alie


the grave closed and hodge lay there never more tospeak tb her


poor isaac with allhistrouble felt for herhe had forgiven the whole over his poor boys coffin he did mary justiceno one could look in her alteredface without reading the sacrifice she had made they returned from the churchyardi now mary child said imac kindly thee beestcomin wi me to see thee parents she had not thought even of them she couldnot speak but


allowed hun to lead her


they came to the spot a neat and pretty cottage


marys knees trembled as


she approached there were voices iii anger and expostulatioiv as they drew near and then a shriek she quitted isaacs arm and sprang forward the door opened at her touch and she entered


there sat her father almost in the last stage of drunkenness a halffilled glass in his hand


her mother stood near trembling andi a streak of blood on her cheek where the drunkards mow had


fallen


the emotion con


sequentton this scene saved


marys senses in one glance she saw all and springing across the room dashedtheuplifted glassfront her fathers hand he tried to strike her but fell powerless back


father she criediii agony fatherl ye musthave


no human blood in ee to do this on suchaday


i cant help tellin ee so


i cant she continued sobbing


do thee know where icome from do thee


from his grave where thee st helped to lay un thee and me father but i did all for the best


and lie


sobbed aloud


her mother endeavoured to calm her but starting up she ex


claimed wildly


but who has given he the drink


i did mary said woods quietly entering from the inner room


mary stood speachless she had forgotten him


i did mary h said to do two things save you by a violent emo tionfor this cause you were brought here and to make you just where you are not so


look at your poor mother he continued look at her cut by the drunkards hand not alone today but often


all has been tried to reform your father but he is still that worst brute a confirmed drunkard


somehow he always likes to get drunk and why should your good innocent mother suffer for your obstinacy


i speak firmy nowit is my duty to do so for the innocent are wronged


you would contrary to my advice make them a mutual home here now you must listen to me or worse than what yet has happened will ensue


your mother shall live with us your father shall be well lodged with friends of mine near london where nothingbut drink will be withheld from him see him every day if you will should he reform my home is his


nowmary come you must leave this spot in a few days you will see them both in london


you have done your duty and with the best intentions though unwisely done and you will be rewarded by the approval of your own conscience year passed away and in a small cottage not far from town mary and her husband retired


another spring lias come but unlike the last one that sad herald of a year of sorrow it sheds its dooming balm


oh the afflicted generating jresh and happy thoughts


in a beautiful garden there are three figures one is mary sher look is placid and quietly content beside her stoops woods planting a bed of flowers


a little apart on a garden seat sits her mother


her is a calm holy quiet in tile scene


what though marys gown is black and her motherwears a widows cap


but little tegret can be felt for the man who died a confirmed drunkard except that inseparable grief to kind hearts for one who had degraded his makers creating and image below the brute beast


he had died a victim of disease and suffering brought on by his own errors


and this might have been an estimable man be loved in life regretted and blessed in his death but for that bit terest cursedrunkenness


that fearful sin entailing misery and misfortune even on the innocent


and marys heart grew con tented and calm when she reflected upon hodges mothers pre mature death of decline and his continuous illhealth feeling assured that though her unwilling severance of their ties might have shaken the hour glass that it had long before that event been running downwards its sandy stream in the hand of death


and there was her mother a living witness that her sacrifice had not been all in vain or when the sick and poor raised their voices to bless the open hand and heart never closed against them peace crept into her boom lighting up that haven with its pure cheer mg rays


m vi


a


the battle of life


a love story


by charles dickens


part


the first


well have they done now


returned the doctor looking at his watch and clapping his hands


come


make haste


wheres clemency


here i am i mister said a voice from one of the ladders which a pair of clumsy feet descended briskly


its all done now


clear away gals


everything shall be ready for you in half a minute mister


with that she began to bustle about most vigorously presenting as she did so an appearance sufficiently peculiar to justify a word of introduction


she was about thirty years old and had a sufficiently plump and cheerful face though it was twisted up into an odd expression of tightness that made it comical


but the extraordinary homeliness of her gait and manner would have superseded any face in the world


to say that she had two left legs and somebody elses arms and that all four limbs seemed to be out of joint and to start from perfectly wrong places when they were set in motion is to offer the mildest outline of the reality


to say that she was perfectly content and satisfied with these arrangements and regarded them as being no business of hers and took her arms and legs as they came and allowed them to dispose of themselves just as it happened is to render faint justice to her equanimity


her dress was a prodigious pair of selfwilled shoes that never wanted to go where her feet went blue stockings a printed gown of many colours and the most hideous pattern procurable for money and a white apron


she always wore short sleeves and always had by some accident grazed elbows in which she took so lively an interest that she was continually trying to turn them round and get impossible views of them


in general a little cap perched somewhere on her head though it was rarely to be met with in the place usually occupied in ther subjects by that article of dress but from head to foot she was scrupulously clean and maintained a kind of dislocated tidiness


indeed her laudable anxiety to be tidy and compact in her own conscience as well as in the public eye gave rise to one of her most startling evolutions which was to grasp herself sometimes by a sort of wooden handle part of her clothing and familiarly called a busk and wrestle as it were with her garments until they fell into a symmetrical arrangement


such in outward form and garb was clemency newcome who was supposed to have unconsciously originated a corruption of her own christian name from clementina but nobody knew for the deaf old mother a very phenomenon of age whom she had supported almost from a child was dead and she had no other relation who now busied herself in preparing the table and who stood at intervals with her bare red arms crossed rubbing her grazed elbows with opposite hands and staring at it very composedly until she suddenly remembered something else it wanted and jogged off to fetch it


here are them two lawyers acoming mister said clemency in a tone of no very great goodwill


aha cried the doctor advancing to the gate to meet them


good morning good morning


grace my dear


marion


here are messrs snitchey and craggs


wheres alfred hell be back directly father no doubt said grace


he had so much to do this morning in his preparations for departure that he was up and out by daybreak


good morning gentlemen


ladies said mr snitchey for self and craggs who bowed good morning


miss to marion i kiss your hand


which he did


and i wish you which he might or might not


for he didnt look at first sight


like a gentleman troubled with many warm outpourings of soul in behalf of other people a hundred happy returns on this auspicious day


ha ha ha laughed the doctor thoughtfully with his hands in his pocket


the great farce in a hundred acts


you wouldnt i am sure said mr snitchey standing a small professional blue bag against one leg of the table cut the great act short for this actress at all events dr jeddler


no returned the doctor


god forbid


may she live to laugh at it as long as she can laugh and then say with the french wit the farce is ended draw the curtain


the french wit said mr snitchey peeping sharply into his blue bag was wrong doctor jeddler and your philosophy is altogether wrong depend upon it as i have often told you


nothing is serious in life


what do you call law


a joke replied the doctor


did you ever go to law


asked mr snitchey looking out of the blue bag


neverreturned the doctor


if ever you do said mr snitchey


perhaps youll alter that opinion


craggs who seemed to be represented by snitchey and to be concious of little or no separate existence or personal individuality offered a remark of his own in this place


it involved the only idea of which he did noe stand seized and possessed in equal moieties with snitchey but he had some partners in it among the wise men of the world


its made a great deal too easy said mr craggs


law is asked the doctor


yes said mr craggs everything is


everything appears to me to be made too easy nowadays


its the vice of these times


if the world is a joke i am not prepared to say it isnt it ought to be made a very difficult joke to crack


it ought to be as hard a struggle sir as possible


thats the intention


but its being made to easy


we are oiling the gates of life


they ought to be rusty


we shall have them beginning to turn soon with smooth sound


whereas they ought to grate upon their hinges sir


mr craggs seemed positively to grate upon his own hinges as he delivered this opinion to which he communicated immense effect being a cold hard dry man dressed in grey and white like a flint with small twinkles in his eyes as if something struck the sparks out of them


the three natural kingdoms indeed had each a fanciful representative among this brotherhood for snitchey was like a magpie or a raven only not so sleek and the doctor had a streaked face like a winterpippin with here and there a dimple to express the peckings of the birds and a very little bit of pigtail behind that stood for the stalk


as the active figure of a handsome young man dressed for a journey and followed by a porter bearing several packages and parcels entered the orchard at a brisk pace and with an air of gaity and hope that accorded well with the morning these three drew together like the brothers of the sister fates or like the graces most effectually disguised or like the three weird prophets on the heath and greeted him


happy returns alf said the doctor lightly


a hundred happy returns of this auspicious day mr heathfield said snitchey bowing low


returns


craggs murmured in a deep voice all alone


why what a battery exclaimed alfred stopping short one two three all foreboders of no good in the great sea before me


i am glad you are not the first i have met this morning i should have taken it for a bad omeo


but grace was the first sweet pleasant grace so i defy you all


if you please mister i was the first you know said clemency newcome


she was a walking out here before sunrise you remember


i was in the house


thats true


clemency was the first said alfred


so i defy you with clemency


ha ha ha for self and craggs said snitchey


what a defiance


not so bad a one us it appears may be said alfred shaking hands heartily with the doctor and also with snitchey and craggs and then looking round


where are the good heavens


with a start productive for the moment of a closer partnership between jonathan snitchey and thomas craggs than the subsisting articles of agreement in that wisc contemplated he hastily betook himself to where the sisters stood together and however i neednt more particularly explain his manner of saluting marion first and grace afterwards than by hinting that mr craggs may possibly have considered it too easy


perhaps to change the subject dr jeddler made a hasty move towards the breakfast and they all sat down at table


grace presided but so discreetly stationed herself as to cut off her sister and alfred from the rest of the company


snitchey and craggs sat at opposite corners with the blue bag between them for safety and the doctor took his usual position opposite to grace


clemency hovered galvanically about the table as waitress and the melancholy britain at another and a smaller board acted as grand carver of a round of beef and a ham


meat said britain approaching mr snitchey with the carving knife and fork in his hands and throwing the question at him like a missile


certainly returned the lawyer


do you want any to craggs


lean and well done replied that gentleman


having executed these orders and moderately supplied the doctor he seemed to know that nobody else wanted anything to eat he lingered as near the firm as he decently could watching with an austere eye their disposition of the viands and but once relaxing the severe expression of his face


this was on the occasion of mr craggs whose teeth were not of the best partially choking when he cried out with great animation


i thought he was gone


now alfred said the doctor for a word or two of business while we are yet at breakfast


while we are yet at breakfast said snitchey and craggs who seemed to have no present idea of leaving off


although alfred had not been breakfasting and seemed to have quite enough business on his hands as it was he respectfully answered if you please sir


if anything could be serious the doctor began in such a farceas this sir hinted alfred


in such a farce as this observed the doctor it might be this recurrence on the eve of separation of a double birthday which is connected with many associations pleasant to us four and with the recollection of a long and amicable intercourse


thats not to the purpose


ah


yes yes doctor jeddler said the young man


it is to the purpose


much to the purpose as my heart bears witness this morning and as yours does too i know if you would let it speak


i leave your house today i cease to be your ward today we part with tender relations stretching far behind us that never can be exactly renewed and with others dawning yet before us he looked down at marion beside him fraught with such considerations as i must not trust myself to speak of now


come come


he added rallying his spirits and the doctor at once theres a serious grain in this large foolish dustheap doctor


let us allow today that there is one


today cried the doctor


hear him


ha ha ha


of all days in the foolish year


why on this day the great battle was fought on this ground


on this ground where we now sit where i saw my two girls dance this morning where the fruit has just been gathered for our eating from these trees the roots of which are struck in men not earth so many lives were lost that within my recollection generations afterwards a churchysrd full of bones and dust of bones and chips of cloven skulls has been dug up from underneath our feet here


yet not a hundred people in that battle knew for what they fought or why not a hundred of the inconsiderate rejoicers in the victory which they rejoiced


not half a hundred people were the better for the gain or loss


not halfadozen men agree to this hour on the cause or merits and nobody in short ever knew anything distinct about it but the mourners of the slain


serious too said the doctor laughing


such a system


but all this seems to me said alfred to be very serious


serious cried the doctor


if you allowed such things to be serious you must go mad or die or climb up to the top of a mountain and turn hermit


besides so long ago said alfred


long ago returned the doctor


do you know what the world has being doing ever since


do you know what else it has been doing


i dont


it has gone to law a little observed mr snitchey stirring his tea


although the way out has been always made too easy said his partner


and youll excuse my saying doctor pursued mrsnitchey having been already put a thousand times in possession of my opinion in the course of our discussions that in its having gone to law and in its legal system altogether i do observe a serious side now really a something tangible and with a purpose and intention in it


clemency newcome made an angular tumble against the table occasioning a sounding clatter among the cups and saucers


heyday


whats the matter there exclaimed the doctor


its this evilinclined blue bag said clemency always tripping up somebody


with a purpose and intention in it i was saying resumed snitchey that commands respect


life a farce doctor jeddler


with law in it


the doctor laughed and looked at alfred


granted if you please that war is foolish said snitchey


there we agree


for example


heres a smiling country pointing it out with his fork once overrun by soldiers trespassers every man of em and laid waste by fire and sword


he he he


the idea of any man exposing himself voluntarily to fire and sword


stupid wasteful positively ridiculous


you laugh at your fellow creatures you know when you think of it


but take this smiling country as it stands


think of the laws appertaining to real property to the behest and devise of real property to the mortgage and redemption of real property to leasehold freehold and copyhold estate think


said mr snitchey with such great emotion that he actually smacked his lips of the complicated laws relating to title and proof of title with all the contradictory precedents and numerous acts of parliament connected with them think of the infinite number of ingenious and interminable chancery suits to which this pleasant prospect may give rise and acknowledgedoctor jeddler that there is a green spot in the scheme about us


i believe said mr snitchey looking at his partner that i speak for self and craggs


mr craggs haying signified assent mr snitchey somewhat freshened by his recent eloquence observed that he would take a little more beef and another cup of tea


i dont stand up for life in general he added rubbing his hands and chuckling its full of folly full of something worse


professions of trust and confidence and unselfishness and all that


bahbah bah


we see what they are worth


but you mustnt laugh at life


youve got a game to play a very serious game indeed


everybodys playing against you you know and youre playing against them


oh


its a very interesting thing


there are deep moves upon the board


you must only laugh doctor jeddler when you win and then not much


he he he


and then not much repeated snitchey rolling his head and winking his eye as if he would have added you may do this instead


well alfred cried the doctor what do you say now


i say sir replied alfred that the greatest favour you could do me and yourself too i am inclined to think would be to try sometimes to forget this battlefield and others like it in that broader battlefield of life on which the sun looks every day


really im afraid that wouldnt soften his opinions mr alfred said snitchey


the combatants are very eager and very bitter in that same battle of life


theres a great deal of cutting and slashing and firing into peoples heads from behind terrible treading down and trampling on its rather a bad business


i believe mr snitchey said alfred there are quiet victories and struggles great sacrifices of self and noble acts of heroism in it even in many of its apparent lightnesses and contradictions not the less difficult to achieve because they have no earthly chronicle or audience done every day in nooks and corners and in little households and in mens and womens hearts any one of which might reconcile the sternest man to such a world and fill him with belief and hope in it though two fourths of its people were at war and another fourth at law and thats a bold word


both the sisters listened keenly


well well said the doctor i am too old to be converted even by my friend snitchey here or my good spinster sister martha jeddler who had what she calls her domestic trials ages ago and has led a sympathising life with all sorts of people ever since and who is so much of your opinion only shes less reasonable and more obstinate being a woman that we cant agree and seldom meet


i was born upon the battlefield


i began as a boy to have my thoughts directed to the real history of a battlefield


sixty years have gone over my head and i have never seen the christian world including heaven knows how many loving mothers and good enough girls like mine here anything but mad for a battlefield


the same contradictions prevail in everything


one must either laugh or cry at such stupendous inconsistencies and i prefer to laugh


britain who had been paying the profoundest and most melancholy attention to each speaker in his turn seemed suddenly to decide in favour of the same preference if a deep sepulchral sound that escaped him might be construed into a demonstration of risibility


his face however was so perfectly unaffected by it both before and afterwards that although one or two of the breakfast party looked round as being startled by a mysterious noise nobody connected the offender with it


except his partner in attendance clemency newcome who rousing him with one of those favourite joints her elbows inquired in a reproachful whisper what he laughed at


not you said britain


who then humanity said britain


thats the joke


what between master and them lawyers hes getting more and more addleheaded every day


cried clemency giving him a lunge with the other elbow as a mental stimulant


do you know where you are


do you want to get warning


i dont know anything said britain with a leaden eye and an immovable visage


i dont care for anything


i dont make out anything


i dont believe anything


and i dont want anything


although this forlorn summary of his general condition may have been overcharged in an access of despondency benjamin britain sometimes called little britain to distinguish him from great as we might say young england to express old england with a difference had defined his real state more accurately than might be supposed


for serving as a sort of man miles to the doctors friar bacon and listening day after day to innumerable orations addressed by the doctor to various people all tending to show that his very existence was at best a mistake and an absurdity this unfortunate servitor had fallen by degrees into such an abyss of confused and contradictory suggestions from within and without that truth at the bottom of her well was on the level surface as compared with britain in the depths of his mystification


the only point he clearly comprehended was that the new element usually brought into these discussions by snitchey and craggs never served to make them clearer and always seemed to give the doctor a species of advantage and confirmation


therefore he looked upon the firm as one of the proximate causes of his state of mind and held them in abhorrence accordingly


but this is not our business alfred said the doctor


ceasing to be my ward as you have said today and leaving us full to the brim of such learning as the grammar school down here was able to give you and your studies in london could add to that and such practical knowledge as adult old country doctor like myself could graft upon both you are away now into the world


the first term of probation appointed by your poor father being over away you go now your own master to fulfil his second desire and long before your three years tour among the foreign schools of medicine is finished youll have forgotten us


lord youll forget us easily in six months


if i do but you know better why should i apeak to you said alfred laughing


i dont know anything of the sort returned the doctor


what do you say marion


marion trifling with her teacup seemed to say but she didnt say it that he was welcome to forget them if he could


grace pressed the blooming face against her cheek and smiled


i havent been i hope a very unjust steward in the execution of my trust pursued the doctor but i am to be at any rate formally discharged and released and what not this morning and here are our good friends snitchey and craggs with a bagful of papers and accounts and documents for the transfer of the balance of the trust fund to you i wish it was a more difficult one to dispose of alfred but you must get to be a great man and make it so and other drolleries of that sort which are to be signed sealed and delivered


and duly witnessed as by law required said snitchey pushing away his plate and taking out the papers which his partner proceeded to spread upon the table and self and craggs having been cotrustees with you doctor in so far as the fund was concerned we shall want your two servants to attest the signatures can you read mrs newcome


i ant married mister said clemency


oh i beg your pardon


i should think not chuckled snitchey casting his eyes over her extraordinary figure


you can read


a little answered clemency


the marriage service night and morning eh observed the lawyer jocosely


no said clemency


too hard


i only reads a thimble


read a thimble


echoed snitchey


what are you talking about young woman clemency nodded


and a nutmeggrater


why this is a lunatic


a subject for the lord high chancellor said snitchey staring at her


if possessed of any property stipulated craggs


grace however interposing explained that each of the articles in question bore an engraved motto and so formed the pocket library of clemency newcome who was not much given for the study of books


oh thats it is it miss grace


said snitchey


yes yes


ha ha ha


i thought our friend was an idiot


she looks uncommonly like it he muttered with a supercilious glance


and what does the thimble say mrs newcome i ant married mister observed clemency


well newcome


will that do said the lawyer


what does the thimble say newcome


how clemency before replying to this question held one pocket open and looked down into its yawning depths for the thimble whichwasnt there and how she then held an opposite pocket open and seeming to descry it like a pearl of great price at the bottom cleared away such intervening obstacles as a handkerchief an end of wax candle a flushed apple an orange a lucky penny a cramp bone a padlock a pair of scissors in a sheath more expressively describable as promising younng shears a handful or so of loose beads several balls of cotton a needlecase a cabinet collection of curlpapers and a biscuit all of which articles she entrusted individually and severally to britain to hold is of no consequence


nor how in her determination to grasp this pocket by the throat and keep it prisoner for it had a tendency to swing and twist itself round the nearest corner she assumed and calmly maintained an attitude apparently inconsistent with the human anatomy and the laws of gravity


it is enough that at the last she triumphantly produced the thimble on her finger and rattled the nutmeg grater the literature of both those trinkets being obviously in course of wearing out and wasting away through excessive friction


thats the thimble is it youngwoman said mr snitchey diverting himself at her expense


and what does the thimble say it says replied clemency reading slowly round it as if it were a tower forget and for give


snitchey and craggs laughed heartily


so new said snitchey


so easy said craggs


such a knowledge of human nature in it said snitchey


so applicable to the affairs of life said craggs


and the nutmeggrater inquired the head of the firm


the grater says returned clemency do as youwouldbedone by


do or youll be done brown you mean said mr snitchey


i dont understand retorted clemency shaking her head vaguely


i ant no lawyer


i am afraid that if she was doctor said mr snitchey turning to him suddenly as if to anticipate any effect that might otherwise be consequent on this retort shell find it to be the golden rule of half her clients


they are serious enough lu that whimsical as your world is and lay the blame on us afterwards


we in our profession are little else than mirrors after all mr alfred but we are generally consulted by angry and quarrelsome people who are not in their best looks and its rather hard to quarrel with us if we reflect unpleasant aspects


i think said mr snitchey that i speak for self and craggs decidedly said craggs


and so if mr britain will oblige us with a mouthful of ink said mr snitchey returning to the papers well sign seal and deliver as soon as possible or the coach will be coming post before we know where we are


if one might judge from his appearance there was every probability of the coach coming past before mr britain knew where he was for he stood in a state of abstraction mentally balancing the doctor against the lawyers and the lawyers against the doctor and their clients against both and engaged in feeble attempts to make the thimble and nutmeggrater a new idea to him square with anybodys system of philosophy and in short bewildering himself as much as ever his great namesake has done with theories and schools


but clemency who was his good genius though he had the meanest possible opinion of her understanding by reason of her seldom troubling herself with abstract speculations and being always at hand to do the right thing at the right time having produced the ink in a twinkling tendered him the further service of recalling him to himself by the application of her elbows with which gentle flappers she so jogged his memory in a more literal construction of that phrase than usual that he soon became quite fresh and brisk


how he laboured under an apprehension not uncommon to persons in his degree to whom the use of pen and ink is an eyent that he couldnt append his name to a document not of his own writing without committing himself in some shadowy manner or somehow signing away vague and enormous sums of money and how he approached the deeds under protest and by dint of the doctors coercion and insisted on pausing to look at them before writing the cramped hand to say nothing of the phraseology being so much chinese to him and also on turning them round to see whether there was anything fraudulent underneath and how having signed his name he became desolate as one who had parted with his property and rights i want the time to tell


also how the blue bag containing his signature afterwards had a mysterious interest for him and he couldnt leave it also how clemency newcome in an ecstasy of laughter at the idea of her own importance and dignity brooded over the whole table with her two elbows like a spread eagle and reposed her head upon her left arm as a preliminary to the formation of certain cabalistic characters which required a deal of ink and imaginary counterparts whereof she executed at the same time with her tongue


also how having once tasted ink she became thirsty in that regard as tigers are said to be after tasking another sort of fluid and wanted to sign everything and put her name in all kinds of places


in brief the doctor was discharged of his trust and all its responsibilities andj alfred taking it on himself was fairly started on the journey of life


britain said the doctor


run to the gate and watch for the coach


time flies alfred


yes sir yes returned the young man hurriedly


dear grace


a moment


marion so young and beautiful so winning and so much admired dear to my heart as nothing else in life is remember


i leave marion to you


she has always been a sacred charge to me alfred


she is doubly so now


i will be faithful to my trust believe me


i do believe it grace i know it well


who could look upon your face and hear your earnest voice and not know it


ah good


grace


if i had your wellgoverned heart and tranquil mind how bravely i would leave this place today


would you


she answered with a quiet smile


and yet grace sister seems the natural word


use it she said quickly i am glad to hear it call me nothing else


and yet sister then said alfred marion and i had better have your true and steadfast qualities serving us here and making us both happier and better


i wouldnt carry them away to sustain myself if i could


coach upon the hilltop exclaimed britain


time flies alfred said the doctor


marion had stood apart with her eyes fixed upon the ground but this warning being given her young lover brought her tenderly to where her sister stood and gave her into her embrace


i have been telling grace dear marion he said that you are her charge my precious trust at parting


and when i come back and reclaim you dearest and the brightprospect of our married life lies stretched before us it shall be one of our chief pleasures to


consult how we can make grace happy how we can anticipate her wishes the younger sister had one hand in his the other rested on her sisters neck


she looked into that sisters eyes so calm serene and cheerful with a gaze in which affection admiration sorrow wonder almost veneration were blended


she looked into the sisters face as if it were the face of some bright angel


calm serene and cheerful it looked back on her and her lover


and when the time comes as it must one day said alfred i wonder it has never come yet but grace knows best for grace is always right when she will want a friend to open her whole heart to and to be to her something of what she has been to us then marion how faithful we will prove and what delight to us to know that she our dear and good sister loves and is loved again as we would have her


still the younger sister looked into her eyes and turned not even towards him


and still those honest eyes looked back so calm serene and cheerful on herself and on her lover


and when all that is past and we are old and living as we must together close together talking often of old times said alfred these shall be our favourite times among them this day most of all and telling each other what we thought and felt and hoped and feared at parting and how we couldnt bear to say good bye coach coming through the wood cried britain


yes


i am ready and how we met again so happily in spite of all well make this day the happiest in all the year and keep it as a treble birthday


shall we dear yes interposed the elder sister eagerly and with a radiant smile


alfred dont linger


theres notime


say good bye to marion


and heaven be with you


he pressed the younger sister to his heart


released from his embrace she again clung to her sister and her eyes with the same blended look again sought those so calm serene and cheerful


farewell my boy said the doctor


to talk about any serious correspondence or serious affections and engagements and so forth in such a ha ha ha


you know what i mean why that of course would be sheet nonsense


all i can say is that if you and marion should continue in the same foolish minds i shall not object to have you for a soninlaw one of these days


over the bridge cried britain


let it come said alfred wringing the doctors hand stoutly


think of me sometimes my old friend and guardian as seriously as you can


adieu mr snitchey


farewell mr craggs


coming down the road cried britain


a kiss of clemency newcome for long acquaintance sake shake hands britain marion dearest heart good bye


sister grace


remember


the quiet household figure and the face so beautiful in its serenity were turned towards him in reply but marions look and attitude remained unchanged


the coach was at the gate


there was a bustle with the luggage


the coach drove away


marion never moved


he waves his hat to you my love said grace


your chosen husband darling


look


the younger sister raised her head and for a moment turned it


then turning back again and fully meeting for the first time those calm eyes fell sobbing on her neck


oh grace


god bless you


but i cannot bear to see it grace


it breaks my heart


end of part first to be continued


american notes general circulation by charles dickens


chapter iii


from pittsburg to cincinnati in a western steamboat


cincinnati


the messenger was one among a crowd of highpressure steamboats clustered toge ther by the wharfside which looked down upon from the rising ground that forms the landingplace and backed by the lofty bank on the opposite side of the river appeared no larger than so many floating models


she had some forty pas sengers on board exclusive of the poorer persons on the lower deck and in half an hour or less proceeded on her way


we had for ourselves a tiny stateroom with two berths in it opening out of the ladies cabin


there was undoubtedly something satisfactory in this location inasmuch as it was in the stem and we had been a great many times very gravely recommended to keep as far aft as possible because the steamboats generally blow up forward


nor was this an unnecessary caution as the occurrence and circum stances of more than one such fatality during our stay sufficiently testified


apart from this source of selfcongratulation it was an unspeakable relief to have any place no matter how confined where one could be alone and as the row of little chambers of which this was one had each a second glassdoor besides that in the ladies cabin which opened on a narrow gallery outside the vessel where the other passengers seldom came and where one could sit in peace and gaze upon the shifting prospect we took possession of our new quarters with much pleasure


if the native packets i have already described be unlike anything we are in the habit of seeing on water these western vessels are still more foreign to all the ideas we are accustomed to entertain of boats


i hardly know what to liken them to or how to describe them


in the first place they have no mast cordage tackle rigging or other such boatlike gear nor have they anything in their shape at all calculated to remind one of a boats head stern sides or keel


except that they are in the water and display a couple of paddleboxes they might be intended for anything that appears to the contrary to perform some unknown service high and dry upon a mountain top


there is no visible deck even nothing but a long black ugly roof covered with burntout feathery sparks above which tower two iron chimneys and a hoarse escapevalve and a glass steerage house


then in order as the eye descends towards the water are the sides and doors and windows of the staterooms jumbled as oddly together as though they formed a small street built by the varying tastes of a dozen men the whole is supported on beams and pillars resting on a dirty barge but a few inches above the waters edge and in the narrow space between this upper structure and this barges deck are the furnace fires and machinery open at the sides to every wind that blows and every storm of rain it drives along its path


passing one of these boats at night and seeing the great body of fire exposed as i have just described that rages and roars beneath the frail pile of painted wood the machinery not warded off or guarded in any way but doing its work in the midst of the crowd of idlers and emigrants and children who throng the lower deck under the management too of reckless men whose acquaintance with its mys teries may have been of six months stand ing one feels directly that the wonder is not that there should be so many fatal accidents but that any journey should be safely made


within there is one long narrow cabin the whole length of the boat from which the state rooms open on both sides


a small portion of it at the stern is par titioned off for the ladies and the bar is at the opposite extreme


there is a long table down the centre and at either end a stove


the washing apparatus is found on the deck


it is a little better than on board the canalboat but not much


in all modes of travelling the american cus toms with reference to the means of per sonal cleanliness and wholesome ablution are extremely negligent and filthy and i strongly incline to the belief that a con siderable amount of illness is referable to this cause


we are to be on board the messenger three days arriving at cincinnati barring accidents on monday morning


there are three meals aday


breakfast at seven dinner at halfpast twelve supper about six


at each there are a great many small dishes and plates upon the table with very little in them so that although there is every appearance of a mighty spread there is seldom really more than a joint except for those who fancy slices of beetroot shreds of dried beef complicated entanglements of yellow pickle maize indian corn applesauce and pumpkin


some people fancy all these little dain ties together and sweet preserves be sides by way of relish to their roast pig


they are generally those dyspeptic ladies and gentlemen who eat unheardof quan tities of hot corn bread almost as good for the digestion as a kneaded pincushion for breakfast and for supper


those who do not observe this custom and who help themselves several times instead usually stick their knives and forks meditatively until they have decided what to take next then pull them out of their mouths put them in the dish help themselves and fall to work again


at dinner there is nothing to drink on the table but great jugs full of cold water


nobody says anything at any meal to anybody


all the passengers are very dismal and seem to have tremendous secrets weighing on their minds


there is no conversation no laughter no cheerfulness no sociality except in spitting and that is done in silent fellowship round the stove when the meal is over


every man sits down dull and languid swallows his fare as if breakfasts dinners and suppers were necessities of nature never to be coupled with recreation or enjoyment and having bolted his food in a gloomy silence bolts himself in the same state


but for these animal observances you might suppose the whole male portion of the company to be the melancholy ghosts of departed bookkeepers who had fallen dead at the desk such is their weary aid of business and calculation


undertakers on duty would be sprightly beside them and a collation of funeralbaked meats in com parison with these meals would be a sparkling festivity


the people are all alike too


there is no diversity of cha racter


they travel about on the same errands say and do the same things in exactly the same manner and fol low in the same dull cheerless round


all down the long table there is scarcely a man who is in anything different from his neighbour


it is quite a relief to have sitting opposite that little girl of fifteen with the loquacious chin who to do her justice acts up to it and fully identifies natures handwriting for of all the small chatterboxes that ever invaded the repose of a drowsy ladies cabin she is the first and foremost


the beautiful girl who sits a little beyond herfurther down the table theremarried the young man with the dark whiskers who sits beyond her only last month


they are going to settle in the very far west where he has lived four years and where she has never been


they were both overturned in a stage coach the other day a bad omen anywhere else where overturns are not so common and his head which bears the marks of a recent wound is bound up still


she was hurt too at the same time and lay insen sible for some days bright as her eyes are now


further down still sits a man who is going some miles beyond their place of destination to improve a newly disco vered copper mine


he carries the vil lagethat is to bewith him a few frame cottages and apparatus for smelt ing the copper


he carries its people too


they are partly american and partly irish and herd together on the lower deck where they amused themselves last evening till the night was pretty far ad vanced by alternately firing off pistols and singing hymns


they and the very few who have been left at table twenty minutes rise and go away


we do so too and passing through our little stateroom resume our seats in the quiet gallery without


a fine broad river always but in some parts wider than in others and then there is usually a green island covered with trees dividing it into two streams


occa sionally we stop for a few minutes may be to take in wood maybe for passengers at some small town or village i ought to say city every place is a city here but the banks are for the most part deep solitudes overgrown with trees which hereabouts are already in leaf and very green


for miles and miles and miles these solitudes are unbroken by any sign of human life or trace of human footsteps nor is anything seen to move about them but the blue jay whose colour is so bright and yet so delicate that it looks like a flying flower


at lengthened intervals a log cabin with its little space of cleared land about it nestles under a rising ground and sends its thread of blue smoke curling up into the sky


it stands in the corner of the poor field of wheat which is full of great unsightly stumps like earthy butchers blocks


sometimes the ground is only just now cleared the felled trees lying yet upon the soil and the loghouse only this morning begun


as we passed this clearing the settler leans upon his axe or hammer and looks wistfully at the people from the world


the children creep out of the temporary hut which is like a gipsy tent upon the ground and clap their hands and shout


the dog only glances round at us and then looks up into his masters face again as if he were rendered uneasy by any suspension of the common business and had nothing more to do with pleasurers


and still there is the same eternal foreground


the river has washed away its banks and stately trees have fallen down into the stream


some have been there so long that they are mere dry grizzly skeletons


some have just toppled over and having earth yet about their roots are bathing their green heads in the river and putting forth new shoots and branches


some are almost sliding down as you look at them


and some were drowned so long ago that their bleached arms start out from the middle of the current and seem to try to grasp the boat and drag it underwater


through such a scene as this the un wieldy machine takes its hoarse sullen way venting at every revolution of the paddles a loud highpressure blast enough one would think to waken up the host of indians who lie buried in a great mound yonder so old that mighty oaks and other forest trees have struck their roots into its earth and so high that it is a hill even among the hills that nature planted round it


the very river as though it shared ones feelings of compassion for the extinct tribes who lived so pleasantly here in their blessed ignorance of white existence hundreds of years ago steals out of its way to ripple near this mound and there are few places where the ohio sparkles more brightly than in big grave creek


all this i see as i sit in the little stern gallery mentioned just now


evening slowly steals upon the landscape and changes it before me when we stop to set some emigrants ashore


five men as many women and a little girl


all their worldly goods are a bag a large chest and an old chair one old highbacked rushbottomed chaira soli tary settler in itself


they are rowed ashore in the boat while the vessel stands a little off waiting its return the water being shallow


they are landed at the foot of a high bank on the summit of which are a few log cabins attainable only by a long winding path


it is growing dusk but the sun is very red and shines in the water and on some of the tree tops like fire


the men get out of the boat first help out the women take out the bag the chest the chair bid the rowers good bye and shove the boat off for them


at the first plash of the oars in the water the oldest woman of the party sits down in the old chair close to the waters edge without speaking a word


none of the others sit down though the chest is large enough for many seats


they all stand where they landed as if stricken into stone and look after the boat


so they remain quite still and silent the old woman and her old chair in the centre the bag and chest upon the shore without anybody heeding them all eyes fixed upon the boat


it comes alongside is made fast the men jump on board the engine is put in motion and we go hoarsly on again


there they stand yet without the motion of a hand


i can see them through my glass when in the distance and increasing darkness they are mere specks to the eye lingering there still the old woman in the old chair and all the rest about her not stirring in the least degree


and thus i slowly lose them


the night is dark and we proceed with in the shadow of the wooded bank which makes it darker


after gliding past the sombre maze of boughs for a long time we come upon an open space where the tall trees are burning


the shape of every branch and twig is expressed in a deep red glow and as the light wind stirs and ruf fles it they seem to vegetate in fire


it is such a sight as we read of in legends of enchanted forests saving that it is sad to see these noble works wasting away so awfully clone and to think how many years must come and go before the magic that created them will rear the like upon this ground again


but the time will come and when in their changed ashes the growth of centuries unborn has struck its roots the restless men of distant ages will repair to these again unpeopled soli tudes and their fellows in cities far away that slumber now perhaps beneath the rolling sen will read in language strange to any ears in being now but very old to them of primeval forests where the axe was never heard and where the jungled ground was never trodden by a human foot


midnight and sleep blot out these scenes and thoughts and when the morning shines again it gilds the housetops of a lively city before whose broad paved wharf the boat is moored with other boats and flags and moving wheels and hum of men around it as though there were not a solitary or silent rood of ground within the compass of a thousand miles


cincinnati is a beautiful city cheerful thriving and animating


i have not often seen a place that commends itself so fa vourably and pleasantly to a stranger at the first glance as this doe with its clean houses of red and white its wellpaved roads and footways of bright tile


nor does it become less prepossessing on a closer acquaintance


the streets are broad and airy the shops extremely good the pri vate residences remarkable for their ele gance and neatness


there is something of invention and fancy in the varying styles of these latter erections which after the dull company of the steamboat is per fectly delightful as conveying an assurance that there are such qualities still in ex


istence


the disposition to ornament these pretty villas and render them at tractive leads to the culture of trees and flowers and the laying out of wellkept gardens the sight of which to those who walk along the streets is inexpressibly refreshing and agreeable


i was quite charmed with the appearance of the town and its adjoining suburban of mount au burn from which the city lying in an amphitheatre of hills forms a picture of remarkable beauty and is seen to great advantage


there happened to be a great temper ance convention held here on the day after our arrival and as the order of march brought the procession under the windows of the hotel in which we lodged when they started in the morning i had a good opportunity of seeing it


it comprised several thousand men the members of various washington auxiliary tem perance societies and was marshalled by officers on horseback who cantered briskly up and down the line with scarfs and ribbons of bright colours fluttering out behind them gaily


there were bands of music too and banners out of number and it was a fresh holidaylooking con course altogether


i was particularly pleased to see the irishmen who formed a distinct society among themselves and mustered very strong with their green scarfs carrying their national harp and their portrait of father mathew high above the peoples heads


they looked as jolly and good humoured as ever and working the hard est for their living and doing any kind of sturdy labour that came in their way were the most independent fellows there i thought


the banners were very well painted and flaunted about the street famously


there was the smiting of the rock and the gushing forth of the waters and there was a temperate man with con siderable of a hatchet as the standard bearer would probably have said aiming a deadly blow at a serpent which was ap parently about to spring upon him from the top of a barrel of spirits


but the chief feature of this part of the show was a huge allegorical device borne among the shipcarpenters on one side whereof the steamboat alcohol was represented bursting her boiler and exploding with a great crash while upon the other the good ship temperance sailed away with a fair wind to the hearts content of the captain crew and passengers


after going round the town the pro cession repaired to a certain appointed place where as the printed programme set forth it would be received by the chil dren of the different free schools singing temperance songs


i was prevented from getting there in time to hear these little warblers or to report upon this novel kind of vocal entertainment novel at least to me but i found in a large open space each society gathered round its own banners and listening in silent attention to its own orator


the speeches judging from the little i could hear of them were certainly adapted to the occa sion as having that degree of relationship to cold water which wet blankets may claim but the main thing was the con duct and appearance of the audience throughout the day and that was ad mirable and full of promise


cincinnati is honourably famous for its free schools of which it has so many that no persons child among its population can by possibility want the means of education which are extended upon an average to four thousand pupils annually


i was only present in one of these estab lishments during the hours of instruction


in the boys department which was full of little urchins varying in their ages i should say from six years old to ten or twelve the master offered to institute an extemporary examination of the pupils in algebra a proposal which as i was by no means confident of my ability to detect mistakes in that science i declined with some alarm


in the girls school reading was proposed and as i felt tolerably equal to that art i expressed my willingness to hear a class


books were distributed ac cordingly and some half dozen girls re lieved each other in reading paragraphs from english history


but it was a dry compilation infinitely above their powers and when they had blundered through three or four dreary passages concerning the treaty of amiens and other thrilling topics of the some nature obviously with out comprehending ten words i expressed myself quite satisfied


it is very possible that they only mounted to this exalted stave in the ladder of learning for the astonishment of a visitor and that at other times they keep upon its lower rounds but i should have been much better pleased and satisfied if i had heard them exercised in simpler lessons which they understood


as in every other place i visited the judges here were gentlemen of high cha racter and attainments i was in one of the courts for a few minutes and found it like those to which i have already referred


a nuisance cause was trying there were not many spectators and the witnesses counsel and jury formed a sort of family circle sufficiently jocose and snug


the society with which i mingled was intelligent courteous and agreeable


the inhabitants cf cincinnati are proud of their city as one of the most interesting in america and with good reason for beauti ful and thriving as it is now and contain ing as it does a population of fifty thou sand souls but twoandfifty years have passed away since the ground on which it stands bought at that time for a few dol lars was a wild wood and its citizens were but a handful of dwellers in scattered log huts upon the rivers shore


a voyage from sydney to south australia and back again with mems social political agricultural moral and mining


chapter vi


it is now many months since accounts were i first circulated about sydney of a certain gallant officer settled in south australia who having discovered copper and kept his know ledge to himself purchased at the upset price of a pound an acre the section containing the hidden treasure and then forthwith practically published himself to the world as the owner in fee of a princely property netting a year thus acquired with his knowingly invested eighty pounds


this was so like the brilliant modes of realizing competencies pre vailing in the arabian nights entertainments so similar to the style of business of the eastern gentleman who acquired all his ready cut and polished brilliants of the first water by throwing into the inaccessible diamond valley those rounds of beef which the birds brought up again to the gentleman with the diamonds sticking theretothat it was no wonder south australian imaginations were touched


the province had but lately before this copper dis covery been strugghng under a depression and distress as general and severe as that which afflicted new south wales in the gloomy years of and


there were perhaps very few south australian settlers or traders who were then safe and solventmany were seeking relief of the insolvent lawand therefore the first discovery that they had actually been filing and were still filing their schedules with unbounded treasures lying in lodes beneath their feet waiting only to be dug for was naturally an exciting one


like the poor and starving painter in the story who daydreamed himself into forgetfulness of his real poverty by lying in bed and contemplating pictures of the brazilian gold mines suspended on his garret wallsthe south australians in almost an equal degree surrendered them selves to the pleasures of imagination


solitary and excited gentlemen with hammers and bags might have been seen and heard it is said disturbing the deep silence of south australian mountains and valleys as like lunatic roadmakers they hammered their anxious way over the face of the country for indications


in a very short time as might naturally be expected many new and unques tionably good bits of metalliferous land were discovered and then the mining mania fairly commenced


we shall certainly not soon forget the surprise we felt some months ago when we first saw a south australian gentleman at a dinner party in sydney pull out of his pockets and produce to the company what to our uninstructed mind seemed to be a consider able portion of some macadamized road until the colour satisfied us that they were no vulgar stones the gentleman was carrying about his person with a patience exceeding that of pa viors


ignorantthat we were


these mineral lumps were his grey ore his blue car bonate his malachite


how would he have despised us could he have guessed our igno norance


a region in which the copper indications were among the richest wab one which now constitutes the valuable properties of the south australian mining company commonly called the burra burra and the princess royal mining company


by the australian lands actmost readers are awarethe purchaser of a special survey of acres is entitled to buy that quantity of the government at the upset price of an acre without competi tion and therefore these invaluable acresin consequence of the considerable masses of copper ore which had been dis covered at the northern extremity of the land were put up by the people of adelaide as a special survey


it appears however that the towns people were rather short to employ the usual expression and a great effort was required to be made


no one nor two nor six nor a dozen persons could at the time muster to pay for this very special survey and the south australians trembled as they thought of the prize now dangling almost within their grasp eventually falling into the hands of some of the rich sydney folk who might be in formed of its value and secure it


what could not be done by one or by a few must be done by many and therefore a grand combination of gentle and simple or to use the adelaide terms of the nobs and the snobs made imperatively necessary by the urgency of the case was formed for the purpose of satisfying the inexorable government whose only terms were cash before delivery of the deed of conveyance


the land was put upthe land was bought the deposit was paid


the residue must be lodged in the public treasury within a month


there were cautious colonists to be got over who albeit conscious of a taste for copper still shrunk from becoming men of metal in joint stock companies and under joint liabilities some were lukewarm about forming a company others were decidedly averse from it


meantime the little month was running on and was drawing to a close but still the was not collected


at length the very day arrived on which by a certain hour the money was to be paid and still excited and half frantic men were flying about the streets of adelaide with cash boxes clearing out the citizens for the mighty effort and at last it is said only a few minutes before the expiration of the time within which the money was to be paid the whole sum was made up and lodged in the treasury


and thus the most valuable copper district in the known world was secured to the people of the colony within which the property lay


hereafter south australian historians will i suppose record the mighty achievement in terms of solemnity befitting the occasion


even my informant grew animated like a man describing a battle as he ap


proached the crisis of the cash boxes and seemed to fight the battle oer again as he in imagination triumphantly paid in a second time that allimportant to the trea sury


the union however which had been absolutely necessary at first was one which could not last much longer than the pressing exigency which had called it into existence


elements naturally antagonistic could only be made to mix by the application of extreme force and like oil and water which has been shaken into temporary union the nobs and snobs began to draw away from each other almost from the time of the purchase


they soon came to a difference of opinions and wishes and like sensible men conscious that the shortest way was the best they agreed to separate and amicably settle their disputes by equitably dividing the property between them by lot


fortune favoured the snobsadditional proof of her blindness no doubt in the eyes or the afflicted nobsby awarding to them the northern end of the sutveythe acres which now belong to the south australian mining company and one portion of which is the celebrated burra burra mine spoken of by cornish captains of mines as one of the won ders of the world


the nobs were thus left in possession of the southern end of the propertyand although on account of the great dearness of mining labour it has not yet been effectively worked it is generally supposed by competent judges from the rich indications cropping out along the whole of the survey to be not less valuable than the northern half


the direction of the principal lode as shown by the working of the burra burra has a course of north by about west


in the first year of the working of the burra burra mine so energetically did its proprietors go to work in tearing open the bowels of the earth tons of copper ore were extracted and as the quantity increased and the quality steadily improved as they got deeper the shares originally each rose rapidly in price and a few months ago touched


they have since declined to and by the last advices were selling at for cash and on credit for and the seller holding the scrip until the payment of the money


account sales have already been received in the colony of the first shipments of the burra burra ores which have realised at swansea from s


to s per ton


as these earlier shipments however were nearly all surface ores sent home without being cleaned classified or pre pared in any way for exportation the above return was higher than was expected among experienced miners


much of the later ore raised many tons of which lay on the wharf for shipment both when i arrived and when i departed besides an entire shipload just ready to leave for swansea was about the richest which had yet been brought down from the mine


red oxides grey ore blue and green carbonates and malachite lay at the port in immense heaps of many tons each specimens of which i brought away with me to syd ney


nothing but the great distance of the burra burra mine from adelaide miles and the failure of my attempts to enlist a companion for what without one is a very long tedious and by reason of the flatness of the coun try an uninteresting journey prevented me from visiting this remarkable spot which upon the unanimous testimony of all who had seen it it is a perfect marvel in its way


it seems that about two miles of gal leries are already constructed in the excava tions of the mine and that in every direction large numbers of operative miners are daily engaged therein quarrying to use their own word rather than mining away the walls of the lodes so extensively and abundantly are the ores distributed in every direction


hun dreds of labourers drays and bullocks are em ployed in connexion with the works and already a considerable village has sprung up in the immediate neighbourhood of the mine be sides an inn which it is said a burra burra director has lately started at his own ven ture and therefore as miners are a thirsty class of people a magistrate with all the et cteras of coercive discipline will soon as i was in formed by a gentleman lately returned from the mine be required to keep this new com munity in peace and order


the road from the mine to the port is almost a dead level so that the cost of the carriage of the ores for that distance does not exceed a ton


the number of bullocks killed how ever at this distressing work is still very great and it is said that if the country were gene rally mountainous a common mine by reason of the cost of transit of the ores would scarcely be profitable at all


with this conclusion my own limited observations made on a visit to the adelaide and glen osmond minescompelled me to concur


barnaiby rudge


chapter lrrl


the next day was ushered in by merry peals of bells and by the firing of the tower guns flags were hoisted on many of the churchsteeples the usual demonstrations were made in honour of the anniversary of the kings birthday and every nman went about his pleasure or business as if the city were in perfect order and there were no half smouldering embers in its secret places which on the approach of night would kindle up again and scatter ruin and dismay abroad


the leaders of the riot


rendered still more daring by the success of last night and by the booty they had acquired kept steadily together and only thought of implicating the mass of their followers so deeply that no fope of pardon or reward might tempt them to betray their more noto lious confederates into the hands of justice


indeed the sense of having gone too far to be forgiven held the timid together no less than the bold


mlany who would readily have pointed out the foremost tioters and given evidence against them felt that escape by that means was hopeless when their every act had been observed by scores of people who had taken no part in the disturbances who had suffered in their persons peace or property by the outrages of tihe mob who would be most willing witnesses and whom the government would no doubt prefer to any kings evidence that might be offered


many of this class had deserted their usual occupations on the saturday tnorning some had been seen by their employers active in the tumult others knew they must be suspected and that they would be discharged if they returned others had been desperate from the beginning and comforted themselves with the homely proverb that being hung at all they might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb


they all hoped and believed in a greater or less degree that the government they seemed to have paralyzed would in its terror come to terms with them in the end and suffer them to make their own conditions


the least sanguine among them reasoned with himself that at the worst they were too many to be all punished and that le had as good a chance of escape as any other man


the great mass never reasoned or thought at all but were stimulated by their own headlong passions by poverty by ignorance by the love of mischief and the hope of plunder


one other circumstance is worthy of remark and that is that from the moment of their first outbreak at westminster every symptom of order or precon certed arrangement among them vanished when they divided into parties and ran to different quarters of the town it was on the spontaneous suggestion of the moment


each party swelled as it went along like rivers as they roll towards the sea new leaders sprang up as they were wanted disappeared when the necessity was over and reappeared at the next crisis


each tumult took shape and form from the circumstances of the moment sober work men going home from their days labour were seen to cast down their baskets of tools and become rioters in an instant mere boys on errands did the like


in a word a moral plague ran through the city


the noise and hurry and excitement had for hundreds and hundreds an attraction they had no firmness to resist


tihe contagion spread like a dread fever an infectious madness as yet not near its height seized on new victims every hour and society began to tremble at their ravings


it was between two and three oclock in the afternoon when gashford looked into the lair de scribed in the last chapter and seeing only barnaby and dennis there inquired for hfugh


he was out barnaby told him had gone out more than an hour ago and had not yet returned


dennis l said the smiling secretary in his smoothest voice as he sat down crosslegged on a barrel dennis i the hangman struggled into a sitting posture directly and with his eyes wide open looked towaids him


how do you do dennis l said gashford nodding


i hope you have suffered no incon venience from your late exertions dennis v i always will say of you bluster gashford returned the hangman staring at him that that ere quiet way of yours might almost wake a dead man


it is he added with a muttered oathstill staring at him in a thoughtful manner so awful sly i so distinct eh dennis