the train calls at stations in the woods where the wild impossibility of anybody having the smallest reason to get out is only to be equalled by the ap parently desperate hopelessness of their being anybody to get in


it rushes across the turnpike road where there is not gate no policeman no signal nothing but a rough wooden arch on which is painted when the bell rings look out for the locomo tive


on it whirls headlong dives through the woods again emerges in the light clatters over frail arches rumbles upon the heavy ground shoots beneath a wooden bridge which intercepts the light for a second like a wink suddenly awakens all the slumbering echoes in the main streets of a large town and dashed on haphazard pellmell neckornothing down the middle of the road


there with mechanics working at their trades and people leaning from their doors and windows and boys flying kites and playing marbles and men smoking and women talking and children crawling and pigs burrowing and unaccustomed horses plunging and rearing close to the very railsthereon on ontears the mad dragon of an engine with its train of cars scattering in all directions a shower of burning sparks from its wood fire screech ing hissing yelling panting until at last the thirsty monster stops beneath a covered way to drink the people cluster round and you have time to breathe again


i was met at the station at lowell by a gentleman intimately connected with the management of the factories there and gladly putting myself under his guid ance drove off at once to that quarter of the town in which the works the object of my visit were situated


although only just of agefor if my recollections serve me it has been a manufacturing town barely one and twenty yearslowell is a large populous thriving place


those in dications of its youth which first attract the eye give it a quaintness and oddity of character which to a visitor from the old country is amusing enough


it was a very dirty winters day and nothing in the whole town looked old to me except the mud which in some parts was almost knee deep and might have been deposited there on the subsiding of the waters after the deluge


in one place there was a new wooden church which having no steeple and being yet unpainted looked like an enormous packingcase without any direc tion upon it


in another there was a large hotel whose walls and colonnades were so crisp and thin and slight that it had exactly the appearance of being built with cards


i was careful not to draw my breath as we passed and trembled when i saw a workman come out upon the roof lest with one thoughtless stamp of his foot he should crush the structure be neath him and bring it rattling down


the very river that moves the machinery in the mills for they are all worked by water power seems to acquire a new character from the fresh buildings of bright red brick and painted wood among which it takes its course and to be as lightheaded thoughtless and brisk a young river in its murmurings and tum blings as one would desire to see


one would swear that every bakery groc cery and bookbindery and other kind of store took its shutters down for the first time and started in business yesterday


the golden pestles and mor tars fixed as signs upon the sunblind frames outside the druggists appear to have been just turned out of the united states mint and when i saw a baby of some week or ten days old in a womans arms at a street corner i found my self unconsciously wondering where it came from never supposing for an instant that it could have been born in such a young town as that


there are several factories in lowell each of which belongs to what we should term a company of proprietors but what they call in america a corporation


i went over several of these such as a woollen factory a carpet factory and a cotton factory examined them in every part and saw them in their ordinary working aspect with no preparation of any kind or departure from their ordinary every day proceedings


i may add that i am well acquainted with our manufacturing towns in england and have visited many mills in manchester and elsewhere in the same manner


i happened to arrive at the first factory just as the dinner hour was over and the girls were returning to their work indeed the stairs of the mill were thronged with them as i ascended


they were all well dressed but not to my thinking above their condition for i like to see the humbler classes of society careful of their dress and appearance and even if they please de corated with such little trinkets as come within the compass of their means


sup posing it confined within reasonable limits i would always encourage this kind of pride as a worthy element of selfrespect in any person i employed and should no more be deterred from doing so because some wretched female referred her fall to a love of dress than i would allow my construction of the real intent and meaning of the sabbath to be influenced by any warning to the welldisposed founded on his backslidings on that particular day which might emanate from the rather doubtful authority of a murder in new gate


these girls as i have said were all well dressed and that phrase necessarily includes extreme cleanliness


they had serviceable bonnets good warm cloaks and shawls and were not above clogs and pattens


moreover there were places in the mill in which they could deposit these things without injury and there were conveniences for washing


they were healthy in appearance many of them remarkably so and had the manners and deportment of young women not of degraded brutes of burden


if i had seen in one of these mills but i did not though i looked for something of this kind with a sharp eye the most lisping mincing affected and ridiculous young creatures that my imagination could sug gest that i should have thought of the careless moping slatternly degraded dull reverse i have seen that and should have been still well pleased to look upon her


the rooms in which they worked were as well ordered as themselves


in the windows of some there were green plants which were trained to shade the glass in all there was as much fresh air cleanli ness and comfort as the nature of the oc cupation would possibly admit of


out of so large a number of females many of whom were only then just verging upon womanhood it may be reasonably sup posed that some were delicate and fragile in appearance no doubt there were


but i solemnly declare that from all the crowd i saw in the different factories that day i cannot recal or separate one young face that gave me a painful impression not one young girl whom assuming it to be a matter of necessity that she should gain her daily bread by the labour of her hands i would have removed from those works if i had had the power


they reside in various boardinghouses near at hand


the owners of the mills are particularly careful to allow no persons to enter upon the possession of these houses whose characters have not under gone the most searching and thorough inquiry


any complaint that is made against them by the boarders or by any one else is fully investigated and if good ground of complaint be shown to exist against them they are removed and their occupation is handed over to some more deserving person


there area few chil dren employed in these factories but not many


the laws of the state forbid their working more than nine months in the year and require that they be educated during the other three


for this purpose there are schools in lowell and there are churches and chapels of various per suasions in which the young women may observe that form of worship in which they have been educated


at some distance from the factories and on the highest and pleasantest ground in the neighbourhood stands their hospital or boardinghouse for the sick it is the best house in those parts and was built by an eminent merchant for his own resi dence


like that institution at boston which i have before described


it is not parcelled out into wards but is di vided into convenient chambers each of which has all the comforts of a very com fortable home


the principal medical at tendant resides under the same roof and were the patients members of his own family they could not be better cared for or attended with greater gentleness and consideration the weekly charge in this establishment for each female patient is three dollars or twelve shillings english but no girl employed by any of the corpo rations is ever excluded for want of the means of payment


that they do not very often want the means may be gathered from the fact that in july no fewer than of these girls were depositors in the lowell savings bank the amount of whose joint savings was estimated at dollars or english


i am now going to state three facts which will startle a large class of readers on this side of the atlantic very much


firstly there is a jointstock piano in a great many of the boardinghouses


secondly nearly all these young women subscribe to circulating libraries


thirdly they have have got up among themselves a periodical called the lowell offering a repository of original articles written ex clusively by females actively employed in the mills which is duly printed published and sold and whereof i brought away from lowell good solid pages which i have read from beginning to end


the large class of readers startled by these facts will exclaim with one voice how very prepostrous


on my deferen tially enquiring why they will answer these things are above their station


in reply to that objection


i would beg to ask what their station is


it is their station to work and they do work


they labour in these mills upon an average twelve hours aday which is unquestionably work and pretty tight work too


perhaps it is above their sta tion to indulge in such amusements on any terms


are we quite sure that we in england have not formed our ideas of the station of working people from accus toming ourselves to the contemplation of that class as they are and not as they might be


i think that if we examine our own feelings we shall find that the pianos and the circulating libraries and even the lowell offering startle us by their novelty and not by their hearing upon any abstract question of right or wrong


for myself i know no station in which the occupation of today cheerfully done and the occupation of tomorrow cheerfully looked to and one of these pursuits is not most humanizing and laudable


i know no station which is rendered more endur able to the person in it or more safe to the person out of it by having ignorance for its associate


i know no station which has a right to monopolize the means of mutual instruction improvement and rational entertainment or which has ever con tinued to be a station very long after seeking to do so


of the merits of the lowell offering as a literary production i will only observe putting entirely out of sight the fact of the articles having been written by these girls after the arduous labours of the day that it will compare advantageously with a great many english annuals


it is pleasant to find that many of its tales are of the mills and of those who work in them that they inculcate habits of selfdenial and contentment and teach good doctrines of enlarged benevolence


a strong feeling for the beauties of nature as displayed in the solitudes the writers have left at home breathes through its pages like wholesome village air and though a circulating library is a favourable school for the study of such topics it has a very scant allusion to fine clothes fine marriages fine houses or fine life


some persons might object to the papers being signed occasionally with rather fine


namesbut


this is an american fashion


one of the provinces of the state legislature of massachusetts is to alter ugly names into pretty ones as the children improve upon the tastes of their parents


these changes costing little or nothing scores of mary annes are solemnly converted into bevelinas every session


it is said that on the occasion of a visit from general jackson or general har rison to this town i forget which but it is not to the purpose he walked through three miles and a half of these young ladies all dressed out with parasols and silk stockings


but as i am not aware than any worse consequence ensued than a sudden lookingup of all the parasols and silk stockings in the market and per haps the bankruptcy of some speculative new englander who bought them all up at any price in expectation of a demand that never came i set no great store by the circumstances


in this brief account of lowell and in adequate expression of the gratification it yielded me and cannot fail to afford any foreigner to whom the condition of such people at home is a subject of interest and anxious speculation i have carefully ab stained from drawing a comparison be tween these factories and those of our land


many of the circumstances whose strong influence has been at work for years in our manufacturing towns have not arisen here and there is no manufacturing population in lowell so to speak for these girls often the daughters of small farmers come from other states remain a few years in the mills and then go home for good


the contrast would be a strong one for it would be between the good and evil the living light and deepest shadow


i ab stain from it because i deem it just to do so


but i only the more earnestly adjure all those whose eyes may rest on these pages to pause and reflect upon the differ ence between this town and those great haunts of desperate miseryto call to mind if they can in the midst of party strife and squabble the efforts that must be made to purge them of their suffering and danger and last and foremost to remember how the precious time is rush ing by


i returned at night by the same railroad and in the same kind of car


one of the passengers being exceedingly anxious to expound at great length to my companion not to me of course the true principles on which books of travels in america should be written by englishmen


i feigned to fall asleep


but glancing all the way out at window from the corners of my eyes


i found abundance of enter tainment for the rest of the ride in watch ing the effects of the wood fire which had been invisible in the morning but were now brought out in full relief by the dark ness for we were travelling in a whirl wind of bright sparks which showered about us like a storm of fiery snow


barnaby rudge


o


l p chapter xlv


while the wsorst passions of the worst men were thus working in the dask and the inantle of religion assumed to cover the ugliest deformities threatened to become tihe shroud of all that was good and peaceful in society a circumstance occurred which once more altered the position of two persons from whom this history has long been separated and to whom it must now return


in a small english country town the inhabliants of which supported themselves by the labour of their hands in plaiting and preparing straw for those who made bonuels and other articles of dress and ornament from that material concealed under an assumed name and living in a quiet poverty which kknew no change no pleasures and few cares but t at of struggling on from day to day in the one greit toil for bread dwelt barnaby and his mother


their poor cottage had known no strangers foot silnce they sought the shelter of its rooffive years before nor had they in all that time held any com nerce or comminuication with the old world from which tl hey lbad fled


to labour in peace and devote her labour and


her life to her poor son was all tho widow sought


if lipppiness can be said at any tie to be the lot of one on whom a secret sorrow preys she was happy now


tranqullity resignation and her stronglove for him who needed it so much fomed the small circle of her quiet joys and while that remained unbroken she was contented


for barnaby himself the time which had flown tiy had pased himlike the wind


the daily suns of years had hied no brighter gleam of reason on his mind i no dawn had broken on his long darkl night


lie would sit sometimesoften for days together on


aa low seat by the fire or by the cottage door busy at iwork for he had learnedtheart his mother plied


and listening god help him to the tales she would repecat as a lure to keep him in her sight


he had no recollection of these little narratives the tale of yesterday wasnew upon the morrow but le liked them at the moment and when the humour held himnwould remain patiently within doors hearing her stories like a little child and working cheerfully from sunrise until it was too dark to see


at other timesand then their scanty earnings were barely sufficient to furnish them with food though of thie coarsest sorthe would wanider abroad from dawn of day until the twilight deepened into night


few in that place even of the children could be idle and lihe had no companions of his own kind


indeed there were not manyj who could have kept


up with him in his rambles had there been a legion


but there were a score of vagabond dogs belonging to the neighbours who served hispurpose quite as well


with two or three of these or some times with a full halfdozen barking at his heels he would sally forth on some long expedition that con ssimed the day and though on their retursn at nightfall the dogs would come home limping and sore footed and almost spent with fatigue barnaby was up and off again ate sunrise with some new ttendants of the same class with whom he would retiurn in like manner


on all these travels grip in his little basket at his masiers back wais a con stant memberof the party and when they set off in line weather and in high spirits no dog barked louder than the raven


their pleasures on these excuisions were simple enough


a crust of bread andscrap of meat with water from the brook or spring sufieed for their repast


barnabys enjoymentsawere to walk and run and leap till he was tiredithen to lie down in the long grass or by the growing corn or in the shade of some tall tree looking upward at the light cloudsas they floatedover the blue asurfaceof the s askyand listening to the larknsa she poured out her brilliant song


there were wildflowers to pluck the brightpoppy the gentle harebell the cowslip and the rose


there were birds to watch fish antts wormns hares or rabbits as they darted across sthle distantpathway in the wood and so were gone millions of living things to havean interest in and lie in wait for and clap hands and shout in memory of when they had disappeared


in default of these or when theywearied there was the merry sunlight to hunt out as it crept in aslant through leaves and boughs of trees and hid far downdeep deep in hobllow placeslike a silver pool where noddinig braniches seemed to bathe and sport sweet scents of summer air breathing over fields of beans or clover tle perfume of wet leaves or moss th e life of waving trees and shadows alwayschanging


when these or any of


them tired or in excess of pleasing tempted him to shlit his ees there was slumber in sthe midst of all these soft delights with the gentle wind murmuring like music in his ears and every


thing around into one dlelicious dream


their hut for it was little more stood on the out akirts of the towvn at a short distancefrom the high rad but in a secluded place where few chance passengers strayed at any season of the year


it had a plot of gardenground attached which barihaby in fits and starts of working trimmed and kept in order


withinodoors and without ihis mo ther iaboured for their common good and hail rain snow or sunshine found no difference in hert though so far removed froni the scones of her plast life and with so little ithought or hope of ever visiting them again she seemed to have a strange desire to know what happened irthe busy world


any old newspaper or scrap of intelligence from london she caught at with avidity


the excite


s mentit produced was not of a pleasurable kind for her m sanner at such timesexpressed the keenest anxiety sand dread but it neverfaded in the least degree then and in stormy winter ights when the wind blew loiud and strong the old expressioncame into her face and she would be seized with a fit of trem blilnglike one who had ain ague


but barnaby noted little of this and putting a great constraint upon herself she usually recovered her accustomed manner before the change had caught his obser vation


si grip was by no means an idle or unprofitable member of the humble household


pardtly by dint sof barnabyas tuition and partly by pursuing a species of aelfinsitructioncomnmon to his iribe and exerting his powers ofibiservation to the utmost he i had acquired a deree of sagacity which rendered him famous for miles round


his conversatidonal spowers and surprising peiformances weie the uni vi ersal theme and as many persons cameto seethe wo nderful raven and none left his exertlonsunre


swardedwhen he condescended to exhibit which was not always for genius is capricioushis earn ings formed an important


item in the common stock


indeedi the bird himself appeared to know shis value


well forthoughl he was perfectly free andd unrestrained in the presence of barnabyand his smothei he maintained in public an amazing gravity anid never stooped to any other gratuitous paer sforinvnices than biting the qnklesof vagabond boys an ixerelse in which le mufch delighted killing a fowl or two occasionally and swallowing the din


ners jof variousneighbouring dogs of whom the rhboldestheld himin great awe and dread stime had glided on in this way and nothing hadi s happened to disturb or change their ntode of life


when one summers night in june they were in their little garden resting from the labours of the day


the widows work was yet upon her knee and strewn upon the ground about her and barnaby


stood leaning on his spade gazing at the brightness in the west and singing softly to himself


sa brave evening mother if we had chinking in our pockets but a few specks of that gold which is piled up yonder in tihe sky we should be rich for life


we are better as we are returned thewidow with a quiet smile


let us be coistented and we do not want andneed not care to have it though it lay shining at our feet


ay i said barnaby resting with crossed arms on his spade and looking wistfully at the sunset thats well enough mother but golds a good thing to have


wish that i knew where to find it


grip and i could do much with gold be sure of that


what would you do she asked


what


a world of things


wed dress finelyyou and i i mean not gripkeep horses dogs wear bright colours and feathers do no more work live delicately and at our ease


oh wed find uses for it mother and uses that would do us good


i would i knew where gold was buried


how hard id work to dig it up


you do not know said his mother rising from herseatand laying herhand upon his shoulder what men have done to win it and how they have found too late that it glitters btightest at a distance and turns quite dim and dull when handled


ay aye so you say so you think ie an swered still looking eagerly in the same direction


for all that mother i should like to try


do you not see she said how red it is


nothing bears so many stains of blood as gold


avoid it


none have such cause to hate its name as we have


do not so much as think of it dear love


it has brought such


misery and suffering on your ihead and mine as few have known and god grant few may have to undergo


i would rather we were dead and laid down in our graves than you should ever comie to love it


for a moment barnaby withdrew his eyes and looked at her with vonder


then glancing from the redness of the sky to the mark on


his wrist as if he would compare the two he seemed about to question her with earnestness when a new object caught his wandering attention and made him quite forgetful of his purpose


this was a man with dusty feet and garments who stood bareheaded behind the hedge that divided their patch of garden from the pathway and leant meekly forward as if he sought to


mingle with their conversation and waited for his time to speak


his facewas turned towards the brightness too but the light that fell upon it showed that lihe was blind and saw it not


a blessing on those voicesl said the way farer


i feel the beauty of the night


more keenly when i hear them


they are like eyes to me


will they speak again and cheer the heart of a poor traveller


have you no guide asked the widow after a moments pause


none but that he answered pointing with his staff towards the sun and sometimes a milder one at night but she is idle now


tlhave you travelled far p a wearyway and long rejoined the traveller as he shook his head


a weary weary way


i struck my stick just now upon the bucket of your wellbe pleased to let me have a draught of water lady


why do you call me lady


she returned i am as poor as you


your speech is soft and gentle and i judge by that replied the mani


the coarsest stuffs and finest silks areapart from the sense of touch alike to me


a i cannot judge you byyour dress


come round this way said barnaby who had passed out at the garden gate and now stood close beside him


put


your hand in mine


youre blind and always in the dark eh


are you fright


ened in the dark do you see great crowds of faces nowv do ihey grin and chatterl


alas returned the other i see nothing


waking or sleeping nothing


barnaby looked curiously at his eyes and touching them with his finugers s an inquisitive child might do ledhim towards thehouse


you have come a long distance said the widow meeting him at the door


how have you found your way so far use and necessity are good teachers as i have heardthe beast of any said the blind man sitting down upon the chair to which barnaby had led him and putting his hat and stick upon the red tiled floor


may neither you nor your son ever learn under them


they are rough masters


you have wandered from the road too said the widow in atone of pity


maybe maybe returned the blind man with a sigh and yet with something of a smile upon his face thats likely


handposta and milestories are dumb indeed to me


thank you the more for this rest and this refreshing drink i as he spoke he raised the mniug of water to his mouth


it was clear and coldand sparkling but not to his taste nevertheless or his thirst was not


very great for he only wetted his lips and put it down again


he wore hanging with a long strap round his neck a kind of scrip orwallet in which to carry food


the widow set some bread and cheese before him but he thanked her and said that through the kinudnesa of the chlaritable he had broken his fast once since morning and was not hungry


when he had made her this reply he opened hiis wallet and took out a few pence which was all it appeared to contain


might i make bold to ask he said turning to wardsi where barnaby stood looking on that one who las the gift of sight would lay this out for me in bread to keep nme on my way iheavens lieasing on the young feet that will bestir themselves in aid of oneso helpless as a sightless man ibarnaby looked at his mother who nodded assent


in ianother moment he wasgone upon his charitable errand


the blind man sat listeningwith an attentive face until long after the sound of his retreating footsteps was inaudible to the widow and the saiad suddenly and in a very altered tone there are various degrees and


kinds of blind


ness widow


there is the connublal blindness maam which perhips you may haveobserved in the course of your own experience and which is a kind of wilfu


and selfbandaging blindness


i heie is the blindness of party maam and publia men which is the blindness of a mad bull in the midst of a regiment of soldiers clothed in red


there is the blind confidence of youth which is the blindness of young kittens whose eyes have not yet opened on the world and tiere is that physical blindness maam of which i am contrary to my own desire a moat illustrious eiample


added tothese maam is that blindness of the intellect of which we have a specimen in your interesting son and which having sometimes glimmerings and dawnings of the light is scarcely to be trusted as a total darkness


there


fore maam i have taken the liberty to get him out of the way for a short time while you and i confer together and


this precaution arising out of the delicacy of my sentiments towards yourself you will excuse me maam i know


havihg delivered himself of this speech with many flourishes of manner he drew from beneath his coat a flat stone bottle and holding the cork between his teeth qualified his mug of water with a plentiful infusion of the liquor it contained


he politely drained the bumper to her health and the ladies and setting it down empty smacked his lips with infinite relish


i am a citizen of the world maam said the blind man corking his bottle and if i seem to conduct rmyself with freedom it is the way of the world


you wonder who i am maam and what has brought me here


such experience of human nature as i have leads me to that conclusion without the aid of eyes by which to read the move ments of your soul as depicted in your feminine features


i will satisfy your curiosity immediately maan immediately


with that he slapped his bottle on its broad back and having put it under his garment as before crossed his legs and folded his hands and settled himself in his chair previous to proceeding any further


the change in his manner was so unexpected


the craft and nakedness of his deportmentwere so much aggravated by his conditionfor we are accustomed to see in those who have last a human sense some thing in its place almost divineand this alteration bred so many fears in her whom he addressed that she could not pronounce one word


after waiting as it seemed for some remark or answer and waiting in vain thevisitdr resumed madam my name is stagg


a friend of mine who has desired the honour of meeting with you


any time these five years past has commissioned me to call upon you


i should be glad to whisper that gentlemans name in your earzounds maam are you deaf


do you hear me say that i should be glad to whisper my friends name in your earl you need not repeat it said the widow with a stifled groan i see too well from whom yoii come


but as a man of honour maam said the blind man striking himself on the breast whose credentials must not be disputed i take leave to say that i will mention that gentlemans name


ay ay he added seeming to catch with his quick ear the very motion of her hand but not aloud


with your leave maam i desire the favour of a whisper


shelmoved towards him and stooped down


he muttered a word in her ear and wringing het hands she paced up and down the room like one distracted


the blind man with perfect composure produced his bottle again mixed another glassfull put it up as before and drinking from time to time followed her with his face in silence


you are slow in conversation widow he said after a time


pausing in his draught


we shall have to talk before your son


what would you have me do


site answered what do you want we are poor widow we are poor heretorted stretching out his right hand and rubbing hi thumb upon its palm


poor i she cried


and what am i comparisons are odious said the blind man


si dont know i dont care


i say that we are poor


my friends circumstances ate indifferent and so are mine


we must have our rights widow or we must be bought off


but you know tlihat as well as t so wheres the use of talking


she still walked wildly to anil fro


at length stopping abruptly before him she said is he near here


lhie io


close at hand


then i am lost i not lost widow said the blind man calmly only found


shalli call him not for the world she answered with a shud der


very good he replied crossing his legs again for lie had made as though he would rise and walk to the door


as you please widow


his presence is not necessary that i know of but both he and i must live to live we must eat and drink to eat and drink we miist have money


i say no more


do you know how pinched and destitute i am p she retorted


i do not think you do or can


if you had eyesand could look around you on this poor cabin you would have pity on me


oh let your heart be softened by your own affliction friend and have some sympathy with mine


the blind man snapped his fingers as he answered beside the question maam beside the ques


tion


i have the softest heart in the world but i cant live upon it


many a gentleman lives well upon a soft head who would find a heart of the same quality a very great drawback


listen to me


this is a matter of business with which sympathies and sentiments have nothing to do


as a mutual friend i wish to arrange it in a satisfacfory manner if possible and thus the case stands if you are very poor now its your own choice


you have friends who in case of need are always ready to help you


my friend is in a more destitute and desolate situation than most men and you and he being linked together in a common cause henetu


rally looks to you to assist him


he has boarded and lodged with me a long time for as i said just now i am very soft lhearted and i quite approve ofhis entertaining this opinion


you have always had a roof ovbr your head he has alwvaysbeen an outcast


you have your son to comfort and assist you he has nobodyat all


the advantages must not be allone side


you are in the same boat and wemust dlvldethembalslsta litilemorre equally


she was about to speak but he checked her and weant on the only way of doing this is by making up a little purse now and then foir my friend and thats whatiadvlse


he bears you no malice thatl know of maam so little thstalthough you have treated him harshly more tlmanonce and driven lilim i may say out of doors he has that regard for you that i believe even ifyou disappointed him now he would consent to take charge of your son and to make a man of him


he laid a great stress on these latter words and paused as if to find out what effect they had pro duced


she only answivered by her tears


he is a likellad said the blind man thought fully for many purposes and not ill dislosed to try his fortune insa little change and bustle if i may judge from wlhat i heard of his talk with you to night come


in a word my friend has pressing necessity for twenty pounds


you who


csan give up an annuity san get that sum for hlim its a pity yourshould be troubled


you seem very com fortable here and its worth that much to remain so


twenty pounds widow is a moderate demand


you know where to apply for it a post will bring it you


twenty pounds i she was about to answer him again but again he stopped her


fdont say anything hastily you might be sorry for it think of it a little wlile


twenty pounds of other peoplea money t how easy i turn it over in your mind


i im in nohirty


niohlts comnlag


o


on and if i dont sleep here i shall not go far


twenty pounds


consider of it maam for twenty minutes give each pound a minute thats a fair allowance


ill enjoy the air thewhile which is very mild and pleasant in these parts


with these words he groped his way to the door carrying his chair with him


then seating himself under a sprieaing honeysuckle and stretching his legs across the threshold so that no person could pass in or out without his knowledge he took from his pocket a pipe flint steel and tinder box and began to smoke


it was a lovely evening of that gentle kind and at that time of year when the twi light is most beautiful


pausing now and then to let his smoke curl slowly off and to sniff the grateful fragrance of the flowers he sat there at hisease as though the cottage were his proper dwelling and he had held undisputed possession of it all his life waiting for the widows answer and for barnabys return


to be continued


william a tale of south australian historyby a lady


chapter ii


one lovely morning in november a ship was seen slowly entering holdfast bay bringing up with her a gentle breeze from the ocean


some halfdozen tubs were scattered on the plain and the party to whom they belonged with one exception were hastening to the beach


williams heart beat with emotions which withdrew him for the time from all thoughts of home or kindred


he had risen at daylight and strolled halfamile from the encampment when he suddenly stopped as the sun rose over the mountains and forest and plain upland and hollow and which sprung into life and glory as its rays glanced on them


can this be south australia feet of he asked himself a place hitherto untrod save by the savages


was ever anything so beautiful


nature has indeed done everything here for there blow a thousand gentle airs and each a separate perfume bears as if the lovely plants and trees had vassal breezes of their own to watch and wait on them alone and waft no other breath than theirs


he called to mind the parks and gardens he had left behind where no expence had been spared and where every art the ingenuity of man could devise had been exercised and he thought how immeasurably short they all fell of the native beauties of the wilderness he was now treading


looking eastward one line of mountains rose above another each assuming a different hue as the beams of the rising sun lighted upon them


on the other side lay the sea smooth and polished as a mirror framed in as it were by the coasts of york peninsula and kangaroo island visible although at a distance exceeding fifty miles and reflecting from its surface the graceful hull and taper spars of the swift and weatherly sea boat in which he had arrived


the chattering of the numerous parrots as they flitted from tree to tree or struggled for the first sip of honey from the flower cup of the gum trees alone disturbed the silence which reigned around while here and there a white tent might be seen diminishing the feeling of loneliness which a scene so wild and unfettered by the works of civilized man must otherwise impart


there were moments when he would shake off the pensiveness which had crept over him and his heart would bound as the thought crossed him that upon his judgment in determining the position of the capital would mainly depend the welfare of those of his fellow countrymen who were about to plant the arts of civilized life in this favoured land


he returned just in time to welcome the colonial secretary the emigration agent and their ladies with several other pioneers to this land of promise


they soon chose a pretty spot on which to pitch their tents that their families might come on shore the next day


the duty of william and his party required them to move their tents further up the country and three tents and a small rush hut which was being erected for the governor whose arrival was expected daily were all that aemained in the plain at glenelg


day after day the gentlemen mounted a sand bank or walked to the beach but as often returned disappointed as no ship was to be seen


they were very anxious for the arrival of the governor as nothing material could be done until then


in the mean time william and his party with their chief had travelled six or seven miles into the interior in quest of a proper scite for the capital of the province


they crossed several plains each more thickly covered with grass and flowers parted from each other by belts of magestic gum trees


at the edge of one of these they halted for the night intending to continue their route in the morning


they were soon seated round a blazing fire while their attendants were preparing their evening meal


cold pork damper and tea with out milk was their only fare but it was eaten and relished nor did they wish for anything better although from birth they had been accustomed to every luxury and comfort and knew privation only as a name until after they left england


the sun had just set as they arose from their repast and as most of the gentlemen were fatigued from their journey they retired to rest in their tents


william preferred the open air as the day had been rather sultry the wind blowing from the north until sunset but as the moon rose a cool breeze had set in from the south ward and he intended when tired to fold himself in his cloak and rest under a tree


two or three times in the course of supper william thought he heard a strange noise a sort of scream and was just going to utter an exclamation of surprise but checked himself as he looked up and found he was the only one who had noticed it and remembed at the same time the laugh they had all had against one of their attendants who came running one night in a great state of alarm exclaiming that there was a ghost up in one of the trees and upon the chief desiring him to explain himself more explicitly the poor fellow trembling and pale as death declared that every word he spoke was answered with a loud laugh from some one in the tree which overhung the place where himself and his fellowlabourers were sitting he at first thought it was one of his companions but looking round he saw them all sitting beside him he did not wait another minute but ran to the tents


the chief guessing what it was which had so tempted the man and perceiving all around him on the titter in quired what made him imagine that anything so for midable as a ghost could be in south australia


the man replied that when in england he had kept com pany with a young woman and that they were going to be married but when she heard he was going to south australia she declared she would not leave home and that if he went without her she would kill herself and her ghost should haunt him wherever he went and he declared he now believed she had done so and that her apparition was in the tree


the chief took his gun desiring him to wait and in a few minutes he returned producing a large bird called a laughing jackass


the young men could stand it no longer they burst into a loud roar of laughter and the poor fellow slunk out of the tent and avoided them as much as possible for several days after and from that time forth if any of the party spoke of having heard unusual sounds


the reply was it must be burnetts sweethearts ghost and william above all things disliked to be laughed at


however he felt certain in his own mind that his ear had not deceived him and moreover that the noise pro ceeded from no great distance


it was not produced by wild dogs as scarcely a night had passed since their arrival without several of them having been detected prowling round their encampment and william had become so familiar with their peculiar howl as to be enabled at once to detect it


he felt uneasy he could not tell why at last weary with the exertions of the day he threw himself on the ground and was soon fast asleep


scarcely had he rested an hour when he was awoke by a loud and frighful yell


he sprung on his feet and his hand was on the lock of his pistol but he stood rooted to the spot in amazement at the sight which now burst upon his view


about twenty or thirty naked savages streaked with chalk so as to represent skeletons were dancing hollaing and throw ing themselves into all sorts of wild and frightful atti tudes around a large fire appearing to his bewildered fancy as if pandemonium had yielded back its inhabi tants who had selected this as the spot most remote from the dwellings of civilized man for the celebration of their orgies


the first surprise being over he stole quietly to the tents intending to awake his comrades but they were already up having been aroused by the same sounds which had disturbed himself


the young men held communion together as to what had best be done and they were inclined to agree with one of them who said had we not better flee to some other spot and there wait until daylight and then join the emigrants at holdfast day as should they not be friendly there are too many for us to encounter


but to their great surprise their chief who now joined the group declared it was his intention to go and converse with them and immediately left the tent


one and all were at his side in a moment declaring that he should not go alone let the consequence be what it would and if there was danger they would share it with him


they approached with caution william and his chief in advance of the rest fearing that the sight of too many might alarm them


as it was the instant the natives became aware of the approach of strangers they gave a cry of alarm and would have fled had it not been for their women and children who were seated in a group on one side of the fire


the chief seeing this threw the women some biscuits and held up a bright chain which he presented to one of the men who gradually approached until he touched it and then burst into a wild laugh in which the others joined


the women ate the biscuit greedily and wanted more


william pointed in the direction of the tents and made signs to them to accompany him and fetch some


he could not however induce them to leave the fire


they made motions towards the sky and chattered a great deal in their own language which of course williams party could not understand but fancied they meant something about daylight


therefore shaking hands with all for what one did all would do and bidding them good night which they an swered with another of their wild laughs the gen tlemen returned to their tents highly amused with their nights adventure


next morning at daylight the natives were all around their tents laughing at and touching everything they saw


they remained the whole day fetching wood and water in return for a little sugar or biscuit and left a little before sunset to go to their whurlies


in the course of the evening william and his com panions walked over to witness their corroberie being the native dance by which he had been so startled the previous night


being now free from alarm he was enabled to perceive that their attitudes were graceful and their movements light and spirited


the women accompanied the dance with a peculiar song regulating the time by beating upon skins which they held in their laps


the dance being apparently a mock combat in which the dancers alternately attacked and defended their women


the celebrated dr radcliffe attending one of his most intimate friends in a dangerous illness with an unusual strain of generosity declared he would not touch a fee


one insisted and the other was positive


at last when the cure was performed and the physician taking his leave sir said the patient in this purse i have put every days fee nor must your goodness get the better of my gratitude


the doctor eyes the purse counts the days in a moment and then holding out his hand replies well i can hold out no longer


single i could have refused them for a twelvemonth but all together they are irresistible


geraldine


a talb of conscienoc


chap


xxi


where was one solemn point of doctrine which geraldine had shrunk from discussing with either of her uncles and on wihch she could not bring herself to speak even to mr everard


this was transubstantiation


all her doubts and researches on this point were confined to books with unceasing eference to scripture


of all the points of separa tion between the churches this awful questionof a sniraculous change in the elements at consecration ie one of the deepest interest to the devout communi catit


as a young girl geraldine had believed simply the words of christ and bowed in humble gratitude toe mystery of love which she could not idtbom in later yearsher reason had been taught to consider thesacrament as a solemn pledge of re neinibrance and of fidelity butall beyond this as a su peisatitiouis dwelling on the material


instead of the jiefliual union and a desecration of the awful ma jesty of god


geraldine now came to the full in westigation of this doctrine and found ample testi loony on the protestant side amongst the divines in the elverton library while milners end of con troversy and the it faith of catholics were the only books on the other side in her possession


but it was not so much byargument that geraldine roped to arrive at the truth


she read what each party had to say and then turned again to scrip ture


with respect to the most powerful argument considered conclusive by protestants against a mira culous change in the sacrament of the altar namely ohat god often demands our faith in that which is above our senses but never in that which is against them geraldine found its refutation in the gospel narrative at the baptism of our lord


to thebeye of sense the bodily form of a dove rested open him abut faith demands our acknowledgment of the pre sence of the holy ghost and to indulge in vain inquiries asto how far the plumage and muscular actioni of the bird were an appearance or a reality would be much on a par with all that is profanely advanced against transubstantiation


in entering on this deep and awful subject geraldine was quite on her guard respecting her natural disposition of mind to receive willingly that which is mysterious spiritual and supernatural but on consideration these were some of the arguments which had the greatest weight inconvincing her reason


were the holy sacrament to consist merely of bread and wine in commemoration of our lords death then the reality falls short of the old testament types of this solemnity


melchisedec brought forth bread and wine as types of what p only bread and wine p the manna from heaven itself a miracle how could it prefigure less than a miracle p


also she remarked


in thedetailed account given by st luke of the first celebration of these holy mysteries that our lord followed the custom of the jews continued to this day of giving after supper bread and wine around to the guests in token of hospitality and good will


the last day of the festival of the passover is concluded by the master of the house holding a cup of wine while he repeats a consider able portion of scripture


he then drinks acid gives to others to drink of the cup


the evangelist first describes our lords observing this ceremony from verse fifteen to eighteen at which time he speaks of eating the passover with his disciples before he should suffer telling them also that he shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine till the kingdom of god shall come


after this begins the celebration of the mysteries at verses nineteen and twenty and the candid examiner of this toofold description will see that to quote the ex pression of fruit of the vine as nullifying the elief of a miraculous change in the chalice is useless because it applies to the jewish custom just alluded to and not to the institution of the divine mystery


again when dwelling on the sixth chapter of st john geraldine could not but perceive that


although in every other discourse oar lord explains all that has been figurative and obscure yet hlin the jews are offended at such a trial of their faith too hard for them to bear so that from that time they left him to return no more he slid not recall them to explain his words which if figurative this merciful and just god would cer tainly dave done


geraldine then examined the calvinistic exposition of the chapter in which this hard saying is made t biter on


predestination and free grace


and pronoslnced it tobe the greatest straining from sim pilcity


in versa sixtythree which is the grand point on which the protestant expositor rests to overturn all the rest of the chapter the expression


thse fesha profiteth nothing she found rendered by catholic commentators


io mean that the fleshly or carnal wisdom of man profiteth nothing in underistanding the deep mysteries of god


geral dine could not believe that christ should contradict himself and after having said he thateateth my flesh shall abide in me that he should then


say that his flesh profiteth nothing


he does not here say my flesh but the flesh and she decided it to be impossible that this one verse however ren dered should contradict the whole plain and explicit declaration of our lord beginning at verse fifty one to the end of the chapter


nothing however confirmed her belief more in the perpetual miracle of christs love to his church than the strict discipline of the secret observed by the early christians respecting it


founded on the command not to cast their pearls before swine and the persuasion that faith to receive this great mystery was the gift of god


this belief and rite in the early


church was attended with the same scandalous misrepresentationzas besets it now


this


discipline of the secret as well as the ancient liturgies ge raldine foundin the


faith of catholics to which he now turned


from sr cyral of jerusalem


fourth century


we do not speak clearly before the catechu mens on the mysteries but are obliged often to use obscure expressions in order that while we are understood by the faithful who are instructed those who are not so may not suffer


the synod of alexandria


speaking in reprehension says they are not ashamed to celebrate the mysteries before the catechumens and perhaps even before the pagans forgetting that it is written that we should hide the mystery of the king and in con tempt of the precept of our lord that we must not place holy things before dogs nor pearls before swine


for it is not lawful to show the mysteries openly to the uninitiated lest through ignorance they scoff at them and the catechumens be scanda lized through indiscreet curiosity


from oasomn


third century


whoever is instructed in the mysteries knows the flesh and blood of the word of god


let us not then dwell on a subject known to the intitiated and which the uninitiated ought not to know


tbrtullian


thirdcenury


adressing his wife on the subject of her marry ing an infidel in case of his death


will not your husliasnd know what you taste in secret before any other food p


and if he perceives bread will he not imagine that it is what is so much spoken of


p from conversations with mr everard as well as from her own researches into early ecclesiastical record geialdino had found that to preserve this secresy tortures and death were endured by the early christians


she then turned to the ancient liturgies of jerusalem alexandria constantinople rome milan also the syriac nestorian and coptic liturgies all which she found to be the same with respect to the awful manner in which their belief is expressed when the faithful alone are present of a change in the elements and in a propitiatory sacrifice to the deity


extractefrom the liturgy of jerusalem


have mercy on us


god the father almighty and send thy holy spirit the lord and giver of life equal in dominion to thee and thy son who descended in the likeness of a dove on the lord jesus christ who descended on the holy apostles in the likeness of tongues of fire that coming he may make this bread the heavenly body the lifegiving body the saving body the body giving health to souls and bodies the body of our lord jesus christ for the remission of sins


and eternal life to those who receive it amen


and may make what is mixed in this chalice the blood of the new testament the saving blood the life giving blood the heavenly blood the blood giving health to soul and body the blood of our lord jesus christ amen


wherefore we offer to thee o lord this tremendous and unbloody sacrifice for the holy places which thou hast enlightened by the manifestation of christ thy son


grant thy blessing lord i again and again through this holy oblation and propitiatory sacrifice which is offered to god the father and is sanctified com pleted and perfacted by the desent of the holy ghost


liturgy of constantinople


o lord god almighty make us worthy to offer thee gifts and spiritual sacrifices and grant that we may find grace before thee and that our saacifice may be acceptable to thee


bless


lord this holy bread


make indeed this bread the precious body of thy christ


lord this chalice and what is in this chalice the precious blood of thy christ ehanging by thsy holy spirit amen


kigaiesandrian liturgii


igof glory make us worthy to stand at thy holy table and to consecrate thy immaculate body and thy precious blood


do thou


lord by thy voice ehacoge these ofierings


do thou who art here present complete this mystical liturgy


as geraldine finished these testimonials of the united and exalted faith of the early church respect ing thia high mystery of love shce knelt in token of submission exclaiming


lord i believe help thou my uinbelief


her next thought was of that class of protestants who like the unbelieving jews in a proud and scoffing spirit had found christs words too hard to bear and had sacrificed faith to the fleshly reason which would profit them nothing


from the wide spreading of this disbelief in the mystery of the altar it would saem that god had permitted the protestant world to depart as he had done the jews for he has said my spirit shall not always strive with man


i this was an awful thought and fraught with so much pain and terror that geraldine unable to dwell on it turned to the protestant account of the supposed introduction of the doctrine of transubstantiation to the belief of the cisriatian world at a dark and prlestridden period in the annals of the church


cave the learned author of the lives of use fathers was great authority but when geraldine read his cool aaseton


ao implicitly believed by tse protestant world that in sight hundred and sixtyfive pea chasius radhert abbot of corbey first introduced the doctrine of transubstantlation she could not help smiling


no i cried she even my re searchses have been deep enough to refute thsis asser tion


in egisht isundred and sixtyfive the eastern churchses hsad aeparated from the latin churches a lamentable jealousy existed on their side regarding any measures of discipline which they apprehended mightbo forced on them from rome they were in a disposition to reject every thing thence and yet we find all thises schismatical churches agreeed on this awful pointof faith


we find no council convened to pronounce on the novelties introduced by the benedictine monk


his book was comboted by erigena and other sectarlens just as a treatise no the holy trinity would have found an antagonist reply amongst the arians but that the work of any individual however learned or pious should have changed the faith not only of his own church but also that of the greek nestorian coptic and syriac communities is a stretch of belief quite


beyond me and in fact beyond any one who has become aware of the order and government of the church respecting any novelties in religion


we find the contrast between the calm approval of pas chasius radbhrts book by the church and that stern sentence which fell on berengarius in a sentence revoked in on his recantation but when he began afresh to publish his disbelief in transubstantiation a council was held at rome to which he was citedand where he again abjured his opinions which like those of nestorius and arian in earlier ages were examined and condemned by the church


no mr everard said geraldine in reply to her old friends authoritative inquiry respecting her mornings studies no i cannot talk with you on this subject of my thoughts


i am so happy in our many points of agreement that i will not enter upon the one on which we must part


then i divine it cried mr everard and a long pause ensued during which geraldine was both pained and encouraged by the longdrawn sigh which from time to time escaped from him


at length he said the contradictions involved in the doctrine of the eucharist are the great stumb lingblock to us protestants who argue its impos sibility on the ground that even the deity cannot work that which is mathematically inconsistentas that two and two should make threeor that a circle should be square


but se cannot argue mathematically on a miracle pleaded geraldine


well girl well i have thought pretty deeply on this subject and supposing the system broached by bishop berkely known as the berkeleian phi losophy to be


correct would it not reconcile the apparent contradictions in the belief of catholics respecting this great mystery of the holy eucha rist p i have sometimes thought of proposing this as a subject of curious speculation from which an argument might be drawn thus


the doctrine of immaterialism may be true


if it be true then there is no contradiction in the catholic belief if it be not true may not the material system be such though unknown to man as when explained and opened to his view to render the mystery of the eucharist perfectly clear and comprehensible p im materialism was broached by a protestant bishop and the belief in it is not considered heterodox either in


catholic or protestant churches


the first ap proaches to it invest it with an air of ridicule but when berkeleys ideas are thoroughly investigated much ingenuity is discovered in the system and one is led to see that if improbable it is far from impossible


this requires some deep thinking


end of volume the first


lb be continued


barnaiy rudge


o cihapter xxxxtr misfortunes saith the adage never come singly


there is little doubt that troubles are exceedingly gregarious in their nature and flying inflocks are apt to perch capriciously crowding on the heads of some poor wights until there is not an inch of room left on their unlucky crowns and take no more notice of others who


offer as good restingplaces for the soles of their feet than if they had no existence


it may have happened that a flight of troubles brooding over london and looking out for joseph swillet whom they couldnt find darted down hap


hazard on the first young


man that caught their fancy and settled on him instead


however this may be certain itis that on the very day of joes departure they swarmed about the ears of edward chester and did so buzz and flap their wings and persecute him that he was most profoundly wretched


it was evening and just eighi oclock when he and his father having wine and dessert set before them were left to themselves for the first time that day


they had dined together but a third person bad been present during the meal and until they met at table they had not seen each other since the previous night


edward was reserved and silent


mr chester was more than usually gay but not caring as it seemed to open a conversation with one whose humour was so dtfferent he vented the lightness of his spirit in smiles and sparkling looks and made no effort to awaken his attention


so


they remained for some time the father lying on a sofa with his acdnstomed airof graceful negligence the son seated oppositoe to him with downcast eyes busied it was plain with painful and uneasy thoughts


mydear edward said mr chester at length with a most etgaging laugh do not extend your drosnsy influence to the decanter


suffer that to circulate let your spirits be never so stagnant


edward begged his pardon passed it and relapsed into his former state


you do wrong not tofill your glass said mr chester holding up his own before the light


swine in moderation not in excess for that makes men ugly has a thousand pleasant influences


it brightens the eyes improves the voice imparts a new vivacity to ones thoughts and conversation you should try itned


ah father cried iis son f


my good fellowinterposed the parent hastily as he set down his glass and raised his eyebrows with a


startled and horrified expression for heavens sake dont call me by that obsolete and ancieniitname


have some regard for delicacy


am i grey or wrinkled do i go on crutches have i lost


my teeth that you adopt such a mode of address


good god how very coarse


i was about to speak to you from my heart sir returned edward in the confidence which should subsist between us and you check me in the outset


now do ned do not said mr chester raising his delicate hand imploringly talk in that monstrous manner


about to speak from your heart


dont you know that the heart is an ingenius part of our formation the centre of the bloodvessels and all that sort of thing which has no more to do with what you say or think than your knees have


how can you be so very vulgar and absurd


these anatomical allusions should be left to gentlemen of the medical profession


they are really not agreeable to society


you quite surprise me ned


well there are no such things to wound or heal or have regard for


i know your creed sir and will say no more returned his son


there again said mr chester sipping his wine you are wrong


i distinctly say there are such things


we know there are


the hearts of animals bullocks sheep and so forth are cooked and devoured as i am told by the lower classes with a vast deal of relish


men are sometimes stabbed to the heart shot to the heart but as to speaking from the heart or to the heart or being warmhearted or coldhearted or brokenhearted or being all heart or having no heart pah


these things are nonsense ned


no doubt sir returned his son seeing that he paused for him to speak


no doubt


theres


haredales niece your late flame said mr cheater as a careless illustration of his mean ing no doubt in your mind she was all heart once now she has none aiit all


yet she is the same person ned exactly


she is a changed person sir cried edward reddening and changed by vilemeans i believe


you have had a cool dismissal have you said his father


poor ned i told you last night what would happen may ask you for the aut crackers i t she has been tampered with and most treache rously deceived


cried edward rising from his seat


i never will believe that the knowledge of my real position given her by myself has worked thischange


i know she is beset and tortured


but though our contract is at an end and broken past all redemption though i charge upon her want of firmness and want of truth both to herself sand me i do not now and never will believe that e any sordid motive or her own unbiassed will has led her to this coursenever i you makeme blush returned his father gaily for the folly of your nature in which but we e never know ourselves i devoutly hope there is no reflection of my own


with regard to the young lady herself she has done what is very natural and sproper my dear fellow what you yourself proposed as


l learn from haredale and what i predicted with no great exercise of sagacity sihe would do


she supposed you to be rich orat least quite rich enough and found you poor


marriage is a civil contract people marry to better their worldly con dition and improve appearances it is an affair of v oguaseand furniture of liveries servants equipage and soforth


the lady being poor and you poor i also there is an end of the matter


you cannot f enter upon these considerations and have no manner of business with the ceremony


i drink her health a in tbis glass and respect and honour her for her i extreme good sense it is a lesson to you


fill yours ned


it is a lesson returned his son


by whihi chi hope i may never profit and if years and their ex y perience impress it on donta say on tie heart ilnteiposed his father


on men whom the world and its liypocrisy have e spoiled said edward warmly heavenkeep me from its knowledge


l a little on the sofa and looking straight towards him we have had enough of this


remember if t you please your interest your duty your moral obligations your filial affections and


all that sort of thing which it is so very delighifuland charming i to reflect upon or you will repent it


i shalll never reelitthe preservation of my sfrqspect sijr sifl vard forgive mne if sajitbhai willot soac eiillatyoffi bidding and thitl wirill not pursue the track which you would g havo mo take and to which the secret share you d have had in this late separation tends


a


iis father rose a little higher still and looking at i hlm asithough curious to know if ie were quite resolved and earnest diopped gently down again c sand said in the calmest voice eating his nuts mean c


while ha


edward my father hada son who being a fool like you and like you entlertaining low anid diso


h bedient sentiments he disinherited and cursed one o mornlog after breakfast


the circumstance occurs to me with a singular clearness of recollection this w evening


i remember eating mulins at the time with marmalade


he led a miserable life the son mean and died early it was a happy release on c all accounts he degraded the famifyvery much


v it is a sad circumstance edwvard when a lather irnds it necessary to resort to such strong measures


e it is replied edwaid and it is sad when a son proffering him his love and duty in their best and truest sense finds himself repelled at every h turn and forced to disobey


dear father lie added i more earnestly thlough in a gentler tone i have reflected many times on what occurred between us t when we first discussed this subject


let there he a confidence between us not in terms but truth shiear wvlat i have to say i


as i anticipate what it is and cannot fail to do so edward returned itis father coldly i decline d i cotildnt possibly


i am sure it would put me out t of temper which is a state of mind i cant endure


if you intend to mar my plansforyourestabllshment id life and the preservatioiof that gentility and becoming pride which our famlyaisve so long sustainedif in short you are resolved to take your own course you must takelit and my curse with it


i am very sorry but theres really no alternative


the curse may pass your lips said edward buplt will be but empty breathl


i dio not believe that any man on earth has greater power to call one down upon his fellow least of nall upon isis owna child than he has to make one drop of rain or flake of snow fall from the clouds above us at his impious bidding


beware sir what you do


you are so very irreligious so exceedingly undutiful so horribly profane rejoined his father turning his face lazily towards him and cracking another nut that i positively must interrupt you here


it is quite impossible we can continue to go on upon such terms as these


if you will do me the favour to ring the bell the servant will show you to the door


return to this roof no more beg you


go sir sinceyou have no moral sense remaining and go to the devil at my express desire


good day


edward left the room without another word or look and turned his back upon the house for ever


the fathers face was slightly flushed and heated but his manner was quite unchanged as he rang the bell again and addressed the servant on his entrance


peak if that gentleman who has just gone out i beg you pardon sir nir


edward were there more than one dolt thatyou ask the question


if that gentleman should send here forhis wardrobe let him have it do you hear


if he should call himself at any time im not at home


youll tell him so and shut the door


so it soon got whispered about that mr chester was very unfortunate in his son who had occasioned him great grief and sorrow


and the good people who heard this and told it again marvelled the more at his equanimity and even temper and said what an amiable nature that man must have who having undergone so much could be so placid and so calm


andwhen edwards name was spoken society shook its head and laid its finger on its lip and sighed and looked very grave and those who had sons about his age waxed wrathful and in dignant and hoped for virtues sake that he was dead


and the world went on turning roundasi usual for five years concerning which this narrative is silent


the newcomesno


chapter xethel and her relations


for fourandtwenty successive hours


lady ann newcome was perfectly in raptures with her new lodgings and every person and thing which they contained


the drawingrooms were fitted with the greatest taste the dinner was exquisite


were there ever such delicious veal cutlets such verdant french beans


why do we have those odious french cooks my dear with their shocking principlesthe principles of all frenchmen are shockingand the dreadful bills they bring us in and their consequential airs and graces


i am determined to part with brignol


i have written to your father this evening to jive brignol warning


when did he ever give us veal cutlets


what can be nicer


indeed they were very good said miss ethel who had mut ton five times a week at one oclock


lam so glad you like thc house and clive and mrs honeyman


like her


the dear little old woman


i feel as if she had been my friend all my life


i feel quite drawn towards her


what a wonderful coincidence that dr goodenough should direct us to this very house


i have written to your father about it


and to think that i should have written to clive at this very house and quite forgotten mrs honeymans nameand such an odd name too


i forget everything everything


you know i forgot your aunt louisas husbands name and when i was godmother to her baby and the clergyman said what is the infants name


i said really i forget


and so i did


he was a london cler t gjrman but i forget at what church


suppose it should be this very mr honeyman


it may have been you know and then the coincidence would be still more droll


that tall old nicelooking respectable person with a mark on her nose the housekeeper what is her nameseems a most invaluable person


i think i shall ask her to come to us


i am sure she would save me i dont know how much money every week and i am certain mrs trot ter is making a fortune by us


i shall write to your papa and ask his permission to ask this person


ethels mother was constantly falling in love with her new acquaintances j their manservants and their maidservants and the visitor within their gates


she would ask strangers to newcome hug and embrace them on sunday not speak to them on monday and on tuesday behave so rudely to them that they were gone before wednesday


her daughter had had so many governessesall darlings during the first week and monsters afterwardsthat the poor child possessed none of the ac complishments of her age


she could not play on the piano she could not speak french well she could not tell you when gun powder was invented she had not the faintest idea of the date of the norman conquest or whether the earth went round the sun or vice vers


she did not know the number of couhlies in england scotland and wales let alone ireland she did not know the dif ference between latitude and longitude


she had had so many go vernesses their accounts differed poor ethel was bewildered by a multiplicity of teachers and thought herself a monster of igno rance


they gave her a book at a sunday school and little girls of eight years old answered questions of which she knew nothing


the place swam before her


she could not see thc sun shining on their flaxen heads and pretty faces


the rosy little children hold ing up their eager hands and crying the answer to this question and that seemed mocking her


she seemed to read in the book o ethel you dunce dunce dunce


she went home silent in the carriage and burst into bitter tears on her bed


naturally a haughty girl of the highest spirit resolute and imperious this little visit to the parish school taught ethel lessons more valuable than ever so much arithmetic and geography


clive has told me a story of her in her youth which perhaps may apply to some others of the youthful female aristocracy


she used to walk with other se lect young ladies and gentlemen their nurses and governesses in a certain reserved plot of ground railed off from hyde park whereof some of the lucky dwellers in the neighbourhood of aps ley house have a key


in this garden at the age of nine or there about she had contracted an intimate friendship with the lord hercules oryanas every one of my gentle readers knows one of the sons of the marquis of ballyshannon


the lord hercules was a year younger than miss ethel newcome which may account for the passion which grew up between these young persons it be ing a provision in nature that a boy always falls in love with a girl older than himself or rather perhaps that a girl bestows her affec tions upon a little boy who submits to receive them


one day sir brian newcome announced his intention to go to newcome that very morning taking his family and of course ethel with him


she was inconsolable


what will lord her cules do when he finds i am gone


she asked of her nurse


the nurse endeavouring to soothe her said perhaps his lordship would know nothing about the circumstance


he will said miss ethel hell read ititi the neiospaper


my lord hercules it is to be hoped strangled this infant passion in the cradle hav ing long since married isabella only daughter of grains esq of drayton windsor a partner in the great brewery of foker and co


when ethel was thirteen years old she had grown to be such a tall girl that she overtopped her companions by a head or more and morally perhaps felt herself too tall for their society


fancy myself she thought dressing a doll like lily putland or wear ing a pinafore like lucy tucker


she did not care for their sports


she could not walk with them it seemed as if every one stared nor dance with them at the academy nor attend the cours de littrature universelle et de science comprhessive of the pro fessor then the modethe smallest girls took her up in the class


she was bewildered by the multitude of things they bade her learn


at the youthful little assemblies of her sex when under the guide of their respected governesses the girls came to tea at six oclock dancing charades and so forth ethel herded not with the children of her own age nor yet with the teachers who fit apart at these as semblies imparting to each other their little wrongs but ethel romped with the little childrenthe rosy little trotsand took them on her knees and told them a thousand stories


by these she was adored and loved like a mother almost for as such the hearty kindly girl showed herself to them but at home she was alone farouche and intractable and did battle with the governesses and overcame them one after another


i break the promise of a former page and am obliged to describe the youthful days of morethan one person who is to take a share in this story


not always doth the writer know whither the divine museleadeth him


but of this be sure that she is as inexorable as truth


we must tel our tale as she imparts it to us and go on or turn aside at her bidding


here she ordains that we should speak of other members of this family whose history we chronicle and it behoves us to say a word regarding the earl of kew the head of the noble house into which sir rian newcome had married


when we read in the fairy stories that the king and queen who lived once upon a time build a castle of steel defended by moats and sentinels innumerable in which they place their darling only child the prince or princess whose birth has blessed them after so many years of marriage and whose christening feast has been in


terrupted by the cantankerous humour of that notorious old fairy who always persists in coming although she has not received any invitation to the baptismal ceremony when prince prettyman is locked up in the steel tower provided only with the most whole some food the most edifying educational works and the most ve nerable old tutor to instruct and to bore him we know as a matter of course that the steel bolts and brazen bars will one day be of no avail the old tutor will o off in a doze and the moats and draw bridges will either be passed by his royal highnesss implacable enemies or crossed by the young scapegrace himself who is deter mined to outwit his guardians and see the wicked world


the old king and queen always come in and find the chambers empty the saucy heirapparent flown the porters and sentinels drunk the an cient tutor asleep they tear their venerable wigs in anguish they kick the majordomo down stairs they turn the duenna out of doors the toothless old dragon


there is no resisting fate


the princess will slip out of window hythe rope ladder the prince will be off to pursue his pleasures and sow his wild oats at the ap pointed season


how many of our english princes have been coddled at home by their fond papas and mammas walled up in in accessible castles with a tutor and a library guarded by cordons of sentinels sermoners old aunts old women from the world without and have nevertheless escaped from all these guardians and astonished the world by their extravagance and their frolic


what a wild rogue was that prince harry son of the austere sovereign who robbed richard the second of his crownthe youth who took purses on gadshill frequented eastcheap taverns with colonel falstaff and worse company and boxed chief justice gascoignes ears


what must have been the venerable queen charlottes state of mind when she heard of the courses of her beautiful young prince of his punting at gamblingtables of his dealings with horse jockeys of his awful doings with perdita


besides in stances taken from our royal family could we not draw examples from our respected nobility


there was that young lord war


wick mr addisons stepson


we know that his mother was se vere and his stepfather a most eloquent moralist yet the young gentlemans career was shocking positively shocking


he boxed the watch he fuddled himselfat taverns he was no better than a mohock


the chronicles of thac day contain accounts of many a mad prank whichhe played as we have legends of a still earlier date of the lawless freaks of the wild prince and poyns


our peo ple has never looked very unkindly on these frolics


a young no bleman full of life and spirits generous of his money jovialin his humour ready with his sword frank handsome prodigal coura geous always finds favour


young scapegrace rides a steeple chase or beats a bargeman and the crowd applauds him


sages


and seniors shake their heads and look at lum not


unkindly even stern old female moralists are disarmed at the siht of youth and gallantry and beauty


i know very well that charles surface is a sad dog and tom jones no better than he should be but in spite of such critics as dr johnson and colonel newcome most of us have a sneaking regard for honest tom and hope sophia will be happy and tom will end well at last


fiveandtwenty years ago the young sari of


kew came upon the town which speedily rang with the feats of his lordship


he began life time enough to enjoy certain pleasures from which our young aristocracy of the present day seem alas


to be cut off


so much more peaceable and polished do we grow so much does the spirit of the age appear to equalise all janies so strong has the good sense of society to which in the end gentlemen of the very highest fashion must bow put its veto upon practices and amusements with which our fathers were familiar


at that time the sunday news papers contained many and many exciting reports of boxing matches


bruising was considered a fine manly old english cus tom


boys at public schools fondly perused histories of the noble science from the redoubtable days of broughton and slack to the heroic times of dutch sam and the game chicken


young gen tlemen went eagerly to moulsey to see the slasher punch the pets head or the negro beat the jews nose to a jelly


the island rang as yet with the tooting horns and rattling teams of mail coaches a gay sight was the road in merry england in those days before j steamengines arose and flung its hostelry and chivalry over


to j travel in coaches to drive coaches to know coachmen and guards j


to be familiar with inns along the road to laugh with the jolly hostess at the bar to chuck the pretty chambermaid under the chin j were the delight of men who were younf not very long ago


who j ever thought of writing to the times then


biffin i warrant did not grudge his money and a thirsty soul paidcheerfully ibr his drink


the road was an institution the ring was an insti tution


men rallied round them and not without a kind conser vatism expatiated upon the benefits with which they endowed the country and the evils which would occur when they should be no moredecay of english spirit decay of manly pluck ruin of the breed of horses and so forth and so forth


to give and take a black eye was not unusual or derogatory in a gentleman to drive a stage coach the enjoyment the emulation of generous youth


is there any young fellow of the present time who aspires to take the place of a stoker


you see occasionally in hyde park one dismal old drag with a lonely driver


where are you charioteers


where are you o rattling quicksilver o swift defiance


you are past by racers stronger and swifter than you


your lamps are out and the music of your horns has died away


i new safety mining lampa new mining lamp is at pre sent exhibited at the panopticon which is well worthy of atten tion


it is the invention of m de st simon sicard and patented by that gentleman both in france and england


it is stated that a persou with this lamp in his hand may walk along the bottom of a mine with the greatest security though it be at the time chok ing with foul air without the slightest danger of an explosion


it is an adaptation of the hydrooxygen lime light and unlike the davy lamp which requires a certain amount of atmospheric air to sustain it is hermetically sealed when placed in the hands of the miners through whose want of care in opening the lamps to get a better lljht the greater part of these shocking occurrences may be attributed


again by an arrangement this lamp can be made to light the whole of the galleries of a mine on the plan of our street lamps thus placing the means whereby these acci dents take place entirely out of the reach of the unskilled pitman


patriot february


the emperor nicholass mode of lifethe emperor nicholas leads a life of the most feverish activity


he rides walks holds a review superintends a sham fight goes on the water gives a fete exercises a navy and all in the same clay


he travels incessantly passes over at least fifteen hundred leagues every sea son and all those who are attached to his person have to share his fatigue


the empress who will follow him everywhere loses her health by doing so and it is said that the young grand duke constantine will fall a victim to the mode of travelling adopted by his father


nicholas is in the habit of travelling not less than seven leagues in an open calcheadrian gibsons the czar and the sultan


shells for russiait is stated that four railway truckloads of shells were sent off one day last week from the carron iron works by the caledonian railway for the czar


n b matt


glasgoiv


ottemtoug the story of a feather


sjj


bflugsa serrata


a storyfrom posch chapteh xxiii


continued from our last


a short account of a highwayman


arrival of mr lintley


the clamour raised by hardmouth and the watch had made its due impression on the neighbourhood many of the duellers thereabout having a most delicate a most educated organ for the music of justice or rather of police


hence in a brief time the house was beset by curious enquirers anxious to karn the peculiar offence committed whether it rose to the tragic dignity of murder or descended to the sneaking little ness of petty larceny


nor was it wholly curiosity that brought many to the door of mrs crumpet


there were some who very justly indignant at the prying propensities of the watch knew not where they might stop


nobodys house is safe cried one


waking honest people up in the dead of night i cried others whilst a few declare upon the responsibility of their own invention that one of mrs crumpets lodgers had murdered a bishop on hounslow heath and with a heathenish contempt of religion had pawned the dead mans canonicals


it was


however very creditable to the general sympathy that everybody expressed unbounded satisfaction at abrams escupe


much of this i heard where lay as it sounded from the itreet beneath and i confess my feeling of curiosity was awakened to learn something more of the fugitive


it appeared ns i afterwards found out from the gossip let fall about me that clickly abram was a mercers mun of rising reputation


he sras young goodlooking and as the women declared the best creature that ever broke lhe bread of of life


clickly however had this seemingly inborn prejudice he preferred the bread of other people to the bread of his own hands


to this prejudice may be traced all the diflicut ties of clicklys too short career


in the pursuit of this busi ness whilst measuring a delectable lutestring he was shot dead behind his masters counter by a pair of fatal eyes allis


i too skilful in such mortal practice


clicklys story is as old as worn as london stones


he was led step by step in silken chains to earn the iron fetters of newgate


mrs crumpeti take the good womans own avowalhad not the remotest sus picion of the highway profession of her lodger


no it was a base vile story


he always paid his way and she would not believe it


but i have left patty wretched and desolate


she sat with a look of dreadful resignation in her facea look that fura moment mude hardmouth pause the while he rubbed his chin and dotibtingly observed if nothing could be proved agin her why nothing could come of it


though if she warnt positively mrs abramif she warnt really married to him


why perhaps it might go the harder with her because the law though he never could find out the reason of maisupposed that a woman was under the authority of her husband


having delivered this the sagacious officer was about to raise the girl from her seat when she swooned and lay like a corpse in his arms


you villains i youll murder the poor thing i cried a woman a neighbour who with others had crowded into the garret and who with this indignant cry rushed down stairs


youll never move her in that state exclaimed mrs crumpet


shell be better in a minute answered hardmouth and lifting the girl as though she had been an infant he descended the stairs followed by the watchmen


airs


crumpet for n moment stood alone in the garret costing bewildered looks about herand then whirling round and round in a passion of despairshe caught me up and rushed from the attic


when she arrived at the bottom of the stairs she found the street door open and hardmouth and his party about to carry patty from the house


stopstop cried the woman who had left the garret


ere patty was removed stop till the doctor sees lier


as the lord would have it he was at a labour at no andgod bless him ihere comes the gentleman


after a moment hardmouth turned with his charge into her parlour and was followed by mrs crumpet who stuck me in a china mug upon the mantelpiece


another moment and the kindhearted woman who had sought his assistance showed my old acquaintance mr lintley into the room


he looked cold and pinched and i could not but observe that his greatcoat might have been thicker


there was an air of languor and fatigue about him yet did the goodness of lils heart the gentle cheerfulness of his mind sit triumphant over his looks and he smiled as he asked


where is the patient


here she is doctor answered hardmoutli pointing to patty still insensible


good god i cried lintley and his face changed and he clasped his bands and compressed lils lips struggling to master rising emotion as he gazed at llio featherdresser


how what is this lie asked


why doctor you seethere s been n little bit of highway robbery


click abrams the man we wantbut the birds flown


howsomever we found this in his nest along with his wife there and hardmouth weighing the watch in his hand nodded significantly towards patty


its no such thing cried mrs crumpet


shes not hit wifeshe well thats not our affair said hardmouthasive slid afore if she isnt she ought to be


staytell mecried lintley and his lips trembled and he cast a look of extreme pain towards patty what is the distinct charge against this young woman


why her husbandor as good as her husband has com mitted robbery we hunted him here but he got clean off leaving the girl in bed and this watch with her


linlly with troubled looks took the watch from the officer


i then for the first time had a full view of it


in a moment i recognised the metal chronometer sold by shadrach jacobs to my earliest english friend jack lipscomb and beguiled again from jack by the potent blandishments of miriam


and now was latty poor selfdenying thing by the force of cir cumstances in the deep shadow of suspicion now was she deemed the tainted associate of viceits companion and its comforter


j glanced again at the watch again saw upon its dialplate the seatost ship again read such is life written beneath it


there must be some mistake i am sure of it said lintley with emphasis


very like sir answered hardmouth but you see sir law bas nothing to do with mistakeslaw has nothing to do but to punish em


leave her with me officerfor a few minutes at least


some water and the apothecary turned to mrs crumpet


poor soul i she is much shatteredmuch changed but she will soon revivetis nothing but fainting


after many entreaties hardmouth who expressed n sort of respect towards the apothecaryhaving heard lils virtues ex tolled by several women who had thronged the doorconsented to leave the room mrs crumpet adding the further induce


ment of the second bottle of wine left by pattys unknown patron


lintley administered restoratives and in abrief lime patty became conscious of the presence of her first benefactor


she blushed trembled wept yet in her excess of agitation felt a strange comfort that in this new affliction her first friend was w th her


tell me patty said lintley in a calm sad voice how is it that find you in such a place


it was the bestthe only place i could find shelter in was the meek answer


wherefore and stealthily toowherefore did you quit my house


come i must know everything said lintley


you shall sir everythingas though i talked to my own oui you shall know all and patty paused as though she needed strength to proceed


go on wherefore then asked lintley


i was not happy sir


mrs lintley was not happy


i felt that my presence brought upon you disquiet i felt thatgod pardon them your kindness towards an orphan girl made foolish thoughtless people talk and it was my duty though i should die to go away


yet tell me aid the apothecary for i must trace you jslep by stepjell me what could have brought you here


twas enoughi made it enough


i found too a kind person to dwelt with but i was persecuted and persecuted child by whom


by a strange womana strange old woman


day after day she carne to the housei never went abroad but she fol lowed me


i know not how it was i felt for her a loathing i never knew for any human creature


i could not endure her


and then i heard strange stories of her and so that i might free myself from her unknown to anybody i hid myself here


i had not long been in this house when i fell illthey told me very ill


iii indeed said lintley looking with compassionate eyes at the poor wasted creature


patty smiled and with strange earnestness asked very ill


am i not sir


a little quiet with careful tending and your health will now return said lintley


and shall not die asked patty with sudden meian cboly


certainly not answered lintley you will be an old woman yet patty


god forbid cried the girl her eyes tilling with tears


oh sir do not take from me tho hope which for many a day has been my sole comfortwhich i have nursed fondled doatcd onthe hope of death


this may know be a happy world but though young i have seen enough of it


i have neither strength nor carelessness sufficient to struggle and live on as i have lived


would wish to die


oh air indeed indeed i speak the trutli


i you know not how beautiful to mc is death


what casewhat comfortwhat sweet repose within the grave and is the world so harren to you patty asked lintley


do you not sin in such a wish


oh sir do not think meungrateful


all your kindness i feel past words to speak it


your kindness in relieving me heremy landlady has told me allyour gilts of my gifts no childnot mincit is the merest accident that bus brought me to this house where in truth it grieves me to find you


hear me yet a few words


would wish to believe you still goodstill innocent patty oh sir i exclaimed the girl with sudden passion why should you not


what have i donegod help me


iwhat have i done listen and patiently


i find you in a house nay in a neighbourhood known and noted as shameful


came here to fulfil a duty of humanityprayed and entreated hither to assist a poor helpless creature in her worst agony


it was well came patty or we might neverhere the apothecarys voice thickened and he hesitated wc might never again have met in this world


i bless the chance cried patty sobbing


i find you girlhere lintley paused and then sadly con turned i find you in deepest misery


it seems you ure said to be the wife ur worse companion of a nightly robber


you do not bolievu ityou cannot believe itscreamed patty


stolen propertystolen by dimis found in your bed


answer nie girlfor others you must answerhow is this almost as much as uno you know


had fallen asleep the door was burst inthe window openedby some strange mun who muttered curses when i called to bim from the window struggling and striving with terrible strength he made his way as i suppose across the housetops


a watch was foundsaid lintley


it must have fallen from the man as he escaped answered putty


lintley approached the girl and taking her hand in his looked steadfastly in her face saying and this man you knew not


no answered patty looking back the look


and you aro as innocent of all this said lintley his eyes moistening as i could wish you


i am amcried tho girl


oh sir


voit believe me


in this misery you will not forsake me i do believe you patty answered lintley with solemn voice aud so belicung i will not forsake you


to be continued


mtemtoii


the story of a feather


kjj douijijtjj traft


a storyirom


rosen


chapter xxix


continued from our last


i meet patty butler in newgate the turnkeys wife pleads for curlwell


at the timethe good old timei wa lu newgatethere wat a finer spirit of cordiality between the keepers and the kept than at the present day lessens the gloom of that great yet necessary evil


the departing spirit of romance still lingered about it


fine ladies thronged the lobby to roll their liquid eyes upon the gentle highwayman and housebreakers though barred from liberty were still treated as persons of distinction indulgence being ever vendible for ready money


in those days bacchus and venus were never denied by the grim turnkey but received with a frank courtesy due to their large influence on the life of mortals


hence newgate was not the stony terror of our day


true it was not so clean but then in all the real enjoyments ot life how much more com fortable


soap is but a poor commodity exchanged against that agreeable licence which softens captivity